Sorry for bumping this old thread, but I just had to go on another diatribe about how amazing S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is. I’ve just finished playing it a second time through, and this time got to the proper ending. I cannot believe how much game I missed last time! Heck even when you get to the ‘preferred’ end, if you make the wrong ethical decision you miss out on at least an hour’s worth of incredible action. (Well, for me it was actually another couple of hours’ worth – I’m not a great player, remember, so it takes me longer to win battles than probably others would.)
At the end…
I really thought that when choosing between joining / not joining C-Consciousness, I’d just end up with a different endgame movie. Instead, by deciding ‘correctly’, I was rewarded with an incredibly action-packed and challenging battle all along the top of the Chernobyl plant! How kickass was that! Those soldiers were hardcore villains to beat. And can I just say how happy I felt at the end, with the final movie vignette? That peaceful triumph felt properly earned.
One thing that felt revelatory for me was how, by the end of the game, I really felt sympathy for the main character. That hasn’t happened for me before in an FPS, even in HL (although for me the characterization of NPCs in HL is far better). Maybe the difference is that you actually see the lead dude’s face through cut-scenes, and the facial expression animation is shockingly subtle and … ‘well-acted’ I guess. Even in the ‘bad’ endings, I believed every emotion the character was feeling.
To answer Really Not That Bright’s criticism – which, in fairness, stems from my own complaint – I’ll make a defense in that the missed information/missions that turned out to be important (from the standpoint of understanding the main storyline and ending up with the ‘proper’ ending) would’ve been more obvious if I’d checked my ingame PDA where all this stuff was stored as assiduously as I should have. On the downside, I still get the impression that there’s an element of randomness to getting the good ending…
[spoiler]turning ‘right’ as opposed to ‘left’ seems to be the only way you don’t end up at the Monolith making your wish. Throughout all the game you’re pushed into believing that you’re supposed to go to the Monolith, and I don’t think there’s a way of knowing that there’s another option. That to me is a big problem with the gameplay.
Also, I have no idea how I ended up with a ‘terrible’ reputation this time! Dang. Just like before, I refused to take sides in the Freedom vs. Duty conflict, and didn’t assassinate anyone – I ended up even sparing the life of the poor homesick ‘grunt’ whom the Bartender inexplicably wanted killed. Maybe that was why I got a bad rep as a softie. OTOH, I admit this time around I did perform the mission where I kinda sorta killed off the entire military base south of Cordon, so maybe that was the bad choice that gave me a crappy rep.[/spoiler]
Anyway, I just want to reiterate my thanks to everyone who suggested STALKER, and to add my voice to the chorus recommending it. Contrary to its reputation as very very buggy, I had few issues on my Vista machine; a few crashes, but mostly those may have been due to my tendency to ALT-Tab switch out of the game. (Do any games these days let you run them in windows?) The gameplay is intense, the storyline quite solid – except for some randomness that I won’t spoil – and oh, the beautiful, horrifying atmosphere! Plus it’s so very replayable. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back exploring this world a third time.
My next game will probably be Deus Ex, if I can get it.