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

[Zewp]

I ran into my first major bugs yesterday. After the war starts I returned to Zalyzna (or however it is called) and I was supposed to defend them from attackers but half of the attackers spawned inside the "safe zone" LOL where they cannot shoot or be killed. So they just kind of danced around with weapons at ready and trying to walk into walls. Also found some of them just dead with full gear that was not damaged like when you kill them so I got some free loot :D
Then the quest you get there bugged out, I didn't get instructions about what is going on or additional missions from stalkers that didn't spawn there. I was still able to finish the quest because I just got a marker and journal update where to go but no idea why :D
When I returned some of the enemies managed to get out and I killed them but some others still stuck inside. I left the door to the place open and roamed around a bit and after some time those left inside managed to find their way out in same way as a fly stuck at window at your house finally manages to find that open door.
Then whole scene changed, stalkers spawned inside and when I entered I got the scene and talk with people there about the quest I already finished :D

2nd major bug was that Emission spawned as soon as I exited major main quest area before that and I could not go back into perfectly safe bunker I came out of to survive it but game wanted me to run 300+ distance through swamps while encumbered with gear to some half standing shack where I am "safe" from the emission... In the end I loaded a save and tried to leg it to that place even before I got Emission to activate and marker that shows exact place and then in this buggy game the Emission now didn't happen LOL (I tried to survive this Emission like 5 times and it always spawned in those attempts)..

Zalissya is bugged to hell and back. It's allegedly been "fixed" in the last two patches, but it just keeps throwing out issues. I was lucky enough that I could leave the area and when I came back later I could finish it. Unfortunately at the end when everyone gets called into the main building to celebrate the victory, 2 NPCs stood in the doorway and I couldn't actually get into the building.

I think the devs did a superb job with sound, atmosphere and so on, but it's like they did that not on Unreal, but on Bethesda engine.

I find something a little off about the atmosphere and I think it has a lot to do with the ambient sounds. The OG games always had superb ambience, down to the weird, unexplained groaning that could often be heard in the background. The ambient sounds in S2 feel a lot more toned down and imo the atmosphere suffers for it. It sometimes feels like I'm just in a random wilderness than the zone. I often felt unnerved in the OG games when just out exploring the locations, but I can't say I've felt unnerved or scared at any point while playing S2. It's a nostalgia thing either, because I started a new playthrough of SoC and the atmosphere is just as great as it always used to be.

Encounter design probably contributes a lot to the issue as well. Enemies like Bloodsuckers were fairly rare in the OG games and when you ran into them, it was tense and unnerving. Now they're one of the most common enemies in the game and they'll just spawn in as random enemies every once in a while, so the only thing I feel when I see them coming is "ugh, not again". Similar with poltergeists. They just spawn in so many places in the "overworld" that it stops being an interesting enemy to deal with.

Hopefully both things that mods will fix. I think many of the mutants will be better off being hand-placed in certain well-chosen locations than as enemies that spawn by RNG.

 

[NecroLord]

Do people really get so triggered about women that they can't even handle them in games?
Multiculturalism was a mistake now we're importing Muslim incel culture.

Let's see:
A typical braindead TikTok and OnlyFans slut wouldn't last a fucking day in the Zone.
Even a typical danger hair woman with some "military training" also won't last long in a place filled with bandits with God knows what crimes they committed, bloodsuckers, chimeras, pseudogiants, anomalies, radiation, and many other lovely things.
It would be more reasonable and believable for a woman to join a science group studying the Zone or something along those lines, accompanied by protection.
But w0myn adventurer out in the Zone?
Ha!

 

[Fargus]

Sex slaves are always welcome in the zone.

 

[ArchAngel]

I ran into my first major bugs yesterday. After the war starts I returned to Zalyzna (or however it is called) and I was supposed to defend them from attackers but half of the attackers spawned inside the "safe zone" LOL where they cannot shoot or be killed. So they just kind of danced around with weapons at ready and trying to walk into walls. Also found some of them just dead with full gear that was not damaged like when you kill them so I got some free loot :D
Then the quest you get there bugged out, I didn't get instructions about what is going on or additional missions from stalkers that didn't spawn there. I was still able to finish the quest because I just got a marker and journal update where to go but no idea why :D
When I returned some of the enemies managed to get out and I killed them but some others still stuck inside. I left the door to the place open and roamed around a bit and after some time those left inside managed to find their way out in same way as a fly stuck at window at your house finally manages to find that open door.
Then whole scene changed, stalkers spawned inside and when I entered I got the scene and talk with people there about the quest I already finished :D

2nd major bug was that Emission spawned as soon as I exited major main quest area before that and I could not go back into perfectly safe bunker I came out of to survive it but game wanted me to run 300+ distance through swamps while encumbered with gear to some half standing shack where I am "safe" from the emission... In the end I loaded a save and tried to leg it to that place even before I got Emission to activate and marker that shows exact place and then in this buggy game the Emission now didn't happen LOL (I tried to survive this Emission like 5 times and it always spawned in those attempts)..

