Renault on 21/8/2012 at 15:16

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This game is amazing, completely addicted right now. So many great gaming moments already, here's one I'll share from last night:

After playing for about 4-5 hours on a low population server, with several close calls with dying/starving etc, I was finally picking up some momentum, and had accumulated some OK gear. Just OK, not great, but enough ammo/food/water where I felt comfortable. I'm heading north, like most people do, but at this point it was getting dark, which is a really spooky scenario in Day Z. Still, I can see a sizable town up ahead of me so I keep moving.

I spot a grocery store on the west end, and they usually have some great stuff. I’m checking it out, trying to be all stealthy and Thief-like. I don’t really want to waste the ammo I’ve collected frivolously. At this point, it’s pretty much pitch black. Normally I hate playing in the dark, but I’ve gotten used to it and the upside is that it’s easier to sneak around. So I decide to go prone and crawl my way into the grocery store. This way I can do some shopping without any zeds knowing that I’m actually there. I can see quite a few zombies patrolling around the store, at least 5 or 6, so just making a run for it would alert them and probably make my shopping trip a huge hassle.

I make it to the store undetected and have the run of the place. I raid the front area pretty good, and then move to the back. The only problem is, it’s completely black. I’m running into shit and can’t find my way around. So I decide to take a chance and use my flashlight. I flip it on for a few seconds and then off. I wait. I listen. No zombie alert sounds, so I seem to be OK for the moment. Little by little I make my way around the back, close all the doors to the outside, and the dead seem oblivious to my presence.

I figure with all the doors closed I’m OK, so I leave my flashlight on. I scrounge a bunch more stuff and at this point my pack is loaded. I’m getting ready to finish up and leave when I hear it – zombie alert sounds. They must have seen the flashlight. I turn it off quickly. Pitch black. I need to get out of here, if they come in here in the dark I won’t stand a chance, and they are able to open doors. I’m fumbling around, walking into walls, and can’t get any sense of direction, and I can’t find a route out. I’m panicking and starting to think I should just sit still, go prone, and wait. Or maybe log out.

Suddenly, a door flies open near me. I hear movement. And then it comes.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
Shots from an automatic rifle.
“brethren had died”
Fade to black.
PKed.
An evening of gaming down the drain in about 2 seconds.

In the dark, my flashlight must have lit up the store like a beacon for miles around. At first I was really pissed at the bandit. But it’s the harsh reality of the game, if you make yourself a target, someone’s going to shoot. I’ll know better next time. Funny thing was, I thought I was the one that alerted the zombies outside, but it was actually the bandit, running toward the store for his easy kill.

In any case, I don't see letting up on this game for a while. if any TTLGers have a favorite server and/or want to team up, let me know where you at and we can whoop some zombie/bandit ass.

PigLick on 22/8/2012 at 02:02

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Brethren, where are you located? I am in australia, but I can get reasonable connections to some US servers.

PigLick on 23/8/2012 at 02:52

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I'm partially unemployed atm so I have time during the day to play games!

PigLick on 24/9/2012 at 14:18

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more people need to play this, there are now 4 different open world maps available(though the original cherneras is the best). Hackers are still there but battleeye is doing a much better job at banning script kiddies. The latest 1.7.2.6 is probly the most stable build yet, and its a lot harsher and more difficult than when it first started up. Huge amounts of paranoia, when you have found some sweet gear its only gets worse cos you could have a sniper bullet in the back of your skull at any time really. The zombies are the least of your worries, the survivors(or bandits) are the real threat, for example, people are laying traps and baiting other players.
Example - one player sets up a vehicle, shoots out the tyres so it isnt driveable until you repair the tyres. Then calls out to anyone who can help them repair this sweet vehicle they have found. So a group of helpful dudes say "sure where are you, will be there in 10 minutes". So this player then hides and camps in some forested hills just near the car, with a high powered sniper rifle. So of course this group rocks up, finds the vehicle and proceeds to repair the tyres with tools they have scavenged. Then, 3 headshots later, 3 bodies on the ground attracting flies. No one can be trusted, its frickin awesome.

DDL on 25/9/2012 at 09:47

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Your whole description sounds like my idea of gaming hell. I love the idea of teaming up with survivors to work together against zombies, I love the unforgiving difficulty curve, and I'm even willing to forgive the clunky collision detection of the game engine, but there's just something I can't abide about organised griefing like that. Which is a shame, coz early DayZ was heaps of fun.

I realise happily letting people murder each other for loots and stuffs is entirely in keeping with the setting (and indeed with almost every work of zombie fiction ever), but people can be such dicks. I play games to forget how unrelentingly bastardly the entire world basically is, not to be constantly reminded of it. What you've just described there is not just people shooting other people to get their stuff, but people actively exploiting the natural teamworking/altruistic tendencies of other people just so they can be dicks, and shoot them.
Wierdly, I think it'd be wholly less grating if it were an actual AI tactic, like..say, there were NPCs who needed rescuing, but sometimes they turned out to be tricking you into an ambush or similar. That would seem clever, and would add a whole extra layer of play.
Instead, you have some fuck sitting in a chair somewhere thinking to themselves "Hey, I know, I'll pretend to need help, then shoot anyone stupid enough to actually come to my aid!", and then proceeding to do just that. "I will be an utter cockbag, because I can".

It'd be like if minecraft had twice as many creepers, and each creeper was actually controlled by another player, deliberately exploding near everything of highest value just because "fuck you, that's why". It's not just losing your stuff and dying, it's knowing some other fucker out there got a kick out of it.

I mean, I can totally understand that that level of heightened mistrust and paranoia is what some people really go for, but I get enough of that at work. :erg: