Stalker...

[Whacker]

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

Translation: I have far too much disposable income.

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. Perhaps I should just blame bad Russian coding in the mean time.

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?

[Bob the Insane]

Translation: I have far too much disposable income.

My wife was far less polite about it...

Self build, $2900... not all that bad considering what I got and how much Alienware and such would charge for it...

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?

Think Shooter with RPG aspects and pretty big levels.. Do NOT think Oblivion-esk RPG with guns...

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...

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....

[Husar]

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.

To me that sounds like you need 2GB of RAM.

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?

[Bob the Insane]

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... )...

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...

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...

[Whacker]

To me that sounds like you need 2GB of RAM.

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?

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.

My wife was far less polite about it...

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.

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???

[Bob the Insane]

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...

[Husar]

Hmm, I saw a screenshot somewhere....but where?...
Can't find it anymore.
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.

[Whacker]

Reactor. Pictures. Now.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

PLEASE!!! PLSPLSPLSPLS this is KILLING me here!

[Ragnor_Lodbrok]

Does it really require Win XP with SP2?