S.T.A.L.K.E.R has gone gold

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: BD2003
You know what would be a fun game? Lets give the player *barely* enough ammo, and weapons that make a paintball gun look like a sniper rifle. Then lets give him zero armor. Then let give ALL his enemies full body armor, with only their heads exposed. Then let the enemies either A) attack you from far, far away, or B) wait along with 5 of their buddies on the other side of the doorway, and NEVER come out, even though they outnumber and outequip you. And lets give the player *artifacts* which do as much harm as good, to even it out. Then to top it all off, lets give the player one slot for a non-pistol weapon, and force the player into the inventory screen to change, and make him use a mouse to do it. And just to be funny, lets make sure the action still goes on while in said inventory screen, and we'll make the AI so "smart" that they'll know when to jump you when you're trying your best just to switch to your other weapon with 5 bullets to hopefully kill the next guy.

The poor bastard will have to quicksave every time he kills someone.

Sounds like fun right? Best part of all? Horrendous load times. Because nothing spells fun like spending half the game staring at the load screen while waiting for your next try at hitting adamantium armored enemies in their inexplicably unhelmeted heads. Twice. The first shot straight through their brain with an 7.62mm AK47 round only knocks the wind out of them.

Either I'm losing my mind, or I'm starting to question whether every site that has reviewed this game has actually played it.

who is the publisher?

they *do* pay off gaming review sites ... it's "strange" that it is also 'on sale' ... for the first 3 days of release at a major chain

what is your rig like?

and i am *not* getting it ... soon .... patches can do amazing things

THQ published it. I'm running it on 2.8 C2D and 7600gt. In DX8 mode, because I just cant play an FPS game at 15 fps. (Yes, I measured.) It runs like a champ in DX8, I'll give it that.

A patch can balance it out perhaps, but it can't address cardboard characters and story and a complete lack of playability.

I so wanted to like this game too.

Supreme Commander's assiness made me shed a single tear, and this one is just crushing. I'm starting to worry that Quake wars, spore, crysis and UT07 are all going to end up garbage now too.

take a look at the *recommended*

http://au.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalke...&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;techinfo

Recommended System Requirements
System: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 or equivalent
RAM: 2048 MB
Video Memory: 256 MB
Other: nVIDIA® GeForce? 7900 / ATI Radeon® X1950
:Q

as to Serious Sam2 ... compared to the first two it sucks

the gfx are nice ... but it is a "parody" of the first two and uninspired ... worth a play if it is really sub-bargain bin ... i actually finished it
[of course i got it cheap ]

 

[MaverikV]

I don't even care about the action I just wanna see stuff. I wanna see Pyrpiat and Chernobyl. I wanna see the decaying houses and ******. Zombies and mutants are cool but meh, I bought this game to see the zone

 

[gorcorps]

I have to agree with BD2003 on almost everything. I haven't gotten to the point where it's constant radiation, as I've been doing as much random 'tasks' as the fat Russian arms keeper who knows way too much for his own good can give me. So far, I've yet to see how this could be rated higher than a 5 by any site. I have an x850xt... which definitely isn't very good anymore but I can run some high quality textures in oblivion w/ nice lighting. STALKER won't even let me use natural lighting without crashing.

And it's really unstable. I haven't been able to play over 45mins without getting a VPU recover error and having to reboot my computer. It's pretty pathetic.

I'm pretty disappointed that the only RPG elements I see come in the form of stupid trinkets that hurt you more than they help. Normally in an RPG as you progress you can assign stats and whatnot. There's no stats to upgrade, only these artifacts which are pretty harsh on you and totally useless because of it.

Oh... and having absolutely no way to pause the game with the inventory screen is the most annoying decision I've ever run into. I really wanted this game to be good, but I'm so disappointed that I'll never be able to trust any review sites again.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: MaverikV
I don't even care about the action I just wanna see stuff. I wanna see Pyrpiat and Chernobyl. I wanna see the decaying houses and ******. Zombies and mutants are cool but meh, I bought this game to see the zone

http://images.google.com/images?client=...era&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

Google could have saved you $50.

 

[MBrown]

Man I wanted something to test my new 8800gts on but I don't know if I want to get this game anymore.

 

[Zenoth]

Some game-play videos from me.

#1

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KV3MNV9W

Shows some A-Life (wildlife) and a few neutral Stalkers, nothing special, just a humble and calm video.

