Skif feels like a total buffoon.

[Daryl]

Cut scenes makes him look somewhat of a badass but dude gets killed by just few bites from dogs or rats, can't climb hills that have ledges literally on his waist level and his raw pasta legs crumble from just falling two feet.

What kind of character is that? Certainly not realistic.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Well first of all everyone dies if their throat gets ripped out by a dog.

Secondly he isn't just running around, he's lugging like 20-30 kilograms of gear (which is 70ish pounds of stuff) around with him, in a gas mask and body armor, doing heavy physical activity for hours on end.

Sure you wouldn't be hurt from a two foot fall, but now try falling five feet with an extra 70 pounds of gear strapped to your body and see how your knees feel after doing that 2-3 times. Spoiler alert, you're not going to enjoy it.

[Mike]

Well in the cut-scene you don't control him, outside of cut-scene YOU control him, so maybe its not "skif" thats the issue here lol.

[+:*［B13區］Fish*:+]

Haha, totally agree! In real life, I jumped down from 15 feet and only ended up with my knee hitting my chin and biting my tongue, that's it. But Skif in the game jumps down and dies instantly

[WeaverDuck]

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Well first of all everyone dies if their throat gets ripped out by a dog.

Secondly he isn't just running around, he's lugging like 20-30 kilograms of gear (which is 70ish pounds of stuff) around with him, in a gas mask and body armor, doing heavy physical activity for hours on end.

Sure you wouldn't be hurt from a two foot fall, but now try falling five feet with an extra 70 pounds of gear strapped to your body and see how your knees feel after doing that 2-3 times. Spoiler alert, you're not going to enjoy it.

When it comes to "realistic" this dude ^ is right. if you wear 40kg of stuff (tested with training vest), especialy without any preparation you will feel even your normal jump (wont be a high one) and not in a good way. If you want realistic this is realistic.

[Mutant Cowboy Turtle]

He feels like the average action game protagonist

*cough* V *cough*

[Joikax]

He is, but not for the reasons you state.

Out of all the main characters in this franchise he's the least qualified to be one.
Absolutelly random bloke with no other reason to be in the Zone (let alone dangerously uncover its secrets) besides the fact that his appartment got a small section blown off and an artifact happened to be in one of his laundry baskets.
So the reason he keeps going deeper without looking back is because some dudes stole the rock he found in his basket after trying to re-energize it?, even though he's catching similar artifacts in working condition left and right throughout the game? YAWN.



Strelok (Marked One), Scar and Major Degtyarev all had proper reasons to not only be in the Zone but to keep digging further.
Comparativelly this guy is just, as you said, a bufoon.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Originally posted by Mutant Cowboy Turtle:

He feels like the average action game protagonist

*cough* V *cough*

Uh, V could jump like 30 feet straight up maybe he's not a good person to use in this instance since he could literally jump over most of the houses in this game from a stand still.

Also, is he literally just here to get a rock that formed in a laundry basket?

Like you're not pulling my leg here that's actually his motivation?

[King of Yugoslavia]

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Originally posted by Mutant Cowboy Turtle:

He feels like the average action game protagonist

*cough* V *cough*

Uh, V could jump like 30 feet straight up maybe he's not a good person to use in this instance since he could literally jump over most of the houses in this game from a stand still.

V is a cyborg with augmented little toes. And Skif is a human that took a lot of beating even in tutorial. When you carry 50 kg of gear, even if you can do pullups with it, youd rather save as much energy as possible for unexpected encounters. From gameplay perspective, stalker 2 movement is closer to oldschool shooters like half-life and all pullups and vaulting skif does, id just a glorified jump animation. Level design is planned in metrics in mind, like running speed, jump height, fall height. If you cant stand this artifical mechanics, why are you okay with inability to cut through barbed wire, or blasting holes in walls, or instant healing gun wounds with a single syringe injection. Git gud

[Serpiko82]

Originally posted by Joikax:

He is, but not for the reasons you state.

Out of all the main characters in this franchise he's the least qualified to be one.
Absolutelly random bloke with no other reason to be in the Zone (let alone dangerously uncover its secrets) besides the fact that his appartment got a small section blown off and an artifact happened to be in one of his laundry baskets.
So the reason he keeps going deeper without looking back is because some dudes stole the rock he found in his basket after trying to re-energize it?, even though he's catching similar artifacts in working condition left and right throughout the game? YAWN.

Strelok (Marked One), Scar and Major Degtyarev all had proper reasons to not only be in the Zone but to keep digging further.
Comparativelly this guy is just, as you said, a bufoon.

Not going to fully deny your points, since indeed we don't know much about Skif (at least in the beginning, I'm unaware of any revelations further on), except that he's a young man with "some" past military training.

But still, the context of the introduction and several lines of Skif himself more or less explicitly imply that he was already somewhat an outcast in the outside world, so that his house blowing up was just the last straw, leading him to accept the job from Herman and step into the Zone. Non only that, but even when Herman panics and tells him to come back, Skif refuses stating that "he's got nothing to come back to", so he'd rather risk his life in the Zone than come back empty handed.

Hence, his initial motivations may not be as deep as those of previous protagonists, but nonetheless I think he's still a good representative of an "average" rookie stalker, without a cool origin story, but just sneaking into the Zone out of necessity and lack of alternatives.

[atrox]

Originally posted by Joikax:

Absolutelly random bloke with no other reason to be in the Zone (let alone dangerously uncover its secrets) besides the fact that his appartment got a small section blown off and an artifact happened to be in one of his laundry baskets.
So the reason he keeps going deeper without looking back is because some dudes stole the rock he found in his basket after trying to re-energize it?, even though he's catching similar artifacts in working condition left and right throughout the game? YAWN.

Strelok (Marked One), Scar and Major Degtyarev all had proper reasons to not only be in the Zone but to keep digging further.
Comparativelly this guy is just, as you said, a bufoon.

Yeah, I questioned Skifs motivation right after the prologue. Sure - he got betrayed, but why risk his life in the most dangerous area on the planet for something he doesn't even know what it does? Why not simply leave, repair his home and get back to the life he obviously had before?

The interesting stuff happens quite late, and there is no early clue/hint for Skif to expect so.

There is no tie to the artifact, no reason to hunt it, so why does he go after it? Really weak spot in the story and not well explained.

It's unclear for me what drives Skif - revenge, curiosity, killing for fun, making money?

[Mutant Cowboy Turtle]

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Originally posted by Mutant Cowboy Turtle:

He feels like the average action game protagonist

*cough* V *cough*

Uh, V could jump like 30 feet straight up maybe he's not a good person to use in this instance since he could literally jump over most of the houses in this game from a stand still.

Also, is he literally just here to get a rock that formed in a laundry basket?

Like you're not pulling my leg here that's actually his motivation?

I said that because they sound identical, V just has more dramatic moments

[Daryl]

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Well first of all everyone dies if their throat gets ripped out by a dog.

Duh of course you die if your throat gets ripped by a dog.
But they are not biting your neck aren't they? They are just poking your legs.

I have fallen with 20kg of stuff and yea I got injured but I just didn't instantly die from it like this slump.

[Aldourien]

Ah, yes... realism. In a game with shining magical rocks, radiation-curing vodka, instant heal stimpaks, mind control devices, psychic powers, and mutated monsters.

Truly aiming for realism in these games.

The word you're looking for is "believable."

Originally posted by Daryl:

What kind of character is that? Certainly not realistic believable.

[atrox]

Originally posted by Mutant Cowboy Turtle:

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Uh, V could jump like 30 feet straight up maybe he's not a good person to use in this instance since he could literally jump over most of the houses in this game from a stand still.

Also, is he literally just here to get a rock that formed in a laundry basket?

Like you're not pulling my leg here that's actually his motivation?

I said that because they sound identical, V just has more dramatic moments

Nah, V has a *very* clear motivation - get that chip out and literally everything he/she does is connected to that.

But Skif's motivation eludes me....

[Mike]

Originally posted by atrox:

Originally posted by Mutant Cowboy Turtle:

I said that because they sound identical, V just has more dramatic moments

Nah, V has a *very* clear motivation - get that chip out and literally everything he/she does is connected to that.

But Skif's motivation eludes me....

The entire POINT is that he has no real motivation out side of finding out more about the artifact that destroyed his home. The beginning of the game literally tells us that the very little he had was destroyed, so when he gets to the zone he is at a point of no return with nothing to return to.

Its actually why I like protagonists like Skif more the V because Skif allows the players more freedom to roleplay the character the way they want because he is kind of a clear slate (with minor goals) type of character. V on the other hand has a distinctive personality that will be the same regardless of player choice, and while CP has differing paths the feel of V is linear, just like the Geralt in the Witcher games.

Think of Skif like the courier of Fallout NV where they clearly have a past, but their past is does not mean anything and they are kind of creating a new path for their life. Its not that hard to see Skif's motivations while also seeing the character is designed to be more open ended.