Penny Arcade

Set 5 - Getting down to business

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Set 6 - I love this gun

Set 7 - WOOO!

Set 8 - THE LAB!

Set 9 - OH COME ON!

Set 10 - Hee hee heee!

Set 11 - Business as usual

Set 12 - Feeling wheezy, buddy?

Set 13 - LAB X16

Set 14 - You bastard!

Set 15 - Bloodsucker bonanza

Set 16 - I found more bloodsuckers!

Set 17 - Not. Even. Funny.

Set 18 - Stop touching me!

Set 19-Rats. Burers. Bloodsuckers. Oh my.

Set 20 - Pripyat: 'Tis a silly place.

Set 21 - Chernobyl: GYAARGH, FWOOSH, BOOM!

Set 22 - THE END

Set 23 - Bonus - Crazy knife guy!

A Night in the Zone Part 1
A Night in the Zone Part 2
A Night in the Zone Part 3
A Night in the Zone Part 4

The setup:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a hugely atmospheric game set in the region surrounding the old Chernobyl reactor in the Ukraine. Yes, that reactor that hippies flip out about even though nuclear reactors are safer and better than coal plants. But whatever. The time period is more or less contemporary with some creative liberties (small exo-skeleton suits, awesome PDA, etc). This surrounding area is known as the "Zone"; those who haven't actually played STALKER (like hell I'm gonna keep typing those periods) likely won't realize the most important thing about the Zone. What is that, you might ask?

The Zone is always trying to kill you.

Not casually, but in a very active and ongoing sense. It will try to blow you up, feed you to dogs, bleed you, burn you, shoot you, slash you, and throw in some radiation exposure for some extra zip. Mutants and monsters will try to bring you down any way they can, anomalies will wait patiently for you to wander too close, most of the humans want to kill you and take your stuff, and to top it all off, blowouts. What are blowouts? If you don't already know, you'll just have to watch and find out. Did I mention the part where you're an amnesiac on a mission to kill some poor sap named Strelok? Oh, and nobody really knows who you are so they just call you Marked One. They also found you near the wreckage of a vehicle carrying a bunch of dead bodies. Not ominous at all, right?

About the game:

The Vanilla version of the game was horribly buggy and featured some glaring oversights, but thankfully also attracted swarms of slavering modders. This Let's Play will be using one of the more recently developed mods known as LURK. Bizarrely enough, it started out in that place of virtue and logic known as 4chan. Yes, you may be afraid now, but the LURK mod is some quality stuff. Practically everything in the game is tweaked or enhanced in some way. There are the basic mods like sleep (originally developed for the game but removed before release), item repair (which you would THINK would be mandatory but wasn't), and silent weapons being actually silent (in Vanilla, stabbing a soldier at the back of a base warned everybody in what seemed like a fifty kilometer radius). There are also baddies absent from the original release which have been re-added. One thing which has tended to remain through the different versions is RPG-esque curve to the game. Beat the game straight through and you might end up with semi-OK equipment, but "grind" (i.e., do sidequests, scrounge for gear, etc) and you can dig up some really nice stuff. Enemies which might start out as a huge pain can become almost inconsequential literally overnight should you make it through the night.

It also features some nifty, sophisticated additions. At the top of the list is reworked stealth and darkness. Vanilla STALKER is dark; LURK is daaaark. Dark enough that night no longer makes you wish you were somewhere else, but in fact makes you huddle in a building somewhere safe until the sun comes out. Or sneak into an enemy base, hoping you don't bump into any uglies on the way. One excellent addition is a dynamic randomized weather system ported from STALKER: Clear Sky (the sequel which is a prequel). Pitch-black night with a thunderstorm giving away your position with every lightning flash? Check. There is also a huge array of new weapons and a major upgrade to weapon details; instead of having a silencer which attaches to everything, specific weapons can carry specific components. Trading has also been redone to be more balanced and make it so trading isn't limited purely to traders. Stalkers are, after all, businessmen if nothing else. They came to the Zone to seek their fortune (or escape other fortunes), so it makes sense that they would be willing to part with a few cases of ammo for a shiny artifact.

Oh yeah, artifacts. These little things may not seem like much, but having the right one can be the difference between death by radiation and escape, much less what happens when you have the right dozen or so. Even the worthless ones are still worth a good chunk of money. As fascinating and valuable as artifacts are, they're still only a by-product of whatever is happening in the Zone. While everyone tries to figure it out, Stalkers clash with other Stalkers, mercenaries hired by the government, and monsters all in an attempt to carve out their own little fortune. None of that sissy money stuff for you, though; you're in the Zone on a mission.

A mission of death.

Which, in the Zone, makes you a fairly normal and approachable dude. Go figure.

But don't we already have a STALKER LP?