#2

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X8F1J4XL

Another small game-play footage I recorded while playing just moments ago. I died during the footage hehe, I never saw where the shot came from.

#3

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X8F1J4XL

From there something went terribly wrong after that (after video #2). The game started to slow down a little (it was after the footage, Fraps wasn't recording anything) after I loaded up the game again (since I died). It was just two or three minutes before the footage, so I went back to that outpost and finished the enemies I could without dying. I took some items silently, and fled back to the small Duty outpost (I'm starting to work for them in my game, the Freedom guys are enemies to me now, firing on sight).

So, from there once I returned I started to record new footage, because I wanted to explore the surrounding areas, which I never explored before. Nothing much goes on, in fact, nothing happens expect at the end.

And that's where the troubled moment is recorded.

Remember I said the game started to slow down and act strangely ? Well, it might have been something about the A.I, or perhaps even the whole area itself it troubled (there was a quest there earlier and it was a mess to finish, due to unscripted A.I behaviors, killing important characters for example, I had to start it again not one, not two but three times to get it done properly).

At the end of the video I attempt to surprise a nearby enemy camp. Three guys from the Freedom faction are there probably talking around a camp fire. I spotted them with my Binoculars, and then tried to find a good attack angle to surprise them. I wanted to throw a Grenade at them just for the kicks of setting them in combat stance.

Well guess what happened ? You'll see in the video ...

It was a major bug, to say the least, A.I-related, but quite major. I saw NPCs running against walls already, I saw some of them pointing their guns to a wall and fire at it for no apparent reasons, I saw many so-so bugs, things that you can live with.

But THAT was totally unexpected. It's surely one of those things that GSC GameWorld must have been frustrated about during the development process. They must have yelled at such situations. Because quite frankly they have to know about it. If they don't, then I don't know where they've been and/or what they've done during the past 6 years or so.

Here's the video showing the major A.I bug at the end. Enjoy ! Or .... rather get disappointed ! (you choose)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HKSIXK2C

Notes: The videos are compressed with H.264. Most of you might need specific video codecs to display the videos properly in your media player(s). I myself am using some codecs from K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, and it does the job well. Others are using the CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack), which should also work well. If the video is in fact only playing sounds with a black screen then it might be because you need new codecs. You might also want to give a try to VLC Meida Player if all else fails, to get it go to www.videolan.org

So, enjoy ! Or rather get disappointed ! (you choose)

 

[JSt0rm]

ok Ive played a few hours and I do enjoy this game. The graphics are dated, The folage doesn't look as good as say oblivion. I feel like either some of the missions are broken or they don't feel right but...

When I first got done with the old man he wanted me to go help is recon team with some bandits and free some dude. Fine. I head out and realize he gave me a pistol on some bandages and what not. I arm these and head out to the road. I hang a right at the road instead of going left and find a dead guy surrounded by mutant dogs. I gun these down with my pistol trying to figure out the range of the weapon.

As I moved a bit further out I see a military scout team of 3 walking down the road. I spend some time watching them from the bushes on the side of the road. Save game... I try and fire on them and get gunned down quick. I reload the game...find the aim button heheh and try again.

I start to fire and pin down 2 of them. The third starts dropping back to his base. One keeps a steady stream of fire on me and the other is pushing on my left flank. I manage to pump enough rounds into the soldier so that he drops to the ground. I fall back instantly into the bushes and make a wide circle around to the right. I avoided the guy trying to flank me but I lost him and didn't really know where he was. So I went onto the road and started moving towards the falllen soldier. As I ran to him I could hear wizzing bullets from the base close by. I ran up to him and found him to be holding his gut and rolling around on the ground. I shot him one time and instantly started to search his body findign a military grade med kit a ak-47 a pistol and some ammo...Nice!! Bullets are still wizzing by me but I can tell the accuracy of the weapons at that range just suck and don't really feel in real danger.

I then circle back into the bush and look for the other soldier. I am creeping along and find him looking towards the hill. He didn't hear my gunfire on the road but this could be because of me playing on stalker difficulty not veteran or elite. I took aim and shot one round to his head looting his body as well.

I didn't expect to end up with 2 ak47's and some military grad med kits 5 minutes into the game but I really enjoyed the challenge. I went on to do the other mission with the bandits alone. Creeping around the base picking off a few soldiers at a time. I think this game is what you make of it. It is a sand box.

Some things Ive learned

Right click on weapons in your inventory to unload them before dropping them...You need it all. It took me a minute to realize this.

