The Campaign: How can you put up with it?

[Bahger 11]

This is not a whine or a troll as the game justifies itself for me with the Editor and MP but, really, how do you put up with the Campaign? Excessive scripting, constant dodgy triggers, bad voice acting, lots of travelling and no real tactics?

[Lauxman 10]

We don't. I'm having too much fun with the editor to remember there even is a campaign.

[santafee 10]

Same;)

[jakerod 254]

This is not a whine or a troll as the game justifies itself for me with the Editor and MP but, really, how do you put up with the Campaign? Excessive scripting, constant dodgy triggers, bad voice acting, lots of travelling and no real tactics?

Im just messing about in the editor until they fix it.

[Mr.Ferret 10]

I just play online with my squad, thats where the real fun is

[cjsoques 0]

I dunno why they event spent so much work on another broken campaign like ARMA 1 it was a big waste of their time that could have been spent making the multiplayer a total knockout, instead they fell majorly short in the campaign and also fell short of amazing multiplayer experiences...

I can't stop ranting about the missed potential of this game that is like no other that I love none the less.

They really should stop making shoddy singleplayer stuff and concentrate on where this game really shines...the multiplayer, you would think they would learn their lesson by now

[jakerod 254]

I dunno why they event spent so much work on another broken campaign like ARMA 1 it was a big waste of their time that could have been spent making the multiplayer a total knockout, instead they fell majorly short in the campaign and also fell short of amazing multiplayer experiences...

I can't stop ranting about the missed potential of this game that is like no other that I love none the less.

They really should stop making shoddy singleplayer stuff and concentrate on where this game really shines...the multiplayer, you would think they would learn their lesson by now

Yeah because no one likes single player. That was all I really played in OFP and ArmA for a while.

[Mr.Ferret 10]

I agree i only ever really played OFP in single and skipped over Arma1 because my computer couldnt really run it at the time.

[r10k 10]

Uh, I like playing singleplayer in Arma 2...

[Bahger 11]

The problem is not that the game is incapable of good single player; ArmA 1 was, because of brain-dead buddy AI but in ArmA 2 the AI has a much improved capacity for tactical use of cover and self defense. The problem is BI's concept of SP and its misplaced belief that it has to be cinematic rather than tactical. The execution is awkward, clunky and dull and, oddest of all, does not reflect the genuine capability of the Editor. The few standalone SP missions that shipped with the game provide some insight into what the SP campaign might have been if BI were not so determined to dumb it down. Good SP in ArmA 2 is possible but only with user-made missions. In this respect, BI is its own worst enemy.

[jakerod 254]

I have enjoyed several of the missions shipped with the game. Razor two was fun and would be even more fun if there weren't any bugs. I'm only on the third or fourth mission in the campaign too so Im sure there is better stuff.

[bhaz 0]

We're only up to and attempting Razor Two (everything goes so well, then out of nowhere someone's head gets taken off, and we keep forgetting to save) at the moment, but I haven't run into a single bug yet. This is running in coop with two people aswell.

[jakerod 254]

We're only up to and attempting Razor Two at the moment, but I haven't run into a single bug yet. This is running in coop with two people aswell.

I'd expect to. The mission is still a lot of fun though.

[bhaz 0]

I'd expect to. The mission is still a lot of fun though.

Yeh, here's to hoping the editor community wants to make something similar, the idea behind the mission was brilliant.

[Yapab 10]

Having not played the SP campaign yet, what is actually wrong in it?

I've heard many bad things... is it the slowness I've heard about or just lots of bugs? or both?

I'm planning on playing with two other friends, how many people are supported in the campaign in coop? 2 or 3/4?

Thanks,

Yapa

[bhaz 0]

Having not played the SP campaign yet, what is actually wrong in it?

I've heard many bad things... is it the slowness I've heard about or just lots of bugs? or both?

I'm planning on playing with two other friends, how many people are supported in the campaign in coop? 2 or 3/4?

Thanks,

Yapa

4 people are supported in the campaign.

You might get problems where you completed a mission but the next one doesn't become available, which is solved with the campaign cheat. Also, reverting to a save causes "receiving..." problems to the clients, solved by rejoining.

[Baxalasse 10]

Uh, I like playing singleplayer in Arma 2...

Me too, MP brings to much cowboys. As someone else stated, the campaign was a total waste of time with all those bugs being reported, thank god I experienced very few (had to "endmission", three times). They should have saved/used that money/time on engine optimization/features or just cut the price instead. Of course people would then whine about "there is no campaign included...".

Edit: Some of the voice acting is sooo annoying, they should have gone C64 and used text only instead...

---------- Post added at 09:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 AM ----------

Having not played the SP campaign yet, what is actually wrong in it?

