[Fanatical] [Steam] S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete Bundle 82% off at $7.19 till 11-30-23

CAD4466HK

CAD4466HK

2[H]4U
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chibe said:
Or get stalker anomaly for free. Choose wisely.
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Not a substitute, imo. Anomaly is a great standalone game borrowing most assets from the originals, but it doesn't have much in the way of a story. It's pretty much a sandbox game with endless random quests. It seems people mod the crap out of Anomaly (i.e. Gamma) which, to me, implies they aren't satisfied with it either. My personal preference is to play Anomaly as-is.

The originals are still worth it for a playthrough, although I tend to mod them these days. For me it's Complete mod for SoC and Clear Sky. And without question Misery for CoP. I don't care what people think of Misery it's the best way to play CoP. I don't even give a shit about the lousy performance. It's all about that atmosphere for me.

I pretty much configure my Anomaly for a Misery experience. Because that's how I roll.
 
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Just grabbed it. Once you crank up all of the graphics settings and play with contrast etc. it does become playable.
 
Say I’ve never played this before, y’all are mentioning mods. What’s the best graphical overhaul and modern gameplay overhaul mods? Do those bring the original up to speed?

Yes I bought this. Modern titles are trash but this is pretty old.
 
chibe said:
Or get stalker anomaly for free. Choose wisely.
Click to expand...

Absalom said:
Not a substitute, imo. Anomaly is a great standalone game borrowing most assets from the originals, but it doesn't have much in the way of a story. It's pretty much a sandbox game with endless random quests. It seems people mod the crap out of Anomaly (i.e. Gamma) which, to me, implies they aren't satisfied with it either. My personal preference is to play Anomaly as-is.

The originals are still worth it for a playthrough, although I tend to mod them these days. For me it's Complete mod for SoC and Clear Sky. And without question Misery for CoP. I don't care what people think of Misery it's the best way to play CoP. I don't even give a shit about the lousy performance. It's all about that atmosphere for me.

I pretty much configure my Anomaly for a Misery experience. Because that's how I roll.
Click to expand...

peppergomez said:
STALKER GAMMA trumps all and is free. Fantastic.
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My recommendation: play the original Stalker trilogy (get ready for tough, buggy play in Clear Sky), then hit up Anomaly. If their old graphics are a bit too much for you at any point, get either GAMMA or EFP (Escape from Pripyat): I personally prefer GAMMA, simply because it's better at capturing the overall Stalker experience -- using the music and environment as characters (EFP is much more in line with the quasi mil-sim style of Escape from Tarkov, which is where it got its influences from). GAMMA's also a lot less buggy for me, which is a great plus.

(The Complete mods, while groundbreaking on release, are heavily dated nowadays, and there have been massive advances in the Stalker mod scene since then).

The nice thing about Anomaly/GAMMA/EFP is that they have options in-game for changing a wide variety of things to fine-tune what you like (especially the latter 2).

TBH, Misery, IMHO, is for those who enjoy popping pills, booze, food, and Band-Aids every few minutes (regardless of whether there's combat or not) -- which seems to me like more of a "druggie/buffet sim" and less of a shooter, even a horror/survival one (no offense to Misery lovers)! (context: I spent a lot of time playing Misery when it came out, and it got way too tedious for me after a good number of months of dedicated play).
 
next-Jin said:
Say I’ve never played this before, y’all are mentioning mods. What’s the best graphical overhaul and modern gameplay overhaul mods? Do those bring the original up to speed?

Yes I bought this. Modern titles are trash but this is pretty old.
Click to expand...

The best "complete overhaul, including grapics/gameplay/story" is GAMMA, imho (which is free, too: doesn't require the base games), but it changes Stalker from being relatively linear (with a lot of sandbox elements) to being very sandbox (with a storyline you can go with, or ignore, for the most part).

If you want a quick fix that is very reliable, tho (and doesn't change the focus or storyline at all), the Complete series of mods for the Stalker trilogy are right up your alley (revamped graphics compared to the original, but still very much dated by today's standards -- it's been over a decade since those mods were released).
 
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