S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Stalker) Thread

Evil Peter Griffin said:
Then what did they fix with this patch?
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They improved the AI and fixed their abilty to pick shit up (it was there just bugged), added flashlight shadows, fixed a plethora or crashes, scripting issues, NPCs rev each other more freq now, mem leaks, fixed late game gear variety for NPCs, NPCs are less accurate at a distance and stealth should be easier, added the ability for Controllers to roar a new attack, daytime is longer while nights are shorter now, changes to PDA maps and the overall map to allow you to visit areas you couldn't before, and a fuckton of other improvements and QOL shit.
 
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I think STALKER 2 has been a disappointment. While messing around with it the other day all I can think is "why did they even bother to release this shit". They switched to UE5 in the middle of development and UE5 is garbage. It's nowhere near as good as UE4. The game runs like shit and is poorly optimized. I would think in 2024-2025 GSC would be able to put out a game that doesn't run like garbage. A lot of the stuff people say about the game is true. I was watching a video made by that guy DWTerminator a few days ago and agreed with a lot of what he says about the game.


It's true that the game doesn't look that great.

This guy even compares the game to Fallout 4. He says it looks no better than Fallout 4 a game from 2015. I agree with this guy as well.


Where are the scopes the NVG and so on? There is a quite a bit of stuff missing from STALKER 2 that it feels like a step backwards than forwards. He even compares the game to modded Anomaly and Anomaly looks way better with mods.

Just look at this. Anomaly looks amazing. Like a true next gen experience. Then you have STALKER 2 looking like a slightly upgraded Fallout 4.


Another comparison video where Anomaly looks much better.


This all done for free and with publicly available mods and GSC couldn't do any better.


It makes me want to completely just give up on STALKER 2 and go get some of these mods for Anomaly.


This shit looks amazing


I think consoles are at least partly to be blamed for this. The other STALKER games were PC exclusives.
Frightened Rabbit said:
They improved the AI and fixed their abilty to pick shit up (it was there just bugged), added flashlight shadows, fixed a plethora or crashes, scripting issues, NPCs rev each other more freq now, mem leaks, fixed late game gear variety for NPCs, NPCs are less accurate at a distance and stealth should be easier, added the ability for Controllers to roar a new attack, daytime is longer while nights are shorter now, changes to PDA maps and the overall map to allow you to visit areas you couldn't before, and a fuckton of other improvements and QOL shit.
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Not really. There still aren't any dynamic shadows cast from NPC's when using the flashlight on them.
 
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I don't think its the lacking "power" of the engine, its just that its very derivative.

The OG series had a very clear and unique style to them, the people making it wanted to show something with a specific tone and feeling, an emotional relationship, and they pretty much did it.

The 2 is just aping that, its just a copy of what was before. It may technically have better graphics by the numbers, but its soulless in its design. In fact, design is an interesting word, I would say they mostly copied the older games without understanding why those games are the way they are.

Its why movie franchises that seek to recapture the early movies always fail, why bands that want to take it back always fail, they are not using the same inspiration that created those classic things, they are using the things themselves as the blueprint.
 
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I feel like there is a lot of good visual design and work done on Stalker 2, you can see this shine thru in the models, artstyle, artifacts, however, I feel like the overuse of Lumen and the usual problem that UE5 has where lighting twinkles is what makes this game look so bad at most times, they didn't even use Lumen sparingly, I don't think they even used normal GI or Baked lighting anywhere, it sucks.
Also next time you rant about stalker graphics, use something that's actually interesting, not anomaly, I beg of you.

BradeRunna said:
Not really. There still aren't any dynamic shadows cast from NPC's when using the flashlight on them.
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They were added on objects, dynamic shadows are there, that is all.
 
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Reactions: Just don't like em.
Just got done with Stalker 2 and deep deep inside it, there is a good game.
Too bad the game run worse than a fat black guy and there are some shit design chooses in it (The final shooting arean can go fuck itself).
I want to love it, but I can't recommand it to anyone at this current state. Wait until they have patch way more and install a nightvision mod.
 
