Stalker Clear Sky nuances for veteran Stalker Players

I just beat the game. Here are some Stalker Clear Sky nuances i found both annoying and helpful. This is in comparison to the original STALKER, which i think is a superior game. Here are important nuances for former Stalker players to Clear Sky

-their is a repair system

- Money is excruciatingly tight. Leading you to do repetitive trips to kills zones raiding dead bodies, carrying as much as you can then running back to the nearest trading post just to make ends meet. Even then they rip you off badly. Extremely repetitive.

-Med-kits are hard to come by especially in the beginning. Have your save and reload buttons memorized. This kills the immersive experience because you need to save and reload to save health packs for long main mission story. The original Stalker had no problem with this because med kits were everywhere.

-Russian rounds vs NATO rounds have the same damage. There is no difference in damage if upgrade your Russian or Nato rifle to any standard.

- the upgrade system is flawed. For example, the assault files. While the starting baseline stats for rifles vary widely with Nato Gun superior to Russian guns; their upgraded statistics are the same....no really. This is because the upgrade path for ALL ASSUALT FILES have the SAME MAX statistics except maybe max catridge capacity (10, 20, 30, 45). SAME POTENTIAL DAMAGE, ACCURACY so on.

I found my AK 94 max upgraded max for accuracy was the same statistics as a maxed upgraded NATO gun assuming same upgrade path. In fact its better to"upgrade" your nato guns to 5.45 Russian round because its the most common round found. I used the same max upgraded scoped AK 94 gun from start to beginning not by choice because their was literally no better alternative. I upgraded several of the new guns on the same exact upgrade path and the final statistics were the same, so I just stuck to my old rifle. In fact my old rifle was better because 45 max capacity versus 20 max for some of the new guns.

I loved of the feeling in the orginal stalker when you run into the a new gun it was better than the one you were using. This is gone in Clear Sky

- Artifacts are useless. I found 6 of them beating the game, but didn't use any. First of all there are rare. 2nd of all they are put are the good ones in places where you can't get (instant kill anomaly) and the when you do get them, their radiations slowly kills you. In game that is a marathon rather than a sprint, constantly using antiradiation pills is not an option. I found no artifacts countering the radiations like in did in the original STALKER, so they all my artifacts were useless.

-Side mission aren't worth crap. The potential and cost of repairing weapons and armor in the process of completing side mission means the rewards aren't worth it. Side mission are also places extremely close proximity making it easier to complete but at the same making it them seem more like a gameplay gimmick than they already are.

- It seems mutants are upgraded from the original. They seems to shrug off your rounds and grenades. Those jumping four legged masked human mutants especially are hard to kill. I am more afraid of mutants in confined spaces sometimes than humans with their unnatural grenade skills.

- An upgraded pistols(Martha specifically) holding 18 rounds clips, max upgrade to accuracy or damage is extremely effective. I some cases I prefer the pistol to assault rifle because they reload faster and seem to actually take down mutants faster(dunno why). I also think that running backward firing an pistol instead of rifle is more accurate. I might be wrong, but it seems so

- The difficulty is uneven like the first Stalker game. When you get towards the end you are hit with a wall. Be prepared to have a lot of cash on hand for expensive battlefield repairs of armor and weapons.

- The game is really dark. The night is claustrophobic dark and even during daylight you find yourself turning on night vision to see enemies better.

-certain bandits can mug you of all you have touch you. Shoot bandits on site even if they try to talk to you.

-midway in the game, their is a unavoidable bandit mugging. You can get your gear back, but money is another story.

yeah. I did that in original Stalker. I felt like superman in the orignal Stalker with the artifacts I was carrying. Coudln't in Clear Sky, because like I mentioned, I couldn't find any artifacts to cancel the radiations effects. Medkits are hard to come in the Clear Sky because it was a direct game design decision by the makers because they wanted Clear Sky to be more difficult which it is by making medkits harder to come by. You just need to try to buy one to see how absurdly expensive it is. Also all artifacts are extemely gimped compared to the original even. Like for example an artifact(they best one I found) that has value of 12,000 cash has these stats -50 bleeding, but -3 radiation. Thats not worth wearing at all. yeah....

