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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl ⚠️|☢︎T|⚠️ Don't Be a Menace to Bloodsucker While Trying to Catch an Olive in The Zone
- Thread starter Agent_4Seven
- Start date
- |OT|
Denton
Member
Played for two hours. The controller deadzone thing still pisses me off but wanted to see more of the game so I dealt with it.
Once they fix it, and the A-Life and glitches, I am quite confident it will be my GOTY.
It is STALKER on bigger scale with bigger production values, which is exactly what I wanted. STALKER CoP is, after all, the best shooter ever made.
Few shots
Once they fix it, and the A-Life and glitches, I am quite confident it will be my GOTY.
It is STALKER on bigger scale with bigger production values, which is exactly what I wanted. STALKER CoP is, after all, the best shooter ever made.
Few shots
TVexperto
Member
10 hours in and I love it. It's everything I wanted and I'm so happy the gameplay hasn't been been modernized for current audience. BUT the AI is... concerning. And browsing Reddit I saw this:
So what is happening here?? I need the A-Life 2.0!
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SJRB
Gold Member
10 hours in and I love it. It's everything I wanted and I'm so happy the gameplay hasn't been been modernized for current audience. BUT the AI is... concerning. And browsing Reddit I saw this:
So what is happening here?? I need the A-Life 2.0!
Yeah this is bad. Enemies spawning in a radius is awful gameplay. And them immediately spotting you is, too.
But fortunately not beyond saving. Fingers crossed.
SirKicksalot
Member
Yes, it's like the originals.
10 hours in and I love it. It's everything I wanted and I'm so happy the gameplay hasn't been been modernized for current audience. BUT the AI is... concerning. And browsing Reddit I saw this:
So what is happening here?? I need the A-Life 2.0!
The original A-Life programmer is still at GSC. Maybe Unreal has a critical permanence issue so they ripped out offline A-Life (the spreadsheet simulator that works in the background).
Some Reddit posts say the 2023 leak included the original A-Life as a placeholder.
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GudOlRub
Member
10 hours in and I love it. It's everything I wanted and I'm so happy the gameplay hasn't been been modernized for current audience. BUT the AI is... concerning. And browsing Reddit I saw this:
So what is happening here?? I need the A-Life 2.0!
They should've really delayed the game until they got at least A-life working mostly fine...
Now I'm torn between continuing playing and waiting until they fix this.
KyoZz
Tag, you're it.
Ah that's interesting to know, thanks for the info.
That's were I'm at too. I love the game and we've waited so long for this... But I think I will keep playing, just way slower.
They should've really delayed the game until they got at least A-life working mostly fine...
Now I'm torn between continuing playing and waiting until they fix this.
GymWolf
Member
Hopefully what this dude says in the same reddit topic is false, because if not...
Stalker 2 will never have the same A-Life that the OG Stalkers had.
The reason is their own build X-Ray engine - created with A-Life as a foundation.
Their Engine was specifically made to simulate real NPC behaviour. Its their selling point of the Game.
Unreal Engine 5 cant do that natively. Its a generic Engine in the End, everyone uses it and everyone fails in delivering, not just Stalker but mostly all new UE5 titles have big issues.
They need to do ALOT of work to make it decent, but they dont know the Engine as good as their own one.
I get the point that creating a new Engine or upgrading it is very costly and time demanding for a rather small studio.
But they should be transparent. They know that they cant get to the level of A-Life the originals had.
We dont have People Travelling across regions. We dont have PDA events - Chats, that are not just randomly invented but actually giving out real time events happening in the Zone. We dont have cross Region Faction Wars. We dont have corpses laying around with either loot or not. We dont have Stalkers who actually go out at day and return at night.
Bots behave like simple Far Cry, Cyberpunk Bots. They dont "live" their only purpose is to generate a fake feeling that the world is alife.
This is not just fixed easily, its the core feature of the game. And they already said game is in "Gold" state.
We can have our hopes high, but i dont expect anything like the originals - and im not hating. Im Sad.
