The Guide quest starts as soon as you check Ghost's body, which you have to do to get the documents for the scientists. If you can, get back into X16 and check again, it should trigger it - if the body is still there. Be careful, there's usually a Controller lurking above ground if you return.
Incidentally, I just noticed that imageshack went and dumped a few select images from earlier posts. I spent a good chunk of the night finding and fixing them, and I still have no idea why it happened. I still have to resize the Pripyat screens and such, so I'll go as quick as I can, but I'll update early tomorrow if I can't squeeze it in before I drop tonight.
...okay, that and I was shocked to learn the Crysis demo actually ran on my computer with a tolerable framerate on medium settings. I thoroughly expected it to devour not only my hard drive, but to actually punch through the case and kill me. Thankfully, this has not happened.
In any case, I'll make up for it with a rather amusing development of how grenade/rocket jumping in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. actually works, and how it aided me in reuniting two lost lovers. Stick around, people
[EDIT] It didn't work. I'm okay with leaving it for another playthrough though (hey, maybe they'll have another patch out!) Judging by you freaks in this thread, it looks like the game is worth playing over a few times.
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FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
edited November 2007
With wide-open games like this and ELDER SCROLLS, my suggestion to all players is to create a Save file every time you enter a zone for the first time and keep it stored away in case you FUBAR a quest chain. That way you can restore back to the fatal point without needing to, you know, re-play the entire game. Kinda wish I had done that when I first entered the Warehouses zone because I missed out on all of the Freedom quests after I helped Duty to nuke their base.
With wide-open games like this and ELDER SCROLLS, my suggestion to all players is to create a Save file every time you enter a zone for the first time and keep it stored away in case you FUBAR a quest chain. That way you can restore back to the fatal point without needing to, you know, re-play the entire game. Kinda wish I had done that when I first entered the Warehouses zone because I missed out on all of the Freedom quests after I helped Duty to nuke their base.
I've played err, a few computer games, so I understand this. But the part that failed to trigger is kind of in the middle of the game, which makes me think I might as well just replay it all in a few months when I get the itch. No big deal.
I did. Is there actually a quest pop-up in your PDA with a marker, or are you supposed to just go do it on your own? If it's a real quest then it failed to trigger; but if I can just walk to Cordon, I'd imagine he's there.
I think I skipped the Strelok stash quest until later in the game, so maybe that was the problem.
With a bit of sleep under his belt, the Marked One forces himself to move on, and resumes his journey northward. Also, we take a scenic detour around lovely Pripyat for no real reason other than I kinda needed 9x39mm ammo.
Slowly, reluctantly, I get back on my feet. A quick glance at my PDA shows I've been out for maybe an hour. Just long enough to keep going. I crack open a can of rations and hastily choke it down. The antirad's playing hell with my stomach, and if I didn't know better I'd swear this stuff was keeping me from digesting food properly. It takes some effort to keep it all down.
I had a dream... well, kind of. A series of disconnected images, faces, voices... the things I've seen and had to fight. It'd be innacurate to call it a nightmare, for it left me with no fear or revulsion; maybe I just deal with it too much while I'm awake.
Monolith troopers are lurking around the area, trading shots with other stalkers, or maybe even the military. Looks like I didn't miss much. I better get moving.
It's funny... I saw people I recognize, if barely. Sidorovich, the Barman, Sakharov, Nimble, Seriy, Bes, Bullet, Kruglov... I was a blank slate, just another nameless Stalker. Sure, most of them helped me out in some way, but should I have felt good about helping them? Should I have cared about any of them?
Well, whatever the reason, I did. Maybe Strelok would have, maybe he wouldn't, but I do.
I spot a Monolith with a rocket launcher out the north window. He's covering the courtyard, but he doesn't see me.
You owe me the truth. You owe us all the truth.
I'll get it from you, one bullet at a time.
The veterans said there's path to the station through the stadium to the north, and it's not far from here.
Courtyard looks clear. Now's as good a time as any.
I pass under the rocket trooper's position. Damn... doesn't look like a way up. Sorry, rocket launcher. Maybe next time.
The stadium's just ahead, I'm almost there!
Okay, fine! You want some, too?! Come on!
I saw some Freedom stalkers run in ahead of me. Maybe they'll thin out whatever's inside for me.
Damn. The field's a blighted wasteland, pockmarked with whirligigs and ringed with Monolith sharpshooters and rocketeers.
One of the Freedomers gets sucked up into a whirligig...
...along with a few boars. They're vaporized in seconds.
Monolith troopers pick off the survivors. This is going to be one hell of a battle.
Lucky for me I don't have to actually fight it!
...wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!
*cue record screeching to a halt*
Yeah, there's no way to do this in-character. There's a bug that's been in the game since launch that causes you to teleport to the other side of the stadium. Essentially you're carried along with the cutscene camera past all the cool battleground stuff and dumped right on the exit point to Chernobyl. You're not even prompted as to whether you want to go to the next area or not, you just go. Adding insult to injury is that this is a point of no return; you can't get back to Pripyat or anywhere else once you reach the NPP.
There are mods which circumvent this by disabling the cutscene, but I've had a hell of a time finding them. However, scrounging around on the Zone Survival Guide forums led me to the Zone Reclamation Project; an unofficial patch, of sorts, created by the GSC Game World community. Its readme mentions a bunch of problems supposedly fixed, including the stadium teleport issue, but it seems to require starting a new game, so I can't verify this immediately. Woe!
Ah well. As long as we're eschewing character for the moment, let's rewind a bit and explore Pripyat some! There's gotta be some useful stuff out there, right?
Opposite the stadium is this big lookin' thing, which is some kind of theater-slash-art gallery.
It's firmly under Monolith control, but they're scattered throughout the building, and shouldn't give you too much trouble individually.
There's not much in the building's lower floors...
...just more Monolith troopers itching for an ass-kicking.
Up top, however, we find a rather interesting scene. I don't know if the Monoliths built that big hunk of junk or it just fell into the room like that, but they're clearly entranced by it.
Seriously, you can walk right up to them and do pretty much anything and they won't get up. For kicks I used rifle grenades the first time, but just to be sure I reloaded and used the knife.
You might remember a batch of Monoliths doing something like this at the start of the Red Forest level, but those guys will get up and start fighting if they hear you. These, however, you can kill at your leisure. Just watch your back, because the noise you make will attract attention from other troopers in the building.
Your reward is a night star artifact, another max bulletproof cap artifact. If you're dead set on maximum bullet protection, you can't beat two beads, two night stars and a crystal to offset the stars. Throw that in with the armor we just picked up at the hotel and we're basically the Terminator.
Note that 'basically' doesn't mean 'identical'. Monolith still has a few tricks up their sleeve.
