[V.P.]

I have seen several reviews of this game already, and the reviewers agree that its a good game featuring a unique game experience (considering to what we are used to in a FPS).

Has anyone tried it? Are you getting it?

[krise madsen]

I expect to try it out soon-ish. There is a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. release party here at Boomtown (Danish net/gaming cafe franchise) as I write this. There are 50 computers. 4 people have signed up to try S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

I'll write up a quick review when I've tried it, unless someone beats me to it, that is.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[DerangedPony]

I played the multiplayer beta and did not like it at all. The graphics seemed very outdated (game was in development for 7 years), the movement of your guy seemed very unnatural, and there was a very poor balance in weapons. While playing, the shootouts in the game were very short, and it seemed like way too much time was spent getting to the action or finding it. I can see many servers being dominated by snipers.

I would like to hear a review from somebody who has the full game to see if any of the problems were fixed.

[MONOLITH]

DerangedPony, on Mar 22 2007, 04:38 PM, said:

The graphics seemed very outdated (game was in development for 7 years)

This was my thought too.

[fastscout]

I picked it up today...really rather impressed. very unique story, atmosphere is really good. the only thing I don't care for is the combat system. you can shoot a guy point blank with 10-15 rnds and still not get a kill. pretty frustrating. other than that though....pretty darn good.

[krise madsen]

Okay, I gave S.T.A.L.K.E.R. a quick try, so these are just my early impressions:

Scenario/Storyline:
In case anyone haven't heard, the game takes place in "The Zone" around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in what seem to be a anternate reality setup. The area is off-limits and guarded by the military. The area is radioactive and filled with strange environmental anomalies, not to mention mutated creatures.

The Stalkers are mercenaries who move around the zone looking for "artifacts" to sell to traders, who in turn will sell you anything from food to weapons. There is considerable competition between groups of Stalkers and it is apparently not uncommon for them to fight each other.

You start the game as a Stalker who has been in an accident and suffer from amnesia. You have also lost almost all your gear so you essentially have to start from scratch.

Those parts of the map I've seen so far do indeed look like what you would expect an area of the Soviet Union abandoned since the 80's to look like. The abandoned houses are maybe a bit sparse in terms of "atmosphere" and the usual wooden crate is used somewhat liberally. But overall the maps look relatively believeable.

The Stalkers, when not on a job, tend to sit around bonfires and chat, in Russian, and will frequently whip out a guitar and start singing. It's very Russian (or rather Ukranian) and adds a lot of nice atmosphere to the game.

Overall, the game is gritty and the characters look the part. If you like this kind of post-apocalyptic scenario, you'll definately like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the mindless "mutant monsters" in games, but they definately fit the bill here, wether you like them or not.

Gameplay:
It's really quite simple: You are given jobs that you must complete. Usually you must find or retrieve some artifact and in return you will be given money, useful equipment or valuable items that you can trade. There is a main quest and a number of side quests. It is indeed very much like playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, i.e. complete quests to earn money, and buy better gear.

Your inventory is handled via the usual squares where you can place items (as in, say Diablo II).

Graphics:
Good enough for me is all I can really say. You'll have to decide for yourself if you find them particularly good or bad, but they're good enough.

Controls:
The biggest dissapointmen so far. They're clumsy and somewhat inflexible. You can't go prone (though you can go "low crouch"), and you can't toggle lean (i.e. you have to hold down the key to keep leaning). Also, you use the shift (i.e. press "x plus shift to...") but this doesn't seem to work all the time, at least not if you bind the shift key to another function. Likewise, you set "run" to be on and off, rather than the usual "hold down shift+w to run". Overall they seem like they were slapped together in a hurry and not sufficiently tested, certainly not what I would expect from a game that has been in development for the most of this millennium...

Conclusion:
Essentially a post-apocalypic version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Complete main quests and side quests to aquire better gear. The developers capture the post-apocalyptic atmosphere very well indeed. Graphics are OK, though perhaps not fabulous. Controls are rather clumsy and unfinished.

