Well I have finally been able to sit down and play for a while and my first real impression is OMFG!! This game has, atleast for me, a learning curve that´s as high as Mount Everest. I´ve played for about 5 hours and am still on the first mission :-[ the only thing left is to take out the antiship missiles and the SAM´s at the lighthouse. This is going to take a loooooong time for me to finish, especially seeing as I´m on what basically is the tutorial :P still having said that it´s a great game. :-X
nice :)
Don't worry, it took me quite some time to figure the stuff out. Great you started a topic with the subject "impressions" because I am going to rename the one I started :)
what do you think of the graphics and "feel" so far?
Quote from: Art Blade on October 17, 2009, 08:41:30 AM
what do you think of the graphics and "feel" so far?
Well, everything looks really good and I like the "feel". when you equip a heavy weapon you really notice the difference it makes. Driving is a lot different to what I´m used from games like FC2. Mostly because you are not able to look around, you can´even turn your head to the side. The AI is quite good but it does have some glitches, I have discovered that just because I can use a certain route, my teammates may not. Not only are they not able to climb over small obstacles they also have trouble traversing certain slopes.
I was making my way north towards the lighthouse along the eastern shoreline of the island. I had no problem walking over the steep slope but when I turn around to check how my TM´s were doing they were all running back and up the hill to the road, so there´s another thing to keep in mind.
I too noticed that. Apparently it has to do with too steep a slope or too high an obstacle (fence, rocks) or too wet a puddle (as in the sea) hehehe. Then they need to find a way around. You can help them using the map view, right-click somewhere near them where they should go and order "move" (to that spot). Then you can call them to follow you again.
It was difficult for me to start using the map view. I was so tense all the time I didn't find the time to open the map, let alone decide what to do with it that made sense. And I was like "OK, I'll give them some orders at once regarding formation, spread, and Rules Of Engagement (RoE)" and then I didn't want to tell them any more because I got myself entangled in a fight and never had a second to spare to reassign them or change their orders. That changed over time, a lot of time :)
How's it going, deadman? Any progress, stories, accidents...? :)
Some progress atleast. The first mission are done thank god :) I haven´t been able to play any since saturday (it´s monday for me now) because my monitor started to act funny on saturday night. Yesterday I spent the day getting used to my new monitor (21,5" 16/9 format) so I´ll wait until ths coming weekend before getting my teeth into it again. I will be sure to examine your post about the missions before going back to get some useful tips :-X
cool, a widescreen monitor :-X You'll have lots of fun :)
And thanks for the comment on my tips, glad if you enjoy them :)
Btw I have notice that sometimes there is a yellow flag with an arrow attached (there is one in your screenshot for the start of the third mission) do you know what the are for? I can´t find it in the manual.
those are markers that point out the safest route (or what they think it is) :) If you approach one, the next will appear. It often leads you to checkpoints. :)
Ok thanks mate I´ll try and follow them next time. then maybe it won´t take 6,5 hours to complete a mission ;D
lol :-X
Cool - I didn't know that about the yellow markers either :-X
:)
Any progress, deadman?
I managed to get the first objective done last night, but I think that I´ll start over because the more I play the more I realize how I should do things. Or I can just skip doing every mission perfect :P. The problem is that I don´t have that much time to play during weeknights and I like to take my time so I´ll hopefully be able to do that OFP marathon I mentioned before this weekend instead.
looking forward to reading your reports :) :-X
Second mission done and 1 objective of third mission taken care of. :-* I´ll tell you those APgunners are very hard to spot when the lie in the grass, lucky for me I have eyes like an eagle (not!!) ;D
;D So you are enjoying it ;) :)
- Let your team mates go a little ahead of you - use "Vee" formation for that. They will spot the enemy for you. If you use fire at will, you will know when it's time :)
- Once you have an encounter, use "line" with combat spead or "Wedge" with normal spread and fire at will.
- If you want to sneak around, use "column" and tight spread, and return fire or fire on my command.
Should help you get around :)
Unlike the solitary nature of your character in FC2, commanding your squad (rather than going it alone) significantly increases the probability of success in OFP2. For comparison, I've been playing Brothers in Arms:HH, and while asquad is at your disposal, it really doesn't matter if you use it much.
