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Thoughts on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series
[ Shadows of Chernobyl ] [ Call of Pripyat ] [ Clear Sky ] Thoughts
Shadows of Chernobyl
I really like this game, much more than I thought I would. I watched some of Helloween4545's Let's Play of the game and in the process snagged SoC and CoP during a Steam sale ($10 grand total, whoo!). I'm no longer watching the LP until I finish the game because the plot has become interesting enough. It should be noted that this is the first game I've played in the series, and (currently) do not own Clear Skies. The timeline for the series goes CS > SoC > CoP while the retail release order was SoC > CS > CoP.
The Oblivion Lost really is a must-have mod, love those blowouts (SoC Steam version took them out for some reason)... and the fact that I can now stand completely in the open now and survive them. Very handy, considering their propensity to show up at terribly-inconvenient times. Also, it kills the godsawful head-bob, which only activates now when health is dangerously low and the character is staggering.
This game took a while to get into properly simply because you start with a pistol while there seem to be a lot of nasty enemies who aim very well even on Noob mode (or worse, have assault rifles), and your starting armor is pretty darn crap. Also, I realized just how long it had been since I've played a PC shooter and how bad I suck at them.
I spent a lot of time killing dudes for loots, and the practice really helped plus I love not having to worry about repair costs later on in the game thanks to the cash I made. It meant delaying the main mission plotline, but I didn't really realize that at the time... and I enjoyed my shoot-loot-sell days anyways. Also, I abuse the hell out of quicksave because... quicksave! xD
Anyways, once you get an assault rifle yourself, things get easier. Once you finally find a scope, things get way better. An AK-74 Rapid assault rifle to which I attached a scope and silencer went through a lot of the game with me, eventually swapped out with a HK G36K assault rifle (which comes with its own scope and I added a silencer to it too), and then the FN 52000 assault rifle plus silencer which I swap out at random with the kickass super-zooming VSS Vintorez sniper rifle that has its own silencer already. The latter has excellent magnification, accuracy, damage, and noise reduction. Yum.
And then there's the scary factor. Helly said something to the effect of this being the scariest game he's ever played, and while I noted some tension during the more standard shooter parts (and no, I did not enjoy my first meeting with a Controller), I was thinking "This ain't no Amnesia / Silent Hill." Then I hit my first lab mission... and spent most of my time either running like mad, or with my ass against the wall in a corner going "nopenopenopenopenopenopenope!"
Call of Pripyat
I've played only about an hour and a half of the game at the time of writing this, but I can already tell the feel of the game is a bit different. Kinda sad, as I really like the feel of SoC, but the AtmosFear and Absolute Nature/Structures graphics mods definitely help make the game prettier... in that grungy post-apocalyptic way.
Shadows of Chernobyl
I really like this game, much more than I thought I would. I watched some of Helloween4545's Let's Play of the game and in the process snagged SoC and CoP during a Steam sale ($10 grand total, whoo!). I'm no longer watching the LP until I finish the game because the plot has become interesting enough. It should be noted that this is the first game I've played in the series, and (currently) do not own Clear Skies. The timeline for the series goes CS > SoC > CoP while the retail release order was SoC > CS > CoP.
The Oblivion Lost really is a must-have mod, love those blowouts (SoC Steam version took them out for some reason)... and the fact that I can now stand completely in the open now and survive them. Very handy, considering their propensity to show up at terribly-inconvenient times. Also, it kills the godsawful head-bob, which only activates now when health is dangerously low and the character is staggering.
This game took a while to get into properly simply because you start with a pistol while there seem to be a lot of nasty enemies who aim very well even on Noob mode (or worse, have assault rifles), and your starting armor is pretty darn crap. Also, I realized just how long it had been since I've played a PC shooter and how bad I suck at them.
I spent a lot of time killing dudes for loots, and the practice really helped plus I love not having to worry about repair costs later on in the game thanks to the cash I made. It meant delaying the main mission plotline, but I didn't really realize that at the time... and I enjoyed my shoot-loot-sell days anyways. Also, I abuse the hell out of quicksave because... quicksave! xD
Anyways, once you get an assault rifle yourself, things get easier. Once you finally find a scope, things get way better. An AK-74 Rapid assault rifle to which I attached a scope and silencer went through a lot of the game with me, eventually swapped out with a HK G36K assault rifle (which comes with its own scope and I added a silencer to it too), and then the FN 52000 assault rifle plus silencer which I swap out at random with the kickass super-zooming VSS Vintorez sniper rifle that has its own silencer already. The latter has excellent magnification, accuracy, damage, and noise reduction. Yum.
And then there's the scary factor. Helly said something to the effect of this being the scariest game he's ever played, and while I noted some tension during the more standard shooter parts (and no, I did not enjoy my first meeting with a Controller), I was thinking "This ain't no Amnesia / Silent Hill." Then I hit my first lab mission... and spent most of my time either running like mad, or with my ass against the wall in a corner going "nopenopenopenopenopenopenope!"
Call of Pripyat
I've played only about an hour and a half of the game at the time of writing this, but I can already tell the feel of the game is a bit different. Kinda sad, as I really like the feel of SoC, but the AtmosFear and Absolute Nature/Structures graphics mods definitely help make the game prettier... in that grungy post-apocalyptic way.