@@khelgarironfist3301 i wouldn't call graphics update because now it looks like any soulless modern game.... lighting, colour palette looks amazing in old games
I really like stalker 2, but man did they take 10 steps back in terms of AI and world interactions. I really hope this is patchable, the AI is what made the originals so great in my opinion.
yeah man, i knew originals were great but didnt know it in detail like this, after discovering Zone slug channel iv observed and watched a lot of content about old stalkers and comparisons thanks to slug, and iv decided that stalker 2 is a good game, but could be so much better with these things ironed out. so i uninstalled it. ill get back to it in 2-3 years when all DLC is out and most of if not all AI behaviors, bugs and quality of life things are either fixed or better than old ones. i really believe GSC can do it again. i fell in love with the zone on this version of stalker 2. i cant even imagine how great of an experience it could be in future. i cant wait. all the best
Stalker 2 is basically just a linear shooter. Sure, you can explore, but what's the point? I finished the game without doing really much of anything outside of following the main story. That's not stalker to me.
It will take a few years to get Stalker 2 to that level, assuming if they even want to do something like that, You're looking at a Cyberpunk2077 situation, only after many years we got the game that was promised.
BTW - one thing that forgotten here and its VERY hard to test. Original STALKER NPCs could switch weapons and ammo types based on what they are fighting and range. So for example if the player is VERY heavily armoured they will switch to AP rounds. If the player is behind walls they may switch to AP and blind fire into the wall. If a mutant approaches them and they have a shotgun they may switch to it. If ALL they have is a shotgun and a pistol and someone is shooting at them from afar they switch to the pistol to fight back. I talk vanilla here, no mods.
@@ZoneSlugYou can test it in Shadow of Chernobyl. At final at CNPP at some point you will encounter Monolith fighters with RPG. After shooting they tend to take cover and reload, but if threat is too close they will switch to pistol
1th thing is easy to test, just try to door kick hospital in Gauss gun quest in CoP, and you will see that Monolith snipers change their SVDs and SVUs to pistols when you get too close to them
This was literally the comparison video we didn't know we needed. What a great way to get the message across without having to write a novel to try and explain your position. I feel like this perfectly expressed a lot of feelings on behalf of all og stalker fans, myself included. Thanks for sharing this, I stand with you on this stalker
@@jholybigjesus just reached like 100 hours on my merc playthrough. It's been such an amazing progression. Next playthrough I'll deselect story mode so I can do the doctor x quest lines as well as the usual main quest!
the most insane AI I have ever experiences was in STALKER Anomaly (vanilla). I actually retreated from some fights since I was getting sourrounded or supressed while other enemies advanced on me so I actually had to fall back in order to not die. absolutely nuts AI. They also kept me busy fighting a larger group while one or two retreated from the fight just to flank me and kill me. They were also camping if only one was left from a group and after the fight when I thought I was safe I looted the body just to run into a last enemy hiding in a corner waiting for me to kill me. Best AI experience I ever had. Tough fights where a group was actually dangerous to attack.
My favorite moment was when I was distracted looting a big blue chest and a bandit snuck up on me. He could have shot at me the moment he noticed me but he silently crept forward to get in close range, and it was too late for me to react by the time I noticed him. I wasn't even mad.
@blackwater4100 Idk, tactics of original ai is still impresive. So I even wonder like what is looking better ai. Maybe i need check this anomaly mod, since I lost my hope in stalker 2 I started playing mods(before only played vanila). But before anomaly I have olr 3.0(want to check working and deep a-life) and olr 2.5 to finish.
I also like that in older games after fights, NPCs sit down for a moment to be sure that danger is over, and only then start looting or healing allies. Also grenade throwing based on radius has much more sense.
OH and maybe when player is trying to retreat make it possible for NPCs to throw grenades at the feet of the player, ahead of them and not just straight at the player
@egordon7543 It does. It makes developers lazy. In this age we have more and more "game developers" who are only capable of toggling checkboxes in Unreal editor, without understanding underlying tech that makes games. Studios are now investing less into in-house tech because "Unreal does everything better with enough plugins" and they end up with technically unimpressive games (insert surprised pikatchu here). It wouldn't be half as bad if Unreal wa actually good, but it's not.
Old ai way more difficult and realistic, that's actually visible, and man, why in stalker 2 npc are don't talking anymore... They have so much dialogs in trilogy, and now they have 3 unfunny anecdotes, and 7-9 usual phrases for fight, i need more
I wish they would have kept the text dialogue options also, it added a lot of depth, you could ask where they are going or what they are doing and they would tell you
@@ZoneSlug In Call of Pripyat, I always loved asking random NPCs everything I could. But now, in stalker 2, there’s just one option: “What’s new in the Zone?” Yes, text-based menus must exist, and I firmly believe they will when modding capabilities are opened.
@@high-level-content-makerthey used to actually give you relevant information too. When you ask them wants new in the zone in Stalker 2, most the time they just saw something pretty useless and random. Sad.
@@boxkicker7784 Well, the phrases do change as you progress through the game and its events. But it’s still not up to the level expected at the end of 2024
This is a very heavily needed and very important video, highlighting almost every reason why Stalker 2's A-life is inferior in every single possible way to the original games (and Anomaly and its offshoots.) Hopefully GSC fixes things up.
Guessing they were running short on money for production at this point This is why they rushed this release despite like 1-2 years of delays already...
Well it’s not like the Ukrainian game company had a war or anything…. While finishing their other best game before it (Metro exodus). So you got to give them credit of how much they done.
@@spicydong317that is one of them, while also having to relocate to a entirely new studio to not have everything they had back at home. So it makes A lot of sense, and they are doing their best to update it.
@@spicydong317 well I mean, if that’s the case, they released it perfectly. They made a huge profit so hopefully that will give them the means to REALLY improve the game. That’s me being hopeful.
@@thenom6648 The Metro series is made by A4 Games, a studio created by an ex-GSC employee and SoC director, Andrew Prokhorov, GSC did not make Metro Exodus. HoC could have been baked mlonger, but 15 years is pushing it, and they very well could have been in financial trouble with the war and all.
great video, ive noticed a lot of these things aswell. amazing how we have AI in everything but games over 20yrs old has a better NPC action flowcharts then anything out now
Great video, sir. I'd like to point out some things: 3:25 - I've been told this does actually exist. For example, one person I know said he saw a Bloodsuckers limp 1:09 - I never got dialogue even if I myself saved them until the latest 2-3 patches - I think it is possible for this dialogue to be bugged. I did not check game files for voice lines related to it, so I can't say for sure. In general, there are improvements to be made. I think some of these problems could also be borked AI. For example, they never loot bodies for me. I feel like the AI can do a lot more actually, but they just don't. But we will see in the near future, it is good GSC is dedicated to improving the game and AI in general (not just A-Life related components)
Thank you! Yeah I think a lot of stuff might be there just bugged like you say especially looting and stuff, it makes me optimistic knowing GSC are dedicated to the long term development of the game!
What I don't understand is the inconsistancy of the bugs. So for some they never loot bodies, but I have seen it multiple times and even on youtube etc. I have never seen a Mutant limping they just attack until they die. I really don't know if the complexity of those bugs is so high that they are not happening for every player. I never had any bugs with quests and I'm pretty far into the story, but I read a lot about progression locking quest bugs. I don't know If they could have ported the A-Life from CoP to stalker 2 with adjustments for the open map. Also the battle behaviour isn't that great, but they do flank and are trying to get around you to shoot you in the back, that happend to me also often. I think the AI in battle works better in a compound with buildings or in those buildings. Sry for the long text🤘
@ No problem, I'm not sure what is happening. For me I had A LOT of bugs that broke quests for me so I had to restart from early saves, yes very inconsistent.
