GSC Shines Some Light on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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GSC Shines Some Light on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2


GSC Game World [http://www.gsc-game.com/] has posted a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Q&A on Facebook that doesn't actually reveal much about the game except that it will be bigger, better and still a PC-centric game.

GSC Game World hasn't had much to say about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 since it put up on Facebook [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102782-S-T-A-L-K-E-R-2-Announced-Could-Ambush-Multiple-Platforms] doesn't do much to change that situation. But it does serve up a few tidbits that will hopefully be enough to keep the rabid S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan base sated for at least the next year or so.

Much of what it reveals isn't terribly surprising. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will abandon the aged X-Ray engine that powered the first three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. [http://www.amazon.com/S-T-L-K-R-CALL-PRIPYAT/dp/B002QE22DQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1294851989&sr=8-4] titles in favor of new, proprietary multi-platform software, and will tell a new story with new characters, although "some good old ones" will return as well. The game will feature "more of a survival element," whatever that means, and although it will apparently bring S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to consoles for the first time ever, the PC version won't suffer as a result.

"Since we develop primarily on PC, you won't see any compromises in the PC version," the Q&A says. "The key difference between the PC and console versions will be the beauty of graphics (meaning PC will offer more visual effects)." The new game will support DirectX 11 and GSC also promised that interface options like the map and inventory won't be affected by the move to multiple platforms.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will take place in the triangle between the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the city of Chernobyl and Chernobyl 2, the former Soviet military installation containing the famous, massive "Steel Yard [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Yard]" radar antenna. Faction wars are out, new mutants are in and there will be more "X-Labs" and other underground complexes to explore and be terrified by.

That's about it, really. GSC declined to answer questions about things like the possibility of more advanced NPC interactions or whether the Zone will be one giant playing field or divided up as it was in previous games, so there's still a lot left to learn. We'll probably have awhile to wait before we find out, too; S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 isn't expected to come out until sometime in 2012.


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Chrono212

Fluttershy has a mean K:DR
May 19, 2009
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Please, please, please be open world!
If there's one thing that discoraged me, and this is a personal thing, was the real lack of going nuts and anywhere but where I'm meant to be like in the new Fallout games.

But still, more survival elements will be welcomed by me as I <3 hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas plus the harshness of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. :p
 

Sacman

Don't Bend! Ascend!
May 15, 2008
22,661
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Hmm... a Multi platform release... I suppose I can get one of my friends to play it but I'll be getting it on PC definitely...

I'm also looking forward to the more survival elements... I hope it brings back the skull crushing difficulty of the first 2 games Call Of Pripyat was too easy for a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game...<.<
 

Wolfram23

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Mar 23, 2004
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Looking forward to seeing more of this. STALKER: CoP is one of my favorite FPS/RPGs.

I hope they're learning from the mod community too as far as what people really want.
 

Arachon

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Jun 23, 2008
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Hey, as long as they don't dumb it down I'm all good. But since they're saying that the only difference will be visual fidelity, it sort of suggests that PC gamers will have to conform to the consoles limited interface.
 

thethingthatlurks

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Feb 16, 2010
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Might as well transcribe my thought process:

Much of what it reveals isn't terribly surprising. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will abandon the aged X-Ray engine that powered the first three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. [http://www.amazon.com/S-T-L-K-R-CALL-PRIPYAT/dp/B002QE22DQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1294851989&sr=8-4] titles in favor of new
YAY!

proprietary multi-platform software
BOO!
and will tell a new story with new characters, although "some good old ones" will return as well. The game will feature "more of a survival element," whatever that means
YAY!
and although it will apparently bring S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to consoles for the first time ever
BOO!
the PC version won't suffer as a result.
DOUBLE YAY!

"Since we develop primarily on PC, you won't see any compromises in the PC version," the Q&A says. "The key difference between the PC and console versions will be the beauty of graphics (meaning PC will offer more visual effects)." The new game will support DirectX 11 and GSC also promised that interface options like the map and inventory won't be affected by the move to multiple platforms.
TRIPLE YAY!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 will take place in the triangle between the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the city of Chernobyl and Chernobyl 2, the former Soviet military installation containing the famous, massive "Steel Yard [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Yard]" radar antenna.
YAY!
Faction wars are out
BOO!
new mutants are in and there will be more "X-Labs" and other underground complexes to explore and be terrified by.
YAY!

Well, let's stay hopeful! STALKER was a really good game, but one which unfortunately suffered from having all of its most promising features removed. It's still one of my favourtie FPSs of the past decade, however, and I'll look forward to more STALKER. Oh, and more murdering those nightstalker things. VENGEANCE!
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
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I'm cool with getting a shitty console port of a PC game.

PC gamers are used to getting screwed, I don't mind getting screwed over on occasion.

Hell, I played F.E.A.R. 1 on consoles.
 

wildpeaks

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Dec 25, 2008
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Cuy said:
MORE X LABS YOU SAY?!



