GSC Gameworld is shutting down; no S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

[Token-not-found]

I always liked Stalker, but after all their broken promises, broken games and broken hopes, I can't say I'm very sad about their demise.
They kinda deserved it, sorry to say that.

Even with those broken promises , toward how many modern games can you point to that offer that kind of atmosphere and intensity?

Even if buggy as hell it will be very missed (by some) because it was unique.

 

[Lexx]

Not by me, at least. The last two games totally burned me out with the setting and I wouldn't have bought Stalker 2 anyway.

 

[gumbarrel]

You might as well ask "How many open world RPGs like Skyrim are there?".

And there is nothing unique about that setting anymore.

 

[LinkPain]

Don't know what to say about this that has not already been said.

Their CEO said that they could not profit much from EU's PC exclusive. Which is strange since they planned to ship it to all platforms. I guess they did not have time or people to make that happen. If it's true, then I'm sure the people who worked there will find a way to move on. Like Obsidian did eventually.

I for one don't really care about bugs. At least I don't have "freestyler" dragon going backwards like Skyrim has, but any game can be patched in due time. Stalker in general has great story telling, unique and fulfilling. Metro is different, but awesome story nevertheless, it's just that the books are better than the game. On the other hand, 150 pages of Roadside Picnic is not much compared to Stalker games where you can give into the world and breathe it, see the imagination of the team that built it. Strugatsky Brothers wrote awesome book, Tarkovsky made an awesome movie, GSC made an awesome game. This most certainly isn't the end of it all, but it's a darn shame to see it take a critical hit instead of other trolling games out there.

 

[brfritos]

I wasn't too much into STALKER, in fact I stopped the game two times before finishing it, one when entering "Garbage" area and another one in "Agroprom", it bored me.
Only after I rethinking my strategy - damn guards and beasts! - I was able to properlly end the game.
I liked the story very much, the post-apoc soviet feeling is all there, is marvellous!

The starting is great, Cordon is a great area and full of things to do.
I only felt something similar regarding to atmosphere and setting when playing HL: Opposing Force.
STALKER has a fantastic atmosphere, one of the best I've seen in a game in a long time.

The gameplay mechanics are a little tiresome sometimes, but manageble.

The sad thing about all of this, if the whole news are true, is the devs won't have the opportunity to correct some aspects of the game that didn't work.
Black Isle had this opportunity with Fallout and we all know what F2 became.

 

[Surf Solar]

Black Isle had this opportunity with Fallout and we all know what F2 became.

This might not be the best analogy (atleast if I understood you right) since FO2 is for many people quite inferior to FO1.

 

[Crni Vuk]

Stalker in general has great story telling, unique and fulfilling. .

Unique yes. But "great" story telling ? It never felt above average for me. I think that Stalker games lacked mainly 2 things. one was dramatic effects and the other interesting NPCs with character which you as well remember. I am not saying it has to be like one of those "strange" cod clones with cut scenes every 5 min. But the presentation of the story was rather bland in Stalker. Always felt like that for me. I give Call of Prypjat as example where the game starts with pretty much nothing but "text" and then you are in the "zone". Dramatic effects this are not. It would have been great if you had at least some connection with the people which sended you in the zone. Or more the feeling that you have been really a spy or something no clue. It is hard to describe. I just think the game(s) lack interesting characters and factions.

 

[Mettle]

STALKER 2; A light in the wasteland

 

[ZeusComplex]

Publicity stunt much?

Regardless if this is to garner attention, I do hope they pull through. To this day, I find STALKER to be the one of the few FPS that I like along with the ArmA series. No game has actually freaked me out like that game has. Tragic to see them in this position if it's true, and maybe a little clever if it's all a ruse.

 

[Mettle]

I'll be annoyed if that is the case, the depressing feel I had when I read the news still lingers.

The STALKER games are the only shooters I really enjoy playing, and I still have fond memories of X-18.

 

[Akratus]

I'll be annoyed if that is the case, the depressing feel I had when I read the news still lingers.

The STALKER games are the only shooters I really enjoy playing, and I still have fond memories of X-18.

Hah! Same here. The only scary games I ever wanted to play. Many adrenaline filled nights to be had in those games.

It's a shame what's happened, if it's true. There's a campaign going on to get money to donate to gsc to keep them going. This group on facebook called southern comfort said so, but I can't find the place to donate.

 

[archont]

Unique yes. But "great" story telling ? It never felt above average for me. I think that Stalker games lacked mainly 2 things. one was dramatic effects and the other interesting NPCs with character which you as well remember. I am not saying it has to be like one of those "strange" cod clones with cut scenes every 5 min. But the presentation of the story was rather bland in Stalker. Always felt like that for me. I give Call of Prypjat as example where the game starts with pretty much nothing but "text" and then you are in the "zone". Dramatic effects this are not. It would have been great if you had at least some connection with the people which sended you in the zone. Or more the feeling that you have been really a spy or something no clue. It is hard to describe. I just think the game(s) lack interesting characters and factions.

Indeed, Stalker lacked proper storytelling. However after a long Skyrim marathon I can't say that the characters in Stalker were worse than those in Skyrim in terms of depth, authenticity, creativity or immersion. And Skyrim is officially an RPG.

Stalker had a certain vibe to it. It was a PC game through and through - difficult, quite demanding. Everything from the UI, controls through the core gameplay and ending with the FOV was done in the PC gaming tradition. It was an FPS hybrid in the likes of Deus Ex.

