STALKER: An exercise in masochism?

[Kristijonas]

tbh, I played through stalker mostly using only pistols. I found it to be more interesting that way. I only used other weapons when I ran out of bullets. With armor piercing bullets + best pistols (I checked every corpse to find good quality pistols) it can be easy! Of course, there were many difficult situations, too. I'm not saying this game is easy. As for glitchyness, this game has left me an impression of being unfinished. The thing I hated most, is that you had to manually walk through already passed areas, for a long time, with respawned bandits O_O Felt like playing sega.

 

[toyota]

yeah it felt like an unfinished game for sure.

its funny looking through some old threads from 2008 about this game. I now remember a part of the game in close quarters where my gun had basically no effect yet one swipe of my knife could take out an enemy. I had repeated that part many times and figured I would try the knife just for laughs never imagining it would do what many attempts with a gun could not.

 

[Kristijonas]

Also there was this very annoying bug, where I had to find stalker Ghost, but he WAS NOT WHERE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE :| Spent hours until I checked on internet to find out about this bug. Had to repeat the mission, I think.

 

[Edge1]

One of the most original and satisfying games I've ever played.

 

[NoWhereM]

I'm not going to bother going over all the gripes I've seen on this thread, but I will point out one thing.

To the darkness gripe, yes, you are playing a different game. I first played SoC on a Dell 2405fpw and while it could be hard to make things out at night if there wasn't any moonlight I could still see everything and everyone. Not details, but the shapes were there and I could see people at great distance and make out what whether they were Stalker or thief.

I now have my computer hooked up to a Vizio 37" 1080p LCD and at standard settings night is pitch black. I can't see a thing unless I adjust the brightness on my TV, which I do to approximate what I could see on my Dell monitor.

One of the first mods made for SoC was actually designed to make the game darker at night so that people couldn't see anything unless they used their head lamps.

A few tips, there is armor in the little villiage you start out in, you just need to find it.

When you search a body you might find a message, which will flash across your screen, telling you were that person stashed their goods while alive. That location will now be highlighted on your computer screen.

You can also use your computer to choose where your directional arrow is leading you. If you want to finish a certain quest bring up your computer, click on that quest, and your directional arrow will now point in the direction you need to go.

Explore, explore, explore. While some items are placed randomly others will always be in the same place.

Whatever your weapon, take head shots and aim before you shoot. You shoot someone in the head and they are dead.

I always play using two mods or cheats. One removes the weight limit allowing me to carry as much as I want and, using the correct artifacts on my belt, prevents me from ever running out of stamina. I can run everywhere without resting. I also use a mod that removes the one day limit to complete quests. That way I can take on any quests I want even if I have others that I still need to complete or other things I need to do first.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I've started, stopped, and restarted the original STALKER a bunch of times. Most recently got further than I had ever gotten before after installing Complete (before, I was vanilla). It's a difficult game and easy to get frustrated and quit, but it's a good game nonetheless.

Finished both Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. Though with Clear Sky, the game pissed me off by putting in a point of no return and not telling me about it. By the time I got to the last fight, my guns were all busted up, my equipment was un-upgraded because I was going to sell a bunch of gear for money to do repairs and upgrades, and the last battle was so dang hard. So I cheated in order to win. Oh well.

CoP was the best IMO. Still stuck on SoC. It is a hard game. But if you think about it, it's tough but fair. People complain about enemies "seeing in the dark." Think about it harder though. In reality, it's just a game that doesn't give a monstrous advantage to the player. Even though you have the advantage of using health packs, which in the original are practically insta-heal, you don't get tons more health, more damage, or better accuracy than enemies. Try to take on a large group of well-equipped bandits by yourself and of course you'll die. Even if you have the element of surprise and it's dark, you can take out maybe 2-3 before they kill you. I mean, there are a bunch of them and one of you, and all they have to do is spray in your general direction and they're bound to hit you at least a few times. And that's all it takes when you're wearing a leather jacket.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I'm not going to bother going over all the gripes I've seen on this thread, but I will point out one thing.

