STALKER again. Thinking of downloading the LURK overhaul, which either came out very recently or is coming out very soon.
http://getoutofherelurker.blogspot.com/
I don't think it's
mandatory, though. The only thing in the vanilla game that really bothers me anymore is the way enemy respawns work. Dead mutants and Stalkers just pop up in the same place they originally started every time I leave the level, so when I go through an area again I know exactly what's going to happen and can outsmart them without even working at it. Especially if it's on the way to somewhere I visit a lot for ammo and shit, like the trainyard you have to fight through before you get to Yantar.
Places I never go still surprise me sometimes, though. I was rolling around at Agroprom to assassinate some guy for the Bartender and I stopped into the Neutral stronghold (at the Military complex you have to defend/escape from early in the game), which was populated at this point by about 4 rookie Stalkers and one guy who dressed like he knew what he was doing. I traded with them and dined on summer sausage and listened to guitar songs and shit, then left down the stairs to continue on my way. Then I see a cloaked bloodsucker wandering around in the courtyard of the base, and I go SHIT SHIT RUN AWAY, sprint up the stairs, and ready my shotgun. One of the rookies was like, "God damn negro pack that shit in you gon' hurt someone" and while he was complaining at me the bloodsucker ran up the stairs, uncloaked, and they all started shitting themselves.
I immediately shot him in the face and knocked him directly back to the ground floor.
Don't you tell me my business again, noob.
Call of Pripyat's coming out pretty soon too, right? I'm getting it. I love Stalker so much that I might even pay for it.