I’ve watched a few video reviews and obviously there’s a new story and overhauled graphics. But besides that, what’s actually different in the new title compared to the old games? Any new game mechanics or improved systems?
I greatly enjoyed the original STALKER series and there’s certainly something to be said for “don’t fix what isn’t broken”. But the enemies, weapons, inventory system, etc. in the new game look like stuff I’d already seen circa 2008 (again, modern graphics aside). In what ways is this more than just a remake/remaster?
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New? Not much really. As someone who’s been waiting for the better part of a decade and played countless mods; I’m loving it. It’s essentially the modern stalker a lot of mods have been bridging the gap for. As you’ve said, they’ve largely iterated on what is already a successful game design, so no really revolutionary changes.
There are new anomalies, factions and newish mutants. However if you’re hoping for wildly newer things I don’t think you’ll find it. The typical mechanic are more polished, gun/gear wear, inventory management, PDA (anomaly’s 3D PDA was huge; stalker 2 is better), emissions (although someone need to mod GAMMAs sirens in). Despite the performance issues, which aren’t as frequent for me as others; it is a beautiful game. The lightening strikes, weather and just environment in general. X-ray (especially modded) was awesome but man, unreal is looking pretty.
I feel like the loot tables are better. Unlike modded stalker where practically everyone is rocking a gun that is essentially broken when you loot it off them. Slightly more variety weapon and armour wise. Modding weapons is better imo. Gamma for example, maintaining and modding guns was a PITA (which made sense in the setting but still). Way less fucking around and arguably slightly less depth as a result.
It still needs work imo. The obvious one is A life. It’s kinda fucked atm (which the devs have acknowledged. Even on veteran the human AI feels kinda easy at times. Shotguns need a boost for mutant damage (thought the patch addressed some of the health pools for enemies). Idk give it a go when you can; if you’re not satisfied refund it and try again later. I’ll probably amend this later but I’m about to pass out so it’ll do for now.
That’s really helpful, thanks. The reviews didn’t actually mention that there were new anomalies, factions and mutants, so that’s exciting to learn.
I haven’t played much, since the game runs like crap on my PC. Just out of the first area, so, I don’t have the full picture. I’m… Iffy on Stalker 2 honestly. I played the first three to death, and have played some version or another of CoC, Anomaly, and now GAMMA over the years. I don’t go back to Skyrim, I go back to Stalker, basically.
It doesn’t feel like an upgrade. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by mods for Anomaly, but it just feels like the previous games but with stuff missing.
I don’t care for graphics, in fact these days when I see a trailer with pretty graphics I’m thinking if those resources and time could’ve been put to use in other places, so the graphical upgrade (regardless of whether or not it choke slams my PC) just doesn’t do anything for me. I’m just seeing gameplay and level design that feels inferior to the first three. I dunno, maybe I’m a morrowboomer but for stalker. I’m not impressed.
And that they had a guy from the azov battalion in the game does not improve my opinion one bit.
Thanks. What kind of ‘stuff’ is missing? What aspects of the gameplay and level design feel inferior? That’s what I’m hoping to understand.
There’s a new patch (and more coming I’m sure) plus I’m building a new PC that will be able to run it, so I’m not personally worried much about performance. But I still want to know if it’s worth $50 or if I would get a similar experience with mods on the old games.
Long rant, so, yeah.
A-life doesn’t work at the moment, and I don’t know if they’re aiming for the same level of A-life they had with the first three (if it’s even possible on UE). It feels like a very modded Skyrim in regards to population. Empty until it isn’t. There aren’t roaming squads of stalkers going from anomalies or PoIs to the bar, for example.
The AI doesn’t feel good to me, either. In Stalker if you got stuck in a fight and held a corner, if an alternate route was available, some dude with a shotgun or AR would try and flank you while the others took pot shots at you. In Stalker 2 enemies just sort of spread out and push you individually. It might’ve been that they were just bandits though, not sure if more experienced factions actually have better AI.
Enemy scaling is completely fucked. They binned their previous approach to difficulty (difficulty increased enemy accuracy) in favor to Bethesda’s model, which I hate. In Veteran you deal less damage and enemies deal more, and mutants are already very, very bullet spongy. I mean, in Veteran it took 3-4 5.45 mags out of an AKS to down a Bloodsucker. The gun was in good condition too. It doesn’t add to the tension, it just feels frustrating.
The PDA feels wrong as well. It’s been years since I played the original trilogy but I remember that I could check my PDA in order to see my stats, messages, quest completion, etc., it’s now just a quest and map thing. And I don’t know why they didn’t commit to animating it. It works in GAMMA, it feels good, they animated food, meds, and other stuff. I know it’s minor but it adds to my gripes.
And the level design thing is limited to the first 1-2 hours, so keep that in mind. It feels a bit flat and uninspired in the first area. I remember in SoC, you pop out of Sid’s bunker and to the left you see the farm and the bridge, go past that and you see the checkpoint. Loading screen, you see the vic graveyard and later on the train depot and a dilapidated building. There was lots of PoIs to orient yourself that added to the world. The Lesser Zone (the first area) doesn’t have much of that besides the bar, an old factory that felt like a smaller Jupiter, and one anomaly. Though I have to mention that one area in particular was interesting and felt new, but I won’t spoil it. It’s tied to a side quest you can ignore.
Days are too short and guns degrade too quickly. I also don’t like the way that quick access slots are now used. Two items are assigned to a key, press it for the first item, hold for the second. It feels like a console-first change that didn’t need to be that way for PC.
It’s not all bad, though. Guns sound good, it’s interesting how upgrading the guns allow you to put attachments on it, movement feels okay (but I prefer how it felt previously, you can’t low crouch anymore), the player character feels heavier, like they’re actually wearing a full suit of armor and have a bacpack loaded with shit. In previous Stalker games the character felt very light. The new stamina/encumberance relationship is interesting and (imo) better than the previous one. The animations are well done.
The formula feels Stalker, but modernized in a way I don’t appreciate. I’ve been trying to organize my thoughts on the game these past few days and that’s pretty much where I’m at. I haven’t tried it again since the game got updated so things might have changed, but yeah.
GAMMA really elevated the games imo and upped mine (our?) expectations for STALKER 2. I haven’t bought it yet, but I’ve been watching videos about it (including raw gameplay) and I’m definitely NOT impressed (apart from graphics and level design, but for the latter I don’t have the full picture ofc).
Specifically, I’m not a fan of the very, very softcore feel it has (spotted indicator???) and of the A-life, that looks awful, basically non-existent; no real weapon names; tons of ammo; no crafting? Compared to what modders achieved with GAMMA, S2 is definitely worse overall. Compared to the OG trilogy, I still think it lacks soul and hasn’t improved much on it, except for gunplay (and graphics, obviously).
I’m absolutely not sold on it and I’ll probably buy it only when enough hardcore/realism mods are developed, or a GAMMA2 modpack releases lol
Well S2 GAMMA is probably a few years off, so you’ll be picking it up for cheap at least, lol. Today 0.9.3 releases for Gamma and Grok has stated that he won’t be working on an S2 GAMMA, at least not until this one is done. Maybe someone else picks it up though.
I’m waiting for some parts to arrive in order to play the game with more than 5-20 fps and I’ll give it a second go. Otherwise, I’m going back to GAMMA and my backlog. It’s long enough already anyway.
