S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

[NecroLord]

Stalker series was basically the G37 as the best rifle. Stalker 2 is also decent. If you aim for the head, humanoid enemies die quickly. Shotgun is the best against mutants, but the mutant balance is currently broken.

And not only are the side quests boring, main quests also start to get boring after 5 hours. Most of them are structured in a similar way, and when I get asked to accept quests here and there, it feels like a Ubgame.

I always liked this one:

 

[baba is you]

I haven't had any games to play recently, so I'm re-downloading over 100GB and continuing. I looked up information and found that there's a bug that corrupts the save file, so I'm backing up the save file periodically. And l also got two more artifacts that perform very well. They're not that hard to get, as long as I have a Bear detector.

I've played for about 20 hours, and it's still not that bad. However, if I talk more about the quest issue mentioned above, most quests are conscious of choices and consequences.

The main quest is a flag that leads to another story, but the sub quests... well... I don't think they have much meaning. NPCs that you saved in the side quests reappear, but they don't play a big role.

That's why I mentioned that the game is a bit like a UB game. The side quest processing structure is a bit similar. But it's not that big of a problem. Stalker is fundamentally a game related to exploration and shooting, and the game doesn't interfere with that much.

I don't know when GSC will fix this. If the bugs, AI, and A-life are resolved to some extent, it's very unlikely to receive a bad evaluation compared to Kingdom Came or TWitcher 3.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

doesn't seem comparable, this is actual contemporary NATO propaganda

.... is what people were saying about Company of Heroes 2 when the commissar shoots retreating soldiers.

Which is true (in terms of producing a particular stereotype of the Red Army, same as with other negative tropes), but one's pop history and another's blatant propaganda pertaining to contemporary events.

 

[Gerrard]

What are the best weapons?

For muties and close combat you'll want a shotgun, the M860 is the first one that isn't a piece of shit. For humans you'll just want something with steady/low recoil single shots and a big magazine since headshots are always instant kills whereas you can blast half a mag into a bum bandit's chest before they finally keel over. Even an SMG is enough for that; you'd think the lack of higher magnitude scopes would be a hindrance but in practice more distance just works against you - NPCs still have laser aim and perfect grenade throws so you might as well close the gap as soon as possible.

The M860 is kinda shit though, takes years to reload before you find the box mag upgrade. You genuinely might be better off using the TOZ.

 

[whydoibother]

doesn't seem comparable, this is actual contemporary NATO propaganda

.... is what people were saying about Company of Heroes 2 when the commissar shoots retreating soldiers.

Which is true (in terms of producing a particular stereotype of the Red Army, same as with other negative tropes), but one's pop history and another's blatant propaganda pertaining to contemporary events.

The Red Army being wasteful of manpower isn't "NATO propaganda", its a pop culture phenomena that exists in the east too, independent of western narratives. It was romanticized by poets, talking about wave after wave, so determined and so many are we!
Rather, modern russians are americanized and instead of seeing the human waves as a display of courage and determination, they see it as wasteful, because american military doctrine sees it as wasteful. We're all living in Amerika, after all.

 

[Brickfrog]

Penetration is a poorly explained mechanic but it makes a huge difference against most mutants. A good deal of the beefy mutants effective HP comes from armor so it's recommended to get a high pen weapon if you expect bloodsuckers or w.e

 

[ArchAngel]

Penetration is a poorly explained mechanic but it makes a huge difference against most mutants. A good deal of the beefy mutants effective HP comes from armor so it's recommended to get a high pen weapon if you expect bloodsuckers or w.e

I use AP ammo in all my weapons while roaming around and with snipers. With my SMG that I mostly use vs humans at close range I use normal ammo because I aim at heads anyways.

 

[Inec0rn]

Kodex Kensus is a bit unclear on this one, some think it's stalker some think its not. Too hard to judge.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. The consensus on the game is unclear, but on Steam, it's mostly positive, so I can help you by finally playing it. Unfortunately, it's an unmitigated disaster.

First, you have to fiddle with the settings. To save others the trouble, here's the issue: frame generation, which is on by default, is broken. To enable HDR, you have to switch from windowed mode to fullscreen and then to fullscreen exclusive. Otherwise, the option stays grayed out. It took me 30 minutes to figure out what was wrong—checking my FPS meter and even wondering if I was out of VRAM—but no, it was just that frame generation option.

Then there’s the game itself. It’s dull. Avoiding side missions seems like the best approach since they reward you with nothing worthwhile—just worn-out guns and a bit of ammo. It’s so much fun playing an FPS where most of your shots cause the gun to jam! You can’t tinker with the weapons yourself by using parts from similar guns, as far as I can tell, and repairs cost a fortune.

So, you think stealth is the answer? Wrong. Enemies can spawn behind you—literally out of thin air. I did a quest in the poppy fields and was granted a special gun. Guess what? It was completely worn out, and repairing it drained all my cash. After a few encounters with bandits, it was jamming again. So much fun.

The game is riddled with jank everywhere. NPCs float above their beds, and there are tons of absurd glitches. For example, I did a mission with the Ward to assault a factory. After clearing it, a group of bandits suddenly spawned in front of me. I ran into the factory for cover, only to see Ward soldiers also popping out of nowhere to engage them. Moments later, mutant dogs appeared in waves, all within two minutes. After dealing with that mess, I got a radio message from the Ward colonel accusing me of being a traitor and shooting his men.

This game is a complete disaster.

hot damn, un-wishlisted the game. I'll just play the old x-ray engine games with mods, so the new game has improved graphics at the cost of stability and performance - but is then worse in every other possible way why would I buy this?

 

[Mercatroid]

hot damn, un-wishlisted the game. I'll just play the old x-ray engine games with mods, so the new game has improved graphics at the cost of stability and performance - but is then worse in every other possible way why would I buy this?

Agreed, I uninstalled it a couple days ago and I'm going to refund. Come join us in the Shadow of Chernobyl Mod Thread. It is The Way.

 

[Drakortha]

why would I buy this?

You should buy it because it's new and you want to support the devs through these difficult times. Who cares if the game is a scam?

 

[Mortmal]

Kodex Kensus is a bit unclear on this one, some think it's stalker some think its not. Too hard to judge.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. The consensus on the game is unclear, but on Steam, it's mostly positive, so I can help you by finally playing it. Unfortunately, it's an unmitigated disaster.

First, you have to fiddle with the settings. To save others the trouble, here's the issue: frame generation, which is on by default, is broken. To enable HDR, you have to switch from windowed mode to fullscreen and then to fullscreen exclusive. Otherwise, the option stays grayed out. It took me 30 minutes to figure out what was wrong—checking my FPS meter and even wondering if I was out of VRAM—but no, it was just that frame generation option.

Then there’s the game itself. It’s dull. Avoiding side missions seems like the best approach since they reward you with nothing worthwhile—just worn-out guns and a bit of ammo. It’s so much fun playing an FPS where most of your shots cause the gun to jam! You can’t tinker with the weapons yourself by using parts from similar guns, as far as I can tell, and repairs cost a fortune.

So, you think stealth is the answer? Wrong. Enemies can spawn behind you—literally out of thin air. I did a quest in the poppy fields and was granted a special gun. Guess what? It was completely worn out, and repairing it drained all my cash. After a few encounters with bandits, it was jamming again. So much fun.

The game is riddled with jank everywhere. NPCs float above their beds, and there are tons of absurd glitches. For example, I did a mission with the Ward to assault a factory. After clearing it, a group of bandits suddenly spawned in front of me. I ran into the factory for cover, only to see Ward soldiers also popping out of nowhere to engage them. Moments later, mutant dogs appeared in waves, all within two minutes. After dealing with that mess, I got a radio message from the Ward colonel accusing me of being a traitor and shooting his men.

This game is a complete disaster.

hot damn, un-wishlisted the game. I'll just play the old x-ray engine games with mods, so the new game has improved graphics at the cost of stability and performance - but is then worse in every other possible way why would I buy this?

Improved graphics? Hardly. In some places, I just reached Icarus, and the wall textures are flickering—a well-known issue apparently caused by overlapping two variants of the textures. Some would say Stalker 2 isn't that bad, but everything keeps adding up, completely breaking immersion and making it unenjoyable.

 

[Mercatroid]

Improved graphics? Hardly. In some places, I just reached Icarus, and the wall textures are flickering—a well-known issue apparently caused by overlapping two variants of the textures. Some would say Stalker 2 isn't that bad, but everything keeps adding up, completely breaking immersion and making it unenjoyable.

"I'm eating this new ice cream and there are all these little chunks of shit in it that taste terrible and ruin the flavor. But other than that it's really good ice cream! I'm eating the ice cream too, guys!!!"

That's like 90% of the cope posts I have seen about Stalker 2 on youtube and elsewhere. Just because something is new doesn't mean it's any good. Stalker 2 is the "New Coke" of Stalker games.

 

[Harthwain]

Rather, modern russians are americanized and instead of seeing the human waves as a display of courage and determination, they see it as wasteful, because american military doctrine sees it as wasteful.

Throwing more bodies into the meat grinder was seen as wasteful since the world started reflecting on WW1, so this isn't an entirely new perspective or strictly an American one.

 

[Ol' Willy]

nexusmods is full on leftard led retardoland. And they full on drink the MSM propaganda.

Actually that was on GSC part, apparently

The most ironic part is that at least 30% of uruk-hai are primarily Russian speakers

Imagine being Russian speaking uruk-hai war refugee somewhere in poland and you can't play the game in the language you know

 

[Ol' Willy]

doesn't seem comparable, this is actual contemporary NATO propaganda

.... is what people were saying about Company of Heroes 2 when the commissar shoots retreating soldiers.

Which is true (in terms of producing a particular stereotype of the Red Army, same as with other negative tropes), but one's pop history and another's blatant propaganda pertaining to contemporary events.

The Red Army being wasteful of manpower isn't "NATO propaganda", its a pop culture phenomena that exists in the east too, independent of western narratives. It was romanticized by poets, talking about wave after wave, so determined and so many are we!
Rather, modern russians are americanized and instead of seeing the human waves as a display of courage and determination, they see it as wasteful, because american military doctrine sees it as wasteful. We're all living in Amerika, after all.

Because the game narrative is constructed like some 1980s "empire of evil" b-move a-la red dawn with a good dose of black propaganda. Even the main narrative driver, the story is told by an officer in gulag who would be executed soon. And then it goes with the stories like flaming the entire village with peasants inside because Khorn wills it. Make a game like this about any nation and they would go apeshit (except Germans, they are cucks now)

If you want to display the wastefulness and inhumanity of such war, you can do a good work with it.

The narrative driver is a guy in late 40s, veteran, telling the story of his war to a younger one - you would think his son. The guy and his brother were drafted and ended up together in the unit commanded by total asshole who wasted people like they're free - with nkvd officers preying on them too. He tells the story from battle to battle, the carnage and death all around, the inhumanity of their commander and other horrors of the war, while two brothers just tried to survive it all. It ends with one brother surviving, and other dying in his arms, and then it is revealed that the survivor is the younger guy uncle, while his father is the one who died.

Is it that hard to do?

 

[Brickfrog]

And then it goes with the stories like flaming the entire village with peasants inside because Khorn wills it. Make a game like this about any nation and they would go apeshit (except Germans, they are cucks now)

Who do you guys think would be the best studio to make a game out of the film "Come and See?"

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

Can anyone give a detailed review about this game of the year codex candidate?

 

[Brickfrog]

Can anyone give a detailed review about this game of the year codex candidate?

"Mods will fix it."

 

[anvi]

Can anyone give a detailed review about this game of the year codex candidate?

Infiltrated by commies like everything else.

 

[TheKing01]

Went into it with renewed optimism. Using the Ukraine VO.

World still feels dead. Maybe it's because I've spent too much time with Anomaly's monumentally better A-Life but it's just hard to look past. For all the things they obviously copied from superior modifications to their games (spoiler: the PDA is a worse version of the one from Anomaly's), not including the NPC simulation is an odd, and ultimately immersion-breaking choice.

 

[Gerrard]

Nigger what are you talking about, Anomaly is fucking empty unless you play with some stupid cranked up spawn rates. And the 3D PDA in Anomaly is utter trash with unreadable screen.
There should be an option to disable the animation in S2 as well, as it does nothing but add annoyance.

 

[TheKing01]

Nigger what are you talking about, Anomaly is fucking empty unless you play with some stupid cranked up spawn rates. And the 3D PDA in Anomaly is utter trash with unreadable screen.

CTE?

 

[baba is you]

After progressing to the latter half of the main quest, GSC's explanation is somewhat questionable.

Let me explain without spoilers, the conflict with the faction was scripted. Yes, the trilogy was like that too. However, the trilogy was basically set up with the faction moving around and fighting as A-life, but in this game, traces of that are only visible in the main quest script.

Is there really an A-life 2.0? As I progress through the main quest, my doubts are gradually turning into certainty.

 

[TheKing01]

After progressing to the latter half of the main quest, GSC's explanation is somewhat questionable.

Let me explain without spoilers, the conflict with the faction was scripted. Yes, the trilogy was like that too. However, the trilogy was basically set up with the faction moving around and fighting as A-life, but in this game, traces of that are only visible in the main quest script.

Is there really an A-life 2.0? As I progress through the main quest, my doubts are gradually turning into certainty.

Might be mistaken, but I'm convinced every encounter separate from the spawning is scripted.

Has there be any evidence to show actual persistence with the NPCs? Would be hard to test since random NPCs no longer have unique factions.

 

[ghardy]

Is there anything about the engine Unreal 5 that precludes such a thing as A-Life?