06-23-2015, 02:39 PM
My OFP/Arma story begins in Nepal.
I met an Israeli travel companion there who, like me, just left the military. When I asked him where did he serve he said he was a Tanker. I asked him what was his role in the tank and he said that he was a gunner. That struck me as odd since that kind fellow had a significant eye squint. After we traveled together some more I felt comfortable asking him how did he manage to become a Merkava gunner with a squint, and he said that it took him a lot of struggle with the armored core medical board but his consistency prevailed and he was allowed to take the gunners course acceptance exams. He was determined to pass and wanted to get prepared. He consulted an officer and asked him what can he do in order to pass, he knew that given his squint he will have to do really good in the exams that involved tests of hitting a moving target in a simulator. That officer told him that he can practice, in a computer game, which he labeled as very realistic, and one that has a tank gunnery system very close to real life. That game was Operation Flashpoint.
The officer told him that the game comes with an editor, and instructed him what kind of scenario he should set up and practice on. My squinted friend got the game, and during one of his weekend leaves practiced on tank gunnery in OFP's editor. When the time has come, he completed the exam in flying colours, enough to overcome his eye deficiency, and got to be a tank gunner.
That story fascinated me, and I carried it with me until I returned from my trip. I still have the notebook I wrote the name of the game in. It was before I started my studies, my schedule consisted from gaming and jim, so I had a lot of free time on my hands. That was already three years after the release of the game so I had troubles finding a retail store that had it around where I lived with my parents. I found one store that had a copy of the game (the Game of the Year edition) and I sent my sister to get it for me since it was close to where she lived.
When I first installed the game and started to play the CWC campaign, I liked how the weapon handling felt, the fact that you need to take aim and use single fire mode or else you won't hit shit. But I was yet to grasp the depth of the game until I reached the mission "After Montignac". For those who don't know it, it's the mission that have you stranded on Everon after your unit was scattered and killed. It has no objective other than "reach friendly forces" or something of that sort. I expected some instructions, guidance by HQ, anything, but the mission gave nothing to help me. When I understand that I am alone in this, I was immersed like I never was in any game at the past. I remember grabbing an M203 from one of my dead comrades' corpses and evading the Russian patrols. I was as scared as a game could get you scared. I had only one save and I struggled to keep myself from using it. It took several attempts for me to realize that I won't be able to shoot my way through this mission. I felt a sweet despair as I was struggling to get unnoticed to a trabant car in a distant hamlet that I wanted to use in my escape. It was thrilling, it felt alive, it was shockingly exciting. The understanding that this is something that I was never experienced before crushed down on me. I was immediately hooked like a worm.
Shock number two was when I was recruited by the resistance forces and was asked to spot targets before an assault on a town where the Russians held civilian captives. I right clicked the targets and something about the way my character called them out told me that this was no script. Not that I knew what scripts were back then, but the mechanical way the numbers were read told me that it's a robust mechanism that is ALWAYS active and not sawn solely for that particular scenario.
That mesmerizing feeling carried on to the resistance campaign and to Red Hammer. In the mission that has you raid an American airbase at night and refuel a stolen Mi-17 helicopter I thought - "Damn, if only I could play this with human players... How awesome would that be?" I had zero knowledge that OFP already had a vibrant coop community, nor did I know what "coop" was. I think only a month after completing all the SP missions and the campaigns I explored the game's interface (because it was hard for me to just let go of it) and came across the gamespy interface. I had an an old GS account for the only game I played online before - Mechwarrior, so I logged in and joined one of the OFP "rooms". After a while I was ingame with real people!!! Except a few moments in my service, I as hyped as I never was before while sitting in front of a computer screen. I still remember the view; I was sitting with a bunch of other Spetsnaz operators in the back of a civilian truck. I was so confused and I didn't know what should I do. The awe I was in caused me to delay jumping out of the truck with the others and the driver pulled back and ran me over, but I didn't care, I knew I've found my home. Afterwards, It took me two full frustrating years of searching the right coop experience, and I was part of two failed clans, until I found CiA, but that is a story for another time.
Don't miss this OFP screenshot gallery guys, these images bring me back...
I met an Israeli travel companion there who, like me, just left the military. When I asked him where did he serve he said he was a Tanker. I asked him what was his role in the tank and he said that he was a gunner. That struck me as odd since that kind fellow had a significant eye squint. After we traveled together some more I felt comfortable asking him how did he manage to become a Merkava gunner with a squint, and he said that it took him a lot of struggle with the armored core medical board but his consistency prevailed and he was allowed to take the gunners course acceptance exams. He was determined to pass and wanted to get prepared. He consulted an officer and asked him what can he do in order to pass, he knew that given his squint he will have to do really good in the exams that involved tests of hitting a moving target in a simulator. That officer told him that he can practice, in a computer game, which he labeled as very realistic, and one that has a tank gunnery system very close to real life. That game was Operation Flashpoint.
The officer told him that the game comes with an editor, and instructed him what kind of scenario he should set up and practice on. My squinted friend got the game, and during one of his weekend leaves practiced on tank gunnery in OFP's editor. When the time has come, he completed the exam in flying colours, enough to overcome his eye deficiency, and got to be a tank gunner.
That story fascinated me, and I carried it with me until I returned from my trip. I still have the notebook I wrote the name of the game in. It was before I started my studies, my schedule consisted from gaming and jim, so I had a lot of free time on my hands. That was already three years after the release of the game so I had troubles finding a retail store that had it around where I lived with my parents. I found one store that had a copy of the game (the Game of the Year edition) and I sent my sister to get it for me since it was close to where she lived.
When I first installed the game and started to play the CWC campaign, I liked how the weapon handling felt, the fact that you need to take aim and use single fire mode or else you won't hit shit. But I was yet to grasp the depth of the game until I reached the mission "After Montignac". For those who don't know it, it's the mission that have you stranded on Everon after your unit was scattered and killed. It has no objective other than "reach friendly forces" or something of that sort. I expected some instructions, guidance by HQ, anything, but the mission gave nothing to help me. When I understand that I am alone in this, I was immersed like I never was in any game at the past. I remember grabbing an M203 from one of my dead comrades' corpses and evading the Russian patrols. I was as scared as a game could get you scared. I had only one save and I struggled to keep myself from using it. It took several attempts for me to realize that I won't be able to shoot my way through this mission. I felt a sweet despair as I was struggling to get unnoticed to a trabant car in a distant hamlet that I wanted to use in my escape. It was thrilling, it felt alive, it was shockingly exciting. The understanding that this is something that I was never experienced before crushed down on me. I was immediately hooked like a worm.
Shock number two was when I was recruited by the resistance forces and was asked to spot targets before an assault on a town where the Russians held civilian captives. I right clicked the targets and something about the way my character called them out told me that this was no script. Not that I knew what scripts were back then, but the mechanical way the numbers were read told me that it's a robust mechanism that is ALWAYS active and not sawn solely for that particular scenario.
That mesmerizing feeling carried on to the resistance campaign and to Red Hammer. In the mission that has you raid an American airbase at night and refuel a stolen Mi-17 helicopter I thought - "Damn, if only I could play this with human players... How awesome would that be?" I had zero knowledge that OFP already had a vibrant coop community, nor did I know what "coop" was. I think only a month after completing all the SP missions and the campaigns I explored the game's interface (because it was hard for me to just let go of it) and came across the gamespy interface. I had an an old GS account for the only game I played online before - Mechwarrior, so I logged in and joined one of the OFP "rooms". After a while I was ingame with real people!!! Except a few moments in my service, I as hyped as I never was before while sitting in front of a computer screen. I still remember the view; I was sitting with a bunch of other Spetsnaz operators in the back of a civilian truck. I was so confused and I didn't know what should I do. The awe I was in caused me to delay jumping out of the truck with the others and the driver pulled back and ran me over, but I didn't care, I knew I've found my home. Afterwards, It took me two full frustrating years of searching the right coop experience, and I was part of two failed clans, until I found CiA, but that is a story for another time.
Don't miss this OFP screenshot gallery guys, these images bring me back...
The fewer men, the greater share of honor