Is no one else getting inordinately excited about the release (March 20th in the US)??
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Is no one else getting inordinately excited about the release (March 20th in the US)??
There was a time, and I forgot when, when I was eagerly awaiting this game but because it got delayed a couple of times I lost all interest in it. Hah hah, I remember seeing an interview wherein a developer player was cursing like heck because it was so difficult :smash:
Well I have it installed and running...
Just to give it some contect here is my machine:
Vista Ultimate
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 MB
Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 SDRAM
BFG 8800GTX
Western Digital Caviar 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s HD
First it takes ages to install, I guess it is seriously compressed to get it all on one DVD.
I got some nasty horrible crash when I tried running it at first. I updated my X-Fi drivers from from the Beta ones to some real ones (came out on the 15th) but no difference. I was using the Beta 101.41 Nvidia drivers. I rolled back to the 100.65 driver and Stalker burst into life...
I have set it to 1920x1080 and Maximum settings (I chose the Maximum setting, I have not gone into advanaced and played with the sliders) and Full Dynamic Lighting. It looks really sweet, the comparison to HL2 era graphics is appropriate. The level are very large by FPS standards but do not think Oblivion or you will really be disapointed... The lighting is fantastic, very authentic, very atmospheric, basically really, really good! Nighttime is properly dark and a thunderstorm at night with the landscape lit convincingly by the lightning flashes is really good. It also has the best implimentation of the flashligh of any game yet (IMO)... Well in those settings with the machine above all runs real well and real smooth...
Combat is not run and gun... Think Ghost Recon with seriously inaccurate weapons... It is difficult to the level of frustrating sometimes, though being RPG I am not sure if I have gotten a bit carried away with picking fights with heavily armed and armoured soldiers... Emptying the clip of your AK into a guys back just to have him trun around and one shot you is frustrating. That is the soldiers, the bandits are considerably weaker.
Remember kids that headshots save lives, usually your own... :2thumbsup:
The story is difficult to follow and a bit mysterious, but then again I have not gotten that far yet... The main character dialog is in accented english (in my version obviously) and bulked out with further text. Incidental speech is all in Russia which is very atmosphere and adds a challenge too as you can here you enemies calling out to each other but you have no idea what they are trying to do. I spent an additional 10 minutes carefully searching a building for the last bad guy I could hear before i realized it was one of the guys I had put down, he was not quite dead and was calling out (for help I assume)...
I can see where the Fallout comparisons come from, exploring, fighting, looting the corpses, getting frustrated that you can't lug all those weapons around, collecting rare firearms and struggling to find the ammo, mutants wandering around, talking with anyone even though they may not have much to say, radiation bathed post apoloptic landscape... It is all there...
Broken bits... I have not seen the performance issues other Vista users have reported but I have seen a couple of issues that may or may not be Vista related. Firstly CTD with no errors when quicksaving or loading. Not all the time but like 1 in 10. I also saw a CTD once on starting a conversation. Secondly plot holes? I had a mission to save a guy called Carl, I completed it, or at least i think I did, I killed a load of soldiers and escaped a componend with him. He showed me to a manhole and I went on my way... Later after negotiating some tunnels and a small army camp and I escaping on foot to be informed that I failed the mission to save Carl?!?? Have to investigate more...
Overall the strong sense of atmosphere and intense gun fights (getting shot at is as scary as it can be in a game) make everthing else easy to put up with...
Translation: I have far too much disposable income. :2thumbsup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob the Insane
I'm glad you could at least run it mate, I was barely chugging along at 5-10FPS when it wasn't thrashing my HDD at 1024x768 medium. For the record my box is an AMD 3800(single core), 1gb RAM, and two 6800 Ultras in SLI. MAN did that game thrash my HDD constantly, and I have it fully defragged/optimized using JKDefrag. Maybe I can contribute more when I get a new box in a few months, but until then this is a $40 coffee cup coaster. :no: Perhaps I should just blame bad Russian coding in the mean time. :grin:
On a side note, what are your thoughts on the RPG aspect of it? That was really the big selling point when I was looking at it... Heard they've dropped quite a bit of that part and made it more of a pure FPS with some "RPG aspects". Seeing how I can't play it myself... got any input?
