If Stalker was released in Russia to the Russian public, then it was a blatant rip off. When they wrote the book/made the movie, they used the English language word "Stalker", which has no meaning in Russian, and hence, it became a proper name associated with the story in the way of Hobbits or Narnia after their introduction by Tolkien and CS Lewis. Remember how Gary Gygax had to take the Hobbits and rename them Halflings for D&D game because Tolkien's estate sued for copyrighjt infringement and won?
The first English S.T.A.L.K.E.R. review
- Thread starter Tannhauser
- Start date
Actually, according to my Russian dictionary, stalker is a Russian word. For "stalker".
Go figure.
Go figure.
Whether it is a new word or not is irrelevant. "Biznizman" is also a new word, but every Russian understands what it means. So barring a mistake from my dictionary, you're right in saying a lot of Russians would relate this to the movie Stalker in their minds, you're wrong in saying it is a "blatant rip off". If it was, it'd be litigateable. It isn't.
...
You don't just diss Tarkovsky.
You don't just diss Tarkovsky.
Akudin said:
Oh, sure, but this isn't, and they're not presenting it as such. In other words, if you're going to accuse them of any kind of malrepresentation, it's mostly because of how you perceive it, not how they present it. Just like the Drakensang guys assuring people "this is not Realms of Arkania 4".
If people still want to look at it as such, that's the people's problems, not the producers.
Sure, I am not accusing them of any malrepresentation. I am simply noting the apparent influences on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that others might not be familiar with. Wooz, Tarkovsky is great, but he INTERPRETED the book. The book was written in the 1970's and was translated into English. I saw the movie and read the book. Why don't you do the same and draw your own conclusions?
Interpreted?
You mean, he interpreted the screenplay, or the "Roadside Picnic / Piknik na obochine" novel?
'Cause, you know, blaming a director for ripping off the screenplay would probably be the pinnacle of your moronic statements on these boards.
You mean, he interpreted the screenplay, or the "Roadside Picnic / Piknik na obochine" novel?
'Cause, you know, blaming a director for ripping off the screenplay would probably be the pinnacle of your moronic statements on these boards.
He interpreted the screen-play that was written by the authors of the Picnic na Obocine novel and was based on the novel, but was not the novel itself. Have you read it? Since when is nterpreting anything a rip off? When you adapt something for screen you interpret the original work. You don't get it or are you just on the rag today?
Akudin said:
No. How is this relevant?
Also, you just made a complete ass out of yourself.
Just sayin'
edit: say, you could have the decency to add an "edit" label if you're going to completely alter your post after I replied to it.
Wooz said:
Apparently Akudin wanted to mention lotsa times that he read the novel and saw the movie, to make sure we all knew about it.
To be clear, the topic of the thread is the game STALKER, not its namesake. Further derailment will lead to splitvat.
I think I have the right to answer your question. No derailment intended. The book is a classic in the way Earth Abides is a classic of the post apocalyptic sci-fi. Anybody who enjoyed Fallout will probably enjoy reading the Picnic. A lot more people saw the movie, than read the book and as it often happens, the book is quite different from the movie and from Western Sci-Fi in terms of the alien technology described. That is all. This is getting frustrating. Anyway, if you ever get the chance, read the book. You won't regret it. Bye.
EvgeniBuzov
First time out of the vault
Meh, it's alright. I wonder how they are going to translate those 7 words on russian thoughTannhauser said:
The review also pointed out how poor it seems that players can't 'Power Up' their stalkers with expirience points and such. And instead of that, the only way to make your Stalker better is to buy decent equipment...
I don't get what's their problem though. GSA Gameworld never said that this game is much of an RPG. You get a gun, you aim, you shoot. So did the people who reviwed the game wanted each shot count as an action point or a fully shown damage counter?! Pff....
Stalker is an Action game with slight RPG elements.
One other thing I forgot to mention...
For everything they cut out, at least they kept everyone's favorite feature: using vodka to cure radiation poisoning.
For everything they cut out, at least they kept everyone's favorite feature: using vodka to cure radiation poisoning.
EvgeniBuzov said:
That's the problem with how the game industry and mainstream sites see RPG. Everything that has even some shity annoying character development using stats or skills but lacks everything that RPG would seem to need is still a RPG. When stalker has no experience points it is flamed.
