Gold: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[TQ]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

best armor: ExoSkeleton is not the best armor in the game...you can't sprint while wearing it and it does not defend against radiation that well...the 2 best armors are the SEVA suit for radiation protection and the Military Armored Suit for excellent bullet protection

Copy that.

[traveler]

Originally Posted by TQ

I'd have to say my all-time Fab Five would be - in no particular order - Stalker, the Thief series (counts as one!), the first Deus Ex, Morrowind and System Shock 2.

I loaded up Deus Ex today and was surprised to see that it supported 1680x1050 resolution, my HP widescreen's native rez.
While it's not widescreen the game doesn't looked stretched. Not too bad considering its age.

It does!!!???!!!

I'll have to check that out. I've been thinking of re-doing Deus Ex.



__________________

Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Intel P4 3.2 Extreme Edition @ 3.50 / Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu / Arctic Silver Ceramique
4x1024 OCZ PC3200 EL Dual Ch High Performance Platinum Edition @ 2-2-2-5
ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X800 XT / Samsung Syncmaster 215TW 21" Wide Screen LCD
Two Western Digital RE2 500 Gb YS Raid Edition SATA hdd's
Two Western Digital 250 Gb Raid Edition hdd's
Two Western Digital My Book 500 Gb external USB2/Firewire hard drives
LiteOn 165H6S DVD Super AllWriter / LiteOn 166s 16x DVD-Rom
Onboard LAN
Antec SX1240 full tower
Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs Platinum / CambridgeSoundworks 5.1 DTT 3500 Digital Speakers
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Razer eXactMat + eXactRest
win2000

[TQ]

It did...but the textures are so low-rez by today's standards that it really looks pretty bad trying to fit them at that high native resolution.
I'm by no means a graphics-first kind of guy but this was ugly.
Still, when I was adjusting the in-game rez it just kept adding numbers until I hit 1680x1050.
I had applied that latest "multi-player" patch -1112fm - and that may have been a factor.

[polonyc2]

here is a list of all possible Wish Granter endings, and the requirements needed to achieve those endings...

Spoiler:

FIRST ENDING - I want to be rich (most common ending)

Requirements: You must have a lot of money – more than 50000 RU.

SECOND ENDING - I want the zone to disappear.

Requirements: You must have an excellent reputation value (+1000 points), however you can’t have a lot of money with you (less than 50000 RU).

THIRD ENDING - I want to rule the world.

Requirements: You must kill leaders of both organizations – Freedom and Duty. It’s going to be much easier with Freedom. Lukash can be found in the army base (Army Warehouse sector). It’s much more difficult with General Voronin. He’s stationed inside a military bunker in the Bar sector. Once he’s dead, you would have to kill all of the remaining Duty soldiers as well.

FOURTH ENDING - Humanity is corrupt, mankind must be controlled.

Requirements: You must have a bad reputation (less than -1000 points).

Additional info: I guess it’s fairly obvious what has to be done here, however you could have some problems gathering 1000 negative points. You will have to kill everything that stands in your way, including friendly characters.

FIFTH ENDING - I want immortality.

Requirements: You will only be able to unlock this ending if you didn’t manage to fullfill the requirements for four other endings of the Wish Granter. Here’s what you have to do:

1) you must have a reputation between -1000 and +1000 points

2) general Voronin and Lukash must survive

3) you must have less than 50000 RU in your inventory

[TQ]

I keep waiting for the new patch, which I understand was given to the publisher some weeks ago for testing.
I want that to come out before I start a new game and frankly, I'm looking forward to playing Stalker again.

[polonyc2]

the game has very little replay value for me at the moment...I played it my first time through pretty much exploring everything and talking to everybody...plus the game's side missions got really repetitive and boring after awhile (obtain the artifact, kill the stalker, purge the area of dogs over and over)...only real reason I would want to play again is to join Freedom and/or kill both Duty/Freedom

plus I was able to view a video of all the alternative Wish Granter endings on another website...maybe after a few months have passed I'll be more interested in re-playing the game

great game but I need a new challenge now

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by polonyc2

the game has very little replay value for me at the moment...I played it my first time through pretty much exploring everything and talking to everybody...plus the game's side missions got really repetitive and boring after awhile (obtain the artifact, kill the stalker, purge the area of dogs over and over)...only real reason I would want to play again is to join Freedom and/or kill both Duty/Freedom

plus I was able to view a video of all the alternative Wish Granter endings on another website...maybe after a few months have passed I'll be more interested in re-playing the game

great game but I need a new challenge now

Heh heh, put it on veteran level or higher, go to the bar area and attack Duty members and try to infiltrate the Duty base. Then see how long you can stay alive. Remember you can climb onto the rooftops to escape if necessary.

