Some questions before I buy... - by Kyle Kellahshehskee
Kyle Kellahshehskee on 20/6/2008 at 04:12
I have a few extra dollars in my pocket, and I'm contemplating purchasing a title that's new to me, and I'm obviously seriously considering STALKER. I'd like your feedback before I do so.
It might be helpful to know what I'm looking for. If it doesn't sound like STALKER's up my alley, then don't hesitate to offer up a title that you think would be a better fit for me.
1. Do the AI lean around cover when engaging the player?
2. Do the AI communicate with one another in an attempt to outflank and/or flush out the player?
3. Do the AI operate competently inside of structures?
4. Do the AI operate competently in the outdoor environments?
5. Do the AI "care" about each others' wellbeing? In other words, if a comrade's injured, will they come to his/her assistance and give medical aid if the area looks clear of enemies?
6. How persistent is the world?
7. How "free-ranging" does the world allow the player to be?
8. After the end scenario has played out, is still possible to keep playing the game?
9. Are ballistics realistically modeled? In other words, will a 7.62 round have greater penetration capabilities compared to a 5.45 or 5.6 round?
10. If ballistics are realistically modeled, are the majority of the objects in the environment designed to be effected by the rounds that strike/penetrate through them?
11. Which mods are must haves? And please, list them in the order of your preference! If there are any fancy acronyms, please let me know what they stand for.
It might help to know that my primary concern in regards to improving gameplay through mods is that combat is enhanced to be as realistic as possible.
Thank you all in advance!
Yours,
Kyle
June 20, 2008
:D
denisv on 20/6/2008 at 06:37
1. I've never seen it
2. Not AFAIK, although it may sometimes appear that way
3 & 4. They do okay, compared to other shooters
5. Not in an unmodded game. Happens in AMK though
6. Barely
7. Barely
8. Not in an unmodded game
9. No
10. No. Rounds penetrate weak material but there's no deformation. You can't blow stuff up either
11. AMK is probably the best
Sounds like you're looking more for (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqAGW8tmYw0) ArmA with the SLX mod than anything Stalker has to offer.
Rogue Keeper on 20/6/2008 at 08:11
1. Sometimes they hide behind bushes, cars or other structures, but do not lean to fire at you, instead they walk out from behind the cover to have you in sight, and they flank you often.
2. Yes, they shout at each other in Russian (Ukraininan?) "flank him" or "throw a grenade" (they don't throw grenades in vanilla game though). The level of tactical cooperation doesn't reach FEAR though. The Clear Sky add-on promises to improve AI cooperation further.
5. No, unfortunately the don't even apear to be trading with each other. AMK/Oblivion lost mod enables them to loot the corpses and heal themselves if they have a moment of rest, but not other comrades.
6. The A-Life system is quite interesting, but only some mods drain the best from it's possibilities, unfortunately sometimes leading to excesses. Animals and NPCs migrate and repopulate particular areas.
7. The Zone is reasonably big if you put all areas together, however the crossing points make individual areas feel smaller - no continuous travel without loading like in TES games. I would welcome two or three more open areas though.
8. Some mods allow this and patch 1.1, if it ever officially comes out, should too. But the game with it's miniquests would be so repetitive after the end that I better freeplay during the campaign - you have plenty of time with the main quest, just like in TES games, nobody pushes you to go forward with the story if you don't want to.
9. Far as I know 5.56 has better penetration because it's lighter and flies at higher speed than 7.62, which has better stopping power. I believe the devs tried to emulate this, but it would be difficult to notice the differencies in ammunition lethality and penetration in the game.
10. The ballistics are only arguably realistic, lethality of all weapons is not well balanced, you can waste 2/3 of magazine on one enemy in mid-range with some rifles and this is why the game was initially criticized. Many mods alter the ballistics, precision and damage of weapons but whether their adjustments are more realistic is an open question.
11. My fav big mod is AMK, but I abandoned it anyway because of weird A-Life issues later phases of the game. Some would recommend Oblivion Lost mod. Weather Overhauled mod recreates weather in the game from scratch and it looks just amazing. There are numerous small ones which adjust things like weight you can carry or functionalize some cars - good if you are dissatisfied only with particular issue and don't want a big mod with many changes.
