Stalker 2 and what improvements it has over previous iterations?

[bullsi]

If someone says stalker, illegally entering an exclusion zone, it may not be the first thing that enters one's mind. I loved a lot about STALKER, except the name that is.

I have yet to try Stalker 2. I have shared my thoughts below on what I personally like about the original Stalkers and the last modded version I played, of which has been a great deal, Stalker Anomaly. So it has kind of been a progression of improvements, each one got better.

So what I would love to know from those that have experienced Stalker 2, is what improvements it actually had since the latest Stalker Anomaly? Not what was promised and has not been delivered. What improvements do you personally like that have been made?

If you're unsure what Stalker Anomaly improved on from the originals, please see below summary. I know, Anomaly is a heavily modded version, and Anomaly is a mod based on other mods. However, that still built upon the original and added improvements I enjoyed. So just following that theme with Stalker 2.

In the originals I loved the most:
- Gun fights : being able to lean out from behind cover and the sounds of bullets whistling past or ricocheting off nearby objects.
- Artefacts & detectors.
- Lighting effects : particularly sunrise & sunset.
- Enemy type variety.
- Emissions.
- Positions : crouch, prone, lean.

In Stalker Anomaly I loved the most these additions:
- Radio chatter : as it can provide clues to what else is going on somewhere else. It makes the experience feel like the world is alive.
- Enhanced ALife.
- Crafting & salvaging parts.
- Repairing items yourself.
- Additional hand held devices.
- Additional emission type : Psi storm.
- Additional artefact types.
- 3D PDA.
- Wipe away rain from mask.
- Scale : all the maps in one experience.
- Configuration options : you can customise a lot.
- Loot variety.

[doscomputer]

honestly you should just play the first hour and a half of stalker 2 and refund it if you hate it

objectively its a better game than SoC, apart from all the currently unpatched crashes and bugs. the map is absurdly huge and there is so much loot to find and placed to explore, story is a good 60 hours to boot. The hardest thing for me to get used to was everything being cutscenes with voice acting now. Part of me misses reading dialogs instead of hearing them, but it is 2025 afterall.

but if you really liked the nitpick style of gameplay from anomaly where you constantly have to filter through trash and always make sure you're repairing guns mid fight, you aren't gonna find it here. also anomaly crafting is so annoying and boring its crazy to me you liked that. I tried it once and even after becoming the worlds best pack mule, I still found myself having to buy random ♥♥♥♥ just to make one thing and then the whole point of crafting became moot.

[z1]

Most people who compare it to the mods are disappointed. I think it's a great foundation for the future though. Hopefully we get some official tools soon.

[bullsi]

Ok thank you both.

I just like having choice provided to the Stalker.

Crafting items from scratch from item parts, to me, was never worth it. The amount and range of items required were too excessive, in my opinion. I mainly used crafting for restoring damaged items I found. Second to that, occasionally using it to upgrade an item to a higher tier. The mechanism is optional and in place to allow the Stalker to do that, if they choose.

Disassembling items is just great for the above reason of restoring items. I just like it when looting damaged items, I can choose to stash it, get the replacement parts and then repair it if I wish. Or, the item can be scrapped for parts that can then be sold. As opposed to what I really dislike when having zero choice when looting and finding damaged goods that had zero purpose because anything below 40%, or whatever it was, was unable to be sold at vendors and there was nothing else you could do with them. They just ended up being left behind, which is an annoying pointless waste.

In Stalker 2, how does that whole loot system work out?

Never had the need to repair mid-fight, always done that in-between fights. Same with armour.

You're right, they should provide the modding community a way to build from their baseline product.

All I can do is hope in the meantime.

[Nite69]

players really need to stop comparing this to anomaly and only compare it to the original games

ANOMALY IS A MOD, please stop comparing it to stalker 2

[z1]

It's a lot like the bare bones originals, but even some of those things are missing. So you would probably still be disappointed. While the environment is drawn pretty far, the actual NPC's are very limited and basically disappear after a couple hundred meters. While I don't think the old AI was as impressive as other say it is, it still felt a lot better than what we have at the moment. Maybe because the old game could handle farther distances? Also, no binoculars, no nvg/thermal. The flashlight they give you is from the 80s it barely lights anything up. You can sell broken weapons in this one, but only to a certain guy. I love the game, but I'm just being honest. The environment and all the 3d models are beautiful, it just needs more work in other areas. I think once we get proper tools people are going to go crazy on the modding side of things. Not sure when that's going to happen though, they technically haven't finished the game.

