Anyone else here waiting for Stalker? I've been waiting for it since 2004. Some people have been waiting for it since its announcement in 2001! After years of wait the release date is finally confirmed to be on March and the official release countdown is here: http://www.man-made-hell.com/

In short this game is FPS game with some RPG elements and free form gameplay like in Oblivion or Boiling Point.

Some essential links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:_Shadow_of_Chernobyl
http://www.oblivion-lost.de/index.php?zone=design2_eng
http://www.stalker-game.com/

System requirements aren't known yet but I will surely get somewhere money to buy a new computer to be able to play this game.

What do you think: Will this game flop like Daikatana? Or will it rock like Half-life 2? :nuke:

Is it finally confirmed now? Gawd, ive been waiting for what seems forever for this game! Im just scared its not gonna live up to my expectesions at all.

I've been waiting for this game. Aagh, I've gotta start saving money for a better computer :cry:

Another 2 months plus to go :(

Is it finally confirmed now? Gawd, ive been waiting for what seems forever for this game! Im just scared its not gonna live up to my expectesions at all.

it actually went Beta in Nov 06 but they held it back AGAIN.
From the trailer it dose look nicely polished.

I am REALLY looking forward to this game as there are just too few post-apoctalyptic games out there.

PC Gamer gave it a rather good review - particularly emphasising the exploration element, and the abstract nature that gives it an unusual slant on the horror theme. Enough for me to think about buying it next week.

I built my pc in 2004 to hopefully run Stalker! - Athlon 64 3200+, 1Gb ram, 6800gt 256mb... hopefully it will run it! :confused:

IGN : said its morrowind with guns.

IGN : said its morrowind with guns.

Is that neccerally a bad thing?

I've got some perty stalker screenshots for my desktop until the game comes out. It looks great and hopefully my new PC can run the eyecandy.

Note: Wikipedia said that stalker is out on the 20th in australia and on the 23 in the rest of the world, is this true?

Couldn't really tell you. I know that games nearly always get released on a Friday in Britain, so the 23rd is right. However, it also says that Silent Hunter IV is released on the 22nd (Thursday) in the EU, which simply won't happen in UK.

Be better to check local gaming stores, or even their websites, to find out :)

Is that neccerally a bad thing?

Stalker Review
http://au.media.pc.ign.com/media/480/480467/vids_1.html

GAH its short main storyline is only 10hours though there are sidequest.
Highly unique graphics but not like morrowind (said that exploration isnt that great and lacking scripting)

I wont be buying this straight away rather wait a month or so until the price is around halved before picking it up

I've been playing it all day.. I went to the gamestore this morning for my copy. The salesman fetched it from the storeroom, they hadn't even unloaded 'em from the shipping boxes yet. :lol:

It's not the "messiah" game everyone has been waiting for, but it is a good game. :king:

Haven't played it that far in, so not much to comment, I will say that, FPS-wise, it doesn't seem that special. Just a nice little break from the norm.

Atmosphere-wise, I think I'm playing something special here. One mission I was wandering down the road and I saw a corpse being eaten at by a dog. One my return trip home it was being fought over by several dogs and a couple of boars, the latter having the upper hand. Score one for making the world seem alive.

Even greater came later when I was checking out a run-down house. Really heavy rain and thunder and lightening like I've never heard in a game before, and I was just glad to be inside - where the noise was quieter - when I began to wonder if some of those thundercracks were actually gunfire. It was - some bandits slightly north were fighting against some enemy I couldn't see. Rather than draw attention to myself, I snuck out back and found myself in the middle of a field, in awful weather, and all I could hear was the thunder and the sounds of the dogs and boars from all around me. It creeped the hell out of me.

Still not up to the levels of Aliens vs Predator in terms of scaring me, but I have hope ;)

I got the game and have played a little, so I knocked up a combat analysis:

This game reminds me somewhat of the original Max Payne in that you have more or less the same amount of health as your opponents. This forces some degree of skill on your side, just to survive. Stealth and accurecy is the name of the game.

You are also going to find that you can't hit much at longer ranges and even short range shooting can be difficult if you don't manage to keep your head cool, something the atmosphere is going to ensure that you can't, SPECIALLY against bloodsuckers.

Bloodsuckers at night in the rain. Can't beat that combo.

Why don't they ever put as great an effort into atmospherein non-horror games as they do in horror games!?

I hate horror.

Why don't they ever put as great an effort into atmospherein non-horror games as they do in horror games!?

I hate horror.

I'd say they put a great deal of effort into Spore. ;)

I'd say they put a great deal of effort into Spore. ;)

I meant like in adventure/rgp games. I played the demo for Gaothic 3, it had a nice atmosphere. Peopel were at least donig stuff. The Elder Scrolls series has some catching up to do with animations/taskes. But both lack what I crave... a world where it's a living breathing place. Could start with a medieval city of course... Kind of liek a first person sims. Only problem though is preventing it from getting repetitive :( Anyways enough hijacking.

Bloodsuckers at night in the rain. Can't beat that combo.

Yeah, that sounds scary, although you should also try coming out of the bar towards the duty encampment. Do this while reading your PDA.

I have to fight my way through the duty every time I want to pass through their territory. I made an enemy out of them by helping freedom. Those psi controller mutants are way creepy. I was supposed to clear the village near the freedom base of blood suckers. Funny that there was only one sucker, and the other enemy was the psi dude. The think kept attacking me all the time while I was in the village and all I could see was glimpses of the bloodsucker running in the distance. The sound and the vision blur. Boy it was creepy.

Frickin bloodsuckers! I was only supposed to be clearing some underground tunnels of bandits when I heard something...odd...in the distance. I've seen horror films, I know that's my cue to leave. Scary things.

The patch is out. I'm going to install it and restart with the hardest difficulty :evil:.

Pity it forces you to restart, but luckily I'm not that far in. Also, I seemed to suddenly go into cruise control and just installed the patch without thinking, so it's not as if I have much of a choice :p

Cheers for the heads up, Rhein.

I actually wanted to restart anyway, I royally *%#$up with the Duty so they give me hard time every time I visit the Bar. It seems that also the armor breaks down on the hardest difficulty, so there's more use for my hard earned money. I was pretty far in the game already, but if I can get more fun out of the game this way then why not.

I installed the patch and started with "master" difficulty. Man, it's great and challenging. My first game was at "stalker" difficulty and my guy started to remind a walking tank when I got all the latest gear quite soon. The fights had no effort at all and the enemies we're a mere nuisance. Now there's really good reason to evade the enemies, since they really send you to a early trip to the boneyard in large groups. Using the environment to your advantage in the gunfights is really elevated to another level at "master" difficulty. It's also cool that the armors are damaged in the fights and their protective values decrease. So after you find the greatest armor of all time, it doesn't mean that you're set for life. More reasons to keep earning money, since armors are expensive and you can't always rely on your luck in finding a good one from a stash.

One thing that I would like to note to everyone: Yellow medkits are no better than red medkits unless you have poor anti rad armour (like that you start with) in my oppinion, much better to use anti radiation medicine. The reason is that, although the yellow one combines the effect of a red kit and anti rad, it is also limited because of it (as you can't use the two effects separatly). Although it is better than the red kit, it is, in my oppinion, much MUCH worse than the blue kit (which stops bleeding, only bandages do the same).

My little rant about medkits.

Yep the blue medikits are like treasures.

I've never used the yellow kits very much. My basic amount of healing supplies while wandering in the zone is: 8 red meds, 3 blue meds, 15 bandages, 15 rad meds.

No point in carrying more and I snatch new ones from bodies as I go :)