What's going on with the negative reviews?

[Mutant Cowboy Turtle]

OK let me start off by saying that I friggin LOVED GAMMA and Anomaly, however, I played the first game not far from it's release date and all other games pretty much as they were released

What's up with the negative reviews? I dont mean the ones that say it's a good game but cant recommend it in its current state, those are understandable

I am talking about those that talk about features that supposedly existed in the original games but not in this one

The ALife system - From what I understand GSC removed it temporarily in order to fix it but I've seen similarities between the current AI and the original. I've seen Stalkers wandering about the map, not as frequently as in Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat but I did see them, they werent just standing at the bases

Enemy AI - I dunno they pretty much behave like in the original games to me, they dont just sit there and take shots at you, at least from my limited experience so far

Anomalies - Some can be temporarily discharged and some are just unavoidable much like in the original games

Mutant body part system - Yes it feels missing, I kinda agree on this one but IMO it's a minor detail

Faction wars - This was a major thing in Clear Sky but I dont recall it being a big deal in other games outside of "everybody fights bandits and Monolith" or "Duty fights Freedom", either way I did witness Stalkers of different factions trying to kill one another

Performance and stability - I am sorry but the original games were pretty damn notorious for being a mess on day one and later after that, difference is that this time GSC is much more involved in fixing the game as so while the performance and bugs do frustrate me, based on previous experience and context I am kinda OK with that, wish the game was a bit more polished on release though

I do wish there was a rudimentary crafting system of sorts and a way to maintain our gear but that's just me

What are your thoughts?

[thestile]

I think that a lot of people have faulty memories when it comes to the things they're nostalgic about. I think sometimes, the bad is forgotten. And I do mean "sometimes".

And about The crafting, I personally love crafting systems. I've always enjoyed that in all the games I've played. Even simplistic crafting

[Magos Sikes]

controller support is fk busted, ill change my review when they fix it

[Mutant Cowboy Turtle]

Originally posted by thestile:

I think that a lot of people have faulty memories when it comes to the things they're nostalgic about. I think sometimes, the bad is forgotten. And I do mean "sometimes".

From personal experience that's not sometimes

[Dundo]

The problem lies in the fact that the game really hasn't improved from a gameplay perspective in comparison to the originals that were released more than a decade ago.

If you haven't sunk a lot of time in the originals it might not be as apparent. I'm sure you can have a lot of fun with the game too, but it doesn't feel complete.

If your marketing is based on improvements in comparison to older titles, well people will want to see the improvements. And let me tell you, visual aspect aside, there aren't that many.

So why would you shell out $60 for this when for that money you could get all three originals when they're not discounted and some beer to go with them? ♥♥♥♥, you could get Anomaly/GAMMA for free afterwards to expand on the originals even.

It hasn't improved enough save for visuals and isn't different enough to stand on it's own.

[Kickaxe88]

If the game would actually run correctly then i'd actually be able to worry about the game mechanics

[Sniffing Aficionado]

game seems cool but after playing for 15 minutes it starts lagging like crazy. ive got a powerful new rig too.

[Joew]

1- Spawns Based Near the Player:
Enemies spawn close to the player, making it pointless to check if an area is safe or to develop strategies. For example, if you take a sniper rifle, climb to the top of a tower, and aim at a distant building to check for enemies so you can plan your approach, you might see the area is clear. But as soon as you get closer—boom—a bunch of enemies suddenly spawn. This completely undermines tactical gameplay. The game ends up being just an arcade shooter where you stock up on ammo and rush straight into fights.

2- Terrible AI:
The enemies act like they have aimbot hacks. They don’t recognize bushes, trees, whether you’re inside or outside a building, or even walls. In the first battle with humans during the prologue, every single enemy was constantly shooting at me. The problem is, they all somehow knew my exact location but failed to realize there was a massive wall between us. Every shot they fired hit the wall. How can anyone enjoy a game with such a critical problem? And that’s just one of the countless bugs. :P

[oldagetron]

Alot of people think the game isnt very good, no matter how excited and hyped for a game you are never view it through rose tinted glasses.

[rustypup]

Originally posted by Sniffing Aficionado:

ive got a powerful new rig too.

Nope. You've got a pretty case full of big numbers - and bottlenecks because you mistook big numbers for performance.

Running fine on an absolute potato because it was built with all due care and consideration.

[PimpSoBack]

The distance where the game stops rendering enemies is also trash, even on EPIC settings.

Try looking through a scope at the Cordon -> down to the patrols at the military camp.

You'll see there's really no place for sniping with NPC's not rendering past 150 meters or so.

[rustypup]

Originally posted by oldagetron:

Alot of <snip>

Alot - apportion/assign
A lot - a great deal of

[Praesi]

The answer is easy. The Game is unfinished and broken and is missing critical key features.
Its by no means anywhere near a releaseworthy state.
Im a Stalker Fan since Day one and played all Stalker many times, OG and TC´s. Stalker 2 in its current state is early access at best.
No pink bubble one may lives in can change the facts.

[Turkwise]

The only problem that matters is the fact that ALife is completely nonexistent right now. Everything else is easily fixable but the ALife is a huge issue.
If you havent noticed how fake the npcs "roaming" are then I dont know what to tell you. They are literally spawning in from nothing like random encounters, they dont exist in any way other than that.

[Praesi]

Originally posted by Turkwise:

The only problem that matters is the fact that ALife is completely nonexistent right now. Everything else is easily fixable but the ALife is a huge issue.
If you havent noticed how fake the npcs "roaming" are then I dont know what to tell you. They are literally spawning in from nothing like random encounters, they dont exist in any way other than that.

Yep. Thats the main killer for me too. Immersion?...nope.

[PimpSoBack]

I wouldn't give a bad review over these complaints to follow, but there are many minor areas where this falls below even the OG games.

There's no radio option on the PDA. There's no text chatter. Every regular Stalker you can trade with does so at horrible prices and only ever sells you a single bullet which seems like an insult or a threat. There's bad variation on the generic money making tasks.
The repairs and upgrades cost too much for what the quest rewards give you, forcing grinding on spawns to get ahead financially. Like I said, the draw distance for sniping purposes is ass. The mutants always hide if they can't path to you, and really never run away if they get hurt or can't win.

TLDR: Economy bad, A-life missing bad. AI and rendering distance need buffs.

There's plenty of good stuff too, but performance/bugs is not one of them but I expected that and patches are gonna come. The most of the above I'm complaining about can more or less be easily modded and fixed that way. I really love the anomalies for instance!