Line #6 YMMV/ArmA - TV Tropes


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Was Miller really intending to help the Aegis Taskforce survivors or was he just using them to further his own goals, sending them in increasingly dangerous missions, while he [[spoiler:recovered information about the whereabouts of the device]]? It should be noted that [[spoiler:after the failed Agia Marina attack]] he waits for the men to reach the evac point, but by that point barely anyone was left. [[spoiler:In his ending, he taunts Kerry by promising him answers if he waits for him to return, ''while warning him of the incoming counter-attack.'']] Night falls and he calls to say he won't return. Was he truly offering answers or he was just hoping that Kerry never make it back to NATO, keeping the secret of his involvement in the whole affair?
2	* AluminumChristmasTrees:
3	** Although a lot of people were shocked and complained about ''Arma 3'''s "futuristic" setting, most of its equipment is actually in use already, or at the very least in prototype form. Even the Viper suits, which seem straight out of sci-fi, are [[http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/05/21/firms-pitch-exoskeletons-and-body-armor-for-socoms-iron-man-suit.html based on a prototype]].
4	** The MX series of assault rifles commonly used by the NATO of ''ARMA III'' are based on a concept design by CMMG, a Missouri-based gunsmith and firearms manufacturer.
5	* BreatherLevel: Some missions and [=DLCs=] take a break from battlefield simulation. A notable example from ''III'' is ''Art of War'', which has the player visit the (fictional) Lars Blanken Gallery in Amsterdam, where they can explore a sizeable and surprisingly introspective collection of (community-made) art, with various annotations [[HiddenDepths meditating about real-life issues surrounding the toll of war on civilians, the moral dilemmas surrounding futuristic technology in battle, the future of humanitarian efforts in combat zones, and the very nature of war itself]].
6	* BrokenBase:
7	** In a rather divisive moment, when it was revealed that the official SP campaign for ''ARMA 3'' would not be finished in time for the scheduled release and that said release date was immutable, meaning that the game would launch without an official campaign. The announcement that the campaign would be released over the course of a year as free DLC instead of being immediately available in full, didn't help, although some players enjoyed the episodic style of the story. The controversy was over once the campaign was fully published and it has been mostly forgotten since.
8	** The TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture setting of ''Arma 3'' has been a point of contention through its entire lifetime. Some players dislike that the factions of ''Arma 3'' are not based on real groups (Arguing that you can't simulate what doesn't exist), hate that the equipment, weapons and other gear are too "Futuristic" (Despite that all of them, except for the [[FutureCopter Y-32 Xi'an]], [[AluminumChristmasTrees are based on real gear or prototypes]]), that they don't make sense from a story and in-universe story perspective (apparently the US Army using Israeli-based tanks is absolutely impossible and immersion-breaking) others argue that the gear and equipment is unimportant as there are hundreds of mods for that if the vanilla assets are not enough and that Bohemia Interactive is fully within their rights in trying to do something different from the earlier games.[[note]]Basically every game prior (''[=OFP=]'', ''Arma'', ''Arma 2'') has featured the traditional M16 vs AK-74 and the like without exception, while ''Arma 3'' has more unconventional or somewhat fictitious weapons and gear, however, there are hundreds of mods for every weapon under the sun, plus the [=CUP=] Project which ports the entirety of the previous games assets to ''Arma 3'', so in practice, the futuristic setting is a non-issue [[/note]].
9	** In ''Arma 3'' [=DLCs=] are a great point of contention among players: in order not to fragment the multiplayer community, Bohemia takes a "features free, new content is paid for" approach, making players who own the DLC to have access to content other players in the same server don't have. To illustrate, the Helicopters DLC introduced game mechanics such as sling loading, advanced flight model ([[HarderThanHard as in ''completely'' realistic]]), firing from vehicles, and a few more. These are available to ALL players, regardless if they pay for the DLC or not, and they apply to all helicopters, including the non-DLC ones. But the new helicopters added in the DLC, can only be piloted and gunned by players who paid for it, while other players in the server can still ride as passengers, whether they own the DLC or not. Some players think this is fair, others think it is not, others just complain about the existence of DLC at all.
