S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - coming September 5th

[cvv]

Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat had p. nasty DRMs in them, chances that STALKER 2 get Denuvo is 99.99%.

Nowadays most AA or single A games come out on GOG. Plus all the prequels already are on GOG. I'd bet HoC will be on GOG either on the launch day or a few weeks later (like Kingdom Come, also published by Koch).

 

[ADL]

God I hope so

 

[Baron Dupek]

You can read it as "later when hackers deal with Denuvo in our game or we remove it later, or next year".
This game might be AA but Sergey feels like AAA publisher, and that comes with price...

 

[Israfael]

First, this game should at least get released, then you can think about DRM-free or whatnot (like if it gets to be a popamole garbage or just SHoC tier jankware)

 

[Stavrophore]

All i want is good modding potential. Thats all that matters. Modders can fix a lot of shit.

 

[Curratum]

All i want is good modding potential. Thats all that matters. Modders can fix a lot of shit.

There is no modding on UE5, son. There is barely any modding on UE4 as well, for that matter. It's going to be a closed system.

 

[Jenkem]

With this being on UE5 I'm assuming this shit is going to be EGS exclusive for a year because there's no way in hell slavs will pass up free money.

 

[Tacgnol]

With this being on UE5 I'm assuming this shit is going to be EGS exclusive for a year because there's no way in hell slavs will pass up free money.

No, already confirmed to have a simultaneous release on Steam and other platforms.

It seems that M$ doesn't allow games they sponsor/showcase to have storefront exclusivity.

 

[Curratum]

With this being on UE5 I'm assuming this shit is going to be EGS exclusive for a year because there's no way in hell slavs will pass up free money.

No, already confirmed to have a simultaneous release on Steam and other platforms.

It seems that M$ doesn't allow games they sponsor/showcase to have platform exclusivity.

MS have been playing the good guys for a while now. First-party games directly to Steam, no Win store exclusivity either. The freaking new Halo game beta was even Steam-only.

 

[Tacgnol]

It probably helps that Gaben was an M$ executive in a previous life and is apparently still good friends with the M$ gaming division.

Epic seemed quite butthurt in the leaked court docs about that.

 

[Curratum]

Timmy's loss that he's a fucking obnoxious cunt who isn't friends with anyone but the people he bribes with his Chinese buddies' money.

 

[Grotesque]

Modders can fix a lot of shit.

"Bugs can be fixed, but an unmodabble game is shit forever" - Sun Tzu

 

[ADL]

Usually I wouldn't do this so far in advance but this is probably the cheapest it'll ever be pre-launch.
https://www.greenmangaming.com/voucher-offer/save-now/

If it sucks I'll flip it and make some money. Best case scenario I save a bunch of money and I never have to worry about buying DLCs or expansion packs. Worked in my favor for Elite Dangerous and ARMA 3 doing the same thing.

 

[Puukko]

Why's there a "multiplayer badge" listed under the ultimate edition bonuses? This doesn't have any MP does it?

Taking the pros(s)per AAA route by cutting a side quest from the base edition too.

Yeah, I'll probably wait for the GOTY edition.

 

[awsker]

Why's there a "multiplayer badge" listed under the ultimate edition bonuses? This doesn't have any MP does it?

Taking the pros(s)per AAA route by cutting a side quest from the base edition too.

Yeah, I'll probably wait for the GOTY edition.

Coming post-release, according to their website:

 

[Puukko]

Mite b cool.

 

[gerey]

Why's there a "multiplayer badge" listed under the ultimate edition bonuses? This doesn't have any MP does it?

Original STALKER also had multiplayer - which was all kinds of bizarre and for the most part a relic of the original design concept of Oblivion Lost.

Still, there's really nothing stopping the developers from making a co-op or PvE game mode (besides obvious technical challenges), since it would basically play like DayZ.

Then again, they're Ukrainians, so I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to shit out something similar to Escape from Tarkov to Jew their userbase.

 

[randir14]

Why's there a "multiplayer badge" listed under the ultimate edition bonuses? This doesn't have any MP does it?

Original STALKER also had multiplayer - which was all kinds of bizarre and for the most part a relic of the original design concept of Oblivion Lost.

I remember the original multiplayer demo for Shadow of Chernobyl. The devs accidentally left cheats in the game so you could outright turn on god mode and nobody could kill you.

 

[DeepOcean]

Okay, planning of foing a full playthrough of the STALKER series to prepare for this popamole (hope it isnt but dont want to be disappointed when it is), so any recommended mods for each of the three games? I dont care about graphics mods because I like Stalker art style, dont care about new guns or shit that might unbalance the gameplay. Are there modern mods for bug fixing, Ai improving and that fix the worst bullshit? I want more of a vanilla+ experience, I'm not against mods that make the game harder but I dont want total overalls.

 

[prengle]

Okay, planning of foing a full playthrough of the STALKER series to prepare for this popamole (hope it isnt but dont want to be disappointed when it is), so any recommended mods for each of the three games? I dont care about graphics mods because I like Stalker art style, dont care about new guns or shit that might unbalance the gameplay. Are there modern mods for bug fixing, Ai improving and that fix the worst bullshit? I want more of a vanilla+ experience, I'm not against mods that make the game harder but I dont want total overalls.

use zrp for shadow of chernobyl, srp for clear sky, and there's the pripyat reclamation patch for call of pripyat but i haven't actually used it so i can't exactly vouch for it, bugs are the least of vanilla cop's issues

 

[ADL]

Not saying it's likely but some sort of freeplay multiplayer experience that people actually want is probably a lot more doable in STALKER 2 because of it being one giant open world versus zones split up by load screens. Unfortunately it will probably be Survarium 2.0

 

[RoSoDude]

Okay, planning of foing a full playthrough of the STALKER series to prepare for this popamole (hope it isnt but dont want to be disappointed when it is), so any recommended mods for each of the three games? I dont care about graphics mods because I like Stalker art style, dont care about new guns or shit that might unbalance the gameplay. Are there modern mods for bug fixing, Ai improving and that fix the worst bullshit? I want more of a vanilla+ experience, I'm not against mods that make the game harder but I dont want total overalls.

use zrp for shadow of chernobyl, srp for clear sky, and there's the pripyat reclamation patch for call of pripyat but i haven't actually used it so i can't exactly vouch for it, bugs are the least of vanilla cop's issues

This is good advice, but I'd refine it a bit further. I recommend tweaking ZRP and SRP as follows.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Zone Reclamation Project 1.07: essential bugfix patch with configurator for further tweaks. Requires manual install
http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/index.html
Recommended tweaks in the ZRP Modifier.exe configurator application:
_ZRP Mod Stuff: ENABLE Anomaly Evasion
Head Bobbing – Part 1: ENABLE Reduced Head Bobbing
Inventory Grid Size: DISABLE ZRP Grid Cell Size (non-Widescreen and Widescreen)
Knife: ENABLE Quieter Knife
Night Music: ENABLE Include night music
Weapon Stats: ENABLE Show initial-shot accuracy
Weapon Tossing: ENABLE Store Weapons in Backpack
Zombifieds: ENABLE Treat zombified like normal enemies
Additionally, I HIGHLY recommend installing the minimod to remove the awful time_to_aim mechanic described here
With it present, you don’t get bonus 5x headshot damage unless you wait 1-3 seconds between shots (varies by weapon), and in fact your damage in this interval is greatly reduced. This is the primary source of complaints about “bullet sponges” as well as the many myths about the game’s ballistics and difficulty settings (it also makes rapid-fire weapons and firing modes pointless)
Download: http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/gamedata.dbb_fps.zip

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky
Sky Reclamation Project: essential bugfix patch. Requires manual install
https://www.moddb.com/mods/srp
Recommended SRP tweaks:
*Feasible Stealth
*Float32 SSAO Performance Patch
*No Enemy Map Spots
*Reasonable Machine Gun Nest Lethality
*Reduced Grenade Spam
*Restored Pistol Ironsights Aiming
*User Configuration Patch
SRP recommends smaller crosshair and inventory grid squares but I don’t prefer it (test for yourself).
I strongly recommend against installing the Alternative Ballistics tweak, as it is far too focused on realism when Clear Skies’ weapon parameters are actually rather well-tuned for its combat and upgrade systems. Instead, go to gamedata\config\weapons\ and search all the w_[weapclass].ltx files for time_to_aim and set it 0 for each one (I commented out the old values with a ; ) -- this tremendously improves combat in the same manner as the equivalent tweak for SoC, while also ensuring that rate of fire mods are not obsolete

Call of Pripyat is good to go vanilla in terms of stability, and it doesn't have awful headbob or the horrible time_to_aim mechanic. However you may find its spread of content a bit underwhelming, on top of the fact that it's rather easy and the economy is a complete joke (even moreso than vanilla SoC). I recommend just playing them all in order and forming your opinion that way.

 

[DeepOcean]

Okay, planning of foing a full playthrough of the STALKER series to prepare for this popamole (hope it isnt but dont want to be disappointed when it is), so any recommended mods for each of the three games? I dont care about graphics mods because I like Stalker art style, dont care about new guns or shit that might unbalance the gameplay. Are there modern mods for bug fixing, Ai improving and that fix the worst bullshit? I want more of a vanilla+ experience, I'm not against mods that make the game harder but I dont want total overalls.

use zrp for shadow of chernobyl, srp for clear sky, and there's the pripyat reclamation patch for call of pripyat but i haven't actually used it so i can't exactly vouch for it, bugs are the least of vanilla cop's issues

This is good advice, but I'd refine it a bit further. I recommend tweaking ZRP and SRP as follows.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
Zone Reclamation Project 1.07: essential bugfix patch with configurator for further tweaks. Requires manual install
http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/index.html
Recommended tweaks in the ZRP Modifier.exe configurator application:
_ZRP Mod Stuff: ENABLE Anomaly Evasion
Head Bobbing – Part 1: ENABLE Reduced Head Bobbing
Inventory Grid Size: DISABLE ZRP Grid Cell Size (non-Widescreen and Widescreen)
Knife: ENABLE Quieter Knife
Night Music: ENABLE Include night music
Weapon Stats: ENABLE Show initial-shot accuracy
Weapon Tossing: ENABLE Store Weapons in Backpack
Zombifieds: ENABLE Treat zombified like normal enemies
Additionally, I HIGHLY recommend installing the minimod to remove the awful time_to_aim mechanic described here
With it present, you don’t get bonus 5x headshot damage unless you wait 1-3 seconds between shots (varies by weapon), and in fact your damage in this interval is greatly reduced. This is the primary source of complaints about “bullet sponges” as well as the many myths about the game’s ballistics and difficulty settings (it also makes rapid-fire weapons and firing modes pointless)
Download: http://www.metacognix.com/files/stlkrsoc/gamedata.dbb_fps.zip

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky
Sky Reclamation Project: essential bugfix patch. Requires manual install
https://www.moddb.com/mods/srp
Recommended SRP tweaks:
*Feasible Stealth
*Float32 SSAO Performance Patch
*No Enemy Map Spots
*Reasonable Machine Gun Nest Lethality
*Reduced Grenade Spam
*Restored Pistol Ironsights Aiming
*User Configuration Patch
SRP recommends smaller crosshair and inventory grid squares but I don’t prefer it (test for yourself).
I strongly recommend against installing the Alternative Ballistics tweak, as it is far too focused on realism when Clear Skies’ weapon parameters are actually rather well-tuned for its combat and upgrade systems. Instead, go to gamedata\config\weapons\ and search all the w_[weapclass].ltx files for time_to_aim and set it 0 for each one (I commented out the old values with a ; this tremendously improves combat in the same manner as the equivalent tweak for SoC, while also ensuring that rate of fire mods are not obsolete

Call of Pripyat is good to go vanilla in terms of stability, and it doesn't have awful headbob or the horrible time_to_aim mechanic. However you may find its spread of content a bit underwhelming, on top of the fact that it's rather easy and the economy is a complete joke (even moreso than vanilla SoC). I recommend just playing them all in order and forming your opinion that way.

Thanks both of you for the info, I will start a SoC playthrough with zrp and some of those tweaks, just one question, heard alot about Autumn Aurora 2 back in the day and some people recommended it for a vanilla+ playthrough, is that a bad advice and it is better to go with zrp anyway?

 

[RoSoDude]

Thanks both of you for the info, I will start a SoC playthrough with zrp and some of those tweaks, just one question, heard alot about Autumn Aurora 2 back in the day and some people recommended it for a vanilla+ playthrough, is that a bad advice and it is better to go with zrp anyway?

Autumn Aurora for SoC is in large parts a graphical mod, which I don't see the point of as it makes the game incredibly gray. The original visuals are only slightly dated and generally feature a lot of healthy variety and interesting locales, so I wouldn't recommend it on that basis alone. The mod also brings a few mechanics over from CS/CoP (repairs, artifact detectors) that never made it into SoC's rushed release, and while these would be worthwhile, they're paired with some Misery-style balance changes to make the game into an EBIN HARDCORE SOVIET HELLSCAPE SIMULATOR which I can't personally recommend. The vanilla game is highly flawed, but I've not seen any mods that faithfully improve it for new players without going too far in that direction.

 

[Vezok]

I really have mixed feelings about STALKER 2. On one hand, I want it to be successful and revive one of my favorite games. On the other, I fear it will be a disappointment like any other modern sequels.

Thief(2014), despite being a reboot of the greatest stealth game of all time, killed the potential of future sequels. The new Hitman Trilogy recovered the franchise from the abomination that was Absolution, but it had to include "always online" feature in a singleplayer game.

Maybe I'm just salty because I don't have the hardware to run it when it releases.