S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2

[J4MES OX4D 10,064]

Looking decent

 

[phil bottle 9,848]

The only game I'm interested in for the foseeable future. I wanted a follow up to the originals that did them justice and this looks to have that on point, very atmospheric 🖤

[phil bottle 9,848]

 

For me personally this is the biggest game release in many years. Not been this impatient to play a game since Fallout New Vegas. They better not fuck it up 🤪

 

 

[phil bottle 9,848]

Unlocks 4pm tomorrow (Wednesday) UK time. I've heard from early receivers it runs well. I've booked the rest of the week off work lol so I hope no issues...

 

I have it pre-installed on Xbox, it's doing an update right now as it happens.

But I also have it on Steam, which is where I'll play it properly.

[J4MES OX4D 10,064]

I'm gonna wait for reviews because I am a bit iffy with the extreme system recommendations and potential optimisation issues that could arise. I don't trust the press at all with things like this. 

[phil bottle 9,848]

13 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

I'm gonna wait for reviews because I am a bit iffy with the extreme system recommendations and potential optimisation issues that could arise. I don't trust the press at all with things like this. 

 

Well, good news that the Xbox version is fine, people are already playing it and giving the thumbs up. 

 

The PC version will possibly be an issue for me and my 1080ti but it should just mean some lowering of settings. 

 

The last game I pre-ordered was the CyberPunk debacle a few years ago but I've throw caution to the wind and got the ultimate edition on Steam (eventhough can play it free via gamepass lol)

[crispymorgan 1,057]

I just went to preload the game files.  It downloads 6 mb.  bummer.

[phil bottle 9,848]

I played the first few hours on Xbox. Runs well and looks fucking great 🤗

 

But as soon as the Steam download was complete I went straight to PC.

I was cacking it a bit I must admit but I need not have worried. My 1080ti on a mix of low and ultra at 1440p is getting me 50-60 frames. No drops or lag, it's smooth and I'm so happy. 

 

Game is everything I hoped it would be so far. If I have a criticism, some of voice acting could be better : )

[Luseth 1,993]

8 hours ago, phil bottle said:

I played the first few hours on Xbox. Runs well and looks fucking great 🤗

 

But as soon as the Steam download was complete I went straight to PC.

I was cacking it a bit I must admit but I need not have worried. My 1080ti on a mix of low and ultra at 1440p is getting me 50-60 frames. No drops or lag, it's smooth and I'm so happy. 

 

Game is everything I hoped it would be so far. If I have a criticism, some of voice acting could be better : )

 

That is good to hear! It is on my to play list but I have a couple of big single player game son the go at the moment so suspect this may be my game over Christmas. My ROG broke recently (missus broke it grrr) so it will be on the Xbox for me. Be interesting to see how it plays on my Series S!

[phil bottle 9,848]

The voice acting was hurting immersion, particularly the English middle class accents being totally out of place, and doing my nut a little, so I switched it to ukrainian with English subtitles...so much better 🤗

[J4MES OX4D 10,064]

Picked the game up cheap on Gamesplanet for £40 and have just done the prologue. Despite the crazy requirements, the game runs fine on a 3060ti at 1080p with all settings set to maxed out. A few stutters here and there but I may even give this a tweak to see if I can get away with 1440p at high settings. Feels a bit janky and unpolished in places and the characters seem pretty awful but it's definitely got good enjoyment potential. Really wish they didn't have the Ubisoft-type interactive interface elements though and it's annoying you can't mantle over certain basic objects.  I'll probably give this a proper crack on Sunday.

[phil bottle 9,848]

1 hour ago, J4MES OX4D said:

Picked the game up cheap on Gamesplanet for £40 and have just done the prologue. Despite the crazy requirements, the game runs fine on a 3060ti at 1080p with all settings set to maxed out. A few stutters here and there but I may even give this a tweak to see if I can get away with 1440p at high settings. Feels a bit janky and unpolished in places and the characters seem pretty awful but it's definitely got good enjoyment potential. Really wish they didn't have the Ubisoft-type interactive interface elements though and it's annoying you can't mantle over certain basic objects.  I'll probably give this a proper crack on Sunday.

 

11 hours in now and have a few more impressions.

 

I haven't come across any bugs but fps deffo takes a hit in settlements. I don't get any stuttering or anything else like that though.

 

The AI needs tweaking, they appear too suddenly sometimes and they spot you too easily and can hit you from too far away imo

 

The day and night cycle needs extending, particularly as bad weather means even daytime can be dark. Days needs ro be longer for sure.

Torch needs to be brighter.

 

Game needs some updates for sure bit I'm loving every second so far.