It was also a very ambitious and innovative project, which is the most important thing. Stalker was stuck in development hell because GSC wanted to release a game that they themselves would like to play. Rough on the edges as it was it was very rewarding to those with the patience to go through. I spent countless hours playing the game and saw one thing I rarely see in today's games - that it was a labor of love. It didn't have the stench of design-by-commitee, of guys in suits with no interest in games debating over a chart whether adding feature X will increase metacritic ratings by a point and how much of a return investment will they get on that. For the lack of a better word the game had a soul.

Sure, the rumor of always-on DRM was pretty disturbing. Not everybody has to like the game. But even if someone doesn't like the Stalker series it's depressing to see the spirit of this kind of game development get crushed all while seeing mediocre and unremarkable games like MW top the charts.

 

[LinkPain]

^Agree, seems like Farmville has best chances to survive as a PC game these days...

@Crni Vuk
Since it has a feel and setting, Ukrainian or Russian, the world it is unique in that way of course. Alchohol , drunk singing, guys spilling all kinds of rumors, Zone etc. Same as the book, well almost. But the story in SOC was complex enough, we did not need NPC characters as much as we need them in Fallout for example, it's much more linear. Hence why the world would need to suck you in, or you would get bored soon. We did not need the speech options at the Monolith because it would ruin the core of the game, which was survival, hit and run tactic, major looting, insane questing with anomalies for no apparent reason except some loot. You would go in anyway, I mean who would want to try, even if it was that goddamn Red Forest. Strelok was interesting enough to drive us thought the game, you would always ask why? or how? or what the hell happened here? Getting some clues as the game moved on, nothing wrong about that, you're still sucked in. In fact, Clear Sky, were it with less bugs would turn out to be a good game. At least it was in the end for me, even if I screamed from all the crashes. The worst case is in Call of Pripyat, the ending is not very fulfilling. Military came in and...that was about it. No unique characters. But when you pack all the games in a trilogy box, the story is in there and it stretches enough.
What kept me was the world and the story. Yeah, it was not "full" but there was no need for it since it wasn't full-fledged RPG game. If Zone wasn't what you wanted it to be or did not suck you in it long enough, then I imagine it must be a chore to play the game.
Unless you were not hooked on the Zone the first time, it's no use later.

I find it harder to play with waypoints these days, either I always miss it or it's on top of something or not there at all. God forbid I'm searching for item. In Stalker games that was simple "you're fucked unless you find cover", and in that "cover" i found either loot, quest or a bozo to talk with. Sure he looks like a random bot or something, but at least they made me feel safer around them in game and not bored too much. Then I was back again in the Anomalous area.

 

[Hassknecht]

I always liked Stalker, but after all their broken promises, broken games and broken hopes, I can't say I'm very sad about their demise.
They kinda deserved it, sorry to say that.

Even with those broken promises , toward how many modern games can you point to that offer that kind of atmosphere and intensity?

Even if buggy as hell it will be very missed (by some) because it was unique.

Well, to me, even Clear Sky dropped a lot of the good atmosphere, and by that point I was too pissed off at GSC to throw even more money at them for CoP.
But yeah, SoC had the best atmosphere of all games of that year, no doubt about that.
Doesn't mean that GSC deserves to survive. They fucked their fanbase over and over (and it's not just the publisher's fault) and they got what was coming for them.
It's harsh, yes, and I really don't want them to lose their jobs, but GSC tried be Bethesda without the utterly devoted fanbase. That can't work.

 

[brfritos]

Black Isle had this opportunity with Fallout and we all know what F2 became.

This might not be the best analogy (atleast if I understood you right) since FO2 is for many people quite inferior to FO1.

But F2 has better controls, an engaging setting (but not better than F1) and better gameworld reaction, is not a PoS regarding F1.
And I AM one of those BTW, I like F1 more than F2.

Actually you are right, thinking now we would have seen the best of both worlds in F3, the good story and setting from F1 glued with the great interface and gameplay of F2.
Unfortunately Interplay choosed to make FOBOS instead F3.

 

[Crni Vuk]

@Crni Vuk

I think any game to be good requires some characters which are interesting. Except we are talkin gabout Serious Sam or Doom. But even Doom 3 tried to give you a bit more then just "Start Level - Kill deamons".

It all depends what the game wants to achieve of course. I am not saying STALKER was not an interesting game or setting. But you somehow burn out very fast on the story and game because really it is not THAT complex and you simply have no interesting characters around which make the setting in my eyes unrealistic. A world like created in Stalker simply cries for interaction with the enviroment. But the 2 factions in game are bland. Uninteresting. Not to mention the game has some really boring shooter parts ... like the brainmelter. You kill all the monolites to get inside. (and its a long path). Then you tourn that thing off. And ho surprise! The military is inside on your way out ... so more shooting. Then you get to Prypjat which was the biggest failure in my eyes. The Tschernobyle plant was awesome again and teh end of the game was acaceptable (except that part with the teleporters way to tedious in my eyes). Again I think the people which made Stalker need more experience in creating NPCs.

 

[Surf Solar]

I never really got what was so cool at STALKERs setting or atmosphere, but it was more that my computer can't handle the graphics (it runs very choppy) and I don't like Shooters... I however admit that the game has some "special" atmosphere that I would never find in any AAA game, it has some kind of "soul" that these games never would achieve. It's a pity for the demise of the developers.

 

[Serge 13]

This is a sad news indeed. But you gotta take such risks when you decide to develope PC only games. It's a real shame because these guys would have had a better chance of survival if they had released the game for the consoles too.

Let's hope the same won't happen to CD Project Red.

 

[Crni Vuk]

well at least they didn't mentioned piracy (yet) as reason.

 

[Walpknut]

Never been a fan of the Stalker series but I just ruined a friends day with these news, he is a big fan of the series, he lieks it so much that he nagged me into playing them.