☢┃stalker-general

[analog lintel]

i hate this stupid factionwars24 flare why does it override the rest of my flares

[weary hedge]

I recommend progressing the story. You get some pretty cool stuff along the way and discover some fun areas

[maiden creek]

now u can see his chicken in all of it glory

[analog lintel]

what?

[maiden creek]

man im so typo

[analog lintel]

[analog lintel]

now you can his chicken it in all of it glory

[stuck seal]

“Hey guys did they fix stalker 2 yet I played the game for an hour on launch and I’m coming back now to see if they fixed it”

[static lark]

I hate dogs

I hate psi dogs

[weary hedge]

Nah the developers abandoned the game sorry bro

(Sarcasm)

[static lark]

I hate Snorks

[maiden creek]

wait for the engone update tbh

[stuck seal]

I-

I put parenthesis around my sentence for a reason…..

[maiden creek]

the psi dogs in stlaker 2 is redicilous, bcs of how many clones it can spawn

[analog lintel]

Yes. They finally added the long awaited "Weddings" feature and you can now dynamically marry any NPC in the Zone. Don't do it with Korshinov though it breaks his code because he's pre-programmed to be permanantly divorced and if you try to marry him your game will crash

[weary hedge]

I be forgetting sarcasm isn’t something that’s read😂

[static lark]

This is false as of last patch, he now just beats you and tells you you’re worthless after the honeymoon

[analog lintel]

finally. immersion

[stuck seal]

I may not be able to marry korshunov but I’ll still show him the best honeymoon of his life

[maiden creek]

maybe this is the a-life we've been waiting for

[analog lintel]

A-Wife 2.0

[stuck seal]

Would skif be the male wife or would richter be

[maiden creek]

if u make his dinner too cold hell toss u ionto the tornado anomaly

[static lark]

Skif is a bear bottom

[hallow shadow]

Richter carries the child.
No debate.

[analog lintel]

They take turns. Richter is gleeful about wearing the apron and Skif is resigned but secretly thinks its fun

[weary hedge]

Skif definitely taking it doggy style

[analog lintel]

Deggy style

[maiden creek]

i hope we dont get a warning for this Lol

[static lark]

We almost definitely are

[analog lintel]

I am an innocent person moderators I am not engaging in the sexy I simpyl support Skif and Richter's blossoming relationship

You must have pity on me I am but a little worm in the dirt of this vast forest and I love my fictional men very much

[stuck seal]

I think Strelok would be taking it actually

[analog lintel]

Please add more well-lit faust emotes

[weary hedge]

Hahahaha😂

[analog lintel]

Strelok is incapable of love because it would require him to trust someone

[weary hedge]

I need mor scar emotes too

[static lark]

I hate that the devs added whirligigs ON THE MIDDLE OF ROADS KNOWING GOOD AND WELL IM GONNA BE RUNNING PAYING NO ATTENTION

[dry siren]

i need a cigarette

[analog lintel]

New whirligigs SUCK

[weary hedge]

And he’s got amnesia

[stuck seal]

Alternate reality where Strelok and scar fall in love after finding out they were trying to kill each other during the events of CS

[dry siren]

and some loners to beat on

[analog lintel]

they have none of the character of the old ones

the old whirligigs were fun to get grabbed by, you could toss yourself with the physics

[stuck seal]

They aren’t whirlgigs though

[maiden creek]

yes , stlaker isnt really the type of game to scroll tiktok while walking. from experience

[analog lintel]

the new ones dont deal as much damage and arent any fun!

[weary hedge]

On some real shi I’d love to see these 2 squad up

[dry siren]

walking with the pda up is like distracted driving

[stuck seal]

I can imagine some corny one liners from both Strelok and scar as they fight together

[static lark]

I’m not even doing that im just zoning out and then all of a sudden i spin in circles and get spat out

[maiden creek]

man i wish stlaker 2 would have a mechanic like anomaly pda does instead of just transition

[analog lintel]

They need like 2000 more hours of therapy before any hope of love. Out of all the potential partnerships in S2 they're the hardest to get together IMO because both men are deeply weird and would be trying to kill one another every chance they got

[maiden creek]

yeah that too

[weary hedge]

They’d definitely be the corny bro duo

[maiden creek]

its streloking time

[static lark]

I’m stalking it

[weary hedge]

And yap about how much they hate everyone in the zone

[maiden creek]

https://tenor.com/view/me-atrapaste-es-cine-its-cinema-cinema-esto-es-cine-gif-12869046600151364058

god does gif doenst work here?

[weary hedge]

We don’t have rights here😂

[stuck seal]

“Scar, watch my back”
“Yeah, I would be a better shot than you anyway”
“You sure about that? Remember the CNPP?”
“Come on, it was just that one time!”

[maiden creek]

[stuck seal]

They become like a super hero dynamic duo, calling themselves some corny crap like “The Shadows of Chornobyl” or something

[analog lintel]

Relationship ratings:

Easy difficulty
-Skif and Richter
-Dalin and literally any good character post-finale (he's got a big heart he could go with anybody who is nice to him at that point)
-Degtyarev and all of the Corps members

Moderate difficulty
-Faust and Strider

Hard
-Korshinov and Kymanov (YOU CAN SEE MY VISION RIGHT??? IM NOT CRAZY)
-Strelok and Scar

accidentlly wrote strier instead of richterl ol

[weary hedge]

Most definitely 😭

[dry siren]

clear sky borov is kinda hot

but SoC? nah

[maiden creek]

anyway, do u guys think theyll update the engine first before adding nvg and binoculars

[analog lintel]

Engine first probably, sadly

[stuck seal]

Polygamous relationship between skif and granite squad

[static lark]

So why is there ISPF crap at Malachite

[stuck seal]

Because malachite is a government organization therefore gets official protection

[maiden creek]

probably for the best

[weary hedge]

Probably scientists hiring mercs

[analog lintel]

Granite are all old tho. Old and worked for Project X

[stuck seal]

Just the way I li

Nope not gonna say it

[analog lintel]

I do support the dream of Poly Skif tho I think he could pull it off he has rizz.

Skif could rizz up the Zone if he utilized 1% of the Heart's power

[stuck seal]

Except the girls

[static lark]

He could get Birch

[stuck seal]

Everyone else though he’d rizz up

[static lark]

Or Viky

Viktoria is surrounded by eggheads she probably finds Skif’s adventurous nature hot

[stuck seal]

She’d probably make skif do a bunch of work without a paycheck

[analog lintel]

Sigma girlboss

[stuck seal]

Claiming he’s not even government employed and therefore never worked there

[analog lintel]

she has no time for men she's simply slaying

[static lark]

Isn’t that what half of relationships already are?

[analog lintel]

The idea of Good Ending Mentally Healthy Strelok and Scar is still stuck in my head

[stuck seal]

Update where you can try to get discounts from the girl traders by sweet talking them and they just laugh at you and charge you extra

[unkempt vault]

My favorite part of S2 was when Strelok went “IT’S STALKING TIME” and psi’d all over the Monolith

[analog lintel]

I cannot even imagine what that would look like. I imagine that's also kinda a hangup for them. What are Strelok and Scar without their mental illness

[analog lintel]

he "pseed"

dont you know its called "PSEEE emitters"

english voice acting get out of my head get out of my head

[stuck seal]

The see fields

[static lark]

I feel like Viky would blush and give Skif like 1% off and say it’s all she can do or Malachite will get angy at her

[unkempt vault]

PSEED

[static lark]

IM TELLING YOU THIS SKIF VIKY SHIP MAKES SENSE YOU ALL JUST DENY TO SEE IT

[unkempt vault]

The Holy Psi

[stuck seal]

Bro she’s living rent free in your head you have to get her out

[maiden creek]

nah richter all the way

[static lark]

That’s harpy harpy is mysterious hot

[analog lintel]

Dmytro if you Pseed in the pool again I'm going to use you as a test subject in my latest experiment

[stuck seal]

BROTHER YOU MUST CEASE

[static lark]

I just feel like Skif is into strong smart independent women, hence Viky

[unkempt vault]

For a bandit

[analog lintel]

you must pseese

[unkempt vault]

Nou u psee

[stuck seal]

We must stay focused brothers, we must stay focused

[analog lintel]

Give Lazarus time he has not seen the endless well of homoeroticism that is Skif and Richter in the Project Y route

[unkempt vault]

Monolit…

[static lark]

You can’t consume the zone fruit my tourist brothers

SADSVIT ON THE RADIO

[unkempt vault]

THE OASIS IS REAL

[analog lintel]

They call me the Zone fruit

[maiden creek]

[static lark]

Hi i must hate you because i am Noon

[analog lintel]

you gotta hug it out its the only way to get the family back together

[static lark]

Or just let Dalin be a dumbass

[analog lintel]

noon and monolith hate makes for a broken home

[stuck seal]

Oasis fans when the 5 pseudo dogs enter the room

[static lark]

That seems to work

[analog lintel]

Divorce leads children to the worst places (Limansk)

[maiden creek]

ow yeah, noontide more like no tide to any girls

[static lark]

Strider dumping a mag of 5.45 into the generator probably didn’t help much

[stuck seal]

I know this isn’t related but I noticed there’s only one scripted psi dog encounter in CoP and it’s not even near the end of the game

[static lark]

I hate psi dogs

[analog lintel]

Oasis fans when they pull the computer chip out

[static lark]

Whoever made them up deserves gulag

[stuck seal]

The psi dogs in the trilogy aren’t bad, especially cop where you only fight the one

[analog lintel]

in S2 theyre from hell, like every mutant

[unkempt vault]

What is Richter listening to on his Walkman?

[static lark]

Well in S2 where one PsiDog ends up spawning 100 of them behind him

[maiden creek]

never gonna give u up

[static lark]

The Blind Dogs also suck

[unkempt vault]

[stuck seal]

I mean, JOURNALISTS DID SAY THAT THE MUTANTS IN STALKER 2 WERENT EASY BEFORE LAUNCH

[static lark]

JOIs.

Homoerotic joi tho

[stuck seal]

Getting robbed by bandits asmr

[maiden creek]

they did adress the issues i belive, early patch, but somehow it reveert back to the original

[static lark]

You guys are the ones who keep calling Richter gay not me

[analog lintel]

Ram Ranch

[static lark]

I keep saying that Skif and Viky are tryna shack up

[stuck seal]

I mean before the game even came out journalists were warning us

[unkempt vault]

So what song is he actually listening to

[stuck seal]

This guy has played too many fallout romance side quests

[analog lintel]

It's not that they're hard IMO its that theyre not fun to fight

[maiden creek]

yes, when the gmae first laucnh every mutant is a tant, i died like 5 times to the tutorial bloodsucker'

[analog lintel]

They lost so much character and became bullet sponges

[maiden creek]

true

[analog lintel]

Mutant named bloodsucker
Look inside
No bloodsucking attack

[maiden creek]

headshot mean nothing

[hallow shadow]

Is the Hub in Rostok that big ass facility?

[stuck seal]

Nope

[hallow shadow]

Where should I go?

[static lark]

Well NV doesn’t have romance. NV has “the world is terrible and i might die soon wanna bang?”

[stuck seal]

West

[analog lintel]

There's a bunch of different places in Rostok to go. Basically all the buildings have traders or something to do

[static lark]

And I don’t think FO3 has romance but I haven’t completed FO3 so

[maiden creek]

but atleast the chimera is somewhat digestible, in the arean at least. bcs bfore the patch they gave u 210 bullets, and u must hit all of them, if u miss one ur gonna ran out of bullets

[hallow shadow]

West takes me back to Garbage..

[stuck seal]

That’s East

[hallow shadow]

I mean. No.

[stuck seal]

I thought you said you could read maps!!!!!!

[static lark]

FO4 romance options make no sense cause your spouse literally just died

[maiden creek]

but i kinda wish they keep these places clean at least, i dont know it look more abondoned tha noccupied if ui remove thee trader

[hallow shadow]

I thought maybe you knew how to say more than one word.

What’s west mean, smart guy?

[static lark]

Left

[analog lintel]

I mean yeah they could do with a little more fixing up I do agree. I think S2 is close to a good balance of "living space" and "Zone junk" but Rostok is weird

[stuck seal]

True

[analog lintel]

a symptom of Freedom in S2 sucking and being a disappointment to their legacy

[maiden creek]

its looks un kept

[analog lintel]

I WILL KILL MYKLUKHA IF ITS THE LAST THING I DO

THAT REPTILE STOLE MY FACTION FROM ME. ALL FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY AND SPORTS BETTING

[maiden creek]

man they make duty armour so cool and then jusst push them aasside

[stuck seal]

He’s on a roof in an area where you can take your gun out

[hallow shadow]

Heaven forbid I get turned around, once.
Oh man. I’m fallible.
Shucks.

Left of Rostock is a helicopter field?

[analog lintel]

ive tried but you cant shoot him

[stuck seal]

Throw a grenade up there

[static lark]

Spark armor looks the best

[analog lintel]

ive tried that too, doesnt work on him

[maiden creek]

agree to disagree

but my fav is noontide armour, or monolith

[analog lintel]

trust me i have tried to kill that vicious little parasite 200 times by now the game will not let me sidorovich-ending-cutscene him

[static lark]

Actually it’s Monolith/Noon Armor, then it’s Spark, everyone else is garbage

[hallow shadow]

I wanna kill Sido so bad.
Wannabe Mafia boss.

[stuck seal]

So keep going west you’ll cross a bridge and end up at malachite, not a bad spot, if you DO wanna make money at rostok look for the spray paint that says “100 rads bar” and follow it

[analog lintel]

In SoC you could grenade him in the ending

[static lark]

I can’t react him cause he has me blocked

[maiden creek]

mark one??? what the hell!!?

[analog lintel]

the greatest scene in gaming history. MARKED ONE WHATDE HELL!!!??

[static lark]

[unkempt vault]

MARKED ONE WHAT-

[hallow shadow]

Ahhh. Malachite is the place?
That’s better than West.

[stuck seal]

Journey to the west but instead of a god it’s a homeless man

If you aren’t ready to go to malachite, barkeep at rostok can give you some easy money, just save before you get a quest from him because at least on console the higher paying one bugs out

There’s also the arena at rostok if you haven’t done it yet

[maiden creek]

ow and dont accept the quest that pays 8000ru, it bugged and the mission wont be accepted

[stuck seal]

I don’t even remember how much money you get from the arena as a whole I just remember it being worthless

[weary hedge]

I’d stick to rostok finish the quests there then head to malachite

[analog lintel]

Tbf Skif does have some Journey to the West Tripitaka vibes

-Gets nabbed a couple of times by various baddies
-Values compassion
-Potentially bald (I refuse to believe this but I acknowledge we do not see his hair)
-Acts on behalf of a greater force (The Zone)

[stuck seal]

Skif is actually a god confirmed

[weary hedge]

You get around 40k coupons in total if i remember correctly and a modded spas shotgun

[stuck seal]

In total but that’s after each round and stuff, I remember my pocket being the same after I beat the arena fully

[maiden creek]

yeah skiff started of intrigung with his reason to go to the zone , but then latter he becomes more of puppet to other character. expect the final thou

[unkempt vault]

“That’s great, buddy but I’m just a homeless veteran”

[weary hedge]

Yeah it’s not nearly as much as you’d expect

[analog lintel]

I don't see him as a puppet. He makes his choices on who to side with and who to betray

[stuck seal]

It’s because GSC wanted multiple endings I feel like, if there was just bad endings and one true ending it might have been different

[unkempt vault]

Sledgehammer aka

[analog lintel]

I mean. There is.

[stuck seal]

But as it is, it’s basically skif fighting some climactic battle for the fate of the zone except it’s not a fate he’s involved in

[maiden creek]

i see, but it's jsut i dont feel like his character is that well flesh out thou, their was kinda a mystery on why he want to go to the zone except for finding an apartment. but they kidna just dont went on with it

[unkempt vault]

For me it’s the opposite the game treats you like a loose cannon no matter what

[analog lintel]

He was stuck in a dead-end spot in his life and when everything he had was destroyed by the anomalous explosion he just decided "screw it, maybe ill find a new life in the zone"

he talks about his motivations and how they've evolved during his last convo with Richter in the Project Y route

[maiden creek]

bcs i remember when hes speaking to richter at the garbage tower, he ask"skif did u ever lost someone u love?" and he went silence, so i was intrigued.

so i kinda wondered who he lost?

then it never really go anywhere

thou hes conversation with faust is beautiful thou

[analog lintel]

its very interesting. skif isnt the best protagonist but we can see he has an arc and ultimately it is more satisfying than the previous protags to me

[stuck seal]

Maybe skif was just searching for the love of his life

[maiden creek]

i guess this is my fgault thou, since ive did not go to the project y route, since i choose strelok ending

[analog lintel]

I mean yeah. Choose bad ending, look inside, bad ending

[stuck seal]

Bad ending is everyone dying I think going Strelok ending isn’t that bad

[maiden creek]

but if strelok ending happend, how will they get food and clean water thou?

[analog lintel]

Everyone does die in the Strelok ending. The Zone can't survive cut off, it's a few years at most before food and resources run out and everyone is dead

[stuck seal]

They can re enact operation monolith except it’s literally everyone in the zone

Everyone is here ahh battle

[analog lintel]

True. I do think there's a good chance the Strelok ending would just result in the Zone banding together to kill him before he starves them all, but then it'd just reopen the barrier and we'd eventually end up with the Ward ending (just a longer timeframe)

[stuck seal]

Ward ending is the most normal one. Scary to think that the government now has power from the zone though.

I guess that’s what strelok was trying to prevent

[analog lintel]

I mean yeah, all they want is everyone to be Normal and everything to be Normal

the end of stalkers, the end of freedom, the end of any choice people have in their own lives

[maiden creek]

but the reason thye went to the zone is because they arent happy with normal life

[stuck seal]

Well yes and no, I feel like the most the power goes is watching people and being able to manipulate things from the zone but not the noosphere itself

[maiden creek]

theyre bored with mundane life and 9-5

[stuck seal]

Think about it, the C Con couldn’t change the global noosphere, I doubt the government using korshunovs mind can

[analog lintel]

The C-Con failed due to being short 1 scientist

The Board corrected that using Korshinov (with induced class 5 psi-resist), upgrading the equipment, and also ||building like 100 extra generators across the planet||

[stuck seal]

I may have missed something but in the trilogy, there were bodies there, bodies that Strelok killed

[analog lintel]

Yes, they had 7/8

Doctor explains this in STALKER 2

[stuck seal]

Right right

[analog lintel]

The OCTA array was designed for eight scientists, Kymanov refused, they replaced him with a variometer to offset the energy loss (they couldve replaced all of them, as he points out, but it wasnt about what made the most sense it was about making 7 narcissists into a demigod), and ||kymanov shot the variometer apart during the experiment||

[unkempt vault]

I lost myself before I lost everyone else

[stuck seal]

Though again, they couldn’t control skif, if they did he wouldn’t have left in the first place. Also the fact that the noosphere seems to actually fight back

[analog lintel]

But they don't need to control him. They won

[stuck seal]

Right

[analog lintel]

He's leaving. He's living a normal life. Their control is insidious, it's normal everyday current existence

[unkempt vault]

Left

[stuck seal]

In between

[unkempt vault]

Up

[analog lintel]

Whether Skif works for the Board or goes home to a new house, the Board wins. No more stalkers. No more disobedience to society

[unkempt vault]

The zone’s junk is worthless outside of it anyway unless you’re an SCO member state looking for scrap metal for your guns and planes

[stuck seal]

Idk though, I don’t think their power over the noosphere is that great, they could probably manage control of monolithians again, but I don’t think they can mind control everyone, perhaps manipulate certain things about the noosphere but not full total body control

[analog lintel]

I dont know why you think this, they didn't just build 100 generators across the planet for the like.... 90 remaining monolithian troops

[hallow shadow]

Yeah, I fail to see how the Zone’s problems are Skif’s problems.
Skif’s problems bring him to the Zone, but Skif is not obligated to the Zone.

[unkempt vault]

The NOOsphere

[stuck seal]

I said manipulate certain things about the noosphere

[analog lintel]

The Zone cried out for help, Skif needed a home. The Zone became his home

[analog lintel]

Is that any less insidious? If your thoughts were no longer your own?

[unkempt vault]

Well the zone’s gone now and skif has a new luxury apartment so there’s no problem

[hallow shadow]

Kinda like Elden Ring/Dark Sous.
The protagonist is dragged from their grave to atone for sins they didn’t commit.

[stuck seal]

Yeah I see now, glory to SIRCAA

[unkempt vault]

Aren’t we all

[unkempt vault]

Cheeki breeki

[stuck seal]

Next thought is what would the board do if they ruled the world, are they the government? Or is the board separate/above the government

Or like is the board run/funded by government

[unkempt vault]

Like I’m supposed to listen to stalkers I don’t trust because Ukrainian Black Mesa has le matrix machine

[hallow shadow]

It’s usually the other way round.
Governments are propped up big ol cash cow corpos.

[stuck seal]

Corpos who then dictate many things about government, basically becoming above it

[hallow shadow]

Yes. The answer to your question: Board probably is government

[unkempt vault]

It’s not even a corporation it’s like ONI in Halo so an intelligence agency with unusual levels of political sway and operational freedom

[hallow shadow]

I always hated how ONI ran the UEG

[unkempt vault]

But here it’s a science agency like the EPA

[stuck seal]

I still would take that ending over everyone dying or even everyone waking up next to an anomaly

[unkempt vault]

In the context of a big space war it makes sense kinda because it’s not like you’re gonna say no to their projects and input

[stuck seal]

Imagine being hungover and there’s a burner on the other side of the bed

[unkempt vault]

But they only really exist because some eggheads wanted to play at eugenics and make the perfect species

[hallow shadow]

Yeah, at the end of (their) day, survival was key.

[analog lintel]

I've talked about this in a long rambling rant in lore discussions, but basically Strelok and Board endings represent two sides of the same coin: protecting the status quo. Strelok is obsessed with keeping the Zone's status quo intact, he has a neurotic hatred of change, but in practice keeping the Zone "free" of outside influence is the death of the lifestyle he's holding onto. He just can't see that because acknowledging that things in the world majorly need to change for the freedom he loves to survive is antithetical to his beliefs. He sees freedom as purely individual, purely his freedom, but we obviously know this is nonsense - the Zone doesn't work if it's just one man "free" in a big bubble of starving people. Meanwhile the Board offers a more sustainable ending, but its also about the status quo - just the status quo of the outside world. The Board want there to be NO Zone (because they need the power of the Noosphere, for one, but also) becuase the Zone is antithetical to their belief in total control. They want a society that will run well with them at the top and everyone else under their command. It's a soulless world where nobody is free, because freedom is dangerous to the Board's perfect society.

And both these endings are awful because neither of them respect people's right to be actually free or actually make their own decisions. Strelok thinks everyone is greedy and he needs to keep the Zone from them, ending in this suicidal plot to seal his private sancturary way, and the Board is even worse with their belief that humanity is so evil nobody deserves to make their own decisions. It's just a desire to maintain this dysfunctional status quo born out of a belief that people are bad and can't be any better.

[hallow shadow]

Makes me wish Project Orion didn’t fail.
So literal children didn’t have to bear the brunt of humanity’s fate.

[unkempt vault]

The Spartan programs were only helpful in retrospect

Eventually they became reliant on Spartans to do really anything

Johnson had similar performance with just a slight augmentation

And he’s technically disabled because of it

[stuck seal]

Halo fans when edgy tragic backstory (the writer was just obsessed with kids)

[analog lintel]

You've got to risk a little danger to be free! If there's enough goodness in humanity maybe the anomaly you wake up next to won't be all that bad

[hallow shadow]

Dude. This stuff is nice.
I’m so glad lore-heads are here.

[hallow shadow]

Johnson went hard.
Surviving the Flood is no joke.

[stuck seal]

I see streloks reasoning different

[analog lintel]

How so?

[unkempt vault]

So just imagine an army of Orion marines with the bare minimum

[hallow shadow]

I always imagine it.
Orions would’ve probably done better, if Halsey hadn’t killed one in MJOLNIR

[stuck seal]

He’s not protecting his freedom, he sees that world governments want the zone, either it’s power or it’s resources, and they WILL use it for evil. No amount of laws or even sabotage can stop this, governments are closing on the zone, the only way to stop it is to isolate it from reality essentially

[hallow shadow]

Awful way to go, if you ask me.

[unkempt vault]

And yet MJOLNIR armor is technically superior

Even the MKV is a massive leap

It’s post MJOLNIR nostalgia bait models from canon we don’t see in the game we’re thinking of when we think of serviceable Orion soldiers the pillar of autumn had several dozen

[hallow shadow]

Didn’t Johnson have a small contingent of them?

[unkempt vault]

We often think of ODST’s similarly as just Marines in better armor

[hallow shadow]

I wish that was visible in the first game. ODSTs weren’t even mentioned.

[stuck seal]

Yes I know Strelok states that he wants ti protect the zone, but I believe that’s just his own justification for what he’s doing, he sees himself as a valiant hero sheltering the zone, when more practically speaking he’s just anti government and wants to prevent them from attaining such destructive power

[unkempt vault]

Which isn’t entirely true

[hallow shadow]

No. ODSTs are a different level of Marine.

[stuck seal]

Halo has ok world building but crappy writing

[unkempt vault]

The helmet helps, it’s modular like MKVI but it’s actually lighter than full BDU and lacks much utility past the helmet’s limited life support and being black for stealth

[hallow shadow]

I think the writing is great.

[unkempt vault]

But we see them that way

[stuck seal]

It’s one dimensional

[hallow shadow]

To some.

[stuck seal]

I think malaise is charging up a super paragraph

[hallow shadow]

I love when that guy shits Lore Bombs.

[analog lintel]

I agree, that is definitely a major part of his motivation I didn't fully explore before, but I maintain he reveals himself when he refuses to let the Zone itself be free - refuses to see that freedom requires allowing things to change. Strelok can't accept the idea of a changing world, it's why he refuses to believe Kymanov could have changed and still sees him as a villain for being part of Project X, it's why he takes over the Monolith when he wins. His protection is about keeping this idealized Zone he must protect intact forever. You're right that calling it "his freedom" is a bit misleading, though, I just used the word because he said it so much during the ending

[analog lintel]

You have not seen my work in Lore-Discussions. My great paragraphs of rambling

[hallow shadow]

I get the same way with Halo, and Starship Troopers.

[unkempt vault]

It sounds like Stalker fans in general

[hallow shadow]

Seal just became my buddy.

[unkempt vault]

“The zone isn’t a theme park”

[stuck seal]

And like I said he views himself as the hero of the story, yes he may be stopping powers from using the zone for evil, but he is not the hero, he sees himself as such and he believes he’s a valiant protector

[unkempt vault]

My Brother in Christ it literally is

[hallow shadow]

It’s a god damn death trap.

[tawdry oar]

the zone is a theme park wdym we have no capitalist ending

[hallow shadow]

Good!

[unkempt vault]

“Duty = no fun hahaha cheeki breeki”
Meanwhile,
“NOOOO MUH FACTION WAR”

[analog lintel]

Yeah it's a whole thing. I notice a lot of people like his ending because it keeps the old Zone intact, not realizing that's... kinda why it's a bad ending. You're just keeping the Zone for the sake of the Zone. Nobody gets to be a stalker when the food runs out, no adventures or freedom, just the sad horrible nightmare prison of a man who had his last friend killed because he couldn't accept that morality wasn't black and white.

[hallow shadow]

“You’ve Cheeki’d your last Breeki”
-John Stalker

[analog lintel]

Strelok saying he can't kill Kymanov himself because he might get hung up on memories actually injured me physically. OH YOU STUPID MAN YOURE SO CLOSE TO GETTING IT

And he immediately sees when you return with a little bit of compassion in your eyes that you didn't do it. And trying to talk him down is "the good doctor talking" like yeah bro its called empathy please try it

[unkempt vault]

And then Freedom fans cheering that the Ward showed up because it meant they could demand anything they wanted from the big bad government that doesn’t like terrorism and negotiates fairly

[analog lintel]

What?

[hallow shadow]

OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO TAKE MY ARTIFACTS OFF THE BALL IS CHASING ME

[unkempt vault]

The fog is coming

[stuck seal]

No ending is good in stalker 2, but some seem more plausible/available for continuation than others

[analog lintel]

It gets really sad when you realize this is all he remembers. He's just a guy with amnesia who is trying to keep the only thing he ever knew intact. All he wanted was to stay the same and keep being the hero, to maintain the identity he almost lost to the brainwashing. His audio log in his hideout in S2 where he's reminding himself who he is and what he did is so sad, he's terrified of losing his memories

[stuck seal]

Skif and scar are eliminated as scar is just nuke going off without the explosion, and skif just turns stalker into generic post apocalypse game #28471

[hallow shadow]

cries in Lucatiel of Mirrah

[analog lintel]

I would disagree. I think Project Y is the good ending. Seeing it as good requires you have to actually do the work to distance yourself from the line of thinking that motivated all the other antagonists (humanity is bad and must be fixed/controlled/kept away)

[analog lintel]

I mean we don't know if it's a true gobal Zone or if its individual Zones around each generator array

[hallow shadow]

I don’t want to wipe the Zone, but I don’t want the Zone to envelope the world…
What do I do?

[tawdry oar]

waking up just to see an anomaly in your front yard

[hallow shadow]

I would shit.

[unkempt vault]

Uhh…die?

[stuck seal]

When you wake up to kiss your wife but instead of your wife it’s an electro

[tawdry oar]

your wife is a controller

[hallow shadow]

Burer

[unkempt vault]

[tawdry oar]

that's what she said

meanwhile in florida be like: it's just another tuesday

[stuck seal]

Well from both endings we see that the consequences are not good and they will last forever

[weary hedge]

When you go to kiss ur wife and feel tentacles press up against ur face

[unkempt vault]

That’s why I’m not afraid of controllers in my bathroom because I’ve never had the good company of a woman

[stuck seal]

Also I don’t want stalker to be generic post apocalypse game thank you very much

So I don’t like skifs ending

[unkempt vault]

The poltergeist is just like “I’m taking you to court vro”

[analog lintel]

If the Zone is humanity, then the Zone enveloping the world means profoundly different things depending on what you believe humanity is deep down. If we are all evil monsters, it will kill us all. If we have the capacity for empathy, for change, though? If we, though we are not inherently good, are able to be kinder and better and make a kinder and better society? The Zone could show us our reflection, and we could make one another better through that. With every bit of good you are in the world, the Zone is that much more good. It is all our thoughts and ideas and beliefs. It is freedom. If human freedom is so horrifying then you can choose to die with the scientists of the MDST and Project X, but I don't think it's all that scary. I don't think our nature is inherently evil. I think our nature is to adapt, right now our world is based on greed and apathy - you advance through pushing others down, and the Zone might just give us a kick to build a society based on goodness and kindness - because in the new world we will quite literally reap what we sow. The C-Consciousness believed there was a darkness in the minds of humanity, but as Kymanov observed a violent dog will only remain violent if it is never allowed freedom. If it is allowed out of its cage, though, while it may not be immediate, it has the potential for socialization, the potential for good.

[stuck seal]

Except the zone doesn’t envelope the world, just more zones being created

[hallow shadow]

So… In Malachite.
What’s the deal with this floating ball?

[weary hedge]

The fallout games portray this kind of thing perfectly

[analog lintel]

Either way, the result is the same. The Zone is a greater opportunity for freedom, for growth

Think about what was happening before D4, before the Board's agents came to clamp down

I do not think the battles of the loners, bandits, duty, and freedom were senseless bloodshed, I think disagreement is necessary for us to make a better world

But when a force arrives to enforce their law, their domination, their twisted exploitation - what then? We saw these people degenerate, their freedom squashed!

[stuck seal]

The thing about the zone reflecting us, I think that’s only because the one zone was made because of a mistake trying to change the noosphere, the noosphere itself simply being a force of nature, if the boundary between earth and the noosphere are completely removed, it will not reflect us, but simply exist

[analog lintel]

What do you think the Noosphere is?