My wife was far less polite about it... :help:Quote:
Originally Posted by Whacker
Self build, $2900... not all that bad considering what I got and how much Alienware and such would charge for it...
Think Shooter with RPG aspects and pretty big levels.. Do NOT think Oblivion-esk RPG with guns...Quote:
Originally Posted by Whacker
The RPG aspects come into the that fact that you can choose what to do and how to do it... You can pick and choose your missions depending on whom you talk to. The RPG aspects are limited to talking to people to gather information and get missions for cash and more information... It is a bit tricky to start with but gets more interesting once you get your hands on some decent weapons... I can't emphasis the tactical shooter aspects enough... This will neither appeal to hardcore RPG folks nor the Unreal Tournment crowd... If you liked Ghost Recon and you liked Fallout's setting this should appeal...
There are some FedEx missions and some Kill the Person or Clear the camp missions. The reviews are correct in the core missions show more imagination... There is no repair this, or work out the puzzel for that tasks though. I guess that is the single RPG element most notably missing... No puzzles or the "question everyone to investigate" missions. Most if not all missions end in fire fights..
The fire fights are good though, even if they seem incrediblly one sided (and not your side) until you get some decent equipment... :wall:
The combination of "non-scripted" AI and scripted missions is funny as things can get messed up sometimes. In the above example with Save Carl, I eventually killed off the soldiers, found his body and got my info... Apparantly I really should have talked to him before heading into the tunnels (the first time i saved him) as he had maps of the tunnels and map of the guards in the army camp I ended up in... Shows the variety possible though that I got through without this.... :oops: :2thumbsup:
To me that sounds like you need 2GB of RAM.Quote:
Originally Posted by Whacker
I'm seriously considering to buy this, from what I read here and on another forum, it sounds like a very good game. I'm usually not into FPS with monsters etc, but this has a more realistic touch and setting, plus the gunsfights sound very good. Since everyone mentions RPG, is accurracy only related to guns or is there something like skills which improve with time?
No, no skills (other than your own skillz... :laugh4: )...Quote:
Originally Posted by Husar
There are a load of stats (the most obvious are Health, Endurance and Radiation Level) but there are no experience points or skills to spend them on. It is all about equipment... Your clothes/body armour alters your resistance to all the different forms of damage in the game, plus clipping zone artifacts to your belt confers benefits and penalties to these stats to. Your endurance defines how long you can run and jump about and decreases faster the more weight you are carrying. Decent body armour, plenty of bandages and first aid kits, a decent rifle and plenty of ammo are all you really need...
Of course you start with just a knife... :laugh4:
The above makes the Arena interesting as your equipment is stripped away and you are give the same weapon as your opponent(s). So it will never get easier, you simply have to get better at the game...
The RGP elements are limited which is why I think it is better to describe this as a ShooterPlus rather than an RPG with guns...
Mind you there are plenty of full blown RPGs out there that involved little beyond fighting and collecting the loot...
Same assessment here. This machine was "hot crap" when I built it over 2 years ago too, best that you could get. It's still good and can run most anything, STALKER was the first game that really and truly gave it a thrashing even on the default recommended settings for my box.Quote:
Originally Posted by Husar
Tell me about it! Mrs. Whacker usually makes me sleep on the couch for a bit after I inform her that my bi-annual upgrade is coming up soon. :shame:Quote:
My wife was far less polite about it... :help:
So this is also killing me. Can you actually get inside of the Chernobyl reactor building and look at the destroyed reactor 4 itself??? If there are any cheat codes can I persuade you to do that and run inside and show some screenshots??? Pretty pretty pleeeaassee???
Love to, but I think that is at the end... Maybe... I will check out the multi-player maps to see if it is there...Quote:
Originally Posted by Whacker
Hmm, I saw a screenshot somewhere....but where?...
Can't find it anymore.:shrug:
I'm eager to buy the game now, but I have exams on Wednesday so I don't know...I should learn and not play.:wall:
Reactor. Pictures. Now.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Does it really require Win XP with SP2?
Minimum requirements state Windows 2000 SP4 and I am running it on Vista so I would guess no...Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnor_Lodbrok
Hmm, I've seen it written quite a few times. I'm running XP with SP1 currently. Shall I take the risk?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob the Insane
I heard it crashes a lot on Vista machines and that they are working on a patch for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob the Insane
So if it doesn't crash often for you I wonder whether you have User Account Protection enabled or disabled? Because someone said it often crashes when he tries to save and my first thought was that the UAP could prevent overwriting and thus make it crash. I'm interested to know because I run Vista and think about getting the game, but if it crashes all the time...
What are the minimum and recommended system requirements?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Husar
I have User Account Protection most definately disabled... Horrible nasty thing...
The only crash i get (CTD) is on saving... Which is particularly annoying... I have to save regularly because while this causes the CTD regularly that is not as bad as making a lot of progress only to have the CTD on the next save... I would say it averages 1 in 10 saves...
Other than that it pretty much works fine...
Specs:
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=645658
Scroll down a bit...
Hmm, so it's good to know they are working to fix that, I want to play the game now, but I think there are some exams and a weekend at my parents which come first.
Also good to know that my system should run the game fine.:2thumbsup:
Woo, with any luck i should be getting it tomorrow. Can't wait, it looks amazing and i've been following its development for years.
The patch 1.0001 is out and fixes the problems with Vista and 70 other bugs.
But it's not savegame compatible and I couldn't find an english mirror for it yet.
SP fixes include(copied from another forum):
another edit: All three versions of the patch finally up at gamershell.Quote:
Even though the patch focuses on multiplayer, these items for singleplayer were addressed:
1. Money is now worth something - you can now get stuff from dealers that weren't available, for example protective suits, ammo for most of the weapons, even from the first dealer.
2. Body armor is now modelled in full. Now, the blue bar above the health indicator works. You can also now repair your armor at any dealer's place.
3. Sneak and stealth-kills were improved, but not made too easy.
4. Dead bodies don't have double loot any more.
5. Weapons are more efficient.
6. Improved FPS / less new area loading stuttering (based on RAM).
7. Enemies can be shot through thin walls/doors, etc.
8. Trading system is improved - Stalkers now carry worthy stuff besides the medkit for trading
Where in the world did you get your list??
The one on fileplanet is a lot less encouraging from the SP perspective...
Patch 1.0001 notes...
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
I was playing with the new patch last night, so from the begining again...
It is hard to say if gameplay has changed that much because I am much better at the game now than when I was at the same point previously. I managed to get through the first bandit battle without dying and rescued Nimble. I also did not make much use of the starting shotgun last time but now find it very useful (don't know if it changed or not)...
The most obvious change is with the trader, he has more stuff to sell, namely the Viper-5 (no ammo and it is totally out of your budget range at the start) and more suits. More suits is important because your suit will degrade as you take damage now. Can't work out if you can repair your armour, but is is certainly easier to replace. The trader now sells the Leather Jacket, Bandit Armour and the Merc Suit. Note also the Stalker suit you could find in the first village is now a Merc Suit...
I think the game is running a little smoother, but as it was running pretty smooth on my rig before it is hard to tell.
The occasional ctd on saving I was getting (using Vista) still occurs but with one important difference, it actually saves before ctd now. Still annoying but at least I just have to restart, no backtracking required.
I have not noticed other stalkers having more stuff worth trading, but then I am back near the begining again so that may change.
I got the game yesterday and played a couple hours this morning and so far it is great. The graphics I found pretty amazing, the feeling is very nice, only small drawback is that a lot of things seem to respawn, like pesky bandits which you have to kill again and again.
I wanted to try whether I could join the army but it didn't work out that well, I'm now at the Stalker bar(rushed a bit at the start) and I am looking forward to go on next week when I'm back at my PC.:2thumbsup:
Also using XP makes the whole thing a lot more enjoyable, and for me in Vista it did NOT save the game with the patch applied, it crashed almost every second time, sometimes every time I attempted to save which was rather frustrating, they should fix that.
Another note is, that they actually recommend a DualCore for the game, so all single Core lovers gotta know that the end of their beloved old tech is coming along rather fast(though it's weird they thought about dual cores during development but forgot to optimize it for Vista).~;)
Well, me and my friend finally got it.
We now have no social lives. Immediately as soon as we get home from school we're on the game.
I need to go and play it more. I'm at Agroprom.
Anyone know any good websites or forums to help with this game? The first level was ok, but the garbage or whatever the next one is called seemed a bit insane. I'm fighting armies of seemingly respawning bandits and no obvious traders/sources of sidequests to soften the deal.
The exit route to the Agroprom Research Institute is crawling with bandits, but you can try to sneak past them or just run for it. IIRC approaching the exit from northeast is relatively easy. Try drawing their attention to one direction, running around the hangar, and approaching from another direction.
If you've done Agroprom, getting to the Bar area should be relatively easy and you'll have no shortage of decent weapons or armour after that.
Thanks - yes, after many false attempts, I circled round and made it to Agroprom. I was a bit depressed to find the next level starts off with a scripted battle/flight sequence. It's starting to feel more like a run and gun shooter (or run and be gunned, in my case), whereas by comparison the first level had a nice Morrowind vibe to it.
Can't repeat it enough... This is FPS+... Not RPG with guns...
Trying to avoid to many spoilers, but wait until you are in the town of high rise buildings and snipers... Just like being back in CoD...
If that soulds too negative I will say overall the game is great and I am having a lot of fun but if this game is RPG, it is in the Icewind Dale moving from battle to battle style rather than the deeper story driven Balder's Gate style...
The whole point of the quests to to get more money and equipment (and the money is for more equipment) so you can get well enough equiped to follow the story and finish the game...
I can't survive the opening battle at Agroprom - repelling the military assault. I take down one or two, then the stalkers are all killed and I fail the mission. I have an AK74 (+sawn-off) and a merc suit; any tactics?
Weird, the Stalkers won that almost alone when I got there, so my tactic was trying to catch up with them because I wanted some kills as well.:sweatdrop:
I'm now somewhere in the red forest or so and got killed by a bunch of mutant dogs. Guns are pretty accurate now, but the fighting is still a lot of fun.
And Bob, I agree with the manual that this is a tactical shooter.
It's like Boiling Point with some streamlining and just generally better in every aspect.:2thumbsup:
I also wonder why some say the graphics wouldn'tbe overwhelming. They aren't revolutionary maybe, but they are about the best I've ever seen, ok, I'm not a shooter person usually, but with all the lighting effects etc it just looks great.
And it's scary, especially when you are low on ammo because you forgot to buy some before walking into a zombie-infested region.:sweatdrop:
Thanks, I made it through the Agroprom battle after a few basic discoveries (I am also not a FPS player), vis:
1)the variable rate of fire button; I went to single shot mode for greater accuracy.
2) the ] and [ quick healing keys which helped.
3) low crouch for greater accuracy
4) finally, I gave up on the iron sights and used the cross hairs. It seemed to work better - the red colour helps you pick out the targets from the scenery and you can see when the dot is on a head (it's almost like a laser sight).
The stalkers still got wiped out, but camping by the bus at the entrance, I was able to pick off the military one by one.
Rescuing Mole was thankfully painless. Now I have a AK74/2 and am below ground for the first time. I agree it looks great and is rather scary (so much so, I have stopped playing for the night).