Learn these keys: "RShift" + "NUM-" then type "endmission" if you get stuck

Edited July 20, 2009 by Baxalasse

[JayMeal 10]

LOL The black men's voices clearly aren't black men. I found that the funniest. Plus during these voice sequences their arms are to their sides and only their mouths move.

[Yapab 10]

Thanks for the tip... I guess that would need to be used if the mission does not end after completing all the objectives?

Yapa

[mrcash2009 0]

Well I do play SP but now with Arma 2 Im deffo looking for a place for MP .. must be a clan though or closed server before I would bother.

The campaign .. well, it does tend for me at least to be the thing I decide to bother with for a while but then kind of leave and start messing my own scenarios and the editor. I have got as far as Manhattan but that's where some bugs really started to show up, since this point I have left it for updates. Mainly because patching then loading saves will mess it up so I wont progress and have to go back later.

I'm still mainly going into scenarios but mainly the editor. I like to set up situations and make them as random as I can and use a small team to attack. Mainly using voice commands and tactics. Even in Arma1 I mainly ended up doing pretty much the same thing. I don't go for the large scale battles much either, when I do I simply get bored, only so many times you can see everything kick off and simply look at it all.

I got past the hate of it with the campaign, in arma1 I played that I think for 3 hours max over a period and never ever really bothered to finish it. I think I will finish Arma2 campaign as its more focused on a small unit which I like. Its on hold with progress now until any more fixes come out. But its no show stopper for me and in my eyes is about 20 percent of this entire thing. Unlike some its nothing Id return the game for or rant about.

Edited July 20, 2009 by mrcash2009

[Dallas 9]

I glad I din't discover OFP's mission editor, before I finished the campaign. I really liked the story, but after opening the editor, I never played it again. Never touched ArmA's campaign, probably wont play ArmA 2's either.

[spm1138 0]

It's weird, I can see your criticisms and I have been quite frustrated with broken scripting and the like but at the same time I'm really enjoying the campaign.

I was very disappointed with ArmA 1's single player experience but this feels like they've actually put some work and some thought into it.

When the campaign all clicks and works together it's actually pretty well done.

I think it plays to the strengths of the engine and is actually quite an interesting idea anyway. After reading about "Robin Sage" one of my thoughts was "This would be a fascinating concept for a game".

A game with a unit with Recon in the name where you do the odd recon mission and where chasing insurgents involves more than just repelling Korean war human wave attacks is a revelation.

The RPG elements could be expanded on quite a lot and you could do a whole campaign just out of chasing gunrunners for example (e.g. the insurgency feels a bit flat and too much like lots of small conventional shootouts) but I've enjoyed it so far over all.

It's like the anti-ubi tac shooter.

What's hurt BI here in places is their ambition but tbh you should be happy there's developers going out on a limb still.

[cadmium77 16]

I dunno why they event spent so much work on another broken campaign like ARMA 1 it was a big waste of their time that could have been spent making the multiplayer a total knockout, instead they fell majorly short in the campaign and also fell short of amazing multiplayer experiences...

I can't stop ranting about the missed potential of this game that is like no other that I love none the less.

They really should stop making shoddy singleplayer stuff and concentrate on where this game really shines...the multiplayer, you would think they would learn their lesson by now

Yes...YES.

[Trapper 0]

Hm, I've got to try the SP missions then because the campaign isn't that bad either.

Yes, some bugs are ridiculous but it's a decent and very story driven Marine Force Reconnaissance adventure with personalized characters. All these simultaneous active objectives, selfaware civilians and support scripts already give me a headache from my mission makers point of view. It's a well thought out special forces campaign with the AI improvements since ArmA making a big plus. Worth the SP part of a retail game, if just the bug fixing until now wouldn't be that bad.

Maybe some are missing the 4 guys of all branches from OFP but now there is more room for community campaigns covering other parts of the game without getting repeative.

[Bahger 11]

It's a schizophrenic game. On the one hand there is an Editor which, with the improvements in friendly AI, can now reproduce modern battlefield conditions at squad/platoon level with appropriate fire/air support. On the other, BI seems terrified of being in the "sim" as opposed to "game" category so they use their powerful Editor to produce a Campaign that is all cinematics and no tactics, with excessive, inept voice-acting, bad cut-scenes and unreliable triggers designed not to present the player with tactical challenges but to initiate cinematics.

I'm going to learn the Editor, well enough, I hope, to be able to produce high-fidelity, platoon-level scenarios designed to reproduce infantry-level combat (with support). If I do Special Forces recon-style missions I will try very hard for realism and not do cinematic hijinks. Basically, what I learned doing a lot of mission design in "Steel Beasts" is that the best and most replayable missions in any good tac-sim are those which put the player in the position of a Lieutenant/Captain with a mission to accomplish and a balance to maintain betwen that mission and the preservation of the force that he commands.

Cadmium, did I see Editor Tutorials mentioned in your sig? If this is for ArmA, I'd love to take a look but I don't see a link.