The truth about Arma 2: dayz

a real life video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYft9Kd8nIQ&feature=player_embedded

Games which I play currently if I find time for it, most multiplayer:

Arma II Warfare mod & Iron Front Liberation 1944 which just got released

Fallout Vegas

Mount & Blade: Napoleonic Wars

Fallout & Elders Scrolls

Fallout 3 (with mods)  is for me one of the top 5 games in the last 10 years for sure...prefer it even more than the fantasy theme of Elders Scrolls. The release of Morrowind was just  fantastic and revolutionary aswell.

HalfLife

The game released in the end of the 90ies was a revolutionary game, just amazing.

Most mods you will find are for the core game, it is still a military fps/simulation. Best is to get the six updater so you always download the needed mods for the server you want to join or for you offline gaming expirience.

A.C.E 2 is definately one of the most famous ones, pushing the realism more.

PR - Project Reality did release an awesome mod only some weeks ago. Same team which introduced PR on Battlefield 2.

i44 a ww2 mod, but new standalone Iron Front Liberation 1944 will get released in 2-3 days and will be superior as a standalone game based on the Arma 2 engine.

There are excellent sound mods around: i.e. JSRS or Vop sounds

AI mods for better gameplay i.e. Zeus AI 

There are loads of interesting mods,  Vietnam War, different type of Islands, vehicle units, weapon modifications and so on....

Check this out, released mods for Arma 2/Arma Arrowhead/Arma 2 CO

http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?91-ARMA-2-amp-OA-ADDONS-amp-MODS-COMPLETE

Originally posted by ForTheCity

Okay I'm pretty confused. Sorry for being a noob. So DayZ is the zombie mod? Is Arma 2 the original game? Very confused. Looks cool though, watched the bank robbery one. 

Arma 2 or better  Arma 2 + Arma Arrowhead = Arma 2 combined ops, this is the core game. DayZ or CityLife/TakistanLife/Takistan Life Revolution/Island Life and so on ...are free mods for the game.

The core game Arma 2/Arma Arrowhead is this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_41u9dQuI8

Currently people are playing more TAKISTAN LIFE instead of CityLife, its basically a similar gameplay with minor adjustements and on a different map.

  TAKISTAN LIFE

This mod is basically almost the same like CityLife, but with less hardcore restrictions/laws and of course on a different map (Takistan). The jail time is not as long like on CityLife.

Currently, this mod is a lot more played than CityLife. 

You dont need any mod installed, just join the server with your patched Arma game.

Features:

* similar to  citylife, look at my starting post

* Factions: civilians/outlaws, UN Soldiers, Police

Important:

+ no need to download any mod -  just join with the game,  patched to latest version.

Most important, read the gameplay rules if you dont want to get kicked or banned and if you want to know how to play:

http://urbanlifecommunity.enjin.com/communityrules

TAKISTAN LIFE: REVOLUTION

This modification has even more factions and looks interesting:

* Police, 2x military Factions which are in a fight, Civilians and Police. The two military factions are in a conflict.

This means certain faction will kill on sight.

The server is quiete filled with players.

http://anarchyintakistan.enjin.com/

Since the current rpg DayZ mod is popular for many gamers who even didnt know about the Arma 2 military simulation game and its possibilities, I thought people should know about that also other big rpg mods were released a while ago.

The mods are called: CityLife or Takistan Life and Takistan Life: Revolution

Actually these mod offers even deeper rpg gameplay than DayZ currently and is an interesting option, before the release of DayZ a lot of servers were available until some of them changed to DayZ.  It has a persistant world and the character progress is saved on the server.

It seems like that Takistan Life is played a lot more currently than CityLife. Its just a different map with some minor gameplay changes.

Features:

* big open world

* Faction based i.e. CityLife: police/civilians/outlaws TakistanLife: UN soldiers, civilians/outlaws, Police 

 Takistan Life: Revolution: Police, Civilians/Outlaws, Insurgent, TLA (Insurg.&TLA are two military factions)

* vehicles 

* shops

* careers

CityLife Videos (check out more of the videos on youtube, lots of different gameplay) 

All the persons you see are actually players and not AI

Checkpoint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke9G3xRsXO8

Crime Scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1oWOrNb0qa4

Bridge Repair Job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeNUdrjVv58&feature=relmfu

Bank Robbery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AahvH0XkGeE

Senator Assassination:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbp2XEn-lwI

Examples of the possibilites for the police faction:

The mod offers a variety of tools and functions to recreate the police work and tasks in a role play environment. You can use the onboard radar or use the speed gun to catch speeders. Issues them a ticket using the action menus and do not forget to add it into the police computer! Police officers have access to DMV records to check licenses and vehicles owned by the civilians, warrants, crime reports, personal records.

Features:

Arrest a civilian and place him into a vehicle

Search for weapons

Have a K-9 dog to search for drugs or car bomb

Only owners of the jail and impound lot codes to open the gates

Main police station with shooting range and 2 substations

As a civilian you can get jobs to earn money, buying vehicles and gear in stuff, food and drink. There are also options to break the law and smuggling drugs, robbing banks/shops, killing other players, forming street gangs and terrorizing the public.

Senator:

Becoming the Senator of City Life isn't easy. 1st you have to win an election. Things don't come easy as the Senator of City Life keeping all Civilians happy, a small increase in Tax and the shop owners love you but the population hate you.

As the senator you will find yourself giving public speeches on current laws and taxes and directing the Commanders of the City Life Police Department on current police issues.

Be prepared to answer to the Law should public outbreak and disorder arise.

Other Features:

* Fishing 

* Gambeling

* Boxing

* Driving 

* Flying

I think if you are into interesting roleplaying and you own Arma 2, you should try this mod. Its a lot of fun and the gameplay can be really deep.

Webpage & Infos:

http://www.cityliferpg.com/ (CityLife)

http://urbanlifecommunity.enjin.com/communityrules (Takistan Life)

CityLIfe has the most rules and restrictions so far, due DayZ less people are playing. 

The alternative is URBAN LIFE: TAKISTAN LIFE REVOLUTION which has still a lot of people playing it. I will introduce TAKISTAN LIFE with the next post.

Originally posted by Corehaven

I looked at videos of the DayZ mod and it looked really awesome.  Then I looked at Arma2 general multiplayer videos and I'm even more blown away.  I can only see playing DayZ once you get a little burned out on the core multiplayer and thats really understandable.  Probably a breath of fresh air for long time Arma players. 

 

So by golly I want to buy Arma 2 and play it!  I want Arma2 Combined Operations!  But but....then I find out Arma 3 is coming out fairly soon.  AAAAAAHHH!!!!  So now.....now....sniff.....I dont know WHAT to do! 

Well i did start playing almost ten years ago with Operation Flashpoint and it was a revolutionary gameplay and very famous in its times. Arma 1, Arma 2, Arrowhead did follow. Arma 3 version, aswell the Iron Front: Liberation 1944 version will be released soon. It is for sure one of the best multiplayer games out there. The modding community is really strong and did release fantastic mods for all the game versions in the years. They released whole gameplay mods, whole Islands i.e. Jungle, desert, snow...so many things.

It depends on your budget, but the 15$ currently for Arma 2 CO is really a bargain. I will get Iron Front Liber. 1944 in a couple of days and will post about the gameplay, Iam really curious and excited already. Arma 3 will be for sure another highlight, but you have to think about that the new version will need an up to date pc system. In the first months after release there were always performance problems which got fixed with patches later on. 

DayZ is just a tiny mod and offers only a small part of the available game content, If the mod succeeds for longer and isnt just only a short hype they will try to rewrite it for Arma 3 for sure. But this will take time.

By the way Dayz is not the only RPG mod for Arma 2, there are mods out there which are a lot more deeper with more roleplaying than DayZ. Take for example City Life, where you have 2 factions. One is police and the other one are gangster, robbing banks or smuggling drugs, taking jobs for money. Wheras the police can arrest them into prison, search for illegal weapons or goods, watching crimes and so on...really fun.

Anyway the core game of  Arma 2 is really fantastic, you would miss a lot of fun and most mods out there if you would play only DayZ. The game is still a military sim, probably one of the best currently and not solely a zombie game. At the moment there is a big hype about DayZ but Iam sure in some weeks you will see more core gameplay server again, Arma 2 or from the new release Iron Front Liberation ´44. DayZ is still a funny mod which people enjoy and Iam sure full servers will be seen also in the longer run, the mod is still in alpha anyway.

@ if you want to play the original game i.e. offline campaign, I recommand you the following:

Get a good AI mod:  Zeus AI  (this makes the game even more fun with more intelligent AI behaviour)

Get a good sound mod: JSRS  (there are more sound mods around of course)

I think the FPS-Simulation genre, games like Arma 2, are still the most fun for the buck with always new innovations and the challenge is just bigger, mmorpgs did stagnate already years ago.

Saw this on one of the forums and thought I should post it, its the most cheap offer I saw so far.

- Amazon offer 50% sale (digital version)  -

Arma 2 combined op  for 14.99 $ - the whole package which you need

http://www.amazon.com/Meridian4-40365ned-Operations-ArmA2-Combined/dp/B003UV8RRE

And about this mod, honestly the game itself offers a lot more than just DayZ and it is still one of the best military multiplayer game. They offer for example Warfare servers (Game Type: CTI), which is a mix between FPS and RTS strategy. This is really cool, you have a player commander who starts building barracks, communication center, fortification for the base, moves HQ and so on. Actually, you are conquering territory and can take villages/cities...check it out.  

The well known Project Reality mod from the Battlefield 2 community did switch to Arma 2 and they released an awesome mod aswell. I44 is another great mod but not often played, the new release of Front Assault: Liberation 1944 will be probably a success, game looks awesome with more realistic dmg models.

PR Arma: Project Reality Mod

http://www.realitymod.com/downloads

Arma Warfare - FPS/RTS gameplay with the aim to conquer territory

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzg7MRxNwS4

Iron Front: Liberation 1944 - standalone release in some days

This looks really cool and is maybe a highlight this year, thinking about to buy this

Air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEmhU3Vukfg

Infantry & Tanking (the fog looks great)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=i1prfOG91pw

I

I recommand the sixt updater, its the updater most are using in the Arma 2 community:

http://www.six-updater.net/p/download.html

With this software you update all the needed modifications from the servers you want to join or the mods you did select. With this updater you can also join the multiplayer military games and not just dayz. Game offers a lot more than just the Zombie mod, check it out. It has a lot of useful features. If you only want to play dayz the mentioned dayz updater is more simple.

Well, people did already critisize DMR where you need an internet connection. With Diablo 3 this got even more complicated and I avoid this, reason why I didnt buy Diablo 3. Same goes with Steam, you are just dependent on servers and a company, not even holding a physical copy in your hands...no thx. I dont support such business models.

I did put one important link into the thread i opened recently (Details), good describtion what you need and how to install it.

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/351431/DayZ-Zombie-RPG-Survival-Multiplayer.html

You can buy the game directly on the Arma 2 main page for the same price like on Amazon/Steam. If you want to play with the Arma 2 free version you can get the needed Arma 2 Arrowhead for 12 bucks, webpage posted aswell. But with the free version the graphic details are limited...

I did start playing this mod some days ago, but I had already Arma 2 CO since I prefer the military multiplayer part and some of its awesome mods. Neverless DayZ is quiete funny for a while.

Originally posted by Mardukk

Maybe people came into this game with the wrong expectation.  I played D2 when it came out and thought it was a great game.  However, I tried a few other hack n slash diablo style games within the last year and found them to be mind numbingly boring.  Could it be that it's been so long that people's tastes have changed for this type of shallow immersionless (new word!) type of game.  For me I discovered MMO's just after playing D2 at release and never looked back. Hack n slash games just don't cut it anymore. 