Some of the quests are weird though. For example, one was clearing out the bandits below agroprom and wanted me to go back to the trader within 1 day for a reward. Given the effort of getting through those three levels from the trader to agroprom, the idea that I am going to waltz back just for some worthless reward is strange.
You think Agroprom's scary? I'm considering stopping play two levels later...
I'm quite surprised how efficient close combat can be in this game. Especially if things can jump...
Just had a go at those mutant dogs again but they are just too many so far.
There was also an interesting arena fight including close combat, well, I think I need more shotgun ammo for those dogs, just found a nice pumpgun but it has only 8 bullets in it and the dogs are many including some which seem to be fake(yes, anomalies messing with your mind I think).
I'm trying not to spoil anything, it's a really cool game and I heard there are 7 different possible endings of which 5 are "bad" and 2 are "good" so there may be some replay value.:sweatdrop:
I'm actually planning a second go anyway, there are some things that could be optimized about my tactics and I should learn to stick to one or two guns and one suit instead of taking my whole equipment with me. There are actually chests where you can store things, one is next to the arena guy but I heard there are some close to traders or so. But I already put some spare suits into one... I'm usually overweight which stops me from just running through the bunch of evil monster dogs.:juggle2:
To true, I have become very selective... However once you get some endurance boosting artifacts on your belt and find you can run continously as long as you are not carrying to much then getting back and forth to the trader is a lot less painless. You can basically ignore the dogs and such...Quote:
Originally Posted by econ21
If you've not gone beyond the first fight in the arena at the Bar, don't read this.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Curry:
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Thanks Husar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Husar
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
I just finished the game!:2thumbsup:
Got one of the "bad" ends.
But since I pretty much rushed through in the end, there is a lot of replay value for me I think, did almost nothing in the military warehouse area and was generally not very successful with sidequests.
What gun progression did people follow? I've got the fast-firing AK74/2 from Strelok's stash and am reluctant to give it up for the Obokan or British gun I could buy in the Bar. I tend to use single shot and that fast-firing may be useful when being mobbed by dogs etc. What did other players swap it for?
Basically I went with the philosophy that the best gun is whatever the enemy uses. Or more specifically, what ammo they carry. The weight limit is so painful that I usually left base with only one gun and around 300-400 ammo for it, plus some spare shots of the "other" type (5.45 vs. 5.56).
Early on there's not much choice, and the fast-firing AKM 74/2 is a pretty obvious weapon once you get it. It accepts both a scope and a (russian) grenade launcher. It's a good gun for the early areas where 5.45 ammo is plentiful. I never bothered with Obokan; Strelok's AKM remained in good enough condition while still exploring the early areas.
I skipped the IL86 as well, using the AKM until I found a scoped TSR 301 in the Wildlands. The TSR also accepts a NATO grenade launcher which makes it a nice, light and versatile weapon. Used the TSR until I bought a GP-37 from the Freedom base in Warehouses area after doing a couple of missions for them (price tag of 72k, ouch), and used it as the mainstay weapon from that point onwards. Tunder is a rather common weapon later, with powerful ammo and an integrated grenade launcher, so it should be a good choice too if you bring a dedicated sniper rifle.
Never bothered with handguns except for the very beginning and fiddled only occasionally with shotguns or sniper rifles. Scoped assault rifles are adequate for sniping, though in retrospect it'd probably be a good idea to bring a real sniper to Pripyat and onwards.
I'm currently heading for the X16 labs. My weapon loadout is a modified Tunder (it fires the very common 5.45 ammo), an auto-shotgun (can't remember the name) and a modified Desert Eagle (it fires rifle rounds, it's like a frigging cannon).
Quote:
Originally Posted by currywurry
Interesting - I am going to the same place and I've found none of that stuff! (I've followed the main quest in a fairly straightforward manner).[i]EDIT: Doh! I just realised I am on X18 not X16!
I'm now settling on my opinion of Stalker - it's a pretty good tactical shooter, as has been said. It gives a lot of tactical freedom and strikes a nice compromise between realism and gameplay (medpacks + the AI makes few, if any, one shot kills).
For me, I on my way to the center and I am carrying a G-37 and the modified Desert Eagle... I found it near Gordon Freeman's body... :laugh4:
To be honest I feel that I am a little under-equiped...
I just started the game. Hopefully I'll have some time between work and the little lemurs to get into this thing.
Well, started with a pistol, then some AKs until a mercenary dropped a TRS-301 which I kept until one of the freedom guys "lost"(he really didn't need it anymore) his GP-37. With that I made my way to the power plant and only very close to the end could I get my hands on that FN2000 and the gauss rifle but used the FN2000 mostly, the Gauss thing is VERY powerful and VERY accurate but well, not much ammo and low rate of fire made me keep the assault rifles.
Does anyone know if the condition of your gun affects its accuracy (sort of like how armour condition affects all stats) or does it just affect jam frequency?
Using the rapid firing AK74/2, returning from Agroprom, I could drop the bandits in Garbage when they were just stickmen on my crosshairs.
Now, going back to a Dark Valley full of soldiers, I seem terribly inaccurate. The crosshairs seem pretty useless at range; even with the scope, I shoot multiple times at the head and it does little.
It may just be the difference between fighting bandits and soldiers. But I was wondering if the degraded condition of my gun mattered? Or possibly even the grenade launcher I fitted to it? (I know in Ghost Recon, fitting a GL to your OICW reduced its zoom.)
I think condition does affect accuracy. Oh well.
Anyway, new weapons loadout since yesterday. GP-37 (very good, exceedingly so!), a Vintar sniper-rifle, a SVmkU2 sniper-rifle and the modified desert eagle.
X16 is scary as hell. It's dark, and there are zombies and snorks everywhere, not to mention the occassional burner anomaly.
Gun condition does not seem to affect the visible "stats" - those lines that show a gun's accuracy etc. This is unlike armour degradation, which does affect the reported percentage bonuses. I now think gun condition is not the culprit for my problem. I took off the GL and engaged some bandits - they dropped like flies, one hit at very long range. Unfortunately, I've cached the GL for the moment, so I can't test whether that is a factor. Maybe it's nothing to do with my gun; maybe bandits are just easier to hit - they seem to sidestep less than the soldiers, so are easier to get a bead on.
Soldiers have better armour than bandits, try to aim high in the upper torso/head region, it usually helps.:2thumbsup:
All that talk about STALKER.... makes me wanna play it. Resist, resist, resist :wall:
Some bad rumours I just read about.:inquisitive:
But that doesn't really make the game itself any worse.
If your computer is up to spec, i highly recommend getting it. Much more challenging than other FPS's, even on the lowest difficulty setting. Plus it has the most bizarre but brilliant plot ever.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bijo
Has anyone made it inside the reactor sarcophagus yet? :skull:
This is what I'm curious how they modelled in-game: http://www.spaceman.ca/gallery/chernobyl?page=1
The game worth 30 US?
Yes, otherwise I couldn't have finished it yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Whacker
But I didn't really want to spoil anything, especially not the end.
Well, I spent 40EUR and think it was worth it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lehesu
Finally got through X18 (Creepy!) and have 2 decent NATO guns (:2thumbsup: ) but that dumb scientist dies too easily...
im playing with the Realism Pro mod and it makes the game even better - realistic bullet spread (accuracy depends on ammo type, barrel length and muzzle velocity) makes fighting a good deal harder and with the damage up'd heavily you really have to play it smart no more fighting out of cover and the early bandits can easily one shot you with the sawn offs if you get too close
it also ups the amount of ammo found on bodies so while you will be using more ammo you can get most of it back
Finally finished the game, very good stuff! I saved near the end and played with different endings, which was kinda neat. Getting the "best" ending was quite a bit of work.
