S.T.A.L.K.E.R has gone gold

[QueBert]

Played it for a few solid hours last night, difficult compared to the FPS's I'm use to, I don't play many non linear games so it's kind of shocking to be able to run around anywhere, well except for a lot of the areas seem to be radio active and I get my ass zapped to death

graphics are good enough, sound is good enough, should have more story, but Oblivion had all the story in the world and was sooooo lacking. And as a dude just pointed out, how the hell could you kill somebody in a dark cave with NOBODY else around, then run straight to a town and everybody always knows you killed the person.

I've seen about 4 game site reviews of this game and they all seem to really like it, not saying the sites arr right and the people on here are wrong. But it's honestly not that bad of a game, the bugs are deal breakers to me, and all the little things like when the AI is kind of iffy and the aiming systen don't distract me much from the game *shrug* to each his own

 

[Ephemeral]

I don't know if anyone else noticed this in the manual, but: "The game difficulty alters how fast the player can be killed and how many useful objects can be found in the game."

So once the shiny armor and guns start rolling in, it might be worth ramping things up a bit.

 

[Jschmuck2]

My review:


M'eh.

 

[pontifex]

about to launch the game in a few seconds.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: 43st
I picked up the game last night and player for a couple hours. I initially had a rough time setting it up, it was just chugging for some reason. I think I ended up reducing the texture slider and maxing everything else to get it smooth. (1680x1050, e6600, 7900GS, 2Gb) I also found the user file and turned 'always run' off, this makes the constant head bobbing effect go away unless running, which makes the game all the more enjoyable.

I've read the comments in this thread and they are put forth well. Ultimately it may come down to what style of game one prefers. The game is very atmospheric and moody, and difficult to a certain extent. I'd say a combination of Thief style lurking, Half-Life style shooting, in an open map like Operation Flashpoint or Oblivion. After the first mission I have plenty of ammo, as well as all the shotgun shells from the trader guy. The knife is really helpful in the first mission when you're hard up for ammo.

Things that stood out in the first few hours...

Positive
- Atmosphere and creepy factor. Amazing level of detail, day/night cycle not too fast.
- Xray engine with regard to blending interior light and exterior light, never seen this quality in a dynamic lighting system before.
- Pretty decent performance considering what's it's offering.
- AI system is pretty random... forcing you into a more cautious play style.
- Inventory and PDA screens are in real time, no game pause here. Adds a great deal to tension when looting, especially around a pack of sleeping dogs.
- 'Always run off', and 'no running backwards' switches add some of the RPG style back into the game.

Negative
- Story isn't much of a driving or motivating factor.
- AI system is pretty random... sometimes they should be ripping you apart and they're just running around confused. AI could certainly be more aggressive toward the player.
- Turn cross hair off and you lose ID ability.
- Death screen and animation is lame.

I think it's a good game so far, it has a lot of depth which most shooters don't these days. As with anything it's the small touches and attention to detail that make a game stand out.

I onyl played a few minutes, talked to wolf and got my weapons. seems to run ok. with some of the settings on high. i might have to tweak it a bit to get better performance but it looks really pretty the way it is now.

the main reason i am posting right now is to find out where that file and always run setting is. the head bob is giving me a headache! i need to turn off autorun.

 

[Job]

ok - managed to find a setting that works pretty well - about 45-50 fps outside (as long as theres not too much happening) and 60+ indoors - although im just guessing the averages; fraps measures me below 30fps outside only when there's lightning storms + loads of foliage + ppl shooting at me.

Settings 1280 x 800, medium quality, all sliders set at 1/3, no AA, medium AF, static lighting.

so far not overly impressed with the graphics - which I wouldnt normally mind so much, but for their level of simplicity it sure eats a lot of power. My only real criticism is how utterly useless some of the weapons are and the general lack of personality of the characters. Oh well, I'll stick it out for a bit longer and see if it gets a bit more interesting....

 

[Zenoth]

There, finally uploaded my best one on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeeDbT5iLqI

 

[imported_Imp]

Ok, you owe me 3 minutes of life. AI is retarded, doesn't react to gunfire or people going down. I wouldn't call that a bug, seems like no one else can do it right, which is sad...

 

[Zenoth]

Ok, who forced you to watch it anyway ? Three minutes of your life. And do you care about what I do of my own time anyway ?

 

[apoppin]

to be fair ... you DID say it was your *best one*

 

[pontifex]

aha! found the file!
to turn always run off the file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\STALKER-SHOC

the file is called user.ltx

ok, don't turn always run off because then you can't run at all, even with the sprint key held down. also, you walk extremely slow

 

[Zenoth]

It's sarcasm ! It was sarcasm !

Seriously though, it's meant to show the bug, not to make fun of the game or anything.

I wonder why it'd be a "waste of time" anyway. There's plenty of things you can waste three minutes of life on.

 

[Regs]

Maybe Ill give it a whirl on the week end. Lets hope for a good patch shortly for the performance bugs.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
It's sarcasm ! It was sarcasm !

Seriously though, it's meant to show the bug, not to make fun of the game or anything.

I wonder why it'd be a "waste of time" anyway. There's plenty of things you can waste three minutes of life on.

Was knocking the first 3 of 4 minutes showing nothing (running around, biinocular-ing towers...). The last minute made your point.

