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Hello S.T.A.L.K.E.R.! Thinking of placing an order?
**There is a part where you're following "someone" in Red Forest and you get ambushed. You're probably going to die to some bullshit homing-grenade.
Oh shit! Did no one direct you to the grenade fix in the megapost? I didn't even think about it. Even if you insist on playing unmodded, you will go and get that. Right now. Or I will punch you. Hard.
Klash may be a little bitter about CS - it has problems, but it isn't that bad. Under $10, I would recommend it. It's been Steam Sale'd for $5 before, so keep an eye out and you'll be able to get it for a fair price. CoP is whole-heartedly worth it - we can argue about whether or not it is better or worse than SoC, but it is certainly worth nearly any price that could be charged for it.
Currently on Steam, CS is $10, CoP is $30, but $20 if you already own SoC or CS on Steam. On one hand, you could wait for a sale - on the other, I would say that you should buy CS, then immediately buy CoP, you'll pay $10 for CS then $20 for CoP, and you should think of it as paying $30 for CoP, which it is worth, and getting CS for free, which it is worth. You can play CoP and try out CS and if you feel, as Klash does, that the flaws are indeed game-breaking, hey, it was free.
Also, this post. CS is a decent game, it's an interesting (if frequently busted) middle ground between SoC and CoP, and it's worth playing for what is essential free.
Klash, I just finished my playthrough of Clear Sky yesterday, and I do feel like you regarding the "improvements" the developers tried to make on the game, compared to Shadow of Chernobyl, but still, once I disregarded the mod quests and the faction wars, it became a really entertaining game.
I feel your pain regarding saving and loading in a fight, that's why I always made a normal save before jumping on a mission, and kept saving while I played, in case it broke, I would just reload from the normal save; a couple of times, I would reload a save, only to reload with an enemy on my face or next to me, only to shoot me to death, as if I had saved next to a spawn point or something.
I liked the upgrading and guides, compared to Shadow, but I didn't like the mechanics on finding the artifacts, even with the third detector, I couldn't make the artifacts appear most of the time, and died thanks to the anomaly, I think I found around 10 or 15 artifacts, while I made a fortune with them on Shadow.
I'm tempted to disregard questing, but I just... I keep asking those assholes if they need help. Of course they need help, though, they're spineless, incompetent and awfully programmed. Its like the friendly AI was programmed by a completely different team than the hostile, because the hostile AI functions.
I do the same thing with saving. I have two static saves for interim stuff, and I quicksave on the fly. I also have two additional static saves when I feel I might've messed up, but want to press on. In both cases, I leapfrog my saves (1, 2, 1, 2, repeat). Still annoying when scripting breaks in a horribly obvious way.
I like having scant artifacts. I haven't loaded up with an endless supply, which has been good. I've had to be a little reserved in my spending, to ensure I always have some pocket repair and guide money. I never did like selling artifacts, either, because they're so precious to me. Even with that in mind, I pretty much had a static load out in SoC (souls, moonlights and fireballs, depending on need). CS is pretty much the same thing, two bubbles at all times, with either an eye and two shells or three gravis.
Oh shit! Did no one direct you to the grenade fix in the megapost? I didn't even think about it. Even if you insist on playing unmodded, you will go and get that. Right now. Or I will punch you. Hard.
I figured there was a fix, but it isn't actually an issue. Grenades have been very infrequent in their use for some reason. Its this specific example where it became horseshit, because dying during the sequence causes the scripting to break. I mean, its still bullcrap that it even happens, but I can shrug it off. Its usually just really, really funny. I'll hear some jerk say something about a grenade, then look around to see a guy almost out of vision throw a grenade, and its at my side within 2 seconds. Its like... thats just how grenades work in The Zone.
What I really fucking hate when it comes to broken scripting, is the attack/defend crap. Without fail, every time I load (that is, save, then load) I immediately get a call to defend a place in the area I'm in. If there isn't one in the same area, then the next one over. This, obviously, is not something I can keep up with. I'm constantly losing guides and quest givers. Fucking nonsense. I can cleanse an area entirely, and it will stay cleansed, even if I just let the game idle for an hour. If I immediately save and reload, everyone has respawned except my allies, who are no under attack. Ugh.
That all said, I'm still excited for CoP. I think its $20 retail now, so I might even pick it up within a few days.
For those not keeping up with the news, Russia is on fire right now and there are fears of radioactive smoke near Chernobyl. I hope GSC is taking notes.
