Phrozen_Soul Wrote:UnschoolShqiponjë Wrote:That game you play... STALKER... it seems kinda cool. Can you explain it to me? I have an urge to try it out.
I"m not TDF, but there are several sequels. Which one?
In order of release (the order you should play them in in my personal opinion), they go Shadow of Chernobyl > Clear Sky > Call of Pripyat. In order of storyline, they go Clear Sky > Shadow of Chernobyl > Call of Pripyat. The official titles are "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: *subtitle*", but it doesn't really matter. They're commonly called ShOC, CS, and CoP anyway.
UnschoolShqiponjë Wrote:That game you play... STALKER... it seems kinda cool. Can you explain it to me? I have an urge to try it out.
I'll explain the storyline of Shadow of Chernobyl first, because IMO it's the most important one of the series, also, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat explain their own storylines better than ShOC. It's hard to explain it in detail without giving away spoilers, but I'll try my best.
Setting:
The game takes place in the
Chernobyl exclusion zone, at basically exactly this time in history (Clear Sky takes place in late 2011 in fact). In 2006, after a second explosion at the power plant, the place was put under military cordon. Research expeditions were sent into the Zone to try to find what happened; any survivors that made it back made reports of deadly mutants, anomalies, and later on, rare treasures.
Storyline:
Thanks to a functioning power plant (up until '06), the relatively intact
Duga-3 radar system, and a place completely devoid of any human life, the exclusion zone was the perfect place for covert research laboratories. I won't go into further detail there for risk of spoilers.
At the time of the game, people, or "stalkers", as they're known (The actual term for real-life trespassing in the Chernobyl area is "stalking", in fact), have been taking their chances in the Zone for a few years now. They come to the Zone for different reasons, but the majority of the "loners" come for one thing: Artifacts. These things, while extremely dangerous to acquire, are worth thousands on the black market and to government researchers alike.
That's where you come in, sort of. A seemingly average stalker, after being rescued from a crash of a "death truck", you wake up in the bunker of a trader, on the outskirts of the Zone. Your PDA reads one thing: "Kill the Strelok". Remembering nothing about what happened, you head north, at first in hopes of finding this Strelok, and then to find out the secrets of the Zone itself.
General gameplay (the gameplay stays more or less the same across all three games):
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is basically a first-person shooter. Many people compare it to Fallout 3 but that doesn't quite hit the nail on the head. It is a game about exploration, atmosphere, realism, treasure hunting, and crapping your pants.
There are RPG aspects, quests, loot, open world, and such. However there is no leveling up or XP and combat is skill based (your skill, not your character's skill). Gun fights are about efficiently using cover and the right weapon at the right time. There are also survival horror elements, scavenging for ammo, and scary and powerful monsters. These games are very unforgiving and don't give you much guidance. There is a decent learning curve, so be prepared to die. This is not a series where you can run and gun. You have to use cover and hit and run tactics. Choose your battles. Even on the lowest difficulty some find the games too hard. A note about the difficulty: As the difficulty goes up, you can't take as many rounds (not like you can soak up gunfire to begin with), however,
this also seems to apply to your enemies. Basically, as the difficulty goes up, everything seems to get more vulnerable, NPCs and player alike. I'm not 100% on this, but I think it might be the case.
Admittedly, they're not very user-friendly, especially Shadow of Chernobyl. These games don't tell you the way you should approach combat. You need to take combat seriously and cautiously or you will be full of holes faster than you can pronounce "Pripyat" correctly. One thing you must realize when you play, is that when you are about to enter combat with multiple human enemies having a plan can make a huge difference. Hit and run tactics are the most effective strategy when your out numbered, which is most of the time. Your ass will be kicked at first, again, especially in ShOC. You start with the worst armor and weapons in the game hands-down (leather jacket and a Makarov PM, good times), so picking a fight with the soldiers early-on, for example. is either a good way to get some AK-74 assault rifles, 5.45 AK ammo, and medical supplies, or a good way to die. Risk vs. reward. Remember, you can usually try to kill someone and have a good chance of it later if they'd kick your ass hands-down now.
