[Nukem]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R SoC looks like a lot of fun. The game itself is supposed to have many advancements in it. The AI is said to be one of the best, and the level design looks awsome! These two and other factors are going to make the gameplay great.

And if you haven't heard of S.T.A.L.K.E.R SoC, you've been living in a cave for the past two years.

[ultra tree 85!]

Nukem, on Mar 12 2007, 12:47 PM, said:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R SoC looks like a lot of fun. The game itself is supposed to have many advancements in it. The AI is said to be one of the best, and the level design looks awsome! These two and other factors are going to make the gameplay great.

And if you haven't heard of S.T.A.L.K.E.R SoC, you've been living in a cave for the past two years.

I'm also looking forward to Stalker. I've seen some of the gameplay videos and trailers, and I'll definately want to buy it when it comes out later this month.

[Cerberus_e]

It indeed looks to be very revolutionary... but if it's going to be fun is something else... I have a supicion it'll be too slow paced.
I also fear the game will become a routine... always the same thing over and over again (because of the freedom they give you to go anywhere... and they can't make cool scripted events everywhere and always different every time you go there).

[Nukem]

I would think that those factors make the gameplay interesting. I mean you can explore the abondoned town of Prypiat, and enter Chernobyl. It looks fun, and the AI is supposed to be the best to date.

[Nihilanth]

Cerberus_e, on Mar 13 2007, 08:28 AM, said:

(...) because of the freedom they give you to go anywhere... and they can't make cool scripted events everywhere and always different every time you go there (...)

That's true. But still I sincerely hope this is the direction that games are heading - freedom, playing your game, not developers game.

[Cerberus_e]

It's always the developer's game you're playing... how can you make it your game? I'm not trying to take it too literal but I don't understand what you're saying

[Nihilanth]

Cerberus_e, on Mar 15 2007, 07:15 AM, said:

It's always the developer's game you're playing... how can you make it your game? I'm not trying to take it too literal but I don't understand what you're saying

You know, by developer's game I mean what you can nowadays call rail-shooter or corridor-shooter. Take Half-Life 2, DOOM 3, etc. it's always what devs wanted you to witness, always the same experience. Playing your game means that you're free to do things your way. It's not like it's your own game . In stalker you're not just walking a straight path and shooting things that appear around. There are scripted events, but it's up to you how you will accomplish quests, who will you help, ally with, kill, etc. It's your game/playthrough, you decide what to do.

[Cerberus_e]

Yes, but without scripted events, it would still be always the same game you're playing, as it'd be everywhere the same thing no matter where you go. Then that freedom means nothing

[Yatta]

It still hasn't been leaked. Very surprising, considering it's been gold for two weeks and it's due out in only one week. Plus it was leaked twice before.

Anyway, I can't wait. I hope it won't be a disappointment.

[Cerberus_e]

Really? Is it out next week?
Well, I'm curious to the reactions

[Yatta]

According to Wiki, it is. http://en.wikipedia....omputer_game%29

It's already been reviewed by PC Zone UK and it got an 85%. http://www.gameranki...ges2/540331.asp

[Nihilanth]

PC Format gave it 93%.

The sad thing is that stalker has already leaked. Yep, full version. Typical. But look at me! Even though there're still at least 2 weeks until stalker ships in Poland, I will remain strong and will not download it!

[Cerberus_e]

So? Anyone played it already? How is it? Does it live up to what they promised? Does it get repititive? Is the game long? Challening? Interesting? Annoying?

No spoilers please

[Micki!]

Without spoiling anything:

It's interesting, and it's VERY atmospheric... environments feel very nice with all the waether changes, dynamic day-night switch, creature wild-life etc... there's many otehr things

Gameplay wise, it's a little strange... Killing enemies is hard... they seem to take MANY bullets at times... one would think that experienced enemies, with body armor would survive long... that's fine, but ANY enemy, should DIE by headshots, especially if NONE are wearing helmets of any kind... That annoys me alot, since i can't really use stragic the way i'm used to... No more: "if i can make a direct hit to the head, resulting it instant kill, i'll do that"-scenarios, because headshots really don't do anything but "extra damage"... Headshots DO kill instantly, if teh enemy hasn't noticed you yet (seems like non-awareness kills faster, like in FEAR)

Untill now, any attempt to sneak into enemies has failed... My guess is it's the AI that is being a bitch (other times it's pretty good, but in sneaking cases, they seem TOO superior, they notice you always... i can crouch as silently as i want while the enemy (who's un-aware of me) turns his back... he will ONLY notice, when i'm just behind him... then he'll pull out his gun, and shoot... stabbing him is useless, as you can't attack in time... it's very annoying... seeing that i make NO sound, and that he has no idea i'm there...

The way you get, and find objectives/missions, is also a little strange
You have to ask people if they have anything, and then you might, or might not have some usefull info that helps you with that mission/objective... I could give you an example of an event i went through, but i wouldn't want to spoil it for you (it was problematic i can say... i later after i finished an objective, i found out i had info in my PDA regarding that mission, that could have helped me, but i didn't use it because i didn't notice )

My point is, sometimes you get info in your PDA totaly un-noticed, so check it now and then...

The weapons are something you'd have to get used to as well... you can use crosshairs for aiming, or iron-sights... However, you'll have to experiment just how accurate a weapon is, so you know how you're supposed to aim (sometimes it's above, the iron sight the bullet hits, sometimes it's in the middle of it...)

All weapons are not always identical... there are things to take care of, such as condition, accuracy, rate of fire, damage etc... all listed in your inventory when you pick it up...sometimes you find a weapon just alike the one you carry, but with a better condition... When a wepaons has a bad condition, it will get jammed sometimes (needs to reload even if bullets are still in a clip)
Condition reduces over time the longer you use a weapon... it has a pretty long lifetime though...

There's so much else, but to cut it short

It's something you'll have to get used to, there's some stuff that may be annoying, OR un-noticed, and it's very atmospheric... the graphics seem a a little outdated, but the feel of the game world make sit up for it...

Also, it seems to be a game worth several re-plays... good thing, i still have to beat the game though...

[Cerberus_e]

I don't mind if the graphics are outdated as you call it, since I still have a 6600GT and the screenshots of the game look good.
Do you know on what settings I'll play the game with that card, 1024 MB RAM and an Intel 2.6 ghz processor? Maybe you saw someone with a similar setup mentioning his in-game settings or so.

What do you recommend? Play the game during the holidays next week, or wait for a patch? I can wait it's no problem, but if the game is very playable without annoying bugs I could maybe play it? What do you think?

Also, things in your PDA unnoticed? You mean the HUD doesn't indicate it when you have a new entry? Or is there no HUD? Doesn't it say that on your inventory screen or so? Like in Call of Cthulhu, lighting up the journal.
No sound either?

Oh yes, and another question... do you notice the whole "enemies living on their own" or is it something you don't really see happening and it would be the same as if they placed monsters here and there with some scripted events, you wouldn't notice the difference (except if you played the game again of course)

[Micki!]

No idea how it would run on that system, sorry...

I'd say a patch would be worth the wait... assuming it fixes some of the most frequent bugs (the ones you notice the most)...

The PDA thing, about objectives not being shown is probably just a bug... it's "broken" sometimes, i think that's what it's called...

When the objectives-thing is working right though (i really only experienced this bug or whatever once) the objectives finding work quite well... there is a list of active missions/"quests" you're given, and then you can double click on the mission you want to focus on, so it will point an arrow in the direction you need to go (also shows on mini map)... you can always jump between missions and all, you just need to find your way, and this method helps... instead of mixing all of them together, or having one at a time...

About enemies and thier "living"... you will notice it when you sit back and watch... it takes some time afterall... sometimes they just want to chill out, other times though, they go for a trip somewhere... completely random...

I most often see dogs flocking together... there are places where they are more often than usual, but they'll do stuff, other than just walking around thier territory...