I've been having problems applying mods, however. There are a couple of appearance tweaks that make things more Fallout-ish, and I tried to apply them, only to wind up having to re-install the game. I must be a complete idiot, 'cause I unpacked the ten data files, hid the compressed files, applied the mods and killed the app.
Oh well. I can only hope that Fallout 3 feels half this much like Fallout.
P.S.: Did anybody else fall in love with the Vitnar BC? I used that gun alone for the last three areas, and never regretted it. Ten shots, silenced, accurate, uses the best ammo in the game, etc. Headshot city with that thing.
Yes, I used it(the Vintar) to get to the best end in my second go. Quite a nice rifle, but the ammunition is a bit rare, especially when the enemies all use different ammo.
Oh, and getting to the best end is quite some work indeed, I was really unsure whether I'd ever get to some sort of end that way.:sweatdrop:
edit: For mods I found this mod manager which seems to work fine and already came with a few small mods. Mods need to be compatible though, but you could just try it anyway, didn't try any extensive modding myself.
Bump.
Rather than start a new thread. I'd thought I'd introduce a mod nearing completion for SoC. Lost Alpha. Made by dez0wave, the guys behind the excellent Priboi Story. This is a mod to add back EVERYTHING that was originally cut. It aims to get the game back to the expansive, atmospheric style that was originally intended. Rather than the half free-roam, half-scripted game that STALKER ended up being. It is currently in the test phase. Hopefully to be released at the end of this year. Although that's what they said last year, so fingers crossed.
Essentially it aims to bring back the feel of the pre-alpha builds namely 1935. With larger maps, "alife" (Stalkers use artifacts, use bolts to find and avoid anomalies, kill themselves/go insane under psy-influence), unrestricted storyline, etc. It re-implements and fixes vehicles. Fixes the game physics, rag-doll, lighting, shadows, weather, etc. Re-implements left out monsters, fixes their AI, adds back special abilities (such as the bloodsucker kiss seen in later STALKER titles). Adds weapon upgrades. New PDA. Artifact merger. New anomalies that didn't make the final cut. Adds back the SIN faction (Dark Stalkers). Adds back cut areas and fixes the current ones including:
- Generators best area is finally back, a stunning area that was the best in the pre-alpha builds, originally intended to be the final area in the game and cause of the blowouts and actual zone itself.
- War-Lab (X8), added back into the game from 1935 build, (CoP used this one, but this one has a secret).
- Stancia (Chernobyl NPP) larger and more atmospheric and overgrown, non linear and explorable, with elements from 1935 build.
- Sarcophagus changed back to the original style.
- Pripyat larger, can actually explore inside the apartment buildings, more overgrown, actually looks like it has been abandoned for 25 years.
- Radar (Red Forest) no longer only the forest, it is back to being the scrapyard as intended as well.
- Secret-Lab (Monolith Control) moved back to it's original location, no longer "Monolith Control".
- Bunker moved back to it's original location (dead-end road with Monolith outpost), and expanded to it's original size, no longer linear.
- Dead City added and completely made from scratch with a few elements borrowed from 1935 build
- Swamps added, huge area, fixed and completed (1935 build was complete but completely barren of life and the usual atmospheric clutter)
- Military (Army Warehouses) only minor changes, mostly to the area links
- Yantar uses original elements, as well as elements from the final release and 1935 build, more complete than 1935 version, bigger than SoC version
- Desolated Factory reworked into the new Yantar area
- X16 modified to fit the new Yantar area
- Rostok Factory (Wild Territory) slightly larger, with a major factory surrounded by worker's houses
- Bar-Rostok minor changes
- Darkdolina (Dark Valley) a reworked version of 1935 build with slag heap and larger bandit factory, plus some original elements
- Dark-Lab (X18) minor changes
- Darkscape made from scratch, huge area intended in the original, but scrapped when vehicles were removed from the game
- Agroprom minor changes, with tunnel entrances moved to original locations
- Garbage larger and based on the 1935 build
- Cordon larger and based on the 1935 build, with original bandit factory (Car Park) and military outposts
- "Surprise" Area (X%)
No full-price game is making me salivate as much as this. The scale of this mod is immense. The first video is a good example, it is 5 whole city blocks before you reach Pripyat Square! Dead City is similarly large, and completely new. Cordon is back to it's original size, rather than being a box valley. Darkscape is huge and completely new. Dark Valley is much bigger. The new Yantar is amazing, so many little things that I could divulge, but don't want to spoil. There's even a mine shaft! The swamps are huge. Garbage completely revamped. Radar is no longer a narrow passage with a few trees. Rostok is completely new. It's all based off old screenies from all the way back in 2002, to pre-release footage, and of course the pre-alpha builds. If you've ever played STALKER and you enjoyed it, then this is for you.
