S.T.A.L.K.E.R Help

[Champion360]

I was wondering which stalker game i should get first, any suggestions.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

I reckon Call of Pripyat, the latest one.

It's the most polished and best S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game gameplay wise overall, however you'll miss out on a fair chunk of whats going on the games world without playing Shadow of Chernobyl.
Though if you had to pick between all three of them, I'd say Call of Pripyat.

Clear Sky isn't bad either, but it's also not all that good.

 

[Still Life]

I reckon Call of Pripyat, the latest one.

It's the most polished and best S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game gameplay wise overall, however you'll miss out on a fair chunk of whats going on the games world without playing Shadow of Chernobyl.
Though if you had to pick between all three of them, I'd say Call of Pripyat.

Clear Sky isn't bad either, but it's also not all that good.

QFT

It's a good entry point. I'd also look at SoC, as it's the first entry in the series and will help in making sense of the story and the environment. Knowing the story and some of the details will amplify the atmosphere which is something the game relies on. Do yourself a favor and grab the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Complete mods; they add considerable visual and gameplay enhancements.

Enjoy!

 

[The Madman]

I'd say start with Shadow of Chernobyl. I think most people will say that Pripyat is the best of the series, and I can certainly see where they're coming from, but the first game still stands as possibly the most memorable with a slew of scenario still emblazoned in peoples minds. The game that turned it into a franchise worth notice.

With the Complete Mod it's also a damned solid experience in terms of visuals as well. Pretty much all the bugs and issues which plagued the game on release since having been cleaned up.

So yeah, Shadow of Chernobyl plus the Complete is my suggestion. Might as well start at the beginning, especially when the beginning is so damned good!

 

[Champion360]

Thanks for the help everybody i'll be buying Shadow of Chernobyl.

 

[GiantRaven]

The first one. It has the highest amount of interesting mods.

 

[Still Life]

Quote for nonsense, ignore these two and start with the first one, there is a story in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. maybe you can choose a random Halo "game" and play that, but it won't work here.

Edit: Never mind you chose right and started with the first. Don't forget Clear Sky though, it never goes on sale sadly.

Yeah.

I recommended both. Brush up on your comprehension skills please, before you act like a snob.

 

[Still Life]

I'd say start with Shadow of Chernobyl. I think most people will say that Pripyat is the best of the series, and I can certainly see where they're coming from, but the first game still stands as possibly the most memorable with a slew of scenario still emblazoned in peoples minds.

Yes. The first game had some really great levels. I personally loved the X labs and just the all-round dense atmosphere the game produced. It's really up between SoC and CoP. CoP is much more polished, performs better and is still a really solid and exciting game. I don't think you can go wrong with either, depending on your needs.

If you really want to invest in the series, then SoC is the best place to start; otherwise if you just want something a bit different and 'out there', CoP is the game for n00bs.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I recommended both. Brush up on your comprehension skills please, before you act like a snob.

You recommended starting with the last game, and there are three parts the the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games, have you even played them? Doubt it. Yes, please do brush up on your comprehension skills, will help you later in life.

You should really read more than the first sentence of a person's post before committing to an argument.

 

[RJ Dalton]

I've only played Shadows of Chernobyl, but I loved that game. It had excellent atmosphere and really challenging gameplay in ways that very few shooters do. It had shit tons of bugs in it, unfortunantely, but you can download a free patch that actually fixes most of them (possibly all; I haven't run into any major bugs since I got the patch, but I doubt it, as every game has a few bugs, no matter how hard you try) and adds a few more elements to the game, so I'd say the first is worth playing. Of course, I'm fairly tolerant of a lot of things that seem to bug other people really badly, so I still thought the first was worth playing even without the patch. Annoying at points, but still worth playing.

 

[Mekado]

Yeah, as many people said i'd go shadow of chernobyl first, with complete 2009 patch (fixes 95% of the bugs).It'll give you a backstory, and get you aquainted with STALKER difficulty (it's a rough shooter, you die fast and often if you're not careful).It also has the best "shit your pants" scary underground levels (someone mentionned the X labs...)

I'd go with Call of prypiat 2nd (it's the 3rd game) it's the most polished one, though Prypiat itself could use some work...it's my favorite game in the series though.Crossing the tunnel into Prypiat with your team was really something else

Clear Sky (game #2) last, not because it ain't good (it *would* be my favorite except...) but because it has a metric ton of bugs in it.The faction wars and stuff is very interesting but the game is very unstable, sad because it had a lot of promise.

Word to the wise, don't get discouraged at first, you'll suck for a little while

 

[SJXarg]

(Yes I know the OP has already made his choice, I'm making this post to help out anyone else who might be on the fence about this great game series.)

1. Shadow of Chernobyl

It's the first game in the series (by release date, not by storyline), it has great mods, and being the first it has a lot of info about people in the Zone, explanations of things, and no blowouts (unless modded in).

2. Call of Pripyat

This carries on after Shadow of Chernobyl with a different protagonist, looks more polished, handles better (in my opinion), and features a new Zone map with a different take on anomalous behaviour. Great game, love it. The Pripyat Complete mod is now out, so you can pimp the visuals out even more.

3. Clear Skies

This game came out second, but the storyline occurs before Shadow of Chernobyl, and you play as a different character again. The base version of this game is buggy as hell, though I hear Clear Skies Complete (and the 1.05? patch you need to run Complete) have done an admirable job of fixing most of the problems. I never got far enough in this game (about halfway through I think, before game breaking error and updating killed my save) to know how good the story is for this game, so I would rank it LAST on the priority list (and it never goes on special, whyyyy ;_; )

Hope this post helps anyone else on the fence about which title to begin their adventures in the Zone.

 

[Still Life]

I recommended both. Brush up on your comprehension skills please, before you act like a snob.

You recommended starting with the last game, and there are three parts the the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games, have you even played them? Doubt it. Yes, please do brush up on your comprehension skills, will help you later in life.

It's a good entry point. I'd also look at SoC, as it's the first entry in the series and will help in making sense of the story and the environment.

I've taken the liberty of highlighting my dual recommendation for the you.

If you really want to invest in the series, then SoC is the best place to start; otherwise if you just want something a bit different and 'out there', CoP is the game for n00bs.

Yeah.

I recommended both. Brush up on your comprehension skills please, before you act like a snob.