Zalissya is bugged to hell and back. It's allegedly been "fixed" in the last two patches, but it just keeps throwing out issues. I was lucky enough that I could leave the area and when I came back later I could finish it. Unfortunately at the end when everyone gets called into the main building to celebrate the victory, 2 NPCs stood in the doorway and I couldn't actually get into the building.

I think the devs did a superb job with sound, atmosphere and so on, but it's like they did that not on Unreal, but on Bethesda engine.

I find something a little off about the atmosphere and I think it has a lot to do with the ambient sounds. The OG games always had superb ambience, down to the weird, unexplained groaning that could often be heard in the background. The ambient sounds in S2 feel a lot more toned down and imo the atmosphere suffers for it. It sometimes feels like I'm just in a random wilderness than the zone. I often felt unnerved in the OG games when just out exploring the locations, but I can't say I've felt unnerved or scared at any point while playing S2. It's a nostalgia thing either, because I started a new playthrough of SoC and the atmosphere is just as great as it always used to be.

Encounter design probably contributes a lot to the issue as well. Enemies like Bloodsuckers were fairly rare in the OG games and when you ran into them, it was tense and unnerving. Now they're one of the most common enemies in the game and they'll just spawn in as random enemies every once in a while, so the only thing I feel when I see them coming is "ugh, not again". Similar with poltergeists. They just spawn in so many places in the "overworld" that it stops being an interesting enemy to deal with.

Hopefully both things that mods will fix. I think many of the mutants will be better off being hand-placed in certain well-chosen locations than as enemies that spawn by RNG.

I reached Zalissya on last patch and I guess it is still bugged.

 

[Gerrard]

The criteria by which a building is considered safe from emissions and which isn't is honestly fucked up, like the sawmill is considered safe but it has these huge doors wide open, meanwhile some smaller house isn't because it has a hole in the wall.

I think the devs did a superb job with sound

The sound engine is broken as fuck though. There are sounds randomly cutting out, the occlusion is either 0 or 100 and it changes instantly the moment you cross a threshold, and it only works in some places and not others (the cellar with a radio in Zallisya is a great example, if you turn it on and go outside, above the cellar you can hear it as if there wasn't several meters of ground between you and it)., the emission soundscape instantly cuts out the moment it finishes, while all the effects are still going on. Also distant thunder is instant.
The only good thing I can say about sound is that they used a number of weird ambient sounds from the original games.

 

[ArchAngel]

The criteria by which a building is considered safe from emissions and which isn't is honestly fucked up, like the sawmill is considered safe but it has these huge doors wide open, meanwhile some smaller house isn't because it has a hole in the wall.

I think the devs did a superb job with sound

The sound engine is broken as fuck though. There are sounds randomly cutting out, the occlusion is either 0 or 100 and it changes instantly the moment you cross a threshold, and it only works in some places and not others (the cellar with a radio in Zallisya is a great example, if you turn it on and go outside, above the cellar you can hear it as if there wasn't several meters of ground between you and it)., the emission soundscape instantly cuts out the moment it finishes, while all the effects are still going on. Also distant thunder is instant.
The only good thing I can say about sound is that they used a number of weird ambient sounds from the original games.

I noticed music sometimes randomly starts cutting off when inside buildings and only way to fix it is to save and reload.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Do people really get so triggered about women that they can't even handle them in games?
Multiculturalism was a mistake now we're importing Muslim incel culture.

Let's see:
A typical braindead TikTok and OnlyFans slut wouldn't last a fucking day in the Zone.
Even a typical danger hair woman with some "military training" also won't last long in a place filled with bandits with God knows what crimes they committed, bloodsuckers, chimeras, pseudogiants, anomalies, radiation, and many other lovely things.
It would be more reasonable and believable for a woman to join a science group studying the Zone or something along those lines, accompanied by protection.
But w0myn adventurer out in the Zone?
Ha!

There are no female stalkers actually. There is one vendor in Freedom with some PTSD (she tried to go outside and got reality check), one technician in Degtaryev Corps (so she won't really get r*ped), one babushka on Skadovsk and one Ecologist in a protected environment. So it's as balanced as it can get IMO.