Stalker 2 will never have the same A-Life that the OG Stalkers had.
The reason is their own build X-Ray engine - created with A-Life as a foundation.
Their Engine was specifically made to simulate real NPC behaviour. Its their selling point of the Game.
Unreal Engine 5 cant do that natively. Its a generic Engine in the End, everyone uses it and everyone fails in delivering, not just Stalker but mostly all new UE5 titles have big issues.
They need to do ALOT of work to make it decent, but they dont know the Engine as good as their own one.
I get the point that creating a new Engine or upgrading it is very costly and time demanding for a rather small studio.
But they should be transparent. They know that they cant get to the level of A-Life the originals had.
We dont have People Travelling across regions. We dont have PDA events - Chats, that are not just randomly invented but actually giving out real time events happening in the Zone. We dont have cross Region Faction Wars. We dont have corpses laying around with either loot or not. We dont have Stalkers who actually go out at day and return at night.
Bots behave like simple Far Cry, Cyberpunk Bots. They dont "live" their only purpose is to generate a fake feeling that the world is alife.
This is not just fixed easily, its the core feature of the game. And they already said game is in "Gold" state.
We can have our hopes high, but i dont expect anything like the originals - and im not hating. Im Sad.
zeroluck
Member
Death Stranding did it justice by making tons of gameplay mechanics around it, a simple reduction to player movement speed is just admitting your game is barebone you have to use chore to keep players engaged.Because people can’t normally carry 900lbs of gear. Unless you’re playing Death Stranding and wearing a power suit.
SirKicksalot
Member
A-Life wasn't even fully working in Shadow of Chernobyl lmao
Clear Sky enabled factions and faction wars. I think CoP finally introduced a monster daily routine with sleeping schedules.
Stalker 2 seems to simulate faction wars but there's no migration and entity persistence.
LaughingStock
Member
I don't think there's a faction system.If you do that you are gonna have all the factions against you sooner or later (if the system work).
I only kill who shot first, there is way enough loot everywhere without the need for killing any rude dude
Btw i'm not sure how some of you have resource scarcity unless you don't explore at all, i'm like 3 hours into the game and i have like 12 medkit, 14 bandages, hundreds of bullets in one weapon, 45 in another and like 60 in the pistol, it doesn't feel survival at all in terms of resource scarcity like something like tlou2 on grounded where you find 1-2 bullets tops and have to kill half the enemies on stealth or melee and you can't waste a single bullet or it's better to reload because you are royally fucked otherwise, the only survival aspect seems to be the damage you take and how tanky enemies are but a lot of games on harder difficulty let you die in 1-3 hits tops, and not all of them let you save scum like stalker.
I feel like i'm playing a different game than what some people describe, even cohh that is an historic stalker fanboy was surprised by how many loot there is in the game literally everywhere (it feels more like a slightly harder fallout\far cry mix more than a survival).
And yeah, loot is too plentiful if you're the kind of player that explores every corner of the map. You'll never have to worry about hunger or radiation.
I only carry with me 10 medkits, 15 bandages, 5 grenades, etc. And store the surplus in my stash. And only carry ammo for the weapons I'm using. Every time I come back from a day in the zone I'm loaded with resources to store.
R6Rider
Gold Member
Talk about exaggerating. There's a difference between removing an aspect of a game and toning it down. And who said anything about auto-looting?
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
GSC are aware and working on the controller dead zones.
Luipadre
Member
Nice. Gonna wait a few patches
GymWolf
Member
Where do i find my stash? is it in the first city where the game send you?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
- The invisible motherfucking mutants can eat a dick and die
- The M860 shotgun is incredible for indoor encounters. You can find one with a quick load magazine as part of the story in the second region and it has been the best weapon I've got so far (for indoors)
- Making progress in the story, needless to say I've chosen my faction i-e Fuck the Ward, no siding with the fucking coppers, ever.
Some more SX pics The game looks very good, even if it isn't the best performer or use all of UE5's features.
