S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

[Stavrophore]

Million copies sold already

https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxoBkp3DWYPxym-4z58iPrdKFB1eGFQ4C6

 

[TheKing01]

Like for some reason every part of the Zone you've cleared should just stay dead forever? What kind of reasoning is that?

The problem with respawns in SoC is that in certain places enemies would just keep respawning on the spot while you're still standing in the same area. That vehicle area in Garbage comes to mind where within minutes after you help take down the bandit squad, another one just shows up and you have to help save them again. Same with that hangar area in the middle of Garbage. That shit was obnoxious.

Isn't the excessive enemy spawn rate in vanilla SHOC considered a bug? Combination of erroneously low respawn times and not saving the spawn state on saving/loading IIRC.

Yeah, vanilla SHoC is buggy for sure. My point wasn't that its a-life was perfection, but rather that it did have a real a-life system which was quite impressive at the time. I remember in 2007 talking to a friend of mine on IRC and telling him how you could go far into the zone and get strong guns, then come back to the rookie camp and drop them on the ground next to the newbie stalkers there, and if you came back later you'd find they had picked them up and were using them. Then you could go pick a fight with the military checkpoint in the south and have the newbie stalkers blow them away with those guns. My friend was really impressed by this, and so was I. Few if any 3D games or shooters had done things like this at the time, with such a high degree of NPC interaction with the player and other NPCs and with loot in the world. So although SHoC was a big buggy mess, and the system was unrefined, it was very refined in later mods and fixes like ZRP and AA, which just took the code structure that was already there and cleaned it up and refined it, and did things like adding custom spawns. Stalker 2 doesn't even have a system like this. It has no real a-life. Apparently it will just spawn groups of NPCs randomly in the world close to you, often doing so right behind your back. Instead of each area you enter being a living world full of NPCs who are already there and who follow set rules, instead the game will just spawn a group of bandits right behind your fucking back, like in an open area you just cleared.

Some Steam users talking about it: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1643320/discussions/0/4626980689722551912/

"First the mutants and npc fights are each scripted with elements from the script directory in the games root folder so it is by no definition an dynamic event."

"The lack of A-Life and the radial spawn system becomes super apparent when you can't take 3 minutes to sort your inventory without hearing stuff spawn a short distance away and growl/yell at you before all hell breaks loose, then go on to see vast swaths of land empty of life until the next nearby spawn (usually, conveniently, at your back).

Can't even take a breather without worrying that you might get merked by a murder squad spawning in, any second. (Because people hadn't complained enough about that very same thing with Alpha Squads in SGM mod almost a decade ago)

If you're quick enough you can physically see them spawn in and transition from T-Posing to animated models. It's disgusting really and kills off any sense of immersion the amazing scenery provides."

Gay. The question is whether GSC had a genuine a-life system in the game, but shat their pants and removed it right before launch because it made the game too unstable--especially on Little Timmy's Xbox--and replaced that real system with this scripted spawn garbage. I think this is probably the case. So maybe they will re-add their genuine a-life to the game once it's patched enough to be stable.

Personally, I'm not really feeling the vibe of the game. As randir14 just pointed out here, you can't even tell what faction the NPCs are part of. Even at the start of the game, when you get attacked by a Military squad, I was like "what the fuck, these guys are Military?" They just look like Loners. Why are they not wearing uniforms?? Nothing at all in their appearance tells you that they're military, and it's little things like this that really create the sense of a world with factions. Why would GSC remove the distinct faction styles in this way? I think it's because they suck now. The game is pretty and I'm sure the world has a lot of interesting things in it, but it distinctly doesn't feel like a real Stalker game, and the ways in which it doesn't feel that way are ways which would have been very easy for the designers to remedy. It just feels to me like these developers who work for GSC didn't fully understand the soul of the original games--which most of the fanmade mods have understood well and even improved upon--and did not care to attempt to recreate that soul in a way which honors it more than they honor their semi-woke Ukie selves.

Tldr; another one of Codex's cope games.

Tempted to call this slop, as I did one of Codex's last cope games, Dragon's Dogma 2. Instead, I'll just recommend Stalker: Anomaly again.

 

[Inec0rn]

The AI is equivalent to CS bots that just randomly spawn in every 50m, its not good.

 

[ArchAngel]

The AI is equivalent to CS bots that just randomly spawn in every 50m, its not good.

I noticed around area where I had a quest there were mutated boars and 3 dudes with guns. They fought each other and I killed the survivors. But since it was night time I could not find all bodies to loot so I decided to wait until morning in the quest building. Then suddenly near day all the mutated boars and 3 dudes respawned and started fighting each others again..

 

[Iucounu]

I have tested "A-Life 2.0" for 10 hours straight, 3 different starts, lots of saves/reloads and experimenting with open world​

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


I want to state that A-Life as we know of does not exist in this game.
Let me start by saying, this is not a doompost. I am not trying to discourage people to stop playing. If you are enjoying your time with the game, that is great. Hope you keep having a great time with it. I also really like some aspects of it like the map and design.

