Or not.

I can deal with checkpoints as a reasonable compromise between the overly "gamey" ability to save at any instant and realism, but OFP:DR fails to strike the balance.

Specifically, in several missions there are gaping holes in time between checkpoints, with the obvious result that you end up re-doing huge amounts of things in a way that's boringly repetitive. Why they got this wrong (and why other games still do) is beyond me.

Hardcore mode is the realistic route, no checkpoints at all. All the other modes are just for the casual gamers IMO.

Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion... but some of us have jobs, school, kids, pets... call outs... etc etc... and more checkpoints, better yet... save anywhere is where us type fall in to... it doesn't make me anymore of a "casual gamer" as you like to put it just because I spent an hour playing a tactical game, and want to save it so I can go to a real life situation, then return to where i left off.

and IMO, hardcore mode is a joke in this game... sure I like the no aids... but where is the stuff we NEED... they could of done it better.

Yeah, I may have to restart the campaign on Experienced as I have done the second mission over and over because I keep dying (which is fine) and having to start right back at the beginning.....

Mag I fall in the same boat, minus the kids, pets, and call outs, but I still understand. I'm just pointing out if he doesn't like check points then there is a mode to play that doesn't include them and personally it is time consuming, but offers the most realistic experience IMO. When you look at how long it takes to setup and complete a coop mission on ArmA I don't think what OF:DR did is all that bad. The other modes make the game more accessible if time is an issue, but overall I think CM is in a damn if you do, damn if you don't situation with this game.

can you customize the difficulty like in Arma? Say I want "hardcore" mode, but still want checkpoints to save my game; can you enable them or only if you use a lower difficulty?

I consider myself a "hardcore" gamer but like was said, it makes no sense to have to redo very long parts of missions. Just let me save at any point and then I can redo it how I want to do it when I can or when I have the time.

No...

3 difficulties period.

This is kicking my butt on the first mission! I'm leaving the evac zone and heading for the SAM launchers. After getting the Western launcher I get a mission pop-up saying I can either leave or recon in force, but it doesn't save! My god this is a tough ass game. (I'm on difficult settings)

Whats "difficult" settings? You playing on normal, experienced, or hardcore?

If your playing on hardcore mode, then there is no saves... so good luck... BTW on that mission you know the SAM is way on the other side by the lighthouse right? so you have 3 different targets on that mission not counting your primary before the chopper comes.

LOL, yeah.. difficult is not normal or hardcore (I have a poor memory). I'm playing on 'experienced' mode.

I'm having a hard time with no saves between those different targets.. when I fail it just pops me back to the 'clear the landing area' save point. Which might as well be the start of the mission.

Hey all-

I'm playing "Experienced" which seems about right.

Anybody know if you can at least advance the scripted conversations with the firebase/air support, etc.? I'm at a point in, uh, I think the 3rd or 4th mission where just skipping through that quickly would kill a good chunk of the downtime.

I actually like checkpoints in principle, save anywhere takes a lot of tension out of games these days. On 'experienced' they're not usually more than ten minutes apart, which isn't a big deal.

What annoys me though, is how stupidly timed they can be. Case in point being (mission 5?) where you're rescuing the downed Hydra crew.

I got to the village, secured the crew and started evacuating them. Pilot got killed almost straight away, and the gunner didn't last much longer. Ok, so no big deal, 'reload last checkpoint'...

Only to find that it had saved after the pilot had been killed, and just before the gunner was about to suffer a similar fate - about five seconds before, with no chance for me to save his sorry arse. With no option to revert to a previous checkpoint, there's no alternative but to restart the mission.

It's a good job the game itself is enjoyable enough to make the repetition bearable or I'd have given up by now.