A great dissertation by Matthew Sakey on what makes STALKER what it is, and why imo it is the greatest FPS to ever grace the PC. http://press.etc.cmu.edu/content/stalker-matthew-sakey It's worth a look for any STALKER fan.
you need to play FEAR. you'd love it.
or die. you might die.
idk, try it and see.
@OP, youshouldmust try the Complete mod. It fixes almost 100% of the various bugs and makes the game alltogether better (not easier, as some would say).
As for X-18, I really don't know what it is about that damned hole, but every time I attempt it I lose my nerve. Maybe it's just some kind of mental block and once I get past the first 5 minutes It'll all be a huge anti-climax.
great games , no hand holding for sure [no arrows go here lol]There is nothing else like S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Nothing.
The game was plagued with a lack of funding and tech. Their vision was unparallelled. You can easily see that with Lost Alpha. The scope was obviously too big for the budget, and yet despite that, they created Shadow of Chernobyl, with measly funding and less than adequate working conditions.
I don't think it needs defended, or warranted a response to "I don't get it." If you "get it", than you do. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is known as much for being what it wasn't as much as for what it was.
It will always be one of my favorite FPS in life, and it represents the pinnacle of what a single-player FPS can be (to me). It is lonely, haunting, artistically brilliant, and hopelessly flawed. I play through the series at least once a year, and I have yet to be disappointed. Gamers talk about how "story" doesn't apply to FPS. F*&k that. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has an amazing story, which unfortunately is left vague by the games, even though it's there. I hope the torch is somehow carried by another franchise now that this one is dead, but I've yet to see it materialize.
My advice; if you play this series, take your time. Each kill matters, every shot. Listen to the NPC stories and discover the beauty of "The Zone," and if you are ADHD, don't even bother. The games deserve better than that.
Yahoo . Now that i have taken the time for it, i finally figured out how to use the artifacts properly by tying them to my belt. When your items in your backpack(and vest and belt) way less than 49.9kg you can use a trick for unlimited endurance :
The flash artifact can be found in a tunnel near lake yantar. Together with a sparkler artifact, this gives you (+73) + (+36) = +109% endurance improvement. This combination will make you run fast forever.
I added two meat chunk artifacts to give me a 2x 400% boost in health.
Since you can wear 5 artifacts on your belt, i added the slime artifact as well.
This will also reduce bleeding by 133%.
Together with a bullet proof vest, this makes life a bit better in the zone.
Handydandy list :
http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_artifacts
STALKER SoC was really good to play through. I've tried to play through Clear Sky twice but kept running into a game-stopping bug in Red Forest. Bought CoP but probably won't play it...not a big deal for $3. The Complete mods are bare essentials for playing any of them. I really should try Lost Alpha at some point.
FEAR is a classic. The shading demand made it the Crysis of its time...probably the only game you needed to play at low res/IQ without a true cutting-edge machine when it came out. I remember Alienware demoing the game at my college and being really impressed (though the framerate kinda sucked since they dialed up the graphics a bit too much). The story was also interesting if you paid attention to it. FEAR 2's engine approach lost all the original appeal somehow...it's almost cartoon-like.
I missed the boat on Far Cry but I have no love for the second and regret buying it. The weapon degradation bit is particularly laughable to me as a firearm enthusiast.
STALKER SoC was really good to play through. I've tried to play through Clear Sky twice but kept running into a game-stopping bug in Red Forest. Bought CoP but probably won't play it...not a big deal for $3.
DEFINITELY give CoP a spin. It's a bit off-canon (more of a side-story than anything), but it's a great game.
It's the one game in the series I don't think you really need to mod. Texture mods will cause the levels to load VERY SLOWLY. I played it through vanilla the first time around and after subsequently modding it, I really don't feel like I missed much (except for waiting forever to load levels).
I never really had the load time issues. I (re)downloaded CoP and installed the Complete mod just to see how bad it was. Even with settings amped up w/o AA, the intro load time was about 1:45. Reloading the save from the same area was only 45 seconds. And this is being done on a 5400 RPM Samsung "green" drive, not my SSD. I've never had the 3-4 or even 20(!) minute load times that I read about through Steam and GSC.
Either way, I might give it a shake. I'm fed up with Clear Sky, though.
Good luck. Was a boring slog for me; both times I tried I never really got that far.
KT
He guys and girls, which faction should i join ?
The freedom faction or the duty faction ?
I saved it under a special name just prior so i can always go back.
Neither, STALKER for life son. Don't get involved with the politics man. As a regular STALKER YOU get to choose who you kill, not somebody sitting on a golden toilet at the Army Warehouses.
Ok. Well, for now i helped the freedom faction(I hope i get more info about the zone from them) and made sure no duty member that i attacked survived.
F.E.A.R is like my third favorite game ever. I don't really do horror as a rule, but F.E.A.R is just such a magnificent FPS that I'll put up with being scared out of my mind. F.E.A.R epitomizes the long lost flagship PC shooter, and I love it. Also, even if I don't like horror, I can still appreciate some of the expertly crafted scares they put in it. The scares in the later games were pretty uninspired, but the original had some beautiful ones in it.
As for X-18, I really don't know what it is about that damned hole, but every time I attempt it I lose my nerve. Maybe it's just some kind of mental block and once I get past the first 5 minutes It'll all be a huge anti-climax.