Another thing the game does not guide you in, is your number one source of income; scavenging and artifact hunting. When you find a building of any sort search every nook and cranny. There are often areas that will seem inaccessible at first, but there is almost always a way to get there. If you push Shift+Control you will crouch even lower than normal, this is called "low-crouch". This can help you access some of these ares. Looting bodies might not be the most ethical thing, but it's often your number-one source of supplies. On top of whatever gear he might have had on him, sometimes you can find the location of a stash off of a dead stalker's PDA, they're always worth a look. Early-game finds usually contain stuff like shotgun ammo, basic medical supplies, things like that. Late-game ones can contain things like grenades for the gun-mounted launchers, scientific medical kits, armor-piercing ammunition, the stuff that can come in handy at that point. Note that whatever stashes you find (if you find them) are dependent on the dead guy's "rank", if you search a Duty guy in an Exoskeleton he'll give you better stash coordinates than a bandit wandering around in the Garbage (assuming that he gives you any coordinates in the first place, of course).
Some terms to familiarize yourself with:
(The) Zone: Chernobyl exclusion zone and setting of the game, obviously.
Stalker: Again, your average dude in the zone. There are several factions in addition to the "free stalkers", which I'll cover later, but the blanket term for all of 'em is "stalker".
Anomaly: Phenomena that often defies physics, a result of the second disaster and more often than not deadly. Also the things that produce artifacts. They come in a few flavors: Gravitational, electrical, thermal, and chemical. They're usually easy to see if you're careful, but if you need to, use the '6' key on your keyboard to pull out a bolt. You can throw these in front of you to see if the area is safe to walk. If it explodes, implodes, bursts into flames, sends out a torrent of electricity, or anything generally unpleasant you should probably try to go around. Also, don't be like Rebelnerd,
you have an anomaly detector! If you hear a beeping noise (beeping, not ticking, your Geiger counter ticks), stop and search for the anomaly if you don't know where it is. Spending eight seconds throwing bolts beats getting torn to shreds by a Vortex.
Radiation: Self-explanatory, pockets of radiation. Some are stronger than others. Radiation poisoning lowers your health at a rate corresponding to how strong the poisoning is, and lowers on its own (very slowly however) Mild radiation sickness (can be measured via a bar in your inventory or an icon on your HUD) can be cured with a bottle or two of vodka (cheap but heavy and not very effective, this will make you drunk depending on how much you drink, so don't do this if you need to shoot accurately), stronger cases might require anti-radiation drugs (expensive but very light and effective). Scientific medical kits work as a combination of an anti-rad and a first aid kit, they heal a good amount of health and purge a lot of radiation (very helpful if you've lost a good amount of health to rad sickness already). Most artifacts are slightly radioactive, so be sure to find an anti-radiation artifact before you use one.
Artifacts: These are what draw so many to the Zone and their deaths. Rare objects created by anomalies. These are most likely going to be the biggest source of cash in game. It ShOC they are found out in the open (sort of, you still might have to maneuver around anomalies) and you can always use a maximum of five. In the later two games they can usually only be found in anomaly "fields", and you need an Artifact detector which range in quality. Cheap ones will beep when you get close increasing in tempo until you find it. The most expensive detectors have a small radar that will show you the artifact outright. You can equip artifacts in your suit, but only if it has "slots" for it. Apart from being nice moneymakers, they also have special properties about them. For instance, artifacts found in chemical anomalies can increase your blood's coagulation, resulting in less bleeding when hurt, while making you more vulnerable to thermal and chemical burns, while ones found in gravity anomalies can (marginally) increase your bulletproof-ness at the cost of irradiating you (again, find an anti-rad artifact). In CS and CoP many more artifacts are simply radioactive. In ShOC there are some extremely rare artifacts which have
no negative aspects whatsoever.