Also Mochyc, their are mods to take care of the npc grenade spamming which is extremely annoying. There are also mods that allow all NPC to buy stuff from you which eleminates the repetitive runs to the trading post to sell stuff. Also about the game crashing. I was playing 1.004. Game crashed on me a total of 8 times for the 13 hours I was playing it until I beat the game. So if you can stand that then buy the game.

I agree, the side missions felt like crap to meh where they didn't feel worth doing. Like in the freedom base, twenty feet from one guy is the place you kill someone.

The one hit kill places were very anoying as well.

One thing that did anoy me was when the game went from its survival attitude with the copter fight. It wasn't hard but it put me in a position where I had 1 med pac and 0 bandages.

That sucks about the upgraded NATO rifles doing the same damage as upgraded Russian ones. Hopefully, this can be modded.

I agree about the lack of finding better rifles. I'm not done with the game yet, but for a long, long time I was using the Viper 5 submachine gun. It did more damage than the first two AKs and when it was upgraded, it did more damage than the grey rifle that uses the AK rounds. It was also more accurate than those rifles! It did about the same in damage compared to the tan-colored rifle with the built-in scope that uses the other type of ammo. Sorry, I don't know the names of rifles or ammo types.

I have also been selling every artifact, because they all seem to infect me with radiation. I don't care if they give me +2 health. What's the point if they're going to cause radiation sickenss? I miss the artifact in the first game that increased stamina. I haven't found anything like that, and my stamina runs out very quickly. Twould be nice to have at least one of those artifacts.

The "grenade AI" is screwed up. Enemies can throw grenades over walls to your exact position. If I'm running behind a wall, they can even "lead off" some how. It's as if they can estimate where I'll be when they throw the grenade, unless I fun far, far away. If I'm crouched, I barely have enough time to get up and get the hell out of the area despite the forewarning of the grenade indicator icon.

Yup, side missions don't offer all that much. I keep doing them though. I can't stop! It's very annoying when I have to travel to another area just to collect a reward for a side mission. I think the person giving the quest should reward you, rather than the Barmang. I could understand if you're doing a quest that benefits the whole faction, but if I'm finding Joe Schmoe's lucky flesh light (nope that wasn't a typo), then he should pay me. I don't mind running to the Barmang for my reward when the person giving the quest is in the same base as the Barmang.

I've noticed that I haven't been paid for a few quests. Usually, when a quest is finished, a PDA update says to collect a reward and where to go for that reward. Sometimes, this does not happen. WTF?

I disagree with the lack of med kits & the complaint about darkness. I have many more med kits than I do bandages actually. I never ever need to use night vision during daylight, unless I'm in a very dark building or something. The 2nd Night Vision upgrade + a flash light works very well.

I'm about 3 hours in the game.

Do the side quests still expire after a while?

Only 2 things bother me: there's no in-game clock (there was one in the PDA in SoC...) and the AK feels weird.

I can't go back to the original now, it feels very primitive compared to CS:|

I didn't try to upgrade the viper, but with the rifles if you try to upgrade to with emphasis on damage and accuracy and less emphais on rate of fire and recoil; you get 100 percent accuracy and good damage. Which means you can kills lots of people fast with headshots via scoped rifles(with Monolith battle armor NPC, thats they only way to go). TIP: There is a scope for AK weapons in the swamps on top the first tower you climp up in a box at the very beginning of the game. Also a bout the health kits, later on the game, the higher enemies all have medkits like the military, monolith so you can raid them, but the difficulty of the last missions makes you use medkits quick.

- Another nuance I forgot to mention is Clear Sky has new death animation where it takes a while for enemies to actually get floored; not he usual flying backwards like in old Stalker which was a very useful indicator you got a sucessful headshot. What the new death animination does is makes you waste ammo when you are headshotting enemies cuz you keep shooting them thinking they are still alive, but in fact it is just the stupid slow death animation. Happens a lot when you are far away sniping.

I'm about 3 hours in the game.

Do the side quests still expire after a while?

Only 2 things bother me: there's no in-game clock (there was one in the PDA in SoC...) and the AK feels weird.

