Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[KaelGotDwarves]

So I just picked up Stalker on an impulse buy. All I knew about it is that it was a "gritty fps". I installed the LURK mod and my first impressions were favorable, gritty atmosphere and nice feel. I stepped out of the newbie town and swung to the right and naively took out a military patrol. As I walked further I was flanked on both sides and utterly bullets-from-all-sides-massacred by multiple unknowns, whom I later found out was the backup patrol.

Now my impression is this is a lot fucking better than Fallout3. I'm playing master difficulty with LURK mod and it's forcing me to use grenades strategically as well as sneak around and snipe, scan with binoculars to ensure all enemies are down (kind of broken but whatever) and generally crap my pants because a few wrong steps into an anomaly and you blow up, or of some idiot gang you killed 3 days before- one survivor tracks you down and shoots you in the back while the world is warping by creepily.

So yeah, I recommend it. I just wish there were more shit-my-pants horrors, but I'm only a fraction through.

[Cthulhu]

The best mod is Kanyhalos' Oblivion Lost mod.  It adds vehicles, blowouts, and new mutants (Basically everything the game cut out but cleverly failed to mention had been cut out on the site) and all kinds of stuff.

Blowouts are intense, too.

[KaelGotDwarves]

The best mod is Kanyhalos' Oblivion Lost mod.  It adds vehicles, blowouts, and new mutants (Basically everything the game cut out but cleverly failed to mention had been cut out on the site) and all kinds of stuff.

Blowouts are intense, too.

I heard favorable things about OL, it seems blowouts are the cool thing to do because LURK is putting them in as well.

[Cthulhu]

They're the big thing because they're what makes the game variable.  Blowouts shuffle the location of anomalies, monsters, and the like.  Without them the game is static.

For example, no matter how many times you start a new game, there will always be a whirligig floating above the bridge just outside the starting camp, until a blowout gets rid of it.

[UristMcGunsmith]

If you like guns you SIMPLY MUST get the Arsenal mod. So many guns, so many calibers... mmmmm....

Also, the news guns aren't fucking retarded and have the ejection ports and safeties on the proper sides of the guns. It replaces all the old retarded guns too, except the MP5.

[Shzar]

STALKER is a good game. I haven't heard of this Lurk mod; maybe I'll take a peek. I, too, recommend Oblivion Lost. It makes the world much more dynamic, by increasing mutant and anomaly movement, and giving a chance that you might encounter any group in any part of the Zone ... so you could end up with great equipment in the Cordon, provided you can take them with force. Also, look for some of the little mods that touch up the graphics and such. I have one that intensifies weather activity and makes night time actually, you know, dark. And I mean DARK. Can't-see-squat and trip-into-a-springboard dark. Fun.

I found STALKER to be pretty scary, too. Not so much the outdoor parts, but some of the indoor segments I found unsettling enough to be almost unpleasant, which I like in a game.

[Sowelu]

As a general rule, if I've heard vague good things about a game, I'll buy it for $5 on the spot.  More than that, even $10, and I need to actually be in a serious game-buying investment mood.

I've heard vague good things about Stalker for a long, long time.  Instead of getting a shake next time I'm at Jack in the Box, I think I'll get it.

Edit:  Downloaded in just 90 minutes.  I love my new connection.

[Toady Two]

I too am downloading now. I always wanted to play this game but forgot about it eventually. Now that its a bargain I bought it. I think I'm going to try mods from the get-go. For a beginner who likes challenging games, which mods do you reccomend?

[Sowelu]

Also do you people recommend going mod-free on your first playthrough?  That's what I'm doing now.  I like to have a little faith in the way things are placed, so I'm avoiding blowout mods specifically right now.

Oh...and jeez this game is pretty damn scary for the first half hour especially.  I was pretty unhappy with how wimpy the starting pistol is (it feels like a peashooter and its aim is totally pathetic), but then you realize that you are now playing a game that has horrifying anomalies in it...

[Thexor]

Although it's a bit hypocritical of me, since I'm starting with a mod-free run-through... I've heard of a lot of bugs and glitches, and encountered a few of them myself. And several of the mods claim to fix glitches and other problems without actually altering the storyline or gameplay substantially. If you're just starting out, might be an idea to find one of those mods and install it - always better to install a mod before starting a new game.

[KaelGotDwarves]

Also do you people recommend going mod-free on your first playthrough?  That's what I'm doing now. 

(it feels like a peashooter and its aim is totally pathetic), but then you realize that you are now playing a game that has horrifying anomalies in it...

I started out with LURK, it updates it to look absolutely gorgeous on my system and many times more eerie than standard. Stalker is one of those games that really benefits from having the graphics combined with atmosphere o.o

Make sure you use the ironsights through right click.

[UristMcGunsmith]

I started with Oblivion Lost 2.0, Arsenal, and AMK artifacts. After a few months I decided to try it unmodded. After 5 minutes I immediately exited out of that buggy crap pile that those bastard Ukrainians decided to try to sell to me.

[Sowelu]

Make sure you use the ironsights through right click.

I hate that style of pistol iron sights, regardless of game.  It's annoying because it takes up so much of your vision without giving that clear of an indication where you're aiming.  I mean...it's essentially just a horizontal line at the top of the barrel.  Do you line that up with your guy's chest?  With his head?  With his feet?  Only headshots seem to do any kind of damage in this game (IE put ten pistol shots into someone's chest and he doesn't flinch), but if you're using iron sights on your pistol and you aim it at his head, one shot and the recoil means you can't see the guy any more because the gun is in the way.  Bleh.  Maybe I'm doing it wrong...

...Alright, later on I'll start over with mods.  >.>

[Mephisto]

I bought this last night after seeing the post. I've got no Windows computers here at college with me, so I'm hoping Crossover Pro does the job.

Unlikely, as my laptop is below the minimum requirements. Oh well. I'll just have to wait for a break so I can go home and copy everything across to my gaming PC.

[Puck]

I finished the vanilla game with the most recent patch - and only had one bug. Granted, it was almost gamebreaking, but after lurking through some forums I just followed some advice - and tadaaaa - worked.

What can I say, I already spammed this forum with how great stalker is. It is REALLY that good.

And may I suggest reading "Roadside Picnic", maybe before playing? Dunno. But stalker is inspired by that book, and it's a great read, not very long tho, you can finish it in a few hours.

Some advice:

I dont really think I need to spoiler-tag it, but wth. I tried to keep it as spoilerfree as possible:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Later in the game, you're supposed to meet somebody. After you met that person, you basically have two options: follow the advice of the person you met and meet somebody else, I think it's some sort of doctor or doctor was in his name, or somesuch. The other option is to just continue with the story ultimatively leading you to pripyat and onwards.

When I was at that point of the game I kind of forgot to meet that other guy, because the situation was fast paced and tense. I guess it's easy to miss. Do yourself a favour and meet that other guy to be able to get the full content.

Oh and .... float32 mod. Use it. A bit hardish to find, tho. But you need to install it, really. Maybe some of the other mods already include it? It's pretty standard to make stalker run better, it helps performance A LOT.