#playing stalker soc

[multitrackdrifting]

thank you pcgamingwiki for making it easy to run old games :-)

[derwent]

will i get death threats if i say Clear Sky was my favourite stalker game? because (modded with sky reclamation project) clear sky is my favourite stalker game.

[non-threatening-feminist-boy]

Daniil Dankovsky from Pathologic would be stuck in Pathologic. He is very screwed.

The last character you drew/wrote about is now stuck in the last game you played. How screwed are they?

[cannotbestormed-scharfuehrer]

Alright lets talk about STALKER. Which faction(s) do you usually support? I've always been partial to Clear Sky. Former scientist determined to make right the sins of the past through pen and sword is just cool to me. Also have you played GAMMA? I'm having a ton of fun with it, but i understand how some think it deviates from the original vision/atmosphere of GSC.

Favourite faction? The SBU/USS in Call of Pripyat. I know they're technically the same as the Military faction in the first two games, but there was a significant change in their role and depiction when CoP was released. Come to think of it, this brings fascinating implications about the evolution going on in the Ukrainian society during the period when the Stalker trilogy was being made.

I do have a soft spot for charismatic villains, especially when they're not one-dimensional and there's some nuance in the writing, like the Cæsar's Legion in FNV, but this is not the case. There was nothing appealing about the Military in SoC and CoP. They were just an even more bland subfaction of the Bandits, even the special forces with their gorgeous Mi-24 helicopters.

Call of Pripyat feels different. I love Mayor Degtarev and the Operation fairline boys, I'd kill and die for them. The previous protagonists, Strelok and Scar, have that whining, loser mentality typical for Eastern Europe, best summed up by that one Werner Herzog's movie title: everyone against everyone, and God against us all. They don't really trust anyone and act mostly selfishly. Meanwhile, Degtarev and the Fairline crew went in the Zone for a serious mission since the Kiyv government finally got to get its shit together and try to solve the Zone problem once and for all. The final mission with the choppers flying in felt absolutely badass, like I was evacuating Mariupol. Besides, I loved the mercenary missions, standing up to some anglo boys doing shady business for rich western fucks. Sorry, Timmy the Merc. Not in my Zone, not in my Ukraine, I butchered them all with glee hehe

So yeah, at this point playing as the SBU is one huge power fantasy trip for me. But I have much love for the Clear Sky, too, because the devs wrote them absolutely loveable. Their goals and attitude towards the Zone are both reasonable and noble (Appolinian and solar, even), their armour is peak aesthetic (that camo!) and it's hard to not root for them as the underdog (total Renegade death). Moreover, their camp is the coziest place in the trilogy and I'd gladly live there, even pay the rent. Pic related. I still have this quiet hope they'll somehow return in S2.

Anyways, thanks for the ask and absolutely *no* apologies for all that mucho texto.

[totallyseiso]

do you have any advice for someone trying to get into the first stalker game?

I haven't played the first one (SoC) in many years, so I don't have a lot of advice for that one specifically. But I do have some advice that works for all the games:

Do not forget that it's survival horror

Just because you have a gun doesn't mean you should use it. If you're unsure about whether you'll survive fighting a certain mutant, try to find a way around it without fighting. Better to save your ammo and your life rather than get into a pointless fight.

Repair equipment every time you enter a safe zone. You do not want your guns jamming during a firefight.

Don't just go for the most expensive gear you can afford right away. A fancy NATO rifle is worthless if you can't reliably find ammo for it, and heavy armour won't do you any good if repair costs will bankrupt you (that's why I rarely use exoskeleton suits) use what fits your current situation.

Pay attention to what you're carrying and if that suits what you'll be doing. Don't bring 10kgs of medical supplies and 30kgs of ammo if you're going out for a single job and then returning to base. Take a bit more than what you think you'll need, but don't overdo it. You don't want to be over your carrying capacity while sprinting to shelter to avoid an emission.

Also, if there's anomalies in front of you, switch to your bolts and start throwing. Don't just try to rush through. Going slowly through an anomaly field is always the best option.

Now, two things I do remember about SoC specifically is that 1) anomalies just poop out artefacts all the time, but getting to them is dangerous. However: after an emission, the anomalies move positions. So if you see a bunch of artefacts in an anomaly field that looks too tough to navigate, just come back after a few emissions have happened, and it should hopefully clear up a bit. This doesn't work for the other two games because anomalies in those don't just crap out artefacts. You have to actually enter the anomaly field with a detector to make it happen.

2) In SoC, bloodsuckers can be killed while invisible, and their eyes glow while invisible. So if a bloodsucker is fighting you, don't panic, just spin and look for the eyes and then aim there. Should drop it quickly. Bloodsuckers are much harder in the other two games

[artemis-lynn]

*spawns* Wassup

Nickname: Artemis/Artie

Newsie name: Pepper!

