STALKER: An exercise in masochism?

[dpodblood]

Has any one else here played STALKER:SOC? I have been playing for about 2 hours now, and I have to say it is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played...

You are thrown into "the zone" with basically no tutorial whatsoever except for "here's your map and diary." Wouldn't be so bad if there was a game manual, but the steam version doesn't come with one. You start getting missions objectives, and there's your map marker. But wait... what is the map marker pointing at? I have no idea because it isn't the mission objective...

Gunplay... It's terrible. The enemies just absorb ammo like it's nothing. If you're persistent enough they'll eventually fall down (that's assuming clipping issues don't get in the way), but for some reason any enemy in the game can drop you with just a couple of shots.

Inventory... Ok I'm running along on my merry way. Oh wait all the sudden I can't run any more. What happened? Did my inventory suddenly get heavier... I have no idea. Better drop the 20 shotguns, and 50 pistols I picked up along the way. Nobody here to trade with here anyway...

Is it just me or is this one of the buggiest least polished games of all time? I have heard great things about the STALKER series, but it's making one hell of a terrible first impression.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

You just suck at the game. Headshots are insta-kill (two hours in, at least), the map markers do exactly what they say (they point at where you should go), the inventory does not magically change weight, and you start the game talking with a trader. The game is excellent. Your game playing skills are not.

 

[stag3]

do you have stalker complete installed? i HATED vanilla stalker
but with complete it was awesome.

what i did as i left the camp, head down the right road near the blockade thing, kill the patrol guys (its tough but can be done) pick up the ak47 rifle, and you're set at that point for a long time.

 

[dpodblood]

I do have STALKER complete installed.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I do have STALKER complete installed.

Then you suck Then I guess no single game can be everyone's cup of tea. I really enjoyed the game, esp. with the Complete Mod installed.

I did not run into any of the issues that you've mentioned while playing the game; are you sure you've installed the most current release of the mod?

 

[dpodblood]

You just suck at the game. Headshots are insta-kill (two hours in, at least), the map markers do exactly what they say (they point at where you should go), the inventory does not magically change weight, and you start the game talking with a trader. The game is excellent. Your game playing skills are not.

If headshots are instakill than the hit detection is not very good. I have played many many shooter games, and the AI should always react regardless of whether it's a head shot or a body shot.

So does the map marker point to the mission objective, or to the path to the mission objective? It's never explained... And if it's an "open world game" why does it funnel you into a certain path, instead of letting you find your own way?

If the inventory hasn't changed weight why is it all the sudden I'm no longer able to run? Is there a stamina system? I ran from the starting outpost to the military outpost without stopping, and never ran out of stamina, so why all of the sudden can't I run?

 

[ibex333]

Give this game a chance dude! You have to PLAY the game to understand what is going on. The story and everything... Off course you get thrown into the zone with no explanation, no weapons, etc. But it becomes more clear later on.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I do have STALKER complete installed.

Complete just makes it look prettier, install the Oblivion Lost content mod, it improves graphics and drastically improves gameplay.

 

[Schadenfreude]

If headshots are instakill than the hit detection is not very good. I have played many many shooter games, and the AI should always react regardless of whether it's a head shot or a body shot.

So does the map marker point to the mission objective, or to the path to the mission objective? It's never explained... And if it's an "open world game" why does it funnel you into a certain path, instead of letting you find your own way?

If the inventory hasn't changed weight why is it all the sudden I'm no longer able to run? Is there a stamina system? I ran from the starting outpost to the military outpost without stopping, and never ran out of stamina, so why all of the sudden can't I run?

The marker points to the objective, and there is a stamina system in-game. It may be that you've over-encumbered yourself as well, you might want to check that.

 

[KaOTiK]

I've loved all the Stalker games personally. Excellent games all around made even better with the complete mods

 

[Kristijonas]

Call of Pripyat is my favorite. I will probably play it again. The vanilla however just seems unfinished, too unrealistic, repetitive and linear. But it's still a fine game.

 

[stag3]

it didn't get really good for me until i got to the garbage dump area

 

[toyota]

I would have never made it through the game without some mod that let me take more damage. some of those bastards could see and kill me almost instantly even in pitch black dark.

 

[Kristijonas]

Strange. I found the difficulty of Stalker to be completely perfect! Enemies could take you down really fast most of the time, but only if you didn't keep distance, didn't move and shoot from cover. It's not a rambo-type shooter game and using cover/keeping distance really works great. Also, shooting from corners also helps a lot. The game is neither easy nor difficult, it's challenging. Just my opinion, of course.

 

[toyota]

Strange. I found the difficulty of Stalker to be completely perfect! Enemies could take you down really fast most of the time, but only if you didn't keep distance, didn't move and shoot from cover. It's not a rambo-type shooter game and using cover/keeping distance really works great. Also, shooting from corners also helps a lot. The game is neither easy nor difficult, it's challenging. Just my opinion, of course.

and your opinion is much different than the norm for sure. it is pretty well known that STALKER can be pretty hard in spots and even reviews mentioned it could be unforgiving.

and me sucking only was part of the problem. I was shot through a wall or train car on several occasions. and like I already mentioned they could pick me off even in pitch black darkness.

 

[JSt0rm]

one of the finest fps games ever made.

 

[mizzou]

only thing i dislike about it is no option in vanilla to disable head bob

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Once you get adjusted to the shooting system it's pretty awesome. Just don't expect it to play like CoD and things should pick up.

 

[sandorski]

Great game. Starts out quite difficult, gets better once you get some decent weapons.

 

[lord_emperor]

I couldn't get into it either, the gun you start with has horrible accuracy and is seriously annoying to use.

 

[BFG10K]

If you’re expecting a console FPS with auto-regen and auto-aim while being hand-held all the way, Stalker is the wrong game for you.

You have to aim down the sights and use cover. You can’t be a pack-rat and carry everything you find. Your guns will jam and you need to pay attention to their durability and other stats.

I’d suggest lowering the difficulty to the lowest level.

 

[Bonesdad]

Takes time to get used to it, but it's a seriously great game. Being dropped in with no idea what is going on (much like the character, eh?) is one of the things I liked best. I really wished more publishers treated me like I had a brain of my own.

 

[toyota]

some of you were so desperate for something different that you cant even accept the many faults this game had. it was goofy, clunky and had AI that could pick you off in an instant under any conditions. again getting picked off in complete darkness or through train cars only makes for a frustrating experience. all of this stuff was mentioned in previous topics about the game but some people act like its just the players fault that it is a hard game.

 

[penske2298977]

I gotta agree with the OP . After repeatedly hearing how great this game is (and I play almost only FPS) I have tried several times to get in to this game over the years -- each time I uninstall. Months later I figure I must be missing something, so I fire it up again. and it is till just so annoying. Even one of the first guys you run in to who keeps whining something like "...brother can you help me..." over-and-over, wish I had a gun just to finish him off.
I guess I too suck at the game --- but still, this thing seems way overrated.

 

[toyota]

same goes for Clear Sky. I made it a little over half way and then came to a couple sections that I had to repeat over 20 times before I had to use some cheats. heck at one part I was behind a freaking tree in the dark and all I had to do was pop out and it was instant death.