Campaign and Bonus Mission Diary (Tips included)

[Art Blade]

Alright, I know you're waiting for this.

As I had hoped for, the installation dialog asked me to select a language and kept that language for the game. So I got it set in English and of course I am very satisfied that I now have the same language selection as you guys. The installation didn't take too long but required me to reboot my PC (apparently installed some new drivers, probably for the PhysX™ by AGEIA, which is required as well as directX© 9.0c)

Using a GTX260 @ 1920*1200 res and core i7 920 system with 3 GB RAM running Windows XP32, the game allowed me to manually set the graphics to overall high (which is the max). As usually I don't use AA nor AF, but trilinear filtering and the nVidia driver basically set to max quality. The graphics during the first mission were smooth, no stutter. I set the game difficulty to "normal" (there are only three options, starting with "normal").

First Mission

As expected, I didn't know what to do but fortunately I got popups which told me what to do, a little tutorial that happened on the way to the first checkpoint. So I got told to look out for resupply options, you can loot bodies and ammo crates, both of which may contain weapons. The first weapon switch I did revealed my combat knife with which I can slash and stab... nasty toy, might use it to fix dinner with :)

The latest vid we have (first 10 minutes of gameplay) is actually what you get when you fire up OPF:DR and start the first campaign. You see the popups in the vid, too.

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Well, I had to issue orders to my team, you hit a key (q) and a  command circle pops up, almost like Crysis. The commands are given by selecting from that "wheel" using movement keys. So you either command or move. Best to issue a command and then hit "q" again so you actually continue moving, rather than accidently revoking your recent orders and replacing them with new silly senseless suicidal ones, which I did. No one noticed, so I corrected my mistake before anyone got killed ;)

First contact. My teammates spotted the enemy and opened fire. I didn't see the enemy at first, but unlike ArmA2, you do get a chance to actually see them, even hit them if you're lucky or trained, which I wasn't (so far). However, I managed to proceed through checkpoints, shoot a little, and had to call an airstrike or something like that, as seen in the vid. That killed 11 enemies. I saw enemies flee into the woods but never killed anyone. I had found a sniper with a scope like the Dragunov but it's hard to tell where that bullet goes if you're far from the target. It is noticeable that it's ballistic, it takes a little time until you see a dust cloudlet where your bullet hit (the ground). Sounds are believable, combat sounds are appetising, moving around is fun until you get dirt splatter into your vision and hear that clink! clonk! of bullets zipping around you hitting the ground where you stand. It does give you a feeling of "feck, where'd that come from" and "bloody need some cover, now!" :) You immediately forget you're playing, because you're playing  :-X

Got to the extraction point, the heli picked us up. No artificial dumbness so far, no silly accidents, all smooth. I noticed I missed the secondary objective, to destroy some missiles... Will now go back and replay that mission. I don't like unfinished business :)

Alright, this game feels good, sounds good, the graphics in the first mission are a little like black and white, only in orange-ish colours. Probably dawn or dusk or something, was ok though. I was too busy checking my controls and weapons, reloading unecessarily etc so I didn't see much :)

But it's fun, alright :)  :-X

[deadman1]

Thanks for that Art, I hope the swedish postal service are on there toes and deliver my game tomorrow. Otherwise I may have to FC2 on them  :-*

[PZ]

Enjoyed your first impression, especially the part about an installation that actually works (unlike HOE  :D )  ;D ;D ;D

Looking forward to further stories  :-X

[RedRaven]

If any OWG members have played OFP1 a compare/contrast would be cool. will be doing it when got my copy. And likewise a comparison to A2 . As both originally came from the same company at some point. Even though i'm still playing OFP1 and A2 i've noticed quite a difference in the AI of troops on my side of a game, A2 they seem to cope with fire fights and survive a bit longer, where as they sometimes act more like cannon fodder in OFP1. Reckon AI programming has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past 7-8 years tho...

[Art Blade]

Ok, time for a little more before I hit the sack :)

I didn't play all the time, in beween I had some stuff to do and threw a glance at the official strategy guide (the book I bought). The book looks promising, loads of detailed infos about weapons, ammo, vehicles etc. and covers xbox as well as PS3 (and PC of course). Apparently the game favours consoles, with the controller you can walk slow-medium-fast whereas the PC keyboard only allows fast. Hmm.

