S.T.A.L.K.E.R.s Revealed

[oDDity]

That's the problem. Games like this, and those stupid video clip shows with babies falling over and grannies skirts being lifted up by gusts of wind are what passes for prime entertainment these days.

[Unstoppable]

So I was playing Stalker online and sniping is really fun. It's a great online game when you don't have lag and you are connected to a low ping server. I love the enviroments. Anamolies are hilarious when a noob gets caught in one and dies lol.

[Ishtvan]

I finally bought it, and like it so far. The first mission was actually challenging on the hardest difficulty. I'm used to tactical shooters, but the inaccuracy of the pistol you start out with meant you had to get in really close to use it, and a lot of the enemies had those sawed offs that just destroyed you at close range.

 

Is it just me, or do you have to aim somewhat low with the iron sights? I can't tell if the sights are off vertically or if that's just the cone fire of the wildly inaccurate starting weapons. They need a shooting range or something to let you get used to how they chose to zero the sights.

 

The run speed and stamina actually don't seem that bad to me. People complaining about that must have never played UT Infiltration. That was about 10 times worse- I mean more realistic. My only complaint is that the stamina doesn't come back when walking, you have to be completely still for it to come back.

 

Anyway, I enjoy it so far.

[SneaksieDave]

Heh... WTF?

 

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/46449

 

[Crispy]

 

Okay, that's slightly amusing.

 

Completely unfair though - if they get to rip off assets from commercial games, why don't we??? Here we are being ultra-careful to avoid even the whiff of copyright infringement, and there they go blatantly taking assets from their competitors. Wow-ee.

[Ishtvan]

For a game that centers around looting corpses, I guess it's not all that surprising.

[jdude]

I played through it 2 times, getting 4 out of the 7 possible endings. The real endings are fairly disappointing, but the wish granter endings are pretty cool. I loved the build up of tension before getting into the last building, and I loved the use of the ambient woomp they used in x10 x16 and x18. What I didn't like was having to run around to do missions. It's a pain when the objective is at the other side of the map and you have to spend 15 minutes running around to get to the right spot. I also didn't like how linear the maps are. I'm 100%sure I've explored everywhere. And finally I didn't like how promises weren't delivered like the customizable guns [the customizations are severely limited] and how the lighting severely lags the game.

 

The story is fun though, I was left thinking about it after beating it. I had not realized I should had gone to the doctor the first time around so I missed an extra 60 mins of gameplay and two endings. The first time I got past the game left me with an eerie feeling because the ending was so bitter-sweet for me. As soon as I got to x16 I started to fall in love with the game, but it ended to soon after.

 

I don't see how or why it took them 7 years to make this game, but I'd give it a 9/10 because first time through you will surely love it.

[Ishtvan]

I was just noticing the animations seem really good on the characters. I was watching what happened after I'd been killed, and this guy was crouching down and looking back and forth in a really believable manner, then some walk with a slight limp, and lean on tables at the bar, etc. It all helps to make the people believable.

 

Playing on the hardest difficulty is pretty hard, but getting easier since I found some guns with actual stopping power.

 

The AI have surprised me on several occasions. For example I was stalking one outside the ruins of a 2 story building, I lost track of him, and then all of a sudden I was getting shot at from the second story that the AI had climbed up to get the drop on me. He must've had to do some fancy jumps to get up there too, since there was no remaining staircase.

 

On the other hand, they sometimes do this weird grouping behavior where they all end up huddled around one point in space for some reason (I think it has to do with protecting an objective or something). This is a great opportunity to toss a 'nade right into that tightly packed group. They come to their senses again if you save and then restore though.

 

Question: What is the key for dragging a body? The "tip" says shift + use, but I've rebound my keys and don't remember what shift was originally bound to, and couldn't figure it out.

[Unstoppable]

I'm sure there must be an option to reverse to default for your keys. Try looking for that.

 

I finally go through the first level after doing almost all the quests. I got overrun in Garbage by like 20-40 bandits. I was crouched down and sniping them with my pistol. I aim pretty good in this game since you can hold right mouse and it helps with aiming a lot. Garbage is such a warzone it's crazy =P.

 

Also the trader is one SOB. Sending me out to kill all these Stalkers. I'm not doing any more hits for this guy I feel like shooting him for telling me to shoot all these Stalkers. Poor guys bah =/.

Edited April 7, 2007 by Unstoppable

[Vadrosaul]

Question: What is the key for dragging a body? The "tip" says shift + use, but I've rebound my keys and don't remember what shift was originally bound to, and couldn't figure it out.

It's your Sprint+Use keys together

[SplaTtzZ]

I feel pretty disappointed with this game. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are pretty good, i really like the setting and the environments and the premise of the story is great; but it's completely let down by being just another average shooter, with crappy A.I, a broken quest system and redundant rpg elements. Like the side quests; just what the hell is the point of them? I go out and find some stupid artifact, get my reward of 500 rubles and a bottle of vodka; a day later the same quest is still there. Don't even bother doing side quests; the chances of finding something useful or getting a good reward are very slim. And money: I'm in the NPP right now and have over 250,000 rubles. What the hell am I supposed to spend it on? Money is completely pointless. I have a nice Dragunov rifle, but I'll be damned if i can find any ammo for it at any traders. I don't even need to buy what little they offer anymore, I can find everything I need off the myriad of corpses that litter the game world.

 

I also think the storyline is pretty stupid. I mean, Amnesia? Come on, haven't we advanced beyond this cliche already? Without a good story or difficult combat this game is pointless; I think I'd have more fun visiting the 'zone' myself and contracting cancer.

 

They hyped this game up so much, and barely delivered on 10% of it. As an example I read in an article a few years ago that Stalkers would follow this grand AI routine. So if you got a quest to find an artifact, another Stalker or group of Stalkers might also have the same quest. So you could run along and find the artifact; or maybe wait and ambush the Stalkers who are also trying to get it. The developers claimed a 'living breathing world' and that other Stalkers would have the same needs and wants as you might. So far the only sign I've seen of this is that groups of Stalkers will randomly wander around into other zones and get mutilated by anomalies or mauled by mutants. If they somehow manage to survive they find some ridiculous camp site and sit around playing guitar until they are all dead by some hellish denizen of the zone.

 

The most advanced AI i've seen in the game is the fact that human enemies take cover; and that blind dogs will run away unless there is 3 or more of them, then they will try to run behind or to the sides of you and bite. It seems to me that in terms of AI, or even interactivity in fps's, we really haven't progressed much beyond Doom 1 & 2. Basically, enemies just rush you, only now it might be from the side instead of head on. Maybe I'm only seeing the glass half empty or am biased by the hype surrounding Stalker. I imagine that coding Ai is very dificult; and my experience in the area is very small. Maybe someone from the Dark Mod team can enlighten me. Have we advanced much over the years in terms of Artificial Intelligence? How much time is spent on AI within a games development life cycle? is it enough? Is the Ai really fantastic and I'm just stupid? Or do other areas of the game limit the AI's capabilities? it just seems that I have yet to play a game that i can trully say 'wow, the enemy is really clever!'. Games like Far Cry and FEAR came close, but i felt they were still limited in their scope. And Stalkers Ai is just pointless; to me this really brings down the games worth, because without the amazing AI its just like half life 2 only slower.

Edited April 8, 2007 by SplaTtzZ

[Ombrenuit]

You'd think that if they actually stole material, they'd cover their tracks...at least by changing the file names. Then again, someone could easily fake the evidence; has anyone verified it?

 

They hyped this game up so much, and barely delivered on 10% of it. As an example I read in an article a few years ago that Stalkers would follow this grand AI routine. So if you got a quest to find an artifact, another Stalker or group of Stalkers might also have the same quest. So you could run along and find the artifact; or maybe wait and ambush the Stalkers who are also trying to get it. The developers claimed a 'living breathing world' and that other Stalkers would have the same needs and wants as you might. So far the only sign I've seen of this is that groups of Stalkers will randomly wander around into other zones and get mutilated by anomalies or mauled by mutants. If they somehow manage to survive they find some ridiculous camp site and sit around playing guitar until they are all dead by some hellish denizen of the zone.

 

Not to mention that side quests are pretty much pointless and maps are pretty much empty. No vehicles. You can't customize guns. No huge 22 mile map. And things just aren't that valuable in the game. Yeah, and the AI isn't a living breathing world. Has anyone wondered why the garbage just seems like completely anarchy? (with the same battles happening over and over as bandits spawn). Doesn't seem very realistic to me.

Edited April 8, 2007 by Ombrenuit

[SneaksieDave]

I feel pretty disappointed with this game. Don't get me wrong, the graphics are pretty good, i really like the setting and the environments and the premise of the story is great; but it's completely let down by being just another average shooter, with crappy A.I, a broken quest system and redundant rpg elements. Like the side quests; just what the hell is the point of them? I go out and find some stupid artifact, get my reward of 500 rubles and a bottle of vodka; a day later the same quest is still there. Don't even bother doing side quests; the chances of finding something useful or getting a good reward are very slim. And money: I'm in the NPP right now and have over 250,000 rubles. What the hell am I supposed to spend it on? Money is completely pointless. I have a nice Dragunov rifle, but I'll be damned if i can find any ammo for it at any traders. I don't even need to buy what little they offer anymore, I can find everything I need off the myriad of corpses that litter the game world.

Wow... are you sure you're not playing Morrowind?

[Nyarlathotep]

Sounds more like Oblivion. Morrowind has been modded the fuck out of, at least on my computer.

[oDDity]

Heh, splattzz, at least I only give a game half an hour at most to impress me, or forget it. You sound like you wasted plenty of hours in this before deciding it was crap.

[SplaTtzZ]

Call me persistent I think it's mostly because I'm on holidays from uni and don't really feel like doing any homework or study, so I play games instead. I think the environments of Stalker are worthy of mention, and I find the whole topic of Chernobyl quite fascinating. I think that's why I gave it the benefit of doubt and played it for so long.

 

And I don't really have a problem with the fps genre as such, I like rpg's more; but an fps is fine so long as it is immersive and fun. Stalker tries to mix rpg and fps and just fails completely. It should be more like Deus Ex or System Shock 2, which are far better examples of an fps/rpg combination.

Edited April 9, 2007 by SplaTtzZ

[Unstoppable]

Sounds like you are upset the devs didn't deliver on many of their promises. Fair enough but they were just too ambitious. Still they delivered a pretty good single player portion of the game. It might not be what was advertised in articles, but read what is advertised in the box itself. Everything that's on the box is on the game.

 

Look at Night-blade the mod that moved to UT 3. Look at Dark Mod. They don't advertise because things change on a constant basis. They are focused etc.

 

Now look at Crysis. That game is being advertised to be the next game of the year and all this. We shall see how it turns out though.

 

Anywho they are working on a multiplayer patch and fileplanet has the beta (subscriber only which is bullshit). So yea I like the game =).

[Ombrenuit]

Hmm...try playing the game on Master without a cross-hair. It's actually fun again.

[Crispy]

Look at Dark Mod. They don't advertise because things change on a constant basis.

More to the point, we do advertise, but only when features are already done or "definitely planned" (as in "if this feature isn't implemented, it will be because we all got hit by buses"). Or when we let stuff slip because we're too excited about our plans, but we try not to do that too often, I hope.

 

STALKER is a classic example of overhyping. Arguably it was worth it for the developers, though - yes, they disappointed a lot of people, but in the short-term they hugely raised the profile of their game. More hype, more sales. In classic marketing style, it doesn't actually matter for them whether the hype is justified or not.

 

It stinks, but it's not a bad short-term marketing strategy. It sucks as a long-term one, but the industry is so fast-paced and cut-throat that I don't think most of them are thinking about long-term marketing strategies.

[Ishtvan]

I haven't been too disappointed with the Stalker AI so far. I was pretty amazed when an AI evaded my direct attack and climbed up a ruined building to snipe at me. It's also obvious that they're not cheating and are acting in accordance with your last known position, which makes stealth play feasible. It's also not been my experience that they all rush me. Some of them rush me, some wait in ambush forever until I come out, thinking all the AI are dead (kind've like what Odd was hoping some guards would do in TDM).

 

Playing on the hardest setting, I haven't run into the problem of too much money, but I've only played up to the Agroprom mission so far. I found the side quests useful for getting money to buy better armor, etc, although I agree that the quests themselves are pretty half-assed.

 

In TDM we're definitely spending a lot of time programming the AI. Probably the majority of work so far has been on AI-related things: Lightgem so AI can see us, soundprop so they can hear us, noticing things missing or misplaced, intelligent searching, combat, and there's still a lot of AI work left to do before they will be up to par.

[Unstoppable]

I haven't been too disappointed with the Stalker AI so far. I was pretty amazed when an AI evaded my direct attack and climbed up a ruined building to snipe at me. It's also obvious that they're not cheating and are acting in accordance with your last known position, which makes stealth play feasible. It's also not been my experience that they all rush me. Some of them rush me, some wait in ambush forever until I come out, thinking all the AI are dead (kind've like what Odd was hoping some guards would do in TDM).

 

Playing on the hardest setting, I haven't run into the problem of too much money, but I've only played up to the Agroprom mission so far. I found the side quests useful for getting money to buy better armor, etc, although I agree that the quests themselves are pretty half-assed.

 

In TDM we're definitely spending a lot of time programming the AI. Probably the majority of work so far has been on AI-related things: Lightgem so AI can see us, soundprop so they can hear us, noticing things missing or misplaced, intelligent searching, combat, and there's still a lot of AI work left to do before they will be up to par.

 

Well if you guys will be looking for extra testers in the future I would like to apply. I have mastered the Thievery A.I. and know all it's weaknesses and strengths. It is actually a pretty damned good A.I. which is smarter than Thief: Deadly Shadows.(I think someone here pointed it out)

 

On genius setting any sound and the A.I. will turn around and snipe you so fast you won't know what hit you. Most people have trouble with them on clever. El Joelio I believe coded it and I know for sure that guy is working in the industry. Haven't heard from him since and am wondering where he went.

 

The primary weaknesses i've found from Thievery and Thief is distance. Ladders and sniping is just a huge disadvantage for the A.I. One way Thievery countered this is if a Thief snipes an A.I. the A.I. snipes them instantly back at the exact location of the arrow being shot. A thief could just strafe and avoid the shot but usually a tag bolt which lights up the area around the Thief will reveal him.

 

Basically if there is no way for the A.I. to get to you then while you can kill them then you win.