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

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

My pagefile is 3GB on the drive the game is on, so that's probably not it.

[Ombrenuit]

A gig of RAM is enough for me as well. Don't get your hopes up too much; this isn't the earth-shattering, life changing game you've all been waiting for. Its just entertaining, and any game that I feel excited to play (and finish) is an excellent one in my opinion (I finish so few).

 

I'm savoring every bit of it, taking my time through the side quests as well, and finding my experience to be really enjoyable. It's a game meant to be savored and immersive in that regard. There are things not to like, just as with any material, but its holding my attention and capturing my imagination. (I've logged probably fifteen hours into it so far and I'm not even half-way through).

 

It almost feels like it was designed exactly to appeal to me. Open endedness, but in a partitioned way; I'm easily distracted by side-quests, and a con for one gamer that this might be too linear, in that it steers you back to a storyline with scripted events, is a positive for me. I never finished the Elder Scrolls games because of this. I also like how areas are partitioned because it helps me take the game in bite-sized pieces, rather than being overwhelmed. I love collecting items and customizing them in games, and this game definitely makes you feel like you own the items you do (unique items were a great addition, and treasure hunting is an added bonus!).

 

Its also neat to just hide little queues of weapons around. I love the tactical gunplay, that requires a bit of stealth, even though it can be difficult to "sneak" around per se; you won't be slipping past patrols, but you can sneak up on people. I like how the world isn't just repeated templates, it feels unique. I also like how the game play is escalating and falling in difficulty, a mark of excellent game design; the player never feels too overwhelmed, as with Morrowind, and never really follows a quest path that ends with "You need to probably come back to this later on when you get better equipment...".

 

I also can say that I like the fact that ammunition and other sorts of things aren't so rare. If I get surprised and end up using a few clips more than necessary, I don't sweat it. Sure though, I still get nervous, but I'm not going to open up my last save just to rinse and repeat feeling like "I could have been more conservative right there." I hate games that don't forgive imperfection. The other extreme is awful too. Its a balance.

 

The horror elements are great, and I love the way the game sucks you into the world. But its not too frightening (well nothing can be when you have a machine gun to deal with it), which I like. Enough to send shivers down my spine. I like having limited room in my inventory and having to manage my equipment. Plus I like how the guns are inaccurate. I couldn't believe it when I saw that there was an accuracy mod and gamers that were pissed about the mechanic. It makes the game much more challenging I feel, and makes it so you have to be tactical because often things don't go as planned (there is that element always present that your ideal plan of action can fail due to luck, but mostly due to your fault. You strive to improve yourself and deal with less than ideal situations. The game can be very forgiving in this regard, but still harsh enough to leave you being a bit more careful.)

 

Part of any game that builds up tension is uncertainty; uncertainty that if I go into this fight, I might not make it. Even if I have good weapons, or poor. That nothing is a sure thing and even if I were to aim at that sniper's head, there is a ever-present chance that I won't successfully hit him. And then you have to think; what's my back up plan? Should I get on the rooftop? Should I try to get closer? How can I sneak in there?

Edited March 26, 2007 by Ombrenuit

[Unstoppable]

Finally got the game along with CnC 3. Will comment ni a few days about it =).

[Unstoppable]

So I've been playing CnC 3 it is awesome. There are people who have a lot of probs online but those will be patched asap. EA has already released two patches within the first week of the game release.

 

On to Stalker. It is very cool and fun. I am still doing things for wolf and the trader. My next mission is to go to that institute place and I will also clear out the farm from mutants. Took me about an hour or so to figure out how to do things. The icons in game are pretty easy to understand. I should probably catch up on the manual. However when you see a fork and plate you eat, when you see a drop you bandage =D. This game I have a feeling is just going to get better and better!

[Ombrenuit]

Hmm...final impressions:

 

I got gayed out of a good ending. Mostly because I didn't realize someone I had to meet wasn't actually north in a new area, but south in the first area...which unlocks a huge quest that finishes the game off.

 

Then again, overall it was a pretty neat experience, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed. Its obvious that this game was finished quicker then they wanted. I was disappointed that I never encountered a slew of enemies promised:

 

Where the hell are the:

• Rodents? I never met them once despite seeing screen-shots of them.
  
• Chernobyl Dogs? Evidently they make your gun wildly inaccurate with psychic blasts?
  
• Dwarfs? These guys looked like a cool enemy, and I was horribly disappointed that there was never one to be found
  
• Umm rats? Never found any of these...
  
• Rat Wolves? Neither these.
  
• Poltergeist? These looked really cool as well. Never encountered one of these either.
  

It almost feels like they couldn't work out the kinks in these creatures (roughly 40% of the creatures promised) and they just abandoned them altogether. Thus filling all the later dungeons with...? Bloodsuckers. Snorks, and like two controllers that I encountered. Do I have to play a better difficulty or what?

 

And let me add, that later on in the game Bloodsuckers are a joke to face. With the AI system they determine whether or not to run away in the face of danger--which they do when you are carrying the late-game armament. So you run into a room when you hear one, let him saunter up, unload, and then chase him, literally, halfway across the dungeon to off him. Not particularly scary when supposedly the "scariest creature in the game" has his back side to you for an entire level.

 

This game could use an expansion back I might add. End game had virtually no side-quests. Virtually no exploration (there was no treasure hunting like in the other areas really, pretty much nothing to find). What I really like is that Monolith guys I offed in the Chernobyl power plant were dropping locations for treasure in other areas. Really smooth =p, as if I have time or care to go back by that point.

 

The gun systems are pretty balanced until you reach about half-way through. I kind of experienced that eventually you just get a machine gun that you can finish the game off with. And even better, you get a sniper rifle thats silenced, no muzzle flash, and uses the same ammo as that machine gun . The game kind of becomes a sniping game by that point (well you can't survive otherwise really). Especially in the reactor because literally there is -nothing- else you can do. The enemies take 30 bullets to off otherwise, and two bullets will kill you. It felt unbalanced and a real pain. I managed to get through it (to my shitty ending) by throwing grenades and running through hallways while they all scattered.

 

Oh and yeah. Enemies never used grenades...

 

Also Chernobyl is supposed to have a wealth of rare and unseen artifacts. When you are there, guess what you find: the artifacts you can find in the first area. Even though early on you hear talk of "artifacts that can make bullets swerve right past you", there is nothing that cool. In fact that best artifacts you come across you find mid-game. And you don't even need them because they are like "+30 to chemical resistance", and well considering...there really aren't -that- many anomalies to make that even a big deal. You can -avoid- them in the first place. So the artifact is useless. Oh and by that point you already have a suit that makes you 90% resistant to chemicals anyway.

 

Point in being? It was a decent experience. I kind of liked it. Yes I would replay it, but it feels unfinished. This -deserves- a director's cut with new areas, new dungeons (hell yeah, dungeons that you can simply explore, that don't necessarily reflect that main quest), and the monsters that were supposed to be there. Also, I think the game could use some more balance middle to late game (gun wise, etc.), but I could live without it.

 

There just needs to be more side-quests and exploration really. And also a hell of a lot more lore and mini-story lines would flesh out this world nicely. An expansion pack (with director's cut included? )?

 

*edit 10:31* Added some more bitching

Edited April 1, 2007 by Ombrenuit

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Maybe I should get on a plane and actually visit Chernobyl some time.

[Unstoppable]

Maybe I should get on a plane and actually visit Chernobyl some time.

 

You could die of radiation. Veer off the main road and the place is crawling with radiation. I remember I saw a webpage about some guy or girl who went there on a motorcycle. She/he was getting radiation ratings as soon as she put her foot off the road.

 

Ah here we go thank you google. Enjoy this lil trip.

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chernobyl-revisited/

 

Just saved you 500-1000$ on airplane and hotel. Please give me half of it to my paypal account instead

[Ombrenuit]

"If we travel through the area, where radiation level do not exceed 100 mR/hr, then in one hour we'll receive the same dosage of gamma rays that receiving the passanger of plane Kiev-London duaring a few hours of their trip. I don't fly to London, so I can afford trips to Vilcha."

 

And saved you some radiation too . Great find. I really enjoyed reading it.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

I read about Elena several years ago. Heard it's mostly a fake since then.

I once read a novel called Сталкер.

It all connects now after reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(film)

The novel is strange. About some guy, going to some zone, all very eerie and mysterious. Now I see, the strange artifacts were in the novel. And the shooting of the film also has an influence. With that poison falling down while they were shooting, from Mayak, and the connection to and forshadowing of Chernobyl.

So, the novel I once read, the movie they made from it, the conditions while shooting the movie, the Mayak processing station, and later Chernobyl, and now the game Stalker all connect. haha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayak

Edited April 1, 2007 by Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat

[demagogue]

Anyway, Unstoppable's link is great storytelling. I liked it.

 

My friend told me one story, so I'll share it.

 

So she was visiting Ukraine (and she speaks Russian -- maybe Ukranian too? however the story works, I'll pretend it was Russian but it might have been Ukrainian -- in any event she obviously doesn't get to use her foreign language skills much in the US) and going to a market in a village with some local people (with whom she was staying). They saw a crate of apples that were unusually big and my friend picked one up. And one of the old ladies with her looked at it, her eyes getting wide, and said with a really droll voice in Russian: "What the hell are those? Chernobyl apples!? Put that down."

 

And my friend found it really funny ... first because she wasn't expecting it from this kind of lady ... but also (she told me) because she understood just enough Russian to actually understand the lady on her own terms, not thinking about it in English (the point being, she told me, it's sort of cool when you can understand a joke in a foreign language, on its own terms, not translated... and how it sort of summed up people's droll thinking.) Of course reading that Elena site, it sounds like the lady wasn't entirely joking.

Edited April 2, 2007 by demagogue

[Ombrenuit]

Not that this is a hard find (It's on the Oblivion Lost website) but here is a copy of Roadside Picnic translated:

 

Roadside Picnic

 

I'm actually in the process of reading it.

[Unstoppable]

I read about Elena several years ago. Heard it's mostly a fake since then.

I once read a novel called Сталкер.

It all connects now after reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(film)

The novel is strange. About some guy, going to some zone, all very eerie and mysterious. Now I see, the strange artifacts were in the novel. And the shooting of the film also has an influence. With that poison falling down while they were shooting, from Mayak, and the connection to and forshadowing of Chernobyl.

So, the novel I once read, the movie they made from it, the conditions while shooting the movie, the Mayak processing station, and later Chernobyl, and now the game Stalker all connect. haha.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayak

 

I don't see how could it be a fake when she has nothing to gain from spoofing a fake?

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

I don't see either, but some people supposed faim.

[Spitter]

Where the hell are the:

• Rodents? I never met them once despite seeing screen-shots of them.
  
• Chernobyl Dogs? Evidently they make your gun wildly inaccurate with psychic blasts?
  
• Dwarfs? These guys looked like a cool enemy, and I was horribly disappointed that there was never one to be found
  
• Umm rats? Never found any of these...
  
• Rat Wolves? Neither these.
  
• Poltergeist? These looked really cool as well. Never encountered one of these either.
  

 

Spoilers:

There are apparently rodents if you return to Dark Valley later. I didn't, never saw them. You encountered tons of poltergeists in X18 I think, they were the floating electrical thingies throwing stuff at you (they're mostly invisible until you kill them). The rest of the monsters were cut from the game.

 

[Ombrenuit]

Spoilers:

There are apparently rodents if you return to Dark Valley later. I didn't, never saw them. You encountered tons of poltergeists in X18 I think, they were the floating electrical thingies throwing stuff at you (they're mostly invisible until you kill them). The rest of the monsters were cut from the game.

 

Oh I had no idea those were poltergeists...I thought they were simply environmental effects

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

I guess you would call the ghost of Canterville an environmental effect. Typical American.

[Ishtvan]

Btw, are there vehicles in the retail version? You mentioned that there were no vehicles in the early part of the game. There were definitely cars in the early trailers. Did they not make it in? Typical Canadian.

[Nyarlathotep]

I guess you would call the ghost of Canterville an environmental effect. Typical American.

Yes, we would! Look at it this way: there's nothing overtly supernatural going on in the story, and there anomalies that resemble what's happening with the "poltergeist." Why are we to automatically assume that something is supernatural when we are given no reason to expect it?

[oDDity]

I toyed with the first few missions last week, haven't played it since. This is really just the same old crap as any number of other games you've played, with different grqphics.

You wont' see anything here you haven't seen before, and nothing is done better than you've seen before.

I using that as a criticism, but it seems to be that it's what people what, just the same old familiar thing again and again with slightly different graphics and a slightly different story. I guess it's sort of a comfort blanket for needy people.

I've no idea why it took them so long to make this. They keep coming out with this great phrases - oblivion had one about 'radiant AI' and this has some nonsense about a real ecology, but I haven't noticed any intelligence in enemies that I haven't see in games from 5 years ago, in the end, it's all comes down to blowing the heads off them with a variety of big guns, and them trying to do the same to you.

[Spitter]

Btw, are there vehicles in the retail version? You mentioned that there were no vehicles in the early part of the game. There were definitely cars in the early trailers. Did they not make it in? Typical Canadian.

 

Nope, they got cut from the game because they didn't get them to work very well the anomalies. However some fans have already had some success with modding them back in, I don't have a link handy right now though.

[sparhawk]

I've no idea why it took them so long to make this. They keep coming out with this great phrases - oblivion had one about 'radiant AI' and this has some nonsense about a real ecology, but I haven't noticed any intelligence in enemies that I haven't see in games from 5 years ago, in the end, it's all comes down to blowing the heads off them with a variety of big guns, and them trying to do the same to you.

 

I haven't played it yet, but I can imagine how it will be. That marketing bullshit always promises all kind of cool features, which in the end, turn out as the same crap that was done already years before. That's why I don't trust these promises and trailers. I judge a game based on how it plays, and that can be seen when it's delivered.

[SneaksieDave]

What I am surprised by (from pics, I don't have the game) was how much the final product looks different from the hyped early displays. Early on, it looked like a freakin' photograph. IIRC, it practically made Doom3 look bad. Then the final release looks like... that? Typical Russians.

 

I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, considering that this happens every single time (except with id games, interestingly). Oblivion looked unbelievable, then after getting everyone's attention with early movies and shots, they decided realtime light and shadow couldn't be done, so they didn't just disable it (thus allowing for future hardware to run it better), they apparently ripped it out completely. Good goin', Bethesda. Typical Marylandians.

[Ishtvan]

Nope, they got cut from the game because they didn't get them to work very well the anomalies. However some fans have already had some success with modding them back in, I don't have a link handy right now though.

Argh, who cares if the vehicle doesn't work well near an anomaly, it's an anomaly, things aren't supposed to work right. I would much rather have cars that work most of the time and explode when I drive them into a gravity well than no cars at all.

[Redface]

Or at least a bicycle...

 

After a long break finally finished the game today. I liked the endings and enjoyed every (sometimes bittersweet) second of the game. For me this is definitely one of those few unforgettable games that stay with you long after you've finished them. So far my game of the year - at least until Bioshock arrives...

[Ombrenuit]

Argh, who cares if the vehicle doesn't work well near an anomaly, it's an anomaly, things aren't supposed to work right. I would much rather have cars that work most of the time and explode when I drive them into a gravity well than no cars at all.

 

Yeah, except the real reason they didn't put in vehicles is that originally the design called to map out all 22 square miles around the facility. That didn't work out for whatever reason (it kind of pisses me off). So now we just have what amounts to levels.

 

You don't need a vehicle when it takes three minutes to run across the area. Given the original design you would have needed it. There actually would be an ecology if there was all that space. But Oddity's right. There's nothing new here; I just hadn't played the old stuff so of course I was charmed by this incarnation.

 

What took them so long was the original design called for a completely different game. When they realized that was overly ambitious, I suppose they cut back their design and started a new one. I just wish there could be a director's cut with the more ambitious features implemented, but suffice to say I know thats not happening. My hope is just that Stalker inspires the game to live up to its original promises.

 

I like it none the less. I'd give it an 8/10 and I'm even replaying it. It's entertainment.