By Jim Rossignol on May 25th, 2009 at 5:57 pm.
The announcement of a new Stalker game, Call Of Pripyat, offers an intriguing prospect. It’s a trilogy-completing work – with Clear Sky acting as prequel – and it proports to show what took place in the zone after the events of Shadow Of Chernobyl. The initial announcement seemed to promise a great deal: enhanced A-Life, more freedom, and more survival conditions to consider. But what else is in there? And what did the Ukrainian company learn from Clear Sky? GSC’s Oleg Yavorsky took some time out to answer our questions, and to reveal a bit more about Call Of Pripyat. Foolishly, I forgot to ask about the mystery of the bread. (The images in this article can be clicked on for their full-size.)
RPS: Do you think you learned any important lessons from the release of Clear Sky? Has that shaped how you’ve approached work on Call Of Pripyat?
Yavorsky: Clear Sky has been a good lesson for us indeed, primarily in the aspect of game stability and playability. There were a lot of changes both in technology and gameplay that we did for Clear Sky, but we had no time to polish and fix everything as proper before the release. With Call of Pripyat now we are taking a safer route by, firstly, building the game on the technology we’ve been polishing since Clear Sky, secondly, getting rid of some features which did not work out well – such as global war of factions, for example; and thirdly, by taking more serious approach to testing the game.
RPS: Can you tell us about the new areas of the zone that Call of Pripyat will include? How much of this new material is taken from the real Chernobyl zone?
Yavorsky: We will present a complete set of new locations in Call of Pripyat. This includes the Pripyat river basin and its rusty fleet standing still for over 20 years now, the Kopachi village completely buried after the accident, Jupiter factory located on the outskirts of Pripyat, the railway station Yanov, and, to crown it all – an entire district of Pripyat, modeled in its real scope. Many players have repeatedly asked us to implement Pripyat in the game, so we decided to satisfy their wish.
I think Call of Pripyat will be the most photo-realistic, and hence, atmospheric S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game of all three.
RPS: Can you explain how you’ve changed the A-Life system for this new game?
Yavorsky: Firstly, we picked the best-liked features from SoC and CS games to preserve them in Call of Pripyat. Secondly, we added a number of touches to make the world and its atmosphere more believable. Hence, day and night cycles will affect the behaviour of both monsters and NPCs: monsters will be more active and go hunting prey at night, while NPCs will try to find shelter and return to bases after seeking artifact and day-patrolling as night descends. To liven up the game world, each character/monster has been attributed their deadly enemies. Mutants hunt humans, bandits are after neutral s.t.a.l.k.e.r.s, Duty faction is after mutants.
Thirdly, hunger and sleep will have their effect too in the game: if the player is hungry, it will take him longer to restore his stamina. Sleep function will help you to refresh yourself, so as to speed up the time a bit (which may be useful in case you have a night mission designated to start at a particular time at night, for example).
This said, we gave all monsters an updated look, changed their behaviour in combat (so as to make them tougher and more interesting to fight with), added a couple new monsters – Burer and Chimera.
RPS: How much inspiration do you take from the work done by the modding community on the previous Stalker games?
Yavorsky: We are very pleased to see how active the modding community is with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – we’ve seen a number of interesting modifications done by the fans (AMK-mod, for example). When it comes to development of the next official games, however, I’d say we rather build them the way we see as proper and our own style, rather than copy mod-makers’ ideas. Our ambition is to present players our own S.T.A.L.K.E.R. as we see it (and we still have a number of ideas to get implemented). Nevertheless, we do listen to a lot of feedback received from players and their wish-lists. It helps us make decisions on which directions to take for the series.
RPS: From the patch notes: “Sleep function added into the game.” That’s a function that was unlocked by several mods…
Yavorsky: As opposed to pure story presentation element, the sleep function this time will have its gameplay role. As mentioned, you can take a nap to save time and not walk about in wait for your mission to start at a certain time. After sleeping your character will also restore his powers. You will only sleep in safe dedicated spots, such as s.t.a.l.k.e.r. bases, for example.
RPS: Can you explain how the game will be playable “after completion in a freeplay mode”? Is this tied to the extended side-quests?
Yavorsky: The freeplay mode is designed for those players, who prefer to stay in the game and explore as much as they want without the need to re-play it to see all of it. So, you’ll be able to travel freely, enjoy the A-life around and accomplish quests you missed during the playthrough.
RPS: Do you expect to return to the underground “horror” sequences of the original Shadow Of Chernobyl?
Yavorsky: We will provide a couple underground locations for players to explore in Call of Pripyat, so beware of spooky monsters!
RPS: Replacing English dialogue with the original Russian dialogue seems like a popular modification – have you considered an all-Russian dialogue option with English subtitles, as CD Projekt did with Polish in The Witcher?
Yavorsky: Thanks for the idea! At least part of our S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games has been in Russian already (such as campfire stories, combat shouts (predominantly rude ones!)). We’ll consider adding even more of the language flavoured with vodka, bears and balalaikas.
RPS: Is there much you still have to do with the original Stalker setting? Can we expect another “new” Stalker title from GSC one day?
Yavorsky: I assure you there’s a lot of ideas still untouched about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe and setting. We are building plans for the full-fledged sequel game, but it’s too early to talk about it at this point.
RPS: Thanks, Oleg.
