Topic: DayZ

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

http://www.dayzmod.com/

Anyone else tried this yet? It's a mode for glitchy, super serious, solider sim ARMA 2.Yes it's another zombie game but this is good. Perma death, persistent characters across servers. Would be fun and to play with more people I know so that I don't get insta killed by gangs of bandits. It's really good I promise!

More info here.

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/

[Zetetic]

I don't find ARMA 2 that glitchy these days.

I played for a good long while on one server. It was fun, but I suspect the experience was somewhat altered by the server badly needing a restart - barely any loot and zombies only to be found in barns. I'd be happy to try to team up with anyone from CaB!

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

Saw a YT video earlier, seems like a good idea, think I'll give it a go.

Does it have the ability to use/create vehicles and homes/shelter?

[Slaaaaabs]

Genuinely the best sandbox experience I've had in years, even with some of the ridiculous bugs (I broke my legs on barbed wire for fucks sake). The OFP/ArmA experience has always been one of tactical freedom, but this mod takes it to a whole new level. I've never experienced such paranoia, fear and downright contempt for other players as I have while playing this game.

If handled properly this could be a phenomenon for online gaming. The possibilities for copycat games set in Terminator or alien invasion universes excites me greatly!

Saw a YT video earlier, seems like a good idea, think I'll give it a go.

Does it have the ability to use/create vehicles and homes/shelter?

If you can find a vehicle you'll likely have to fix it with scavenged parts. The big issue with that is you'll be a very big target for everyone else unless you team up.

There are tents that can be used as cross server/life storage as well. So you set it up somewhere secluded, fill it with supplies and use it as a semi-permanent base.

[VegaLA]

I'm currently watching this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOB7YGgREFg

and an online Zombie Survival game may be exactly what i'm looking for.

How would we go about creating some sort of CaB team for this? If its possible count me in.

[Josef K]

Heard about this a few days ago and I've been watching at least an hour's worth of videos of it everyday since then.

Since you need Arma 2 Combined Ops and it's is still £25 on steam at the moment seems like a good idea to wait til it's on sale, though since sales of the game have multiplied 5 times since DayZ was released seems like it'd be bad business to put it on sale right now.

Really surprised something like this hasn't been done already though. There's been a massive boom of zombie related games and DLC past couple of years though they've all been incredibly arcadey. I think most people want something like this which is slower and more survival orientated. This mod reminds me of World War Z which is the best thing I could hope for!

[Slaaaaabs]

Bohemia have confirmed they will be patching ArmA 2 with views to improving the engine for the intricacies of Day Z. There was also talk that the mod structure will be easily replicated in the upcoming ArmA 3 as well.

The possibility of new islands and repurposed versions of current mod islands is also likely.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

Ok I'm sold

I'd love in the future if they could incorporate some of the resource harvesting and home building found in Wurm online, I think it would make the longer term playability of the game better if you were able to construct and protect, to an extent, somewhere safe to stay and store your possessions.

I think the way to form a CaB posse would be to initially agree some times to play, evenings no doubt best for everyone?

[Famous Mortimer]

I'd love in the future if they could incorporate some of the resource harvesting and home building found in Wurm online

I played a very very early beta of Wurm, and I liked the idea of it a lot.

But anyway, just from your descriptions this sounds amazing. I'm in too, as soon as I've moved house (early next week).

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

I love the idea of Wurm, but it took grinding to an insane level

It takes hours of trial and error to make just a simple fence, and another few days of mouse clicking to make the gate, and your house, a cart, a fishing boat etc

But it did give you a relatively secure area that only the most advanced players could infiltrate, and even then it would take them a long time

I particularly liked how as night fell you would make a campfire and combine your fish and herbs into a (necessarily nutritious) meal.

A cut down version of this in DayZ would make it immense

[WesterlyWinds]

Indeed. Having watched a few videos this mod does look very intriguing, but I wonder how much longevity there is in it. I appreciate that you can spend hours merely surviving, or restarting with a new character due to some badly made decisions on your part, but once you've done this several times it seems, to me at least, that it may get a little bit repetitive.

