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Other Games => ... and all the other things floating around out there => Topic started by: Clockworkkiller on May 31, 2013, 10:03:50 pm

Title: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on May 31, 2013, 10:03:50 pm
This thread shall be about s.t.a.l.k.e.r and how Awesome the series is.

Begin discussions, reaccount tales of survival and conquest, and weep over the fact there is no s.t.a.l.k.e.r 2
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: [ptx] on May 31, 2013, 10:08:32 pm
Why you make me cry on a friday evening T_T

I've replayed all the games numerous times, both with and without mods (COMPLETE mod FTW), why did they have to do this :cry:

Probably the most interesting playthrough was with some mod i don't remember for the first game - it made monsters spawn in greater numbers and move about in large herds. As it was, at one point, a massive herd of pseudodogs and dogs invaded the Bar, overrunning its defenses and slaughtering about a half of it's inhabitants, before it finally was dwindled down and destroyed, was totally epic :D
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Tor! on May 31, 2013, 10:14:46 pm
Stalker series are some of the games I've enjoyed the most! Setting, atmosphere, and all the small clues hidden in PDA's around building a great story. Really sad there wont be a Stalker 2  :|
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on May 31, 2013, 10:16:23 pm
Quote from: [ptx] on May 31, 2013, 10:08:32 pm
Why you make me cry on a friday evening T_T

There....there, it's ok, we'll get through this together

One day, the zone shall return, filled with bloodsuckers, artifacts and radiation

One day, we will return, and it will be glorious
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Panos on May 31, 2013, 10:19:07 pm
Still waiting for S.M.R.T.R 0.45 and Misery 2.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on May 31, 2013, 10:19:25 pm
Quote from: Tor! on May 31, 2013, 10:14:46 pm
Stalker series are some of the games I've enjoyed the most! Setting, atmosphere, and all the small clues hidden in PDA's around building a great story. Really sad there wont be a Stalker 2  :|

The setting and the atmosphere are what makes the game for me, no game has ever gotten close to immersing me in it, as much as stalker. Playing SoC at midnight, in the dark, all alone with the volume cracked up, where some of the best moments I've ever had while gaming
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Tibe on May 31, 2013, 10:37:52 pm
After playin STALKER and Metro(even abit ARMA) I must say that the, what I like to call "Dirty russian" type of atmospheres work the best. Theres just something so desperate about it. Playing in some post-apocalyptic USA setting with some USA HORAA hero feels like im still a makeup wearing supermodel in a cartboard world, nomatter how much dirt they try to throw in my face during the cutscenes too make it look desperate. The place and people just never look shit enough(with few exeptions ofcourse) to create that atmosphere of desperation.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: B3RS3RK on May 31, 2013, 10:51:35 pm
Quote from: TiberiusX on May 31, 2013, 10:37:52 pm
After playin STALKER and Metro(even abit ARMA) I must say that the, what I like to call "Dirty russian" type of atmospheres work the best. Theres just something so desperate about it. Playing in some post-apocalyptic USA setting with some USA HORAA hero feels like im still a makeup wearing supermodel in a cartboard world, nomatter how much dirt they try to throw in my face during the cutscenes too make it look desperate. The place and people just never look shit enough(with few exeptions ofcourse) to create that atmosphere of desperation.

Yeah, this is also the reason Metro 2033 is such an awesome book.

I can´t really fathom why, but "dirty russian" settings, as you call it, really have some kind of fascination to it making them incredibly interesting.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: zagibu on May 31, 2013, 10:53:43 pm
See the difference?

(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)

Hint: one has to run on consoles and caters to the candy clown crowd.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on May 31, 2013, 11:00:20 pm
Quote from: TiberiusX on May 31, 2013, 10:37:52 pm
After playin STALKER and Metro(even abit ARMA) I must say that the, what I like to call "Dirty russian" type of atmospheres work the best. Theres just something so desperate about it. Playing in some post-apocalyptic USA setting with some USA HORAA hero feels like im still a makeup wearing supermodel in a cartboard world, nomatter how much dirt they try to throw in my face during the cutscenes too make it look desperate. The place and people just never look shit enough(with few exeptions ofcourse) to create that atmosphere of desperation.

I agree, I think the simple fact of why is how "down to earth" the games are, games such as Fallout don't have that desperate atmosphere because of the setting, in fallout, you have lasers, robots, rebuilt society, and such, it just doesn't give that same atmosphere when your walking down a rebuilt Vegas strip that's stuck in 50s cultural, while carrying some big plasma-cannon thing. Where as metro and stalker, they are very much more "realistic" (I know mutants and anomalies aren't real, but compared to Fallout and such) they have scenarios which seem like they can actually happen. Along with the fact that these games main selling point is there atmosphere.

Another reason, could just be because its Russia, you really can't think about Russia, without thinking about the Soviets and nukes, and for a long time, Russia and its surrounding countries, really where that "dirty", it was hard times back then in those places
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Zanze on June 01, 2013, 01:16:00 am
Fallout tries to be funny at times. You have time to laugh in Fallout.

If you laugh in Stalker, you might attract a few more bloodsuckers than you bargained for...
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Berserkadin on June 01, 2013, 01:42:52 am
I remember playing the first STALKER game, it really had an eerie and scary atmosphere, walking in dark tunnels never knowing what you may face, what horrors awaits you in these wicked ruins. First run-in with a bloodsucker scared the shit out of me, I was kinda phobic to bloodsuckers, always made me panick...
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 01, 2013, 02:36:39 am
Quote from: Berserkadin on June 01, 2013, 01:42:52 am
I remember playing the first STALKER game, it really had an eerie and scary atmosphere, walking in dark tunnels never knowing what you may face, what horrors awaits you in these wicked ruins. First run-in with a bloodsucker scared the shit out of me, I was kinda phobic to bloodsuckers, always made me panick...

Iconic bloodsuckers... Yes, I remember the pride I would feel whenever I killed one before it noticed me, I'd cry something like "the hunter has become the hunted!!" Or something dumb. The worst part is when you got two one you, I remember once i was in the one lab in the SoC, x18 or something, i had grab some documents for the barkeep, well I was walking in this one tunnel, I turned around cause I heard footsteps, well, low and behold, I see one of the cloaked bastards charging right at me, a nice burst from my AK put him down right quick. Satisfied, I turned around and was gonna reload, only to find another standing bout 4 feet in front of me, scared the shits out of me, I whipped out my sidearm, and blindly fired as the thing cut me in two.

Controllers also scared the shit out of me, the way there psy attack just screams in your face. But you quickly get used to it.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Malaclypse on June 01, 2013, 05:09:27 am
Quote from: Zanze on June 01, 2013, 01:16:00 am
Fallout tries to be funny at times. You have time to laugh in Fallout.

The first two, especially (though mostly the second game, for me). The first time my teenage nerd self came across the riddle bridge from Monty Python and the Holy Grail I lost it lol
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Banok on June 01, 2013, 05:20:38 am
missed out on stalker. I bought call of prip relatively recently, but haven't played it much waiting for misery 2.0 mod.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Teeth on June 01, 2013, 09:29:18 am
I tried Stalker once but I thought it was kinda quirky, but I hear such good things about it that I feel like trying it again. On paper it seems such an awesome game, so getting used to the weird interface and controls is probably worth it. I am just confused by all the different versions, what do you guys recommend I start playing? Maybe even a mod?
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Tor! on June 01, 2013, 04:20:38 pm
Start with vanilla shadow of chernobyl in my opinion. Also, that first underground place you go to? I didnt dare go down there for days, just spent time in the starting zones. Bloodsuckers, they really freak me out  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 01, 2013, 04:23:35 pm
Quote from: Teeth on June 01, 2013, 09:29:18 am
I tried Stalker once but I thought it was kinda quirky, but I hear such good things about it that I feel like trying it again. On paper it seems such an awesome game, so getting used to the weird interface and controls is probably worth it. I am just confused by all the different versions, what do you guys recommend I start playing? Maybe even a mod?

Start with SoC, the first game, I suggest you play the first playthrough unmodded or Complete mod, which is a amazing graphics and sound boost with some other minor gameplay changes.

