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

[MetalMilitia]

So it's finally been released and it's not that great. Reviews score it in the high 80%s but after playing for a few hours I'm not hugely impressed; more frustrated than anything.
I have a feeling the game is going to get better but it's kind of buggy and the weapons arn't great (so far).

[ArrowX]

Agreed its a fucking waste. How the fuck did this game take nearly a decade to release? Granted I'm only on the Multiplayer beta, and I know full well its not representative of the finished game I'm not even gonna bother. The best part is the 3/4 second delay between clicking the mouse and the firing of your gun. That and the game is over gritty making everything look like it spackled with baby shit. I feel physically sick in my stomach while playing this.

[MetalMilitia]

I was wrong about this game. I think my problem was that I was playing it like a FPS. As soon as I started playing it like an RPG it got a whole lot more fun. Some of the horror-type sequences are fantastic, too. Really Doom 3-esc but even more 'edge of your seat'.

The whole inventory/weapons system is really cool. You can do stuff like pick up fallen enemies guns and pull off attachments (scopes grenade launchers etc) and remove ammunition and put them on/in your own gun. Also searching dead enemies will usually turn up ammo, food, bandages and all sorts of other useful junk.

It's a HUGE game and it's really fun exploring the maps, mainly because the art style is so well done but also because you can find some really cool items.

[Fathom Zero]

Real life Stalkers of Chernobyl go around scavenging things from the site, like antiques. It makes sense that you can pick things up like the scopes and such to upgrade.

I like the grim atmosphere, too.

Here's another game to add to my really cool list of games I'd buy.

[Dr. Boogie]

How is it in terms of bugs? I heard some reviews saying that it was buggy, but then they said that it was buggy on Vista. Are there any problems on XP?

[ArrowX]

I haven't run into too many bugs as of yet in the beta.

I do like the "Anomalies system" its one of the more unique features. Imagine walking along then noticing the ground in front of you is moving like the predators cloaking thingy then WHAP your crushed into paste by the gravity well you walked into. Some of them are pretty sweet like the lightning one. Once some douche was chasing me with the "zone rail gun" and then BOOM he gets blasted by this lightning that came from the ground and gets sent 30 feet into the air.

[MetalMilitia]

How is it in terms of bugs? I heard some reviews saying that it was buggy, but then they said that it was buggy on Vista. Are there any problems on XP?

Well I'm running Vista so I can't really say what it's like on XP but in my experience the game is pretty buggy. Not massively (like boiling point : Road to hell) but I've been getting some weird crashes and such recently.

That said I'm still enjoying it. I've managed to snag some good gear which has made combat much easier, although I'm still hunting for a decent sniper rifle.

[timrpgland]

This was on my watch list. I still want to try it out. Thanks for the info.

[kahljorn]

yea guys this is on my buy list
my one-click list if you know what i mean
from amazon.;)

[MetalMilitia]

I'm getting closer to the reactor and the horror sections are pretty intense. Walking round a corner and having a blood sucker jump into your face isn't a pleasant experience. It's just a shame there are a few bugs which can ruin some of the scripted sequences.

Oh and I found a good sniper rifle, it's like a Druganov with a black stock. Ammo is scarce but nailing enemies in the head from across the map is a blast.

[ArrowX]

I'll be picking this up tomorrow probably. The beta doesn't give me enough.

[ArrowX]

I just picked it up and am agreeing heavily with mietalmilitia about you need to play it and get a feel for it to start enjoying it. I'm not hugely impressed with multi but the singleplayer is a great experience so far.

I'm just wondering, metalmilitia are you afraid of the day night cycle yet? I'm over in this one town and right now its night and I'm afraid to leave the spot I'm holed up in until morning because theres like 4 or 5 of these scary guys who are invisible at night and look like the super vampires from blade 2 wandering the streets.

Also where'd you find a good sniper rifle?

Also Toning down the number of anomolies in some areas would be much appreciated in the next patch.

