1801

Only if you get lost while driving and then fabricate evidence that they shot first.

1802

I’m pretty sure I just pissed away $40 but I decided to pick this up. The fact that there’s not a single FPS that I’m remotely interested in coming out in the next 2 years made it worth the risk. Beggars can’t be choosers!

If the engine woes and the bugs have abated somewhat, there’s a faint glimmer of hope that I just might be able to get into this game finally.

1803

I bought the OA pretty much as soon as it was released but managed to play very little of it. I liked what I’ve seen (I think we did a couple of stock coop missions) but the main draw in Arma for me were all the missions made by the community. And there were none of those for AO when it was released obviously.

I’ve been meaning to return for several months now but all the other games distracted me. Are there any quality community-made coop missions now? Do they require a gazillion mods to be installed?

1804

It’s really a standalone expansion, the campaign is tight but very short compared to OFP/ARMA/ARMAII campaigns. you’re really paying for the new maps and weapons/models. Kind of annoyed this is full price WITHOUT the british and the future PMC patch (even BI has bought into the DLC model…meh). if you really want a solo campaign mode (and aren’t in it for the graphics), play the original ARMA which probably has the most gameplay for solo, plus alot of mods.

1805

Why aren’t there more mods for OA? Wouldn’t the mod folks want to take advantage of the optimizations and Afghanistan-esque setting?

1806

there’s still alot of mods, most of them are cross compatible between ARMAII/OA. thing is most aren’t specific to either version unless it calls for the maps from OA.

1807

So, Arma folks, here’s the situation. I’ve got 3 or so friends and myself with Arma, we would like to do coop missions of some sort that are relatively easy to get into, so we can check the game out and see if it clicks for us. Any recommendations, on either the stock missions or user missions?

Thanks.

EDIT: Also, any suggestions on game/AI settings? I know before with Arma on default settings, it felt like the AI was a bunch of laserbeam cyborg snipers with impeccable aim, it was quite annoying.

1808

I’d play with you too! I have to get my ArmA stuff up-to-snuff as I’ve been side-tracked by pond/bog stuff.

The best thing you can do is after you set your difficutly level (I prefer regular, sometimes Veteran when I want to be more scared and disoriented)… get that all saved.

Then go into your profile \My Documents\Arma 2…\ jpinard.ArmA2OAProfile and under the heading for the difficutly level you’ve selected make these changes:

  skillFriendly=1;
  skillEnemy=0.89999998;
  precisionFriendly=0.85000002;
  precisionEnemy=0.5;

Maybe Naeblis could join us too! There are tons of wonderful mp games, it’s a matter for finding ones that are super fun. Do you have OA? Because I do know some of the base missions are pretty fun for MP. I’ve also got some of my own maps I need to finish that are tailored for a great MP experience.

1809

This thread just will. not. quit.

1810

What’s the problem with it?

1811

Yes, this thread is important for us Arma players. No need to make a new Arma thread everytime we have a question.

1812

Oh I know. I am just surprised by the longevity of the game I suppose.

1813

Considering people still play and mod Operation Flashpoint and Arma1 - expect it to be around 10 more years :)

1814

this is qt3. popular games dont get many threads here, they get huge ones :D

1815

Even though this article(linked from the Critical Distance website) is about CoD: Modern Warfare, it does cover ArmA and the whole genre of modern military fps games and answers some of why i’ve grown very detached from them as games i choose to play, and even games i am suspicious off:

“And the best for last. Written by Joshua Casteel, a former Abu Ghraib interrogator, this is an article about how he sees Modern Warfare 2, hovering in that strange realm between realism and reality. If you’re going to read only one piece of writing from this post, make it this one.” - critical distance

http://www.thepointmag.com/archive/call-of-duty/

1816

Actually the community migrated to OA very fast. There were a few simple coop missions in two days, and in two weeks almost every mission was done for OA. Right now i see 139 coop missions in Armaholic, not looking at the mission packs. I stopped playing around the end of August, who knows which missions are the good ones. It also depends a lot on each person, some people like the big coop missions, some people prefer in more intimate games, some people like stealth, other want a warlike experience, some people like only infantry, other vehicles, etc etc.

Some of them need addons, some of them don’t. 50/50 maybe?.

1817

powerful little essay. deserves a thread of its own imo. i wonder what the guy would think of arma2 and its ties to real world millitary training. war as a game as a tool for war.

1818

It was well-written, but I didn’t see that he had anything particularly new to say about the subject of war in games.

1819

As someone who’s played ArmA for a long time now it’s certainly a subject that has crossed my mind: is this disturbing, playing a game that tries to be realistic when it comes to war?

I find myself answering that on a functional level - the ArmA series is very, very clinical in how it portrays the battlefield. It’s very big on simulating the way various assets on the battlefield interact in a (at least compared to most games) realistic fashion, but very low on the gritty personal aspect of war. It’s a functional game through-and-through. And, importantly, it’s virtually devoid of politics, especially the sort of implicit politics you get a sense of when playing your Call of Dutys or Medal of Honours. Because it’s such unique game in how it presents itself - namely by modelling military forces and massive environments rather than presenting super-slick game modes - it almost entirely avoids making a point at all about war, other than the functional one: this is war and this is how war takes place. Which can be an engaging and challenging perspective in itself, but it’s not a political or emotional one.

If anything I think this is the series’ weak point, that it could be much more engaging if it felt less clinical and more personal in its execution, and if it did I’d be saying something different.

1820

For myself i find games like CoD or MoH more like ‘gun porn’, they are hollywood fantasies of what my ‘soldier’ self would like war to be like, slick, precise, just etc.

ArmA is different, as you say Lh’owon it’s very clinical in how it portrays the battlefield. That’s it’s priority.

I suppose i ‘gave up’ on fps war games around the Delta Force era, but have played a bit of all the new ones at friends etc. For me the new ones remind me of training(like the much more eloquent Joshua Casteel).

I’m 80% certain that is part of their reason for being. I have a hunch that some of the funding for these games comes from parties with vested interests in ensuring the ‘hollywood fantasies’ of modern war are being passed on efficiently to the next generation etc. I find them all very distasteful in their deception around this, so i don’t buy them(but the ‘kids’ love them it seems).