S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

[EvaUnit02]

Welcome back to Pripyat!

[heywood]

I wonder how the AI is... it's one thing if video really focuses in on it, shows it of, but if it instead avoids it completely, well, it can be... relevant to what to expect.

I remember Luke Stephens tried it some month ago, his opinion was that it had years to go, very unfinished. But that would be your average STALKER release i guess, so nothing too surprising :P

Exactly, the release will be beta quality and it will be best to wait a year or so. Like a CDPR game. Looks promising though.

[EvaUnit02]

They released a feature length, making of doco. Subbed, FYI.

[faetal]

It's out on Game Pass.
Nearly finished installing...

[vurt]

Been playing for 1h, pretty great so far. Looks amazing.

[faetal]

Yep. It feels like more Stalker.
The physics jank is strong for a recent game.

[vurt]

It definitely has some weird stuff going on that i don't like, but overall it's great so far.

What's with saying "I AM HIDING HERE!"
is this supposed to be a taunt? I'd expect a "come get me!", maybe. Not sure i believe it's in the enemies best interest to announce their presence, doesn't make sense apart from a gameplay perspective: There are more enemies here, you haven't located them yet. Not very immersive though, not fitting either for games that tries to be realistic / immersive.

The static noise around the screen (when radiated) is ugly as hell and makes zero sense.

Oh, and A-Life 2.0 does not seem to be in, makes me remember Oblivion and Radiant AI. Eventually maybe modders can make it work though, just like they did for Oblivion. This is probably the biggest disappointment with the game so far.

[heywood]

I almost can't believe it released this year.

Sounds like it's still unrefined, as expected. How is the performance and stability?

I still plan to wait, but you know, anticipation...

[vurt]

After modding it for a bit performance is good enough (3090). Stability is good for me.

I'd absolutely give it a year or more to cook, it'll be great i bet.

[henke]

I started playing it on XBox Series X. The gamepad movement leaves something to be desired. If you don't press the thumbstick perfectly forward but slightly to the left or right your character will veer sharply in that direction. Hard to walk in a straight line without stumbling around like a drunkard. Or perhaps that's the intended experience?

Seen a few other bugs here and there. NPCs walking in place. Objects floating in mid air. Oh, and the game just straight up crashed.

Looks great tho, and I've overall enjoyed my first couple hours with the game.

[henke]

Patch 1.0.1 has dropped

Lots of fixes, most importantly to me you can now walk in a straight line with a gamepad without stumbling around like a drunk Russian.

I'm 15 hours in, just arrived in the Wild Island region after some run-ins with Varan and the Shah in the Garbage region. I'm not saying that region was garbage, I'm saying it's called Garbage. Honesly, the story isn't all that compelling and I'm having a hard time keeping up with it.

The gunfights are great. Mostly slow and tactical. I'm less keen on fighting non-human enemies. Also feels like this might be a lot easier on M+KB than gamepad, as headshots are quite effective, and I often struggle hitting anything at all with fast moving enemies. If a pack of dogs decend on me in the wide open and I don't have any kinda narrow passage to funnel them through, I'm likely fucked. I've died over 40 times so far, playing on Normal. This is a hard game. Without being able to constantly quicksave it would be too frustrating to play.

Also kinda feel like there's too many fussy details. Like several ammo types per weapon and discrepancies in how much different merchants pay for items. I don’t wanna spend time shopping around or keeping track of different ammo types per gun. I'm always overencumbered. The weapon-degradation I don't mind tho, fits with the theme well.

Despite my many complaints, I'm kinda hooked on this. It's a good game. I liked, but never finishsed the earlier Stalkers, we'll see how this turns out.

[vurt]

I'd never play something like this on a console, where these games excels is (eventually) in mods, just like Bethesda's games. I honestly see the base games more of a demo of what can be made. Also i just don't like playing first person games with a controller. each to his own.

I will check out the game from time to time to see what has improved, but i won't really be playing it until maybe 1-3 years from now. With Witcher 3 i think i waited like 4 years. I still haven't played CP2077 but i will do soon since i don't think any patches will be coming.