• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl ⚠️|☢︎T|⚠️ Don't Be a Menace to Bloodsucker While Trying to Catch an Olive in The Zone

zeroluck

Member
You don't have to pick everything up. Take what you need and stash/sell what you don't. This game is a survival horror, and inventory management is often an integral part of the genre.

...or just play on PC and cheat to remove it. :messenger_grinning_smiling:
It would be fine if there are more locations to sell your shit except vendor in town, yeah I am gonna dl a mod.
 
Last edited:

Gonzito

Gold Member
The controller behaviour needs tweaking badly.

Line up your crosshair on a target in the distance (e.g fence post) and push up on the stick to walk in a straight line towards it. See how close you end up.

I’m often miles off, tottering towards it like I’ve been on the whisky all night. 😂

For bonus laughs, try and move your crosshair a pixel or two to the left or right. Laugh as it lurches a good inch or two across your screen.

It really is horrendous on default settings.

(Quality mode as I don’t see why I should skimp on graphics when the performance mode runs so poorly anyway).


Yeah man, its impossible to walk in a straight line i have never experienced a first person shooter videogame with such bad controls. I can tell this is their first time adding controller support to a videogame. It's a mess
 

Gonzito

Gold Member
Immediate top of the list fix needed:
-Always needing to compile shaders everytime you boot up the game.

Game's performance is so hard to gauge.

On a 3080 I can put it to 4K, Epic settings, DLSS quality, and turn on frame generation, and get 80 some fps, then it'll hitch all over the place to drop to 28, 47, 38. No rhyme or reason where or when. I was in the prologue area to get the location code in the bunker, and it was in the 20 some FPS, then a door opens at the end to the outside, and the whole area i've been in the last few minutes, is back to 60+ FPS, even though I haven't stepped outside yet? Super weird.

Tried to turn it down to 1440P, High settings on everything, DLSS balanced, frame gen on, and I'm now over 120FPS, but the same drops are eeeeeeverywhere.

I don't want to sit here, as I don't think anything exists, to hold a good visual and make it so I only hitch rarely. I also got a weird screen flicker from time to time, but the stuttering was making me actually sick so I had to stop playing.

I will say the invisible dude in the prologue was a nice fight, and the poltergeist on the ship was a cool touch. Lastly, the game in 4K on max settings really wasn't a looker, but that could be the prologue intro areas.

I may try again tomorrow with some other settings, but that's it for my initial try.

Another things that needs a fix badly is the lenght of the days. They are so short, you go out during daylight and 10 minutes later is fucking dark. I have no idea how they thought this was a good idea
 

Senua

Gold Member
It would be fine if there are more locations to sell your shit except vendor in town, yeah I am gonna dl a mod.
c3ZRWCk.gif
 

nashman

Member
Another things that needs a fix badly is the lenght of the days. They are so short, you go out during daylight and 10 minutes later is fucking dark. I have no idea how they thought this was a good idea
Awww is lil bit dark outside! You want to stay bright warm and inside. Maybe play some Astobot.

Its Fn Stalker deal with abit of jank. I played for 3 hours today no real bugs. Can name a bunch of games worse off on day one this year. Cant walk in a straight line? I tried both MnK and controller and ended up playing controller.
 

Gonzito

Gold Member
Awww is lil bit dark outside! You want to stay bright warm and inside. Maybe play some Astobot.

Its Fn Stalker deal with abit of jank. I played for 3 hours today no real bugs. Can name a bunch of games worse off on day one this year. Cant walk in a straight line? I tried both MnK and controller and ended up playing controller.

If you go to nexus, there is already 3 or 4 mods trying to make days longer.

This is not me complaining for the sake of complaining, it's almost the entire community doing it. It's really immersion breaking to have such short days in a game where immersion is everything

Same goes for RDR2 for example, where one of the most popular mods is the one that makes days last longer
 

BigLee74

Member
Another things that needs a fix badly is the lenght of the days. They are so short, you go out during daylight and 10 minutes later is fucking dark. I have no idea how they thought this was a good idea
You are right. The day/night cycle is way too short. I personally hate playing in the dark, so will always try and find a bed to sleep it out.
 

GymWolf

Member
Really trying to like this game but it's not stalker, it's Far Cry Chernobyl
i'm liking the game but yeah, for now it really feel like a more atmospheric, slightly harder\survival, more janky far cry with an even less interesting story\charas (but it's jist the beginning), i really haven't seen anything that i haven't seen in a far cry\similar games, from the random chaos to opposite factions fighting with animals in the mix etc, ai being decent at times, completely bugged other times, and enemy spawn out of thin air.

The a-live tech should be what separate stalker from the various far cry, days gone, fallout las vegas or any open world with dynamic chaos and factions, but for now it's not working or people hyped the hell out of this tech without playing other open worlds for the past 15 years, like the people praising the animal ecosystem in monster hunter without knowing that many other games have animal ecosystems...

On the positive side, the game continue to run pretty fine and relatively bug free, it seems like i'm pretty lucky because my experience with launch cyberpunk on pc was more positive than most bug wise, except for the clunkier controls (lack of vault on most surfaces etc.) it doesn't perform that much worse than a ubisoft game at launch and definitely better than a bethesda one.
And i'm still not having much problems with a controller, not perfect but definitely playable.
 
Last edited:

GymWolf

Member
Man, gun combat against multiple people at once is fucking hard in this game. Rookie difficulty ain't that much rookie :messenger_grinning_sweat:
Why playing on rookie my dude, stalker mode is the bare minimum for a challenge and even the last mode kinda shower you with medkits and ammo if you explore (but you die faster)

I think humans are harder because they take A LOT of punishement, unless you do an headshot, these people are way too resistant to gunfire, even when they don't have any visible armour.

I know there are stats for weapons, armours etc so you can feel the sense of progression and i'm ok with that, but when you have to fire half a mag to a dude with normal clothes to kill him, it look a bit dumb, ngl :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
Last edited:

SJRB

Gold Member
Why playing ln rookie my dude, stalker mode is the bare minimum for a challenge and even the last mode kinda ahower you with medkits and ammo.

I think humans are harder because they take A LOT of punishement, unless you do an headshot, these people are way too resistant to gunfire, even when they don't have any visible armour, it's kinda strange.

I switched to Rookie difficulty just to see how it would balance the damage scaling and humans still basically need to dump half a magazine to kill unless you headshot them. Dude's basically wearing a garbage bag and tanks 20 bullets before going down.

It's so strange. There are so many strange things with this game. Bizarre performance (even when bruteforcing performance DLSS with a 4070 the framerate is all over the place), health items sometimes not working, melee range seems scuffed (totally useless at the moment), the AI is really bad (they basically instantly know where you are which is a huge bummer), the enemies spawning right on top of you, the PDA takes WAYYYY too long to open and put away.

Fortunately pretty much all of this can be fixed with updates, so fingers crossed.

Also I miss the little message popups where stalkers would share info with each other. It really felt like you were part of a group in a world that's alive there but in this game you're just an American who walzes into the zone and larps as a stalker.
 

The Cockatrice

I'm retarded?
Played for a few minutes to see whats what, but I think I might wait on that AI update and just going to replay Metro until then.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Going to wait on some updates before continue the playthrough.

Performance on a 4080 laptop (basically a 4070 desktop), 64gb ddr5, 7000mbps SSD, 12gb of v-ram:

Performance is pretty brutal, in the first village i entered cpu usage gets hammered on a 12900hx, even with framegen getting low 60's, that has to be ironed out a bit more. A lot of hitches throughout villages and interactions which makes it feel super janky. Outside the fields i get ~100 fps however and it feels really solid and smooth ( max settings 3440x1440, performance dlss + framegen ).

Gameplay:

Not feeling it, enemy's are super spongy 4 shotgun bullets into a enemy still has him happily shooting, guns don't really shoot well, inventory system is kinda clunky and i play it on story mode.

