The anticipation of STALKER...

[Tricky]

MZ,i think ive posted this link on the boards before,but here it is again,check out the galleries on here http://chernobyl.in.ua/en/home

[MinionZombie]

Tricky, neat site, I'll check it out (I must post a link to the one I was searching around last night, but the link is on the other computer...) Lostboy - I pre-ordered from Play.com, but my pre-order dates back to December 2004 (I actually pre-ordered it a few months earlier, but for some reason got it into my head my computer wouldn't run it and so I cancelled the pre-order when I was looking to cut back on my spending - when I believed what they said about release dates). Now on Play.com it's like £25, but I got it pre-ordered a couple of years ago for £17.99. Although, if this games runs well, I think it'll be worth the extra few quid fer ya.

[Tricky]

When is stalker actually set then?because by the sounds of things a lot of the zone is now pretty much safe for tourists & gets quite a lot of visitors (as long as they stick to the roads & dont disturb dust etc) it would have to be in the late 80's,early 90's to be convincing! Imagine it though...

[MinionZombie]

It's set in 2012, in the game's world in 2006 (so now in the past because of their slackness, ha!) there is a second explosion at the main reactor and everything gets all kinds of f*cked up. Cut to 6 years later and there are these "artifacts" which have weird properties. 'Stalkers' go into the zone, which the military are trying to lock off for themselves (so you'll come across marines who are your enemy), to gather these artifacts for high bidders. As a result of this second blast (set in 2006 as happening, in GSC's world) a load of mutations get out and about and it's all scary as sh*t...spooky. And apparently at the real Chernobyl there are some areas (completely randomly placed) that are highly radioactive, while other areas are completely fine to walk around in. Also, apparently inside the high rise apartment buildings the radiation is much higher, like it's trapped within the buildings or something. Also, apparently there are massive catfish in the river systems around the area, like really frickin' huge - measured in feet now. The 'red forest' of whatever it's called, is also a no-go area, it's apparently highly radioactive still, as well as being friggin' scary. The area is also over-run with various wildlife, that mostly appears to be unaffected, there is a large population of boars - yet the wildlife seems to not be fussed about any passing humans. So ... no blood sucking, multi-mouthed, big-eyed demon-things yomping around grabbing people's heads in their multi-jawed maws...

[Tricky]

It all sounds rather good!imagine if it was running on the crysis engine though *drools* Im expecting half life 2 standard graphics anyway which is by no means bad!

[EvilNed]

What I'm most looking forward to is just exploring the large world. The great thing is that it's going to be less like Serious Sam and more like Unreal. Monsters are few and far apart, which makes it more scary. I wonder if you can go into ALL buildings... That'd be pretty nifty.

[MinionZombie]

I'd imagine some will be closed off through 'natural' means - e.g. locked doors, or collapsed entrances, but I'd imagine many buildings will be accessible - from the 'inside/outside' types (so destroyed that they're neither one nor the other) or underground tunnels, reactors, offices, shops, and abandoned residences. It appears there will be tons and tons of areas to explore - and I like the idea of the possibility of enemies being a bit more on the side of 'few and far between', it just seems more realistic and lends itself (as you say) to far more tension and the ability to go exploring. Also - the enemies are totally unscripted, so they go foraging for food, find shelter and react in different ways to their surroundings and other lifeforms. So some beasts might get into a fight over territory, some might become scared of you and try and run away (one type of enemy is very weak up close, but tries its best to stay far away from you so it can utilise its telekinetic powers against you). The depth and scope of the game is the big drooling point, I simply can't wait to go exploring the ghost towns in the surrounding area, clambering through debris and the fallen remnants of Communism (there's a fallen statue of Lenin ... which looks eerily like the fallen statue of Saddam when it was pulled down - same break at the legs, lying in front of the stumps-on-a-plinth arrangement). I also like the idea that you can choose to work with or just kill the other Stalkers in the game. I guess some will choose on their own to attack you, but you should be able to make the choice to work with others (and in turn help them fulfil their tasks and work in a team with them). If you attack them, then it's you versus their entire team/clan/faction. I think, like I keep saying, this is going to be the scariest game out there - through subtlety rather than "ooh it's come out of a loud and secret door that looks like a wall" school out scare tactics.

[Neil]

I'd imagine some will be closed off through 'natural' means - e.g. locked doors, or collapsed entrances, but I'd imagine many buildings will be accessible - from the 'inside/outside' types (so destroyed that they're neither one nor the other) or underground tunnels, reactors, offices, shops, and abandoned residences. It appears there will be tons and tons of areas to explore - and I like the idea of the possibility of enemies being a bit more on the side of 'few and far between', it just seems more realistic and lends itself (as you say) to far more tension and the ability to go exploring. Also - the enemies are totally unscripted, so they go foraging for food, find shelter and react in different ways to their surroundings and other lifeforms. So some beasts might get into a fight over territory, some might become scared of you and try and run away (one type of enemy is very weak up close, but tries its best to stay far away from you so it can utilise its telekinetic powers against you). The depth and scope of the game is the big drooling point, I simply can't wait to go exploring the ghost towns in the surrounding area, clambering through debris and the fallen remnants of Communism (there's a fallen statue of Lenin ... which looks eerily like the fallen statue of Saddam when it was pulled down - same break at the legs, lying in front of the stumps-on-a-plinth arrangement). I also like the idea that you can choose to work with or just kill the other Stalkers in the game. I guess some will choose on their own to attack you, but you should be able to make the choice to work with others (and in turn help them fulfil their tasks and work in a team with them). If you attack them, then it's you versus their entire team/clan/faction. I think, like I keep saying, this is going to be the scariest game out there - through subtlety rather than "ooh it's come out of a loud and secret door that looks like a wall" school out scare tactics. All RPG/adventure games - so far - rely on scripting to help the game... From what I hear STALKER does as well, but quite how this fits into the overall game I don't know...

[MinionZombie]

Well of course there's some scripting to push the narrative along, but what I was trying to say was that there is supposed to be a vast amount of unscripted behaviour, which caused a lot of AI-related headaches for GSC and thus caused a bunch of the delays in the release...so I'm kinda expecting to see some pretty good AI. Speaking about RPG's reminds me of talking to NPCs ... which reminds me of some interview I saw online or on TV, I've forgotten now, but they were going on about having 'paths' of dialogue in their conversations with NPCs like it was something new - er, although it probably came before it, Grim Fandango (from like, what, 1997?) had different paths of dialogue with NPCs that you used to shape a conversation ... nowadays it'll just be a little more smooth. I think they've reduced the original RPG content from what it was originally conceived (some bloke came onto the project some time ago to move it along and trim out things that just couldn't be done in the time/couldn't be done fullstop). What you have in the game though, I think, is being able to upgrade your weapons and you can join other people (NPCs) whom you talk with (the 'choose your path' dialogue) - you can choose to talk to others in a friendly manner, a blunt manner or a hostile manner (and I guess in between them all, depending on your individual choices being strung together). And here's what I think is really cool - your character gets a reputation among all the other STALKERs (and possibly military folk around the area) for being friendly/difficult/hostile. So I think that's a pretty cool touch - probably done elsewhere in some respect by now - but I like it. Essentially you can play through the game in 3 different ways - or in a mix of ways, depending on the mixes of dialogue you partake in. I like the idea of teaming up with a 'clan' and then working together as a team to take out another 'clan' (as you see in one of those YouTube videos where one clan takes another out, and then our loner takes the second lot out, ha!) Roll on March says I, it really seems to be happening (was supposed to come out like December 2006, which they thought they'd do, but set March as their final-final-final 'we probably won't need it, surely?' date ... ) ... and here I was thinking the wait for Half Life 2 was a long ordeal! STALKER was announced in November 2001!

[Neil]

And here's what I think is really cool - your character gets a reputation among all the other STALKERs (and possibly military folk around the area) for being friendly/difficult/hostile. So I think that's a pretty cool touch - probably done elsewhere in some respect by now - but I like it. Essentially you can play through the game in 3 different ways - or in a mix of ways, depending on the mixes of dialogue you partake in. Isn't that like Elder Scrolls?

[capncnut]

Perhaps Capn was being sarr-carr-stick... Correctamundo! Love the Alexei Sayle impersonation BTW. Saying that, I have to admit that the game does look tasty. Those screenshots are damn impressive. Not too sure about the storyline though (c'mon, it does sound cheesy) but I might investigate S.T.A.L.K.E.R. if the reviews are flattering. This game has been talked about for years and you only look into it now? And then when you finally actually look into it you come back with some silly comment (refering to it as a turd) when it offers what in actuality appears to be some quite original ideas? It was only an opinion brother, as a free citizen I am entitled to that after all.

[Neil]

Correctamundo! Love the Alexei Sayle impersonation BTW. Saying that, I have to admit that the game does look tasty. Those screenshots are damn impressive. Not too sure about the storyline though (c'mon, it does sound cheesy) but I might investigate S.T.A.L.K.E.R. if the reviews are flattering. It was only an opinion brother, as a free citizen I am entitled to that after all. Now I'm really confused... Was it sarcasm as your first statement suggests, or not, as your second statement suggests? If it was was sarcasm, soz, it was even more sarcastic than even my dark English soul could appreciate If it wasn't then my previous statement still stands

[MinionZombie]

Capn is a confusing Knut ain't he? ... ooh, word-play! Neil - no idea if it's like Elder Scrolls, I don't play those kinda games, but it probably is by now as they've taken so long to get STALKER out there. But perhaps it'll be the first time, or one of the first times, these kinda things have been applied to an FPS game?

[Neil]

This game is SOOOOO wanting a living dead conversion... Imagine simple mission orientated gameplay, with or without co-operative play. eg: Need to go into a building (a mall?) and clear it out and close all the doors

[MinionZombie]

Aye indeed, or like an apartment building, either closing it off normally or somehow blocking it off '28 Days Later' style and then finding an alternate means to enter and exit safely, as well as clearing out the place room by room, you could even have dynamite and blow up rooms, blasting holes in floors or ceilings and rubble/zombies come flooding forth. STALKER indeed is just crying out loud for a zombie conversion when it comes out. *rubs hands* ooooh betty!