Next game to play would be either CS, the next game released, or CoP, many people would tell you to just skip over CS, but I think you shouldn't, it's still a good game despite its bad rep. CoP is the third game released, and thus the newest but it also seems the easiest.

Once again, play those games ether unmodded or with Complete.

Then you can move to the interesting mods, Misery, oblivion lost, LURK, SMRTER. go out and do some digging for there's lots of great mods out there
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Tibe on June 02, 2013, 12:15:28 pm
Frankly I only played CoP and finished it too. I liked alot about it. Never really felt like playin the others, althou I was certain id love em.

This thread made me try the SoC. Started the game in stalker difficulty level with no idea what I was getting myself into. First mission, go kill bandits and save some dude. I was certain I was like Rambo and the friendly dudes were ready to attack them, but I told em that I got this. Tried to do it stleathy with a knife and failed at it terribly, so I decided to go all out shooting. Barely won with assloads of reloads. Later back at the starting town, I was just chilling and planning to head out, went on the nearby road and some dudes with assault rifles started shooting at me. Turned out they were the local "fuck everybody" soldiers. And than holy crap, later an entire platoon of soldiers were near the town, having a shootout with the locals which I took an advantage of. Than at somepoint the soldierblatoon kinda huddled together speaking something in russian, threw a grenade and killed like 8. 9th dude was hiding in the bushes. And boy, I think I reloaded like 6 times just to finally kill that 9th dude. Epic stuff!

The AI seems suprisingly complex. Didnt really expect this from an old game. They stay out of line of sight, but they dont camp, they flank, they are flankable(but its not supereasy), they know when you could make a clear shot at them, they hide. I mean, seriuslly, the AI is just too epic for words. Motherfucking Splinter Cell: Conviction, which is a way newer game btw, didnt even pull off a fraction of the AI-s capabilities that this game has and the AI there had to do closely the same things as in SoC.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Christo on June 02, 2013, 06:10:59 pm
I remember playing SoC with a mod that made the AI super scary.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Remember this Bus Stop? It's close to the bandits in the 1st mission you have to do.

I was just chilling around by the bus stop planning a bit, and they noticed me and I died in 2 seconds, only 2 shots were fired.

Also there are mods that make the night insane, you can't see anything out there.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Zanze on June 02, 2013, 07:53:09 pm
Quote from: Tor! on June 01, 2013, 04:20:38 pm
Start with vanilla shadow of chernobyl in my opinion. Also, that first underground place you go to? I didnt dare go down there for days, just spent time in the starting zones. Bloodsuckers, they really freak me out  :mrgreen:

That one mission in Pripyat where you have to sneak through a ton sleeping bloodsuckers in a tiny, tiny room... Do not want.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 02, 2013, 07:58:30 pm
Quote from: Christo on June 02, 2013, 06:10:59 pm
Also there are mods that make the night insane, you can't see anything out there.

Playing vanilla SoC, with the brightness turned way down, produces the same effect, your flashlight becomes useless, and your basically blind without night vision. Really amps things up.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 02, 2013, 08:18:12 pm
Quote from: TiberiusX on June 02, 2013, 12:15:28 pm
This thread made me try the SoC. Started the game in stalker difficulty level

Isn't stalker difficultly equivalent to medium? I've always believed the only way to play stalker was on master and veteran, That's when shit gets real. Especially, when you start going up against the mercs, the elite military and such.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Christo on June 02, 2013, 08:28:12 pm
Another thing I remember having LOTS of fun with is an item/npc spawner.

I remember flooding Sidorovich with cartridges, effectively blocking the room, my PC froze for minutes.  :lol:

Spawning hundreds of zombies is also fun, although in SoC their health was too high (unreleased zombies, not the gun using ones)
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 02, 2013, 09:01:00 pm
Quote from: Christo on June 02, 2013, 08:28:12 pm
Another thing I remember having LOTS of fun with is an item/npc spawner.