I am however, not really happy with the state of the game. As I have written to this subreddit before, I am okay with shitty performance or bugs. Sadly, this has become the industry standard, and probably won't be changing anytime soon. I am also okay with them because I have a good rig and also bugs/performance get fixed some time later by official patches or some mods.

What boggles my mind is, a fundamental feature which created so many unforgetable experiences for us, does not work, or in this case, it does not exist as we we were expecting it to be.

What is the true Stalker experience? Mods? OGs? S2? For me, the real Stalker experience is the zone. No matter which game/mod you are playing, SoC, CS, CoP, Misery, Anomaly, GAMMA... etc., the zone gives you a feeling that you are inside a world which is bigger than you and does not revolve around you...

https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/1gx1sds/i_have_tested_alife_20_for_10_hours_straight_3/

Maybe they can't begin A-Life development until Iassenev returns from military service.

 

[Iucounu]

Not even proper key bindings? Was that fake news? Saw keybinding options in a gameplay video.

 

[Dark Souls II]

Does anyone know how to complete the quest with the transgender trader? I've been to the lab already but I can't find the estradiol vial anywhere. Is this quest bugged?

 

[Zewp]

https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/1gx5wal/official_info/

OK, so I said that A-Life 2.0 is a simulation system for life in the Zone. I see that many of you are asking if it is supposed to work in background and the answer is yes. It supposed to fuel the regions with events, action, migrating groups and etcetra. Right now it doesn't work and often just spawn fights around you. It is not what we want, A-life is not supposed to throw action into you, it supposed to set-up fun things that could happen, and when they happen they will feel cool

...

I am not getting into the broad details for one reason, A-life is broken at the moment, and not fulfilling it's objective, once we got fixes rolling our fixes will speak for us. A-life is supposed to make the Zone feel alive and real, it is clear that at the moment it isn't working, we are fixing it and we will fix it. This is a very high-priority thing for us and we work on it.

No idea whether to believe it at this point. I suspect it's just damage control to save as many sales as they can in launch week. I have a nagging suspicion that A-Life was toned down completely because they couldn't get it working on consoles without killing performance, and then they replaced it with a glorified randomized spawner. The lack of A-Life is ruining an already fairly disappointing game for me. The world feels lifeless and dead compared to the original games. The simulation seemingly only extends to a 100m circle around you.

If I wanted to play a game where firefights are no challenge because of braindead AI, that drowns me in loot so I never have to struggle with resource management and where the world stops being simulated if I'm not in the immediate vicinity, I could play the modern Far Cry games. Right now even on the highest difficulty, it just feels like a power fantasy set in Ukraine.

Hopefully modders can salvage something here.

 

[Dedicated_Dark]

Shit I'm not liking so far. I know you can optionally turn some of these off, but still shit because I want the "intended" experience which I can share with people who play this game, not one I curate myself.

Yellow paint:
Fuck this condescending shit.

Compass showing objectives constantly:
Why bother to engage with the environment, just look at the top and walk in a straight line, riveting.

Map showing ? marks:
Modern design where the devs are afraid the players will miss out on their amazing content.

Constantly getting bleed & getting 1 hit killed on Veteran:
I understand these can normalize after getting better equipment, but the invisible mutant 1 hit killed me in the fucking tutorial where I can't fucking put on better equipment. This is gonna drive people to play on normal instead.

Rest seem like tech issues like Far Cry 2 spawning. And economy balance might be whack, not sure yet.

 

[ArchAngel]

Shit I'm not liking so far. I know you can optionally turn some of these off, but still shit because I want the "intended" experience which I can share with people who play this game, not one I curate myself.

Yellow paint:
Fuck this condescending shit.

Compass showing objectives constantly:
Why bother to engage with the environment, just look at the top and walk in a straight line, riveting.

Map showing ? marks:
Modern design where the devs are afraid the players will miss out on their amazing content.

Constantly getting bleed & getting 1 hit killed on Veteran:
I understand these can normalize after getting better equipment, but the invisible mutant 1 hit killed me in the fucking tutorial where I can't fucking put on better equipment. This is gonna drive people to play on normal instead.

Rest seem like tech issues like Far Cry 2 spawning. And economy balance might be whack, not sure yet.

Good, it shows people from the start that Veteran is truly for Veterans. And for me to know that maybe one day when I am veteran I can try a harder difficulty.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

KeighnMcDeath What do you think of the rat hunting technique?

Terrible. Everyone knows you snipe rats in the dark with a scope. Well a night-scope. Maybe if they waited really patiently with a pile of food while the rat was eating, thry could get a good clean shot. As is, maybe they hit it; I've had lucky stabbings with a spear in much the same way (hitting then just an inch back in their hole works well. Pin them down, then drive your knife through their skulls. I should have invested into a rat harpoon so barbs could hold it fast as I pulled it out. I'll assume there is a rat hsrpoon. I destroyed my frog prongs on damn rats. It was just too poorly made.

 

[Brickfrog]

I know you can optionally turn some of these off, but still shit because I want the "intended" experience which I can share with people who play this game, not one I curate myself.

They added those UI options because they "intend" that you use them. Complaining about things that you know you can easily remove is crazy imo

Don't get me wrong, plenty of stuff to complain about in this game. But this is the first game ive ever seen that lets you turn off yellow paint and mofos are still whining about it. thats crazy.

 

[Brickfrog]

Do you also refuse to adjust the default graphics settings because you want the "intended" experience?

 

[Zewp]

Also, the combat seems pretty lethal even on mid difficulty, which is good.

It depends. Combat against mutants can be quite difficult at times. Combat against human enemies is a mixed bag, with most of it skewing towards the too-easy end of the spectrum, even on Veteran. I wouldn't classify myself as being exceptionally good at shooters, but I can't say that I've really struggled with human enemies after the first 1-2 hours. Once you get an upgrade to your stalker suit, it gets very easy. If you're even halfway decent at landing headshots in shooters, you're not going to struggle much. You might get bled frequently, but you just pop into cover and bandage yourself. Enemy AI isn't aggressive enough to rush you while you're healing. Hostiles will also often take several seconds to notice you and turn hostile, even when you're running right up to their face in broad daylight. Often while clearling outposts, enemies will also randomly just lose aggro and stand around as if you didn't just loudly shoot their friends up 10 seconds ago. So there's something very wrong with hostile and combat AI as well.

The loot economy greatly contributes to this issue as well. The game world is overflowing with loot. There's just tons of loot everywhere. About 5 hours in I was already selling off excess medical resources, food and ammo, so I'm never short on money to repair my damaged gear. Simply reducing the amount of loot you earn, which would force you to pick your fights more carefully, would already make a huge difference to how difficult the game feels.

Maybe this changes later in the game, when you start encountering enemies with exoskeleton armor and your weapons start using rarer, more expensive ammo. But I definitely haven't hit that point yet.

 

[Brickfrog]

Also, the combat seems pretty lethal even on mid difficulty, which is good.

You might get bled frequently, but you just pop into cover and bandage yourself. Enemy AI isn't aggressive enough to rush you while you're healing.

This bothered me too. Someone already made a mod to nerf the insta-heals that seems to work fine: https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/49

Hopefully patches will address the other problems you identified.

 

[Ol' Willy]

areas respawn enemies you've already killed after you leave and come back

So exactly like SoC.

Simple example. First combat encounter, ATP on Cordon. You clean out the bandits and stolkers move in.

The new bandit team will spawn somewhere on Garbage and will move to ATP in 12-24 hours. If you are still on Cordon, you may see them getting in combat with other stolkers, animals or military. If you are not around, they will successfully reach ATP and reclaim it - not because of predetermined outcome, but because they simply outnumber stolkers. If you remain with stolkers and skip time somewhat, you can help them to defend.

A lot of this happens especially in the Garbage, it's constant tug of war between stolkers and bandits.

And so on

 

[Ol' Willy]

Speaking of which, does it have stealth?

SoC, surprisingly, has working stealth combat system, although it is so hard to do properly that few people even know about it

 

[ArchAngel]

Speaking of which, does it have stealth?

SoC, surprisingly, has working stealth combat system, although it is so hard to do properly that few people even know about it

It does. There is some blue bar that fills on top to show how noticed are you by nearby enemies. When it turns red they know you are here and attack you.
You can crouch, walk slowly and be careful to turn off your light to help yourself stay unnoticed.

 

[Zewp]

This bothered me too. Someone already made a mod to nerf the insta-heals that seems to work fine: https://www.nexusmods.com/stalker2heartofchornobyl/mods/49

Hopefully patches will address the other problems you identified.

Yeah, even if patches don't, then I think modders should be able to fix things like the economy easily enough.

I haven't checked Nexus yet today, but I see there are also already 2 new difficulty rebalance mods. Modders will probably have the game in much better condition by the end of the month already.

 

[TheKing01]

They're really trying to go with this "it's a bug stopping the feature" bullshit, really?

 

[PlayerEmers]

i think im going to wait a year for updates and bug fixes
playing modern AA/AAA at release is essentially unpaid playtesting

 

[Harthwain]

Bandits are cool with you, then you walk across some military people who open fire.

Is it possible to tell factions at a glance? Because I heard factions lost faction-specific uniforms that made members recognizable at a glance, making it a mess to tell who you encounter.

 

[kangaxx]

i think im going to wait a year for updates and bug fixes

And a few mods, by the sound of it.

 

[Zewp]

Is it possible to tell factions at a glance? Because I heard factions lost faction-specific uniforms that made members recognizable at a glance, making it a mess to tell who you encounter.

Some of them yes, some of them no. I've come across several generic military looking enemies that I don't immediately know which faction they belong to. Could even be mercenaries.

But factions like the bandits or Duty are easy enough to tell apart at a glance. The new faction, Spark, seems to wear mostly blue as well, which makes them easy enough to spot. Not that I've seen them outside of story quests anyway.

 

[Konjad]

They're really trying to go with this "it's a bug stopping the feature" bullshit, really?