S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

[eny]

Still only at 75% d/l....itching!

[Wrathbone]

Played an hour or so - really enjoying it! No issues as of yet and the game is as unforgiving as I expected, which is part of the experience of course.

[Animalmother]

I keep getting killed by the same blood sucker over and over even after dumping 2 assault rifle mags into him. The game then froze and crashed.

This might need a few more updates on the console...

[Raid]

I bounced off it hard, this is not my type of game. I also got killed repeatedly by an invisible monster in the tutorial that is never announced, you're not told it's there or how you're supposed to fight it (I ended up climbing on top of the bunker and cheesing it when it couldn't pathfind up to me), and in the next area I came up against a house where I just randomly seemed to take damage. I hate how you need to bandage yourself after every firefight, I hate the fact that you just randomly stumble into patches of radiation that drains your health afterwards (yes I know you have a geiger counter, it's not enough and not something you're concentrating on when there's an enemy in front of you). I don't like health micromanagement, I don't think it adds anything to the experience (immersion should be a factor of world design, not tedious button pressing and inventory management). After fighting one of the bulbous mutated pig things which took about 6 point-blank shotgun rounds to kill (between salvos it would run in, bite off half my health, I'd heal and then repeat), a second one immediately appeared behind it and I just shut the game knowing I couldn't enjoy it.

Basically I was expecting a tense horror shooter, and what I got was a tedious survival sim, and I really don't like survival sims.

[Sly Boots]

Also put in about an hour, enjoying it so far, took down the first bloodsucker you meet at the research station, mainly through running around wildly, firing indiscriminately and then huddling in a corner trying to use healing kits before it could kill me first

Animal, could be worth switching to Ukrainian voices but English text, which is what I'm doing, feels more authentically Stalker lol

[Snowy]

Well I have died, a lot!

It hasn't lost its knack of scaring the piss out of me either.

I killed the bloodsucker in the tutorial, full auto to the face and lots of panicked running. Before the third transmitter I went and investigated a beached ship, where I was killed by a similar thing to Chris' description. Lots some health but couldn't see a cause, but did notice a pot rolling down the slope I had clambered up. Walked back to the deck of the ship, turned around and there was a crate slowly levitating into the air. I suspected the foretold jank, but no it was some kind of poltergeist as the crate then got hurled at me and killed me stone dead. The initial impact must have been from the thrown pot!

Gun battles are really tense affairs. I rescued one guy by climbing a huge chimney and slotting the bad guys in the top of the head, but still had to keep nipping into cover. I have just quit having clambered into a big raised granary to escape the big piggies, only to have a group of militia come in and kill them then decide they were not done and wanted to kill me. I took them out (while there was a mental raging yellow storm going on) but on climbing down again found the rest of the piggies had come looking for their dead family members and got slaughtered. That will do me for this evening, I will go back to it later. Harrowing, atmospheric, punishing and very tense, just as I remember it.

Looking forward to finding my gear from my upgraded version of the game - being a Stalker title they don't just give it to you

Will absolutely be switching to Ukrainian dialogue and English subs. Having my character voiced by an American and running into Scots and Irish characters so far is just jarring.

It's odd, ordinarily this game has so many elements I avoid like the plague, punishing difficulty, eating and drinking, bandaging, gun jams and horror elements, but this series is the one I have always enjoyed despite it all.

[Animalmother]

The prologue is a terrible way to introduce people to the game, I can see a lot of people bouncing off it like Raid. I managed to get through it and am now in the main stalker town ( already have about 4 missions). The voice acting is not good, the zone seems to be entirely populated by Americans, English, Scots and Irish. Might try the subtitles.

I don't want to seem like I'm being down on the game, I'll stick with it and see if it manages to grab me. I do think it needs a bit more time in the oven but I'll cut the developers a lot of slack.

[eny]

I am loving it! Ukrainian and Veteran with no hud from the start, it ain't S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with anything else, English subs natch. Everything I love about STALKER is here, they have so many details from the originals, and it feels right at home. I can certainly see how difficult it could be for non-veterans, it always had a steep learning curve, but once the nouce sets in it grows on you. It is an environment to live in whilst playing, that's for sure, some of the mutants have a different weakness than others, Bloodsuckers are only vulnerable when visible for example, boars from the side, Fleshes from front on.