I remember flooding Sidorovich with cartridges, effectively blocking the room, my PC froze for minutes.  :lol:

Spawning hundreds of zombies is also fun, although in SoC their health was too high (unreleased zombies, not the gun using ones)

Lol, the thought of spawning hundreds of bloodsuckers or the puesdogiants in bar and spawning hundreds of duty people in the freedom and vice versa.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Joker86 on June 03, 2013, 09:41:21 am
While STALKER is one of my favourite games of all times, making me literally a STALKER nerd knowing EVERYTHING about the zone, I still feel that all three Stalker games are missing something.

Although most people still prefer SoC because of its atmosphere, gameplay-wise CoP was the best game so far. First of all the bigger maps sometimes created the feeling of an open world without level boundaries, but of course they were still too small. You could run from one end to the other within a minute or two. But what I especially liked in CoP compared to the other games was that they didn't plaster the map with enemies, at least not when you start the game. I really did enjoy those parts where you didn't meet ANY enemies, like finding the radio parts in the cement factory, searching the gas can on the bridge or exploring the Jupiter station (yeah, those few dogs and the single pseudodog don't really count). That's how stalker should feel like.

I would have liked a single map, better a-life, a dynamic zone, not-annoying faction wars and diplomacy between them, and perhaps even a few RPG elements. I would have loved more survival elements, like real need for eating and especially drinking, because if I am not completely wrong water attracts radiation magically, and it's difficult to keep it decontaminated. I would like a simulation for the need of cigarettes, vodka or even drugs, a system for hunting mutants and even a real food chain and daily routines for mutants, and as we are at it, for Stalkers, too. Like hunting, sleeping, resting, scavenging, wandering to new grounds or trading.

All those things would have made Stalker really special in terms of gameplay. But as it is now, it's a rather simple shooter (you can't even lean to the sides or go prone) in a setting which is that remarkable, that it turns the game to something special.

----------

On another note:

There is one mod out there, which is called the "Soljanka". It's a German only mod for SoC, which is an improvement of the AMK mod. The general idea is to make the game super hard. And boy, it does make it super hard. If you don't download an optional submod, all anomalies are literally invisible, forcing you to throw bolts all the time! NPCs behave like the player, which means they plunder corpses and stashes, and they even mine them, and you have no possibility to disarm it, either take the hit or don't plunder. You can disable the mined corpses with the submod though. The fact that the Stalkers have a chance of plundering nearby stashes means that you are forced to place your stashes somewhere in the wild, instead of in the Bar. And you are forced to regularly create backup savegames, because it happens regularly that you come back and your stash is emptied. You can place some kind of sensor, warning you that your stash was emptied and marking the NPC for you, but usually a good part of your stuff is sold before you can find the thief.

A lot of new mechanics have been implemented, of which repairing is the most needed one, but you also have "artifact cooking" with the help of anomalies, a new trade system which relies less on money and much more on bartering. New mutants are introduced, new level transitions, new NPCs and traders, the new Hunters and Headhunters factions, and a shitload of weapons.

The modder is currently working on a new version which contains all Stalker maps ever released (including those from older builds like the village or the old brain scorcher), shitloads of new mutants, magazine reloading, etc.

Sorry for watering your mouth, but I wanted to share this at least with the German members of this community.

You can see some of the new features here:

Magazine reloading system:

Spider mutants in the underground:

Dead City 2.0

The thing from the swamps

New mutants
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: SixThumbs on June 05, 2013, 05:23:23 pm
I enjoyed the hell out of the SoC once I figured out how to change the head bobbling of the camera, when I first started I couldn't play for more then 20 minutes of a time.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Joker86 on June 05, 2013, 06:02:44 pm
Quote from: SixThumbs on June 05, 2013, 05:23:23 pm
I enjoyed the hell out of the SoC once I figured out how to change the head bobbling of the camera, when I first started I couldn't play for more then 20 minutes of a time.

I hear people complaining about this all the time - never had problems with it myself  :?
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Joker86 on June 06, 2013, 04:18:53 pm
I can't access the misery page on moddb - could this mean they are currently releasing 2.0?  :D

It was announced for these days, at least  :?

