Stalker Online: Kind of like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but without all of that licensing BS.

JamesDM

Hey Stalker! Do you get lonely on those trips in to the zone? Don't you ever just want to travel the wastes with you closest friend? Do you ever just need a shoulder to cry on and a warm body to keep you warm on those long, cold nights?

Then Stalker Online is for you!


I stumbled upon this game while trying to find an alternative to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Co-op mod, since then I have found that the game is actually on Steam Greenlight right now. Currently Stalker Online is available to the public in open beta form and the translation is getting better. The information licensing of the game from GSC is a little ambiguous so far and I would not be surprised if the game ends up launching under a different name or not at all.

If you like the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series then I would suggest you give the game a look.

The game is free to play with the opportunity to "donate" to the developer which gets you premium items. That being said this turns out to be an absolute Pay to Win scenario when it comes to PvP. If the developer can fix this system then I think they will have a decent game that will be fun for all of us that really enjoy the setting.


KEY GAME FEATURES:(as listed in the websites about section)

- A unique setting for MMO
- Elements of Survival game play
- Simulation system of the living world zones, changing the locations of anomalies, changing mutants’ habitats, fields of artifacts etc.
- Skill system leveling that allows to modify and develop your character in different ways and requires a conscious exercise gaming activity.
- A developed system of socialization of the players. In the game stalkers get new gaming experience, which is not available for ordinary users.
- The ability to equip the bases of stalkers’ groups and build defenses, develop facilities etc.
- The parallel development of combat and support skills
- The player can choose a preferred style of play PvP, PvE, craft, Survival, trade etc.
- An important element of the game play is exploring of the game world and possession of exclusive information.

SCREENSHOTS:

VIDEOS:
I am apparently too retarded to embed youtube videos anymore so here are some links.
Official Trailer:
youtube.com/watch?v=ul8BT2xlJA0

Let's Play:
youtube.com/watch?v=oXaI6_t6p1s


You can get the beta client over at the Stalker Online website.

I am playing under the name HansZarkov a couple times a week. Hopefully we can get a PA presence going.

jries

Warning: Game is dark as hell to start

JamesDM

Yes, I had to adjust the brightness on my LP video just to get it to a watchable state. The first zone is incredibly dark, I assume they did this to enhance the dank, dark, rain soaked world but really they just made it hard to shoot rats.

dj.subversive

Wait, this isn't Survarium with a new name? huh. I'll have to check it out.

(Survarium looks to be pretty much the same thing as this - free-to-play FPS/MMO set in almost the exact same type of world as the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, made by former S.T.A.L.K.E.R. devs, who left and started Vostok Games.)

jries wrote: »

Warning: Game is dark as hell to start

"dark as hell" meaning "shit-sack world with no upsides" or dark as hell meaning "I can't see anything, even with the brightness setting turned up"? Because one can be answered with "duh, it's S.T.A.L.K.E.R." and the other can be answered with "duh, it's GSC" (they're not exactly known for their optimization skills).

edit: okay, so it's just the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. name, apparently. I saw nothing about GSC on the site. also, you obviously meant graphics settings, since "dark as hell" is pretty much par for the course, atmosphere-wise.

jries

Dark as in I can't see shit haha and there's no way to turn up your brightness in options...It's an okay game, pretty slow if I'm being honest. A lot of "Kill X amount of Y" quests, and "Go tell this person I say Hi" quests as well. Nothing much that makes it really stand out from other similar "MMO's" so far, but I've only gotten to the second zone.

Buttcleft

Lost me at the somalian domain.

Corehealer

Buttcleft wrote: »

Lost me at the somalian domain.

Yeah, this seems like it'd be buggy as shit at best and sketchy/possibly illegal at worst.

Anon the Felon

I'm hesitant.

This has the smell of The War Z. It's a little too obvious, so maybe not. One of those: "Fool me once..." situations.

Corehealer

Anon the Felon wrote: »

I'm hesitant.

This has the smell of The War Z. It's a little too obvious, so maybe not. One of those: "Fool me once..." situations.

MMO players are too jaded to be fooled for the 8th time.

I hope.

JamesDM

I played through the second zone last night and unfortunately the Kill X number of Y quests mentioned in an earlier post are numerous and at times immediately following one another from the same quest giver. Overall, I have found the game interesting but lacking any content worth investing any real time with.

Unfortunately this game is turning out to be a bust.

dj.subversive

So, I tried this out, and I'm a gigantic S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan (note the Duty patch avatar ). I was not impressed. The wonky third-person view and animations, the excessive darkness in the first area, the lack of explanation ("Press interact button when near object" is not helpful when I'm not near any interact-with-able objects), the bad spelling ("Keayboard")... the whole thing just felt wrong and I felt bad for the people involved, even more so than when I saw the "This product has no relation to any products by JSC Game World" message. I don't know who JSC is, because GSC made the previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

I mentioned to some friends that I could do a better S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game in the ArmA 2 editor, and I don't think it's much of an exaggeration. I'm currently working on a multiplayer co-op sandbox-ish mission, and at least when I have system messages about moving the respawn point, I'm just doing it so that I know if the trigger fired properly, and it's not something I'm planning on keeping for the final version, at least not in the "respawn point unlocked" state. Probably something more like "Green Mountain base is clear of hostiles!" or "new camp discovered!" instead of "Respawn point moved."

I get that it's a beta and not everything is how it will eventually be (non-functioning Advanced Graphics settings button), but it still did not make a good impression. I wanted to like the game, I really did. I guess all I can say is "get out of here Stalker (Online)."