Describe your impressions of the alpha as if it were a meal

[Terminal Boy]

I've yet to sample A3's delights as Zone Alarm is blocking the waiter every time he tries to serve this dish to me. Sure smells good though...

[Anvilfolk]

Oh, and here's a video of a few of us trying it out for the first time

[IceRaiser]

Pancookies!

[comham]

The alpha for me is getting a seat at El Bulli before it reopens, only I'm having to sit outside in the mud and rain and eat food prepared by an intern off a paper plate because my graphics card is from 2007 ;_;

[m0ntag]

It's like a 6 course dinner.

You've got the appetizer where you notice how smooth everything is now and how responsive it feels overall. Because of how smooth it is, you realise you can share your love for this dish with friends that were turned off by the chunkiness of previous meals.

Then, you have a dish of movement and stances that really improve over your memories of a hastily-made sandwich of robotic movement and terrible close-quarters-combat.

After that, you get a palate cleanser in the form of crisp, cool graphics. Even though it's not a major dish, it still amazes you. On top of that, it's considered eatable by many people, regardless of machines that they may have. Smiling, you continue on your culinary journey.

The waiter approaches with a massive plate. It's piled with all these little things that blend together to make one large dish. Looking closely, you can discern some of the ingredients. You have faster grenade throwing, a drag and drop inventory under some weapon attachment and modular clothing seasoning, functioning flashlights, and many other small improvements, too plentiful to note.

A light salad is brought in to counteract the heavy beefiness of the previous dish. Leafy underwater battles and a Thousand Stratis dressing to top it.

And now, the dessert. The ultimate complement to everything you've eaten so far. It contains creamy and easy-to-use editors in a decadent multiplayer sauce.

Despite all the greatness, you do note a few things. One of the waiters spontaneously decided to drop to ground, get up, run a few feet, drop again, and repeat this whenever someone talked too loudly. That same waiter (Al was his name) also didn't appear to like interiors of buildings too much. The owners of the restaurant said that they were training him and he'd be improved eventually. The restaurant was still under construction in some places and missing a few of the normal features but, still, all the goodness of what you had outweighed this. You know that, by the end of construction, this restaurant will be legendary. If you had to go to only one restaurant this year, you'd definitely go to this one.

m0ntag

[Slerbal]

It's like a 6 course dinner.
Despite all the greatness, you do note a few things. One of the waiters spontaneously decided to drop to ground, get up, run a few feet, drop again, and repeat this whenever someone talked too loudly. That same waiter (Al was his name) also didn't appear to like interiors of buildings too much. The owners of the restaurant said that they were training him and he'd be improved eventually. The restaurant was still under construction in some places and missing a few of the normal features but, still, all the goodness of what you had outweighed this. You know that, by the end of construction, this restaurant will be legendary. If you had to go to only one restaurant this year, you'd definitely go to this one.

m0ntag

I agree with your review of the culinary delights, the meal has been exquisite, though the portion sizes leave you wanting more - much more! It has not disappointed! It has felt like a ice-cream on a sunny day down by the beach.

As to certain elements of the restaurant being incomplete - do not try to use the toilets - you can get jammed in there. Also some of the food (in particular the snakes and rabbits) have learned how to operate the doors and escape.

Some of the neighbours from the opposite side of the road have eagle eyes and seem to watch you even when you are hidden from view. They complain about the noise so much that sometimes they are a bit trigger happy, though to be fair their comments are piercing in their accuracy.

[m0ntag]

It's like a 6 course dinner.
Despite all the greatness, you do note a few things. One of the waiters spontaneously decided to drop to ground, get up, run a few feet, drop again, and repeat this whenever someone talked too loudly. That same waiter (Al was his name) also didn't appear to like interiors of buildings too much. The owners of the restaurant said that they were training him and he'd be improved eventually. The restaurant was still under construction in some places and missing a few of the normal features but, still, all the goodness of what you had outweighed this. You know that, by the end of construction, this restaurant will be legendary. If you had to go to only one restaurant this year, you'd definitely go to this one.

m0ntag

I agree with your review of the culinary delights, the meal has been exquisite, though the portion sizes leave you wanting more - much more! It has not disappointed! It has felt like a ice-cream on a sunny day down by the beach.

As to certain elements of the restaurant being incomplete - do not try to use the toilets - you can get jammed in there. Also some of the food (in particular the snakes and rabbits) have learned how to operate the doors and escape.

Some of the neighbours from the opposite side of the road have eagle eyes and seem to watch you even when you are hidden from view. They complain about the noise so much that sometimes they are a bit trigger happy, though to be fair their comments are piercing in their accuracy.

Much agreed, sir. All in all, a fine dining experience that I'd heartily recommend to everyone.

[Crocuta]

Fantastic starter, but I died of starvation long before the main course.

Worst restaurant ever. Will not eat there again.

-----
Anyway, I thought that the alpha should have included whatever passes for a Ural in the 2030s. The Hunter and Ifrit are pretty cool (if a little overpowered), but playing around in the editor, it feels like we're missing a more substantial transport unit - especially when BI claims the alpha is about testing infantry. It hardly bothers me, though.

[Ferrard Carson]

Anyway, I thought that the alpha should have included whatever passes for a Ural in the 2030s.

Amen. There's only so much walking across beautiful hills that you can really stand, and the lack of a large-scale transport vehicle (of either whirly-bird or bus-like varieties) pretty significantly hinders mission-making...

~ Ferrard

[Slerbal]

Fantastic starter, but I died of starvation long before the main course.

Worst restaurant ever. Will not eat there again.

Blimey - the game has only been out a week ten days! This restaurant is preparing the main meals as fast as it can, but to stretch the analogy they are getting lots of custom menu requests! (The feedback tracker is very lively!)

Personally I've racked up 26 hours of multi-player goodness so far and have a blast with a number of the community missions playing through a variety of scenarios including aquatic assaults, stealth attacks and full on assaults and have enjoyed every minute of it. Now that the Dynamic War Sandbox is out that is also providing lots of fun. While of course I'd like more units and equipment you can do a surprising amount with what is there already.

This might be too late, but I highly recommend the oddly named* "Mission Fourpack" on Armaholic http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=18821. Many of the components (day/night, equipment, enemy positions etc) are randomized.

Of course, you could wait for the beta which will likely be in two or three months when they will introduce substantially more units. I can't wait to play on Altis - the more I see of it, the more interesting a location it becomes. Granted the game is not for everyone, but don't give up on it yet!

As a former games developer (I founded, built and ran a studio for 11 years) I think BI are doing a phenomenal job with Arma 3 so far. They are making something that is fiendishly complex look pretty effortless

(*There are 11 missions in it!)

Edited for accuracy - has it really been 10 days already?