You may be wondering why I'm doing this Let's Play if I already know so much about this game. While I have played this game at least 4-5 times with varying mods (and varying levels of crashing), LURK is pretty radically different. I also recently built a new computer so I'm also greatly enjoying the massive upgrade in graphics. Rather than keep the game to myself, I've decided to share it as best I can. This is absolutely one of those games where you hear about it years after it's released, play it, and then lament over all the wasted time you didn't know about this game. Well, as long as you don't mind a challenge.

The PA Forums have also already had one Let's Play of STALKER (a great one done by Stolls, check the Let's Play index; he also put together a nice mod pack for STALKER which you can find in the STALKER thread), but that was purely a screenshot LP. While extensive and awesome, screenshots just naturally have a tougher time of expressing a game like STALKER. Looking at a screenshot and thinking "hey, that looks bad" is whole world of difference from watching someone sneaking through the flickering shadows only to get jumped by some hideous monstrosity hell-bent on a career in face-eating. The tough part with this will be editing; a paraphrased saying from fighter pilots was that their job was hours of boredom followed by thirty seconds of sheer terror. After a fashion, STALKER works this way too. You can scrounge for caches for an hour, jumping at every sound, and then on the way back home through "safe" territory get jumped by fifteen mutated dogs which rip you to pieces in seconds or wander into a lethal anomaly which has moved since the last time you were in the area. For the sake of pacing and time (both the amount of time I'll spend encoding/uploading and the time of the viewers), I will likely edit out a good deal of what I record. Five uncut minutes of an intense firefight is fun to watch but 15 minutes of body looting isn't. So the fight would be left in uncut, but the looting would be cut almost entirely save for good finds. Watching someone get horribly mangled by a springboard anomaly is good for a laugh, but not if it means having to watch them run across a landscape for 10 uneventful minutes.

I'm no cinematic pro, but I'll do my best to retain the tension of the game while keeping it entertaining to the viewers. And unlike certain PA Forum members (*cough* Helloween *cough*), don't expect me to shriek like a little girl at scary things (you should actually check out his LPs, they're pretty universally great and entertaining). This is the ZONE. If something bad happens, the time it takes to shriek is usually long enough for any manner of horrible things to happen to your head and the requisite noise orifice. I prefer to negotiate swiftly using extreme prejudice, likely in 5.56 NATO or 7.62 format. Buckshot is an acceptable alternative.

Now to get you acquainted with the zone. First off, Stalkers:

Stalkers are the free agents of the Zone. They are there because they choose to be. Whatever they were outside, in here they're the equivalent of gold-boom prospectors. Finding the right artifact means a quick fortune and there are legends of unbelievable wealth hiding in the Zone for the right Stalker. By the very nature of their job, they have to be tough, smart, and, not surprisingly, often drunk.

How about the common scummy adversaries of everybody, Bandits?

Bandits are, well, bandits. Rather than earn their own way in the Zone, they attempt to prey on others. Nobody likes these guys, so they have no real support base and tend to have pretty crappy equipment. Five or ten of these guys can make you have a real bad day, though. They tend to wander the Zone and live wherever they can, but are more prevalent in some areas than others. Everyone in the Zone also shoots them on sight, but they seem to multiply as fast as the mutants.

On a more academic note, we have scientists. Yes, weeny scientists do in fact enter the Zone.

Scientists are rare and place themselves in mortal peril for a very obvious reason: to figure out the zone. Obviously not the greatest fighters, they usually have protection via the government or hire willing Stalkers.

Let's not forget the Traders, the select few people who make the Zone at least livable and even sometimes bearable.

Without Traders, you couldn't make it in the Zone. Legally or illegally, they get what Stalkers need. Outside of the government, these guys are how artifacts get funneled to the outside world. In turn, the Traders bring in food, protective gear, weapons, and, most importantly, ammunition. Knowing the location of a good cache doesn't mean squat if you don't have some of these to toss around:

As long as you have the cash, Traders will get you what you need. If you don't have the cash, they usually have jobs for you. Sometimes they need an "accident" to happen to the right person, sometimes they have a client looking for a special artifact, and sometimes they just need a piece of wild radioactive boar to make a special recipe. It's usually better if you don't ask.

There are other factions, but let's keep them a surprise for those who've not yet experienced STALKER. They range from the perfectly normal to the grotesque to "oh shit I really wish I had some grenades about now".

So without further ado, come in, Stalker! I've got something for you...

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Yeargh, so this is my first LP. Right off the bat, I know one technical issue at the moment is a buzz from the microphone. Hopefully, that's it. Comments and suggestions are definitely welcome and enjoy the show!

mere_immortal · December 2009

This should be fun. Playing through with LURK installed now too. if you thought vanilla was scary wait till you are running through the garbage in the pitch black with screams and howls coming from everywhere and you can't put your flashlight on because if you do those bandits you know are very close will see you and then OHGOD A BLOODSUCKER I CANT SEE HIM.

