2 things made Stalker games outstanding: from a programming/tech angle it`s A-life simulation - even in 2023 creating something like that is super challenging and cyberpunk2077 is a good example of failing similar task - they announced "a living city" but served a broken mess; yet in Stalker a-life managed to succeed against all odds - even its bugs serves great - gives extra unpredictability to the events - NPCs can travel, die, survive off-screen, and it`s great! basically every time i played SHOC, something would go an unique way, sometimes hilariously. all that what you call Zone being ALIVE - man, i know what you mean :)) second - of cause its the Atmosphere game creates - i got hooked badly with it years ago - and its not just screen time, but also in real life - expeditions, contact with nature, getting know some urban post-industrial abandoned places aesthetics; and looking at those stalkers around fire feels you with longing, yes and would be wrong not to mention a third reason - modding of cause, Stalker gave birth to amazing community of mod makers all over the world; my personal choice is based on amk-team community, and probably the biggest mod ever - so called Narodnaya Solyanka (Folk Mix or Peoples Blend, something like that to translate), NS 2016 ShoC and its versions - a game of its own with 30 locations (united all 3 original games and added some more), now on its own x64 engine (original Stalker x32 suffered alot of crashes modded), you still play as Strelok- Marked one, but gameplay/playtime is something like x100 times compared to the original. Something like that:))
Damn! Thank you for making the technical aspects easier to understand. I actually grew up a few miles from an old abandoned military fort. I used to go over there all the time to take photos, and just explore. Stalker kind of reminded me of it. Desolate, your hair stands up when you hear a weird noise, stove is collapsing and caving in. Something about it made me love games like dayz/stalker as well as hiking off the beatin path, or going through that hole in the fence. Sorry I can rant for hours on this stuff, but given the 3 games in the stalker trilogy got better as they went along, do you think stalker 2 can live up to these games, but in a modern sense? Also any good mod recommendations? I have Misery installed to try for CoP and Anomaly. (haven't gotten to play enough, but I think it has all the locations.) Thank you for checking out the video and taking the time to write out your comment man! I really enjoy reading them and conversing with people about these games.
@@lonerjb "...Something about it made me love games like dayz/stalker as well as hiking off the beatin path" - yep:)) and, scavenging and providing is in our blood on genetic level i think:)) so living in a flat with tv, next to the supermarket - we miss all that wild stuff sorely :)) as for stalker 2 - really hard to predict this one, i`m rather on a very cautious side: creation of ShoC was a bumpy ride, even more with S2 - waiting for it since Call of Pripyat, and still unsure of release date; few points to worry about : casualization (common plague of modern games); possible political agenda etc; and the pre-release cutting floor - i was super excited about Dying light2 as it was announced, and super disappointed of result, since all promises like decisions/consequences never happened, good storywriting was gone together with Chris Avellone, general atmosphere dropped etc; will stick with DL 2015 - same fears here; hope S2 will be as open for modding as the original trilogy as well... i didn`t play Anomaly, had a look - looks good, latest version is Stand-Alone, so you don`t need CoP, you have a go and make a video after:)) and since Anomaly looks up-today as for CoP-based modifications, i`ll list here whats worth regarding ShoC and CS and played personally: Old Good Stalker Mod - Clear Sky, OGSM Community Edition 1.8 - just that, if you`d like to replay CS - complete and perfected edition of Clear Sky with fixes of all hiccups, restored content etc, fixed and added weapons (did you notice weapons in all trilogy are mirror imaging:)))) idk why:))) its ok with AR-based, but all Soviet-made with charging handles and bolt group on the left side... kind of eyesore) same story; it goes on 1.5.10 as a mod; Shadows of Chernobyl: Old Good Stalker Mod Narodnaya Solyanka (NS) 16.01.2023 latest - stand-alone, no need for original game, download-and-play, on improved engine 1.007 x64 bit, so won`t be losing much visually to Anomaly; whats good about NS - it keeps story solidly all way thru, as Marked One, all 30 locations (list slightly differ from Anomaly) connected via quests. artifacts decay overtime etc... 30GB worth:)) ОП - 2 (OP-2), "united pack 2", op-2.2 latest from 08.01.2022, i played 2.1, add-on on ShoC... started as variation of NS, then went own way, lots of new gameplay and nontrivial riddles etc and storylines like History of Chernobyl chess-master (that one is VERY different from what people got used too), abit painful since got inbuilt anticheat (why some modders do that - idk, trying to prevent you from editing files)... either way, with all good and bad, when OP came out, that was sort of revolution in modding ShoC New_Level_Changer (NLC), 2 parts, NLC6 and NLC7.... that`s for dark souls lovers:)) - maximum difficulty, sometimes overboard NS, OGSM NS and OP have HD graphics and weathers add-ons, which make visuals really improved.... downfall of NS, and especially OP as story-driven mods - you need to know Russian well - lots of written information on screen... i saw online things like "NLC-7-Build-3.0-English-Translation", but can`t vouch for translations... so feel abit guilty after writing all that... sometimes i can talk alot too :)) so hope it wasn`t too long answer, whether helpful or not
Man you really hit right on everything, and thank you for the list. You really put time into writing all this and I'm grateful. I also got into IRL stuff because of stalker. Out of curiosity what hobbies/activities did it pull you into? Apart from hiking urbex
@@LuisC7 :)) i finished my military service a few years prior Stalker came out, so was sort of chilling out after all sort of activities by then:)) hiking, touring, fishing - nice ones and no one trying to tell you what to do:)) but can tell you this story: us, Soviet kids, 7 yo-s, Chernenko/Reagan time, before Gorbachev - 1st year of school, civil defense training - everyone got gas masks, got out of school outside, putting masks on.... sort of creepy and... i loved it! loved it so much it became one of the hobbies of mine:)) learnt all i could about them, that was way before Internet and pcs:)) remember the morning and first radio report about Chernobyl disaster as was preparing to go to school as well... lots changed those years, but by the end of school we still had NVP lessons - "beginning military study" or something like that, had fun too with full set of OZK chem suites etc... so you know Stalker the game posters - when it came out hit me just into the right spot:)) although when i heard about first time - i think news about developers mapping Chernobyl area into game - i wasn`t sure i liked it since real thing wasn`t funny - but later understood i was too serious and they actually saved all decency towards real places and game is a game and a good one too:)) cheers
Yea, I am trying to go through the vanilla originals before getting to gamma and other fun mods. I'm loving Call of Pripyat right now. Thanks for checking out the video!