Sometimes they hunt (or fight..?) other mutants or Stalkers (sometimes millitary)
Once for instance, i was supposed to find some guy, who had info on him (or an object, i don't remember)... i found him, but he and his friend was ambushed by dogs... i didn't come in time to help him, so he died, got killed by the dogs... i got rid of the few dogs that survived the battle, and got what i needed... plus a nice sub machine gun he was carrying

I know it wasn't a scripted scenario, because i restarted the game (got some options set right, and decided to start anew, that being my current game) i newer saw this happen again...

I think that is a good example of the artificial life... you really have to look for it though, and not just expect it to happen before your eyes... else it will pretty much feel nothing different than a scripted event (with the exception that it will probably NEVER happen exact the same way again next time you play)

Don't worry, there is a HUD... It displays the usual...

Ammo, firing mode, ammunition type, health, stance, stamina etc... Some stuff, such as the radioactivity level can only be seen in the Inventory screen...

I was also mistaken about the headshots... appearantly it's because some weapons suck at a distance, so you never know when you do a headshot or not... Pistols come to mind...

There's also a very annoying bug about loading a savegame near enemies... you can read about it pretty much anywhere where people have noticed any bugs...
What it does, is, when you load the game near enemies, they will be fully aware of you... the reason for that is some high sound that comes from you (the player) once you have loaded a game...

It's something that shouldn't be hard to fix... i also hope a patch will make stealth ALOT more usefull... it's pretty useless using knifes for stealth attacks, and enemies are WAAAY too hard to "sahke off" your tail... they never really loose sight on you once spotted...

[Cerberus_e]

Micki!, on Mar 26 2007, 04:23 PM, said:

When the objectives-thing is working right though (i really only experienced this bug or whatever once) the objectives finding work quite well... there is a list of active missions/"quests" you're given, and then you can double click on the mission you want to focus on, so it will point an arrow in the direction you need to go (also shows on mini map)... you can always jump between missions and all, you just need to find your way, and this method helps... instead of mixing all of them together, or having one at a time...

Do you have to do all objectives? If not, what point do they have, then?
Is it hard to follow what's going on in the zone (story etc)?

Micki!, on Mar 26 2007, 04:23 PM, said:

Sometimes they hunt (or fight..?) other mutants or Stalkers (sometimes millitary)

Do you sometimes see traces of battles that happened randomly while you were far away in the zone? (The AI that did its work while you weren't there)? or do traces get deleted to save memory? Or does that stuff simply not happen while you're far away?

Micki!, on Mar 26 2007, 04:23 PM, said:

There's also a very annoying bug about loading a savegame near enemies... you can read about it pretty much anywhere where people have noticed any bugs...
What it does, is, when you load the game near enemies, they will be fully aware of you... the reason for that is some high sound that comes from you (the player) once you have loaded a game...

That sucks a lot!!! A patch - I'll wait for it
Are there autosaves? Frequent ones?

Micki!, on Mar 26 2007, 04:23 PM, said:

It's something that shouldn't be hard to fix... i also hope a patch will make stealth ALOT more usefull... it's pretty useless using knifes for stealth attacks, and enemies are WAAAY too hard to "sahke off" your tail... they never really loose sight on you once spotted...

That's something they promised though... too bad.

Also, how are the loading times? Frequest/Far inbetween? Long/Short?
I hope it's not like HL2: frequent and long
More like Far Cry... far inbetween and short (especially after loading the save after you die)

Do you die often? Because some anomalies are hidden and can kill you instantly, I heard/saw in preview videos before the game got released. Don't tell me how to spot them though...

Also, are there tutorial things at the start of the game to explain how everything works/how to play the game (standard controls/making relationships with other STALKERS etc...). If there are... they go away after a while right? So it's not like PRey where they keep telling you the whole game to leech with the right mouse button when you pass a leech node, that was ridiculous. If there aren't, how do you know what to do? Manual?

[Kristian Joensen]

Micki!, may I ask what setting you are running the game in ? Could you post some screen shots from the graphic setting screen(s) ?

[Micki!]

Cerberus_e, on Mar 26 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

Do you have to do all objectives? If not, what point do they have, then?
Is it hard to follow what's going on in the zone (story etc)?

Most objectives are optional... You get those from stalkers all around you... though, sometimes it's worth going through the trouble... but other times, it's nothing else than a simple money reward... and Money atm, seems a little pointless... since most things you buy can be looted from dead people around you... there are some things worth buying though, such as armor piercing bullets those are pretty hard to find... at least in the beginning... untill know i've only "found" some in one location, and that wasn't much... it's moments like this which makes it worth investing in such bullets... sometimes you find rare, and VERY cool weapons, that you simply have a too hard time finding out in the wild... i was so lucky to find an EXCELLENT weapon from a fallen Stalker.. i'm in love with this one

Cerberus_e, on Mar 26 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

Do you sometimes see traces of battles that happened randomly while you were far away in the zone? (The AI that did its work while you weren't there)? or do traces get deleted to save memory? Or does that stuff simply not happen while you're far away?

Yes, this happens form time to time... but battles do not occur all the time, so don't expect it to happen everytime you re-visit an old location...

I have often returned to an old camp where i've been before, and seen people died since my last visit...

Cerberus_e, on Mar 26 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

That sucks a lot!!! A patch - I'll wait for it
Are there autosaves? Frequent ones?

No frequent autosaves... whenever you enter a new location (which requires loading) it'll autosave from there... maybe it happens at other times as well, but i haven't noticed then... but often when i die, i regret that i didn't quicksave (F6)... quicksaving can be a real life saver... it sucks when it happens near enemies though, because of that earlier mentioned bug

Cerberus_e, on Mar 26 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

That's something they promised though... too bad.

Also, how are the loading times? Frequest/Far inbetween? Long/Short?
I hope it's not like HL2: frequent and long
More like Far Cry... far inbetween and short (especially after loading the save after you die)

The loading times takes a little time... nothing i'm annoyed of, but i think it differs from which machines it's running on... I can't say if your loading times will take as long as mine, or take longer/lesser time

Loading from a quicksave that you just made, doesn't take as long as a regular "next location" load time does... that's good... i'd hate waiting the same amount of time everytime...

Cerberus_e, on Mar 26 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

Do you die often? Because some anomalies are hidden and can kill you instantly, I heard/saw in preview videos before the game got released. Don't tell me how to spot them though...

I died quite often... mostly because of un-prepared mistakes... I could mention some of them without spoiling anyhting:

Most annoying being the backpack limit... once you carry stuff arounnd that is 60+ kilos, you can't move... so you have to discard something that you are carrying... this sucks if you pick up something in mid-battle... you can't move in any direction AT ALL, only turn around and shoot...
I have learned to think twice, before deciding to pick up something... and i remember to check often around me, if there are anyone left

There are lot's of anomalies around the Zone... some hurting a little when walking through, while others rip you apart if you're not quick... (yesterday i almost got fried by a new anomaly, literally)

You can spot Anomalies (don't worry, i'm not telling how), they all have thier own kind of sign so you can recognize what anomaly it is (unless it'sa new one you haven't seen before)... You'll know when you get too near so i won't bother telling... either you find out fast, or you'll know after you died ...
Anolaies you experience, or hear about, get listed in you personal logbook... there all sorts of notes about anomalies can be read about... iteresting, and sometimes usefull

Cerberus_e, on Mar 26 2007, 04:34 PM, said:

Also, are there tutorial things at the start of the game to explain how everything works/how to play the game (standard controls/making relationships with other STALKERS etc...). If there are... they go away after a while right? So it's not like PRey where they keep telling you the whole game to leech with the right mouse button when you pass a leech node, that was ridiculous. If there aren't, how do you know what to do? Manual?

In the beginning there are some of the usual tips, they won't last forever... So, nothing that should annoy you...

Some things are only listed in the game, some are only in the manual...
Some things are not listed at all, and you have to find out yourself...