I dont know the game and it's RPG elemtents but why should anyone complain about no skills or stats developmnet. I don't remember anyone claiming STALKER would have something like this.
EvgeniBuzov
First time out of the vault
radnan said:totally offtopic: srry
WTF? Chernobyl is in Ukraine. And I for one know that not much people walk around with gask masks and AK-47's... you's probably got that from a Russian Stalker fansite where they made some of their pictures resembling the highly anticipated game.
Chill, dude. It's a joke.
Anyway, I managed to get hold of the beta multiplayer release. Here's a list of the things I did and didn't like. As I said, it's a beta version, so hopefully, stuff is already fixed in the gold version.
Also, I didn't get the chance to play it against opponents, leaving me walking in an empty level shooting at things, mostly walls.
Things I like:
- Aiming weapons (more or less) as in real life. It's cool, it adds to realism, only one thing: I'm pretty sure IRL, your hand shakes. At least a very little bit, unless you're Robocop.
- Pretty good depiction of old, rusting things.
- Weapons. They look and sound pretty good, 'behave' as guns, recoil and all. Not to mention most of 'em are Russian guns.
- Your screen moves a bit to the sides when your character is running.
- Irradiated things you're supposed to avoid.
- Visibility/Loudness indicator showing how visible and loud you are.
Things I didn't like:
- Lack of physics (hopefully, there are physics in the final release of the game).
- *Extremely* annoying footstep sounds.
- The loudness indicator thingy is kind of flawed. It shows I make as much noise walking as firing an AK 74 ground assault rifle in full burst mode.
- Somewhat flawed weather effects: the rain particles are very good, but the rain fog isn't. There are weird "sliced" things running all over the air like in a bad disco in Ibiza.
That's pretty much it. I look forward to the game, I'm definitely buying it, if those things are fixed.
Anyway, I managed to get hold of the beta multiplayer release. Here's a list of the things I did and didn't like. As I said, it's a beta version, so hopefully, stuff is already fixed in the gold version.
Also, I didn't get the chance to play it against opponents, leaving me walking in an empty level shooting at things, mostly walls.
Things I like:
- Aiming weapons (more or less) as in real life. It's cool, it adds to realism, only one thing: I'm pretty sure IRL, your hand shakes. At least a very little bit, unless you're Robocop.
- Pretty good depiction of old, rusting things.
- Weapons. They look and sound pretty good, 'behave' as guns, recoil and all. Not to mention most of 'em are Russian guns.
- Your screen moves a bit to the sides when your character is running.
- Irradiated things you're supposed to avoid.
- Visibility/Loudness indicator showing how visible and loud you are.
Things I didn't like:
- Lack of physics (hopefully, there are physics in the final release of the game).
- *Extremely* annoying footstep sounds.
- The loudness indicator thingy is kind of flawed. It shows I make as much noise walking as firing an AK 74 ground assault rifle in full burst mode.
- Somewhat flawed weather effects: the rain particles are very good, but the rain fog isn't. There are weird "sliced" things running all over the air like in a bad disco in Ibiza.
That's pretty much it. I look forward to the game, I'm definitely buying it, if those things are fixed.
Gnidrologist
Wasted
''No. How is this relevant? ''Wooz said:
I'm no Rosh and my english is mediocre, so I wont write an essay now, but this kind of response clearly shows that ignorance and dumbfuckery is nothing unfamiliar even to hardcore NMAers, when the issue is not concerned with Fallout stuff.
Maybe Akudin didn't explain himself clearly enough for everyone not familiar with the Strugacky (spelling?) bros novel and Tarkovsky's film to understand the point as to why the movie has almost nothing to do with novel, except setting, and why the word ''stalker'' is completely irrelevent if it is not seen as an effort to somewhat transfere the feel and ambience of Stalker the movie to the game, because it is. Even when you look at landscapes and shots from urban areas in screens, there are clearly a lot of citations from Stalker movie.
As for the fact that Strugackies also wrote the script for the movie, well, it is only relevant because Tarkovsky asked them to write it after reading the Roadside Picnic. However it was changed so mutch, that in fact, the script and novel has very loose connection, besides the overall setting and some features/terms/characters used in it.