Forget it, false alarm, I can't acces any moddb-mod at all.  :cry:
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 06, 2013, 11:16:35 pm
Has anyone tried Stalker online? It's like a fanmade stalker mmo. I've seen screenshots, it's all Russian thou (dont know if they translated it to English yet), I don't know if its still being worked on or if anyone plays it.
From the looks of it, it looks buggy and terrible(maybe even dead?). But maybe it does give do justice to stalker.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Carthan on June 06, 2013, 11:34:08 pm
Don't know much about that, but I know the people in Vostok Games (http://vostokgames.com/en/page/about-us)  are trying to make a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. MMO.
It's called Survarium and I thought they were planning to release it sometime this year.
http://survarium.com/en

EDIT: Or if you prefer to immersive yourself in the Russian language. http://survarium.com/ru
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: TheAppleSauceMan on June 07, 2013, 07:30:27 pm
Decided it was high time for me to finally man up and go through a playthrough of this. So I got SoC and the Complete mod. So far, loving the hell out of it. The atmosphere is insane. And the Complete mod really does some insane things. I'm running it on max and my god it is absolutely gorgeous. Also really love the AI and just all these small details I'm finding. I love walking around and seeing a pack of animals kill a bandit or stalker, and start to drag their corpse off. Or how other people will loot dead people. Or how the animals react to the weather or situation. Just all these small things the AI do that make it so much more immersive, it's like an actual food chain type deal. Pretty cool. I also got a side mod for Complete that increases realism in weapon ballistics and such, really liking that so far. Enemies drop a lot faster (loading an entire magazine to kill one guy really killed my fun) and so do I. One good bullet to my head, or even a quick burst and I'm dead before I know it. Even with the ballistics/damage mod I really didn't like how long it took to kill some enemies at longer ranges but then I just realized it's because the starter weapons have absolutely atrocious accuracy.

Definitely not excited for the bloodsucker or any of the other infamous enemies. I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to FPS's but I'm hoping I can push through those parts so I can enjoy the other parts. I remember I first tried a playthrough with the complete mod when I first got this PC and I ran into some creature in a tunnel (the one that like zooms your camera onto his face and screams or whatever) and got scared shitless. Paused, saved, quit, and never really had the balls or motivation to touch it again. Hopefully this time I can push through.

EDIT: Came home today and tried to change my carry weight, looked up how to do it and proceeded to do so. Now it crashes everytime. Having to do a full re-install of the Complete Mod and may have to re-install base game as well if that doesn't work. Ugh.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: zagibu on June 08, 2013, 09:39:45 pm
Quote from: TheAppleSauceMan on June 07, 2013, 07:30:27 pm
Definitely not excited for the bloodsucker or any of the other infamous enemies. I'm a bit of a pussy when it comes to FPS's but I'm hoping I can push through those parts so I can enjoy the other parts. I remember I first tried a playthrough with the complete mod when I first got this PC and I ran into some creature in a tunnel (the one that like zooms your camera onto his face and screams or whatever) and got scared shitless. Paused, saved, quit, and never really had the balls or motivation to touch it again. Hopefully this time I can push through.

Just let mommy put the pampers on first and you will be fine.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 08, 2013, 09:42:37 pm
Quote from: zagibu on June 08, 2013, 09:39:45 pm
Just let mommy put the pampers on first and you will be fine.

LOL
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: TheAppleSauceMan on June 09, 2013, 12:52:56 am
Quote from: zagibu on June 08, 2013, 09:39:45 pm
Just let mommy put the pampers on first and you will be fine.

I use Depends, thank you very much.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: BASNAK on June 11, 2013, 06:30:39 pm
I remember playing and finishing one of the Stalker games, forgot which ones.

Funny thing was I didn't know there was a map in the game, which made it very difficult since I could only go out by day, and had to remember certain landmarks to not get lost.
Title: Re: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
Post by: Clockworkkiller on June 12, 2013, 01:08:36 am
Quote from: BASNAK on June 11, 2013, 06:30:39 pm
I remember playing and finishing one of the Stalker games, forgot which ones.

Funny thing was I didn't know there was a map in the game, which made it very difficult since I could only go out by day, and had to remember certain landmarks to not get lost.

That's a hardcore way of playing