Is the game Stalker ok for someone who is not very good at games?

[dasherHampton]

A friend of mine was telling me about it and it seems like it would be fascinating to visit at least a version of the area around Chernobyl in game form.

I'm not a very good or experienced gamer. Is there a very easy diffuclty level included in the game?

 

[Zenoth]

There's an "easy" (I think it's called Novice) difficulty setting in all three Stalker games, indeed.

However, in Stalker you don't start with good gear, this needs to be taken into consideration. It takes a while to find good weapons, providing better aim / precision. It's at the start, with awful pistols, that regardless of difficulty you might still have a hard time. But generally-speaking, if the main goal is to play to essentially explore and look at the scenery because it's set around the exclusion zone and you're just curious about that aspect then I'd say it's not going to be much of a problem. If I recall correctly, the easiest settings decreases aim accuracy on enemies (well, humans that is; not sure on what it does to the critters in the wild, maybe less health points and aggressiveness, but don't quote me on that one).

I still feel hesitant in basically saying all this because Stalker is a kind of game that can be different enough from one session to another, from one player to another. But playing the game on the easiest setting would definitely help alleviate anything else the game has to offer as a challenge (or an actual imbalance, making it "tough" but for wrong reasons). So the gist is that it should be "ok" on the easiest setting, but do expect a rather slow start.

 

[dasherHampton]

I think I'd like to try it.

I've seen pictures of the game vs. real life locations and it seems fascinating.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I think it kind of ruins the game but you can probably find what is known as a trainer that allows you to cheat in the game and give yourself unlimited health among other things.

 

[EXCellR8]

The hardest part of the game is getting it to run without crashing... sorry, couldn't help myself.

As per the actual difficulty, i found the first game middle of the road, clear sky super hard, and then call of pripyat a tad too easy if you knew where to go to get some of the better gear early on.

Regardless, any of the games are worth experiencing just for the atmosphere, if anything.

 

[dasherHampton]

I think I'd probably be ok without having to add any cheats to it. I'm not completely uncoordinated.

I did play Half Life 2 all the way to the end. I can't remember if it was on easy or not. I figure the difficulty levels are probably similar?

 

[DigDog]

i've played all three stalker games (which are essentially a reboot of each other) and i think they are some of the greatest games ever made. BUT, none of the will work unless you patch them with the community patches. You can't just get it from GOG and expect it to work.
There is more than one patch per game, it's up to you to decide which one to use. I would however recommend you *do not* use the Misery patch as that is genuinely impossible even for experienced players.

as for difficulty, yes they are difficult. But it's the kind of difficulty that just forces you to take longer to finish the game. Is it considered difficult, that you have to learn to keep in mind where to find cover, when there is a anomaly blowout? To keep your guns in order, to avoid unecessary conflict, to conserve ammunition?

The only game you might find frustrating is Clear Sky, as the first area is quite scarce of good equipment, and once you get out of there, there is a short section that will likely leave you stumped as to how to pass it. A bad design decision, but something you can get through with a Youtube video.

 

[Stringjam]

The easiest way to get in and explore these games will be with the Complete Mod. The mod comes with a "Wish Granter" that will let you essentially load-out with anything available, and even teleport to any location you want. If just exploring the world is what you're looking for, this would probably be your best bet.

I love all 3 games, and consider my time spent playing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. my fondest memories of gaming. I love the difficulty and the sometimes tedious progression. The soundtrack and environment are unlike any other game I've played. They don't ease you into the environment, they pretty much just throw you out there, ill-equipped, and you quickly learn that firefights and confrontations aren't something you just go blazing into like 90% of the other FPS games out there.

What you will miss out on if you use the Wish Granter is the sense of desperation you get when you have 2 med-kits left and you know there's a Controller in the next tunnel, or you're trying to get to an objective and you're running out of daylight, etc...so don't be afraid to try it without it, you may find yourself turning into a "good" gamer just to get the real experience of it.

 

[EXCellR8]

I remember firing up the original for the first time on a single core machine with a 6800GT and being blown away with how good it looked lol; this was well before any of the atmospheric and environment mods and improvements. What a game, though. It was buggy as hell but they did do a pretty decent job at patching out the worst of them. Didn't make the Brain Scorcher level any less terrifying though. Damn that.

Shame there are no more of them coming, and I do like Metro, but it's a far cry from what Stalker was in terms of overall experience. I've recommended it to so many people.

 

[Stringjam]

Shame there are no more of them coming, and I do like Metro, but it's a far cry from what Stalker was in terms of overall experience. I've recommended it to so many people.

Actually, GSC announced today that they are developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (release 2021). There is still hope.

I agree on the Brain Scorcher - what an amazing, dark experience approaching on that road with those big rusted antennae cracking and arcing.

 

[DigDog]

imho stalker is the closest to a RPG that a shooter has ever come. advancement is slow, more so at the start. Sometimes you go out and you will burn through as much ammo as you can buy with the loot obtained.

Then little by little, you manage to upgrade your scope, make your rifle more accurate, avoid stupid mutants, and BAM! you are ready for the next zone.

Stalker could have been a very popular game, were not for the fact that when each game was released, they were unplayable - crashes, corrupted save games, quests breaking .. and that stupid name. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seriously WHY. Just f* call it stalker.
Yahtzee had a word about it:

also, possibly the best shooting system of any FPS game. i just can't stop praising it.

 

[Thump553]

A long time ago on the internet I ran across a set of pictures that someone took of tour of the Chernobyl area. You're right, it was quite fascinating.

I couldn't easily find a link to those pictures but apparently now they actually run multi-day tours of the area.

 

[sandorski]

The first one was the best, IMO. It is not an easy game though.

 

[Elfear]

Some of my favorite games period. The atmosphere was just incredible and plenty of crazy places to explore. Highly recommend it!

 

[zinfamous]

I wouldn't say I'm a pro or anything, but I tend to have little problem with most games, including FPS that I try. ...but I found that Stalker has a very steep learning curve and at least early on, it is extremely difficult, which I like, because you can't go blazing into areas with little consequence. ...but whether it's age or patience, I never got far with the first one, and I keep thinking I will start another playthrough at some point and give it time. I can tell it's a solid game and they do have a great reputation...but I certainly wouldn't consider them easy.

 

[zinfamous]

I think I'd probably be ok without having to add any cheats to it. I'm not completely uncoordinated.

I did play Half Life 2 all the way to the end. I can't remember if it was on easy or not. I figure the difficulty levels are probably similar?

No, not remotely so, imo.

 

[dasherHampton]

I bought all three games yesterday.

I like the first one so far. It is nicely atmospheric like everyone says. I haven't found it overly tough so far but I'm not that far in. The only two annoyances so far are the head bobbing and the length of time it takes to travel back to the shopkeeper to sell guns.

I got through the railway bridge, past the exit at the first level, and to the garbage. My friends keep dying. Is it my fault?

There's a guy just past the railway bridge you're supposed to talk to who immediately gets attacked by dogs. So I helped him fight them off and I figured we were buddies. The next time I went by there on my way to sell loot I heard him yelling and getting attacked by MORE dogs. By the time I got there he was dead.

Also the bandit leader at the garbage. I helped him fight off the attackers and thought maybe I had found a new buddy. When I went to loot the dead bodies after the battle a whole new group of bad guys came out of nowhere. By the time that battle was over I had survived but HE was dead.

I got no friends, man. Am I doing something wrong? Should I start over?

 

[EXCellR8]

Nah, just keep going. You're much better off playing a lone wolf in the first game.

 

[EXCellR8]

Actually, GSC announced today that they are developing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 (release 2021). There is still hope.

Really? I had heard about some kind of Stalker MMO which I immediately dismissed as probably garbage if anything.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I am a casual gamer and not very good at it. And i liked Stalker a lot. Cannot remember it had any issues. I bought the dvd version of the game long ago. And it ran fine, even better after i downloaded the updates. I assume the steram version should run fine too. Definitely, if you put stalker on easy, you are going to be at the point that you just set it to normal level. THe one thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to go around like tex gunslinger and shoot at everything that moves. Sometimes, it is better to run like hell and save ammunition. The mutant dogs you can outrun to get on some higher ground.


Tips but can also be a spoiler :
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-my-next-attempt-to-finish-it.2429981/



edit: I am now trying to play metro 2033 and it is very hard. They took out the easy option.
Instead of relaxing, i am having to put a lot of effort in this game.
Big bummer.

another edit:
After reading my own thread, it is obvious i had some issues.
But i finished the game.

 

[jtvang125]

How open world are these games? Are they similar to the Fallout series?

 

[sandorski]

How open world are these games? Are they similar to the Fallout series?

Not quite. There are areas you travel through, kinda like going to a DLC area in FO, but the individual areas are much smaller than FO areas.

 

[EXCellR8]

Call of Pripyat was probably the most open, with two main areas, but the first games were structured a bit oddly--though it worked well. There are some "main" sections and then smaller sub-sections that branch off on either side. I have a really nice super-high resolution image of the map in the first game somewhere...

You can tell how much the games are loved just by home much people will talk about them when they come up lol

 

[William Gaatjes]

I have never played fall out but with stalker you can run for say 5 to 10 minutes (I guess) before the next part of the map has to be loaded.

 

[Zenoth]

I bought all three games yesterday.

I like the first one so far. It is nicely atmospheric like everyone says. I haven't found it overly tough so far but I'm not that far in. The only two annoyances so far are the head bobbing[...]

The head bobbing annoyed me as well, I remember. I haven't touched the Stalker games for about two years, it's vague; but I clearly recall that there was a very simple method to decrease or to disable the head bobbing effect. It's via editing one of the game's Config files, opened via Notepad for example. In one of them you'd have to check for a specific line (value) and either decrease the number, or 'comment out' the line (or set the value to zero) to disable it. I'll check around if I can find what it was I'll get back to you about it (my Stalker games aren't installed, I'll Google it).

EDIT: Was quick enough. Got this one (about the head bobbing):

https://www.nexusmods.com/stalkershadowofchernobyl/mods/415

What I did not remember is that the .ltx files (which can be opened with Notepad) are normally archived, but can be extracted to be modified (mods do that). To avoid having to extract them to modify them you can always try specific mods that already extracted them and give them as direct downloads (which is what that mod I linked to does).

Scroll down a bit on that page linked above and read the description. It should show the steps to follow.

There's another method for the reduction (or disabling) of the head bobbing, via the game's console. However that method supposedly can cause mouse lag issues. I wouldn't know myself if it's true, since I remember never using that console method. I always reduced the bobbing effect via the file with Notepad, very simple to do.