[Hector Salamanca]

Originally posted by bullsi:

If someone says stalker, illegally entering an exclusion zone, it may not be the first thing that enters one's mind. I loved a lot about STALKER, except the name that is.

I have yet to try Stalker 2. I have shared my thoughts below on what I personally like about the original Stalkers and the last modded version I played, of which has been a great deal, Stalker Anomaly. So it has kind of been a progression of improvements, each one got better.

So what I would love to know from those that have experienced Stalker 2, is what improvements it actually had since the latest Stalker Anomaly? Not what was promised and has not been delivered. What improvements do you personally like that have been made?

If you're unsure what Stalker Anomaly improved on from the originals, please see below summary. I know, Anomaly is a heavily modded version, and Anomaly is a mod based on other mods. However, that still built upon the original and added improvements I enjoyed. So just following that theme with Stalker 2.

In the originals I loved the most:
- Gun fights : being able to lean out from behind cover and the sounds of bullets whistling past or ricocheting off nearby objects.
- Artefacts & detectors.
- Lighting effects : particularly sunrise & sunset.
- Enemy type variety.
- Emissions.
- Positions : crouch, prone, lean.

In Stalker Anomaly I loved the most these additions:
- Radio chatter : as it can provide clues to what else is going on somewhere else. It makes the experience feel like the world is alive.
- Enhanced ALife.
- Crafting & salvaging parts.
- Repairing items yourself.
- Additional hand held devices.
- Additional emission type : Psi storm.
- Additional artefact types.
- 3D PDA.
- Wipe away rain from mask.
- Scale : all the maps in one experience.
- Configuration options : you can customise a lot.
- Loot variety.

Anomaly are not stalker. This is a mod that instead of exploring the zone, mysterious experiments, laboratories and stories of simple stalkers offers gunporn, crafting and a bunch of useless junk. This is a completely different game. I am lucky, stalker 2 is not even close to anomaly.

[fizzyRock]

Just try, game is good

[bullsi]

Originally posted by Nite69:

players really need to stop comparing this to anomaly and only compare it to the original games

ANOMALY IS A MOD, please stop comparing it to stalker 2

I know it is a mod, but it improved a lot on what was a great base game. I can't help but compare it. Why should I not compare it?

[bullsi]

Originally posted by z1:

It's a lot like the bare bones originals, but even some of those things are missing. So you would probably still be disappointed. While the environment is drawn pretty far, the actual NPC's are very limited and basically disappear after a couple hundred meters. While I don't think the old AI was as impressive as other say it is, it still felt a lot better than what we have at the moment. Maybe because the old game could handle farther distances? Also, no binoculars, no nvg/thermal. The flashlight they give you is from the 80s it barely lights anything up. You can sell broken weapons in this one, but only to a certain guy. I love the game, but I'm just being honest. The environment and all the 3d models are beautiful, it just needs more work in other areas. I think once we get proper tools people are going to go crazy on the modding side of things. Not sure when that's going to happen though, they technically haven't finished the game.

Thank you that is helpful to know. I hope that I will be trying this soon as they can sort out the ALife2.0.

[z1]

Originally posted by bullsi:

Originally posted by z1:

It's a lot like the bare bones originals, but even some of those things are missing. So you would probably still be disappointed. While the environment is drawn pretty far, the actual NPC's are very limited and basically disappear after a couple hundred meters. While I don't think the old AI was as impressive as other say it is, it still felt a lot better than what we have at the moment. Maybe because the old game could handle farther distances? Also, no binoculars, no nvg/thermal. The flashlight they give you is from the 80s it barely lights anything up. You can sell broken weapons in this one, but only to a certain guy. I love the game, but I'm just being honest. The environment and all the 3d models are beautiful, it just needs more work in other areas. I think once we get proper tools people are going to go crazy on the modding side of things. Not sure when that's going to happen though, they technically haven't finished the game.

Thank you that is helpful to know. I hope that I will be trying this soon as they can sort out the ALife2.0.

They definitely continue to use the words A-Life on Discord, so I don't think they've given up on it, like some people seem to think (because they removed it from store page). Apparently next weeks patch will have some changes involving A-Life if I read it correctly. Will probably still need work though. They have so many other things to address that I consider more important atm. Would be nice though. Definitely need to fix the spawns. You really shouldn't see things spawn in front of you even with a simple spawn system. Not sure how they dropped the ball on that. Hopefully they stay on schedule and release this week.

[SiriusLee]

the only thing i find better about stalker 2 is the graphics. it looks incredible. but... the AI is abysmal. the a-life is almost nonexistant. you cant go prone. weapons break down too fast and are very expensive to fix. crappy flashlight. crappy inventory. then theres the bugs and crashes. many people, myself included, are really trying to like this game and are being very patient, but its frustrating. we hope the game will eventually live up to its promise.

[ryansw989]

I agree it is more than fair to make a comparison to Anomaly, for the simple fact it took what was there in the original titles, used that all together and arguably made a Mod what was a progression and improvement ( personal tastes taken into account here of course ) in many aspects. So, when Stalker 2 was first announced and teasers where released detailing what the new upto date title would be, it is only fair to expect vast improvements on the Stalker theme across the board in every aspect, along with new unexpected features inline with current technologies and graphics we have today.
My impression of Stalker 2 has been for atmosphere and drawing you as a character into the game, with the sound environment, graphics it can be noticed it meets those goals of being current and an improvement all around. I was expecting perhaps something more with how the characters and animation looked onscreen, but what I miss, which is actually the very title of the game is the STALKER element ! ! ! Where you could take a moment scan your surroundings and track a group in the distance. Maybe that group would come into conflict with another group and you could sit back observe then mop what's left after their battle. Or watch enemies have to battle the creatures of the zone. But when you take the time to scan around, ensure things are clear to move onwards only for groups to spawn in, where you were sure no one was present, certainly not a enemy patrol. Well, that wasn't and isn't the style of gameplay I personally wanted from the sequel.
For now I am stuck in that kinda limbo, where I am positive over time they will hammer in those promised features, the missing pieces and knock it out of the park. However, when you have games with cutscenes and set pieces, like watching a movie for example it is the first time watching that has the most impact upon you. Yes you can always rewatch and maybe see things you missed the first time, but once that cherry has been popped so to say, well.
So, rather than carry on playing with the game as it is now ( not 100% of what the Dev's intended it to be ) I am going to shelve it away on a back burner and return to the zone and experience it exactly as it should be. I am lucky enough to own plenty of games where I am in a position to do so, so it isn't the be all and end all. Plus I am confident they will bring it all together and working as intended.

[Nite69]

Originally posted by SiriusLee:

the only thing i find better about stalker 2 is the graphics. it looks incredible. but... the AI is abysmal. the a-life is almost nonexistant. you cant go prone. weapons break down too fast and are very expensive to fix. crappy flashlight. crappy inventory. then theres the bugs and crashes. many people, myself included, are really trying to like this game and are being very patient, but its frustrating. we hope the game will eventually live up to its promise.

use semi fire not auto and your weapons will last longer

and to get around the cost issue, buy/sell/upgrade/repair in rookie mode, and then set it back to veteran for combat

[loard foarid]

Thinly veiled anomaly shilling thread

Stalker 2 was good for visuals, bad for lack of alife gameplay, location redesigns, lack of side quests and content in new areas, ambience, balancing, character redesigns, feels like a dumbed down console game which it kinda is. Atleast old stalker still has good ♥♥♥♥ just not anomaly or Bethesda style 400 addon mod packs

[Genosse Kommissar]

Originally posted by doscomputer:

objectively its a better game than SoC, apart from all the currently unpatched crashes and bugs.

What a massive achievement. No wonder they stopped the UE5 port of SoC by the community, as it would make it obvious how little passion they themself put into Stalker 2.