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Post by luftwaffe on Aug 1, 2010 11:17:09 GMT -5
Anyone any ideas? Are they still making games? Or are they retraining to do gardening.
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Post by Zeno, Lord Camelith on Aug 1, 2010 13:55:48 GMT -5
inb4Stalker2
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Post by Διμι on Aug 1, 2010 20:47:17 GMT -5
This ain't Skype, Camel. Stop with the inb4s.
As for GSC, rumors of Stalker 2 have been dropping since Clear Sky came out, but it's been pretty hushed up until now.
I do hope they ditch X-Ray and come up with a new engine for their next game that actually supports co-op, even at the expense of graphics.
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Post by Karcentric on Aug 2, 2010 3:05:04 GMT -5
Stalker and gardening? An interesting idea...
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Post by luftwaffe on Aug 2, 2010 11:45:22 GMT -5
I do hope they ditch X-Ray and come up with a new engine for their next game that actually supports co-op, even at the expense of graphics. Actually co-op isn't that important to me. There are more important problems in call of pripyat that I really wouldn't want to see in the next game... like the fact that you could buy an exo and a G36 from a guy in a leather jacket on a boat just by sleeping around and gathering artifacts without doing any main quests... that was pathetic. You could literally have the best equipment in the whole game (+a decent set of upgrades.. thats a better gear than you can have at the end of ShoC) by doing nothing... just walk around, sleep and take some medicine; and yes, have an IQ high enough not to step into too many anomalies when you picked up those artifacts. The best equipment should be earned after proper battles with hardcore monoliths (like you get the exo from freedom after defeating the duty base in CS). Another huge problem was the fact that I never got to use my ultra upgraded gear. Even at the end with all those monoliths I felt like robocop attacked by midgets with slingshots... and never actually used a medkit. And playing on "master" isn't a solution to this problem. The game should be made more realistic even on normal difficulty. In CoP and CS, once you upgrade your weapon to the max theres no more recoil to it and every possible challenge is gone... its like cheating, it makes the game very boring. I always thought that those upgrades made the game worse rather than better. Anyway it's just my opinion ; I hope they get more inspiration from shadow of chernobyl for their next game... if there's ever going to be one.
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Post by Διμι on Aug 3, 2010 10:32:05 GMT -5
Gameplay balancing is always reasonable, but my issue with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. runs somewhat deeper than that. I'm getting tired of seeing the same content re-hashed, given a slight graphics boost, slapped into a new inane plotline, and all scrambled together within a year's time.
I know that whatever single-player clone of the previous games they manage to come up in the next 2-3 (or even one) years won't best SoC and its game mechanics.
Three games based on a virtually identical interface and engine is great, it's time to take the series farther than that. I doubt that a completely new set of locations, weapons, mutants, etc. alone will make the game a standout in comparison to the original ones, no matter how hard GSC may try. Hence, I'm taking a risk by saying I want the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series' multiplayer capacities pushed beyond any reasonable limits that we may have anticipated in the past, even if it means taking years to develop something from nothing.
Just my dve kopeiki.
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Dartz
Flesh
Comrade Premier
Posts: 45
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Post by Dartz on Aug 4, 2010 10:56:16 GMT -5
Maybe, STALKER, year zero.
A true survival game where you have to make your way out of the zone after the explosion which created it. You start as a scientist monitoring radiation readings beside the sarcophagus... and gradually fight your way out of the zone picking up better and better kit from whatever you find, starting with a crowbar, and radiation counter that 'tweaks' around anomalies, or when irradiated animals are near.
It's just you, your wits, and the warping distortions of reality as the zone is born around you. You might take a path that seems safe, only for it to loop back around to where you began in some form of moebius strip of reality. Also, realistic radiation poisoning and doses.
Goddamn that's something I'd play.
