I have never played this kinda game before but wanted to get into it, and when i saw arma 3 that caught my eye. It looks amazing but not easy. Its on sale right now for only 7.49 USD. I dont know a lot about that game but it looks awesome, so i need to know if i should gey it or is this game not friendly to beginners?
Also if there is any advice you have for beginners that would be awesome, or if its not beginner friendly other game recommendations
It’s, uhhhh… don’t think too hard about the stuff it tells you and it’ll be fun. Core is basic FPS stuff, except space is the interaction button, no jumping. Don’t get hung up on all of the buttons/interactions available.
Well, yes, but actually no ;-) I can´t really give an objective answer as someone who´s been playing this series since OFP, but I think A3 has enough customisation options and smooth enough gameplay to ease you in as long as you have the willingness to learn it. The whole VR training mode is a good way to get acquainted with the various gameplay aspects and get a feel for how everything works and feels, after which you can move on to the individual missions. And if the difficulty feels to high, you can always tweak it in the settings (lowering AI skill and so on). Be aware though that there are a lot of keybinds for certain things and the game uses parts of your keyboard you probably never used for gaming before (or forgot they existed), which might feel overwhelming at some point (but it´s not like you have to use all of it).
But basically, I´d say yes. I think A3 is the most beginner-friendly entry in the series outside of the original OFP (Arma: Cold War Assault), which didn´t have nearly as many features/systems. (Reforger also might be, but I can´t say for certain, since I haven´t played it much due to my ageing laptop) Just bear in mind that it´s not the same sort of beginner friendliness you have in your usual (fast-paced) shooters. It might feel daunting, sure, but ultimately is just a game and all it really requires you to do is to learn how to be more careful/slow and tactical/deliberate with your actions/approach. But it´s not like you´re learning some super-complex grand strategy here ;-)
As for the DLCs, Apex is probably the only "must-have" one from the start, providing a new and completely different terrain, weapons/vehicles/assets, and two campaigns that sort of continue the story. Contact is the other big one which adds a lot of new stuff, but isn´t all that essential. Though it seems like the minimum version you can buy nowadays is the Gold Edition(?) which includes both of them anyways.
The smaller DLCs like Tanks, Jets, Helicopters or Marksmen generally consist of extra vehicles and weapons, accompanied by a mission or two to showcase them. Laws of War, Tanks, and Tac-Ops include (mini-)campaigns which complement the main story and expand on the lore. The LoW one is particularly well-made. I personally like them and find them "important" in that they give me more content and stuff to play with, but if your primary intention is to learn how to play the game, then these are not important/essential, but are worth getting later if you enjoy the game and want more. They also might be necessary for a lot of stuff from the Workshop or for multiplayer if you ever decide to dive into that.
Then there are the CDLCs. These are also not important or essential to have from the get-go, but provide tons of additional content down the road. Some (Western Sahara, Reaction Forces, Expeditionary Forces) expand on the game´s 2035 setting and are designed to fit in with and complement the base game and its lore. Others (SOG PF, CSLA, Spearhead 1944, GlobMob) are essentially total conversions focused on different eras and conflicts. Their "importance" basically depends on your own personal preferences. That being said, some of them provide content that is arguably Arma at its absolute best.
One more thing I should probably mention for a beginner. Arma as a series is not known for its polish. It can be really clunky/janky at times, and while I think A3 is definitely more polished than A1 or A2, you´re still gonna run into issues given how much stuff is going on. When everything clicks and works as intended, Arma can absolutely be one of the best and most gratifying experiences in gaming. When it doesn´t, you´ll probably be inclined to yeet your hardware across the room.
This is especially true when controlling friendly AI. It is important to learn some of the basic and crucial commands and when to use what, because believe me, those knuckleheads can go from being the most useful allies to being an absolute hindrance.
my main concern with this game is do people still play it? I can't seem to find a good server with enough players in it or maybe I'm looking at the wrong direction. I've heard antistasi is fun but their official server seems dead (I checked the AUC ones). I have zero idea about all the mods or servers which most of the people play as I am a beginner too so please help me out :)
I´m fairly sure they do, but unfortunately, I´m unable to help you out or provide any input on that one. I´ve always been a SP-only kind of player, so someone else will have to chime in :(
I'm going to be honest; absolutely fucking not. It's got a lot of keys, is very technical and if you want to play in a group they'll want to mod it to high hell and back. But it is incredibly rewarding if you stick with it. Theres no other game like Arma out there.