To the darkness gripe, yes, you are playing a different game. I first played SoC on a Dell 2405fpw and while it could be hard to make things out at night if there wasn't any moonlight I could still see everything and everyone. Not details, but the shapes were there and I could see people at great distance and make out what whether they were Stalker or thief.

I now have my computer hooked up to a Vizio 37" 1080p LCD and at standard settings night is pitch black. I can't see a thing unless I adjust the brightness on my TV, which I do to approximate what I could see on my Dell monitor.

One of the first mods made for SoC was actually designed to make the game darker at night so that people couldn't see anything unless they used their head lamps.

A few tips, there is armor in the little villiage you start out in, you just need to find it.

When you search a body you might find a message, which will flash across your screen, telling you were that person stashed their goods while alive. That location will now be highlighted on your computer screen.

You can also use your computer to choose where your directional arrow is leading you. If you want to finish a certain quest bring up your computer, click on that quest, and your directional arrow will now point in the direction you need to go.

Explore, explore, explore. While some items are placed randomly others will always be in the same place.

Whatever your weapon, take head shots and aim before you shoot. You shoot someone in the head and they are dead.

I always play using two mods or cheats. One removes the weight limit allowing me to carry as much as I want and, using the correct artifacts on my belt, prevents me from ever running out of stamina. I can run everywhere without resting. I also use a mod that removes the one day limit to complete quests. That way I can take on any quests I want even if I have others that I still need to complete or other things I need to do first.

Weight limit cheats are heretical in Stalker.

 

[Gibsons]

If headshots are instakill than the hit detection is not very good. I have played many many shooter games, and the AI should always react regardless of whether it's a head shot or a body shot.

So does the map marker point to the mission objective, or to the path to the mission objective? It's never explained... And if it's an "open world game" why does it funnel you into a certain path, instead of letting you find your own way?

If the inventory hasn't changed weight why is it all the sudden I'm no longer able to run? Is there a stamina system? I ran from the starting outpost to the military outpost without stopping, and never ran out of stamina, so why all of the sudden can't I run?

The early weapons are pretty inaccurate. Look at your cross hairs, they'll give you an idea of your spread. Watch how they change from when you're running, to standing, to crouching, and when you change weapons. When you get the better weapons later, you can one-shot pretty regularly.

There is a stamina system. The big deal is how much weight you're carrying. At about half max you can run forever or close to it. Over the max you can barely run at all. Look at your inventory, the weight is there. You can cheat stamina a little bit with the energy drinks. Or cheat it a lot by altering your weight limit in the files.

 

[stag3]

yea i forgot about the darkness LOL, i think i wore the suit with the nightvision for most of the game even tho it's armor wasn't as great (if you used the headlamp you were insta dead). there were a ton of bugs in vanilla, the mods fixed a lot of them but there are still some present. i am just glad i played long enough to get into the meat and potatoes of the game, i did try to play it a few times and quit until someone said install a mod, i wanted complete as it was just a graphics overhaul + bug fixes, i didn't want to change the game play to much, but now that i've beaten it i will try the other mods. the first play thru i didn't edit the weight limit, and it was hard as i'm used to hording everything i can come across to sell, or in case i "need" it later on.

after beating the game i just ran around the open world for a long time with all the weapons, good time, especially that pulse sniper rifle railgun thingy LOL

i liked how it had diff endings also, and the portal things were fun and rough at spots

 

[dpodblood]

I am assuming then that the stamina is based on the weight which you are currently carrying. At the beginning of the game when I was only carrying 1 or 2 guns and a medkit, it seemed like I could run forever. I don't mind that so much; there are similar systems in Elder Scrolls/Fallout 3.

 

[stag3]

yea its based off weight, you can run forever, then just a little, then you can only walk, and finally you can't move or jump at all if you are loaded down with stuff

 

[NoWhereM]

Weight limit cheats are heretical in Stalker.

I can't help it, I'm an obsessive compulsive hoarder.

That gives me a pass, right? If not I'll get a letter from my doctor.