Call Of Pripyat is due for release in Autumn 2009.
System requirements:
Minimum System Requirements
* Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+
* 512 MB RAM
* 128 MB DirectX 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 5700 / ATI Radeon 9600Recommended System Requirements
* Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 / AMD 64 X2 5600+
* 2 GB RAM
* 512 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 4850
Im so hyped, I really hope they do test this game a bit more this time.
But the general ideas behind the game seem to indicate a more focused and polished product.
I still love you GSC!
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As much as I’d love to be enthusiastic for another Stalker game and while I enjoyed the first two to varying degrees ,I just can’t find myself excited about it. They always seem to promise much more than they offer in the end so I’m going to just ignore this until it comes out. Oh and the chimera can hardly be called a new monster hasn’t its been in the game’s code/files for the last two games.
Best of luck to them though as it sounds like they have learnt some things from the past and hopefully it’ll be the game we looked forward too many years back.
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Repalying the first STALKER now, with the truly excellent STALKER complete 2009 mod (thanks RPS for the heads-up). It really is one of the definitive first person shooters, in my view. Plenty of rough edges, to be sure, but playing the game with all the details on and the wonderful new sounds and graphics is incredibly immersive. I nearly pissed myself playing last night when I got jumped by a Russian soldier who had snuck up on me in an underground vault. The atmosphere is still unbeatable today, two years after it first came out.
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I’m scared that STALKER’s quality will continue to slip. Bugs and sad gameplay choices will infest Pripyat in even greater numbers than CS, and the moddiing community will get fed up and leave.
But I can’t avoid being impossibly hopeful; I love those bloody games! Please, God, let Autumn bring a smooth, bug-free nuclear apocalypse. . .
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I had tried S:SoC waaay back and hadn’t a clue what was going on, it ran like treacle on my PC and generally I wasn’t a fan.
But after playing S:CS, I really got into it and became somewhat addicted to the atmosphere the games create (as soon as I’d finished S:CS I jumped on steam to buy the original and play through).
As with most of my favourite games, if I can get into the atmosphere and the game, I can overlook almost any bug. So… err, yeah, I’m looking forward to this one – bugs or no.
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gotta love the language barrier
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Really eager for this game, but feeling a bit like Charlie Brown with the football.
Still, my primary gratification in both STALKER titles has been the gameworld, and I’ve no doubt that I’ll get a kick out of it on that level at least. I’m right glad that GSC is simplifying their faction design, too. The “faction wars” mechanic had a ton of promise, but the underlying system was just hopelessly broken (which might be another way of saying that, even if it were fixed, it still wouldn’t fit very well within the overall game design). Here’s hoping they keep the excellent artifact-finding system from Clear Sky.
I also like this professed approach to day/night. Nighttime in STALKER always felt more menacing, as if it really should belong to the mutants rather than humans, and I felt frustrated when this feeling was undermined by the enemy AI’s ease of spotting and shooting me in pitch black. I hope GSC can take this conscious design decision to its logical conclusion and fix some of those problems. The mutants already behave pretty well at night – there are more dangerous critters abroad in the wee hours than during daytime – and Clear Sky’s “night vision” system added a lot to the experience, too. Only a few things need fixing to really dial in STALKER’s nighttime gameplay; I’m just worried because some of the same problems (near-omniscient enemies, for example) have persisted in both games.
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I think Call of Pripyat will be the most photo-realistic, and hence, atmospheric S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game of all three.
I’m a bit worried about his definition of atmosphere.
It’s almost as if they saw a lot of people commending STALKER for the atmosphere, and figured that’s a nice word to throw around without really understanding what it means. Already noticed the same in the CS tech demo.
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I’m remaining cautiously optimistic.
My main beef with Clear Sky I think was honestly the repeat of levels from SoC. The swamps were amazing, and I was so excited to play through the rest of the game and then all of a sudden I found myself in Cordon again. Between having to start over due to bugs and several different mods I’ve played through SoC four or five times already. I can navigate cordon in my sleep. It seemed like a gimmick; “look, now there are friendly bases in places you used to have to avoid or fight through”. It made the game feel kind of like a mod.
I was even more disappointed that almost all the new areas were in the linear portion of the game (I don’t have a huge problem with the last act being scripted in and of itself, but I was REALLY looking forward to playing the ‘open’ portion of the game in a new place). CS definitely improved on SoC in many ways, and since Call of Pripyat is apparently in a completely new environment and seems to be keeping the good changes I am hopeful that it will turn out okay (plus really, it’s stalker – at worst we have another clear sky and that still ain’t so bad).
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Many of the features they are talking about are already implemented in various Shadow of Chernobyl mods… but that’s OK. A bunch of new maps plus the gameplay features that I already enjoy, plus more quests and a storyline? Here is my money, and I’m ready.
By the way, thank you, RPS, for being an English-language game site that pays attention to Stalker. The language barrier gets in the way for a lot of the activity.
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Hoping for the best – even if I have not yet finished vanilla CS and loaded up mods to make it more palatable. Oblivion Lost has spoiled me though.
Love that screenshot with the sneaky bloodsucker creeping up!
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Well, I still have not finished Clear Sky, eventhough I bought it and have it installed…
I am gonna get to it though, after all, I LOVED SoC and finished that game twice.I just hope that they will really polish it properly this time.
But damn am I happy that those games sell and they can keep doing them!