- The M860 shotgun is incredible for indoor encounters. You can find one with a quick load magazine as part of the story in the second region and it has been the best weapon I've got so far (for indoors)
- Making progress in the story, needless to say I've chosen my faction i-e Fuck the Ward, no siding with the fucking coppers, ever.
Some more SX pics The game looks very good, even if it isn't the best performer or use all of UE5's features.
GymWolf
Member
As a stalker noob, is it at least kinda clear how to you join a faction?- The invisible motherfucking mutants can eat a dick and die
- The M860 shotgun is incredible for indoor encounters. You can find one with a quick load magazine as part of the story in the second region and it has been the best weapon I've got so far (for indoors)
- Making progress in the story, needless to say I've chosen my faction i-e Fuck the Ward, no siding with the fucking coppers, ever.
Some more SX pics The game looks very good, even if it isn't the best performer or use all of UE5's features.
Don't tell me how, just yes or no.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
You're not joining like guilds in Skyrim, but yes the choices will be very clearly labeled.
gtabro
Member
So not only is A-Life 2.0 not much of a 2.0, but it's not even working right now?.. I mean I can deal with the visual glitches or overly-inflated HP of the enemies but this, THIS was the "killer feature" of the game, if not the series as a whole to me. To see this just kills something inside me... 
Little Chicken
Banned
I said I'd wait for a patch but the game keeps pulling me back in
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
So not only is A-Life 2.0 not much of a 2.0, but it's not even working right now?.. I mean I can deal with the visual glitches or overly-inflated HP of the enemies but this, THIS was the "killer feature" of the game, if not the series as a whole to me. To see this just kills something inside me...
I don't think they mean it isn't working at all, just that it isn't working as intended.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I said I'd wait for a patch but the game keeps pulling me back in
The atmosphere is top-notch.
delirium trigger
Member
I've never played this series but I have to assume the nuclear reactor is in the game, right? I watched Chernobyl on hbo a few years ago and went down the documentary rabbit hole.
Looks like top middle?
Looks like top middle?
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Where I am in the story right now, some people have talked about the 'center of the zone' which I assume is ground zero.
I reckon we might be seeing it for some kind of climactic chapter.
DanielG165
Member
Returned to my settlement after exhausting nearly all of my resources on two trigger-happy bozos listening to a ham radio, went to bed, woke up to a massive thunderstorm outside, had a lightning bolt strike directly in front of me, which then caused me to promptly shut the door, and go sit my Stalker ass down and strum a guitar for a bit lol.
It is pretty insane how much variance there is in every bolt of lightning, though; Iooked like a legit thunderstorm.
It is pretty insane how much variance there is in every bolt of lightning, though; Iooked like a legit thunderstorm.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Holy shit .. Emission storms are no fucking joke.
SirKicksalot
Member
...but why are the blind dogs taking cover when I climb something?
LaughingStock
Member
It seems to be always near the trader. It's a orange/yellowish chest.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
This man is the real STALKER.
Magic Carpet
Gold Member
Game is too hard for me. I can’t kill anything on the first try.
LaughingStock
Member
Headshots will kill human enemies very quickly. Avoid holding the trigger. In my experience, shooting in short burts is more effective than switching to single shot.
For mutants use shotguns. Try to climb over obstacles if you can.
If all else fails and you're on PC, try mods.
ZehDon
Member
Man, so many little encounters that just add so much personality to the game, so much depth. The difficulty of it makes everything feel earned.
Tried to save a trio of Stalkers from some dogs when I heard gun fire close by, but lost two, and had to heal the third. He thanked me and moved on before I looted his friends.
Later, I was checking out a rotted barn when I heard all hell break lose near by. Hunkered down, looking through the holes in the wood boards and caught glimpses of flashlights and grenades going off. When it all went quiet, I saw flashlights getting closer. Peeked out the side with my silenced pistol and saw a guy in military fatigues scoping around. Dropped him, and picked off his two friends when they came to investigate. Looted what I could, and headed out to where they'd been fighting to find three Stalkers dead around some water. Looted what I could and continued on my way.
