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#2876047 - 10/08/09 10:46 PM First Impression  
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 237
The Blackbird Offline
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The Blackbird  Offline
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Posts: 237
Belgium
Been playing for a few hours. Experimented around abit. So far, this is what I think.

Pro's:
- Nice and fast-rendering graphics
- Love the thermal scope
- Quick Radial is great to give commands (could be tweaked tho)
- Generally smooth feel

Cons / bugs:
- TrackIR not functioning when playing infantry
- Opposing force misses too much
- Firemode or ammo type not visible on HUD in hardcore mode, which makes no sense since you can see a switch in real life
- No dedicated compass
- Map gives a lot of info, even in hardcore mode
- Too easy to run-and-shoot even looking through the scope!
- Not much of a recoil
- No additional zooming through scope
- You can change weapons while running by pressing 1,2,3, etc... but not while using the scroll wheel
- Missions sometimes feel a bit too scripted
- A non-sticky mode for the Quick Radial could be useful

That's it for now. When commenting, please keep this discussion polite and constructive. Thank you smile

B.

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#2876105 - 10/09/09 12:12 AM Re: First Impression [Re: The Blackbird]  
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 79
xanth Offline
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xanth  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 79
Here is my 2 cents

Pros

- Smooth gameplay (8800 512 mb/ 4gb )
- Good AI (enemy at least)
- Supressive fire works
- Thermals
- Looks likes tanks have a rudamentry lasing system
- Agree on the radial, less "clunky" than Arma

Cons
- Vehicle (ground/air) level of fidelity, I was hoping for the pendulum to swing a bit closer to the sim side of the spectrum
-Chasing the checkpoints limits your freedom of manuver

-Recoil needs work, as well as rate of fire on crew served wepons


Overall I am pleased. Until Arma 2 gets a few more patches I will be spending more time on this one

#2876137 - 10/09/09 01:32 AM Re: First Impression [Re: xanth]  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,633
James McKenzie-Smith Offline
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James McKenzie-Smith  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,633
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Pro:
- Excellent front end art direction and menu design
- Fast gfx engine
- Gfx look good, at close to medium range
- Squad command is relatively simple, especially moving fireteams around; radial command system is easy to use, if intrusive
- There is a mission builder on the PC version

Con:
- Gfx look not so good at long range; the whole thing has a hint of blue at all ranges
- Even on hardcore mode, absurdly easy in SP
- Head bob is rather extreme, like ArmA2's was on release. Motion sickness might be a problem
- No civilians or guerillas; unsuited to the sort of warfare that I prefer to simulate
- No SP team switch that I can see
- Lower limits to number of player controlled squads than I would like
- Mission editor is not as easy to pick up as I would like, and must be launched separately from the game; missions are tested using a default profile. As above, no civvies
- Command system is a little limited in scope
- No leaning
- Infantry movement seems too fast, a common enough issue in FPSs.
- Took half a mag worth of hits to kill an enemy more than once on Hardcore mode, including a couple of what should have been catastrophic brainshots. Not known if this is a bug or as designed
- Dead easy to shoot, really too easy to keep sights on targets even while firing full auto while standing or even moving
- While commanding, it is really too easy to retain control of the situation when things ought to be chaotic
- Meteorological limitations
- Island feels empty, like a military training area. The few small towns just feel like they were built for training rather than habitation
- Virtually no urban areas
- Not possible to map mouse wheel to certain controls

Neutral notes:
- Voice acting is the same incredible standard as ArmA2. Not a good thing, but given the limits of storage and technology etc. etc., not unexpected
- Models tend to be good
- Not a huge selection of vehicles, but enough to be getting on with. As with ArmA2, there are a few that I would like to have seen that are not there (LAV-ATs etc)
- No fixed wing flyables, but in practice, these are arguably of rather limited use in games of this scale unless realism is really sacrificed, as in BF2
- The AI has moments of peculiar behaviour. However, as real people also have odd moments, I tend to think of laspses in AI as simulations of real peoples' lapses in judgement.

Conclusion:

OF:DR is a good game, and if there were nothing else, I would be pleased enough with it. However, certain of its minor flaws are serious omissions for the kind of player that I am.

It's a matter of taste, and I can safely say that, for me, OF:DR is just not my thing. I will find someone who wants my copy, as it deserves some love from someone.

Now if I can just find someone I hate to give my copy of Raven Squad to...

#2876160 - 10/09/09 02:05 AM Re: First Impression [Re: James McKenzie-Smith]  
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 536
Gunslinger5577 Offline
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Gunslinger5577  Offline
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 536
USA
Agreed with above..

I'd add that the environment does not seem as dynamic as Arma2... No grass flattening when you go prone, you can walk through bushes etc... Also, vehicles take a pounding.. I hit a jeep with a mk19, about 100 rounds...no effect. Sometimes enemy troops take a lot of rounds to bring down, even close range <50ft. Also, AI has poor aim.

GFX are smooth, though not the prettiest, they definitely do the job, and they are really smooth. I'm running 60-80 fps on my setup, 1680x1050 HIGH, with shadows on med, 2xaa and aiso.
Gameplay is fun and tactical, can be extremely immersive in a good firefight.

AI movement doesn't seem as fluid, enemy troops (when they move in squads especially), they almost remind me of the old days when one squad was one graphic sprite with 4-5 guys all moving their legs in unison. But they do seem to flank and do some sort of overwatch at times... Though the challenge seems to be overwhelming enemy forces, rather than dealing with their tactics..though you need to protect your flanks for the guys you didn't see sneak by.

These are just my first impressions after the first 3 mission of the campaign. Well worth the $ imho, it's a good time so far. Haven't tried multiplayer yet either.

Did note a few bugs, like my mouse disappearing from the game menu and loss of scroll and select function from my weapons menu in game. And sometime sonly a soldiers ouline renders at extreme range (may be gfx bug/driver issue/draw distance), but as they approach they stay that way...weird.

**edit** Oh and the no leaning thing is so annoying once you get used to it in other games...I mean come on, how hard can it be!! I read the interview posted they developed the console and pc concurrently and neither was a port of the other..but the no leaning thing screams console all the way....

Last edited by Gunslinger5577; 10/09/09 02:08 AM.

CPU: 3.8 ghz 3930K, Nvidia 980 TI, 3D-vision, 16gb DDR3-2133 Memory, 120GB SSD, 240gb SSD, 2x1TB SATA HD, 27" ASUS 2ms LCD. Corsair Mechanical KB, Razer Death Adder,Win 10 64 bit.
also:
Alienware M11x R2
#2876187 - 10/09/09 03:41 AM Re: First Impression [Re: Gunslinger5577]  
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 905
Snake_Pliskinn Offline
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Snake_Pliskinn  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 905
Enterprise, AL
Some quick observations:

Mission replays sometimes feature scripted enemy in exact same position. For other missions they appear to start within some random radius of a position which makes for good replayability. The enemy AI does some things dumb and other things, just what you might expect a human to do.
Replaying a mission where I had to defend a village, it played significantly different the second time than the first. Not too much problem holding position for the 1st mission attempt (and it didn't give me credit for that particular mission after I hit continue:( For the second attempt, the enemy broke through on one flank and I had to run around as fire brigade while team held original positions.

I don't think the AI are horrible shots. They are not laser-beam accurate and that's a good thing. If I had to bet someone else's money, it's my impression that the AI has random accuracy. They also appear to increase their hit probability the same way I do, by going prone or kneeling instead of standing.

#2876189 - 10/09/09 03:43 AM Re: First Impression [Re: Snake_Pliskinn]  
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 905
Snake_Pliskinn Offline
Member
Snake_Pliskinn  Offline
Member

Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 905
Enterprise, AL
Oh, anyone got a good program for disabling the *&%$ WINDOWS key in Vista 64? OF/DR does not like accidently hitting that key and minimizing the screen. The majority of the time I cannot get the screen back.

Found an answer here:

Disable WINDOWS key - Vista 64

Last edited by Snake_Pliskinn; 10/09/09 03:46 AM.
#2876201 - 10/09/09 04:33 AM Re: First Impression [Re: Snake_Pliskinn]  
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 536
Gunslinger5577 Offline
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Gunslinger5577  Offline
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 536
USA
Well..the ai aim isn't too bad, just up close it's no good. CQB, I've sent my guys in a few times to hit bunkers, around corners..etc. And the PLA troops and my squad just open up from about 10-20 ft away..and nobody hits anything lol. I seem to always get hit though..hehe.. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does it's almost comically obvious there's something not right.