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Oh no! I’m afraid of spooky monsters!
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Will eventually get to play Clear Sky (I was held by mildly negative reviews and comments), but SoC is one all-time classic PC game for me. I hope SoC’s genius wasn’t pure luck and they can repeat the deed.
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Will it be multicore optimized this time?
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When I read “jupiter factory” first thing in my mind was IZh Jupiter. Awesome soviet motorcycles in my STALKER game!
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OK I’m actually a little hopeful all the sudden. Still going to wait to hear about stability before buying it though.
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I just hope they play test the hell out of it.
It’s unfortunate but true, the brand STALKER is famously synonymous with the idea of a ‘horribly broken, buggy release.’ So much so that many people will likely avoid purchase as they have previously, until many months of patches and mods from the community have made the titles functional.
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@rei Exactly the quote I would have pulled out for being full of swing and a missness.
@suihbne Like the cunning ‘Charlie football’ ‘got a kick out of’, good work.
I can only have hope that their previous success has allowed them to employ overly lying men. That would make me think that this interview doesn’t say that SOC was just luck, they are trying to improve areas that aren’t needed to be improved, and they don’t realize any of their past mistakes. I really hope this interview is with someone that has nothing to do with the game other than attempting to sell it, I really do.
And Mr. Rossignol. While one of the best interviewer’s on this journalism some find game, would it hurt to push a tad more. While a fine line, I still find it unusual that such easy Q&As are allowed on a game such passion causes in the interviewer. While computers still have the bizarre before release / after release allowed opinion, a tad more Paxman wouldn’t hurt.
In the attempt to inclued at least vaguely cheerful vibes, good effort on Bank Holiday posting.
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Has anyone actually worked out what S.T.A.L.K.E.R stands for?
Edit: Never mind turns out I’m an idiot who forgot about Wikipedia
“S.T.A.L.K.E.R. stands for “Scavenger, Trespasser, Adventurer, Loner, Killer, Explorer, Robber”"
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Its just a roundabout way of using Stalker as in the Tarkovsky movie.
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is blatantly one of those so-called “backronyms”, therefore I give no credence to that definition.
I call a Stalker a Stalker, me.
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This whole series seems based on the patience of the fans, as far as bug fixes and amateur mods and such — that seems a rather cynical, Bethesda-style release scheme. Successful, but cynical — and may I say lazy?
Playing SOC with the ‘STALKER Complete 2009′ mod is ideal — and the most stirring memory I have from several excursions into ‘The Zone’ are the intense fire-fights, particularly ones taking place on stormy nights between two squads. As with Morrowind, I feel like I’m getting all the atmosphere that is on offer from the original games, and all the sequels and reuses of engine mechanics are haphazard ‘improvements’ that are unaware of what was fundamentally great about the initial offerings, but with expanded budgets.
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Eh that answer to the Russian dialog with English subtitles wasn’t very hopeful. Also, about those campfire stories / combat shouts etc…, if you can’t speak the language then you’ve no idea what they are saying. I always felt so left out in those camp fire jamborees.
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Man, I was sure I wasn’t going to care about this. I didn’t hate Clear Sky, but the story wasn’t great and a few new areas didn’t really justify the double dip. So I wasn’t going to jump right in on the next thing they put out.
But they’re selling me, the cads. Here’s to vodka, bears and balalaikas.
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Taking QA seriously = good.
Ima play through SoC (again) and CS before this comes out
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Hey guys, very happy to know that another stalker is coming. I’m already playing the other two and mods and they never get old. I think that the two stalkers were the better games I played until now and hope this new one is at least as good as the other two. But guys, don’t forget to include a Katana in your game. Kind I miss a sword in it. It would be great to fight with the blind dogs and other beasts. Don’t listen to the criticism and this “out of context” thing that so many other players will try to defend here. Give us a Katana and I’ll will love you forever. Cheers and good luck with your new game.
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Definetely one of the best PC games series ever and possible ever (been playing games since the Commodore 64).
I’m really looking forward to this. The atmosphere in the STALKER games is unsurpassed, only Bethesda’s games are similiary atmospheric.
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btw. 15-16 august there will be S.T.A.L.K.E.R. airsoft/larp
near Tallinn(Estonia) more info on site:
http://www.stalkerzone.eu/
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I’ll be interesting to see what comes from this.
Stalker, for me, has always -just- landed clear of the mark. The original PR for the first game spoke of dynamic AI and factions, and a liveable world (sleeping, survival etc.). It ended up being a little too linear for what I wanted / expected and the A-Life never felt convincing beyond the excellent combat AI (I remember once seeing a rookie stalker trying to get an artifact, inching forwards but eventually ening up in an anomaly. I thought this was a fantastic piece of emergent AI, until I was told it was a scripted piece. That you never see other stalkers artifact hunting, or doing anything for that matter other than staying in camps, makes me wonder how they survive…)
Anyway, what I’d really like to see if a believable world, with emergent situations, all independent of the player. A vast amount to ask, I realise, and I doubt this is what GSC are aiming for in the next game, but I keep thinking that the Stalker world is just right for pushing that low-level RPG + FPS set-up…
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Man, I though the dynamic faction wars in CS was the only good addition (other than graphics).
What I’d really like to see is more/larger maps to explore in one game. Combine the unique maps from SOC, CS, the alpha release (fixed up of course) and whatever they are adding in this new game. They don’t even need to put missions in all of them. Just link them up logically and I’ll be in Stalker heaven.
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i never had any bugs with any of the stalker games besides the usual funny AI glitches that can happen everywhere. I was always able to end the game. a crash here and there, yes, but that happens with other games as well. and since it came out I never deinstalled SOC and always found time to play some more or check out some new Mods.
If you like your STALKER a little differently try:
Priboi Story
the best new storyline mod for STALKER.
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Despite its shortcomings, Stalker remains as one of the best games ever with its near perfect blend of gameplay and atmosphere. I can’t wait for the next installment!
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Was this in a mod? The only scripted anomaly sequence I ever saw was when a Flesh runs into a whirlpool anomaly near that concrete pit at Cordon.
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have you considered an all-Russian dialogue option with English subtitles, as CD Projekt did with The Witcher?
Did you mean that CD Projekt provided all-Polish dialogue option with English subtitles?
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Simplex: Yes, in EE. I’ll clarify that in the text.
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I did realy enjoy SoC endings , i hope they will make some more in this release. But i think it was more interesting , when i had a choice where to be , for example if i choose one mission which sends me in a way more like exploring , but the other one sends me in a deep deep hell. more secret weapons and posibilities to do or not to do things, more mysticism and a deterrent story line which combines with a true story from USSR history would make this game a lot more interesting and worth time spending. I realy did like SoC but clear sky was just a snack to satisfy my appetite. SoC was filled with action , learning (surroundings, searching for historical facts), thinking , resolving and waiting for unpredictable events :)
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[first ss] Yeah FOG! i love fog, silent hill style i mean.
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Kanyhalos´ ´Oblivion Lost´ mod created what I was really looking for since 2003: Oblivion Lost.
It´s the way I had the real STALKER experience.
Seriously, I couldn´t wait for the release of Clear Sky and all I got was a big deception, it was stupid to not have expected that. I´ve been developing my knowledge on the industry by becoming a newswriter and reviewer, and know I have a very balanced look on Call of Pripyat.
I never came any further than ´´Garbage´´ with Clear Sky, that ironically describes the state of the game. Somewhere in october I quit playing because I was irritated by the ´always-running-out-of-energy´, something that was cut out in the Oblivion Lost mod. I also thought the nights were really lame, it never gets real dark. I forgot about those things in SoC after playing Kanyhalos´ masterpiece.
Somewhere in march, I installed patch 1.00008 and continued my story, but I had an enormous graphical glitch all over the air, while there was some kind of bad weather, the air was totally enlightened once I looked up. When I walked, it started to flicker. Man, what the fuck is that? I don´t continue the game because of that, and the energy issue. Does anyone know this grave graphical problem? Someone recommend any mods?
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all i hope is they expand the map by adding new areas not just replace the old areas with new ones.
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I’m really not a fan of these iterative releases. I don’t want to play Stalker 1.2 and I always have this nagging sense that these sort of “slightly different, throw in a feature or two” games are put out for economic reasons more than anything else.
I’ll be skipping this one and looking forward to a proper Stalker sequel in the future.
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Well, I’m looking forward to this, but after seeing build 1935 nothing compairs to the atmosphere Stalker could have had! I mean, the game should be creepy and make you really on edge at nights or underground, which thats what the old stalker was like. Not with all these friendly faction members everywhere and crap. I like the factions dont get me wrong, but it feels like the dangerous zone has been conquered and made civilian friendly. It’s like the difference from FEAR 1 and FEAR 2. In FEAR 1 you’re constantly alone, and when you get a team, they are all killed off mysterously. In FEAR 2, you’re with someone all the time, and its hard to be scared or on edge when you have backup right next to you.
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GET BAR IN TO STALKER AGAIN I LOVE BARKEEP HE IS MY IDOL GET BAR INTO CALL OF PRYPYAT!!!
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i can honestly say ive only ever came across 2 bugs in cs , first is bodys disapearing 2 mins after being killed and second is an artifact at agroprom to the east of the map , the small duty camp near the pond has an anomoly right next to it and ive tryed hundreds of way of getting the artifact but it just wont show , it doesnt move around either , just seems to be stuck under a rock , anyway , i dont think ive ever had a problem occure with cs and i must admit i play it for 12 hours some days , just get so into it , love muggin the duty guys lol
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Well, for me, there has been no other first person shooters that have come close to SoC and Clear Sky in their repeat playability. I’m looking forward to a new environment to explore and enjoy. Even with bugs, I know it will smack the pants off anything released by anyone else this year. Lets have realistic shooting, with overheating spread and real trajectories and windage, and real damage! Hit something with a Druganov, that thing will have a big cavity, or a limb missing! In real life, armoured vests do not stop large calibre rifle rounds. The fear that you are gonna get shot or mauled by a creature needs to be there. The more danger, the more excitement – the more risk, the more reward. I always wished there would be more rifle hunting. The environments and the creatures and the weapon physics lent themselves so well to it. It would slaughter those crappy hunt games like Cabelas.
