5522

Oh yes, Operation Flashpoint used the single save system (checkpoints + only a single user save). And apart of that, the game is hard. Doable, but hard.
It was later, in the Arma series, where they put a more flexible save system and more customizable difficulty.

You can always use the save cheat (control + - , then type savegame) to save whenever you want.

edit: I should add, the same content (Opf + resistance expansion) is as a free mod for Arma 1, with better graphics, and it’s also in development for Arma 2). So maybe you want to try that.

5523

I picked up Flashpoint: ArmA because I am a completionist slob.

It is a great game, but can be very fucking hard. I haven’t played it in years, but the “escape the woods and travel across an open map to safety” level is forever burned in my brain because it is such an unforgiving bastard.

5524

Crawling, time compression and patience were all my best friends for that one, especially after my squad got wiped out a third of the way there. That is the mission I consider my own personal turning point of the campaign, where it went from a fairly standard shooter campaign (by Arma standards, at least) into a beast of its own.

5525

OP has some of my favorite single player moments in any game. But i rage quite it when i got to a mission that started with me in a firefight against another squad. Perhaps because i was playing on a higher difficulty, but jebus that was impossible. The solution to beating it was if i remember something completely insane, like shooting one of my own soldiers, taking his rocket launcher and using it to kill most of the enemy squad. And then over the next hill, with only half my squad alive, was something like three enemy squads and two tanks. At that point, after literally 50 restarts to get there, i was done.

5526

Screw you for reminding me of that (at least I think I’m thinking of the same mission, because I distinctly remember fighting over and over and over again to finally get to the other side of a hill … only to discover tanks i had no way to fight. I, too, ended up fragging the rocket launcher dude and scavenging his weapon).

Still, Operation Flashpoint was pure bliss. I’ve never, even in the sequels, played a game that evoked such strong memories of actually hunting with friends. I don’t know what it was about OFP (probably the iron sights and endless vistas), but it had it.

5527

It’s also forever burned in my brain, but apart from how hard it was, for being so good, atmospheric, and unique! One of the highlights of my gaming history.

I mean, let’s rewind to 2001. Hell, we don’t need that, it’s still pretty awesome in 2011. Can you imagine a military shooter where you don’t win the battle, but for once you are defeated (only that is already a novelty!), and in the middle of the mission against a unexpected bigger enemy as it gets FUBAR’D you are ordered to retreat? And then as you are retreating the radio insist of going fast and reaching the coast, it’s a general retreat, but more and more firefights finish with your squad; in the middle of the night, with bullets everywhere, behind a bush as you see the situation getting worse and worse and being unsure if there is someone from your squad still alive (at some points they stop talking and you are unsure of what happened), you notice that even if the game is a shooter (up to this point the game was still more or less a normal tactical shooter), it’s time to act like if it was real life: it’s smarter to don’t signal your position and run like hell.
As you retreat the radio commands more and more you have to reach the port, and before an specific hour, or you will be left behind.
Then it’s the time you open your map to see where are you and where it’s the objective and say… fuck. Seeing the map you understand you are really at your own, without an squad leader giving orders, and not in a smallish corridor level but in the middle of a big freaking island with forests, roads, valleys, hills, towns, with most of it being overrun by the enemy, with a general objective of reaching a far away point. And in the same map screen, you can see the clock advancing: 35 minutes until the leave you in the ground. And the coast is not exactly close.
At first you run straight to the objective, but later when you hear an engine coming from the road you are, you notice how hard it will be: time to get out of the transited roads and hide in the forest, hoping that the trees will make the enemy lost you. Then you hear shots and it’s when you start to run.

5528

Completely agree. It’s the first shooter I played that has orienteering equipment built in (topgraphical map, compass, watch)… and it was actually useful and important.

5529

Or try and figure out how to steal a jeep or even better an APC and drive it to the port ;-)

But yeah, the Op Flash campaign is highly notable for actually being an FPS campaign from more than six months ago I can actually remember playing parts of! Lots of fun missions. Half Life 2 is about the only other one I can remember.

5530

Did you ever play either of the NOLF games?

5531

I was listening to the QT3 podcast on NOLF recently, brought back good memories! I wish they could be found affordably (I had little luck tracking down inexpensive versions). I imagine I must have the first game somewhere in the house so will take a looksee, but I really wanted to play NOLF2 again, so if anybody spots it and it’s not too expensive, do tell!

5532

I see plentiful copies of NOLF2 in the $10 range, going through shopping.google.com.

Or you could pick up a copy for $5.50 plus shipping from Half.com.

5533

This reminds me that I only own NOLF 2. Need to fix that.

5534

Good suggestions. I’ll keep my eyes out. I got this thing about only buying new games and those lower prices are for used ones… but I don’t want to spend a fortune either!

5535

I buy a lot of used older PC games and very rarely have a problem.

5536

OMG guys, GoG is having an anniversary promo for their DnD games!

http://www.gog.com/en/page/dnd_promo

I’ve been WAITING for these bad boys to go on sale. Just got 'em all for like, $26 (60% off). Wheeee!

5537

GOG just did a press conference, they weren’t able to announce the new publisher but a deal is near complete. You can however win all the GOG catalog if you download the 6M game in celebration for the 3 year anniversary, there is a counter on the site.

5538

WOW, that’s an amazing collection for an amazing price.

I have the original retail versions of most of these but may get them again for my laptop - no more discs, yay. Never played Demon Stone or Dragonshard - are those any good?

5539

I was less than thrilled with Demon Stone - it struck me as a boring hack & slash that didn’t really distinguish itself from any of the millions of similar titles out there, and actually seemed to pale in comparison aside from the use of one of my favorite IPs. Dragonshard always looked neat but I never got around to it. The reviews were very mixed on Dragonshard, with a general feeling that there was a lot of innovation but that it wasn’t always spot-on gameplay.

5540

I was really excited hearing this till I realized I’ve bought all of the games there except Dragonshard, maybe it’s time to give that one a test drive.

5541

There should be a demo out there somewhere if you want to test out Dragonshard, I recall playing it back in 2005 or so. It was okay, but I was more into WC3 at the time.