instagoat

I´ve thought a bit about this. A lone soldier, stranded on an island full of hostiles, very likely has to assemble a resistance and build his force prior to fulfilling his mission against all odds. This reminds me of Abandoned Armies. http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=44651 Which is probably the -best- mission EVER made for ANY game of the OFP series. It pulls the pants off anything else there is in terms of scope and depth. So, are BI trying to do something similar? Would that be a good thing?

Like I said, turn off postprocessing and you won´t have to deal with it. It´s not supposed to be realistic. It´s not "realistic" soldiering either, to sit in front of a small monitor with a packet of chips and a can of coke. You want to create an emotional response in the player, to create a "mood", to make them feel immersed in your setting. Like I said, nobody complained about Black Hawk Down being brown, because it does the job. If it does the trick of making me feel as if I´m in a bleak, desperate war scenario, I welcome it. And who doesn´t like it can turn it off. Easy, no? Just because Arma is a sim doesn´t mean it should loose sight of the "game" aspect. The full on sim is VBS, not Arma.

Mood lighting is very prevalent in games today, and has been for a while. It´s not there to make everything bland, it´s there to create atmosphere. Look at Black Hawk Down, for instance: do you complain about the yellow tinge they gave that movie? It´s there to create mood and atmosphere, to give a sense of desolateness, heat and dust. Plus, it´s optional: just turn off postprocessing in the game options and you won´t have to deal with it. I want it in.

Conservative as I am, I doubt that we´ll see any large improvement in this regard. I´d at least be happy if objects stopped light, instead of light just passing trough everything. And if they go multi-source dynamic lighting, it´ll probably not be without a significant performance impact.

I hope we´ll finally get properly working collimator sights, and pip-based high magnification sights, and not the OFP style overlays we have now. That´d be totally rad

What I hope is that A3 will bring fresh blood into the modding community. Some modders are veterans ranging back into the OFP days, and I completely understand if some of them are tired of having to constantly abandon work and switch over to a new engine. I think it won´t kill the modding scene per se, but for established mods like P85, CSLA, CWR or I44, it´ll make things difficult. You either have to stick with A2 and hope that people keep the game despite of A3 being out, or you have to use immense resources to port, which I understand now is actually a very difficult job. So yes, scores of new modders would be nice. Though I dunno if the current generation of gamer even has the nerve and patience to mod a complex game such as Arma.

Only a few threads are up here now, and I´m already noticing a trend here. A lot of concern seems to be about the near-future scifi setting BI has to go on, with the KA-52/Mi-28 hybrid, the merkavas in digicam and the general future setting, as well as some features like the customizeable loadouts. Now I´m wondering, why are people so conservative about this, instead of embracing the change and the fresh air that´s being breathed into Arma as a franchise with this? Are you guys seeing the community threatened by a possible new influx of "COD-Kiddies"? Is it the anniversary of OFP that had you expect a similar setting and now leaves you disappointed? And why do so many people mind that it is a future setting anyway? As I see it, BI are finally taking some artistic license with their work and are having fun again with what they do, instead of trying to painstakingly assembling a dry realism fest set in the 80s/90s again. Looking forward to your thoughts, because I really don´t understand you. Cheers Insta

Something like a bi-weekly status update would be nice, though, just to keep the excitement up. No news at all can cause people to loose interest, plus, it makes the community more involved in the development process, if they can see where the game is headed in real time and have their say about it. Well, as long as it´s constructive, anyway.

On the matter of addons: The community isn´t as large as it had been with OFP. The added complexity is a factor, sure, but going for a new, more "mainstream" setting if you want to call it that is going to bring more new people in than some game being about a period long past. Outside WW2, which mainstream to-be milsimmer cares about some rebellion going on on an island in the mid 80s? I´m not sure, but my uneducated guess would be: not that many. What Arma´s community needs is an influx of fresh blood, skilled and dedicated addon makers who join ranks with the established ones, to create new and exciting content for the game. (Better documentation would help, hint hint BIS) And new people only get drawn if the game as a basis is exciting. And, again: to most people, an 80s setting just doesn´t cut it. Unless you´re named hideo kojima of course, then you can do it and do brilliantly with it, even today. As for the realism, in sheer terms of gameplay, Arma is about as realistic as a game ought to get. Any more of it and it gets excessive, which is only enjoyed by a very niche crowd of very dedicated, very active and involved gamers, but certainly not the majority of people who might enjoy the game but have so far been put off by it. I´m not advocating dumbing down the game, but making it more attractive to the general audience. The gameplay essence must remain unchanged, otherwise it won´t be a worthy Arma title. Though knowing BI, they probably won´t even change the venerable command interface :P I have no respect for the rivet counting and whining about this or that kit being "wrong". BI decided to go for a near future sci-fi setting here, and as such are taking their liberties with it. It´s called Artistic License, as I´ve stated in another thread. If you don´t like it, stop complaining, and stick with Arma 2. It saves you time, nerves and also helps the rest of us who are positively excited about the game focus on the game, instead of your endless complaints. Cheers

I´d be all for a complete overhaul of the numbers system, and a new, more intuitive context sensitive menu. The context sensitive menu actually has kind of grown on me, I couldn´t do without. It just needs to be streamlined, more self-explanatory, and replace some of the silly commands with more useful ones, such as redundant commands (wait and stop for example). New commands such as "Assault Location" or "Defend Location" would be useful, because right now ordering the AI to assault into a position can only be done by micromanaging them forward. Commanding them to "move" has them run headlessly to their target point, prioritizing movement over fighting, and thus getting shot up a lot. They also for some reason don´t leapfrog anymore in the latest patch, which makes them doubly vulnerable. So yes, complete overhaul please. But keep the good parts.

Well said. I wouldn´t mind the storyline being a bit outlandish. Main part for me is that it´s fun, and that the core gameplay remains realistic. Being able to use real world tactics and having to think and plan before acting is what makes the Arma series for me, no matter the equipment used by the characters. In the end, all guns shoot, their looks are just eyecandy... unless, of course, they introduce a complex ballistic system individually modelling each weapon, which is unlikely to happen. I´d just hope that the rivet counters would stop complaining so much, either drop it or at least leave it be until you played the game. I won´t pass judgement on it until I have, and before that, I´m going to give BI the benefit of the doubt and defend them against any superficial, childish complaints. Cheers Insta

I think people need to relax and have a dose of this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool Getting upset because the rifle on some guy in a sci-fi setting is "wrong"? What about the burst AKs in OFP? Or the NH-75 used by the soviets in the same game? Or US soldiers using G36s and AUGs in the 80s, again, the same game? BI, contrary to what people seem to believe, are also creatives and artists. You chain an artist, they wither. What´s important is that the -game mechanics- remain in the same vein as previous iterations of the game. Getting the right gun to calm your upset can be done later. I for one don´t care what kind of boomstick I get, as long as it helps me get out of tight spots. Again, I can understand disappointment about the choice of the setting, but some people are nearly upset enough about this to make one think somebody died or something. Lots of useless drama over wrong sewing lines, incorrect amounts of rivets, supposedly civilian assault rifles, and "wrong" helos. For example, I was upset about the shoulder pockets on the US soldiers in OA not being modelled, instead there being textures. I love these pockets on the real uniform, but I did at no point go in here and complain about it. Because it is a -waste of time-. Cheers Insta

I don´t mind the ragdolls. Sure, they´re silly, but nowadays I prefer them over the fixed anims Arma has used so far. I wouldn´t mind if they go with the old style anims again either, but this, I prefer for the sake of looks. The only argument I find valid against this is that it may be difficult to implement in multiplayer. I think people know by now what my opinion on the hurr durr realismuh is destroyd argument is... Cheers Insta

What I mostly care about is improvements in the command interface. It´s not been changed since OFP times, and it´s in dire need of an overhaul. And I agree, while it´s sci-fi, the equipment depicted isn´t exactly completely unrealistic. As for the lasers, for example, China has been experimenting with battlefield laser dazzle weaponery since the 70s or 80s. The kamov-mil collab is probably not a likely one, but not impossible either. The only thing that makes me raise an eyebrow is the Opfor using Israeli weaponery... but we´ll see what that´s about. Also lol, I get back, and there´s indeed new threads with people panicking. Aren´t there better things to do, rather than complain about a problem that´s nonexistent?

