Stalker 2

Apparently there is a surprise 1.8 dropping today that has amongst other things multiple new locations and another camp.

- 8 New Quests
- 6 New Characters to meet.
- 7 New Locations
- GP37V2 rifle. A modified GP37 Rifle with a suppressor and a low mag scope


the above video is for the PS5, but the update is coming out for PC today too.
 
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I had a very quick go on this earlier, and it certainly runs much better than before when using the 3070.
And with everything cranked up, the IQ was superior as well.

As said, I only played briefly, but sadly, I believe I was greeted with an audio bug: I heard someone speaking very close by (it sounded rather loud), but couldn't see anyone.
I've experienced this before; it doesn't fit the situation you're in at the time, which, in true Stalker fashion, is almost acceptably normal - given the surreal aspect to the game world.
So, in a weird sense, I find it to almost be a 'good' bug, of sorts.

And secondly, a very spongy mutant, I think it was a cat.
Goodness knows how many AK/Saiga rounds I pumped into it, but it was still alive!

Maybe there's a slightly better balance at stalker difficulty vs veteran?

Shader compilation seemed to take longer than I remember, but I'm not certain of that.

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Unsurprisingly, I'm still seeing a little performance being left on the table, despite a recent CPU upgrade.
However, most games seem to report only a small utilization deficit, so not much.
A quick check in Stalker 2 showed it hitting around the 95% mark.

To be fair, even the 3900X didn't do too bad either, though I do remember the frames in Black Mesa swinging all over the place,
but whether that was just CPU related, I don't know.
 
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Apparently there is a surprise 1.8 dropping today that has amongst other things multiple new locations and another camp.

- 8 New Quests
- 6 New Characters to meet.
- 7 New Locations
- GP37V2 rifle. A modified GP37 Rifle with a suppressor and a low mag scope


the above video is for the PS5, but the update is coming out for PC today too.
GSC posted on twitter that this has been delayed until the 18th

 
I had a very quick go on this earlier, and it certainly runs much better than before when using the 3070.
And with everything cranked up, the IQ was superior as well.

As said, I only played briefly, but sadly, I believe I was greeted with an audio bug: I heard someone speaking very close by (it sounded rather loud), but couldn't see anyone.
I've experienced this before; it doesn't fit the situation you're in at the time, which, in true Stalker fashion, is almost acceptably normal - given the surreal aspect to the game world.
So, in a weird sense, I find it to almost be a 'good' bug, of sorts.

And secondly, a very spongy mutant, I think it was a cat.
Goodness knows how many AK/Saiga rounds I pumped into it, but it was still alive!

Maybe there's a slightly better balance at stalker difficulty vs veteran?

Shader compilation seemed to take longer than I remember, but I'm not certain of that.

----- -----

Unsurprisingly, I'm still seeing a little performance being left on the table, despite a recent CPU upgrade.
However, most games seem to report only a small utilization deficit, so not much.
A quick check in Stalker 2 showed it hitting around the 95% mark.

To be fair, even the 3900X didn't do too bad either, though I do remember the frames in Black Mesa swinging all over the place,
but whether that was just CPU related, I don't know.
( Shader compilation seemed to take longer than I remember, ) That has become bad again faster on Nvidia Gpu`s compared to AMD but still slower per 1.6 patch.
 
Calin does like his games a certain way. Must to super realistic and all that. His Resident Evil rant cracked me up for example.

That said, i do agree to an extent something is off with STALKER 2. If it was not I would have completed it by now. Maybe gameplay, maybe story. Maybe both. I will complete it though. Just in no rush.

Is super realistic now days to assume that a world must follow its internal logic and logic connected / similar to real life? :)

Skif is an ex soldier, knows his way around guns - puts an AK back together in one clip and makes remarks about a PTM's tendency to jam in his dialogue with Solder, but... he's unable to fix its own guns! :cry: Same stupid BS that was in Call of Pripyat when you, a colonel in the army, didn't know how to maintain your weapon(s)!
Moreover, you hear NPCs making remarks on how you must take care of your equipment as it will keep you alive and yet, basically, all loot is worn to some extent and NPCs only care a few bullets with them. There are plenty of techies around, but no weapons are upgraded! Makes perfect sense, right? Just like a stupid character wondering alone into darkness in some cheap horror movie...

