New S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 details surfaced!!!

Sabrewulf...

Sabrewulf...

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New S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 details surfaced!!!

Damn I'm excited for this, loved the series and actually just finished COP a couple weeks ago.

"The main inspiration for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is the original trilogy (Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat) and its main feature will be its unique atmosphere."

The atmosphere was (when originally played years ago) what got me the most, such a amazing feeling exploring in the zone!

Super modder friendly! - "GSC GameWorld is also working on making modding tools so that modders can start creating new content when the game comes out."

and it will have no fucking Battle Royale mode!!!

 
The gun models all being left handed bothers the crap out of me to this day. None of the guns in that video are built like that. The AK-47 is a great example of this. The AK-47's charging handle, safety lever and ejection port are all on the right side of the gun and shouldn't be visible on the left side of the receiver at all.
 
Oh, the original game had 2 expansions? Cool, I only played the original game. I got the first expansion but never got around to playing it. I too liked the atmosphere and feel of the game... the storms that would roll in... good stuff.
 
The original is going on my rig when I return home, looking forward to binging it.
 
Here's hoping the developer moves away from the "we're doing an RPG so movement and shooting MUST be crap no matter what" mindset that crippled the original.

I've tried to get into the STALKER games (bought them all to support the dev even though I didn't like the original) at least 5 times but I just couldn't. It literally plays like shit. Not as bad as Metro games but somewhat close to the overall feeling.
 
dgz said:
Here's hoping the developer moves away from the "we're doing an RPG so movement and shooting MUST be crap no matter what" mindset that crippled the original.

I've tried to get into the STALKER games (bought them all to support the dev even though I didn't like the original) at least 5 times but I just couldn't. It literally plays like shit. Not as bad as Metro games but somewhat close to the overall feeling.
Click to expand...
The X-Ray engine, while it did the job it was originally designed for, does not scale well with modern hardware. Most of the game loop runs on a single thread, so you are going to have performance issues once the physics, AI, etc. all kick in at once. If the engine could be updated to scale to two threads, you'd see a vast improvement. But that engine has been frozen in time, and I doubt it will ever get overhauled. It doesn't help that single threaded performance has not improved dramatically in hardware to make up for that. I play Misery mod at least once a year, and I always feel like I need a 10 Ghz cpu to effectively get the performance I need. Literally watching a single core on my CPU peg at 100% while my gpu is bored out of its mind.

It's not even a fair comparison to the 4A engine Metro runs on. 4A is modern, constantly updated, and scales well on modern hardware. This wikipedia entry to 4A pretty much speaks volumes as to why those engines are so drastically different in areas:
Shishkovtsov and his colleagues split from the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R because that "its inherent inability to be multi-threaded, the weak and error-prone networking model, and simply awful resource and memory management which prohibited any kind of streaming or simply keeping the working set small enough for 'next-gen' consoles" along with its "terrible text-based scripting", which he explained led to the delays in the original game.
Click to expand...

So, yeah, the original STALKER games perform like shit. That will probably always be the case. But, damn, if these games aren't artistically brilliant in their various iterations, modded or otherwise. I'm playing Misery, Anomaly, etc. for the atmosphere and immersion, and that configuration has it in spades. Even the quirkiness of the STALKER games ends up adding more to the charm. I love playing with Russian voices and english subtitles. The english dubs ruin the immersion for me.

Metro is an ok game, a bit too watered down and on-rails for my tastes. STALKER came before it, so it kind of set the bar for what I'd like in a post-apocalyptic rpg'ish shooter. Fallout 4, another ok game, but a bit too heavy on the RPG'ish side. Nah, STALKER is where it's at. We need the original undiluted vision brought up to modern standards. There's so much potential for something great, if just given to the right hands.
 
This brightens my day. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was a very good game that was built on an amazing idea. I remember when I first heard about the original game, the idea of basing a game in the Chernobyl exclusion zone fascinated me.

I hope they don't take as long to release this game as they took to release the first. I forget how long it took, but if I remember it right they had to go back to square one and redo a bunch of things, it was three+ years after the announcement before the game arrived.

Running from storms. Finding artifacts. Radiation poisoning. All awesomeness.
 
DogsofJune said:
If I can get in front of my gamer box again, I might replay the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series
Click to expand...

I've had a hard time getting Call of Pripyat to run under Windows 10 - on my system it crashes every five minutes or so. Very upsetting.

This has got me excited enough that I might take one of my old systems and install an old OS just to run Pripyat. Would you guys run Windows XP or Windows 7? Or (hurp!) Vista?
 
Holy hell, excellent news! Just watched the HBO miniseries on Chernobyl, it was amazing and got me thinking about firing up SoC again, now this. Woot!

"Get out of here Stalker!"
 
dgz said:
Here's hoping the developer moves away from the "we're doing an RPG so movement and shooting MUST be crap no matter what" mindset that crippled the original.

