http://kotaku.com/5207526/stalker-gettin...ion-sequel
No details other than the expansion, much like Clear Sky was, is called "Call of Pripyat" which is a good sign since I liked the Pripyat section in SoC, but wanted alot more detail to the buildings and exploring around there.
And thought he sequel has been known for awhile, it's surprising that they are doing both right now. Hopefully they aren't sacrificing even more bug testing to put them both out. I just want them to release one game that doesn't require a half dozen patches to make it a proper game lol
I haven't been interested in the STALKER series because it's so unforgiving.
(04-10-2009, 08:22 PM)Karf the Walrus link Wrote: [ -> ]I haven't been interested in the STALKER series because it's so unforgiving.
I looked past the bugs and found it to be a really one of a kind game. I don't know of any shooter that plays like this other than Fallout 3 and that came out about two years after the original Stalker Release I believe. Plus the community has been pretty great to create their own fixes, skins, mods, and a few people have almost created a whole new game to play out of it with an original story, new weapons, new levels, and cutout monsters put back in.
(04-10-2009, 08:25 PM)Maxon link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=Karf the Walrus link=topic=2684.msg75910#msg75910 date=1239412920]
I haven't been interested in the STALKER series because it's so unforgiving.
I looked past the bugs and found it to be a really one of a kind game. I don't know of any shooter that plays like this other than Fallout 3 and that came out about two years after the original Stalker Release I believe. Plus the community has been pretty great to create their own fixes, skins, mods, and a few people have almost created a whole new game to play out of it with an original story, new weapons, new levels, and cutout monsters put back in.
[/quote]
Yes, it is really unique, but as Karf said, it is very challenging. Russian area gamers really love that kind of game, so naturally it is hard. Also, Fallout 3 is not very much like STALKER. They just both happen to have a semi-similar if you squint your eyes setting. Also, if you want to get mods, the one essential one is Float32 which optimizes the game quite a lot. The other is Oblivion Lost (that was the original title of STALKER) which adds all the removed creatures, etc. Anyway, once I get a new computer, I'll be all for getting back into the Zone.
My personal favorite mod was Pripyat Story which turned the game into a free roaming item collection game where you had to go all the locations you knew of before and find documents and cases of information to finish the story. The people behind it have been making new levels for it. I don't remember if they were gonna drop it, but they are currently working on taking the free early STALKER build that was released awhile back, commandeering the old levels that were in it and building on them to make them functional levels to use which I believe will add like 3 or 4 new areas to the game along with one they built from scratch.
And I don't remember the game being all that challenging, though there are times when the weapons can be a pain in the ass (Pistols being practically useless without a community built patch, etc), but if it really was too hard, then all you do is kick the difficulty down a notch. Though...Was the challenge of it related to just going places you need to go or just simply playing it and getting killed too much?
The challenge of the game was the absurd buginess, like saving in a location where you are totally in cover and undetected, only to find if you reload that save you are now magically immediately spotted and killed. Or when you rescue a scientist who instead of talking to you pulls out a gun and shoots you so you can't advance the plot. Or when the game forces you into a cutscene sequence when you reach a certain point, and a bloodsucker comes up and kills you during the cutscene. Everytime I tried to play the game SOMETHING absurd would happen and screw everything up before I got to far. While some things were amusing, like when I somehow started a massive battle between the starting camp and a base of russian soldiers, it just got to be too much of a hassle to deal with eventually.
Also King's Bounty is getting an expansion/sequel thing, which is waaaaaaaai awesomer.
(04-11-2009, 07:47 AM)Wedge link Wrote: [ -> ]The challenge of the game was the absurd buginess, like saving in a location where you are totally in cover and undetected, only to find if you reload that save you are now magically immediately spotted and killed. Or when you rescue a scientist who instead of talking to you pulls out a gun and shoots you so you can't advance the plot. Or when the game forces you into a cutscene sequence when you reach a certain point, and a bloodsucker comes up and kills you during the cutscene. Everytime I tried to play the game SOMETHING absurd would happen and screw everything up before I got to far. While some things were amusing, like when I somehow started a massive battle between the starting camp and a base of russian soldiers, it just got to be too much of a hassle to deal with eventually.
Also King's Bounty is getting an expansion/sequel thing, which is waaaaaaaai awesomer.
