Just started on Clear sky after I gave up on SOH. I basically screwed up in not bringing any radprotective suit to the sarcophagus so as soon as I moved anywhere I got anoung rads to become my own nuclear reactor :))
The biggest difference between CS and SOH is the graphics, they look great for a game as old as CS. And I think it´s a lot more demanding gameplaywise, I´m using the same difficulty (novice) in both games and SOH was much more forgiving in the beginning. I´ve lost count on how many times I have died so far. And thst´s just in the first area of the game :o. I just made it into Cordon and it´s nice to see that it´looks like it did in SOH, it´ll be sooo much easier to find my way around now ;)
Since I never played SOH, I only know CS, I can relate ;D When I started CS, the map was a little less easy to read. They patched CS and it was different but better, after I got used to the new map layout.
Indeed, I got killed countless times, and only leaving Cordon (an enclosed area where you start) already got me killed a lot because the exit of Cordon leads you to a decently guarded bottleneck, military units and watchtowers are quite alert once you try to enter the real game (Cordon being sort of a tutorial).
However, you get used to it and start enjoying it after a while.
One tip: Don't sell any of the artefacts. They are limited and may be of use later on in the game, especially if you combine them.
I moved onto Clear Sky as soon as it was released after playing SoC many many times. Personally I found it disappointing at first, whilst the graphics were an improvement on those in the 'vanilla' SoC for me Clear Sky lacked the dark and ominous atmosphere that managed to both enthral and scare me at the same time.
However after sticking with it I did really enjoy the game and some of the changes in how it played from SoC, the faction wars is a good addition, enabling you to w@&k for and against the many factions active in the Zone. Also the equipment upgrade side of it was interesting. You could still get silencers, scopes and grenade launchers for various weapons like in SoC, but with the added bonus of being able to use technicians to customise your weapons further (side note - whilst playing I noticed one of the common weapon upgrades was the reduction of 'flatness' I spent ages searching through many forums trying to find out exactly what it meant and what it affected. In Pripyat there is the same thing but this time it actually tells you what it does - flatness is to do with the trajectory of the bullet as it flies through the air, better flatness = less drop-off).
I hope you get into it and enjoy it, I too got killed loads at the start, as I got further into it and got slightly better weapons and armour I lasted longer (most of the time anyway :-\ ).
I have been having so much fun with COP i decided to order CS today. :) Amazon.ca had only 1 used copy, so i grabbed it.
Enjoy, Ric - looking forward to your impressions of the game :-X
You'll like it, I'm sure :)
On a slightly related note, has anyone played Metro 2033? I havent found a mention of it here. If i continue down the Russian shooter front after CS, im wondering about SoC or Metro.
I feel like Art :-()
I actually remembered to look in one of the indexes he maintains, "Other games (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1695.0)" which includes a topic about Metro 2003 (http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=1191.0) :-()
^+-+ :-X
Yep, if CS is even close to being as much fun as CoP is for me right now, i may have to grab SoC and have the trifecta. ;)
go for it :) :-X
CS arrived in the mail yesterday. 8) I just finished installing it, and decided to patch it to the latest official version, v1.510 or something like that. I wanted it patched before the start of play, so all ive done so far is set up the keyboard as close to CoP as i can recall. I watched a couple of Youtube vids of the start, and the look, sounds and feel of CS makes me feel right at home. :-X Impressions to follow. ;)
:) Enjoy and have fun, matey :-X
Sorry for the delay. After several days of being computerless, followed by a few days of business and playing other games, i finally got stuck in with CS today.
OK, ive listened to Lebedev drone on and on, listened to a couple of others in the camp drone on and on, so finally i get to go out on a mission of sorts but only with a Guide. ::) A bit of a ruck against some Renegades, and a few wild boars, and im starting to get the feel of the place, but wait... i cant even wade into the water without dying of rad poisoning? yikes! ive died several times, and not once from a battle. Wow. By being forced to stick to the difficult to see paths and wooden bridges, it almost seems like the antithithis of an open world game, anyway...
after wandering about here and there, ive realized the PDA isnt as user friendly in CS as it is in CoP, in fact i can see now where CoP really made quite a few improvements to SP gameplay. You all know the old seafarer's explression "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink"? Well, in the Clear Sky camp, its bedrolls bedrolls everywhere, but not a bed to sleep in. :'( So i had to wnader about fior a few game hours until dawn.
So, no sleeping or waiting, apparently. Doh!! :D Also no handy storage box for excess loot and supplies, and not only that, most of my fellow Mercs will trade with me and seem to have lots of cash, but none are interested in my extra guns, or ammo. Just food and meds. ::)
After a while, i discovered that you can shoot open random crates for supplies, so thats cool. I also fixed another problem, that of a 50 KG carry limit, with a little mod that raised it to 500KG. Sweet!
More tomorrow, my dinner awaits. :-D
A little update. I found a cool little mod for CS that adds a sleeping bag to your backpack. Just double click on it and a window pops up with a timescale in 1 hour increments, up to 12 hours of sleep. comes with a built in snore. ^+-+
One question. There's invisible fences, well you see the fence posts, that wont allow you to go beyond certain points, but i have a target in an unaccessible area that i cannot reach. Are areas like that part of the next map perhaps?
sounds about right. Some areas will be unlocked with time.
I moved into the Cordon yesterday. SPOILERS>>>> A small but fun area with a challenging entrance coming out of that tunnel. ??? After a few attempts, i found that running towards the fence on the other side of the turret was quite easy. Later on i went back and took out the Military guards and scored several weapons. Of course they all re spawned in no time. One thing about CS that i find quite annoying is that most of the NPC's bodies disappear almost instantly after you kill them, even when close by. This prevents me looting them for medkits and ammo. All thats left are the weapons they were using. ::) The other is the crap return i get when selling stuff. If i were to sell a 300 Ru medkit for example, all i get is 100 Ru. If i wanted to buy back the same medkit, it would cost me 650 Ru! Ironically, as ive struggled to earn Rubles, i would have to pay more to Guides to travel back to previous maps in CS than i did in CoP where making a lot of loot was quite easy. Sigh. :-\
I just went into the "Garbage" area, and had a good battle in the first junk yard. I picked up 2 atifacts too. Yay!
Nice ;D
Rica, I notice you frequently type something you consider a spoiler. May I show you how to successfully hide that information from people you don't want to read that stuff? Just look for an icon above the smiley bar that looks like a nuclear warning symbol, I see it's just below the pull-down menu "change color" and it produces two tags like "[spoiler ][/spoiler ]" -- just type your stuff between those like this:
Spoiler
you can use a dead body to carry a lot of loot around. Kill someone, loot him and stash his stuff inside a body then drag that body around with you and keep filling it. Like that, I was able to carry like 300kg of weapons to an arms dealer, the weapons of all men I killed at the army outpost >:D
Spoiler
ok ill give it a go
Thx Art. :-X I dont know if i need to warn anyone here of potential spoilers, as i seem to be the only one playing the STALKER series atm, but someone may try them later on. I have to say tho, that personally, i really dont mind reading spoilers as the hints may save me a lot of trouble if and when i get into those games.
Spoiler
I've contued theu the Garbage area, and the game seems tio be getting harder. The respawning is ridiculous at times. I cleared out a nest of bandits, and before ive finished picking up their weapons, and searching any bodies that havent vanished before my eyes, a fresh gang of the buggers is approaching and i have to either try and do it again, or take off and seek a save place to catch my breath. ::) The stealth radiation zones are an issue. I'll just wandering thru different areas offroad, and before i can react and back off, ive recieved a lethal dose of rads, or worse, be caught in a red zone of rads which wont let me go until i either die, or load a save. Argh! Ita also really hard to make much money here, as ive had to spend quite a bit to repair my armor and upgrade a couple of my preferred weapons, all the while have to pay lots for medkits, as they are hard to find in this area. :-[
that game is tough at times. It will be easier once you get into the faction wars and sign up with one of the parties. It will affect the gameplay, like if you join the bandits, everyone will hate you even if they used to be your friends. Joining a party will grant you access to stuff that isn't accessible to outsiders. That is good for replay value, playing in different gangs and see how you manage :) Just do it so you can check out the gear they offer, then revert to the savegame and join a different party and so on.. nice :)
I too love to read spoilers, even if I plan to play a game. I like to know in advance what I'm in for. :-()
same :) And for me spoiler information and gaming are two different things: reading about it and eventually playing it yourself to get there.
I'll give you an example. I had started playing CS, and had been on the very first mish, helping the CS clan defend a watchtower of some kind. Later on i was watching a YT vid of a wlkthrough of some kind, and realised there was an easy to get Artifact that absorbs radiation near that tower. I had to find a way back there without walking into any water, or into an anomoly. The map was not much help, as that remote area wasnt clearly marked, but i have it now, and im sure its saved me more than once. :-X
The respawning is exasperating tho, as i barely turn around after killing several bandits(Garbage Zone) and there's 6 more appearing suddenly 50 yards away. Sheesh! :o TBH, im not sure what annoys me more, the respawning, or the almost instantly disappearing bandits' bodies, gone before i can loot them. :D
Most of the time I only got to pick up weapons and ammo, the previous owners had already dissipated. However, when I wasn't in a rush, I found a way to get my stuff: Don't play walking weapon of mass destruction. Kill one enemy at the time, dash over and loot him :)
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.
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
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?
Ricamundo, yes, I did, every time ;D
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?
Spoiler
I am afraid it is gone..
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?
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.
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.
;D :-X
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
You're very welcome, Diablo_Lobo :) Enjoy the game(s).. I had a blast back then :)