This sounds pretty cool, but I'm kind of put-off by that :
I personnally likes unmodded STALKER very much, especially the fact that it has a driving story while still allowing the player to roam around, explore new areas and what not.Quote:
This is a mod to add back EVERYTHING that was originally cut. It aims to get the game back to the expansive, atmospheric style that was originally intended. Rather than the half free-roam, half-scripted game that STALKER ended up being.
I couldn't get myself to play Morrowind or Oblivion because they offer too much "free roaming" and not enough story developpement. Does this mod do the same for STALKER? Does the game still feel like original STALKER when installed ?
The mod isn't as much a mod as the completion of the alpha builds. The way GSC originally intended. So the new storyline isn't scripted, otherwise the "alife" messes up the scripting. It is similar to Priboi Story, solving puzzles, finding documents, finding PDAs of dead Stalkers, etc. Which is a different approach, but a similar end-result. The story will tell you where you need to search, where to go. But, you will be rewarded for exploring and you'll find extra info, documents, clues to the puzzles. It isn't go to place A and talk to person A, then go to place B and kill person B. It is go to area A and look for these documents, bring them back to me. Go to place B and find documents B, but solve a puzzle to get them, etc. Hard to explain. But, you won't be given completely accurate instructions, you'll have to figure things out by reading the PDA and the documents/info you find. Like, how in the original you are told to kill Strelok, but not who or what he his, and you progress to get the full picture. You should try the mod Priboi Story v1.1 to get a feel for the approach.Quote:
Originally Posted by Meneldil
The other difference is that Oblivion's landscapes were boring and computer generated. STALKER's are hand-made with care and thought. Filled with easter eggs, etc. So yes it feels like the release version of STALKER but larger, more atmospheric/desolate, more complete. The scale of it is absolutely mindblowing.
File me under Excited
I never played any of the series, but I've thought about trying to lay hands on one of the Stalker games. For a newcomer, which is the best of the series? The first?
A shame they're building it on the SoC game. CoP is the only one of the three that I found to have a truly solid and polished interface. After CS and CoP, using the modded-in weapon upgrade systems in SoC is cringe-inducing.
IMHO, the third game (Call of Pripyat) is the best. However, I would recommend playing the first game (Shadow of Chernobyl) first, simply because it's how it's meant to be experienced. The second game (Clear Sky) can be avoided altogether. Only get that one if you've played SoC and CoP and still want more before Stalker 2 comes out next year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xiahou
SHoC without a doubt, then CoP. The atmosphere is the game's key strength. As TinCow says, avoid Clear Sky. CoP decent, but I found it lacking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xiahou
Just grab everything you can get your hands on. Flawed as it may be, it's essential gaming. Unapoligically kicks your butt in the greatest setting ever. Watch a few post-apocalypse movies like 'The Road' first for mood enhancement.
Everybody says Clear Sky sucks. Though it's not as good as the other two, I liked it fine anyway *shrugs*
Latest video shows they're using the CoP upgrade interface (how they managed to build it into SoC I have no idea). I agree that not using the inventory interface is an odd move IMHO.Quote:
Originally Posted by TinCow