Definitely, Armored Princess looks fuckin awesome.Â
I still need to get back to Clear Sky. Some things are better than the original, but it's way more complicated.Â
http://artistpavel.blogspot.com/2009/04/...-2009.html
This is a new mod called Stalker Complete 2009. It's a collection of many of Stalker's best mods. Obviously it doesn't include mods that radically change the game with new areas and things. Mostly visual, sound, and AI improvements.
If I wasn't so absorbed in Kings' Bounty, I'd still probably give it another try right now. I used an earlier compilation mod package that made the game look and play great, but still couldn't fix all the crazy bugs. Maybe this time it'll work out better =X.
(04-11-2009, 11:20 PM)Spore link Wrote: [ -> ]http://artistpavel.blogspot.com/2009/04/...-2009.html
This is a new mod called Stalker Complete 2009. It's a collection of many of Stalker's best mods. Obviously it doesn't include mods that radically change the game with new areas and things. Mostly visual, sound, and AI improvements.
Not a bad mod collection looking through it. I've already done Vanilla STALKER to death, but that right there would be great to have if I wanted to play through the normal story mode.
Here's some examples of the Lost Alpha mod in the works done by the team responsible for Priboi Story.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/lost-alpha
That's gonna be great and here is where you can get Priboi Story which gives a whole new playthrough to the game with a new story to follow, though it's generally just free roaming around the Zone to collect stuff, but alot better than doing another regular STALKER run.
http://priboi-story.extra.hu/engine/
Related: Is Clear Sky worth spending money on?
The game is really cool but bugs always make me want to stop playing games. I'd like a fresh start with this series, so if their next installment is well put together I am definitely there.
(04-13-2009, 11:09 AM)Surf314 link Wrote: [ -> ]The game is really cool but bugs always make me want to stop playing games. I'd like a fresh start with this series, so if their next installment is well put together I am definitely there.
Well the first one was like that, but does Clear Sky have enough additional quality playtime and bugfixes to make it worthwhile?
(04-13-2009, 11:14 AM)at0m link Wrote: [ -> ][quote author=Surf314 link=topic=2684.msg76588#msg76588 date=1239638990]
The game is really cool but bugs always make me want to stop playing games. I'd like a fresh start with this series, so if their next installment is well put together I am definitely there.
Well the first one was like that, but does Clear Sky have enough additional quality playtime and bugfixes to make it worthwhile?
[/quote]
It's definitely prettier. Haven't played enough to be sure of the rest.
I think Clear Sky is abit less buggier and does require some patches for some people, but really it's much like SoC, but with some faction war to it. If you didn't like SoC, I can't say you'd like Clear Sky, especially with the story being abit more straight forward than the first one. With Call of Pripyat this fall, I would assume STALKER 2 will be out next year. That's a good two to 3 years of development which hopefully means a much more refined game.
Here's some new info on "Callof Pripyat". It's apparently a sequel that takes place after the events of Shadow of Chernobyl. Faction Wars are gone, but they are reworking alot of the AI so they'll be moving with day/night cycles, artifact hunting, etc...They are apparently recreating a good chunk of Pripyat to be 100% accurate among other new areas they are adding in. More great info below.
"Igromania Lite" magazine (5.2009)
Developer: GSC Game World
Release date: ~ autumn 2009
GSC Game World team is currently working on two projects: S.T.A.L.K.E.R console port and... "Call of Pripyat" sequel. Stay tuned for detailed preview in the next month, and as for now - here are the short summary of what you need to know.
1. The considerable part of Pripyat will be recreated with 100% (!) accuracy - now it'll be the east part of the city. You'll also see the "Jupiter" facility, Kopachi village, which was so highly contaminated that desactivation failed so everything were just buried, and a lot more locations.
2. There will be noticeable improvements in A-Life system: for example, day/night behavior cycle, artefact searching, blowouts with proper NPC reactions and hideouts and a lot more. By the way, there won't be a faction wars - the idea wasn't successful. NPC behaviour will be more "peaceful" (but, well, of course if a Duty stalker will meet Freedom stalker - he know what to do, so it doesn't meet armistice between everyone). Of course, the overall number of stalkers in the Zone will be lesser than it's been in CS.
3. "Call of Pripyat" is a sequel. It follows the ending where Gunslinger destroyed the C-Consciousness project (developers courageously ignore false endings ^__^). After this event something changed in the Zone, so the goverment decided to sent military specops squads into the Zone to investigate what happened. But something goes terribly wrong and the whole group vanish. Our protagonist will be the Ukrainian military operative, and one of the prior targets we have is to find that squad and figure out what's going on with them.
