Let's Play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Come in don't just stand there)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is a first person shooter published in 2007 by the Ukrainian developer GSC Game World. The game had a troubled release, with the game going through a few iterations before finally being released. There was a lot of cut content that is either shown in the later games of the series or in mods.

The backround of the STALKER series is somewhat inspired by the story Roadside Picnic. A very short version of the backround story of the game is "A second catastrophe happens at the Chernobyl plant and made the exclusion area around the plant even more messed up than before." With the promise of out-of-this-world artifacts and new scientific phenomena, many people are lured into the zone.

The player character of the game is The Marked One. He doesn't know what is going on, but his PDA is telling him to kill a dude and he decides to roll with it.

FUN VOCABULARY TIME!

STALKER: A scavenger/looter exploring the Zone for anything that they could make money off of. Pretty much anyone who isn't part of the military is a stalker, although not all stalkers get along.

Bandits: Asshole stalkers who are making a living in the zone by robbing and killing other stalkers.

Military: The Military. Their job is to keep people out of the zone. They don't seem to be doing a good job of this, but they sure do try their best sometimes. They can be huge jerks at times, too.

The zone: The exclusion zone around the Chernobyl NPP. A place full of mutants and anomalies. The setting for this game.

Anomalies: Messed up spots of the zone. Technically the source of the artifacts, although it isn't actually shown in this game without some modding. They range from odd physics to electrical disturbances.

Artifacts: Odd baubles that originate from anomalies. They are the main cash cow stalkers are looking for in the zone. They can give you certain stat changes in game.

VIDEOS:

Cordon part 1 (With Garrison)
Part 2 of the Cordon (With Joxam)
Cordon part final (still with Joxam)
Some Cordon Stuff I Missed (feat. me)
Me and Garrison break into the Garbage.
Walking around the garbage some more with a short detour.
Kalir joins me as I go into the Agroprom underground to investigate Strelok's hideout.
Kayin helps me talk over my video while I clownshoes my way out of the Agroprom.
Kayin and I get in and out of the Bar.
Kayin, Heron, Umby, and I mess around in the Dark Valley.
Kayin, BEAT, and I visit a spooky ghost lab.
BEAT, Kayin, Heron, and Kalir watch me savescum to throw grenades at a bunch of dudes. (Leaving the dark valley forever)
Kayin, Heron, and Patito watch me cause horrible things to happen in the Cordon.
Going back to the bar is going to be a theme (so is Phat)
The wild territory isn't really that wild, it's just full of dudes with fishbowls for heads (Phat's here)
Kayin, Phat, Heron, BEAT, Garrison, and I get mauled by snorks in Yantar.
Kayin, Kalir, Phat, Heron, Patito, and I turn off a giant brain in X-16.
Heron and Tefari are in this video (Where I go back to the bar(again))
Phat, Beat, Garrison, and Kayin show up to watch me sort this whole amnesia thing out.
Beat and Phat watch me help some robot jerks who won't pay me for helping them. Also some autotuning goes on.
Beat, Gahitsu, and Phat watch me shoot some dudes that I helped last video. Scripting errors also happen.
Phat and Kayin and Beat watch me get a dumb grenade launcher.
BEAT, Phat, and Malikial watch me fight through Monolith dudes and get to the brain scorcher.
I go to Pripyat. Phat, Kayin, and BEAT watched this with me.
Phat, Kayin, and Beat show up to watch me die to the Monolith guys a ton of times.
Beat, Kayin, and Phat are with me as I get to the bad ending
Part 1 of 2 of the real ending. Joxam, Kayin, Beat, and Phat are in this video.
IT'S OVER!

BONE US:

MINDFREAK
Phat made an awesome autotune ode to Kruglov.

This game looks real neat. I'm starting to regret not picking it up during the Steam sales.

Great time to start this! I'm approaching the end - right after X16.

I would reccomend that you guys play this by yourself, though, as this game has some serious horror sections and seeing them diminishes the impact greatly.

Actually the series is inspired by Tarkovsky's film... STALKER. The game has the exact same plot as the film, in fact, and I believe even similar characters appear in the story.

But the film itself is inspired by Roadside Picnic, so in a roundabout way, you're right.

Yeah, I'm not sure why I didn't mention the movie before the book. I guess I have brain problems.

The plots aren't very similar in my opinion. If we are thinking about the same thing, the game handles it a lot differently than the movie does. It's been a while since I watched the movie, but I think the main character of the movie or his mentor could be represented by one of the characters in the game.

I'd rather not talk about this too much right now, since both of these topics probably tie into two major plot points.

After playing Call of Pripyat for only a few minutes, it seems like the protagonist is better-defined in Shadow of Chernobyl. I don't remember an opening cutscene showing your character or anyone addressing you as anything other than "Stalker" in the sequel.

Clear Sky actually has a cutscene of the main character doing a stalker-ish thing (leading some scientists on an expedition). Call of Pripyat just has a picture slideshow (that at launch didn't match up between the voiceover). You really are just a errand boy in COP, not that you weren't one in the other games. Shadows just has a nice way of making you wonder what the hell is your character's deal.

