I know I know, it's not a post-apocalyptic game because everywhere outside the Zone is fine. But the game is set in the zone, and has a close enough vibe to group it in that genre.

With the new modding update, are we about to witness Stalker overtake even Fallout 4 for the crown?

Just for info. Screenshots in full resolution (steam compression): https://we.tl/t-E6gQsMk4KrBs4itb

I'm not here to say whether or not this is a bad thing. But I've noticed that there really isn't much to to try debunk Duty's beliefs about the Zone in the games expect for in Stalker 2 through Richter and if you side with ward how some Stalker's will complain to you about their home being destroyed I think S2 wanted to try to put the case of the Zone being a home and place of belonging for many and a place of adventure, riches, brotherhood wonderhood and a potential to change mankind. But this really isn't fleshed out in the main story heck even with the oasis in the DLC the horrifying experiments it took to make such technology even if it has potential to do good is what made me lean towards siding with Zulu even if I sympathize with freedom more didn't help that not even an Oasis could save Lukash.

Now in the Mavka route it is said She left the zone to spread the miracles of the zone to the mainland but is Freedom to be trusted because in the Zulu Route there is a dutyer who used to be a freedomer and he stated that Freedom has turned into company only in it for profit and we have also seen what mankind came from mankind when it has made experiments from the zones dangers and horrors there are pretty bleak implications with the mavka route.

I want to make something clear I thought the DLC was great, a big step up in the writing in fact it has vindicated something I felt since I finished Stalker 2 and that was that Ward didn't need to exist and If I am supposed to believe that Freedom is wrong and Duty is right why have an evil version of Duty be one of the main factions of Stalker 2 instead of Duty? and why make SIRCAA so evil? a much better story could have been told if Ward was replaced with Duty because in Stalker 2 Ward is pretty villianized and there are dark implications with the Ward ending so I am really supposed fully believe duty if so? why create Ward in the first place?

Only experience I have with Stalker is few hours of Stalker 2 and while it was cool it ran awfuly. Anomally looks cool asf but I heard its much harder than base stalker. Obv you can turn it down to easy but is there any big tutorial letting you get a headstart you recommend?

This is my game running at 3440x1440p at all epic settings.

I hope to replay stalker 2 with DLSS 5 mod once it's launched officially. Looks amazing.

DLAA Native NO DLSS 5 FPS: 97(90-100 in motion realistically)
DLSS Quality with DLSS 5 FPS: 87(80-85 in motion realistically)

This modkit is advanced in comparison with what other studios provide for their games!

In short:

📜 Custom Stories/Quests: Full visual scripting to build your own branching quests and multi-lane dialogue trees. Also, you can replace/change/remove existing quests, including the main ones.
🎙️ Voice & Audio: Inject your own custom SFX and fully voice your new characters.
🌍 Built-in Translation: Easy localization string tools to support multiple languages.
🧠 Deeper Control: Unlocked Blueprint access to mess with the game internal logic and world state natively.
💾 Safe Custom Saves: Mods can now save their own progression without nuking the player's main save file. (Which in my opinion is a banger😍)
🤝 Better Compatibility: Supposed under the hood tweaks so different mods actually play nice together. (Hopefully🙂)
⚡ Instant Previews: Test your mod logic on the fly using Unreal’s native "Play in Editor" feature instead of compiling every time.
🚀 Engine Upgrade: Performance boost, don't know how significant tho for the modders activities.

I might have missed something or got something wrong, so actual modders can correct me if I'm wrong.

I like the fact that GSC sees STALKER 2 as a long term project providing top notch tools for modders. I bet in the future it can be expanded even more, e.g. Phase 3.

In any case, thank you GSC!❤️❤️❤️

So full disclosure S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 is my first contact and I was really hype about reaching it, kind of my own Oasis if catch my drift.

I imagined a desolate silent place to slowly explore filled to the brim with anomalies, mutants hiding in the buildings, finding unique artefacts in unexpected places.

But it kind of is very loud and very full of dudes? For a place that 'no one can enter' it sure has plenty of bandits and Monolithians.

Don't get me wrong the atmosphere is still good, but it is kind of ruined for me with all the noise and commotion. It kind of reminds me day 1 of MMOs expansion where this 'desolate unseen continent' is somehow swarming with dudes/dudettes.

Still gonna finish it and looking forward to the Cost of Hope, but IMHO a huge missed opportunity to exercise restraint and deliver something special.

Clearly it isn't changed which is a huge bummer. Shotguns hitting you perfectly at 100's of yards, bullets constantly being fired at you behind some walls, etc. I love this game but why do some gunfights feel like im just trading punches? The second I peek, a bullet impacts. So every gunfight devolves into shoot, heal, shoot, heal. Will this ever be addressed or is this game just dead in the AI update aspect?

I can’t put my finger on it, there was this feeling when I first played stalker 2 on release, it was my first stalker game. Can anyone describe it. When I first played stalker 2 I thought it was like metro and when I first went to the slag heap it gave metro vibes, but idk can anyone describe this feeling of like post apocalyptic setting also the Ukrainian song “Chrysanthemums”/ “Хризантеми” invokes this feeling( I don’t speak Ukrainian.

Goat

Sta

Gear: Zircon Suit, SOFMOD with 120 rounds
SPSA 14 with 40 shell. No sidearm to save weight.
8 medkits, 8 bandages and 8 Anti-rads
If i have them, Vinca, Hercules and Sircca pills 3 of each.

Tools: Nvgs, Binoculars

Artifacts: whatever gives me best protection, weight loss and prevents my gear from wearing out.

I try to start every run with as little gear as possible so I can scavenge as mush as possible before returning to a safe zone.

I really try not to get greedy. When I’m packing a shit ton but feel ballsy and want to carry on, DONT ! Lost a solid hour today…

(Never use skifs pistol) don’t like it and feels like cheating honestly.

I don’t read this subreddit anymore, and I haven’t played stalker 2 since the month it released. I, like many others, had some issues with the game. A-life, performance, enemy spawns etc were all issue that wouldn’t let me get invested into it.

I’ve played the originals games and an overhaul mod combining the old games.

Just want to know what state that stalker 2 is in nowadays. I see they just released a dlc, but I still need to finish the game.

My biggest concerns are performance, immersion, and gunplay. How are they compared to launch?

I wonder when they’ll finally sort out the basic collision detection between objects and characters in this game—nothing has changed in that regard since launch. Sure, it’s funny, but if a body got stuck in the ground textures and couldn't be looted, it could actually break the game.

I know the answer is probably still no, but I am curious if A-Life 2 is anywhere close to the old games' A-Life systems. I'm not asking if anyone likes or dislikes A-Life 2, but rather how it compares to the old A-Life systems.

Which of the older games is it closest to? Is it equal to SoC's yet, or has it gone beyond that to at least near the quality of the systems in CoP and/or CS, where there were different levels of simulation that were still in-depth and created a believable, if volatile map with everything's populations being in balance? Or is it still just a glorified spawn radius like on launch?

I ask primarily because the main draw of the STALKER games for me was how well the AI was done, as well as the fact that AI was simulated beyond render distance in CoP and CS. I pre-ordered STALKER 2, but I still haven't finished it to this day because of how disconnected everything feels as well as how finnicky fall damage and anomaly hitboxes were compared to the old games (though fall damage was always kind of just gambling in the older games iirc).

But of late they have become super dumb. I can be up in their face and as long as I don't shoot my gun they just carry on wondering about. Is this just me?

Also whey do enemies with guns now run around like their pants are on fire, it makes no sense!

Background:

In one of the journalist's stash is a Riemann, which of course I found early on. This gun is arguably the best SMG in the entire game. When I found this, I was super stoked. But then, as I have progressed through the game naturally, I realized that all the different SMGs that I found I didn't really have a need for. This made it so I never really had motivation to test them out, simply because it didn't make much sense to bring an inferior gun to a gunfight.

I've struggled with my opinion on this because on one hand it is unbelievably awesome to have that kind of power that early. On the other hand, however, it would have been nice if getting that piece of gear wasn't in just some marked stash where I could easily just run to when I started the game.

Is this a balancing problem with the SMGs in the early game or have I totally missed the mark on this one? Still undecided.

Hi my fellow stalker, i came here to share with you this song i made (yeah, its made in Suno but i wrote the lyrics) , its inspired in the stalker lore from strelok's POV, but with a "mixed" ending, its based on his adventure from SOC to HOC as a brief story. i think that its really nice. Dont wanna get boring with the details, go check it out!
Hope you like it :)

(Posted under "Discussion" tag because i couldnt find one that suits with this)

https://youtu.be/DMWbVtu_Qiw?si=b33JRaamAxzBbf9X

PSSR 2.0....we need you !!

If you've played since release, you've probably already memorized where to get the Falcon suit, Saiga, Dnipro etc. And you know that all other stashes have shitty loot, so you never bother.

What if someone changed stashes, but without changing the balance. E.g. there's still 1 Falcon that you can find, but it's in some other random stash (which there's more than a 1000 btw).

This would improve replayability a ton and would actually make me want to check all the marked stashes on the PDA, even if most of them would still be meh, the chance of finding good loot unexpectedly would make you search for it.

I don't have a PC for modding unfortunately, so I just hope someone else likes this idea as much as I do.

Btw, you can check trailer of zonekit phase 2 here, it's really good: https://store.epicgames.com/p/stalker-2-zone-kit

If I bought the ultimate edition would that include the season pass? If so do i still need to purchase the dlc cost of hope separately? And what about the deluxe edition is it also included in the ultimate or not?