Aim for the head at the very least. The bullets will arc and get wild. I'm still learning how they fall. I think 3 to 5 bullet bursts work well aiming for upper torso/head because your weapon will pull up with the fire helping the headshots.

Keep moving...fire...keep moving...dont let them get near your flank.

 

[Wheezer]

There is a bit of a learning curve, but I have played for a few hours and so far have been enjoying the game.

Make sure when you get assault rifles, set them for 3 round bursts, they seem much more effective that way.

 

[PClark99]

thankfully I read this thread before buying the game.

I will wait for the demo.

 

[skace]

Whenever I read about a buggy game I want it even more. It's kind of weird, I know...

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Zenoth
Some game-play videos from me.

#1

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KV3MNV9W

Shows some A-Life (wildlife) and a few neutral Stalkers, nothing special, just a humble and calm video.

#2

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X8F1J4XL

Another small game-play footage I recorded while playing just moments ago. I died during the footage hehe, I never saw where the shot came from.

#3

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=X8F1J4XL

From there something went terribly wrong after that (after video #2). The game started to slow down a little (it was after the footage, Fraps wasn't recording anything) after I loaded up the game again (since I died). It was just two or three minutes before the footage, so I went back to that outpost and finished the enemies I could without dying. I took some items silently, and fled back to the small Duty outpost (I'm starting to work for them in my game, the Freedom guys are enemies to me now, firing on sight).

So, from there once I returned I started to record new footage, because I wanted to explore the surrounding areas, which I never explored before. Nothing much goes on, in fact, nothing happens expect at the end.

And that's where the troubled moment is recorded.

Remember I said the game started to slow down and act strangely ? Well, it might have been something about the A.I, or perhaps even the whole area itself it troubled (there was a quest there earlier and it was a mess to finish, due to unscripted A.I behaviors, killing important characters for example, I had to start it again not one, not two but three times to get it done properly).

At the end of the video I attempt to surprise a nearby enemy camp. Three guys from the Freedom faction are there probably talking around a camp fire. I spotted them with my Binoculars, and then tried to find a good attack angle to surprise them. I wanted to throw a Grenade at them just for the kicks of setting them in combat stance.

Well guess what happened ? You'll see in the video ...

It was a major bug, to say the least, A.I-related, but quite major. I saw NPCs running against walls already, I saw some of them pointing their guns to a wall and fire at it for no apparent reasons, I saw many so-so bugs, things that you can live with.

But THAT was totally unexpected. It's surely one of those things that GSC GameWorld must have been frustrated about during the development process. They must have yelled at such situations. Because quite frankly they have to know about it. If they don't, then I don't know where they've been and/or what they've done during the past 6 years or so.

Here's the video showing the major A.I bug at the end. Enjoy ! Or .... rather get disappointed ! (you choose)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HKSIXK2C

Notes: The videos are compressed with H.264. Most of you might need specific video codecs to display the videos properly in your media player(s). I myself am using some codecs from K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, and it does the job well. Others are using the CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack), which should also work well. If the video is in fact only playing sounds with a black screen then it might be because you need new codecs. You might also want to give a try to VLC Meida Player if all else fails, to get it go to www.videolan.org

So, enjoy ! Or rather get disappointed ! (you choose)

can that site be any harder to figure out how to watch the videos? as far as i can tell, i need to download their toolbar to watch anything? either that or your links don't work right.

 

[ramj70]

I had this game ordered through gogamer.com that came with quake IV as a bonus and I received an e-mail that it was back-ordered. After reading some of the player reviews I'm glad that happened because I canceled my order. It doesn't sound like a very fun game at this point. I was looking forward to this game

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: ramj70
I had this game ordered through gogamer.com that came with quake IV as a bonus and I received an e-mail that it was back-ordered. After reading some of the player reviews I'm glad that happened because I canceled my order. It doesn't sound like a very fun game at this point. I was looking forward to this game

Quake 4 is worth a play through.

There may be people on this planet that will enjoy this game. You must be a *very* patient and forgiving person.

Surely, there are things about it that are cool, the open endedness was certainly promising. I'd love to play an open ended FPS, as long as there was a compelling story, and gameplay mechanics that don't want to make me rip my hair out. Theres a "learning curve" because you have to learn to deal with the constant aggravation of design decisions that were already recognized as bad 4-5 years ago.

