Blogs STALKER: Call of Pripyat, I Forgive You

The only thing bugged to hell is your PC, COP was way more stable at launch then many AAA PC games (Fallout 3, GTA 4, etc...), your loss, as it is truly a unique and grand experience in the face of casual, dumbed down games. Best stalker game out of the bunch.

 

Let's not start a flame fest here. It's well documented that STALKER games are not the most compatible or stable. Some people are lucky and don't have any issues.

 

i love stalker, even with all the bugs, i got all 3 and finished on steam, and will defo get the 4th, if there will be one.

 

I suggest you do some research, it's well documented COP was NOT like the first 2 stalekrs and was very stable at launch.

 

I admit it was far more stable, true, but bug free? Very much not. Claiming it's more stable than other triple A titles is a little far fetched. Maybe he needed to update his DirectX or something? I found the benchmark wouldn't work before without a DX update.

 

Well it would not even load up for me on Windows 7 with latest Ati Drivers at the time. I think it was the copy protection. And yes I did buy it.

 

I loved the wholes series. My only criticism would be the microstutter I get with my crossfire setup... maybe that isn't the developers fault though? (Ati istead)

 

COP was more stable at launch, but still, they need to make a game where the combat mechanics of CS and the gameplay mechanics of SOC are combined.

COP was good, but it still lacked a bit. At least this time around the UI is bearable.

 

I wont forgive a game (series), that wont forgive me for not understanding what I should (or have to) do, when the game is supposed to (but hasnt) tell me what I should do.

Played 4 hours of the original after it was deemed "stable", and hated it

 

That to me is a bit of the charm of the game, the absolute lack of hand holding, all it tells you are locations to the next mission in the storyline, but even then getting there is all on your own. Although it may be a bit twisted to say so, the reason this game keeps me coming back is that it is a bit like an emulation of how it would be if you were in that situation, well respawning deaths aside.

You do have your right in hating the game, and I can see why, the utter lack of direction in terms of instruction is appalling. But appreciate that it doesn't prod you with a stick and lead you to the end, it let's you get there at your own pace, albeit set to their parameters of easy, which to be honest is blisteringly hard on a 1st run.

 

I equally hate games that hold my hand for half (or more) the game.

Ideal game flow:

Tutorial(optional, or lots of small tutorials throughout the game when you reach that part of the gameplay)
Easy start (first 10% of game - to get one familiar with game mechanics and interested with what the game has to offer, i.e story)
Main game (not easy, curve to get harder throughout - maybe with varying diffculties - to allow more people to play)
End Game (hard boss?... i dunno)
Credits
Re-playability Factors

maybe thats a template not all games can fit, but stalker should be able to

 

Well, the thing about STALKER is that if forgoes the entire tutorial area, the start is actually probably as hard as the end, and there really isn't an end.

In other words it has a very steep difficulty curve, which is futher catalyzed by it's own difficulty settings. Also note that on Novice difficulty it gives you more gear.

That is the ideal flow. Somehow I'm pretty sure that GSC meant for the game to be difficult. Because once you actually get into it and employ the use of it's many mechanics(bolts, stashes, etc) the game flows pretty well outside of a real lack of a final boss, and the lack of a rising difficulty favoring an already difficult game.

 

Why does people think this game-series is hard? I will never understand. I played all games at master, and had all the ammo i wanted (even if I didn't like using the standard AK-74, it had lots of ammo floating around). And medkits... just buy everyone you see at traders... this was really just a sollution in the first two games. In CoP you had like forever with both ammo and medkits.

I actually enjoyed the game more as the difficulty rised. For instance, I was on my way to the Nuclear plant about 20-30 hours into the game, but on the way I realized I didn't have a good enough protection against radiation, and actually had to turn around somewhere, in the process using up most of my medkits and rad-pills. This led me to finish lots of sidemissions and gather up more money and visit new places, so I could afford a better suit and find more health-packs.

I miss the difficulty of the first game, and partly the second game, last time around I just wandered and explored. Had 100s of thousands of cash and bought everything I needed.

 

Once I've completed Fallout 3: GoTY Edition I'll be playing Clear Sky, then SoC and then CoP in that (in game) chronological order. The complete packs f'ing rule and are definitely recommended for those that haven't got them.

Crap! I also have Metro 2033 to play, hopefully by the time I've finished the Stalker series I'll be able to afford a decent DX11 card.

 

I liked how you run into the freedom group out in the zone and they have a firefight with the outlaws.. made the mistake of cleaning out this one camp early on (that was a lot of fun) then I couldn't get inside the locked building later on

unlike farcry 2 where I was master of turning a bolt under the hood on my jeep (wtf is that) after driving through a zone I just cleared 2 minutes ago.. it was pretty cool in some ways

fallout 3 was way better though.. I mean you had the dog in the junkyard and even the goonies drama

 

Upcoming fan made film with permission from GSC.

 

couldn't drag me away from the first game and TBH i can't even remember any major problems (unpatched retail version) other than it takes 2 clips to kill most human enemies (scopes are a tad overpowered), game freezes when you approach a loaded stash and the inventory system sucking.

i was massively dissapointed with the 2nd though, nice start both plot and gameplay-wise but the holes in the AI quickly became apparent, important NPC's can die far too easily and barely an hour in the scripting bugged and left me unable to advance the plot after fighting some bandit checkpoint even after 2 restarts.

CoP i am enjoying though, the changes to scenery and anomalies as well as the AI and the fully developed weapon upgrade system, as well as mutants really being something to fear, kept me amused but i've not been inclined to put time in to advance as the story has been too loose (especially after a poor start and the games difficulty till you get a good scoped gun)

GSC really have a brilliant setting and a solid frame for a game here but as fan patches such as the original oblivion lost show they need to get their **** together and do it properly. features such as repair/upgrading and CoP's more detailed quests (i dare anyone to say the bloodsucker quest didn't scare em) as well as the wonderful graphics and especially the new anomaly effects and sceneries are all wonderful additions to the genre but the games had fundamental flaws since the start and won't really go anywhere till they are sorted.

tl;dr : great graphics (if aging now), great ideas, good story and even the bugs are mostly sorted now, but you can't help but wish GSC could do it all again with what they now know and a larger budget

 

If GSC had a larger budget, it would make for an excellent game. Hell if they use that know how now, they'd make the game a fusion of the first 2.

CS weapon system, SOC's gameplay and extras, and COPs Graphics.

The graphics engine is actually incredibly impressive for a relatively small company, not to mention it's incredibly scalable, I mean you can get Crysis style graphics on SOC..

 

What they need to do is capitalise on making a STALKER MMO - like I said before, ArmA II + STALKER = the best MMO (imo). Is it just me that this make perfect sense to?

 

A STALKER MMO would be great, but there's the issue of payment, I would not want to pay for that, the monthly fees.

Of course it could be a Diablo esque thing where the guys who pay get cooler stuff, but then again..

Ladder players too I guess. But a STALKER MMO is epic.