AI is just bad, first camp i need to clear out everything aggro's instantly the moment i come close to the camp, can't imagine how badly this must be on harder difficulty's. The NPC's feel soulless, just feels unfinished all around.

Gunplay doesn't feel satisfying feels really unfinished.

The map system takes forever, why is there not a minimap, this skyrim bar is just terrible. Takes away lots of time that has to be fixed at some point.

All with all feels incredible unfinished, will play when its more optimized finished later.
 
Last edited:

DavidGzz

Member
You don't have to pick everything up. Take what you need and stash/sell what you don't. This game is a survival horror, and inventory management is often an integral part of the genre.

...or just play on PC and cheat to remove it. :messenger_grinning_smiling:

Boom. Exactly. From day 1 I've been using Wemod. No encumbrance, hoard everything, sell in bulk. I also hate the radiation shit so disabled that and needing to get drunk. Faster movement and higher jumps too. No more bullet sponges either. I increased my damage so it's more realistic. Playing my way.
 
Last edited:

Puscifer

Member
i'm liking the game but yeah, for now it really feel like a more atmospheric, slightly harder\survival, more janky far cry with an even less interesting story\charas (but it's jist the beginning), i really haven't seen anything that i haven't seen in a far cry\similar games, from the random chaos to opposite factions fighting with animals in the mix etc, ai being decent at times, completely bugged other times, and enemy spawn out of thin air.

The a-live tech should be what separate stalker from the various far cry, days gone, fallout las vegas or any open world with dynamic chaos and factions, but for now it's not working or people hyped the hell out of this tech without playing other open worlds for the past 15 years, like the people praising the animal ecosystem in monster hunter without knowing that many other games have animal ecosystems...

On the positive side, the game continue to run pretty fine and relatively bug free, it seems like i'm pretty lucky because my experience with launch cyberpunk on pc was more positive than most bug wise, except for the clunkier controls (lack of vault on most surfaces etc.) it doesn't perform that much worse than a ubisoft game at launch and definitely better than a bethesda one.
And i'm still not having much problems with a controller, not perfect but definitely playable.
So good to know I'm not crazy, GSC confirmed that 2 if the systems are competing with one another and it's what's causing the A-live system to not spawn and run properly. I'm down for streamlining cumbersome systems but they took a little too much inspiration from FarCry in certain ways like the healing and navigation.

I got the ultimate edition, but I'm willing to bet like Clear Sky and C.O.P. It'll all be ironed out long before those expansions come out. Anywho, I'm playing it still and I'm enjoying it more than my post from yesterday. If there's any MAJOR complaints it's the massive gun size that feels like it's taking up a 1/3rd of the screen
 

WX3

Member
As a fan of the original trilogy naturally I was very hyped for this game since its announcement. I am only about three hours into the game thus far, so I have barely scratched the surface. Early on, I must admit, I am pissed off about the controller situation. I wanted to enjoy the game on the couch with the lights down and the surround system turned up. I just cannot get used to the way the shit is currently. My PC runs the game great, so I wound up playing it in my office with my arthritic fingers trying to wrestle some sort of control with the mouse and keyboard combo. I've always had a PC for gaming, but moved away from the keyboard and mouse after old age, some injuries of the digits, arthurighthis, you get it. Basically I use a controller now, all the time, regardless. Stalker 2 forced me back behind the keyboard, until they fix the controller deal.
 

Gonzito

Gold Member
As a fan of the original trilogy naturally I was very hyped for this game since its announcement. I am only about three hours into the game thus far, so I have barely scratched the surface. Early on, I must admit, I am pissed off about the controller situation. I wanted to enjoy the game on the couch with the lights down and the surround system turned up. I just cannot get used to the way the shit is currently. My PC runs the game great, so I wound up playing it in my office with my arthritic fingers trying to wrestle some sort of control with the mouse and keyboard combo. I've always had a PC for gaming, but moved away from the keyboard and mouse after old age, some injuries of the digits, arthurighthis, you get it. Basically I use a controller now, all the time, regardless. Stalker 2 forced me back behind the keyboard, until they fix the controller deal.