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i can t wait for it yeah!i am about to turn blue again while exploring those creepy tunnels full of bloodsuckers!but one comment i would like to do,is that i HOPE this kinda games don t really present mutants(victims of nuclear power)as the bad ones,because this is disorientating and makes people forget the consequencies of nuclear power,and always want to …so i hope at least this game makes people always be aware of the nuclear power
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i wanted to say above: people always want to shoot that fucking monster!…so i hope at least this game makes people always be aware of the nuclear power
(this was removed because the sentence was closed in symbols)
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The future of the Zone lo0ks bright and lively! That is, from an adventurer’s perspective. I’ve judged Clear Sky rather harshly in the past, but only because I couldn’t help having high expectations. After all, Shadow of Chernobyl sets the standard so high. It just seemed that all the intuitive user-friendly features of Shadow of Chernobyl had been reversed in Clear Sky. However, the weapon models were improved. Can’t say that I care to0 much for the mandatory weapon upgrading, though. As an option, sure, but making it mandatory makes things unnecessarily difficult. OLP Team fixed a few things with Oblivion Lost, but they also unfixed things that didn’t need to be changed. This was the biggest problem with Clear Sky as well — changing things that didn’t need to be changed (such as the inventory/stash interface and making weapons underpowered and inaccurate) while not changing things that did need so (such as horizontally inverted weapon models and unnecessary weapon cocking).
~Your STALKER fanatic,
the E.V.I.L. Republican Gamer
}:-D
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Shadow of Chernobyl made me so sick that i don’t wanna see any pictures of it…What was that blank screen for 15 secs after everytime exiting from options menu?, Why NPCs’ bodies are moving like two seperate columns?(legs and upper body of NPCs were looking like two different parts when they turn), Why they didn’t dub all dialogues and bore me with reading pages of texts? I don’t like flaming too but what i said was obvious things. I said what i experienced in gameplay. I hope they learn from their mistakes this time and bring a good game to the table. I give you one more chance and buy your game for the last time GSC.Don’t disappoint me again.
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One more important: Please add more guitar songs, make the player be albe to play guitar. If you can do that, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will be the best game I’ve ever played. I’m waiting for you GSC.
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get bar into the game again please I’m begging you.
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If you makers of the STALKER series are reading this: Keep bar in the game, what were you guys thinking when you left bar out in CLEAR SKY.
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glenn : There will be whole new areas , so no bar.They dont use old maps from any older games.
And my ideas are off course more open buildings and less closed doors.It was sad that i coulnt get to explore Pripyat enough , no higher levels were accessible and most buildings were just closed boxes.Cant wait for a day when i get to play in a fully open Limanst-like city map with all the places 100% open + sewers and other areas + rooftops.But thats another story and cant come yet.Maybe in Stalker 2 ?
I would also like to see some sidequests “regenerate” , which means you can do them again and again.
And more function for the money , i collected well over 2 million in clear sky and there was nothing to do with it besides repair my weapons/armor or occasionaly travel around.
More secret areas and i dont mean any “hidden stashes” , but places to explore.Some stayrways and appartments could be open in city maps , but entrances well hidden.So you dont get in in an easy way.
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it would be great to pda be the same as it is in SoC and thah they bring back enciklopedia back what do you say about that.
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No bar? Well then i hope that these new levels will kick ass!
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S.o.c. was a complete masterpiece. I’ve never looked forward to a game such as this when it was released. It was pure heaven to play aswell.
Now, when C.S. was released I was scarred by the constant crashes and the overall feel of being robbed basically but after a few patches here and there and switching OS (seems to run alot smoother on XP) the game ran as smooth as a babies bottom! Still playing it now and I have to say all the old feelings are rushing back.
im not too sure on some of the features that are being implemented like the eating one. That really drags the game flow down.
Please. Please. Please. Test C.O.P. before releasing.
Fix any and all major bugs, let the patches do the work on the minor bugs or seriously GSC will loose alot of fans.
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Yip-ka-yee!Finaly i can again play S.T.A.L.K.E.R.!I finished Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky several days after buying them,so i relly get bored here!S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the best game and GSC,THQ and Deep Silver thanks for making the history of Surivivor\FPS games!
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I hope that there will be no such a things like to group of bandits take all of your equipment with money,jus like in clear sky.And that there will be no such long waiting to join any faction,just like in clear sky.*FREEDOM RULES*
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cant wait until new stalker comes out but when does it come out so we can buy it
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No release date on Pripyat yet. GSC said “Q4 2009″, which means any time between the start of October and Christmas.
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im currently playing soc for the first time and currently at the bar . i am enjoying this game but im also finding out about the mods for it available .my question is ; if i got a mod would i have to start again over from the beginning ? or should i play vanilla first ? thanks in advance. i cant wait to play clear sky and im so pleased theres another in the futaure after thaat ones finished.
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Everyone goes on at the bugs in the original, unpatched version of stalker CS but, honestly I ound 0. People say that you get lots of corrupted saves, I have completed the game on one save 4 times. It’s simply amazing that I have never even run into a bug with a computer that runs it on medium at best. I cant run it in full screen because the sky glitches up so I run it on a smaller screen. I have never had a bug other than the graphical glitches that come with runing a higher spec game on a PC that barely scarpes minimum. I now have the latest patch and guess what? no difference in my books. I’m really looking forward to this new game and only wish that I could preorder it now from game, but I can’t.
The game has very few creepy places but I can honestly say that when I first met the bloodsuckers I almost crapped myself. The game is simpy amazing. Nobody in there right mind can deny that.
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Patrick, you have never completed the game without patch i see. I have completed it in 1.5.00, honsetly, almost no one did it. Got about 5 crashes, and i was only doing main quests. Completed the game with leather jacket in Veteran difficulty. Its some kind of not bad thing, because, with so many bugs and crashes, like u can’t end storyline and others… Patches fixed some things up. But for me, for explorer, im getting crashes quite frequently. Good thing there is no corrupt save game thing, and good thing there is mods for fixing bugs like SRP. Cheers! Proudly, exostalker (RooGhJ).
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new interview:
Q: Which locations can we expect in CoP? Are there any dungeons, faction bases or some old locations?
A: As one can already guess form the name of the project, the main location in the game is Pripyat; and we are proud of this location, as the eastern part of the town (which is featured in this location) is created with every minor detail. We made a trip to the Zone once again, took a lot of pictures, and used satellite photography to make it as authentic as possible. We tweaked it for the gameplay a bit, so it is about 90-95% accurate. Apart from Pripyat, we have a huge Zaton and some smaller locations as well as few dungeons. There won’t be any old locations – all of them are new.
Q: And what about the characters in the game? Are we going to see some factions, military, or the foreign troops?
A: If comparing to Clear Sky, then factions won’t play as big of a role in CoP – they won’t wage a full-scale war. We’re going back to the concept of the original game, where the Zone isn’t populated with people so much and the stalker’s main opponents are mutants and anomalies, as it would be if the Zone was real. Sure you’ll spot the factions and the military in the game, but each have their own goal, and you can achieve better relations with some, as the hero is neutral at the beginning.
Q: And what about the relations between the factions? Will they fight for the territory and defend their positions?
A: In the prequel (Clear Sky), we’ve been telling a story about factions establishing their power, fighting for territory and resources. The Faction War was back then – now it is about a month after the events of the original SoC. Each faction has its own goal, according to their ideology – the conflicts are inevitable, but it won’t take the scale of the war again.
Q: What about our earnings? Can we find an expensive gun or artifact? How easy will it be to get ammo or medicine in the game?
A: It sure won’t be easy to find a rare or expensive gun, but you shouldn’t forget, that now stalkers will search corpses, collect artifacts and guns, so it is possible to find a lot of stuff in the backpack of a dead stalker. Ammo or medicine can be found or bought from stalkers or traders – as it would be in the real life.
Q: What can you say about artifacts and anomalies? Their quantity and difficulty of finding an artifact?
A: The search for artifacts is the main business of the stalkers – their bread. That’s why we are trying to make this part of the game as interesting as possible. You can’t find a valuable artifact just lying on the ground – you have to equip yourself with a detector and crawl in the anomalous field. Only by making your way through anomalies, constantly being under the harmful effect of the anomalous field, you’ll have a chance for a big buck. Moreover, after every Blowout the order of the anomalies in the field will change, so it won’t be possible to just memorize the safest way and use it over and over again.
Q: What guns and armor will we find in CoP? Will there be something new?
A: One of the biggest innovations in CoP concerning armor is that it is now divided into body armor and head protection – for example bulletproof vest and the helmet. It is also possible to repair and upgrade them. As for weapons – the upgrade system from CS was improved, so it is now possible to upgrade it in a few directions at the same time.
Q: Is it possible to hire some stalkers for your squad? Can we be stealthy by hiding in the bushes with a sniper rifle and shooting enemies from a distance? Will the enemy spot us at once, or will he run around searching for the sniper?
A: Stalkers are loners, so it’s not possible to find a partner, though you can join stalkers during some missions, or some stalkers can join you during others, but normally everyone is on his own – it’s the Zone. NPCs have the ability to hear in the defined radius and see in the defined sector – being outside of these, you can easily sneak undetected. As for shooting – each shot has a sound and direction, and it is quite possible being detected after the first one.
Q: In Clear Sky, it is clear that the AI had been greatly improved – NPCs don’t leave themselves open, but hide behind the rocks, walls, etc. Will you use the same system and will the AI be improved even more?
A: Well, I’d rather say ”polishing” than ”improvement” – the most radical improvements were made in the monster’s AI and the global A-Life system. With every new step, we’re getting closer to that functionality of the system which suits us most – it is so complicated, that we were improving it all the time since the original game, always making corrections and tweaks here and there.
Q: In both STALKER games, we got outstanding visuals as well as the atmosphere. Can we expect further improvements in the graphics department as well as more spoken dialogs and new interface features?
A: The atmosphere will be close to the original SoC game that was critically acclaimed as the most atmospheric game of the 2007. The visuals will be somewhat better then in Clear Sky, but system requirements will be the same due to the optimization. The dialogues will be mostly written, it is better than the voiceover at times because the player uses his own imagination instead of artist’s expressions to perceive the character’s personality. The interface was totally redone to make it more intuitive. The use of hot keys was added, a convenient round mini-map and lots of other stuff. Also, we made a possibility to continue the game after completing the main storyline.
Q: Will there be Blowouts in the game? If yes, will the occur only as storyline-driven events, or will they be completely random?
A: Both, and the player will have to seek shelter to survive one.
Q: Will there be any improvements to multiplayer?
A: We’re working on the code optimization, reduction of traffic and new anti-cheat tools. There will be a system of ratings and rewards as well. No radical changes in the gameplay modes.
