Anyone else excited for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2? What do you want to see?

[IBlackKiteI]

I noticed that the upcoming Stalker sequel hasn't really gotten much attention on this site, so I got bored and decided to make a thread about it.

From what information has been so far given, Stalker 2 will feature a completely new engine and will be multiplatform.
While many PC players will scream "Hells no!" at the mere mention of a PC exclusive going to consoles, the developers have made it quite clear that it will still be PC centric, and it's good news to me personally as my PC is now somewhat outdated and at this point getting it on Xbox will be a much better alternative.
I see Stalker becoming multiplatform as nothing but a good thing. If the developers manage to keep Stalker what it is but also bring it over to more players and make it more accessible then that'd be great. While the game will be inevitably 'dumbed down' somewhat, primarily to accommodate the limited number of buttons on a controller, I feel pretty confident this will be more or less more of the same awesome game.
Well, at least until an Escapist news article says "GSC reworking S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 to attract a larger playerbase" or something like that...

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Anyway, for discussion value what do you think of Stalker becoming multiplatform and what do you personally want to see in the game?

 

[Spydercake]

Three things I want to be kept:
The Difficulty
The atmosphere
The quick save button *PUSHPUSHPUSHPUSH*

 

[Mekado]

I want to keep the difficulty and atmosphere too, ideally it would be

SoC's underground "sh*t your pants" levels
Clear sky's faction wars, improved
and CoP's polish

Also, i preferred the zone as it was in SoC/Clear Sky, more smaller levels instead of 3 huge zones.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I have to say that I don't mind a PC game being available on consoles. I mean just look at Metro 2033, it was available on the xbox 360, and it's still a graphical juggernaut on the PC (becoming the new benchmark after Crysis).

 

[Undeath To Death 2.0]

Having played through and loved all three games, I would like to see the atmospheric, pants wetting terror that the game's atmosphere so perfectly captured, the difficulty to remain perfectly in tact, the difficulty unchanged for the console ports, more mutations that are made to scare the ever-loving crap out of us, and maybe improve the hit detection a bit, though I think the new engine will iron out most of the issues that I personally have had in the past with it (and even with some of the higher end rifles in the vanilla STALKER games I have had slight issues with the hit detection at a range while compensating for the bullet arc).

These things might seems touch excessive to ask of a game being ported on to a system where aiming is less precise and as a result the difficulty needs to be scaled appropriately, but I think that without it the game would be much, much worse for it and it would lose a lot of the STALKERish atmosphere and such that I adore the game so much for, as let's face it, traipsing around an abandoned building loses a lot of its fear knowing that the bloodsucker that is screaming in your ear can be easily dispatched with by your magical bullets.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Also, i preferred the zone as it was in SoC/Clear Sky, more smaller levels instead of 3 huge zones.

Won't be a problem if the game is multiplatform.

 

[The Madman]

Was just playing Call of Pripyat earlier actually, the STALKER series has got to be one of my favourites simply by merit of the amazing ambience and sense of creepy style that pervades each game, some more than others admittedly but that's besides the point.

As for STALKER 2 the simple reason there isn't much talk about it is because we don't know much about it. When more information becomes known I'm sure discussion will pick up and if it ends up being multiplatform the usual people will decry it as the next grand betrayal of PC gaming while others will point to it as another example of PC gaming dying, neither of which I think are true but both of which happen in every. single. goddamned discussion that's even vaguely related to a PC series and the remote possibility of consoles being involved. So bloody sick of it!

ANYWAY, yeah, as for what I'd like to see?

I like the big levels in Pripyat, but the actual amount or size doesn't really matter to me so long as the series continues it's trend of semi open-world fps gameplay. Not quite Fallout, much more linear than that, but still allowing for a grand sense of freedom and exploration by going off the beaten path to search for artifacts or retrieve hidden stashes you found marked on the PDA of dead bandits and rival stalkers.

That sense of ambience I mentioned earlier is essential as well. Kinda creepy almost-sorta horror vibe that manages to ramp up the tension throughout. Difficulty is also a big part of that, when every bullet is a threat and being ambushed a genuine danger as opposed to just another setback, it helps to create that sense of tension and intensity that's such a hallmark of the series for me.

Beyond that I wish em luck. I have faith in the developers. They might not always be perfect by any stretch, but each entry in the STALKER series has clearly demonstrated to me they've a definite idea of what they want to do and what their community wants as well.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Three things I want to be kept:
The Difficulty
The atmosphere
The quick save button *PUSHPUSHPUSHPUSH*

These three things. All in all, I think that the STALKER games, despite their bugginess, were quite well-realized products. They offered the experience they promised and seeing as how the developers seems dedicated to their vision I can only hope they don't try to do any drastic changes to STALKER 2.