The Zone was a scary and lonely place once and I´d also like to see that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2
provides the same amount of tension as the original did. But how to achieve that?
First of all resize the profile of the flashlight - in CoP it is filling my whole damned screen, making me feel like walking in bright daylight. In addition: make it worth using the circle of electric light again. What I´m saying is that in CoP (we don´t need to talk about CS since it doesn´t feel like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. at all) are way to few scary dark places. Most of the time you spend walking over ground - and hell "total" darkness exsists only 4 hours a day. The player wasn´t forced to deal with zombies in the dark then, but that´s what creates all the tension in the first game: forcing you to enter a dark, cold lab with a few(!) mutants where your only advantage is the bullet in your gun barrel.
These places weren´t crowded with mutants and they did´t need to be, which leads me to the secound point I expect to be improved in the next game: soundeffects. The acustics in SoC were GREAT, take a look at this: [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AM2AmqZZMs ]
At 0:47 I jumped a little even though I wasn´t playing - THIS is what scares the shit out of
the player: the expectation of someting lethal emerging any second and from any direction.
In conclusion blood-freezer number one: SCRIPTED soundeffects hand in hand with awesome general background sound (dripping water, moaning doors/carriers, etc).
Third and last nostalgic point: loneliness.
Speaking of CoP again. Hell it was cowded - felt like a crazy theme park (patrols)(no offense though you tried something and Pripyat was still great). In my opinion the Zone is not the place for a focus on faction warfare. It is dangerous and making a living is hard enough. I´d rater expect its inhabitants of different thinking to avoid situations of confrontation (unless something similar to the "warehouse-thing" in CoP happens).
Ok I admit it I forgot something, I also want to see cutscenes again (no need to mention a solid story) but that´s all about the nostalgia.
Seriously, I meant this as an advice so let this go through your mind GSC.
NOW to the topic
my actual wishlist: -keep the hidingplacesystem of CoP (no need to find data before looting)
-ad random dead bodies (trashloot)
-keep the ability to repair and attach things to guns but kill the
upgradesystem (it distracts from the important things)
-ad unique guns instead (don´t imbalance it)
-ad an upgradesystem for bullets of different purposes
[humans(hollow point)/armored humans(full metal jacket)/mutants
(hp/fmj/substances that are deadly for mutants - maybe some
sort of anti-rad/etc.)
-weapons aren´t breaking down constantly but unprompted (after an
specific amount of bullets, but prone parts can be changed in
advance)
-ad weapon cleaning (animations) - the grade of cleanliness sould be
proportional to the functionality (jamming/accuracy)
-make mutant fights deadlier (meaning: they´ll kill you quick but in
return they don´t eat what feels like 100 bullets to the head)
[providing right ammo and standart assaultrifle calibre a bloodsucker
should drop dead with 2 bullets to the head]
{make tiny mutants faster, ad abilities to the ones that can´t use their
speed as an advantage: bloodsuckers in CoP were cool (approaching
sounds, invisibility -> balance)
maybe ad knockdowns(->stomps on you and kills you with one attack on
hardmode) or knockbacks for big ones and infections for others}
-take out burers or make them less lame (easier to kill with a knife than
an assaultrifle -> wtf moment -> not cool, neither frightening)
-let all equipment be available from the beginning but make it impossible
to obtain and entertain it with the money you earn in the beginning
-make the "making-money-thing" a REAL pain in the arse and ammo goods of
luxury (not because noone sells it but because you rarely find it and
it`s kind of expensive)
-close the gaps of damage between weapons of a kind (the type of ammo
should dictate the biggest part of damage (accuracy is another topic)
-improve stealth
(-ad a bolt action sniper rifle - maybe an old m24 - seriously I love
bolt action rifles
)
thank you for reading through this