Also, I'm stuck on the power station mission, becuase the secondary assualt team never makes it to the LZ to evacuate because their vehicle ends up spinning in place and they can't go anywhere...

So that is where the scripting sucks...can't even partially finish a mission... But other than that, having fun so far. I am a bit disappointed though, i expected OFDR to compete at some level with arma2 and hopefully fill in the holes which I believe arma2 has..while it does fill in the holes, it lacks the rest...so they are almost opposites of each other in a sense.. Sooo.. I'll just have to go to 2 different places to get my complete fix.


CPU: 3.8 ghz 3930K, Nvidia 980 TI, 3D-vision, 16gb DDR3-2133 Memory, 120GB SSD, 240gb SSD, 2x1TB SATA HD, 27" ASUS 2ms LCD. Corsair Mechanical KB, Razer Death Adder,Win 10 64 bit.
also:
Alienware M11x R2
#2876239 - 10/09/09 06:56 AM Re: First Impression [Re: Gunslinger5577]  
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,111
Ark Offline
Cat Herder
Ark  Offline
Cat Herder
Member

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,111
Fresno, CA.
The .223 based weapons in-game don't have much recoil because .223 based weapons don't have much recoil, period. lol I always attributed shooting the .223 caliber weapons to little "pops" of recoil.

The .308 based M21 seems to have a fair amount of kick to it in-game, seems pretty accurate (from what I remember).

Never fired a Chinese rifle so I can't speak for those (unless the ones in-game are 7.62x39, which I am pretty sure they are not).

IMO, the Infantry movement seems sort of slow with regards to their run speed, but I haven't had a chance to play it too often yet so I could be wrong.

I just wish I could choose my kit and attachments in MP. frown


Ark

Windows 7 x64
Asus P6T Deluxe mobo
Core i7 920 @ 4.0
6GB G.Skill DDR3 1600
Evga GTX 680 Classified
SB X-FI Fatality
640GB WD "Black"
1GB WD "Black"
LG 39" LCD / Dell 3007WFP-HC 30" LCD / Acer H233H 23" LCD


RIP Positive G
#2876362 - 10/09/09 01:07 PM Re: First Impression [Re: Ark]  
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,380
FlyRetired Offline
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FlyRetired  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,380
Looking for more impressions on the game's MP side, anyone?

#2876375 - 10/09/09 01:29 PM Re: First Impression [Re: FlyRetired]  
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,864
Bill_Grant Offline
Hotshot
Bill_Grant  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,864
Dallas, TX
Yaaaay!
Observations that address points without the unnecessary static. Thanks y'all.
Sounds like a game I could have fun with!


~Bill

In my defense, I was left unsupervised...
#2876376 - 10/09/09 01:30 PM Re: First Impression [Re: Bill_Grant]  
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,864
Bill_Grant Offline
Hotshot
Bill_Grant  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 5,864
Dallas, TX
Would like to hear about the Connections side of MP.
Is it a pain in the butt?
Port issues?
Connection issues, lag, etc.


~Bill

In my defense, I was left unsupervised...
#2876390 - 10/09/09 01:50 PM Re: First Impression [Re: Bill_Grant]  
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 128
FranMulhern Offline
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FranMulhern  Offline
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 128
Pros:

- Awesome graphics and atmosphere
- A new modern tactical shooter
- Excellent UI
- Great audio

Cons

- No save options
- Characters look a bit tinny at long distance - best way I can put it
- Hardcore makes me realise I'm ****
- It's taken me away from work today

Wait, that last one is a pro.

smile

#2876488 - 10/09/09 03:25 PM Re: First Impression [Re: FranMulhern]  
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 257
Carakanz Offline
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Carakanz  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 257
Chicago, IL
I'm interested in the multiplayer aspect as well. Without any dedicated server is it a ghost town when you go out there to play a game? Is there even a lobby of some sort?

#2876638 - 10/09/09 06:21 PM Re: First Impression [Re: kramer]  
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,633
James McKenzie-Smith Offline
Senior Member
James McKenzie-Smith  Offline
Senior Member

Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,633
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Played it a bit more, just to see if I liked it more after a small beak. Nope. Really beginning to think that it is worthless crap to players like me.

Oh, I just cannot wait to see what Codemasters does with F1.

#2877090 - 10/10/09 01:17 PM Re: First Impression [Re: James McKenzie-Smith]  
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 232
Revelation78 Offline
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Revelation78  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 232
VA
So far I've only played the first mission. It does feel more "arcadey" than ARMA2, but I don't think it's as bad as some on here have stated. I think it leans more to ARMA2 than COD. Having said that I state, again, I have only played the first level so far. I also plan to try out some multiplayer tonight.

Multiplayer is where it's at for me. for instance I have barely played the SP missions in ARMA & ARMA2. I typically use the SP missions as my training then jump online and never look back.

#2877338 - 10/10/09 08:14 PM Re: First Impression [Re: Revelation78]  
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 139
JayTac Offline
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JayTac  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 139
I’d like to touch on a couple things before getting into my personal pros and cons because I believe certain aspects of the game are being falsely accused of being unrealistic when they’re not unrealistic at all. Specifically what I’m referring to is the recoil effect in Dragon Rising, a lot of people have listed it as a con, stating that it’s not realistic when in fact the recoil is more realistic than the one in Project Reality or even ArmA 2. AA3 and now DR are the two games who have actually represented recoil effects in the proper manner. I believe the devs of ArmA 2 have over-exaggerated their recoil simply to please the sim community, even though their representation of it would not provide a realistic feel. It’s a shame to see the game being knocked for this, if we truly desire realism then this is the type of recoil we should be looking for as oppose to what’s present in ArmA. If you’ve never fired an M variant or similar AR then I encourage you to search youtube videos of such weapons and you’ll quickly see that DR implemented recoil correctly. There’s simply not as much kickback to these weapons as you may think.

Now as far as leaning goes is all a matter of opinion, but since I’ve been playing I’ve not once felt the need or desire to have a lean function. When you're behind cover and use the aim function your player will automatically peak out and return on his own once you put your sights down. So basically you can use cover and fire just as well as you could in ArmA 2. Plus, you'll be using the layout of the land as your cover for the most part so there's no big need for a lean function in this game. Also, people become too reliant on the lean function and often use it even when it goes against some basic firing principles, so the game is fine without it in there. Trust me once you play it you’ll realize that you won’t have a need for it and you’ll start to practice more realistic firing techniques without it.


My Pros:

- Intense combat
- Great visual/sound effects
- Captures the gritty nature of combat
- Fluid command menu and great AI control
- Great AI
- Extremely tactical and immersive gameplay
- Recoil done correctly
- Good damage system for vehicles

My Cons:

- Terrible MP support with no dedicated servers
- The AI will always fill any empty slots
- There’s nothing that prompts you when a player exits a MP session
- Ballistics could be a tad better
- Doesn’t seem to be a large MP map selection

Overall I honestly feel that this game has more potential than ArmA 2 does in terms of tactical realism, but first it requires dedicated servers and strong support from the community in order to accomplish that. I’m sorry but magically creating FOBs and magically spawning in various support from money gained in combat is terribly unrealistic and does not foster a tactical battle. That’s why I’m so glad DR doesn’t have anything of the likes in their MP experience. However, as is its very hard to get a full room going that won’t lag and find people who are willing to work as a team. Now be fair and also recognize that ArmA 2 is much of the same way, as far as finding people willing to work together, when playing outside of the servers within our community. Once dedicated servers are up this will be the game to play for a truly visceral tactical experience.

#2877367 - 10/10/09 09:34 PM Re: First Impression [Re: JayTac]  
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,380
FlyRetired Offline
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FlyRetired  Offline
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Having not played the game yet, and still trying to get a handle on Dragon Rising's MP formats, what I think I see from the game's online offerings is the means for both authentic team action, and traditional team deathmatch game modes.

If I understand correctly, the coop MP mode in Dragon Rising allows players to command a fire team, and this is where the basic "team-work" aspect of gaming is facillitated. Having the ability to control a fire team creates the primary tactical element of infantry combat, and therefore the fundamental framework for team tactics. In addition to the coop mode, I believe Dragon Rising also allows for the individual user to chose an MP game mode for playing as a single soldier instead, without command control of other troopers, for a free-style of gameplay, a game format certainly enjoyed online by players of other shooter games. So the building blocks of both team-play, and individual online play have been provided for in Dragon Rising, and it's up to Dragon Rising's players themselves to determine how well, and how far they can coordinate their tactics.

Btw, if I've misstated any of the structure of Dragon Rising's MP game modes, please feel free to correct my understanding of them, as I've yet to play the game, so can't say with certainty that I have a handle on DR's MP component yet.

#2877389 - 10/10/09 10:08 PM Re: First Impression [Re: FlyRetired]  
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 139
JayTac Offline
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JayTac  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 139
Originally Posted By: FlyRetired
Having not played the game yet, and still trying to get a handle on Dragon Rising's MP formats, what I think I see from the game's online offerings is the means for both authentic team action, and traditional team deathmatch game modes.

If I understand correctly, the coop MP mode in Dragon Rising allows players to command a fire team, and this is where the basic "team-work" aspect of gaming is facillitated. Having the ability to control a fire team creates the primary tactical element of infantry combat, and therefore the fundamental framework for team tactics. In addition to the coop mode, I believe Dragon Rising also allows for the individual user to chose an MP game mode for playing as a single soldier instead, without command control of other troopers, for a free-style of gameplay, a game format certainly enjoyed online by players of other shooter games. So the building blocks of both team-play, and individual online play have been provided for in Dragon Rising, and it's up to Dragon Rising's players themselves to determine how well, and how far they can coordinate their tactics.

Btw, if I've misstated any of the structure of Dragon Rising's MP game modes, please feel free to correct my understanding of them, as I've yet to play the game, so can't say with certainty that I have a handle on DR's MP component yet.



In TvT you still operate as FT's, but I think that's a fair way of looking at it, the authentic team action vs team deathmatch. But, that deathmatch experience could be eliminated if a few tweaks were able to be made. The TvT maps are too small for the amount of players that it supports, because of that it does have a slight deathmatch feel to it. Keep in mind that with all MP modes the AI will fill in any remaining slots, so you might be responsible for commanding AI even in TvT matches depending on how it fills out. So even if you limit a game to 8 human players, the AI will automatically fill the remaining 24 or so spots, which again is often too much for the small sized maps. In Coop its 4 players all within the same FT and one FT leader playing on a large and open map.

If we can somehow cut these games down into smaller battles, maybe just one or two FTs on each side then we'll really see some great gameplay.

Last edited by JayTac; 10/10/09 10:10 PM.
#2877394 - 10/10/09 10:19 PM Re: First Impression [Re: JayTac]  
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,380
FlyRetired Offline
Senior Member
FlyRetired  Offline
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Posts: 3,380
Ah I see JayTac, so coop is only 4 team members per coop session, requiring at least one human player in the team (as the team leader). This team can be fleshed out as all human players, or a combination of AI and human players. (?)

Team vs Team has a determined size of total opponents per side, fleshed out as all human players, or a combination of human and AI troopers per side. (?)

Well I would think that TvsT size games should be adjustable per server option. (?)

Btw, thanks for the feedback too JayTac!

Originally Posted By: JayTac
Keep in mind that with all MP modes the AI will fill in any remaining slots, so you might be responsible for commanding AI even in TvT matches depending on how it fills out.

This sounds fascinating. So if you could configure a TvsT session with 8 slots per side, and then have only 4 human players in-game, you could have 2 fire teams opposing 2 fire teams (with each fire team being controlled by a human player). (?)

#2877427 - 10/10/09 11:13 PM Re: First Impression [Re: FlyRetired]  
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 139
JayTac Offline
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JayTac  Offline
Member

Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 139
Right on all counts, except for it being adjustable in the server options. Maybe that'll change but for now you can only effect how many humans can join, while the overall size of the forces cannot be changed.

Quote:
This sounds fascinating. So if you could configure a TvsT session with 8 slots per side, and then have only 4 human players in-game, you could have 2 fire teams opposing 2 fire teams (with each fire team being controlled by a human player). (?)


Yes, that's possible, but someone would have to create a custom map that only had 2 FTs on each side. Overall I do like the idea of having the AI join, it's a nice feature especially when someone quits mid-game, the AI will take over then as well. It'd just be nice if there was some flexibility to this, either that or the maps should have been expanded some.

Last edited by JayTac; 10/10/09 11:14 PM.
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