These are really simple encounters. Primitive, even. Yet, the atmosphere, the world - they felt more alive than anything I've seen in any Ubisoft open world or any of the overly scripted stuff in games like TLOU.
CPU performance is a clear issue, seems to come from their AI systems. Went close to what I presume was some kind of military base, and it must have been loaded with NPCs because my FPS dropped from 60 down to well under 30. Basically a slideshow. Whatever their AI is doing, it absolutely tanks performance whenever a couple of them get close together. Hopefully they can sort it out.
Despite the performance issues, this is dangerously close to my GOTY.
Oh, and if you're on PC, throw this stuff into your Engine.ini file - helped a bunch with mouse feeling laggy:
Tried to save a trio of Stalkers from some dogs when I heard gun fire close by, but lost two, and had to heal the third. He thanked me and moved on before I looted his friends.
Later, I was checking out a rotted barn when I heard all hell break lose near by. Hunkered down, looking through the holes in the wood boards and caught glimpses of flashlights and grenades going off. When it all went quiet, I saw flashlights getting closer. Peeked out the side with my silenced pistol and saw a guy in military fatigues scoping around. Dropped him, and picked off his two friends when they came to investigate. Looted what I could, and headed out to where they'd been fighting to find three Stalkers dead around some water. Looted what I could and continued on my way.
These are really simple encounters. Primitive, even. Yet, the atmosphere, the world - they felt more alive than anything I've seen in any Ubisoft open world or any of the overly scripted stuff in games like TLOU.
CPU performance is a clear issue, seems to come from their AI systems. Went close to what I presume was some kind of military base, and it must have been loaded with NPCs because my FPS dropped from 60 down to well under 30. Basically a slideshow. Whatever their AI is doing, it absolutely tanks performance whenever a couple of them get close together. Hopefully they can sort it out.
Despite the performance issues, this is dangerously close to my GOTY.
Oh, and if you're on PC, throw this stuff into your Engine.ini file - helped a bunch with mouse feeling laggy:
[Engine.InputSettings]
RawMouseInputEnabled=1
bEnableMouseSmoothing=False
bViewAccelerationEnabled=False
RawMouseInputEnabled=1
bEnableMouseSmoothing=False
bViewAccelerationEnabled=False
Agent_4Seven
Tears of Nintendo
Man, performance in towns is abysmal. The thing is though, that there's absolutely nothing there to cause it to be so shit as in other games with towns and plenty of NPCs wondering around, it's just fine, but here for some reason it tanks performance. I literally can't see anything for it to be so hard on the CPU and it for sure wasn't like that in any of the previous Stalker games and in Metro games as well. It's fucked up and they need to fix it asap.
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SpearHea.:D
Member
Lol wtf, certified badass
Gonzito
Gold Member
I recommend you to wait. The more I play, the more issues i find. Yesterday I was in main story mission, in some type of military base and all the textures around me where flickering and clipping into each other. I started investigating online and many users reported the same issue
The game is good, the atmosphere is incredible and when things work, you can tell that there is a great game under all the technical issues
I would advice to anyone to wait until the game receive more updates and become more polished and then play it.
I personally will put it on hold
Fess
Member
MMaRsu
Member
I wouldnt wait at all because of some texture flickers. That and 2 npc's floating in the ground are the only bugs Ive seen in 10 hours
SJRB
Gold Member
I think it's NPC-related too. When you walk into town and the NPC's spawn and start their programmed routine you can basically see the frames drop with every NPC that appears on screen.
Might be similar to Dragon's Dogma 2 where all the hardcoded NPC behavior and all these scripts running simultaneously just tanked the CPU in busy areas.
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Gonzito
Gold Member
ChoosableOne
ChoosableAll
Sometimes AI shits to bed, soldiers can't recognize a gunshot from 1 meter behind etc., but I liked the game so far. I'm playing on the hardest difficulty.