[traveler]

I'm a big time explore everything first time through type of player too.

But that is a good idea you have there for future replay. So I did the "be friends with everybody" style of play. Next time through I think I'll join Freedom or Duty. Third time through I'll join the one I left out. And bump up the difficulty level.



__________________

Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Intel P4 3.2 Extreme Edition @ 3.50 / Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu / Arctic Silver Ceramique
4x1024 OCZ PC3200 EL Dual Ch High Performance Platinum Edition @ 2-2-2-5
ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon X800 XT / Samsung Syncmaster 215TW 21" Wide Screen LCD
Two Western Digital RE2 500 Gb YS Raid Edition SATA hdd's
Two Western Digital 250 Gb Raid Edition hdd's
Two Western Digital My Book 500 Gb external USB2/Firewire hard drives
LiteOn 165H6S DVD Super AllWriter / LiteOn 166s 16x DVD-Rom
Onboard LAN
Antec SX1240 full tower
Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs Platinum / CambridgeSoundworks 5.1 DTT 3500 Digital Speakers
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Razer eXactMat + eXactRest
win2000

[CanterwoodBoy]

Originally Posted by traveler

I'm a big time explore everything first time through type of player too.

But that is a good idea you have there for future replay. So I did the "be friends with everybody" style of play. Next time through I think I'll join Freedom or Duty. Third time through I'll join the one I left out. And bump up the difficulty level.

You can't join Duty (yet). Joining Freedom has funny consequences as the bandits turn friendly, while the scientists become hostile, so definitely do it before going to dark valley and x16 (x18? x69? anyway the one in Yantar).

On my next playthrough, when a) the patch comes out and b) I have the time, I intend to put the difficulty to max and to kill anything passing my way. Let's see if I can get -1000 reputation

[TQ]

I pretty much put my morality on the shelf when I played this game. I figured it was everyman for himself and if a particular faction could be useful to me at the time, well then, I made them my best buds until a better deal came along.

Stalker's the first game that felt guilt free to me. Heck, I always play light side with a Jedi Knight game - although just "dark" enough to get Force Lightning...I just love watching electricity arc from my fingers to crisp a room full of bad guys.
That never gets old...

[CanterwoodBoy]

Originally Posted by TQ

...Heck, I always play light side with a Jedi Knight game - although just "dark" enough to get Force Lightning...I just love watching electricity arc from my fingers to crisp a room full of bad guys.
That never gets old...

I am with you on that one! Makes me feel like digging out Jedi Knight 3, can't get enough light-saber action. Or maybe KOTOR I and II. Just don't have the time

[TQ]

I love the smell of toasted storm trooper in the morning. Smells like victory.

[johnrr6]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

Heh heh, put it on veteran level or higher, go to the bar area and attack Duty members and try to infiltrate the Duty base. Then see how long you can stay alive. Remember you can climb onto the rooftops to escape if necessary.

I killed some Duty guys outside the Freedom base in a raid.....

Then tried to return the grenade launcher to General Vronin....

Wound up on the wrong side of Duty...

Had to fight may way INTO town----fought my way to Vronin's Bunker (was trying to see if I gave him the Grenade launcher----we'd all be friends again).
No dice----had to use up all the grenades fighting my way OUT of Vronin's bunker.

Then basically burned up every round I had just to get out of town..

The firefights were intense and I wound up with no ammo and shot to pieces.

Strangely----the Bar was kind of "neutral territory" and I was able to rest and re-equip somewhat before I made the dash out of town. but even with that-----I barely made it out----then had to go visit Sacharov just to get a fresh suit and ammo.

BIG mistake---but fun though......

Perhaps a special mission might be to "clear" that town of Duty----much like I'm trying to do in Priypat right now.....

Priypat's map is BIG!!!!

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

I killed some Duty guys outside the Freedom base in a raid.....

Then tried to return the grenade launcher to General Vronin....

Wound up on the wrong side of Duty...

Had to fight may way INTO town----fought my way to Vronin's Bunker (was trying to see if I gave him the Grenade launcher----we'd all be friends again).
No dice----had to use up all the grenades fighting my way OUT of Vronin's bunker.

Then basially burned up every round I had just to get out of town..

The firefights were intense and I wound up with no amo and shot to pieces.

