GSC confirms S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat Comments by Robert Purchese

Just make it less bug-ridden for once.

How about dropping STALKER, and developing an original, new, creative game? No? Guess not.

Stalker was for me one of the best games this decade. The first one, anyway. Hopefully they've listened to the negative criticism re: Clear Sky, and listened again to the positive criticism re: Shadow of Chernobyl. Sounds promising, anyway! Shitty name, though ;).

Excellent news - imho Stalker was the best FPS ever since System Shock 2.

What Fallout 3 should've looked like..

Absolutely loved Stalker. Hope it survives the porting intact, as it would make a great and expansive console shooter.

Just make sure it works out of the box this time guys :)

*Briiing!* *Briiing!*
*Briiing!* *Briiing!*

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Prypiat."

And so it begins...

I hope they work this one out, I - sort of - liked the first one the initial stage was too slow but once I got through to 100 rads it was much better. I eventually just stopped playing. Now that I think of it, I'd just gotten to a building with poltergeists. Hmmm, might fire that up again.

How about dropping STALKER, and developing an original, new, creative game? No? Guess not.

...Is that a joke? How exactly was it not creative?

As a console only gamer, this is something that I have always wanted, but never seriously thought would happen.
I just hope the port lives up to the original. Is it confirmed that it will be handled in house though?

You are absolutely right. It does look like Newhaven.

Call of Priapism?

@Evolution

That's strange. I could've sworn I commented on an article about the upcoming expansion pack and the sequel to STALKER.

FLASH TO BANG! This 'news' has been circulating the tinternets since the new year. It's also been discussed openly and at great length on GSC's official forums.

Also, you spelt 'airborne' incorrectly.

Im playing Clear Sky now. It's a great game, although almost crippled with frequent crashes.

The first one was top class, Clear Sky was great also but the end was a bit of a let down.
Still, iI'll deffo get this as soon as its out.

Love to see a STALKER MMO also.

@ ChthonicEcho

Yes, because there are so many open-world shooters as good as Stalker. An improved Stalker sounds great.
So, how about not dropping Stalker, but continue to build on this amazing foundation, eh?

Or how about a new Cossacks?

So, how about not dropping Stalker, but continue to build on this amazing foundation, eh?

You fancy repetition, I fancy new things I haven't seen before. To each their own, eh?

Creative =/= new, Echo. I wouldn't want them to stop the series just yet, personally, I think they're close to the game they wanted to release during development hell. Starting something new will probably give up something even buggier :P

＜i＞As a console only gamer, this is something that I have always wanted, but never seriously thought would happen. ＜/i＞

Hmmm - let's wait for it to actually arrive shall we?
I mean, The Witcher hasn't turned out so well has it.

I wouldn't want them to stop the series just yet, personally, I think they're close to the game they wanted to release during development hell.

Try the famous mod for the original STALKER. Oblivion Lost, was it? Everyone lauded it for making STALKER the way it was planned to be.

I'm one of those people who are tired of this ceaseless tide of remakes, sequels and prequels. BioShock 2, STALKER 2, Call of Duty: MW2... The game developers behind those companies are too talented to rehash their gems time and time again. It's a safe strategy for the company, but I don't to play the same game with slightly altered gameplay, gimmicky additions and a weaker storyline that tries to justify continuation of the original title.

@ ChthonicEcho

If a game is successful and popular I see the development of a sequel as only an effort to improve on the formula. Such success means any follow-up game boasts instant financial benefits as a result of the title alone, but there's little money to be made in creating a sequel without the original's accolades in mind.

It is a safe strategy for the developers, yeah, but if they care enough about their output and the consumers at which it's targeted, they'll realise that they can't just churn out a half-baked effort, and I'd like to think that feedback regarding SoC and CS's almost ubiquitous instability has taught GSC a valuable lesson.

As bugged as STALKER is and has been, though, the concept and world are so relentlessly engaging that, in the greatest of technological opposition, people will still tune in.

It simply has immense potential which, as far as I'm concerned, is something people are unlikely to abandon until true justice is served.

very sad to hear you are playing as a Ukranian agent, thats a superhero IMO. Practicly ruins the game for me. That feeling of being your average Joe was what made this game compete with the original Half-life for me

where did they mention anything about a console port?

and cthonicecho, I feel very sorry for you if you need EVERY thing to be some completely new genre. I guarentee you enjoy things that are similar, especially so if you are a gamer, so bitching about this is somewhat hypocritical. Or hey, maybe if a game is fun but you can't enjoy it because it's not ''new or original'', maybe you are just a sad, whiney bastard.

funny, just finished original game again 2 days ago. Good news!