GSC Game World announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - the official sequel to best-selling game series - in development now. A completely new multi-platform technology developed by GSC will make the core of the game.
"After the official sales of the series exceeded 4 million copies worldwide, we had no doubts left to start creating a new big game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. This will be the next chapter of the mega-popular game players expect from us" - said Sergiy Grygorovych, CEO of GSC Game World.
GSC Game World announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - the official sequel to best-selling game series - in development now. A completely new multi-platform technology developed by GSC will make the core of the game.
"After the official sales of the series exceeded 4 million copies worldwide, we had no doubts left to start creating a new big game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. This will be the next chapter of the mega-popular game players expect from us" - said Sergiy Grygorovych, CEO of GSC Game World.
I'm hoping we get seamless worlds like Oblivion / Just Cause 2. The hard part will be making the engine perform in the underground areas, which they had better include. Also whether they can retain a muted look under some lighting conditions, but still have the HDR available for bright sunlight, spot lighting, and night time.
Tim James on
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
I'm hoping we get seamless worlds like Oblivion / Just Cause 2. The hard part will be making the engine perform in the underground areas, which they had better include. Also whether they can retain a muted look under some lighting conditions, but still have the HDR available for bright sunlight, spot lighting, and night time.
That's kind of why I hoped they'd go with a licensed engine this time around. Other developers have gotten that stuff working in a way that they didn't seem to be able to. Also, animation and the other things that X-Ray didn't do spectacularly. It would be nice to move away from the puppet mouths.
Hopefully the GSC guys have learned as much from X-Ray's development issues as the 4A guys.
Even 4A's engine wasn't perfect, but GSC is sitting on a mountain of Ukrainian hryvnias so they might be able to throw more money around to get a whole bunch of talented engine developers. I'm not too worried about it.
2012 means plenty of time to get another playthrough of the 3 originals. Should be able to wrap them up just in time for the sequel.
Tim James on
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
I know that the game will come out sometime around 2020.
But goddamn, I cannot help but be excited.
And as for the SoC/CoP/CS debate - I think I love SoC more, but I had more fun with CoP. If that makes sense.
I feel the same way. CoP is undoubtedly a much, much better final product than SoC, but SoC had a lot more dev time sunk into it and so had a lot more character as a result. The larger regions of CoP were neat, but overall you have a lot less space to play in since there were only three maps and the Pripyat region in CoP had practically nothing in it save story missions.
Regardless, I'm extremely happy to hear that GSC is continuing the STALKER franchise. I had no idea the series had managed to exceed 4 million sales; that's pretty astonishing considering some of the huge issues with the first two games. Crossing my fingers that we get something with the character of SoC and the much more thoughtful and bug-free experience of CoP. Also, tons and tons of space to regret exploring.
Ninja Snarl P on
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MorninglordI'm tired of being Batman,so today I'll be Owl.Registered Userregular
I think this is why I can't really play SoC again. I don't like the random monsters added into the mods that try to mix up what you'll run into (they took them out of the game for a reason after all) and playing through it again I don't get the same sense of adventure.
Morninglord on
(PSN: Morninglord) (Steam: Morninglord) (WiiU: Morninglord22) I like to record and toss up a lot of random gaming videos here.
For those not keeping up with the news, Russia is on fire right now and there are fears of radioactive smoke near Chernobyl. I hope GSC is taking notes.
GSC Game World announces S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 - the official sequel to best-selling game series - in development now. A completely new multi-platform technology developed by GSC will make the core of the game.
"After the official sales of the series exceeded 4 million copies worldwide, we had no doubts left to start creating a new big game in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe. This will be the next chapter of the mega-popular game players expect from us" - said Sergiy Grygorovych, CEO of GSC Game World.
The game is scheduled for release in 2012.
I guess sequel material wasn't going to write itself.
As for the multi-platform thing, it's not the controls I think they'll have a hard time bringing over. Considering even Shadow can bring top-of-the-line machines to their knees, I have to wonder what crazy future console will be capable of running Stalker 2 without exploding. Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to see it happen.
Anyway, hell yes I'm stoked for this. And yeah, I thought they were doing all right, but I had no idea it was that successful. Those are crazy good numbers for a PC-only series with a less-than-shining technical reputation. Wonder if that includes Steam numbers, from the $2 deals and such. In any case, the GSC guys know they've got my money, even if it won't be for a while now.