Absolutely. I am more and more into using my unit with purpose, like let them go there while I go elswhere, let them move to a position, let them extend my means of fire etc. Basically that's tactics and sometimes strategy, even, if you have intel about enemy positions. Usually you can't survive without your men, and they usually won't survive without your help. It really works as a team :) :-X
It does sound like the various tactics you can use with/without your men exactly by your side will allow for much replay value. The more experience I accumulate in the game, the better I like it. :-X
After it finally arrived in the post (Royal Mail in UK get -50 out of 10 for reliability - and despite recession they are on strike for a pay rise - cheeky sods!) Played 1st mission, lasted a grand total of 21 minutes, and only managed to complete 1st primary objective before All ammo was gone which was very closely followed by a quick death!
Very impressed so far though, now just need to master the controls and team commands.
Its alot more difficult than OFP 1 and A2, but i like a challenge :-X
hey, cool you finally got it :)
Difficult? For me, ArmA2 was a nightmare in comparison, funny how different perception can be :)
I want to add an impression regarding "destructible environment" because I was especially interested in that feature before the game was released. The destruction is not realistic at all. I put a C4 device inside a house and blew it up, there was a bang and a flash, and the house looked a ruin the next moment. No animation of collapsing walls, or parts that fall off... That was a little better in ArmA2, I remember it took three IEDs to fully collapse a building, and it had stages of destruction. Well, what I blew up here was probably made of wood, mostly, yet no debris or chunks of wall flew around. The ruin looks very prefabricated and it doesn't matter if you blow it up from the inside or outside, they look the same.
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I agree about the destruction animations, although it was funny to see destroyed buildings in A2 descend into the ground like they are on an elevator ;D
hehe :)
I've been blowing up more stuff. Funny was this here, my mate apparently has kevlar skin :)
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Third mission done and it only took me 2 reloads to do it. I split my team in half with 2 members using one of the stationary heavy MG:s while I and the last teammember used the other one. One guy on the MG and the other one defending that position proved to be the answer. I have also already managed to fail the fourth mission, you really don´t have much tim in witch to find and kill that enemy armor.
Fourth mission, for me it was luck finding those tanks: I died right there in the first go, so I knew where to expect them in my second go, and my team mate had his SMAW at the ready, took out the first tank and I had mine at the ready and took out the second tank which was coming up from behind the first... it was like
[team mate] "tank 1!" bang
[tank1] BANG!
[me] "oh, there...tank 2!" bang
[tank2] BANG!
[me] "that was quick!"
;D
One impression regarding "suppressors" (aka silencers)
They are by far not silenced weapons. There are only those: M4A1 NightOps/Stealth, M16A4 NightOps/Stealth, Mk16 Mod0 Stealth, QBZ95 NightOps. They are indeed suppressed, that means I could hear team mates and enemy NightOps shoot from around a hundred meters away. Unfortunately you can't see much farther than that with assault rifle scopes in OFP2, that means you can hardly call that an advantage. Also, because the ammo is "underpowered" the hits are not as hard and range isn't too good either. If you could aim well enough to shoot from beyond hearing range, that would have been cool...
I need a Chey Tac Sniper Rifle ;D
I was mistaken, the PLA don't have suppressed weapons. And NightOps neither ;)
I can't wait until mods come out for OFP2 :-X
I am seriously impressed with the game physics. I watched General Han drown, he floated a little, his butt was the heaviest bodypart at first that dragged him down. The hands and feet came up, then the head tilted back and started to go down, "heels over heads," hehe, dragging the rest with it until the body came to rest on the seabed. You can see a moment of General Han's "downfall" (he's under water) Hats off to the devs :) :-X
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Haha, nice one! :-X
I am seriously impressed with the game's AI, too ;D
Just so happened, I was on my own (no team) and I got wounded. A nearby friendly team reacted when, out of fun, I called for a medic. They actually sent their medic over who did patch me up! :-X
That's cool! :-X :-X
I was thinking of JRD and how he was fantasising about the highest mountain (Mount Voyslava) on Skira. I've been to the top, it's all green, and unfortunately no special final battle on it.
But in this pic you can see Mount Voyslava in the background, and to the right, about 660yd/600m away, that is an explosion caused by an air strike with a JDAM (some huge bomb or missile). I reckon the dust cloud is about more than 100yd in diameter. I know it kills you if you are within the blast radius which is about 100+yd ;D (the icons in the top left corner stand for fire teams, I am squad leader during an editor session.)
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Quote from: Art Blade on November 07, 2009, 06:21:39 PM
I was thinking of JRD and how he was fantasising about the highest mountain (Mount Voyslava) on Skira. I've been to the top, it's all green, and unfortunately no special final battle on it.