For every cool moment, there are 5 annoying ones. So if you're like a site reviewer that needs to trudge through every FPS, this game might feel refreshing, because it certainly is different.

 

[marmasatt]

And contrary to popular belief, no, you can not S.T.A.L.K. someone in this game. Perhaps if the planets align and your enemies lose the ability to see through the back of their heads, you might be able to shoot someone in the back of the head. But you'd better use a rocket, because apparently everyone in chernobyl has evolved to form impenetrable skulls.

In fact, wiping your ass with $50 sounds quite satisfying, which I guarantee is a far more entertaining use of your money.

Dude, you've got to cut this out, I almost spit out my coffee reading your continued synopsis .

I think I'm waiting now too. I don't know though. People bashed Prey for awhile too. And that was certainly worth the 10 hrs of play.

 

[MaverikV]

I like the game and I really want to keep playing, it's just nice to vent about some of the annoying crap

Like how I have to turn off HDR on my 8800gts 320MB when I could run it in HL2:EP1 with higher AA on my 7800GTS256

 

[ArchAngel777]

Well, I am certainly glad that I got some honest reviews. I was going to pickup the game, but not after this. I just realized how much money I have wasted over the years on picking up games in hopes they are good. But instead they are a pile of cat shat. Thanks for saving me some money!

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: BD2003
You know what would be a fun game? Lets give the player *barely* enough ammo, and weapons that make a paintball gun look like a sniper rifle. Then lets give him zero armor. Then let give ALL his enemies full body armor, with only their heads exposed. Then let the enemies either A) attack you from far, far away, or B) wait along with 5 of their buddies on the other side of the doorway, and NEVER come out, even though they outnumber and outequip you. And lets give the player *artifacts* which do as much harm as good, to even it out. Then to top it all off, lets give the player one slot for a non-pistol weapon, and force the player into the inventory screen to change, and make him use a mouse to do it. And just to be funny, lets make sure the action still goes on while in said inventory screen, and we'll make the AI so "smart" that they'll know when to jump you when you're trying your best just to switch to your other weapon with 5 bullets to hopefully kill the next guy.

The poor bastard will have to quicksave every time he kills someone.

Sounds like fun right? Best part of all? Horrendous load times. Because nothing spells fun like spending half the game staring at the load screen while waiting for your next try at hitting adamantium armored enemies in their inexplicably unhelmeted heads. Twice. The first shot straight through their brain with an 7.62mm AK47 round only knocks the wind out of them.

Either I'm losing my mind, or I'm starting to question whether every site that has reviewed this game has actually played it.

lmao! i just cancelled my preorder @ gogamer...hopefully it's not too late

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Well, I am certainly glad that I got some honest reviews. I was going to pickup the game, but not after this. I just realized how much money I have wasted over the years on picking up games in hopes they are good. But instead they are a pile of cat shat. Thanks for saving me some money!

i really think i will buy this game ... just not now

after a few patches [and a patch can address *everything* ... including story advancement]
it may become a really good game ... i just don't want to help them fix it ...

i can wait for bargain bin

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: marmasatt

And contrary to popular belief, no, you can not S.T.A.L.K. someone in this game. Perhaps if the planets align and your enemies lose the ability to see through the back of their heads, you might be able to shoot someone in the back of the head. But you'd better use a rocket, because apparently everyone in chernobyl has evolved to form impenetrable skulls.

In fact, wiping your ass with $50 sounds quite satisfying, which I guarantee is a far more entertaining use of your money.

Dude, you've got to cut this out, I almost spit out my coffee reading your continued synopsis .

I think I'm waiting now too. I don't know though. People bashed Prey for awhile too. And that was certainly worth the 10 hrs of play.

Even though I'm not exactly the biggest fan of prey, I'd still prefer that joke over stalker. I thought prey was an entirely broken game...there was ZERO challenge. Something is terribly wrong in a game when you can take down an entire alien civilization with an old rusty wrench, because your wise cherokee ancestors have granted you the gift of invulnerability. But this invulnerability comes at a dire cost....you must shoot down colorful flying spirit squid for 5 seconds in purgatory before you are forcefully sucked down the orfice of resurrection back into the alien spaceship.

Yet it was still interesting enough to make me want to finish it. I really, really wanted to beat the final boss to death with the wrench, but he was *just* out of range. I had to use my vile carrot juice gun with unlimited ammo in order to breach his shield. I was offered the opporunity to rule the galaxy, and I considered taking up the offer, but I realized that I didn't need the aliens at my side - I had an unlimited supply of my ancestral spirit squid and my wrench, and not even a thermonuclear bomb could stop me from taking down entire armies, one bashed face at a time.

