It is not at all surprising that thanks to the model of the loaf and a short trailer, in the frames of which an Easter egg with an excerpt from the poem “Katerina” by the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was inserted, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has become one of the most anticipated games of 2021 and risks becoming one of the most anticipated games of 2022… and even 2023… and 2024… hmm, although even from the moment of its announcement fans of the original game said: “No, don’t give me hope”.
Now I will put forward an absolutely absurd statement with which it will be difficult for you to disagree. To be as great as Shadow of Chernobyl, Stalker 2 must be a buggy piece of barely playable code that only causes agony and pain. It should reach a maximum of 20 FPS even on top computer configurations. According to the rules of any sequel, everything that was in the first part must be multiplied by two, so there should be twice as many bugs. The game should be so buggy that upon first launch it could break the continuum and reveal the fact that we live in the Matrix. In order to explain this, we just need to go back to the time of the second “Matrix” and remember with what fanfare they announced S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and what did the developers promise then?.
Then in 2002 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was called S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Oblivion Lost, that is, “Stalker… LOST OBLIGATION”. All the attributes of a Slavic business have fallen into place – this is a stupid name that sounds cool but has no meaning, and the word “stalker” written with dots to avoid problems with copyright holders. That is, the developers wrote out the world of the game, based on the name, long before it began to be called Anthem) This is aggressive marketing along with an aggressive idea and the inability to live within one’s means. Initially, the game was supposed to take place in radioactive Crimea, where it would be impossible to use Sberbank or find good goods at a low price… Oops… and no post-apocalypse was needed) But the head of GSC Game World, which developed “Stalker”, Sergei Grigorovich, decided that the location of the game should be in Pripyat, because Pripyat has become a recognizable brand since the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. By the way, I mentioned that GSC Game World is named after its founder? The letters GSC are identical to the initials GSK, that is, Grigorovich Sergei Konstantinovich. A modest person, in fact, a vain person would call the company by his full name). Most likely, after the events of 1414, Grigorovich regretted his decision to move the action to Pripyat, especially since part of the team was against it due to ethical considerations.
But, Lord, who even asks these developers?? A classic situation in the parking lot near the studio, which became one of the reasons for the internal crisis and split of the team – three parking spaces are occupied, two of them are allocated to some broken-down hulks straight from the 90s, and on one there is a bright and brand new sports car standing and pleasing the eyes of pedestrians – I think you guessed who it belonged to) From the split within GSC Game World the studio 4A Games was born, which gave us the “Metro” series, as well as rivalry in the CIS for the title of the main “Post-Soviet Fallout”.
Py.Sy. I definitely remember that I heard about this somewhere, but I can’t find the source now – it would be great if you share information confirming this story, but if it turned out to be fictitious as a result of cognitive distortions, then I apologize.
Development S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Oblivion Lost was a real pain in the ass. In the tradition of domestic developers, GSC Game World simply didn’t calculate how much of the pie they could eat. What did they promise the players and what were they able to deliver:
non-linear simulation gameplay supported by life simulation A-Life
a huge number of unscripted events, thanks to A-life, such as random emissions, falling helicopters, etc.
the ability to create an anomaly yourself by activating an artifact
detectors of anomalous and biological activity
advanced artificial intelligence of enemies
reputation system among https://reelsofjoyiocasino.co.uk/withdrawal/ different factions
vehicles with realistic driving physics and fuel requirements
open seamless world with multiple cities
breaking glass and lamps, traces of wounds on the bodies of opponents, exploding barrels
mechanics of sleep and hunger
What happened as a result:
SOOOOO IT’S STARTING!
What conquered S.T.A.L.K.E.R. players, since most of the promises were not fulfilled? The atmosphere – melancholy, dreary loneliness, which could only be dealt with by sitting with other Stalkers around the fire, cloudy autumn weather, a toolkit of possibilities ala the first Deus Ex, when you could get where you need to in several ways, and the non-illusory fear that accompanied the player, not knowing what would jump out from behind the bushes around the corner. A-life worked a little. Well, it goes without saying that there are bugs… A LOT OF BUGS..
PR company S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fulfilled its main function – it built a model of the ideal game in the minds of many players. These same players were not satisfied with the final product, and GSC Game World also had no illusions about what happened in the end. The game was so hastily made that its code was not protected in any way. By changing a couple of parameters in the notebook, it was possible to make an uber-wunder waffle out of a Makarov pistol, annihilating all living things for tens of kilometers.