Then, when you think logically, as it would be in reality / our world, in what parallel universe a pistol does more dmg than an assault rifle? In what universe you need to shoot so many bullets into someone / something to take it down? In what universe everyone knows who you are and sees you easily while aim bot shooting at you?

Economy? Come on, ChatGPT can put together (and it did for me) a list of prices for items that you'd use in the zone, making it a lot better than what they did...

It's the same artificial scarcity that's happening in RE as well and lack of internal and real world logic. So yeah, is still a crappy game that one, too! Add TLOU and other gamers favorites for good measure! :p

And secondly, a very spongy mutant, I think it was a cat.
Goodness knows how many AK/Saiga rounds I pumped into it, but it was still alive!

Maybe there's a slightly better balance at stalker difficulty vs veteran?
That's by design. Higher difficulty will mean that you'll get less loot from NPCs and the like, plus tougher enemies. I'd suggest just playing it on the easiest difficulty. Makes life better.
 
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Is super realistic now days to assume that a world must follow its internal logic and logic connected / similar to real life? :)

Skif is an ex soldier, knows his way around guns - puts an AK back together in one clip and makes remarks about a PTM's tendency to jam in his dialogue with Solder, but... he's unable to fix its own guns! :cry: Same stupid BS that was in Call of Pripyat when you, a colonel in the army, didn't know how to maintain your weapon(s)!
Moreover, you hear NPCs making remarks on how you must take care of your equipment as it will keep you alive and yet, basically, all loot is worn to some extent and NPCs only care a few bullets with them. There are plenty of techies around, but no weapons are upgraded! Makes perfect sense, right? Just like a stupid character wondering alone into darkness in some cheap horror movie...

Then, when you think logically, as it would be in reality / our world, in what parallel universe a pistol does more dmg than an assault rifle? In what universe you need to shoot so many bullets into someone / something to take it down? In what universe everyone knows who you are and sees you easily while aim bot shooting at you?

Economy? Come on, ChatGPT can put together (and it did for me) a list of prices for items that you'd use in the zone, making it a lot better than what they did...

It's the same artificial scarcity that's happening in RE as well and lack of internal and real world logic. So yeah, is still a crappy game that one, too! Add TLOU and other gamers favorites for good measure! :p


That's by design. Higher difficulty will mean that you'll get less loot from NPCs and the like, plus tougher enemies. I'd suggest just playing it on the easiest difficulty. Makes life better.

Can it be improved, definitely. But also, it is a game. Not real world simulator :p
 
Well, you can file each critique under "it's a game", so all games are perfect :)

But then you can do the opposite.

There is a sweet spot I find for each game or type of game. Like if your game is called Flight Simulator then I expect it to be quite real. If it is called Resident Evil, i am not going to take issue with how you store items :D
 
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But then you can do the opposite.

There is a sweet spot I find for each game or type of game. Like if your game is called Flight Simulator then I expect it to be quite real. If it is called Resident Evil, i am not going to take issue with how you store items :D

The logic has to make sense within the game / move / book world. If you can store a few boards, nails and hammer in a single slot, then for sure you can pack up nicely a bunch of other stuff and store them in the same single slot! If you want to have 1+1=3, then have it all around, not at times 1+1=2 and others 1+1=3 (or 4 or whatever). :)

Speaking of which, it doesn't bother me that much that Skiff can carry 10 weapons (not sure where he could store them, but whatever), as it bothers me how little ammo you can pick up from NPCs or even ammo boxes. Or the fact that each weapon is worn. Or that you can't pick up their gear / suit, etc.

The problem with "it's just a game" is that it encourages stagnation. We're thrilled when a game pushes boundaries, but when our favorite games is under critique we take a defensive stance. I love Stalker series, but man... it has some really ugly flaws!
 
The logic has to make sense within the game / move / book world. If you can store a few boards, nails and hammer in a single slot, then for sure you can pack up nicely a bunch of other stuff and store them in the same single slot! If you want to have 1+1=3, then have it all around, not at times 1+1=2 and others 1+1=3 (or 4 or whatever). :)

Speaking of which, it doesn't bother me that much that Skiff can carry 10 weapons (not sure where he could store them, but whatever), as it bothers me how little ammo you can pick up from NPCs or even ammo boxes. Or the fact that each weapon is worn. Or that you can't pick up their gear / suit, etc.

