STALKER rant

[cannondale06]

SPOILERS

This game pisses me off more than any other I have ever played. I am on 1.004 and the amount of bugs is still ridiculous. I actually just started back playing the game after getting away from it for a few months because it was making me so mad. I really want to like the game but its numerous bugs, flaws, and inconsistent fight scenes kill my appreciation for it.

I may suck at games but playing on easy shouldnt be this hard or aggravating for any game. There are times I can dump clips of ammo in to somebody at close range and they dont even flinch. Strangely there other times I can pick somebody off with the pistol at 100 meters. It just doesnt make any freaking sense. Enemies sure as hell dont have any trouble taking me out.

I have snuck up on people with my light on and they didnt notice me but other times they can pick me off while I am hiding in pitch darkness. I have been shot through concrete walls, floors and train cars at times when nobody should have known I was even there. Also enemies have randomly spawned in locked rooms behind me. Stupid and frustrating to say the least.

I had to consult a walkthrough to figure out that the scripted parts didnt always work out. Kruglov for example was standing prone and not moving instead of laying on the ground for me to wake him. I had to repeat this part FOUR times for it to work properly. There are also numerous script, clipping and graphical issues in the game that would take a whole page to complain about.

I really want to like this game and at times its quite fun. The inside scenes are stunning on full dynamic lighting and easily blows any other game away visually. Outside the graphics arent that great but the weather effects are pretty cool. The game really needed to be more polished before being released and the damage done by those keen eye enemies really needs to be more balanced especially on the easy setting. I could bitch all day about this game but I hate typing so Im done.

 

[Chombo]

Wow, thats how I felt about STALKER. I really want to like this game but it really lacks the polish. I finally patched to the 1.06 (I think thats the newest) and the bugs are gone (and so are my save games!). The bug I had that really marred my initial impression was the game would crash whenever I went to save a game.

The exterior environments definitely do not look up to date. They look circa 2005. The inside environments look amazing on the other hand. It kind of confuses me where the disconnect happened.

The ironsights in the weaponview seem to be entirely cosmetic since they seem to have no real bearing on where you place your shot. I found I was more effective ignoring sights altogether. I think shot dispersion is just random.

I don't really get what the plot is, or why I have it in for Strelok. Regardless I still feel compelled to play the game.

 

[rasper]

I have started to play through it again also. Even tho it has bugs, I just play it like a strat game kinda like graw2. Been working out good so far. Maybe try a few mods to help outwith the weapon issues.

 

[horrorshow]

It is a hard game but you HAVE to admire its boldness and originality.

They say hunger is the best spice and we've all been starving for something new/different....

Respect the architects.

 

[cannondale06]

It is a hard game but you HAVE to admire its boldness and originality.

They say hunger is the best spice and we've all been starving for something new/different....

Respect the architects.

On hard or medium I could understand but easy is just ridiculously hard at times. Also its just not consistent like other games. Emptying two to three clips in someone 10 feet away should take them down especially when sometimes I drop somebody with the pistol from a hundred yards. The actual sites on every weapon are useless. I snuck up on someone and put the sites right on them and fired but missed. I just aimed at them without the sites and hit them just fine and thats pretty much the story with every weapon. The game is very frustrating and deserves the criticism.

Im I the only one who cant use smiles and other features on the forums today????

 

[horrorshow]

The aiming reticle has been a problem since Day 1.

 

[milkweg]

Maybe it's not a problem and there are mitigating factors as to why the aim is off, fatigue, lack of enhancements etc. This is an RPG game too after all and not just a FPS game. There are loads of mods out there that can change it to be more like you want.

 

[cannondale06]

Maybe it's not a problem and there are mitigating factors as to why the aim is off, fatigue, lack of enhancements etc. This is an RPG game too after all and not just a FPS game. There are loads of mods out there that can change it to be more like you want.

I have a mod that Im using that helps with aiming a bit and also keeps the enemies from magically seeing me perfectly clear in the dark. It helps but not enough sometimes. Its a game and aiming with the sites should work or defeats the whole point. It looks and feels silly shooting people without sites but missing them with the sites no matter how close they are.