Also, you don't have to pick everything up, and you don't have to engage everything you meet...

[Sly Boots]

Oh man I am absolutely loving this so far. In the game proper now, on my way to the main town, got sucked into a gunfight between some bandits and a stalker, and he's asked me to go rescue his friend from a bunch of others in an abandoned boiler house.

Was a bit gutting to lose my gear after the tutorial, the artefact especially as it kept my rad level down, but the feeling of anxiety just exploring some old house looking for a few bullets or a can of food, jumping at any sound, can't be beat.

I came across the anomaly in the boat as well that killed Snowy and Raid, definitely a poltergeist or something, you can see a ghostly blur as it follows you around throwing shit at your head. You can't fight those, I just ran in, grabbed some loot, and ran out guzzling a health pack lol.

Two deaths so far... first when I got unwittingly blasted by the scanner you're there to use (lesson learned, after setting down the scanner: RUN ), second at the aforementioned gunfight, when I wandered up to the group of bandits as my reticule indicated allies (green) and they started shooting. I sprinted back to the cover of the rundown bus stop I'd just passed, had enough time to register 'oh look, there's a cache of supplies just there' before a grenade landed between my feet

Stalker.... it's great to be back

[Wrathbone]

The prologue is a terrible way to introduce people to the game

Agreed, it's not really a tutorial beyond the basic controls. I too got nailed by the poltergeist but quickly decided that fleeing was the best option, and I don't have a problem with that sort of experiential learning in a game where you can quicksave whenever you want. It'd be nice for a few more bits to be clarified, though. The scanner, for instance - I realised that you have to back away from it at first, but am I supposed to be able to return to it without taking damage? I thought the beeping was implying a timed burst of damage at first, but that doesn't seem to be the case. In the end I just tanked the damage and healed, but I felt like I'd missed the intended way of collecting the scanner.

In general though, learning the ropes of a brutal environment is half the fun.

[Sly Boots]

The prologue is a terrible way to introduce people to the game

Agreed, it's not really a tutorial beyond the basic controls. I too got nailed by the poltergeist but quickly decided that fleeing was the best option, and I don't have a problem with that sort of experiential learning in a game where you can quicksave whenever you want. It'd be nice for a few more bits to be clarified, though. The scanner, for instance - I realised that you have to back away from it at first, but am I supposed to be able to return to it without taking damage? I thought the beeping was implying a timed burst of damage at first, but that doesn't seem to be the case. In the end I just tanked the damage and healed, but I felt like I'd missed the intended way of collecting the scanner.

In general though, learning the ropes of a brutal environment is half the fun.

Re scanner, the second time I did it (having got killed the first time), I just picked my way between the electric flashes, it wasn't too hard as you can see where they are pretty clearly, got in and out again without taking damage.

[Snowy]

Was a bit gutting to lose my gear after the tutorial, the artefact especially as it kept my rad level down

Possibly vaguely spoilery, but only in a 'what if' sense:

Spoiler

There is a safe you can loot in the opening section, just have to hop through a window to get to it. I wonder if you can stash your goodies - weapons, artefact etc - in there before triggering the end of the tutorial cutscene and help yourself again once done?

[Snowy]

Veteran with no hud from the start

Maniac

The game is hard as nails on Stalker difficulty, I don't need more punishment!

[Animalmother]

I find the walking animation a bit odd, like you have difficulty moving in a straight line without wobbling about a bit. I wonder if that's just a simulation of all the fucking vodka you need to cure radiation or the fact that the legs are modeled.

[Wrathbone]

Re scanner, the second time I did it (having got killed the first time), I just picked my way between the electric flashes, it wasn't too hard as you can see where they are pretty clearly, got in and out again without taking damage.

I assumed it was a 'general area' deal with the damage, but yes, it seems bleeding obvious now you've said it.