Age: A number that exists

Hobbies: Drawing, acting, reading, role-playing, scrolling, avoiding sleep, drinking caffeine, singing, writing

Fave musicals: Newsies & West Side Story

Favorite role: -Ensemble member in Matilda

*-Firm believer that theatre is a sport-*

Dream Roles: -Spot Conlon (Newsies) -Racetrack Higgins (Newsies) -Riff (West Side Story) -Anita (West Side Story)

Fave musical songs: First Burn (Hamilton) Dear Theodosia (Hamilton) Candy Store (Heathers) Sincerely Me (Dear Evan Hansen) Requiem (Dear Evan Hansen) Santa Fe (Newsies, BOTH VERSIONS of the song but especially Christian Bale's), Letters from the Refuge (Newsies) Brooklyn's Here (Newsies) Once and For All (Newsies) Gee Officer Krupke (West Side Story 2021) I Feel Pretty (West Side Story 2021) America (West Side Story 2021) Tonight (Quintet) (West Side Story 2021)

Fave non-musical songs as of rn: Long Live (T.Swift) When Emma Falls in Love (T.Swift) Never Grow Up (T.Swift) Dorothea (T.Swift) Champagne Problems (T.Swift) (I'M A SWIFTIE SHHHHH)

Fave movies: Newsies (1992), West Side Story (2021), The Princess Bride, Cruella, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Across the Spiderverse, Wonder Woman (2017)

Fave TV show: High School Musical the Musical The Series

Fave books: I Must Betray You (Ruta Sepetys) The Princess Bride (William Goldman) The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise (Dan Giemenhart) Alone (Megan Freeman) Dark stalker (Tui T Sutherland)

Fave book SERIES: SIX OF CROWS SIX OF CROWS SIX OF CROWS (Leigh Bardugo)

Fave characters: Spot Conlon (Newsies) Blink (Newsies) Racetrack Higgins (Newsies) Sarah Jacobs (Newsies) Riff (WSS) Anita (WSS) Valentina (WSS) Kaz Brekker (SoC) Inej Ghafa (SoC) Nina Zenik (SoC) Jesper Fahey (SoC)

Fave ships: Sprace (Spot x Race, Newsies) Blush (Mush x Blink, Newsies) SPARAH (Spot x Sarah, Newsies) Riff x Tony (WSS) Anita x Bernardo (WSS) Kanej (Kaz x Inej, SoC) Helnik (Nina x Matthias, SoC) Wesper (Wylan x Jesper, SoC)

"If any of you survives, make sure I get an open casket at my funeral. The world deserves a few more moments with THIS face."-Jesper Fahey, Six of Crows

[aquaburst3]

So...season 2 of Shadow and Bone just dropped last month. And because of the new content drop, I've seen a fair amount of video essays on YouTube comparing the Crows to the ones in the original Shadow & Bone novel. The TLDR version for these videos is that the S&B characters tend to be more cliched good/evil archetypes while the SOC characters tend to more morally grey and nuanced, so people are naturally drawn more to the latter and don't care about the former. It makes sense. While I ship Darklina like hell, even I admit that it's just a overdone "chosen one" narrative with black and white morality and there could've been more of a spin on the story to make it more refreshing (like actually making Darklina endgame and Baghra/the monarchy the villain). The Crows are the exact opposite. They're street level crooks, who have to earn their accomplishments instead of relying on powers. While they do some fucked up shit to accomplish their goals, especially in the books, they are still good people and have each other's backs. I feel like same thing applies when comparing a lot of the Disney Princes, especially the old ones, and the NRC characters.

A lot of the older ones aren't interesting characters, only existing to give the heroine a happy ending. While a lot the later ones are great characters, they aren't suitable love interests thanks to either being too cookiecutter nice or just having an unbelievable romance with the lead. The only real believable romances for the princesses are Belle/Adam, Eugene/Rapunzel, Kristoff/Anna and Mulan/Shang if you don't count the squeal movie.

Take Aladdin. He is a fantastic character on his own, but his romance with Jasmine just doesn't work. Because when you take that movie out of context, Aladdin meets Jasmine only once, and decides to change himself just to get into her pants. That sounds like something out of a stalker movie. Instead of earning her hand, he's just rewarded it. He lies to her constantly, and he's never called out for this, even in the sequel media. Let's face it. A relationship like that would never work out in real life.

The NRC characters are a lot more akin to the Crows. None of them are moral paragons. Most of them are fleshed out and interesting characters that are fun to follow. All of them have backstories that give them a lot of potential as characters, even some of the blander ones. Like the Crows, while they do fucked up shit, they are still good people who will do anything for those they love. Plus, these more fucked up actions are called out by the narrative...most of the time. (Looking at you endings of Book 2 and 4.)

Take a look like at it like this. What sounds more interesting love interest to you? A cookie cutter prince that does nothing but slay a dragon with the help of three fae or a powerful dragon prince who everyone fears, but longs for friendship and wants someone to talk to other than his retainers? Probably the latter. While I think Malleus is a bit of a Gary Stu sometimes, especially in the latter arcs, the idea of his character is far more interesting that he blows Philip out of the water.

It's the same with a lot of the other NRC boys. I think Jamil is a much more suitable love interest for Jasmine than Aladdin, since he matches are intelligence and wits and I highly doubt he would ever lie to her about important things. Azul is a much more suitable love interest for Tiana than Naveen thanks to their aligning life goals along with him being a far more compelling character than Eric. While I don't ship this, Vil is a vastly more compelling character than Florian (the prince from Snow White). The list goes on and on.

I think that's also why there's so much self shipping with these boys in the TWST fandom, and I'm still shocked about the lack of content shipping these boys with the princesses—they are just more well rounded characters that are fun to play around with in romance stories. If and when Disney adds romance into their movies again, I hope the love interests are more like the Crows and the TWST boys than the past ones. Because if that's the case, I think they would be amazing.

[howlingbutch]

been playing STALKER SoC and its pretty fun

[multitrackdrifting]

anyone got stalker SoC mods? i know people mod the third game more, but im a 1st time player cuz i like tarkov but i cant play it with friends (ping restrictions prevent it)

[derwent]

Stalker Clear Sky fans constitute a transfeminine third gender, SOC fans are just jealous misogynists

Call of pripyat fans....idk they're over there eating glue or something idk i stopped playing that game because it looked weirdly cartoony and the fov was bad

[smallestapplin]

He really should have seen it coming.

Volo knew you were sneaking out at night, he'd seen you do it from where he sat in his car. He saw you bolt across the street and jump the fence to a neighbor's yard, where he briefly lost sight of you. He caught up easily enough, the streets were a grid pattern and he was traveling by car. You were simply wearing those cute little shoes of yours, there no way you could outrun him.

Volo kept his headlights off as he followed behind you. Where on earth were you going this late at night? He wasn't even following because he liked you anymore, he was genuinely curious. You were a cute, quiet person, a total nerd. Why were you headed to the train yard in the middle of the night?

When you somehow got through the fence (he couldn't see how), he knew something was up. He smirked to himself. This would be the perfect blackmail. Sure, he had tons of photos to use already, but nothing quite as strong as this. He hopped out his car after parking a ways away and followed after you. Once he told your parents about this-!

In his excitement, he didn't notice the two leather clad boys following behind him. The pair recognized that gaudy yellow car the moment they saw it, they knew he was after you. Ingo and Emmet had listen to countless rants about this idiot soc, how he was a stalker and a creep. You had begged them not to do anything unless he did something first. This definitely seemed like a good "something first".

Volo jumped when a tight gripped hand landed on each of his shoulders. He had been looking for how you'd gotten through and noticed a bit of the fence had come loose from the post. He was about to crawl through when his company made itself known. He turned his head and went pale when he saw the infamous Trevithick Train Twins. Ingo's usual frown has turned into a snarl, and Emmet's eyes bore through him in a sinister glare.

He really should have seen it coming.

-chandelure anon

🎶🎶🎶He had it coming he had it coming he only had himself to blame if you would’ve been there if you received it surely you would have done the same🎶🎶🎶

They want to make it quick, but first they have to play it off like it had nothing to do with you.

“A soc?”

“On our side of town no less!”

“Tryna see what we are up to, it seems.”

“How verrry unfortunate.”

Volo barely gets anytime to say anything before Emmet’s fist collides with his nose, knocking him to the ground first swing.

Volo isn’t a small guy, but it’s two in sync against one.

Surely he didn’t stand a chance.

[natalieironside]

If someone (me) wanted to get into the STALKER games, which would you recommend? Any prior reading need to be done? What should I bear in mind when getting into them? (Also cuz I'm curious: Thoughts on the metro series?)

Oh! =D

You can pretty much start wherever you'd like & still have plenty of fun, but I very recommend starting with Shadow of Chernobyl since that's how the story was written; playing Clear Sky before SoC is a bit like reading The Silmarillion before The Hobbit. Also, SoC is a bit less refined than the other games and if you start with one of the other two you might run around SoC looking for NPC functionality that doesn't exist.

