can someone tell me why people like stalker i genuinely do not

>>388220817
and also

>inb4 "super deep combat cuz it isnt hitscan bro"

it's okay when slavs do it

I completely agree. This is the opinion I always post in "unpopular opinions" threads. I played the first one with no mods, it was pretty mediocre at best. Never touched any of the others but I own them all on steam because they were all on sale for a dollar or something years ago.

I'll never get it. The gunplay felt like shit, the movement felt like shit. The story is really obscure and ambiguous. There's almost zero direction on what to do. The environment is just open and bland. It's always rainy and overcast.

In fact now that I think of it, it's actually a pretty spot on rural Russia simulator.

I always liked it but kinda lied to myself about how bad it really is. The thing that makes it great is how close it is to the perfect zone sim game. Everyone says mods fix it but they don't really. You feel like you will have some great adventure when you play it but it ends up being kinda bland and drab. Also the combat is really ass.

Master difficulty does not make you deal more damage or make the enemies weaker in other ways. It makes them harder.

>>388220817
The western mind is rarely capable of appreciating beauty in decay.

It's not necesarrely a bad thing; it's that mindsets and emotional wiring are very different because of base conditions.

Basically; go now and watch a Tarkovksy movie.

You need external drives toward motive; clear limits; lists and checkboxes ticked. The eastern mind feeds on other things; such as context, environment and blurry echoes which allow it to dream; while being bad at the things above.

Go watch a Tarkovsky movie to test this out.

Metro 2033 is better, even if it's linear.

>>388220817
because it's unique

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Because of the refreshingly miserable and oppressing atmosphere.
Because of the fairly unique setting.
Because the open-world genre was not nearly as crowded in 2007.
Because of the gun porn.
Because of the no-handholding difficulty.
Because of the overly ambitious vision of the original project, glimpses of which can still be seen in the final version.
Because it was made by small nevaheard third world devs, instead of a big bad corporation.

The games came out at a time when people weren't already sick of "open-world" games like these, and it stood out from Fallout and Elder Scrolls by not being an RPG, having decent gunplay, good atmosphere and being scary at times.

I'm replaying it again right now, and I can see that it hasn't aged that well. One of the things that is really great about the game though is it's AI. It's not amazing, but it's actually unpredictable at times and it feels really weird to actually get flanked by an NPC.

>>388220817
I played through both SoC and CoP and both of them were okay.

Like you said, their strongest part is the atmosphere but the actual content is lacking. Both games feel empty in the wrong way and the gunplay feels a bit wonky.

And I'm slav so you can't use the burger card against me.

It's by far my favorite game and I personally think it's technically a giant mess. Buggy, unfinished, shit graphics/animations/story/quests like you say.

It has grave problems which I would love to see improved: better gun play (enemies are bullet sponges, no bullet physics), a less shitty engine in general, no movement restrictions on areas, and so on.

If I were to review the game I'd give it a 2/5 - some interesting approaches but far too many flaws and falling too short on its ambitions to be considered decent.


However despite all this I STILL enjoy it much more than other games.
The game has decent potential for emergent gameplay/narrative (often unintentional due to bugs and glitches in the AI), and the "having to traverse 200 miles of grass and broken buildings" is something I enjoy.
Partly due to developer incompetence and lack of money, the game largely leaves you the fuck alone: it doesn't shove cinematics, cut scenes and mainquests in your face, tries to steer you on a linear path or try to constantly keep you entertained. You can just play roaming around the zone without clear goal or motivation and there are long parts which are just boring, interjected by short bursts of action or interesting situations. - understandably these can be considered flaws, but it's exactly what I look for in games.

You could say I don't enjoy it because it's a good game but I enjoy it despite being a shit game.


Not surprisingly, the only other video game I still enjoy is also a buggy unfinished mess of spaghetti code with shitty graphics: Dwarf Fortress.

>>388220817
underaged american dumbfuck
go back to doom and skyrim

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>>388222728
It's not even about the AI's combat capabilities, it's more about the fact that the AI puts on a very good illusion of having a life of their own, separate from the player. You run across humand and mutants, alive or dead, almost anywhere, and it makes it feel like things are happening even when you are not there to witness them.
In STALKER, the world does not exist for the player's amusement. In STALKER, the player exists as just another part of the world.

>>388220817
>muh atmosphere, which can barely be achieved without mods
No way. Vanilla Stalker still has godlike atmosphere.

>>388223382
>go back to doom

Is this supposed to be an insult?

The Zone is beautiful and comfy, yet it feels alien and everything is super deadly.

There is also the allure of the general premise - going into the dangerous unknown hoping to strike gold.

>>388221804
Its not about the setting, its about the actual game just being sub par.

>>388222714
But the gun soundeffects are so off and all feel so weak

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>>388220817
>can someone tell me why people like stalker
Because they're so unique and great experiences.

They're scarier than many "true" horror games released in past few years.
They look prettier than some much later released multiplat titles.
They make games like Far Cry 3-4 feel like horribly dumbed down, handholding kiddie games.
They are fairly realistic, but not simulator-level. There's real bullet physics and stuff like bleeding and hunger, and one shot to the head can kill anyone.

They are VERY long lasting games. One playthrough in vanilla can last well over 25 hours at calm pace, but I've spent a good two WEEKS in all three of them on my first playthroughs. And later a lot more with numerous mods.

They're not perfect games and have their few issues, but in the end they are like "rough diamonds": totally worth investing time and effort in. They are just not afraid to kick you in the groin and call you a bitch - which is quite rare in modern games. No matter how much DaS and shit may have momentarily sparked a boom towards more punishing games.

>>388228595
>ninja running is teh shiit
cringe

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>>388228756
Did I somehow trigger (You), new-friend?

>>388220817
I love the Stalker games, but i've been spoiled by how much mods improve the game. It's hard to go back to vanilla gunplay, it really doesn't feel that great until you get decent weapons.

Post games you like then OP and let us shit on you.

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>>388228929
>new-friend
I've beaten all the STALKER games and quite like them, but that image can fuck off :^)

>>388220817
>story is hot garbage
you should go

>>388222714
>Because of the refreshingly miserable and oppressing atmosphere.
What's it like, having started vidja in 2010?

>>388229328
He means you're clearly new to 4chan, which you pretty much just confirmed.

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>>388229328
it's not going anywhere, matey.
so just try to get along.

>>388229436
Not him, but STALKER's setting is quite unique and clicks these weird "feels too real" notes at times. Being based on a RL disaster Zone that's not too much cheerier doesn't help.

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>>388229328
>sub 100h / game
cute.

>>388220817
You forgot to mention the most important part of every FPS : FUCKING SHOOTING MECHANICS.

If feels even worse than Metro.
>bububut muh ballistics

Yea, having to use optics to score headshots on huuuuge distances of 50 meters (yes, it's a huge distance in stalker)

>>388229770
>replaying the same story over and over
I'm not that autistic desu, CS only has a playtime that high because of the faction war mod. CoC is the only thing worth playing right now and that's not on steam.

Russian here: it's meme garbage for neckbeard garbage bin sci-fi reading autismos. Lowest common denominator. I don't have a single friend that unironically played this,

>>388229661
>Not him, but STALKER's setting is quite unique and clicks these weird "feels too real" notes at times. Being based on a RL disaster Zone that's not too much cheerier doesn't help.
Your description just makes me yearn for a game where you are a character in the Earth 2140 setting.
Living in between the clashes of the two factions of the game would be proper terrifying, due to them being dehumanized as fuck.

>>388220817
Well, in 2007 it was pretty awesome cause there wasn't much else like it. The fact that it wasn't polished to a sheen and raided by investors and producers to gain the widest market kept it niche.

The fact that you're not really into it is exactly the point. They also did it on a relatively small budget so looking past a lot of the quirks is needed. Some people get really upset over the quirks, which is to be expected.

I happen to really like it, one of my fav games of all times, can't really fully explain why. I'm just incredibly entertained by trudging through the maps and interacting with shit. I'm not a big fan of most mods though, aside from the graphics ones like Absolute textures, grass draw distance, etc.

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>>388229987
>story
>he didn't spend stormy nights at the campfires with fellow Loners, and provide them superior gear
who the fuck cares about story? There's tons of replay value in the GAMEPLAY alone. With and without mods.
My first playthroughs of all 3 games took around two IRL weeks. And then I did it all again with overhauls later on. And then on and off mods when I upgraded my PC.

>>388220817
IDK I bought Call of Pripyat cause of good reviews and haven't gotten into it at all yet.

>>388220817
>Why do people like this old game its design is so old its like it was made years ago why is it not new and fancy
Fucking children cant enjoy anything

I don't understand what any of you are saying. The game felt completely fine to me.

>>388230475
Does giving shit away to random NPCs actually have any value? Do the NPCs have any responses to that behavior?

The idea of a game where I can give shit to NPCs and have them reciprocate sounds really appealing.
However, this is very unlikely to be a feature in this game and your post sounds more like you are playing a make-believe version of the game.

I want an open world game where making friends factors into the last conflict. If you take your time and stretch the deadline of the game's main conflict, you get rewarded by having allies storm the castle by your side, with each NPC having a different kind of helpful role.
And if you don't make friends, you can optimize and go full one man army in the final, which is also awesome.

>>388230921
It does nothing, he's just RPing.

>>388230637
>its design is so old its like it was made years ago
>strawmanning this hard
Try Unreal. Age is not an excuse.

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>>388230531
you really should play the games in release order and start with SoC.
CoP's the LAST game in trilogy, and assumes you know your shit and way around the Zone. Aaand it's kinda bland and empty too.

Have a rookie guide.

>>388230921
>Does giving shit away to random NPCs actually have any value? Do the NPCs have any responses to that behavior?
They EQUIP them. Improving their survival chances if facing a random military raid or pack of dogs.

>>388231031
>aand it's kinda bland and empty too.

Why they got rid of those dynamic tasks, i'll never know.

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>>388220817
>it has nothing amazing going for it apart from muh atmosphere
>can someone tell me why people like stalker
they have autism

>>388231130
nah, good riddance to those. The side quests were actually well written and designed for once.

Everything else is the problem. The game's piss easy and way too calm.
You start with too good gear, can quickly loot even better shit for free, BANDITS ARE NEUTRAL, no random anomalies, large and open maps = you see threats from afar...

There's no other game that feels like it, thanks for sharing your worthless opinion though.

>>388231384
Oh right, bandits are neutral. Completely forgot about that. Do they become hostile after you do beard's quests?

I liked the bigger sidequests but the smaller missions you get from traders would've been a nice addition.

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a shitty Boiling Point.