With a few tweaks however (and I have been led to believe the mod is still in alpha mode?) it could be a fantastic mod. I'm surprised that something like this has not been done before as proper zombie survival with the added 'bonus' of permadeath is a great idea. I haven't really enjoyed a zombie game since the original L4D (although this may have had something to do with the fact I had 3 mates to play it with).

[Slaaaaabs]

Indeed. Having watched a few videos this mod does look very intriguing, but I wonder how much longevity there is in it. I appreciate that you can spend hours merely surviving, or restarting with a new character due to some badly made decisions on your part, but once you've done this several times it seems, to me at least, that it may get a little bit repetitive.

With a few tweaks however (and I have been led to believe the mod is still in alpha mode?) it could be a fantastic mod. I'm surprised that something like this has not been done before as proper zombie survival with the added 'bonus' of permadeath is a great idea. I haven't really enjoyed a zombie game since the original L4D (although this may have had something to do with the fact I had 3 mates to play it with).

You can set your own goals (survival, accumulation of "wealth", zombie hunter, serial murdering bandit) and carry them out in the way you want. Do it well enough and the possibility exists to gain a reputation across the whole game due to the persistence. Something not even really possible outside of perhaps EVE Online.

The addition of new locations and loot will be required to maintain longevity but the ArmA community is well known for providing exactly that. The flexibility of the editing tools allows them to drop surprises on a whim, some servers even tried implementing AI military "cleaner squads" that would travel around and pick off zombies and players alike. Of course they would drop far better loot and offer the ability to grab and use the many, many military vehicles to your own advantage (for as long as you could fuel, arm and maintain them!)

[Zetetic]

Anyone up for this tonight? I imagine piling on to single server takes a horrible amount of time thought. (I think my last position was on the beach, near Solnichniy.)

[Steve Lampkins]

This does look amazing, but I just know I don't have the time this looks like it needs to do justice to it.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

Only 'problem' with playing this in the evening is the servers with the lowest ping are generally ones in a similar timezone and therefore it's dark in game. I don't like it when it's dark! Would be up for trying to meet up in game some time if someone else can work out the logistics.

[Toast]

I know what you mean, I'm thinking about getting this but I can only play in the evening, and this game looks hard enough without having to play in the dark. I wonder if they could make a server with an inverted clock or something to make it more convenient?

[Zetetic]

To be honest, I'm quite looking forward to when this is mature enough to be decoupled from the central server (and central control) and there'll be much more freedom to take against those sort of design decisions. (Oh, and it'll actually be possible to play it, because everyone won't be bottlenecked by a single host.)

[Hangthebuggers]

Is Arma II a system hog?

I only ask because I have a semi-decent gaming laptop, it's not brilliant though.

I DO wanna play this game though - decent reviews considering it's still in a beta stage and compared to a mature minecraft (in the sense of surviving in a hostile world, exploring, looting etc) - I have heard other players do lean towards the merciless side, mainly due to a lack of trust though and it can be quite punishing to be one shotted by some jerk sniper only to have your corpse looted of all the stuff you've been looting for the last eight hours.

But then again, I prefer tougher games - too many games these days provide too many clues (I mean like follow the dotted line to the exit, then a cut scene or two, then another linear get X to Y, then a shitty cut scene then repeat - blergh)

Let me know how it plays and what the min specs are and I might be inclined to join you.

[Zetetic]

Plays alright (at terrible settings) on my 3?year old macbook pro. I'd guess that the 9600something-something is the bottleneck on my machine.

[Zetetic]

Anyone up for this tonight now? I imagine piling on to single server takes a horrible amount of time thought. (I think my last position was on the beach, near Solnichniy.)

A man can hope.

[Zetetic]

P.S. All the Arma 2 you need is now relatively cheap on Amazon. You will need to pretend to have an USAmerican address however.

