Stalker: Clear Sky introduction and 10 mins gameplay - spoiler/beta

[ovaltineplease]

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19888

I know its a little offtopic - but this video does show off some of the ingame graphics from an actual gameplay perspective for GSC's Stalker: SoC prequel

Draw your own conclusions, looks pretty good though - seems like a Stalker: SoC engine on steroids.

edited title, I posted the topic before I completed the video and the title link said 25 mins. Anyways.


edited again:

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/19902

linked the wrong video before - this is the 25 min video.

The dynamic battle music will be turn off when you start the game but if smbd like to listen to the special music in the battle than you can turn on it in the options of the game.

From a GSC forum moderator.

 

[eklipz330]

why would somethign on steroids be a good thing >=O
=P anyways, i never really liked the first one...

 

[ovaltineplease]

hehe yea it wasn't a game for everyone; I think the stock game is so-so - but with the Oblivion Lost mod that adds back in all the cut content, its a lot more rich.

Anyways, Stalker: SoC was rushed to market cause THQ bent GSC over a barrel and made them release it before it was ready. This time GSC is in control of the release so I think we can expect a much more fleshed out product. Regardless, I understand a lot of people aren't into these kind of games, but I enjoy them a lot; even if this doesn't have a mass-appeal like CoD4, its still going to be a great game I think.

 

[IndigoMoss]

I totally agree Ovaltine. S.T.A.L.K.E.R was one of my favorite games of last year, and in my opinion beats the big hitters like Bioshock and especially Call of Duty 4.

My 1 and only major gripe with the game is the lack of Co-op. In this environment it would be amazing to travel with a buddy or two in the zone.

 

[one-shot]

Non linear games are much more enjoyable than a linear game like COD4, where if you go off course a grenade appears and you die. I have the first STALKER and it is an alright game. The same missions keeps popping up after you've completed them. Lots of issues if you own the game. I would give Clear Sky a chance tho.

 

[ovaltineplease]

Yea, absolutely - I doubt we are going to see co-op with the launch game, but it'd be a nice feature all the same.

Something to bear in mind, btw; GSC said that down the road they may explore the viability of a Stalker mmo-fps style game, so maybe we will see some coop in the next edition of the series. If you look at the features/package that Stalker:CS is offering, it definitely has all the components present for that type of game; thats for sure.

 

[San Pedro]

Wasn't a big fan of STALKER. I would have liked it more if it would have paused the game when you go into the inventory. I also remember one time in the game where the AI could blatantly see through walls and would shoot me whenever I went to reload or go into inventory no matter where I was hidden or how sneaky I was.

 

[ovaltineplease]

yea, its a shame there was a bunch of bugs; blame THQ for that though

 

[cliffro]

nah blame GSC, they were horrible with patches as well, still haven't come close to fixing all the major bugs....and they are about to release a new game, hey if they are trying to imitate bigger game studios they've got Dice's strategy down.....

I will however get Clear Sky as I really want new content for STALKER.

 

[ovaltineplease]

I'm glad they didn't keep patching SoC; its better that they worked on Clear Sky instead of patching a broken game that was forced to market against their will :X

 

[cliffro]

Oh its only 9+ mins long not 25mins

and I don't like companies that abandon games....big f'n deal if Clear Sky took longer to come to market due to fixing the existing game. Actually it would make me want to buy their games even more if they pushed CS back to fix SoC.

Instead they follow in the path of EA and release crap.....abandon it...release a new one leaving the previous version bug filled, so when CS has lots of bugs like SoC, they will abandon it for the sequel without fixing it.

 

[shawnbie]

lookin good.

I enjoyed soc especially with the oblivion lost mod.

Really hope they fix the techno music tho.

 

[IndigoMoss]

I definitely agree with cliffro, but this is more of THQ taking advantage of GSC and making the publish it before they were comfortable. It'd be like if Activision told Blizzard to release Diablo 3 in 2 weeks.

On the other hand, DICE is another story altogether, they've had multiple chances, huge stock pile of resources, and a huge install base, yet the refuse to make a game that is both polished and balanced.

BF2: Bug filled, no real counter for jets and helicopters(all they would have to do is add an Anti-Air gun to the sorta useless Assault kit, World in Conflict did it, so can they), squad system not thoroughly though out for PuBs.

BF2142: Instead of addressing the issues with balance, they just decided to nerf everything into oblivion. Guns takes more than half a clip to kill someone, Helicopters are neutered pieces of crap, same goes for tanks. The only thing remotely powerful was the walker.

They did make the squad system a lot better and the squad beacon was a nice touch, but is overshadowed by the aforementioned problems.


All in all, I really hate DICE, for making a game style that I enjoy very much, but raping me at the same time. It's much like owning Comcast internet service.

 

[ovaltineplease]

Instead they follow in the path of EA and release crap.....abandon it...release a new one leaving the previous version bug filled, so when CS has lots of bugs like SoC, they will abandon it for the sequel without fixing it.

EA isn't a game developer, they are a game publisher just like THQ. THQ wouldn't foot the bill to continue developement for Stalker: SoC so they were forced to bend over for them; they took what they got from Stalker: SoC and developed the game that they set out to develope on their own instead of letting THQ make decisions for them.

EA is the same way, they publish games for various companies; force them to market without proper QA and then the players suffer as you have quite obviously seen.

There is a large difference between a publisher and a developer - and sadly its the publishers that typically control the outcome and quality of games, as they hold the money.

Really hope they fix the techno music tho.

Yea, i would hope you can disable the "battle music" cause in my opinion it really detracts from the atmosphere.