 

[pontifex]

Warning: Possible spoiler at bottom of thread. It is marked where the spoiler begins.


after playing it for a few hours, i really like it

sometimes the map and its locations are hard to find. i had a quest to get and return a flak jacket type thing. i didn't find the guy until there was 3 hours of the quest left. i probably should have kept the jacket. oh well.

i did have to make some more adjustments to get better performance. i was getting about 20-25 fps with the original settings i had and then when i got into my 1st battle it dropped to like 15 fps. it wasn't good. the game looked good but it wasn't fun to play.

if you can run the game on its highest settings, its really pretty.
right now i did change to static lighting. that made the biggest difference. after i did that i was getting over 100 fps. i upped a few more settings and it runs around 55-65 fps now, which is pretty good. the game doesn't look all that hot this way, but i can live with it.

the ai is pretty dumb sometimes. not reacting to you shooting at them and stuff like that.

the weapons so far seem pretty weak and very inaccurate, which kind of sucks.
i've found an mp5 like weapon, double barreled sawed off shotguns, a silenced pistol, an experimental pistol, and an ak 47 type gun so far.


i want to play more but gotta go to bed
good thing tomorrow is Friday!






***** SPOILER ***** SPOILER ***** SPOILER *****

One cool thing i did was near the train track and damaged bridge. i was walking along the top area and i saw these military guys below. there was about 6 or 7 of them and about 3-4 were around a campfire. i lobbed a grenade down into the group and killed them all. the others didn't even see me or eve react. i was even trying to shoot them from up above with my pistol but it didn't hit anything.

i then dropped down and took out a guy with my shotgun. that drew attention from the other 2 guys. they were shooting at me with automatic rifles. i thought i was screwed but i quick looted the other 2 and got their rifles and killed the other 2 with them.


i also need help of you guys can give it. i'm supposed to hey a pseudodog tail. where the hell can i find one? i fought several dog like creatures and one different dog type critter near a tunnel entrance that was near the vest, but none of them had a pseudodog tail. i got other tails, but not the one for the quest. nothing shows up on the PDA for a location either.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: pontifex
ok, don't turn always run off because then you can't run at all, even with the sprint key held down. also, you walk extremely slow

It's actually a two part process, possibly why it was left off by default. Press shift, and while holding it tap X. You'll sprint then until you release the W key.

It's probably not for everyone but I like it much more than the default wobbly view.

 

[elbosco]

Originally posted by: pontifex

i also need help of you guys can give it. i'm supposed to hey a pseudodog tail. where the hell can i find one? i fought several dog like creatures and one different dog type critter near a tunnel entrance that was near the vest, but none of them had a pseudodog tail. i got other tails, but not the one for the quest. nothing shows up on the PDA for a location either.

Talk to Nimbler and he'll give you a mission to find the "perfect suit" in the tunnel behind the bandits' warehouse. The suit's guarded by a pseudodog. Kill it and search the corpse for a tail. If not, just walk around killing similar creatures and one is bound to have the tail.

 

[gorcorps]

I hope somebody finds some sort of game file you can edit to change some of the things we don't like. Games like HL2, doom3, all have cfg files that are easily edited that effects bullet damage, armor, accuracy, recoil, all sorts of stuff. I haven't found anything like that for stalker... which is too bad. If I could up the damage a bit on the pistol, increase torso damage, and boost the accuracy just a bit the game would be much more fun.

 

[voodoodrul]

Originally posted by: MaverikV
dude seriously 800x600? what is this the middle ages?

The game looks good with the stuff turned on but not good enough to justify the slideshow I'm getting. There must be some kind of problem

On my setup, it's freakin butter at 1920x1200 on max settings (every slider cranked)

E6600
8800GTX
2gb RAM

But can someone else try this for me? Massive graphical glitches if you do the following:

open stalker to the menu
load a level
once in game, alt-tab out to any other app
alt-tab back in, no problem
go to the menu in the game
alt-tab out and back in
resume the game
now alt-tab out and back in

= massive corruption

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

AI not reacting to being shot, blown up, or having nearby teammates die is what I'd consider the worst kind of broken. Doesn't that pretty much ruin the challenge and 'immersion'?

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
AI not reacting to being shot, blown up, or having nearby teammates die is what I'd consider the worst kind of broken. Doesn't that pretty much ruin the challenge and 'immersion'?

Just imagine if this game was made by ID software.

After years of delays I don't know why people give it credit for being this bawked. It seems like something other than game mechanics delayed the game. It was likely staffing issues or publishing/studio issues.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: gorcorps
I hope somebody finds some sort of game file you can edit to change some of the things we don't like. Games like HL2, doom3, all have cfg files that are easily edited that effects bullet damage, armor, accuracy, recoil, all sorts of stuff. I haven't found anything like that for stalker... which is too bad. If I could up the damage a bit on the pistol, increase torso damage, and boost the accuracy just a bit the game would be much more fun.

there's a few setting files in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\STALKER-SHOC but i don't know if any have what you are looking for. user.ltx file has mappings and some other settings in it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo
AI not reacting to being shot, blown up, or having nearby teammates die is what I'd consider the worst kind of broken. Doesn't that pretty much ruin the challenge and 'immersion'?

if they can patch it and fix a few things, this game would be even better.
even with a few of the bugs and having to lower settings, i think its still a fun game. i'm enjoying it more than a few of the more polished games that came out in recently.

 

[nitromullet]

On my setup, it's freakin butter at 1920x1200 on max settings (every slider cranked)

E6600
8800GTX
2gb RAM

ditto... I actually still had the HD in my box with Vista RC2 on it so I blew that away and installed XP and I put STALKER on the new XP drive. Maybe I'll install it on the Vista partition this evening to see how it runs on Vista also.

 

[StopSign]

HDR really kills outdoor performance for me. With the "Object lighting" section I'm perfectly smooth indoors and around 34 FPS outdoors.