I just got into stalker (anomaly because im broke and dont have money lol) and it`s really nice to see some videos on the original games other then seeing tons of videos about anomaly or gamma so yeah pretty cool
this and deus ex are the only games i can think of off the top of my head where the enemies take more damage the lower the difficulty setting.both also god tier games
Always nice to see more stalker videos. also how the hell do you only have 18 subscribers? Like i have yet to look at your other videos / channel, but just the bit i've seen in this video tells me you deserve so much more. Lets pray to the monoli- i mean algorithm that your channel gets the attention it deserves soon. EDIT: i kinda suspected but you only have one video up so far so that explains a bit lol. Still, keep up the good work homie!
I'm still learning and hoping to get a little better with every video. A long way to go for sure, but very thankful for people checking out the video! I have a lot more video ideas for the future, just trying to make them the best I can without spending forever on them. Anyway thanks for the kind words and checking out the video!
YES YOU SHOULD PLAY IT!!! S.T.A.L.K.E.R. SoC in particular is one of the best games to date in terms of story, atmosphere and gameplay. And there are countless mods out there that make it even better.
Just started yesterday. Everyone who want to have a vanilla like experience with a bit better graphics and less bugs should install the "starter pack 2019" mod. Just copy/paste some files into the game folder and you're good to go. Game mechanics and story are the same. The only thing changed mechanically is that you have a sleeping bag in your bagpack so you can decide if you want to raid the bandits at day or night.
A funny thing about STALKER difficulty, the higher the difficulty, the higher the dmg is across the board. Basically you give higher dmg and take high dmg on the master difficulty. On the high you dish out less and on the medium and low with starter weapons you basically miss half and half does small amount making the game soviet borderlands... So, you just bump it up to master and play it that way...
Soviet borderlands is a great way to describe it lol. I was very thankful when I made it to CoP and bullets actually hit targets more than 60% of the time. When i make my way back through will mods I will play on master. I have learned/will continue to learn ways of the zone so I am more prepared next time. Thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment!
@@matking898SVK You got me, I am hiding the fact that on lower difficulty bullets disappear by flying to the parallel universe. That is how JFK actually died :(
Heads up with the difficulty in shadow of Chernobyl the harder. You make the difficulty the more damage all weapons. Do in the game, notice? I said all weapons including yours which is why enemies felt more tanky on the lower difficulties. It's only easier in the sense that you stand less of a chance of dying from a firefight. However it also means you are dealing less damage to enemies per shot so it's actually in your interest to play on master and just go for head shots. You will want to go for head shots but only pull the trigger every second or so because the 1st round that you shoot deals more damage and is more. Accurate than follow up shots if the follow up shots are within a certain period of time from the 1st bullet so you can sort of reset the 1st. Shot mechanic by only pulling the trigger on semi automatic every second or so. Sorry this read like broken English. I'm using speech to text and can't bring myself to change it l o l i'm typing on my tablet
Thanks for the effort in speech to texting that and checking out the video! It is crazy that the easier the game is the more bullets it takes for everyone to die. Not the most friendly difficulty design, but made for some interesting clips! lol
I started Shadow of Chernobyl (Vanilla) a few weeks ago and have just arrived at the Red Forest after exploring everywhere beforehand. In most games that would leave your character feeling a bit "OP" as they say these days, but in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that doesn't necessarily mean much haha. I have more equiptment choices but death still looms around every corner.
When I was gifted the pack some time ago, I tentatively went thru SoC on Stalker diff on CS I cleared my first run with a CS-3a heavy armor on master and never looked back now to stop procastinating so I can finish CoP...