STALKER is one of, if not my absolute, favorite series of all time. It probably has the best modding community out there none the less. Just look at stuff like STALKER complete, AMK and AtmosFEAR. I'm sure things will only get even more amazing with STALKER 2.
I usually run and go "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh get off me, get off me !" when doing that level, so I'm definitely looking forward to more labs.

Also, I wish for a 3dsmax exporter one day :( They updated the SDK for CoP this month, but helas, still no luck on that side.
 

Assassin Xaero

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Jul 23, 2008
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Multiplatform? Uh oh. This could either go one of two ways:
1. The game is a lot easier and you don't die as fast (bad).
2. The game won't go over very well on consoles because it isn't like Halo or Call of Duty where you can take a hundred bullets to the head and live while the enemies only take a 9mm round to the toe to die (good).

Half the fun of the game was that you couldn't go running in guns blazing...
 

Jennacide

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Dec 6, 2007
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Chrono212 said:
Please, please, please be open world!
If there's one thing that discoraged me, and this is a personal thing, was the real lack of going nuts and anywhere but where I'm meant to be like in the new Fallout games.

But still, more survival elements will be welcomed by me as I <3 hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas plus the harshness of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. :p
Did you play Call of Pripyat, the newest one? It had a more open world to it, as the world was only subdivided into three major sections.

Either way I'm psyched for the next game. I really hope they've worked out thier issues with 4A Games and can use the 4A Engine (which was basically a fixed and better looking X-ray) or something of that caliber for STALKER 2. The only thing that worries me is the same thing as always, hope they've learned finally how to make better end segments. The final areas of all three STALKER games so far have been awful. The warzone outside Chernobyl in SoC and the entirity of Pripyat in Call were just beyond bad, when the rest of the games up to those point were amazing.
 

Chrono212

Fluttershy has a mean K:DR
May 19, 2009
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Jennacide said:
Chrono212 said:
Please, please, please be open world!
If there's one thing that discoraged me, and this is a personal thing, was the real lack of going nuts and anywhere but where I'm meant to be like in the new Fallout games.

But still, more survival elements will be welcomed by me as I <3 hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas plus the harshness of the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. :p
Did you play Call of Pripyat, the newest one? It had a more open world to it, as the world was only subdivided into three major sections.

Either way I'm psyched for the next game. I really hope they've worked out thier issues with 4A Games and can use the 4A Engine (which was basically a fixed and better looking X-ray) or something of that caliber for STALKER 2. The only thing that worries me is the same thing as always, hope they've learned finally how to make better end segments. The final areas of all three STALKER games so far have been awful. The warzone outside Chernobyl in SoC and the entirity of Pripyat in Call were just beyond bad, when the rest of the games up to those point were amazing.
I enjoyed the hell out of Shadow of Chernobyl.
Isn't the A4 Engine what they used for Metro 2033? if it is, it looks sort of ok on the Xbox but not great...
 

GiantRaven

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Dec 5, 2010
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In all honesty the less we know now the better because we don't want to get too hyped up in advance. Does anyone really expect the game to be out in 2012?
 

Dogstile

New member
Jan 17, 2009
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Assassin Xaero said:
Multiplatform? Uh oh. This could either go one of two ways:
1. The game is a lot easier and you don't die as fast (bad).
2. The game won't go over very well on consoles because it isn't like Halo or Call of Duty where you can take a hundred bullets to the head and live while the enemies only take a 9mm round to the toe to die (good).

Half the fun of the game was that you couldn't go running in guns blazing...
Why is it doing bad on consoles a good thing? Surely if they do well on consoles they get more money, and more money = more good games.

Also, BOO FACTION WARS BEING OUT
 

thethingthatlurks

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Feb 16, 2010
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GiantRaven said:
In all honesty the less we know now the better because we don't want to get too hyped up in advance. Does anyone really expect the game to be out in 2012?
After the release debacle with SoC, I don't expect to be out until the day after hell freezes over. But hey, at least they did deliver a (mostly) functional game, so here's to hoping...
 

rembrandtqeinstein

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Sep 4, 2009
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STALKER SOC was one of the best games of all time. It dripped with atmosphere and you can tell how lovingly each environment was crafted.

It is a member of the holy trinity of STALKER, Deus Ex, and System Shock 2 as games you could lose yourself in.

The whole "quest hub" feel of COP took away too much of the loneliness. Other than the famous but really short bloodsucker lair scene there wasn't any "fear" moments like pantswettingly scary X labs of SOC.

I hope the team takes the "Oblivion Lost" mod as their inspiration because that is really the way the game was MEANT to be.
 

Thedutchjelle

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Mar 31, 2009
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I'm a bit sad they didn't try to make the zone bigger. When looking at the map, the triangle of the zone they want to include is pretty much 99% forest. Why I would be fine with that (the Red Forest in SOC was so disappointing imo), I'm still hoping that one day we'll get a full scale zone. I'm a big fan of exploring , especially the Zone.

I wouldn't mind at all having to revisit the CNPP and Pripyat, but in CoP Pripyat was to empty, yet in SOC the whole area was a warzone. I havent seen them do it right yet,