Slowtrain

Here's an example: There's a set of several linked missions that will end with you recieving something necessary to completing one of the key tasks of the game. If you succeed at all of the missions (or you can look at it as one extended mission in parts), the object you get has a higher level of quality and will protect you longer. If you fail at any of the parts the quality of the object is less and you have less protection. Also you can fail the first part, but still succeed at the following parts because the game wil offer alternatives. This is not a game of absolutes relative to success/failure; it is a game of degrees. It makes it much more interesting.

You shouldn't look at this game like most other games. Success or failure doesn't really matter in your missions, only your survival. If you succeed you get nice things and money and some longer term benefits, but there are lots of missions. Some you will succeed; some you won't. This game isn't a pass/fail kind of thing. There are a few key tasks you have to accomplish to discover the truth and open your way to the endgame, but those tasks can't really be failed. You just have to find out where to go to accomplsih them and stay alive.

I wouldn't worry about it. My list of failed missions is huge. I'm even failed some main story missions. The game keeps right on going.

Here's an interesting Q&A with a STALKER dev where he talks about the whole A-life, respawning system. If you want to know more about the system its worth a look: edit: Just a warning on this link: I get a pop-up asking me if I want to install some software from MS. I don't know what it is, so I say no. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=159975 I've entered Chernobyl NPP. Its rather difficult. Between Pripyat and Chernobyl I've died more times than I did in the whole rest of the game combined. Way more. A million times more. Helicopters firing missiles, snipers, rpgs, gah. Its totally awesome. It would help if my body armor wasn't hanging off me in shreds and I wasn't loaded down to the point I can't really sprint, but I'm carrying 2 extra sets of high-end armor that I don't want to put on until I get inside the sarcophogus. I may not have a choice though. :/

The entire escape sequence in Deus Ex during JC's second visit to Hell's Kitchen which starts with the MJ12 assault on the hotel room where JC and Paul are hiding and continues on to the Battery Park subway station (if you can make it that far) is unwinnable. JC will eventually be captured and imprisoned. Its required for the advancement of the narrative, but there is a lot of possibility within that entire sequence for different things to happen. I think its the best sequence on Deus Ex and I don't recall ever hearing anyone complain about it.

I've passed through Red Forest and entered Pripyat. Red Forest was not my favorite level in a FPS. A very linear grind, essentially a gauntlet, made more annoying by the pockets of high-level radiation all over the place. You need to be pretty well equipped with gear before you make that run. Pripyat, however, is a great level.

I just googled up some reviews of Extraction Point, seems pretty meh, five more hours of the same weapons and enemies that I played with in the first game. meh.

Well the whole idea is to "rip off" Xcom as it is a spiritual sequel. Jeez, you're almost as bad as hades. Heh. Well, yes, and I didn't think it was a bad game. But I was playing it for a while and eventually said to myself, why am I spending time playing this game when I could be playing XCOM instead? So I did just that. I guess for me, Aftershock just didn't do enough to establish its own identity. XCOM is such a replayable game that it is hard to compete with.

I played Aftershock for a while. Didn't care for it. Trying to rip off the gameplay of a superior game does not by default make the ripper as good a game as the rippee sadly.

Did the expansion do anything different. I enjoyed FEAR well enough, but woul donly be interested in the expansion if it offered something beyond a new setting/mission.

FEAR had an expansion?

How does the respawning compare to that seen in System Shock 2? (And how could you not be bothered by SS2's respawn rate? It was a game-breaker for me. An infinite crew on an isolated ship? What better way to destroy the illusion and have me laughing more than afraid!) Its really not annoying at all since you can simply sprint past, through, or around every single combat zone in the game, taking little or no damage, as long as you are not encumbered with too much junk. Obviously you have to fight some enemies in the required missions, but even in those, once you know where you are going you can simply run by the enemies as long as you are not so close they can shoot you in the head with a shotgun, which is pretty much instant death. respawning is everywhere and constant, so if you are obessive about wanting to clear an area to fill good about yourself and make it neat and tidy and have it stay cleared, I can't recommend the game. This is not a game for ocd types, its more a game for people who thrive amid chaos and disorder. Its less structured then DX. Its much more a shooter and much less (not at all) a crpg. Combat and enemy AI and weapon implementation are all far superior to DX. Don't expect any deep convos with npcs along the lines of Deus Ex. (Oh and Wherefore art thou, blue?!?)

where's the "beating a dead werewolf" smilie?