Nice review of the original game. I just started playing it a few weeks ago and it's nice to know I'm not the only one struggling through it - I find this game very difficult (even on novice/easy difficulty level) and it requires a good deal of thought and planning. Regardless, it's very fun and the environments and gunplay are terrific. Now...how in the world do I breach the Monolith base without getting killed...?!
I really REALLY struggled in SoC with how inaccurate the weapons were and how many shots people could tank. It can be really difficult, you gotta play it smart. I died in cordon several times to the military and bandits lolol. For the monolith base I think I threw a TON of grenades and satback with a scoped trs? (m4 looking rifle and prayed for headshots.) I honestly think the lower difficulties might make it harder to take down enemies as they become just as tanky as you are! Keep going though. I just finished Call of Pripyat (third game) and it was worth playing through all three! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
Similar story here! I started playing them around the new year. Loved it soo much I made a TH-cam channel to talk about it lol. SoC is so damn good! I am just getting into Anomaly, you should give it a look over if you are itching for more stalker!
Getting shot through walls is sometimes a bug but also it sometimes isnt. You see, some bullets have very good armour piercing capability so they can go through some walls or objects. The AI knows this and in some locations they will shoot you through cover. Now the damage will be lowered, yes, but it is still going to flush you out.
wow. You learn something new everyday. That makes me like Stalker even more knowing it had bullet pen in 07, when some games struggle with it now. Thanks for the comment and checking out the video!
Well, enemy guns sticking through walls and shooting is a bug, like they have eyes on the gun barrel. But there is a small amount of tree, wood crates and containers penetration. This got out of hand in Clear Sky tho, where they messed up some parameters like extreme bleeding, and coupled with heavier object penetration and godlike ai aim, it made for some frustrating times.
@@bulanet271 I am referring to the AI shooting through objects, not the guns sticking through walls (which is a visual issue not a gameplay one per say).
It was fun i selled every wapon i found and had 380000 Rubles at the end and 50000 would have been enough to trigger the i want to be ritch ending. It was hard but not to hard it was a perfect balance like in Dark Souls. I had already experience with playing Into the Radius before.
RMA mod was cool to play with it bringing back old content from previous builds of the game. SHoC was rushed out at the end after all. Went through a lot of redesigns and ideas were scrapped. Good way to experience the game tho.
Been playing it on the PS4. Bought legend of zones on sale. So far it's great. the gameplay is basically fallout new Vegas minus the v.a.t.s I thought the shooting Mechanics were gonna be a issue since people complain about that aspect but I actually am enjoying that the most out of the whole game. It almost gives it a nice realistic approach of taking cover and leaning in and out to shoot.
Have all the trilogy on the discs the last one which is Call of Pripyat I bought back in 2009 the same day it was released. Considering myself as an OG fan of this series :D
I would definitely recomment standalone modification / fan-made remaster called STALKER: Lost Alpha (director's cut). Basically a reimagining of the original Shadow of Chernobyl, what I'd call Black Mesa style, and with the overwhelming majority of what developers promised to include but were forced to discard / cut from the game due to time limits or things not working properly (an alternative approach to modern day releases that do try to include all they promise, but the result is a buggy unoptimized mess or things just not working as intended).
I finished soc this spring and it phenomenal fps, especially the guns pretty realistic damage and leaning were great. All fps should already have leaning. The 2 sequals were rough though, the start of the game is "too much" in both of them to make you feel the same as in soc.
Thanks man! I am just trying to get better at making videos and hopefully with that comes more people joining the community! May we both be blessed with more subs! Thank you for checking out the video and leaving a comment!
I just can't imagine what hell you went trough in later stages of the game in your almost totally degraded armor paired with health regenerating artifacts that additionally increased the damage you took. Are your quicksave and quickload buttons still functioning?.
i actually menued every save and load lol I hadn't yet learned of quicksaving or quickloading. It was a learning experience for sure lol. thanks for checking out the video!
I remember i got this when it first came out on disc. I had crappy little laptop that had the dx 10 locked and had to play on lowest resolution possible and lowest settings possible. Now days can play with 4k dx 10 full and maxed out with 100+fps lol how things change
What an awesome memory man. I wish I had a computer back then, or maybe just been more into it. I was a console kid and missed out on a ton of classics that I am trying to find my way through now. I'm hoping Stalker 2 can look as good as these mods make Stalker look now! Thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment!
Yea the games came out in 07/08 so unless there is a mod for controller support I doubt they will ever have it. However Stalker 2 probably will. It is supposed to come out this in December I think.
No other game in 2007, that I can think of off the top of muh head, had grenade launchers that you could aim! You can AIM GRENADE LAUNCHERS! That actually makes a huge difference. Also, no game or series before or since S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has squealy-go-nuts FLESHPIGS! Why isn't Oink Oink Fleshy Piggy in Smash?! That totally needs to happen! 2:57 GLaD to know I'm not the only retrohead what remembers that carto0n! th-cam.com/video/1JLJNUYMaWQ/w-d-xo.html 2:58 You forgot to mention fleshy piggy fleshpigs! th-cam.com/video/PdNaywoPw7A/w-d-xo.html 3:21 More like CHUNK you into oblivion. Speaking of oblivion, ever play any version of the Oblivion Lost mod?
Yes! I have played the 3 mainline games and am exploring some standalone mods now. It is a unique survival experience. If you can put up with some jank and age it is truly a fun time!
i'm just playing for the first time rightnow, finished clear sky and now on SoC, almost at the end, and you exagerate a lot ! it maybe was good game back in 2007/2008, but the game is really basic and have nothing special or rememberable honestly just a simple animation of a pnj in front of a firepit "wow npc is so realistic" like wtf, they even using the same animation with the firepit in litereally everyplace you visit XD it's just simple and basic animation, even for 2007 you had better game and AI honestly it's just a basic shooter, with basic mechanic, and a basic story i heard lot of good from stalker fanboy and for me, it's largely overhyped game
The actual story is that of labs set up to research the special informational field known as the noosphere later on the clandestine research organization known as the group decided to attempt to change the noosphere with the creation of the common consciousness being the only entity which could affect the noosphere, the superconsciousness ultimately created the zone while trying to make adjustments to the noosphere although their intentions could be perceived as noble seeing as they attempted to remove anger cruelty and greed from human thought through noosphere alteration, the experiment failed and resulted with a large emission and the creation of the anomalous zone. After the disaster they activated their previously inactive psi fields such as the brain scorcher to turn stalkers into zombies or monolith, and to ultimately block progress to the center of the zone. the c-consciousness could also slightly control the rift in the noosphere and thus emissions, opening the rift in the noosphere purposely at times using this to prevent stalkers and the military from discovering the existence of the c-consciousness.
The fact you are a "Suspicious Individual" and know so much about the c-consciousness is a little worrisome for a poor stalker like myself. ;) Thanks for checking out the video and explaining the story more clear than I could.
@@ZyklonBeast12 if you do a second play through there is an encyclopedia on your pda for all the different factions and other things. For the true ending, after you turn off the brain scorcher there will be a mission called meet with guide, then you will go meet doctor and he will reveal who you are, then he will give you the room number where streloks group hid the decoder, and adjacent to the ladder to the sarcophagus and wish grantee there is another door climb up there and you will enter in their secret lab where you find out the wish granter is an illusion, after destroying a hologram of the wish granter the c-con representative will speak to you.
Help The Channel Grow: www.youtube.com/@lonerjb?sub_confirmation=1
2 things made Stalker games outstanding:
from a programming/tech angle it`s A-life simulation - even in 2023 creating something like that is super challenging and cyberpunk2077 is a good example of failing similar task - they announced "a living city" but served a broken mess; yet in Stalker a-life managed to succeed against all odds - even its bugs serves great - gives extra unpredictability to the events - NPCs can travel, die, survive off-screen, and it`s great! basically every time i played SHOC, something would go an unique way, sometimes hilariously. all that what you call Zone being ALIVE - man, i know what you mean :))
second - of cause its the Atmosphere game creates - i got hooked badly with it years ago - and its not just screen time, but also in real life - expeditions, contact with nature, getting know some urban post-industrial abandoned places aesthetics; and looking at those stalkers around fire feels you with longing, yes
and would be wrong not to mention a third reason - modding of cause, Stalker gave birth to amazing community of mod makers all over the world; my personal choice is based on amk-team community, and probably the biggest mod ever - so called Narodnaya Solyanka (Folk Mix or Peoples Blend, something like that to translate), NS 2016 ShoC and its versions - a game of its own with 30 locations (united all 3 original games and added some more), now on its own x64 engine (original Stalker x32 suffered alot of crashes modded), you still play as Strelok- Marked one, but gameplay/playtime is something like x100 times compared to the original. Something like that:))
Damn! Thank you for making the technical aspects easier to understand. I actually grew up a few miles from an old abandoned military fort. I used to go over there all the time to take photos, and just explore. Stalker kind of reminded me of it. Desolate, your hair stands up when you hear a weird noise, stove is collapsing and caving in. Something about it made me love games like dayz/stalker as well as hiking off the beatin path, or going through that hole in the fence.
Sorry I can rant for hours on this stuff, but given the 3 games in the stalker trilogy got better as they went along, do you think stalker 2 can live up to these games, but in a modern sense?
Also any good mod recommendations? I have Misery installed to try for CoP and Anomaly. (haven't gotten to play enough, but I think it has all the locations.) Thank you for checking out the video and taking the time to write out your comment man! I really enjoy reading them and conversing with people about these games.
@@lonerjb "...Something about it made me love games like dayz/stalker as well as hiking off the beatin path" - yep:)) and, scavenging and providing is in our blood on genetic level i think:)) so living in a flat with tv, next to the supermarket - we miss all that wild stuff sorely :))
as for stalker 2 - really hard to predict this one, i`m rather on a very cautious side: creation of ShoC was a bumpy ride, even more with S2 - waiting for it since Call of Pripyat, and still unsure of release date; few points to worry about : casualization (common plague of modern games); possible political agenda etc; and the pre-release cutting floor - i was super excited about Dying light2 as it was announced, and super disappointed of result, since all promises like decisions/consequences never happened, good storywriting was gone together with Chris Avellone, general atmosphere dropped etc; will stick with DL 2015 - same fears here; hope S2 will be as open for modding as the original trilogy as well...
i didn`t play Anomaly, had a look - looks good, latest version is Stand-Alone, so you don`t need CoP, you have a go and make a video after:))
and since Anomaly looks up-today as for CoP-based modifications, i`ll list here whats worth regarding ShoC and CS and played personally:
Old Good Stalker Mod - Clear Sky, OGSM Community Edition 1.8 - just that, if you`d like to replay CS - complete and perfected edition of Clear Sky with fixes of all hiccups, restored content etc, fixed and added weapons (did you notice weapons in all trilogy are mirror imaging:)))) idk why:))) its ok with AR-based, but all Soviet-made with charging handles and bolt group on the left side... kind of eyesore) same story; it goes on 1.5.10 as a mod;
Shadows of Chernobyl:
Old Good Stalker Mod Narodnaya Solyanka (NS) 16.01.2023 latest - stand-alone, no need for original game, download-and-play, on improved engine 1.007 x64 bit, so won`t be losing much visually to Anomaly; whats good about NS - it keeps story solidly all way thru, as Marked One, all 30 locations (list slightly differ from Anomaly) connected via quests. artifacts decay overtime etc... 30GB worth:))
ОП - 2 (OP-2), "united pack 2", op-2.2 latest from 08.01.2022, i played 2.1, add-on on ShoC... started as variation of NS, then went own way, lots of new gameplay and nontrivial riddles etc and storylines like History of Chernobyl chess-master (that one is VERY different from what people got used too), abit painful since got inbuilt anticheat (why some modders do that - idk, trying to prevent you from editing files)... either way, with all good and bad, when OP came out, that was sort of revolution in modding ShoC
New_Level_Changer (NLC), 2 parts, NLC6 and NLC7.... that`s for dark souls lovers:)) - maximum difficulty, sometimes overboard
NS, OGSM NS and OP have HD graphics and weathers add-ons, which make visuals really improved....
downfall of NS, and especially OP as story-driven mods - you need to know Russian well - lots of written information on screen... i saw online things like "NLC-7-Build-3.0-English-Translation", but can`t vouch for translations... so feel abit guilty after writing all that... sometimes i can talk alot too :)) so hope it wasn`t too long answer, whether helpful or not
Wow thank you for the list! I got them noted to check out! Thank you! :)
Man you really hit right on everything, and thank you for the list. You really put time into writing all this and I'm grateful. I also got into IRL stuff because of stalker. Out of curiosity what hobbies/activities did it pull you into? Apart from hiking urbex
@@LuisC7 :)) i finished my military service a few years prior Stalker came out, so was sort of chilling out after all sort of activities by then:)) hiking, touring, fishing - nice ones and no one trying to tell you what to do:)) but can tell you this story: us, Soviet kids, 7 yo-s, Chernenko/Reagan time, before Gorbachev - 1st year of school, civil defense training - everyone got gas masks, got out of school outside, putting masks on.... sort of creepy and... i loved it! loved it so much it became one of the hobbies of mine:)) learnt all i could about them, that was way before Internet and pcs:))
remember the morning and first radio report about Chernobyl disaster as was preparing to go to school as well... lots changed those years, but by the end of school we still had NVP lessons - "beginning military study" or something like that, had fun too with full set of OZK chem suites etc... so you know Stalker the game posters - when it came out hit me just into the right spot:)) although when i heard about first time - i think news about developers mapping Chernobyl area into game - i wasn`t sure i liked it since real thing wasn`t funny - but later understood i was too serious and they actually saved all decency towards real places and game is a game and a good one too:)) cheers
Finally, a break from all these damn gamma reviews, nice to see people still covering the vanillas
Yea, I am trying to go through the vanilla originals before getting to gamma and other fun mods. I'm loving Call of Pripyat right now. Thanks for checking out the video!
@@lonerjb Cool cool, welcome to stalker then
I just got into stalker (anomaly because im broke and dont have money lol) and it`s really nice to see some videos on the original games other then seeing tons of videos about anomaly or gamma so yeah pretty cool
I love that you showed all your deaths while praising the game lol great video and information! Playing it on Xbox now.
this and deus ex are the only games i can think of off the top of my head where the enemies take more damage the lower the difficulty setting.both also god tier games
Higher or lower?
The lower the difficulty the less damage bullets do overall. So the lower the difficulty the longer it takes for enemies and the player to die.
Haven't played Deus Ex, will put it on the list of games to try though if its anywhere as good as stalker.
@@lonerjb the original is old and dirt cheap,even when its not on steam sale
@@lonerjb The old one is a classic. Needs community patches to be more enjoyable, as with all games ;-)
Always nice to see more stalker videos.
also how the hell do you only have 18 subscribers? Like i have yet to look at your other videos / channel, but just the bit i've seen in this video tells me you deserve so much more.
Lets pray to the monoli- i mean algorithm that your channel gets the attention it deserves soon.
EDIT: i kinda suspected but you only have one video up so far so that explains a bit lol.
Still, keep up the good work homie!
I'm still learning and hoping to get a little better with every video. A long way to go for sure, but very thankful for people checking out the video!
I have a lot more video ideas for the future, just trying to make them the best I can without spending forever on them. Anyway thanks for the kind words and checking out the video!
@@lonerjb i subbed and will be looking forward to any new videos you release :)
Good ol' Stalker. Despite it's jank and slightly dated elements, it's one of my favorite FPS series to play.
Agreed, I have really enjoyed the trilogy. Really looking forward to plaything through with mods and Stalker 2 later this year!
If you want to play a modern SoC, I recommend LostAlpha + STALKER Lost Alpha: Revisited + Brighter Lost Alpha.
Hell yea! Thank you! I plan on doing one later this year. Always down for mod recs!
YES YOU SHOULD PLAY IT!!! S.T.A.L.K.E.R. SoC in particular is one of the best games to date in terms of story, atmosphere and gameplay. And there are countless mods out there that make it even better.
Just started yesterday. Everyone who want to have a vanilla like experience with a bit better graphics and less bugs should install the "starter pack 2019" mod. Just copy/paste some files into the game folder and you're good to go. Game mechanics and story are the same. The only thing changed mechanically is that you have a sleeping bag in your bagpack so you can decide if you want to raid the bandits at day or night.
A funny thing about STALKER difficulty, the higher the difficulty, the higher the dmg is across the board. Basically you give higher dmg and take high dmg on the master difficulty. On the high you dish out less and on the medium and low with starter weapons you basically miss half and half does small amount making the game soviet borderlands... So, you just bump it up to master and play it that way...
Soviet borderlands is a great way to describe it lol. I was very thankful when I made it to CoP and bullets actually hit targets more than 60% of the time. When i make my way back through will mods I will play on master. I have learned/will continue to learn ways of the zone so I am more prepared next time. Thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment!
@@lonerjb It was my pleasure, keep making good stuff!
Its myth, and its false
@@matking898SVK You got me, I am hiding the fact that on lower difficulty bullets disappear by flying to the parallel universe. That is how JFK actually died :(
@@matking898SVK bullets dont miss but they do way less damage
Heads up with the difficulty in shadow of Chernobyl the harder. You make the difficulty the more damage all weapons. Do in the game, notice? I said all weapons including yours which is why enemies felt more tanky on the lower difficulties. It's only easier in the sense that you stand less of a chance of dying from a firefight. However it also means you are dealing less damage to enemies per shot so it's actually in your interest to play on master and just go for head shots. You will want to go for head shots but only pull the trigger every second or so because the 1st round that you shoot deals more damage and is more. Accurate than follow up shots if the follow up shots are within a certain period of time from the 1st bullet so you can sort of reset the 1st. Shot mechanic by only pulling the trigger on semi automatic every second or so. Sorry this read like broken English. I'm using speech to text and can't bring myself to change it l o l i'm typing on my tablet
Thanks for the effort in speech to texting that and checking out the video! It is crazy that the easier the game is the more bullets it takes for everyone to die. Not the most friendly difficulty design, but made for some interesting clips! lol
I started Shadow of Chernobyl (Vanilla) a few weeks ago and have just arrived at the Red Forest after exploring everywhere beforehand. In most games that would leave your character feeling a bit "OP" as they say these days, but in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that doesn't necessarily mean much haha. I have more equiptment choices but death still looms around every corner.
When I was gifted the pack some time ago, I tentatively went thru SoC on Stalker diff
on CS I cleared my first run with a CS-3a heavy armor on master and never looked back
now to stop procastinating so I can finish CoP...
100% finish CoP! it is worth it!
@@lonerjb Finished it 2 weeks ago, once again on Master
now to do SoC on Master and do all 4 wars in CS
@@anthonyirwin6627 NICE! All 4 wars sounds tough! Goodluck Stalker!
Great video man, keep it up
Thank you!
Nice review of the original game. I just started playing it a few weeks ago and it's nice to know I'm not the only one struggling through it - I find this game very difficult (even on novice/easy difficulty level) and it requires a good deal of thought and planning. Regardless, it's very fun and the environments and gunplay are terrific. Now...how in the world do I breach the Monolith base without getting killed...?!
I really REALLY struggled in SoC with how inaccurate the weapons were and how many shots people could tank. It can be really difficult, you gotta play it smart. I died in cordon several times to the military and bandits lolol. For the monolith base I think I threw a TON of grenades and satback with a scoped trs? (m4 looking rifle and prayed for headshots.) I honestly think the lower difficulties might make it harder to take down enemies as they become just as tanky as you are!
Keep going though. I just finished Call of Pripyat (third game) and it was worth playing through all three! Thanks for watching and leaving a comment!
I played all 3 parts in 2022, I went in this game and fell in love with the franchise and now SoC is my favorite game I've played in a long time.
Similar story here! I started playing them around the new year. Loved it soo much I made a TH-cam channel to talk about it lol. SoC is so damn good! I am just getting into Anomaly, you should give it a look over if you are itching for more stalker!
@@lonerjb Yea I did try anomaly, didn't like the grind so old world addon was perfect but kinda gets stale quick.
@@Filiplego1 That is 100% fair. Hopefully we see some Stalker 2 at the xbox showcase later this month. I am hoping for a release date lol
I saw this video and then looked at your subscribers, you will definitely see a growth soon if you keep it up!
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for checking out the video!
Getting shot through walls is sometimes a bug but also it sometimes isnt. You see, some bullets have very good armour piercing capability so they can go through some walls or objects. The AI knows this and in some locations they will shoot you through cover. Now the damage will be lowered, yes, but it is still going to flush you out.
wow. You learn something new everyday. That makes me like Stalker even more knowing it had bullet pen in 07, when some games struggle with it now. Thanks for the comment and checking out the video!
Well, enemy guns sticking through walls and shooting is a bug, like they have eyes on the gun barrel. But there is a small amount of tree, wood crates and containers penetration. This got out of hand in Clear Sky tho, where they messed up some parameters like extreme bleeding, and coupled with heavier object penetration and godlike ai aim, it made for some frustrating times.
@@bulanet271 I am referring to the AI shooting through objects, not the guns sticking through walls (which is a visual issue not a gameplay one per say).
It was fun i selled every wapon i found and had 380000 Rubles at the end and 50000 would have been enough to trigger the i want to be ritch ending. It was hard but not to hard it was a perfect balance like in Dark Souls. I had already experience with playing Into the Radius before.
Short answer: YEAH
Long answer: FUCK YEAH
Hell yea! I like the enthusiasm for the zone! Thanks for checking out the video!
You made an awesome video brother.
@@cszabo666 Much appreciated!
RMA mod was cool to play with it bringing back old content from previous builds of the game. SHoC was rushed out at the end after all. Went through a lot of redesigns and ideas were scrapped. Good way to experience the game tho.
I will put it on the list! Thank you! and thank you for checking out the video!
Been playing it on the PS4. Bought legend of zones on sale. So far it's great. the gameplay is basically fallout new Vegas minus the v.a.t.s I thought the shooting Mechanics were gonna be a issue since people complain about that aspect but I actually am enjoying that the most out of the whole game. It almost gives it a nice realistic approach of taking cover and leaning in and out to shoot.
Good to hear its working well on consoles! Glad you are enjoying the game. Thanks for checking out the video!
Have all the trilogy on the discs the last one which is Call of Pripyat I bought back in 2009 the same day it was released. Considering myself as an OG fan of this series :D
That is awesome! Nice to see an OG in the comments! Thanks for checking out the video!
I would definitely recomment standalone modification / fan-made remaster called STALKER: Lost Alpha (director's cut).
Basically a reimagining of the original Shadow of Chernobyl, what I'd call Black Mesa style, and with the overwhelming majority of what developers promised to include but were forced to discard / cut from the game due to time limits or things not working properly (an alternative approach to modern day releases that do try to include all they promise, but the result is a buggy unoptimized mess or things just not working as intended).
I will put it on the list to try out! I agree, I hope Stalker 2 has much better luck flushing out their game than a lot of other recent releases.
re-installing. you 've EARNED these 420 and one likes good sir! i hope you know how to celebrate
Thank you! I've got a good idea ;)
Great video, very well spoken
I finished soc this spring and it phenomenal fps, especially the guns pretty realistic damage and leaning were great. All fps should already have leaning. The 2 sequals were rough though, the start of the game is "too much" in both of them to make you feel the same as in soc.
Yea, I love that about SoC! You are a nothing and a nobody and it takes a long time to feel even close to as geared as your foes.
How the hell do I have more subs than this man, you DEFINITELY deserve more than me :D
Thanks man! I am just trying to get better at making videos and hopefully with that comes more people joining the community! May we both be blessed with more subs! Thank you for checking out the video and leaving a comment!
1:12 in this game even your weapon wanna kill you.
It didn't want to kill my enemies that is for sure! Thanks for checking out the video!
I just can't imagine what hell you went trough in later stages of the game in your almost totally degraded armor paired with health regenerating artifacts that additionally increased the damage you took. Are your quicksave and quickload buttons still functioning?.
i actually menued every save and load lol I hadn't yet learned of quicksaving or quickloading. It was a learning experience for sure lol. thanks for checking out the video!
The answer is yes. I'm in Pripyet. You don't need mods. Game still holds up.
Facts.
YES!
Yes. Next question.
uhmmm..... I...I wasn't... prepared for more questions... Fa..favorite faction?
@@lonerjb Either Loners or Duty.
@@TonyMcCrea My man! Loners are the BEST! Duty is pretty cool as well.
@@lonerjb Hell yeah! Your vids are awesome by the way, man! Much love
@@TonyMcCrea Thank you!
As a long time Tarkov player transitioning to stalker was easy.
Starting my first play though
Master difficulty is very fun for me
yes the answer is always yes
I remember i got this when it first came out on disc. I had crappy little laptop that had the dx 10 locked and had to play on lowest resolution possible and lowest settings possible. Now days can play with 4k dx 10 full and maxed out with 100+fps lol how things change
What an awesome memory man. I wish I had a computer back then, or maybe just been more into it. I was a console kid and missed out on a ton of classics that I am trying to find my way through now. I'm hoping Stalker 2 can look as good as these mods make Stalker look now! Thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment!
Should you play the Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl in *{insert year}*?
Answer: Yes
Welcome to the zone
Thank you!
did you use any mods or ZRP?
no mods on first play through.
YES
Yes you should.
DEFINATELY
Yes
would love to play these but they have no controller support so im no keyboard gamer so until they have support ill move on to something else
Yea the games came out in 07/08 so unless there is a mod for controller support I doubt they will ever have it. However Stalker 2 probably will. It is supposed to come out this in December I think.
No other game in 2007, that I can think of off the top of muh head, had grenade launchers that you could aim! You can AIM GRENADE LAUNCHERS! That actually makes a huge difference. Also, no game or series before or since S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has squealy-go-nuts FLESHPIGS! Why isn't Oink Oink Fleshy Piggy in Smash?! That totally needs to happen!
2:57 GLaD to know I'm not the only retrohead what remembers that carto0n! th-cam.com/video/1JLJNUYMaWQ/w-d-xo.html
2:58 You forgot to mention fleshy piggy fleshpigs! th-cam.com/video/PdNaywoPw7A/w-d-xo.html
3:21 More like CHUNK you into oblivion. Speaking of oblivion, ever play any version of the Oblivion Lost mod?
You can aim the grenade launcher on HL2
@@eleventy-seven I mean with sights.
Do you enjoyed this franchise?
Yes! I have played the 3 mainline games and am exploring some standalone mods now. It is a unique survival experience. If you can put up with some jank and age it is truly a fun time!
i'm just playing for the first time rightnow, finished clear sky and now on SoC, almost at the end, and you exagerate a lot ! it maybe was good game back in 2007/2008, but the game is really basic and have nothing special or rememberable honestly
just a simple animation of a pnj in front of a firepit "wow npc is so realistic"
like wtf, they even using the same animation with the firepit in litereally everyplace you visit XD
it's just simple and basic animation, even for 2007 you had better game and AI
honestly it's just a basic shooter, with basic mechanic, and a basic story
i heard lot of good from stalker fanboy and for me, it's largely overhyped game
That's fair, different strokes for different folks. Thanks for checking out the video anyway.
I said come in dont stand there.
I didn't watch it but the answer is yes
understandable... and I agree.
its on sale fuck it im finaly trying it
Hell yea! Let me know if you like it!
So what was your opinion?
@@Chr1s808 idk it was pretty cool but a little too janky for me to fully invest myself
Maybe one day I'll mod it till I like it a bit more
Should you play the Stalker Shadow of Chernobyl in 2023? What a stupid question. YES !!! play and die in anomaly trying today
u kinda sound like necro 😅
The actual story is that of labs set up to research the special informational field known as the noosphere later on the clandestine research organization known as the group decided to attempt to change the noosphere with the creation of the common consciousness being the only entity which could affect the noosphere, the superconsciousness ultimately created the zone while trying to make adjustments to the noosphere although their intentions could be perceived as noble seeing as they attempted to remove anger cruelty and greed from human thought through noosphere alteration, the experiment failed and resulted with a large emission and the creation of the anomalous zone. After the disaster they activated their previously inactive psi fields such as the brain scorcher to turn stalkers into zombies or monolith, and to ultimately block progress to the center of the zone. the c-consciousness could also slightly control the rift in the noosphere and thus emissions, opening the rift in the noosphere purposely at times using this to prevent stalkers and the military from discovering the existence of the c-consciousness.
The fact you are a "Suspicious Individual" and know so much about the c-consciousness is a little worrisome for a poor stalker like myself. ;) Thanks for checking out the video and explaining the story more clear than I could.
Damn I didn't catch any of that when I played SoC
@@ZyklonBeast12 Did you speak to guide after turning off the brain scorcher?
@@RailwayMagnate idk I just did whatever the missions told me. I didn't even know there were different groups
@@ZyklonBeast12 if you do a second play through there is an encyclopedia on your pda for all the different factions and other things. For the true ending, after you turn off the brain scorcher there will be a mission called meet with guide, then you will go meet doctor and he will reveal who you are, then he will give you the room number where streloks group hid the decoder, and adjacent to the ladder to the sarcophagus and wish grantee there is another door climb up there and you will enter in their secret lab where you find out the wish granter is an illusion, after destroying a hologram of the wish granter the c-con representative will speak to you.
Its never a bad time to play some og SoC.
100% Game is still so nice, excited to get some mods and run back through at a later time.
I want to enjoy it but its buggy as fuck
Unpopular opinion: Nah
Why does your pronounciation sounds like a "cool bro"?
get stalker anomaly,it open source so you dont even need to own a stalker game to play
🤨
Yessir! Started playing the other day! it is great so far!
@@biotech500gtr ?yea open source might have been the wrong term but the free bit is still true and full of the science lol
Stalker games are too old. Ugly, clumsy. Just unplayable. Don't waste time and money.
Why?