 

[rangda]

Has any one else here played STALKER:SOC? I have been playing for about 2 hours now, and I have to say it is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played...

You are thrown into "the zone" with basically no tutorial whatsoever except for "here's your map and diary." Wouldn't be so bad if there was a game manual, but the steam version doesn't come with one. You start getting missions objectives, and there's your map marker. But wait... what is the map marker pointing at? I have no idea because it isn't the mission objective...

Gunplay... It's terrible. The enemies just absorb ammo like it's nothing. If you're persistent enough they'll eventually fall down (that's assuming clipping issues don't get in the way), but for some reason any enemy in the game can drop you with just a couple of shots.

Inventory... Ok I'm running along on my merry way. Oh wait all the sudden I can't run any more. What happened? Did my inventory suddenly get heavier... I have no idea. Better drop the 20 shotguns, and 50 pistols I picked up along the way. Nobody here to trade with here anyway...

Is it just me or is this one of the buggiest least polished games of all time? I have heard great things about the STALKER series, but it's making one hell of a terrible first impression.

The stalker games are FPS' but you should think of them as RPG's w/o stats as they have a lot in common with RPG's. Except instead of stats you improve by acquiring gear. So at the start of the game you are pretty gimp as your gear sucks.

The Challenges:

Ballistics in the stalker games is actually semi-reasonable in vanilla (and can get more or less realistic if you install mods). A head shot is at least 50%+ health on either you or a NPC; this means that no matter how good of gear you get you can still always get insta-killed. This makes gunfights have at least a passing semblance to reality, which means you always want to be in good cover or get into cover ASAP. Guns have an accuracy, shown in vanilla by the size of the crosshairs. Notice that when you move the crosshairs get (a LOT) larger, and that when you crouch or low crouch they get smaller/a LOT smaller. Also notice that as you move or crouch the crosshairs do not instantly get bigger/smaller they take time to change size. If you shoot from the hip bullets will randomly hit anywhere inside your crosshairs. This means if you want to shoot accurately from the hip you need to 1) low crouch and 2) have not moved for at least a few seconds. If you aim down the sights then all this goes away and after about 1 second you'll get a (generally) tight grouping around the crosshairs, subject to the base accuracy of the gun. I don't know how you're playing but if you're not getting behind cover, low crouching, and leaning out to fire (ideally aiming down the sights) then your accuracy is going to suffer A LOT.

Stalker ballistics takes range into account (probably a bit too harshly). Guns lose power with distance, try shooting someone with a Markov from 50m and you aren't going to be doing much (and neither will he). However if you're shooting him from 50m with a Markov and he's shooting back at you with a AK-74u then you're toast as his gun out-ranges you (and this example can happen in the first bandit fight). Take range into account with your weapons, using low grade pistols or saw'ed off's you really want to get inside 20m in vanilla or damage is going to suffer.

Guns in stalker can jam; the probability of this is modified (heavily) by weapon condition. As guns wear they will start to jam a LOT.

The game has a stamina system, walking/running uses stamina when you run out you can't move for a bit and you pant for a bit while it starts to rise. How fast your stamina goes down depends on how close to your weight limit you are. Carrying 10% of max weight you can run seemingly forever. Carrying 90% of max weight you can sprint only for short distances. Carry 101% of max weight and your stamina drops when WALKING, never mind running.

Armor helps you take some hits, but at the beginning of the game you basically don't have any (unless you find the armor hidden in the rookie village, which isn't there in pretty much any mod except Complete). Conversely, the heavy leather jackets some bandits wear (the trench coats not the windbreakers) actually have a bit of ballistic protection. So that first bandit fight the bandits have both better guns and armor than you do (some of them anyway).

The buggy:

AI is all over the place. Sometimes NPC's seem to be omniscient, other times they are imbeciles.

Stealth is totally broken (i.e. there isn't any).

When you shoot an NPC and he goes into his "I've been shot" animation where he crouches, that enemy is INVULNERABLE for the duration of the animation. If you shoot them when their in that animation you're just wasting ammo. (This bug didn't get fixed until CoP and it's an engine flaw so mods don't help.)

Tips for the first few fights:

You can always get insta-killed. Quick save often. If games where you can always just die cause shit happened bother then stalker probably isn't for you. You're using complete, NPC's can throw grenades in that and if they throw one at you you're dead unless you spot it quick and run like hell.

The Markov pistol you get at the beginning of the game sucks, accuracy is terrible. There is a silenced version you can find before the first fight if you search around, I think in vanilla it's a hair more accurate but not much. That said I can consistently drop bandits with 2 rounds to the head IF I aim down the sights and haven't moved for a second or so. If you're moving don't bother wasting your ammo. It's been a while since I played vanilla/complete but as I recall the saw'ed offs are pretty horrific inside 10m, someone shoots you with one of those up close you're dead so don't let them do that (conversely once you take one off a dead bandit it's a great gun vs mutants early on). A good strategy for the first fight is to let the guys you go with start the attack and draw enemy fire, then you can flank while the bandits are preoccupied.

If you actually rambo the first fight and do it totally on your own Wolf will give you an AK-74u (huge that early on). And yes this is totally doable, but not before you get used to the way gunfights work in stalker (i.e hiding and peeking out of cover and some amount of turtling).

Once the first fight is over and you pick up all the junk from the bandits and other stuff you find in camp expect to be walking not running back to the rookie village (you'll be close to or over your weight limit). I forget how selling guns in vanilla works, you may not be able to sell guns that are too damaged and I'm pretty sure non-merchants won't buy them at all.

NPC ai is very poor with turtling tactics. If you're having trouble in an area, shoot at things to draw their attention then back into a cul de sac or hallway where they can only come at you one way. It will take a bit but they will blindly come at you one by one and if you have good reflexes you can always beat them to the shot at very close range which makes for dead NPC's.

MP5 is a fantastic gun in vanilla, little recoil, very accurate and good damage against lightly armored targets (doesn't work so well against good armor though). You can get one of these on the second map (Garbage) and you can do the whole first half of the game with it if you wanted to. Once you get one of these the game starts to get easier. IMO this is better than an AK-74u early on. By contrast an AK-74 is less accurate but works better when worn and has more stopping power at medium to long range. And can take a scope which will let you extend the range of your firefights.

Just like real life you don't want to fight fair fights, you want to cheat to win. Take advantage of cover, hard or soft, ambush if possible (not easy given the broken stealth), out range your enemy, use guerrilla tactics (kill somebody, get behind cover so you cannot be seen, them move to someplace else). The USMC rules for gunfighting (http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/rules_20021121.html) are entirely appropriate.

If you find vanilla/complete frustrating then I recommend you not try most of the other mods as many of them make vanilla seem positively easy. SMP (super mod pack) makes guns hyper powerful and hyper accurate (both ways) you might like that (you will get 1 shot killed a lot if you're not careful however).

 

[Wyndru]

I agree with everything in the OP. This game pisses me off. I never have any issues excelling at FPS's, but this was one game that regardless of how long I played I still had issues with. Plus the interface seems very slow and buggy IMO.

Is CoP just as annoying? I bought them as a pack, but after playing SoC and hating it so much, I never bothered installing the other one.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I agree with everything in the OP. This game pisses me off. I never have any issues excelling at FPS's, but this was one game that regardless of how long I played I still had issues with. Plus the interface seems very slow and buggy IMO.

Is CoP just as annoying? I bought them as a pack, but after playing SoC and hating it so much, I never bothered installing the other one.

Unlike every other modern FPS, Stalker does not hold your hand.

 

[dpodblood]

I also bought them as a pack, and would like to play and complete them all. From what I've played so far the game does have a lot to offer. Unfortunately it's also quite buggy, and not exactly easy to get into. I will continue to play it for a while anyway, and try to get over some of the issues.

 

[dust]

some of you were so desperate for something different that you cant even accept the many faults this game had. it was goofy, clunky and had AI that could pick you off in an instant under any conditions. again getting picked off in complete darkness or through train cars only makes for a frustrating experience. all of this stuff was mentioned in previous topics about the game but some people act like its just the players fault that it is a hard game.

Or, for some of us the pros far outweigh the cons, especially since most of the cons have been dealt with through various mods.But of course it depends heavily on your own expectations. I don't know if you are aware but there's a pretty small community of gamers out there that didn't like Stalker Soc. Clear Sky and CoP are different however. The prequel was meh! to me and CoP wasn't much better either.

As for the OP, don't approach it as run and gun because you'll never see the end of it, use cover, use the terrain, never fire your weapon from the hip and avoid anomalies/high radiation areas. The marker points to the mission you are selecting from your journal(for the secondary missions).There is always a second marker pointing to the main story immediate task. There are five traders in total in the game, and one is in the starting area, so choose carefully what you put in the backpack/ or you could install a weight mod along with the Smart Mod Manager to merge the various mods you might choose.

You can search here: http://stalker.filefront.com/files/Stalker/Shadow_of_Chernobyl/Mods;10529

If you manage to get through Cordon and Garbage, the game will get a lot better. I second the recommendation for Oblivion Lost rather than Complete Mod(there's nothing complete about it, mostly bug fixes and slightly enhanced graphics)

As for the manual, the game is fairly old now, you should be able to find it online, if only you search

 

[Wyndru]

Unlike every other modern FPS, Stalker does not hold your hand.

That's fine, and I did eventually finish it, but it was just way too annoying for what I like to consider a game. Between the laggy, poorly set-up interface, the requirements for perfect stance and cover before you start shooting and the possibility of being head-shotted around every corner, I was sick of it early and didn't really enjoy it. It's more like a simulation shooter than an enjoyable FPS. I'd rather not have to be perfect at everything when I'm playing a game.

 

[sandorski]

Clear the Farm was very frustrating for me. Had to retry that mission so many times. Even after replaying the game and being used to how to play it, that mission is very difficult early in the game as you're just so under equipped at that time. On my replay, after acquiring some grenades I took out the soldiers at the rail bridge and got myself an AK early on, which helped a ton.

There are a couple levels later on(halfish way through) that are simply the most creepy experience I have ever had in a video game. They were so creepy that after completing them I thought about going back and finding loot, then I began running into crap and just ran the hell out deciding it wasn't worth it. lol

 

[sandorski]

yeah it felt like an unfinished game for sure.

its funny looking through some old threads from 2008 about this game. I now remember a part of the game in close quarters where my gun had basically no effect yet one swipe of my knife could take out an enemy. I had repeated that part many times and figured I would try the knife just for laughs never imagining it would do what many attempts with a gun could not.

The Mind Controller(IIRC that's what they're called). Their attack is best from a distance, once you get close they are practically defenseless.

 

[toyota]

The Mind Controller(IIRC that's what they're called). Their attack is best from a distance, once you get close they are practically defenseless.

no these were regular armed enemies

 

[sigurros81]

Currently playing through CoP Complete. The games are a slow burn for me--I take my sweet time doing the things here and there since the game is so unforgiving. I'm not a hardcore gamer I once was, but if you take your time exploring as you do the quests, the game is quite fun.

 

[toyota]

since the next STALKER game will also be on console, I wonder if they will get rid of the quick save. at least controller, keyboard, mice and even tv/monitor sales would go up after people try and play it.

 

[finglobes]

Stalkers gaffs are part of its charm - the game has its own built-in anomalies. Getting started can be awkward but the situation clears up pretty quick. Check out a walkthrough segment on YouTube to get a feel for the basics

 

[Gibsons]

Just want to add, I don't play many FPS's but STALKER's are my favorites by far. Never experienced the bug issues some mention. I've seen AI shoot through cover, but it was always the lightweight sheetmetal stuff. In my experience stealth can work, to some degree, especially at night with good vision. And double especially with the Vintorez. You really need to move after you shoot (fire and maneuver as they used to say). Take cover if you ever have to reload.