242 on 27/9/2009 at 14:58
About new quests, people are satisfied, it seems the quests are much better made than in previous installments. The main complaints I've seen so far are about lack of details on the maps (lack of small objects, details like garbage etc.).
clearing on 27/9/2009 at 15:04
The first impressions in Russia are good. Maps are huge.
Koki on 27/9/2009 at 17:11
Quote Posted by 242
About new quests, people are satisfied, it seems the quests are much better made than in previous installments. The main complaints I've seen so far are about lack of details on the maps (lack of small objects, details like garbage etc.).
That's bad. Buggy quests are easy to fix, empty maps are not.
mothra on 27/9/2009 at 20:03
i couldn't wait and I am running around the swamp atm.
it IS HUGE. animals are more agressive. enemies eat bullets for breakfast. the HUD is too big for my taste but I love the quickslots (especially for my energy drinks). you have to eat pretty often. got my first 2 artifacts :)
and some psycho-electro-invisible monster bashed my head with bricks until I was dead. it was pretty awesome. and if clear sky was overpopulated this is like living on the moon compared.
242 on 27/9/2009 at 22:50
How many monsters and humans compared to SoC? Are the maps less detailed than SoC's maps?
mothra on 28/9/2009 at 00:41
*** little spoilery ***
more monsters at night, less, far, far less enemies, only small patrols and a few structures as enemy strongholds. so far I raided one location which had about 9 bad boys, combat seems better than in CS/SOC, meaning it's tougher to hit them, they seem to avoid more than stand in plain sight getting shot. I don't leave the level since I don't wanna spoil the rest without proper translation. so far I encountered dogs, pseudodogs, a pack of snorks and 2 bloodsuckers (they rule - I saw how they attacked a group of stalkers out of cloak, they must have waited for them at a crossing, 1 flew through the air, it was glorious. and yeah, it's a very "empty" space, some buildings can't be entered (maybe they only open up for missons). but it's impressive in scope nonetheless and makes sense that it's so desolate. the ship (aka bar) is much better detailed and stuffed with little things and there are more interesting NPCs (one had a pseudodog as a housepet)
I only managed to complete 2 missions with my bad russian and intuition:
- raid an stranded enemy freighter near the new "bar" ship
- follow some stalkers to uncover artifacts
there is big crack in the swamp level (don't know what it's called) where you can get in, it's a pretty maze down there and dark at day, that's where I had my snork attack.
all in all the animal AI seems more agressive but not stupid as in - much more evading and hopping around like crazy, except dogs, they just charge you like crazy. and they do not give up. in soc if you shot half of them the others would run away.
another spot was some kind of power station where this invisible electro-thingy charged me and killed me with bricks and crates. there I found one of the missing helicopters the game revolves around and when I "used" it, it played some ingame cutscene with the avatar explaining something or talking to himself. every group of stalkers you meet have one guy that can give you missions, trade works with everybody but they only take some things, prices are higher than in SOC I think and weapons have no value, only artifacts. there was one blowout after which I found a few dead stalkers lying around which I could loot for some pretty good stuff (like sidirovich would say) I can't confirm if anomaly fields did change, the blowout was pretty soon and I think part of the tutorial.
upgrading is in, and you pick up many nades, too much for my taste but I won't complain (you need 'em for the enemy strongholds, going in is mostly suicide, they just coverfire every entrance and you are toast), hmm, tracers at night looks awesome, especially 'cause the level is pretty flat and you can see fights a mile away (note to self - wait for shooting to stop, then go looting)
bugs: occasional AI got stuck in the ship at some ladders, a friend got the old nvidia "shadow follows you bug" from SOC, I don't.
now and then some fights break out between stalkers but nothing of CS levels, respawns are seriously towned down. No spawning in your face if you stay at a place you just cleared.
visuals are AWESOME. only works on win7 for me and I had to turn down most of the same stuff as in CS (like godrays) to get it working with decent framerate.
artifact hunting is in and tense like it was in CS (my most beloved feature).
all in all, I love it sofar, a clear improvement over CS but I can't say shit about story and if it will get to SOC levels. (no underground found yet).
I found the transition to the next map but some guys didn't let me through, so I miss the proper completed missions or just answered wrong
they have a few new stuff to pick up which I can't place yet, some looks like a repair/tool kit but I can't use it on the guns although they light up when I select it.
inventory is nice, you can see right away at the icons of your guns in what condition they are. but hud is just too big for my taste.
next step: extract all text and put it through babelfish/google to have my own monty python english translation.
I will not buy this record, it is kaputt.
Koki on 28/9/2009 at 05:36
Quote Posted by mothra
they have a few new stuff to pick up which I can't place yet, some looks like a repair/tool kit but I can't use it on the guns although they light up when I select it.
Probably a repair kit?
How are the weapons? Are you still running with shotguns or do you get something good in very first location?
Any possible screenshot of the "huge" UI?
Let's hope AMK2 will be on time this year so I can replay SoC before CoP hits.
mothra on 28/9/2009 at 06:28
screenshots after work, I got hold of good guns easy by killin but no sniperrifles yet.but most guns have already scope/launcher/suppressor attached (at least the ones in the building with the 9 bad guys had) i have not spot any new guns yet.
242 on 28/9/2009 at 09:22
Quote Posted by mothra
I can't confirm if anomaly fields did change, the blowout was pretty soon and I think part of the tutorial.
I haven't played it but I know the fields change after blowouts. Thanks for the report, seems the game is much better than CS at least.