I think what Cant is referring to is an unwinnable battle that is part of the narrative. For example, if the opening battle of IWD2 turned out to be an unwinnable for the purpose of advancing the narrative rather than having the pc and party triumph.

On a related note, I finally found the former leader of the rookie camp, Wolf. He was dead in a barrel in one of the nothern zones, with his crappy little submachine gun which seemed so awesome once upon a time on the ground at his feet. I don't know what he was doing so far north but he was terribly out of his league. Once again, another impressive moment of detail and consistency in this game. I wouldn't be at all surprised if in another game I found him alive and well somewhere else. We would have such things to talk about! His ignoble end made me very sad.

Being somewhat familiar with your taste in games, I'm not sure you'll like it. But who knows. Just remember its not a crpg, because if you judge it against that standard you are sure to come up disappointed. I'm not sure how to categorize it really, FPS/survival horror with some other stuff thrown in? And remember, it is HARD early. That's what made the rookie camp defense so cool: I spent so long there trying despertaely to surivive long enough to kill a single wimpy bandit with a pistol that to come back and defend it against some pretty tough mercs and save all the rookies from certain death was a cool reminder of how much my character has developed over the course of the game.

I hear what you're saying, Pop, but eh, what are you going to do, without being native speakers of the language the game was written in, we are in a tough position as regards to things like dialogue responses. Maybe it was better in the original. Then again, maybe not.

More stalker pics: 1) ZOmbies are tough, but they're not to bright. These chased me into a burner anomaly but weren't quite as quick as I was. 2) CHoppers vs ZOmbies. Awesome. 3) Adddressing a "misunderstanding" with some annoying army guys at checkpost with the help of a stalker buddy who happened to be wandering by when the fracas broke out.

An example of why I like this game so much: I came back to the rookie camp for no reason other than I was in the area and thought I would pop in. Some time past I had noticed that Wolf was gone from his spot and figure it was a bug or something, so I ignored it. But this time there was new leader where Wolf had been, and when he saw me he waved me over. And I got this little quest to help protect the rookie camp from some badass merc group, and in getting the quest it was admitted that I was now pretty badass myself. So I agreed to help and we kicked the snot out of the mercs and everybody at the rookie camp became my friend! It was awesome, helping out the n00bs where I spent so much time as a n00b myself. Anyway, it was this little quest that made no difference in the big story of the game, nobody told me to come and get the quest, but finding it and getting the result was a neat little special gaming moment. That's really cool. Anyway, here are a before and after screenie.

I, otoh, think STALKER is the best game I've played in the last 3-4 years, and probably my second favorite FPS of all time, behind only the venerable System Shock 1. SUre I wish a couple things were better implemented: the whole trading/market system could have been done better, the way in which the missions are handed out could have been more interesting (although I am not through yet, so maybe this will improve or at least change a bit). And STALKER stills falls into the trap common to most computer games of having most of the story occur as test on a screen rather than action in the gameworld. But still, almost everything about what was implement in game design of STALKER are the aspects I love most in computer gaming. ymmv, of course.

I found some much awesome stuff in Wild Territory, its totally insane. Then I went into Yantar and got totally pwned. I went in with alomst 30 magazines of 5.56 ammo and just before I finally got killed I was down to three. Those zombies are hardy! If I had known I would have brought shotgun ammo and a lot more grenades. *reloads*

Wild Territory is awesome. Lots of cool stuff to find. I've managed to put together a scoped silenced battle rifle plus I've got a REALLY big pistol. This game is so sweet. I'm going to cry when it's all over.

Did you guys try the official forums for solutions?

Thank you.

A couple spoiler questions about weapons and attachments: