I think I get it (Ending Spoilers)

[-CSM- Abamor]

I think I get it (ending spoilers)

So, just got done with the game after a single 150+ hour playthrough, where I've done, collected and read everything there is.

It's going to be a long one, but if you've felt confused/upset/backstabbed by the ending in question - I promise you this will be worth your time.

I went for the Skif/Faust ending, was shocked as much as everyone else by that "Doc was actually Faust all along" reveal, but the more I thought about it - the more it made sense to me.


Faust.


Let's start from the beginning - Faust is a human turned sentient controller. He is not deformed, mentally impaired or hostile as all the other controllers are and has, as mentioned by his creator Dvupvalov, one more crucial and defining feature - free will. During that dialogue with Skif on top of Duga he mentioned being a "stalker looking for adventure long time ago", but he "took one awkward step" and his "world plunged into darkness". I believe it's safe to assume that he was a stalker before the Zone, as we know it in the games, even existed (between 1986 and 2006, so still a radioactive exclusion zone, still all the horrible Project X shenanigans going on, but no noosphere kaboom yet), got caught trespassing on Duga (I presume) and subsequently used in the "Controller" program as a test subject. As for the "world plunged into darkness" part - we all know he can actually see (his pistol's name, the fact that he even uses a pistol, the ending reveal scene where he clearly has normal eyes, all other controllers having functional eyes, and so on), so I assume that this is in reference to the horrors he had to endure while in captivity (and his blindness was a trick intended to instill religious belief and awe in people around him).

On the topic of that "free will" thing - he operated as the Monolith's "voice" (while it was controlled by C - Consciousness) not because he was conditioned to do so, quite the opposite, he was so good at this precisely because he chose to do it (as mentioned by Dvupvalov). He was the perfect religious leader for those poor bastards, cared for them and whole-hartedly believed in the Monolith. His specific version of it (wink-wink). More on this later - but when you confront him with the whole "You are just a controller, the Monolith is just a device used by those green-tube eggheads" thing, his answer is something like "Yeah, sure you would think that".


The Doctor.


So, he is not in the game. At all. The first time you see him in that psi-dome-thing - it's Faust. Let's brake it down.

Strelok (by his own words) did not see Kaymanov in years (no wonder he doesn't know about the switch).

The mercs that Strelok sent after him - didn't see/fight Strider, the only survivor in that house mentions that this (the mercs looking like they found themselves on the wrong side of a blender) was all done by THE DOCTOR himself. That same survivor says that the guy was going through Geiger-counter-melting radiation zones like it was nothing without even a gasmask, and when he put two bullets in him - the man just shrugged it off, got close and incapacitated him. Hmmm. I know those mercs probably don't actually know exactly what the good Doctor looks like, but you'd think they could tell him apart from a middle-aged Monolith commander in full uniform, right?

The very next mission he gives you is to infiltrate the Monolith hospital near by and, without killing anyone (what a good man), steal a regeneration device to "save" Strider. But when you bring the device back to his house - Strider is so back that he almost kills you, only for the good Doctor to step in at the very last moment and, not without regret (what a drama), save your life by killing the poor thing (what a guy).

More over - I don't think that THIS Strider is real either. Think I got too close to the Brain Scorcher while it was still active? Think again.

What do we know about the house? It's surrounded by a bunch of psi-emitters. If you go to that place before you are tasked with finding the Doctor - you can enter it, but the dome will only contain an empty field and a healthy dose of psi-damage for your gray friend. So this field makes your brain go boo-boo and messes up your perception of reality via a psi-field. Our "Doctor" gets blasted with an emission while we are still under it's effect (and then just hangs around there like nothing happened in the last cutscene), but Richter reaches us like the entrance to the basement did not get buried in rubble. Also - do you remember when Faust reveals himself in that ending? That's right - exactly when he crosses the border.