But in this pic you can see Mount Voyslava in the background, and to the right, about 660yd/600m away, that is an explosion caused by an air strike with a JDAM (some huge bomb or missile). I reckon the dust cloud is about more than 100yd in diameter. I know it kills you if you are within the blast radius which is about 100+yd ;D (the icons in the top left corner stand for fire teams, I am squad leader during an editor session.)
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Nice one Art... thanks for the heads up about the place... I almost forgot about it ::)... as in FUEL, I like to go out and explore the virtual world games present us. A nice draw distance earns the game a few points in my score for sure!
Too bad devs didn't make a nice final battle in the volcano. I reckon it's due to the "real-life simulator" nature of the game, which is a pitty.... virtual life can break loose of those real life rules sometimes.
In the original OFP - Cold War Crisis, when you neutralise a nuke in Russian hands, you find out they have a spare nuke and are about to launch it across the island of Everon... its a desperate rush across the land to finish the convoy in time... a great ending!
I was hoping for something like that this time, but it seems that its up to the community to come up with such missions ;)
Will keep an eye open for OWG custom missions here!!
Cheers all
I've found that custom missions "rock" and are often better than some of the original missions in my opinion. I recall gvse posting a homegrown mission for A2 that I've replayed many times because it is quite fun. Although I've not been in A2 for a while, I'll be back one of these days because of the proliferation of the number of user-created missions.
Exploring in OFP2 is more or less only possible while using the editor or if you create a mission that doesn't limit you. Then again, exploring takes a bloody huge amount of time if you are on foot. Helicopters may be an idea, but you don't see much in vehicles due to the fact that you can't move your head around (much), in cars it's only forward view as if your head was nailed to the headrest. I prefer some kind of dune buggy to drive around, then get out and walk a bit, then back into the vehicle and so on.
User missions are a nice diversion and gvse did some cool missions indeed :) I started editing in ArmA2, but the game... you know I kind of threw it away, despite of the mods. OPF2 has good potential, but it takes some time if you never used LUA script language before. There lies the power of the editor, you can sort of do stuff that resembles directing a movie. You can of course make simple missions with a well-chosen surrounding, such as the lone sniper mission, which is just great to play. Currently I am quite busy understanding LUA and how it affects the mission, what you can do with it and all. I hope that I'll be able to finish and upload a mission sometime :)
A DLC pack/patch was released a few days ago, and contains four new missions. The middle two aren't really missions but are open touring opportunities, one set during daytime, the other at night. There are no enemies and no tasks to acheive, and you just have to quit them when you have had enough, but you can explore the entire island in your own time. I found it quite interresting, as I could see the locations of the various missions in relation to each other. It helped provide a better geographical perspective.
In the daylight tour you start at Raskova Airfield at the southwest of Skira, standing beside several helis which you can take for a spin, as it were. There are plenty of other vehicles available, too.
I found the helis a little clumsy to fly, and especially to land, as the 1st person view is fixed and you can't see what is below you. 3rd person view would be much better for this, but it is disabled in hardcore.
I was always able to walk away from a landing, but often not fly away again afterwards, unless I found another heli!
zx80
The DLC/patch was mentioned in TweakGuides.com on the 6th November, and has a link there to it.
zx80
Yesterday I spent like one hour reading all the complaints about the patch on CM's official forum and decided not to install it, because it has some negative effects on modding the game and didn't improve anything for the SP game.
Will post my impressions so far here as I didn`t finish the game (playing last mission).
As soon as I`m done, will also make a post about what I think of the game as a whole.
But for now, just want to write about what I miss...
This is not a true sequel, it only bears the name of Operation Flashpoint.. no news, I know, we are all aware that the true successor is called ArmA, but I have to say it ::)
What I miss the most in OFP2 is the true freedom to play.
Lets compare OFP1 and OFP2
In OFP1 you begin following orders as a private and as the game progress you are promoted and earn command of a few men.
Which means that in the early missions you do as you are told and the rest of AI keeps following their scripted paths regardless of you.
As you grow on importance, when you screw up, a whole mission goes down the drain with you and you men die... bad, bad frog!
In OFP2 you just do as you are told and have little control on what`s going on
From the middle of the game on you get to play as other characters: a specop, a tank commander and a pilot and you have a few missions with lots of vehicles to use and it really makes a difference in gameplay (heck, when you think you can manage well a Cobra you are given an A10 plane to fly ;D). From the last third of the game on (or maybe even earlier) you are the field commander, which means that you have to assess the situation, issue orders to a large group of soldiers and WHEN YOU ARE READY, call for an air strike or armour advance.
