Stalker: Call of Pripyat

The first video of Stalker CoP. Pity it’s only a cam video. :(

There is also a recap of screens from the same games convention. See in HD, there are interesting things like the map size of the new scenarios.

For those uninitiated to Stalker Call of Pripyat, i will say this is a new “standalone” expansion, which i think (or i hope) it’s going to be somewhat cheap (more of the same, only three maps).

But, these 3 maps are supposed to be extra-huge, bigger than the swamp of Stalker Clear Sky, and this time we will have more extra underground maps than in Stalker CS. They also will combine all the lessons learned in previous games, with a mood near to the first Stalker, and dropping the all-war aspect from CS, but still with the new upgrade weapon system and anomaly/detector system. And better barter system, AI upgrade, better AI life sytem, better quest system, and the typical promises from game developers.

More details:

-Plot follows the original “good” ending, in the role of a member of the Army who have to investigate the disappearance of a scientific team sent to Chernobyl.
-70 secondary quests, all of them hand-crafted (no more “give me 5 boar pieces”)
-Two new monsters.
-You have to use a guide to travel between the three maps.
-Weapons tweaked to be more realistic (more range and damage).
-Two slots for long weapons.
-You can’t join any stalker group (Duty, Freedom and Bandits present in the game). It’s interesting to barter with different groups because every group is focused in an area: Duty have the good armor, Freedom the best sniper rifles, etc.
-Dynamic blowouts. They change the position of anomalies and artifacts.
-Sleep system.

edit: images are too big, img tag erased
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/jonelo/stalker/e6b2a94fa3c85f12831fa45abb2c0c6c-1.jpg
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http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/jonelo/stalker/fcea663a00248f6bd69b0495c0a92652-1.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y117/jonelo/stalker/b22f09addcc3ada064b32be8e499df38-1.jpg

Is it based on the Clear Sky timeline, or on the original Stalker timeline? Or is it using those maps, plus the new maps, with an entirely new story? Shit, why am I even pretending I care? It’s more stalker! Day one purchase.

I edited the first post quatoria, with more info. New maps, new story.

I need my hardcore shooter fix and post nuclear disaster fix for this year. While ArmA filled the former and Fallout 3 filled the later…STALKER has been successfully fulfilling both for the last two years. It’s becoming like annual sports titles…except it is STALKER - which is Awesome!

So this expansion takes place after Shadows of Chernobyl.

The positive news is that they appear to be taking a lot of user feedback about Clear Sky and good ideas from the mod community and integrating them into their game. It’s not clear whether they’ll return to the spooky atmosphere of the first game or not. My guess is they’ll try to since you are back to being a lone guy without worrying about factions so much.

I’d welcome a return of some of the intensely creepy base exploration, but let’s be honest - no matter what they do, it’s going to be fucking creepy. Just wandering the Zone at night, alone, listening for the sound of beasts, and navigating by lightning bolts is creepy as is. If Clear Sky seemed less creepy, it’s only because so many of us had become so intimately familiar with every detail of those maps, through long and repeated exploration.

I am on a roll today!

Official press release, and images

[INDENT]The events of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat unfold shortly after the end of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Having discovered about the open path to the Zone center, the government decides to hold a large-scale military “Fairway” operation aimed to take the CNPP under control. According to the operation’s plan, the first military group is to conduct an air scouting of the territory to map out the detailed layouts of anomalous fields location. Thereafter, making use of the maps, the main military forces are to be dispatched.
Despite thorough preparations, the operation fails. Most of the avant-garde helicopters crash. In order to collect information on reasons behind the operation failure, Ukraine’s Security Service send their agent into the Zone center. From now on everything depends on the player.
Key Features:
Photorealistic exclusion Zone – Pripyat town, Yanov railway station, Jupiter factory, Kopachi village and more, recreated by their true-to-life prototypes.
New story, a number of unique characters.
Extended system of side quests.
New monsters: Chimera and Burer. New behaviour and abilities for all monsters.
New A-Life system, created using the players’ best-liked elements of the first two games in series.
Emissions considerably influence the world of the Zone.
Sleep function added into the game.
New player’s interface.
Possibility to continue the game after completion in a freeplay mode.
The game is developed on X-Ray engine v.1.6
[/INDENT] Minimum System Requirements:
[ul]
[li]Intel Pentium 4 2.0 Ghz / AMD XP 2200+[/li]> [li]512 MB RAM[/li]> [li]128 MB DirectX 8.0 compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 5700 / ATI Radeon 9600[/ul] Recommended System Requirements: [/li]> [ul]
[li]Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 / AMD 64 X2 5600+[/li]> [li]2 GB RAM[/li]> [li]512 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible card / nVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI Radeon HD 4850[/li]> [/ul]

http://ve3d.ign.com/images/game/14340292/PC/S-T-A-L-K-E-R-Call-of-Pripyat <= screenshots

So … is Clear Sky playable now? Does it need mods?

It doesn’t “need” it, but everything is better with mods!

A little guide

Loving the STALKER series, they just keep trying new things and underneath it all still lives a great FPS.

Is that an improved inventory system I see?

Clear Sky did some weird things so changing it up yet again is welcoming. Playing as a military guy is also an interesting switcharoo from the typical stalker/lone wolf merc. So does this mean no fighting the military which always gave the player grief in the last two installments?

CoP was/is a total conversion for SoC. A very good one too. Anyway, the best impression you can get of CoP right now is probably playig the mod.

Wait, what? This is just a mod?

He’s probably referring to how this storyline is similar to a fan mod named Priboi Story that casts you as a military guy. I don’t know where the differences begin though.

Oh, and for old SoC fans, the Stalker Complete 2009 mod has quite a few graphics updates and gameplay enhancements integrated together. Some people don’t like the gameplay enhancements (or would rather use Oblivion Lost) but you can see the graphics updates he used and some screen shots. Looks very pretty. http://www.flickr.com/photos/artistpavel/sets/72157608341111036/

Those look really good. Almost tempted to make another run. Would If I wasn’t so determined to kill my backlog.

Interview in RPS

I was going to post that. You are turning into a bigger fan than I am. :(

Good for Jim to “helpfully suggest” a few things in the form of interview questions! I chuckled when GSC was unaware of the popularity of the idea of Russian voices with English subtitles…

Yes, the sequel is based on the mod. Or it was, it’s been a while since I scoured the Stalker forums.

So with a subtitle like this I guess they’re still not expecting big sales? :
Looking forward to seeing a bit more of the game anyway.