It's pretty great.

Monger · December 2009

So, this is happening now.

Oh yeah, this is happening.

edit:
Okay, stuff:

-Microphone. Sounds like it's clipping a bit. Generally, that means you've got it turned up too loud, or you're too close to it when you speak. In your recording program, you want to make sure the readout for its input gets as high up as possible without ever touching the top. If it's not and you're still getting kind of an artifacting sound when you speak up, you need to move it away from your mouth a bit. When you breathe out, it's getting in the mic a lot, and that's a little distracting. You might want to reposition the mic so the air from your nose and mouth don't pass directly by it. Failing that, you might want to turn away from the mic when you let out a large breath. I didn't find the background buzzing noise that noticeable under the ambient game audio, so I don't know how much you need to focus on fixing it. I'm not sure what your recording setup is, so I don't know that I could give you any advice on why it's happening, anyway. Could be a whole lot of things.

-Statistics on weapon descriptions generally aren't accurate in LURK (sometimes not even close), because of the mechanical overhauls. If you want to see how they compare with each other, you'll pretty much just have to try them out. Unlike most other mods, you probably couldn't pick out the useful weapons even if the stats were accurate. A lot depends on the situation and your playstyle. Like I said in the other thread, the Makarov is a completely legitimate sidearm now (and the most common one in even the deeper areas of the Zone). I actually like it more than most of the other 9x18 pistols. Well, at least the ones that aren't full auto. There's a number of situations where the hunting rifle and even the sawn-off is superior to the Winchester pump. The short barrel AK is pretty damn effective compared to a full sized rifle, especially given that it weighs so much less. It takes a little while to wrap your head around how wildly different the weapon mechanics are, especially for someone that's played a lot of STALKER.

-Pussy weight limit is for pussies. [tiny]Although the low one would probably make for a horridly unwatchable LP, so I guess it was a good decision.[/tiny]

-Other than that, this is great so far. Although, there are a few more things you might want to explain for people completely new to STALKER. Stuff like the beeping near artifacts, beeping when contacts are picked up by the PDA, the various visual effects in different situations. You did a pretty good job covering most of it as you were going, there's just a few things like that that I see asked about commonly in the STALKER thread. The game's pretty dense when you're just dropped into it.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Part of the microphone issue is that I've got a pretty cheap one right now. Once I pick up a new mike, I think the issues will largely go away. For the breathing into the mike, yeah, I just need to find a good way to position whatever mike I use so I'm not constantly exhaling directly into it.

As for weapon stats not being accurate, I'm actually pretty OK with that. I like the idea of trying out guns more than just looking at various stats. And even with my brief experience with the re-done Makarov, I was very pleased with the performance. I don't want to get bound to a weapon or two for the entire game, though. Like with this first set, I picked up the pump shotgun because it's a better primary than a sawn-off, but I'll probably go back to a sawn-off now because it's lighter and I really lucked out and was practically handed an AK-74. Depending on cash and the situations I'm heading into, I'd like to keep the weapons varied. Hearing that more compact weapons are clear competitors is excellent, though. I always hated that a lighter variant of a weapon invariably had a large impact on accuracy or power or something like that.

And the weight limit, well, nobody wants to see me slogging across an area for fifteen minutes with a dead body full of loot or spending 30 minutes running back and forth with items. The 50kg weight limit will still hamper my loadout, but I'll still be able to pick up valuable items and not feel too bad about leaving behind a half-dozen pricey items. The minimap and the weight limit are my two big concessions in this LP; the minimap because people watching it can get all "oh no, guys over there, look out!" even when I'm not paying attention to it and the weight limit just for practicality. I really wanted to play without the minimap, but I'd rather people enjoy the LP more; I'll just end up playing STALKER again anyway, so not a big loss to me. At least the minimap doesn't tell me how many bad guys are around.

I also plan to explain a whole lot more stuff, but I want to try and break it up. It would've been easy to spend this whole first set just explaining the monsters, guns, attachments, artifacts, suits, anomalies, jobs, and so on and so forth. Once I start getting more info in my PDA encyclopedia, I'll also start explaining things a bit more. So just for this first set, I've shown off one single type of anomaly, but I kind of forgot to explain it as a springboard anomaly; the little bits of info are part of the fun, so I'll need to explain those better next time. Also, the beeping and clicking, which I completely forgot to explain; they're just the sort of things that you take for granted.

EDIT: And how random was that "special" incident while doing a bit of cache-finding? If hadn't had the pump shotgun there, I would've been so screwed. Stupid, stupid, meanie Zone.

Mighty · December 2009

you need to rambo that shit. run in, pop a cap in those faces. take a few hits. dont let the AI outclass you !!

Ps. doing it yourself the first mission nets you a higher reward.

Monger · December 2009

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

As for weapon stats not being accurate, I'm actually pretty OK with that. I like the idea of trying out guns more than just looking at various stats. And even with my brief experience with the re-done Makarov, I was very pleased with the performance. I don't want to get bound to a weapon or two for the entire game, though. Like with this first set, I picked up the pump shotgun because it's a better primary than a sawn-off, but I'll probably go back to a sawn-off now because it's lighter and I really lucked out and was practically handed an AK-74. Depending on cash and the situations I'm heading into, I'd like to keep the weapons varied.

The great thing about LURK is that there is no end to the weapon variety. I don't think I've used the same weapon for more than a couple hours. By the time you get into Garbage, you'll probably be looking at a selection of a good 20 or 30 unique guns of assorted ammo types. The only thing that's kind of limited is the selection of shotguns. I only remember there being a few new ones (excluding the hunting rifle, which was mostly in the game already), and they seem to be late game.

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

EDIT: And how random was that "special" incident while doing a bit of cache-finding? If hadn't had the pump shotgun there, I would've been so screwed. Stupid, stupid, meanie Zone.

It's scripted, in that I've seen it both times I've been through that part of LURK. I think it's related to that note on the map about someone going missing, which should now be gone (or maybe it disappears when you loot that body or when you pick up the suit in that building). It may be intended to be a quest and it's showing as soon as you start the game by way of a bug. I don't know. Anyway, LURK has a lot of surprises like that, in addition to the general random surprises that you get out of STALKER.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Mighty wrote: »

you need to rambo that shit. run in, pop a cap in those faces. take a few hits. dont let the AI outclass you !!

Ps. doing it yourself the first mission nets you a higher reward.

Yes... but I'm allergic to bullets. Also, free stuff from dead allies. And I could've gone at night and stealthed it, but I want to save night stuff for larger encounters. No point in blowing all the good stuff right out of the gate. Additionally, the LURK guys are bastards for putting that baddie in the one building, then; here I am not expecting one of those for at least an hour or two and then BAM, invisible facerape. Bastards.

And for the record, I'm playing this at the "Master" difficulty level, which means getting hit with something like 2-3 bullets is death. What I'm trying to say is that there really is no excuse for caution at all; in fact, I should probably just do away entirely with guns and just stab everyone. It's the only manly choice, really.

I would also like to state that I would like to update as frequently as possible, but I'm kind of dragging my feet in the hopes that LURK 1.1 will be out. It's supposed to feature a bunch more tweaks, namely one very important and awesome feature,

blowouts

which I may end up trying to mod in before not too long anyway. To me, they're a pretty vital part of the whole Zone experience. Unfortunately, no telling when LURK 1.1 will hit so I'll try to keep updates no more than 2-3 days apart at most. Ideally, I want LURK 1.1 since it looks like it has a 500% kick-ass version of those events. We'll just have to see.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Alright, here is Set 2 of the LP which managed to almost perfectly end with dawn arriving at tail end of a firefight. The buzzing is gone and so is most of the breathing into the mike, but now the mike is somewhat quieter than I would like. Anyway, some interesting bits in this one. Night fighting without nightvision gear, an important lesson in quick saves, and why taking the anomaly-filled route of death is always better than paying 500 Ukraine Funbucks (about 10 dollars American) to jerk soldiers. And bandits are scummy bastards, but we already knew that.

Also, if anyone is wondering why I'm doing relatively little cache raiding at this point, it's because I'd like to compress all of the cache results into a couple of videos with only interesting bits left in (such as random monster attacks while searching). That way people get to see the rewards of scrounging without having to watch me run around an entire area for 30 minutes.

Set 2 - A Night in the Zone

Monger · December 2009

Huh. I've seen the military attack the rookie camp every once in a while in most every version of the game I've played, but I've never seen them attack from that direction. That's just bizarre.

Just one of many reasons I love this game so. As should everyone else.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Monger wrote: »

Huh. I've seen the military attack the rookie camp every once in a while in most every version of the game I've played, but I've never seen them attack from that direction. That's just bizarre.

Just one of many reasons I love this game so. As should everyone else.

No joke. Here I am waking up from a nap and I see a guy sprinting away so fast I could swear I heard a "MEEP MEEP!" and then everybody is pissed and shooting at each other. I didn't even know other Stalkers could move that fast. And then soldiers all over the place; the only reason I made it through that whole shootout is because the soldiers were too busy shooting at the camp to notice me.

I'm also really starting to notice the weapon variety. In two sets, I think I've encountered something like 5 different varieties of AK rifles which were all at least slightly different, at least a half-dozen pistol variants, three shotgun types, and somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15 ammo types with at least 5 of those being new varieties. Definitely digging it.

korodullin · December 2009

Any more updates a-coming? I'm hoping to follow this LP along as I play through myself.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

korodullin wrote: »

Any more updates a-coming? I'm hoping to follow this LP along as I play through myself.