Strangely----the Bar was kind of "neutral territory" and I was able to rest and re-equip somewhat before I made the dash out of town. but even with that-----I barely made it out----then had to go visit Sacharov just to get a fresh suit and ammo.

BIG mistake---but fun though......

Perhaps a special mission might be to "clear" that town of Duty----much like I'm trying to do in Priypat right now.....

Priypat's map is BIG!!!!

heh heh, yep its a fun exercise that one. I've been spending a lot of time at the warehouses this time around, just trying everything and getting into lots of fights and loading old saves when I completely stuff things up. I did the trick of exploding barrels at the campfire and collecting lots of things off the dead Freedom guys. I made enemies of Freedom a few times and did various assaults on the base and on the blood suckers.

I also just did the journey to switch off the scorcher wearing an exoskeleton suit with the Tunder, Vintar and GP 37 in tow that I'd purchased from Skinflint (after doing a lot of side quests and trading stuff to the get the money for the suit). I took mamas beads, an urchin, meat chunk and a couple of stone flowers with me.

Well the suit made me out like a tank, very slow but very strong. It lasted the whole trip including all the way back to the bar with about 10% use still remaining on it where I sold it to bar keep for a few bucks.

No worries about picking things up with the higher weight limit, but the Tunder and Vintar were useless as they ran out of ammo pretty quick and became dead weight. Luckily I had taken about 400 rounds for the GP 37 with me.

The psi emmisions caused those strange hallucinations with the ghostly enemies and interestingly they did affect me each time they touched me, with my vision becoming blurry and my body shaking, making it very hard to aim down a sight.

I did the trip into the building to get to the controls for the scorcher, fighting a few enemies along the way, (and there are some creepy moments there with the blood suckers). Then there's the fight to get back out after turning off the scorcher only to find the army is all over the place shooting anything that moves. All this while at walking speed in the exo!

The suit was offering virtually no rad protection near the end and I had to scavenge a lot of meds from the dead in order to get back. The warehouses were overrun with flesh and dogs but I fought through them. After that it seemed normal all the way to the bar. I thought everyone would be on their way to Pripyat, but it was much the same as I left it.

Well I had wanted to try the exo on this mission so no regrets, but I dont recommend it as its very slow and you are forced into a lot of stealth tactics and cant explore much due to the low rad protection. The fights on the way back from the scorcher controls are a lot of fun tho.

Something I noticed on this trip is that bullets will pass through light materials like wood, but not through brick or metal. At one stage I was trying to catch my breath camping in some wooden carriage and the army surrounded me and bullets were flying everywhere inside. Pretty clever coding there.

I've done everything in the warehouses and the red forest now, so I'm going off to Yantar to see if I can get a suit with some decent protection then I'll head off north again to Pripyat and the hotel. I dont expect any trouble in Yantar as I'm friendly with Duty and I have the GP 37 to handle any bandits or zombies.

Once I get to Pripyat I'm going to try a lot of things, but I dont think I will bother with the exo again until the NPP, it just too limiting.

[TQ]

From http://www.bluesnews.com

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Patch Update [July 31, 2007, 2:25 pm ET] - Post a Comment
Computer and Video Games has the latest on plans to patch S.TA.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The version 1.0004 patch was promised "within a matter of days" nearly a month ago (story). The delay to the patch has prompted previously resolute fansite Oblivion-Lost to go on "strike" in protest (thanks Bill). The story directs blame for the tardiness towards THQ and quotes GSC once again, with Oleg Yavorsky saying: "The new patch has been in test for quite some time and we're sending regular updates to THQ. So players should be able to get their hands on the next patch very soon." They offer a list of some of what's addressed in the patch.



* Added avoiding dynamic obstacles for NPCs
* Added enemy priority function v fixes incorrect NPC reaction on player-s attack
* Changed the second part of the enemy search algorithm v having lost the player, the NPCs will no longer be baffled
* Added correct reaction on shots and loud sounds coming from the player (only) on close distances. Render


Performance

* Dual core optimization
* 10-15% FPS increase


Gameplay

* Added new game mode v freeplay; activated after the end of the game
* Added the possibility for any character will be able to go to any smart-terrain
* Fixed the ultra-intense vibration of the grass
* All monsters drag now the corpses correctly


Physics

* Fixed the situations when the physics get stuck in the floor or in the thin walls
* Fixed the situations when the dead bodies disappear


Network

* Reduced the traffic and lags


General

* Fixed problems with OS Vista 64
* Added saved games converter
* Added MOD Tools support