As for the reason everyone calls you a stalker, I think it's because you are supposed to be undercover or something. Stalkers don't like the military that much. In Clear Sky some people will address you as a mercenary, which I suppose is fitting for what you are charged with doing in the game.

You should pick up a copy next time the opportunity presents itself. It's a really great game!

Incidentally, will you be helping Duty or Freedom? Or maybe put it up for a vote?

At this point I am thinking about doing BOTH, but by the time I get to that stage of the game who knows how motivated I will be.

I might put a vote up for which one is the CANNON side to be helping, but other than that you are going to see both side missions and you are going to like it mister.

Wait, both? You can DO that?

I'll just wait and see, I guess ^_^

Real gameplay of upcoming levels.

In addition to that lovely video I also have an update for you.

Part 2 of the Cordon (With Joxam)

On the topic of crossing the army bridge: I always, always went up the hill to the destroyed train track from the right (no fence there) and just ran right across (see 19:!2 in the video - and they DO get angry). I never even thought of talking to them, because RED DOT RUN AWAY.

On the topic of artifacts: I actualy used a more-bleeding, less-radiation artifact for the entire game! I mean, I'm going to use bandages and medkits constantly anyway; What do I care? Also it allowed me to use the Flash artifact, which is completely AWESOME.

On the artifact that is trapped near the end: I actually ran right through the anomaly, thinking that it's probably worth the two medkits. It was!

That hidden Merc suit? That blew my mind!

One more thing, in case you didn't know: You can quickload on the game over screen, or at least you could in the original.

I haven't played these games before, but they seem interesting enough. I also usually favour an LP that tells me how to break the game in two, but when it sounds like artefacts and such are largely random, this exploration style works for me. :3

I'll be looking forward to more, even if I'm not always vocal about it.

The best moment for me in the game came when I found two or three of a specific artifact that boosted my stamina enough that I could continuously run with a full load of gear and never experience any stamina drain.

Cordon part final (still with Joxam)

Some of the secrets I will be finding will be near game breaking, so look forward to that. Next update will be in the Garbage, which has two nice secrets. One is comical as all get out, so look forward to it.

Near game breaking?

Well, since you said there weren't any early Gauss Guns, I ust assume an early GP-37 or the like.

Okay maybe I am exaggerating, but you definitely can get some really cool stuff mid-game that will make you say FUCK YEAH. The addition of repairing in the complete mod means that we can definitely hold on to some of the cooler weapons we will be getting, too. In the spirit of the old game, I probably will show off just about every gun if I can. At least until I get the GP-37. :V

Some Cordon Stuff I Missed (feat. me)

Look forward to videos of garbage in the Garbage next time.

Yay, I was mentioned ^_^

This LP is blowing my mind, especially so recently after finishing Shadow of Chernobyl myself. The secret unlisted stashes, for example.

Also: You can break the metal boxes? *mindblow 2x COMBO*

Oh man you are going to be flipping your shit in the next video. And if you didn't know that you could break the metal boxes open, oh man. I don't want to know how you got through certain parts of the game.

I can tell you that I got through most of the game by picking headshots from cover and much quicksaving!

Also chowing down medkits. And I was still overloaded with them at the finale, so go figure.

I kinda wished I had finished this game and moved onto it's sequels. It takes some getting used to, but it really is a great game.

Expect my next video to by up by Saturday at the latest.

So there are alpha versions of ShoC lurking around on the internet. There is some interesting things in it, but most of these things lead to bugs. It makes sense because it is an alpha, but the game at release wasn't much better.

This is how cars were in an alpha build. In later builds you can't escape reality in them, but they can still get sent flying if you hit the right anomaly. I don't think I will be showing off the alpha or any of the mods that enable cars in the game, but this video sort of shows you what they are all about.

Me and Garrison break into the Garbage. I show off the combat in the first video where bullets actually hit targets.

Well, Smiler, you can be glad to know that you managed to not only make me replay SoC a mere two weeks after I finished it, but also with the complete 2009 mod.

But that wasn't enough for me, oh no. I'm playing on Master. After getting the early Merc suit you showed and killing the bandits (stealthily! I'm surprised that it actually works now), I thought "hmm, how else could I put myself in a near-death situation this early in the game?"

Naturally, I went on ahead and killed the dozen army men at the cordon entry point. It was pretty fun - I picked off three who were on patrol, threw a grenade I got from one of them to start the battle, and from then on I was savestating whenever I made progress. Now I have an early submachinegun (the AK-74/2U, I think it's called?) with a total of about 350 bullets, plus about 400 for the pistol, and I made a bunch of money selling all the guns to Sidorovich (had to make two rounds).

I have no idea why I haven't played on master before. It's so great!

(And to make this relevant to the actual LP: GO KILL THE MILITARY AT THE CORDON ENTRY)
(Admittedly, you've passed the point where that would help much, but still! Also early Army medkits, and some documents with a use I'm not entirely clear on - I guess they can be sold to barkeep?)

After a week long vacation I am back with a video I could have made a while ago.

The Garbage part 2

Huh.

I never even thought about going through the train tunnel anomalyfield.