Nah, not for a couple da- OH WAIT I HAVE ONE RIGHT HERE! So in this one, we're following a lead on Strelok to a guy named Mole. Ironically, he sends us underground; surely there can be nothing bad down there. Especially underneath an old Soviet research base called the Agroprom Research Institute. The name alone just makes me giddy with promises of safety and happiness. This update is also a bit longer than the others, but I ended up trekking through a lot more than I originally intended.

Also, I hate bloodsuckers.

Set 3 - It helps if you load the gun...

Set 3 Part 1 - It helps if you load the gun...
Set 3 Part 2 - It helps if you load the gun...
Set 3 Part 3 - It helps if you load the gun...
Set 3 Part 4 - It helps if you load the gun...
Set 3 Part 5 - It helps if you load the gun...

korodullin · December 2009

Whee, and just when an update gets posted Youtube starts timing out.

Also, I hope I can find a better weapon than this SA80 soon. It's ugly, it reloads slowly, and the only way I can find ammo for the damn thing is to buy it. I'm actually considering going back to the Cordon and getting my suppressed AKS74U back out of storage and using it.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

korodullin wrote: »

Whee, and just when an update gets posted Youtube starts timing out.

Also, I hope I can find a better weapon than this SA80 soon. It's ugly, it reloads slowly, and the only way I can find ammo for the damn thing is to buy it. I'm actually considering going back to the Cordon and getting my suppressed AKS74U back out of storage and using it.

I learned an important lesson about carrying at least one gun with a common ammo type the first time I played STALKER. More important than anything else, the first thing I check for a new gun is what type of ammo it uses. I've already passed on 2-3 guns with better accuracy or handling or power, but their ammo types just weren't common enough. And the weight limit makes this ESPECIALLY important; when you can carry over a thousand rounds for one gun, scrounging isn't such a big deal. When 300-400 rounds is big chunk of your carry weight, you've gotta be able to pick up some ammo from at least every 3rd or 4th guy.

Of course, all the forethought in the world regarding ammunition is pretty useless if you don't bother to put the bullets in the gun. It's a common mistake.

korodullin · December 2009

Reading that, I am definitely going back to the Cordon for my old AK. This bullpup is great for damage and accuracy, but I've been finding myself scrounging dropped weapons to use due to their common ammo types. That was getting to be a bit silly, though.

Monger · December 2009

Ninja Snarl P wrote: »

korodullin wrote: »

Whee, and just when an update gets posted Youtube starts timing out.

Also, I hope I can find a better weapon than this SA80 soon. It's ugly, it reloads slowly, and the only way I can find ammo for the damn thing is to buy it. I'm actually considering going back to the Cordon and getting my suppressed AKS74U back out of storage and using it.

I learned an important lesson about carrying at least one gun with a common ammo type the first time I played STALKER. More important than anything else, the first thing I check for a new gun is what type of ammo it uses. I've already passed on 2-3 guns with better accuracy or handling or power, but their ammo types just weren't common enough. And the weight limit makes this ESPECIALLY important; when you can carry over a thousand rounds for one gun, scrounging isn't such a big deal. When 300-400 rounds is big chunk of your carry weight, you've gotta be able to pick up some ammo from at least every 3rd or 4th guy.

Of course, all the forethought in the world regarding ammunition is pretty useless if you don't bother to put the bullets in the gun. It's a common mistake.

Wow. I consider 400 rounds way overkill for most places in the game. Outside of certain missions, I'm usually sitting on half that or less for my primary rifle, and with LURK I've dropped down to 50 or so rounds for my pistol and 20-30 for a shotgun. Matter of fact, I'm thinking of experimenting with dropping a rifle altogether in favor of a .45 pistol, plus a light 9x18 or 9x19 pistol for backup. Common ammo types are a godsend, and I usually only stray from them if I've planned something excessively and I'm not worried about loot.

As I kind of touched on in the STALKER thread, this is my favorite thing about LURK: the cohesion. The AKs are the sensible defacto weapons in the Zone, and this is reflected and encouraged by the balance changes. Ditto for pistols that use common, dependable ammo like 9x19 rounds. Exotic weapons are actually exotic rather than being another rung up on the RPG ladder. There's a legitimate reason for using just about every weapon type in the game, and the effectiveness of each is only limited by your application of them.

