S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadows of Chernobyl

[diskoboy]

Anyone playing? I'm probably gonna buy this on Friday.

I've heard mixed reviews, so I'm asking anyone playing it here if its any good or not. I respect everyone here's opinion more than any other gaming sites around..

[heybtbm]

Anyone playing? I'm probably gonna buy this on Friday.

Remember that it's $29.99 at Circuit City this week.

[jajaja]

I've played it. Unfortunatly i wasnt able to run it at max settings on my 2 year old computer (no big suprise there tho hehe), but it did run. S.T.A.L.K.E.R is a mix for FPS and RPG. Instead of just running and shooting you can talk to people, ask the about stuff and trade various items. The atmosphere also fits the game good.

I didnt play it for too long, but my first impression wasnt that good. When i was about to kill some enemies i shot them like 2-3 times in the head and they didnt die (played on the hardest difficulty, but still), which i found alittle wierd. The RPG mix didnt really catch my attention, but if i played it longer i'm sure i would like it. Always cool to trade stuff etc.

The landscapes are pretty big, which is nice. You can run around and find people to talk to them, ask about missions etc. where you earn money if i'm not mistaken. With the money you can buy stuff, obviously. You also have a PALM with map, info over the other S.T.A.L.K.E.Rs and so on. I also heard theres like 6-7 different endings in the game, which is really cool.

If you like FPS games i would definitly recommend you to try this game. If there is a demo out, i would try that first.


EDIT: For $29.99 its no big loss if you dont like the game. I would pick it up for this price.

[robotriot]

I've played it, and it doesn't do much for me. Plus points are that it's certainly very atmospheric, and rather spooky at times. AI is pretty good, the enemies make good use of cover. The landscape/ruins/weather effects are great. It would be nice to just explore the area without having to fight off enemies all the time. The downside for me is that I find it relatively hard - as mentioned above, your best bet is to shoot at the head, if you don't want to waste a lot of ammo. However, that still doesn't kill them immediately. Plus I keep dying all the time. Sometimes there are so many enemies around you, you just get annoyed from trying to kill them, and just make a run for it. Also, if you're indoors, sometimes enemies spawn right in front of you. I've got a personal distaste for games with unlimited enemies anyway, you can never be safe in any area. If you loot a body, the game doesn't pause, so you can still be attacked. It's a lot of little annoyances like that which ruin the game for me.

[aaron7]

I've been playing it for a few days now... I don't want to give up on it BUT...

The game is hella hard, even on easy. You can die in one or 2 hits, but enemies take forever.

Accuracy is slim to nil. I've read that later in the game the weapons are much more acurate though.

The radiation thing is really getting old. You can't walk around for 5 min without getting overloaded with it and either A) Dieing or B) Using tons of medkits and anti-rad stuff.

Too many buttons...

Too open ended... and I love Oblivion! There's just too much going on, but maybe it's because I haven't played enough.

Sys requirements are crazy. I had to dumb it down quite a bit to play, and my sys isn't old at all. (Plays Oblivion at 1680x1050 full settings fine)

You can only carry 50kg. Granted, that's 110lbs, but still, this is a FPS not a full blown RPG. I hate having to choose bandages or ammo.

NO GOD MODE! Now I know many people would think this is a good thing... but read the above and then play the game. When you have 30 people with submachine guns coming at you constantly... it sucks.

[Ze_ro]

I also heard theres like 6-7 different endings in the game, which is really cool.
My brother was telling me about this game, and he seemed to have really enjoyed it. There are a bunch of different endings, and depending on where you end up, there are some plot elements that won't necessarily resolve themselves, leaving you with a lot of questions and no answers. I don't want to ruin any of the storyline, but suffice to say if you get to the end without finding out who Strelok is, then you missed out on quite a bit.

I've also heard that this is a very hardware intensive game, so unless your computer is really beefed up, then you'll probably have to turn down some of the settings.

--Zero

[aaron7]

Well, been playing it a ton lately... the game sure gets better when you get farther in. Weapons get better, artifacts actually help you, armor is useful, etc.

Also, MAKE SURE TO GET THE PATCHES! My copy was ver 1.0. They have 2 patches to bring that up to 1.03. You can see your version on the main menu in the bottom left corner. The patches modify a bunch of things and make the game a bit easier and more fun!

Make good use of your PDA (P key) and your diary, located on the PDA. Quests don't seem as daunting now that I know I can keep track of them better!

If all else fails and you just want to play for fun, there is a save game online you can download (http://www.actiontrip.com/cheats/stalkershadowofchernobyl.phtml , click on SAVEGAME) which has an amazing gun and the first trader has armor for $50 that blocks pretty much everything.

[unwinddesign]

I bought this off of Direct2Drive the other day. It was ok, until I upgraded to the patched version (1.01 then 1.03). All saves from 1.0 are incompatible with patched versions. There went three hours of grinding around.

This game is hard as hell, even on "Stalker" (medium-low) difficulty. It's just ridiculous how fast enemies can kill you. Worse, it's not a run 'n gun game, but some of the objectives require you to do just that in order to complete them. Ridiculous. Thus, you spend 20 - 30 minutes playing over one part because either A) an NPC died who gave you a quest or B) you keep dying while frantically trying to run around and shoot everyone before they shoot the quest leader.Oh, and it's hard as hell to aim because the framerate drops every time you fire a weapon. Did I mention the guns sound stupid as hell? I should have.

Comparisons to Deus Ex are preposterous; there was little story in the time I played, a lot of the dialogue is -- wait for it -- simply text (unspoken), and the game takes up 10 GB of hard drive space. The game's graphics are inferior to Half Life 2's, and the game runs like ass on a 7900GS + 2 GB of RAM and a mobile Intel Core Duo 2 at medium settings. Yes, I know, not blazing fast tech specs, but it runs AoE3 well enough, and that game looks much better than Stalker. The game's loading times range from quick to ridiculously long, adding to the sadness.

Maybe I'm just pissed that I lost my save, but this game has a laundry list of problems (still, even with the patches) that will deter most people from ever completing it. I don't know if I'll be one of them. I might just turn it down to easy, so I can blast my way through it without dying every 5 seconds. It's not like I'm balls at games, either; you die as fast as on Halo 2's legendary mode on Stalker's second lowest difficulty.

Also, the game has one of the worst names ever.

[/end rant]

[BHvrd]

I'm gonna download this and try it out "downloading now". I've been wanting to try it for a while and you just reminded me, plus it's $29.95. I'll post my thoughts after i've played it a few hours.

[unwinddesign]

Make sure you install all the patches before you start playing. Seriously.

[BHvrd]

DAMN DOG!

Thanks for reminding me of this game, I always wanted to try it, and I gotta say so far it's everything I was expecting and more. I love how the guy sat down at the fire and started playing the guitar after we finished our first mission, lol.

It has elements of all types of games rolled into one, the main one I like though is that it's like Diablo/Morrowind with guns.

Very refreshing and just the game I was looking for to add some spice to my current gaming. How is online?

[diskoboy]

Also, the game has one of the worst names ever.

[/end rant]


I'd partly agree with that.... They should have left out the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." and the name wouldn't be all that bad.

Or they could've called it "Pripyat: Shadows of Chernobyl", but most people outside Eastern Europe would have no Idea about the signifigance of Pripyat (It's the ghost town the game takes place in - it's the real city that was evacuated when Chernobyl exploded in '86 - it's uninhabitable for at least a few centuries, but standing, exactly as it was, 21 years ago).

[Trebuken]

After the patches, get the upgrade...

http://www.thefloatingpoint.org/main/news.php