DifferentFrogs

Preface: I understand this is only a mod, and that it is free. I didn’t make this post to whine or complain; what I really want to do here is share my experiences with the game and compare them to those of others. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I didn’t enjoy this game. I really hoped I would – it looked amazing from the reviews – but in the end I simply didn’t have fun playing today. While there are many specific problems I could write about here that frustrated me, many of them appear to be limitations of the ARMA II engine, and the others I’m sure have been brought up and addressed. I would also be capable of overlooking most of them if the game itself was solid. Here’s a quick overview of how my day went: First half: 1. Spawn 2. Move towards settlement in the hope of finding guns 3. By trial and error, spend 15 minutes finding the 1 building in 10 that is enterable while remaining undetected (by going prone mostly) 4. Enter the building, find tin cans, hatchets and pasta 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until I attract the attention of a zombie 6. Die 7. Repeat After realizing this was not the way to succeed, I watched some tutorials and read the guide. The second half of my day was spent thus: 1. Spawn 2. Move towards settlement in the hope of finding guns in houses, and maybe a deerstalker if I'm lucky 3. By trial and error, run around until finding the 1 building in 10 that is enterable 4. Run inside the building, find tin cans, hatchets and pasta 5. Enter the building, find tin cans, hatchets and pasta 6. Attract the attention of a zombie 7. Attempt to lose the zombie in buildings 8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 until I fail to lose the zombies 9. Die 10. Repeat The game just wasn't fun. Most of the buildings were not enterable, and the ones that were had shit all inside them. The only decent places to find loot were guarded by other players. Zombies were almost impossible to defeat without a gun, and the only reliable way of getting rid of them felt cheap and unrealistic (why do zombies move slowly in buildings?) The only game I've played with a steeper learning curve than DayZ is Dwarf Fortress. I’m sure it has the potential to be great fun if you spend a couple of weeks memorizing the map and the best spawns, learning the layouts of the towns and their buildings. But I don't have that sort of time. If, despite following online guides, I can't find a gun within the first 6 hours of gameplay, I find it very difficult to keep trying. Does everyone feel this way starting out? I know this game is not supposed to be easy in the least, but when the only alternatives it seems to present are crawling around for hours, or running around for hours with 5 zombies on my tail, it is neither fun nor realistic, nor does it instill any sense of thrill or fear. What were your starting experiences with DayZ? Should I try for a bit longer and try and push through the learning curve, or is this game just not for me?

Thanks for putting this together Vipeax - good idea!! Here's mine: Current Versions 1.7.2.4 1.62.95248 Start-up Method: SixUpdater Source of Files: SixUpdater File Sizes: Just a thought: I realized my Arma II is not up to date to with the newest patch because I play through Steam. Could that be the common denominator here?

I've waited 30 mins to no avail, so at this point I think it's hopeless.

I appreciate the offer of help, but could you please explain exactly what that file is, what it does, and whether it will permanently affect the game?

What the fuck are you talking about? I presume you're not using Six Launcher, because this is what I see: and there is no huge green dropdown arrow, nor anything else you're mentioning.

Same issue here. Does anyone know a fix for this?

BTW osiriszoran the link is your sig is broken.

Heh, perhaps I am. But I'm not a newbie to gaming. I've played strategy and FPS for years. It's very unusual for me a find a game that, despite the aid of guides and wikis, does not become fun within the first day of gameplay. You can shout SANDBOX all you like, but if by sandbox you mean crawling around in grass for hours on end, that's not the sort of sandbox game I enjoy. I mean what is comes down to is I play games for fun. If a game is not fun, and cannot be made fun reasonably quickly, then I'll leave it be. All I really wanted to discover with this thread was whether or not there was a way to play it that makes it fun, that doesn't require a large time commitment. It looks like there isn't, so I'll be putting it down for now and waiting for a full release.

Thanks, I will try that before I give up once and for all.

Fair enough. That's the impression I'm getting from responses to this thread. My general rule is if I can't figure out how to enjoy a game within the first day of playing it, then it's not worth continuing to try. I know others enjoy overcoming steep learning curves, and that games that have those types of curves can be very rewarding once you figure everything out, but I don't want to spend a week of my life learning how to overcome the quirks of the engine and AI before I can have fun. I have school at the moment as well, and need a game that don't require the same of time commitment as one of my courses :)

I think you're absolutely correct here: I lack the patience necessary to play an alpha mod. I think I'll give up for now and wait for a full release on a new engine, and when it does come out I'll throw my money at it :P

I'm not blaming the mod (perhaps he is but I'm not :P ), but like you said I would have to learn which houses are enterable, which is one more thing necessary to learn before I can really get into the game. Again, I'm thinking it's not for me - I just don't have the time to commit to learning if I'm not going to have fun doing it.

He did, don't worry! I tried the hatchet every time I got too frustrated with running, and while it worked on the first few zombies, I was never able to use it without being hit, and was usually overcome in the end. It sounds like I need to spend a day or so practicing with it, which unfortunately is not something I have the time to do at the moment :(

Thanks :) I'm beginning to think that this game is not for me (and also that I was incredibly unlucky with guns. I searched 30 + houses/factories/deerstalkers/barns today without finding a gun.)

Thanks; I am aware of the game state, that is a mod and it is free. Like I said above, I don't mean to whine or complain. What I want to do is understand why the game seems so awful when it's very popular. I want to solicit opinions before I give up and part ways, just to make sure there isn't anything I'm doing badly wrong. I have read all the wiki guides. The wiki zombie guide has this to say about zombies: "Zed do have a slight problem climbing stairs and ladders but this is only to buy you a little time... they WILL come up (or down) after you, eventually. The best bet is to run up or down a hill. Zed can usually be outran doing either of these for a long enough distance. As a last ditch maneuver run like hell towards another survivor(s) and hopefully they will either help you shoot them." I don't want to waste my time playing a game in which the best way to escape from enemies is to exploit a glitch in AI programming and engine mechanics. If that's the case, I'd like to know that now before I commit myself to really trying to overcome the learning curve.

Thanks very much Caviano, I really appreciate the offer. However, someone was already kind enough to teach me the basics, so I understand how the inventory and weapons systems work, how to interact with the environment, how health, hunger etc. all work. I also understand what the best places to find weapons are. What I want to be able to do is find some way of defending myself without having to rely on charity. I can't bring myself to believe that the game is designed in such a way it takes more than 10 spawns to find a weapon (when working alone), yet that's what it seems like so far :(