Anyway, as far as this update is concerned:

-The 'attach to belt' option for ammo doesn't serve any purpose at the moment. I ran across some posts (that I can't remember how I found) that mention the option as one of the in-development features of the AMK mod, which LURK has taken pieces from. Could even be a finished feature now. I have no idea. Their forums are very Russian outside of the one tiny English section. The intention is to add a magazine-based reload mechanic to the game, like some thoughtwanking I did in the other thread. They also seem to have added artifact detectors and some other things to SoC that function by being attached to the belt, none of which is in LURK at the moment. Could be coming in a future release. Could be coming in 1.1, even. Someone would need to hunt Holden down and beat some answers out of him. Which wouldn't be real conducive to getting a release, I'd imagine.

-GALLIVANTING BITCHCAKES! How did Seriy not die? I had to retry that a good 25 times because he kept getting headshot before I could even get into the hangar. You pretty much have to hope he starts bleeding out so he stops being a priority for the bandits, which has the potential to buy you enough time to clear them out. Gah! Okay, I hear that the Strelok questline will continue even if you miss his conversation, but I've never tried that before and I will have my pride by not letting the game get the better of me dammit.

-Remember how I said LURK had surprises for you? Yeah. Two bloodsuckers. Fun, wasn't it? I abused the territory bug where they won't follow you back into the corridor that leads you into that room. That would've been so much less entertaining to watch, though. Not that I'm powered by your sorrow and frustration or anything. Certainly not. You did get robbed on that urchin having a bugged spawn, though. That sucks hard. At least the fireball in the stash wasn't under the floor like it usually is for me.

-Interestingly enough, anything you noticed that I haven't already mentioned was not specific to LURK. STALKER so crazy!

-I didn't know controllers couldn't thoughtrape you if you broke LOS. I done been learned by this LP already.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Like I said, playing the original Vanilla STALKER made me paranoid. With all the ammo I found, bringing 400-something rounds along with me was definitely overkill and it was weight I could've used for valuables. I'll probably end up dropping the shotgun entirely; the thing just takes up too much weight and isn't very effective already. Considering one of the suits in the Cordon was ninety thousand ruples, I think I'm going to need the extra space for carrying trade goods. This is especially important if I remember correctly about LURK in that none of the good suits can be found, only bought. I don't even want to know what one of the really nice suits costs.

korodullin · December 2009

I carry 400-something rounds around with me because I am a horrible shot.

Barcardi · December 2009

is this letsplay include the "blowout crazyness installed?

ie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tJXesjCKxA
?

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Barcardi wrote: »

is this letsplay include the "blowout crazyness installed?

For some bizarre reason, LURK doesn't actually have blowouts in it right now. I know the next version is supposed to have really great ones, but I have no info on when the actual release of the next version will be. I'm going to see about integrating a blowout mod into LURK; I know there are standalone blowout mods, but the problem is that LURK is such an extensive overhaul that there is simply no way to tell how difficult the integration will be. Meshing the two could be as simple as pasting some files and folders (which I can do no prob) or it could require extensive knowledge of how modding works in STALKER (which I have relatively little knowledge of).

Considering I've seen absolutely no new info regarding a release of LURK 1.1 (it was supposed to come out Nov. 20th but never happened), I'm actually betting that something has happened with the project and that we can expect no further updates. However, I don't think blowouts will be that big of a deal for the LP. LURK seems to up the monster spawns a lot (blowouts also spawned monsters) and aside from showing people a blowout the one time I just don't think they'll be that entertaining. They're pretty awesome when you're huddled in a building with 6 other Stalkers, but just watching someone do that would be pretty dull. Most of the entertainment comes from the monsters which get spawned from a blowout or the fights over safe spots; since LURK spawns more critters anyway (more aggressive ones on top of that) and factions seem to conflict a lot more, not having blowouts shouldn't be much of a loss.

I keep crossing my fingers that LURK 1.1 will be out soon, though. Every new set I make takes me farther and farther away from where starting over (if you need to have a new save) to catch up to the current position of the LP would be a minor inconvenience instead of a major hassle.

korodullin · December 2009

So I'm going back and watching the second set of videos again. I never got anything like the opportunity to bribe the bridge guards (they always shot at me on sight) or a task to meet some guy at that tunnel with the electric anomalies. What was all that about?

Edit: Oh, I see. I guess it's because I wiped out the military checkpoint under the bridge before I got the thing to find Fox.

Indie Winter · December 2009

heh, neat. I'm playing Call of Pripyat with an english translation mod now, really wish you could somehow combine it, the original and Clear Sky into one seamless, gigantic zone. With joinable factions minus the faction war.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

I.H.N.I.W.T.R. wrote: »

heh, neat. I'm playing Call of Pripyat with an english translation mod now, really wish you could somehow combine it, the original and Clear Sky into one seamless, gigantic zone. With joinable factions minus the faction war.

I ran across some mod where the modders said they had actually managed to port all the Clear Sky maps to Shadow of Chernobyl without too much trouble. I dunno if it would be the same for the Call of Pripyat maps, but you never know. In that same vein, I may end up doing an LP for Clear Sky as well as Call of Pripyat depending on how well this LP goes and how the scheduling works out.

Just hope Call of Pripyat isn't ruined by the same horrible grenade-throwing AI Clear Sky has. Cripes, that one element ruined practically the entire game. I have no idea what the hell GSC was thinking when they put that in the game.

korodullin · December 2009

Oh, by the way, I was informed a while ago that apparently one ruble is worth about $0.03. Just thought you'd like to know that that AK you're carting around is worth less to the Trader than a used copy of Modern Warfare 2.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

korodullin wrote: »

Oh, by the way, I was informed a while ago that apparently one ruble is worth about $0.03. Just thought you'd like to know that that AK you're carting around is worth less to the Trader than a used copy of Modern Warfare 2.

I know. When I checked last week-ish, the going rate was something like 60 rubles to one dollar. A cheap AK47 makes sense, but I find it interesting that your rewards for risking a horrible, horrible death than a large, fancy pizza. "Life is cheap" isn't just a saying in the Zone, it's really, actually true; it's one of the few games where being able to pay factions off not to be pissed off at you would actually fits. When virtually everybody in the Zone are competing mercenaries, taking a bribe to back off makes a lot more sense than risking getting shot because someone you knew had a misunderstanding in middle of the night in the pouring rain.

For the storyline, the guide you encounter mentions fighting with Strelok's group a couple of times, but there were no hard feelings and nobody was really trying to kill each other. One major overhaul I would like to see for the STALKER series is AI which scrounges properly and will try to scare you off if you get too close to something they're scavenging. That way you could end up with a guy you see around all the time taking some shots at you because he's paranoid you'll take his find. The next time you both meet, neither of you even mention the event because it's such a normal thing to happen in the Zone.

Monger · December 2009

I'd love to see more complexity in the NPC interactions. It would be a significantly richer experience if NPCs focused on survival based on a much wider set of needs, and had some extra actions to correspond. The hordes of perpetually hostile bandits are kind of contrived to pad out the shooting.

I think a STALKER MMO would be wonderful, since it'd fill in some of the missing human elements.

Stolls · December 2009

Gah, late to the party, as always. Just now catching up on part 2, I gotta admit that

bloodsucker at the stash in Cordon

in part 1 was a huge surprise. I've seen them appear there before, but not so early in the game.

Great stuff so far though, man. LURK is looking mighty fine so far. Gonna hurry up and catch up with the rest of this, see what else is new in the Zone

Axen · December 2009

I too would like to see a STALKER MMO. . . or perhaps a normal STALKER game with multiplayer. Trying to survive in the zone with a few buddies would be fantastic.

IIRC someone in one of the other STALKER threads came up with what Zone chat would look like in a STALKER MMO. It was hilarious.

Monger · December 2009

Waka Laka wrote: »

On the thought of a STALKER MMO, I could imagine what the chat log would look like.

Connected Player "Waka Laka" to server - The Den.
Connected.
Welcome to the Den.

(Trade) HUMMER557 - WTS Atrifact +5 Rad res +2 Rupture PST : )
(Local) Cockweasel - OMFG Tarox how the fuck did you hit me.
Bandit whispers - HEY WAKA! :P
You whisper Bandit - Hey.
(Local) Taroximation (HRST) - My bullets are gay seeking, and you are a faggot, stop being a faggot and
they'll stop hitting you.
(Local) Cockweasel - asshole, I know you're hacking.
(Trade)qkdkanfksk - WELCOME TO STALKTRADE!!! THE ONLY WEBSITE THAT GUARANTEES BEST VALUE STALKER MONEY ON THE WEB - BEST PRICED ARTIFACTS! 24/7 DELIVERY! WWW.GOLD4GOLD.COM/STALKERGOLD/default.htm
(Trade)(ZONE) Grudge - WTS AK47 with scope, Fired twice, dropped once - 1400r
(Local) Taroximation (HRST) - OMFG LRN 2 STALK FAG. IMA CHARGIN MAH FAG GRENADES
Bandit whispers - Want to raid X105 with me?
You whisper Bandit - Nah, dude you always tell me to raid with you and then when I want to raid you're like "Oh my dog died or my auntie is sick" So no, go ask someone else.
(Local) (R.A.D) Argh, fucking respawning dogs, I was looting and they all spawned around me!
(Trade) Monkeyfarts - Too expensive Grudge
You whisper Bandit - Technically your Auntie has died 4 times in the last 2 months, I'm wondering if she's a zombie or some shit. Say hi to your goldfish, cos I think he might be on the way out when I ask you to raid the Sarcophagus
Bandit whispers - Fag you're out of the guild
(You have been removed from your guild)
(LFG) Baxter Stockman - LF2M, prefered Medic, Heavy and/or Robber LVL 18-21
Buttseckz whispers - Can you make me some bread and vodka?
(Local) You wrote - Fuck the lot of ya!
(Local) Taximation - Ask Cockweasel, he does alot of fucking. Like cocks and dicks and stuff
(You disconnect)

Eternalized by Stolls in the OP of the STALKER thread.

With cocks and dicks and stuff.

Rhan9 · December 2009

Looking good so far, although I'm not a fan of your mic. The volume is too low in comparison to the game sounds, so if I want to hear you, any shooting sounds too loud. Your speech also crackles a lot, so it's pretty irritating to listen after a while. I'd suggest that you get a new mic or mess around with the settings a bit to fix the issue if you plan on doing more LPing. It'd just be more pleasant to listen to, and decent mics(for LP purposes) cost close to nothing these days.

Everything else is ace though, especially the HD video. More LPs should use it, much more fun to look at than the usual quality.

Indie Winter · December 2009

the NPCs in Call of Pripyat don't abuse grenades so much, though they'll still use them to try and flush you out. What bugs me more is the fact that so far I haven't met any ecologists in the game. They were my favorite faction! Clear Sky is clearly about providing a more concentrated, driven experience but I really wish they were still around.

Waka Laka · December 2009

Monger wrote: »

Waka Laka wrote: »

On the thought of a STALKER MMO, I could imagine what the chat log would look like.

Connected Player "Waka Laka" to server - The Den.
Connected.
Welcome to the Den.

(Trade) HUMMER557 - WTS Atrifact +5 Rad res +2 Rupture PST : )
(Local) Cockweasel - OMFG Tarox how the fuck did you hit me.
Bandit whispers - HEY WAKA! :P
You whisper Bandit - Hey.
(Local) Taroximation (HRST) - My bullets are gay seeking, and you are a faggot, stop being a faggot and
they'll stop hitting you.
(Local) Cockweasel - asshole, I know you're hacking.
(Trade)qkdkanfksk - WELCOME TO STALKTRADE!!! THE ONLY WEBSITE THAT GUARANTEES BEST VALUE STALKER MONEY ON THE WEB - BEST PRICED ARTIFACTS! 24/7 DELIVERY! WWW.GOLD4GOLD.COM/STALKERGOLD/default.htm
(Trade)(ZONE) Grudge - WTS AK47 with scope, Fired twice, dropped once - 1400r
(Local) Taroximation (HRST) - OMFG LRN 2 STALK FAG. IMA CHARGIN MAH FAG GRENADES
Bandit whispers - Want to raid X105 with me?
You whisper Bandit - Nah, dude you always tell me to raid with you and then when I want to raid you're like "Oh my dog died or my auntie is sick" So no, go ask someone else.
(Local) (R.A.D) Argh, fucking respawning dogs, I was looting and they all spawned around me!
(Trade) Monkeyfarts - Too expensive Grudge
You whisper Bandit - Technically your Auntie has died 4 times in the last 2 months, I'm wondering if she's a zombie or some shit. Say hi to your goldfish, cos I think he might be on the way out when I ask you to raid the Sarcophagus
Bandit whispers - Fag you're out of the guild
(You have been removed from your guild)
(LFG) Baxter Stockman - LF2M, prefered Medic, Heavy and/or Robber LVL 18-21
Buttseckz whispers - Can you make me some bread and vodka?
(Local) You wrote - Fuck the lot of ya!
(Local) Taroximation - Ask Cockweasel, he does alot of fucking. Like cocks and dicks and stuff
(You disconnect)

Eternalized by Stolls in the OP of the STALKER thread.

With cocks and dicks and stuff.

Fuck I forgot I wrote that.

Waka Laka · December 2009

Just for some extra stuff that might or might not be interesting->

Prypyat on Wikimapia

This is very interesting and haunting stuff, the area of the Chernobyl disaster including the sarcophagus, the leisure centre, the ferris wheel, the fuel stations and more in the town of Pripyat

(select buildings to see more info and photos)

My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster

Insight from the journal of a man from Michigan and what he saw in Chernobyl, plenty of pics ad info.
Video Footage of Chernobyl and the Town of Pripryat

korodullin · December 2009

I knew I shouldn't have gone to Yantar so early. Escorted science man there and followed him in. Went to Science Camp and poked around a bit. Got a quest to find some experimental suit. Figured "this area's kinda small, so what the hell."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAwhatthefuckAAAAAAAAAAA

Thank goodness I saved before I took it.

Ninja Snarl P · December 2009

Alright, Hanukkah Forum set me back a bit (wanted to have this up yesterday), but here is the fourth part of the LP. Today, we will learn harsh lessons regarding grenade throwing and what enemies can and can't do. We (FINALLY) make our way out of Agroprom and the Garbage to somewhere at least resembling a safe haven. Vodka is also consumed.

Set 4 - Why would I even press that?!