I am having a good time

[tyhboom 10]

I had been chipping away at the ARMA 2 single player campaigns and trying to parlay my way into one of the more serious online co-op communities when I saw a lot of coverage of Day Z start popping up. So I started following the mod a bit, reading through forum posts, the wiki, gaming columns online, but I never bothered installing it until yesterday. Switched my Six Launcher from ACE to Day Z and gave it a whirl.

Now going into the game, I had pretty low expectations. Let's face it, once Day Z started showing up on the landing page of lots of notable websites, the game was bound to attract the attention of all types, good and bad. From reading around the forums it seems that there has been a lot of bad.

*Skip to the bottom for the short version*

So on my first attempt I figured, hey I'll spawn look around walk in a eastward direction until I get capped in the back from 500M by a ghille'd sniper. Well what do you know, I didn't get shot at once! Infact, I didn't even run into another player the first playthrough. This was probably because I was avoiding the very crowded servers, for fear that I would enjoy an insta-death upon spawning after 5 minutes of loading.Emboldened by the fact I survived the first 30 seconds, I figured I better start looking for loot since I might even make it a whole 10 minutes alive. My first stop, a gas station with some abandoned cars. Still no Zed which I suppose is a good thing. Sneak around the back door inside and lookie here, an Axe. Well that'll be useful. Kept walking along the woods at the edge of the road when I see my first zeds show up at the end of what I suppose is Cherno. Hmm...I guess I could run straight at them or I could turn left and head up north. Well since I have made it my 10 minutes I will try for another 10 so northward it is armed with an axe some sodas (screw pepsi I will remain loyal).

The woods are nice and quiet and I can only hear the rustling the grass at my feet. Suddenly in the distance I see a figure. He's pointing a gun towards the sky but strangely inanimate. I go into a crawl and approach. Still no movement. I crouch and proceed forward axe in hand. Constantly suspicious of some ridiculous bandit plot to lure unsuspecting players I get within striking distance. Still no movement. Now in real life I'd probably just kick the guy or something to see if he is alive but I don't have that luxury right now so one hack to the head and....nothing. No movement, he didn't fall down, he's just stuck. Yay my first experience with a glitched dead player. No point in letting him go to waste so I take a look at what he has on him. Oh a little makarov with a loaded clip still. I politely bow my head and pay my respects to the dead traveler before I hide his body in the grass and continue onward.

Eventually I reached my first village. Armed with a pistol and an blunt object I felt extra brave so I approached at a quick crouching pace. Slowly searching arond the buildings to see for possible loot and of course zed heads. When low and behold I am made, I hear the groaning moaning coming from my speakers and realize I've been tracked. A few quick strikes with my axe and the zombie goes down, but he seems to have scratched me a bit. Patched up and continuing on I come across another dead body, only this one is armed with a AKM. Very excited I search his body to find that he probably died because he ran out of ammo. He had clips of every sort except the one's he needed. No point in hijacking his weapon I am better off with my axe.

But now I realize I have made a mistake, in the time I spent trying loot this poor guy, a small zombie crowd hobbled my direction. I don't even notice it realy until I get hit and by then I am frantically trying to axe away the zeds (who move quite quickly). Unlucky me catches a swipe from behind that breaks a leg or something. Now I'm on the ground and there are still 2 zombies up. Well I figure this is the end and contemplate suicide with my makarov but again, not an option again. Since I can't aim so high I nick their feet a few times but am subdued.

I think I made it to the average life expectancy, found some weapons and faced a zed. That was fun lets do it again. So I tried again probably 4 or 5 times in my first session. Some of which ended in very odd deaths. My favorite of which is my climbing a ladder escape zeds to find that somehow I get stuck on the ladder and they tear me to shreds.

And amazingly only once did I get shot by a bandit. Luckily it was early and I just reached the edge of Cherno when a shot rings out and catches my guy in the leg. This guy clearly isn't a great marksmen as when I was hit I was moving crouched slowly through a grassy field. I hear at least a half a dozen shots fire after I'm hit as I try to crawl. I try hiding out in the tall grass but eventually bleeding and another stray round gets me. But still, no real reason to get angry I just take it as a lesson learned. Don't go the predictable routes into large cities.

So on day 2 I have survived a night in the world and actually found it preferable. Darkness is a double edged sword and I managed off with a decent loot. An upgraded backpack a few rations and now a m4a3 cco. It gave me a sense of security when I spotted two survivors crossing the field I was in. I quietly observed them from a distance as I watched them get zeds on their tail and make a run for the woods. The last I heard was an AK spray and a death notice on the bottom of my screen. Eventually I would ditch my m4 for a crossbow which I ditched later because I couldnt seem to recover my bolts defeating the purpose of a crossbow to begin with. I left my guy up hiding out in the factory area of Chero. I managed to raid plenty of medical supplies from nearby but need a friend to apply them for me :(

*Short version. I am having lots of fun, despite all the negativity floating around the game. Yeah I still have the artifact glitches like everyone else, loading takes forever, six updater is kind of clunky, zombies run in the most ridiculous fashion, I am more afraid of ladders than snipers, etc. But it is really easy to see the brilliance of Day Z. I spent 20 minutes frantically searching for food. To my relief I grabbed some beans and franks. Me - 1 Starvation - 0 for now. This is the essence of survival.

I am alive, weakened but I will survive. Looking for someone to render medical assitance and maybe even a friend to play with. But I am perfectly happy pretending to be a LaMOE :thumbsup:

[Traios 2]

I also recently got dayz. I loved it at first sight and then knew this game was great when i broke someones legs with a hatchet stole their stuff from a back pack shot my enfield and left the guy for dead. Cruel, very cruel but the person found it wuite interesting, I said goodbye to the person and ran off leaving him looted and ready for dinner. (For the zombies of course).

[Bakst 98]

Keep it up, sounds like you're a tough survivor :) I crawled to the hospital in Elektro with 182 blood left earlier today, thought I was dead meat for sure, but ended up making a new friend, getting a blood transfusion and leg cast and hightailing it outta there. Loads of fun!

[LeOverlord 150]

This thread...

Beans for you...

:beans:

:rolleyes:

:thumbsup:

[FrankFisher 46]

DayZ wouldn't be the same without its issues <3

Edited July 30, 2012 by FrankFisher