As I said, I went back to the first mission and ignored the primary target so I could take a look at the secondaries. My group followed me along the shore of that mini-island where you start the game (on the map it's small compared to the main island) but I can tell you, this spot is laaaarge already if you walk around. I can swim, they don't like it... more like walking around in shallow water. I can climb over an obstacle (you see an icon popping up suggesting you use "activate" which causes you to climb over it) but my fellow team mates can't. They need a way around it or they are trapped. Better remember that when you use shortcuts and find yourself pondering where the heck the team is.

We found a missile base and I killed my first enemy there. Playing on normal, your sights give some feedback: If you shoot and see nothing special, you missed. If you shoot and you see a white animated crosshair sort of icon, you did hit the target as in wounded it. If you see a red animation in your sights, you killed it. And then your character goes "enemy support gunner eliminated" and you go "YESSSsss!"  ;D I blew up the rockets with a remote explosive device, and the smoke kept crawling into the sky long after we left the place behind, and that smoke column was well visible.

We marched on to the northern part of that isle towards a lighthouse where another set of missiles was waiting. On the way we met opposition. This time I managed to snipe the bastards, yessss... and that was a nice thrill. They were on top of a hill, shooting at us, and I could see where my bullets hit sandbags or other objects. I needed to aim higher than the centre of my scope, needed some pre-aiming ability too, so the soldiers behind the sandbags got it right between the ears when they popped up from behind. I aimed high, guessed when he'd dare stick out his head again and shot before he did. To his surprise he timed my bullet just nice and I got that red mark in my sights and heard myself go "enemy gunman eliminated"  :) Took them out one at the time, and enjoyed myself. I found an ammo crate with weapons, one of them quite big... A Javelin.

When we proceeded to the north, we were on top of a hill and below was that encampment, hmm, no, bigger. A camp with a tank sitting there! I could hear the Diesel and see that thing. And then the camp personnel opened fire and I heard an alarm go off. I thought maybe that fat Javelin might come in handy to destroy either the missiles or that tank and started to unwrap that thing. Takes time. You watch yourself pulling it off your back (even hear carrying straps slide over your clothes) and put it to the ground, then assemble something and pull it up to use.

To my dismay I got shot during all that and started bleeding. I noticed the sound reception changed, I noticed my heart beat louder (so I heard it for the first time) and my vision started to turn red in the periferals. So I went to see my medic who patched me up.The blood loss is shown on your screen by means of a red circle that goes counter-clockwise, like some chronometers do when counting down a minute, and you understand you loose blood because that circle keeps dissolving at one end towards the other end. Gulp. I patched up a buddy with my field kit or what it's called: You equip that bandage bag and walk to him, he'll notice what you want to do and waits for you. Then you see the same system as the blood loss, only this time big and orange and in the middle of the screen, around a red-cross symbol. Aha, wait until time's up so he'll be ready to trudge on.

I tried to fire the Javelin but it wouldn't pick up a target and it showed a crossed-out range symbol. Damn. I replaced it with an assault rifle and shot some enemy but one ba$t@rd (lol!) had been hiding around the corner, lying on the ground without moving or shooting, until I thought that area was clear - then he clipped me for good.  ;D The AI is not bad at all, was quite fun to watch them.  :-X

Only one thing I don't understand, I lost the scroll function of my mousewheel during the game.  :D Don't know if it can be en- and disabled, but I guess it's a bug. Maybe due to some alt-tabbing too many or doing something the game didn't expect me to do, but anyway I lost that function which was bad. It has different functions, depending if you're on the map view or walking, where it serves to scroll through weapons (which auto-select themselves once you stop scrolling, the one highlighted gets picked). I quit the game for today and will play on tomorrow.

So far already very entertaining and good fun  :-X

Oh, by the way, I took so long to play around I realised the colours changed and a full moon (of course a FULL moon) could be seen... So there is a day/night cycle and the envrionment reflects that. :)

[PZ]

Sounds like the game has quite a bit of promise.  Also sounds like your team is exhibiting some of the "artificial dumbness" that the FC2 mercs do - afraid of water, and can't climb.  I'm looking forward to getting the game soon  :-X

[fragger]

Nice report on this, Art. Another great-sounding game that I can't afford yet (sigh).