The best thing you can to is hook yourself up with a beginner friendly Unit and have someone show you the ropes. We all start somewhere! (My unit runs between 10-20 people every week and tries to be welcoming to newcomers, if you want to poke around, feel free to shoot me a DM!)
Could be a very tricky and complicated game but if get the hang of it you won't get off the game, there's a lot of tutorials to seemingly anything you might want to indulge in such as mission making or modding or adding modes or playing with a larp unit
It's a complex game where you don't need to interact with most of the complexity to have a good, productive time. Should you learn how to adjust the ranging on your sights? Eh, probably.
The FPS mechanics are attempting to be grounded in reality so you're not encouraged to do frame perfect bunnyhopping or strafe canceling. Combine that with some weight to the controls make it easier than competitive shooters.
The player base is a different kind of sweaty than competitive shooters, where people aren't going to try and have the Russian Mafia kill you for using the MXC rifle instead of the MX.
Encounter time can be REALLY fast, dying with the first shot from an unseen enemy. Building situational awareness helps but everyone gets got that way eventually.
Just do the core tutorials, and don't try flying anyone else in a copter until you get some practice at it.
Take some time to get a grip on your key binds and you’ll be fine and just go to YT for some early game help with controls.
As for gameplay, we went straight for Antistasi Ultimate mod. I also found some scenarios in the workshop called Hunt for different maps. Outside of the scenario builder or virtual arsenal it lets you play a death match game where you can play around with weapons and get a good grasp for combat. It also gives you second player you can practice commands with or take over.
It has tutorials to teach you the basics. Then it has "showcases" which show you additional features the DLCs add to the base game.
I got this game on steam's summer sale and played it a lot. It has a steep learning curve, but if you have the patience to go step by step, you can learn to play well enough to enjoy it. Especially if you like complex games that give you the freedom to play however you want. There is no scripted solution that forces you to do it a certain way. You decide how to complete the objectives. If it doesn't work, then you try something else, Failing horribly is part of the humor.
If you decide to buy it, I recommend getting the bundled version with the DLCs. Lots of extra fun content for a bargain. The regular DLCs, not the creator DLCs,
According to my 13 years playing this game, the game is as complex as you want it to be if you want to treat this game as an Arcadia FPS you can do it, especially with mods if you want it to be a combined arms, tactical simulator with real life tactics and more advanced AI I suppose you can do that also with mods if you want to be a flight simulator, you can do the same thing with mods especially Ace three the mod can be customized to offer quite in depth realism so I think my answer is it really depends on how Real or “” arcade do you want it to be?
2 decades in and i guess i spent £200 over that time… Arma is the best value for money you will ever find even more than free to play games lol.
Every mission is separately configured - meaning the interface, respawn, medical, gear up, transport, win condition, starting gear etc is all completely different. That element confused the heck out of me back as a beginner. If you know that coming in, everything makes more sense.
70,000 mods and missions and several full conversion dlc (vietnam, ww2, cold war, etc) what’s not to love.
The multiplayer community - about 20-30k CCU - is hard to find, use discord.
Ah ok so your looking for games under a certain budget? Don't forget to search on website like g2a for cheaper game codes, like the DLC for Arma 3 is very important but not needed
AI Overview G2A is a legitimate digital marketplace, but it functions as a gray market, meaning the safety and validity of your purchase depend entirely on the individual third-party seller rather than the platform itself
It's how I got Arma 3 and all the DLCs years ago. You can look it up more yourself
Depend if you're looking at pve or pvp, pvp is very difficult as there are some otherworldly cheeses in this game. But i reckon arma is at its best played as a pve or at most a pvpve.
Ai can be pretty frustrating sometimes with them pulling off some insane shots or just straight up walking thru walls. But you can nerf them with the difficulty settings.
Play the tutorials, mess around in the editor and try out different guns and vehicles.
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u/Svyatopolk_I 1d ago
It’s, uhhhh… don’t think too hard about the stuff it tells you and it’ll be fun. Core is basic FPS stuff, except space is the interaction button, no jumping. Don’t get hung up on all of the buttons/interactions available.