 

 

[phil bottle 9,848]

Totally in love with this game right now. I'm methodically exploring everything and soaking in the atmosphere. Hope it comes to PS5 sooner than later, so those without PC or Xbox can enjoy this game.

 

The first patch is coming this week.

 

 

[J4MES OX4D 10,064]

I've done about 20 hours so far and it's been good fun! Unfortunately immersion is broken way too often where you can be having a great time but something completely takes you out of the experience. The game runs well but it's definitely a demanding title but the only noticeable issue I had was in the first town with some severe, but momentary slowdown similar to what Phil encountered. The survival aspect is not great though - everything is way too easy to come by yet the economy for things like repairs and upgrades is insane. Needs some serious balance especially in the early game. Far too many degraded weapons floating around also. 

 

The story is incredibly weak and the writing isn't great either. Even Bethesda would be mildly embarrassed at some of the lame face-to-face interactions this game has!  Combat is fine but the mechanics can be slow and cumbersome which can be very annoying as the AI is broken right now - enemies can spot you a mile off and they spam grenades and direct hits non-stop. Mutants are way too spongy and seem unfazed with being shot most of the time so some battles can be brutally unfair especially as you faff around with reloading, medikits, nades and bandages. Not being able to mantle can also be annoying in places plus the stamina system can see you too tired to even swing a knife. It's also way too easy to become encumbered and for all the stuff you come across, the default leaves you incredibly light. 

 

Even with all that, there's still a great game here but much work still to be done by the devs. A lot of the jank is pretty inexcusable though and if this game was published by someone like Ubisoft, it would be critically lambasted and rightfully so. Thankfully the community have saved the day with a  string of essential mods which I will probably have to download and incorporate into my current run. I'm also a bit weary of broken quests and softlocks which can arise and those fixes, if possible, are way more complicated. 

 

7 Essential Mods to Install for Stalker 2 - STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Guide - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

---

While the Exclusion Zone in Stalker 2 is meant to be challenging and ruthless, mods can implement some quality-of-life adjustments to make your time in the

 

[phil bottle 9,848]

13 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:

I've done about 20 hours so far and it's been good fun! Unfortunately immersion is broken way too often where you can be having a great time but something completely takes you out of the experience. The game runs well but it's definitely a demanding title but the only noticeable issue I had was in the first town with some severe, but momentary slowdown similar to what Phil encountered. The survival aspect is not great though - everything is way too easy to come by yet the economy for things like repairs and upgrades is insane. Needs some serious balance especially in the early game. Far too many degraded weapons floating around also. 

 

The story is incredibly weak and the writing isn't great either. Even Bethesda would be mildly embarrassed at some of the lame face-to-face interactions this game has!  Combat is fine but the mechanics can be slow and cumbersome which can be very annoying as the AI is broken right now - enemies can spot you a mile off and they spam grenades and direct hits non-stop. Mutants are way too spongy and seem unfazed with being shot most of the time so some battles can be brutally unfair especially as you faff around with reloading, medikits, nades and bandages. Not being able to mantle can also be annoying in places plus the stamina system can see you too tired to even swing a knife. It's also way too easy to become encumbered and for all the stuff you come across, the default leaves you incredibly light. 

 

Even with all that, there's still a great game here but much work still to be done by the devs. A lot of the jank is pretty inexcusable though and if this game was published by someone like Ubisoft, it would be critically lambasted and rightfully so. Thankfully the community have saved the day with a  string of essential mods which I will probably have to download and incorporate into my current run. I'm also a bit weary of broken quests and softlocks which can arise and those fixes, if possible, are way more complicated. 

 

7 Essential Mods to Install for Stalker 2 - STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Guide - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

---

While the Exclusion Zone in Stalker 2 is meant to be challenging and ruthless, mods can implement some quality-of-life adjustments to make your time in the

 

 

I'm loving this game, warts and all. I'm mostly exploring and doing side quests, I only progress the main story when it's needed but I'm ok with it.

I hear it's best to not go further than the first Clear Sky mission for now as there's a game breaking bug for some folk that fucks their saves.

I'm looking forward to fixes, but yeah I agree should not have been released in this state. They waited this long lol so why risk everything by releasing with major issues is beyond me. It's money of course behind everything.

 

Still, I fucking love this game 😍

[J4MES OX4D 10,064]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl - Patch 1.0.1 is live! Here is the patchnote! - Steam News

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

---

Over 650 fixes, including quest blockers, memory leaks, crashes, and minor bugs.

 

[phil bottle 9,848]

I've 70+ hours into this now. I've done about 8 or 9 of the main  missions (there's 35 in total). So much to explore and find 🥰

 

Big patch out today which apparently improves the AI etc. I'll post a bit below but there's a lot more : )

 

A-Life fixes

Fixed the issue with spawning NPCs behind the player's back.
Players can now encounter roaming NPCs across the Zone more often.
Greatly extended the distance at which A-Life NPCs are visible to the player.
Fixed the aggressive optimization issue that prevented A-Life NPCs to exist in Offline (out of player's visualization range).

In Offline mode, A-Life will continue to advance towards their goals over time.
Players may now have opportunities to encounter A-Life NPCs they've previously met by following in the same direction as the NPCs.

Improved A-Life NPCs navigation in Offline using GameGraph (global AI navigation map):

Fixed multiple issues where NPCs would fail to follow or find a path to their designated goals.
Fixed several issues with NPC being stuck in Online-Offline transition state,

Enhanced A-Life NPCs' motivation to expand territory and actively attack enemies and mutants.
Fixed issues that could result in fewer A-life NPCs encountered than intended.
Further contextual actions improvement to ensure seamless transitions between Offline and Online states for NPCs engaged in these actions.
The groups exploring the Zone are now more diverse regarding possible factions and group sizes.
Fixed issue that while roaming over the Zone, Human NPCs didn't satisfy their communication needs and talks.

And some other development related improvements.

 

 

AI improvements
Reduced the number of summons and increased time between spawns of Pseudodog phantoms.
Fixed an issue when zombies would have their arms and legs twisted while knocked down.
Fixed an issue when large mutants would hide behind small cover, such as trees.
Fixed an issue when mutant limbs stretch sometimes when firing automatic weapons.
Fixed an issue when bloody visual effects played a few times after Rat's death from grenade.
Fixed an issue where NPCs quickly detected the player when he was crouching.
Fixed an issue where NPCs would enter doors without opening them.
Fixed the issue when the controller could take the main story NPCs under control.
Fixed an issue when Chimera would try to enter a narrow passage that it couldn't enter instead of hiding in ambush.
Fixed an issue when NPC was teleporting to the restricted areas such as safe zones and hubs.
Fixed an issue where mutants that were in cover did not change their cover when receiving damage.
Fixed visual effects of Burer's telepathic ability.
Minor combat behavior fixes for NPCs shooting from covers.
Fixed Burer’s throwing objects animation.
Fixed some issues with NPC staying idle and refusing to start mission-related dialogs.
Fixed an issue when mutants kept attacking zombies in knockdown.
Fixed an issue when NPCs are stuck in aiming animation.
Fixed an issue when death animation was replayed for an NPC who was resurrected as a zombie.
Fixed an issue when a neutral NPC stays neutral after a player hits them by melee attack.
Fixed an issue with some NPCs' broken arms while shooting.
Generic improvement of combat experience and NPC pathfinding in big fights with lots of corpses.
Fixed an issue when Player was able to kill the chimera with the help of carousel anomaly.
Fixed an issue where NPCs would clip through objects and walls when shooting from covers.
Minor improvements for peaceful behavior of NPCs.
Fixed issue where NPCs wouldn't stop combat on emission start.
Fixed an issue when some mutants couldn't jump off an obstacle.
Fixed issue when NPCs were stuck after the end of emission.
Fixed bandits' behaviour after emission ends during the mission Bullseye.
Fixed an issue where NPCs could teleport if the NPC couldn't build a route.
Fixed an issue where NPCs could stop talking to each other after loading a save.
Fixed an issue when mutant dead bodies fly to a long distance from the places where they were killed by the shotgun.

And over 50 more minor “anomalies” were fixed.

 

Balance adjustments
Increasing rewards for several missions.
Fixed issue when artifacts with Physical Protection effect give maximum possible effect.
Changed "Goldfish" artifact value to 14000 coupons.
Fixed issue when player is able to have infinite coupons via selling and returning back any stackable consumable.
Fixed infinite money exploit with splitting a stack of weapons from selling windows.
Fixed issue when A-Life NPC's can be spawned dead with full clips of ammo.
Increased Snork's abilities cooldown time by 30%.
Gauss rifle damage was increased.
Increased difficulty for the fight with .
Recalculated rewards for the Harpy's missions.
Fixed instant player death after getting almost full radiation bar.
Fixed that Poltergeist and Burer do not deal damage with thrown objects in some cases.
Removed the POS 8x scope from the assortment of several merchants.
Tweaked damage from PSY fields.

With over 10 more minor fixes delivered.

 

 

[Luseth 1,993]

I have installed this now, this was the update I  was somewhat expecting & waiting for so I will get this going the weekend. Probably be playing it on my Series S so I will also update you on performance and such as well.

[phil bottle 9,848]

I had issues yesterday after another update started making the game freeze at start up when compiling shaders which was, to be fair, doing my nut, but that seems to have sorted itself. First time I've had any issues funnily enough.