STALKER Mega-Thread; Clear Skies are Coming!

[Reddog]

Bleh, I bet it's the same cut down and limited crap with bullet sponge enemies.

I was really disappointed with Stalker, it was a decent game, but nothing like what it was originally hyped to be.

 

[Grobut]

Bleh, I bet it's the same cut down and limited crap with bullet sponge enemies.

I was really disappointed with Stalker, it was a decent game, but nothing like what it was originally hyped to be.

Thats the very reason why we are waiting for Clear skies, Stalker got amputated since the developers ran out of time to finish it, our big hope here is that Clear skies will be able to deliver the full Stalker, since they have allready made alot of the content, they should now be able to finish it.

But man will i be dissapointed if they dont manage to do that..

 

[Finz]

Well its still basicly the same game but with some new features. Even the old areas are still there.

 

[Soviet]

Same game with new features = good.

The whole subgenre Stalker occupies doesn't exactly have a million other contemporaries. I'm glad we are going to revisit old areas (I'm sure they're going to be different considering this is a prequel) and check out new ones. I mean it's not like the NPP wasn't there before the blowout.

Clear Sky is pretty much the only game in 2008 that's a zero day buy for me. Stalker was my pick for GOTY last year, and from what I've seen from screenshots and videos it's looking like a repeat this year.

 

[Coey]

Stalker should of been competely open like that Clear Sky level looks. Pylons going off into the distance and all that. The hills between every level of Stalker kinds ruined the whole game for me.

 

[dogbadger]

Because of the A life its impossible to make co-op. At least that was the answer they gave to "will there be a co-op mode in CCS".

which is a shame, because A-life is what would make coop particularly good.

 

[Nimsky]

Clear Sky looks very promising to me. The landscape looks even more real and the atmosphere looks spooky, too.

Let's hope the mods get transfered easily.

 

[Grobut]

Clear Sky looks very promising to me. The landscape looks even more real and the atmosphere looks spooky, too.

Let's hope the mods get transfered easily.

Sounds like we wont need alot of mods really, besides more realistic weapon damage perhabs, other than that it should allready have darker nights, faster traveling, repairable armour and guns and better AI, thouse where the popular Stalker mods.

Time will tell though, but it sounds like we'll be in good shape out of the box.


I just hope they haven't included any of thouse constant side quests that allways pop up when you revisit an area, then it'll be great.

 

[Jokerman]

Rather than having a linear plot (as with Shadow of Chernobyl), the story focuses on an AI-driven faction war, where groups are fighting to gain control of new areas formed by a landscape-reforming blowout. Territorial wars, territory capture, and fan-created missions will be included.

You can join one of eight factions and lead them to victory. Confirmed factions that are joinable are the Bandits, Duty, Freedom, Clear Sky and Final Day. Other factions included will be the Loners and the Ukrainian Military.

Beside the use of grenades, NPCs have become much more intelligent; they coordinate and work very well in groups, interact in groups, and with the player. At the Igromir gameshow, no one (including the developers) were able to kill more than two of four bandits armed with AKsu's and Sawn-Off Shotguns before dying.

The AI now has day and night routines. Since smart terrain for the AI has been expanded, now the world can be physically interacted with.

To me, the said above holds the promise of CS. I like this direction, imo thats what was broken with SoC- while not being a dead world like Oblivion, it was neither truly alive despite all the A-life whoolabaloo and, even with the occasional cooperative scripted battle, it was the same as it always been- the lone hero vs the world.

 

[Xendance]

I'm playing this game with the Oblivion Lost mod and boy, it's hard. I can't even get through the first bunker/lab thingy because there are loads of zombies in there :|

 

[Dillinger]

What mods are you guys currently using? I was using OLmod (not Oblivion Lost), until I ran into major bugs since it is not compatible with 1.0005, so now I am using extracted parts of OLmod that I liked the most, which is mainly sounds, textures, and weapon damages. Other than that, stock game.

Oblivion Lost changed too much stuff, I just didn't like it. A bunch of crap was crammed into it and a lot of it was sub-par. Faiikes (or whatever) mod changed the combat too much.

What mods are you guys using that work with 1.0005?

 

[Finz]

Im using stalker rebalanced mod, which i think is the best around. It doesent change the game so much like the other 'big' mods, and still has the same feeling as the orginal game.

Link: http://stalker.filefront.com/file/STALKER_Rebalanced;86763

and patch:http://stalker.filefront.com/file/STALKER_Rebalanced_v102_Incremental_Patch;87108

 

[NoxNoctum]

Should I buy STALKER or just wait till clear skies comes out?

It looks interesting for sure... but I've heard some pretty serious critiques as well.

I loved OFP and its open environments... how does it compare to that (that said... I hated Oblivion... no direction to it IMO)

 

[Grobut]

Since this is a prequel (how is that spelled anyway?), you don't need to have played Shadow of Chernobyl, the game takes place before the older game so you probably woulden't gain anything from that.

 

[entertainer]

I loved OFP and its open environments... how does it compare to that

Stalker is very linear compared to OFP. Though most games are.

 

[Soviet]

Nox,

Considering you can get SOC off of Steam for like 19.99, there's absolutely no excuse for not playing it.

 

[Yellowbelly]

fix the F'ing models!!!!

damage/accuracy values could use some overhaul too.

 

[Bluehawk]

Actually OFP is very lineal if you consider that for the bulk of the campaigns you're in a unit under an AI soldier's command and the missions rely heavily on triggers and scripted events. You have to maintain formation and go from A to B like a car on rails, the only difference is that you have full 360 degree freedom should you feel like disobeying orders (or you get to the layer missions where you play Lieutenants etc.)

In Stalker, you have an RPG-esque link of missions you're basically obliged to complete, but there's no time limit or forced incentives. Mind you, Stalker DOES become a rail shooter once you get to Pripyat, especially if you choose to get one of the two "good" endings.

They're both games that try to simulate something larger than the player and even in 2008 that requires a little smoke and mirrors now and then.

 

[entertainer]

They're both games that try to simulate something larger than the player and even in 2008 that requires a little smoke and mirrors now and then.

Thing is that OFP doesn't have fences all around the edges of the map.

 

[Nimsky]

Thing is that OFP doesn't have fences all around the edges of the map.

You're right, it has water all around the edges of the map.