Near the pile of junk is one of the rarest artifacts in the game, a kolobok. Penalty-free rupture protection at 5% is a sweet deal, but unfortunately we're a bit too far in the game for it to be useful. You may be able to find it in a stash or quest for it earlier on, but I haven't done so myself.
On the bodies are pump shotguns - Chasers - and ammo, so if you've been hurting for shotgun ammo like I was (or just neglected to pick up the Combat Chaser) now's as good a time as any to grab some.
I did. Is there actually a quest pop-up in your PDA with a marker, or are you supposed to just go do it on your own? If it's a real quest then it failed to trigger; but if I can just walk to Cordon, I'd imagine he's there.
I think I skipped the Strelok stash quest until later in the game, so maybe that was the problem.
Did you visit Strelok's Stash AFTER doing x16? That could explain it. After visiting the stash, you'll get a vague "find Ghost" pda mission... then, after talking to the Barkeep and the scientists, the right order should be Ghost's corpse -> Vassiliev ("open" his corpse and get the PDA update) -> Guide (in Cordon) -> Doc -> Pripyat stash.
More Monoliths patrol the ground level, but the shotgun can shred them easily at close range.
A couple Freedom boys were roaming the west side of the city. This one got separate from his group, which actually started out further south, near the starting run.
This building is just southwest of the gallery. It looks like there should be something in there...
...but there isn't.
Front of the gallery. A good reference point for the west side.
Southwest is a bunch of apartment buildings, mostly inaccessible.
There is a side entrance, however.
Sadly, there's not much of interest in the apartments themselves.
This is the other side of the main entrance. Trust me, that door ain't opening. In fact the only real thing of interest here...
...is the military, who has sent these two idiots to check the place out. Luckily for me, they were carrying 9x39mm ammo, which I was in dire need of at this point.
Back outside the apartment building.
This place is directly south of the apartments. Not much here, either...
Just more soldiers and tasty, tasty 9x39mm ammo.
There's a back alley which runs south, towards the main street where we started with the veterans.
That's where we turned right. You can explore the back alleys and find a couple lesser artifacts, along with a few randomized crates; I did find an M209 rifle grenade in the southwest corner.
This is one of the buildings we ran by, just southeast from the car park entrance. ("Right, balcony and window!") Again, the only things of use are what the Monolith soldiers were carrying, but there are a few curious details, such as this toy horse and the dropped records. I couldn't get a clear shot of the text on that elephant thing, but I'm guessing the building was some kind of preschool or nursery.
On the northeast side of the city, Duty soldiers take on more Monolith troopers. A gauss sniper makes things a bit dicey for them.
Sadly, the building this guy's on is behind a fence, so there's virtually no chance of getting him to drop his gun far enough.
But, my friends, I must confess that my heart was drawn back to the launcher I passed by. Separated by a mound of crumbling brick and mortar, kept out of reach by the jealousy of its now deceased owner, I could do nothing but mourn for a cherished companion denied to me.
Or could I? Perhaps there was another way, a second chance for us to be together. Well, technically a fourth chance, but that's a bit beside the point. I scrambled forward, making haste up the pile of rubble by the theater. I knew I had to try!
The going was slick in the pouring rain, the rubble threatening to collapse at any minute, but I would not be denied!
Ha-ha, success! I climbed to the top of the passageway and scrambled madly along the roof! Our reunion was close at hand!
But no! My meager legs, exhausted and spent, could not carry me over the wall! My feeble arms could not hoist me up over the side! I can see the body that guards my dearest, that cruelly mocks me from near! I cannot! I cannot make it up the wall!
...no, no! I will not give up! Hold on, dear launcher, for I would sacrifice everything just for one more pull of your mighty trigger!
Madness, perhaps, but the blast of the grenade was enough to propel me up over the wall. A necessary sacrifice, yes... I knew how I felt for the grenade launcher would never eclipse that of the rocket launcher. Ours was, simply, never meant to be, and the grenade launcher understood that.
Thank you, my friend. Your kindness will never be forgotten.
And so I come to my tormentor, and the object of my desire. I eagerly wrench it free from his cursed hands, and cradle it as if it were my own flesh and blood.
Even now I can almost hear it whisper to me, hope lacing its every word, "I knew nothing could truly separate us."
Naught but death, my love. Naught but death.
Asides: I'm a little too fond of the rocket launcher. I just wish I was able to take down the Monolith trooper before he wasted one of the rockets. Oh well, there's always next playthrough.
Also, there is a certain stash in Pripyat that nets a powerful exoskeleton, which boosts your carry weight and has the better nightvision. Blindi is correct; the stash locations can be found off bodies in Yantar, or from the Dutyers and Freedomers in Red Forest. It's in a grave marker straight south from the gallery, and due west from the car park (past the electrical anomalies that blocked off the street, near the end of the starting run).
Join us next time, as the story moves into its final act and the Marked One fights his way into the heart of Chernobyl itself. Bullets, blowouts and a block of magic ice with a Napoleon complex await!
I managed to get a rocket launcher just now, on my way to find Borov. I annihilated everyone in that bas. Went in through the front gate (there's a gate on the side) and killed them all without getting shot once. They really suck at night and it's great how they'll maneuver around the obstacles for best cover as they try to get to you. Course, I was able to slip away so as they headed to the location they THOUGHT I was at, I was actually right behind them lol
Man, I missed lot in this game. First of all, how are you guys surviving firefights so well? I usually had to quickload a lot after a short burst from Monolith soldiers, even with a SEVA/SS-99M or whatever. Are there certain artifacts I should be using or avoiding?
Second of all: umm.. nightvision? O_o I played this entire game without realizing there is a nightvision feature. I should check that options screen more carefully next time!! On the other hand, regular vision and my 3-yard flashlight made for some tense moments.
I never used nightvision on my first run-through as I'd assumed there was only one type (the one I tried was really bad, too bright). Now it's a godsend. The SEVA has a great one.
Also, as soon as bullets start flying, hit 'c'. If you haven't already bind that key to 'crouch toggle'. Head to cover and use the 'e' and 'q' keys to lean out and take shots. And using the iron sights helps a great deal. The only time you want to use the cross hairs is when the enemy is hidden behind a bush or something similar.
I think it may be because I misunderstood the purpose of those +health -bullet/rupture artifacts. They probably contributed to me getting shot down quickly. I guess I just don't have time to pay attention in games anymore.
That assault rifle with under-grenade launcher looks neat for my next playthrough. At the end I just used the Vintar exclusively and walked to the endgame with 700 cartridges.
[EDIT] By the way, I love inventory/quest shooters so you can see how other people tackle the game. The games media was recently aflutter about Bioshock because you could use your plasmids and weapons in different ways, but a game like Stalker seems to give you more opportunities to be unique.
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Fleebhas all of the fleeb juiceRegistered Userregular
edited November 2007
Night vision is absolutely usless inthis game. It doesn't make it easier to see, if you're in a dark area and turn on NV it'll still be just as dark, just with a green or blue tint over the screen. Worst night vision ever.
Maybe it has to do with your lighting architecture? Static lighting looked brighter (and blander) in most cases. However, I'm tossing around the idea of running static lighting and higher resolution next time just to get a different look at the game.
@Stolls: There is a way to get into the Stadium without using mods, just take the sidedoors, left and right of the main entrance are side entrances to the stadium which don't trigger the bug so you can explore the stadium and kill some enemies there (I also was able to obtain 2 Night Star Artifacts there). On a sidenote, while you are floating over the stadium in that sequence you are still vulnerable to enemies, I've been killed by rodents and snorks on my last playthrough.
About the 9x39 ammo, you can find about 5 or 6 cartridges together with the Armored Berill Suit at the downed helicopter you took a screenshot of. Here's a screen:
@Tim James: About the firefights and not dieing, you can see my usual loadout in my last post, maybe it gives you some help. Regarding the artifacts I like to use 2 Moonlights, 2 Mother's Beads and 1 Crystal. 2 Moonlights give you infinte endurance if you are not overburdened, 1 Moonlight and 1 Flash will do the Job as well but you don't regenerate endurance that fast. The 2 Mother's Beads are for further Bulletproof protection which makes it possible for you to even wear the orange Scientist Suit and the 1 Crystal is for protection against Radiation, I would never put on an Exosuit without it, it also helps you build off radioactivity without using Wodka or Anti-Rad drugs which is quite useful if you are just slightly contaminated.
Night vision is absolutely usless inthis game. It doesn't make it easier to see, if you're in a dark area and turn on NV it'll still be just as dark, just with a green or blue tint over the screen. Worst night vision ever.
That's most certainly not true at all. The SEVA night vision was ridiculously useful. Of course, in places with absolutely NO lighting, it didn't do much, but that's how light amplification works.
I've just finished playing the entire game (with dynamic lights - objects) and it helped me so much I even turned it on during the early morning and late afternoon in-game hours.
RE Firefights: Headshots, cover, headshots, cover, headshots, cover. Hit "]" to use bandages, so that you stop the bleeding and regain some health. The Vintar (or Vintorez, in real life) rifle is the best one for the last third of the game. It's got plentiful ammo, it's very powerful, accurate, has a great scope and an excellent sound suppressor. One hit on the head with it kills ANY human enemy, no matter how well armored, and you will kill them silently and from very far.
There was some amazing gun that I only found once I was in the Sarcophagus that filled my heart with glee. I can't remember the name, but it had an integrated scope that (on the gun model) was tinted red. It made getting the "best" ending sooo much easier.
I think it probably has more to do with my -bulletproof artifacts and occasionally busted armor. I understand the game mechanics.
Never heard of Vintorez. I'll have to play with the real-gun-names mod, then check out the obscure ones on world.guns.ru.
I guess you are using either a Soul, Meat Chunk or Stone Blood artifact. The Health bonus is not giving you 600, 400 or 200% more health it only boosts your health regeneration.
I have completed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the proper way by beating GSC Game World at their own, err, game.
Though they forgot to code proper triggers to complete quests out of order in an open-ended game, I turned their own buggy engine against them to uncover their true secrets.
I used the exploit seen here to break through a door by dropping a gun into the jamb and letting it clip the door open with the physics engine.
Let's give it a try, shall we? This Gauss gun looks like it's hefty enough for the job. I walk up to the door jamb, press the drop key, and viola!
Well, that didn't work. Maybe just a few more tries (or about 40) and try pointing it more toward the ground...
Ah, there we go! (Sorry about the image quality -- forgot to turn on the flashlight and I suck at touching-up.)
I'll walk over and grab that decoder on the shelf and -- what's that beeping from my PDA?
Oh I see now. I couldn't trigger the quest by hitting my stash late in the game and putting two and two together, but picking that decoder up was enough to fill in the details. Very clever plot, GSC Game World. You probably pulled that right out of the noosphere.
In all seriousness, I enjoyed the secret endings. The shootout for the true ending was a little longer than it should have been, but it gave me time to try some different guns.
I also tried playing at 1600x1200 with full details but static lighting. I didn't like it at all -- the full dynamic lights and the extra darkness provided by Float32 really sets the mood properly. The bright static light level made it easy to breeze through ground I had already covered, although I'll admit that I slowed way down in the new parts when the tension shot up.
With all that said,
I didn't think the true endings could even compare to the intensity of the Monolith saying "Idi k mhe" as I creeped through the plant. What a great game!
I considered the 2 later ones the 'proper' endings, not secret. The five endings at the monolith are essentially the 'you died to the final boss' endings you get in an RPG. Not getting the last two keeps the most important elements of the plot (how you ended up where you are, what the Zone is) hidden. In the end I found the whole plot to be well devised and executed and was very happy how the game turned out in the end. Was certainly a fuckload deeper than most shooters storywise (and Oblivion for that matter, at least outside of like the Dark Brotherhood).
steejee on
The Great DAMNED STEAM SALES AND WII/U Backlog Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4 Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
I got one of the fake endings and raged so hard at getting no answers I uninstalled, then looked up the endings on google and got fucked off, as I was just borrowing the DVD from a friend.
So, I'm about to start my first play through, any important tips or just things I should keep in mind? Also, technical tips like tweaks or whatever would be grand.
FairchildRabbit used short words that were easy to understand, like "Hello Pooh, how about Lunch ?"Registered Userregular
edited November 2007
Holy Cats, where to start ? Without giving away too many spoilers, here's my general advice:
- Save at the start of each new zone. It is very possible to enter zones out of sequence and do the core quests out of order and miss important triggers, so archived saves will help you to back up without having to start from scratch.
- Check your palm computer frequently. Quests and important plot info. have a bad habit of showing up in your blackberry un-announced.
- The default nightvision button is N. You will need to wait for some of the more advanced armorsuits to use it, but it comes in very handy.
- You CAN open the small blue boxes and crates that are scattered around the map, and they often contain nice little stashes of medical supplies and ammo. Use your knife to bash them open.
- Keep an eye on your gun and armor durability bars. As they drop your gun will jam more often and your protection will degrade. Or just download the mods that prevent gun and armor degradation, which I did. I have no problem with them degrading- this is meant to be a realistic combat game, after all- but if they degrade they must then be repair-able, which they aren't.
-DO NOT forget that when activating your PDA, you are still playing in real-time. Enemies will attack you.
-Same goes with the inventory screen and map screen. You can still move when viewing the map/inventory/PDA
I just finished X16 or 18 I forget. it's the first lab you visit. Damn! Spooky. Poltergeists are a pain to kill. And that big assed (literally) thing completely spooked me out.
Welcome to Chernobyl. The birthplace of every other nuclear scare story since Hiroshima, the origin of the anomalous outbreaks within the exclusion zone, and a living, glowing monument to man's fallability. The military and the Monolith faction slug it out on the open grounds around the plant, and the Marked One tries to squeeze between them without getting cut to pieces or cooked alive.
I still don't actually remember anything.
The thought was with me every step of the way north. I flipped through the documents, which detailed how Fang and I found the door inside the sarcophagus, and how we escaped. Fang, according to the documents, put together the decoder in preparation for our next attempt to enter the facility. These are the kind of things one should remember, and I certainly know them now... but I don't remember.
They didn't need to kill Strelok. He... no, I... have been gone for a long time already.
I come up to the outskirts of the forsaken plant. Gunshots and explosions echo everywhere in the distance, and deadly electrical anomalies flare up in the sky.
It looks like the only open entrance is a service tunnel to the west. It's bound to be heavily defended, but I don't have any choice.
God almighty.
What really sickens me is that some of the carnage looks old enough to have been here before the military broke through this time. There was an entry in my PDA about the military's first attempt to investigate the center. It was a disaster, and I wouldn't be surprised if half of this was from the last time.
A Monolith sniper spots me, and I him. A good shot to the head lays him out flat.
A rush of wind buffets the area as attack choppers roar by overhead, strafing the area with rockets and machine gun fire. My PDA intercepts their chatter; coordinates and enemy locations. The military are pulling out all the stops, throwing as many choppers - 'kites', as the radio calls them - as they've got, and it doesn't look like Monolith is pulling any punches either.
Gunfire from the left! Yeah, have some right back, you mindless fuck!
More by the barricades. Looks like they were kept busy by the military.
Shit, APC! I shoulder my only rocket and aim squarely at the beast.
It hits, stalling the vehicle, but that cannon's still active. There's a nice big breach in the armor, though...
...and a couple rifle grenades finish the job, igniting the ammo and fuel within. The blast blinds and deafens me for a second, but I shake it off and move on.
Through a gate and to the west yard. There's more weapons fire up ahead; I hear a military spotter call out a Monolith rocketeer's position over the radio. This fight isn't anywhere near over.
A couple Monolith stalkers lurk near the broken-down truck.
The more of these bastards I kill now, the less I'll have to chew through on my way out.
If I plan on coming out alive.
...I didn't really think this through at all, did I?
A painful buzzing rips through my ears, and nausea kicks me square in the gut. My geiger starts crackling, and the ground begins to tremble. Panicked cries fill the air and the radio. Instinctively, I know: it's a blowout.
The sky boils and churns, turning an angry red and painting the ground. I'm already feeling sick, despite my protection, but I press on. I don't remember what this did to me last time, and I'm in no hurry to find out again.
I follow the train tracks, dropping this Monolith trooper. They look ready to fight to the death, and seem more than willing to wait out here until a flash of radiation fries us all.
A streak of lightning brightens the sky, leaping up from a distant emission tower. I drop in and hug the wall, continuing west, but have to move back out to get around an old fence.
Come on, damn it! I've gotta be close! I can make it, I can make it!
More Monoliths. I hear a lot of choppers buzzing around, and someone shouts over the radio, "All Kites! Fire on the entrance!"
A trio of birds hover near the tunnel entrance, and soldiers trade shots with Monolith forces on the ground.
This soldier spots me, but not before I can heft the sniper rifle for a clean shot.
Oh, fuck! The chopper's heavy machine gun chips away at my cover, and I instinctively return fire; my bullets bounce harmlessly off the bird's armor. I'm forced back behind the train car until it passes.
Clear! Gotta go, gotta go now!
I catch a glimpse of a chopper being struck by an electrical anomaly. It stays aloft, but wobbles uneasily as it continues to fire.
Damn, another APC! And the chopper's coming back for another pass!
Gotta get inside...
...right after I nab one thing. Yeah, this'll do nicely.
I'm in. I'm in! Holy shit, I made it! Christ! I can still hear gunfire outside. No time to dawdle.
A small manhole in the corner lets me further into the plant. It better not dead-end, I sure as hell am not going back outside to look for another entrance.
It doesn't, thankfully, but the stairs are busted. No going back up from here.
I face the only exit from the stairwell. The only way out is in, if there is even a way out.
I can... I can feel something... in my mind. A presence, alien and powerful, and yet... familiar. It calls to me. It called to me at the Brain Scorcher. It calls to me again.
Asides: Of all the major battles in the game, the Chernobyl exterior is easily the most intense. The vehicles you've seen throughout the game, either derelict or scripted in appearance, are now fully functional and out to get you. Both the military and the Monoliths have 'killing you' near the top of their agenda, and have the firepower to make it happen. There aren't any secrets, in the traditional sense, but the grounds are pretty open and there are a couple paths you can take to avoid (or confront) the worst of it.
It is possible to shoot down the choppers. Normally they take two rockets, but a single rocket should shoo it away for good. It takes some care in leading the bird properly, but it's possible. You're probably better off saving any rocket(s) you find for APCs unless a chopper is seriously hounding you.
First, past the west gate, you'll see on the map that you can circle around and take the long way to the main entrance. This will bypass the Monolith soldiers hugging the wall, and gives Monolith and the military time to thin each other out, but it's ultimately the more dangerous (but not lonely) path, and should only be taken if you're really hard up for a rocket launcher or want one more try at early gauss rifle ammo.
As you head south, you'll come under fire from a rocket trooper. Unless you're insanely quick on the trigger, he'll get a shot off. It shouldn't hit too close, but it'll likely do some damage nonetheless.
If you can, take him down just after he reloads. RPG troopers here have strange issues regarding their ammo; killing one after he fires will show he doesn't have any spare rockets in his inventory, but he might yet reload his launcher all the same.
Down in the pit is a long stretch o' radiactive hotspot. Falling in there guarantees eventual death, even with maxed radiation protection.
The blowout seems to trigger after a set amount of time passes once the level starts. Even taking the long way around, you should have more than enough time to get to the doors. Also, bear in mind you're a lot more likely to get strafed by a passing chopper out here, and there isn't much in the way of cover.
Military's been busy. These bodies are just static objects, but there are Monoliths around.
A pair of RPG troopers are stationed here, and gauss snipers cover the rooftops.
They're way too busy fighting the choppers to take notice of you unless you get right up close to them.
However, killing them will give the choppers free reign to tear you a new one.
Further west, the military has set up on the opposite side.
Just a couple normal grunts guarding the area. I think the chopper drops reinforcements at some point, but I never stuck around long enough to be sure.
There isn't much else of interest after that.
Getting near the emission tower guarantees a hit by radiation.
Northeast from the tower are a few soldiers pushing right towards the entrance.
Graphical glitch, ahoy! This APC stayed red after the blowout sky effect subsided for some reason.
Now, let's rewind back to the entrance, for those of you that don't fancy fighting APCs or choppers at the start. After that first sniper, there's a road braching to the east. Careful; it's dotted with vortex anomalies.
This chopper makes short work of the RPG trooper, but feel free to speed things up and snag the rocket (if there is one) for your own.
Get to the train tracks and head west for a bit. Note the giant electrical anomaly in the sky. These things can't actually hurt you, but they do seem to respond to the choppers.
The army is trading shots with those Monolith troopers at the barricade (near where the APC spawned). As soon as you can, cut north into the buildings here.
This lets you get the drop on the army, and puts you in a good vantage point to pick them off.
You may even catch one of them totally unaware. If you're short a sniper rifle, feel free to take one of theirs.
The military quickly turns its attention on you here.
But with a rifle, you've got them right where you want them.
I feel like I should know who this guy is, but I can't quite place it. Anyone know this one?
Anyway, past the military/Monolith shootout is the gate to the west yard. Note that no APC has shown up to ruin our fun.
Lastly, here's a rough translation of the radio transmissions between the military units, provided by GameFAQs. Not sure how accurate it is; could be pancake recipes for all I know. Pancakes are delicious, after all. But, I digress:
- Quartet, it's 030. Approaching the point.
- 030, there are couple radiotech reckons are hidden. Watch out for them!
- Quartet, it's 030. Roger...
- 52nd, it's 51st. Approaching the point.
- 54th, there are contras moving over there.
- 52nd, let's pour on them.
- 51st, it's kinda clean, starting to work...
- 52nd, to your right, 20 by 150 is a transformer box, a pecker with a RPG, cool him down!
- Roger!... Oh... f... Well, starting to work.
- 51st, I'm on position. Groats sent.
- Quartet, it's the Kite. Landed. Starting to work...
- 54th, it's the Point. Working...
- Make cover! Starting to work...
- Quartet, I've reached the destination...
- Air! A bit closer!
- Roger!
- Quartet, the Kite is in the point. I'm moving ahead...
- 51st, cover the Kite!
- Quartet, it's 51st, Roger!
- All the Kites! Fire on the entrance!
- Quartet, it's Falcon. I see the Kite and the Hawk. Have one 200th and three 300ths. (200th stands for killed and 300th stands for wounded)
- Falcon, hold on the object!!
- Kite! On position!
In the next episode, the Stalker pushes into the sarcophagus itself, and is tempted by his heart's desire. Will he get his wish, or will it be granted in a loosely-interpreted fashion that ensures his death? I don't know! Wait, yes I do, I've played this before. Oh well. It'll still be kinda cool.
Holy god, I don't recall an APC ever being there... much less BLOWING IT THE FUCK UP. But looking back at the screens, you took a completely different approach to the entrance to the plant than I did.
I guess that's a testament to how open the paths are, even when you feel like you're being shoe-horned towards the end.
Posts
Incidentally, I just noticed that imageshack went and dumped a few select images from earlier posts. I spent a good chunk of the night finding and fixing them, and I still have no idea why it happened. I still have to resize the Pripyat screens and such, so I'll go as quick as I can, but I'll update early tomorrow if I can't squeeze it in before I drop tonight.
...okay, that and I was shocked to learn the Crysis demo actually ran on my computer with a tolerable framerate on medium settings. I thoroughly expected it to devour not only my hard drive, but to actually punch through the case and kill me. Thankfully, this has not happened.
In any case, I'll make up for it with a rather amusing development of how grenade/rocket jumping in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. actually works, and how it aided me in reuniting two lost lovers. Stick around, people
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
[EDIT] It didn't work. I'm okay with leaving it for another playthrough though (hey, maybe they'll have another patch out!) Judging by you freaks in this thread, it looks like the game is worth playing over a few times.
DAMN YOU, STOLLS
I think I skipped the Strelok stash quest until later in the game, so maybe that was the problem.
Slowly, reluctantly, I get back on my feet. A quick glance at my PDA shows I've been out for maybe an hour. Just long enough to keep going. I crack open a can of rations and hastily choke it down. The antirad's playing hell with my stomach, and if I didn't know better I'd swear this stuff was keeping me from digesting food properly. It takes some effort to keep it all down.
I had a dream... well, kind of. A series of disconnected images, faces, voices... the things I've seen and had to fight. It'd be innacurate to call it a nightmare, for it left me with no fear or revulsion; maybe I just deal with it too much while I'm awake.
Monolith troopers are lurking around the area, trading shots with other stalkers, or maybe even the military. Looks like I didn't miss much. I better get moving.
It's funny... I saw people I recognize, if barely. Sidorovich, the Barman, Sakharov, Nimble, Seriy, Bes, Bullet, Kruglov... I was a blank slate, just another nameless Stalker. Sure, most of them helped me out in some way, but should I have felt good about helping them? Should I have cared about any of them?
Well, whatever the reason, I did. Maybe Strelok would have, maybe he wouldn't, but I do.
I spot a Monolith with a rocket launcher out the north window. He's covering the courtyard, but he doesn't see me.
You owe me the truth. You owe us all the truth.
I'll get it from you, one bullet at a time.
The veterans said there's path to the station through the stadium to the north, and it's not far from here.
Courtyard looks clear. Now's as good a time as any.
I pass under the rocket trooper's position. Damn... doesn't look like a way up. Sorry, rocket launcher. Maybe next time.
The stadium's just ahead, I'm almost there!
Okay, fine! You want some, too?! Come on!
I saw some Freedom stalkers run in ahead of me. Maybe they'll thin out whatever's inside for me.
Damn. The field's a blighted wasteland, pockmarked with whirligigs and ringed with Monolith sharpshooters and rocketeers.
One of the Freedomers gets sucked up into a whirligig...
...along with a few boars. They're vaporized in seconds.
Monolith troopers pick off the survivors. This is going to be one hell of a battle.
Lucky for me I don't have to actually fight it!
...wait, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!
*cue record screeching to a halt*
Yeah, there's no way to do this in-character. There's a bug that's been in the game since launch that causes you to teleport to the other side of the stadium. Essentially you're carried along with the cutscene camera past all the cool battleground stuff and dumped right on the exit point to Chernobyl. You're not even prompted as to whether you want to go to the next area or not, you just go. Adding insult to injury is that this is a point of no return; you can't get back to Pripyat or anywhere else once you reach the NPP.
There are mods which circumvent this by disabling the cutscene, but I've had a hell of a time finding them. However, scrounging around on the Zone Survival Guide forums led me to the Zone Reclamation Project; an unofficial patch, of sorts, created by the GSC Game World community. Its readme mentions a bunch of problems supposedly fixed, including the stadium teleport issue, but it seems to require starting a new game, so I can't verify this immediately. Woe!
Ah well. As long as we're eschewing character for the moment, let's rewind a bit and explore Pripyat some! There's gotta be some useful stuff out there, right?
Opposite the stadium is this big lookin' thing, which is some kind of theater-slash-art gallery.
It's firmly under Monolith control, but they're scattered throughout the building, and shouldn't give you too much trouble individually.
There's not much in the building's lower floors...
...just more Monolith troopers itching for an ass-kicking.
Up top, however, we find a rather interesting scene. I don't know if the Monoliths built that big hunk of junk or it just fell into the room like that, but they're clearly entranced by it.
Seriously, you can walk right up to them and do pretty much anything and they won't get up. For kicks I used rifle grenades the first time, but just to be sure I reloaded and used the knife.
You might remember a batch of Monoliths doing something like this at the start of the Red Forest level, but those guys will get up and start fighting if they hear you. These, however, you can kill at your leisure. Just watch your back, because the noise you make will attract attention from other troopers in the building.
Your reward is a night star artifact, another max bulletproof cap artifact. If you're dead set on maximum bullet protection, you can't beat two beads, two night stars and a crystal to offset the stars. Throw that in with the armor we just picked up at the hotel and we're basically the Terminator.
Note that 'basically' doesn't mean 'identical'. Monolith still has a few tricks up their sleeve.
Near the pile of junk is one of the rarest artifacts in the game, a kolobok. Penalty-free rupture protection at 5% is a sweet deal, but unfortunately we're a bit too far in the game for it to be useful. You may be able to find it in a stash or quest for it earlier on, but I haven't done so myself.
On the bodies are pump shotguns - Chasers - and ammo, so if you've been hurting for shotgun ammo like I was (or just neglected to pick up the Combat Chaser) now's as good a time as any to grab some.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Did you visit Strelok's Stash AFTER doing x16? That could explain it. After visiting the stash, you'll get a vague "find Ghost" pda mission... then, after talking to the Barkeep and the scientists, the right order should be Ghost's corpse -> Vassiliev ("open" his corpse and get the PDA update) -> Guide (in Cordon) -> Doc -> Pripyat stash.
More Monoliths patrol the ground level, but the shotgun can shred them easily at close range.
A couple Freedom boys were roaming the west side of the city. This one got separate from his group, which actually started out further south, near the starting run.
This building is just southwest of the gallery. It looks like there should be something in there...
...but there isn't.
Front of the gallery. A good reference point for the west side.
Southwest is a bunch of apartment buildings, mostly inaccessible.
There is a side entrance, however.
Sadly, there's not much of interest in the apartments themselves.
This is the other side of the main entrance. Trust me, that door ain't opening. In fact the only real thing of interest here...
...is the military, who has sent these two idiots to check the place out. Luckily for me, they were carrying 9x39mm ammo, which I was in dire need of at this point.
Back outside the apartment building.
This place is directly south of the apartments. Not much here, either...
Just more soldiers and tasty, tasty 9x39mm ammo.
There's a back alley which runs south, towards the main street where we started with the veterans.
That's where we turned right. You can explore the back alleys and find a couple lesser artifacts, along with a few randomized crates; I did find an M209 rifle grenade in the southwest corner.
This is one of the buildings we ran by, just southeast from the car park entrance. ("Right, balcony and window!") Again, the only things of use are what the Monolith soldiers were carrying, but there are a few curious details, such as this toy horse and the dropped records. I couldn't get a clear shot of the text on that elephant thing, but I'm guessing the building was some kind of preschool or nursery.
On the northeast side of the city, Duty soldiers take on more Monolith troopers. A gauss sniper makes things a bit dicey for them.
Sadly, the building this guy's on is behind a fence, so there's virtually no chance of getting him to drop his gun far enough.
But, my friends, I must confess that my heart was drawn back to the launcher I passed by. Separated by a mound of crumbling brick and mortar, kept out of reach by the jealousy of its now deceased owner, I could do nothing but mourn for a cherished companion denied to me.
Or could I? Perhaps there was another way, a second chance for us to be together. Well, technically a fourth chance, but that's a bit beside the point. I scrambled forward, making haste up the pile of rubble by the theater. I knew I had to try!
The going was slick in the pouring rain, the rubble threatening to collapse at any minute, but I would not be denied!
Ha-ha, success! I climbed to the top of the passageway and scrambled madly along the roof! Our reunion was close at hand!
But no! My meager legs, exhausted and spent, could not carry me over the wall! My feeble arms could not hoist me up over the side! I can see the body that guards my dearest, that cruelly mocks me from near! I cannot! I cannot make it up the wall!
...no, no! I will not give up! Hold on, dear launcher, for I would sacrifice everything just for one more pull of your mighty trigger!
Madness, perhaps, but the blast of the grenade was enough to propel me up over the wall. A necessary sacrifice, yes... I knew how I felt for the grenade launcher would never eclipse that of the rocket launcher. Ours was, simply, never meant to be, and the grenade launcher understood that.
Thank you, my friend. Your kindness will never be forgotten.
And so I come to my tormentor, and the object of my desire. I eagerly wrench it free from his cursed hands, and cradle it as if it were my own flesh and blood.
Even now I can almost hear it whisper to me, hope lacing its every word, "I knew nothing could truly separate us."
Naught but death, my love. Naught but death.
Asides: I'm a little too fond of the rocket launcher. I just wish I was able to take down the Monolith trooper before he wasted one of the rockets. Oh well, there's always next playthrough.
Also, there is a certain stash in Pripyat that nets a powerful exoskeleton, which boosts your carry weight and has the better nightvision. Blindi is correct; the stash locations can be found off bodies in Yantar, or from the Dutyers and Freedomers in Red Forest. It's in a grave marker straight south from the gallery, and due west from the car park (past the electrical anomalies that blocked off the street, near the end of the starting run).
Join us next time, as the story moves into its final act and the Marked One fights his way into the heart of Chernobyl itself. Bullets, blowouts and a block of magic ice with a Napoleon complex await!
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
I managed to get a rocket launcher just now, on my way to find Borov. I annihilated everyone in that bas. Went in through the front gate (there's a gate on the side) and killed them all without getting shot once. They really suck at night and it's great how they'll maneuver around the obstacles for best cover as they try to get to you. Course, I was able to slip away so as they headed to the location they THOUGHT I was at, I was actually right behind them lol
Second of all: umm.. nightvision? O_o I played this entire game without realizing there is a nightvision feature. I should check that options screen more carefully next time!! On the other hand, regular vision and my 3-yard flashlight made for some tense moments.
I'm an idiot.
Also, as soon as bullets start flying, hit 'c'. If you haven't already bind that key to 'crouch toggle'. Head to cover and use the 'e' and 'q' keys to lean out and take shots. And using the iron sights helps a great deal. The only time you want to use the cross hairs is when the enemy is hidden behind a bush or something similar.
That assault rifle with under-grenade launcher looks neat for my next playthrough. At the end I just used the Vintar exclusively and walked to the endgame with 700 cartridges.
[EDIT] By the way, I love inventory/quest shooters so you can see how other people tackle the game. The games media was recently aflutter about Bioshock because you could use your plasmids and weapons in different ways, but a game like Stalker seems to give you more opportunities to be unique.
About the 9x39 ammo, you can find about 5 or 6 cartridges together with the Armored Berill Suit at the downed helicopter you took a screenshot of. Here's a screen:
@Tim James: About the firefights and not dieing, you can see my usual loadout in my last post, maybe it gives you some help. Regarding the artifacts I like to use 2 Moonlights, 2 Mother's Beads and 1 Crystal. 2 Moonlights give you infinte endurance if you are not overburdened, 1 Moonlight and 1 Flash will do the Job as well but you don't regenerate endurance that fast. The 2 Mother's Beads are for further Bulletproof protection which makes it possible for you to even wear the orange Scientist Suit and the 1 Crystal is for protection against Radiation, I would never put on an Exosuit without it, it also helps you build off radioactivity without using Wodka or Anti-Rad drugs which is quite useful if you are just slightly contaminated.
That's most certainly not true at all. The SEVA night vision was ridiculously useful. Of course, in places with absolutely NO lighting, it didn't do much, but that's how light amplification works.
I've just finished playing the entire game (with dynamic lights - objects) and it helped me so much I even turned it on during the early morning and late afternoon in-game hours.
RE Firefights: Headshots, cover, headshots, cover, headshots, cover. Hit "]" to use bandages, so that you stop the bleeding and regain some health. The Vintar (or Vintorez, in real life) rifle is the best one for the last third of the game. It's got plentiful ammo, it's very powerful, accurate, has a great scope and an excellent sound suppressor. One hit on the head with it kills ANY human enemy, no matter how well armored, and you will kill them silently and from very far.
Never heard of Vintorez. I'll have to play with the real-gun-names mod, then check out the obscure ones on world.guns.ru.
The vintorez is the gun in the screenshot from the dude above me.
Best gun in the game.
I guess you are using either a Soul, Meat Chunk or Stone Blood artifact. The Health bonus is not giving you 600, 400 or 200% more health it only boosts your health regeneration.
Though they forgot to code proper triggers to complete quests out of order in an open-ended game, I turned their own buggy engine against them to uncover their true secrets.
Let's give it a try, shall we? This Gauss gun looks like it's hefty enough for the job. I walk up to the door jamb, press the drop key, and viola!
Well, that didn't work. Maybe just a few more tries (or about 40) and try pointing it more toward the ground...
Ah, there we go! (Sorry about the image quality -- forgot to turn on the flashlight and I suck at touching-up.)
I'll walk over and grab that decoder on the shelf and -- what's that beeping from my PDA?
Oh I see now. I couldn't trigger the quest by hitting my stash late in the game and putting two and two together, but picking that decoder up was enough to fill in the details. Very clever plot, GSC Game World. You probably pulled that right out of the noosphere.
I also tried playing at 1600x1200 with full details but static lighting. I didn't like it at all -- the full dynamic lights and the extra darkness provided by Float32 really sets the mood properly. The bright static light level made it easy to breeze through ground I had already covered, although I'll admit that I slowed way down in the new parts when the tension shot up.
With all that said,
Just Finished: Borderlands (waste of $7)/Mario Brothers U/The Last Story/Tropico 4
Currently Playing: NS2/ZombiU/PlanetSide 2/Ys/Dota2/Xenoblade Chronicles
On Hold: Prince of Persia: Warrior Within/GW2/Scribblenauts
Coming Next: Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones/X-Com Classic
kpop appreciation station i also like to tweet some
- Save at the start of each new zone. It is very possible to enter zones out of sequence and do the core quests out of order and miss important triggers, so archived saves will help you to back up without having to start from scratch.
- Check your palm computer frequently. Quests and important plot info. have a bad habit of showing up in your blackberry un-announced.
- The default nightvision button is N. You will need to wait for some of the more advanced armorsuits to use it, but it comes in very handy.
- You CAN open the small blue boxes and crates that are scattered around the map, and they often contain nice little stashes of medical supplies and ammo. Use your knife to bash them open.
- Keep an eye on your gun and armor durability bars. As they drop your gun will jam more often and your protection will degrade. Or just download the mods that prevent gun and armor degradation, which I did. I have no problem with them degrading- this is meant to be a realistic combat game, after all- but if they degrade they must then be repair-able, which they aren't.
-Same goes with the inventory screen and map screen. You can still move when viewing the map/inventory/PDA
The thought was with me every step of the way north. I flipped through the documents, which detailed how Fang and I found the door inside the sarcophagus, and how we escaped. Fang, according to the documents, put together the decoder in preparation for our next attempt to enter the facility. These are the kind of things one should remember, and I certainly know them now... but I don't remember.
They didn't need to kill Strelok. He... no, I... have been gone for a long time already.
I come up to the outskirts of the forsaken plant. Gunshots and explosions echo everywhere in the distance, and deadly electrical anomalies flare up in the sky.
It looks like the only open entrance is a service tunnel to the west. It's bound to be heavily defended, but I don't have any choice.
God almighty.
What really sickens me is that some of the carnage looks old enough to have been here before the military broke through this time. There was an entry in my PDA about the military's first attempt to investigate the center. It was a disaster, and I wouldn't be surprised if half of this was from the last time.
A Monolith sniper spots me, and I him. A good shot to the head lays him out flat.
A rush of wind buffets the area as attack choppers roar by overhead, strafing the area with rockets and machine gun fire. My PDA intercepts their chatter; coordinates and enemy locations. The military are pulling out all the stops, throwing as many choppers - 'kites', as the radio calls them - as they've got, and it doesn't look like Monolith is pulling any punches either.
Gunfire from the left! Yeah, have some right back, you mindless fuck!
More by the barricades. Looks like they were kept busy by the military.
Shit, APC! I shoulder my only rocket and aim squarely at the beast.
It hits, stalling the vehicle, but that cannon's still active. There's a nice big breach in the armor, though...
...and a couple rifle grenades finish the job, igniting the ammo and fuel within. The blast blinds and deafens me for a second, but I shake it off and move on.
Through a gate and to the west yard. There's more weapons fire up ahead; I hear a military spotter call out a Monolith rocketeer's position over the radio. This fight isn't anywhere near over.
A couple Monolith stalkers lurk near the broken-down truck.
The more of these bastards I kill now, the less I'll have to chew through on my way out.
If I plan on coming out alive.
...I didn't really think this through at all, did I?
A painful buzzing rips through my ears, and nausea kicks me square in the gut. My geiger starts crackling, and the ground begins to tremble. Panicked cries fill the air and the radio. Instinctively, I know: it's a blowout.
The sky boils and churns, turning an angry red and painting the ground. I'm already feeling sick, despite my protection, but I press on. I don't remember what this did to me last time, and I'm in no hurry to find out again.
I follow the train tracks, dropping this Monolith trooper. They look ready to fight to the death, and seem more than willing to wait out here until a flash of radiation fries us all.
A streak of lightning brightens the sky, leaping up from a distant emission tower. I drop in and hug the wall, continuing west, but have to move back out to get around an old fence.
Come on, damn it! I've gotta be close! I can make it, I can make it!
More Monoliths. I hear a lot of choppers buzzing around, and someone shouts over the radio, "All Kites! Fire on the entrance!"
A trio of birds hover near the tunnel entrance, and soldiers trade shots with Monolith forces on the ground.
This soldier spots me, but not before I can heft the sniper rifle for a clean shot.
Oh, fuck! The chopper's heavy machine gun chips away at my cover, and I instinctively return fire; my bullets bounce harmlessly off the bird's armor. I'm forced back behind the train car until it passes.
Clear! Gotta go, gotta go now!
I catch a glimpse of a chopper being struck by an electrical anomaly. It stays aloft, but wobbles uneasily as it continues to fire.
Damn, another APC! And the chopper's coming back for another pass!
Gotta get inside...
...right after I nab one thing. Yeah, this'll do nicely.
I'm in. I'm in! Holy shit, I made it! Christ! I can still hear gunfire outside. No time to dawdle.
A small manhole in the corner lets me further into the plant. It better not dead-end, I sure as hell am not going back outside to look for another entrance.
It doesn't, thankfully, but the stairs are busted. No going back up from here.
I face the only exit from the stairwell. The only way out is in, if there is even a way out.
I can... I can feel something... in my mind. A presence, alien and powerful, and yet... familiar. It calls to me. It called to me at the Brain Scorcher. It calls to me again.
Come to me...
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
It is possible to shoot down the choppers. Normally they take two rockets, but a single rocket should shoo it away for good. It takes some care in leading the bird properly, but it's possible. You're probably better off saving any rocket(s) you find for APCs unless a chopper is seriously hounding you.
First, past the west gate, you'll see on the map that you can circle around and take the long way to the main entrance. This will bypass the Monolith soldiers hugging the wall, and gives Monolith and the military time to thin each other out, but it's ultimately the more dangerous (but not lonely) path, and should only be taken if you're really hard up for a rocket launcher or want one more try at early gauss rifle ammo.
As you head south, you'll come under fire from a rocket trooper. Unless you're insanely quick on the trigger, he'll get a shot off. It shouldn't hit too close, but it'll likely do some damage nonetheless.
If you can, take him down just after he reloads. RPG troopers here have strange issues regarding their ammo; killing one after he fires will show he doesn't have any spare rockets in his inventory, but he might yet reload his launcher all the same.
Down in the pit is a long stretch o' radiactive hotspot. Falling in there guarantees eventual death, even with maxed radiation protection.
The blowout seems to trigger after a set amount of time passes once the level starts. Even taking the long way around, you should have more than enough time to get to the doors. Also, bear in mind you're a lot more likely to get strafed by a passing chopper out here, and there isn't much in the way of cover.
Military's been busy. These bodies are just static objects, but there are Monoliths around.
A pair of RPG troopers are stationed here, and gauss snipers cover the rooftops.
They're way too busy fighting the choppers to take notice of you unless you get right up close to them.
However, killing them will give the choppers free reign to tear you a new one.
Further west, the military has set up on the opposite side.
Just a couple normal grunts guarding the area. I think the chopper drops reinforcements at some point, but I never stuck around long enough to be sure.
There isn't much else of interest after that.
Getting near the emission tower guarantees a hit by radiation.
Northeast from the tower are a few soldiers pushing right towards the entrance.
Graphical glitch, ahoy! This APC stayed red after the blowout sky effect subsided for some reason.
Now, let's rewind back to the entrance, for those of you that don't fancy fighting APCs or choppers at the start. After that first sniper, there's a road braching to the east. Careful; it's dotted with vortex anomalies.
This chopper makes short work of the RPG trooper, but feel free to speed things up and snag the rocket (if there is one) for your own.
Get to the train tracks and head west for a bit. Note the giant electrical anomaly in the sky. These things can't actually hurt you, but they do seem to respond to the choppers.
The army is trading shots with those Monolith troopers at the barricade (near where the APC spawned). As soon as you can, cut north into the buildings here.
This lets you get the drop on the army, and puts you in a good vantage point to pick them off.
You may even catch one of them totally unaware. If you're short a sniper rifle, feel free to take one of theirs.
The military quickly turns its attention on you here.
But with a rifle, you've got them right where you want them.
I feel like I should know who this guy is, but I can't quite place it. Anyone know this one?
Anyway, past the military/Monolith shootout is the gate to the west yard. Note that no APC has shown up to ruin our fun.
Lastly, here's a rough translation of the radio transmissions between the military units, provided by GameFAQs. Not sure how accurate it is; could be pancake recipes for all I know. Pancakes are delicious, after all. But, I digress:
- 030, there are couple radiotech reckons are hidden. Watch out for them!
- Quartet, it's 030. Roger...
- 52nd, it's 51st. Approaching the point.
- 54th, there are contras moving over there.
- 52nd, let's pour on them.
- 51st, it's kinda clean, starting to work...
- 52nd, to your right, 20 by 150 is a transformer box, a pecker with a RPG, cool him down!
- Roger!... Oh... f... Well, starting to work.
- 51st, I'm on position. Groats sent.
- Quartet, it's the Kite. Landed. Starting to work...
- 54th, it's the Point. Working...
- Make cover! Starting to work...
- Quartet, I've reached the destination...
- Air! A bit closer!
- Roger!
- Quartet, the Kite is in the point. I'm moving ahead...
- 51st, cover the Kite!
- Quartet, it's 51st, Roger!
- All the Kites! Fire on the entrance!
- Quartet, it's Falcon. I see the Kite and the Hawk. Have one 200th and three 300ths. (200th stands for killed and 300th stands for wounded)
- Falcon, hold on the object!!
- Kite! On position!
In the next episode, the Stalker pushes into the sarcophagus itself, and is tempted by his heart's desire. Will he get his wish, or will it be granted in a loosely-interpreted fashion that ensures his death? I don't know! Wait, yes I do, I've played this before. Oh well. It'll still be kinda cool.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
I guess that's a testament to how open the paths are, even when you feel like you're being shoe-horned towards the end.
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
no time to fuck around with all those dudes shooting you.
great update!