Its up to you to neutralise AAA and THEN call your Cobras in...its your choice and if you are wrong, mission over but if you time it right, man, thats thrilling...
In OFP2 you just do as you are told and have little control on what`s going on
In OFP1, you feel like you are into a campaign and YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE. You are the last man standing from the first NATO troops. YOU make contact with the resistence and helps them fight Russian off the island. YOU meet USMC troops, update them of the real situation and command the strike back. You get promoted so many times it really makes you proud of your actions...
In OFP2 you just do as you are told and have little control on what`s going on
In OFP1 you have lots of opportunity to free roam and get to know the island you are in. You can explore and choose the best route to a stealth approach or a direct hit (not always, but you get the chance to do it), you have time to study enemy patrols and neutralise them or remain undetected
In OFP2 you just do as you are told and have little control on what`s going on
OFP2 could do a lot better if they let you be the one that wins the war instead of just be part of it... its a war sim, yes, I know... but first of all, its a game and should be fun!
In the end it feels almost like a corridor shooter. if you don`t follow that path, you loose! :(
OK, rant mode off... sorry about that! ;D
good one, corridor shooter... it really feels like that sometimes. I agree, a little too linear for my taste, too. And I'd like to get promoted or earn a medal... some earlier games did that.
I just whish I could call the shots for a change.
For instance when Sabre One goes
"Hydra inbound in five minutes" ... and you have to go through two dozens of angry soldiers before destroying their AAA capability
I'd like to say
"Tell the sucker to stay put or the China will pop their @ss out... I'm having a little trouble shooting dead half an army here ok?"
It would be great if they could just let you do your job AND THEN call the air strike!
I bet soldiers in real life can call their bosses and say... "gimme 10 more minutes chief!" :P
I mean... geez, its a helicopter for heaven's sake... hoover on for a while before entering enemy controlled air space!!
It would add a lot to gameplay as you could plan a bit before go on with your rampage and also would give the player the feeling of doing something more instead of rushing through the level in time
OFP1 give you much more freedom to approach missions... and they also had some timed missions but only a few, as a general rule you were the one doing the job and calling the shots!
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Aaaarrrggghhh... the more I read my posts the more upset I get with myself... whinning, whinning, whinning... >:(
OK, thats the last one, I promisse ;D
Think of the cool stuff. Like 3D sound that travels at the right speed (first you see an explosion, and then you hear it) and the great ballistics (bullets don't always hit in the middle of the crosshair... crosshair marks make sense). :)
When I finish the game I'll post some good impressions as well... I'm just a bit sad it's almost over and I didn't get some aspects I was dreaming about :(
I see. Sorry to hear that, JRD :(
Well, the last mission will most certainly keep you busy for a while. And more so if you want to complete all primary and secondary objectives (keeping that general alive is not so easy, your own men might attack him, so be careful about where they are and what they do) :)
Personally, I appreciate you taking the time to post your impressions, and do not interpret what you write as a rant - quite the contrary; it is useful for me to read your negative impressions because I kind of know your gaming preferences, likes, and dislikes, so your post helps me in making game purchasing decisions. It is only too bad that I'd already made the purchase before reading your post ;D
Thanks for the kind wiords PZ
I'd strongly recommend you get OFP1 if it wasn't for the very outdated graphics... but an excellent gameplay.
If you can overlook blocky characters and the absence of tall grass (pretend the whole island is a golf course ::) ) and if you find it somewhere - it will be cheap - then get it!! ;)
Quote from: JRD on January 19, 2010, 10:06:54 AM
... (pretend the whole island is a golf course ::) ) and if you find it somewhere - it will be cheap - then get it!! ;)
lol, I might just do that if I find it on the sale rack! :-X
funny comment, indeed... a golf course LOL! :-X
Ok sorry for the necro, but since the price for this has dropped, i'm kind of interested in getting it. I just need a straight up opinion from some of you on how good it is. I love tactical games, and this one sorta looks straight up my alley. So is it good enough to buy, or is it one of those game you have to rent/play the demo first to really get a strong opinion on whether to buy it or not? If not, are there any other games sort of like this one with big open environments that ARE worth getting? Kinda lookin for a new game to keep me busy this weekend.
After a while, I think I can come up with a non biased opinion... it`s a great game, but I was expecting more!
Ok, expectations were high regarding this particular game for me... I was waiting for it for quite a long time. I`ve played the original OFP1 and if you have also, I must tell you, this is nothing like that one.
Most missions are time-based. Either you accomplish your objective in time, or you fail. Which is quite frustrating for an open world game (you just can`t explore it). It also prevents you from just staying low studying the enemy or terrain before make your move.
Not a lengthy campaign either, so expect to beat this game in some 15-20 hours.
As for gameplay, well, commands are much more user friendly than the original and some new features are excellent - like calling artillery attacks or saving them for later on. AI is smart but sometimes they get in your way during firefights. Enemy AI seems very scripted due to the nature of the game... you are supposed to do something and not taking too long, so you don`t have too many options as where or how can you tackle missions.
All in all I`d say.. buy it only if it is really cheap, otherwise, wait for the end of the year... this game will be in the discount shelf for sure!
I too am looking for a nice tactical shooter and ended up buying an Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crysis + Resistence bundle really cheap and am working my way through those blocky graphics of Everon all over again!
Thanks for the small review/opinion, it's greatly appreciated. After going through countless reviews of it i do indeed think i'll wait a while for this one. I've been looking into a couple other games as well, but i'm sure no one around here has played them -Crackdown 2, The Saboteur, and maybe a few others I can't think of atm. Price isn't a concern for me as i'm most likely trading in Splinter Cell Conviction(kinda disappointing). If nothing catches my eye i'll most likely just settle for Hitman:BM, as i've played that on PC and the original xbox, and loved both.
I'm also playing HM:BM... great game.
Another tactical shooter is ArmA 2 which I'm sure you've already checked. It starts as a great sequel of OFP, but they kind of lost it somewhere during development. Too buggy and some missions are just plain boring.
Make a war tactical sim, yeah, but please, make it fun, make it enjoyable. I don't want to know how it feels like to be in a real war, I'm just sitting by my PC trying to play some games! ;)
To be honest, there is a huge community waiting for a decent war sim out there only there's not even a shadow of one in the horizon :'(
And those games you mentioned, I'm not familiar with Crackdown, but maybe if you go ahead and post something about them you might find someone also interested or even familiar with them... in the best case scenario, some of use might even get one of those and before you know it, we'll have another board to discuss :-() :-() :-()
OFP:CWC and Resistance are hugely modded, so you can have better graphics and infinite campaigns and missions to play. It works as a fix for me sometimes, when I want to get serious in FPS
Quote from: tehsam016 on August 20, 2010, 09:33:55 AMi'm sure no one around here has played them .. The Saboteur
well, we have that game listed and reviewed here (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=783.0) ;)
Excellent read, JRD - I'd agree with your opinion, and felt the same way as I played what little I did. I just can't seem to get into games where things are timed - at least where the timing is so short for my gaming skills that I never make it through without using cheats of some kind.
Tried to play this on the PS3 last night. Played single mission option, the first mission in the game with the result being complete and total failure. My 4 man team (or Me and 3 Artificial Idiots) managed to kill 1 enemy before I was taken out in 2 shots.
So my immediate impression of the game is that I need a heck of a lot more practice!!!
It took me several minutes to think about looking in the book for how to turn off the flash light I'd turned on without realising what had done to turn it on.
Despite being utterly useless it is one game I am determined to master, no doubt there will be many more epic fails before that happens."
That`s a game I eagerly anticipated but felt quite frustrated in the end... the reason: open world my @ss >:((
Four men lead by you, a huge island but all missions are time based at some point so you barely have time to explore, try new crazy stuff or study a strategy. Their (devs) bottom line is that you are just part of a major coordinated assault party so if you fail to accomplish your part of the mission before the rest of the assault team gets in position, they won`t wait for you. :-\\
Overall it looks nice, sound is cool and the commands are quite user friendly, only thing is mission architecture... I felt like I didn`t have time to have fun during gameplay... :D
It has nothing on Arma2 for open-ness, but looks nice for a tactical / realistic based shooter. Will persevere until the PS3 controller hits the wall like a speeding bullet then sulk for a bit I guess.
the only real fun was the user-made sniper level.
Damn it... the game has nothing on Operation Flashpoint either... I bought a GOTY edition of the original OFP1 + Resistance pack for 5 pounds when I was in UK just for the sake of playing the war sim I was craving >:((
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blocky but goody :)