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So there's a new Stalker out.
Supposedly the best one so far, with far less bugs and more polished...

Though just like with Clear Sky I'm getting shafted. No one in Canada seems to carry it and games don't get shipped to Canada from American stores due to localization issues (we require French / English versions).

There's a Steam loyalty discount ... but I can't use it. Despite buying both Stalkers as soon as they showed up on a shelf for full price, you require the Steam versions. Sigh...

Thanks but don't do it yet. I'm hoping for a retail copy... maybe it'll come out in the next month. That's what happened with Clear Sky...

After playing CoP for days, I have to say that this is the best version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I have ever played. It's *much* less buggy than SoC and CS and there's a *lot* more interesting content in this game than the two combined. It avoids the overt linearity of CS while equally staying away from the near-broken unmodded gameplay that is SoC. The human AI no longer camps out for indefinite periods as well as fighting against others just for over one ludicrous campfire like in SoC; they finally take the time to go out exploring now. The mutant AI finally is no longer scripted to stay in one place like in SoC; they can actually scare the human AI out of their camps, except in scripted places like Skadovsk, the Yanov station, and the Pripyat Laundromat. Blowouts (although called "emissions" in the game) now occur at random times and you must find effective shelter during one, otherwise you'll die unless you take a special drug that lets you survive one. The technicians from all three areas can really upgrade my weapons/armor to even better tools of destruction/protection, for a price (though in the Scientist bunker in the Jupiter area, the technician can only upgrade my armor even though he can repair both my weapons and armor, while in the Pripyat area, there are no upgrades and repairs are free as dirt, woohoo). But like any moddable PC game, CoP is *much* better when modded. Too bad that, like all modern day computer games, the system requirements for this game (and with the other two S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games) are as steep as Crysis. Halo what? Give me Call of Pripyat over just about any FPS any day. GSC has finally learned from their mistakes and released a quality game that can compete with the best FPS games out there, if not outsmoke them. This easily takes my pick for being in the top 5 Best FPS Games I've Ever Played and Top 5 Best Games I've Ever Played.

pirate

Well, quite frankly, I don't have a career. I just took a hiatus from Gaia just to enjoy life.

pirate

CoP is now the only S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game worth playing, completely blowing SoC and CS out of the water. Much better gameplay, less bugs, graphics that can compete with Crysis, and more interesting content.

Well, I managed to complete that SoC teleporting finale level without any performance lag, though I patched the game for that. Only things I had to be aware of were the damn Monolith zealots trying to pick me off with their high-end weaponry.

I also completed CoP, too. I've heard that, although there was only one ending (and it's non-linear), there are many as over a hundred, if not a thousand, different variations of that ending based what you did in the Zone.

I never played CS. And I heard it was actually worse than SoC. So, I'll pass on that.

pirate

The part where you have to get past that MG nest is CS you're talking about. CoP doesn't have that part, nor does SoC. CS was two steps forward, then one HUGE step backwards.

Well, during the finale of CoP, you are given the option to leave the Zone which ends the game or stay in the Zone for free-play until you want to talk to the Guides just to leave the Zone (though you can still talk to them about traveling back to the previous maps you've been to). So, CoP is far less restrictive in its gameplay than the previous two.

I guarantee you'll have a much better experience playing CoP. If you haven't played it, I suggest you do so now if you have the opportunity. Trust me, you'd be pleasantly surprised. If not, oh well.

pirate

Man, so interesting is the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series that I believe we gamers should tell GSC, if not, some other company with the right people to make novels out of them so that we can find out more about the history of the ever-compellingly macabre Zone.