[MetalMilitia]

I was several hours into the game before I got any good guns really. I got my sniper rifle from a bandit during the mission were you need to turn off the brain scorchers. You could probably find one before that though.

I either haven't noticed or experienced the night cycle yet, which is weird as I've played for a good 10+ hours.

The arena in a stalker outpost is cool too. You can make a load of money in there. It's a shame they don't pit you against monsters though.

[ArrowX]

I'm just into the garbages right now. so far all I have is a Prototype Fort 15, Ak47SU/w silencer, an MP5, the sawed off shotgun, and a hand full of grenades.

I also stormed that military base behind the first town where you start. It was hard but now I have tons of AK ammo.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2312-27-46-31.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2314-02-57-26.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2312-33-23-65.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2313-06-13-64.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2314-15-36-31.jpg

[Shifty]

i got it but i hate radiation. i killed a military group and was reading my PDA after and i got killed by radiation :(

[MetalMilitia]

You can get a really good suit from the scientists in one of the main story missions, which is somewhat radiation proof. Also one of the common anomalies (kind of orange round thing) will reduce radiation.

[the_dudefather]

will have to give this a go once I finish damn uni work

[ArrowX]

i got it but i hate radiation. i killed a military group and was reading my PDA after and i got killed by radiation :(
That would be the springboard.

I'm kinda pissed off about the fact that they removed vehicles from the game >: Because it makes backtracking a chore when your carrying too much stuff and you can only run for like 20 meters.

I just went through the Agrocom place where you and about 10 other stalkers have to hold off the army and rescue mole. It was intense. I love the firefights in the urban areas, because the AI doesn't usually toss itself at you so you need to work for kills. Plus the only armor I have is this custom Bandit stuff I found.

[Sacks]

That guitar makes me want to play it. Can you pick it up and run around with it on your back? Can you pull some of that aggro El Kabong shit on some motherfuckers?

[kahljorn]

is anybody running this on a low end system?
i have like a 2ghz processor and a 256 mb 6600 xfx or something card but i think it might bea bit on the low side ;o
i heard this game was made to work with low end systems too though so im curious.

[Fathom Zero]

If it's made to work with lower end systems, then I'm sold.

[kahljorn]

yea it's supposed to come packaged with directx9 compatible stuff and directx8 and some other stuff but I'm not sure if that means i can run it though ;o
my system is so far in the pas.

[ArrowX]

That guitar makes me want to play it. Can you pick it up and run around with it on your back? Can you pull some of that aggro El Kabong shit on some motherfuckers?
Sadly you cannot play the guitar :(

I'm getting farther along now, I just raided a bandit fortress thing to save a Dutyer scout. During the crawls around the dark hallways I scavenged their armory, and found a Storm Obokan (sp) that has an under slung grenade launcher and a scope. and a sweet set of Duty armor that adds 50%-40% to each stat. Still no dedicated sniper.

BEST bandit name in history!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/bogdanjiggers.jpg
Sweet ass new AR
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2414-07-08-34.jpg

EDIT Added image of scary dog thing!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2420-05-27-70.jpg

[Misdemonar]

is there a demo for this?

[Shifty]

no there isnt, atleast from what i could find.

[ArrowX]

finally found a fucking sniper rifle.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2510-57-10-64.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2510-29-05-75.jpg

[MetalMilitia]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/176659.9/XR_3DA2007-03-2521-09-48-73.jpg

My sniper rifle is better :p

[ArrowX]

I picked up that Armor you have from a dead guy in the lab where you shut down the emitter and fight the controller. When I got out the guy in the bunker had one to sell.
Have you found the RPG7 yet? theres on the top floor of the building the very first lab is. In the Dark Valley area.

Right after the bar the game starts throwing all the cool shit at me.

I also saw some guy in red forest with a Gauss Rifle.

Man this game is like Oblivion now on my addict scale

[MetalMilitia]

Yeah I've been shot at a few times with some funky gauss gun type sniper rifles. Haven't managed to pick one up yet though. I had an RPG for a while but it took up too much space in my inventory and wasn't all that useful.

