Stalker.

Pulled the trigger on the trio, just waiting for new GPU and will start exploring the Zone ;)
 
Anyone playing\played misery 2.1?

Made the mistake of getting into it a bloodsucker's lair, when I got out it started going after me, I ran as far as I could, but now it seems it wont give up, I am getting stalked for days now, I can't really stand up to him, I am low on ammo, I tried to stay together with a patrol but it killed them all.
Any ideas on what to do?
 
Cool, they're finally on GOG. I got Clear Sky second hand a while back but it was loaded down with DRM so I didn't play it. I'll be sure to get the 3 of them and play them at some point in the future.
 
I bought SoC, and I'm favorably impressed. Nice atmosphere and an interesting setting, some thought required about how to approach difficult situations, pretty decent balance between wide-openness and linearity -- it's good. It's a FPS that isn't pretending to be a cRPG, too. I may pick up the other two when they go on sale again.

It reminds me a little of Gothic, actually.

I could see a game like this crossed with some of the hidey-sneaky elements of Thief.
 
I just finished SoC yesterday. I enjoyed it.

I give it high marks for setting and atmosphere. I like how it has an eerie, threatening feeling overall, punctuated by episodes of exploration that are scary and tense. The first time you run into a controller is memorable, to say the least.

I give it pretty good marks for story. It didn't blow me away, I suppose, but it didn't disappoint me either, and the drama was well handled. The multiple endings, although limited in scope, were better than a single ending.

Gameplay was a mixed bag. Mostly good, but I disliked how the last third of the game was just more and more and more combat. Combat for the sake of combat is boring, and I ultimately cheated and made myself invincible so I could just plow through it and get to the point. I guess I prefer the possibility of winning by solving a puzzle or being clever in some way.

I took some good advice and used the Zone Reclamation Project for my first playthrough. I found it very helpful.
 
I believe what the Stalker game really dont have is a good presentation of the storyline. The narrating if you want so. I always find the way how the story is unfold infront of you lacking. And I am not even talking about the story itself, that is alright. I mean its simply the way how its "told". No clue how to explain it. It felt boring, as I believe it does not a good job to show the movitations of the player or the other NPCs in the game, I think the lack of interaction here was also the problem, it feels rather like interacting with talking puppets then characters that have their own agenda or motivation.

And yeah, the last part of the game once you get over the brainmelter is simply boring combat.
 
I hope it is a subjective matter.

I am dreading to play the stalker series after i finished the metro series. (same develloppers)

Those have a storyline that isn't impressive by itself, but the way they convey it seems to me unbelievably great, especially metro 2033.
 
Haven't played it for quite some time, but as i remember it's a pretty great shooter with superb atmosphere (especially the first one). The mechanics and physics of shooting coupled with the open environment and being able to modify your character with armour, weapons and artefacts was a blast. I dreaded going to the x-labs (in a good way, because i was really curious, but at the same time, it scared the shit out of me) and the whole journey to the power plant felt like you're walking away from all civilizations, left on your own against the fucking zombies and other horrid creatures. Having those qualities it didn't hurt as much from the lack of narrative and in some aspects it made it even better, in others not so much.
 
I believe what the Stalker game really dont have is a good presentation of the storyline.
I agree with that. There could be a lot more and better writing to explain exactly what's going on. I've never read the novels, so I was starting with no inside knowledge.

On the other hand, I appreciated that there was nothing to tell me explicitly what was going on or why. I had to figure that out for myself from the things people would say.

It's not a perfect game by any means, but it's got a great atmosphere.
 
no, no, dont get me wrong its not so much a "bad" game. It is alright and it is a lot of fun.

But it just feels so unreal in many situations for a game that is so gritty and dark. I mean take the player interaction with NPCs or well other Stalkers as example. It feels almost like its just slaped in the game without any real idea of how to create a believable scenario. Its been a long time that I played the game, so maybe I am wrong, forgive me for any errors, but I remember the begining you had this merchant that bought your wounded body and now you have to do ... stuff for him, I think?. This in my opinion feels so uncreative particularly the way how it starts and how it is shown to the player. The moment you step outside of his bunker though where you see all the stalkers around the campfire and one of them playing his guitar is where the game REALLY starts in my opinion. They also wasted a lot of potential with the factions that have been in the game. It seems like all you do is just to follow a rail road with the Tschernobyle plant as the "end". And nothing that you do outside of it really matters. Or only very little of it. I had the most fun exploring those labs (in one mission), hunting down for artifacts and exploring the zone. But what the game lacks is simply memorable characters and personalites. Something that games like Deus Ex always had. The NPCs you interact with in Stalker dont have enough of a personality to be clearly indistinguishable from each other.

Another very good example is call of Pripyat. A decent game, as far as shooters goes. But the start of the game is so ... I dont know ... unimaginative that its mind boggling. A short text. You drop in the zone with a weapon. That's it. Nothing more. You are some kind of military officers with the target to find a lost group of special forces which had the target to find some kind of laboratory or what ever. This is what I mean with presentation. There is no contact for the player that tells him something about the world outside the zone. That he is steping in to this little world, but that you have actually something outside there as well. Military personal that stay in contact with you, giving you sometimes a radio signal, asking how your mission is going or situations where you report in etc. something that you could see as interaction. This alone would have done a lot to improve the story of the game.
 
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I just bought this game and installed STALKER Complete 2009.

I'm looking forward to playing it, I've heard lots of good things about it.
 
no, no, dont get me wrong its not so much a "bad" game. It is alright and it is a lot of fun.

But it just feels so unreal in many situations for a game that is so gritty and dark. I mean take the player interaction with NPCs or well other Stalkers as example. It feels almost like its just slaped in the game without any real idea of how to create a believable scenario.
Exactly right. I agree with you.

When you ask other stalkers about gossip or rumors, the responses are generic and stiff, for example.

BTW, the English translation of the dialogue text is fairly poor, as well.

Still, I had fun playing it.

I just bought this game and installed STALKER Complete 2009.

I'm looking forward to playing it, I've heard lots of good things about it.

If you've never played SoC before, I recommend the Zone Reclamation Project (ZRP) instead of STALKER Complete. I have nothing against STALKER Complete, but it makes significant changes to the game, whereas the ZRP just fixes bugs and allows you to tweak things to your liking. It's your call though.
 
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I keep seeing these awesome pictures of the sequel that was cancelled.

A word then, on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2:



. . . *clears throat*

. . .

We finally really did it. . .

YOU MANIACS!

YOU BLEW IT UP!

AH, DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

*slumps to ground*

. . .

That is all.
 
There is a trilogy of recent FPS that also take place in the area of Chernobyle.

It is called Chernobyl Underground.
I have no idea of the quality.
 
I've just roamed into this thread to ask you to, please, read the novel and watch the film. It will be good for you.
 
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