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i dont think i will hav etime for any mods when i complete soc what with clear sky and this game comming this year as well im gonna be very busy/ happy. i dont want to rush any of them so mods i will leave till all 3 are finished, excellent game.
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omg… OMG!!! I love this game!!! The best FPS game in the whole world!!!!
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And… More news for all you stalkers.
The Plot.
The events of Call of Pripyat – the second stand-alone project in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe (Clear Sky being the first) is taking place two weeks after the events of the original game: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. As Gunslinger shut the psy-antennas down, lots of stalkers rushed to the center of the Zone trying to lay their hands on the treasures it conceals. But only few made their way into it safely, as a new faction war broke out. The survivals are mostly neutrals, ”Duty” and ”Freedom” members as well as some bandits.
As the psy-barrier broke down, the military started to develop an operation called ”Fairway” in order to establish full control over the new territories. As a first step of the operation, 5 reconnaissance helicopters were sent to investigate the new areas and find a safer way through the anomalous fields for their full-scale ground operation. Despite all the precautions made, the operation fails with all HINDs being vanished from the radars leaving only approximate coordinates of the crash sites.
The player takes a role of major Degtyarev, an ex-stalker who signed the contract with the military in the past, and now is an undercover agent sent to the center of the Zone to investigate the reasons behind the operation failure.
The Zone.
First of all, there will be no faction wars in Call of Pripyat, the number of NPCs will be greatly reduced, as opposed to Clear Sky, and the developers promise us to create a bigger ”back to the roots, explore-the-surroundings” feeling of the game, more common to the original: Shadow of Chernobyl. Among other game improvements, the game’s locations are one of the most important ones with three new huge locations that include a photorealistic Exclusion Zone – Pripyat (the eastern part of the town), Yanov railway station, Jupiter factory, Kopachi village and others, recreated by their true-to-life prototypes with the use of satellite photographs. There are also two underground locations which are kept secret for now.
The first location, where the game starts, is Zaton (The Backwater) – a huge 1.5×1.5 km area, featuring a dried out river with some shipwrecks, a factory of some sort and lots of anomalies. As the player arrives to Zaton, other stalkers have already accustomed to the area, so we can find the Bar in one of the ship’s carcasses, the bases of the ”Duty” and ”Freedom” factions who share one ship by having a cease-fire agreement (but only within the walls of their base), and the mercenary base somewhere in the industrial area.
The Blowouts (aka Emissions) will now be random and deeply incorporated in the local ecosystem: with every Blowout, new artifacts are born in the anomalies, and some anomalies will change their positions (only random anomalies and not the unique looking, static anomalous fields). Stalkers will seek cover during Blowouts and will fight for it, if members of others factions will attempt to use the same hideout; this works for the player as well: staying on the open field during the Blowout is lethal, but finding a safe spot (they will be marked on your map) can cost you your life as well, if it is already occupied by your rivals. The new types of anomalies will also be introduced in the game.
It is also worth mentioning, that now both stalkers and mutants will have their own day/night cycle, with mutants being more active at night, while stalkers will be going to bed. As for the mutant additions, we will see the good old, finally made functional Chimera and Burer. Chimera will be your most fearsome night encounter, as it moves rapidly, hiding in the dark, always trying to attack you from the rear; however it won’t be such a menace during day time, as it can be easily spotted under the sun light. The Burer uses telekinesis to grab and throw objects at you, which can be a heavy barrel or even your own weapon pulled out of your hands and thrown at you. It was also mentioned in some previews that Burer is able to cast a bulletproof shield with his telekinetic abilities. But the good thing about Bruer is that he is not really an aggressive creature and, for the most part, will only attack if the player bothers him.
The behavior of the older and more familiar mutants been reworked as well. For example, dogs and snorks are now attacking on the move, instead of just stopping in front of you and biting like before; so fighting them is now much harder, especially when they attack in packs. The packs, however, can now be formed with the mutants of each type, and since all the mutants are now divided into carnivores and herbivores, we can expect one hunting the other. The Bloodsucker has been redone as well, so it can now literally grab the player and start sucking the blood out of him. If you think they now have an unfair advantage over you, the developers made it fair by removing the invincibility of the bloodsucker while he is invisible.
The stalkers, as mentioned before, have a ”timetable” of what to do during the day: they leave the base in the morning, alone or as a small group, roaming across the landscape in search of artifacts and finally return to the base in the evening for some rest. The developers are promising to make a fair system of an artifact trade, so if you happen to run across some stalker, you can see the stuff he has already collected and trade with him by offering something more worthy than just vodka or a lump of bread.
Searching for an artifact with the detector is also in the game, and both positive and negative effects of the artifacts are rebalanced.
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Quests.
The game features over 70 ”hand-made” quests (no more randomly generated missions), which can be received from not only faction leaders and a barman, but from ordinary stalkers as well. As already mentioned there will be three factions to cooperate with (but not join, as the main character is already an undercover military soldier). ”Duty’s and Freedom’s leaders and members are controlled by the criminal authority nicknamed Sultan, who is ready for cooperation with everyone if it is beneficial to him. However, even without joining a faction, it will be possible to become a dominant force by cooperating with others, for example when the scientists will lose the protection from the military, it will be possible to give them a hint about some guys from Freedom who are eager to grant scientists their services for a small price. For the Freedom faction it will mean a stable financial income and for the player – good relations with the faction and an access to their up-to-date equipment. ”Duty” will support you with machineguns, assault rifles and heavy armor, while ”Freedom” will equip you with sniper weaponry and their armor which is more suitable for exploration and protection from the environmental hazards. The bandits will possibly equip you with shotguns, but it is not clear yet.