"But we know Strider is dead. We saw and talked to his ghost-noosphere-imprint-thingy when we went to the Orbita station!". Did ya now? Could someone explain to me how plucking a board from a machine that creates ILLUSIONS (from X3 on Cordon) and putting it into a one-way noosphere TV costitutes talking to the dead? Not convinced - you can find an audio recording while at Orbita, where Scar convinces Professor Ozersky to join him by tricking him into thinking that he can speak to the deceased member of the original Spark group (Ozersky blames himself for this dude's death. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?). And we all know how Scar and his illusion are.

"But why tho?", right?


The Zone.


Here is where this gets real speculative. I am 100% open for your own opinions and suggestions on this topic, but this is what I've gathered.

Listen to the way Faust describes the Zone while pretending to be Kaymanov. The OG Doctor gave off this "I messed up, I need to seclude myself from the world and make amends by healing everything that suffers because of me" feel. He did not want Strelok to go North and "fix" his wrongdoings. He just wanted his "son" to be well. Faust, while wearing his disguise, describes the Zone as a living being that suffers due to how it was brought on and how it is being treated by all humans (he even shows it to you the way he sees it while on Duga). He wants to set it free. This is his Monolith.

While every poor stalker that was indoctrinated by the device was turned into a human automaton and only heard commands from it - Faust, being it's willing and mentally enhanced servant, heard and understood more via that connection to the Noosphere. He heard the Zone itself. And when the Monolith fell silent - he was distraught and looking for a way to "reconnect" to it again. And he did. At the Swamp. Remember that recording? He's not talking to the Monolith. He's talking to the Zone.


Skif.


Now, to sum things up and provide a full picture.

How does Skif tie into all of this (I'll be skipping over a lot of plot points here, this post is long enough).

He was the Zone's agent since the moment he touched that artifact in his apartment. See those flashing moments from the future in the ending cutscene? They are not just a recap of your decisions - they are instructions that Skif was implanted with.

So, our protagonist is now acting on the Zone's behalf. He heads in, gets ambushed by Faust's Monolith loyalists that got tipped off by Hermann and looses the Alfa artifact.

Faust uses the Alfa to establish connection on the Clear Sky's base in the Swamps, receives his "orders" from the Zone, but... and this is an important "but" - those orders are not what he expected. I imagine it going something along the lines of "Hey, stop messing with Skif and let him do the thing. Better yet - aid him. He's my chosen conduit". Faust, at this point in time, still yearns for the good ol' days under the Monolith. Him, his god and his brothers being a single entity with a common greater purpose.

So, what does he do? He defies his "God". Remember the thing about his free will? He starts using the X network to locate all ex-Monolith stalkers and plans to reconnect them all to it, and later, using the Duga, all the stalkers in the Zone too.

He hands over the scanner with the Alfa inside to Skif, but does not kill him (I bet he could), tasks his loyalists with building a network of those good ol' Monolith psi-antennas (those are capable of reaching the Monolith in CNPP by themselves, see CoP for reference) and activates them just when the Alfa establishes connection with the Generators.

He needed Duga and Alfa to convert all people in the Zone, but we foil his plans. This is where he starts to see the error of his ways. What did he refer to Skif as during that talk on Duga? "Envoy of the Monolith". "You stood by His side, carrying out His will, and now you've come for me. I have angered Him and that is why you are here - seeking revenge and the reward."

*Note - if you don't accept his hand while climbing onto Duga - you'll get up yourself and have that dialogue. If you do accept his hand - he'll let you go and you will fall to your death. I think it's his way of seeing for himself if you are up for the task the Zone bestowed upon you. You'll have to turn away every faction that has it sites on the Zone to carry it's will (Spark, Ward and Strelok). Trust no one but yourself (or your programming).

After that - you get through all of his gaslighting in that psi-funhouse of his, and you are ready to go. He trusts you with the keys to his God's future.

As Skif said to Richter (If I'm not mistaken) - "I now understand that this artifact in my kitchen was not a random event - it was a cry for help".



So, what do you guys and girls think? Did I hit the nail on the head? Or did that anomalous moonshine from Dvupalov + activated Brain Scorcher combo hit ME on the head a little too hard?

Glory to the Monolith.

Update:

You, my brothers and sisters are awesome! This is exactly what I wanted from this post - a discourse around the game's ending that will eventually bring us closer to the truth.

After reading your comments I'm currently gravitating towards a slightly different Interpretation that I will share below. As for the original post - I'll leave it as is.

So, I now believe that almost all that we see In this ending's cutscene (besides the moment Skif enters the pod and the Doctor/Faust reveal) takes place in the past.

1. Skif's apartment, the anomaly and the alfa artefact (with the addition of implanted commands).

2. The scientists are performing the sabotaged Second Carribean Experiment, during which anomalies (not new Zones) pop up all over the world (similar to Skif's apartment, but without the alfa). Perhaps they are a kind of a diversion by the Zone itself to get the thing out there into the world but without powers-that-be being able to know where it ended up (and if it did at all). Don't quote me on that last part.

3. The globe at Kaymanov's basement (self explanatory and ties into 2).

So, that just leaves us with the Doctor/Faust scene. Now the line about all hidden things coming out to the light makes a whole lot more sense. Skif now knows how everything started. But this also means (since that globe/scientists part was all it the past) that we don't actually know what exactly happened (to the Zone/World) after Skif entered the pod! We just know that Faust felt this change. So this - is an open ending! Which means (for me, at least) that it is indeed the canon one, since it's the only one that leaves us guessing what happened next, allowing the authors to continue the story.

[-CSM- Abamor]

Publicado originalmente por TsPok:

Publicado originalmente por -CSM- Abamor:

2. The scientists are performing the sabotaged Second Carribean Experiment, during which anomalies (not new Zones) pop up all over the world (similar to Skif's apartment, but without the alfa).

Please, pewatch this ending.
1. They use alfa-artefact that Skif brings to Zone.
2. If it was at past, Skif and others would knew about that experiment. There are a lot of sounds of news programms, urging people not to approach or interact with anomalies. He could not miss it, since he need time to found German. And in the Zone there will be some talks about it.

1. Good points here, I'll have to dig deeper.
2. I think that he definitely could have just missed the news since they were airing just after his apartment exploded and he had some bigger concerns at the time. Plus - check the dialogue with Herman at X11. He says that everyone at SIRCAA was aware about anomalies popping up across the world after the SCE got botched. It's just that news from the outside get to the Zone mainly by newcomers telling people about them, and it's just stalkers that are still unaware (for the most part).

[TsPok]

Publicado originalmente por -CSM- Abamor:

2. I think that he definitely could have just missed the news since they were airing just after his apartment exploded and he had some bigger concerns at the time.

Plus - check the dialogue with Herman at X11. He says that everyone at SIRCAA was aware about anomalies popping up across the world after the SCE got botched. It's just that news from the outside get to the Zone mainly by newcomers telling people about them, and it's just stalkers that are still unaware (for the most part).

I don't think that a man that is searching ways to come into Zone and looking for a way to recharge artefact and sell it later, will miss such news. Only if German came to Skif shortly after that explosion, may be in some minutes.
If other anomalies arises only in labs (project research fascilities), it is Ok. But this sounds of news spoils good theory. Ok, may be this is not news, but warning system inside labs. We in need of person with good hearing to put the finishing touches.

And I need to replay. I don't remember a talk about anomalies around the world :(

[Bogglin]

Publicado originalmente por TsPok:

Publicado originalmente por -CSM- Abamor:

2. The scientists are performing the sabotaged Second Carribean Experiment, during which anomalies (not new Zones) pop up all over the world (similar to Skif's apartment, but without the alfa).

Please, pewatch this ending.
1. They use alfa-artefact that Skif brings to Zone.
2. If it was at past, Skif and others would knew about that experiment. There are a lot of sounds of news programms, urging people not to approach or interact with anomalies. He could not miss it, since he need time to found German. And in the Zone there will be some talks about it.

The first Carribean Experiment didn't use Artifacts. They used the Variometer to bounce a Psi-Beam from the Noosphere. That Beam actually grazed the Noosphere and created the Alpha where it landed.
Skif's Artefact is most likely a second Alpha Artifact.
It's possible that the sabotage resulted in a split psi-beam, and the red dots on the map are estimated impact zones.
If the Impacts are similar to the damage ito Skifs house, the News-Report might just refer to it as a "normal" anomaly, and not an anomaly from the Zone.
Because the sudden appearance of a burning crater, without any apparent reason, is out of the ordinary.

[Deadaleus]

Publicado originalmente por Spiritfarer:

Publicado originalmente por Unmensch:

I feel like there should be another 5th ending, where Skif just leaves X7, or confronts everybody, including Faust. I feel like Richter is acting way too mysterious and is able to do way more than your ordinary stalker. I was actually expecting him to be sort of a Zone embodiment (like that boy from Mass Effect 3); I am glad they did not take this route. Plus, there might've been a way to break the sequence of events with that lamp we stole from Monolith to cure Strider, but it got cut out at some point. I see no sense of them adding it into the game first, marking it as a quest item and then forcefully deleting it from the inventory

I'd say Rithter IS Zone's representative. Not exactly, but by idea. He's guiding you all along, and if you do the wrong decision, he gives you some thoughts about that. In Strelok's route he's speaking about dog, born in cage, and cage being the world for this dog. In Skif's route he just encouraged you and said that you're doing everything right. In Varta's route he's trying to kill you at the Foundation. Don't know about Scar's route tho, guess he speaks something about eternal tsukuyomi from Naruto is not the real life.
Or, if Skif is Zone's programmed agent, why couldn't Richter be another Zone's programmed agent. Feels like he is atleast.

Monolith's regenerative lamp is definitely some ♥♥♥♥ design. I was running from Varta's base after being captured and game just saved and lamp was deleted from inventory. Some kind of joke

I've got the same feeling. For me, Richter is a zone's agent just like Faust :

1- The Zone induces Skif to bring the Alfa.
2- Faust's Monolithians steal the Alfa in the 30 mns that follows Skif's arrival. Skif is left for dead with nothing to defend himself (only thanks to Nimble, otherwise, he should be dead).
3- Who come to save Skif in the 1st minute he is awake ? Richter. How long was he waiting there watching for you ?
4- Remember what Gaffer says to Richter if you eavedrop a bit ? Something like : " You're a Spar..." Sparker right ? It is indeed implied by his fellow partners that you help at the beginning. Let's save that for after.
5- You need to leave the Lesser Zone and flee from the Varta? Richter's here.
6- You need to take intel from Nestor at Slag Heap ? Well that good Richter is, conveniently there showing Skif the beauty of the Zone from a high point of view. Does it ring a bell?
7- You need to find someone to progress on your quest to retrieve the Alfa? Don't worry, that good Richter knows Scar, Strider and even the whole Wild Island, a guide to Clear Sky base which is Nimble (how convenient that he guides you toward the only one stalker that is clearly identified while you're being robbed ?), and after that to Ozersky, Dvupalov and almost everyone in fact, even Degtyarev. He even slowly guides you toward Strelok as a way to teleport in the generators, how convenient again. At Rostok, doesn't he says something like : "You'll find him if the zone wants it.". Guess what happens few time later ?
8- If you follow Spark's way in the zone, once Scar asks for help to defend against the Varta. Oh that good Richter will help for sure (cf : point 4). Ah but wait, he answers something like "I obey to no one" and go f*** yourself Scar, you're not my leader after all. So, is he really a sparker ??
9- Heh you need to go to Prypiat? Monolithians attack Yanov, good old Richter does.. Nothing ? Weird that he just doesn't take his weapon to help a bit against enemies for everyone.. Except the Zone ?
10- And right after, just points you toward the only one able to reach Prypiat without being approved by Corps ? But wait, how come our good Richter is there BEFORE Skif ? Ah it seems that there wasn't only that guy, right? Is he someone valuable against Monolothians? It didn't show it at Yanov.
11- (Zone Ending) Oh and now that Skif has rejected Spark & Varta, maybe it's time to remember Skif that Strelok isn't really trustworthy, right ? He wants to mold the Zone, right? Maybe he is a baddie afterall? Guess what happens next ? RIP Strelok.
11(bis)- (Varta Ending) Oh and now Skif wants to destroy the zone? Our good Richter now becomes a baddie like it was ... his duty to protect it. To remember, he achieved nothing there, lost is vocation, don't move when monolithians are at his door BUT wants to protect it with his life when Skif wants to end it... Sounds weird right? Like a toxic relationship?

Bonus : We know that he had an accident as a guide and that it changed is way of living. We don't know much about this accident, just that he lost his whole group and was injured. Hm it does ring a bell to me, what happened to Suhkin?? Just a ... """"wrong step"""" I guess ?

[Haized74]

totally agree except for Skifs choice. You say he was the zones hero when he picked up the relic. I feel he was the zones hero when the anomaly appeared and he was always going to pick up the relic. Just done 130+ playthrough same ending. Also I only did it cause i was gonna go with striders ending cause i am an og but then there was a ? choice with the doctor i think? not sure had to see what that was.
Oh just seeing this thing going on about Richter. They all play there parts man. Richter needed to find himself. I feel by the end he did. Well in the OP ending. I guess Ricter is always the guide that fast travels the last bits?

[EMI]

Sorry if it's been discussed before but I just finished the game (Skif/Faust ending) and one thing is massively confusing - right after destroying STALKER Program Control Center (as instructed by Strelok) and sparing the Doc's life, Skif and Richter go to Red Fortress and start talking about who should enter the pod. The problem is, in my playthrough I got zero exposition on this (got no dialogue/documents that someone should copy themselves into the cartridge and get into the pod in order to advance) and I feel I missed something.

[Phil "Daniel" the italian]

Publicado originalmente por -CSM- Abamor:

They are instructions. Suggestions - not commands. A call for help - not an order. And yet it is buried deep in Skif's mind, for the fear that he might not want to listen to it if it is presented openly (Imagine a radioactive, sapient plot of anomaly-ridden mind-land asking you to kill a few thousand people and PTSD-inducing abominations for it and set it free without a first-hand context of the situation). Free will is the main focus of the whole story, so I think that the Zone understood (if that word even applies to such a thing) that a direct brainwashing will only create another zombie/monolithian/s.t.a.l.k.e.r, and all of those failed as tools due to lacking it.

I think this is bang on, people get pretty confused because noosphere, the zone, monolith, & C-Con are all used interchangeably by different characters throughout the series but they're all 4 separate entities which are interlinked, I'll try to explain my understanding of each.

1. Noosphere: Is a sphere around the world created by all of humanities collective scientific and rational thought. It's a unification of all human consciousness/complex thought that surrounds the earth into one universal entity. The original C-Con proves the existence of this via newly discovered "alpha-psi radiation" that every sentient being produces which then reaches the Noosphere. Conscious or unconscious every human is sending information to it via these waves, in this way, everybody is an "agent" of the noosphere everyone created & sustains it. This would mean the ultimate "will" of it is the peak of human rational and scientific thought for the betterment of all. I think the biggest question throughout the game is whether it has it's own consciousness('s) existing within?

2. C-Consciousness: Believed in control & wanted to use the Noosphere directly for human/personal gain. After discovering that via the noosphere they could both receive & send information via psi waves they concluded they be able to save humanity by directly controlling people and "remove darkness from humanity" (referencing the shining light). Turns out they did that by either making you a delusional zombie or puppet. Kaymanov was the only one by the end who wanted to communicate with the Noosphere, their original goal. Blindness & light are often used as references to C-Con throughout. (Strelok wants the zone to disappear & goes blind in SoC, Faust when following the monolith is depicted as blind)