I do hope that they won't include that idiotic ''battle'' dnb music of the first expansion. I'd rather have it they'd return to the desolate atmosphere of the original. It was one of the best fps games I've ever played. And I've played almost every fps out there.

I honestly can't see what Echo has said so wrong!? My computer was too shit to run this but its sat at home still so I might fire it up when I upgrade!

because common sense should tell you that originality isn't something you just stumble across- most ideas have been done to death, and most other ideas that are artistic for the sake of it and not actually any fun as games usually bomb, or are indy to the point where they will never have a wide audience because it will never be as much fun as blowng apart zombie nazis.

That's just the facts. Being unoriginal or a sequel doesn't automatically mean a game is a faliure or can't be a great game, and to suggest otherwise is rather stupid (COD4 and Gears 2 say ''hai guys!'').

originality doesn't exist

Some people are simply not willing to use their noggin. Especially CuntFapula, who's now on my ignore list.

The undeniable fact is, a sequel is the same game as its predecessor with a handful additions or changes, which are often gimmicky (Big Sister in BioShock 2, anyone?). Another undeniable fact is, that will not stop you from enjoying a sequel. That's not what I am contesting. There are plenty of sequels I've enjoyed, even those that were near-identical to their predecessor (Half-Life 2: Episode One and Two come to mind).

But if I were given a choice whether to play a sequel or a new game, I'd pick the latter. Why? Because chances are, the new game will have a new universe I'll enjoy exploring, a whole new roster of characters, a new arsenal... STALKER isn't a game made for sequels, either. They've created a dead end for themselves by restricting action to one place and one short-lasting event. You can squeeze out only so much out of that.

Look at Half-Life. It takes place in a large number of locations, it has a progressive storyline. Same thing with Gears of War - many locations, one long-lasting event. Call of Duty 4? It may be a sequel, but it takes place in a different time, which changes many things; the only thing that makes it a true sequel are core gameplay mechanics.

No need to tell me that sequels can be better than a new IP, either - I am aware of that. I am talking about STALKER specifically, and a new IP made by GSC would undoubtedly be better than another expansion to STALKER, where they would desperately fish for ideas to extend the lifetime of the original game. The sequel? I doubt it's going to be something grand, and I'll change my mind only when I actually play STALKER 2 and am proven wrong.

In the meantime, you can wait for the review of Call of Prypiat on Eurogamer, which will have a 7 at the end.

Isn't it funny how people who can't win arguments using logic and intelligence, and who know they are full of shit, resort to the ignore list?

I'm glad I'm not such a poor debator I don't have to resort to that whenever I can't win an argument.

Weird, seeing how ChthonicEcho made his points quite clear, did't imply things you never said (as opposed to you - in fact, your reading comprehension seems quite limited), and generally comes across as quite reasonable, while you called him a "sad, whiney bastard". All a matter of perspective, obviously.

As for the news, I am a bit torn - Shadow of Chernobyl was pretty much the best game I've played in the last 10 years, but after SoC, SoC with OL, and the somewhat lacklustre CS, my enthusiasm for the series has waned a little. Not much doubt that I'll buy that one, too, but GSC is threatening to become a little bit of a one-trick pony.

I think GSC is limited by their own technology at the moment. The STALKER codebase is probably a poorly organized mess. I once read that during development of the first game, another team was planned to take over at some point - but didn't, because the source code doesn't contain any comments at all, and no one but GSC could make sense of it. I'm a developer myself, and I think this is plausible. The huge amount of bugs in both games is quite indicative of that, too. A well-organized, stable code-base would have matured by the second game, but obviously it didn't.

Judging by the SDK, their game asset toolchain sucks too. Hence, we're only seeing derivatives instead of new content and concepts.

I also think the original STALKER was one of the greatest games of the decade, but I seriously wouldn't expect any more from that studio...

@ChthonicEcho

I do applaud your attitude towards creativity, but this isn't a case of an unimaginative license getting yet another game in the series with a new gimmick (ala Sonic). Of course an endless supply of unique and interesting games would be perfect, but unrealistic. I still think there are avenues for them to explore there, whether they can make it as interesting as the first game I don't know, but the potential is there.

Being a total fanboi of the original and the mod I still didn't finish the mod-version since the game really is very linear. I think this game would have been way better executed if there was better planning through out the process (yeah, hindsight), still I loved it for it's moments of wonderful atmosphere and sometimes long lasting gunfights.

@karstux: Totally agree, I'm not into coding or anything but this game must have been a mess through out the project, seeing videos on Youtube showing what was left out from the original keeps me thinking that a lot of work was wasted due to bad planning and communication.

Also Call of Prypiat seemes like they've finally taken a look at the OL-mod and moved all the gameplay over to prypiat which was extremely rushed in the original. I don't mind more versions of the same game as long as it feels new and is better than the predecessors, but if they fail this time too then it's time to do something else.

UncleLou, no offense but of course he came off reasonable to you- from what I've seen of your posts before, you're an idiot, so thats something you have in common.

Wow, you just won that argument!

I know.

Cthlu's point was retarded, and then he showed hypocrisy by showing other sequels with praise after daming this one before it's even released, or before much is even known about it. So it shouldn't take stephen hawkings to see that the guy was contradicting himself. He only likes original concepts, isn't interested in sequels like this...but then praises sequels?

Yeah, that makes sense.

Why of course ChthonicEcho and me are idiots. Why else would we argue with you?

Pretty much, yeah.

It's more the stupid points you have both seemingly made without thinking about, both in this thread and others, that's more the indication of idiocy but most of the time I am right anyway so that's accurate as well.

@countFap:

That was sarcasm and you are a textbook case of an ingore-button-worthy person.

Heres a summary of the situation:

ChthonicEcho is talking about GSC assumingly 3rd try at doing pretty much the same and then comparing it to other games like Bioshock that as the original stalker was pretty much finished (I havent played it though). [Edit] Stalker did not (as american movies do) leave many clues for a sequel. So they just do a same story, same setting but different guy, just like FEAR, aswell.

Then he points to games that have done sequels well like HL2 and the episodes because the story never comes to a totally closed end with no opening for sequels, but rather the good old cliff hangers and the story progressing to new areas and gameplay.


Btw, the port is mentioned in the text, also under the headline at the homepage.(might have been update though)

Still I'd prefer a good stalker 'sequel' that finally does it well rather than hoping for a new original franchise that could turn out to be another haze.

Nothing of the above makes ChtonicEcho (or UncleLou) an idiot nor hypocrite. Read his posts again and see what he means.

I know it was sarcasm- but it doesn't change the fact I won the argument.

And by ingore, you mean ignore, right?

He bitched right out of the gate about it being unoriginal then admitted to loving sequels of other series.

That's textbook hypocrisy right there. If you stop hanging off his nutsack, and use some common sense, you should see that clearly.

I know it was sarcasm- but it doesn't change the fact I won the argument.

Hehe, you have not even understood anything anyone else wrote, let alone "won" an argument. And you're not even good at insulting people. You can't argue, you can't troll. All you can is make yourself look like the childish fool that you are.

lol what a shock, idiot one is standing up for idiot two.

@ countfapula

''I'm glad I'm not such a poor debator I don't have to resort to that whenever I can't win an argument. ''

It's ''Debater'', and no, you are not very good at it as I can tell from your simple posts towards this forum and myself. If you divide discussions between winning and losing you are already having the wrong mindset. I don't see you improve on this in the forseeable future. But good luck being ignored again hehaha.

lol clearly you aren't ignoring me dickhead.

I have already fucked you up in an argument, with you using stupid, uneducated comments and invited you to talk with some marines who could set you right, but you refuse because you would most likely shit your pants in intimidation as well as realise how wrong you actually are.

why dont you actually grow a pair and then me, you and my marine buddies can have a conversation :)

Ahhh old school puberescent maleniness, I guess I've just found the target audience for gears of war then;)

Just downloaded the original from Steam this evening, and have just spent the last four hours straight playing it...great game so far. Love the concept, love the atmosphere, and am having a blast. I understand that it was buggy when first released, but so far I've had no problems at all, and am fully immersed into the game.

Am looking forward to moving onto Clear Sky and then seeing what this third installment will be like...

Game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Prypiat now passes already Beta-test, with those that b to catch possible bug.