I can't go back to the original now, it feels very primitive compared to CS:|

Baranga

The only side quest I had expire was the one where you have a message saying that so and so is under attack and need your help. I have ignored those and then it says Quest:blah blah cancelled so I think whoever needed help died lol

If you have the funds, upgrade you AK to the max in beginning raid bodies until you have the funds, it is worth it. its about 30 grand to do a ak 94, might be more for ak 74 because baseline stats sucks much more. Then you can be confidently headshotting enemies in no time with your scoped pimped out gun. Go for emphasis on accuracy then damange. Don't do the grenade launcher attachment upgrade because you can't further upgrade the accuracy following the grenade launcher attachment upgrade path and don't put emphasis on rate of fire and recoil. You need 100 accuracy because you need the at least the first bullet to hit 100% at your aim point to get headshots consistently.

I didn't try to upgrade the viper, but with the rifles if you try to upgrade to with emphasis on damage and accuracy and less emphais on rate of fire and recoil; you get 100 percent accuracy and good damage. Which means you can kills lots of people fast with headshots via scoped rifles(with Monolith battle armor NPC, thats they only way to go). TIP: There is a scope for AK weapons in the swamps on top the first tower you climp up in a box at the very beginning of the game. Also a bout the health kits, later on the game, the higher enemies all have medkits like the military, monolith so you can raid them, but the difficulty of the last missions makes you use medkits quick.lepepelepub

Cool, thanks for the tip. I did find that scope but it did not work with the first two AKs I came across. The first two AKs I found were the smallest one and the AK 74/2. I think that's what it's called.

I forgot to mention that I am playing on the 2nd difficulty level and I am not very far in the main quest, so that is probably why I have so many med kits. I have about 30.

Another nuance I forgot to mention is Clear Sky has new death animation where it takes a while for enemies to actually get floored; not he usual flying backwards like in old Stalker which was a very useful indicator you got a sucessful headshot. What the new death animination does is makes you waste ammo when you are headshotting enemies cuz you keep shooting them thinking they are still alive, but in fact it is just the stupid slow death animation. Happens a lot when you are far away sniping.

lepepelepub

Ha! Yeah that animation is annoying.

I'm currently using an artifact that is -4 radiation. Found it near the abandoned factory in the Dark Valley.

-4 isn't much, and I've yet to find another artifact like it, but it does help me use some other artifacts (max weight, anti-bleed, +hp regen).

I'm not very far in the game though, just got to Agroprom.

The mugging was aggravating, I didn't realize I lost all my money until I got my equipment back and quicksaved over my file sevearl times :cry:

I'm using an upgraded hunting rifle (augmented to only use that single sniper type shot) and it has the same accuracy as a sniper rifle I just found, plus it does more damage. Only downside is it holds only 2 bullets and you can't attach a scope.

I found a +4 endurance with a -3 radiation, but I have yet to find a - radiation artifact. I've found around 10 artifacts all with +radiation and I haven't been able to use any of them because they just radiate me.

Also headshots barely seem to do more damage than just hitting them in the body. Even if their face is exposed, if you shoot them in the face, it's like they are wearing a helmet. Quite ridiculous.

I also agree with the mutants, they take FOREVER to kill. You have to pump like 20 bullets into one of them. Although the bloodsuckers die almost instantly as soon as their cloaking wears off. But you can't shoot them while cloaked, which is stupid as hell.

My notes, playing on Master difficulty:

Look around for medkits and bandages, they're all over, especially in those white suitcases and hidden stashes. I have like 30 medkits at every base in a box that I've unloaded from my inventory.

That 6 round shotgun decimates the mutants. Upgrade it to fire faster, more accurate and hold 8 shots, takes mutants down like nothing. Don't make it so you can't use shot rounds.

For the mugging scene, used all my money on upgrades, items and hidden stash info, then dropped everything I had on the ground beforehand, after the scene just walked outside and picked it up. Went and killed those guys and all that was in the box was a loaf of bread.

You must aim for the head. Get a scope on your gun and improve the accuracy and flatness.

Only 2 things bother me: there's no in-game clock (there was one in the PDA in SoC...)