[Josef K]

Got it all installed today, spent an hour trying to get into servers. Finally got into one and it was pitch black. SPent another half hour trying to find servers where it was daylight.
Bloody USA.

[Toast]

So far I haven't had any problems finding servers. Connected to American servers without any noticeable lag so I was able to play in day light. Jumped on a UK server this morning.

I'm hopeless at the game itself, spent ages shooting at zombies near a barn so I could get in. There was nothing inside, as I left I got mobbed by 10 of them and was promptly eaten.  I have no idea where I'm going: I managed to walk in a complete circle and ended up at the same town I was at 20 minutes earlier.

I could definitely use some help, maybe we could use Steam or something to meet up. It looks it would be hard to find specific people in the game though.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

All of those things you list there go some way to making it realistic I would say

It would be hard to find someone, you'd have to describe landmarks etc

And it should be hard IMO, setting up base in a town or village, hoarding supplies and fending off bandits and zombies would be difficult

I believe you can get maps, compasses and vehicles etc making all these things a bit easier

[Toast]

I agree, I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining. I love the realism in this, it's amazing that a game where you're just wandering around most the time can be so compelling.

[Slaaaaabs]

There are nice big images of the map on the internet. Have a gander at one before you spawn next time, it will tell you roughly where you are in the bottom right (Day 0, Chernarus, <Nearest Location>) and you can work from there. A lot of people just load up the map on a smart phone or tablet until they can find one in game.

http://ttp2.dslyecxi.com/images/chernarus_big_hq.jpg

[Toast]

I never noticed that text in the corner, thank you!

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

Seems like there are a handful of islands ripe for setting up as fortresses, are they accessible does anyone know?

I'm still not playing this yet, can't make my mind up whether to make the leap just yet

This game could also do with the ability to build rudimentary structures and shelters, lockable buildings, fixed weapons etc

[Toast]

I headed North in to the wilderness to escape the bean wars taking place in the coastal cities. I managed to find food and drink while avoiding the zombies. I was beginning to feel pretty confident as I was looting another small village when I seen a Deer Stand near the woods. Yes! That's where you can find night vision goggles, I'd been looking for these for ages and it was beginning to get dark. 

I climb up the ladders but sadly there was nothing in there. As I'm leaving I hear a zombie shrieking, he's wearing an Army uniform and running towards me. I scarper in to the woods, running for ages but he won't give in. I turn around, ready to fire and nothing happens, I check my pistol's ammo, it's full, I try again and still nothing. The zombie is now attacking me and knocks me to the ground. I keep trying to shoot him but the gun will not fire and I can hear a loud sizzling noise. Shit, is this zombie spitting acid at me? I keep trying to fire as the zombie breaks one of my legs, I'm losing blood and the sizzling is getting louder. My character is screaming and so am I. Then I realise what's wrong, I don't have my pistol selected, I have the flares selected, in my panic I'd been throwing flares without noticing. My player is almost unconscious and is shaking but I manage to aim the pistol and finally kill the zombie. I crawl away from him and for the first time can see the whole forest lit up with all the flares I'd been throwing, all of them making a sizzling noise.

I bandaged myself up, took morphine for the pain, and ate some beans. I'm low on blood but I think I can make it if I can find someone to give me a blood transfusion (or if I eat a lot of beans). In retrospect I should have climbed back in to the Deer Stand and shot the zombie while he climbed the ladders.

[Jamie Oliver is fat]

I think it's right to go with running zombies rather than shambling ones, though with the real menace in the game being other players, maybe they could've got away with it as in numbers they could still be a threat if they followed you into a building for instance.

You should absolutely be able to escape from them though. As it stands, I believe they'll just follow you forever if you try and run away.

They should get distracted by animals, other players, other noises etc

It would be good to introduce the ability to start growing food and desalinating water, for instance.

There are massive possibilities with this game, I'm not going to take the plunge until I see where they're going, not sure I can be arsed ploughing dozens of hours into this as it stands with no clear goals.