And this is why I dislike the hardcore rivet counters. Seriously, you´re giving your side of the stadium a bad rep, get a grip. Again, like I said before: what kind of equipment will be used WILL NOT ALTER THE GAMEPLAY. You will still have to keep your head down, stay out of killzones, maneuver your squad, take care of base of fire and reconaissance, and do all the things you have to do now. The difference is that GASP NOW YOUR HELMET HAS IR FLAG PATCHES AND A FANCY NV SET ATTACHED TO IT. How horrible, this game is certainly going belly up any time now. Now, before I loose it, I´m gonna sign off for tonight. When I get back tomorrow the place will probably still be full with people panicking themselves senseless like this, but maybe I won´t get so upset myself about it then and take them for what they are. A particularily noisy, particularily small minority.

Arma will never be like COD, no matter the equipment that is used. I wouldn´t even mind a far future scifi scenario, as long as the tactical nature of the gameplay is preserved. That is the essence of Arma, and not the correct amount of sewing-lines on your mag pouch. Sometimes it seems to me as if CoD Kiddies and the hardcore realism guys are essentially the same. I may take flak for saying this, but it feels as if the one faction gets upset about this gun being nerfed and that camouflage pattern being uber, while the other complains about the mild-dot reticule on the gun being wrong and the camouflage being slightly too green. As long as you can still execute a proper infantry assault, hopefully with a revamped and more efficient command system, have combined arms ops and have a proper moddable platform, what´s there to be worried/complain about?

Ditch what I said before, it´s not a QBZ for sure, the handgrip really points to it being a tavor. Mysterious, mysterious. Maybe an Iranian reverse engineered Tavor? Or do they have their own bullpup rifle right now, or in development?

Could the "IMI Tavor" be instead the Carbine version of the QBZ-95, whatever it may be called? Since there were hints at China in the ARG, and not at Israel, I think it is more likely that we´re mistaking a chinese weapon for an israeli one. Though I have to admit taht my first guess was Tavor too.

I guess it´s that. But really, some of the drama that´s on the verge of being pulled here (or is it even being pulled already) is borderline furry in scope. And -those- can be dramawhores. I have to apologize for this, but I really don´t hold rivet counters in high regard, ever since coming into the sim community. I didn´t like them when I encountered them on the IL-2 communities, I don´t like them now when I encounter them here. There is so much fun to be had, and thinking that you just can´t have it because some polygonized guy on your screen doesn´t have the right spacing between the molle columns on his vest is kind of radical and, you know... out there. It´s not what a sim game like Arma needs. What it needs is a framework within the things it wants to do can work, and in the case of Arma, that is combined arms warfare with a focus on infantry combat. If it still can do that, no matter the kind of rifle carried by my men, I will be happy. If we get some fancier gear that makes spotting my enemies easier, I will use it. Worrries that BIS will turn Arma into some kind of space shooter are completely misplaced, in my opinion. And again, if you really care about how many ERA panels there are mounted on the flank of a M1A2-TUSK, look to the modders. They have better resources, focus and time to take care of that anyway. Let BI do their thing, they know what they´re doing, and it will very likely be for the better of the franchise. And also consider that so far, they´ve not abandoned their community once. They won´t do it now, and probably won´t do it in the future, we, you, are much too important to them for that to occur.

Even after making my thread about this, and reading this thread, I still don´t see how this setting can make people so upset. Yes, from the perspective of personal preference, it might not be the most exciting, but! From the general perspective, it´s a step in the right direction. It finally allows BIs artists to be artists, it gives room to make a proper and beautiful story, add new features that modders can use in their own work, and is a setting that new people will be most likely to buy. Influx of new people means BI can put more resources into developing the engine, and giving us more content, possibly even the 80s/90s era content you want. Outside of that, there´ll be mods. If new people get drawn to the game, we might even see NEW modding teams pop up, which has scarcely happened as far as I know with Arma 2. And getting upset with a sci-fi setting because the helos are wrong or the amount of rivets on a tank is off or the pouches aren´t of the right brand is just... I don´t know. Like I said, I can understand disappointment, but I can´t understand this massive upheaval that seems to be going on in some people.