So I don't really have an issue with that, there are no strong boss wombyn.

Now blacks, on the other hand... (probably forced by Microsoft, especially the one next to Beard in promo materials)

 

[mondblut]

So I don't really have an issue with that, there are no strong boss wombyn.

The babushka's got a surprise in store though.

 

[Iucounu]

I don't understand.
Why do devs these days go out of their way to simulate urination?
Shouldn't there be more important stuff in a proper video game?

I recall Cyberpunk 2077 has it too, maybe it's fashion now. But rest assured the female stalkers are not shown doing it.

What female stalkers?

I think I glimpsed a female technician in one of the trailers (at Yanov station?). Are you saying there are none? Finally some good news!

Shop keepers are not Stalkers.

Are the female shop keepers urinating?

Only female I've seen so far was a bartender in Sultan's ship-base. And you can get rid of her if you wish.

Alas getting rid of the DEI (even with mods) won't undo that the devs added it in the first place. The damage is already done.

 

[Saldrone]

 

[Alienman]

Love how the Farcry guy fights and slams the weapon at every turn.

 

[Manjuice Nutella]

Too bad it's an outlier, and a lot of fantastic ideas from Far Cry 2 were not adopted, not even by Far Cry itself It feels like the first stealth game explored everything there was (Thief) and every other game just says fuck it, "crouch = stealth".

 

[AlwaysBrotoMen]

Game of the year among mainstream games despite its shortcomings when compared to its predecessors.

The story, the animations, the lore, the oppressive and lonely atmosphere & sound design: the world building is astonishing and almost photo-realistic to the real exclusion zone, a masterpiece in almost every way. The gun-play is mediocre to good but satisfying.

Quests are both well-written and well-acted and feel extremely rewarding to play and complete. Artifact hunting is fun and deadly, though a tad on the easy side with anomalies giving plenty of time to dive in and out without any risk for a seasoned Stalker..

 

[Zewp]

Jesus Christ, people weren't joking when they said that the second half of the game is bugged to hell and back. I've been working my way further north on the map and there are a lot of side quests that seem to just not work at all. I just moved through the red forest and came out in the zone just north of it (I forgot the name) and the game just keeps adding random weapons to my inventory and sometimes directly into my hands. I'll suddenly notice that I can no longer sprint far and I'll be overloaded with 2-3 new weapons randomly in my inventory.

Also, someone compiled a chart with weapon stats and the stats are just all over the place:

weapon stats chart

It again gives me the impression that devs did not have time to do even basic things like weapon balancing. Certain unique weapons being worse in every single way than their generic variants makes no sense at all.

 

[Gerrard]

It makes sense the AKM is worse if you read its description. You get it right at the start of the game and it will most likely be a while before you get a PSO scope. Also that gun will jam even at 99% condition.

 

[ArchAngel]

Jesus Christ, people weren't joking when they said that the second half of the game is bugged to hell and back. I've been working my way further north on the map and there are a lot of side quests that seem to just not work at all. I just moved through the red forest and came out in the zone just north of it (I forgot the name) and the game just keeps adding random weapons to my inventory and sometimes directly into my hands. I'll suddenly notice that I can no longer sprint far and I'll be overloaded with 2-3 new weapons randomly in my inventory.

Also, someone compiled a chart with weapon stats and the stats are just all over the place:

weapon stats chart

It again gives me the impression that devs did not have time to do even basic things like weapon balancing. Certain unique weapons being worse in every single way than their generic variants makes no sense at all.

Random weapons being added is a bug that can and will happen at any part of the game. Something to do with badly spawning enemies.

 

[Hag]

Jesus Christ, people weren't joking when they said that the second half of the game is bugged to hell and back. I've been working my way further north on the map and there are a lot of side quests that seem to just not work at all. I just moved through the red forest and came out in the zone just north of it (I forgot the name) and the game just keeps adding random weapons to my inventory and sometimes directly into my hands. I'll suddenly notice that I can no longer sprint far and I'll be overloaded with 2-3 new weapons randomly in my inventory.

Also, someone compiled a chart with weapon stats and the stats are just all over the place:

weapon stats chart

It again gives me the impression that devs did not have time to do even basic things like weapon balancing. Certain unique weapons being worse in every single way than their generic variants makes no sense at all.

Good definition of the game it seems.

 

[Big_poppa_pump]

Too bad it's an outlier, and a lot of fantastic ideas from Far Cry 2 were not adopted, not even by Far Cry itself It feels like the first stealth game explored everything there was (Thief) and every other game just says fuck it, "crouch = stealth".