Baranga

There is a clock in the inventory screen. Don't know why they moved it there, it makes more sense in the PDA I think.

EDIT: I just noticed that there is a clock in the PDA as well, but it's hidden away at the top of the message log screen.

After putting around 20h into the game on veteran difficulty i disagree with some of your points.

- Money is excruciatingly tight. Leading you to do repetitive trips to kills zones raiding dead bodies, carrying as much as you can then running back to the nearest trading post just to make ends meet. Even then they rip you off badly. Extremely repetitive.lepepelepub

I didnt have any problems with money. Of course its not supposed to be plenty because that wouldnt really fit the zones economy. After 15h or so I had 30-40k and nothing to spend it on, except repairs which means a few k's every few hours.

-Med-kits are hard to come by especially in the beginning. Have your save and reload buttons memorized. This kills the immersive experience because you need to save and reload to save health packs for long main mission story. The original Stalker had no problem with this because med kits were everywhere.lepepelepub

I experienced this the other way around. In the beginning I couldnt find any med kits but in the late game i had some many i had to sell most of them to lighten my load.

I found my AK 94 max upgraded max for accuracy was the same statistics as a maxed upgraded NATO gun assuming same upgrade path. In fact its better to"upgrade" your nato guns to 5.45 Russian round because its the most common round found. I used the same max upgraded scoped AK 94 gun from start to beginning not by choice because their was literally no better alternative. I upgraded several of the new guns on the same exact upgrade path and the final statistics were the same, so I just stuck to my old rifle. In fact my old rifle was better because 45 max capacity versus 20 max for some of the new guns.lepepelepub

That I agree with. I used the (cant remember the name, newer version of m16) from almost the start to the end of the game. I found it was much better with upgrades than the late game guns mainly because of the bullet capacity and the fact that there werent much difference in specs between it and the more expensive guns. But then again they did have some features over it like flameless fire and being a tad more accurate.

- Artifacts are useless. I found 6 of them beating the game, but didn't use any. First of all there are rare. 2nd of all they are put are the good ones in places where you can't get (instant kill anomaly) and the when you do get them, their radiations slowly kills you. In game that is a marathon rather than a sprint, constantly using antiradiation pills is not an option. I found no artifacts countering the radiations like in did in the original STALKER, so they all my artifacts were useless.

lepepelepub

They are just as usefull as they are in the original stalker. Now you just wont accidently stumble on to them but you need to actually go look for them with your detector. But i think this is just because they are very usefull. For an example the first artifact that i found let me carry 20kg more stuff with me.

-Side mission aren't worth crap. The potential and cost of repairing weapons and armor in the process of completing side mission means the rewards aren't worth it. Side mission are also places extremely close proximity making it easier to complete but at the same making it them seem more like a gameplay gimmick than they already are. lepepelepub

Some are and some are not. Some side missions give you 5-10k cash while being easy so I wouldnt call them all crap. But then again there are side missions where you wont get even enough money to cover the bullets used.

- It seems mutants are upgraded from the original. They seems to shrug off your rounds and grenades. Those jumping four legged masked human mutants especially are hard to kill. I am more afraid of mutants in confined spaces sometimes than humans with their unnatural grenade skills.lepepelepub

Yeah they seem more deadly and harder to kill. Those invisible mutants are now actually invincible while cloaked.

- An upgraded pistols(Martha specifically) holding 18 rounds clips, max upgrade to accuracy or damage is extremely effective. I some cases I prefer the pistol to assault rifle because they reload faster and seem to actually take down mutants faster(dunno why). I also think that running backward firing an pistol instead of rifle is more accurate. I might be wrong, but it seems solepepelepub

I also found myself using pistols much more than i did in the original stalker. Especially the UDP compact was great while fitting 12 or so bullets with an upgrade and being almost as accurate as my assault rifles.

Playing on Veteran or Master is much more realistic and entertaining, in my opinion.

I'm playing through on Veteran and I'm having fun. I just got up to the point where you get mugged....talk about pissing me off - I had 12k, 15 medkits, 20 some bandages, a dozen granades of each kind and I just upgraded my new rifle. I was close to getting some better armor that costs around 16 or 18k from the near by stalker base.

