STALKER series on GoG!
 

I already own them, or I'd be all over these. :)

I already have them too on disk, but they have DRM and not updated with the latest patches (particularly STALKER: SOC).

I will get them when there is a sale.

Never bough any of those, thought it's not RPG at all but just a griner/shooter. Dunno why I thought that. Was I wrong?

It is an rpg, except that there are no experience or skill points (which really is more realistic) and your stats are modified by 'artifacts' that you find in the zone. There is a main quest and many side quests with open, non-linear simulated world.

The atmosphere, the gameplay mechanics and shooting are top notch.

There is no respwning - except for some bandits and beasts that roam the zones.

Graphics beautifully scale with your graphics card. Enemy AI is second to none (or along the lines of fear).

I am talking about the first one ofcourse - not tried the other two but the 2nd (Clear Sky) was not well recieved.

Totally recommend, and as you say install yesterday and play today!!

ROTFL
Okay if you say so. I'll buy the first one then unless someone says others are fun too.

I'm still very worried because as the key feature it lists this:
Also this entry from metacritic doesn't sound like something I'll plain adore:
And another:
You sure the game is not all about respawning?

There is no respawn as far as I remember.

In the garbage area, there is a quest at the entrance of this zone to help stalkers against some bandits attacking the base. If you kill them, they will shortly re-appear (you can ignore them and move on) until you kill them all further in their base.

This is not respawn and they don't appear magically, but at a much slower rate until you finish them all of.

There are still some quest bugs in the game and that might cause respawning but I have not seen that.

There will still be bandits and military sometimes re-occupying bases but you can see that clearly (e.g. helicopters dropping military personnel).

Bugs or no bugs, STALKER SOC is just plain brilliant.

I don't want to ignore pests!
If mice made a way into my home, I wouldn't stop till I get rid of the last one of them. You're saying some bandits can't be removed from the game for good? What's the point of the game then? To teach you to completely ignore muggers with guns if it happens to you in RL because if you kill let's say Bin Laden, tomorrow he'll resurrect?

Okay I said I'll buy and I'll buy the first game. Expect entries about it in currently playing thread, not just yet since I'm on another game currently.

You can ignore them to follow the main or side quests.

In a number of instances, that should be your policy as you don't have the firepower, armour or artifacts to defeat them (I am not particularly talking about this garbage zone, but in general).

There is also a very heavy emphasis on (careful) exploration as you can find powerful artifacts, armours and weapons.

Erm… But how to explore something thoroughly if it's infested with endless amount of obstacles you can't remove? I guess it's kill em once, explore, then don't return to the same spot, right?

IMO that's a bad design, then again, I didn't play it yet so maybe there's more to it.
Will definetly check if there is no respawn mod on google if it turns into utterly annoying thing.

Who said it is infested? There is only one or two instances in the whole game and that's it!

Let's keep the thread a bit more alive… :evilgrin:

Why didn't you say that buying all three is only $15?
Man, I've payed double or triple for stuff that turned out to be a complete disaster and in some cases it was not a game but a scam. Fun? Yes, the scam was fun to it's publishers. Not to players.

Whatever, I can't pass on that offer. So here's a top shelf on my GOG acc:
http://i62.tinypic.com/2z3zxmw.jpg

I was never dissapointed by STALKER: SOC and hope you will not be (particulary with the first and third ones).

Very, very nice addition to GoG. Great prices too - all three for $15? crazy.

Wonder if they're compatible with the different mods out there? I know that Steam's version ran into issues when it first launched…

I really enjoyed the Deus Ex games. Is Stalker similar?

No they are different. Deus Ex is linear following a story in specific zone with some choice and consequences along the way. You also earn experience points, augment and upgrade your augmentation in Deux Ex.

STALKER is open world made of many large zones that are connected through many paths that you can access any time. This is Chernoble after nuclear meltdown with strange things happening and you have to discover why you ended up there and why you were supposed to kill some STALKER (scavengers in these nuclear contaminated zones).

There is a main quest and many optional side quests that you can tackle in any way.

You don't have experience points to upgrade you skills. You have strange 'artifacts' scattered in the different zones that upgrade you health, armour, protection against radiation, fire .. etc.

You earn and find money to buy new weapons and upgrade.

There is huge emphasis on exploration to find new ways to achieve objective and find powerful artifacts, armour and weapons.

There are factions that you can align with in the zones (and to piss off!). The world and npc are simulated each action has a reaction on npcs and factions, which leads to some quests being removed and so on (choices and consequences).

The atmosphere is that of true horror and grim of the unknown (and I mean true horror).

STALKER: SOC is very ambitious and had many patches to fix. There are still some bugs, but is very stable and the engine (x-ray) is a PC engine that is very scalable and brilliant. This is a true gem.

It's wonderful, without a doubt. I really like the open world exploration aspect. Still need to play Clear Skies and Call of Prypriat.

Tried to start Clear Sky but after playing SOC the transition was not easy. Suddenly (or ironically) the sky in Clear Sky is clear and not grim as in SOC and the world is different. The story was not enticing as well and I was not compelled to continue.

Call of Prypiat on the other hand is hailed as the true successor to SOC and recieved significant praise in terms of atmosphere and from the technical point of view. I think this will be my next stop (he said looking sadly at his backlog).

We can dream, can't we? I suppose I could skip Clear Skies, but would I be missing out on the middle part of a story?

I don't know, but likely not since SOC ending was self contained.