S.T.A.L.K.E.R. bundle on steam. Worth it??

[octoberhungry]

OK so I've never played any of the STALKER games and I see Steam are doing a deal for Shadow of Chernoby, Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat for $11.19 Earth dollars.

Now the thing is I have a backlog of games to play right now..I'm currently playing The Witcher 2 and Crysis 2. After that I've got Diablo 3, Metro 2033, Alan Wake & Company of Heroes all to play though.

So are the Stalker games worth adding to my queue or are they games you could miss and it's no biggie really. Looking ahead XCOM is coming out, Hitman etc. When am I ever gonna get time to play all these games! ha. Wish I was a student again sometimes!

Thanks.

 

[venjhammet]

These three games are all my favorites. You should definitely grab them but be warn of Clear Sky full of bugs even with latest patch.

 

[13thmonkey]

i've played first one 3times, the second twice and the third once, i always start at the start again when there is a new one. So they are good if you like that kind of gameplay.

its an fps with resource management, perks, missions and a story.

 

[octoberhungry]

Best answer selected by octoberhungry.

 

[octoberhungry]

Damn. OK I think you just sold me on that then! Thanks.

 

[Stringjam]

Yes.....and install the Complete Mod on all 3 of them.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/121033-13-fallout-vegas-stalker


I envy you......I wish I could look forward to playing this series for the first time again.

 

[octoberhungry]

Yes.....and install the Complete Mod on all 3 of them.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/121033-13-fallout-vegas-stalker


I envy you......I wish I could look forward to playing this series for the first time again.

Oh nice one! So I should install the complete mod pack (http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009) and the patches .exe ? (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/;78884)

Also you recommend playing them in reverse order? Call of Pripyat, Clear Skies then Shadow of Chernobyl?

Final question; Do you rate the STALKER series over Metro 2033? I have both games just wondering which one i should go for first. Cheers!

 

[13thmonkey]

play them in right order, the gameplay does change a little between them, so you have to do a bit of re-learning. I've got 2033, just not played it yet, its a lot shorter than any of the stalkers apparently.

 

[HEXiT]

metro is not in the same league for story. action and overall feel. frankly i found it boring and derivative. stalker on the other hand was everything i hoped and more.
yes its derivative but at least it treads old ground with style. metro had good lighting and that was it for me. yes it looks better and the beastys are cool. especially when you compare them to the rather limp 1's in stalker but the game as a whole just didnt push the rite buttons for me.

 

[octoberhungry]

metro is not in the same league for story. action and overall feel. frankly i found it boring and derivative. stalker on the other hand was everything i hoped and more.
yes its derivative but at least it treads old ground with style. metro had good lighting and that was it for me. yes it looks better and the beastys are cool. especially when you compare them to the rather limp 1's in stalker but the game as a whole just didnt push the rite buttons for me.

Cool I think I'll go for Stalker first then...And do you also recommend playing them in order of release or is playing them in reverse a better idea? Thanks.

 

[casualcolors]

metro is not in the same league for story. action and overall feel. frankly i found it boring and derivative. stalker on the other hand was everything i hoped and more.
yes its derivative but at least it treads old ground with style. metro had good lighting and that was it for me. yes it looks better and the beastys are cool. especially when you compare them to the rather limp 1's in stalker but the game as a whole just didnt push the rite buttons for me.

Have to agree with Hexit. Metro's greatest asset is its specular lighting, which is the best that you'll see anywhere for the time being. The gameplay especially is otherwise very mediocre.

 

[HEXiT]

Cool I think I'll go for Stalker first then...And do you also recommend playing them in order of release or is playing them in reverse a better idea? Thanks.

already gave my opinion on that idea. its up to you. but the story does progress properly if you play the last first the seconds and then the first. i just prefer it that way. but if you havent played them then theres no reason not to play them in release order. because they definatly have replay valu, your likely to finish then and then put 2 on then 1 btw post here when you finish the first 1.

 

[Stringjam]

Oh nice one! So I should install the complete mod pack (http://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-complete-2009) and the patches .exe ? (http://stalker.filefront.com/file/;78884)

Also you recommend playing them in reverse order? Call of Pripyat, Clear Skies then Shadow of Chernobyl?

Final question; Do you rate the STALKER series over Metro 2033? I have both games just wondering which one i should go for first. Cheers!

I bought mine on STEAM and never installed any patches. I never had any problems, and I assume STEAM releases only the patched version of the game (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).


The story does seem to flow better if you follow HEXIT's order (CoP, CS, SoC). I have no real stance on the matter, except that I pretty much played it in that order myself. SoC is the defining game of the series, IMO, so maybe that's a great way to end it.


Metro is taking some flack in this thread, but it is also one of my favorite FPS games in life. There really is no direct comparison between these two games, though. Metro is a linear, story-driven game....mostly from corridor to corridor, but IMO done masterfully, much like other great titles of this type (F.E.A.R., Half-Life 2). 180 degrees from the STALKER world. I would play it later.......STALKER is going to take you awhile to get through.


Make sure to install the Realistic Weaons add-on to the Complete Mod (for Shadow of Cherynobyl). I believe the link is on the same page as the Complete Mod. It increases the lethality of the weapons to be far more realistic....otherwise it feels like you're shooting BB guns.

 

[octoberhungry]

I bought mine on STEAM and never installed any patches. I never had any problems, and I assume STEAM releases only the patched version of the game (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).


The story does seem to flow better if you follow HEXIT's order (CoP, CS, SoC). I have no real stance on the matter, except that I pretty much played it in that order myself. SoC is the defining game of the series, IMO, so maybe that's a great way to end it.


Metro is taking some flack in this thread, but it is also one of my favorite FPS games in life. There really is no direct comparison between these two games, though. Metro is a linear, story-driven game....mostly from corridor to corridor, but IMO done masterfully, much like other great titles of this type (F.E.A.R., Half-Life 2). 180 degrees from the STALKER world. I would play it later.......STALKER is going to take you awhile to get through.


Make sure to install the Realistic Weaons add-on to the Complete Mod (for Shadow of Cherynobyl). I believe the link is on the same page as the Complete Mod. It increases the lethality of the weapons to be far more realistic....otherwise it feels like you're shooting BB guns.

Thanks a lot. Think I'm gonna play in reverse order and leave Metro for another time.. I'll let everyone know what I think when I finish. Might be awhile! I'm still playing Witcher 2 and Crysis 2 and RE4 on the ps3! But I intend to start STALKER as soon as I finish Crysis 2 which I've nearly done. Cheers.

 

[octoberhungry]

already gave my opinion on that idea. its up to you. but the story does progress properly if you play the last first the seconds and then the first. i just prefer it that way. but if you havent played them then theres no reason not to play them in release order. because they definatly have replay valu, your likely to finish then and then put 2 on then 1 btw post here when you finish the first 1.

So I started COB first...I started Call of Pripyat but I kinda didn't know what I was doing (there was no tutorial) so figured I'd just start from the original game. I'm getting into it. I'm curious, roughly how many hours does it take to finish it? Thx.

 

[13thmonkey]

maybe 15hrs per, depends on how much stuff you want to collect.

 

[octoberhungry]

I bought mine on STEAM and never installed any patches. I never had any problems, and I assume STEAM releases only the patched version of the game (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).


The story does seem to flow better if you follow HEXIT's order (CoP, CS, SoC). I have no real stance on the matter, except that I pretty much played it in that order myself. SoC is the defining game of the series, IMO, so maybe that's a great way to end it.


Metro is taking some flack in this thread, but it is also one of my favorite FPS games in life. There really is no direct comparison between these two games, though. Metro is a linear, story-driven game....mostly from corridor to corridor, but IMO done masterfully, much like other great titles of this type (F.E.A.R., Half-Life 2). 180 degrees from the STALKER world. I would play it later.......STALKER is going to take you awhile to get through.


Make sure to install the Realistic Weaons add-on to the Complete Mod (for Shadow of Cherynobyl). I believe the link is on the same page as the Complete Mod. It increases the lethality of the weapons to be far more realistic....otherwise it feels like you're shooting BB guns.

Hi. So I started CoC and installed the complete 2009 mod. Looks good! However I forgot to install the Realistic Weapons add-on. If I were to install that now would affect my game that I've already started? Would I have to start again do you know? Thx.

 

[Stringjam]

Hi. So I started CoC and installed the complete 2009 mod. Looks good! However I forgot to install the Realistic Weapons add-on. If I were to install that now would affect my game that I've already started? Would I have to start again do you know? Thx.

You should be able to add it at any point.....and definitely do so. Playing SoC without it is like shooting with a paint-ball gun.

 

[octoberhungry]

You should be able to add it at any point.....and definitely do so. Playing SoC without it is like shooting with a paint-ball gun.

I installed the realistic weapons mod and it works fine. Good call! The game is much more fun now! Thanks.

 

[Stringjam]

I installed the realistic weapons mod and it works fine. Good call! The game is much more fun now! Thanks.

Indeed.....vanilla has way too much "bullet soak" going on.

 

[octoberhungry]

Indeed.....vanilla has way too much "bullet soak" going on.

Damn this game is dark!!! I like it! I'm pushing my time between that and Amnesia The Dark Decent...So yeah, my nerves are a little fried! haha. Cheers!!

 

[HEXiT]

glad you like it... it is a classic pc tile along with halflife 2 it really shows why pc gaming is superior to consoles. you get something thats missing from the console game and thats proper depth of story...

 

[13thmonkey]

i was gutted when the studio folded taking stalker 2.0 with it.

 

[HEXiT]

your not the only 1 m8 a lot of the lads i play bf3 with were 2 infact any 1 i know that played the first episode wanted a new version... seemingly bethista have bought the rights to it. so i hope they will renew the franchise in some way. then again it was sorta competition to there fallout game (althought very different) so they may just bury it.

 

[casualcolors]

your not the only 1 m8 a lot of the lads i play bf3 with were 2 infact any 1 i know that played the first episode wanted a new version... seemingly bethista have bought the rights to it. so i hope they will renew the franchise in some way. then again it was sorta competition to there fallout game (althought very different) so they may just bury it.

Sadly Bethesda's goes at similar gameplay (Fallout 3) have been leagues worse in terms of actual gameplay. I get the suspicious feeling that Stalker 2.0 coming from Bethesda will feel as janky as Fallout 3 and likely have as many bugs. This is not to say Fallout 3 is a bad game, but it's entirely carried by story where Stalker not only has good story, but the gameplay feels damned good as well.