Emission: These are basically discharges, blowouts coming from the Chernobyl NPP itself. You only have to worry about these in Shadow of Chernobyl once (you'll know it when it happens, oh yes), but in Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat they can happen randomly. In which case, you'll notice a change in the weather, and then your PDA will change your current objective to "Emission: Find cover", directing you to the nearest blowout shelter, all while it looks like a hurricane from hell is about to come down. Find a cave, tunnel, or solid building before the emission hits, or you'll have your brain coming out of your ears.
Mutants:
You'll be finding different types of these, er, things everywhere you go.
Zombified stalkers: Not really zombies in the traditional sense, these poor souls have had their brains fried due to exposure to psy-emissions. They don't usually pose that huge of a threat, since they're hilariously incapable of aiming their weapons (but somehow capable of reloading them). Beware though, bullets are still bullets and they don't really feel pain on top of whatever body armor they had on when they got zombified, so aim for the head (just like with everything in stalker) and stay at a distance.
Blind dogs: They're not very aggressive most of the time but they're hard to hit, fast, appear almost everywhere, and most importantly, hunt in packs. Shotguns work best against them for obvious reasons.
Pseudodogs: Think blind dogs, just faster and more eager to eat you. You can usually find them leading a pack of normal blind dogs. They'll literally jump (jump?) at your face if you let them get too close, which often lets the rest of the dogs catch up and maul you while you try to get the pseudodog, but they aren't too much tougher than the normal blind dogs.
Flesh: Mutated pigs. Ridiculously easy to kill with any weapon, they're hardly ever aggressive. Tougher than dogs, but the only way they could ever pose a threat is if they're somehow able to swarm you. Appear to be
somewhat of a delicacy in the Zone.
Boar: Exactly what they say on the tin, they're boars, surprisingly mostly un-mutated. They're pretty aggressive and can hurt you a pretty good amount, but not too tough if you can get 'em with a shotgun.
Rodents: Little goddamn things, they're incredibly weak, but fast as hell and travel in groups. More annoying than dangerous, but still unpleasant to get swarmed by.
Poltergeist: Yes, that's what they'll look like, until you kill them, at least. They throw all sorts of crap at you, barrels, crates, kitchen appliances, guns, you name it. Usually more of an annoyance than anything else, but a barrel to the face will cause some pretty good damage to you.
Pyrogeist: Basically a Poltergeist that tries to burn you than throw stuff at you. Keep moving and hit the floating bastard with a shotgun. They can be hard to see among the flames, so be sure it's the actual pyro you're shooting at.
Controllers: Both dangerous and annoying. Your vision will get kinda screwed up when one's in the vicinity. If you hear a high-pitched "eeeee" noise, put something solid between him and you, he's "warming up" his psy-attack. They're also one of the ways stalkers become zombies, this is shown in CoP (not sure about CS or ShOC, most of the places you fight him you're on your own). Try to lean out from behind cover, get some good shots into his head, and duck back before he can hit you.
Snorks: The name sounds funny, but the mutant is anything but (unless you look at
this). They're the remnants of military forces sent into the Zone, and have basically resorted to their feral instincts. They'll leap at you from surprising distances and then kick your ass, so try and dodge them when in midair and shoot them before they can turn, or just get them with an assault rifle at a distance.
Burers: These little guys only appear in Call of Pripyat without mods, and act a lot like Poltergeists except they can soak up ridiculous amounts of lead, as well as being able to yank your weapon from your hands. Most annoying things ever.
Bloodsuckers: These are just so adorable. Fast, strong, and boy oh boy do they dish out the hurt. Oh, and did I mention that they can fucking turn invisible. That's right, the only way you'll know they're there is their ragged, strained panting that seems to be coming from all sides, and then BLOODSUCKER ALL UP IN THIS SHIT. Cue spazzing out and emptying an entire magazine all around you. Fighting them, is uh, hard. They try to get behind you all the time which is not that hard for them since they can cloak. If you can, put your back to the wall so they can't sneak up on you. They WILL be up in your face so use a shotgun. You can sometimes spot them walking around uncloaked or even see there eyes glowing while they are cloaked, so if you're not up for the challenge and spot one, try to avoid it. A good trick is to stand in water when fighting them because it allows you to track their movements when they are cloaked quite easily. In Call of Pripyat it gets worse. Not only have they adopted a new strategy of "uncloak, slash once for horrendous damage and recloak", not only did their invisibility get better, but now, if they land a shot at your back you'll lose control, your view will shake and turn red, and you'll lose a good portion of your health and energy; the damn thing's living up to its name and sucking your blood. Good luck, stalkers.
Pseudogiant: Big, tough, and strong doesn't do these guys justice. You'll only encounter a couple of them in each game, if you've been holding onto some heavy artillery such as an RPG-7, this is the thing to use it on. They're not that fast, but you'll have to use the environment if you want to reliably outrun one. They're also too big to chase you through small doorways, so feel free to bombard one with grenades if that happens.
Chimera: The toughness of a Pseudogiant, the speed of a bloodsucker, and the leaping of a snork. Fortunately, they only appear in Call of Pripyat, but you're in for a run for your money. While they aren't quite as fast or tough as either a 'sucker or a 'giant, they can leap 20 feet or so in one swift move and
kick your ass before you know what hit you. Grenade launchers and sniping work best against these guys, but if you got the balls and the shotgun to go toe-to-toe with them, you just might make it (how I got my first kill, the bastard ran off after trying to snipe it with a scoped AK-74, I went after him, he tried to jump me, I got him with one shotgun headshot mid-leap).
Factions:
Loners: AKA "Free Stalkers". Most of them came to the Zone as treasure hunters, others for the independence and adventure. These guys are the most common people you'll see in the Zone, just about all of them are neutral by default. In Clear Sky they're a true joinable "faction", while in Shadow of Chernobyl they're, well, more like loners.
Bandits: Criminals and the like who came to the Zone to escape from the law. In Shadow of Chernobyl they're hostile by default, in Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat they're neutral, but since they're still assholes it's hard not to kill them anyway.
Freedom: The best faction in the game. No that's not my opinion, it's a proven fact. A clan of stalkers who fight for free access to the Zone, seeing it both as a scientific marvel that could answer the problems of the world, and a breakthrough to numerous technological achievements. Very laid-back compared to some people and factions, but are still able to kick large amounts of ass with their Flecktarn and G36s when necessary. Viewed as a group of bomb-throwing anarchists and terrorists by Duty who want to let the Zone destroy the earth.
Duty: A group who believe that the Zone is evil, and seek to destroy it. Extremely uptight and no-nonsense, a lot of their members are former Ukrainian soldiers. Rumored among stalkers that they're involved with the Ukrainian government and special forces. Incredibly dedicated to their cause. Viewed as a bunch of dim-witted jarheads by Freedom
('cause they are).
Clear Sky: Not to be confused with the prequel, which is the game that they were introduced, and played a major part, in. They research the Zone, and believe that it is neither a wonder nor a horror, and can only be understood. Held a secret base in the Swamps preceding and during the events of CS.
Monolith: A group of brainwashed stalkers, who believe that the "Monolith" or "Wish Granter", a crystal inside the NPP, holds divine power, and declare themselves to be its "guardians". Surprisingly numerous and well-equipped, and serve as the main end-game enemies in all games, located in the heart of the Zone.
State Security Service: AKA the military. Most are the standard "grunts", poorly motivated, inexperienced, and not very well-supplied, but it also includes the Spetsnaz special forces, and the military stalkers (former stalkers recruited into the military due to their experience). Officially maintains a cordon around the Zone, but due to corruption and bribes they let more than a few stalkers past the perimeter, though inside the Zone they usually shoot to kill. The protagonist of Call of Pripyat, Major Degtyarev, was sent into the Zone to find out why Operation Fairway, the attempt to break through to the center of the Zone following the events of Shadow of Chernobyl, failed.
Ecologists: Government researchers. Unlike the military, friendly to stalkers, as they often require them to do research for them. They pay very well for the work, give a nice price on artifacts, and are based in virtually impenetrable steel bunkers that were carried in by helicopter, making them popular among the Zone's illegal residents.
Mercenaries: Private military contractors operating in the Zone, their work is kept highly secret. Seem to be individual squads instead of one big company, as different teams of mercs have extremely different methods of getting the job done, as well as the jobs themselves.
The combat and the gear: This is often such a highly talked-about subject that I felt it was worthy of its own section. The guns and combat in this game are like no other. In that, I mean, you have to take a balls-to-the-walls approach to combat, and learn the characteristics of the weapons.
In combat, if you don't use cover, flush enemies out with grenades, lean around corners, use armor-piercing rounds against highly-armored enemies, aim for the head, all that stuff, you'll be dying more often than not. Thinking before you open fire is an absolute essential in this game.
The guns. This has been complained about a lot in the past. *looks at Rebelnerd's empty chair* The guns in this game have actual recoil. Fire short bursts, aim for the chest so the muzzle climb takes the rounds up, eventually getting the headshot, don't spaz out and fire wildly. Aim for the head, especially if the enemy is wearing any sort of armor above the stalker suit. Be sure to watch your gun's condition too. The lower it gets, the worse your weapon will perform overall. Oh, and your weapon can jam if it's condition get too low, requiring you to clear the jam and reload. Annoyingly enough, in ShOC noone knows how to repair your stuff by default, but just about every mod out there lets traders do so for a fee. There's also small mods which do nothing but add a repairman, if you don't want to change anything else. Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat also add the ability for the mechanics to upgrade your stuff. Oh, and don't forget this, the G36 is the best weapon in the game period. Again, no, that is not just my opinion, shut up.
Armor suits also vary, there's the leather jacket and the bandit jacket, which might as well be made of styrofoam but they're better than nothing, the Merc/Duty/Stalker/Freedom suits, in order of quality (This isn't my opinion, I'm not joking this time, the quality of them is seriously in that order), then there's the SEVA and Ecologist suits, which offer good anomaly/rad protection but mediocre combat protection, then the military suits with good combat protection but low anomaly/rad protection, then there's the Exoskeleton which makes you a walking tank but weighs a ton (but supports its own weight!) and slows you down.
Mods:
This game is good on its own (patched of course), but mods make the game loads better in my opinion. The
Complete series improves the graphics/sound/bug fixes/stealth/etc without changing the gameplay in any notable way (adds a sleeping bag and repair function to Barkeep and Skinflint, that's pretty much it), so I'd try it for your first mod. It also has versions for Clear Sky (highly recommended to use Clear Sky Complete right off the bat) and Call of Pripyat.
LURK is recommended for veteran players only, it makes the game even harder. There's two versions, 1.1 and 1.05. Personally, I prefer 1.05, the AI can't hit you at 60 yards with a Makarov pistol, you can use artifacts, and the guns don't jump a foot in the air when fired. [shamelessplug]If you decide to use 1.1, everyone's tastes are different after all, I'd recommend using
my mini-mod, it enables artifacts, lowers the bullshit insanely high recoil on the guns, lowers the bullshit insanely high recoil compensation the AI had, and makes it so that ammo doesn't weigh a shitload.[/shamelessplug]
The STALKER FileFront is worth a check too, it mainly has small gameplay tweaks and the like instead of large mods.
Other mods such as the
Reloaded series (there's one for all three games like Complete),
Oblivion Lost (basically it adds a bunch of new shit), and
Priboi Story are out there, but I've never played them, so I can't really weigh in on them.
Oh, and there's a blowout soon, fellow stalkers!
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