Respectfully

krise madsen

[V.P.]

Good read madsen, thanks. : )

[krise madsen]

V.P., on Mar 25 2007, 07:57 PM, said:

Good read madsen, thanks. : )

You're wellcome

One thing I forgot: The AI (or what I've seen of it so far) seem very good. I was confronted by two enemies inside a building and killed one of them with my gun. The other one dissapeared, moved around the building and attacked me from behind!

Take note of this BFS: This is the kind of AI behavior that can make the difference between a good and a great game. You know, NORG

EDIT: Dont'd buy this game for the multiplayer. From what (admittedly little) I saw, it's just the usual "kill or be killed" romp, offering very little that hasn't been done (better) to death elsewhere.

Respectfully

krise madsen

Edited by krise madsen, 25 March 2007 - 01:49 PM.

[Nemesis]

GRRR...bought the game played it for 13hrs solid some quirky game behaviours tho.

Checked the site found a ptach....wiped out all saved games re played for another 13hrs...still bugged.
7 years in development & still bugs....."who was on a long tea-break!"

[MONOLITH]

I bought the game this weekend.

Having a lot of problems with it.

I was actually surprised at how good the graphics are when you crank them up, for a 7 year old project. But I would say this applies more to the buildings and environment than the characters. The characters models definatley look like Pre OGR even.

But the builiding textures and such are fairly well done in my opinion, and moving through some of the old broken down houses with a flashlight reminded me a lot of Half life 2.

And the textures and overall graphics, when set to max, will definately tax your system, unlike you would expect from something 7 years old, so to speak.

The gameplay does seem to be a lot like Oblivion, just set in a different type of world. This game is definately no Oblivion though.

And I'm having serious problems with CPU choking on AI triggers. I have definately ruled out any graphics, it's not VPU issues.

What happens is, like all games, as you walk into an area, NPC characters are spawned and their AI actions begin to load the CPU. For me, it's locking up my rig entirely to where I have to shut down and reboot.

I have an Intel P4 2.4 ghz with 1 gig of ram, and it's choking me into a dead lockup.

One thing you MUST do, is make sure you have a paging file (virtual memory) set to at least 2 gigs (2048 mgs). This will actually come up after the first install when the game checks your system. Mine was too low initially, but even after I set it to a higher level, I've seen no improvement to my issues.

Since I have a second hard drive with my games on it, I even have a paging file on each drive.

So, I'm not entirely sure what the problem is on my particuler rig, but I haven't been able to make the game playable for myself. I get locked up every time during the first few NPC interactions.

Hopefully the rest of you will have better luck, it does seem like a cool game.

If anyone figures out a way to fix my lock up problem, let me know. Otherwise, I have to shelve this one until I build my new rig.

[Nemesis]

MONOLITH, on Apr 16 2007, 02:29 AM, said:

If anyone figures out a way to fix my lock up problem, let me know. Otherwise, I have to shelve this one until I build my new rig.

Hi Mono.
I would suggest dropping Gfx & turning off EAX in sound as a start.
The page file & VM should normally be 2 x the physical RAM this should give you plenty of space.
Is the lockup occurring on the primary logical drive or the secondary?
Have you tried changing the install paths to default?

Im currently playing on a P4 3.4HT 2GBRAM ATiX600Pro 256 DX9.0c (need an update) & if I encounter 3+ AI I have bad CPU loading also. As I said its stil as buggy as hell. Checkout the complaints at the Stalker forums, as evidence. In the devs defence they are working on patching many of the issues in multi-waves. So that maybe 8 years in DEV

[Nemesis]

readme
http://www.gsc-game....n...=xr&lang=en

[MONOLITH]

Already did all the VPU tests and ruled that out. I always turn off EAX with most every game, it never seems quite worth using vs the issues it causes.

And if you're getting noticeable CPU loading on a 3.4HT, then that's definately my issue as I suspected.

Maybe a patch can help resolve the issue, but I have a feeling it's just too much for my rig the way the game has been designed.

[V.P.]

I think ill wait until the bugs are sorted out before buying. Sounds like alot of people have problems with this game.

[Nemesis]

Came across rhis Mono if it helps:

http://www.tweakguid.../STALKER_1.html

[MONOLITH]

Nemesis, on Apr 16 2007, 02:34 PM, said:

Came across this Mono if it helps:

Thanks.

I'm getting ready to try the -noprefetch tweak right now...

[RAbbi]

My experience with STALKER so far (and mind you, I have no idea what version I'm on and whether I need a patch or not):

BUGS- I've only hit one so far, which is that the AUTOSAVE points don't work. I have to remember to save the game every so often. Not a HUGE deal.

Function- to the above, there is no QuickSave/QuickLoad that I can find to map to the keyboard. BOO! Most everything else so far works about as I'd expect it, but it's been set-up default a little counterintuitive. The crouch isn't a toggle by default, nor is the peek. Given all else you have to do to get around, I'd think they would be. AI's seem to have toggled crouching down. ALSO, there are no quick commands for first aid and bandages and vodka and such. Bad call.

General gameplay- felt a lot like Armed Assault. Still does. A little quirky-jerky, not-so-refined feel to movement and such, though not as badly as with ArmA. Sounds are also weak, though again nowhere near as badly as ArmA's TERRIBLE sounds. Footfalls I can only really hear for myself- can't hear an enemy sprinting 3 meters away on a wooden floor. I can hear him light me up with his AK, though.

Grenade interface was better than with some games, but still not at all intuitive.

I'd like to see a few more traders around, if it's gonna be a doggone RPG. Only one guy (so far, anyhow) to sell stuff to. That's a long way to carry all that junk I'm acquiring, and not necessarily worth travelling back and forth through all those potential deathmatches.

I think there's a little glitch/quirk going on where I achieve objectives for missions I never signed up for, so I get the mission on my PDA half-complete. Just have to go back and collect my reward. Problem is, WHO HAS MY REWARD?! Yeah.

I LOVE THE SCENERY!
I LOVE THE MAP!
I LOVE THE CONCEPT!

I've read there's a big update/prequel forthcoming for STALKER, which will be the story of this dude you're supposed to find and kill in this first one. SPOILER, I say. But anyhow, given some time to develop and refine the game, and the mention I've already read of DX10 optimization for it, I think it will be astounding.

Anyone have any advice for getting to the papers I have to steal from the military compound? I'm outside the gate, about to get lit up, and VERY short on AK ammo...

[RAbbi]

Nevermind. I'm dumb. Can you believe I made it through finding the first set of military papers before I realized that there is indeed a flashlight?! I got through that firefight in the train station as the only idiot without any light, because it was nighttime! WITHOUT GETTING HIT, TOO! Amazing.

The more I play it, the more I love it. A lot of lag in some spots, but it's pretty awesome. AI interactions, such as with the boars and dogs and various other ill-tempered beasties, are really great! As I'd read, they act a bit more naturally- one-on-one a dog won't come after you, but in PACKS they'll tear into you. Nice.

And of course I dig the environment, even if it isn't the cutting edge of graphics. I think they did a kickin' job.

And now that I'm finding my way into enough ammo to actually sustain a firefight (BIG believer in suppression, here) or two, I'm finding that those are pretty good. Not the SMARTEST AI I've ever come across, but above average at least. They work in pairs or teams. They flank. They do everything that makes it tough to get around.

DUDE this is fun!

[MONOLITH]

RAbbi, what's your specs? I still can't get the game to run worth a damn on a single core P4 2.4 ghz and 1 gig ram.

[ZJJ]

I'm not Rabbi (thankfully ), but I believe he is playing on his Alienware laptop he bought a year ago.

AlienWare m9700
AMD Turion 64 ML40 @2.2GHz
2GB 400MHz dual-channel RAM
2 80GB 7200RPM HDD's on RAID 0
2 Nvidia Go 7900GS 256MB GPU's on SL