I've tried to get into the STALKER games (bought them all to support the dev even though I didn't like the original) at least 5 times but I just couldn't. It literally plays like shit. Not as bad as Metro games but somewhat close to the overall feeling.
Click to expand...
shooting is fine, just the starting guns are trash. many people get shocked when they are instakilled at the first area... repeatedly. LOL
 
I hope they don't fall into the "open world trap" and ends up being the same few activities over and over again. More natural exploration, unique missions and unique places to see please. Like the original STALKER.
 
seanreisk said:
I've had a hard time getting Call of Pripyat to run under Windows 10 - on my system it crashes every five minutes or so. Very upsetting.

This has got me excited enough that I might take one of my old systems and install an old OS just to run Pripyat. Would you guys run Windows XP or Windows 7? Or (hurp!) Vista?
Click to expand...
Runs fine under Ubuntu
 
infin@ said:
Holy hell, excellent news! Just watched the HBO miniseries on Chernobyl, it was amazing and got me thinking about firing up SoC again, now this. Woot!

"Get out of here Stalker!"
Click to expand...

Same. Great series so far! Have a few episodes left to watch yet. After the 1st episode, It got me to boot up COP again, had been a while since I last played, unfortunately I didn't realize how close to the end I was, finished in a few hrs.

Thought about trying an overhaul mod, maybe Misery or something, but decided to just dump it, getting to be an old man like Kyle, haa, what, you about pushing fifty too right Kyle? Too damn many other great games to play and not enough life, have to budget that game time...
 
Very excited for this. The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R series and popular mods (Lost Alpha, CoP Misery, Call of Chernobyl etc.) are some of my best memories of single player gaming. Would be great to see (and hoping/expecting) for modders to re-create the original series on this updated engine.
 
Here's hoping for epic store exclusivity as well as cosmetic loot boxes!
 
GSC has been teasing on and off for the last 7 years, these were the S.T.A.L.K.E.R animations released in 2012 with a killer track from Jess Mills.



But the cheeki breeki in me wants this to be true , my body is ready to head back into the zone.
 
As much as there should be more cheeki breeki in the world didn't the core guys behind S.T.A.L.K.E.R. go found 4A Games in a nasty split with GSC?
 
Absalom said:
The X-Ray engine, while it did the job it was originally designed for, does not scale well with modern hardware. Most of the game loop runs on a single thread, so you are going to have performance issues once the physics, AI, etc. all kick in at once. If the engine could be updated to scale to two threads, you'd see a vast improvement. But that engine has been frozen in time, and I doubt it will ever get overhauled. It doesn't help that single threaded performance has not improved dramatically in hardware to make up for that. I play Misery mod at least once a year, and I always feel like I need a 10 Ghz cpu to effectively get the performance I need. Literally watching a single core on my CPU peg at 100% while my gpu is bored out of its mind.

It's not even a fair comparison to the 4A engine Metro runs on. 4A is modern, constantly updated, and scales well on modern hardware. This wikipedia entry to 4A pretty much speaks volumes as to why those engines are so drastically different in areas:


So, yeah, the original STALKER games perform like shit. That will probably always be the case. But, damn, if these games aren't artistically brilliant in their various iterations, modded or otherwise. I'm playing Misery, Anomaly, etc. for the atmosphere and immersion, and that configuration has it in spades. Even the quirkiness of the STALKER games ends up adding more to the charm. I love playing with Russian voices and english subtitles. The english dubs ruin the immersion for me.

Metro is an ok game, a bit too watered down and on-rails for my tastes. STALKER came before it, so it kind of set the bar for what I'd like in a post-apocalyptic rpg'ish shooter. Fallout 4, another ok game, but a bit too heavy on the RPG'ish side. Nah, STALKER is where it's at. We need the original undiluted vision brought up to modern standards. There's so much potential for something great, if just given to the right hands.
Click to expand...

Very thorough post Absalom and what you wrote is so accurate.
 
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Nice, always loved the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series and its mods. I remember a shader mod on thefloatingpoint.com years ago where you can have parallax occlusion (or was it bump mapping?) mapping and much improved performance. jjwalker was a cool guy.
 
Absalom said:
So, yeah, the original STALKER games perform like shit. That will probably always be the case. But, damn, if these games aren't artistically brilliant in their various iterations, modded or otherwise. I'm playing Misery, Anomaly, etc. for the atmosphere and immersion, and that configuration has it in spades. Even the quirkiness of the STALKER games ends up adding more to the charm. I love playing with Russian voices and english subtitles. The english dubs ruin the immersion for me.

Metro is an ok game, a bit too watered down and on-rails for my tastes. STALKER came before it, so it kind of set the bar for what I'd like in a post-apocalyptic rpg'ish shooter. Fallout 4, another ok game, but a bit too heavy on the RPG'ish side. Nah, STALKER is where it's at. We need the original undiluted vision brought up to modern standards. There's so much potential for something great, if just given to the right hands.
Click to expand...

No, it's Metro that performed like literal shit back in 2011 or whatever. It was painful watching a game perform like absolute while looking juuuuust a bit better than RTCW.

When I say "plays like shit" I mean gameplay. STALKER and Metro play like shit.
 
jiminator said:
shooting is fine, just the starting guns are trash. many people get shocked when they are instakilled at the first area... repeatedly. LOL
Click to expand...

Nothing like getting an AK, then somehow managing to miss people just 2-3 meters in front of your. That's how my first STALKER session ended. I liked the most of what I saw/heard but absolutely I can't have weapons like that in a shooter. Even an RPG shooter. Sucks :(
 
dgz said:
No, it's Metro that performed like literal shit back in 2011 or whatever. It was painful watching a game perform like absolute while looking juuuuust a bit better than RTCW.

When I say "plays like shit" I mean gameplay. STALKER and Metro play like shit.
Click to expand...
Since you mention it, Im surpried how bad Metro Exodus performs even on decent hardware. Its almost a "but will it run Crysis" scenario.
 
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dgz said:
Here's hoping the developer moves away from the "we're doing an RPG so movement and shooting MUST be crap no matter what" mindset that crippled the original.

I've tried to get into the STALKER games (bought them all to support the dev even though I didn't like the original) at least 5 times but I just couldn't. It literally plays like shit. Not as bad as Metro games but somewhat close to the overall feeling.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this one. I couldn't play it.

"Yea, it's like Pong, but with a better back story!" :sneaky::ROFLMAO:
 
No idea what these issues are you guys are talking about. When I played thru Stalker, it was fine including the gameplay. The average fps might have had variations, but nothing overly affected it that I remember. I Player thru twice to get one of the other endings even.
 
lcpiper said:
I'm with you on this one. I couldn't play it.

"Yea, it's like Pong, but with a better back story!" :sneaky::ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...

"We are not so different, you and I"

Major context differences in life, though.
 
dgz said:
"We are not so different, you and I"

Major context differences in life, though.
Click to expand...

Which is good. Contrast is good, differences are good, and a little understanding with a dash of tolerance is good.

More people need to value that, it's a strength not a weakness.
 
dgz said:
Nothing like getting an AK, then somehow managing to miss people just 2-3 meters in front of your. That's how my first STALKER session ended. I liked the most of what I saw/heard but absolutely I can't have weapons like that in a shooter. Even an RPG shooter. Sucks :(
Click to expand...

the issue also has to do with the difficulty you set. It is bass-ackwards in stalker.

Go to the difficulty settings in the options menu and change the difficulty to Master (the hardest difficulty). You do this because this is the Normal difficulty setting for the game. The game's default Normal setting is a lie, and you are a sausage-sucking snork if you play it on anything else. More importantly it improves AI and gun-damage, to BOTH PARTIES (meaning fair is fair, you aren't a super powered being compared to everyone and everything else in the zone; someone shoots you in the head, you die just as instantly as anyone else(add. the AI is also significantly less intelligent on lower difficulties)).

Here's a more in-depth example:

The HIGHER your difficulty, the MORE damage the weapons cause - this works both ways! The AI also gets a bit smarter the higher the difficulty is set. Enemies do NOT get any HP boosts or something.
All in all Master difficulty improves realism and atmosphere.
The LOWER the difficulty, the harder the time bullets have of finding their mark. Thanks to a little value called hit_probability_gd_<difficulty> a certain percentage of bullets quite literally disappear from existence the second they're fired; on the lowest difficulty, Novice, shots fired by you and the enemy have only a 40% chance of registering a hit no matter how accurate you or your opponents are.
Click to expand...
 
dgz said:
Nothing like getting an AK, then somehow managing to miss people just 2-3 meters in front of your. That's how my first STALKER session ended. I liked the most of what I saw/heard but absolutely I can't have weapons like that in a shooter. Even an RPG shooter. Sucks :(
Click to expand...

Sorry man, but STALKER was some the most unique, brilliant gameplay on the PC that has come out since Gothic. I only encountered the unforgiving weapons early on so the scenario you claim made you quite the game is probably a bit over the top, but there was no doubt that you would miss quite a bit where they could nail from across the map it seemed at times. Please tell me a similar game that you don't think sucks. Always curious when I hear these complaints.

Also the Chernobyl TV series was very impressive. UNTIL, I learned how much the writer openly fabricated certain events and exaggerated 60% of the story. Totally unnecessary unless you are pushing an agenda vs documenting a historical event. Much like the STALKER series however, they nailed the oppressive, diseased atmosphere. Pretty sure they borrowed some ideas in regards to sound and music.
 
Hatriot said:
Also the Chernobyl TV series was very impressive. UNTIL, I learned how much the writer openly fabricated certain events and exaggerated 60% of the story. Totally unnecessary unless you are pushing an agenda vs documenting a historical event. Much like the STALKER series however, they nailed the oppressive, diseased atmosphere. Pretty sure they borrowed some ideas in regards to sound and music.
Click to expand...

It was dramatized and never promoted as a documentary.

If you were looking for a more accurate telling of the events, you should have watched the actual documentary The Real Chernobyl, the mini series the producers made.
 
the Chernobyl TV series was really good for the most part. they should have left the politics and moralizing out IMO, but keep in mind people have described how in the nearby city they were forced to hold a parade the monday after even though there was known fallout happening. The actual facts are realistic and the court case at the end was a fantastic description of what happened.
 
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