Caltrops - S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Re: Is it cool to start the series fresh with this game?

Forum Overview :: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

by HE CALLS ME JOSEPH 02/23/2014, 7:36am PST

Stalker 1 and 2 are identical to Stalker 3 in almost every single way, except 1 and 2 are missing every advancement they made in game development through the sequels. If you actually bought Stalker 1 expecting the "full experience" then someone intentionally deceived you with the intent to laugh at your mistake, because Stalker 1 is a fraction of the game that either of its sequels are, with the last game being the most advanced and polished (while essentially being the same game, but with better beginning, ending, environments, quests, story, weapons, armor, mods, upgraded anomaly detectors, chew keeks, flee shaks, bug fixes, and gameplay). While you're at it, you might as well play Street Fighter 1, Battlefield 1942, and then follow it up with Deus Ex 2.

Stalker 1 is the hardest to play because it's the most obtuse and unforgiving due to the game design being somewhat simplistic. It's still fun but only if you're a video game survivalist, the type who scours every last corner of a 2 mile map looking for every single box of ammo you can find, if you pick up all the guns to sell them, and return to the dropped guns in a combat zone to pick up more to sell (or what I did, take all the AKs, like 20 of them, pile them onto one dead guy, and then pick up the guy's body and physically carry him back to town). If you don't do this, then Stalker 1 isn't for you.

If you do this, you are rewarded with the worst ending, where you imagine it's raining money and then the ceiling collapses on you and you die. The only way to avoid this ending is to start the entire game over and intentionally avoid making any money at all. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO THE FIRST GAME, THEY DROPPED THIS COMMIE BULLSHIT IN THE FOLLOWING GAMES. Stalker 3's ending is a (still somewhat low budget) recreation of Black Hawk Down except with zombie monsters that shoot and you have to snipe them off the rooftops and throw grenades and blow shit up and shit before escaping on the chopper. Stalker 1's ending just has "empty warehouse with magic portal that kills you, roll credits."

Stalker 3 is like playing Stalker 1 and 2 combined and also with all the gameplay fixes. Plus way better level design and gameplay design. You can upgrade/modify your weapons and armor right out of the box. You can't do this in the previous games unless you install mods, and usually those mods are buggy and make the game more unstable anyway.

So if you bought Stalker 1 I'm afraid you just got duped. Buy the good one next time. I don't know why you didn't, what's wrong with you, are you sick?