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S.t.a.l.k.e.r.: Shadow of Chernobyl (impressions video inside)


Lare Kikkeli

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W00t!

 

The stalker in the opening cinemtaic is carrying a Vintorez! That's totally awesome. I want one.

 

 

This may be epic.

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Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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So far I am impressed. The graphics are decent, framerate is smooth on the default settings, voice acting is tolerable (Better than Oblivion already!) Sound is very good. A lot of ambient sound which really adds to the mood. Controls are interface are a pretty standard WASD FPS setup. Information is conveyed through a PDA system with different tabs, kind of liek the system in Deus Ex. Map interface is nice. So far I feel like I am playing a cross between Deus Ex and Fallout.

 

The thing that strikes me immediately is the atmosphere. Once I came out of the startimng bunker, you reallu feel it. The color pallete and ambient sounds really really are sweet. Here are a couple screenies of the openign camp. Without the sounds though the screenies don't do justice to the atmosphere that you feel. There's a real sense of desolation, but not an empty desolation. It feels alive.

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Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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I just might have to get this...

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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All I need is 50

Edited by Pidesco

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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I like the screen w/the bunker entrance in the ground, or whatever it is. Nice and creepy or curiosity-inducing or something.

“Things are as they are. Looking out into the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.” – Alan Watts
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Are there RPG elements in it? :sweat:

 

No. Other than gear collecting, that is. And I suppose having dialogue could qualify, but it's dialogue on a similar level to Diablo.

 

But the atmosphere is indeed fantastic. Also, the game is freakishly hard. I'm playing on the default difficulty and I keep dying. All. The. Time. I don't really mind though, I much prefer a difficult game over an easy one.

 

Edit: There are some issues though. The AI can sometimes be retarded (while it's pretty good most of the time) like trying to shoot me through a solid stone wall (at one time the character shooting actually damaged me, so I guess it's maybe not so stupid after all).

 

And why a FPS in this age (or any computer game really, but FPS especially) doesn't have support for a 5 button mouse is beyond me. And quite annoying. To me it makes the interface somewhat more clunky than it has to be.

Edited by Spider
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Its definitely an FPS. Lots of quests and stuff, but it feels like an FPS. As SPider says combat is tough, but it is also pretty smooth. I'm playing on average difficulty and once I got the feel of the interface, I had no real problem with the first combat thing you do. Took me a couple reloads to get the feel of it though. Theres a lot of different things you can do: walk, run, sprint, crouch, low crouch, lean, jump. Theres a stealth indicator and a fatigue meter. Different actions have different tradeoffs, sprinting is really fast, but you make a lot of noise and you can't shoot. Running is not as fast, but you can still shoot.

 

It seems like the focus of the game is going to be combat related quests to gain better items and a lot of exploration. There does appear to be some sort of overarching story, but I'm guessing it won't be the games strength. There's stuff to find all over the place: dead bodeis, abandoned vehicles, wild dogs. Graphics are not the high point, but they are good enough.

 

A coupel random screenies non spolierish from the early part of the game. Note the PDA interface:

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Edited by CrashGirl
Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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Why the hell are you being called the Marked one? What's wrong being called, well, Mark?

Murphy's Law of Computer Gaming: The listed minimum specifications written on the box by the publisher are not the minimum specifications of the game set by the developer.

 

@\NightandtheShape/@ - "Because you're a bizzare strange deranged human?"

Walsingham- "Sand - always rushing around, stirring up apathy."

Joseph Bulock - "Another headache, courtesy of Sand"

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Why the hell are you being called the Marked one? What's wrong being called, well, Mark?

 

Amnesiac who doesn't even remember his name, the only identifiable characteristic is, well, a mark. If it's from the intro, it's a tattoo with the word S.t.a.l.k.e.r.

 

It's significance (if any) has yet to be explained to me, although I am only in the second zone.

 

And while I've got the hang of the combat interface to such a degree that I no longer fear the dogs, I repeatedly get the crap kicked out of me when fighting multiple opponents. The key (for me) is range and cover. That usually works, until somone circles you without you noticing and unloads a shotgun in your back (= reload).

 

Oh yeah, a quick save button would also have been nice.

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This is defintely a dynamic game. I got a job to kill someone who was causing a problem and as I was tracking him down in the zone, he ran into some bandits as I was gettign close and they killed him for me. And I still got the reward! However, I wanted to get close enough to check his body for stuff, but there were a lot of bandits and they ran me off.

 

I'm stil trying to figure out what the little number on the lower left corner of the minimap is supposed to mean.

 

I'm noticing that you have to check your PDA a lot since info and locations and notes are constantly being added. This may not be a crpg in a conventional sense, but it is a heckuva lot more complex than any FPS I've ever played.

Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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I'm stil trying to figure out what the little number on the lower left corner of the minimap is supposed to mean.

Number of contacts in the area. Not sure if it's exclusively neutral contacts or all contacts as I do not pay it that much attention.

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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So far, this game is largely what I'm hoping the Bethesda Fallout 3 will be like. Only with more skills and a more depserate setting.

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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So far, this game is largely what I'm hoping the Bethesda Fallout 3 will be like. Only with more skills and a more depserate setting.

 

From what i have read of the game I hope Fallout 3 is not like this at all. First person view only in a CRPG? No thank you. :thumbsup:

Murphy's Law of Computer Gaming: The listed minimum specifications written on the box by the publisher are not the minimum specifications of the game set by the developer.

 

@\NightandtheShape/@ - "Because you're a bizzare strange deranged human?"

Walsingham- "Sand - always rushing around, stirring up apathy."

Joseph Bulock - "Another headache, courtesy of Sand"

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So far it seems like all optional missions are timed.

"Show me a man who "plays fair" and I'll show you a very talented cheater."
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