If you have a playstation controller, you can use ds4 windows and increase the dead zone of both joysticks. It will make controls feel a bit better

That being said, there is something fundamentally wrong with the way the character moves with a controller, you can't walk in a straight line and it feels unresponsive.

Good news is that at least they are aware and probably will do something about it
 
  • Like
Reactions: WX3

Burger

Member
I'm going to park it as well I think, despite how enjoyable it is. Wait for PS5 version I think, hopefully a few months away.
 

DavidGzz

Member
As a fan of the original trilogy naturally I was very hyped for this game since its announcement. I am only about three hours into the game thus far, so I have barely scratched the surface. Early on, I must admit, I am pissed off about the controller situation. I wanted to enjoy the game on the couch with the lights down and the surround system turned up. I just cannot get used to the way the shit is currently. My PC runs the game great, so I wound up playing it in my office with my arthritic fingers trying to wrestle some sort of control with the mouse and keyboard combo. I've always had a PC for gaming, but moved away from the keyboard and mouse after old age, some injuries of the digits, arthurighthis, you get it. Basically I use a controller now, all the time, regardless. Stalker 2 forced me back behind the keyboard, until they fix the controller deal.

I wonder what percentage of people can't get the controller to work. It works fine for me. I can't stand FPS on keyboard. Aiming is great. Finding the flashlight button, crouch, reload, etc is annoying.
 

Diseased Yak

Gold Member
At night. I'm heading out on a side quest. I'm cutting across the fields, and see flashlights in the distance. 3 dudes are poking around several rusted out cars, talking amongst themselves. Decide to surprise attack as I have recently acquired a silenced pistol. I sneak closer, take careful aim and nail one in the side of the head, he drops like a sack of potatoes. The others, though, see this/know this and start lighting up the night with small arms fire. I quickly switch to my Viper and return fire, taking them out fairly quickly. Smiling, I start looting corpses.

Then I hear barking...
 
Reached the second big zone and promptly spent almost all my Tokens on upgrading this really nice armor I found.

Not sure if I want to upgrade weapons cause literally every enemy drops them, just use and discard.
I don't think it's worth upgrading anything so far, IMO. I'm constantly finding new gear.

One aspect of this game I'm enjoying is how you can be an asshole and just betray people for double rewards.
I'll help rookies and nice stalkers. But shady and rude people can get fucked.

Regarding controllers, I'm using my flydigis without issues. Steam version.
 

Bry0

Member
Suggestion for people who like anomaly/gamma.

Play on veteran, turn off the compass and turn off threat indicators, and become one with the zone.

A suggestion for yall saying humans are spongy, did you know there is hp and ap ammo? Enemies also wear equipment that effects their armor values, so if you aren’t using ap they take a lot more body shots. You really need to consider all these mechanics. Most of the complaints I’ve seen are partially related to people not understanding mechanics (understandable because they aren’t explained well to be frank!) on PC press N to swap ammo type. No idea what the button is for controllers.
 
Last edited:

geary

Member


Ahhh nuuuu, cheeki breeki i v damke

1 mil copies sold in 1 day while being on gamepass and being full of bugs? Dragon Age fans in shambles....
It comes to mind the devs from Guerilla/Ubisoft that were salty ER sold millions while "not having an UI and quest/quest markers"
 

Peroroncino

Member
1 mil copies sold in 1 day while being on gamepass and being full of bugs? Dragon Age fans in shambles....
It comes to mind the devs from Guerilla/Ubisoft that were salty ER sold millions while "not having an UI and quest/quest markers"

And it's not out on PS5 yet, pretty damn good start for a franchise that was on ice for over 14 years
 
Last edited:

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Because people can’t normally carry 900lbs of gear. Unless you’re playing Death Stranding and wearing a power suit.

Gc_1zbobIAAaXDL
Yes and eating a sausage in real life doesn’t restore my health after I get shot and am bleeding.

It’s a video game bro. Perhaps they compromise is just let rookie mode carry whatever or give an option on the menu to enable carrying 3x what you can now or some shit.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
Yes and eating a sausage in real life doesn’t restore my health after I get shot and am bleeding.

It’s a video game bro. Perhaps they compromise is just let rookie mode carry whatever or give an option on the menu to enable carrying 3x what you can now or some shit.
Or maybe play a game that fits the way you want to play instead of compromising the vision of this game. Not every game needs to be for everyone, and that’s fine.
 
i'm going to buy this just to support the devs have it on GP too but these guys deserve to get rewarded for all the shit they have had to gone through. Love the original even though i never finished it. I remember it being very unforgiving. From what i'm hearing this sounds like they have stuck to the original philosophy and that is very good news in this day and age of games that hand hold you every step. Nothing really wrong with modern games but is good to get these sorts of games too.
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Or maybe play a game that fits the way you want to play instead of compromising the vision of this game. Not every game needs to be for everyone, and that’s fine.
This isn’t “give me an easy mode” in dark souls.

This is let me carry more things lol.😂

An option toggle or making it part of rookie mode fits that exactly. Standard mode doesn’t need it.

That way everyone wins.
 

DanielG165

Member

Yup. I learned very quickly how devastating just ONE bullet can be on normal difficulty. Out of bandages? Have fun bleeding out slowly, as the med kits won’t save you. It’s difficult, it’s incredibly tense, and unforgiving.

As Ninja Gaiden is my favorite gaming franchise of all time… I love this stuff. I love slowly clearing a large house or abandoned building due to not knowing what the hell might be in there. I love walking on eggshells in the zone because an anomaly or horrible mutant might send me 7 feet under. I adore stumbling across a firefight between two factions, and thinking on the fly if I can really take that on, or if it’s better to kite them and pretend that I didn’t see anything.

The only apt comparison to this would be Metro Exodus, in how resources are sparse and important, and you can only take so much damage. However, even then, Stalker 2 is a completely different, and imo, better beast because of how much more tense it is. The town that I’m in now where Stalkers sit around and tell jokes and play guitar, may as well be my in-game parent with how safe I feel after all of the other crazy stuff I’d just gone through lol.
 

DanielG165

Member
Suggestion for people who like anomaly/gamma.

Play on veteran, turn off the compass and turn off threat indicators, and become one with the zone.

A suggestion for yall saying humans are spongy, did you know there is hp and ap ammo? Enemies also wear equipment that effects their armor values, so if you aren’t using ap they take a lot more body shots. You really need to consider all these mechanics. Most of the complaints I’ve seen are partially related to people not understanding mechanics (understandable because they aren’t explained well to be frank!) on PC press N to swap ammo type. No idea what the button is for controllers.
Much appreciated for this!
 

GymWolf

Member
I don't think it's worth upgrading anything so far, IMO. I'm constantly finding new gear.

One aspect of this game I'm enjoying is how you can be an asshole and just betray people for double rewards.
I'll help rookies and nice stalkers. But shady and rude people can get fucked.

Regarding controllers, I'm using my flydigis without issues. Steam version.
If you do that you are gonna have all the factions against you sooner or later (if the system work).

I only kill who shot first, there is way enough loot everywhere without the need for killing any rude dude :lollipop_grinning_sweat:


Btw i'm not sure how some of you have resource scarcity unless you don't explore at all, i'm like 3 hours into the game and i have like 12 medkit, 14 bandages, hundreds of bullets in one weapon, 45 in another and like 60 in the pistol, it doesn't feel survival at all in terms of resource scarcity like something like tlou2 on grounded where you find 1-2 bullets tops and have to kill half the enemies on stealth or melee and you can't waste a single bullet or it's better to reload because you are royally fucked otherwise, the only survival aspect seems to be the damage you take and how tanky enemies are but a lot of games on harder difficulty let you die in 1-3 hits tops, and not all of them let you save scum like stalker.

I feel like i'm playing a different game than what some people describe, even cohh that is an historic stalker fanboy was surprised by how many loot there is in the game literally everywhere (it feels more like a slightly harder fallout\far cry mix more than a survival).
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom