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

[United Nations]

I had to wait for mods to do a complete graphic overhaul before it became playable for me, and I'm not a graphics whore at all.

Shows how different tastes are, because I was like WTF?! when I read that quote.

I have a highend system (4090 RTX, 7800x3d, 64GB RAM) for a reason. Still I was fucking surprised how good SoC looked vanilla. I tried some graphic mods but to me they looked worse than the originals. Especially as some added shit like some female Stalkers that looked out of place.

Also keep in mind, I am not a Stalker fan, in fact I have never finished one before but I gladly play SoC instead of Stalker 2 as it has to offer more (gameplay).

And while I do like good graphics, hence why I bought that expensive ass rig, I think it is quite amusing that I have more fun playing old games or unoptimized indie games, as most of the AA-AAA games are utter shit.

I don't like most big budget games either.

Almost all of the games that I play are indie titles. Some, like STALKER, become cult favorites years down the road.

For instance, I beat Diablo IV about a year ago and it was extremely mediocre (big fan of Diablo II though)... It was over-polished to the extreme, as is clearly evident by the insanely long credits roll.

Again, not listening to all the dumbasses that hate on Complete, but playing Complete compared to vanilla STALKER was like night and day to me.

Oh... And FYI--Complete is the most downloaded and one of the highest rated SOC mod on moddb.com, so I'm not alone in my positive opinion of it.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

It's the touch of the individual artist's hand that makes any kind of art any good, and Stalker 2 feels like it has very little of that.

Behold, good art, made with the touch of the artist's hand!

Some of you have mythologized the OG series to the extent that you've left reality.

Dial back the revisionism here lads. SHOC was absolutely considered a good-looking game in 2007 and was used to benchmark graphics cards.

I would also point out that, regardless of any technical quality compared to today's graphics, those faces are all distinct and immediately evocative of each character regardless of how minor they are in the overall story. I immediately think of the Agroprom fight on seeing Mole - hallmark of effective visual design.

If graphics-whoring is gaining traction on here we're fucked.

 

[Harthwain]

It's the touch of the individual artist's hand that makes any kind of art any good, and Stalker 2 feels like it has very little of that.

Behold, good art, made with the touch of the artist's hand!

Some of you have mythologized the OG series to the extent that you've left reality.

Dial back the revisionism here lads. SHOC was absolutely considered a good-looking game in 2007 and was used to benchmark graphics cards.

I would also point out that, regardless of any technical quality compared to today's graphics, those faces are all distinct and immediately evocative of each character regardless of how minor they are in the overall story. I immediately think of the Agroprom fight on seeing Mole - hallmark of effective visual design.

If graphics-whoring is gaining traction on here we're fucked.

I think it is possible for both of you to be correct here.

It is true that the game was looking good back then and even today it's holding up pretty well, considering its age. But let's not kid ourselves that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 1 is a visual "work of art", like some idiot tried to preach a page ago or so. People who are unironically saying that are indeed retarded and should take a pill to go back to reality.

The real problem is not the models in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. It is the fact that we got better visuals, but lack the solid mechanical foundation that the previous game had. This is the primary reason for me to not buy the sequel, despite my love for the first game.

 

[Reever]

I had to step back and quit the game after SIIRCA base Not only was that whole section extremely boring, in my opinion, it shows Skif as a complete fucking idiot. His whole motivation for risking his life in the Zone, fighting countless bandits and mutants, having this dumb revenge plot against Dalin, was because his apartment burned down? I thought they would've AT LEAST mentioned some family members dying or something like that but they specifically say that he was a loner with no friends/family. How do you make a protagonist this fucking unrelatable? And it's not like Strelok or Degtyarev were the epitome of character development, but at least they were just boring. Not this aggressively stupid.

 

[ArchAngel]

I had to step back and quit the game after SIIRCA base Not only was that whole section extremely boring, in my opinion, it shows Skif as a complete fucking idiot. His whole motivation for risking his life in the Zone, fighting countless bandits and mutants, having this dumb revenge plot against Dalin, was because his apartment burned down? I thought they would've AT LEAST mentioned some family members dying or something like that but they specifically say that he was a loner with no friends/family. How do you make a protagonist this fucking unrelatable? And it's not like Strelok or Degtyarev were the epitome of character development, but at least they were just boring. Not this aggressively stupid.

Some people burn the world for their dog, some for their hard earned apartment.

 

[ultra loser]

The disaster of terrible AI, aborted A-Life, random spawn spam and NAFO agendas aside S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a pretty good showcase of diminishing returns in terms of graphics, games being made today don't look a whole lot better than games made a decade ago, throwing in PBR and very poor approximations of ray-tracing, something they had done for very cheap with passable methods of faking it for a long time, doesn't do as much as you might think for the game. The biggest difference is foliage density.

I hate lighting in modern games, every game is so soulless now, all of them look the same, gaytracing and realistic lighting was a mistake

 

[Melcar]

The original Stalkers were good looking games, just not the best of the era. What really used to impress me back then were the weather effects, sound and the dynamic world.

 

[NecroLord]

The original Stalkers were good looking games, just not the best of the era. What really used to impress me back then were the weather effects, sound and the dynamic world.

And the lighting and shadows.
Especially when it rained during the night.

 

[Konjad]

 

[Melcar]

The original Stalkers were good looking games, just not the best of the era. What really used to impress me back then were the weather effects, sound and the dynamic world.

And the lighting and shadows.
Especially when it rained during the night.

Yeah. I don't think I remember any game at the time that looked like that. Traveling the wilderness during a sudden storm was really something. I remember one time it stared raining and I took refuge in a random cave. Oh boy, big mistake. Shame that the games kept crashing on my ATI card.

 

[Dark Souls II]

It's the touch of the individual artist's hand that makes any kind of art any good, and Stalker 2 feels like it has very little of that.

Behold, good art, made with the touch of the artist's hand!

Some of you have mythologized the OG series to the extent that you've left reality.

Dial back the revisionism here lads. SHOC was absolutely considered a good-looking game in 2007 and was used to benchmark graphics cards.

I would also point out that, regardless of any technical quality compared to today's graphics, those faces are all distinct and immediately evocative of each character regardless of how minor they are in the overall story. I immediately think of the Agroprom fight on seeing Mole - hallmark of effective visual design.

If graphics-whoring is gaining traction on here we're fucked.

Vanilla SoC (with ZRP) is still a game that is:

a) good-looking
b) has a great gameplay (it has things like A-LIFE and BALLISTICS)
c) is bug-free

Real chads still play the original games. Only faggots and niggers play Stolkor 2. Facts.

 

[deuxhero]

But all that ‘pretty foliage’ now is usually just pictures, signboards without collision or physicality. You lose the whole worldly function and satisfaction of foliage.

The pictured game does actually have (relatively limited but present) foliage deformation and give that brush importance in stealth (it kinda has to since it's a hunting simulator)

 

[Konjad]

I tried Stalker 2 and while environment is beautiful the game itself is just boring. Every minute - after maybe first 2 hours - spent in it is just thinking "why play this, why not replay SoC or CoP"

 

[HumanTotemPole]

The original Stalkers were good looking games, just not the best of the era. What really used to impress me back then were the weather effects, sound and the dynamic world.

Tough ask to be the best when Crysis came out the same year. Which hilariously still looks better than its remaster aside from improved LODs and some individual VFX.

 

[PanteraNera]

To all stalkers who continue to explore the Zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2: Heart of Chornobyl — Patch 1.0.2 on PC (Steam, Epic Store, GOG) is now available for download. It will also be available for download on Xbox and Microsoft Store soon.

So, what is in patch 1.0.2?

• Fixed an issue when the second wave of Monolith soldiers would not spawn during the “On the Edge” mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed the issue when Richter could be found dead during the “A Minor Incident” mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was a player could get stuck after installing the fuse in the Wild Island area if they got the Emitter from Faust's Cell first during the “Just Like the Good Old Days” mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was when a player could not successfully complete the “All That is Left” mission while exploring the Chemical Plant region.
• Fixed issue when quest enemies could spawn in unreachable areas for a player during the “Down Below” mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed an issue when Scar could be missing during the “Visions of Truth” mission.
• A few more EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors are fixed.

 

[NecroLord]

To all stalkers who continue to explore the Zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2: Heart of Chornobyl — Patch 1.0.2 on PC (Steam, Epic Store, GOG) is now available for download. It will also be available for download on Xbox and Microsoft Store soon.

So, what is in patch 1.0.2?

• Fixed an issue when the second wave of Monolith soldiers would not spawn during the “On the Edge” mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed the issue when Richter could be found dead during the “A Minor Incident” mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was a player could get stuck after installing the fuse in the Wild Island area if they got the Emitter from Faust's Cell first during the “Just Like the Good Old Days” mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was when a player could not successfully complete the “All That is Left” mission while exploring the Chemical Plant region.
• Fixed issue when quest enemies could spawn in unreachable areas for a player during the “Down Below” mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed an issue when Scar could be missing during the “Visions of Truth” mission.
• A few more EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors are fixed.

How many GB?
Another hundred something monstrosity?

 

[Gerrard]

I tried Stalker 2 and while environment is beautiful the game itself is just boring. Every minute - after maybe first 2 hours - spent in it is just thinking "why play this, why not replay SoC or CoP"

"Old good, new bad"

 

[PanteraNera]

How many GB?

I do not know, I will probably wait for a couple of months before I start playing this game again.

 

[ArchAngel]

To all stalkers who continue to explore the Zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.2: Heart of Chornobyl — Patch 1.0.2 on PC (Steam, Epic Store, GOG) is now available for download. It will also be available for download on Xbox and Microsoft Store soon.

So, what is in patch 1.0.2?

• Fixed an issue when the second wave of Monolith soldiers would not spawn during the “On the Edge” mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed the issue when Richter could be found dead during the “A Minor Incident” mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was a player could get stuck after installing the fuse in the Wild Island area if they got the Emitter from Faust's Cell first during the “Just Like the Good Old Days” mission, blocking further progression.
• The fixed issue was when a player could not successfully complete the “All That is Left” mission while exploring the Chemical Plant region.
• Fixed issue when quest enemies could spawn in unreachable areas for a player during the “Down Below” mission, blocking further progression.
• Fixed an issue when Scar could be missing during the “Visions of Truth” mission.
• A few more EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors are fixed.

How many GB?
Another hundred something monstrosity?

Around 8 gb

 

[Agame]

Gonna try this after today's patch. It's a stopgap measure but it'd be enough to make my playthrough enjoyable enough until we see what their offline simulation looks like. From everything I've seen from Anomaly/GAMMA devs talking about it, it's possible to port over A-Life scripting assuming we get the tools but the timeline is a year plus at least.
https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/210?tab=description
https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/113

The fact this game released with no A-life is a crime against humanity, as that was one of the most noteworthy features of the OG trilogy. And yea it will probably take them 12 months or more to get anything close to it, if they ever do as the reason it was probably scrapped was due to the engine collapsing when you have to many actors in the vicinity, which happens whenever you go to 'town' locations with many NPCs.

Would be nice if mods can do something but we are never gonna get like the original where you can actually track individual NPCs across the zone. At least they can stop enemies spawning right on your ass, which is currently obnoxious when you are standing in an open field, turn around and 2 seconds later a group of cheeki breeki bandits have appeared out of the ground or a bloodsucker is sticking its tentacles into your butthole.

So basically we traded A-Life for 'open world' and 'kewl UE5 graphics'. I knew they would make it open world, even though ridiculously enough most of the individual zones still have narrow 'entrances' with cliffs or rivers blocking access.

 

[None]

Dial back the revisionism here lads. SHOC was absolutely considered a good-looking game in 2007 and was used to benchmark graphics cards.

I would also point out that, regardless of any technical quality compared to today's graphics, those faces are all distinct and immediately evocative of each character regardless of how minor they are in the overall story. I immediately think of the Agroprom fight on seeing Mole - hallmark of effective visual design.

If graphics-whoring is gaining traction on here we're fucked.

Crysis released the same year. By comparison, Stalker was incredibly janky looking. Most of the heavy lifting was done by the lighting and texture work, Sidrovich looking ambiguously human was not some sort of intentional secret sauce that Stalker 2 is now missing, it was just shitty model work. But just like the numerous bugs and other jank didn't bother me, neither did the models. The game could have looked like Deus Ex and I'd still have loved it because of the gameplay.

 

[Ryzer]

Dial back the revisionism here lads. SHOC was absolutely considered a good-looking game in 2007 and was used to benchmark graphics cards.

I would also point out that, regardless of any technical quality compared to today's graphics, those faces are all distinct and immediately evocative of each character regardless of how minor they are in the overall story. I immediately think of the Agroprom fight on seeing Mole - hallmark of effective visual design.

If graphics-whoring is gaining traction on here we're fucked.

The game could have looked like Deus Ex and I'd still have loved it because of the gameplay.

The gameplay was clearly outdated even at the time.

 

[None]

The gameplay was clearly outdated even at the time.

Adjusting for the Ryzer Scale, such a mild sounding criticism is glowing praise coming from you. Your incisive commentary continues to illuminate us all. I await your final and ultimate revelation, probably something along the lines of "life is actually kind of bad".

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

stalker's graphics were bad, but the game looked good because of its atmosphere and good use of effects. my favourite was in the end the simplest of copperlists, just colors cycling, which gave the impression of strong wind gusts drawing waves on tall grass (something i didn't notice in anomaly, but this is another story). the trick was to stay away from any animated model. those were terrible.

 

[ArchAngel]

So far out of all the enemies I met Controllers are most irritating to fight.
Fought two, first was part of the mission so I had to kill him but 2nd was in a cave with a stash so I picked up the stash and ran away but his psi effect followed me even when I was far away including illusion enemies spawning.
Burer was also irritating until you learn how to "fight" it which is use your starting pistol as he cannot make you drop that as it is considered a quest item.