Why do you guys like STALKER so much??

[Sylvanas]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
It was game of the year for 2007 for me.

In particular the atmosphere was what really gripped me, the feeling of total isolation in a desolate landscape with nothing but you and your gun.

Also being able to explore every dark corner was great, plus the weapons absolutely kicked ass. :thumbsup:

Agreed.

I loved the feeling of being the middle of nowhere...it starts to rain...you can hear the wind in the trees, the rain and the odd howl or odd noise that'll keep you on your toes and looking behind your back as you investigate a dilapidated building..... It's just you and your gun .

The artwork and textures are amazing, it really DOES look like your are in the ruins of place affected by a nuclear fallout. Add to the the A-life system that makes the zone just feel 'alive' with other Stalkers moving about to places and doing things- definitely my Game of the year 2007.

I think the renowned AMK mod has recently just been translated to english (check the GSC forum thread on it)- from the looks of it this is the holy grail of all mods. I hope to give it a go when I have the time, everyone should also be using Float32.

:heart: Stalker

 

[TecHNooB]

I could not get into this game either. The concept is nice.. the graphics look like wolfenstein (I love wolfenstein), but much more sluggish. Clear Sky looks to be a huge step up however.

 

[Regs]

STALKER and Crysis were two of the biggest disappointments for 07 if you asked me. Neither made any damn sense, and neither of the two played reasonably smoothly. I don't mean just frame rates, but the overall functionality.

STALKER was a lot more atmospheric than Crysis, and that's hard for me to admit. Maybe because when it comes to Crysis , it's hard to enjoy it's linear maps while being shot at and rushed at by Koreans or aliens every 10 seconds. Though I do say, it's actually when you get to the air craft carrier the game started to get fun, but I cried when I realized it was actually the last part of the game. The AC carrier actually had people talking, interacting, and movie like sequencies. The action actually started become more lively and became more part of the story. Why couldn't the whole game been like that?

 

[legoman666]

I liked it but had numerous stability problems. It was bad enough that I was saving every 2-3 minutes or so. Kind of rediculous. Never did finish it...

 

[Thraxen]

Yay! Someone else that doesn't care for the game all that much. I recently started playing the game largely due to all the hype here and I don't see why it has so much attention. The gameplay just feels stiff and boring to me. Sure, it has a creepy atmosphere, but so what?... the actual combat kind of sucks. I'm not real far into it yet though, so I'm going to keep pressing on for a bit more to see if it grows on me. But as of right now, it's close to being thrown on the same pile with other overrated games like FEAR.

 

[Patt]

Count me as a fan. It did take some time to get into the game, and there were frivolous elements, but the atmosphere, and open-endedness were something I really enjoyed. Having rushed through the game, I'm hoping to get back to it at some point with some of the mods in preparation for Clear Sky.

 

[tigersty1e]

How did Fear get into this discussion?

Fear and Stalker are not similar in any way except for the fact that they are first person shooters.

There is no other game like Stalker out there, period.... which is WAY LONG overdue.

 

[chizow]

Wasn't impressed much either by STALKER, but at least now I know what you get when you mix a sub-par shooter with a mediocre RPG.

 

[rudder]

I bought it used from some on the FS/FT forum a few months ago... never played it. But after reading this threading I am off to load it now.

 

[rstrohkirch]

I really disliked the story and found the characters uninteresting which sucked because I found all other aspects of the game highly enjoyable. I'm hoping that Clear Sky pulls me in enough to actually want to play the game again.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
How did Fear get into this discussion?

Fear and Stalker are not similar in any way except for the fact that they are first person shooters.

There is no other game like Stalker out there, period.... which is WAY LONG overdue.

Because i put fear into the discussion as its my thread and i feel it is relevant

 

[Maximilian]

Ok it seems atmosphere is the key answer here, so i guess its simply a matter of personal taste then. I have to say i thought stalker was probably worth my money (unlike fear), but i just wasent getting why so many were citing it as GOTY material. Fair enough though, i liked the atmosphere in crysis, just like i did in farcry, the whole tropical island thing is my bag i suppose, i guess the whole desolate bleak soviet era thing is the stalker fans bag.

 

[UJ09]

Someone plz recommend me some good mods and tweaks for stalker? I'm using 8800GT btw.

 

[Arglebargle]

Years ago, I ran into an obscure website of this Ukrainian gal, daughter of a nuclear physicist, who spent her spare time motorcycling through the Chernobyl dead zone, mapping and photographing the contents of it. It was amazing stuff, and had all sorts of incredible detail. Things like the radioactive dust did not stick well to the asphalt, so most of the roads were safe, if you travelled down the center. Buidlings that faced the power plant were usually very deadly, those that faced away could be entered much more often. Hot spots where millions of dollars of equipment sat moldering. Of course, she carried a geiger counter everywhere. Called it a time capsule, untouched since the explosion. Wreckage everywhere, remnants, bones, etc. And yet boar, dogs, wild horses, etc, did live in there.

Showed the site to my friends, and we all wanted to marry her right then. Anyway, she was one of the very first into the zone, and my guess is, probably inspired the game. The setting alone got me to pick up Stalker, and I agree that it is on my GOTY list. I've gotten about halfway before ill behaved mods screwed my save games, now heading through a second time.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: Arglebargle
Years ago, I ran into an obscure website of this Ukrainian gal, daughter of a nuclear physicist, who spent her spare time motorcycling through the Chernobyl dead zone, mapping and photographing the contents of it. It was amazing stuff, and had all sorts of incredible detail. Things like the radioactive dust did not stick well to the asphalt, so most of the roads were safe, if you travelled down the center. Buidlings that faced the power plant were usually very deadly, those that faced away could be entered much more often. Hot spots where millions of dollars of equipment sat moldering. Of course, she carried a geiger counter everywhere. Called it a time capsule, untouched since the explosion. Wreckage everywhere, remnants, bones, etc. And yet boar, dogs, wild horses, etc, did live in there.

Showed the site to my friends, and we all wanted to marry her right then. Anyway, she was one of the very first into the zone, and my guess is, probably inspired the game. The setting alone got me to pick up Stalker, and I agree that it is on my GOTY list. I've gotten about halfway before ill behaved mods screwed my save games, now heading through a second time.

I know that stuff, I've seen those pictures too! That girl was awesome, giving so many details, and being courageous, let's say it, to even dare going there (and like she said in her picture's descriptions at one point, being out of fuel in the Exclusion Zone is something that anyone daring into it fears the most, and with reason).

The one picture that I can easily remember from her collection, the one that struck me the most is where she taken a picture from the inside of a building, of course entirely ruined and eaten by time and seasons, you can see a tree growing inside of a very small room, the damn tree pierced through the floor from two or three stories lower and went up and grew that high, reclaiming space on its path. That picture just spoke a thousand words. Seeing nature taking back what humans stole from it (space, mostly), and that being possible despite the place being intoxicated and rotten by radioactive remnants, showing that nature is above even radioactivity, although deformed by it, is still live, present and is there to stay, and will certainly survive the human race when we finally wiped out ourselves in our grand wisdom.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: Arglebargle
Years ago, I ran into an obscure website of this Ukrainian gal, daughter of a nuclear physicist, who spent her spare time motorcycling through the Chernobyl dead zone, mapping and photographing the contents of it. It was amazing stuff, and had all sorts of incredible detail. Things like the radioactive dust did not stick well to the asphalt, so most of the roads were safe, if you travelled down the center. Buidlings that faced the power plant were usually very deadly, those that faced away could be entered much more often. Hot spots where millions of dollars of equipment sat moldering. Of course, she carried a geiger counter everywhere. Called it a time capsule, untouched since the explosion. Wreckage everywhere, remnants, bones, etc. And yet boar, dogs, wild horses, etc, did live in there.

Showed the site to my friends, and we all wanted to marry her right then. Anyway, she was one of the very first into the zone, and my guess is, probably inspired the game. The setting alone got me to pick up Stalker, and I agree that it is on my GOTY list. I've gotten about halfway before ill behaved mods screwed my save games, now heading through a second time.