People started digging, and gradually, instead of waiting by the sea for weather and patches, they began to finish the game, having become infected with the idea of embodying the Stalker that was in their heads. As a result, the modding community of the game has acquired a huge scale, and even thirteen years later keeps the series alive. Thanks to them, now everyone can assemble the Stalker they want. Uber-realistic, or with ponies in the sky and rainbows in rifles, or similar to the original design of the developers. And this is probably the main value that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. still carries it. Value that might not exist if the developers had straighter hands and less serious ambitions.
The main task of GSC Game World now is not to develop a great game for all times, but to create an image of an ideal S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. And the players and fan community will handle the rest. And judging by the press releases, which promise about the same thing as in 2004, they are slowly coping with this task.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Best comments
To become a great game, Stalker 2 must be original. It should be an RPG, not a Metro. All hope lies in this new life simulation system. If an open world is released somewhere on the level of RDR2, then random events will already pay for its price and all the years of waiting. But there is no hope for the plot. He was never special. Stalker is loved for its atmosphere, for the opportunity to create your own story without quests. Well, tools for modders, and then we’ll live!
Hater’s post.
Yes, a lot was not implemented and the advertising campaign was untrue. But if the game were a piece of shit that didn’t carry any visual or gameplay value, no one would play it and love it enough to finish their own wishes.
And this was the company’s first game in such a setting, combining a shooter and an RPG, so it is not surprising that the developers did not fully understand their capabilities and the required resources to implement plans (which often happens when working on a new project with an unfamiliar topic). And in the future, the mechanics were improved, bugs were corrected. The series developed normally and with normal funding and management it would have resulted in a very good continuation.
You won’t enjoy journalism or common sense in this post. The author presents such a subjective point of view that the title can deceive and confuse the average reader. And yes, if all the popularity of Stalkach is due to bugs, then why did such popularity affect him, while other buggy games were spared?? The question is rhetorical, because Stalker became popular for a number of other reasons, and in technical terms it was a very passable game (of course, it really didn’t boast about stability, but the lighting, ballistics and the “gulag” system looked interesting)
Well, I explain why such popularity affected the stalker in this paragraph:
What conquered S.T.A.L.K.E.R. players, since most of the promises were not fulfilled? The atmosphere – melancholy, dreary loneliness, which could only be dealt with by sitting with other Stalkers around the fire, cloudy autumn weather, a toolkit of possibilities ala the first Deus Ex, when you could get where you need to in several ways, and the non-illusory fear that accompanied the player, not knowing what would jump out from behind the bushes around the corner
A strange claim, honestly, but ok)
In general, these days, I look back and it seems to me that bugs for the most part improved Stalker. The gameplay was still monotonous and somewhat boring, so the situation was somewhat diluted by awkward bugs.
The attitude towards bugs (at least for me) at that time was relatively lenient, which made it possible not to get burned when you make your way to the burner, see another monolith squad, take aim at one of them, and he suddenly starts firing at you, although he is looking in a different direction. Bug? Flaw? It doesn’t matter because GG is already dead.
However, such outcomes encourage trying again, because the player knows that he can complete the location. Of the really unpleasant bugs, I can only remember the bug that caused the game to crash (triggered), while the rest (for example, getting stuck in textures and twitching corpses) slightly disrupted the process of absorbing the atmosphere, but did not disrupt it and allowed me to stop and take a breath in order to continue exploring mysteries with renewed vigor.
Thus, roughly speaking, bugs and shortcomings made each playthrough more distinguishable from the rest. All these slow reactions to jokes (or, conversely, their interruption) and other absurd quirks only caused a smile, but did not spoil the overall impression of the game.
Of course, after all this time, the players’ attitude towards bugs has changed, so I believe that the sequel, if one is released, should not contain so many flaws. It is unfair to connect the games of that time with the current views of players on games that can safely be called works of art.
But Stalker was still loved not for its promises and its own fantasies, but for its well-developed atmosphere, which seems familiar, but attracts with its unknown.
Clickbait, basically. But the idea is funny and reads with some interest, although it doesn’t even smell like any “proof”. I think if there wasn’t such pretentiousness in the title, then there would also be much fewer dissatisfied comments.
Yes, I noticed, but it reads as if this is all a minor and unimportant addition, and the title “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 MUST BE A BUGGED PIECE OF CODE TO BE AS GREAT AS “SHADOW OF CHERNOBYL” is too aggressive because bugs are not what played a major role. But I still got interested and read it 🙂
Hait is not about me) And I treat Stalker with warmth) I treat games and books based on the series with disgust. It’s just fun for me to come up with an absurd thesis that breaks the mold, and prove it. This is an interesting task) For example, I have a video coming out on my channel soon where I prove that “The Lord of the Rings” is a historical movie)))
Like looking into the water.
You consider it your duty to crap this article wherever possible?
Well, at least I fixed my liquid fart “Lost oblivion”