Arma 3 Alpha (Beta, full game)

Jaafa

So the Arma 3 alpha is out to buy. 25 euro and you get to play the beta and get a copy of the full game when its out. Pretty good deal IMO.

I have it downloading, anyone get a chance to play it yet?

PirateShampoo

Had a argument about this with a friend earlier.

They want you to pay 25 euro to take part in the Alpha, in which you are doing them a favor and finding all the stuff they messed up, and plus with it being a ARMA game even when it goes full retail its still going to be rediled with bugs.

Its like you paying me to come fix my fence.

Its Alpha, which also means they could scrap the game at any moment and you will never see your money again. Its people who are willing to pay for these types of cons, encourage other companys to pull the same bs.

Jaafa

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Had a argument about this with a friend earlier.

They want you to pay 25 euro to take part in the Alpha, in which you are doing them a favor and finding all the stuff they messed up, and plus with it being a ARMA game even when it goes full retail its still going to be rediled with bugs.

Its like you paying me to come fix my fence.

Its Alpha, which also means they could scrap the game at any moment and you will never see your money again. Its people who are willing to pay for these types of cons, encourage other companys to pull the same bs.

Arma 3 is going to be released, its as sure as a new COD game next year. There's no question of that. People helping out by playing the Alpha means it'll be even better than expected once released, and we can help to ensure there's as few bugs as possible when the game is released. Games of this scale are impossible to clear of bugs without massive player testing.

I had intended on buying the full game on release day anyway, by buying the Alpha I get to try it out early and pay half the price the full game will be.

I don't see how anyone loses in this situation.

cherryghost

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Had a argument about this with a friend earlier.

They want you to pay 25 euro to take part in the Alpha, in which you are doing them a favor and finding all the stuff they messed up, and plus with it being a ARMA game even when it goes full retail its still going to be rediled with bugs.

Its like you paying me to come fix my fence.

Its Alpha, which also means they could scrap the game at any moment and you will never see your money again. Its people who are willing to pay for these types of cons, encourage other companys to pull the same bs.

Just like Minecraft. Oh wait.

Grim.

I played death match and escape for a few hours this evening, fecking superb so far stunning game and more polished than alot of betas I've played the visuals are amazing the gunplay is fantastic as are the sounds

platinums

PirateShampoo wrote: »

...
Its like you paying me to come fix my fence...

Its supply and demand, they could have gone to Kickstarter to raise early capital for this. Ill bet theres no shortage of people signing up either.

Arma was the top game on steam very recently so they are just riding the capitalist wave.
No in fairness they make a good product which I myself am a big fan, It would be foolish NOT to exploit it. (Damn i tried not to use that word)
If I had the money I would have bought too.


The house models still look like they are from a SWAT cardboard training room and kind of stand out from the landscape. Thats the only bad thing i saw from some of the early game play vids. As for the landscape - it all looks a bit lush and mainly for me you seem to be able to spot enemies with out getting dazzled by hazy green textures.
How close/far removed is it from the current gen Arma II. Does movement still feel fractured and jerky?

I should just take a punt and buy it now....really... i should.

Jaafa

platinums wrote: »

Its supply and demand, they could have gone to Kickstarter to raise early capital for this. Ill bet theres no shortage of people signing up either.

Arma was the top game on steam very recently so they are just riding the capitalist wave.
No in fairness they make a good product which I myself am a big fan, It would be foolish NOT to exploit it. (Damn i tried not to use that word)
If I had the money I would have bought too.


The house models still look like they are from a SWAT cardboard training room and kind of stand out from the landscape. Thats the only bad thing i saw from some of the early game play vids. As for the landscape - it all looks a bit lush and mainly for me you seem to be able to spot enemies with out getting dazzled by hazy green textures.
How close/far removed is it from the current gen Arma II. Does movement still feel fractured and jerky?

I should just take a punt and buy it now....really... i should.

Have a look at Shacktac member/founder Dslyecxi's channel on youtube, he's doing a series of videos on the alpha. First one is on movement and he says it's much improved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8vrbzNYEwM

platinums

Jaafa wrote: »

Have a look at Shacktac ...

Aye just watched a whole load of them, very inciteful, just been to Steam also. Now downloading. Could not resist...

1 hour 40 minutes left to download. Steam you're playing with me now.. I could actually stay up to play this.

dreamers75

You dont have to buy it, i tried buying supporter edition but BIS store failed.

Got digital deluxe from steam instead. Arma is one of those games you either do or you dont......invest the time to learn how to play it and enjoy it or invest the time to make something that others need to invest the time to play it.

