Xenith on 23/7/2007 at 13:58

---

well just finished this great game and I must say that it surprised me more and more as I went further whit the story. sure it became somewhat predictable at one point but still, it was interesting enough to follow.

the big thing that made me say "WOW" out loud is probably the zone containing the Brain Scorcher (Red Forest), but it was the Scorcher that made the whole place so delightfull. I was wearing headphones and the fact that I coudl hear the low frequency sound that was emanating from the antenas and kind of feel the whole vibration in my head was beyond what I was expecting to find. I could actually see (or hear I guess) why people would go insane when around that thing. one funny thing is that right on top of one of those antenas, a monolith soldier was shooting at me whit a sniper rifle and all I could think of was what that guy was going through considering that I was begining to feel the whole vibration iritating as it was far away from those things. :)

the next big thing was when I was told that a group of veterans was about to go deep into the zone and were gathering at Pripyat. It was wonderfull to go along whit them and actually feel like I'm in a team for a change. not to mention that the road of getting inside the Sarcophagus (might have mispelled that... already edited) was even more mind-blowing whit the 5 minute timer and color changing view ( it really felt as if soemthing big was going to happen and I did my best to rush inside. helicopters fighting whit monolith soldiers made a great atmosphere)

of course the Bar area whit the Arena and suroundings was for the most pleasent place, because it gave the feeling that it was the main part of the Zone that had life crawling in it (other stalkers moving around, people sitting in the bar, the bar-trader wich greeted me whit "marked one... still alive? that's great!)

there would be a lot to say about everything from the world map (X labs, Agroprom, Dark Valley, etc) but I would be writing to much :)

so what part(s) of the zone did you find most appealing to you and where did you like most to stay or go? (like the Bar for me)

D'Arcy on 23/7/2007 at 19:11

---

I like Cordon, particularly when we start out, with poor weapons and armor, and almost no artifacts. I also like Yantar and Pripyat a lot.

D'Arcy on 25/7/2007 at 00:10

---

Have you ever tried to explore the whole thing, or did you just follow the 'expected' route? There are some interesting and quiet places in there. Last time I played I even managed to walk around long enough to finally come across some Military Stalkers, which I had never seen in my previous games.

HamburgerBoy on 25/7/2007 at 06:34

---

One thing I really loved was the Army Warehouses, specifically when Duty performed their siege on the Freedom base. It was so awesome watching them break up into smaller groups and work their way through the base, and even cooler how you could reload right at the beginning and see entirely different results due to the randomness of the game. I spent hours just reloading that one part over and over, rooting for different sides and occasionally sending a bullet or two from a safe distance to get things the way I wanted them.

Another excellent moment as escaping the X16 (or is it X18?) labs in the Dark Valley. I was low on medikits, my armor was 3/4ths broken, there was a really creepy storm going on, and was surrounded by twenty fucking military troopers. Every shot had to be perfect to survive and by miracle they were, but then in came the reinforcements and a wandering horde of boars. Instead of sticking around I ran like hell to the exit and was shot a good number of times in the process. The last fifty feet was me just limping along for my life, but still got to the gate. Being that the loading point shot me much farther than most would, I was completely lost and fear of sudden death kept me from looking at my PDA. Going over the hill I see town, and then it hits me that I was at home and safe. All the scene needed was Sidorovich standing at the front with cookies and a warm blanket to welcome me. A pretty melodramatic paragraph for a computer game, but I've never had a game immerse me so emotionally before.

D'Arcy on 25/7/2007 at 08:40

---

Yes, you do. I'm talking about Pripyat, not the Chernobyl NPP.