I'm hoping we get seamless worlds like Oblivion / Just Cause 2. The hard part will be making the engine perform in the underground areas, which they had better include. Also whether they can retain a muted look under some lighting conditions, but still have the HDR available for bright sunlight, spot lighting, and night time.
That's kind of why I hoped they'd go with a licensed engine this time around. Other developers have gotten that stuff working in a way that they didn't seem to be able to. Also, animation and the other things that X-Ray didn't do spectacularly. It would be nice to move away from the puppet mouths.
Hopefully the GSC guys have learned as much from X-Ray's development issues as the 4A guys.
I'm very glad they didn't license an engine. No one else has a game engine which does global lighting and non-separation of indoor/outdoor quite like X-Ray, not without requiring SkyNet to run it.
With the right artists behind it (as in Complete 2009, CS Complete), it was the best-looking engine for the job, by far.
Additionally, I'm not sure where you get the seamless Oblivion thing. There's loading galore through almost every door in that entire game. I'd much rather deal with gated regions so that I can have seamless indoor/outdoor. That's far more jarring than choke points between large regions, and it just wouldn't be possible to pull off the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. feel without it.
As for the multi-platform thing, it's not the controls I think they'll have a hard time bringing over. Considering even Shadow can bring top-of-the-line machines to their knees, I have to wonder what crazy future console will be capable of running Stalker 2 without exploding. Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to see it happen.
Additionally, I'm not sure where you get the seamless Oblivion thing. There's loading galore through almost every door in that entire game. I'd much rather deal with gated regions so that I can have seamless indoor/outdoor. That's far more jarring than choke points between large regions, and it just wouldn't be possible to pull off the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. feel without it.
The "STALKER feel" was a design constraint. They don't need to continue to hamstring themselves with it. Expanding the world to allow people to walk across it naturally would be much better for atmosphere and world building. I doubt we will get loading screens all the time. Bethesda's engine is old and relatively inefficient too.
I think there should definitely be some more operational vehicles in the next one. I wouldn't mind riding on a broken down motorcycle that's running on volatile artifacts. Or seeing a cargo truck get raided by a bunch of brain fried stalkers.
I think there should definitely be some more operational vehicles in the next one. I wouldn't mind riding on a broken down motorcycle that's running on volatile artifacts. Or seeing a cargo truck get raided by a bunch of brain fried stalkers.
what about a tank that lost its turret and has had steel scrap welded on top in its place to make it a APC with holes for shooting out.
Buttcleft on
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IceBurnerIt's cold and there are penguins.Registered Userregular
As for the multi-platform thing, it's not the controls I think they'll have a hard time bringing over. Considering even Shadow can bring top-of-the-line machines to their knees, I have to wonder what crazy future console will be capable of running Stalker 2 without exploding. Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to see it happen.
Additionally, I'm not sure where you get the seamless Oblivion thing. There's loading galore through almost every door in that entire game. I'd much rather deal with gated regions so that I can have seamless indoor/outdoor. That's far more jarring than choke points between large regions, and it just wouldn't be possible to pull off the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. feel without it.
The "STALKER feel" was a design constraint. They don't need to continue to hamstring themselves with it. Expanding the world to allow people to walk across it naturally would be much better for atmosphere and world building. I doubt we will get loading screens all the time. Bethesda's engine is old and relatively inefficient too.
The "STALKER feel" refers to being able to see into and enter the run-down buildings and other remnants of civilization without any load doors. There aren't actually a lot of 3d games which let you enter buildings without loading up a separate world space, but it's always come across as very immersion-breaking to me when the interior of any 3d structure exists separately from the space outside it.
Call of Pripyat already made a move in the direction you speak of, but it still had to be segregated into several large regions. We're not gonna get a huge, open Zone without some tradeoffs. The only thing which could keep the AI and graphic detail with a 100% open world is stream loading, and that adds a permanent performance overhead which would vary quite wildly with everyone's hardware configuration.
Anything else is a pipe dream. GSC's initial idea was a wide-open Zone, and their first version of the X-Ray engine had exactly that. They quickly found it wasn't manageable with the level of detail they wanted, like every other similarly ambitious developer in human history.
I think there should definitely be some more operational vehicles in the next one. I wouldn't mind riding on a broken down motorcycle that's running on volatile artifacts. Or seeing a cargo truck get raided by a bunch of brain fried stalkers.
what about a tank that lost its turret and has had steel scrap welded on top in its place to make it a APC with holes for shooting out.