[Chojin]

This looks a lot like a cross between oblivion and fallout :< Is it?

[MetalMilitia]

I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't actually played either - but from what I have heard about the two titles I think you're pretty much on the money.

[ArrowX]

This looks a lot like a cross between oblivion and fallout :< Is it? You hit the nail in the head. But the games much darker than both.

The arena was too short, felt liek they crammed it in in the last 9 days of development, with the final match being laughably easy, you get no armor, 1 bandage, and a G36 with 3 full mags. The other guys have the same weapons as you but they get this crazy Power armor stuff. The kicker is they all start shoulder to shoulder and the match is a free for all, so you end up fighting maybe 2 of them at most after they already had a large firefight and lost most of their health.

More Pics

I JUST CANT STOP MAHSELF!
Spooky Monster CAN YOU FIND HIM
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2520-36-57-95.jpg
Pseudodog in diving action
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2520-33-37-10.jpg
and INDUSTRIAL METAL LATHE!
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-03-2521-03-56-68.jpg

[Zomboid]

What are the minimum requirements?

[MetalMilitia]

Pretty low actually, because it was supposed to be released some time before HL2.

[Zomboid]

Cool. I'm almost done call of duty 3 on 360 and I know I'll wanna play something else after and this looks pretty fun.

[executioneer]

man speaking of fallout i hope fallout 3 is awesome :(

[Zomboid]

Plenty of fans are angry that it'll probably be a cross between fallout and oblivion and while I'd reeeeeaaally hate to see the old, isometric bird's eye view thing get replace...that development team definitely knows what they're doing. I just hope that they don't down it tone at all.

[executioneer]

heck yeah i wanna be able to get a critical and destroy someone's whole torso

or hit em with a plasma cannon and melt them into a puddle

[Zomboid]

Hit with a critical? Did you not have the bloody mess trait? :O

[executioneer]

no i always got gifted + either good natured or slim frame or sometimes skilled :(

[executioneer]

YOU GOTTA MIN/MAX COME ON :(

[Zomboid]

I always got gifted and bloody mess. Having less skills didn't matter when my SPECIAL skills were up by 1 each :D

[ArrowX]

I always had Bloody mess and The hand to hand one (brawler?) That way I could punch peoples heads off.

I remember playing Fallout 2 and trying to convince my dad that Ron Perlman did the opening voice over.

NOSTALGIA FTW

[Sacks]

What is the multiplayer like? Is there any sort of deathmatch thing where you can run around a huge map sniping at each other? Would this be any good for a LAN?

[MetalMilitia]

I just completed it... I think.

Remember how the end of HL2 made you say, "Uhh, OK, is that it then?" well the end of STALKER is like that but x100. Does this game have multiple endings or something because if it does I think I got the one which you get if you did something completely wrong along the way.


I got to the wish maker thing and my character says "I WANT TO BE RICH!" and then the roof falls on me and the credits roll. :S

[ArrowX]

Did you find that guy?

also LOL @ the 2001 space Odyssey reference as a main story plot.

[MetalMilitia]

Sturlock? No I don't think I ever did. I'm replaying the game now with the new patch so with any luck It won't crash as often and I won't need to rush through it as much.

[ArrowX]

I bypassed the scorcher mission completely, by simply sprinting through the gate to Prypyat while hitting the medkit button

I had the same ending I'm pretty sure folowing the strelok story gets you a different ending. According to various forum posts we saw that ending because we had over a certain amount of money thus greedy prick. I suppose it would be easier if I understood russian and could understand what scary voice is talking about at the end.

On the subject of the final 2 areas of the game, Prypyat and Chernobal NPP were Balls out insane! With Monolith, Duty, Loners, Mercs, and Freedom Stalkers all fighting that plus mutants.

I still didn't find a ExoSuit tho.

[kahljorn]

this game's great but it seems like there's a lot of things missing from it ;o

i think of it somewhere between oblivion, fallout and freedomfighters ;o

[Zomboid]

Get lost kahljorn.

[kahljorn]

shut the fuck up cock addict
why don't you just go inject cocks into your face somewhere else.

[Zomboid]

NO WHY DON'T YOU JUST GIT LAWST

[Mad Melvin]

Got this a few days ago. I like it. I mean like a lot. The only gripe I have with this at the moment, is that the weapons seem to be way inaccurate. And I seem to hit the enemies better without ironsight. Maybe i'll get better weapons at some point.
Oh, and MetalMilitia, there are four endings to my knowledge.

[Dr. Boogie]

I'd just like to clear this up for everyone: sometimes, in FPSs, you don't start the game with the pinpoint-accurate, fully automatic sniper rifle with the 50-round clip and the underslung grenade launcher. Sometimes you start with a knif and a rusty revolver you found in the colon of a dead dog.

[ArrowX]

ya its about 3-4 hours in that you should actually start getting any good modern weapons like its not until the last 10-20 minutes of the game that you get an FN200 and the railgun, or even ammo for rockets.

[Mad Melvin]

yes, i am aware that you get shitty weapons in the beginning of the game, but i'm just saying that when I shoot an enemy who is two feet away, I should be able to hit him even if my character was a blind and slightly retarded person.

[Dr. Boogie]

You hold down the right mouse button and shoot with the weapon sights. It can be more accurate that way. Or just use the shotgun.

[ArrowX]

ya shotguns are VERY valuable in the first half of the game, also in the place north of the bar, DO NOT side with the Duty guys in the farm, instead go to the Freedom base and talk to their boss, it makes the rest of the game MUCH easier.

[Dr. Boogie]

Yeah, or just side with the duty guys, let them get wiped out, and take their sweet stuff.

[kahljorn]

this game's good overall has anybody tried the mods?

there is one that makes bleeding more lethal and the guns more realistic and i was reading the mod section and they found a way to make the game more "Random" but a lot of people die :O maybe not random they say "Free" but it fucks up most of the quests and stuff.

[ArrowX]

no because in order to beat the game you need to move north past Freedoms barrier to the last 3 areas of the game, if you side with duty to take their crap you still have to kill their sniper and then your there enemy for good, if you talk to duty, and then go to the freedom leader guy you get to take a fairly large group of guys to go and take down the duty camp. so you get a boatload of heavily armed friendlies in the later part of the game, PLUS the duty guys wicked shit.

this is as close to panoramic I can do for the Freedom Group you roll with during the duty raid.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-04-0116-42-38-20.jpghttp://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/ArrowX/XR_3DA2007-04-0116-42-44-50.jpg

To Kahljorn:
The original game play ideas for this game were equally insane, the stamina bar would only be permanently charged by sleeping, but you had to find a safe place to crash, hence the fires and why most NPC's group by them at night then wander off during the day. In addition to that it was originally an open Mercenaries style world, with vehicles and no load points (hence that one town on the west of the map that you can't get to) and a totally dynamic world where you could be beaten to the end and lose the entire game long before you even get to the northern area of the game.

Looking at the finished product I wonder where they went so wrong, it seems to me that they spent 6 years getting the basic framework of the game and none of the polish.

[kahljorn]

lol i might have a screenshot to post i didnt check if it took right since i pushed the wrong buttons but it was that vampire guy and he was sitting next to someone and it looked liked their arm was around him...

seriously ;p

[Dr. Boogie]

no because blahblahblahexcusesbah

Here's what ya do: take the job to kill the sniper. Go into the base, make your way to the tower, ducking and dodging behind stuff as necessary, climb up the tower, and shoot him in the face. Nobody will be the wiser. I did it, and when the time came for the raid, I walked right in with both sides neutral to me. Minutes later, when all the Duty guys were dead, I took their good stuff, along with some good Freedom stuff, sold the stuff I didn't need to the Freedom leader, and left a happy man.