 

[Dethfrumbelo]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: marmasatt

And contrary to popular belief, no, you can not S.T.A.L.K. someone in this game. Perhaps if the planets align and your enemies lose the ability to see through the back of their heads, you might be able to shoot someone in the back of the head. But you'd better use a rocket, because apparently everyone in chernobyl has evolved to form impenetrable skulls.

In fact, wiping your ass with $50 sounds quite satisfying, which I guarantee is a far more entertaining use of your money.

Dude, you've got to cut this out, I almost spit out my coffee reading your continued synopsis .

I think I'm waiting now too. I don't know though. People bashed Prey for awhile too. And that was certainly worth the 10 hrs of play.

Even though I'm not exactly the biggest fan of prey, I'd still prefer that joke over stalker. I thought prey was an entirely broken game...there was ZERO challenge. Something is terribly wrong in a game when you can take down an entire alien civilization with an old rusty wrench, because your wise cherokee ancestors have granted you the gift of invulnerability. But this invulnerability comes at a dire cost....you must shoot down colorful flying spirit squid for 5 seconds in purgatory before you are forcefully sucked down the orfice of resurrection back into the alien spaceship.

Yet it was still interesting enough to make me want to finish it. I really, really wanted to beat the final boss to death with the wrench, but he was *just* out of range. I had to use my vile carrot juice gun with unlimited ammo in order to breach his shield. I was offered the opporunity to rule the galaxy, and I considered taking up the offer, but I realized that I didn't need the aliens at my side - I had an unlimited supply of my ancestral spirit squid and my wrench, and not even a thermonuclear bomb could stop me from taking down entire armies, one bashed face at a time.

What's worse though, shooting red and blue spirit squids or drinking vodka as a cure for radiation poisoning?

 

[apoppin]

i prefer the vodka


if it is smoooth
:lips:

IF i drank anymore

i stopped 'shooting squids'
:Q

:laugh:

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Dethfrumbelo

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: marmasatt

And contrary to popular belief, no, you can not S.T.A.L.K. someone in this game. Perhaps if the planets align and your enemies lose the ability to see through the back of their heads, you might be able to shoot someone in the back of the head. But you'd better use a rocket, because apparently everyone in chernobyl has evolved to form impenetrable skulls.

In fact, wiping your ass with $50 sounds quite satisfying, which I guarantee is a far more entertaining use of your money.

Dude, you've got to cut this out, I almost spit out my coffee reading your continued synopsis .

I think I'm waiting now too. I don't know though. People bashed Prey for awhile too. And that was certainly worth the 10 hrs of play.

Even though I'm not exactly the biggest fan of prey, I'd still prefer that joke over stalker. I thought prey was an entirely broken game...there was ZERO challenge. Something is terribly wrong in a game when you can take down an entire alien civilization with an old rusty wrench, because your wise cherokee ancestors have granted you the gift of invulnerability. But this invulnerability comes at a dire cost....you must shoot down colorful flying spirit squid for 5 seconds in purgatory before you are forcefully sucked down the orfice of resurrection back into the alien spaceship.

Yet it was still interesting enough to make me want to finish it. I really, really wanted to beat the final boss to death with the wrench, but he was *just* out of range. I had to use my vile carrot juice gun with unlimited ammo in order to breach his shield. I was offered the opporunity to rule the galaxy, and I considered taking up the offer, but I realized that I didn't need the aliens at my side - I had an unlimited supply of my ancestral spirit squid and my wrench, and not even a thermonuclear bomb could stop me from taking down entire armies, one bashed face at a time.

What's worse though, shooting red and blue spirit squids or drinking vodka as a cure for radiation poisoning?

Well, large does of discolored squid, vodka and radiation poisoning all have the same ultimate effect of causing profuse vomiting and possibly taking your life, so I'd say they're about even.

 

[apoppin]

heck, half of all university student almost drink themselves to death --every weekend
:Q

i'll take the 'virtual poisoning'

 

[skace]

What is worse, people who bought this game before good reviews were in and were therefor decieved, or a person like me, who will buy it after reading all these negative comments all the same

 

[pontifex]

i dunno, i might still pick it up. i'm going to wal-mart today during lunch so if they have it, i'll buy it.