This is also badass. There has to be at least one vehicle somewhere in the Zone that's functional. I would really like if if Duty or Freedom or a Loner had a suped-up vehicle that they prized and made you contemplate your loyalties in order to steal it. A makeshift APC that you can avoid emissions and sleep in while mutated hogs and dogs scrape your siding, giving their last whimper before they're irradiated to hell.
Now I can't stop thinking of vehicle ideas.
Freedom - Train transport and Motorbikes
Duty - Tanks/APCs and Jeep Wranglers
Scientists - APCs with long range artifact detection and... ATVs?
Bandits - They steal your shit and are willing to run you over with it.
In Call of Pripyat,
After completing the game, there was an easter egg for the unmanned aerial vehicle. I got so excited because I thought I was going to be able to spot locations while using the UAV's camera. Turns out it's just a crashed airplane with a stash, I was gutted.
Reminds me of some of the early gameplay videos for Stalker, when they were still showing vehicles; I recall one where a lone stalker actually flagged you down as you drove by. Interesting stuff.
If direct vehicle control isn't an option, it'd be neat if you could at least recruit faction-based transports, and even extractions. Like, pay for a drop-off from a Duty APC at a factory; you get a flare or some other signal item, and you pop it when you're ready for pick-up. The more you pay, the bigger the window for a getaway, and the more willing the driver will be to engage targets.
Speaking of engines, I wonder how the Just Cause 2 engine would work with actual in-door environments. Because goddamn, that engine impressed me and the first thing I thought of was a STALKER game with it.
Echo on
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
Careful with that Steam deal, they apparently don't have enough CD keys to go around. I'm getting the "failed to contact key server" message.
Edit: And looking at the forums, it looks like I'm not the only one getting that message, so yep avoid that for now. Good thing the sale started on a Thursday and not a Friday, maybe they can still get someone in to fix it before the weekend.
Oh god dammit. . . Right now I'm binging on Fallout 3, so what do I do? I stick my nose into the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. thread and suddenly I'm itching to go back into The Zone for a while. I'd pick up CoP in this sale if I hadn't already gotten SoC a while back; the "Loyalty Discount" for owning that or Clear Sky is still in effect, right? After dropping five bucks for both Quake and Quake II I should have some time to mull it over.
Careful with that Steam deal, they apparently don't have enough CD keys to go around. I'm getting the "failed to contact key server" message.
Probably not Stalker key-related at all. I got that yesterday trying to get my key for Resident Evil 5.
Echo on
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HardtargetThere Are Four LightsVancouverRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
ok, since stalker and call of pripyat are on sale in a bundle this weekend over steam for 10 bucks I grabbed them.
I actually played through the first 1/3 or so of stalker back when it came out (I bought it retail) but never finished it and had heard good things about pripyat so I figured what the hey.
Now it has been ages so what are the required STALKER mods at this point? I figure I should play that before pripyat.
sweet. I just finished my latest run-through of SoC w/ Complete 2009 (this time I went for the Realistic Weapons add-on + Master diff because I apparently hate myself) and I noticed the Steam deal. CoP for $10, with an extra copy of SoC which I'm sure, at some point, I'll use? yes, please, and thank you.
Having never played anything beyond Shadow of Chernobyl (never went for the Wish Granter - if I have to go through Agroprom Underground TWICE, I'm gonna make sure it wasn't for no reason), are there any useful CoP-centric things I should know about? I've read a couple of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. threads here, but sort of skimmed the CS and CoP stuff, having not played those games.
Anything I should be warned about regarding bloodsuckers? I already know that the best method of dealing with burers is stabbing them in the face, but that's a solution for almost any problem, so no surprises there.
@Hardtarget: for vanilla-or-really-close-to-it: Complete 2009 if your computer can handle it, Stolls' mod pack if not (pretty sure the Zone Reclamation Project is included in both, and that's the basic bugfix mod, iirc).
I never really got into the extra-content stuff too heavily (L.U.R.K., Oblivion Lost), so I can't help you there. I kind of dug Priboi Story at first (until I found myself in a small building while three snorks, a bloodsucker, and a bunch of zombies (not zombified stalkers, shambling "braaains" type zombies) decided to gang up on me. Mind you, this was before I got anywhere near the Cordon exit to Garbage. I think the emission/blowout/whatever a few minutes beforehand was probably a factor, but the hard-to-follow story didn't keep me interested enough. Maybe I need to give it another shot, but I'm currently d/ling Call of Pripyat, so I've got new stalkeriffic things to do.