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Post by luftwaffe on Aug 4, 2010 13:01:18 GMT -5
Maybe, STALKER, year zero. A true survival game where you have to make your way out of the zone after the explosion which created it. You start as a scientist monitoring radiation readings beside the sarcophagus... and gradually fight your way out of the zone picking up better and better kit from whatever you find, starting with a crowbar, and radiation counter that 'tweaks' around anomalies, or when irradiated animals are near. It's just you, your wits, and the warping distortions of reality as the zone is born around you. You might take a path that seems safe, only for it to loop back around to where you began in some form of moebius strip of reality. Also, realistic radiation poisoning and doses. Goddamn that's something I'd play. Well, I have to say, you do know what makes a good stalker. Actually it sounds pretty awesome; but what about weapons? A good Stalker should have some weapons too ... and some enemies; and right after the accident there were not a lot of those in the Zone. Only those guys who were shooting dogs had some weapons. And also there were a lot of people around there right after the accident. Maybe a scenario could be imagined in which you as a scientist fell into a coma right when the accident happened, locked up somewhere in the reactor where massive doses of radiation couldn't get at you, and mysteriously woke up after 2 months . And the men who were hired to shoot dogs were actually hired to shoot everything that moves (so that you have some human enemies... in true half-life 1 style).... actually this sounds too much like half life 1 But the main problem is, that for the tension and atmosphere of the game to get more intense towards the end you should somehow move towards the reactor, not away from it.
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Post by Διμι on Aug 4, 2010 19:31:15 GMT -5
I did suggest an idea like this on the old forums (or the lifeboat, can't remember which), but not to the 'year zero' extreme. Too much HL, not enough S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
I fear with a game like that, there would be no need for an expansive, immersive world to accommodate the many diverse NPCs, factions, side quests, creatures and locations we have seen in the past three games. More importantly, there would most likely be little replay value to it whatsoever.
It would essentially boil down to a 'you-against-the-world' streamlined atmospheric shooter with some clever puzzle elements to it. And although that works well enough, it is not at all what the series is made to represent, IMHO.
The very act of escaping some sort of hostile environment is, I feel, extremely overused in shooter games lately, and doesn't really allow the 'freedom' GSC has created for us with their games. The very nature of 'stalking' involves taking the risk, exploring these paranormal lands, and making a day-after-day living, hoping to attain riches whilst simply trying to survive. That, I think, is what makes a true stalker game. SoC captured it perfectly, and CS and CoP would have been just as good if they weren't carbon copies of it with some new plot quirks.
So although the idea of the story of a survivor in the Zone in its infancy is intriguing, I doubt that an actual game based on it would do the series justice.
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Post by Fusebox on Aug 5, 2010 22:13:56 GMT -5
The thing I'd like to see is a much more hostile environment. Things like making the mutants much smarter, more powerful, so prancing about alone in the zone would be a very bad idea, you;d have to be much more cautious lest you get jumped by a pack of pseudo dogs and torn to shreads. Also introducing more RPG elements, instead of the bare bones elemnts we have right now. For example, dialogue trees, the ability to do things like pay off bandits and hire mercs, etc.
And for the love of god, get some better voice actors, maybe revise the dialogue to fit better with each language. CoP's english voice acting was terrible. I'd prefer reading subtitles all the way through to hearing those people speak the terribly writen lines in that game.
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Post by imperialreign on Aug 7, 2010 22:43:00 GMT -5
Personally, I'd like to see one more title released on X-Ray . . . but only that it would contain all the levels from all 3 titles, plus a lot of what was cut out from the alpha builds. A full freeplay game with no storyline - just throw in the randomness of SoC with some recurring quests for good measure. But, I think Lost Alpha will probably end up fulfilling this roll.
Something just to tide us over while they're working on the big project.
There has been some rumour (possible confirmation from news sites?) that the lead dev has said they'll be making use of CryEngine3 . . . but, again, nothing has been directly said by GSC themselves. The only issue I forsee with them moving to a new game engine is the vast amounts of time it'll take to learn the engine, then restructure it and change it to their needs. it would probably be easier just to give the X-Ray engine a complete visual overhaul (instead of just some rendering "patches), and make some changes to certain gameplay aspects. Otherwise, there aren't many other game engines that can handle the same level of AI tasking that X-Ray can . . . which I can see as a big hinderance in changing engines . . . unless, of course, they (GSC) start getting some serious funding for such endeavours.