One of the main reasons I stopped playing the game despite waiting more than a decade…the atmosphere is good the graphics are great but the world just doesn’t feel alive like it used to. NPC’s are just so random and pointless, no real goals no artifact hunting no real objectives. Just randomly passing and fighting. I trust it’ll be fine with future updates and mods
At first I was enlighted that the dialogue adds a lot. After the whole video I'm amazed by how much is missing, the small details all contribute to the atmosphere. It's fascinating how the AI behaves in CoP! To be honest, I never even noticed because it just felt so natural even after many playtroughs of CoP. I really hope they will extend upon the current model and add all these and more, since the foundation is there already to make the most immersive game of the decade.
@@ZoneSlug Yeah, I'm too counting on the community. Even if they don't add these minor details after they end the game's lifecycle and official support, I have high hopes that the community will make mods that could make the game so much more than intended.
All the things in old stalker NPC combat is acheivable. I think there will be a huge A.I combat overhaull that will not only bring the old set of features but also introduce new NPC behaviours. I HOPE.
This is a great video highlighting some excellent points of reference for improvements. I hope the A-Life adjustments and improvements continue till we reach a similar level of immersive AI.
Does anybody remember there was a really good Oblivion Lost Mod for SoC with all the cut out mutants and weapons, where you could use also vehicles like jeeps and even the Mil-Mi 24 helicopter it was also possible to go back from Prypjat and NNP to the map before they added also a trader in Prypjat and weapons you find only in NNP like the FN F2000 i think in game it was called the FT200 could be found much earlyier in game i think it was on top of that building Jantar where you could go Underground in Lab X16, even if you beat the game it was possible to still play and enter all maps after it, this Mod was fucking great
I remember playing the mod on my first SoC playthrough back in 2009. IIRC it was the one of the first total conversion mods that fully unlocked A-Life and blowouts. Any other open world game I've played afterwards felt like it was missing something (maybe except CoP and Anomaly).
You could try OLR 3.0 Pretty interesting mod I guess. Author says that's he recreate stalker of 2002-2004. (So there is a really functional a-life(much better than in original trilogy), vehicles, hadcore mechanics, and other cut content) Although it's still in beta(which started in first or second month of 2024). And author somewhere lost.(I hear that's he was working on this mod for more than 10 years(since spring of 2013). There also still playble olr 2.5 which is more like original game but still with builds features.)
Hey, man 🙂 Based on this video I searched into the files and found something that can perhaps fix some issues with cover and what is missing right now is the retreat option. What I found literally right now there is a parameter that will make an enemy retreat if percentage of his squad is taken out. Considering we don't measure people by percentage it would be something like: in 4 man squad, if 75% enemies are offed by real player = 1 enemy begins to retreat, but...if the squad is bigger than the parameter may not trigger as it was 5 enemies. BUT! The parameter is set to 100% now, meaning the whole squad needs to be wiped off before an enemy "chooses to retreat", and how would it retreat when you are looting his body? These videos are pretty valid for a modder like me, so directly/indirectly you are impacting my next set of mods that I am thinking off. I am working like 4 mods in parallel right now. Feel free to check them out on my channel But keep posting these videos, as they raise not just observational questions, but also design wise that perhaps could be within game files, and TRUST ME...I have been DIGGING all kinds of fun stuff that is clearly been cut or omitted. I fixed many behaviors that were broken, and now it is performing way better. My only concern is if the new update break all of my mods, hopefully now, or there will be a ton of copy and paste
Really good to hear the work you’re doing, not sure why they would disable it by putting it to 100% behaviours must be broken or something, Keep at it! Looking forward to looking at your progress
who needs good ai when you have grenade spamming laser aim enemies in stalker 2 the way they make enemies more difficult is give them marksman rifles and sniper rifles and they are spamming it like they have a bump stock attached to it pretty immersion shattering
There is so much more. There is also a need for rest among both mutants and human NPCs. You can track mutants in the OG games and watch them find places to sleep. In Stalker 2, mutants and human NPCs can be spawned sleeping, but afterwards they can't go back into sleep mode because they're simply not meant to “exist” for that long. The same applies to hunger. Mutants can be spawned in places to eat, but this is only a spawned action. They don't eat on their own for the same reasons. It's really such a shame because it made all the Stalker games really special. I also feel a bit betrayed because there's practically no interview where the awesome new A-Life system isn't mentioned and what we get is this action bubble spwan nonsense. I really hope they do fix it, but I'm starting to lose hope.
@@ZoneSlug We need to be vocal about what we want to see. These are CORE things which are the foundation for AI. At the moment there are NO systems in place to even attempt to implement anything like this.
in the first shadow of Chernobyl at the end of the game i remember looking down to looting a dead body and a npc walked strait in my back whitout shooting and when i saw him at the last moment he head shoot me and killing me whit one bullet.....i never knew if it was AI scripted
4.22 Glowing eyes of the bloodsucker and pseudodog, it seems that this is not in Stalker 2, as well as many other good things that were in the previous games of the series, which causes great bewilderment.
Some phrases are hard to translate with proper nuance. 1:10 "hold on brother, i'll fix you up now" 1:24 something like "bon voyage, s-er" 2:52 "somebody!" "come here!" (help!) 2:55 "relax, we'll all be there" "dont disperse, wait" 3:02 "so, dude, what do you have there?" "help! somebody!" 3:11 "no need for all this to rot away, as i see it " Thank you for your work!
Sneaking used to be a goated mechanic. Many times you would hear them approaching you quietly without shooting, and as soon as you turned back the NPC would react to being noticed and start shooting. Unreal 5 mustve been their worst choice for this game, because its incapable of rendering more than 5 NPCs at once without dropping the FPS below the 30s
Лише надіюсь що твоє відео побачать розробники і згадають яким повинен бути штучний інтелект в грі 🤧. Я вже і забув який він чудовий і прекрасний зов Прип'яті. Це просто шок.🤯
@@OSTemliIt's the devs being lazy. Only thing you can blame UE5 for is shitty performance for games with Nanite enabled. Then again, still the devs' fault, since they chose to just use Nanite instead of graphically upgrading games themselves.
The hate on Unreal is just stupid. Yes, there's problems with Nanite (a ton, not denying that), but in the end, most other issues are dev faults. You can just not use Nanite. All in all it's a fantastic engine, not without flaws, but still a very good one.
@@Assassino275 could you tell me more about the “woke crap”? Is it that almost all npc got black hair and look like metissed peoples? I have a few suspicions of my own.
Honestly, besides the war there's no excuse for the game to be in this state. They've been putting this game thru development hell for 10+ years and this is the result? The AI was more intelligent in the gameplay previews. Except in the previews they'd actually miss too.
I don't understand why someone writes about justifications related to the war, if the original release date was before the date of the war, plus the game was being developed far from the war zone. before the declaration of war, the game should have already been ready, but as a result, we received several postponements and the current state of the game. It should be a shame.
@@loooolks it was supposed to come out a couple months before the invasion I think, and usually by that time most devs are polishing the little shit. These last couple updates fixed "2000" bugs and yet this shit feels the same outside of stuff spawning right in front of me. It's a miracle this game honestly came out but tbh they spent almost 100 million to make it. There's not a snowballs chance in hell they'd cancel it. We just have to wait a year. Most likely more. Cyberpunk still gets updates after all.
I don't understand why people are praising stalker 2 so much... it's not even close to the old games level of immersion. It doesn't feel like a stalker game.. they made it too player friendly
I don’t really care too much that the game released in this state, I only hope that they will actually do something about this. I can wait, but there must actually be something to wait for
I always wonder why every game of a franchise fell down on their core mechanics what make the games unique once. It is understandable that you cannot copy and paste from one engine into another, but why they lack the skill to work their own stuff into new engines?
AFAIK, Alife was literally a part of the engine source code, and not lua scripts. Maybe in UE it’s harder to bake it in. Hope that’s not the case, and they just need more time
In the old game, if a pack of dogs came after you and you jumped on top of a truck or pile of boxes, they would circle around below you trying to find a way to get the player. In STALKER 2 the moment the mutant AI detects you're unreachable, they run away and hide from your field of view. Once you come down, the AI auto detects you're reachable now and the mutants come out to attack you. But hey, at least we have photo realism in the game now 😒
og stalker games were considered to be very undercooked and yet they had neat ai from day 1. all they did after games released is fixing bugs. It's unlikely that we'll get any new stuff in stalker 2 like full-blown A-life or whatnot, just bugfixes for this hot mess.
NPC also have mode of seeking for enemy(well, at least for player in soc). You could test it by yourself if hide on atp roofs(where bandits can't pass), and after sometime when bandits don't see and hear you they will have unique dialogues(like 10 different phrases) with mean like this "come out, we dont gonna bite you"(it's of course lie). Other factions I guess also have unique phrases.(at least I heard it from military and monolith)
Practically, over the years they could have easily built a new game on 64-bit X-Ray and no one would have complained. Maybe it would look even better than it does now, because remember one thing. No one will ever be able to imitate the atmosphere of the old STALKER, which is also thanks to the engine.
@@Art_Korobochka I don't think they chose UE5 just because it's easy to use. I can see how "easy" it is to use when nothing works properly. There are a lot of unanswered questions and strange decisions. We all know what a modified 64 bit X-Ray can do and it doesn't just have to be Metro, but also mods for old STALKER games. Bloody ray tracing bullshit.
Okay all of these are true, but let's be honest: the original STALKER series' AI was extraordinary at that time and I think almost no other game could achive something similar to this date. The original STALKER games were a really huge challenge because of the very effective AI. The enemy could use tactics, different weapon and ammo types, they could group up together and lure the player out of cover. Insanely good game mechanics. I would choose 10 out of 10 times the better AI instead of improved graphics.
I started replaying the game again because of how good the game was. I'm just hoping for some good optimization in a future update. I saw they're thinking about adding an improvised stealth system as well as a multiplayer mechanic. Unfortunately, there won't be a co-op since the devs said that it would be too easy for people to traverse in the Zone and look for artifacts. Honestly, I think it would be nice to have a co-op mode and play with friends.
Also two more things A NPC with sniper and shotguns seems to act differently where shotgun will always try to flank you and shot you in the back, snipers do seem to stay further away and walk around you in 50m radius (in stalker 2) B if NPC loots dead NPC he gets his suit of armor FULLY REPAIRED also I'm not sure if I just been lucky but it seem like everytime they pick up exoskeleton it ALSO DOUBLES
Literally every gunfight in S2 is the same: blobs of enemies walking towards you/each other. It's so painfully boring, it blows my mind how anyone could enjoy this game past the Lesser Zone. In almost if not all ways the AI is a downgrade. All the mutants act the same: big scary RAWR! :3 and jump attack. Why the hell are bloodsuckers so noisy? What was scary about them in the original games is that all you'd hear is heavy breathing getting louder as the close in. Whoever was in charge of S2 mutants had the infantile understanding that loud RAWR! :3 = scary.
@ The original games weren't finished and were (and are) full of bugs, too, Stalker 2 now is totally playable, it has Stalker atmosphere, gameplay, lore, stories, do you really mean what you wrote about this game because the developers chose the "Game - first, A-Life - second" strategy knowing the developers were forced to publish the game earlier but now they have enough time to not only patch but to add more new things to the game?
@CYbeRuKRaINiaN AI/A-Life is part of the game and atmosphere too; one of the most important parts. I never insinuated the first 3 games are perfect, but it doesn't change the fact that Stalker 2 is embarrassing when you compare them in several aspects, with AI being the most important one. Another example is actually in graphical detail: no shadows from flashlights in Stalker 2, when not only the original games had this, but early to mid 2000s builds of SoC (Oblivion Lost) featured this. Less interactive water is also sad to see. Where's our technological advancement all these years later? Just in the Shader Model being used? That's the state of modern gaming.
i cant recall that in old stalkers smbd revieved other NPCs. This and non-vanilla weapon models indicate that you showed us some modded Call of Pripyat
I'm new to the Stalker series (Stalker 2 is my first experience) and after watching this video I now realize what all of y'all are complaining about. 😂 The originals looked incredible. I'm still enjoying my experience, but I now realize why people were so hyped about the potential for this game.
great video I agree with you no hate but hopefully they will start adding these features in the game I think videos like this are probably helpful for the devs as it gives direct examples of things we want to see in game
It won't work due to the features of UE5. You need to separately create a new engine or toolkit. The core of which will be the NPS AI itself. And then, somehow implement the finished model into UE5. But considering how idiots GSC are, this is impossible. I wouldn't rely on moderators either; such work requires a competent team and programmers.
Ive been playing the old game while i wait for the ai to be improved in stalker 2. In soc the enemies like you showed in this video feel a lit more like im on the same playing field as them, like we can both die to one bullet and theyre using cover and trying to flank me. In stalker 2 the human ai just kinda feel like theyre there for you to shoot at and the gunfights never feel like theres a sense of danger when im in them and i play on the hardest difficulty in s2
@ZoneSlug I am so glad the devs are really intouch with the community. i still remember the crypto stuff and the community came together to stop that 😂
Yeah I’m not gunna lie, I’m still in the early 10-15hr range of the game in Garbage. (Minor spoilers) im on the mission where I need to choose to kill Roosevelt, shah, or varan. I already was kinda annoyed by varan so I walked out of the facility to talk to Roosevelt’s right hand man that was ousted from the group and is/was an alcoholic. After killing him, I returned back to varan facility to kill him. I snuck in knifed the dude in the watch tower. Which no one saw but then a danger state was initiated by people I couldn’t see. Soldiers started running around looking for me (but didn’t know where I was but did?) idk. Then I got into the actual building where varan was. And I started killing people, they were in a combat state but didn’t see me even if I was standing in the open and shooting their comrades right next to them. Then once clear soldiers started spawning behind me in the same room. Idk 0:30
The question is are they going to fck fix it ? It's weird because the original author of a-life is still with gsc working on s2 ( checked his LinkedIn) i think there's still a little bit of hope.
Funny (or perhaps sad) how the original trilogy and F.E.A.R. have some of the best NPC combat behaviour that is (to my knowledge) unmatched in any other fps game released since.
With all the disappointing game releases in the last 10 years, I was sure S2 would be the one game that just releases in a great condition.I expected bugs I also expected a stalker experience. The game that was actually promised. I even pre ordered the most expensive physical edition, It was the first (and last) time though. Instead of a Stalker we got a Farcry in a stalker costume. It's just so disheartening, I trusted them, they were the only developers that couldn't disappoint me because the original trilogy is just so damn good it would be really hard to fuck up S2. But they fucked it up, everything that made stalker games is gone. There's no magic and wonder it's just boring. I'm sure a lot of you had fun with the game but for me it was pure disappointment.
@@MrEatSomeBrains Us long time stalkers know how you feel, try and not be disheartened, with time I’m sure things will get much better and the og community will be here for it.
I am not going to bash either Trilogy or Stalker 2, but I will say this, neither game is actually perfect in terms of AI The biggest issue in Stalker 2 is when you shoot a bullet and voice cues begin to say they don't know where the shots are coming from, and they will approach you, but not right away, they will look at bullet impact, but not you from 1 meter away. Trilogy is far from perfect too, while AI just slides in like ballerina on ice, but at the very least they are responding to shots properly. Right now with Stalker 2, you need to buff awareness as priority, and only then explore other secondaries like AI looking for artifacts and such. Right now the environment doesn't care much about NPCs, they walk through anomalies and don't trigger them, such as the space anomaly that pulls in air near the pond, they will run through it, but God forbid you are even 40 meters away from it yourself, it will end you. Small stuff like that annoys me more, than whether AI is a tactical master. In most bases you can shoot at the friendly by mistake and end him, and they won't even lock the base down or engage you right away, most likely it will take another friendly to be gone by your hand before they figure out 1 meter away you are capping poor bros for no reason at all to engage you. If you could combine 2 AI systems into the Stalker 2, it would be great
I heard that the other stalker games started out just like the older games and they got better and better As time went on and i think because the old ones have had soo much work done to them theres alot more to compare to wats missing in the new stalker and now we can help the devs fill in the blanks as we get to play this awesome game and i fucking hope everything youve listed slug in ur videos comes to light in the new one cuz we need it
That's cope/gaslighting that people like to come out with on Reddit. All the behaviour in these videos is without mods, and were like that on release or within a couple patches.
Some people keep forgetting that war doesnt absolve game as a product from all criticism. I waited 3 years on a pre-order and ended up extremally disaappinted once I got to play it. Despite this, I am still giving them a chance to fix and improve the game, especially since they have resources to do so after fairly good reception and reviews.
The AI i seen in this video is from cop right? If so it is the same ai that you have in anomaly? because rarely on anomaly have I seen all this interaction from NPCs. PS great video
Where stalker 2 AI excels is in urban combat, for example fighting the military in their base in one of the first missions is tough. Otherwise it really sucks
Again I’m not trying to hate, just pointing out where I’d like Stalker 2 to be in the future updates. The small details make a big difference for me.
Totalmente comprensible mi estimado caballero, usted está haciendo un grandioso trabajo con estos vídeos, un gusto
@@carlos-dr5803 Thank you very much!
S2 is a downgrade in many aspects and barely has any upgrades other than graphics. That is sad in 2025
@@khelgarironfist3301 i wouldn't call graphics update because now it looks like any soulless modern game.... lighting, colour palette looks amazing in old games
More updates bigger game size
I really like stalker 2, but man did they take 10 steps back in terms of AI and world interactions. I really hope this is patchable, the AI is what made the originals so great in my opinion.
yeah man, i knew originals were great but didnt know it in detail like this, after discovering Zone slug channel iv observed and watched a lot of content about old stalkers and comparisons thanks to slug, and iv decided that stalker 2 is a good game, but could be so much better with these things ironed out. so i uninstalled it.
ill get back to it in 2-3 years when all DLC is out and most of if not all AI behaviors, bugs and quality of life things are either fixed or better than old ones. i really believe GSC can do it again. i fell in love with the zone on this version of stalker 2. i cant even imagine how great of an experience it could be in future. i cant wait. all the best
maybe i am bluffing but someone said that the xray engine was built around ai and a-life
Stalker 2 is basically just a linear shooter. Sure, you can explore, but what's the point? I finished the game without doing really much of anything outside of following the main story. That's not stalker to me.
It will take a few years to get Stalker 2 to that level, assuming if they even want to do something like that, You're looking at a Cyberpunk2077 situation, only after many years we got the game that was promised.
for what i observed the bots in Stalker 2 work more in formation as a group.
BTW - one thing that forgotten here and its VERY hard to test. Original STALKER NPCs could switch weapons and ammo types based on what they are fighting and range. So for example if the player is VERY heavily armoured they will switch to AP rounds. If the player is behind walls they may switch to AP and blind fire into the wall.
If a mutant approaches them and they have a shotgun they may switch to it. If ALL they have is a shotgun and a pistol and someone is shooting at them from afar they switch to the pistol to fight back.
I talk vanilla here, no mods.
You’re right that would be very hard to test 😂 thank you for the insight!
@@ZoneSlugYou can test it in Shadow of Chernobyl. At final at CNPP at some point you will encounter Monolith fighters with RPG. After shooting they tend to take cover and reload, but if threat is too close they will switch to pistol
1th thing is easy to test, just try to door kick hospital in Gauss gun quest in CoP, and you will see that Monolith snipers change their SVDs and SVUs to pistols when you get too close to them
they mostly have bread and pistol ammo xD nothing to change to there i guess
They also can run out of ammo and then change weapon.
Or refuse to take better gun cuz they dont have ammo for it.
modern gaming be like: upgrade visuals, downgrade everything else.
*develop through war and death threats *
@@thebakedtoast Laugh from far away, man
@@thebakedtoast Yeah that war Czechia is waging is no joke.
Agreed. Another good example of that is Cyberpunk 2077. Graphics are 10/10, the rest is a 5/10 at best.
@@themtube9455 well they spent 3 years and 2.0 is proper good, just gotta remember it's not GTA
This was literally the comparison video we didn't know we needed. What a great way to get the message across without having to write a novel to try and explain your position. I feel like this perfectly expressed a lot of feelings on behalf of all og stalker fans, myself included. Thanks for sharing this, I stand with you on this stalker
I appreciate that! Let’s make our voices heard and hope for the future
Yes I still play the old games my favorite is anomaly it's bulletproof the modded engine runs for days at a time with no crashes.
@@jholybigjesus just reached like 100 hours on my merc playthrough. It's been such an amazing progression. Next playthrough I'll deselect story mode so I can do the doctor x quest lines as well as the usual main quest!
Wow that old AI was insanely impressive
It was really good, even for today
It was top 2 AI of the year, first place took original Left 4 dead. So yeah.
@ The best AI was in the game FEAR 1
@@Art_Korobochka For real ? Maybe i remember it wrong.
Thanks for your researches! Hopefully, devs will see this too. But I think they already know it and will be updating AI and other mechanics.
@@kolohatky No problem! Yea hopefully they working on this stuff
the most insane AI I have ever experiences was in STALKER Anomaly (vanilla). I actually retreated from some fights since I was getting sourrounded or supressed while other enemies advanced on me so I actually had to fall back in order to not die. absolutely nuts AI. They also kept me busy fighting a larger group while one or two retreated from the fight just to flank me and kill me. They were also camping if only one was left from a group and after the fight when I thought I was safe I looted the body just to run into a last enemy hiding in a corner waiting for me to kill me. Best AI experience I ever had. Tough fights where a group was actually dangerous to attack.
Yes this is what we want but I guess the broadest possible audience will it allow
My favorite moment was when I was distracted looting a big blue chest and a bandit snuck up on me. He could have shot at me the moment he noticed me but he silently crept forward to get in close range, and it was too late for me to react by the time I noticed him. I wasn't even mad.
Is this mode have some updates to ai?
I guess such behavior i was meet even in original games( I usely playing on master).
@@Leantenant Yes, Anomaly has AI upgrades. Vanilla Stalker does not have these AI behaviours to that degree.
@blackwater4100 Idk, tactics of original ai is still impresive. So I even wonder like what is looking better ai.
Maybe i need check this anomaly mod, since I lost my hope in stalker 2 I started playing mods(before only played vanila).
But before anomaly I have olr 3.0(want to check working and deep a-life) and olr 2.5 to finish.
I also like that in older games after fights, NPCs sit down for a moment to be sure that danger is over, and only then start looting or healing allies.
Also grenade throwing based on radius has much more sense.
Yes exactly, small details like that are important, not just instantly start casually walking away
That's right, the grenades thrown by NPCs are one of the reasons I often get killed
NPCs range of throwing grenades could use some variety imo, if player can choose to throw far or close then NPCs should have the options too.
OH and maybe when player is trying to retreat make it possible for NPCs to throw grenades at the feet of the player, ahead of them and not just straight at the player
We are just casually moving backwards. It's sad to see
UNREAL ENGINE 5 BABY!
@@adfkzaha24SO NEXT GEN!!111
@@adfkzaha24that has nothing to do with this
@@egordon7543 Seems it does when devs only seem to care about visuals rather than the real shit they should be working on
@egordon7543 It does. It makes developers lazy. In this age we have more and more "game developers" who are only capable of toggling checkboxes in Unreal editor, without understanding underlying tech that makes games. Studios are now investing less into in-house tech because "Unreal does everything better with enough plugins" and they end up with technically unimpressive games (insert surprised pikatchu here). It wouldn't be half as bad if Unreal wa actually good, but it's not.
I used to buy, upgrade and give the best weapons possible to the NPCs I recruited before I head to Pripyat
Same
Old ai way more difficult and realistic, that's actually visible, and man, why in stalker 2 npc are don't talking anymore... They have so much dialogs in trilogy, and now they have 3 unfunny anecdotes, and 7-9 usual phrases for fight, i need more
I wish they would have kept the text dialogue options also, it added a lot of depth, you could ask where they are going or what they are doing and they would tell you
@@ZoneSlug In Call of Pripyat, I always loved asking random NPCs everything I could. But now, in stalker 2, there’s just one option: “What’s new in the Zone?” Yes, text-based menus must exist, and I firmly believe they will when modding capabilities are opened.
The new "cheeki breeki" is "ponaslash!"
@@high-level-content-makerthey used to actually give you relevant information too. When you ask them wants new in the zone in Stalker 2, most the time they just saw something pretty useless and random. Sad.
@@boxkicker7784 Well, the phrases do change as you progress through the game and its events. But it’s still not up to the level expected at the end of 2024
This is a very heavily needed and very important video, highlighting almost every reason why Stalker 2's A-life is inferior in every single possible way to the original games (and Anomaly and its offshoots.) Hopefully GSC fixes things up.
The game definitely needed more time...
Guessing they were running short on money for production at this point
This is why they rushed this release despite like 1-2 years of delays already...
Well it’s not like the Ukrainian game company had a war or anything…. While finishing their other best game before it (Metro exodus). So you got to give them credit of how much they done.
@@spicydong317that is one of them, while also having to relocate to a entirely new studio to not have everything they had back at home. So it makes A lot of sense, and they are doing their best to update it.
@@spicydong317 well I mean, if that’s the case, they released it perfectly. They made a huge profit so hopefully that will give them the means to REALLY improve the game. That’s me being hopeful.
@@thenom6648 The Metro series is made by A4 Games, a studio created by an ex-GSC employee and SoC director, Andrew Prokhorov, GSC did not make Metro Exodus. HoC could have been baked mlonger, but 15 years is pushing it, and they very well could have been in financial trouble with the war and all.
I kinda miss how unique each region was too. See one URE5 forest youve seen them all.
@@bradenhagen7977 I know what you mean, the older regions felt very distinctive not just a colour change
I love how when hes sniping and gets shoot at while retreating he looks back to not trip and fall down
@@dragonsgaming5921 Me too it’s the small things I love
great video, ive noticed a lot of these things aswell. amazing how we have AI in everything but games over 20yrs old has a better NPC action flowcharts then anything out now
Great video, sir. I'd like to point out some things:
3:25 - I've been told this does actually exist. For example, one person I know said he saw a Bloodsuckers limp
1:09 - I never got dialogue even if I myself saved them until the latest 2-3 patches - I think it is possible for this dialogue to be bugged. I did not check game files for voice lines related to it, so I can't say for sure.
In general, there are improvements to be made. I think some of these problems could also be borked AI. For example, they never loot bodies for me. I feel like the AI can do a lot more actually, but they just don't. But we will see in the near future, it is good GSC is dedicated to improving the game and AI in general (not just A-Life related components)
Thank you! Yeah I think a lot of stuff might be there just bugged like you say especially looting and stuff, it makes me optimistic knowing GSC are dedicated to the long term development of the game!
What I don't understand is the inconsistancy of the bugs. So for some they never loot bodies, but I have seen it multiple times and even on youtube etc. I have never seen a Mutant limping they just attack until they die. I really don't know if the complexity of those bugs is so high that they are not happening for every player. I never had any bugs with quests and I'm pretty far into the story, but I read a lot about progression locking quest bugs. I don't know If they could have ported the A-Life from CoP to stalker 2 with adjustments for the open map. Also the battle behaviour isn't that great, but they do flank and are trying to get around you to shoot you in the back, that happend to me also often. I think the AI in battle works better in a compound with buildings or in those buildings. Sry for the long text🤘
@ No problem, I'm not sure what is happening. For me I had A LOT of bugs that broke quests for me so I had to restart from early saves, yes very inconsistent.
Awesome video! I knew the Ai was great in original stalker but there's a lot of things I had no idea theyr were doing
Thanks a lot :) yes they were ahead of their time
One of the main reasons I stopped playing the game despite waiting more than a decade…the atmosphere is good the graphics are great but the world just doesn’t feel alive like it used to. NPC’s are just so random and pointless, no real goals no artifact hunting no real objectives. Just randomly passing and fighting. I trust it’ll be fine with future updates and mods
I’m sure it will be
Good luck with the hard-coded 100M spawn range xD They are working hard to get those DLC's out for more £££ over 1 month and no patch.
At first I was enlighted that the dialogue adds a lot. After the whole video I'm amazed by how much is missing, the small details all contribute to the atmosphere. It's fascinating how the AI behaves in CoP! To be honest, I never even noticed because it just felt so natural even after many playtroughs of CoP. I really hope they will extend upon the current model and add all these and more, since the foundation is there already to make the most immersive game of the decade.
@@itz_Metaa The stalker community is amazing so I have no doubts!
@@ZoneSlug Yeah, I'm too counting on the community. Even if they don't add these minor details after they end the game's lifecycle and official support, I have high hopes that the community will make mods that could make the game so much more than intended.
Great content. Looking forward to watching this channel grow.
@@guldank Thank you I appreciate that a lot
All the things in old stalker NPC combat is acheivable. I think there will be a huge A.I combat overhaull that will not only bring the old set of features but also introduce new NPC behaviours. I HOPE.
I’m hoping too!
I’m praying for this 🙏🏼
one is a generic "AAA" slop made on urine engine 5, the other is an icon of eastern gamedev crafted with soul and dedication
This is a great video highlighting some excellent points of reference for improvements. I hope the A-Life adjustments and improvements continue till we reach a similar level of immersive AI.
Thank you I hope so too
Does anybody remember there was a really good Oblivion Lost Mod for SoC with all the cut out mutants and weapons, where you could use also vehicles like jeeps and even the Mil-Mi 24 helicopter it was also possible to go back from Prypjat and NNP to the map before they added also a trader in Prypjat and weapons you find only in NNP like the FN F2000 i think in game it was called the FT200 could be found much earlyier in game i think it was on top of that building Jantar where you could go Underground in Lab X16, even if you beat the game it was possible to still play and enter all maps after it, this Mod was fucking great
I remember playing the mod on my first SoC playthrough back in 2009. IIRC it was the one of the first total conversion mods that fully unlocked A-Life and blowouts. Any other open world game I've played afterwards felt like it was missing something (maybe except CoP and Anomaly).
You could try OLR 3.0
Pretty interesting mod I guess. Author says that's he recreate stalker of 2002-2004. (So there is a really functional a-life(much better than in original trilogy), vehicles, hadcore mechanics, and other cut content)
Although it's still in beta(which started in first or second month of 2024). And author somewhere lost.(I hear that's he was working on this mod for more than 10 years(since spring of 2013). There also still playble olr 2.5 which is more like original game but still with builds features.)
Hey, man 🙂
Based on this video I searched into the files and found something that can perhaps fix some issues with cover and what is missing right now is the retreat option.
What I found literally right now there is a parameter that will make an enemy retreat if percentage of his squad is taken out. Considering we don't measure people by percentage it would be something like: in 4 man squad, if 75% enemies are offed by real player = 1 enemy begins to retreat, but...if the squad is bigger than the parameter may not trigger as it was 5 enemies.
BUT! The parameter is set to 100% now, meaning the whole squad needs to be wiped off before an enemy "chooses to retreat", and how would it retreat when you are looting his body?
These videos are pretty valid for a modder like me, so directly/indirectly you are impacting my next set of mods that I am thinking off.
I am working like 4 mods in parallel right now. Feel free to check them out on my channel
But keep posting these videos, as they raise not just observational questions, but also design wise that perhaps could be within game files, and TRUST ME...I have been DIGGING all kinds of fun stuff that is clearly been cut or omitted.
I fixed many behaviors that were broken, and now it is performing way better.
My only concern is if the new update break all of my mods, hopefully now, or there will be a ton of copy and paste
Really good to hear the work you’re doing, not sure why they would disable it by putting it to 100% behaviours must be broken or something, Keep at it! Looking forward to looking at your progress
very cool showcase : thank you!
No, thank you! ❤️
who needs good ai when you have grenade spamming laser aim enemies in stalker 2 the way they make enemies more difficult is give them marksman rifles and sniper rifles and they are spamming it like they have a bump stock attached to it pretty immersion shattering
Coming from STALKER Trilogy and GAMMA, this STALKER 2 AI and lack of A-Life killed STALKER 2 for me
Absolute facts
There is so much more. There is also a need for rest among both mutants and human NPCs. You can track mutants in the OG games and watch them find places to sleep. In Stalker 2, mutants and human NPCs can be spawned sleeping, but afterwards they can't go back into sleep mode because they're simply not meant to “exist” for that long. The same applies to hunger. Mutants can be spawned in places to eat, but this is only a spawned action. They don't eat on their own for the same reasons. It's really such a shame because it made all the Stalker games really special. I also feel a bit betrayed because there's practically no interview where the awesome new A-Life system isn't mentioned and what we get is this action bubble spwan nonsense. I really hope they do fix it, but I'm starting to lose hope.
Don't lose hope brother, It will just take time.
@@ZoneSlug We need to be vocal about what we want to see. These are CORE things which are the foundation for AI. At the moment there are NO systems in place to even attempt to implement anything like this.
@@ZoneSlug cope bootlicker
If you watch this video, SoC AI from 2007 is really impressive, i played the game several times but you don't realize all the details
in the first shadow of Chernobyl at the end of the game i remember looking down to looting a dead body and a npc walked strait in my back whitout shooting and when i saw him at the last moment he head shoot me and killing me whit one bullet.....i never knew if it was AI scripted
I did hear that enemies sneak up on you with out shooting you in the back sometimes
The story in S2:HOC is so good. I hope the performance and world elements get improved as time goes on.
I have faith they will in time :)
XD
3-4 years. It's the cyberpunk cycle
That's why i bought Stalker 2, finished it and got back to modded STALKER like EFP, GAMMA, and recently RADIOPHOBIA 3....
4.22 Glowing eyes of the bloodsucker and pseudodog, it seems that this is not in Stalker 2, as well as many other good things that were in the previous games of the series, which causes great bewilderment.
I would like the glowing eyes back but minimal so bloodsuckers can still ambush you
Music name: Premonition
Some phrases are hard to translate with proper nuance.
1:10 "hold on brother, i'll fix you up now"
1:24 something like "bon voyage, s-er"
2:52 "somebody!" "come here!" (help!)
2:55 "relax, we'll all be there" "dont disperse, wait"
3:02 "so, dude, what do you have there?" "help! somebody!"
3:11 "no need for all this to rot away, as i see it "
Thank you for your work!
When they said "some of the familiar mutants will react in new and different ways," I didn't think they meant this😢
Sneaking used to be a goated mechanic. Many times you would hear them approaching you quietly without shooting, and as soon as you turned back the NPC would react to being noticed and start shooting.
Unreal 5 mustve been their worst choice for this game, because its incapable of rendering more than 5 NPCs at once without dropping the FPS below the 30s
these videos never miss, thanks for these.
Лише надіюсь що твоє відео побачать розробники і згадають яким повинен бути штучний інтелект в грі 🤧. Я вже і забув який він чудовий і прекрасний зов Прип'яті. Це просто шок.🤯
all my homies HATE unreal engine
It is not unreal engine fault. It is devs not implementing features in it. Whatever the official reasons for that are.
Unreal engine is just a tool. It’s the developers job to use the tool wisely that decides if the game is good or not.
@przemek2573
90% of unreal engine game are bad
Only good are very casual type game
@@OSTemliIt's the devs being lazy. Only thing you can blame UE5 for is shitty performance for games with Nanite enabled. Then again, still the devs' fault, since they chose to just use Nanite instead of graphically upgrading games themselves.
The hate on Unreal is just stupid. Yes, there's problems with Nanite (a ton, not denying that), but in the end, most other issues are dev faults. You can just not use Nanite.
All in all it's a fantastic engine, not without flaws, but still a very good one.
Stalker 2 is absolutely pathetic, the devs should honestly be ashamed
I give them slack where it's due but 2000+ bug fixes in 2 updates isn't good. And the game feels no different.
@@bababooey9825 They rushed the game and fumbled it, the fact they're so proud of the woke crap they added in as well
@@Assassino275 could you tell me more about the “woke crap”? Is it that almost all npc got black hair and look like metissed peoples? I have a few suspicions of my own.
@@Assassino275 just curious, what woke crap are you referring to?
Honestly, besides the war there's no excuse for the game to be in this state. They've been putting this game thru development hell for 10+ years and this is the result? The AI was more intelligent in the gameplay previews. Except in the previews they'd actually miss too.
Didn't know it's 2028. Development began at 2018. Unreal engine 5 came out few years ago. So they didn't have a lot of time
@t1m0fey_p3dan3 games been in development since 2012 if we're gonna get technical
I don't understand why someone writes about justifications related to the war, if the original release date was before the date of the war, plus the game was being developed far from the war zone.
before the declaration of war, the game should have already been ready, but as a result, we received several postponements and the current state of the game. It should be a shame.
@@t1m0fey_p3dan3 development started in 2010-2012 actually.
@@loooolks it was supposed to come out a couple months before the invasion I think, and usually by that time most devs are polishing the little shit. These last couple updates fixed "2000" bugs and yet this shit feels the same outside of stuff spawning right in front of me. It's a miracle this game honestly came out but tbh they spent almost 100 million to make it. There's not a snowballs chance in hell they'd cancel it. We just have to wait a year. Most likely more. Cyberpunk still gets updates after all.
I don't understand why people are praising stalker 2 so much... it's not even close to the old games level of immersion. It doesn't feel like a stalker game.. they made it too player friendly
lots of console players who never played the originals/people who play for a total of 7 hours and like the pretty graphics.
I don’t really care too much that the game released in this state, I only hope that they will actually do something about this. I can wait, but there must actually be something to wait for
I’m sure there will be eventually
Well they made their first effective updates after a month… so I expect them to do their best to update it. It’s better than Ubisoft.
They can't fix it.
I always wonder why every game of a franchise fell down on their core mechanics what make the games unique once.
It is understandable that you cannot copy and paste from one engine into another, but why they lack the skill to work their own stuff into new engines?
AFAIK, Alife was literally a part of the engine source code, and not lua scripts. Maybe in UE it’s harder to bake it in.
Hope that’s not the case, and they just need more time
@@halavich9672 allegedly the only man who programmed alife back then is atm at the frontline. But why no one else can figure that stuff out?
Metro + Stalker = my whole life
In the old game, if a pack of dogs came after you and you jumped on top of a truck or pile of boxes, they would circle around below you trying to find a way to get the player. In STALKER 2 the moment the mutant AI detects you're unreachable, they run away and hide from your field of view. Once you come down, the AI auto detects you're reachable now and the mutants come out to attack you.
But hey, at least we have photo realism in the game now 😒
Yeah I don’t like that, blind dogs running and hiding behind a car so you can’t shoot them
Good job on the video comparison, shows nicely how Stalker 2 is beta at best.
i was so hyped about stalker 2 but after release when i watched the game play videos, i changed my mind and start to playing G.A.M.M.A.
NGL videos like these make me want to play OG trilogy more than the sequel.
og stalker games were considered to be very undercooked and yet they had neat ai from day 1. all they did after games released is fixing bugs. It's unlikely that we'll get any new stuff in stalker 2 like full-blown A-life or whatnot, just bugfixes for this hot mess.
We are waiting too bro
NPC also have mode of seeking for enemy(well, at least for player in soc).
You could test it by yourself if hide on atp roofs(where bandits can't pass), and after sometime when bandits don't see and hear you they will have unique dialogues(like 10 different phrases) with mean like this "come out, we dont gonna bite you"(it's of course lie). Other factions I guess also have unique phrases.(at least I heard it from military and monolith)
Practically, over the years they could have easily built a new game on 64-bit X-Ray and no one would have complained. Maybe it would look even better than it does now, because remember one thing. No one will ever be able to imitate the atmosphere of the old STALKER, which is also thanks to the engine.
Metro Exodus was made using a modified X-Ray engine. So GSC are Stupid
@@Art_Korobochka I don't think they chose UE5 just because it's easy to use. I can see how "easy" it is to use when nothing works properly. There are a lot of unanswered questions and strange decisions. We all know what a modified 64 bit X-Ray can do and it doesn't just have to be Metro, but also mods for old STALKER games. Bloody ray tracing bullshit.
@@zlostnypopolnik You're right. The race for beauty does not mean quality
Totally different generation of developers worked on Stalker 2 and it really shows.
Okay all of these are true, but let's be honest: the original STALKER series' AI was extraordinary at that time and I think almost no other game could achive something similar to this date. The original STALKER games were a really huge challenge because of the very effective AI. The enemy could use tactics, different weapon and ammo types, they could group up together and lure the player out of cover. Insanely good game mechanics. I would choose 10 out of 10 times the better AI instead of improved graphics.
I started replaying the game again because of how good the game was. I'm just hoping for some good optimization in a future update. I saw they're thinking about adding an improvised stealth system as well as a multiplayer mechanic. Unfortunately, there won't be a co-op since the devs said that it would be too easy for people to traverse in the Zone and look for artifacts. Honestly, I think it would be nice to have a co-op mode and play with friends.
2:39 woah, old AI looks back before backing up? There was a lot of work put into the old games.
Also two more things
A NPC with sniper and shotguns seems to act differently where shotgun will always try to flank you and shot you in the back, snipers do seem to stay further away and walk around you in 50m radius (in stalker 2)
B if NPC loots dead NPC he gets his suit of armor FULLY REPAIRED also I'm not sure if I just been lucky but it seem like everytime they pick up exoskeleton it ALSO DOUBLES
Literally every gunfight in S2 is the same: blobs of enemies walking towards you/each other. It's so painfully boring, it blows my mind how anyone could enjoy this game past the Lesser Zone.
In almost if not all ways the AI is a downgrade. All the mutants act the same: big scary RAWR! :3 and jump attack. Why the hell are bloodsuckers so noisy? What was scary about them in the original games is that all you'd hear is heavy breathing getting louder as the close in. Whoever was in charge of S2 mutants had the infantile understanding that loud RAWR! :3 = scary.
Damn suckers are not only loud, but also everywhere now. The new cockroaches of the zone
We need to show that to gsc, and tell about our expectations
metro music, very nice
They will need at least 2 years to fix this game
amazing comparison. Thanks!
@@alexkud972 No problem, thank you!
Мне понравилось во второй части, что мутанты прячутся от тебя, когда не могут достать(запрыгнул на высоту)
Хорошее видео❤
Stalker 2 - yet another sequel that just highlights how good the original games (and mods) are. Like so many others. Modern gaming in a nutshell.
You haven't played the game, have you? Or you see only one aspect of the game and make an opinion about the whole game based on it?
@CYbeRuKRaINiaN In the process of playing it. AI/A-Life has always been the flagship, definitive, stand-out feature of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., you know.
@ The original games weren't finished and were (and are) full of bugs, too, Stalker 2 now is totally playable, it has Stalker atmosphere, gameplay, lore, stories, do you really mean what you wrote about this game because the developers chose the "Game - first, A-Life - second" strategy knowing the developers were forced to publish the game earlier but now they have enough time to not only patch but to add more new things to the game?
@CYbeRuKRaINiaN AI/A-Life is part of the game and atmosphere too; one of the most important parts. I never insinuated the first 3 games are perfect, but it doesn't change the fact that Stalker 2 is embarrassing when you compare them in several aspects, with AI being the most important one.
Another example is actually in graphical detail: no shadows from flashlights in Stalker 2, when not only the original games had this, but early to mid 2000s builds of SoC (Oblivion Lost) featured this. Less interactive water is also sad to see. Where's our technological advancement all these years later? Just in the Shader Model being used? That's the state of modern gaming.
@@CYbeRuKRaINiaN I've played the game.
Its worse in every way compared to the originals.
Also in older stalkers AI will try to wallbang you behind cover if possible
in the mean time stalker anomaly with any of the big modpacks is a good FREE game to play until stalker 2 gets fixed
i cant recall that in old stalkers smbd revieved other NPCs. This and non-vanilla weapon models indicate that you showed us some modded Call of Pripyat
You are wrong, in the vanilla game NPCs healed wounded allies. Maybe you just weren't paying attention?
I'm new to the Stalker series (Stalker 2 is my first experience) and after watching this video I now realize what all of y'all are complaining about. 😂 The originals looked incredible. I'm still enjoying my experience, but I now realize why people were so hyped about the potential for this game.
great video I agree with you no hate but hopefully they will start adding these features in the game
I think videos like this are probably helpful for the devs as it gives direct examples of things we want to see in game
Stalker 1 saga are masterpieces and made with a lot of love
+
old series of games made with "Soul". And the new C2 is a soulless "dummy"
i hope they add this to stalker 2
It won't work due to the features of UE5. You need to separately create a new engine or toolkit. The core of which will be the NPS AI itself. And then, somehow implement the finished model into UE5. But considering how idiots GSC are, this is impossible. I wouldn't rely on moderators either; such work requires a competent team and programmers.
Ive been playing the old game while i wait for the ai to be improved in stalker 2. In soc the enemies like you showed in this video feel a lit more like im on the same playing field as them, like we can both die to one bullet and theyre using cover and trying to flank me. In stalker 2 the human ai just kinda feel like theyre there for you to shoot at and the gunfights never feel like theres a sense of danger when im in them and i play on the hardest difficulty in s2
0:59 damn, i though you filmed this on your phone, WHY? then i realized that's Stalker 2 graphics looks photorealistic sometimes...
cant wait for crowbcat make a video about stalker 2 so the dev can watch it and put them on their to do list
Someone shared my videos with devs and they responded that the a life team have watched and is working on it
@ZoneSlug I am so glad the devs are really intouch with the community.
i still remember the crypto stuff and the community came together to stop that 😂
@ I don’t know about that? Crypto in stalker? …
Yeah I’m not gunna lie, I’m still in the early 10-15hr range of the game in Garbage. (Minor spoilers) im on the mission where I need to choose to kill Roosevelt, shah, or varan. I already was kinda annoyed by varan so I walked out of the facility to talk to Roosevelt’s right hand man that was ousted from the group and is/was an alcoholic. After killing him, I returned back to varan facility to kill him. I snuck in knifed the dude in the watch tower. Which no one saw but then a danger state was initiated by people I couldn’t see. Soldiers started running around looking for me (but didn’t know where I was but did?) idk. Then I got into the actual building where varan was. And I started killing people, they were in a combat state but didn’t see me even if I was standing in the open and shooting their comrades right next to them. Then once clear soldiers started spawning behind me in the same room. Idk 0:30
The question is are they going to fck fix it ? It's weird because the original author of a-life is still with gsc working on s2 ( checked his LinkedIn) i think there's still a little bit of hope.
Funny (or perhaps sad) how the original trilogy and F.E.A.R. have some of the best NPC combat behaviour that is (to my knowledge) unmatched in any other fps game released since.
Mutant still running away after losing most of group members, but only limit to rodent and flesh
With all the disappointing game releases in the last 10 years, I was sure S2 would be the one game that just releases in a great condition.I expected bugs I also expected a stalker experience. The game that was actually promised. I even pre ordered the most expensive physical edition, It was the first (and last) time though. Instead of a Stalker we got a Farcry in a stalker costume. It's just so disheartening, I trusted them, they were the only developers that couldn't disappoint me because the original trilogy is just so damn good it would be really hard to fuck up S2. But they fucked it up, everything that made stalker games is gone. There's no magic and wonder it's just boring. I'm sure a lot of you had fun with the game but for me it was pure disappointment.
@@MrEatSomeBrains Us long time stalkers know how you feel, try and not be disheartened, with time I’m sure things will get much better and the og community will be here for it.
stalker 2 is just programmed by people that don't really care. stalker 1 was a labor of love.
Would you mind sharing the font you're using for Stalker 2's UI and how to install it? It looks great!
I have classic font mod and remove ui background both on nexus mods
3:16 lemme pick up that AKSU..... yeah thats a nice TRs301
@@sashamakeev7547 yeah 😂
I am not going to bash either Trilogy or Stalker 2, but I will say this, neither game is actually perfect in terms of AI
The biggest issue in Stalker 2 is when you shoot a bullet and voice cues begin to say they don't know where the shots are coming from, and they will approach you, but not right away, they will look at bullet impact, but not you from 1 meter away.
Trilogy is far from perfect too, while AI just slides in like ballerina on ice, but at the very least they are responding to shots properly.
Right now with Stalker 2, you need to buff awareness as priority, and only then explore other secondaries like AI looking for artifacts and such.
Right now the environment doesn't care much about NPCs, they walk through anomalies and don't trigger them, such as the space anomaly that pulls in air near the pond, they will run through it, but God forbid you are even 40 meters away from it yourself, it will end you.
Small stuff like that annoys me more, than whether AI is a tactical master.
In most bases you can shoot at the friendly by mistake and end him, and they won't even lock the base down or engage you right away, most likely it will take another friendly to be gone by your hand before they figure out 1 meter away you are capping poor bros for no reason at all to engage you.
If you could combine 2 AI systems into the Stalker 2, it would be great
I didn’t heard anything about stalker 2 in the last weeks, I nearly forget that game, I think that says a lot.
The games dead now buzz is gone
People feel done over
Scammed
@AlexMeech-z5b b-b-but the war tho! :(
I heard that the other stalker games started out just like the older games and they got better and better As time went on and i think because the old ones have had soo much work done to them theres alot more to compare to wats missing in the new stalker and now we can help the devs fill in the blanks as we get to play this awesome game and i fucking hope everything youve listed slug in ur videos comes to light in the new one cuz we need it
Me too man, if we can get it to the same quality as the originals I’ll be happy
That's cope/gaslighting that people like to come out with on Reddit. All the behaviour in these videos is without mods, and were like that on release or within a couple patches.
Some people keep forgetting that war doesnt absolve game as a product from all criticism. I waited 3 years on a pre-order and ended up extremally disaappinted once I got to play it. Despite this, I am still giving them a chance to fix and improve the game, especially since they have resources to do so after fairly good reception and reviews.
The AI i seen in this video is from cop right? If so it is the same ai that you have in anomaly? because rarely on anomaly have I seen all this interaction from NPCs.
PS great video
Thank you, mostly it’s from CoP but there is footage from all games here, for example the bloodsucker drinking blood from body is shadow of Chernobyl
Where stalker 2 AI excels is in urban combat, for example fighting the military in their base in one of the first missions is tough. Otherwise it really sucks
The AI feels like a cod game lol
@ worse actually
I can feel the pain of the video...
Hey ZoneSlug, what mods are you using in the footage of the classic games? Just wondering
No mods brother, just 4K res
@ZoneSlug You sure? That AK in the footage showing NPC damage animations was not vanilla
@@randophanto3153 iirc, it was SoC Complete mod
@MarkedFour9027 Thanked you Marked four, very cool!
STALKER 2 is a disguised early access.
Stalker 2 needs a lot of work sadly.....
I wondered why new stalker seemed so dull. hope it will be polished soon.
closest best ai now we can get is Division 2 way how faction differes in combat
Is that Metro’s soundtrack you’ve used in the background?