bati
Member
MISERY HOMEPAGE
I recently got back into this mod and thought I might bring it to your attention in case you're looking for a challenging survival game with well thought out mechanics and excellently tuned difficulty, set in a nuclear wasteland of a sort (imagine Chernobyl with a sci-fi twist).
But first, what is Misery? Misery is a full concept modification for the game Stalker: Call of Pripyat and its aim is to bring more realism to the Zone. If you're familiar with Stalker games and just want to read up on features then look here - http://www.miserymod.com/ .
Now, Stalker games on their own are already fantastic games but Misery takes Call of Pripyat to a whole new level. It's got one of the best difficulty/challenge curves I've ever seen in a game of this type and it manages to retain the tension and making you feel vulnerable all the way to the end - without resorting to cheap tactics.
How does it play?
At their core STALKER games are first person shooters with some light RPG elements - loot of various quality, quests, factions and so on. One thing that's somewhat rare in this genre is that the character progression is strictly limited to loot - there are no character stats that you can permanently upgrade. This is in my opinion a very good thing because it makes the equipment and consumables more meaningful.
Most of your equipment (headgear, suits, weapons) can be upgraded so you can make sets of heavily specialized gear for different purposes. In fact, in Misery this is very much recommended because there's no such thing as an all purpose set (SEVA is close but more on that later). Weapons take different attachments - depending on the weapon type and its origin (NATO vs WP). Generally you'll be able to fit on scopes, silencers and underbarrel equipment like grenade launchers. Weapon upgrades/modifications however are a little deeper. Most are pretty straight forward like lower recoil or faster fire rate but some weapons like sniper rifles with built in scopes go a little further - here you can for example choose between night vision and high contrast scope - and the difference is staggering so it's a decision that should be made carefully. Modification system also extends to suit and headgear and the choices there are even more interesting. You can for example go for lighter materials, better ergonomics, various types of protection, more attachment slots and so on. Generally speaking, most equipment pieces have 15-20 options and you can choose 10-15 or so.
Misery changes things up a bit by introducing a class system. When you start the game you're given a choice between 3 classes - Assaulter, Sniper and Recon.
Assault
Assault is the typical combat specialist, focusing primarily on Assault rifles. He's able to carry more than the other two classes and makes best use of heavy armor suits. However, he needs a lot of food regularly which can be a bit of an issue when you're starting out and you're unfamiliar with the game. Assault rifles are very versatile weapons and can be used for all purposes which significantly cuts down on the carried weight because you can stick to only one weapon.
Stats
Sniper
Sniper's main two proficiencies are sniper rifles and shotguns. This makes him a pretty versatile combatant - snipers are great for taking out human enemies and shotguns are devastating versus mutants. However, he doesn't have any outstanding suit proficiency so he's just 'ok' at wearing all of them.
Stats
Recon
Recon is my favorite class. His focus are the pistols and smgs/carbines and better yet, he comes with an A+ rating for closed breathing (gas mask) suits and headgear. This makes him the ideal candidate for a SEVA suit which is one of the best all purpose suits in the game. He's also the most agile of the three, which means he can sprint faster and jump further than the other two classes. If you like exploring then this is the class that's probably best for you. The icing on the cake here is that Recon gets high proficiency rating with some sniper rifles like the VSS, making him a very well rounded character.
Stats
What else does Misery bring?
- Combat is lethal. This makes heavily armored suits somewhat moot because it will come down to surviving 2-3 more bullets compared to wearing a mid-tier suit. Your best bet is to scout with a scope or binoculars. Luckily factions are easily recognizable by the uniforms they wear so you can initiate the combat freely if the other party is hostile to you.
- Lots of new items. Drugs, cooking stoves, food, sleeping bags, you name it. Most of the existing items had their stats adjusted
- Excellent AI. While they're somewhat on the accurate side (protip: disable hardcore AI aim in the options) and can see through fog, night, heavy weather and high grass better than you they're not all knowing. This was a huge surprise to me the first time I played this mod (I don't remember if this was the case in vanilla game as well or not) and I was able to outflank the enemies by sneaking around them. Great for fights in buildings. Unlike in other games with stealth elements they will not stop searching for you, at least not right away.
- Meaningful items: most of the tasks in Misery require preparation and specialized equipment. If you want to go hunting for artifacts in anomalies you will need a specialized suit and a high tier artifact detector to get the good ones. Assaulting an enemy outpost at night? Better bring some NV goggles or a suit with NV upgrade - and batteries.
- Survival elements. There are basic needs - hunger/thirst (they are merged into one, sadly) and sleep but you also have to manage your radiation levels if you're exploring without rad resistant gear.
Did I mention that weapon and equipment matter - a lot? Because they do. It's hard to put into words just how much getting an NV module or a head a lamp matters in this game so you can freely explore dark indoor areas and have both your hands free to use an assault rifle. Or finding a couple alu frames so you can carry a bit more gear with you (your stamina depletion rate increases as your encumbrance goes up). Or getting a specialized helmet with good Psy protection so you can finally visit some areas that are home to very very nasty mutants.