 

[dirtypop]

I'm on my second playthrough and I have to say it's become one of my favorite games of all time. It gets much easier with experience.

 

[Mindriot]

I'm wondering if some of you who are having so much difficulty with the reticules and aiming are using worn guns.The more you use a gun the more the aim on it decreases. I have not played in a while but I didn't find it that hard to take a guy down with a gun even at about 40% condition. If anything there were too many enemies at times ( I was playing on the 2nd highest difficulty though) If I remember correctly the game uses very realistic ballistics. And wear on the gun (overuse of Spray and Pray will affect the guns performance over time). Stay back shoot in 2-3 shot bursts and you should be OK. Or, after you clear an area of enemies, steal another gun.

 

[Draax]

Where are these bugs people are talking about? I have played through the game three times now and I can't seem to find them. In addition I don't seem to have the problems others are having, while aiming. Then again I only use guns which are max or near maxed out in condition. I find the start the hardest, where all you have are pistols, shotguns, and the viper 5. Once I acquired a TRs 301 the aiming was easier, almost too easy when I came across a scope for it. Heck even the fast firing machine gun, with a scope, found in the underground hideout is very accurate. Spray and pray does not work in this game, you must use short bursts.

 

[milkweg]

There are mods you can get so your guns never deteriorate. If you choose to play it that way. My biggest gripe about the game when it first came out was the reappearing enemies every five minutes but they lessened that with a patch and there are also mods to alter it even more if you like.

 

[cannondale06]

Where are these bugs people are talking about? I have played through the game three times now and I can't seem to find them. In addition I don't seem to have the problems others are having, while aiming. Then again I only use guns which are max or near maxed out in condition. I find the start the hardest, where all you have are pistols, shotguns, and the viper 5. Once I acquired a TRs 301 the aiming was easier, almost too easy when I came across a scope for it. Heck even the fast firing machine gun, with a scope, found in the underground hideout is very accurate. Spray and pray does not work in this game, you must use short bursts.

what game are you playing? STALKER is by far the buggiest fps I ever played. perhaps you should come back to reality and do a simple google search to check out all the bugs this game has http://www.google.com/search?q=stal...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a and/or http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...-US:official&hs=46I&q=stalker+bug&btnG=Search

 

[mogar]

I can see where some of you guys are coming from. Yes, this game can be challenging to the point of frustration at time. Yes, some of the areas look out-dated. On the other hand, this game offers a fantastic atmosphere that is hard to beat. I've been playing this game off/on since release and am still finding new things each time I play.

About the bugs, no game is perfect. I've never had a problem with the weapons in the game. Even the makarov can be a formidable weapon in the right hands. The one thing you really have to remember though is that GSC spent a LONG time working on the ballistics engine in the game trying to make it as real as they possibly could. I feel that they've accomplished their goal. Each of the weapons in the game has a combat effective range, and if you engage outside of that, you won't really do much. Take for example an ak74u, the barrel is 21cm long compared to an ak74's 41.5. That means the bullet has half of the time to develop a straight flight path. Now take the effective range of an ak74 (~250m in game) and cut that in half for the ak74u. This means that anything outside of 125m you have little chance to drop the target. Plus there's the whole weapon condition thing.

 

[Luthorcrow]

Where are these bugs people are talking about? I have played through the game three times now and I can't seem to find them. In addition I don't seem to have the problems others are having, while aiming...

Ditto.

Honestly, I played this game on hard and it just isn't that hard. I suspect the problem is you are trying to run and gun, rather than seek cover, use your sites, fire in 2-3 round bursts. Also, alwayz take high ground, the AI has a tougher time with aiming and won't be able to advance on your position giving a chance to use hit and run tactics and the option to hide for a few seconds and get your thoughts.

The only seen that was really hard was the Junkyard because at that poit I think all I had was the pistol, the shotgun and not enough ammo to use the auto I had on hand. That did get a little frustrating...but after that nothing else was that bad. Honestly, I think the game was a little harder than say HL1 but not anything crazy.

Hopefully they will have a bit more budget for the sequel to work out the bugs (although I never say one). I like what I am hearing about them focusing on the AI. I would rather see that then worrying about making it prettier.

 

[cannondale06]

Ditto.