Its a sandbox, they sell you 90% of a game. Community makes the other 9% and that final 1% comes from them in patches.

Over a thousand patches or Arma 2 as of now and more expected.

Seriously impressed with this Alpha, think the best way to say it is i would pay for this Alpha from BIS as a full game.

Ri_Nollaig

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Had a argument about this with a friend earlier.

They want you to pay 25 euro to take part in the Alpha, in which you are doing them a favor and finding all the stuff they messed up, and plus with it being a ARMA game even when it goes full retail its still going to be rediled with bugs.

Its like you paying me to come fix my fence.

Its Alpha, which also means they could scrap the game at any moment and you will never see your money again. Its people who are willing to pay for these types of cons, encourage other companys to pull the same bs.

You are getting access to the alpha and beta plus a pre-order for the full game at 25 euro. That's not bad value! It will probably retail for about 40-50 when it does come out and unless the company goes under tomorrow (they aren't some start up) it will definitely come out.

As "pre-order"'s go I think this is one of the better ones (ignoring the fact their web store collapsed last night).

cherryghost

Best 25 euro I've spent so far this year.

DeSelby83

I think I'd be interested in this but fear for my laptop. It looks to be pretty system heavy, is that true for those who have played it

humanji

DeSelby83 wrote: »

I think I'd be interested in this but fear for my laptop. It looks to be pretty system heavy, is that true for those who have played it

I haven't played it yet (too many games to play this month), but I think it's mean to run on similar specs for the previous game.

Big Knox

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Had a argument about this with a friend earlier.

They want you to pay 25 euro to take part in the Alpha, in which you are doing them a favor and finding all the stuff they messed up, and plus with it being a ARMA game even when it goes full retail its still going to be rediled with bugs.

Its like you paying me to come fix my fence.

Its Alpha, which also means they could scrap the game at any moment and you will never see your money again. Its people who are willing to pay for these types of cons, encourage other companys to pull the same bs.

Logic fail of the highest order. Arma 3 is a massively anticipated game. This gives those who have been waiting to get their hands on it a chance at doing so while also receiving a discounted price for the full game. How is that not a win - win situation regardless of the benefits it also gives BI in making the official release an even better product?

Will pick this up tonight although I probably won't get to play a huge amount due to Path of Exile still taking up all my time.

platinums

I stayed up and played a bit last night. No hacking and great visuals!

I thought it would be a sad day when I retire Arma 2, like all the other games I have spent.
Arma 3 will be a fitting heir to this throne.

Bring on Wasteland !!!

cherryghost

DeSelby83 wrote: »

I think I'd be interested in this but fear for my laptop. It looks to be pretty system heavy, is that true for those who have played it

What's your specs?

DeSelby83

cherryghost wrote: »

What's your specs?

W7 - 64bit
8gb RAM
i7 1.7 GHz
nvidia 330m

I'm no expert but I'm guessing that my graphics card is really holding me back.

jumbobreakfast

Big Knox wrote: »

Logic fail of the highest order.

To be fair to Pirate, he's probably comparing Arma to other games that dont have a strong modding community or developers who deny that there are problems or bugs with their game. By releasing the game early the modders will have some great mods and missions ready for release. It's amazing how many mods, custom missions and tweaks have been released already: http://www.armaholic.com/index.php?c=news_arma3

jumbobreakfast

DeSelby83 wrote: »

W7 - 64bit
8gb RAM
i7 1.7 GHz
nvidia 330m

I'm no expert but I'm guessing that my graphics card is really holding me back.

https://store.bistudio.com/arma3-digital-deluxe-edition#requirements

Your CPU wont cut it either I'm afraid. Just like arma 2, I was getting less than 20 FPS in built up areas with lots of players and I have a 3GHz i7. Overclocking to 3.8Ghz gave a nice boost (just like in arma 2) but I reckon I'd need to be running at 4+ Ghz to play it comfortably. People with newer i7's might get better results at the same clock speeds though, mine's a core i7-950.

I'm going to play with my settings tonight and see if I can improve it but it's a shame that it doesnt utilise my 2xNvidia 580 graphics cards a bit more. If anyone has any tips, let me know.

ps Everyone who bought the game gets alpha-lite invites so I could send you on one when they become available. you dont get multiplayer with Alpha-Lite but you could test your machine that way. ( I think we get the invites in a few weeks)

Genghiz Cohen

DeSelby83 wrote: »

W7 - 64bit
8gb RAM
i7 1.7 GHz
nvidia 330m

I'm no expert but I'm guessing that my graphics card is really holding me back.

