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

[eny]

I absolutely love the brutality of the fights, even with just 2 or 3 bandits you really do get a sense of mortality and weapon limitation, headshots are your friend, stealth kills save ammo, but my god I feel so vulnerable and it is fucking great!

[eny]

Tip: when you get your bolts, remember they not only expose anomalies, but some clear momentarily once triggered, allowing you to pass...and the a-life isnt necessarily as aware of them as you are...........

[Animalmother]

A storm started to roll in and the whole look of the game started to change, very beautiful if it wasn't in a radioactive hellhole. Took shelter in an old cattle farm and got rushed by about 4 huge pigs, didn't survive long. Pigs are the bane of my existence in these games

[eny]

I can't believe just how close to the original games this is, the feeling is almost exactly the same, the inventory and stash systems almost identical, it just breathes and flows so well. Absolutely loving this, and the modders are going to have a field day with it too.

I just ventured too close to my first IPSF base, my god the military is scarily realistic...

[Sly Boots]

Haha, I'm going through that base at the moment for the main story, has got pretty hairy a few times (read: I've died a lot lol)

[eny]

3 enemies, 7 shots from my scoped Lummox's AKM, best firefight I have had in years! Breathtakingly good.

[Sly Boots]

Probably what has killed me the most is anomalies that I'm attempting to plunder for artifacts, some are relatively simple but some are more like environmental puzzles - like a big tower that has anomalies electrifying its ladder, and tried scaling it a few times, but even starting up straight after having deactivated one patch with a thrown bolt there were enough active patches left to kill you before you reach the top.

I was able to eventually find another route up that involved backtracking quite a far ways, scaling another builder, making my way from there across a series of pipes and finally jumping onto a broken half-ladder on a nearby tower that shared roof access with the one with the anomaly... great fun working that out!

[eny]

I have to say, the environmental realisation is phenomenal, so many wildflowers I recognise, the Boars look so real, it really does feel like authentic wilderness.

[Snowy]

I must say Eny that I just don't see how the game can be completed on Veteran. I have had a couple of moments where I have had to knock the difficulty down, the fights (and I am talking story missions here) have been so fucking brutal that I just tired of dying.

Not the human enemies, but some of the mutants are just bullet-sponges to a crazy degree, even on Stalker difficulty. Needed to bump the difficulty just to get the buggers out of the way so I could continue. And bloodsuckers on Veteran? Yeesh I don't even want to think about those! Had one that I took up close and personal with a shotgun and that took desperate bandaging and medkitting while unloading on it.

Well I am through the first section and into Garbage now, and have just done the opening mission. Eye-wateringly hard, especially when the enemies have helmets on and those one-shot-kill headshots aren't a sure thing any more. I am desperate to get to the main town, but having yomped it just to try to reach the trader and mechanic you can't access them due to plot armour.

Oh, and I was the luckiest fucker - I was engaged in a crazy firefight against a load of well armed and armoured goons and got the dreaded warning - an emission is incoming. I raced into their base and managed to get indoors and hide, but it was touch and go.

[Sly Boots]

Not too far behind you Snowy, I just got the objective to go to Garbage, having an absolute blast I must say. The military base mission was pretty tough, probably took down about 20 soldiers before I ended up just legging it from the last few.

Got quite a lot of nice armour pieces in there though, fetched a pretty penny back at the traders.

[Snowy]

Have to laugh, only in Stalker: Buying the ultimate edition gets me a load of extra gear, but each piece is in a different stash and they are all over the map and tied to the 'Journalist's stash' questline. Only Stalker would make you work for your paid extras

Some tricky ones to find, but some peaches too. Got a nice shotgun that maxes out the damage - doing a side mission in Garbage and after working out how to get into the locked building and finding out what has happened to the people inside, I get jumped by a group of bandits as I go to leave. I slam the door shut and skedaddle back inside sharpish, and then creep around the inside peeking my shotty over the windowsills and letting them have it point blank. They fly! Also got a nice new suit, which is helpful.

So yeah, I have some better armour and weapons now, and am feeling slightly less of a squishy meatbag, which is a nice change. That said, I am still regularly getting splattered across the zone, just one moment of inattention and wallop...

[eny]

It is tough on Veteran...and slow...every sound is a message. Stealth is so much better than the originals, you can creep up and stealth kill human enemies. A-Life is about avoidance as much as contact. Dogs in particular can spend ammo, so I get elevated and power melee one at a time if I can't lead them to enemies and use them that way (that bandit mission where you couldn't save being a prime example). I have died 50 times, but the fights are such glee I don't care one bit! The days need to be longer though...I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't modded already, they are too quick.

[Snowy]

The days need to be longer though...I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't modded already, they are too quick.

Yeah I would take that mod in a heartbeat

[Rusty]

Longer days: https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heart ... yl/mods/44

[Snowy]

Wow they haven't hung about!

Installed 4x longer days, and looking at other mods