That´s pretty nasty of you, you know? COD offers NONE of the gameplay I´m looking for. No open world, no squad and above level tactics, no real choice of weaponery, gear or strategy, much less tactics, no combined arms warfare, no interaction with the environment, the list goes on and on endlessly. Plus, this is going to be a near future sci-fi setting, not a fantasy setting. Or are you seeing dragons and elves anywhere? Like I said, dismissing the game because you don´t like the pouches on a specific soldier model, or because the front glacis of the merkava as 2 rivets less than the real one is kind of excessive. It´s fair enough if people don´t like the future setting, but the way it seems to go is a little bit extreme. And referring one to other games doesn´t cut it, because there is NO other game that has gameplay of an equal scale as Arma/Ofp. There will be mods that adress your dislikes. Take the game for what it is, and enjoy it for what it is. That the gun has a laserpointer and holo sights on it doesn´t make it handle any differently, gameplay wise, than a gun without. All you´re complaining about is the looks and gear, which are just superficial. I for one am positive about the setting, but I think I´d have been just as excited if they´d announced a vietnam or korean war era setting. It does-not-matter. What matters is that the game below the surface is GOOD. To me, the setting is really just the icing on the cake, or the cherry if you will. As such, the points that have been made so far are fair, but I think at times a little extreme.

Yes, exactly! Everypony who is like "oooh this sucks, bring back the 80s" is being a party pooper... we´ve seen and done the 1990 - 2010 era over and over, and to be honest, I was afraid that Arma 3 would be another game set in that era. That it is near-future scifi is exactly what DRAWS me to it. Cool new toys, cool new features, cool new story and campaign. More freedom for BIS to exercise their artistic muscles, which they hadn´t had the chance to show to even a degree in previous iterations of OFP/Arma, in my opinion. This finally, as I´ve said before, frees them up to really do stuff THEY like, and counteract any wearyness in regards to the franchise they may have built. Let them do their thing and judge the finished product, instead of discarding it on the mere grounds of the soldiers having fancy digital watches and belgian assault rifles instead of beaten up kalashnikovs and ammo rigs from the 1960s.

I think it´s an excellent choice to go with a near-future-scifi approach. We get cool new toys, and BI can free themselves from the uber-realism shackles that previously seemed to really hamper their creativity. Plus, now the modding community has full reign over the uber realistic niche of the "market" so to speak. And I don´t care if the Comanche was cancelled, because it´s cool, so I´ll gladly take it. OPFOR using Merkavas? Hell yeah. The realism I care about is in the execution and flow of combat, not that the pouches on your soldier accurately reflect the two and a half week period the fighting takes place in, or that this and that missle is modelled incorrectly or WE DIDN`T USE THOSE WHEN I WAS IN THE ARMY. Seriously, people, get a grip. It´s about having FUN. The realism in Arma always came from the execution and flow of combat, not the exactness of the equipment modelled.

Only much, much better. A lot seems to have happened in the Armaverse after the conclusion of PMC. I just wonder which ending was canonical and has spilled over into A3...

Having read the Arma3 page now, I can safely say that I´m more excited than ever now. Also, inb4 the "Waaaah this and that is soooo unrealistic I won´t buy waaah" drama starts FINALLY BI are taking advantage of some artistic license here. Not artistry shackled by demands of uber realism, but artistry free of any such bounds, within the realm of what´s possible for the setting chosen. This is what I actually -most- like about this news. The REALISMUH will be brought in by the community, once ACE and PR start to move over to A3. The gameplay itself will stay as (as some might phrase it) hardcore as ever, I´m sure of that, just the units and the story will become a little more futuristic, which is a beautiful turn of events to me. Go BI. But, again: no completely buggy campaign and bad performance on decent gaming rigs at release day this time. Wish you luck!