Having never played anything beyond Shadow of Chernobyl (never went for the Wish Granter - if I have to go through Agroprom Underground TWICE, I'm gonna make sure it wasn't for no reason), are there any useful CoP-centric things I should know about? I've read a couple of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. threads here, but sort of skimmed the CS and CoP stuff, having not played those games.
Anything I should be warned about regarding bloodsuckers? I already know that the best method of dealing with burers is stabbing them in the face, but that's a solution for almost any problem, so no surprises there.
Bloodsuckers in CoP are dealt with pretty much the same as in SoC. Lots of shotgun pellets. They don't have the dumb invisible invincibility that they did in CS, thank god. The only new trick they have is that they can turn completely invisible. They don't get the outline cloak thing until they're a little closer, and they don't appear completely until they're on you.
There isn't really a lot that you need to know going into CoP. It's pretty stable. Stashes are now static in the world, so you can find them without getting information for them. All NPC stalkers function as guides. You can also get free fast travel by asking what they're doing, then asking to tag along. You can't sell items off if they're under ~70% condition. There's mods to deal with that, since a lot of people didn't like it. It kind of grew on me after I got used to it.
Uh, find some decent gear before you try to take on the quest to deal with the mercs at the north of the starting area.
How do you install Complete 2009 if you chose to install SoC to a non-default location? I saved it to my [noparse]D:[/noparse] drive instead of my C: drive via Steam and now the installer .exe doesn't know what to do.
Should I just suck it up and install the sonuvabitch manually?
yeah... the x18 posts are always pretty amusing. also, the
first bloodsucker
is a pretty good "holyshitwhatthefuckBLAM!" moment and I like knowing that I wasn't the only person to jump out of their seat.
I'm so looking forward to CoP. I've gotten... well, used to the Zone as SoC delivers it. It's not "ohshitohshit, i'm outside. in the dark. in the rain. and I just heard heavy breathing but can't see shit. I'm so fucked" anymore, just "oh, bloodsucker. get the shotgun ready." Part of it might be that my better gear gives me more confidence, but I think it's mainly that there's not really anything unknown anymore. upping the difficulty and tweaking the weapons only helps so much, you know? (although, I did enjoy being able to actually headshot the bandits guarding Nimble with my pistol and have them, well, die.)
Oooh, new people are going through the game! I'll get some popcorn.
Bloodsuckers do lose some of their bite once you get some decent hardware and know what to look for. SoC ones can go down from a couple good point-blank shotgun blasts to the head, provided you're using something like a Chaser. You can't take 'em too lightly, but once you're geared up they're not a huge problem individually.
Large packs of dogs and rats, on the other hand, never stop being a full-scale emergency and a lot of my ammo wasted by panic-firing :x
Posts
Also, this post. CS is a decent game, it's an interesting (if frequently busted) middle ground between SoC and CoP, and it's worth playing for what is essential free.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
That all sounds pretty good. Looking forward to it. Silencers on everything is the best thing in any game, ever. Sometimes they even work in CS.
I'm tempted to disregard questing, but I just... I keep asking those assholes if they need help. Of course they need help, though, they're spineless, incompetent and awfully programmed. Its like the friendly AI was programmed by a completely different team than the hostile, because the hostile AI functions.
I do the same thing with saving. I have two static saves for interim stuff, and I quicksave on the fly. I also have two additional static saves when I feel I might've messed up, but want to press on. In both cases, I leapfrog my saves (1, 2, 1, 2, repeat). Still annoying when scripting breaks in a horribly obvious way.
I like having scant artifacts. I haven't loaded up with an endless supply, which has been good. I've had to be a little reserved in my spending, to ensure I always have some pocket repair and guide money. I never did like selling artifacts, either, because they're so precious to me. Even with that in mind, I pretty much had a static load out in SoC (souls, moonlights and fireballs, depending on need). CS is pretty much the same thing, two bubbles at all times, with either an eye and two shells or three gravis.
I figured there was a fix, but it isn't actually an issue. Grenades have been very infrequent in their use for some reason. Its this specific example where it became horseshit, because dying during the sequence causes the scripting to break. I mean, its still bullcrap that it even happens, but I can shrug it off. Its usually just really, really funny. I'll hear some jerk say something about a grenade, then look around to see a guy almost out of vision throw a grenade, and its at my side within 2 seconds. Its like... thats just how grenades work in The Zone.
What I really fucking hate when it comes to broken scripting, is the attack/defend crap. Without fail, every time I load (that is, save, then load) I immediately get a call to defend a place in the area I'm in. If there isn't one in the same area, then the next one over. This, obviously, is not something I can keep up with. I'm constantly losing guides and quest givers. Fucking nonsense. I can cleanse an area entirely, and it will stay cleansed, even if I just let the game idle for an hour. If I immediately save and reload, everyone has respawned except my allies, who are no under attack. Ugh.
That all said, I'm still excited for CoP. I think its $20 retail now, so I might even pick it up within a few days.
http://www.gsc-game.com/
So release in, say, August 2015?
But wooo! No more DX8!
I think.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Hmm ... if 4A games can do it, I suppose that, with the right publisher, GSC can? I hope?
Now I'm not one to be all oooh consoles ruin the complexity of PC games, but I can't imagine playing Stalker on a gamepad.
Also I never jump to conclusions based on tiny amounts of information
But goddamn, I cannot help but be excited.
And as for the SoC/CoP/CS debate - I think I love SoC more, but I had more fun with CoP. If that makes sense.
Hopefully the GSC guys have learned as much from X-Ray's development issues as the 4A guys.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
2012 means plenty of time to get another playthrough of the 3 originals. Should be able to wrap them up just in time for the sequel.
I feel the same way. CoP is undoubtedly a much, much better final product than SoC, but SoC had a lot more dev time sunk into it and so had a lot more character as a result. The larger regions of CoP were neat, but overall you have a lot less space to play in since there were only three maps and the Pripyat region in CoP had practically nothing in it save story missions.
Regardless, I'm extremely happy to hear that GSC is continuing the STALKER franchise. I had no idea the series had managed to exceed 4 million sales; that's pretty astonishing considering some of the huge issues with the first two games. Crossing my fingers that we get something with the character of SoC and the much more thoughtful and bug-free experience of CoP. Also, tons and tons of space to regret exploring.
I think this is why I can't really play SoC again. I don't like the random monsters added into the mods that try to mix up what you'll run into (they took them out of the game for a reason after all) and playing through it again I don't get the same sense of adventure.
I guess sequel material wasn't going to write itself.
As for the multi-platform thing, it's not the controls I think they'll have a hard time bringing over. Considering even Shadow can bring top-of-the-line machines to their knees, I have to wonder what crazy future console will be capable of running Stalker 2 without exploding. Don't get me wrong though, I'd love to see it happen.
Anyway, hell yes I'm stoked for this. And yeah, I thought they were doing all right, but I had no idea it was that successful. Those are crazy good numbers for a PC-only series with a less-than-shining technical reputation. Wonder if that includes Steam numbers, from the $2 deals and such. In any case, the GSC guys know they've got my money, even if it won't be for a while now.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
With the right artists behind it (as in Complete 2009, CS Complete), it was the best-looking engine for the job, by far.
Additionally, I'm not sure where you get the seamless Oblivion thing. There's loading galore through almost every door in that entire game. I'd much rather deal with gated regions so that I can have seamless indoor/outdoor. That's far more jarring than choke points between large regions, and it just wouldn't be possible to pull off the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. feel without it.
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
The "STALKER feel" was a design constraint. They don't need to continue to hamstring themselves with it. Expanding the world to allow people to walk across it naturally would be much better for atmosphere and world building. I doubt we will get loading screens all the time. Bethesda's engine is old and relatively inefficient too.
what about a tank that lost its turret and has had steel scrap welded on top in its place to make it a APC with holes for shooting out.
Call of Pripyat already made a move in the direction you speak of, but it still had to be segregated into several large regions. We're not gonna get a huge, open Zone without some tradeoffs. The only thing which could keep the AI and graphic detail with a 100% open world is stream loading, and that adds a permanent performance overhead which would vary quite wildly with everyone's hardware configuration.
Anything else is a pipe dream. GSC's initial idea was a wide-open Zone, and their first version of the X-Ray engine had exactly that. They quickly found it wasn't manageable with the level of detail they wanted, like every other similarly ambitious developer in human history.
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This is also badass. There has to be at least one vehicle somewhere in the Zone that's functional. I would really like if if Duty or Freedom or a Loner had a suped-up vehicle that they prized and made you contemplate your loyalties in order to steal it. A makeshift APC that you can avoid emissions and sleep in while mutated hogs and dogs scrape your siding, giving their last whimper before they're irradiated to hell.
Now I can't stop thinking of vehicle ideas.
Freedom - Train transport and Motorbikes
Duty - Tanks/APCs and Jeep Wranglers
Scientists - APCs with long range artifact detection and... ATVs?
Bandits - They steal your shit and are willing to run you over with it.
In Call of Pripyat,
If direct vehicle control isn't an option, it'd be neat if you could at least recruit faction-based transports, and even extractions. Like, pay for a drop-off from a Duty APC at a factory; you get a flare or some other signal item, and you pop it when you're ready for pick-up. The more you pay, the bigger the window for a getaway, and the more willing the driver will be to engage targets.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Edit: And looking at the forums, it looks like I'm not the only one getting that message, so yep avoid that for now. Good thing the sale started on a Thursday and not a Friday, maybe they can still get someone in to fix it before the weekend.
I just brought CS (for the loyalty promo) and COP on Tuesday. I- AAAAAAGH
Probably not Stalker key-related at all. I got that yesterday trying to get my key for Resident Evil 5.
I actually played through the first 1/3 or so of stalker back when it came out (I bought it retail) but never finished it and had heard good things about pripyat so I figured what the hey.
Now it has been ages so what are the required STALKER mods at this point? I figure I should play that before pripyat.
Having never played anything beyond Shadow of Chernobyl (never went for the Wish Granter - if I have to go through Agroprom Underground TWICE, I'm gonna make sure it wasn't for no reason), are there any useful CoP-centric things I should know about? I've read a couple of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. threads here, but sort of skimmed the CS and CoP stuff, having not played those games.
Anything I should be warned about regarding bloodsuckers? I already know that the best method of dealing with burers is stabbing them in the face, but that's a solution for almost any problem, so no surprises there.
@Hardtarget: for vanilla-or-really-close-to-it: Complete 2009 if your computer can handle it, Stolls' mod pack if not (pretty sure the Zone Reclamation Project is included in both, and that's the basic bugfix mod, iirc).
I never really got into the extra-content stuff too heavily (L.U.R.K., Oblivion Lost), so I can't help you there. I kind of dug Priboi Story at first (until I found myself in a small building while three snorks, a bloodsucker, and a bunch of zombies (not zombified stalkers, shambling "braaains" type zombies) decided to gang up on me. Mind you, this was before I got anywhere near the Cordon exit to Garbage. I think the emission/blowout/whatever a few minutes beforehand was probably a factor, but the hard-to-follow story didn't keep me interested enough. Maybe I need to give it another shot, but I'm currently d/ling Call of Pripyat, so I've got new stalkeriffic things to do.
There isn't really a lot that you need to know going into CoP. It's pretty stable. Stashes are now static in the world, so you can find them without getting information for them. All NPC stalkers function as guides. You can also get free fast travel by asking what they're doing, then asking to tag along. You can't sell items off if they're under ~70% condition. There's mods to deal with that, since a lot of people didn't like it. It kind of grew on me after I got used to it.
Uh, find some decent gear before you try to take on the quest to deal with the mercs at the north of the starting area.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
How do you install Complete 2009 if you chose to install SoC to a non-default location? I saved it to my [noparse]D:[/noparse] drive instead of my C: drive via Steam and now the installer .exe doesn't know what to do.
Should I just suck it up and install the sonuvabitch manually?
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Especially the posts after people get to X18.
I'm so looking forward to CoP. I've gotten... well, used to the Zone as SoC delivers it. It's not "ohshitohshit, i'm outside. in the dark. in the rain. and I just heard heavy breathing but can't see shit. I'm so fucked" anymore, just "oh, bloodsucker. get the shotgun ready." Part of it might be that my better gear gives me more confidence, but I think it's mainly that there's not really anything unknown anymore. upping the difficulty and tweaking the weapons only helps so much, you know? (although, I did enjoy being able to actually headshot the bandits guarding Nimble with my pistol and have them, well, die.)
Bloodsuckers do lose some of their bite once you get some decent hardware and know what to look for. SoC ones can go down from a couple good point-blank shotgun blasts to the head, provided you're using something like a Chaser. You can't take 'em too lightly, but once you're geared up they're not a huge problem individually.
Large packs of dogs and rats, on the other hand, never stop being a full-scale emergency and a lot of my ammo wasted by panic-firing :x
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine