LVNDMARK said the game looks dated

[Epic]

I swear he is not the only streamer saying that, and dude streams FPS games 99% of the time. I mean this game needs to be put back in the oven and cook for another year.

Or they can do what Enotria last song is doing, sponsor all the big and small streamers, so none of them will say bad things about that game, because they were all paid. Just my 2 cents.

[PsyWarVeteran]

What's a LVNDMARK?

[rekt0ro]

* dude streams EFT 99% of the time.
Anyway who give a F about streamers?

[Cheeki Breeki]

What does it mean to be dated? Again, someone hasn't played the old parts and is complaining about the distinctive features of the series?

[Deatheye]

I don't give a crap about what some streamers and "game journalists" say about the game.

[Bandy]

I love the earlier games as much as anyone else, and look forward to actual game play and <independent> reviews.

But meanwhile, the opinions of those lucky (or unlucky?) enough to try the demo at game cons are all we have to interpret the current state of the game. Don't buy into the hype of cinematic trailers, you set yourself up for killer disappointment.

[Belmont]

So an EFT streamer complained about graphics?

... is there a point at which any of us should care what an EFT fanboy streamer thinks?

The majority of content creators just love to crap on things for views/clicks and rarely give any actual critique. Not familiar with the streamer, but there's a very good chance they fall into that category. Rant-stream is a popular tactic to keep engagement.

Pretty much the only big streamer that I watch and actually consider the opinion of as they have played all the core Stalker games is CohhCarnage, and even his critiques sometimes are off the mark, which he'll be the first to admit and disclaimer everything with "This is my opinion and is flavored by my own personal bias".

[Stalker2010]

No one asked.

[Bandy]

... and then there is always the option to bury your head in the sand. Seems to work for some...

[EmperorVolo]

Originally posted by Epic:

I swear he is not the only streamer saying that, and dude streams FPS games 99% of the time. I mean this game needs to be put back in the oven and cook for another year.

Or they can do what Enotria last song is doing, sponsor all the big and small streamers, so none of them will say bad things about that game, because they were all paid. Just my 2 cents.

Bro also played scam games so I'm not sure his brain power is equipped to the level required to make judgements.

[Dundo]

Fact is we've yet to see anything actual gameplay related to STALKER 2. We basically know nothing. The small scripted 'gameplay' trailers don't count since it's not indicative of gameplay.

Some older titles I could still mistake for newer ones since visuals aren't indicative of how modern/dated a game is at this point. Games like Hunt Showdown still look in my opinion fantastic, and even if it didin't look fantastic the gameplay could still be passed for a recent title.

STALKER 2 could very well be dated on release due to it's problematic development cycle. It could also be complete trash on release which in all honesty is quite likely. Only time will tell. The fact that GSC didin't allow for the demo to be filmed speaks volumes.

[Wei]

A streamer doesn't like this game? That's the biggest green flag this game could get. The Stalker series was kind of niche for a long time for a reason; it's an acquired taste that filters out those who don't have the patience to adapt to something different. When you refer to streamers who play FPS games 99% of the time, you're talking about dude-bros who play stuff like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Counter-Strike, and so on. So, if they feel that this game is dated, it's most likely because it sticks to its roots.

[Dundo]

Originally posted by Wei:

A streamer doesn't like this game? That's the biggest green flag this game could get. The Stalker series was kind of niche for a long time for a reason; it's an acquired taste that filters out those who don't have the patience to adapt to something different. When you refer to streamers who play FPS games 99% of the time, you're talking about dude-bros who play stuff like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Counter-Strike, and so on. So, if they feel that this game is dated, it's most likely because it sticks to its roots.

I'd argue that STALKER was niche was because it released far too late. There's nothing inherently alienating about the game that would make your average joe not want to play it. It did not even break any moulds either as it simply combined a lot of quality systems into one. The difficulty settings might've been confusing but I'd argue they made sense for most part.

In 2007 when SOC released there was a literal boatload of competition being released by massive studios left and right and online discourse/online reviewing communities were MUCH smaller than it is now.

Add to it that STALKER was relatively dated on release it's no surprise that it was relatively small. If SOC released in 2004/5 it would have likely had a much larger following than it does now. Eastern Europe/Ukraine/Russia had largely positive impressions and the game was adopted as a cult classic, I'm sure that had the release date been a few years earlier we would've seen not only STALKER 2 much earlier but perhaps even STALKER 3 at this point.

I'd say that it's relatively recent resurgence via mods is a testament to the fact that STALKER had a lot of potential, it's popularity is i'd say not indicative of the game's quality, rather it's release's circumstances. Another game that had a similar issue was TimeShift, which is at this point largely forgotten. But being released in the same year as COD4, HL2E2, Portal, TF2, Crysis, AC1 would've likely taken a toll on your playerbase at the time. Just thinking of 2007 got me a bit giddy. What a fantastic year that was.

[Wei]

Originally posted by Clodhopper:

I'd argue that STALKER was niche was because it released far too late. There's nothing inherently alienating about the game that would make your average joe not want to play it. It did not even break any moulds either as it simply combined a lot of quality systems into one. The difficulty settings might've been confusing but I'd argue they made sense for most part.

In 2007 when SOC released there was a literal boatload of competition being released by massive studios left and right and online discourse/online reviewing communities were MUCH smaller than it is now.

Add to it that STALKER was relatively dated on release it's no surprise that it was relatively small. If SOC released in 2004/5 it would have likely had a much larger following than it does now. Eastern Europe/Ukraine/Russia had largely positive impressions and the game was adopted as a cult classic, I'm sure that had the release date been a few years earlier we would've seen not only STALKER 2 much earlier but perhaps even STALKER 3 at this point.

You make some good points and I agree with most of them, but in my experience, a lot of average Joes would shun the game as 'Morrowind with guns' back then due to the way the gunplay works. It's kind of difficult to place my finger on exactly what makes these games unappealing to some, since people usually use vague words such as 'clunky' or 'janky', but I'm sure that a guy who plays the games I mentioned would have trouble adapting to Stalker.

[Dundo]

Originally posted by Wei:

You make some good points and I agree with most of them, but in my experience, a lot of average Joes would shun the game as 'Morrowind with guns' back then due to the way the gunplay works. It's kind of difficult to place my finger on exactly what makes these games unappealing to some, since people usually use vague words such as 'clunky' or 'janky', but I'm sure that a guy who plays the games I mentioned would have trouble adapting to Stalker.

I believe the brunt of on-release complaints have to do with it's relative shortcomings in comparison to other titles of the same year, it's also hard to put into words what made STALKER special since it's not one thing in specific that makes the game good, rather the sum of it's parts and very few shooters made use of as many mechanics at the same time as STALKER did, it also had no star power nor did it push boundaries which was quite common for games in that era, just think of Crysis's visuals and physics and destructible terrain, it shat on almost every shooter at the time if not all of them. It also wasn't a franchise, so no prior fanbase to sell the game to.

STALKER was a troubled from the get go and went through many re designs I believe in one of their GDDs they even wanted to do a PSP game and if I'm not mistaken and Oblivion Lost ( it's first itteration) was intended to be an Xbox game, it never really got around to generating hype and user impressions wouldn't cut it at the time and I don't think GSC had the marketing to propel it to the mainstream.

[Deatheye]

Originally posted by Wei:

When you refer to streamers who play FPS games 99% of the time, you're talking about dude-bros who play stuff like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Counter-Strike, and so on. So, if they feel that this game is dated, it's most likely because it sticks to its roots.

So does Counter-Strike, I wouldn't put it in the same corner as CoD or BF :)