- Economy. Most of the stuff in this mod is somewhat expensive (at least until you learn how to make money) so putting a good set of gear together means even more to the player. You'll get attached to your weapons, trust me.
Tips for starting out in Zaton
Once you spawn you should make your way straight to Skadovsk. There you can pick up several quests but most of them will require decent suit or drugs to complete without dying to radiation or poison. Try to do one or two, stock up on some ammo then make your way to the Waste Processing Plant. This is a challenging area when you're new to the mod but with some good positioning you should be able to take the mercs out. Loot them, loot the building (make sure you grab the laptop) and haul the stuff to Skadovsk to sell it. If you spot any good weapons in the pile of dead mercs you can put it in your stash to repair for later. If you're playing as Recon then I HIGHLY recommend you keep an eye out for m4a1 as it will easily last you until the final third of the game. Mercs respawn every day so you can always go back to kill them (sometimes they're replaced with Bandits) and sell their loot if you're short on cash.
By now you should have enough money to buy the SSP-99 helmet - make this your priority if you don't plan on using SEVA suit later. The helmet will allow you to enter hazardous areas and thus open up the way to many quests. Upgrade it asap and pair it with one of the other suits.
Notable items in Zaton that are worth getting for each class:
Assault:
Weapon - AK (customized) rifle in full condition on top of gas station. Great rifle that takes russian scopes, silencers and a grenade launcher. Alternatively, look for a sig 550 or other ARs on the first batch of mercs that you kill at the Waste Processing Plant.
Suit - CS3 from nimble is a great option and can take you to the end game if you pair with the SP99 headgear and/or drugs when needed. Later you can replace it with other heavy armor but it should last you a while.
Headgear: SSP-99. Get this ASAP and upgrade it. I recommend you take the NV enhancements as it will come very handy because you'll be using an assault rifle most of the time, leaving no room for flashlight in your other hand. If you're cheap however you can make do with a mounted headlight.
Sniper
Weapon - SVU-2 from Nimble. For your other slot you should pick up an Arms-Protecta or Spas-12 - mercs are likely to drop both. You can repair it if you want but I wouldn't bother at this stage
Suit - Sunrise (from Owl) or CS3 (from Nimble) are good options.
Headgear: same as assault.
Recon
Weapon - M4a1 if the mercs are kind enough to drop it for you. Replace the pistol that you start out with by getting either Alpine or March from Nimble - both can use .45 hydroshock ammo which will be your primary way of dealing with mutants. But this is the lowest on the priority list, get that M4 in working condition first!
Suit - SSP-99M. Instead of getting a separate suit and headgear it's probably best if you just buy the all-in-one version. It's not good for combat so make sure you don't get shoot too often. But once you have this baby you're good until SEVA comes along (which won't be until you leave Zaton)
Some general tips:
- plan your trips and only take what you need with you. If you're going artifact hunting then bring some containers to store on the way back. If you're planning to raid mercs or bandits then bring some drugs like cocaine or epinephrine so you can carry all their loot back to base without stopping for breath every 10 meters (I'm not even exaggerating this).
- carry the bare minimum. One or two food items (depending on your class), 100-200 bullets total - 100 per weapon, couple grenades. Some drugs (always carry psy-blockers), a medkit or two. You don't need item repair kits with you since you can always repair back at the base.
- do not go out at night. I mean you can but it's impractical. Nights in this mod are very very dark. You'll either burn through your supply of batteries to run night vision or get mauled by mutants because you didn't see them coming. Or you'll get your face shot off by a bandit that you also couldn't see because it's literally pitch black outside.
- pay attention to item descriptions. Scopes come in various qualities - settle for nothing less than 'Very good', otherwise you'll have moisture on it and the visibility will suffer. Same goes for drugs - some will cause the camera to spin/wobble for several minutes (especially true for Recon which has C rating for drug immune system resistance).
- if you get caught by blowout in the open consider dropping your backpack and running for the nearest shelter. You can buy a quick-release attachment at the trader for this very purpose. Also a valid tactic if you end in up in an unexpected combat encounter. And don't worry, your backpack will be marked on the PDA so you can retrieve it easily.
- plan your trips. Seriously, can't stress this enough. This isn't WoW or Skyrim where you knock out 10 quests in one pass. You'll likely be doing one or two things at once in Misery and after that you'll probably have to return to base to sell/repair or just offload the extra weight.
- save a lot and in different slots. Quick save is great - right up to the point where you saved a second before grenade landed at your feet. Make sure you have a separate save before you tackle big tasks.
That is all for now - I hope some of you will give this mod a chance and maybe write about your experience here. If you have any questions let me know!
Cheeki breeki