The problem with "it's just a game" is that it encourages stagnation. We're thrilled when a game pushes boundaries, but when our favorite games is under critique we take a defensive stance. I love Stalker series, but man... it has some really ugly flaws!

I like Resident Evil the OG way. If they did what you said it would be taking it further away from that. If they want to do real life sim, they should just make a new horror franchise for that. That is how i feel about it :D
 
I like Resident Evil the OG way. If they did what you said it would be taking it further away from that. If they want to do real life sim, they should just make a new horror franchise for that. That is how i feel about it :D

What makes Resident Evil.... Reside Evil, the inventory? :) Don't forget this is a remake, after all they choose to move away from the (awful) tanky movement, ergo new gamepaly elements should/can be there. At the end of the day is about the key concepts, how you implement those can vary greatly.

For Stalker I'd say is the Zone, the anomalies, surviving, exploration, the factions, mutants, the brutal/realistic fighting. If they add concepts from Metro, like masks with filters, wiping your mask, your ability to fix weapons, take them appart, use parts from different weapons to another weapon, maybe make ammo, turn off/kill the lights, would that change Stalker? In Arma 3 you have plenty of ammo, hell, you can have a sniper scope on your heavy MG and yet is more fair and balanced than what Stalker does...

You can make a game challenging either artificially or naturally / organically. I hate the first part.

BTW, IL2 makes it an arcade experience or sim like, based on your settings. Even ArmA 3 has a sim structure for helicopters. Again, it's an option. Stalker is already within the reach of a realistic approach. If you wanna make it better, then make a human body like in Sniper Elite, with muscles, bones, organs, major blood veins, all, scale it to all human (and even bloodsuckers) and give that a go (maybe some gore with dismemberment like others games have). Add some logical armor (like ArmA 3 has), where the body is protected only by the visual form of the armor (so if someone's neck/face is exposed, you could shoot it with a pistol and it's gone), some more stances including prone (again, like Arma), better ballistics, stealth like Splinter Cell, some mechanics from Hitman, some vehicles and it will be more of a Stalker game like the series ever was...
 
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What makes Resident Evil.... Reside Evil, the inventory? :)

It is a part of what makes Resident Evil Resident Evil yeah. I enjoy it and the item management. Otherwise lets just make Resident Evil 6. Or just make a new IP and do what you want and leave my Resident Evil alone ;)

It is a bit like Final Fantasy 7. Even with the much better graphics and sound of the remakes, if i had to pick it would be an easy choice. They should have left thebturn based gameplay in there.


Don't forget this is a remake, after all they choose to move away from the (awful) tanky movement,

The tanky controls were an option :D
 
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Almost 7 minutes of nothingness. :cry:

But but but.... rt/pt can't be optimised!!!!

#NEXUSWASRIGHTAGAIN

What a time to be alive!

Metro Exodus EE ran much better and looked better, of course there was room for improvement. :p

People can say what they like about the game but they absolutely nailed the atmosphere.

True that, the visuals are good and where its lacking proper RT should fix it. Bonus points, it doesn't need 20GB vRAM for highly detail assets, like some other games / engines would need.

The problem is with the gameplay, is too rough, too simple, to artificially broken. Story wise it would also need some refinement.
Case in point: "A stalker is only as good as his weapon. An experienced loner spares no coupons on his gun because it feeds him". Almost all weapons that you find are broken, have no attachments / improvements and those characters carry a handful of bullets. But oh boy, food, water, first aid, etc., grow on trees, you can find them everywhere!

 
Almost 7 minutes of nothingness. :cry:



Metro Exodus EE ran much better and looked better, of course there was room for improvement. :p



True that, the visuals are good and where its lacking proper RT should fix it. Bonus points, it doesn't need 20GB vRAM for highly detail assets, like some other games / engines would need.

The problem is with the gameplay, is too rough, too simple, to artificially broken. Story wise it would also need some refinement.
Case in point: "A stalker is only as good as his weapon. An experienced loner spares no coupons on his gun because it feeds him". Almost all weapons that you find are broken, have no attachments / improvements and those characters carry a handful of bullets. But oh boy, food, water, first aid, etc., grow on trees, you can find them everywhere!

Yes very unbalance. :cry:
 
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