10	*** The Apex expansion stoked fires anew, largely due to the sheer volume of content locked as DLC, including several new weapons, attachments, and pieces of gear (including combined night- and thermal-vision goggles) and the first additional map added to the game, essentially making it the third game's equivalent of the second's ''Operation Arrowhead''.
11	*** Also on the subject of DLC is the focus of Singleplayer or Multiplayer: the Apex, Marksmen, Malden and Helicopters packages introduced multiplayer missions and scenarios with great replayability, while the Laws of War, the Tac-Ops and Contact introduced (quite well made and extensive) single player campaigns. Naturally, both sides of the fanbase have felt ignored at some point.
12	* CommonKnowledge: The island of Altis is a renaming of the Greek island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea after it became indepedent. However, the opening cutscene shows Altis' location to be south of Italy and [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary material]] shows it is its own island with a fictional history tracing back to the Pheonicians. This misconception comes from pre-Alpha releases where the setting would actually be the actual Greek Aegean island of Lemnos (breaking the tradition of the series and having a real location as a setting), but after the incident where Bohemia's developers were arrested, the setting moved to a fictional location. Still, the island of Altis is an almost perfect recreation of the geography of Lemnos, which made the myth endure.
13	* CultClassic: The first game was quite short lived and not quite polished with a low player count coming mostly from ''VideoGame/OperationFlashpoint''. And the second game before ''VideoGame/DayZ'', while it had a not-so-low player count, flew mostly under the radar of most gamers and gaming journalism.
14	* DemonicSpiders: Viper's special operatives in the Apex campaign. They have a way to counter every single one of those cool little gadgets that made your last missions so easy. Thermal googles? They have thermal masking clothes and vehicles. Night vision goggles? They attack only from foliage or fog, etc. If Viper shows up, chances are your day got a lot more complicated.
15	* FandomRivalry: ''ARMA III'' modding has one between RHS (Red Hammer Studios) and CUP (Community Upgrade Project) - RHS adds very realistic, detailed and high-quality recreations of the equipements, vehicles and units of the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US Military]] and [[UsefulNotes/RussiansWithRustingRockets Russian Armed Forces]] (as well as some ''ARMA II'' factions[[note]]the Chernarus Armed Forces, the [=ChDKZ=] rebels and "paramilitary", a retooling of NAPA[[/note]] and the Serbian Armed Forces[[note]]In a case of UnexpectedCharacter, the devs were developing a RHS-based mod on the Serbian forces before they were recruited to RHS and they decided to mrge both projects since it used a lot of already-existing assets and msot work was already done.[[/note]]). CUP on the other hand, basically adds every content from all previous ''ARMA'' games, every single gun, vehicles and unit (except for the campaigns), even adding some content of their own. Since both mods have significant overlap, most players have to choose one or the other, RHS cite higher quality and accuracy while CUP fans tend to prefer content. However, RHS-supporters will gladly use the CUP maps mod, since they are downloaded separately from the rest of CUP.
16
17	* GameBreaker: Not really present in game mechanics in the traditional way, since its commitment to realism means that nothing grants an automatic advantage over everything, every weapon or vehicle has its advantages and disadvantages, making the game-breaker status more dependent on the situation rather than the weapon or vehicle itself. It is up to the mission designers to make sure that no element becomes all-powerful (e.g. if one team has access to attack helicopters of some kind, the other team should have Anti Air capabilities in some form).
18	** The Jets DLC has been taking heat for this as well, as most of the complaints go with the fact the new jets are too fast and nimble to be countered effectively by AA infantry (whose [=MANPADs=] were significantly nerfed) and AA artillery use has increased complexity which makes casual use quite difficult. The only surefire way to counter them is another plane with an AA specialized payload. But again, its game-breaker status depends on the mission design.
19	** '''[[TeamSpirit Communication and teamwork.]]''' This may seem very obvious, but it cannot be stressed enough. In any game mode, no matter the objective, no matter the terrain, and especially if they have a competent leader and disciplined players, a very small team can wreak havoc of biblical proportions. Even worse if they coordinate with [[TankGoodness tanks,]] [[DeathFromAbove artillery]] [[GunshipRescue or close air support]]. As long as they have the capabilities to match the threat level (i.e. you need anti-tank to deal with enemy tanks) the effect a four- or five-man team can have is staggering and they can easily outmatch a larger but less coordinated force to a crippling degree. When in combat, you can lay traps for transports and ambush patrols, you can lock down entire blocks in urban warfare with clever positioning. In survival modes, the team can secure areas and build bases quicker while keeping a lookout, you can scavenge in safety and provide recon and intel while others stay at base and craft assets or maintain the armory. Truly, the only way to defeat a well coordinated group is another well coordinated group or simply [[WeHaveReserves throw a lot of]] CannonFodder their way until someone gets lucky, or they're overwhelmed by the sheer force of numbers.
20	** Infrared scopes and Enhanced Night Vision Goggles (which also work in 3rd person!), which are night-vision goggles with an infrared mode. You'll never worry about looking for tracer fire or trying to spot movement in bushes ever again, all your foes are now nicely highlighted for you to light up. Slap an infrared scope on a sniper rifle or a machinegun like the [[{{BFG}} SPMG (which itself, courtesy of .338 rounds, will kill anyone in 1-2 shots and has seriously long range)]] and you'll be slaughtering infantry with ease as target acquisition is easily half the difficulty in the game's firefights.
21	* GoodBadBugs: Collision physics, especially with vehicles, are pretty wonky and often catapult them hundreds of feet in the air. The results are almost never not hilarious.
22	* HarsherInHindsight: The Russo-Ukrainian war is ''uncannily'' similar to the scenario and plot of ''II''; A radical Russian minority with a Communist bent in a post-Soviet Central-Eastern {{Ruritania}} bordering on Russia wages war against weak government forces (after the latter attempt to distance themselves from their Cold War sphere of influence) and occupy government buildings. Then Russia personally intervenes, marching over the border under the guise of peacekeeping operations. Then the government forces team up with radical nationalist militants, which is one of the ''casus belli'' for the invasion. The only part that has ''yet'' to happen is a US-European military intervention.
23	** Of course, Bohemia tries to base their settings on current conflicts or possible flashpoints. The Russian-Georgian War, which is also similar to the Russo-Ukranian conflict, happened only an year prior to the release of ''ARMA II'' and many specialists had pointed how post-soviet countries trying to escape the Russian sphere of influence and having sizeable Russian minorities was a recipe for disaster.
24	** This was later {{Lampshaded}} by Bohemia Interactive in their 2021 ''Art of War'' DLC, where one photo reveals that Chernarus, like Ukraine, ended up being invaded by an army of "[[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_green_men_(Ukrainian_crisis) little green men]]".
25	* HilariousInHindsight: ''ARMA III'' was first announced, the "TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture" setting was criticized for depicting the NATO with a distinctly different weaponry than it was in real life. One of the biggest points of contention was the use of the fictional "MX" rifle. And then in around 2019 to 2020, the US Army is looking for a replacement model to replace the traditional AR-15 and SAW LMG armaments. The final choice in 2022 was the Sig MCX, which not only looks uncannily similar to the MX rifle, but it is chambered in 6.8mm rounds, a little short of the predicted 6.5mm of the MX. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/arma/comments/fi1335/arma_predicted_the_future/ This reddit thread also elaborates.]]
26	** CMMG, which lend their MX design to the game for NATO's standard assault rifle, [[https://www.military.com/kitup/2018/06/12/army-selects-10-commercial-subcompact-weapons-future-testing.html also selected to be one of the candidates for the military supplier of PDWs.]]
27	** The use of squad-level small drones for reconaissance and laser targeting for bombing was seen as somewhat futuristic and novel at the game's release. Later they became commonplace during the Nagorno-Karabakh and Russo-Ukrainian wars.
28	* HomegrownHero: ''Arma'' regularly casts you as an American soldier in NATO intervention and/or peacekeeping operations in fictional countries. Sometimes it's actually closely based on RealLife (like in ''II'''s [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars Yugoslavia-esque]] [[{{Ruritania}} Chernarus]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Afghanistan-esque]] [[{{Qurac}} Takistan]]) and thus [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]], but other times (as with Sahrani in ''I'' or Altis and Stratis in ''III'') not so much. The creators themselves [[SubvertedTrope are Czech]] (and have once even made a Czech faction in-game), but the intended target market audience was [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff obvious]].
29	* JustHereForGodzilla: When the ''Day-Z'' mod came out, ''ARMA II'' sales spiked -- even amongst people who admitted that they were NOT at all interested in the base game.
30	* MagnificentBastard: Captain Scott Miller leads NATO's CTRG 14, which [[NoSuchAgency doesn't officially exist]]. Embedded on Altis for years with an insurgent group the rest of NATO was fighting, Miller is alleged to have dropped cluster bombs on an insurgent village full of civilians and blaming it on NATO's geopolitical opponent CSAT. Miller misleads everyone he works with and abandons them when they [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness have outlived their usefulness]] if they aren't in on his true mission: [[spoiler:capturing Eastwind, a CSAT EarthquakeMachine used to destabilize neutral nations]]. He sends FIA guerillas on harassment missions [[spoiler:and even sabotages the NATO counter-attack]] to buy more time for him and team to find it and if he does so, cuts all loose ends, including the guerillas and the player character. If he fails to find [[spoiler:Eastwind]] on Altis, he tracks it down to Tanoa, taking advantage of an EnemyCivilWar to steal it from right between [[EvilCounterpart Viper Team's]] fingers. When CSAT returns to Tanoa [[spoiler:to test an engineered [[ThePlague disease]]]] a few years later, Miller strings along a local asset to ally with the insurgents Miller fought and create a distraction for his team [[spoiler:to destroy the lab and steal a cure]], offering the asset a place on his team for his performance. Miller is a dutiful and resourceful soldier who arguably saves the world twice by exposing CSAT's machinations, all the while seeing everyone who isn't in on his plans as completely expendable.[[note]]community consensus is that the guy is still an asshole, though.[[/note]] %% MB proposal here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1683#comment-42059 and writeup here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15255322860A44444400&page=1685#comment-42109
31	* MemeticMutation:
32	** ''Walking Simulator 2013'' [[note]]A joking way to call ''Arma 3'', due the huge walking with no action that is sometimes required.[[/note]]
33	** For some reason, Bohemia Interactive really seem to love the word "splendid", which has been lampshaded by both devs and players alike.
34	** The modding community has a slogan ''"...and then ARMA updated"''. This is because every update usually forces modders to rework their scenarios/models/scripts in some capacity forcing them to redo something, or scrap assets or ideas due to the game updating. An egregious example is the [=DayZ=] modders abandoning their new project in Arma III due to three years of work being rendered completely useless after a graphical update.
35	** Jokes about [[CrossesTheLineTwice war crimes]] are common among some of the playerbase, mostly due how easy and incosequential is to commit them. They really took off when WebVideo/SovietWomble and the ZF clan started publisshing more videos on milsim games, since their tongue in cheek humor and playstyle synergized well with the serious tone of the game:
36	--->'''Commander:''' There are civilians in the village.\
37	'''Cyanide:''' I think the way you pronounce that is [[BlackComedy "Acceptable Casualties."]]\
38	'''Soviet:''' No. Hearts and minds, we're not bombing the civilians.\
39	'''Cyanide:''' Yeah, they'll have hearts and minds, they'll just be [[CrossesTheLineTwice splattered all over the ground]]
40	*** Something of a DiscreditedMeme nowadays, since the subreddit and many communities were so oversaturated with what was basically many iterations of a one note joke, that trying them was a quick way of getting written off as a new player who has just discovered the game from said Bullshittery videos and was likely to ruin the experience to other, more experienced or serious players for the sake of trying to be the next Cyanide.[[note]]Not helping matters is that by sheer coincidence, around the same time as the first of such bullshitery videos the Laws of War DLC came out, where the whole point of it was to portray the civilian suffering and long term trauma and consequences of war with a deep and moving single player campaign that was widely praised and succesful while also collecting funds for the International Committee of the Red Cross[[/note]]
41	** "MAN, 200 METERS, FRONT." Mocking the stilted MadLibsDialogue given out by the AI. Also a source of anxiety if the player can't spot what the AI sees.
42	** "Getting Arma'd" or "Arma moment" for vehicle accidents caused by the janky vehicle physics.
43	* {{Narm}}: The MadLibsDialogue is particularly hard to take seriously in the first two games. It got better in the third game, although at times it can still be jarring. Also any time Kozlowski opens his mouth. [[RuleOfThree Also again]], Armstrong tends to indulge in DullSurprise.
44	-->'''Kozlowski''': ''[in a slightly high-pitched voice]'' Oh, fuck, those murderous pigs!\
45	'''Armstrong''': ''[badly wounded]'' Need! HELP!
46	** Most of the voice acting in the third game is REALLY bad, despite generally averting DullSurprise (even on the procedurally generated voice commands) which makes most of the scenes extremely unimmersive. Kerry's actor is just lousy at emoting, so he usually conveys the wrong feeling or overacts. Miller's briefings are distracting due to his [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent horrendously unidentifiable accent]] and weird speech patterns. But the worst BY FAR is Stavrou. It almost seems that the actor is not an English speaker and is just reading the script without actually understanding what he's saying. His briefing speeches are so robotic and monotonous that even the [[MadLibsDialogue voice commands]] sound natural in comparison. The only scenes that are somewhat believable (within the context game, not to say that they're great) are Lt. James and Col. Armstrong. A shame, really, since generally, the writing is quite good and would make a very exciting narrative had the voice acting not been so laughable.
47	* ScrappyMechanic:
48	** The anti-lag features in ''ARMA III'' are notoriously infamous for being too strict, even in situations when the players' internet connection starts to fluctuate for outside causes: You must have '''always''' a ping connection below 300 if you want to play the game online or keep playing the game on any moment. If your connection goes above 300 for a few seconds, you can forget about playing the game at all.
49	** The new scope sway, weapon resting and fatigue system added in a few updates has been mostly disliked by less realism fixated players. Weapon resting and bipods in particular were requested for a long time but most people now regret the addition, mostly because they worked as intended. To elaborate: while scope sway always existed, it was fairly reasonable and manageable, but with the addition of weapon resting (a passive stability bonus when a weapon is touching a surface such as a window frame), scope sway and recoil was notoriously increased in order to make the resting an actual advantage. Meaning shooting with a scope while standing with long range scopes and higher caliber is practically useless. Bipods and deployment were another addition long expected but bipods restrict heavily the angle you can aim and it deploys ''parallel to the ground''. In other words, going prone on a hill and using the bipod will make you aim downhill. This makes the act of sniping (a major attractive of the game) even harder than it was before, since the hiding place you choose is much more influential in your aiming.
50	** The vehicle physics engine is... wonky to say the least. Vehicles crashing or even ''touching'' into other things tend to launch them into the air and/or randomly make them explode without much notice. Driving in convoys in multiplayer mode, which can combine the wonky physics with rubber-banding and result in some lag by a driving making a collision and sending the vehicles to the moon.
51	** In a similar way related with the above point, the game is notoriously unbalanced for players with low-spec [=PCs=] against players with high-spec [=PCs=]. A player with a very powerful rig being able to render the game at 60 fps will always be in a technical advantage against any player with a weak PC that could only render the game at 30 fps or less, since at the moment the player with the less powerful PC could be able to draw any weapon, the player with a more powerful and expensive rig [[YouAreAlreadyDead already killed the player with a crappy PC and the other player are unable to do anything else afterwards]] forcing those kind of players to use other indirect methods to do combat, like using tanks, anti-air artillery, etc. While other [=FPSs=] have methods or systems to avoid this, on the other hand this is enforced in the game in an attempt to keep a seamless gameflow during all moments of online play.
52	* ThatOneLevel: Several
53	** In ''Arma 3'', Tipping Point. While the first part is a standard assault missions like you are used too, all of sudden [[spoiler:you are suddenly faced with an overwhelming CSAT forces and you have to make a run through them to escape.]]
54	** Signal Lost, just right after Tipping Point, is a SuddenGameplayChange for new players. This is a survival type mission unlike those you might be used to. You lose all your gear (which oddly includes your vest) and start with a handgun with no spare magazine so you have to grab a weapon from the dead guerillas or enemies you killed. You have no backup, and you have to sneak past a town full of enemies including occasional vehicle and helicopter patrols. While it is possible (and not that difficult if you know what you are doing) to wipe out the patrols and the AAF outpost if you so wish, trying to go in guns blazing like Rambo will just get you killed quickly. Unlike most example, many considered this mission well made, and it's actually one of the most exciting missions in the game once you know what to do.
55	** Bingo Fuel, a rather long and confusing mission. While it isn't exactly hard, the fact that you need to sneak past vehicle patrols can sometimes make things complicated. Near the end you will be given a SadisticChoice between [[spoiler:delivering the much needed fuel to the FIA, or giving it to the CTRG team to be used as a VBIED for assassinating a CSAT officer]]. However, you can choose to TakeAThirdOption which will make the mission even longer by [[spoiler:assassinating the CSAT officer yourself with a roadside ambush and delivering the fuel truck to the FIA, but the actions must be in THAT order]].
56	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Bohemia Interactive boards flew into a nerd rage when it was found out that ''ARMA III''[='=]s single-player campaign was a sandbox game set in 2035 with a "future warfare" aesthetic, crying and sobbing about how it was going to be more unrealistic -- when much of the hardware displayed was ''already'' in military use in real life.
57	** Most of the changes made to gameplay are met with derision until players get used to them: the stamina system, weapons resting and deployment, advanced flight model, etc. These reactions died down eventually.
58	** [[FromBadToWorse It got worse]] when the official marketing buzz in 2012, particularly at the [=E3=] 2012 showcases, focused on wanting to make ''ARMA III'' accessible and "streamlined" (complete with the creative director joking "let's not be afraid of that word") and in particular to make infantry more fluid. When assault rifle recoil during the infantry showcase appeared to be lighter than in any previous ''ARMA'' game -- and when previewers noted that the gunplay felt more like a conventional first-person shooter -- outraged complaints flew about BI making the gunplay too "[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty COD like]]"... and this was all ''before'' the announcement that ''Arma 3'' was going Steamworks and thus would require a Steam account and the Steam client to play.
59	*** To say nothing of all the complaints about the gameplay, ''especially' once a gameplay balance designer was hired, and after a dev said that an unrealistically slow rate of fire for an anti-material rifle (its real-life counterpart is semiautomatic) was working as intended for balance reasons... then at E3, the revelation that the Take On: Helicopters flight model would not be implemented by release, nor were requested-for-years features such as weapon resting (despite being acknowledged) and some systems such as the medical system simplified, with the acrimony on the devs' forums growing...

Context YMMV / ArmA