Honestly, I played this game on hard and it just isn't that hard. I suspect the problem is you are trying to run and gun, rather than seek cover, use your sites, fire in 2-3 round bursts. Also, alwayz take high ground, the AI has a tougher time with aiming and won't be able to advance on your position giving a chance to use hit and run tactics and the option to hide for a few seconds and get your thoughts.

The only seen that was really hard was the Junkyard because at that poit I think all I had was the pistol, the shotgun and not enough ammo to use the auto I had on hand. That did get a little frustrating...but after that nothing else was that bad. Honestly, I think the game was a little harder than say HL1 but not anything crazy.

Hopefully they will have a bit more budget for the sequel to work out the bugs (although I never say one). I like what I am hearing about them focusing on the AI. I would rather see that then worrying about making it prettier.

A little harder than HL1? Are you freaking serious? This game was WAY harder and more frustrating than HL1.

I could never fully hide from the enemies in STALKER. They could pick me off in total darkness while I was hiding every time. Other times shooting them with the sites would nothing but without the sites I could easily hit them. Unfortunately it would usually take me a couple or more clips to take them out even though they could easily take me out.

Just to show how unbalanced and stupid the guns were for me I could actually use the knife and kill them faster. How fucking stupid is that? One swipe with the knife does more damage than 30 to 40 bullets?

 

[Red Falcon]

On hard or medium I could understand but easy is just ridiculously hard at times. Also its just not consistent like other games. Emptying two to three clips in someone 10 feet away should take them down especially when sometimes I drop somebody with the pistol from a hundred yards. The actual sites on every weapon are useless. I snuck up on someone and put the sites right on them and fired but missed. I just aimed at them without the sites and hit them just fine and thats pretty much the story with every weapon. The game is very frustrating and deserves the criticism.

Im I the only one who cant use smiles and other features on the forums today????

The realism in STALKER is huge. Hell, your character can even get hungry!
As for the shooting people at close range, sometime emptying a clip of non-armor piercing ammo into one of the Speznaz (spelling?) with high-end body armor won't work. I've found that head shots are the way to go, except for mutations/monsters/phantasms. Even the 9x18mm pistols can kill enemies with the mech-style armor (the armor made illegally outside of the Ukraine) if a head shot is aquired.

At the end of the game, I only had an AK-74 short barrel and was having to fight those guys! Head shots here I come! It was the only way I could beat them.

If you have weak armor such as the leather jacket, then enemies with even the weakest weapons can and will tear right through you (I had to learn this the hard way).

As for the mutations such as the snorks, getting a head shot is damn near impossible (at least for me). At close/medium range they are waaay to fast. I've found that the pump-action shotgun (or the SPAZ-12 semi-auto if available) is the best choice for these at close range due to the high damage.

My favorite weapon through the whole game though is the regular AK-74 w/ any ammo type and a scope. The scope can be taken off for close range combat or indoors and is good for fighting at a distance (but not too far). The 5.45x39mm may be a smaller round than the 5.56x45 (which in my opinion is a good round, but not with these weapons in the game, it needed an M16 from the 1960's with the proper barrel twist to make it more leathal due to tumbling), but it works well and is abundant in almost all areas. The MP5 isn't bad in a pinch, but is too weak for mutations and other humans with medium to high end armor and is too inacurate for head shots.

As a secondary weapon, I always carry a .45 pistol (not the compact version). It's good when ammo is limited or a head shot is needed when only the shotgun is available (which is terrible at medium/long range).

Oh, and yeah, this thing is buggy has hell!

But out of all the FPS games, it is by far my favorite and one of the few I actually got good at getting head shots in (I guess I was forced too ). Next would be Doom 3 and then FEAR.

[off topic]
I can't wait any longer for Project Origin!
[/off topic]


EDIT: This game can be a real challenge at times, on any setting. The bugs are a large part of the game functionallity problem, but the realism factor is very large in this. Heck, you can even get drunk! lol

All in all, the environment of this title is really what attracted my to it and with the NVIDIA Series 8 cards, using HDR is a must for this title. Also, the X18 and X16 labs scared the sh!t out of me, even when playing a second time through. There are just some areas and some rooms you don't EVER want to go into.

EDIT #2: Hell, this game inspired me to go buy the original Russian movie STALKER. Um... the game was waaaay better than the movie. I've never fallen asleep when watching a movie before. Ever. There's a first time for everything.

In fact, Guide, the original STALKER (from the movie) is actually in the game. He hangs out in the area next to the X16 Brain Scorcher lab (in the area after you go through the tunnel with the scientist). I haven't found him yet because I just found out about this recently, guess I didn't get the connection the first time I played through. Hope to find him soon.

 

[cannondale06]

The realism in STALKER is huge. Hell, your character can even get hungry!
As for the shooting people at close range, sometime emptying a clip of non-armor piercing ammo into one of the Speznaz (spelling?) with high-end body armor won't work. I've found that head shots are the way to go, except for mutations/monsters/phantasms. Even the 9x18mm pistols can kill enemies with the mech-style armor (the armor made illegally outside of the Ukraine) if a head shot is aquired.

At the end of the game, I only had an AK-74 short barrel and was having to fight those guys! Head shots here I come! It was the only way I could beat them.

If you have weak armor such as the leather jacket, then enemies with even the weakest weapons can and will tear right through you (I had to learn this the hard way).

As for the mutations such as the snorks, getting a head shot is damn near impossible (at least for me). At close/medium range they are waaay to fast. I've found that the pump-action shotgun (or the SPAZ-12 semi-auto if available) is the best choice for these at close range due to the high damage.

My favorite weapon through the whole game though is the regular AK-74 w/ any ammo type and a scope. The scope can be taken off for close range combat or indoors and is good for fighting at a distance (but not too far). The 5.45x39mm may be a smaller round than the 5.56x45 (which in my opinion is a good round, but not with these weapons in the game, it needed an M16 from the 1960's with the proper barrel twist to make it more leathal due to tumbling), but it works well and is abundant in almost all areas. The MP5 isn't bad in a pinch, but is too weak for mutations and other humans with medium to high end armor and is too inacurate for head shots.

As a secondary weapon, I always carry a .45 pistol (not the compact version). It's good when ammo is limited or a head shot is needed when only the shotgun is available (which is terrible at medium/long range).

Oh, and yeah, this thing is buggy has hell!

EDIT: This game can be a real challenge at times, on any setting. The bugs are a large part of the game functionallity problem, but the realism factor is very large in this. Heck, you can even get drunk! lol

All in all, the environment of this title is really what attracted my to it and with the NVIDIA Series 8 cards, using HDR is a must for this title. Also, the X18 and X16 labs scared the sh!t out of me, even when playing a second time through. There are just some areas and some rooms you don't EVER want to go into.

Well if the realism is so high then why can I kill somebody at close range a lot easier with the knife than with a gun?? lol. Also why does the AK eject brass out the left side of the gun? I know that isnt correct at all.


Hell yeah the labs were so creepy and I LOVED that part. On full dynamic lighting and max details the labs were stunning and makes any other games indoor environments look pathetic.

 

[Red Falcon]

Well if the realism is so high then why can I kill somebody at close range a lot easier with the knife than with a gun?? lol. Also why does the AK eject brass out the left side of the gun? I know that isnt correct at all.


Hell yeah the labs were so creepy and I LOVED that part. On full dynamic lighting and max details the labs were stunning and makes any other games indoor environments look pathetic.

As far as the guns ejecting on the left hand side... soooo not realistic. There really are firearms in real life that can/do eject on the left hand side, but they are very rare and would not be that common. I think with the knife, it is kind of like a stealth kill, but yeah, even that was flawed. Out of all the FPS games I have played, it is the most realistic, but still far from perfect. I hope Clear Skies will be good.

Yeah, the labs had that old abandoned look with even older technology (from the 60's or 70's) giving it a very crude feel of dirty-ness and some elements that just make you go "that isn't right, ewww". Those damn snorks seem to pop out of my ass at times. You're walking through a dark hallway with a pitch black room on one side. Goes to turn on the flash lig... RAWR!

The one's that really get me though are the ones that start to mess with your brain (the humanoid things, controllers maybe?). Their attacks are sooo fucked up. It zooms in on the enemy and *BOOM*, worst migraine evah! Gotta kill those things fast before your vision goes to hell. Those are another enemy that won't die from a head shot. Unfortunately when you get double vision, all you can do is point and shoot in its general direction.


Oh, I forgot to mention, I never did play with the 2D sites (for aiming). When STALKER first came out, there was no fix to make them appear in Vista, so I just played without them having to aim manually to take down my enemies. Now with the patch 1.004, even though this has been fixed, I never turned it back on because of the heightened realism factor. It is tougher with out them, but I guess I'm just trying to make the experience as real as possible. I'm not bragging though, because I'm average at best at FPS games, though they are fun!

 

[Ryom]

If you are shooting at people wearing bulletproof armor and you aren't using armor-piercing rounds it's going to take longer to take them down. Always aim for the head, most characters go down in ~3 shots regardless of armor that way. Find the modified viper5 that shoots 9x18 pistol rounds. It is accurate, fast-firing, quick to reload, and armor piercing ammo is cheap... overall a deadly weapon. You'll find the modified viper5 down the train tunnel at the bandit side of Serei's outpost in garbage. Single shot mode is far more accurate than burst as well.

 

[cpt.whistlepants]

I'll mention that this game is a fps at heart, but it has rpg elements. Your accuracy is heavily effected in he beginning stages of the game because your rank is low. If you dont beleive me, shoot some of the starting weapons you received at the beginning of the game after you make it to the bar. Weapon condition also effects accuracy as others have stated, but your rank has alot to do with your accuracy.

As for the stability of the game, I have had ctd's on the vanilla game with no patch, but after 1.0004 it is more stable for me.

 

[Silus]

I never found any glaring bugs either. Played through the game twice. The first time around with no patch installed and never had a crash or bug that prevented any quest from being completed, which obviously doesn't mean bugs don't exist in the game, but I really never encountered any severe one.

As for how hard it is, yes it's hard, especially at first, since we have yet to find good equipment, but after that, it gets much easier. But being hard is a good thing. PC Games have been increasingly easy, ever since we started getting crappy console ports. Even some exclusive PC titles are way too easy and take a lot less time to complete. I like a good challenge and as much as I was frustrated with the first few hours of gameplay in STALKER, it ultimately payed off and I even finished the game more than once, which I only do, when I really, really like the game.

 

[Draax]

what game are you playing? STALKER is by far the buggiest fps I ever played. perhaps you should come back to reality and do a simple google search to check out all the bugs this game has http://www.google.com/search?q=stal...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a and/or http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...-US:official&hs=46I&q=stalker+bug&btnG=Search

Come back to reality? Did you even read any of those pages? the vast majoirty of complaints are from users who dont have the grey matter to install patches or download the newest drivers for thier videocards. I have played through S.T.A.L.K.E.R. using both windows XP and Vista x64 premium without issue. I had more issues with Crysis then I did with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

 

[Tim James]

I've said it many times: if you are getting frustrated by the mechanics in STALKER, you're missing the point. The game is not about the mechanics, which can be downright bad. If you can't suspend disbelief and get over the mechanics to appreciate the real reason we all love this game, then it simply isn't for you, and you should try a less frustrating game. No harm, no foul.

 

[The One And Only]

When I first played through this game, I was completely lost as to what to do. And to be honest, that was a good thing. It makes you think. And it also put you in the position of your character: a lost stalker with no memory of who he is, where he is, or what he needs to do. The suspension of disbelief is actually, in a stealth way, forced upon you. It's surprising that the many people complaining about not being able to figure out the game couldn't see or find the irony in that...

As far the ballistics, I doubt most people playing the game understand how difficult it is to actually shoot things accurately in most of those situations. I agree, most people have been spoiled by the run-and-gun mechanics of most games, believing themselves to be a super-accurate superman or something. This game brings you into that world in a big way...sometimes kicking and screaming

Also, I liked the many ways that you could affect the story in the game, how you could ignore or take on many of the side quests. I've been through the game four times now, and it still gives me a different experience ever time.

Thats true value for the money spent on it.

 

[cannondale06]

I've said it many times: if you are getting frustrated by the mechanics in STALKER, you're missing the point. The game is not about the mechanics, which can be downright bad. If you can't suspend disbelief and get over the mechanics to appreciate the real reason we all love this game, then it simply isn't for you, and you should try a less frustrating game. No harm, no foul.

When I first played through this game, I was completely lost as to what to do. And to be honest, that was a good thing. It makes you think. And it also put you in the position of your character: a lost stalker with no memory of who he is, where he is, or what he needs to do. The suspension of disbelief is actually, in a stealth way, forced upon you. It's surprising that the many people complaining about not being able to figure out the game couldn't see or find the irony in that...

As far the ballistics, I doubt most people playing the game understand how difficult it is to actually shoot things accurately in most of those situations. I agree, most people have been spoiled by the run-and-gun mechanics of most games, believing themselves to be a super-accurate superman or something. This game brings you into that world in a big way...sometimes kicking and screaming

Also, I liked the many ways that you could affect the story in the game, how you could ignore or take on many of the side quests. I've been through the game four times now, and it still gives me a different experience ever time.

Thats true value for the money spent on it.

I understand perfectly how the game works. Im complaining about the BUGS and the unbalanced weapon damage compared to the enemies. That is a fact of the game. Not being able to proceed because a certain scripted scene didnt play out or dumping many clips of ammo in somebody when they can take me out easily is frustrating.

 

[stoney_titan]

I had two different bugs that made the game unplayable, needing a reinstall to fix.

1. The door to the guy in the downstairs office area wouldn't open. (I would run into the door and it would open slightly but not enough to enter)

2. My cross hairs disappeared after a save.

Haven't reinstalled it since the last bug. I will play it eventually. Maybe.

 

[astrojunke]

^^ I was reading somewhere and it said that the cross-hair issue was something to do with AA all the way up or something like that (don't feel like googling it right now)

Come back to reality? Did you even read any of those pages? the vast majoirty of complaints are from users who dont have the grey matter to install patches or download the newest drivers for thier videocards. I have played through S.T.A.L.K.E.R. using both windows XP and Vista x64 premium without issue. I had more issues with Crysis then I did with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

QFT!! I've played the game twice all the way through with no problems, and the second time I Played i used many mods and still had no problems.

BTW great game and I can't wait for clear sky to come out

 

[Chombo]

I'm wondering if some of you who are having so much difficulty with the reticules and aiming are using worn guns.The more you use a gun the more the aim on it decreases. I have not played in a while but I didn't find it that hard to take a guy down with a gun even at about 40% condition. If anything there were too many enemies at times ( I was playing on the 2nd highest difficulty though) If I remember correctly the game uses very realistic ballistics. And wear on the gun (overuse of Spray and Pray will affect the guns performance over time). Stay back shoot in 2-3 shot bursts and you should be OK. Or, after you clear an area of enemies, steal another gun.

In reality, it would take well over 30,000 rounds for a gun to show noticeable decrease in accuracy. For example I have put around 12,000 rounds through my AR and accuracy at 100 yards has decreased about half an inch. However that could just be my fault. Depending on the gun and design in some cases you could go 10,000+ rounds without cleaning and not have any jams. Which seem to happen frequently ingame.

Where are these bugs people are talking about?

You're lucky.

Each of the weapons in the game has a combat effective range, and if you engage outside of that, you won't really do much. Take for example an ak74u, the barrel is 21cm long compared to an ak74's 41.5. That means the bullet has half of the time to develop a straight flight path. Now take the effective range of an ak74 (~250m in game) and cut that in half for the ak74u. This means that anything outside of 125m you have little chance to drop the target. Plus there's the whole weapon condition thing.

No in reality, effective combat range is not a linear function based on barrel length. It has just as much to do with the size and grain of the bullet and the twist rate of the barrel. For example a 55grain 5.56 through a 1:16, 20 inch barrel has a much different effective range than the same bullet in a 1:9 16 inch barrel.

The 5.45x39mm may be a smaller round than the 5.56x45 (which in my opinion is a good round, but not with these weapons in the game, it needed an M16 from the 1960's with the proper barrel twist to make it more leathal due to tumbling:

First The 5.56 is a fantastic round from the M4 platform, you don't need the full length barrel and a slower twist to make it quite lethal. What it needs is a heavier grain, something to the tune of 65 to 75 grain. Regardless the M4 was not originally designed to replace the M16, it was designed as a replacement for submachine guns for helo pilots and tankers. Second, I wouldn't want an M16 nor the rounds from that era if you gave me a choice, since the original M16s lacked forward assists and the sights were fixed. In addition the powder caused excessive fouling and thus required additional maintenance. If anything instead of the M16 I would have prefered an AR-10 if we wanted a longer range off the AR platform.

Well if the realism is so high then why can I kill somebody at close range a lot easier with the knife than with a gun?? lol. Also why does the AK eject brass out the left side of the gun? I know that isnt correct at all.

As far as the guns ejecting on the left hand side... soooo not realistic. There really are firearms in real life that can/do eject on the left hand side, but they are very rare and would not be that common.

Seriously, AKs don't come in lefty models unless you're buying some specialty brand. The M4 in STALKER is also a lefty model as well. I have seen some specialty models for leftys by STAG arms though. Some of the bullpup designs like AUG have ambidextrous eject ports that can be toggled from the right to the left. That way lefties don't get hot brass in their face. The other thing that annoys me is that everytime you bring up a new weapon your avatar always racks the slide/or charging handle, which doesn't need to be done if the weapon was already loaded.

 

[Ryom]

...The other thing that annoys me is that everytime you bring up a new weapon your avatar always racks the slide/or charging handle, which doesn't need to be done if the weapon was already loaded.

He's just being extra sure

 

[Luthorcrow]

A little harder than HL1? Are you freaking serious? This game was WAY harder and more frustrating than HL1.

Nope, HL1 had tougher boss fights. Nothing in Stalker was hard as the big baby fight at the end of HL1 for instance. Otherwise both games set to hard, I will give the nod to STALKER but not by much.

I could never fully hide from the enemies in STALKER. They could pick me off in total darkness while I was hiding every time. Other times shooting them with the sites would nothing but without the sites I could easily hit them. Unfortunately it would usually take me a couple or more clips to take them out even though they could easily take me out.

I am not sure what you are doing wrong but you are doing something wrong. For me, it would be like this, I take some fire, hide behind cover get my gun of choice ready, scope, aim and enemy dead most times. Hell, when I died then I knew their position often I was able to move into position, scope them before the AI knew I was there.

As for close range, how is it taking you a full clip to drop someone? What are you shooting at their toes? A couple of controlled bursts should be all it takes. The only time I can what you are describing happening is when you get surprised at close range by additional troops but after the first death you should be prepared.

ust to show how unbalanced and stupid the guns were for me I could actually use the knife and kill them faster. How fucking stupid is that? One swipe with the knife does more damage than 30 to 40 bullets?

At ranges of 20 feet or less someone skilled with a knife will drop the person with the gun more often than not.

But honestly nothing in the game takes 30-40 bullets to kill. Now if you shot the sidewalk, the wall and write your name with bullets before hitting them sure, 30-40 bullets. Headshots, headshots, that's all you need.

 

[cannondale06]

Nope, HL1 had tougher boss fights. Nothing in Stalker was hard as the big baby fight at the end of HL1 for instance. Otherwise both games set to hard, I will give the nod to STALKER but not by much.


I am not sure what you are doing wrong but you are doing something wrong. For me, it would be like this, I take some fire, hide behind cover get my gun of choice ready, scope, aim and enemy dead most times. Hell, when I died then I knew their position often I was able to move into position, scope them before the AI knew I was there.

As for close range, how is it taking you a full clip to drop someone? What are you shooting at their toes? A couple of controlled bursts should be all it takes. The only time I can what you are describing happening is when you get surprised at close range by additional troops but after the first death you should be prepared.


At ranges of 20 feet or less someone skilled with a knife will drop the person with the gun more often than not.

But honestly nothing in the game takes 30-40 bullets to kill. Now if you shot the sidewalk, the wall and write your name with bullets before hitting them sure, 30-40 bullets. Headshots, headshots, that's all you need.