I turned the game off after I found out the mugging cleaned me out of everything. Anyways, I was 1 in the morning and I had to get to bed.

I don't have any problems finding medkits or bandages.

One thing that really irritates me is how I've gone through the Garbage area two different times now and I've cleared out every mutant and Bandit....only to not have the STALKERs come through and set up their patrols and guard posts. I though the STALKERs really hated the Bandits and they wanted them eliminated.....wouldn't you think the STALKERs would set up base in the Garbage once you cleared out the Bandits?

There are a few things that irritate me, but overall, I think Clear Sky is a bit better then the first STALKER game.

One thing that really irritates me is how I've gone through the Garbage area two different times now and I've cleared out every mutant and Bandit....only to not have the STALKERs come through and set up their patrols and guard posts. I though the STALKERs really hated the Bandits and they wanted them eliminated.....wouldn't you think the STALKERs would set up base in the Garbage once you cleared out the Bandits?

neatfeatguy

I'm not sure if I remember right but once you join the stalker faction you get a mission to clean out the garbage and after that the stalkers settle in.

[QUOTE="Baranga"]

Only 2 things bother me: there's no in-game clock (there was one in the PDA in SoC...)

EvanescenceUK

There is a clock in the inventory screen. Don't know why they moved it there, it makes more sense in the PDA I think.

EDIT: I just noticed that there is a clock in the PDA as well, but it's hidden away at the top of the message log screen.

Thanks. Can't figure out how I didn't notice it.

Now, I'm having fun in the Garbage. I've spent 3 days and two nights in-game.

I find the secondary tasks to be better than in SoC until now, at least concept wise. The one with the tunnel where you can't enter was awesome.

The task with the PDA in the digger's toolbox scared the crap out of me!

I fixed my AK, and I managed to find an IL 86 which makes my life a lot easier.

Another thing: I find the shotguns much more useful now.

[QUOTE="neatfeatguy"]

One thing that really irritates me is how I've gone through the Garbage area two different times now and I've cleared out every mutant and Bandit....only to not have the STALKERs come through and set up their patrols and guard posts. I though the STALKERs really hated the Bandits and they wanted them eliminated.....wouldn't you think the STALKERs would set up base in the Garbage once you cleared out the Bandits?

Pessu

I'm not sure if I remember right but once you join the stalker faction you get a mission to clean out the garbage and after that the stalkers settle in.

I've been given a mission (several times now) to clear out the main base of the Bandits (and yes, I joined the Stalkers). So, I sneak my way up best as I can and I start popping off bandits. After a bit of running and ducking and running more (from those ever so dead-aim thrown nades) and then lots of shooting, I've killed all the bandits in the main camp.

Then I get someone from the Stalkers on the raido transmitter saying thanks and blah, blah, blah about removing the bandits...come to our base to get your reward (oh wow...a whole 600 rubles! Now I retire as a rich Stalker!).

I've even gone through the rest of the map and cleared out any other bandits....then all of a sudden the main bandit base is filled with bandits again.

Then I hear a radio transmission from the Stalkers saying that the Garbage is over run with bandits again....once again I get a mission to clear out the main base.

Rinse and repeat....I think I've done this 3 times now. And not once have the Stalkers ever come to settle in. It's really annoying, if you ask me.

I found a +4 endurance with a -3 radiation, but I have yet to find a - radiation artifact. I've found around 10 artifacts all with +radiation and I haven't been able to use any of them because they just radiate me.

Also headshots barely seem to do more damage than just hitting them in the body. Even if their face is exposed, if you shoot them in the face, it's like they are wearing a helmet. Quite ridiculous.

DragonfireXZ95

I also found that same artifact. I found the -4 radiation artificat that Cametall mentioned and I should have held on to it but I sold it. Without that artifact, every other one I've came across is useless :(

Headshots are crappy unless you have a scoped rifle. I have to get very, very close to take out an emeny with a headshot using regular rifle sites. Very difficult to do so.

