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

[Gilgamesh]

Not gonna add anything Russophobic? Okay, then explain them removing the Russian dub from the game, how in the 2nd trailer the vats that hold the mutants reference Russia and JUST Russian people in it?

I forgot they removed the Russian dub from the game, but I don't think that's a big of a stretch to understand why, considering studio employees have died due to the Russian invasion. A bummer nonetheless, but at least there will be a sub.
What 2nd trailer are you referring to? I couldn't find anything about mutants just being Russian.

QUESTION: If the Russian occupation caused them to change Heart of Chornobyl sooo much to reflect a partisan anti-Russian belief, including changing the title spelling... Why don't they release an all-in-one update for Shadow of Chernobyl that also changes the title spelling among providing QOL fixes?

Because it's such a non-issue that no one really cares. Literally only the English spelling changed, Chernobyl has been spelled with the Ukrainian spelling in Cyrillic since the release of SoC. I doubt they would've changed it if the war didn't happen (the majority of STALKERs playerbase is Eastern European anyways), but I think they did to show that the studio is Ukrainian, and Ukraine is separate from Russia. Before the war, a lot of people had no idea Ukraine even existed, Ukraine has had anti-Russia sentiments since before the October Revolution.

 

[The tired cat]

I forgot they removed the Russian dub from the game, but I don't think that's a big of a stretch to understand why, considering studio employees have died due to the Russian invasion. A bummer nonetheless, but at least there will be a sub.
What 2nd trailer are you referring to? I couldn't find anything about mutants just being Russian.

A. No there won't be Russian subs, because the game won't even be sold in Russia (and all the people who made pre-orders were told to fuck off and suck it); B. One employee has died and he wasn't even involved in the development of STALKER 2 and only had his hand in Clear Sky (which is considered the worst STALKER in the series); C. There's a scene where they show these labs with mutants flowing inside, upon closer look the description on the tanks themselves has stuff about Russian people (namely poems how all Russian people are scum)

 

[Slav Power]

QUESTION: If the Russian occupation caused them to change Heart of Chornobyl sooo much to reflect a partisan anti-Russian belief, including changing the title spelling... Why don't they release an all-in-one update for Shadow of Chernobyl that also changes the title spelling among providing QOL fixes?

It's because GSC absolutely does not care about the quality of their games. The only reason the old trilogy is even somewhat stable and playable is thanks to the fanbase, and the only reason STALKER was a massive success was because of the fanbase that made countless mods based on the trilogy, since GSC allows for usage of their assets and they've released the source code for their engine. And also that was old GSC, before the bankruptcy.

A. No there won't be Russian subs, because the game won't even be sold in Russia (and all the people who made pre-orders were told to fuck off and suck it); B. One employee has died and he wasn't even involved in the development of STALKER 2 and only had his hand in Clear Sky (which is considered the worst STALKER in the series); C. There's a scene where they show these labs with mutants flowing inside, upon closer look the description on the tanks themselves has stuff about Russian people (namely poems how all Russian people are scum)

Yeah, this is exactly what I was expecting to happen. GSC will be so hellbent on hating Russians they will make the entire campaign of STALKER 2 about how Russia is bad and it will completely take away all the enjoyment from the game, because not a single STALKER game ever has lectured you about this until now, because muh Ukraine invaded. I'll stick to the old trilogy and all the mods made for it, not like the new game will be moddable at all.

 

[The tired cat]

Yeah, this is exactly what I was expecting to happen. GSC will be so hellbent on hating Russians they will make the entire campaign of STALKER 2 about how Russia is bad and it will completely take away all the enjoyment from the game, because not a single STALKER game ever has lectured you about this until now, because muh Ukraine invaded. I'll stick to the old trilogy and all the mods made for it, not like the new game will be moddable at all.

I mean, if it will be moddable it'll be a fuckin pain in the arse. Mod makers simply despise the Unreal engine, because of how bloody unstable that thing is. As for not shoving anti-Russian stuff, they kinda had it in Clear Sky, but it was an area and NPC dialogue you can easily missable, heck I think people discovered this shit only like..mmm...I wanna say three years ago?

 

[Gilgamesh]

A. No there won't be Russian subs, because the game won't even be sold in Russia (and all the people who made pre-orders were told to fuck off and suck it); B. One employee has died and he wasn't even involved in the development of STALKER 2 and only had his hand in Clear Sky (which is considered the worst STALKER in the series); C. There's a scene where they show these labs with mutants flowing inside, upon closer look the description on the tanks themselves has stuff about Russian people (namely poems how all Russian people are scum)

The homepage of the goddamn website says there will be Russian subs.
The dev that died was involved with CoP, not Clear Sky. Clear Sky has controversy, but it was rated well domestically as well as abroad. It's still an autistic argument to be "urrrrr he worked on bad game so whatever".
If you're not going to show that exact scene from that unnamed trailer, I'm not going to believe you.

 

[The tired cat]

The homepage of the goddamn website says there will be Russian subs.
The dev that died was involved with CoP, not Clear Sky. Clear Sky has controversy, but it was rated well domestically as well as abroad. It's still an autistic argument to be "urrrrr he worked on bad game so whatever".
If you're not going to show that exact scene from that unnamed trailer, I'm not going to believe you.

Lol, ya seriously gonna believe these fuckers about the subs? After they pretty much scammed Russian gamers? Also, I dunno why they say he was involved with CoP when he was involved with Clear Sky and even had a character named after him appear in that game. I mean, him working on a bad game doesn't help, but the fact he bought into Ukraine's Neo nazi shit really doesn't make me have much pity for his dumb ass. Why an unnamed trailer? We have a 2nd trailer, which shows the so-called "gameplay" and it has the scene with the lab, easy to find.

 

[Big Fat Frog]

If you're not going to show that exact scene from that unnamed trailer, I'm not going to believe you.

At 2:18

 

[Gilgamesh]

At 2:18

Thank you for the link and timestamp.
I can see how the poem might be offensive, but if we can say "kill all niggers" on this website, I don't mind a Ukrainian dev putting that in their game. It's pretty funny actually.

 

[56 others]

I think CoP with the Arsenal Overhaul 3 mod (plus the included weather mod) is the best experience. There's a lot of stuff to kill, a lot of variation to kill, and lots to kill it with. It's why I like the series, you wander around and will always run into something to shoot. A lot fewer maps is very nice too, makes for a much tighter experience

 

[Snekposter]

I think CoP with the Arsenal Overhaul 3 mod (plus the included weather mod) is the best experience. There's a lot of stuff to kill, a lot of variation to kill, and lots to kill it with. It's why I like the series, you wander around and will always run into something to shoot. A lot fewer maps is very nice too, makes for a much tighter experience

One the one hand, the maps give much, much better freeplay. On the other, there isn't quite the sense of linear progression you got in the earlier games. Leading the Clear Sky assault on Monolith as you literally fight your way up through that one town, dodging teleport anomalies that threaten to send you back to the start, and then the CQB in the ruined hospital was one of the tensest gameplay experiences I've ever had. Of course, the NPP itself was a slog same as it was in SoC, but oh well.

 

[56 others]

One the one hand, the maps give much, much better freeplay. On the other, there isn't quite the sense of linear progression you got in the earlier games. Leading the Clear Sky assault on Monolith as you literally fight your way up through that one town, dodging teleport anomalies that threaten to send you back to the start, and then the CQB in the ruined hospital was one of the tensest gameplay experiences I've ever had. Of course, the NPP itself was a slog same as it was in SoC, but oh well.

Limansk had its moments, but I really liked the assault through Pripyat in SoC. Jupiter Tunnel section in CoP was honestly kind of boring, and the fight to the helicopters is pretty unremarkable. Questing is a lot tighter in CoP because it's a lot more planned, and having all the stashes accessible makes doing a run through a lot of fun. Probably the closest I'll ever get to speedrunning

 

[Snekposter]

Limansk had its moments, but I really liked the assault through Pripyat in SoC. Jupiter Tunnel section in CoP was honestly kind of boring, and the fight to the helicopters is pretty unremarkable. Questing is a lot tighter in CoP because it's a lot more planned, and having all the stashes accessible makes doing a run through a lot of fun. Probably the closest I'll ever get to speedrunning

Oh yeah, the assault on Pripyat where a couple exo guys with heavy weapons show up to help out is fun, but the Jupiter Tunnel was just long and annoying, and Pripyat is a slog of boring quests. The endgame in CoP sucks compared to the other two. Its as unfocused and open-ended as the other two maps, which is not what you want for an end game scenario.

 

[not william stenchever]

For me the Pripyat tunnels, while they may not be fun, I always found a sense of satisfaction making it through to the other end. You plan, prepare, and then slog through mutants and monolith to finally get a breath of fresh air on the other side. It's like working on a pain in the ass project in real life but you get to snipe people in the face.

 

[56 others]

For me the tunnels aren't fun and aren't a slog because I've done them a few times, it's just unimpressive. It's the real start of the game going stale. I do really like gathering a team tho

 

[Serbian Peacekeepers]

Necro i am seeing posts on reddit about a internal version of Stalker 2 getting leaked, its encrypted so we can't play it or anything but it did leak.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

Necro i am seeing posts on reddit about a internal version of Stalker 2 getting leaked, its encrypted so we can't play it or anything but it did leak.

I still think I'd rather replay SoC for the dozenth time...

 

[T-21]

Necro i am seeing posts on reddit about a internal version of Stalker 2 getting leaked, its encrypted so we can't play it or anything but it did leak.

Check 4chan and see what you can find. They usually fond playing unreleased or unfinished versions of STALKER instead playing Anomaly with GAMMA or other mods for many many times.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

I think CoP with the Arsenal Overhaul 3 mod (plus the included weather mod) is the best experience. There's a lot of stuff to kill, a lot of variation to kill, and lots to kill it with. It's why I like the series, you wander around and will always run into something to shoot. A lot fewer maps is very nice too, makes for a much tighter experience

I only ever played the first game. But I think I own the second and third games on GoG. How do you recommend playing the second and third games? I already played the first one a ton, both modded and unmodded. And I much preferred a modded experience.

 

[RadioactiveMonkeyMan]

I only ever played the first game. But I think I own the second and third games on GoG. How do you recommend playing the second and third games? I already played the first one a ton, both modded and unmodded. And I much preferred a modded experience.

Clear sky is the "ugly duckling" of the 3, but modded it's a great game. Default is kinda meh. For some reason iron sights for handguns was removed and the enemies are more spongy than the other 2 games. Play it modded. Call of Pripyat is their semi open-world approach. Rather than a bunch of smaller maps stitched together, it's 3 large maps you're free to roam about. Mechanically, it's pretty much identical to the first with a nice new coat of paint. Mods (relatively) optional.

Personally, I play Anomaly. Takes the maps from all the games and alphas, stitching them into a cohesive worldspace in CoP's engine. Adds a ton of new mechanics, designed for people familiar with the games. I'd describe it as MISERY lite. Doesn't really fuck too much with the general difficulty.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

Personally, I play Anomaly. Takes the maps from all the games and alphas, stitching them into a cohesive worldspace in CoP's engine. Adds a ton of new mechanics, designed for people familiar with the games.

That sounds really neat. Thanks!