What kind of i7?

DeSelby83

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

What kind of i7?

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 740 @ 1.73GHz (8 CPUs), ~1.7GHz

thats from the directX dianostic tool

cherryghost

DeSelby83 wrote: »

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 740 @ 1.73GHz (8 CPUs), ~1.7GHz

thats from the directX dianostic tool

Hmm the CPU is fine, however the GPU is pretty much on the cusp. Might be a bit too slow. What's your steam username?

Dualtagh

PirateShampoo wrote: »

Its Alpha, which also means they could scrap the game at any moment and you will never see your money again. Its people who are willing to pay for these types of cons, encourage other companys to pull the same bs.

What an ignorant statement. BI don't need the money to finish this game, they've already been working on it for years. This is just giving the fans an early chance to play the game and give feedback on what can be changed to improve it.

Genghiz Cohen

Plus, with the sales of Operation Arrowhead + Combined Ops from DayZ, they will be fine for money for the next.... 700 years.

Grimebox

I have never played any of the Arma's. Can someone tell me why I would bother? Honestly all I can see is a Battlefield/COD clone. What has this got that they don't?

Spear

Grimebox wrote: »

I have never played any of the Arma's. Can someone tell me why I would bother? Honestly all I can see is a Battlefield/COD clone. What has this got that they don't?

Because it's not a BF/CoD clone, it's a combined arms simulator. It's one hit to kill commonly. A variant of this is used by a number of countries as a training simulator.

MajesticDonkey

Grimebox wrote: »

I have never played any of the Arma's. Can someone tell me why I would bother? Honestly all I can see is a Battlefield/COD clone. What has this got that they don't?

Oh god it's nothing similar to BF or COD.

the_syco

PirateShampoo wrote: »

They want you to pay 25 euro to take part in the Alpha, in which you are doing them a favor and finding all the stuff they messed up, and plus with it being a ARMA game even when it goes full retail its still going to be rediled with bugs.

You paid a lot more for Battlefield, you get continuous bugs, some which were never fixed.

Grimebox wrote: »

I have never played any of the Arma's. Can someone tell me why I would bother? Honestly all I can see is a Battlefield/COD clone. What has this got that they don't?

Think of a map that's 20 times larger than the largest Battlefield map, and you have ARMA2. ARMA3 is meant to be bigger.

It's also more realistic, so when landing a chopper, land too hard and you may cripple the chopper. Likewise with a plane; take off too quickly, and the plane may stall and crash.

In Battlefield, you jeep has 20% armour, but still able to drive. In ARMA2, you could shoot one wheel of the jeep, and although the rest of the jeep could be grand, without that wheel it won't be going anywhere, but you could still use the mounted gun on top if there is one.

Also, fuel. Everything in ARMA2 Wasteland uses fuel (not sure if this was a mod feature or not). No fuel, you don't go anywhere. You may have repaired the chopper, but without fuel, it doesn't take off.

Azza

Grimebox wrote:

I have never played any of the Arma's. Can someone tell me why I would bother? Honestly all I can see is a Battlefield/COD clone. What has this got that they don't?

Its not much like BF or Cod at all. Its on the simulation end of things. Weapons and movement is more realistic. Reloading takes time, you carry realistic amounts of ammunation. It takes time travelling to objectives. Your not going be walking there. You will need transportation.

Basically the most popular form of multiplayer comes from community made co-op missions where you and up to say a dozen other players take on missions to destroy different targets usually seperated by seveal miles and guarded sometimes quite literally 100's of enemy soliders. You have complete operational freedom on how you approach targets and normally freedom to choose whatever weapons and vehicles you want to. There is normally a combined life pool used for respawns. Where you might have 100 lifes between you to complete certain objectives.

When you get shot you will probably have no idea where you got shot from. Ranges are huge. You can be firing at tank which is literally a mile or more away. The only way you spotted him was because of muzzle flash. You can fire artillery at targets 15 miles away and the artillery will take a few minutes to arrive. Hitting targets from range is extremely hard. Weapon ballistics are more accurate.

Maps have no boundries you can go anywhere on them.

dreamers75

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=83527616&postcount=63

My specs are in that thread too.

Runs like a dream

the_syco

Does anyone know can you place C4 and/or explosives and or mines, etc, on jeeps, planes, fellow team-mates, etc?