3. The Zone: This one is a bit nebulous but it seems to be a physical manifestation from the Noosphere and a bridge/gateway region where the two can interact directly with each other. Emissions, anomalies & artifacts are all limited to this region after C-Con takes control until a psi emitter is activated to increase the Noosphere's direct reach (e.g. Using the wish granter grew the zone by 5KM, Caribbean 2 caused artefacts to appear globally.) I can't remember where I found it but there was a note mentioning that Emissions carried information from the noosphere & were a direct message of it trying to communicate, this also explains why in SoC & CS emissions are controlled because C-Con runs the show, but in CoP & HoC they appear frequently & also cause new artifacts to appear. I think both are two extremes of the Noosphere trying to communicate more directly with humans, one a huge blast of psi waves that usually fries the brain which is too direct & artifacts that unconsciously suggest a message to influence but is often misinterpreted. It also explains why literally everyone who goes to the zone falls in love with it, they're connected to the Noosphere more strongly but each have their own way of saving it by translating the message. Emissions reflect C-Con being direct with intensity that removes humanity & Artifacts reflect the Noosphere too subtle to be properly understood by most.

4. Monolith Program: This kicked everything off, research on mind control led to the discovery of alpha psi-waves, led to emitters then interaction with the noosphere & C-Con. The monolith program up to Strelok going rambo were controlled by C-Con directly as a defense mechanism. Their "brotherhood" or mind control broke when C-Con was capped and thus the noontider's were born. My thoughts on the return of monolith in HoC is simply the subtle matter echo of C-Con's original instructions to mind-broken stalkers. The cutscene meeting Faust seems to support this, he's absolutely despondent after finally re-establishing the monolith network, hoping for unity with C-Con all he finds is the subtle matter echo. Where ostensibly it's returned to the same unified force, Faust knows different "everyone hears what they want to" but to him it's simply silence and says the monolith has abandoned them.

With all that in mind, I gotta talk a bit about Faust because I love his character. As OP mentioned his entire goal is to re-establish the monolith, however to him this does not mean C-Con/Direct control, but global communication & connection with the noosphere he can speak with directly. When you meet him at the top of Duga he's no longer blind and finally understands C-Con was controlling the Noosphere it's free now and he's listening to it. You're an envoy of HIS definition of the monolith. Like Skif, I believe all the noosphere wants to do is return to it's normal state and go home to it's own existence. Artifacts are physical bits of the noosphere falling to earth and the meddling of humans abusing psi-waves is causing it to literally fall apart. His line about hidden things coming to light could be about his realization of C-Con's manipulation, the Noosphere's discovery in general, so many things referenced or none of them at all which is why it's so fun.

I have an IQ of 40 though so I dunno I think I misunderstood a lot.

P.S. Reading reddit upset me and I felt my brain becoming more smooth so thank you for starting this OP. The story is genuinely amazing the amount of callbacks they have which complete an insane amount of arc's for place & characters from the first 3 games in satisfying ways, and almost always have answers for changes that are confusing is insane. And to get a complete picture you have to go through every playthrough of each path and see what fits together, not for everyone but I love it.

[Serg Freeman]

I don’t have a fully developed theory about all the characters yet, but I stumbled upon something interesting that might give us more to think about.

I found a Monolith camp with an altar/emitter near the shore, just above Professor Dvupalov’s lab, close to the sunken ship. It looks like a typical “place of power” for the Monolith, but there are some unusual details:
1. From their chanting and behaviour, it seems like the Monolith members are hearing something or communicating with someone.
2. Nearby, there are corpses of other stalkers. However, these stalkers don’t seem to have died in a fight. Instead, it looks like they were sitting calmly and just wasted away—maybe from hunger or exhaustion.

This reminds me of the ending with Scar and Spark. So, could it be that the Shining Zone is just one of the ways the Monolith or the Zone reveals itself?

And if that’s the case, maybe there’s an entity that uses multiple “agents” or forms of influence at the same time. Could that include Strelok too?

[grimfiend]

The idea of the Zone making its "agents" goes against everything the game tells us about the Zone. Zone isn't intelligent in a sense we understand intelligence, as was stated in Kaymanov/Skif dialog, Zone isn't sentient, but has a big heart, and most of all wants to be free, forcing someone into doing its own will would just be against the whole idea of Zone itself. And there is a very interesting choice of words in Skif's ending, right at the end, Faust uses the word "Воля" which in english is simply translated as freedom, but being an ukrainian game the word itself has a much deeper meaning. For me, personally, the idea of the Zone "picking/chosing" Skif her "champion", the one who would help her to finally be free, but will do so by his own volition, is way more relatable. But hey, in my opinion, that's the beauty of Stalker 2 endings, unless we get Dlc/Expansions that will tell us more about the ending, each interpretation has the right to exist. But unlike all others endings, only the Skif's endings is the one where we free the Zone.

[midas0070]

man, i got your point. and i think it's fair. because i've just got to pripyat, and i'we watched all the endings. i'm with the varta, the right course. and i just wanna continue exploring the zone. now. when doctor killed brodyaga, i didn't take the sniper rifle there was on the table.
today i've deiced to take it. and what. there is no house. ere's no house, ere's no downstairs, eres nothing but a brain-washing space. and the kaymanov standing there. he has a dialogue at this stage, rewarding me with some cash. and the crap psy-radiance almoust killed me

[TsPok]

Publicado originalmente por grimfiend:

The idea of the Zone making its "agents" goes against everything the game tells us about the Zone. Zone isn't intelligent in a sense we understand intelligence, as was stated in Kaymanov/Skif dialog,

In thems of Monolith, agents, emissions - by telling "Zone" usually means "C-Con", 'cause it is almost the same. Zone defend itself? No, it is C-con trying to live. Zone make emissions? No, it is C-con. trhrowing away extra energy, Zone create Monolith? No, it is C-con illusion-emitter to lure stalkers for joinging Monolith army to defend C-con. Zone create mind-scorcher? No, it is C-con that uses it for defending itself and not letting stalkers to come and harm C-con.

[Serg Freeman]

Publicado originalmente por grimfiend:

The idea of the Zone making its "agents" goes against everything the game tells us about the Zone.

No one talks about the Zone's ‘thoughts’ or ‘ideas’. But the story says that it has ‘feelings’ like a living being. That is, it can be an influence, without direct orders.

[Serg Freeman]

Publicado originalmente por TsPok:

In thems of Monolith, agents, emissions - by telling "Zone" usually means "C-Con", 'cause it is almost the same.

Until the very end, we are told that the Zone is alive. So I assume that the Zone and C-Con have different goals and act in different ways.
Who is telling us? So we can say that the illusion of the Shining Zone deceives the Scar. And Faust is a creature of the Zone. But Strelok has long since figured it out and sees the tricks of C-Con, and he thinks critically enough. And yet he still sees it as a living being

[TsPok]

Publicado originalmente por Serg Freeman:

Publicado originalmente por TsPok:

In thems of Monolith, agents, emissions - by telling "Zone" usually means "C-Con", 'cause it is almost the same.

Until the very end, we are told that the Zone is alive. So I assume that the Zone and C-Con have different goals and act in different ways.
Who is telling us? So we can say that the illusion of the Shining Zone deceives the Scar. And Faust is a creature of the Zone. But Strelok has long since figured it out and sees the tricks of C-Con, and he thinks critically enough. And yet he still sees it as a living being

Lot of men are talking like their cars are alive. Giving it names, talking with it, ask for forgiveness for having damaged or scratch, give various trinkets as gifts, such as air fresheners e.t.c. But no one seriously considers them alive, except for a few freaks.
Zone is a place where the concentration of freaks is higher then in the mainland.

[doscomputer]

^^^ thats exactly how I see it

Isn't it literally just the generators being on at the heart of the zone causing all of this to exist? especially given the ending where korshunov gets in the pod and the entire zone just goes away... seems like that could happen at any point if someone could disable generators instead of just, controlling them.

zone isn't alive, there is no magic, just a lot of crazy culty people