 

I think that it's likely less about how bad D3 is and more that many people have had their tastes change in 12 years and didn't realize it until they played D3.

Iam sure a part of the players would find Diablo II gameplay boring these days, which was a success in its days. And you are right, time did change, players did change, marketing & business concepts did change.

The best review is from yourself, the so called professional reviews are just used as marketing aswell. Professional reviews are not that neutral either, and they dont include the rating of business model. I think it is good that consumer punish in public ratings if they are not satisfied, either with the game content or the distribution modell/business concept. 

Understandable that some give 0 points when others give a 10. You would find such strange ratings on mmorpg.com aswell. This is not only a problem about "haters", it is a problem aswell about "boaster" but at the end it is a problem to see a true rating anyway, not even game magazines achieve it always.

In addition, a lot of consumer give bad ratings if the business modell is not acceptable for that. Not all take this into consideration.

Reading some ratings on Amzon in Europe where the game gets a 2.5 rating, most give the game low ratings due to beeing forced to be online and the problems with it i.e. maintenace, lags aswell the shop system. The negative rating is therefore a lot about their business modell but also critics about the value for money, missing game innovations....

A lot of talks are going on currently with DayZ, with really a shitload of  full servers...maybe 150-200 servers currently.  Lots of fun with atmoshperic gameplay. You have to eat and drink, find weapons, can build vehicles, joining factions i.e. outlaws/bandits and so on...controlling areas and fighting zombies, character is saved on main project server. All this in a really huge open world. The world has a day & night circle, and its really that dark in the night...you can get torches, flares and stuff no worry + a good portion of adrenalin kick. Probably the best multiplayer expirience you can get currently with a zombie & survival theme.

http://www.dayzmod.com/

The crazy thing is, due to this mod Arma 2:CO is the top selling game currently on steam....O_o, dayz itself is free. Almost 50.000 characters are already registered in the game stats with growing numbers, wheras the mod developer thought it would have success with just some hundreds.

The full package Arma 2: CO is around 24$ bucks on their main page arma2.com, same price like on Amazon/Steam. Arma 2. OA is available for 12$ on gamesrocket.com which you could play with the Arma 2 free version, but the free version has less graphic details. Better get the package.

Details:

http://i.imgur.com/iEVhF.jpg

Surviving Guide/introduction into gameplay:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/10/thank-you-for-the-dayz-part-zero/

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/14/surviving-in-day-z-part-two/

Pcgamer article:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/05/16/day-z-interview-how-zombies-arma-2-created-gamings-best-story-machine/

Very intersting Interview on rockpapershotgun:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/16/an-interview-with-rocket-creator-of-day-z/

Since Arma 3 will be released this year, Iam sure with such a big echo from players this mod will have a compatibility patch. Iron Front: Liberation 1944 is another release with the same engine, looks promising aswell for those who love world war 2 themes with a more realistic damage model for the tanking combat...

edit: didnt see the other thread about DayZ..sry

This game is not just  oldschool it is known as one of the asian grinder, it has a concept which i refuse to play. Its one of these predecessors when it comes to f2p games with similar non existing content. I did play this game many years ago for a short time on a private server, reaching "end content" in only some days...running around in circles for free to all guild pvp, gangking pvp, once a week there was a fight about a castle...there were a lot more interesting mmos around for me at this time. But well, everyone has a different taste of gameplay.

"Lineage 2 was grindy. Farming mobs for 8 hours raised your experience by 4%. Dying cost you 2% in exp "

Omg..I would throw any game in the garbage can with such a gameplay. No content but long hours to level up to keep customers, cool money machine.

Just wonder if I did miss something, since this game is listed on this webpage in the mmmorpg games forum. I did read it would support only 4 players in multiplayer, did this change ?