I just got Stalker

[Inspector Jihad]

I'm installing it as we speak...anything I need to know about the game? I hear its very buggy.

 

[Miklebud]

Enjoy it!
It starts off a bit on the difficult side, but once you get the hang of the aiming and find better weapons, it's get more fun! Um... I think "[" or "]" are quick Medpacks.
Good game! I enjoyed it immensely!

 

[skace]

Very buggy... no. Couple little issues and 1 really big one. I believe the really big one was resolved in one of the patches. It had to do with doing a sewer sequence in an unexpected manner.

To keep this generic lets just say the bug involved 2 paths to the same destination. People would go 90% of the way down path A and then backtrack all the way back and go down path B. Path A involved an underground area. The problem was that the game had a script that kicked off when completing path A and since people backtracked that script never fired off. Let's also just say path B is heavily defended and the game attempts to push you towards path A, so most people won't do this wrong.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

cool, good to hear that its fun and that they fixed up some of the issues.

 

[Martimus]

Download the patches, and the bugs all go away, but make sure you download them because the base game is VERY buggy! The game is pretty addictive after you get into it, but it has a steep learning curve, and is a little boring until you get past the first map.

 

[CrackRabbit]

It's still buggy even after the patches, but nothing game breaking I have noticed.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

I got it to load once, then it always froze on the loading screen after that. Hello dustbin.

 

[marmasatt]

I thought this game was pretty awesome. Start of the game with everyone having the thick Russian accents. It had me at "hello" with the environment and atmosphere. It really had the Mad Max feeling of desolation and scavenging. Graphics were outstanding (especially the lighting, whether effects, and the lightening was insane). Good mix of A/I. Story was pretty decent. The RPG element and abilities to join tribes was just a bonus IMO and I don't even like RPG's. Certainly one of the best games I've ever played. Good luck and let us know how you like it.

 

[Coldkilla]

After you beat the game first, make sure you visit the stalker files' website and download a full conversion mod. It decreases some of the prices so they are more affordible, adds vehicles (were supposed to be in the game originally), adds super high-res textures, sound effects, and the game is that much cooler. (Doesn't ruin the experience at all, it is a well balanced and fair mod)

Great game, difficult kinda... but I'm an OFP fan and 95% of all games are easy compared to it. Stalker is one of the best imo.

Edit: Oh and the mod: http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Faiakes_Mod;83643

 

[Stoneburner]

what's the DRM like on this game? I may play it after i finish crysis next year.

 

[Coldkilla]

I cannot remember the DRM, hmm... thought it wasn't too hard... to erm... play. *cough*

 

[mrblotto]

Thoroughly enjoyed the game. But yeah, patch the hell out of it before you do anything, cause your saved games dont transfer over.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

awesome game so far, the atmosphere is great like when you're running around and there are dogs and boars fighting each other. graphics are awesome even on my lowly 6600gt. as for the patches, in the options menu, there is a button to check for patches. when i clicked it, it said there were no new patches even though i didn't download anything. is that a mistake or did my copy come updated...although i doubt that.

 

[Chunkee]

look for the upside down budweiser can...pretty cool...a hidden gem awaits for you InSpector JIHaddim

 

[sandorski]

Ya, Stalker really makes everything seem bleak and chaotic. Excellent atmosphere.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
awesome game so far, the atmosphere is great like when you're running around and there are dogs and boars fighting each other. graphics are awesome even on my lowly 6600gt. as for the patches, in the options menu, there is a button to check for patches. when i clicked it, it said there were no new patches even though i didn't download anything. is that a mistake or did my copy come updated...although i doubt that.

definitely find and d/l patches ... if you game is 1.0 you *will* have some issues although i played thru it unpatched without any major issues - and if you patch it after you save, your saves will not be saved any longer

my GotY for '07 ... a RPG in FPS-clothing

 

[Zenoth]

I'd suggest you to download a modification right away. But if you really want to play the vanilla version from the start, then that's fine. However once you've finished it once or twice, I'd highly recommend you to search for modifications around, there's a good number of them worth playing.

In my book STALKER still is the second best FPS I've ever played, and the best one this year (yes I think it's superior to Crysis in many ways, except for the graphics of course, which by the way are still good enough in STALKER even if the engine is like six or seven years-old).

 

[imported_sushicide]

best STALKER site:

http://stalker.heroesradio.com/index.php

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Stoneburner
what's the DRM like on this game? I may play it after i finish crysis next year.

After you download the patches, the DVD is no longer required to run the game. I love it! I hate changing those things!

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: Coldkilla
Edit: Oh and the mod: http://stalker.filefront.com/file/Faiakes_Mod;83643

Thanks for the link! I will definitely check it out.

 

[homercles337]

Originally posted by: Martimus
Download the patches, and the bugs all go away, but make sure you download them because the base game is VERY buggy! The game is pretty addictive after you get into it, but it has a steep learning curve, and is a little boring until you get past the first map.

So its really easy* to learn how to the play the game then? I have been thinking about picking this up myself. Maybe after my 8800GT gets shipped...

*note, learning curves characterize learning as a function of time. A steep learning curve means that you learn a lot in a short time. A shallow learning curve means that something is difficult to learn as a function of time.

 

[Miklebud]

@homercles

It takes some time to get used to the aiming and guns. I almost gave up on it after 45minutes from being frustrated on the first mission. But once I got the hang of the weapons, I LOVED the game!

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: homercles337

Originally posted by: Martimus
Download the patches, and the bugs all go away, but make sure you download them because the base game is VERY buggy! The game is pretty addictive after you get into it, but it has a steep learning curve, and is a little boring until you get past the first map.

So its really easy* to learn how to the play the game then? I have been thinking about picking this up myself. Maybe after my 8800GT gets shipped...

*note, learning curves characterize learning as a function of time. A steep learning curve means that you learn a lot in a short time. A shallow learning curve means that something is difficult to learn as a function of time.

It is a complicated game, and doesn't really have a tutorial type mission in the beginning, so until you learn all the ropes it is pretty hard. Once you do, it gets pretty easy, almost too easy (once you know what you are doing, it is kind of difficult to actually die - even at the hardest difficulty level), but the RPG elements really draw you in and make you want to keep playing.

 

[wrangler]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
I'd suggest you to download a modification right away. But if you really want to play the vanilla version from the start, then that's fine. However once you've finished it once or twice, I'd highly recommend you to search for modifications around, there's a good number of them worth playing.

In my book STALKER still is the second best FPS I've ever played, and the best one this year (yes I think it's superior to Crysis in many ways, except for the graphics of course, which by the way are still good enough in STALKER even if the engine is like six or seven years-old).

Ditto

With the patches and mods and the ability to crank the resolution I think the game looks very good and in places was just as impressive as Crysis, now when hardware comes out that can crank the resolution and framerate Crysis will own but all in all STALKER has some impressive graphics. Excellent atmosphere.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: MmmSkyscraper
I got it to load once, then it always froze on the loading screen after that. Hello dustbin.

Yeah I bet that was the game's fault...

Is this a legit copy or one you downloaded?