Some side-quests have already been shown. For example, we can take a quest from the barman to find a specific artifact on the abandoned fishing vessel – the player finds the ship being surrounded and filled with anomalies, and when he finds his way through all the traps, finds the artifact and leaves the ship, he will be greeted by a stalker, who will ask the player to give him this artifact, as it is the only thing which can save his dying friend. If you’ll refuse to handle him the artifact – two heavy armed stalkers will block the road and ask you the same thing but in the less polite manner. If you will give the artifact, the two heavy armed stalkers will wait until the first one will run away, and then you can find him at the barman’s place selling the artifact. Of course the barman doesn’t care who found it first and the only thing he will say to your complaints is: ”This is the Zone, son.”
Another quest that has been showcased is from Sultan’s bandits. They try to establish control over stalkers, so they are attempting to make a raid at night on one of the stalkers’ bases. You can accept their offer and kill the stalkers or you can warn the stalkers of this threat and they will give you a counter-mission to engage the raid with the bandits but shoot them in the back. What to do is up to the player, but the both decisions will affect his reputation among stalkers and bandits.
The game is expected to have 20 unique characters with unique appearances taken from real life people.
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well mates. what this fine fellow missed was that there will be three major zones. no more tiny little zones. *cough* Yantar *cough*. anyways each one will probably be about the size of apogram, the garbage, and cordon all pushed together. so for you modders out there who could never really find ideal space to use a car mod in the cramped spaces of the zone. call of pripyat is for you!
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I just wished They would re-consider about getting rid the warring factions part, Okay… It may need bit more polishing but it do show lotsa promises, And their implementation of numerous factions actually worked better than … lets say in FARCRY2. Atleast in STALKER the AI knows whos friend and whos the foes, While in FARCRY2 “factions” tends to be just a hollow promises… And most of the times You will just end up being shot at, blown and maimed by almost everybody else in the continent
Besides factions and gangs would bring more immersion in the STALKER world… Afteral whos gonna wander the wasteland alone? IN harsh enviroments, Logicaly Ppl would have the tendency to band up for survival.
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What about Co-op ? Will that be possible now ?
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Im Yousif…a pharmacist from Iraq…
I really liked this game…both SoC and CS…they are great immersive and beautifull…
the bugs problem is not that big and I only had 2 or 3 crashs in each version…so please forgive GSC and remember all the brilliant things that they did for us…
also another aspect that you didnt think about
as a small note I say:since Im commetted to my religion(which I infinitely love)and Islam prohibits the use of woman for all commercial purposes ,I find this game extremely unique since it doesnt use women charecters and seduction,tempetation and nudity just for attracting more teen and hoping that the sellings of this game will increase by trying to sell few extra copies of the game to those who are not seeking genuine gameplay and real atmosphere but seeking only some semi-naked cutscenes…
at last…I love you all stalker fans and wish you enjoy the CoP without any disappoinments
sorry if I had any spelling errors
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Well, it sound great, but one thing, science I have played SOC for about 12 times, comes to my mind each time I read something new about CS or COP and that is..Will there be a posibylity to make your own crew ?? Crew of lets say 5 Stalkers and with you among them and to act as a team with all of the comands and stuf that we can find in ARMA2 or SWAT .
That is the only thing that is missing, othervise S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is still greatest game for me :)
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Can’t wait for this!! STalkers by far the best game thats came out for computer in my opinion, i need to know when it’s out in the UK tho!!!!
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I think it’s true that it should be tested
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This game is awsome…just awsome…ofcourse it needs REALLY GOOD polishing b4 its Realease,, i downloaded the Russian version with the well known crappy transelation…i’ve fixed some BAD ENGLISH mistakes for my use :D,,and it crashes the momment im loading PRIPYAT ,,actually i got happy that i didnt get to see pripyat ,,,so i’ll see it in the full international game,,i tell u guys,,the game is awsomeeee,,and its scary to get spotted by a pack or eapecially that midget in the black jacket,, RUNNNNNNNN to the base and feel safe again,,hehe just awsome….
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Wow rlly.
That sounds great.
I also downloaded this game only to see how the atmosphere was.
Then i dealeted it.
Zaton was huge & great can’t wait for the realese.
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I have “not legit” copy of COP. The game crashes while loading Pripyat location.
Anybody knows how to fix it?
In the other forum smb said to change the engine, but it doesnt work.
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I have legal COP, but i have the same problem.
The game crashes while loading Pripyat location
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A life far from relaxing as these stalkers must constantly fight against the bandits, the mutant animals and even some of their colleagues. Not surprisingly, developers have not taken a sudden urge to put their new album and tropical latitudes is again on the Chernobyl site that the player begins the adventure, just weeks after the end of first episode. Read more from the complete “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat Review” at:
http://www.techarena.in/review/37222-stalker-call-pripyat-review.htm
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I hope that there would be more rifle hunting. The environments and the creatures and the weapon physics lent themselves so well to it.
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Well, for me, there has been no other first person shooters that have come close to SoC and Clear Sky in their repeat playability.
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