I'm - damn, there's no smiley for jealousy... I'll just have to use this one :D

[JRD]

They say AI is smart enough to refuse to follow suicidal orders like a direct attack to a machine gun nest or a tank. They'll say something like "hell, no... are you serious? No way!!!" and apparently, if you start running in circles like a dumb maniac or start firing at trees they'll also react to that!
OhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoyOhBoy

[PZ]

... "hell, no... are you serious? No way!!!" ...

Reminds me of the fat National Guard guy in the movie "First Blood" when the goofy drug store officer told him to go in there and flush Rambo out.

[deadman1]

I really need to stay away from this thread, I didn´t get my game today so I´m a little tiny PO:ed at the moment. And reading about how great it is just makes it worse   :D, I think I need to visit the post office in Bowa and vent some stuff  ;)

[PZ]

Cool - transference of aggression from your local post office to the one in Bowa - I'd say that's poetic justice.

[deadman1]

Cool - transference of aggression from your local post office to the one in Bowa - I'd say that's poetic justice.

Easy choice really, my local postoffice doesn´t contain any flammables + I don´t want to set fire to my game  ;D

[Art Blade]

hahahaha  :-X

[Art Blade]

Just an image of a combat situation. My team and I were taking out enemies that hid in a forest, the smoke and fire you see come from wrecked vehicles (one of my men has a missile launcher). It is dusk, that's why the colours are a little faint and orange-ish.

By the way, the scrollwheel works again, must have been a bug, then.

Also, by the way, you can screw up big time even throughout the first mission. You can't save on purpose, but there are checkpoints the game saves automatically (can't change that) and you can reload at any time from the last CP saved or restart. The higher difficulty levels have fewer checkpoints.

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[Art Blade]

I'm again or still playing the first mission.

If you really go for the secondary objectives, things get complicated a little. Doesn't mean no fun, it is fun, and the more I go along the line of trial and error, the more I understand how important it is to keep my eyes peeled and how suicidal it is to just run cross country. It makes sense to scan the area either with a rifle scope or binoculars, so you get to spot enemies eventually.

I'm now stepping around at night, and got killed more than once, by surprise, while getting close to an enemy who was hidden in a bush or behind a tree. They really seek out trees to hide behind and use cover efficiently. They tend to surprise you when you don't expect it and chances are levelled on either side of achieving a kill or a surprise. The own team mates have good eyes and not too bad a skill with weapons, but you never know if they get hit or dish out hits.

Playing for a good amount of time allows you to get used to your own weapons and how they shoot, ballistics and such, and you'll get much better at hitting and killing from afar with a sniper rifle. There is practically no chance to survive a close encounter. Neither for you nor an enemy. A burst from an assault rifle is deadly.  Who shoots first, wins, is the motto. On the other hand, if the enemy shoots and you see the muzzle flash, you can train your weapon on it and might get a lucky shot. Let's rephrase that: An educated guess before you shoot increases your chances :)

I panicked once when I was about to assault a building with my team. On my way an enemy popped up in front of me... after he shot me dead. He was actually sitting in a bush and waited until I got close enough for him to kill me at 100% chance and for me to have 0.00% chance to avoid it. Bastards  ;D The AI is not bad at all. What JRD mentioned about the AI refusing to obey silly orders, it is true that they see if something is possible or not, so if you issue an order to go to attack something that is not an enemy (a brick wall for example) they say "can't do that" or some such thing.

One tip I got from the book is to not use the airstrike option when being told to do so but to save it for later. I'll use it on the northern target near the lighthouse because there is a bloody tank sitting and some mean bastards waiting for us. It was not really a problem to fight where the airstrike was suggested by the tutorial.

I think it works quite well if you don't hurry a fight but to proceed slowly. Like that you can check the positions of enemies and react with small movements to avoid getting hit but at the same time marking your target and then stop to take it out. You'll see, it's actually a good mixture of thrill, anxiety and fun if you go into combat :)

[Art Blade]

Finished the first mission. Finally :) As "promised" I used the bombardment for the northern target which I took out last, this time the tank went up in flames - see pic :) By the way, if you do that lighthouse target in the north, grab the jeep and drive it a little away, let your team wait inside the jeep and go back to blow up the missiles. That way you both keep your team safe from the explosion and keep the jeep so you can drive with that back to the Landing Zone. If you did all the objectives thoroughly, there won't be any resistance left on your way back - enjoy the ride. Speaking of which, driving isn't exactly the best quality of the AI  :D Better drive yourself.

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Alright. 3 primary, 3 secondary goals in the first mission takes some time, at least for me, playing around with commands and silly tactics until I managed to get somewhat halfways decent going and all my men survived. I got shot once and died 6 times during the mission, took me about 1:45 hours but I reckon it can be done much faster. The very first time I did it rather quickly but I missed all secondary objectives lol  :)

This is cool. The next mission involves SpecOps weapons hehe, silencer here I come :)

[PZ]

Excellent read Art, and the pics are great to see as visuals.  A few questions/comments:

• When you're issued a mission, can you go do other things like you can in FC2?
• From the pics I've seen so far, the environment appears similar to ARMA2 - is there variation like in FC2?
• Can you go it alone or do you always travel with your companions?
• Is the driving AI as bad as in ARMA2? (I can't trust my drunken A2 driver farther than I can throw him.)
• ... and the $64,000 question: do you think might be our next "FC2" as far as general and replay value.
  

[Art Blade]

Excellent read Art, and the pics are great to see as visuals.

Cheers :)

A few questions/comments:

Answers/comments in orange / Art

• When you're issued a mission, can you go do other things like you can in FC2?

Yes, unless it is time critical.

• From the pics I've seen so far, the environment appears similar to ARMA2 - is there variation like in FC2?

Not sure. Seems quite similar to me, too.

• Can you go it alone or do you always travel with your companions?

If they get killed, you will be alone. ;)

• Is the driving AI as bad as in ARMA2? (I can't trust my drunken A2 driver farther than I can throw him.)

Yes. But you can assign a route with any number of checkpoints of your choosing.

• ... and the $64,000 question: do you think might be our next "FC2" as far as general and replay value.

It might have a high replay value because you get a mission objective and are free to accomplish it in whatever way you see fit.

[Art Blade]

A sidenote...

Mission Editor User Guide

Welcome to the Operation Flashpoint © : Dragon Rising ™ Mission Editor. With the Mission Editor tool you will be able to create your very own exciting and challenging missions. These missions could range from a simple skirmish with a small number of soldiers to a large scale battle which includes armoured vehicles, helicopters and boats.

Once you have created your mission you can then play it on your PC or distribute it to your friends or other Operation Flashpoint © : Dragon Rising ™ users so they can play your creations. The Mission Editor is extremely powerful and this help file will provide you with details of the core features that are available to you. By the end of the help file you will have already created a number of simple example files that will show you the basics of how to create your own missions.

:)

[Art Blade]

Second Mission

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This time the mission started with three teams. The player is team leader (as in the first mission) and has to get to a target unnoticed. You do see a couple of opportunities but, sigh, have to stay low and are not to engage the enemy (this is a secondary objective). However, not forever :) You sneak around under cover and get to the first primary -- a missile platform -- which of course is guarded. Now you may fight :)

The hard part is helos (flying gunships / helicopters) that patrol the area as well as enemy patrols on foot. Raising the alarm will cause one of your men to say "They are looking for us" and if the enemy doesn't see you during the next 25 seconds, your team mate will utter "we lost them." If they did spot you, he'll go "They know we are here" which will result in reinforcements being called in as well as helos that will attack you for 60 seconds. If a helo on patrol doesn't see you within 30 seconds, it will return to his routine patrol path.

Instinctively I had ordered my men use column formation and to tighten up the spread, as well as to only fire on my lead. I didn't want to appear spread out on the horizon with each and every man firing any second, giving away our position and by that failing to accomplish the secondary objective. During a break I read the strategy guide which recommended exactly the above mentioned modus operandi - I was beaming  :)

This mission is time critical. During my first attempt I was quite eager on scanning the area for enemies and observing their movements, so I was late for a rendevous with flanking fellow team to take out those missiles which were a threat to our ships coming into range of them. Mission aborted = restart. Thanks. The second attempt was alright, I decided to hurry this time, spending most of the trip running which caused me to pant like a dog on a hot summer day and my heart to hammer like a mad blacksmith. But we were early this time.

My gear was an assault rifle not with a silencer as I had hoped for but with termal view. You see your environment in b/w and warm objects as a white silhouette. Quite easy to spot enemies with that optical system on your rifle.

Taking out the enemy was comparatively easy this time, but those bastards had called in some helos. It was pure luck we managed to outrun them and go into hiding, they lost us for some reason and we ran away  ;D

3 primary and 2 secondary objectives completed, the mission was a success and I didn't even die. Funny was my statistics, because I had fired exactly 100 shots of which 27 hit and killed 8. Took me 29 minutes. I had a good mixture of luck and skill this time.

see this topic, the second two links show codemasters playing this mission, with audio commentary.

A word on difficulty. The difficulty does not affect the AI, only how much help you get in your HUD. Since it is not easy to handle all the stuff I keep playing on "normal."

And a word on issueing commands. The "wheel" as I call it is always operated by using direction keys (wsad here) and you can actually try to learn a few commands by heart like this, thinking directions. Instead of wsad I'd call them Up Down Left Right. So, you'd remember a sequence like DLL or URL or LDR and so on. I am not able to do that without thinking but I get quicker now, and simple orders like "follow me" or "move" (towards some sort of spotlight) are always only just "D" or "U". This system is way easier than ArmA2.

[deadman1]

Looks like it´s going to be easy to create makros for us with a G11/15/19 keyboard. Thanks for the tips on tactics Art, they´ll come in handy when I get my game  :-X

[Art Blade]

:)

yeah, maybe a good idea to try macros.

This is the Third mission which is a massive campaign. You start off the beach, see pic, and have to help other troops, take out enemies, seek cover, take out spotter teams, take out other threads, clean a village (more like a farm or ranch) and defend it. The mission is quite a challenge, haven't finished it yet -- I'm taking a break. I killed 21 enemies only in this ongoing mission, so you can get an idea how much more resistance there is.

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see this topic, the first two links show codemasters playing this mission, with audio commentary.

I am still not comfortable with issueing the right orders quickly, and I am also not really comfortable with weapon changes. It always takes time, and so far I have not been able to throw a quick hand grenade (seems to take too much time to find, arm and throw it and then go back to selecting the weapon you'd like to use then). I have difficulties with getting a good plan of how to give my men orders individually creating a position = tactical approach. The game appears to rush me, and I don't have a relaxed moment to exercise command and tactics. Maybe I go back to the first mission and try to divide my group, issueing orders that should result in a flanking assault, taking enemies down from two or even three sides.

Hehe, you know, it feels like the game expects you to be a trained veteran who knows how to tell his people what to do in an instant, but to me it feels like I got the job lying to the recruiting officers, "Sir, I am fully confident I can handle that. No doubts whatsoever. Don't you know I have years of combat experience and have a sideboard full of decorations? I know the command system as if I was born with it." - "Alright, son, here's your team" ;D

I need to train that sh!$ so it helps me rather than takes time that gets me or my men killed  :)

[deadman1]

Military command training would definatively give you an edge in this type of games. I have some military experiance because of my service in the swedish army (mandatory conscription) but I was only a private so I haven´t got any command experience. It´ll be interesting to see if that is any help to me.

[Art Blade]

That would be interesting, indeed. I'm not sure if you thought I was referring to real life experience, just in case, I was referring to a more detailed tutorial I'd like to have. The game doesn't train you in commanding apart from one single action.

The third mission is difficult. I managed to get to the final position, defending and holding a settlement of kinds, and finally survived three attack waves (which was really togh, had to reload several times). Now what... Silence... I guess I found a glitch. The mission accomplished won't pop up... So I can use the time of cease-fire and take photos...

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[PZ]

... The game appears to rush me, and I don't have a relaxed moment to exercise command and tactics...

One of the reasons I like FC2 so much is that I have plenty of time to think about what I intend to do.  Remember on some of the other forums how people complained bitterly about being forced to drive so far?  My thought at the time, and today as well is that it gives me time to think and plan as well as view the environment at my leisure.