Things to remember:

* These games are hard af and you're gonna die a lot. Save early, save often, and don't feel bad about playing on easy; it's still the same game with all the same content.

* They have surprisingly realistic gun physics. Your shots travel in a parabolic arc instead of a straight line and you have to get the hang of banking them based on distance. If you're coming to it from like Fallout or Call of Duty then that might throw you for a loop at first.

* These are horror games and there are a lot of jump scares and spooky bad monsters. Expect to start seeing bloodsuckers in your nightmares.

* These games are all incredibly fucking broken. Sometimes quests don't work, sometimes you break your game by doing stuff in the wrong order, sometimes it just crashes for no reason. Remember to drop hard saves as often as quicksaves.

* At some point, you're going to start talking in a bad Ukrainian accent and saying shit like "Howdy-do, Mr. Stalker!" and "Still alive? That's great!" and "I said come in! Don't stand there!" in real life. This is unavoidable. Just let it pass over you.

There's not really any prior reading you "have" to do, they're a stand-alone thing, but they're very much in the general ecosystem of late- and early post-Soviet Eastern European spec-fic and heavily influenced by the novel Roadside Picnic in particular--and Roadside Picnic is a great fucking read, solid 13 out of 12.

I haven't played any of the Metro games yet, mea maxima culpa, but they're definitely on my short list.

Good hunting, stalker!

[pattern-recognition]

stalker is a weird game for me because I first learned of its existence a century ago while playing gmod because I’m pretty sure people modded in every asset from SoC into the source engine in one form or another. I particular remember this little mod that added a generic HL2 radio prop that played the bandit radio song and a few of the guitar tracks. The audio was particularly well mixed and unobtrusive, so I used to weld tool it to prop cars or the episode 2 car and drive around. Whenever I play STALKER it gives me the same feelings of Half Life 2, wherein most of the models have belatedly become associated with something else

[dumbfinntales]

Suka, I beat S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat today. I played this one with a small overhaul mod called “special edition”. The game stays mostly vanilla, but does little adjustments to some gameplay elements and adds a few new suits/weapons. And of course on master difficulty as well. So, how does this compare to Shadow of Chernobyl?

I like this one a lot better. Certain gameplay quirks I hated in SoC were fixed here, like if you happen to find a stash you get to loot it. No need to find the coordinates, although those can help as some stashes are hidden in the smallest of places. The game also has more substantial side quests with actual character. Not the most in-depth, but at least they feel like people. In SoC the side quests were either simplistic fetch quests or killing quests with nothing interesting in between. Here you can find a random monolith squad who seems to have snapped out of their delusions so I have to go back to Yanov station to convince folks there that the squad is not bad. There’s overall just more interesting encounters in the overworld. Also there’s no big shooting gallery at the end of the game. Sure you have to gun down some monolith soldiers on your way out, but it’s not as hectic and frustrating like in the first game.

Hunting artifacts felt more rewarding too because you needed some good equipment for it and walk into anomaly fields to find them. In SoC they were just kinda randomly scattered all over the place and you could see most of them a mile away. Although, I don’t know if it was my luck, but I didn’t find any artifacts that negated radiation, so I spent 90% of my playthrough without any artifacts. I just ended up selling all of them for great profit.

Some of the new mutants were cool, like the terrifying Chimera. I had to cheese every chimera I encountered because even with fully upgraded gear one of them would kill me in two leaps. Kinda unfortunate that the enemy AI goes stupid if you get up on higher ground. The chimera just runs around aimlessly as I shoot at it from a balcony. The Burers were cool as well, but the way they fight is a little annoying. They can pull guns out of your hand and randomly deplete all your stamina which prevent you from moving. I actually hated fighting these things when I first encountered them. Well, at least until I figured out that the best way to deal with them is to run at them and literally stab them to death with a knife. Yeah, that strategy actually works. It won’t use its mind fuckery attacks if you get up close and its melee attacks are slow.

Despite the overall improvements from the first game Call of Pripyat is still a little janky here and there. There are glitches like some enemies will just stop responding, and even shooting at you and stand there like glorified targets. Some NPC animations glitch out and stuff like that. On the gameplay side the only thing I wasn’t a fan of were the emissions. A cool idea, the first emission I encountered was really rad. But when you experience your fifth one, not so much. It just halts everything as you have to run for cover and just sit there waiting for it to be over. Sure it adds some immersion, but not in a good way. At least in my opinion.

So yeah, out of the two Stalker games I played I vastly prefer CoP. I know there’s like a million mods for these games and SoC can be a lot better with them, but remember that I’m judging these on their mostly vanilla qualities. So Call of Pripyat gets a hefty AAAH NUU, CHEEKI BREEKI IV DAMKE out of ten.