New exclusive Screenshots

[New exclusive Screenshots]

Quote[/b] ]i would guess they have optimised the memory usage in ArmA since OFP was pretty much eating memory, no matter how much you have it just isnt enough for OFP.

God, I hope so! If ArmA featured nothing BUT improved, optimized DX9 performance, I'd throw down $50, take it home and be happy as a clam.

[Call of Duty 2]

I played it and liked it just as much as CoD 1. Has a real cinematic feel, and it's quite atmoshpheric with all the battle chatter and gunfire and smoke and stuff. All the smoke played hell with my framerates, though.

I have a feeling that the missions will remain just as scripted as they were in the original, with these new multiple approaches to the missions used to fool players into thinking that it's open ended, but I'm going to approach this new one like I approached CoD 1: An interactive series of mini World War 2 movies.

I'll probably buy it when the price drops, or borrow it from one of my friends.

[Some Xbox screenies]

Quote[/b] ]The only reason that I wouldn't want to get the game for xbox is that I don't want to spoil my ArmA experience

Right on, bruthah!

Quote[/b] ]

Did you not read what I wrote?! I said that all things aside and PRETEND that there was NO Xbox360 coming out in 2 months...WHY IS PC BETTER? "and dont say "just b/c it is!"

Well, I'm not going to pretend XBox360 isn't coming out soon, because that's one of the factors as to why I'm not going to buy an XBox now. I wasn't arguing that PCs are better than XBox. I'm just saying that I wouldn't go out and buy myself an XBox at this point in time, because it's $100, soon to end its production cycle, and because Armed Assault will be coming out for PC soon and offer a lot more content. I've got a computer that I think will run it, so I'm sticking with ArmA.

More power to you OFP Elite guys out there, though.

[Some Xbox screenies]

Quote[/b] ]OK explain why you dont want an xbox.

Well...maybe they don't want to pay $100 for a piece of outdated hardware on which to play a game that PC users will get a better version of anyway in a month or so, especially since 360 is coming out in the very near future?

Don't get me wrong--OFP Elite is going to be a great thing for console gamers--but you won't find me going out to get an XBox just to play the one game, however good it is.

[Composure Level]

Agreed, 5133--Yours is a good idea, Skew, but I think the developers should simulate the confusion and din of battle by using effects and sound to influence the player directly, instead of imposing artificial limitations on his character.

I think this could be done by having explosions, bullet whizzing, gunfire and such significantly louder relative to the non-combat environment that surrounds the player before a battle. For example, if a player is walking through a field, he hears his own footsteps, those of his squadmates, chatter, and other ambient noises at a normal volume. Then a bullet flies past the player, giving off a "WHIZZ" sound effect that is at at least double the normal volume, making the real-life player jump out of his seat! Hopefully, while he does this, he taps Z and goes prone . If there's an explosion near the player, his vision should be blurred and there should be a ringing in his ears. If the player character has been doing a lot of running, we should hear heavy panting, as well as the panting of those around him.

The confusion can also be escalated by using long-lasting, drifting smoke that covers the battlefield and obscures everything. I've never been on a battlefield, but I would imagine that there's a lot of smoke after a while. Sources would include fires, explosions, smoke grenades, surrounding terrain (i.e. dust and sand being kicked up by rotor blades and such), RPG launches and prolonged gunfire. After that, it's up to the player to pick out his targets through the smoke and engage. Maybe allied soldiers could have their "allied" label disabled if they're obscured by smoke, and the player can only judge based on how they act or what they say? Maybe we could get rid of the labels altogether?

The player can be further confused by enemy behavior, especially in urban environments. Enemies should lean around corners, run from cover to cover, give covering fire and stuff like that. Close engagements should be fast and furious.

Also, there could be civilians in the battle zones that behave very differently. They could run around confused, cower in a corner, or maybe even take up a weapon and join the fight, who he or she attacks depending upon his or her attitude toward the fighting factions?

Another way to add to the experience would be to make the player's life mean something to the player. In regular shooters like HL2 or Halo, life doesn't really mean too much because if you F up, you just respawn from your last save point, which can be anywhere. I think BIS understood this when they implemented their retry/1 save system for CWC. If you have to restart 1000 meters away from your objective when you die, you suddenly become more careful so that you won't have to go through that again. RPGs give life value by implementing penalties for the player character if he or she dies. I'm not sure how a game like Game 2 would do this, but I think BIS was on the right track with the present system.

My point here is that a player's "composure level" should depend upon the player himself, not his character, and that how he feels and acts on the battlefield should be influenced by visual and auditory effects, as well as tactically-skilled AI and a life that has value.

[New Screenshots]

Lovin' these new screenshots!

Sarah looks great, but I wonder what it's supposed to be based on, geographically? To me, it kind of reminds me of Israel, especially with that farmland in the background of the third shot.

BIS makes me drool...

[Revolution 1983 - New Resist, No AddOn campaign]

I've been playing your campaign for a few missions and I think you've done a great job overall!

I only had a few problems. I think I remember some text being in Spanish in a couple cutscenes, and being dumped onto the main menu after completing a couple missions, but overall you did an excellent job with this. I hope you decide to make another one!

[Gameplay Improvements]

I definitely hope for AI improvements as well as improved vehicle physics. I'm not too sure that the ability to drift around corners in a BMP is entirely realistic...

The graphics changes are important for me as well, especially the lighting improvements. It gave me hope to see a soldier's shadow actually get shown on an individual forest tree in an OFP Elite video, and I hope that nighttime lighting has improved as well--the light given off by headlights/searchlights on vehicles, as well as static streetlamps isn't very pleasing to the eyes--my eyes at least. Here's hoping for the best, but I'm not too worried--BIS knows their stuff.

[War Stories?]

By that do you mean actual insects or "undocumented features?"

[Ai thread]

This has been mentioned before, but I think it's really important for the AI to be able to fight and fight well in close situations, like in an urban environment. If Game 2 ends up being a portrayal of near-future combat like I think it is, it's going to need a really good CQB AI to make urban combat fun. When AI soldiers enter a city, their entire ways of thinking should change. I think this would mean tightening up the formations and adapting to changing spaces around them (i.e. going off the street into an alley, the individual AI should be able to tighten up the formation and move along with the player cohesively). Maybe highly-trained AI soldiers could give 360 degree security, and use advanced urban warfare tactics like oh, I dunno, leaning around corners ?