No Im not shooting their toes...lol. I usually aim right for the head if possible. Im telling you what my experiences have been with the game. I played this game for many many hours and was also quite familiar with how to play the game before I ever started. Sometime I replay parts several time over using different tactics just to see what happens. Knife beats using my gun EVERY time at close quarters no matter what ammo I use or what armor they have on. Also there have been plenty of times that I was hiding in the dark and just started taking fire when I know I couldnt be seen.

 

[cpt.whistlepants]

No Im not shooting their toes...lol. I usually aim right for the head if possible. Im telling you what my experiences have been with the game. I played this game for many many hours and was also quite familiar with how to play the game before I ever started. Sometime I replay parts several time over using different tactics just to see what happens. Knife beats using my gun EVERY time at close quarters no matter what ammo I use or what armor they have on. Also there have been plenty of times that I was hiding in the dark and just started taking fire when I know I couldnt be seen.

There really isn't any stealth factor in the vanilla game. If you see red dots on your mini map, expect to be shot. Thats just how the game is set up. There are many mods that fixed the night/stealth issue to where you could actually sneak up on stalkers and do a silent kill and others would not be alerted.

 

[Red Falcon]

No Im not shooting their toes...lol. I usually aim right for the head if possible. Im telling you what my experiences have been with the game. I played this game for many many hours and was also quite familiar with how to play the game before I ever started. Sometime I replay parts several time over using different tactics just to see what happens. Knife beats using my gun EVERY time at close quarters no matter what ammo I use or what armor they have on. Also there have been plenty of times that I was hiding in the dark and just started taking fire when I know I couldnt be seen.

A knife can actually stab through Kevlar (in real life). So, if the developers took this into account when making the game, then yeah, this is (a little more) realistic.

As for the enemies with the full body armor suits, no, a knife should not work on them at all, or at least do very little damage (for full realism).

Now, as for the mutations, yeah, some can take 40+ rounds to bring down (or more if you miss).

 

[Majin]

I could not get through this game.. could not get through it!
It Insists upon it's self.

First the bugs drove me to uninstal it until 1.06 came out.
Then as has been said, aiming is random, AI seems Random and the difficulty on Easy is mind numbing. Guys are able to hit me from long distance, before I can even make out that that guy isn't a tree or fence post. Seems the radiation has made some people take 20 rounds to kill when it takes 2 on someone else. The bugs, while far fewer are still around and very annoying!
I got rather a good distance into the game and just had to stop playing, I couldn't stand it any more.

 

[Wally]

I played it unpatched when it came out, and everything was jolly.

Re-playing it lately with a couple of mods. Weather mods do help the exterior graphics.

 

[Ryom]

Not sure what the difficulty is that you guys are having. I can drop a town full of people without much trouble when I have a decent rifle. BUT YOU MUST USE COVER! Standing out in the open and playing hit-for-hit will get you killed. Asymmetric warfare as well... get a better gun then your enemies have. Don't be afraid to run, bind hotkeys to bandages and medkits. Low crouch to improve your aim, standing and firing is much less accurate.

 

[Burning_Monk]

There are mods you can get so your guns never deteriorate. If you choose to play it that way. My biggest gripe about the game when it first came out was the reappearing enemies every five minutes but they lessened that with a patch and there are also mods to alter it even more if you like.

Did they really fix this? Respawning enemies was my biggest gripe about the game too. Clearing and area only to have to do it again as I went back got really old really quickly. It got rid of the realism for me as I watch enemies spawn over and over again. But if they fixed it I might check it out again.

Do you know what mod are good to help with that?

 

[kelbear]

Stalker was very inconsistent. I blame this on a lack of budget allowing for development time dedicated purely to technical and balance issues. I believe that the revenue from a reasonably warm first reception will allow future efforts from this studio to be better.

I didn't like how a user-patch to their rendering provided a 20-30% fps improvement. That's some pretty poor efficiency to have a user patch make such a dramatic difference.

 

[dirtypop]

I could not get through this game.. could not get through it!
It Insists upon it's self.

"Cause it takes forever getting in, and you spend, you spend like six and a half hours, and then, you - I can’t even get through, I haven’t even seen the ending... I’ve tried on three separate occasions to get through it, and I get to the scene where all the guys are sitting around on the easy chairs…"