Stalker... a good buy?

[OneCatch]

Steam Autumn Sale is here and I've been wondering about this game. Seems like something up my alley. I'm wondering mainly two things.

1) Is it challenging?

2) Is it atmospheric and creepy? This is the thing I'm really curious about. Screenshots don't really do it justice. I don't want to check youtube videos for fear of spoiling anything. I'm wondering just what the atmosphere is like.

Yes, and yes.

Enemies will have as much health as you, do as much damage, and are relatively clever. This may seem trivial, but it actually makes a huge difference. Most games, even challenging ones, make you far more durable than enemies. It's rather unforgiving as well - if you stumble into somewhere nasty without the right gear you will die.

In terms of atmosphere it's not really creepy in a traditional sense (though some of the dungeons certainly are in spades). Its kind of 'haunting' or perhaps 'desolate'.
Reminds me of the empty expanses in Morrowind actually, though that's where the comparisons end!

 

[SlaveNumber23]

I played Call of Pripyat personally and while I found it to be an impressive game, I found it impossible to get into. Its extremely unfriendly towards new players and the gameplay feels very clunky and irritating. Its very much going to be a game that you either love or you hate, and there are many people who absolutely love the game. I'd say give it a shot as its going to be very cheap in the Steam sale, its definitely worth a try.

As for your questions, its definitely challenging but as for atmospheric/creepy I'm not sure, the environment feels more empty and desolate than threatening or scary for the most part but there are some creepy places and enemies, the atmosphere is similar to Fallout 3 in this way.

 

[Teoes]

Just to add some comments on Clear Sky, if you're at all interested. The fans have pretty much covered everything I'd want to say on SoC/CoP. I heart those games. Yes, Clear Sky is the worst of the three. It was unplayable for me until patched - CTD every time I got near an anomaly, which is a core aspect of the game. Once patched it ran ok. Same delicious atmosphere and lovely environments as before.

I LOVE the upgrade system in Clear Sky: where the various technicians in the different factions are specialists in either a certain type of weapon or in specialising weapons for a certain capability; i.e. go to one guy to fit out for rate of fire, or to another guy to improve accuracy. The other part of it being the technicians have gaps in their knowledge so you get sent out to hunt for flash drives containing the info they need. Sounds like busy-work and needless complication/errand running, but I loved how it worked with the makeshift economy/civilisation in the Zone.

Unfortunately the domination/zone control aspect that's a big part of the game can go die in a fire thanks in part to shitty AI and the story suffers from being a case of "YOU are the ONLY ONE who can STOP THEM". So yeah, once I got the game running I played it once and haven't wanted to go back to it again. Now, if we could pull the upgrade system out of Clear Sky and crowbar it into SoC or CoP (SoC doesn't have an upgrade system; CoP does and it's good, just it's not as complex - both a good and a bad thing) THEN we'd be cooking with gas.

 

[Old Father Eternity]

A bit more regarding mods
http://www.gsc-game.com/index.php?t=community&s=forums
http://stalkermod.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3
And then of course there are the mod db pages for each game.
And depending on how good your Russian is, a whole other venue opens up.

As per usual, first do a vanilla run, then start slapping on mods based on what you liked or disliked.

 

[UltraPic]

I didn't like any of them much. Everything felt very cheap. The animations for everything were stiff and robotic, the UI was obtuse and difficult to understand (I still have no idea how to track quests), and most of the missions are fetch quests or "go here, shoot this". The 3D fallout games, or the Metro series have it beat in atmosphere, hands down.

It is tough at first, but eventually you'll have so much medkits and bullets it'll be a cakewalk.

I'd say save your money.

Pressing "P" will open the pda, then just read and click on what you want to track.

 

[fix-the-spade]

1) Is it challenging?

2) Is it atmospheric and creepy? This is the thing I'm really curious about. Screenshots don't really do it justice. I don't want to check youtube videos for fear of spoiling anything. I'm wondering just what the atmosphere is like.

1) Yes, you will die, a lot, especially at the beginning when you have access to only light body armour.

2) I know a number of people who get as far as the first or second underground lab, then refuse flatly to play the game any further, it's definitely got atmosphere.

It suffers a touch from RPG syndrome at the end, you have all the best gear and will have mastered the mechanics of fire fights by that point, so it becomes relatively easier. Having said that, even at it's easiest it's harder than any shooter that's come out this year. When SoC came out I sank well over a hundred hours into it without ever touching the multi player, so I think it's pretty good.

Playing the game on max settings makes a pretty big difference too, dynamic lighting is wonderful.

 

[Norrdicus]

I played Call of Pripyat personally and while I found it to be an impressive game, I found it impossible to get into. Its extremely unfriendly towards new players and the gameplay feels very clunky and irritating. Its very much going to be a game that you either love or you hate, and there are many people who absolutely love the game. I'd say give it a shot as its going to be very cheap in the Steam sale, its definitely worth a try.

Overall, Call of Pripyat is mechanically the best of the 3, but it does seem like it was made for Stalker game vets because there's practically zero tutorial compared to the other 2 games.

 

[Mersadeon]

I would advise you to get the last STALKER game, Call of Pripyat. It's the best one in my opinion, and there isn't much continuity and lore so you can jump right in. The first one is great, too. I just don't really like the second one.

Ok, so why would you play it? The Atmosphere. It's an incredible game. You know what? Let me tell you a typical STLAKER story.

I was on my way back. I had a few artifacts in my backpack I wanted to pawn off - to get that sweet assault rifle I wanted. It was night - and night in STALKER is terrifying. Every monster is a challenge. I was already paranoid - I had installed a mod that made the nights even darker, to the point of realism. I needed to get back to the Stalker Outpost in that derelict ship, or this would become unfriendly.
My radio suddenly crackled. A transmission. An emission was coming: a wave of energy that kills everything human exposed to it. They happen every once in a while. This one could not have picked a worse time - I was way to far away from the outpost to make it back in time. I had to take shelter in a building or cave, or I would get fried.
I looked on my map. There was a building close, but I had never been in there. No idea if it was safe. No other option, though. I made my way inside to wait out the emission... and it was terrifying. There were noises, and every one of them made me almost pull the trigger on my shotgun. I was sitting in a corner, one eye on the window to see when the emission was over. Was that one of these cloaked bastards right over there? No, just my imagination.

In the end, I wasn't attacked during the emission. Nothing came for me. I, however, found out that the basement of that building was a nest for monsters.



So yeah, I love it. Don't go off reading the Wiki, you want to find out everything yourself. Being forced into a building with a bunch of Bandits because of an emission is super tense. The monsters can be frustrating. But everything oozes with atmosphere, with that unique feeling of russian/ukrainian after-the-end art - pessimistic, but always with a glimmer of hope and a good dash of mysticism. The emergent gameplay is the star here, but the story itself (especially in the first STALKER) and the quests are good, too.

EDIT: Ok, I probably should also admit some of the faults. Everything feels a bit clunky and it's not the most visually impressive game. The third one also has almost no tutorial, so maybe you really should start with the first.
Damnit, now I'm going to install it again. Thanks guys. Come on, lets also mention Deus Ex, so that I have to install that, too!

 

[EquestrianGeneral]

While some of the gameplay elements (the AI, for example) are not terribly polished or perfectly functional, STALKER was always a game series that stood out to me. It went for atmosphere and challenge above flashy cinematics and tutorialized theme park rides. It drops you into a world and lets you do whatever the hell you want... though that doesn't mean that you will survive whatever it is you want to do. Its world is always persistent, living and breathing outside of what you do.

So, in short, I would definitely recommend STALKER to you, Ishal--the games provide what is, to me, a very unique experience in the world of video games. Mainly, though, I'd recommend the first (Shadow of Chernobyl) and the last (Call of Pripyat), as the second (Clear Sky) was difficult even for a fan of the series like myself to get into.

ALSO, these games are much better with mods. The "Complete" series of mods for all three games is pretty solid, though I prefer the "Misery 2.0" mod for Call of Pripyat. Those would probably be good to add on after a playthrough of the vanilla game, though.

 

[Dandark]

Im actually in the process of downloading CoP right now to play that again.

STALKER is a great series and to answer your questions
1. Yes it can be challenging, like any game it gets easy enough once you master it but even then it is still dangerous. You cannot just run around going Rambo on the enemies, if you try then you will die nearly straight away after coming out of cover. You also cannot just wander around healing any damage you take as you have a limited amount of medical supplies, this becomes less important later on when you have more money but earlier on you have to conserve your small amount of supplies especially on the harder difficulties or with difficulty enhancing mods.

Enemies that damage you physically with claws or bullets can cause you to bleed and constantly lose health which is why you always need to keep plenty of bandages handy lest you win a fight only to bleed out shortly after. If not healed then these wounds can last for a while depending on how severe they are and it can take multiple bandages to stop the bleeding. Everything you carry(except some important quest items you have to carry and can't drop) has weight to it so if you carry too much ammo or medical supplies with you then you will not be able to hold as much loot or other supplies.

Human enemies may almost seem unfair at first but they have just as much health and damage as you, if you get a few direct hits on them then they will drop as long as they are not wearing super heavy armour like an exoskeleton(Though the true STALKER experience achieved through mods will have these die easily too).

Speaking of armour you will need to decide between upgrading your armour to be more resistant to physical damage such as bullets and slashing so that you are a lot tougher in fights against most mutants and other humans or upgrading it to be more resistant to fire, acid, radiation and psychic influences so that you are better equipped to navigate radiated areas or anomalies.
Choosing one will make you very vulnerable to the other, the last time I played STALKER I went with armour to make me more resistant to anomalies which let me take minimal damage when I mistepped in the middle of an anomaly field and got set alight as well as letting me ignore most radiation opening up all but the most radiated areas for exploration. This made me very well suited to exploring areas and recovering artifacts but put me in much more danger fighting humans or mutants.

On another playthrough I had upgraded my suit to be highly resistant to physical damage so that I could take on an entire squad of lightly armoured enemies with ease as long as I wasn't in a bad position however I could go nowhere near highly irradiated areas and if I tried to navigate a dangerous anomaly field then I was likely to end up set on fire, melted by acid and crushed into tiny pieces.
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2. It is very atmospheric, I have yet to find a game whose atmosphere I enjoyed more than STALKER. With graphics on high and some mods you can get one of the best immersion experiences available in gaming, moving about at day isn't that big a deal but night is a whole different story. One story I used to tell that happened to me completely unscripted and at random went like this.
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I had been exploring the swamp during the day and had gotten to a far off point as it started to get dark, I realized I had stayed out too late and tried to hurry back but it was too late. I was still in the middle of the swamp when it got too dark to see anything at all without my flashlight and as I slowly moved back I was constantly jumping at nothing. I heard noises, grunting and the rustling of the brush, I could have sworn I saw glowing eyes which quickly vanished when I looked in some bushes.

Luckily I ran into some friendly clear sky Stalkers who coincidentally were just leaving their outpost and heading in the same direction as me so I stuck with them as more bodies mean more safety right? Maybe it was attracted by the large amount of meat together but more bodies didn't help.

As we trekked through the swamp the noises and glowing eyes got worse, we had to constantly keep stopping as one of the stalkers freaked out and started shooting into the brush, everyone was tense and constantly muttering to themselves(Im not making this up, the AI do this, they kept stopping to shoot wildly but no monster ever came and they never said anything to confirm the kill like they usually do so it's not just the AI sniping something the other side of the map, they also keep muttering to themselves when scared).
Then suddenly something jumps out of one the bushes and grabs the lead stalker in it's jaws, we can't even see it properly due to it's camouflage just it's hungry glowing eyes. It lets out a roar and jumps away, as in jumps high into the air and across a pond away as the other two stalkers swear and start shooting wildly at it.

One of them swears in Russian about the bloodsucker and we lay low for about 10 mins, just waiting tense and trigger happy. Nothing else comes so we continue on. We hear more noises and continue shooting wildly into the brush but eventually make it to another outpost without any more casualties. I saw **** it and decide to sleep at that outpost for the night rather than head back out there, the trader can wait another night to get his stuff.

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I would say that STALKER is a great series of games but to get the true STALKER experience you will have to download mods to maximise the games potential and fix the many bugs they have. The games are notorious for how unstable and buggy they are so be sure to download all patches. If you want to play the vanilla game then get the STALKER complete mods, there is one for each game.

They polish the game by fixing some bugs the patches didn't as well as clearing up the UI and animation among other things. They pretty much improve the game while still keeping it as vanilla as possible, the most they do is add a new weapon or two.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

I played the first Stalker game, Shadow of Chernobyl earlier this year, it was the first time I've played any of the Stalker games.

I loved it start to end.

Imagine a slightly more linear Fallout 3, with atmosphere and difficulty turned up to eleven.
It shows its age a fair bit, but it didn't get in the way of "fun" at all.

Although I played the game vanilla without mods just fine and loved it, that's just me. A lot of people would recommend mods for the true experience, but personally I say install the patches then play for a while, then decide if you need mods.

In short, if you're looking for atmosphere and a challenge, you can't go wrong with Stalker.

 

[MysticSlayer]

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Thanks for the feedback. I'm assuming there would be a good site offering the mods, if not on the steam community forums themselves.

I see Call of Pripyat on there, too. Do I need Shadow of Chernobyl in order to get that one? Or are they both standalones? Which of the two would you recommend and why?

They are all treated as individual games. However, Call of Pripyat acts as a sequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, so some of the twists and general plot details from Shadow of Chernobyl get brought up, but for the most part, you don't have to play the games in any order.

If you want to play them chronologically, you would actually start at Clear Sky before going to Shadow of Chernobyl and finishing with Call of Pripyat. If you want to play as they released, you would start at Shadow of Chernobyl, then Clear Sky, and then Call of Pripyat. Personally, I started at Shadow of Chernobyl and then went to Call of Pripyat, treating Clear Sky as just extra if you want to continue experiencing the world.

 

[Weaver]

I almost hated it to be honest. All I remember is playing it when it first came out, running into a bunch of bugs and that none of the guns had any semblance of accuracy. The game was, upon release, horribly optimized and ran like shit. I also recall feeling really directionless as well. I also remember throwing your infinite supply of bolts at anomalies on the ground.

Mostly though, I just recall being bored. It's a rare game where I can physically feel my time being wasted, but STALKER managed to do it. 90% of the game is walking around bleak fields with rusty sheds throwing your infinite supply of bolts at anomalies on the ground.

 

[Faluva]

STALKER spoiled me when I started playing Fallout 3. Gunplay was so terrible in FO3 I found myself thinking when does this crapshow of unrealism ends.

The receipt for a perfect postapocalypse game: STALKER gameplay + Fallout story. IMO.

 

[Zeh Don]

If you're going to play ANY of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, you'll need to download the appropriate "STALKER COMPLETE" mod for your game. I seriously cannot emphasise that enough:Do not play any of them without the "STALKER COMPLETE" mod installed. These are more than just mods - they fix up and polish the games to an excellent quality and really improve the entire experience.

For my money, Shadow of Chernobyl is the best.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Well other than all of my bullets that I sprayed at anything that moved or looked like a scary shadow. Something attacked me and I freaked out as I couldn't see anything. Never went back to that house. I think the only thing I "killed" was my own shadow.

That wouldn't happen to have been the abandoned village near the Freedom camp would it? There's a reason Freedom leaves groups of armed guards there...

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I bought Shadow of Chernobyl a few years back. I tried it a few times, and while I could definitely appreciate what the game was trying to do, and I really wanted to like it, I just couldn't get into it, even with mods.

Recently I picked up Call of Pripyat because I heard from some people that it was the best game in the series, at least from a mechanical perspective. And holy fucking shit am I loving it. While I love all the interesting shit that happens with the AI, the depth of the gameplay systems, and the amazing world, the thing that really makes this one of the best games I've played is the atmosphere. The atmosphere is some of the best in any game I've ever played, and I'm a big fan of the Metro series. It's just so unnerving going into a building and everything is just unnaturally still, but you know there could be something dangerous lurking around the corner.

Also, I'm playing it without any mods, and it is completely playable and I haven't encountered any major bugs. While I have no doubt that there are mods that improve the game, they really aren't essential for Call of Pripyat.