[QUOTE="neatfeatguy"]

One thing that really irritates me is how I've gone through the Garbage area two different times now and I've cleared out every mutant and Bandit....only to not have the STALKERs come through and set up their patrols and guard posts. I though the STALKERs really hated the Bandits and they wanted them eliminated.....wouldn't you think the STALKERs would set up base in the Garbage once you cleared out the Bandits?

Pessu

I'm not sure if I remember right but once you join the stalker faction you get a mission to clean out the garbage and after that the stalkers settle in.

I've cleaned out that depot several times and I always get a message later on that the bandits have over-run the garbage again. I can be in another sector and I still get that message. I don't bother clearing out that place anymore. It's not even worth the ammo because the bandits only have shotgun shells, 9X18 pistols rounds, or 9X19 ammo for the Viper 5.

[QUOTE="lepepelepub"]Artifacts are useless. I found 6 of them beating the game, but didn't use any. First of all there are rare. 2nd of all they are put are the good ones in places where you can't get (instant kill anomaly) and the when you do get them, their radiations slowly kills you. In game that is a marathon rather than a sprint, constantly using antiradiation pills is not an option. I found no artifacts countering the radiations like in did in the original STALKER, so they all my artifacts were uselessPessu

They are just as usefull as they are in the original stalker. Now you just wont accidently stumble on to them but you need to actually go look for them with your detector. But i think this is just because they are very usefull. For an example the first artifact that i found let me carry 20kg more stuff with me.

I like the fact that we have to actively search for artifacts but I still think most of them are pretty useless. I've also played for over 20 hours and I've only come across one good artifact that doesn't infect me with radiation. The artififacts in the first game also had positive and negative effects, but some of the negatives were things like less health, or less protection from bullets...something that I was willing to deal with :D

[QUOTE="DragonfireXZ95"]

I found a +4 endurance with a -3 radiation, but I have yet to find a - radiation artifact. I've found around 10 artifacts all with +radiation and I haven't been able to use any of them because they just radiate me.

Also headshots barely seem to do more damage than just hitting them in the body. Even if their face is exposed, if you shoot them in the face, it's like they are wearing a helmet. Quite ridiculous.

Herrick

I also found that same artifact. I found the -4 radiation artificat that Cametall mentioned and I should have held on to it but I sold it. Without that artifact, every other one I've came across is useless :(

Headshots are crappy unless you have a scoped rifle. I have to get very, very close to take out an emeny with a headshot using regular rifle sites. Very difficult to do so.

[QUOTE="neatfeatguy"]

One thing that really irritates me is how I've gone through the Garbage area two different times now and I've cleared out every mutant and Bandit....only to not have the STALKERs come through and set up their patrols and guard posts. I though the STALKERs really hated the Bandits and they wanted them eliminated.....wouldn't you think the STALKERs would set up base in the Garbage once you cleared out the Bandits?

Pessu

I'm not sure if I remember right but once you join the stalker faction you get a mission to clean out the garbage and after that the stalkers settle in.

I've cleaned out that depot several times and I always get a message later on that the bandits have over-run the garbage again. I can be in another sector and I still get that message. I don't bother clearing out that place anymore. It's not even worth the ammo because the bandits only have shotgun shells, 9X18 pistols rounds, or 9X19 ammo for the Viper 5.

[QUOTE="lepepelepub"]Artifacts are useless. I found 6 of them beating the game, but didn't use any. First of all there are rare. 2nd of all they are put are the good ones in places where you can't get (instant kill anomaly) and the when you do get them, their radiations slowly kills you. In game that is a marathon rather than a sprint, constantly using antiradiation pills is not an option. I found no artifacts countering the radiations like in did in the original STALKER, so they all my artifacts were uselessPessu

They are just as usefull as they are in the original stalker. Now you just wont accidently stumble on to them but you need to actually go look for them with your detector. But i think this is just because they are very usefull. For an example the first artifact that i found let me carry 20kg more stuff with me.

I like the fact that we have to actively search for artifacts but I still think most of them are pretty useless. I've also played for over 20 hours and I've only come across one good artifact that doesn't infect me with radiation. The artififacts in the first game also had positive and negative effects, but some of the negatives were things like less health, or less protection from bullets...something that I was willing to deal with :D

I just found a second anti-rad artifact. Now I have -8 rad! :D