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

[zapionics<alt>]

I thought I'd install SoC and patch it up for a bit of nostalgic gameplay.
Well, first impression was the frame rate, its through the roof! Must be nailed to 100 fps! This would have been heaven a couple of years ago!

Next thing I noticed is that the graphics are a tad inferior to CS as is expected... some objects are slightly blockier...but the environment seems more interesting somehow... anyway it didnt take long for me to get back into the swing of it and then I didnt really notice.

It definetly feels more atmospheric and "lone wolf" in style than CS. I'm going to keep playing for a while. Need to run at a high difficulty because the performance is so good. I can run rings around the bandits at this framerate

[edit]... hehe well I can report the game is still fun and enjoyable with excellent challenge...the graphics are very sweet, even tho it hasnt got all the bells and whistles of CS. It just continues to look great even now that we've moved on with CS. Feels alive. The atmosphere of this game is much more striking than CS, from standing around just looking at the scenery and listening to the life all around to exploring dark foreboding places. The AI is very challenging, from humans to mutants.
Framerate is between 60 and 100 outdoors and 150 indoors. Never drops below 60 (i've got vsync on) and even the hitches that were a real PITA on my old rig are instantaneous now and not noticeable. I think I'll just play through the main story and not bother with too many of the side missions. Did all that before but there isnt any rewards that I'm that interested in. I know which inventory items to keep and which to dispose of and which ammo and gear to hang onto and which to let go so dont anticipate anything other than a straight play through the main story.

[zapionics<alt>]

Well this game really rocks. I think its a lot more fun then Clear Sky.

I just went through the "Rostock Wilderness" level and that train yard is a work of gaming art, IMHO.

Coming back I was overrun by a pack of mutants, including dozens of "rodents". I never saw those things before in my previous run throughs of the game! They were all over me, tearing at my ankles and jumping at my face. For some reason the Duty NPC's are not very quick to take them down, they mostly ignore them even when they are getting bitten!

I think I'm doing things in a different sequence this time... I only ever saw a dead rodent before and didnt even realise they were in the game!
If you havent seen them before either, just search youtube and you can find some video.

The dialog in Freemans PDA is funny... they really dumped on HL...

I'm tasked with killing Strelock and finding Ghost but no instructions... my other task is to get some jobs from Barkeep... i think thats what I did differently this time, went to Rostock first.

[johnrr6]

Been thinking about doing the same thing you have done....

With my new 4870 X2 I should be able to crank it up immensely.

Finished FEAR 2 and will start on COD 5 single player next....

Then will redo STALKER CoS unless something newer turns up....

Sounds like you are having fun Zap!!!

[zapionics<alt>]

Originally Posted by johnrr6

...With my new 4870 X2 I should be able to crank it up immensely ... Sounds like you are having fun Zap!!!

My single 4870 512MB is having no problems with the game at all, smooth as butter at my native res of 1680x1050 and minimum fps is 60+ in worst case... but typically around 90 on average... thats with every setting maxed out... so u will have no problems at all.

Seriously, this game is gangs of fun! more so than Clear Sky. The only thing I've missed from CS so far is the weapons/armour upgrade feature, which really adds depth. As you know there are flaws in SoC, such as too much cash and some broken side missions, but otherwise the game is extremely challenging, fun and atmospheric, and hasnt lost any of that since I played it last.

The combat A.I is particularly good and inventive. I was in Borovs office, rifling his desk and this bandit actually snuck up on me all quiet like and let me have it with both barrels from his shotgun, then he turned and fled full speed back down the corridor while reloading and I had to take off after him...

I'm doing things in a different sequence now due to my familiarity with it and thats resulting in some different and interesting twists too.

I thought that Max Payne was art in a film noir visual kind of way, but this game is just beautiful in the way all the components come together.

I suspect (or fear) that the next installment will be like CS, as I guess they go down that path, similar to CoD, but I so hope that we get another SoC single player experience from them!

[polonyc2]

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Retrospective: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl Article | PC | Eurogamer