4. In previous games the side quests looked like primitive 1-minute generated boring tasks. For now, it'll change. There won't be any stereotyped tasks [a]at all[/a]. GSC promise to make ~70 unique side quests (!). Forget about "kill 5 boars" tasks, they're in past.
5. The community annoyed developers with that so much, so... yes, there will be the burer and chimera. Of course, with reworked behavior and new skills. Prepare for tough fights.
6. Blowouts now affect almost everything in the Zone. It's not only rare effective event - lots of things are binded to it. For example, the artifact and anomalies positions will completely change after each blowout.
(04-22-2009, 02:20 AM)Maxon link Wrote: [ -> ]Here's some new info on "Callof Pripyat". It's apparently a sequel that takes place after the events of Shadow of Chernobyl. Faction Wars are gone, but they are reworking alot of the AI so they'll be moving with day/night cycles, artifact hunting, etc...They are apparently recreating a good chunk of Pripyat to be 100% accurate among other new areas they are adding in. More great info below.
"Igromania Lite" magazine (5.2009)
Developer: GSC Game World
Release date: ~ autumn 2009
GSC Game World team is currently working on two projects: S.T.A.L.K.E.R console port and... "Call of Pripyat" sequel. Stay tuned for detailed preview in the next month, and as for now - here are the short summary of what you need to know.
1. The considerable part of Pripyat will be recreated with 100% (!) accuracy - now it'll be the east part of the city. You'll also see the "Jupiter" facility, Kopachi village, which was so highly contaminated that desactivation failed so everything were just buried, and a lot more locations.
2. There will be noticeable improvements in A-Life system: for example, day/night behavior cycle, artefact searching, blowouts with proper NPC reactions and hideouts and a lot more. By the way, there won't be a faction wars - the idea wasn't successful. NPC behaviour will be more "peaceful" (but, well, of course if a Duty stalker will meet Freedom stalker - he know what to do, so it doesn't meet armistice between everyone). Of course, the overall number of stalkers in the Zone will be lesser than it's been in CS.
3. "Call of Pripyat" is a sequel. It follows the ending where Gunslinger destroyed the C-Consciousness project (developers courageously ignore false endings ^__^). After this event something changed in the Zone, so the goverment decided to sent military specops squads into the Zone to investigate what happened. But something goes terribly wrong and the whole group vanish. Our protagonist will be the Ukrainian military operative, and one of the prior targets we have is to find that squad and figure out what's going on with them.
4. In previous games the side quests looked like primitive 1-minute generated boring tasks. For now, it'll change. There won't be any stereotyped tasks [a]at all[/a]. GSC promise to make ~70 unique side quests (!). Forget about "kill 5 boars" tasks, they're in past.
5. The community annoyed developers with that so much, so... yes, there will be the burer and chimera. Of course, with reworked behavior and new skills. Prepare for tough fights.
6. Blowouts now affect almost everything in the Zone. It's not only rare effective event - lots of things are binded to it. For example, the artifact and anomalies positions will completely change after each blowout.
[spoilers]
If you destroy the C-Consciousness project, doesn't the whole zone disappear and go back to normal?
[/spoilers]
(04-22-2009, 02:20 AM)Maxon link Wrote: [ -> ]Reasons why Call of Pripyat will be awesome.
Holy shit, this is going to be great. Also, lol, console STALKER. Is the console version what the fabled STALKER 2 is, or is it just going to be STALKER Lite?
@Eschatos (Spoilers down thar)
I think we are left to assume that the Zone dying was only temporary, that there is more behind it. We will probably find what brought it back in the actual game. And once again, lol, console STALKER.
WTF is a blowout? I must not have played SoC long enough, and I haven't played Clear Sky at all.
Also, is the Oblivion Lost mod any good, and which one is it for?
(04-22-2009, 04:01 PM)at0m link Wrote: [ -> ]WTF is a blowout? I must not have played SoC long enough, and I haven't played Clear Sky at all.
Also, is the Oblivion Lost mod any good, and which one is it for?
The blowouts are when a huge blast of radiation sweep the zone. I think it only happens in the first STALKER when you reach Chernobyl. Don't know about Clear Sky, I'm saving that until I get a better 'pooter. Also, Oblivion Lost is considered one of the best STALKER mods and is for the original.