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Foltest said:
Just got done with Stalker 2 and deep deep inside it, there is a good game.
Too bad the game run worse than a fat black guy and there are some shit design chooses in it (The final shooting arean can go fuck itself).
I want to love it, but I can't recommand it to anyone at this current state. Wait until they have patch way more and install a nightvision mod.
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Yeah, I actually really like some of the story beats.
Like when you meet Doctor at his house and there's tons of extremely well-done foreshadowing elements, like how he moves around like someone who has trouble seeing but it can be passed off as frustration and anger, knows a bit too much about Monolith in general and Strider in particular, possesses an unusual regret about killing Strider, plus the odd lamp on the basement generator that has the same strange blue-white frequency as psi equipment. You won't think too much of it the first time around but once you've done the Skif ending you can't unsee any of it.
 
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Snekposter said:
Yeah, I actually really like some of the story beats.
Like when you meet Doctor at his house and there's tons of extremely well-done foreshadowing elements, like how he moves around like someone who has trouble seeing but it can be passed off as frustration and anger, knows a bit too much about Monolith in general and Strider in particular, possesses an unusual regret about killing Strider, plus the odd lamp on the basement generator that has the same strange blue-white frequency as psi equipment. You won't think too much of it the first time around but once you've done the Skif ending you can't unsee any of it.
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Strider was the character that I feelt most sympathic to in the story. The guy tried so hard to save his fellowing monolith brothers from becoming slaves again and creating a new a life for them.When you meet him again in the noosphere and he ask if they did it, I lied and said that his brothers are safe. He seemed content with he being dead.
Fuck you Faust.
 
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Foltest said:
Strider was the character that I feelt most sympathic to in the story. The guy tried so hard to save his fellowing monolith brothers from becoming slaves again and creating a new a life for them.When you meet him again in the noosphere and he ask if they did it, I lied and said that his brothers are safe. He seemed content with he being dead.
Fuck you Faust.
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If you tell him the truth you get the opposite where he suffers a total psychotic breakdown, throws the bullet casing away, and turns his back and walks away from you while laughing at how ultimately absurd and fruitless his efforts were.
 
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Foltest said:
I could not do that to him. Strider was such a bro in both CoP and S2. While Scar turned into a fucking basketcase and Strelok wants to fuck the zone, I am glad that all Strider wanted to to was help his bros.
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Degtaryov is also bro-tier since all he wants to do is try and keep as many people as possible from getting themselves killed in Pripyat, and when Monolith shows back up he and his dudes try and hold the line no matter what.
 
Yeah the story did a good job at making former Monolith sympathetic. I was hoping that we'd be able to bring them back at some point, but it wouldn't be an Eastern European story if it wasn't bleak.
 
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Monolith could get a story DLC. Who knows. Now I wonder if they'll do the METRO dlc thing where you play as other characters.
 
It would be cool to get DLCs that take place in the years between CoP and Stalker 2. There's many stories to be told in the Zone, e.g. DLC focused on the formation of Noontide, Degtyarev forming his corps, or completely new stories. There will probably be one taking place after the Strelok ending since that's the most likely canon ending imo that's revolved around trying to break out of the Zone, or maybe something new has spawned and needs to be investigated

Could the Ward work as being canon? The way I see it working is that something eventually goes wrong and the control established over the Noosphere by Korushnov is destroyed and the Zone returns to as it was alongside new and old factions because of the disruption of the power balance, but now there's new anomalies, new facilities and experiments set up by the government, etc.
 
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Blackstar said:
It would be cool to get DLCs that take place in the years between CoP and Stalker 2. There's many stories to be told in the Zone, e.g. DLC focused on the formation of Noontide, Degtyarev forming his corps, or completely new stories. There will probably be one taking place after the Strelok ending since that's the most likely canon ending imo that's revolved around trying to break out of the Zone, or maybe something new has spawned and needs to be investigated

Could the Ward work as being canon? The way I see it working is that something eventually goes wrong and the control established over the Noosphere by Korushnov is destroyed and the Zone returns to as it was alongside new and old factions because of the disruption of the power balance, but now there's new anomalies, new facilities and experiments set up by the government, etc.
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The map already has PoI's at the bridge into Limansk and the checkpoint gate into the Iron Forest. I know Limansk is off-limits completely and I'm pretty sure none of the end sequences have you travel into the IF, so those two areas are ripe for content and exploration.
 
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Nameless One said:
Monolith could get a story DLC. Who knows. Now I wonder if they'll do the METRO dlc thing where you play as other characters.
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Would be a waste, but if you looked at the leaks you'll know what they are already planning for DLC, and how they'll play out, which is more akin to how New Vegas did it.
 
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