As to the RPG elements - meh. I'm not too keen on it, but what I'd like to see are some elements incoporated . . . just as long as everything is done "behind the scenes." I don't want to see any "skills" or "stats" listing, showing how close you are to the next level or anything like that. It'd be nice to see where certain things slowly improve as you progress, even more-so based upon one's playing style. Perhaps the actor can start gaining a slight resistance to certain types of anomaly damage, if they spend a lot of time mucking about in said anomalies looking for artifacts . . . perhaps the actor can slowly become accustomed to requiring less to eat, if they habitually starve themselves or go long periods without food . . . perhaps weapon accuracy, recoil and degredation rates slowly improve as the actor spends more time with one specific weapon compared to others. Think of it more like "proficiencies." There should also be converse "skills" that develop to balance things out, too. Use vodka more often than anti-rads to clear radiation? Perhaps you'll start gaining a dependancy to alcohol . . . you've grown somewhat immune to fire anomalies, but you're now more vulnerable to electric . . . you can go long lengths of time without eating, but you become tired more often, etc.
Just as long as everything is done behind the scenes, I'm cool with it. Small gradual changes wouldn't be noticed by the players at first, but would really stick out if you start a new game.
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Post by Διμι on Aug 7, 2010 23:11:50 GMT -5
I also don't care much for the RPG elements, although I would like weapon and armor stats to remain.
I've entertained the idea of a MMO-style S.T.A.L.K.E.R. universe game, but with none of the MMO-style progression RPG elements - e.g. stats, etc... Just a multiplayer experience with graphics solid enough to support atmospheric gameplay, a greater variety of equipment, multiple saveable characters, and slightly more expansive servers with a constantly changing game world (re-spawning mutants, migrating NPC groups, etc....) capable of supporting 20+ players at a time playing co-op or against one another depending on faction. No fancy colors, stats, damage meters, combat statistics, or hell, even name labels for the players. At all. Just stalker the way it was meant to be played, but en masse.
Of course, this means adding a huge variety of load-zone-oriented maps, new weapons and armors, a fuckload of models to distinguish things from one another to multiple people's convenience, etc...
I know this is wishful thinking, and suspect it will be met with much criticism from any purists now wishing to tear my throat out for even suggesting this.
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Post by Karcentric on Aug 8, 2010 3:24:52 GMT -5
I agree with you Dim, only I don't play MMO games. But if they did bring out a stalker MMO, I'd be tempted.
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Post by luftwaffe on Aug 8, 2010 10:06:25 GMT -5
Why the hell are you guys making a World of warcraft out of Stalker? No really, single-player is what made stalker awesome. Making an online multiplayer out of it would ruin it for me completely...make it a mmorpg and the best thing about stalker like the atmosphere and the scary loneliness in the zone are gone. Why do you guys even care about mmorpgs?? ... I'm disappointed. And why more RPG than it already is?? I'm sorry Fusebox but "dialogue trees" is one good step towards making a game to waste your life with.
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Post by Διμι on Aug 8, 2010 14:34:07 GMT -5
Alright. I respectfully disagree. Why the hell are you guys making a World of warcraft out of Stalker? I hate to be harsh here. > MMO = WoW > assumptions, assumptions I take it you've never played an actual MMO before. Neither have I. Let's reserve our forward judgments on this idea for now. And why more RPG than it already is?? I never said that. Once again, you're assuming that MMO = RPG. To quote myself: I specifically stated that all the RPG-like elements ought to be kept to a minimum, or, like Imp said, be kept off the screen. This is just like a co-op FPS, albeit on a greater scale. Once again, I'm suggesting an MMO, not an MMORPG. The two are completely different things, one allows for a great variety of gameplay directions, the other does not. the best thing about stalker like the atmosphere and the scary loneliness in the zone are gone. I hate to say this too, but the atmosphere IS gone regardless, even if you make another single player clone. Neither CS nor CoP did it for me. It just wasn't scary like SoC. It was re-hashed and pretty much turned into a mindless slaughter and mod-fest after the first week of playing. These games have absolutely no replay value for me at all, even with these great mods everyone's churning out. Zombie mode CoP caught my attention for a week, but now I've abandoned it again. We need something new. Something with more variety to it. Why do you guys even care about mmorpgs?? Personally, I do not. I have never played an MMO in my life. But this is an idea I'm interested in. I think it could work out very well, even if I can't quite visualize it at the moment. We ought to be put against the wall and shot for disappointing you.
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