Far Cry 2 is fucking garbage that had good fire psychics and a multiplayer map creator stop trying to act like its the greatest FPS game ever made. "Fantastic Ideas" why yes I want to take daily doses of fucking malaria pills, guns falling apart after 3 shots, and African Rebels having better road security than the road to Mexico going into USA.

 

[adddeed]

Far Cry 2 is easily, by a country mile, the best entry in the franchise and in the TOP10 of best FPS ever. You're just another clown who has no idea what he's talking about or what the game is about.

 

[Big_poppa_pump]

Far Cry 2 is easily, by a country mile, the best entry in the franchise and in the TOP10 of best FPS ever. You're just another clown who has no idea what he's talking about or what the game is about.

The best Far Cry is actually Far Cry Instincts the xbox port but we are not ready for that conversation since Crowbcat didn't make a video telling you how to feel about it yet but also top 10 FPS? Cmon I am being an asshole here and maybe im overstating Farcry 2s issues but top 10 FPS? Well this place is called RPGcodex and not FPScodex so....

 

[Fargus]

in the TOP10 of best FPS ever

FC1 was alright, the rest are just various degrees of shit. You can get some guilty pleasure from some of them though.

 

[Zlaja]

Far Cry 2 is easily, by a country mile, the best entry in the franchise

Yes, and it's still no more than a 7 out of 10 game. Which says a lot about the Fart Cry franchise.

 

[adddeed]

Far Cry 2 is easily, by a country mile, the best entry in the franchise and in the TOP10 of best FPS ever. You're just another clown who has no idea what he's talking about or what the game is about.

The best Far Cry is actually Far Cry Instincts the xbox port but we are not ready for that conversation since Crowbcat didn't make a video telling you how to feel about it yet but also top 10 FPS? Cmon I am being an asshole here and maybe im overstating Farcry 2s issues but top 10 FPS? Well this place is called RPGcodex and not FPScodex so....

Not sure what video you're talking about but ok. Bought FarCry 2 on release day and finished it twice. And ive been playing FPS games since Wolf3D so ive played my fair share. There isnt an FPS out there that delivers the same experience as FarCry2, while there are a million Doom clones. So yes its Top10.

 

[Echo Mirage]

Jesus Christ, people weren't joking when they said that the second half of the game is bugged to hell and back. I've been working my way further north on the map and there are a lot of side quests that seem to just not work at all. I just moved through the red forest and came out in the zone just north of it (I forgot the name) and the game just keeps adding random weapons to my inventory and sometimes directly into my hands. I'll suddenly notice that I can no longer sprint far and I'll be overloaded with 2-3 new weapons randomly in my inventory.

Also, someone compiled a chart with weapon stats and the stats are just all over the place:

weapon stats chart

It again gives me the impression that devs did not have time to do even basic things like weapon balancing. Certain unique weapons being worse in every single way than their generic variants makes no sense at all.

I was about to bitch about this. The balancing makes zero sense to me. The PP-19 (Zubr-19) Somehow outclasses every other weapon I've found and all you have to do is walk to the duty base and buy it. But wait, along the way you can also pick up the very good Vector which also fires the same round for free along with an extended mag. The games whole balance system is based around the idea that the player will follow the main story and not going anywhere else first...in an open world game.

 

[ArchAngel]

Jesus Christ, people weren't joking when they said that the second half of the game is bugged to hell and back. I've been working my way further north on the map and there are a lot of side quests that seem to just not work at all. I just moved through the red forest and came out in the zone just north of it (I forgot the name) and the game just keeps adding random weapons to my inventory and sometimes directly into my hands. I'll suddenly notice that I can no longer sprint far and I'll be overloaded with 2-3 new weapons randomly in my inventory.

Also, someone compiled a chart with weapon stats and the stats are just all over the place:

weapon stats chart

It again gives me the impression that devs did not have time to do even basic things like weapon balancing. Certain unique weapons being worse in every single way than their generic variants makes no sense at all.

I was about to bitch about this. The balancing makes zero sense to me. The PP-19 (Zubr-19) Somehow outclasses every other weapon I've found and all you have to do is walk to the duty base and buy it. But wait, along the way you can also pick up the very good Vector which also fires the same round for free along with an extended mag. The games whole balance system is based around the idea that the player will follow the main story and not going anywhere else first...in an open world game.

It is not like you need it. I am more sad that whole middle and right side of map has techs that cannot modify half of the cool weapons you find and ammo for good sniper rifles are super hard to find.
Also I am always out of ammo and need to switch weapons all the times.