fett on 5/1/2009 at 03:27
I'm near the beginning of the game. Just raided the nearby bandit hideout and brought Nimble's flash drive back to the trader. Cleared out the boar pit for Wolf. My health is at 57%. It starts raining. My health drains in about 15 seconds and I die before I can figure out what the hell happened. I'm standing in the starting camp, about 10 feet away from wolf. No anomalies, no one attacking me.
Does this have something to do with the reward he gave me? (Something called a Wrenched - whateverthehell that is). I notice a green radiation symbol on the screen when I put it on, but it doesn't go away when I drop the Wrenched thing.
Would be nice if the game offered some type of info about why my character stands there and dies over and over. Also, quicksaves don't seem to load. Losing my patience with what has been lauded as a very good game. Not seeing it yet - mostly buggy frustration. Any help would be appreciated. :erg:
jtr7 on 5/1/2009 at 03:37
I've never played the game, but I've read several posts here about radiation poisoning. I assume there must be something to counteract it early on if you're already affected. Rad hypos (correct term?), special suits and armors are some things to watch for, I believe. But then...I've never played the game.:(
fett on 5/1/2009 at 04:07
Heh - hopefully I can find them within about 10-15 seconds or I have to load an earlier save.
The phrase 'shitty game design' comes immediately to mind...:rolleyes:
driver on 5/1/2009 at 04:37
The artifact you got as a reward was radioactive (It's in the description). If you want to equip it you'll need another artifact that removes radiation.
Once you're irradiated, you'll need to take some anti-rad meds (Vodka or anti-rad hypos) or equip a radiation draining artifact otherwise you'll die from the poisoning. Anti-rad armour will only slow down the speed you're poisoned at, it won't remove radiation already in your system.
:edit:
You can see your current level of radiation poisoning in your inventory. It's the yellow bar next to your health and armour conditions. The fuller the bar, the further upshit creek you are. The green symbol that appears in-game also indicates your rad level. Green is minimal, yellow is dangerous, red is Chernobyl.
fett on 5/1/2009 at 04:42
So the 'reward' that Wolf gives me causes death. Nice. Why would I want such a thing to begin with? I feel like I've missed something here - if I'd known it was going to kill me, I wouldn't have taken it in the first place. I don't think I have any vodka or anti-rads, so I guess I'll re-load an earlier save. Seems like it should have mentioned something about armor being radioactive since typically armor is a *good* thing for defense - not something that kills you. :confused: :erg:
driver on 5/1/2009 at 04:45
The artifact is radiocative, but it also protects against slashing attacks. It's not much of a reward, but some quest-givers ask for specific artifacts, so it's good to keep a stock of seemingly naff artifacts on hand.
That or you could just sell it. Even the poorest of artifacts will net you more money than most of the junk you'll come across.
:edit:
Most artifacts are double-edged swords, protecting you from one thing, but making you vunerable to another. Some are radioactive, like Wretched, requiring you to equip a radiation draining artifact in order for you to safely equip them. Once you've gathered a few different types you should be able to equip a few that cancel out each other's penalties (Or reduce them to acceptable levels) while providing you with extra protection (Or other bonuses) above your standard armour.
theabyss on 5/1/2009 at 05:23
Well, just from receiving the artifact you don't get radioactive poisoning, but if you activate it in your belt - then yes - if it is radioactive. Some are not. It took me a while to figure out which ones are useful.
Muzman on 5/1/2009 at 05:49
I don't think I've ever encountered a game that I really liked in any long term way that I knew exactly how to play from the get go (Thief, SS2. Deus Ex fans often say the same). Even the ones that ease you in fairly well (Bioshock was quite good at this) were pretty thin in other areas.
It's annoying but there you go. Chug whatever vodka you've got. Check the chest near the campfire, sometimes there's more there.
I don't remember artifacts equiping themselves automatically. I'm pretty sure they don't. Maybe in an early version? They're generally good to have, artifacts, particularly at the start since, as mentioned, they're worth about ten times as much as basic crap. You just click on them in the inventory to see what they do. +2 to radiation is bad unless you have a -2 radiation artifact sitting next to it.
Papy on 5/1/2009 at 06:33
Quote Posted by fett
The phrase 'shitty game design' comes immediately to mind.
Stalker is certainly a "hardcore" game and you have to consider it as such. If you play it as the usual dumbed down modern game, you will die.
Koki on 5/1/2009 at 07:09
Quote Posted by fett
The phrase 'shitty game design' comes immediately to mind...:rolleyes:
Let's see. The artifact description says "Emits radiation". In it's stats you can see something like this:
Radiation +1
When you put it on, a big-ass ugly radiation sign appears on your screen and you start to lose health.
So as for your question in the topic? Signs point to yes.