It's thoughts. It's the sphere of minds. All our ideas and consciousnesses interact with it and influence it

[stuck seal]

Except these conflicts were not on ideals but for power and advantage

[analog lintel]

Perhaps some, but I believe there is a potential for better ideals, a potential a new anomalous world can help us unlock

[stuck seal]

Selfish ambitions clash

Bandits and loners being an example, mercs and military too, and even duty and freedom

[analog lintel]

And yet selfish is not all they were

[unkempt vault]

Zone bad

[analog lintel]

I believe there is enough good in us that we can be better, but that can only come through a process of building a new, better world, without the exploitation of the old one

[stuck seal]

Yes, within these factions they are still human, they are happy, sad, empathetic, selfish, some want to do good, and some want to do bad, some care for others, some don’t

But even though the people within these factions are different, they all still followed orders and fought each other for the benefit of their leaders

[analog lintel]

And yet Duty and Freedom hid together in Yanov in the emission

People can be selfish and cruel but it is not innate and it is not all they can be

[stuck seal]

You’ve got a point there

[analog lintel]

They can be better, they must be better, the world will never improve if we continue to keep people caged out of fear of the behaviors the cage itself is inspiring

[analog lintel]

An electro anomaly spawns by a utility pole, why? A fruit punch acid pool by a chemical container, why? Because those are the environments in which those ideas associate within the noosphere. The Zone, I would argue, is one large environment. Chernobyl is a place humanity remembers as a disaster, as a horrible place of death. We can reason, from this, that perhaps the anomalies we see - in their most violent forms - are not merely a normal baseline of anomalous energy. Perhaps the extreme danger and violence of the Zone is not inherent to it? Are all our thoughts of death? Do we only see a grizzly end when we look at a power line? No! The Zone is the most horrible place on earth for the Noosphere to touch, and yet there is still beauty there! What might the rest of our world look like? What might a place of happy memories be?

STALKER is about showing us the absolute worst parts of humanity and giving us the decision to decide if there is still enough good in us to deserve to be free, and I say there is. I say there is a need for more good, which is precisely why we must be free

[stuck seal]

Side note though, skifs ending makes me think if that’s canon and is the one that is continued, stalker will become just the average post apocalypse game where everywhere is in ruins and it’s lawlessness, I like stalker because what’s happening in the zone is just in the zone, the outside world is still going on like usual, you can be sipping your coffee and read the newspaper that a government science outpost in the zone was attacked by eco terrorists or something and then you’d just drive to work and go about your day

[potent ember]

Um, I can’t look in game, my mouse cursor is there, and I can’t look

[analog lintel]

I mean we could have more Zones and it'd just be set in a different one.

I agree I think total post apocalypse would have to be handled delicately

but more Zones is more likely

[potent ember]

Mouse is acting weird too, can’t click on things in menu

[stuck seal]

Looking at the map though, more zones means everywhere basically, there’s way less “outside world” and more zones

[potent ember]

Main menu fine, settings once loaded fine

[hallow shadow]

Whoa… SSP-100?

[analog lintel]

We dont know how large they'll be

[hallow shadow]

Duuuude. This armor has some nice stats.

[stuck seal]

True, the map in the ending is just human technology, it could have made errors and shouldn’t be taken face value

[hallow shadow]

Oh. She sells the suit I’m already wearing.

[analog lintel]

Maybe it's the whole world and the governments are struggling to keep control as things as basic as physics spiral out of their control. Maybe its isolated spots and the governemnts are trying (and failing) to keep a lid on the situation.

I am just happy things are going this direction. I've advocated this for years but I never thought GSC would be brave enough to actually do it!

[hallow shadow]

Where do I find this Falcon suit?
I’m not buying this stuff.

I’m at STC.

[stuck seal]

I feel like GSC wouldn’t do it justice, stalker is about Ukraine among other things, heck, they don’t even show us what the Belarus part of the zone looks like and that’s for a reason, I highly doubt they’re gonna give us freakin S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Seattle

[tawdry oar]

stalker live service mp game
||pls don't||

[stuck seal]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they retcon it so that the zone doesn’t even span to Belarus anymore

[weary hedge]

Love this suit

[analog lintel]

I don't know. Maybe they'd not want to leave Ukraine, but I have some hope that they will with this ending. Roadside Picnic was set in America. People seem to forget this. STALKER is about people first and foremost, people living in a world of strange forces and groups that try to exist around them. I don't think it needs to be Ukranian for that to work. And we could always come back to the Zone, I like the Chernobyl Zone, I do, but I think we have explored a lot of it and we have seen a lot of the stories it can offer. How many more times are we going to see Duty and Freedom fighting over Rostok? I don't want Seattle, I'd pick somewhere more interesting. Shadow of Cambodia? Why not! Imagine a mutant elephant? We'll always have STALKER games set in Chernobyl, I'd rather the series try something new for a change than languish making the same game worse and worse

[weary hedge]

If you climb up a ladder with the chimney on it behind the science facility you follow the pipeline

Jump past some anomalies using a bolt

[stuck seal]

Then it’s gonna be like fallout but with extra steps

[weary hedge]

New Vegas and 3🔥

[analog lintel]

If you simplify it that much you can already call STALKER that. I'd argue comparing every "people surviving in a weird place" to fallout is a mistake.

Plus, you act like fallout would ever depict an interesting setting in a country beyond america! Haha!

[stuck seal]

Every game set somewhere else, and it’s the usual song and dance where really odd factions fight a climactic battle over something arbitrary and the whole “faction” dynamic is just unrealistic and odd.

[analog lintel]

Why is it odd?

People form groups for survival. Stalker explores how those groups come to exist, how they interact with the world around them, how they forumlate alternative organizations of society and alternative visions of the future

[stuck seal]

Factions in fallout are just really out of place, many are poorly written, and the reasoning for their “wars” are silly

Stalker shows factions a little more realistically, and that’s because there’s an outside world to interact with

[analog lintel]

I agree with you there, but poor writing isn't a characteristic unique to faction storytelling

True! And as we've established there's a possibility that world will stay somewhat intact after Project Y

[weary hedge]

The games are purposefully highly unrealistic 😂

[hallow shadow]

This jump is the worst shit ever.

[analog lintel]

And if it doesn't I doubt we'd lose every government one year out from the expansion

[stuck seal]

The anarchists are actually anarchistic, there is a ukranian government outside the zone to actually protest against, duty was originally made by a military survivor who wanted to break off for personal gain, again, so that one day he can leave the zone

[hallow shadow]

Is Skif an idiot?

[stuck seal]

Loners fight and survive for many reasons, but the one they all have in common is to get money

[hallow shadow]

OH SHIT I MADE IT
SAVE!

[stuck seal]

So that they can live comfortably outside the zone

[analog lintel]

Not everyone wants that

[hallow shadow]

Save. Save. Save. Jesus effing Christ.
SAVE

[stuck seal]

True, some don’t want to leave

[analog lintel]

You've got your Richters, your Skifs, your Streloks - they like the Zone. Many stalkers do. Some want to leave, some want to stay

[stuck seal]

Some can’t leave

Most won’t ever get to leave

[analog lintel]

Perhaps the new world will be one big Zone. Perhaps it'll be a bunch of little Zones. Perhaps the Zones vary in intensity, and far away from a generator point you'll have minimal anomalies and a semblance of normal life while closer to one you get more Zone conditions

We don't know what will happen, we can't predict that, that's for GSC to write

[stuck seal]

Well in stalker 2 the chances of getting out are higher, there’s more people, and more ways to get out, and factions like IPSF and ward keep some parts safe, if you’re a licensed stalker, you can just walk out one of the gates

[hallow shadow]

IVE GOT 5 deaths and 3 are from these jumps.

Make that 4.

[analog lintel]

I have hope they'll come up with a fun way to do it because I legitimately think whoever is writing S2 is very competent. They make a few mistakes, some stuff is weird, but I have some amount of faith in their ideas

[stuck seal]

That reminds me of metro, where some places are completely gone and others are untouched, and also kinda like fallout too

[analog lintel]

And you forget all those games are decades or centuries after the apocalypse

Let's say STALKER 3 is a year or 2 after Project Y. The government is probably still around

You're dealing with a scenario we actually haven't seen in a mainline apocalypse game

[stuck seal]

And yet theyre still all scavengers squabbling around fighting over who’s gonna be king, when realistically society would be restored

[analog lintel]

True! I don't defend their writing

[hallow shadow]

I’m guessing this last jump is an effing troll?

[stuck seal]

You’re absolutely right about this, if GSC makes skif ending canon, it’s all up to their writing team to decide how to handle it, I just hope it doesn’t become generic, stalker is one of the few franchises I like because it’s different

[weary hedge]

Once you get to the building there will be a drop down onto some cushion anomalies. Cross the scaffolding below. There will be another anomalies on the ground you need to bounce off of to the scaffolding above

[stuck seal]

Then again, I trust Eastern Europeans to make a unique world rather than Americans, American game writers have been lacking for close to a decade

[analog lintel]

I agree, but I think having an apocalypse as the good ending is already proof that they writing team is going about this differently than anyone else has so far, so I have hope they'll do a good thing with it. I like the moral S2 ends on, it's a logical continuation of the original games' themes. Not just "I disagree with you C-Con, humanity deserves free will!" but actually taking a stand to further that cause of free will on a grander scale.

[stuck seal]

More than a decade really

[hallow shadow]

I can’t get the last gap.
Those cushions are cool though.
I’m staring at the armor. Just gotta get the jump.

I’m at 8 deaths. Total. 6 are jumps.

Of course input delay, skif won’t jump. Just sprints right of the edge, like an effing lemming.

[stuck seal]

Skif yearns for the concrete

[hallow shadow]

HOLY SHINING ZONE I DID IT

[analog lintel]

I always get mad when people depict STALKER as overly depressing and grimdark, because while it is a horrifying and sometimes very sad world it is not solely that. STALKER is one of my favorite franchises because it's human and it depicts all aspects of that experience. It's a celebration of our disagreements and our ability to make a better living for ourselves. The C-Con, the Board, even Strelok - they're villains because they can't see that. They have this sad and twisted view of humanity as bad that ironically turns them into the worst parts of humankind. I love when STALKER 2 gives us characters like Richter who marvel at the Zone, because this isn't just a sad or broken world. STALKER isn't just about the darkness beyond the campfire, it's about the people sitting beside it.

[stuck seal]

Absolutely right, stalker feels more human than other games in the genre

[tawdry oar]

what if the zone is inside us all along

[stuck seal]

I felt genuinely empty, like I lost a part of me, when I beat SoC and CoP for the first times

Not because the endings were sad, but because it was over, I experienced everything in the games, helped those I could, killed those who may or may not have deserved it, achieved my mission, and finally it was over

[weary hedge]

Well done stalker

[analog lintel]

For all the many many many many many many many many many game design mistakes in STALKER 2's gameplay the story and vibes were very satisfying to me. They got the tone right, which is more than I can say for a lot of fan projects that try to project a "misery" atmosphere. I love that Scar is a crazy old man who laughs while killing people and paints in blood, I love that Kymanov learned materialism from dogs, I love that Skif isn't just angry all the time like a lot of other game protagonists (COUGH COUGH CYBERPUNK I HATE THAT GAME). Even in the darkest part of the world people are still laughing and drinking and that is a type of happiness the Board's "society" can never give them

I am a STALKER 2 story glazer and I am proud of it.

[weary hedge]

I’ll never get over the “come here stalker let’s have a chat” callouts 😂

[stuck seal]

Also hearing Live to Forget as the end credits play for CoP left me Broken, I literally just sat in my chair and stared into nothingness, remembering everything I did

[analog lintel]

STALKER music is so great

[stuck seal]

God I love CoP so much

[analog lintel]

SET MODE EMBRACE at the end of STALKER 2 hit me so hard as the globe lit up

[stuck seal]

People hate it for many reasons but I don’t

[analog lintel]

CoP leaned into the idea of stalker society and community more than any other game and i think it was the best for that reason

people can say "oh the main story sucks" and yeah it does but thats not the point

the point is that you made friends and uncovered mysteries and saved a squad of monolith and helped cardan get his life together and killed off a den of bloodsuckers who wouldve destroyed skadovsk

[hallow shadow]

THIS ARMOR IS THE TITS

[analog lintel]

CoP makes me happy because I get to help everyone.

and destroy duty

[hallow shadow]

Sold my other stuff
Rich as hell.
Max out my SPAS.

Upgrade this suit..

Aaaaaand… I’m poor again.

Uh oh. I can’t afford the Guide back to Garbage. Hahahaha!

[tawdry oar]

i like to keep both sides at stalemate in CoP

[analog lintel]

There is nothing you can keep secret that will not come into the open. It's just a matter of time.

[stuck seal]

I don’t think the main story sucks, it’s meant to be simple and therefore it is. Find the choppers, find the reason for the choppers going down, save stingray, get out of the zone

[analog lintel]

I mean I say it sucks because we could've gotten THE HORROR OF PRIPYAT

which wouldve been SO COOL for degtyarev from a narrative perspective since hes literally from pripyat

and it couldve had a great moral about seeing the good in a place others cant

[stuck seal]

Pripyat was pretty creepy in cop but only a few POIs had stuff going on

[analog lintel]

the dev documents reveal that weird "controller" thing tormenting everyone you never managed to find? the one that scares your guys in the evacuation? that was a GIANT INVISIBLE NIGHTMARE MONSTER created through the collective bad and painful memory of pripyat.

[stuck seal]

Most of the POIs in CoP were just loot and artifacts, I guess that’s the “Klondike of artifacts” people were talking about

[hallow shadow]

Lex The Legend? Why does he seem broken?

Dude just stares at the wall, Billy Madison style.

[stuck seal]

I must have missed this, when were they scared during exfil?

[analog lintel]

this was SUPPOSED to be a thing in the 2011 Stalker 2 since it never got confronted in COP but then the game got cancelled and everyone forgot

[hallow shadow]

“You fall in love with the wall?”
“YOU AINT COOL, UNLESS YOU PEE YOUR PANTS!”

[stuck seal]

Maybe I missed it because they were fighting a chimera

[analog lintel]

remember there's that one guy who gets scared by a "controller" and had to hide in a fridge? during the exfil a sound plays and he screams ITS HERE

the sound is called "pripyathorror" and some people going through old dev documents pieced together what it was meant to be

[stuck seal]

I thought that was referring to the chimera that jumped at me

[analog lintel]

no its a giant monster around all of pripyat the chimera was just your bad luck

[stuck seal]

Oooohhh

[analog lintel]

personally i think the horror is such a cool twist on the normal anomaly formula and opens up so many more interesting avenues for anomalous hauntings and stuff and we just DIDNT GET IT because gsc decided to put it in 2011 stalker 2 (which never released)

grahh this is my white whale i love the horror as a concept but sadly as of S2 i'm pretty sure we're intended to think the weird stuff in CoP ending was Faust's doing (since it'd line up with the stuff he can do)

[stuck seal]

Then again it makes sense it wasn’t confronted because the whole point was to get the heck out

Perhaps if the confrontation happened before the evacuation

[analog lintel]

i mean yeah but imagine degtyarev, this child of pripyat, confronting the monster made of all the nightmares and bad memories of his city

THE NARRATIVE. ITS SO JUICY

[stuck seal]

You think it would’ve been a boss fight

[analog lintel]

i don't actually

there's no indication it wouldve been a fight

[stuck seal]

Basically all problems in stalker are solved with bullets, maybe solving a paranormal horror with supernatural methods could’ve worked

[analog lintel]

i think it'd work better almost if you got to learn about it a bit before the ending and finally confront it. maybe "talk" to it (its not indicated to be able to talk but in the quest you were meant to get in s2 2011 itd show you memories of the city and you'd see its "body," which was a giant black smoke tendril monster wrapping around the city)

theres a number of avenues you could take with degtyarev interacting with the horror but i think it wouldve given him a really cool arc and wouldve given the detail hes a pripyat native some actual importance

i was shocked that never came up, like he never knew a route or anything from the fact he lived there

[stuck seal]

He makes out with the monster

[analog lintel]

oh he LOVES pripyat

[stuck seal]

Feel like the game just focused on his mission more than anything else, maybe his fear of his home is what caused him to be so silent

Or the fact that he is now killing people in the streets he walked when he was young

[analog lintel]

i feel like the horror would've been a cooler way to tie things together in the end. like what if instead of "your maps were outdated" they learned the city itself took down the helicopters that tried to fly over it

[stuck seal]

What strikes me is that all the real mutants in stalker were made in x labs, but with monster could never have been born in a test tube

[stuck seal]

Well it still would’ve been anomalies, just anomalies being essentially alive and moving to take out the choppers

[analog lintel]

yeah the dev documents seem to imply its more an anomaly than a mutant. something from our collective unconscious. everyone seeing pripyat as this place of death created an invisible force of horror around the city

[analog lintel]

yeah, which i say is way cooler.

we don't know if they planned it to be that way but the horror was meant to play a role in CoP and we know they eventually decided to put it into S2 2011. i just wish they'd kept it for the CoP finale man... such a cool idea

the archanomalies in S2 are cool but. they could be so much more interesting. i want to see more REALLY WEIRD stuff like anomalies that talk or demonstrate a limited mind of their own

[stuck seal]

Anomaly that reflects the person who enters it, you are faced with a puzzle, of yourself

[analog lintel]

real Annihilation vibes

[stuck seal]

Nah that seems like something for the end of the game, you must overcome yourself in order to achieve your goal

[analog lintel]

The Zone in lore really has more mystical vibes than the stuff we get to see. I think the anomalies we have are often very uncreative, and the most creative ones in S2 are just aesthetic with no effects

[stuck seal]

Aren’t the normal anomalies essentially a manifestation of human emotion

[analog lintel]

Like we have characters like Hermit in Clear Sky who literally doesn't use weapons or armor because he believes he must show the Zone he means no harm, and he attests that mutants don't attack him and he can walk without fear from the Zone

[analog lintel]

Not just emotion, but all ideas and concepts. As I said before, they often correlate somewhat with their surroundings

It's why the fire station up in Cooling Towers is burning. It's a fire station. The Noosphere knows that building relates to burning buildings and so the building burns

[hallow shadow]

This scientist lady is hilarious.
“Hey, can you lug yourself halfway across the planet? Ya see, I sent some guys out to do some Science, but… They haven’t returned. Can you go check on them? For science?”

[analog lintel]

Science is big these days all the kids are into it

[hallow shadow]

Science seems to be a fatal error.

[stuck seal]

Oh that, I shocked her because i passed that exact place on my way to malachite for the first time, I already did the quest before getting the quest

[hallow shadow]

Thanks for help, getting this Suit, guys.

[hallow shadow]

I gave the water a wide berth, so… I didn’t even know.

[analog lintel]

I'd even go so far as to speculate the mutations we see some mutants get might be motivated by it being in Chernobyl. I mean what are the odds this abstract, surreal, psychic energy is causing mutations that look like a cross between the real scientific idea of nuclear radiation and the exaggerated pop culture idea of nuclear radiation? It's mutating creatures that are in Chernobyl, Chernobyl is a place related to nuclear radiation and mutations, so it could be playing off that

[stuck seal]

A lot of quests you can complete before receiving them, like you can clear swamps before reaching the point in the campaign

[hallow shadow]

I was just lucky to have booku mutant parts in my box

[analog lintel]

The Noosphere is very broad and STALKER has a habit of only showing the most simple manifestations, but it could be a lot more complex and intricate than we give it credit for

[stuck seal]

I see that, though I think really it’s just messed up genes passed down from parent to child

[analog lintel]

You're thinking of Dalin's face. Common mix-up

[hallow shadow]

I should do that. Story wise, Richter md Korshunov just told me to go to Wild Island.

[stuck seal]

LMAO

[analog lintel]

The official STALKER 2 artbook shows so many weird things. Artbook Dalin is HOT but artbook faust? Oh my god unrecognizably ugly.

They gave the hot guy energy to Faust. Good decision IMO gave him more power

[stuck seal]

They got mixed up in development

[analog lintel]

let evil preachers be sexy maybe

[hallow shadow]

I hated the Swamps.
Unnecessary Far Cry run-n-gun

[stuck seal]

CoP preacher should’ve been hot

[stuck seal]

Then perhaps it would be better to get it out of the way sooner than later

[hallow shadow]

You’re saying I can shut down those emitters without the quest?

[stuck seal]

I did

And killed the controller

[hallow shadow]

Doesn’t break my game?
Chimera presence?

[stuck seal]

And got stuck between two houses because my dumb ahh couldn’t understand that I couldn’t pass through

[hallow shadow]

Oh my god. It was a Controller Spawning all that BS on me, consistently ruining my shit?

[stuck seal]

Chimera not a problem, it doesn’t exist

[hallow shadow]

Where’s it hiding? Imma mulch that Controller.

[stuck seal]

Pretty sure it only spawns during the quest

[hallow shadow]

Oh good.

Well, after I go see what happened to Bill and Nye, my missing Science Guys.

[stuck seal]

But in theory you should be able to disable the emitters, which MIGHT mean that you can come back later with a combat suit to give you better defense rather than a suit with high psi protection

[hallow shadow]

That was the name of my network, in the barracks
“Bill Wi The Science Fi”

[stuck seal]

Like the bulat suit, high defense, no psi protection

[weary hedge]

Science roooooools

[hallow shadow]

This Falcon has more Psi than I had with my other gear.

PSZ-5V/Tactical Helmet

[stuck seal]

Does anyone know if the psi radiation is still there after you disable the emitters

[hallow shadow]

I wanted to buy the SSP-100, but… No physical protection

[weary hedge]

Nada

[analog lintel]

I think it's gone? Or at least mostly gone

I turned them off and didn't need a psi-protection suit to go through

[hallow shadow]

Sheeeeit. Imma go shut that shit down, then.

[stuck seal]

If that’s true then yes, you can disable the emitters before the quest so when you actually need to do the quest you can bring a more combat oriented suit rather than a psi suit

[weary hedge]

Ur falcon suit will protect you

[analog lintel]

actually idk if you can do it beforehand

[stuck seal]

I did

[analog lintel]

oh huh

i hope that doenst break the quest then. im not sure if doing it beforehand would work

[stuck seal]

Went to swamps, shut down the emitters, wasn’t even intentional I just found them

[analog lintel]

all of them?

[hallow shadow]

That was my next question.
Will I break my game?

[stuck seal]

I destroyed three of them

Well now I might stop slacking and continue the campaign so I can test if it works

[analog lintel]

i mean you can just do the quest yourself with a combat suit too

[hallow shadow]

This Dnipro shreds, and I can’t even upgrade it, yet.

[analog lintel]

you dont need a psi suit to shut the emitters down

[hallow shadow]

Ukrainian guns rule.

[weary hedge]

Bro id just wait til it’s part of a quest. You wont find anything worth the trouble over there

[analog lintel]

you can just pop meds and turn them all off with a combat suit

[weary hedge]

Besides an rpg but that shi mid

[hallow shadow]

I’ve got two doses of Psi-Block, and a Falcon Suit.
I’m hoping I’ll be ok.

[stuck seal]

I wish I knew this 100 hours of playtime ago, wiped the swamps clean and I was more broke than before

[weary hedge]

Don’t even bother with the emitters then just it case it bugs the quest

[hallow shadow]

I sell all my rockets.
RPG never crosses my mind, I rarely throw grenades.
I sell all my Noob Toob rounds, too.

[weary hedge]

Same. All I need is a trusty AK and a sniper and I’m a-okay

[hallow shadow]

I’ve got the Dnipro, base level, with Better Ballistics.
I feel unstoppable.

Except fall damage.
Skif has no ankles.

[weary hedge]

Hell yeah. That thing also carries in vanilla

[ebon blade]

If you're going to jump or fall, try crouching to reduce damage when you land.

[hallow shadow]

That works?

[weary hedge]

This is news to me😂

[ebon blade]

Yes, I will never tell you anything that is not true.

[hallow shadow]

Skif is about as durable as Geralt of Rivia when it comes to fall damage.

[weary hedge]

Damn the more you know. Preciate the tip brotha

[tawdry oar]

skif got stanky legs

[hallow shadow]

Skif needs Sliver Cat Ring (Dark Souls)

[polar silo]

You guys think the new mod kit update will add localization?

[weary hedge]

I’m a careful mf because of the souls games. You’ll never catch me jumping 😭

[hallow shadow]

“He needs some milk!”

Needs to be an artifact.
“Weird Milk”

[polar silo]

Reskin weird water lmao

[hallow shadow]

I’m “gud” at those games, now.
But you right.

[weary hedge]

I’m decent but I’ve finished every game multiple times because I’m obsessed

[hallow shadow]

For real.

[polar silo]

Finishing ds2 more then once is brave

[hallow shadow]

DS2 is best souls.

Yeah. I’m one of those guys.

[weary hedge]

Unironically i actually enjoyed every minute of that game even tho the jank pissed me off

[polar silo]

Literally the worst game in the series. It’s still a good game don’t get me wrong but it’s the worst of the 3 souls and other souls borne

[hallow shadow]

DS1 is where the most jank is.
That game aged like milk.

[polar silo]

You need to be banned

For having the audacity to say that about my beloved ds1

[hallow shadow]

People only like DS1 cause nostalgia.
“First one best one”
People only like the 3rd game because of a recency bias.

[weary hedge]

That’s my least favorite fs but still an amazing game

[hallow shadow]

I don’t hate DS1.
I just won’t beat it twice.

[polar silo]

Ds1 > ds2. Fight me

[weary hedge]

DS1 was like halo 1 for me. Pure nostalgia but stale compared to the 2nd 🤷‍♂️

[hallow shadow]

Chosen Undead couldn’t handle Bearer of the Curse.

Literally cannot dodge.

Everything sounds like a fat-roll.

[weary hedge]

Adaptability is what he was cursed with 😭

[frigid hill]

almondbutterr has been warned

Reason: Bad word usage

[weary hedge]

Fk that skill

[hallow shadow]

Most discrepancies with DS2 can be chalked up to skill issues. 😛

[polar silo]

Bearer of the curse can’t dodge anything either with the shit hitbox and adaptability lol

[hallow shadow]

ADP isn’t a bad stat.
Needing to level ADP is bad.

[weary hedge]

I’m a big advocate for the game but you can’t lie about some of the BS you get hit by

[polar silo]

Which is just an abstract way to say adp is a bad stat

[hallow shadow]

“ADP sucks” = “I am unwilling, or unable, to manage a build within the scope of this game’s mechanics” = Skill Issue.

[weary hedge]

It’s a waste of time and inconvenient as hell

[polar silo]

It is.

[polar silo]

Ds2 glazer opinion invalid

[hallow shadow]

“Hitboxes are bad” = “I am unwilling or unable to learn proper spacing and timing”

[polar silo]

That’s just pure cope

[weary hedge]

Dawg I beat the game dying 4 times and it was from some poison or getting hit by something that shouldn’t have registered 😂

[hallow shadow]

“Miyazaki didn’t even make that one”
“I’m just a fanboy”

DS2 Poison is jacked.
That’s fair.

[polar silo]

Bro ds2 is the WORST souls game. Still a good game but not a good souls game. And the hit boxes are god awful

[hallow shadow]

I don’t know why poison was so strong in that game.

The hitboxes aren’t awful.
You’re just awful at dodging.

[weary hedge]

That and there’s 2 whole areas that drown you in it 😂

[polar silo]

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSSKo2Ted/

[hallow shadow]

It’s a Souls game. Theres at least one Poison Area in every one.
But you right.

[polar silo]

Watch that link and TRY to say hit boxes aren’t bad

[hallow shadow]

I don’t have TikTok

Watching someone else get gooned isn’t going to prove a point to me.

[weary hedge]

I do not have this aswell

[polar silo]

Sent it to yall in private messages

[hallow shadow]

Blegh.

[polar silo]

If only this server let people send pictures

[hallow shadow]

Ahhh. Fume Knight Raime.

[weary hedge]

Yeah that somes up the boss fights. None of them are difficult but will hit you with some BS

[hallow shadow]

That was a good time.

[polar silo]

Hitboxes in ds2 are garbage plain and simple

[hallow shadow]

If you say so.

I’ve never had such an experience.

I can agree that jank exists.

[polar silo]

I’ve never experienced it ≠ it doesn’t exist

[weary hedge]

Again I absolutely love the game for its story and design and just lore in general but god almighty why did they think that was a good idea 😂

[hallow shadow]

But I’ve never been wiped by something like that.

[polar silo]

Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist

[hallow shadow]

People hate DS2 because the internet told them to.

[polar silo]

Low quality bait ngl

[hallow shadow]

“But that one elevator on that one castle”

At least it’s not a linear slog, like the 3rd game.

[weary hedge]

I’m sorry but this is just not true. A lot of people played through this game and summarized this opinion. Nobody hates ds2 they dislike the turn it took in the series

[polar silo]

It’s a good game it’s just not a good souls game

[hallow shadow]

Consistent cramped feeling.

[hallow shadow]

I guess

Miyazaki praised the game.

Opinions of the masses? Meh.

Has the best Power Stancing, and Fashion.

[weary hedge]

Exactly. The only reason I like it more than the first is because the level/character design hooked me more but I’m not gonna cover the flaws up lol

[hallow shadow]

Also, Lucatiel.
Best girl.

I dislike the Soul Memoey mechanic.
But mostly because it means I can’t just carry my friends.
We have to start together.

[weary hedge]

Fax they cooked with this

[hallow shadow]

They weren’t meant for Souls games.

Also, the Aldia fight is absolutely cheeks.
Don’t even get Souls out of it.

Dude should be worth something, dead.

Not to mention the slog of the three bosses right before him.

I acknowledge some shit sucks.
But I don’t think it’s the worst.
I think that’s just herd mentality.

[polar silo]

Pure copium

[hallow shadow]

I think the same about you.

To each their own, I guess.

I like DS2, you like DS:Nostalgia.

We are both valid.

[polar silo]

Yes and I’m not trying to say you’re wrong for liking the game but to go out and say that glaring problems like hitboxes aren’t bad and are a skill issue and that ADP isn’t a stupid idea is a little wack. Same for saying it’s not the worst of the series

[hallow shadow]

Those things might be an issue, dude.
I’m not saying they aren’t.

I’m just saying they’re an issue to other people.
Literally adapt, and overcome.

Doesn’t even need to be with ADP.

Everyone wants to yell “git gud”, until it comes time to fight Pursuer.
Then it’s crickets.

Having problems ≠ worst in the series.
That’s an opinion, shared by many, but that doesn’t make it some sort of fact.
That is Copium.

But still.
Skif needs Silver Cat Ring, or a Weird Milk Artifact.

Hopefully a Modder finds a way to reinforce Skif’s ankles.

I have 9 deaths. 7 are fall damage.

[weary hedge]

Just chillin in a tower sniping off dooties boys like flies

[hallow shadow]

Is there a point where I’ll have to pick sides?

Isn’t Freedom based on Malachite?

[weary hedge]

Nah they kinda just exist in stalker 2

[weary hedge]

That’s spark, militia and scientist territory

[hallow shadow]

They seemed cool with my Ward badge. Didn’t have to pay to get in.

[weary hedge]

Yeah ward has authority over a lot of land because of peace treaties

Spark and ward eventually go to war at that science facility

[hallow shadow]

Oh dang.

[weary hedge]

Yup and whoever’s side you chose takes it over

[hallow shadow]

Welp… I’m doing a Bootlicker run, first.

Gotta get that out of the way.

[weary hedge]

Fair enough

Wait til you get to the c-con facility. Shit gets dark real quick

[hallow shadow]

Skif’s only there cause “Glowing Rock destroyed my apartment” isn’t something any Insurance company is going to accept.

[hallow shadow]

This game has me questioning everyone.
They all got stories, and it’s kinda neat.

[weary hedge]

Exactly. Everyone’s got their reasons

[polar silo]

The entire ward storyline gets dark. They straight up executed the bandit leader in garbage even if you make him surrender not to method the c con facility and all that stuff

[hallow shadow]

I’m kinda internally mad at Korshunov, for that one.
I really didn’t want to have to do that.

I let those Ward dudes clear the whole place by themselves.

[weary hedge]

Yeah the ward is ruthless when it comes to people against their policies. Which is why i heavily despise them

[hallow shadow]

I’m generally a Do-Gooder in almost any game I play.
People don’t die (by my hand) unless they shoot first, or I truly believe they are a detriment to everyone else around.

Korshy’s actions felt like betrayal.

[hallow shadow]

I don’t like the Ward.
I’m just doing the standard Bootlick run, first.

Saving the others for later.

[polar silo]

Idk I still feel like the ward is among ghe best choices for the zone

[hallow shadow]

After having been an MP, I’m very ACAB. Ward kinda… Just feels like another flavor of hired muscle.

But I also don’t know enough about it.
I have no TrilOG experience.

[weary hedge]

And you are entitled to that opinion. I’m not gonna jab with you because ik everyone feels differently about how the zone should be 🤙

[polar silo]

By all means go for it. I’m curious as to your reasoning lol

[hallow shadow]

I’m of a mind that: Zone’s problems aren’t Skif’s (my) problems.
HOWEVER- I have zero desire to screw the Zone over.
I don’t want to hand it to some Shadow Corp, Government, or Private Army.

I also don’t want to wipe it off the map, nor do I want it to envelop the world.

The Zone means something (literal living history) to me.

[weary hedge]

Sure. Personally I don’t appreciate the way they treat people and the zone itself. I personally think on a deeper level than just controlling everything with a police force doing anything necessary to purge all chaos. I have an emotional connection to all things and people so I think everyone should do things as they please freely without the middle man ward

[hallow shadow]

The only difference between a Warden and a Bandit is that one gets a notarized paycheck.
In my opinion.

[hoary crest]

Also we have better clothing than Ward

[weary hedge]

Exactly. People are too quick to back the guy with tidy attire and government funds 😂

[hallow shadow]

Bro. I cry every time I ghost a Bandit, and they don’t drop Trenchcoat Armor.

GIMME THE DESERT RANGER ARMOR FROM FALLOUT

[hoary crest]

Sadly, there is no such armour yet

Nor the IPSF ghillie armour

[hallow shadow]

We just gotta slide some Koupons to the Modders.

I offered to weld any of them a gift. Artwork, to make a mod.
I can’t pay money.

But I can labor up some art.

Too bad gillie armor still won’t help me stealth.

[hoary crest]

Well, the armour exists for NPCs, so the model is there, its just gotta be converted for Skif to use it. Tbh, I'm of the opinion every armour set NPC's have should be avaliable to the player and it should be GSC who does it, but also they have bigger priorities at the moment

[hallow shadow]

Work before play.
Gotta stabilize the Zone, before we can spruce it up.

[hoary crest]

Its still miles better than release, but also, it still runs like shit, so yeah I understand why thats their focus atm

[hallow shadow]

Like Bruise.
I’m really tired of telling that guy to face the wall, just because his character is broken, and he isn’t a Trader.

[hoary crest]

Isnt that the dude at the Brood base?

Im sure he used to work correctly

[hallow shadow]

I play on Series S.
My worst release-issue was stuttering in Zalyssia.
After 1.5, I’ve only ever crashed at the top of Cooling Towers.

[hallow shadow]

No matter how I save-scum that region, I cannot salvage him as a businessman.

I really do try to unlock him.

[hoary crest]

I dont crash much, but there are performance issues every now an then, then it seems to fix itself, then goes downhill again, cant make rhyme or reason of it, nor is it isolated to asset-dense areas

So I can only assume its something in the backend

[hallow shadow]

Oh, I’ve only ever crashed on that Tower, trying to teleport up to that Dnipro.

Every time I use that anomaly, o take three steps, and Dashboard.

[hoary crest]

Don't remember him having anything particularly good tho so you're probably not missing much

[hallow shadow]

100% crash rate.
I’ve not been able to recover that rifle.
I had to hump it to Red Forest, and deal with that Controller.

And an army of Zombies.

[weary hedge]

Better than climbing a buggy tower. You came out on top with some new experience under ur belt 💪

[hallow shadow]

I was so heated.
I thought whoever suggested that to me was trolling me.
Like they knew that would happen.

I wanted to ninja star my controller.

[weary hedge]

It’s probably a new bug they wanted you to waste ur time with

[hallow shadow]

But instead, I used my one dose of Psi-Block, and cleared that facility by the time it wore off.

Killed the Controller, too. Little shit.

Headshots only just sounds so gimmicky.
Yeah, they’re “zombies”, but they aren’t dead, and they’re still human.
Enough trauma should drop them.

[weary hedge]

Fr they pulled the walking dead shit😂

[hallow shadow]

Half the enemies don’t make sense, but. Whatever.

How they can shoot more accurately than the Flood can, is also beyond the scope of my brainpower.

[polar silo]

Lootable zone lets you loot faction specific armour off dead npcs and you can wear it

Doesn’t have localization so nothing has a name. Set_id_bandit_armor type stuff

[hoary crest]

Oh interesting, though im playing with OXA Prototype at the minute, so there will almost certainly be conflicts

[hallow shadow]

I can’t wait for localization.
I could use it, on console, but there’s a UI bug that requires a mouse to work through.

[weary hedge]

I’m not sure what their intentions behind the mechanics are but my guess would be to make them a more plausible threat rather than just throwing realistic zombies in

[hallow shadow]

Does OXA allow Open Collimator on AKS? That’s literally all I want.
An effing Red Dot on that rifle.

[strong onyx]

Yes.

[hoary crest]

It allows most attachments to go on most guns

You can put an 8x sniper scope on an AK if you so wish

[polar silo]

What’s stopping localization that needs a mouse to fix?

[hallow shadow]

It’s two separate issues.
Localization.
And, a UI bug- A console player needs a mouse to scroll through the crafting menu (last I saw the mod)

I can open the crafting menu, on controller, but I cannot utilize the menu properly without a mouse.

If that’s been fixed, then I haven’t been paying attention

[polar silo]

Ahh

I wasn’t able to get the crafting menu to work at all since flashlight mods completely brick the crafting mod apparently

And the no localization kinda killed it for me

[hallow shadow]

Yes. The Flashlight mod conflict with Craftable Zone.

[polar silo]

Sadly. Flashlight mod is absolutely needed

Makes the flashlight an actual flashlight no a glowstick held slightly infront of you

[hallow shadow]

That flashlight is a game changer.
However, there’s a visual bug (anecdotal) on console.

Seems to be related to FOV

[polar silo]

What happens? Haven’t had any issues with it so far

[ebon blade]

It's funny how when people come here to complain about their game crashing, and the
first thing I ask them, is do you have a Mods installed? They usually won't answer right away.

[polar silo]

Most mods are fine tbf

[strong onyx]

I’ve got somewhere around a hundred mods and zero crashing thus far.

[tawdry oar]

yeah, that buffed makarov is fun

[hallow shadow]

Outdoors- With FOV set to 110, and light ON, the right side (1/3) of my screen gets a definitive darkening.
Covers up part of the weapon.
As if you hit Pause, and the menu darkens the right of the screen.
Lowering FOV to 100 mitigates that.

Indoors- Same thing, but 90 is the highest your FOV can go, or you get the weird dark overlay.

I’ve only ever crashed in one area. Doing one thing.

On Series S. Since release.

But yeah. Have to play 90 FOV (on console) with improved flashlight.

Not even mad, because that light is bae

I wish there was a form of LO management/conflict resolution like Bethesda.
Just downloading, and raw dogging mods makes me feel weird.

Unless it’s literally just “click them in order”
But what order?

Do I start with the Weather mod? Should that be lower?
Etc etc.

Like, Craftable Zone, or OXA would be considered “frameworks” or master files in a Bethesda game.
Towards the top of the LO

The buffed pistol would go down where “weapon edits” would be.

[polar silo]

Funny words magic man

[hallow shadow]

NICE MAGIC, NERD!
CHECK THIS SHIT OUT

insert Unga Bunga noises

Strength Build tested, Faith Build approved.

Skif needs Claymore.

An R2 poke would totally out-poise a Bloodsucker.

[raven monolith]

may they for the love of monolith make the mutant appearances more randomized. Real tired of getting jumped by a bloodsucker in the same spot. really discourages returning to certain locations.

[hallow shadow]

You always slay more with the Claymore.

[hallow shadow]

Do you have mods? There are a couple that ease this.

Shay’s Living Zone (Bronze) is what I use.
Helps mitigate continuous spawns. And keeps the spawns a little more realistic.

Also.
Get the CJ Bloodsucker mod.
Those bastards aren’t invisible, anymore.

Of course, they end up looking like Half Life graphics.
But at least you can readily engage them. Instead of being stunlocked to death.

[hoary crest]

Non-invisible Bloodsuckers just murders thier whole schtick im not gunna lie

[hallow shadow]

Invisible bloodsuckers are unable to be tangled with, unless you get lucky.

They’re a gimmick, and overused.

In my opinion.

[hoary crest]

Overused, certainly, but you can pretty much hard counter them with positioning

[hallow shadow]

Not in an open field.

[carmine star]

lol yes you can

[hallow shadow]

You’re at the mercy of seeing nothing, from your back.

[hoary crest]

You kinda can yeah

[raven monolith]

True. Invisibility is not the problem, it's them being too common for how bullet spongy they are, and the stunlocking problem. I hate that.

[hoary crest]

The most difficult thing about them is the knockdown attack, an thats generally only a real problem if there is more than one

[raven monolith]

Not even in a way where it's a challenging enemy, they're literally unfun to fight.

[hallow shadow]

Same with the dogs.

Or the rats.

[hoary crest]

Honestly the only mutant I find straight up un-fun is the Controller

[hallow shadow]

Those little shots read your input, and you can’t change my mind.

[hoary crest]

I don't like being brain-punched every time I peek a corner and losing control of my aim as a result

[hallow shadow]

How does a blind dog know I’m aiming at it?
Why does that rat go erratic, when I’m aiming at it?

Artificial difficulty. Peak artificial difficulty.

[raven monolith]

I think dogs are sorta okay, at least they go down easy once you land a hit. And the rat swarm I just drop a 'nade on top of.

[hoary crest]

Thats uhh

[hallow shadow]

Controllers need a longer cooldown on their summon abilities.
Those summons need a slight nerf on damage.

Controllers are just.. Nuts.

[hoary crest]

Thats not artificial difficulty

[hallow shadow]

No? A blind dog knows how to immediately pivot, just to throw off aim?
Same as a rat?

Literally, you aim at them. They move somewhere else.
They’re an ammo tax. Nothing more.

Are they related to Daredevil?

[hoary crest]

They just do that, you dont even have to be aiming at them. This is a real documentable thing tho, if you have an enemy who has no idea of your inputs or aimpoint, you end up with massively exploitable AI, thats not artifical difficulty, its just game design

[hallow shadow]

They’re blind.

[hoary crest]

See; Souls bosses

[hallow shadow]

Souls bosses don’t dodge you.

They fight you.

[hoary crest]

Sure they are, thats why they run about like crackheads and have to reorientate themselves every few seconds

[raven monolith]

Yeah the blind dogs just act like that. It's def better than them running straight at you.

[hoary crest]

Alright, let me be more specific, NPC bosses.

[hallow shadow]

Also, not blind.

[hoary crest]

This, If they just ran at you, that falls under easily exploitable AI

[hallow shadow]

I’m not asking for straight runners.
But a tweaked behavior.

Something better than “Ope! He held down Left Trigger, time to bob and weave!”

[raven monolith]

one thing I do give the AI a credit for is that there is an emphasis on them actually evading, swerving and taking cover.

[hoary crest]

🤷‍♂️ Just hip fire them, thats my general approach, same for Snorks

An I play without reticule so no excuse not to do that

[hallow shadow]

Are you on PC? That’s easier on a mouse.

I’m also kinda physically disabled.

Fighting some of this shit is a literal chore.

[raven monolith]

It's not perfect ofc, but it's more interesting than them walking in straight line

[hallow shadow]

I’m not asking for a straight line.

[raven monolith]

Snorks are so undercooked

[hallow shadow]

Snorks are hardcore.

[hoary crest]

Yeah, though there are some instances where they cant see you, but always manage to position themselves behind cover that blocks your sightlines, which needs adjusting

[raven monolith]

they behave literally the same as in the ogiginal game, I'd hoped they'd add some more nuance to them for how unique they are

[hoary crest]

Though it is super funny when a Psuedogiant tries to hide behind a tree 😄

Like c'mon man, that aint working out for you 😄

[raven monolith]

He's just shy

[hoary crest]

They could really do with the ability to climb over stuff, not just jump

[raven monolith]

Yeah. Maybe act more monkey-like, attack from above, walk on walls, idk

[hallow shadow]

Oh man. It’s 4am.
I’m late for my JOPO

Yall have a good night, stalkers.

[raven monolith]

also, I think bloodsuckers' knockdown should be replaced by them.. actually grabbing you and sucking your blood?

same with their feeding animation

they should be using their tentacles to succ the victim like in CoP

[hoary crest]

Idk about that not gonna lie, having control taken away from you by Controller's brainpunch is annoying enough

[fiery lintel]

FIN! Shining Zone. Really well done! @young magnet

[raven monolith]

That was already a thing in the original games though

[still current]

First ending?

[fiery lintel]

Number 3

i don't know how many they are?

[still current]

Well, I had multiple people complaining about a control bug, and it ended up being exactly that

Camera sway of psi punch is apparently a bug to newbies

[still current]

Skif, Ward, Spark, and strelok

4

[fiery lintel]

Oh cool! So 1 left. Thank you!

[shrewd needle]

Kaymanov, actually; Skif never gets a real choice beyond being manipulated.

That's what you get for asking for a home in the Zone. 😏

[fiery lintel]

Yeah, i was thinking exactly that

[still current]

Which one? Hmm

[fiery lintel]

Skif

[still current]

Well, if that's the case, it's Faust's

[shrewd needle]

It's actually a good analogy for the housing market.

[shrewd needle]

I'm 50-50 on that, NGL (and yes, I saw the ending).

[still current]

Well, I said skif for a reason

To not spoil his ending

But it's 100% Faust ending

Skif is just a sleeping beauty there

[shrewd needle]

No 'true love's kiss' to wake him up either. 😏

[fiery lintel]

Shining Zone is Spark, Strelok, Ward hmm...

Oh Faust but... Oh i think i got it now

Shining Zone ending really gives you more detail and lore

[shrewd needle]

Yea, being in a mind prison = good for introspection.

Sit there introspecting while your body stumbles around like the Necromorphs from Dead Space.

[still current]

His mind left his body to be in the very laundry basket it all started with lmao

[shrewd needle]

IKR? 😆

Getting washed along with the rest of the laundry. 😏

[hoary crest]

Boooo 😂

[shrewd needle]

Had to. 😏

[acoustic orchid]

Morning Stalkers

[sterile radish]

hi dave

[acoustic orchid]

Good morning Combatant

[primal nimbus]

Yo Dave

[acoustic orchid]

Hi Rick hope you are good.

[vast frost]

da da da shawows my boy take marijuana

[meager crag]

Rick still has his title after all this time lmao

[charred nova]

I turned My self into a pickle Morty I’m pickle Rick

[meager crag]

[primal nimbus]

A fitting title for an idiotic stalker

[meager crag]

Wear it with pride, Stalker

[primal nimbus]

Also, its stuck like that lmao

[quaint umbra]

Wear it to pride, stalker.

[wooden walrus]

I don't understand this game's fascination with putting you in front of a guy/group that will start shooting you right after finishing a conversation

between this and the bloodsucker in the tutorial, it really does look like gsc played fallout 4 and were like "yup this is good game design"

[meager crag]

Hit it right on the nail

[hoary crest]

Lul, just watched a Sporker run headfirst into the School at Duga... He did not last very long 😄

[fallen latch]

average sporker
i hope he found his shining zone
maybe the shining of the monolithian's muzzle flash

[dusky sequoia]

Multiple binoculars ! Great but like why...?

[wooden walrus]

mfw the ward officer informs me my son lost a 1v1 against a chihuahua sized rat: 🙁

[fallen latch]

different levels, maybe higher levels have features like a rangefinder which you can then use to dial in bullet drop with scopes, i don't know
just higher or lower quality

[dusky sequoia]

Maybe one will identify the ennemies like in the trilogy?

[fallen latch]

yeah, you get what i'm saying
hopefully we get multiple levels of zoom and night vision optics for weapons while they're at it

[dusky sequoia]

Thermal vision

[fallen latch]

ooh yeah that sounds great

mark 1 emr buff when, it's genuinely abysmal
either that or make base 308 vastly cheaper

[river temple]

[opaque cipher]

zdalger 2 update to oonreal engine 6?

[hoary crest]

I hope so, but to justify it, thermal devices would have to be extremely expensive

Like hundreds of thousands of coupons or they're gonna be too OP

[river temple]

[fallen latch]

yeah, it'd make bloodsuckers quite trivial
or maybe they make bloodsuckers' able to hide their thermal signature, who knows

[hoary crest]

Not a design choice I would make personally. It makes sense to have something like Thermal buy you tactical advantages, it should just be something thats either incredibly rare or expensive

Say one in every 300 kills (when towards endgame) will drop a pair or something

Sure, you might luck out, you also might not

Having them only in high end traders would feel like a copout tho, there should always be multiple ways to obtain good stuff

I mean, you could install OXA and have some now

But yes, its nice the devs are adding them

[river temple]

Are women demons? I think so.

[hoary crest]

Hopefully we get a dedicated slot for them tho

OXA currently uses the quickslots, which is a good workaround, but yeah a dedicated slot for torches/NVG/Thermals would be excellent

No HUD is the only way to play games like this

[fallen latch]

Nah they shouldnt be dropped, just like armoir isnt. It needs to be an upgrade for helmets or full suits, maybe its always a blueprint to balance it out

[hoary crest]

Never played a souls game without a HUD until ER got its first person mod, I did that without it

[hoary crest]

I'm of the opinion armour should also be dropped tbh. Lessen the amount of loot scattered in the open world and have enemies' loot be more impactful

[fallen latch]

Well, then youre less encoiraged to explore, besides considerinf you shot up your enemy, their armoir would logically be absolutely mincemeat

[hoary crest]

Its apparently gonna be a thing, but eh, I would imagine not until they've done the first expansion

[hoary crest]

Not at all, Stashes still count as loot drops and they're giving them the once over

Imo, basically all loot should be randomized and that includes stuff placed in the world, where one gun spawns, say the Dnipro on Cooling Towers as an example, should have a pool of like 5/6 weapons it could be, according to tiers

[fallen latch]

eeehh, idk what to think about that

[hoary crest]

That way unique weapons are more of a reward when you find one too, could be on a dude, could be in a stash, could be a location in the worldspace

Every playthrough continues to be different

[hoary crest]

Well think about it, a fully random loot system encourages you both to look around, and make do with whatever you can find. You can't just go "oh im gonna go get this really OP gun because I know where it is" every playthrough, you have to work with what you get

That plays into the surviving in the zone aspect

[still current]

Game with no HUD is absolute cinema

[fallen latch]

incredible point, actually i like that
forces ppl to give every weapon a try
but unique weapons shoukd be still in a set spot

[hoary crest]

I agree with the Journo's stashes being fixed item drops, unique stuff, not so much because it tends to be a massive increase over the base version, which is fine, but as above, players can kinda skip the progression if they know where these tools are

[fallen latch]

not really tbh, most of the unique stuff is a recolour with an attachment or two

[hoary crest]

Some of them make sense, such as Valik's AK, that should be with the quest, others not so much

[hoary crest]

Thats still an advantage over the basic weapons, you don't have to scrounge up attachments, they already have them

[still current]

I wonder how else would it be I mean, I don't expect it to throw laser beams or something, so aside from what you mentioned and specific balance that can not be achieved through manual upgrade, I'd say it's pretty much it.

[fallen latch]

but its not gamechanging or op, its just an attachment
i was also thinking that they should put far more uniques behind quests, or possiblh randomise where those quests are on thr map

[hoary crest]

You know what, I would take that also

It would keep people looking for such quest and keep them moving around the zone in search of such things

[fallen latch]

yeah, i wish more were different in some way but im content with how they are now

[fallen latch]

i would love that actually, yeah

itd enhance the replayability tenfold too, cox unless you cover the entire zone you probably missed one or two uniques

also unique armours when

[still current]

I honestly am up for any variant of whatever kind it is

We will have multiple NVGs, and binoculars

More options for us

Possibly more guns coming too

At some point

[fallen latch]

yeah, cant wait for that

[still current]

And ofc, the engine upgrade is on top

Can't wait to see how it turns out

[fallen latch]

im just looking forward to nvg optics

[still current]

Hopefully included

[fallen latch]

Yessss, my laptop is at the threshhold of just under 1440p performance, so im stoked to see how much the engine update betters the performance

[still current]

We literally have one with literally NVG written on it

Hope it becomes functional

And available for more guns

[fallen latch]

exactly, dont think i dont see that rostok guy
i see that m701

[still current]

It would significantly help, at least to my estimation. The engine version they plan to upgrade to has better lighting, plenty of performance optimizations, and ofc better rendering.

So, win is almost 100% guaranteed

[fallen latch]

literally cannot wait

hehehe gonna be a degen and run it on my msi claw

[hoary crest]

I just hope it doesnt murder every single mod 😄

[fallen latch]

it will