First days impression from a game oldtimer

[DeKamme 41]

Hi there,

 

I'm one of those guys who played Doom and Quake when they were released, so I've seen a lot of games over the years. I've been subscribed to game magazines, was in and ran clans, and went to large lanparties. Over the years, my interest for games faded and re-emerged.

 

It is because of stumbling upon games like this that my interest emerges from time to time. What a find!

 

 

The start: I dropped into a game, and saw no hud, no super gear - just the stuff I would be walking around with on a regular day, minus the flashlight. I walked out of a nice beach (was I shipwrecked?), into some deserted houses, and found a rain coat. Nice, it has more inventory. Now find stuff to put in....

When looking for that stuff, I notice another player and walk up to him. Only when he turns around I notice there is something strange about the way he moves, and then a moan and a roar... And I'm running my *ss off over this nice beach.

 

Quite a lot of deaths later, mostly by people claiming to be "friendly" with a Russian accent, some by getting invisible people (well hidden in the bushes, not standing in the middle of the road like me, I soon deducted) shoot me, sometimes by bleeding to death before figuring out I could tear up my t-shirt into bandages... I realized this is a thinking man's game. Finally, after all these years.

 

Like half-life was a welcome change from the "hop hop shoot shoot respawn" Quake playstyle, this game is a very welcome change to the mass of COD clones out there. It has atmosphere, it has style, and it challenges you. Not just in game skills, but also in people skills - do I trust this guy, even after he bandaged me and gave me his sidearm? Is that guy in the distance chasing the other one, or are they both luring me into a trap?

 

 

After 5 days I realized this game needs more then thought, it needs the tactical ranger's mindset. So I joined a "clan", or group, whatever - nothing strict or official, just people helping eachother out, with some that can hit some pixels 800m downrange. It comes natural in this game, as a need to survive and get loot. Without hud markers yelling at me to join this or click that. I need it, so I figure out how to do it.

Now we're chasing others. And get killed by more succesful groups of players - but we don't get mad at them, we silently thank them for giving us the opportunity to learn, and find out how to improve ourselves. Thinking out elaborate flanking and cover schemes, running with pounding hearts over airstrips to save a bleeding blacked out buddy, hoping the designated sniper will make that impossible shot...

 

 

Thank you, for making this rough diamond, and polishing it on a regular basis.

Please don't yield to calls to make this more accessible, it's meant to be challenging and unforgiving (and rewarding for reaching a level of mastery). And unique by being all the above.

Edited April 30, 2014 by DeKamme

[Zarniwoop 1193]

A very good read. Had the same thoughts when I first started. Thinking. That's what I liked. No mindless grinds or silly "do this and that" things.

 

Welcome ;)

 

Remember though, not all of the game is fighting. Except fighting for survival that is.

Edited April 30, 2014 by Zarniwoop

[nexventor 429]

THIS THIS THIS THIS. Great post man

 

I hate zombie genre, never liked it. I don't watch the movies, don't watch the TV shows, never played any games, until this came along.

 

I absolutely crave the unforgiving, brutal and harsh reality of this game. I crave the adrenaline rush as you tactically clear the airfield, when bullets fly past your head and you have absolutely no idea where they came from.

 

I can't wait for the zom's to be areal force to be reckoned with as well.

[preacherlr 614]

Please make more posts so I can give you more beans.

Awesome first post.

[creature 1189]

Welcome to Dayz.  :beans:

[Dirty Joe 1]

Nice post! I think a lot of us 'older gamers' and some younger ones around here, enjoy the fact that this isnt the typical COD style FPS game. It really is more of a sim, like the ARMA games, and require you to think, to adapt, to appreciate the situation for what it is, and realize that most cases its fight or flight. Every once in awhile though, you will run across the decent person, the survivor, the man that still has some human in him, and doesnt kill on sight, or force feed you poison.

I enjoy the ability to be able to adapt to the surroundings, and change my gameplay and character as needed.

[DropBearChick 1216]

Nice post man, welcome to dayz!

[DeKamme 41]

Good to see this positive vibe and supporting community!

 

One of my favourite games, if not the most favourite, is Fallout 1/2 (can't decide which one). dayZ is to me some kind of spiritual successor, more then what FO3 turned into. 

They'd have my eternal gratitude if they would add a mainly hidden entrance to an underground vault, but I guess that would be copyright infringement... Or a homage to the earlier masters?

 

 

And yes Zarniwoop, I like friendly encounters very much. Or dubious encounters, where you don't know what the other person is trying to do. I only shoot the guys in full camo gear, that are scanning the area holding an m4 or SKS. Yellow raincoats with a shovel and crossbow can pass, they are usually roleplaying, and I gladly go along with that.

There's no challenge in running after fresh spawn at the beach, I never even considered doing that. Let them find a gun, and make it an evenly matched encounter.

 

 

 

The other day we shot a guy that ran into the NE airfield barracks, and he asked us to bandage him. We did take his rifle, but bandaged him and let him run on.

He returned later - with 2 buddies, which our teammates spotted - asking if he could come in. I asked "are you alone", he said "yes and unarmed". While his buddies were taking up a spot behind the corner, aiming for the door. He thought there was 1 or 2 of us...

 

This time we didn't bandage him, and his buddies were last seen running through a field, towards the setting sun.

 

It's not that we won't give them a chance, they just rarely are genuine in their intentions... Let them try to outsmart and outflank us, it keeps us sharp!

Edited April 30, 2014 by DeKamme

[DeKamme 41]

So today I started fully geared up in a barn, and was aiming to move towards my group at NE airfield. But I fell the short distance from the hay attic 1st level to the ground, and was instantly killed.
The splint in my backpack could have fixed a broken leg, but no, this tough killer tripped over a loose nail, and after surviving brave gunfights, died in a pile of manure. How glorious.

 

Sheer shame left me unable to defend myself after reincarnating on a forgotten railroad, so a zombie feasted on my brains.

 

 

 

Then I awoke in a northern coastal city, and after finding some new pants and eating some beans, I heard mumbling. To my surprise, some white t-shirt guy had followed me into my bean camp spot, and was just standing there... Talking. Giving him a high valued Can Opener created a bond. I wished I didn't eat all the beans right away, this guy looked hungry.

 

After chatting a while, he joined us on TS comms, and ended up playing 2hrs with us. And he was quite funny, sometimes by running over the middle of airfield tarmac chased by a zombie, then stopping to gloat over his zombie kill (still mid tarmac, enduring our yells "dude this is a full server"). He was quite scared though, once one of us shot a random Mosin round into the air, and waited 5 mins to say it was him. White T guy ran even more erratically towards cover then he was when getting chased by the zombie.

Good times.

 

Him following our camouflaged group through woods and hills with a goofy XXL orange backpack was a bit unsettling, but we were tolerant. We made a random friend in game. How unique.

Also nice to be with a mature group, no one even suggested handcuffing him or feeding him some rotten Zucchini (I know that's what Gas Mask Guy is keeping in his pants for special occasions, I've picked up the odor).

White T didn't have the "I'm glaring at your backpack" look some others that survived unmentionable things have, it's nice to see some left over humanity in this apocaliptic mess with unpronouncable road signs.

 

 

We have a pet / trainee now. I'm no longer the newest newbie, and can find my way through random woods easily towards the others.  Usually bringing spare stuff that always comes in handy. I feel useful. And feel my good old Scouts droppings in the woods with only a compass, map and a backpack pay off in adult life as well. How rewarding :)

Edited April 30, 2014 by DeKamme

[SilverTrowel 5]

Hi there,

 

Your story could be mine ;p

Welcome to DayZ.

Would be cool to meet you and your pals in game, look up CQF, we are friendly.

Have fun mate.

[AuG_d0g 0]

I too am an "oldtimer" heh, and I couldn't agree more mate. Very cool post. Have some beans.

[real meatshield 424]

Old guys representin' in style.

 

Have beans.

[DeKamme 41]

Your story could be mine ;p

Welcome to DayZ.

Would be cool to meet you and your pals in game, look up CQF, we are friendly.

Have fun mate.

 

Will do! My ingame nick is "deka". I play with ] FiB [ on our server, always welcome there.

 

 

I think it would be nice to have a "generic" teamspeak, not tied to a clan. Our group (talking Dutch) logs off around 10-11pm. Then I sometimes hop to another TS and meet new people, and I often encounter guys (like I assume are replying to this topic) just looking for a good chat, some laughs and some tense moments after a hard day's work.

I do skip the ones with squeaky voices that are talking military style.

Would be nice to meet up with 10-20 of those good people and just join a large server, and not camp NE airfield for a change. Find a noob, and escort him with a small army. Go sightseeing into castle ruins, take a hike to the other side of the map. Surprise spawning bandits with 15 nude hoe wielding nutjobs.

 

 

Yesterday I saw 2 guys running around Berezino, close to eachother, but not noticing eachother or me. I started chatting, then describing their actions, hiding in a bush - seeing how they would react. They never replied, and soon hopped servers. I think some people don't understand the meaning of multiplayer.

 

I encourage the dev's vision of sharing shards of the loot DB  between specific servers, so we can start communities. I'd like a Roleplay community, PvP community, PvE community, language zones - so we can choose how to interact. I'd log quite some hours on the Roleplay server, just meeting people, helping them fend off the occasional bandit, trade gear, hold a farm...

Edited May 4, 2014 by DeKamme

[Ramblin Hans 118]

Welcome to the party :)

[Wrinkled Sack 15]

Great first post, nice to read an experience that positive. I can echo it, I remember getting the DOOM 3.5" floppy demo in one of the early PC Gamer magazines LOL. How awesome was that, compared to the other crap that was out there at the time? Similarly with HalfLife, some games you always remember as groundbreaking - and it wasn't about the graphics, it was the GAMEPLAY.

 

This game has scared me half to to death more times than I can count, made me ashamed of myself, made my heart pound so hard I thought it would explode, given me an opportunity to feel great about being altruistic, and provided me enough justifiable rage to spawn and re-gear multiple times to track down and kill some real assholes.

 

To all the people who say it's "boring", I'd say you're probably describing yourselves and your play style more than anything.

 

It's truly groundbreaking gameplay, with a huge potential for real emotional connection. I hope it attains the apogee of gaming greatness I think it has the potential for.

[DeKamme 41]

Deja Vu All Over Again

 

After yet another blackout, I awoke in another coastal city. My fogged mind was trying to decide whether this was a deja-vu, if I'm in a continuous nightmare, or - no more time to think, 2 zombies have picked up on my half naked self sprinting through the streets. I punch one to the ground, then flee to a shed, where I find a hoe. The tool, you know. 

When both of their skulls were turned into whant I usually see inside a can of spaghetti, I pick up my usual routine of finding some goofy but spacious clothing and other essentials. With some food, water, a mosin without ammo and the hoe, I decide to head for a police station to find ammo.

 

There I encountered some guy, rummaging through trunks of beat up cars. I casually said "hi dude, just passing by, how you doin". To my surprise he swapped his shotgun (with ammo) for my mosin. I figured, better to run around with a loaded gun looking for better stuff, then with an empty precision rifle.

I pointed him into the direction of the airfield, said I'd rather stick to moving through woods - and lost him in there. My calls to him were only answered by a curious sparrow.

 

At the airfield I encountered a corpse holding a mosin. That cleared that up. Moving towards his corpse, but sidestepping at the last moment proved effective: I heard the distinct crack of another mosin in the distance, and a bullet landing nearby. This made me run into the nearby building, grab some loot I saw readily available, and sprint back out into nearby underbrush.

At that time my comms started crackling, and cleared up with the familiar voice of a brother in arms. He said he saw some guy with a mosin run out of the woods, followed by a guy with a hoe... And he took out the mosin guy. Doh.

 

A few minutes later my buddies gave me their emergency loot stocks, turning me from a survivor into a hunter. Time to find some bandit gangs!

Edited May 5, 2014 by DeKamme

[DeKamme 41]

Huntin' bandits

 

The first bandit gang we encountered, had an initial smart approach. They advanced on our position through thick underbrush, only after one of us fell bleeding to the ground, our marksman noticed their location. 

 

Bad call, we thought: although their position gave them quite some visibility cover, it consisted only of 6 trees in the middle of a grass field. They had fired too soon, not realizing we had already half surrounded them. The only one of us that was close to our downed guy opened up towards the trees, effectively pinning them down, as we moved to close the net around them.

 

Once we reached our entrenched positions, it sounded like world war 3 started. All different calibers were echoing through the clear sky, and the comms were a mix of cheers and confusion. When the sound of both guns and our pounding hearts died down, someone said "we need to check them out". I decided to take a chance, we can't just let the situation rest there. There's too few of us, if they patch themselves up and take out one of us, they have an opening towards better cover.

 

I dropped some gear, leaving my trusty carbine and a spare magazine on me, and rushed towards the lonely trees that were ground zero of the earlier barrage. Reaching a point where I could see clearly through them, I noticed a crouching guy patching another up. Acting too fast, I emptied half my magazine in their direction while still running.

Although I clearly saw blood coming from the medics shoulder, it wasn't enough - my vision soon went black, lying half unconscious on the ground, I could only hear the sound of one of their guns, and rummaging through a backpack or medkit. Man down, I was just able to whisper through our comms.

 

To my surprise, I stumbled back up, to see (through a blurry haze) the crouched medic shuffling backwards. Moving away from my 3 teammates advancing from the opposite direction. Emptying the remainder of my mag into him did the job, he fell down, and didn't look like he was going to do much in that stage.

Woozy nights filled with vodka had prepared me a bit for the next bit: still in the haze, I grabbed his backpack and some other stuff, and ran back to the spot I assumed our sniper was hiding. More guided by his calm but alert voice then my blurry vision, I reached his fox hole, dropped my gear and body, and only started regaining my bearings after he pumped me full of saline, vitamins and some other stuff that left a strange metallic taste under my tongue.

 

 

Is this survival?

 

Half an hour later we were still rummaging through the combined loot, spread out over our camp floor. So much ruined equipment.

You can't ponder the meaning of it all too much: we equip, they equip, we encounter eachother, lose buddies, lose equipment, use up meds - and repeat it. I start to wonder, we call ourselves uninfected - is that really so, or have we just caught a more slowly acting variant of whatever the zombies have? Maybe they have an easier life: they don't gear up, just attack everything that moves with bare hands.

 

Maybe that's what's at the end of all this deja-vu waking up on beaches stuff. It's not reincarnating until we reach nirvana, it's a cycle that ends in the zombified state.

I ended up in hell, and don't quite realize what I did to deserve this.

Drinking the alcohol tincture gets more tempting every night we survive this living hell...

Edited May 5, 2014 by DeKamme