I saw that stuff too, but apparently it was mostly staged stuff, and she was actually on group tours carrying around her bike helmet and rearranging things to make it more 'authentic'. I'll try to find the disproof and edit this post.

edit: ok, that was quick:
The Truth
More

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Soviet

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
How did Fear get into this discussion?

Fear and Stalker are not similar in any way except for the fact that they are first person shooters.

There is no other game like Stalker out there, period.... which is WAY LONG overdue.

Because i put fear into the discussion as its my thread and i feel it is relevant

But we are Not afraid ... and i'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that is is not "your thread" to do with as you please ... You are the originator of this thread ... it is "our" thread

AND a nearly perfect game throws fear outside
:Q



yes it IS atmosphere

 

[Arglebargle]

Originally posted by: Patt

Originally posted by: Arglebargle
....

I saw that stuff too, but apparently it was mostly staged stuff, and she was actually on group tours carrying around her bike helmet and rearranging things to make it more 'authentic'. I'll try to find the disproof and edit this post.

edit: ok, that was quick:
The Truth
More

Sigh...Another one bites the dust.

I did get to spend some time talking to one of the engineers who helped shut down the last working reactor there, and he had interesting stories. But wasn't nearly the babe......

But all this talk makes me have to go play Stalker some more.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: Soviet
Do you three like FEAR?

I can't speak for the other two, but I thought FEAR was generic and boring. After playing the demo for the original, I haven't bothered with it since.

I agree completely

And that's exactly how I felt when I tried STALKER. Kirkus, why should I have to research online in order to understand in-game story elements? That's a failure on the part of the game, if anything. Storyline elements should be revealed while the story is being told, not after the fact.

Then again, I didn't care much for Oblivion's atmosphere, either. There were too many dungeons that just felt meaningless. Neato, another bandit lord... oh look, ogres took over this cave... whoopee. The gameplay was great, I enjoyed all of the quest paths, and the main storyline was awesome. So many of the optional parts of the game just felt like filler.

The funniest thing is that the modern Chernobyl area is actually full of beautiful flora and fauna. Obviously you don't want to live there, but nature somehow endures. That's not a complaint about the game.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: Soviet
Do you three like FEAR?

I can't speak for the other two, but I thought FEAR was generic and boring. After playing the demo for the original, I haven't bothered with it since.

I agree completely

And that's exactly how I felt when I tried STALKER. Kirkus, why should I have to research online in order to understand in-game story elements? That's a failure on the part of the game, if anything. Storyline elements should be revealed while the story is being told, not after the fact.

Then again, I didn't care much for Oblivion's atmosphere, either. There were too many dungeons that just felt meaningless. Neato, another bandit lord... oh look, ogres took over this cave... whoopee. The gameplay was great, I enjoyed all of the quest paths, and the main storyline was awesome. So many of the optional parts of the game just felt like filler.

The funniest thing is that the modern Chernobyl area is actually full of beautiful flora and fauna. Obviously you don't want to live there, but nature somehow endures. That's not a complaint about the game.

Have you seen the children that are born horribly deformed in that area? Nature might endure, but the genetic lines of everything in the area are forever changed.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: Soviet
Do you three like FEAR?

I can't speak for the other two, but I thought FEAR was generic and boring. After playing the demo for the original, I haven't bothered with it since.

I agree completely

And that's exactly how I felt when I tried STALKER. Kirkus, why should I have to research online in order to understand in-game story elements? That's a failure on the part of the game, if anything. Storyline elements should be revealed while the story is being told, not after the fact.

Then again, I didn't care much for Oblivion's atmosphere, either. There were too many dungeons that just felt meaningless. Neato, another bandit lord... oh look, ogres took over this cave... whoopee. The gameplay was great, I enjoyed all of the quest paths, and the main storyline was awesome. So many of the optional parts of the game just felt like filler.

The funniest thing is that the modern Chernobyl area is actually full of beautiful flora and fauna. Obviously you don't want to live there, but nature somehow endures. That's not a complaint about the game.

Have you seen the children that are born horribly deformed in that area? Nature might endure, but the genetic lines of everything in the area are forever changed.

Here, I'll bold the part of my post that you missed...

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Canai

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: ja1484

Originally posted by: Soviet
Do you three like FEAR?

I can't speak for the other two, but I thought FEAR was generic and boring. After playing the demo for the original, I haven't bothered with it since.

I agree completely

And that's exactly how I felt when I tried STALKER. Kirkus, why should I have to research online in order to understand in-game story elements? That's a failure on the part of the game, if anything. Storyline elements should be revealed while the story is being told, not after the fact.

Then again, I didn't care much for Oblivion's atmosphere, either. There were too many dungeons that just felt meaningless. Neato, another bandit lord... oh look, ogres took over this cave... whoopee. The gameplay was great, I enjoyed all of the quest paths, and the main storyline was awesome. So many of the optional parts of the game just felt like filler.

The funniest thing is that the modern Chernobyl area is actually full of beautiful flora and fauna. Obviously you don't want to live there, but nature somehow endures. That's not a complaint about the game.

Have you seen the children that are born horribly deformed in that area? Nature might endure, but the genetic lines of everything in the area are forever changed.

Here, I'll bold the part of my post that you missed...

Here, I'll bold the part of your post I was talking about

 

[Stoneburner]

I added mods to increase endurance, prevent degrading armor, and prevent degrading weapons. However, even though I can load OLD SAVED GAMES, none of my new saved games will load. This means if i manually save or quicksave a game after doing something, die, then try to reload the save, it crashes. TO make it more confusing, the autosave after a zone change WILL LOAD.

What the hell do i do? I finally got powerful sniper rifles and artifacts! I can't find a solution to this problem on any board either

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Soviet
Hmm im seeing a pattern here, i thought FEAR sucked balls.

i think FEAR is fair ... tolerable ... i am playing the expansions right now - in- between my "serious" games .... and STALKER is my GotY

i like RPG/FPS hybrid ... i like the freedom to explore without some flashing sign telling me to "talk to Sovietsky" or a big red-needle 'compass' pointing me to my next 'adventure'

If you load the *same save* you will often get the same results ... but everything subtly shifts ... as from Day to Night

the Atmosphere and attention to detail is exceptional and the story - although predictable - is sufficient to carry the other elements. Although some of the SQs were silly, some were pretty good and served to advance the story and your character without leading you by the nose in other shooters - ala Doom3 .. look up, down or blow something up to proceed.

i also like the way my Stalker "leveled up" and gained "skills" and "abilities" to use improving weapons without a damn "point allocation tree". i could sense the 'ten-sided dice" clicking - in the background - 'miss...miss...miss' and then as my character advanced .. more 'hit...hit...hit'

... and the 'factions' you could join or remain neutral ... it was a kick looting the dead from both sides during a firefight - and healing both sides's soldiers

i could go on

oh yeah, the loading ... it's only because of your rig; you might think 'upgrade'
-STAKLER is awesome with full details and the HDR lighting .. it is a breathing and living world ... far better than many previous attempts including Oblivion.

You should try wasteland. It'd old school, but it has a lot of the same mechanics (Read the review in the link). You need VDMsound to run it in XP (DOSBox would probably work too)

Also, download the manual (There's a link on the underdogs page). The game refers to paragraphs in the manual throughout, and you'll miss out on key events/developments if you don't read them. Also makes mastering the controls a lot easier.

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?gameid=2425
http://sourceforge.net/projects/vdmsound/

 

[Cl1ckm3]

i liked how the sky would freak out, change colors and go from night to day real fast, it was like an acid trip.

then there was a moment when i was in a tunnel and about to climb a ladder when some shadowy figure in the far end of the hall appeared and i was zoomed in real fast and hit multiple times then put back where i was...that was a really freaky scene and i was like..."awesome" afterwords.

the AI was actually pretty good considering other large outdoor games. its better than Crysis's AI thats for sure.

overall, the game was sometimes scary, someimes amusing or sometimes aggrevating

i cant wait for the expansion pack to release..when it due?