S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Series

[Greyn]

Anyone else play these games before?  My interest just got rebooted when Call of Pripyat was released a couple days ago, and just recently I started playing Shadow of Chernobyl again with the LURK Mod.  I gotta say the atmosphere is still incredible, especially with the new touches added by the mod.  It's one of the few games I've played that's genuinely given me the heebie jeebies along with persistent tension and fear.

[Paul Debrion]

I just got Call of Pripyat and I'm about 10 hours into the game.

I think I can safely say that Call of Pripyat is better than Clear Sky, they managed to keep most of the useful features from Clear Sky but re-did the annoying faction system. Call of Pripyat also seems much better optimized and has fewer bugs than the previous two games in the series. I haven't had a crash or broken save so far and haven't have any graphical glitches. From what I've seen of the game so far it looks like GSC actually put more effort into testing this time around.

I really like the atmosphere in these games. The STALKER series has been able to bring out that feeling of "you're there" in a way that few other games have been able to. I often hate how a lot of modern games look too brown and gray, but STALKER has been the exception simply because it wears those colors so damn well. They somehow manage to take even such dull colors and turn them into something that you could call "pretty" in a strange and twisted way.

[Ghaleon]

I enjoyed the game but never finished it (last thing I remember was walking down some long hallway in some sewer or another, and I killed my first... I forget what it was called. Some weird humanoid monster that attacks you with psychic powers or whatever. After that I stopped for some reason. I don't remember why, had to format my computer or something. Maybe it was when WoW got an expansion, I don't remember. I keep telling myself I need to play that game again. I'm pretty sure I got to the point where the story was really going to start rolling, but...I just stopped lol.

[Greyn]

I enjoyed the game but never finished it (last thing I remember was walking down some long hallway in some sewer or another, and I killed my first... I forget what it was called. Some weird humanoid monster that attacks you with psychic powers or whatever. After that I stopped for some reason. I don't remember why, had to format my computer or something. Maybe it was when WoW got an expansion, I don't remember. I keep telling myself I need to play that game again. I'm pretty sure I got to the point where the story was really going to start rolling, but...I just stopped lol.

I still remember that sewer, that place scared the shit out of me first time I walked through it. 

Paul, do they have more areas like X18 and X16 in Call of Pripyat?

[Spidere]

Beat SoC a long time ago. Going to get the new one at some point.

[Paul Debrion]

I still remember that sewer, that place scared the shit out of me first time I walked through it. 

Paul, do they have more areas like X18 and X16 in Call of Pripyat?

Haven't seen any yet.

However, I did find this heavy door below ground level that requires a code that I don't have right now, that might be one.

[Greyn]

Aww that's disappointing, X18 was the height of SoC for me.

[Tapsa]

I bought SoC actually last week and started playing at Saturday, thinking that this would be as much of a disappointment for me as Fallout 3. Turns out that it has 10 times less Quicksand Boxness and 15 times more fuckwin, addictivity and refined awesomeness. I feel so bad for missing this masterpiece of a game.

I don't see anything scary about Bloodsuckers, the first and only one I've met so far in the Algoprom just rushed to me and could only claw me two times before I shot it to death while retreating to the back of the hall. That stompy mutant in X18 though made me shit bricks big time when I saw its face.

P.S. zombies with guns are badass

[Greyn]

If you're just starting out with SoC I suggest you try out the L.U.R.K. mod, it adds some pretty nice touches to the original game, and a few surprises that I didn't see coming.

[Tapsa]

I guess I have to start a new game? I'm currently at the secret tunnel of X16, and that means I'm halfway in the game because there's Red Forest and Pripyat between the NPP...

[Edible]

Loved the original, thought the sequel was terribly lacking.  Have high hopes for the new one.

[Tapsa]

Is there any weapon recommendations for endgame or should I hold onto the trusty modded AK-74 which uses a common type of ammo? It takes lots of bullets to down even the zombies until if I'm aiming for the head.

[Paul Debrion]

Aww that's disappointing, X18 was the height of SoC for me.

It doesn't seem like they have as many big underground labs, but I have seen several creepy indoor areas from the start, like some abandoned buildings and caves.

Spoiler:

There is an early side-missions where you and this other Stalker to go into an abandoned building that has turned into a bloodsucker lair. When you get into the basement, there's pretty much an army of sleeping bloodsuckers down there, and you kind of have to sneak past them without waking them up.

Spoiler:

It's not part of a quest as far as I know, but there is a small cave in the beginning area that makes you hear voices as you enter. "Leave this place" and "get out while you still can" and other stuff to that effect. There is a controller inside as well as some nice loot.

Spoiler:

There is also another much bigger cavern under the Burnt Farm that you have to find yourself and search for a side-quest item. It's infested with snorks and "comet" anomalies (basically flying fireballs).

Speaking of caves, I really like how they do caves in this game. There are several random ones in the first area, some of which are rather well hidden.

They don't have big, clearly visible, and conveniently rounded entrances like other games. The entrances are usually cracks in the ground that you often have to low-crouch to get into or do a bit of jumping from rock to rock to get all the way to the bottom if they're vertical. They fit very well into the landscape.

Another thing I kind of like are the anomaly fields. Some of them are really nice looking and fun to navigate.

Spoiler:

My favorite from the first area is probably the Oakpine anomaly. It consists of a dome mutated trees that have twisted together and attached to each other the top. There is an area of chemical anomalies underneath with some artifacts in them, but there is one artifact stuck on the top of the dome of trees that you have to do a bit of climbing and careful walking along the branches to get to. It's not too hard thankfully, but it is pretty fun.

[seaoflcl]

Pripyat seemed unfortunately small to me, and it still is a little but they've really fleshed each area out far more. It's been a long time since I played SoC but there was def. nothing as great as far as sidequests and design go for the areas. I mean, the quests you got from the main trader in SoC were like, get me pieces of certain mutants and stuff. Nothing like

Spoiler:

the missing stalkers or the bloodsucker lair, the scientist work you do in Yanov (especially the duty founding anomaly) and other stuff like that.

Especially the achievement system, basically for notable things you do you get an achievement in the 'Stats' section of your PDA and the achievements actually do stuff, like having 100,000 roubles at any point in time has

Spoiler:

the traders trade you more expensive/rare items

.

I do miss the faction war, though. even if it was poorly done it was still a lot of fun.

Is there any weapon recommendations for endgame or should I hold onto the trusty modded AK-74 which uses a common type of ammo? It takes lots of bullets to down even the zombies until if I'm aiming for the head.

I would suggest something with a scope and supressor, detachable or not, e.g G31[sic] or TRS-301[sic] or Tunder[sic] (I don't really remember many names) maybe? I currently just arrived in Pripyat and I still have my TRS-301. Ammo isn't really a big concern since most types drop from dead stalkers or are sold at traders (esp. with the

Spoiler:

Wealthy achievement

). Almost all assault rifles use very common ammo. If you are interested in something other than that, though, like the 9x39 noiseless flashless stuff, those are cool too. Make sure you upgrade all your guns, by the way.

[Greyn]

Alright, just finished up SoC and moving on to Clear Sky, that scramble through Pripyat was pretty fun (And the hotel to find the secret stash was creepy awesome when searching through it at night).  Also making the run between the Monolith group and the military amidst the impending blowout was entertaining, exception being that damn Mi-24 that wouldn't piss off.  And the blowout at night had that spectacularly eerie atmosphere to it when the sky looks to be turning to daylight, then to blood red, back to daylight, then back again to pitch black of night.

Looking for mods to make Clear Sky play better like what L.U.R.K. has done to SoC, but disappointingly enough there's very few of them to be found. :ohdear:

[?lice Bl?ckb?rn]

The closest analog to Lab X18 in Call of Pripyat' would probably be lab X8,

Spoiler:

which is where most of the C-Consciousness-related experiments took place before the blowout.

It's extremely mazelike, and I will warn everyone ahead of time: underground, there is a "wallhacking" Poltergeist: it can sense you and chuck shit at you even through walls (i.e. it can control stuff beyond walls, not that the stuff itsself somehow phases through the walls). Off this thing first or you will not get far, trust me on this (I figured this out the extremely irritating and painful way back when I played through Call of Pripyat').

@T34G3: if you can get your hands on the one Gauss Rifle in the game (unsurprisingly, held by a Monolith preacher at first), then it is ridiculously useful at times, though not as much as it was back in SoC (holy shit, pseudogiants go from being terrifying to target practise. Such a relief). Otherwise, AK-74s are a decent choice for a wepon in general, though as seaoflcl stated: go for something with a scope, all 3 of the guns he listed are good for this purpose. As for zombies, same advice applies to them as to everything else in these games: you want to be headshotting them. If you're not, practise shooting at a precise target in-game until you can reliably do it. Call of Pripyat's controls are a lot less clunky than SoC's, so there is no excuse to spray zombies with ammunition except as a last resort when you missed a headshot. Alternatively, zombies and zombified stalkers will not recognise grenades and thus will not move away from them - as a result, it is fairly simple to insta-gib even a group of them with a couple carefully-thrown/launched grenades.

Thirding the statement that bloodsuckers aren't really terrifying. More just gross, really - though you can tell the developers were definetly trying for a Lovecraftian-style look when they designed their appearances.

Oh and btw Lab X-16 > Lab X-18.

[Tapsa]

I completed SoC on Wednesday and I opened earlier today Call of Pripyat, and installed S.M.R.T.E.R. mod for it. I prefer to run most of time at nights. I definitely don't want to run into a chimera in a stormy night.

Thirding the statement that bloodsuckers aren't really terrifying. More just gross, really - though you can tell the developers were definetly trying for a Lovecraftian-style look when they designed their appearances.

Oh and btw Lab X-16 > Lab X-18.

I am going to revoke my statement of Bloodsuckers not being scary when I got to the deserted bunker where you can only hear the faint sound of an air conditioner. I didn't mind about the first bloodsucker you will meet there, as I could pick it with my assault rifle before it got even close.

Second one is a completely different story. I was searching small rooms in a corridor, I shine my light to one of the open doorways andOHMYGOD IT'SONMYFACE. Cue emptying a whole magazine on a single Bloodsucker at close range.

[TechyKat]

I heard that these games were really good from some people. and I have to say they really are amazing games, so immersive. I am trying to form a squad to get to pripyat atm, finding that last meat chunk artifact is harder then it was before. Has anyone else

Spoiler:

killed the chimera and avenged fox

yet? because I was disappointed with how easy it was to kill with my SPAS-15 shotgun. The achievements are really cool as well, they really make it feel like you've done something good, especially the

Spoiler:

Bringer of justice for catching flint and exposing him for being the lying sob he is

.

[Greyn]

I completed SoC on Wednesday and I opened earlier today Call of Pripyat, and installed S.M.R.T.E.R. mod for it. I prefer to run most of time at nights. I definitely don't want to run into a chimera in a stormy night.

I am going to revoke my statement of Bloodsuckers not being scary when I got to the deserted bunker where you can only hear the faint sound of an air conditioner. I didn't mind about the first bloodsucker you will meet there, as I could pick it with my assault rifle before it got even close.

Second one is a completely different story. I was searching small rooms in a corridor, I shine my light to one of the open doorways andOHMYGOD IT'SONMYFACE. Cue emptying a whole magazine on a single Bloodsucker at close range.

Heh that reminds me of that building that's next to the bandit base in the Dark Valley for SoC, you find several bodies in one of the rooms, walk in, then when you turn around to le- OH GOD THE FUCK.  Mind you Bloodsuckers in the LURK mod are much MUCH harder to fight than what you find in the stock game, capable of shrugging off multiple grenade impacts.

[Tapsa]

[Tapsa]

You have entered... the Zone.

[Paul Debrion]

I thought it was so funny and unexpected when those guys fall out of the hole.

[shinyjam]

Did the night time still dark as hell like Rumia is sitting on my head? It was so painful navigating in clear sky at night.

[Paul Debrion]

Did the night time still dark as hell like Rumia is sitting on my head? It was so painful navigating in clear sky at night.

Was it still too dark even if you used the flashlight?

You always have a flashlight with you as far as I know.

[shinyjam]

Was it still too dark even if you used the flashlight?

Works well for indoor, but outdoor just improve like 3 extra cone-shaped inches unless I got those thermal/night-vision goggle.

Read a topic about it on gamefaqs before and it seem like some people bitch about the night time not realistic enough in the first game and convinced the developer to tweak it to realistic night time lighting.

[Tapsa]

yeah I couldn't get past the

Spoiler:

pseudogiants without Vano getting lost and getting trampled to death by them so I cheated for the railgun

thankfully I now have in my information that

Spoiler:

Zulus will leave your party after you get past the Pripyat Underground, so I can just kill him and take his badass tank machine gun

[Bananamatic]

inb4 matsuri

[Greyn]

thankfully I now have in my information that

Spoiler:

Zulus will leave your party after you get past the Pripyat Underground, so I can just kill him and take his badass tank machine gun

Spoiler:

Heh, you do know you meet Zulu again when doing missions in Pripyat, and he gives you his gun when you help him fend off a pack of Snorks.

[Tapsa]

Spoiler:

Heh, you do know you meet Zulu again when doing missions in Pripyat, and he gives you his gun when you help him fend off a pack of Snorks.

Spoiler:

Good god I am so grateful of myself I didn't leave Zulu behind yesterday when trying Pripyat Underground again then. Does he stay in Pripyat after this happens?

[Greyn]

Spoiler:

No, he asks the Guide to take him back to Yanov.  From then on you don't know what happens to him until the end.