In terms of realism, yes, the shootouts and survival in the Zone is quite realistic and can be challenging on higher difficulties, but some mods (like those I mentioned) make the game even more difficult - but those are not meant for first time players much.
mothra on 20/6/2008 at 09:21
pretty much what they said but I would add that ClearSky won't be a add-on, it will be a standalone game and if you wanna try a mod that completely alters the story and almost gives you a new game try: Priboi Story.
while the AI is funky at some times I would say that the added interaction of NPCs with the environment, traveling inside zones and the bonfire tales make them much more "believable". but be prepared to have some look and shoot the other way when you ambush them or them running into anomalies (which you can then use for your advantage). sometimes they will act hillarious sometimes you won't know what to do how to stop them because they are that good. the "realistic" behavior of weapons is very.....subjective. I think it shows best when you get your first true sniperrifle and zoom, you will have to lead the target as well as compensate for distance. but that's pretty much it. in medium range it's more like Half-life where you can pump a whole magazine into the chest but need only 1-2 headshots.....considering the low price ~10 bucks and the vast mod possibilities and ongoing mod development I would say it's a no-brainer. expect a gem but no diamond.
Duncan on 20/6/2008 at 14:15
I'm not going to read what the others have posted, because i am far too gone. The zone has claimed me. What i will say is that for a long time i was hesitant to purchase this game purely from screen shots and a false perception of what the game was all about. In my case i was unfortunate enough to only see "underground" screen shots, and although quite pretty, it appeared nothing more than simply another Doom3 scenario. NOW... after a while i finally bit the bullet and purchased the game when seeking a new fix, and let me tell you, STALKER has become THE game that i have been seeking for many years. And i do not say that lightly (as games rarely affect me as such these days). I have seen games evolve and been there from the very beginning. But i can say there is something about STALKER that captures what gaming is all about. It is the first game in many years that has held my attention. Not only in completing it, but replaying it as soon as i had finished. And then investigating all the mods to enhance and morph the world into what i truly wanted.
Now, from what you have described, i do not know how to pimp STALKER as being what you need. There are things about the game which fail my needs, but not so much as i cannot call it a truly great gaming experience.
As for mods, i would have to say that the game needs to be played at least once with no mods at all. After that, the best mod i have yet to experience would be AMK. It is enough to make me want to sell everything i own and live in the zone. Sure, i probably would not last long, but fuck it, what a cool adventure life would be.
242 on 20/6/2008 at 16:35
1. Do the AI lean around cover when engaging the player?
No.
2. Do the AI communicate with one another in an attempt to outflank and/or flush out the player?
More often than not they act in groups, and seemingly do that collectively, it's an illusion that they work on collective level though, but very good one. (prequel will really have another layer of AI logic - group AI).
3. Do the AI operate competently inside of structures?
4. Do the AI operate competently in the outdoor environments?
Yes. Pathfinding is very good, they retreat, hide, outflank.
5. Do the AI "care" about each others' wellbeing? In other words, if a comrade's injured, will they come to his/her assistance and give medical aid if the area looks clear of enemies?
No.
6. How persistent is the world?
Very.
7. How "free-ranging" does the world allow the player to be?
The world is pretty much open-ended and game is pretty much not linear. Not to the degree of Gothic3, but for shooters this game is a revolution.
8. After the end scenario has played out, is still possible to keep playing the game?
No. But no one forces you to go to Pripyat as soon as you get the allowance. F.e. I spent about 50h doing exploration and side quests before going to the last stage of the game.
9. Are ballistics realistically modeled? In other words, will a 7.62 round have greater penetration capabilities compared to a 5.45 or 5.6 round?
Ballistics are modeled thoroughly, at least I don't know any other game where ballistics are more complexly calculated. It doesn't mean they are 100% realistic. Some game conventions were made, obviously to make gun fights more playable. F.e. it's hard to kill a person with a pistol even from very close distance, you should find and use better weapon if you want to be effective killer.
11. Which mods are must haves? And please, list them in the order of your preference! If there are any fancy acronyms, please let me know what they stand for.
I suggest to play first time without any mods except "stk10004_bug_fix_attempt_24aug" - it's a mod that fixes some bugs still present in the game after patching it to 1.0004. It doesn't add any new content and doesn't change gameplay in any way, only fixes bugs (stashes, reputation, few other things) + changes fictional weapons names to real ones. Nothing critical though. "stk10004_bug_fix_attempt_24aug" is the name of the russian version of the mod, I don't know if it's the same for english version. Author is bardak. And in any case you should patch the game to 1.0004 or 1.0005 (it doesn't matter which actually if you don't use online)
catbarf on 20/6/2008 at 21:32
Most of those things, the answer is no. However, with the right mods, most of those become 'Yes'.
Jashin on 21/6/2008 at 03:19
Stalker's a tier above considering that every other AAA title would have gotten a "HELL NO" to every single question followed by a slap over the head and a "What were you thinking?!"
Just buy the thing, $20 is bargain priced already.
I can say without reservation that Stalker's worth every penny.
Muzman on 21/6/2008 at 05:19
Are there any games yet that can answer in the affirmative to all of those at the same time?
There might be a couple later this year.
Koki on 22/6/2008 at 07:10
What a list. What other FPSes do you play, Kyle Kellahshehskee?