In ARMA2 (Wastelands), if you placed a mine under a dead body, it'd blow up instantly, and if you put a mine on a quad, you'd morph through the quad and end up dying whilst stuck halfway in the quad

ktulu123

Currently rendering a Day 1 highlights video. Will have a video of the Escape Stratis Mission done soon

Fanny Cradock

Did anyone purchase TrackIR? Seems to be fairly popular in the Arma community - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ

dreamers75

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

Did anyone purchase TrackIR? Seems to be fairly popular in the Arma community - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wXx3vMy_AQ

I won one few years ago, great piece of kit but wasnt for me.

Every few minutes my solider would stop and his would tilt back slowly and it was clearly obvious i was drinking beer

MajesticDonkey

the_syco wrote: »

Does anyone know can you place C4 and/or explosives and or mines, etc, on jeeps, planes, fellow team-mates, etc?

It was in one of the release videos, that you can actually put satchel charges on objects now, rather than just on the ground. Not sure how well putting a satchel on a quad, driving at a tank and jumping off at 50mph would work though.

ktulu123

Challenge Accepted

dan_ep82

Theres a few things I'm looking forward to,

Domination
Community made weapons and gear.
Community made vehiclels
ACRE
ACE (at least some parts)

Comparing BF3 to Arma is something akin to comparing Left for Dead to Dayz. They have the same theme but in one there is so much more content and realism.

the_syco

MajesticDonkey wrote: »

Not sure how well putting a satchel on a quad, driving at a tank and jumping off at 50mph would work though.

You jump out of a moving jeep, and you either get two broken legs, or you die.

MadYaker

Those sort of BF3 techniques don't tend to work in ARMA, if you see a tank and you don't have anti tank weaponry then hide and hope they don't see you.

I'll buy this on steam when I get home this evening.

Not The Real Scarecrow

After reading this thread ,I think I'm sold. Only picked up Arma 2 before xmas,mainly for the DayZ, and never got too much of a chance to get into it outside the single player games. Being feckin useless at it as well, kind of put me off trying multiplayer. COD and BF3 gave me a false sense of being good at FPS, played ARMA 2 and realised how sh1t I truly am.

the_syco

Meatwad wrote: »

COD and BF3 gave me a false sense of being good at FPS, played ARMA 2 and realised how sh1t I truly am.

TBH, CoD and BF3 are first person shooters, whilst ARMA is more of a military simulator.

MadYaker

Arma 2 had a dedicated but fairly small fan base who kept to themselves until dayz came along, I hope its popularity will mean Arma 3 will be a bit more mainstream and have more people playing it and creating mods.

the_syco

MadYaker wrote: »

Arma 2 had a dedicated but fairly small fan base who kept to themselves until dayz came along, I hope its popularity will mean Arma 3 will be a bit more mainstream and have more people playing it and creating mods.

I just had a flashback when BF3 came out, and the ****ing ****s crashing every plane, chopper, etc... and since BF3 is flying with auto-pilot on compared to ARMA, it'll be fun to see how fast they all die.

dreamers75

the_syco wrote: »

I just had a flashback when BF3 came out, and the ****ing ****s crashing every plane, chopper, etc... and since BF3 is flying with auto-pilot on compared to ARMA, it'll be fun to see how fast they all die.

Theres a little bird in the A3 editor, i forgot how to fly Arma style

ktulu123

Day 1 highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agg1fr6WRCk

Reddit: http://redd.it/19s97y

Not The Real Scarecrow

Looks like a fairly big improvement over 2,graphics wise, and its only the Alpha.Nice video as well by the way.

Foxhole Norman

Looking at picking this up at the weekend, loved the last one. Can anyone tell me what these specs would be like for it (laptop):

i5 3210M
Nvidia GTX 660M
8GB RAM
W7 64 bit

MajesticDonkey

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Looking at picking this up at the weekend, loved the last one. Can anyone tell me what these specs would be like for it (laptop):

i5 3210M
Nvidia GTX 660M
8GB RAM
W7 64 bit

Not sure how well it'd run with those specs, but I would never advise anyone to game on a laptop.

Grimebox

Reminds me of Operation Flashpoint.

I don't know if this is my cup of tea. Hyper-realism is a negative to me

humanji

Grimebox wrote: »

Reminds me of Operation Flashpoint.

I don't know if this is my cup of tea. Hyper-realism is a negative to me

It's the spiritual successor to the original Operation Flashpoint (made by the same guys, I think). It plays incredibly similar (but updated).

Spear

humanji wrote: »

It's the spiritual successor to the original Operation Flashpoint (made by the same guys, I think). It plays incredibly similar (but updated).

Flashpoint is now called Arma: Cold War Conflict, since Codemasters own the name, not the game itself. It's free with the Digital Deluxe edition too.