@Kristian

I'm running it in Maximum settings... it runs fine mostly, but sometimes, framrates fall drastically... enough to get slightly annoyed...
I blame my processor... it's a dual core alright, but it's weak too i think... i should get a new dual core processor sometime

Does Stalker support Hyper threading (through console maybe..?)..? i'd like to give it a shot in case it might improve perfomance


Here are some screenshots i've takes... some screenshots i've put in Spoilers because of Cerb... they feature Anomalies, or other things he wouldn't want to see yet

This is near the beginning of the game...


Beautyful thunderstorm effects... i love how the shadows of all trees and every peice of grass reacts in real time of the flash (all depends on what direction the flash comes from... really nice touch)


This guy i found earlier... he gave me some info, and i also saved him from a bunch of dogs, resulting in a money reward too... He died later in the game whaen i returned... Here i thought it would be fun to drag him into the burning barrel as a sign of respect (indeed, i respect NOBODY in this game, yet )


Yes, i like burning corpses when i get the oppurtunity


Another beautyful location...


Old car crash... This is a good example of the graphics being MUCH more similar to the game "Painkiller" than Source, or UE3... it really is, when you compare them... only big difference is the lighting and shadows...


Wierd thing... ALL Birds seems to be spawned from the same place everytime you load a savegame... I noticed once before, all birds spawning form a boar near me (it ignored me) this time, it's from something else, but still all the same location... look at the top right corner


Here's a closer shot


Spoilers in next post... the spoiler tags still don't work







**Post contains pics of anomalies, and stuff**

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

Anomaly in action... this one pick anything up getting too near, sucking it into the middle, and blowing the hell out of it... i several times got cought too near, and it pulled me into the center, which killed me... sometiems i managed to sprint in the opposite direction, and save my life though...


Tried to stealth kill for the first time (later i found out it's pointless to even try it)


All three ran into an anomaly to my luck... i got serverly damaged, but THEY all got killed


This one hurt alot... that's the one that nearly fried me to death...
This is how it looks when triggered... it's hard to see when not active

[Cerberus_e]

Thanks for the long post with info Micki!, it sounds like a very interesting game that lives up to my expectations... I hope a patch will be released soon... any ninfo on it? And maybe they have already said what bugs they'll fix? I'd like to see the quicksave/other sneak things bug fixed and the broken PDA/objectives thing. I also read in the Gamespot review some optional missions are broken (no ability to complete them, or they reset after completing them).

Beautiful screenshots, too. I think the game looks more like Source than Painkiller though... it looks good because it's more detailled than Half-Life 2... I hope it doesn't stutter?

Is the pace not a problem in this game, I can imagine travelling long distances over huge open terrains is boring with the limited sprinting... and does your quicksaving not kill the tension of the possibility to die any moment? are there multiple quicksave slots that alternate (like in Half-Life) so you don't have to replay the whole game (or a big portion at least) when you quicksave and an enemy that you can't kill in time notices you after quickloading?

[Micki!]

I'll have to deal with the quicksave/loading thing... it has happened to me before where i wasn't careful, and died fast... and had to o it all over since my last saved game...

About the Painkiller looks... it's simply the textures that do it... It looks VERY alike... i could even mention spicific textures that it look reminds me of...

It runs mostly fine...
I hope they get rid of those bugs, untill yet i haven't heard of any patch being released... But with all these complaints it's bound to happen...

I'm stuck somewhere btw... Let me just say, i HATE polergeists creepy...

I won't tell you what it is... i'll let you find out

[Cerberus_e]

And about the pacing? Isn't it annoying to travel over huge open fields? Especially if you crossed that field a few times before?

[Micki!]

Well, it's nothing big... the artificial life, makes it so that there's (almost) always something new there...

The only place that looks the same for me, is the camp in the beginning of teh game... no enemies are near them, and no mutant ever go too near, so no conflicts ever really happen...

It can get pretty annoying going all the way somewhere, then back, then up there again, then somewhere else, then back AGAIN...i miss the old idea they had, about having vehicles... that would have been very nice

Sprinting actually is all fine, as long you are not not carrying all sorts of things... your stamina falls VERY fast when you're loaded with stuff...

