First impressions

[Ricamundo]

Actually, ive been more of a run away and hide type of player so far. ^+-+ When i take on some bandits, its usually from a ditance, with a scoped assault rifle versus their usual crappy over/unders and sawn offs. I usually take the shells out of these weapons and discard them, as they are virtually worthless to the traders. ::) Why i want to be able to loot the bodies, is for the medkits and bandages more than anything else.

[Art Blade]

I remember that I had to raid the bandit's base (train station at garbage) a lot of times because they kept reclaiming it. All the time I went through their boxes and crates for loot. I think I did then sell their stuff to the arms dealer of my party because you get better prices with friends so the stuff they sell is cheaper, too.

Ahhhh one trick!

Spoiler

Save in front of an arms dealer. If you want to buy something in particular and he doesn't have it, just reload the save and the random stuff he sells will be different every time. Eventually you get what you were looking for. You could as well buy stuff and save and then reload so you can buy more stuff and save again and so on.. hehe ;D

[Ricamundo]

I did that train station yesterday, and had a weird experience. As i was approaching the open doors, my rifle disappeared out of my hands! I still had it in my slot, but i could not use any weapon. :o I went inside and of course, ran into a remaining bandit who wasted no time in shooting at me, so i reloaded my previous save, and thankfully this time, i kept my weapon.

I looked at a walkthrough, and something was mentioned that if you avoided the bandits, that location would be neutral, although i had no choice but to fight them, as they were holding the base at the entry to Garbage, and i walked right in on them. :o

Spoiler

BTW Art, when you were exploring that train station, did you look in a certain metal storage box in what i think was their trader's room?

[Art Blade]

Ricamundo, yes, I did, every time  ;D

[Ricamundo]

Today, i headed into the Dark Valley, following the main quest, since ive pretty much done all the little side quests. After some action helping out Freedom, the commander told me that Fang was back in Garbage, so i went back.

Spoiler

I found a previously locked door under the Stalker base, went down the stairs, and was mugged by 2 bandits waiting there, who took all my stuff, even my cash. I wasnt too worried, as i figured as in other games, i'd get it all back, and sure enough, i was directed to a bandit camp with a box with my stuff in it, but no cash! I had over 55,000 Ru saved up. I went back to the Freedom base and sold some weapons ammo and even a couple of my artifacts to raise enough cash to repair my armour as my main assault rifle. Will i get my money back, or is it gone?

[Art Blade]

Spoiler

I am afraid it is gone..

[Ricamundo]

Spoiler

D'oh!!!

[Ricamundo]

Following the main quest, i went thru the Agroprom sewers(fun!) and went into Yantar, talked to the scientist and managed to get the data on a PDA of a dead soldier nearby, fighting off dogs, and a gazzilion zombies. So far so good. I helped a team reach an area inside the plant and stabilised the area enough to enter a tunnel toward the Red Forest. By this time it was dark, and we had to capture and hold a campsite till help arrived, which was guarded by one of the toughest mutes ive ever had to fight. I think it took 500 rounds to kill it. ???

Well, no reenforcements showed up, so i wnt off to the next area hilighted on my map, which was an old tank surrounded by mutes and dogs, with some kind of portal/anomaly hovering over it. I jumped thru and found myself near the Forester's building.

This map is quite hard to navigate, unlike the others ive explored, as the Red Foest is full of invisible dangerous anomolies that seem to spit out mutes constantly. ??? At thsi point, i cant retrace my steps back to that tank, or to the campsite that is still flashing as a target on the map. There is another target to meet a comander way off down a road near another map, but im not sure if i can even reach that road. So im stuck in the area around the Forrester's place and a camp of Duty soldiers guarding a gateway into the forest. I found a mine and explored it. There was a base inside,  littered with dead soldiers, and a neat artifact called a compass. :-X

Does anyone remember this map, and what im supposed to do next? Ive looked at a few walkthroughs, but they are hard to follow on this particular map. Am i supposed to go to the warehouses, or Limansk?

[Ricamundo]

OK, i found a portal into the warehouse district, and things seem to be playing out. I wonder if that raised area of the Red Forest is now impossible to get back to, as ive got a couple of side missions unfinished there.

[Ricamundo]

Finished the game today, and

Spoiler

overall i liked it, although i thought the ending was a bit of a letdown. I really didnt enjoy the teleporting from 1 area to another with several baddies waiting for me and little or no cover. Sheesh i died a lot! The areas thru Limansk were great, but very linear unfortunately. After that it was rather hectic and extremely linear, and the fact that i had all this loot and no one to sell it to. I ended up dumping a lot of weapons as the sheer weight of it all sapped my endurance. Next time ill slim down to just the bare essentials brfore i enter the Red Forest, as after that there's a couple of repair guys but no traders that im aware of.

Very good game, but not as enjoyable as CoP imho. Worth another playthru definately, but i should be getting SoC early next week. 8) Until then, ill probably rejoin FONV, already in progress.

[Art Blade]

 ;D :-X

[Diablo_Lobo]

There is a lot of good stuff here.

One of particular note is the one about saving at a trader, and if he doesn't have what you want, reload and see if he has it then. Thanks Art.

I liked CoP best myself, but I think it was because S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was completely new to me then. I have the complete series, and have replayed them a couple of times, with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete mods. And a few mods I made to the game myself with a lot of help from all over.

I have already decided to replay the entire series again. and I have already asked a question at another thread about possible mods to CS, but the decision is already made no matter what mod(s) I may get or use.

I really enjoyed the game, and am about to enjoy it again.  >:D

BTW, I don't know if anyone here knows, are cares, but someone said something early in this thread about the graphics. I posted in the other thread here about a mod called OGSE Mod (Old Good Stalker Evolution) to SoC.  The thing that makes it relevant to the discussion here is, that the 7.0 version of that mod, is going to use the CS engine, to play SoC.

When it does come out, that should really put some life back into SoC, because the CS engine is much better graphically than the original engine.

Actually, that is the main reason I decided to play CS first this time. Maybe they can get it done by the time I can get to CoP.

Just my opinion,

Back into the zone I go, soon.

Diablo_Lobo

[Art Blade]

You're very welcome, Diablo_Lobo :) Enjoy the game(s).. I had a blast back then  :)