just bought STALKER,

[Kazilan]

and a six pack of beer, I'm ready for quite a Friday night.

I know there are mods/patches for the game - anyone know if there are 'must use' mods, or should I just patch it to 1.0005 and start playing?

[johnny]

I would have gone with another sixpack instead of STALKER, there are so many things wrong with this game i don't even know where to begin. The distances you have to travel over and over again are ridiculous, the quests you get are repetative and so far all look the same to me. After having to wait like 4 years for this game finally to be released, i guess it could only be a dissapointment. I expected a lot more from this one, that's for sure.

I haven't patched as far as i can remember, and there are no serious bugs that mess up the gameplay, but if there's a patch available, i can't see a reason why not to download and install it. As for mods...i lost interrest in this game quite a while ago, but i'm sure there are some out there, i just can't be bothered anymore, right now Call of Duty 2 and Medal of Honor Airborne are taking all my time.

[Jorath Calar]

Agree with Johnny, Stalker is like that girl you heard so much about in school you just had to "give her a try" and it turned out she only wanted to sort your sockdrawer...

[wonders if he just found the most farfetched metaphor ever...>

[johnny]

Good enough for me.

[vesselle]

it was a huge disappointment, wasn't it?

*shakes her head sadly*

[Kakero]

Warning, long rant!!

I bought Stalker thinking it was a P.A.W ( post apocalypse war) type of games. The premise is there but the execution is sadly not.

My first complain is that the enemy is so accurate!! Yeah, they must be using some kind of a heat seeking bullets cause no matter how far you are from them, their shots will hit you no matter what. Not to mention, if you hide in the bushes, you can't hit them because your shots will hit the bush but their shots will hit you! WTF!! And if you are hiding at a corner of a wall, their shots will ricochet of the wall and hit you!!

To kill an enemy (human types), you need to aim for the head. Even if you are aiming for the head, you probably won't be able to kill the enemy because for some reason your shots are not accurate or your shots are not powerful enough. For them to kill you, they can shoot at any part and you die. Their's shots are so powerful that it'll probably take 3~4 shots to kill you.

Another thing, saving your game when the enemy is in view is a suicide! If you are thinking of saving your game before killing an enemy and reload if your shots didn't kill him. Don't bother, chances are by the time you reload, the enemy will be shooting at you before you do anything.

Hunger problem, ever since arx fatalis. I dread a game that have hunger problem, ie your character will become hungry and you must eat. Yep, there is hunger in this game and your character will probably be hungry most of the time becuase food are scarce.

Gun/Armor deterioration. Your gun and armor will wear and tear through usage. When your item is broken, there's nothing you can do except to throw it away. Why is this a problem? Look below.

Side quest are useless, most of the side quests I see are the same type, ie go find an item for me, go kill a person for me, go clear a place for me. You done it once, you done it all. Now this is still fine if you like to do something apart from the main quests. Problem is that, your gun/armor will deterioriate, food are scarce and your character will become hungry. Enemy is very accurate and saving system is problematic. Your character will end up having nothing to use in the inventory, hungry and cornered by enemies. In a sence the game is punishing you for doing side quests.

Oh and finally, wtf is with those ending? sheshh!!!

Edit : I nearly forgot. The game tend to crash whenever I press the F button to open a door or to talk to a person.