There's a cool item though... an Energy drink... drink it, and Stamina is fully replenished... Stamina regenerates itself over time, but if you want an instant boost, it's good to have...

I just can't throw away my precious weapons and ammo... i would miss them...

[Cerberus_e]

I heard a patch has been released. You'll have to start over if you apply it though.
Do you know if it fixes your bugs? I don't see it fixed in the list of things they fixed.
Are there other complaints of yours gone now?

[Micki!]

I haven't tried the patch yet...

As i said, i'll play through my current version first... I wouldn't want to restart the whole game again already...

[Cerberus_e]

The game asks for 10 GB free space! There were rumours like that 2 years ago and the developers denied it

[ultra tree 85!]

Cerberus_e, on Mar 31 2007, 10:25 AM, said:

The game asks for 10 GB free space! There were rumours like that 2 years ago and the developers denied it

I was surprised about how much space the game asks for, too.

[Cerberus_e]

Especially considering it only uses 5 GB of HD space

Micki!, a few questions:

- Does the sprinting annoy you as well? It only works with the forward key, doesn't work anymore when you also strafe. The ducking also annoys me, having to assign a second key to duck even more, but having to press both at the same time

- Does the game also hang a second for you every 20 meters, or when you enter a new area? For example at the beginning of the game when you get out of the bunker and go in the open.

- Isn't there a way to let the map point you to a place where a previous objective is completed? I need to be there for a fact. I can only let it point to ative quests.

- I completed the first quest about the bandits... after a little while, I went back to that factory and they're there again those bandits? Is that normal? Is a bit weird.

[Micki!]

- Sprinting only annoys me when i have too much stuff with me... the more you carry, the more tired you get...
However, you might find the artifacts formed out of "eletric anomalies"... they give you extra endurance once equipped on the belt...

Helps actually... you regain more stamina this way...

The fact that i can't sprint while strafing isn't that bad...feels more realistic actually, which fits to the game... Being able to sprint in full speed in any direction, as in Doom, would seem kinda strange in a game like Stalker... (well, maybe not ANY direction, but sprinting forward only still fits very well imo)

Yes it does... it's strange, seeing that i have a pretty good rig...
Perhaps patches will fix it later, it becomes annoying at times...

- If you have several objectives going at once, you can double click on one of them, to make an arrow appear on your mini map, pointing at the direction of the objective you want to go to... A symbol in your PDA (red cross-arrow thingies in a circle) indicates that it's active... i reckon that it doesn't work on every objctive though, i think... i'm not really sure actually, i forgot

You can't make the arrow point at any location... only objectives... would be nice to have such a feature though, so that you wouldn't have to check the map or PDA every time to check if the direction you go is right...

- That's normal... after time, "reinforcements" appear, so that the place will never get empty of stalkers...
Sometimes you see neutral/friendly stalkers opposing these enemies... it's fun just to look how they handle the situation... or you could be an ass, and kill all of them

Do you like the game..? do you use artifacts at all..?
What is your style of playing atm..? (killing everyone, helping all, joining some faction..? neutral or being an evil traitor to all etc)

You're playing patched right..?
Sucks with the retail version... you don't even lose armor, so your suit will never get damaged... the game kinda loses a strategic touch because of this... And enemies notice you WAAAY too easily... you can't hide or anything, and when you attack with friends, and they attack them first, they know exactly where -you are too... these AI problems should have been fixed with the patch i heard

[Damien_Azreal]

Hey guys... guess I'm posting here now to.

I've been playing the hell out of STALKER myself, the only game I've played for the past two weeks actually.
I'm loving it so far, most of the complaints people have of the game I haven't had personally. It seems very well balanced, the missions are nice and I love doing the side missions.
They give you chance to go out and roam the country side. Gives you a chance to look for new items and secrets.

I'm still playing the game unpatched, and performance for me has been flawless... I ran a benchmark with FRAPs and my average frame rate was 52. *hugs PC*

I have a few shoots I think look great...