Global mod for STALKER SHoC, intended to recreate a highly atmospheric Zone with highest possible quality, stability of the game, rich gameplay and loyalty to the canons of the Sci-Fi genre.
9/10 - Looks beautiful and creates something never done before
I have played up until Rostok, more info will be applied later.
Pros:
Configurable options and advanced gfx
Fantastic new graphics
Wide range of weapons, items and armour
New quests, and quest bug fixes
Better rewards
Balanced artifacts and medicine
New ammo types
New icons make the game a real masterpiece
No CTDs (atleast not yet)
Bloodsuckers can be killed while in cloak (yes!)
Iron sights for all weapons have been perfected unlike many mods around
Cons:
Rad tablets etc need fluid to use, otherwise you die, this makes no sense at all, you don't need fluid its just easier to swallow that way. A game that focuses on survival cannot use up all his water;)
Shotguns used to be the prime of killing mutants, but due to their high health, you need to offload 10 shots into a single fleshy just to kill it...
Medkits are scarce and don't restore as much health as the vanilla game.
The mutants that spawned in Agroprom underground was kind of overkill, 3 bloodsuckers and 2 controllers.
The screen blood around the edges is really annoying, but I guess you need it due to no health bar.
The auto-turrets in military occupied areas are just stupid and annoying, it defys the lore of the game. The military were meant to be unorganised and not up to date.
This is one of the best SoC mods I have played, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experience a truly scary and challenging Zone. The amount of atmosphere added by the harder hitting mutants and psy emissions is almost unreal. You can't run far without running out of breath. Ammo is hard to find and very expensive, and since the mutants are now tougher, you are forced to avoid them or be prepared to run out of money while buying more ammo.
And if the mod is too hard, or you prefer not having to change your underwear constantly, don't worry, a nice configurator is included to add/remove features from the mod and tweaking stuff to your liking.
The reason I didn't give it a perfect score is due to some bugs, design choices and oversights which are too major to brush off.
1) Repetitive spawns. There seems to be a controller in the Bloodsucker Village every single time you enter Army Warehouses. Same goes the chimera spawn outside the south entrance to the Bar.
2) The mod cannot be considered stable, but it isn't as bad as STALKERSOUP last time i played it. I've had 4-5 CTD's during my playthrough so far.
3) The turrets. I honestly can't understand why on Earth they were added to the game. This is not the way to ramp up the difficulty even further. Having aimbot-MG's fire at you as soon as you enter their killzone is IMO stupid and makes fetching the military documents a real pain.
4) I personally think the Agroprom Underground section was made pointlessly hard. You'll have to face 3 bloodsuckers and 2 controllers in total. The bloodsuckers are pretty easy to take care of (after all, you can camp on boxes and take them out safely), but the two controllers spawning in at the beginning and the end of the last stretch of tunnel is not just scary as hell (which is a good thing), but also damn frustrating for the player. It is really, really hard to take them out without grenades, since they make you drop your gun, which usually leads to your death.
This is the best stalker mod i've had the plesure of playing,it feels like your playing stalker for the first time.The combat Ai of this mod is deadly, way above any thing else i have come across in any other mod,it has a dynamic Ai life that actualy works,it's remarkably stable,belive it or not my first play session was over 34 hours with only one ctd!.But for me the combat Ai seals the deal for me on this mod,you will be playing this for a long time!.An excellent mod.10/10
Best mod so far, very professionnal integration , you don't feel like it's kinda several mods awkwardly piled up like you can see in Stalkersoup for example . Astonishing revamp of graphic engine , great handcrafted stories and location modifications... And contrary to some people, game in master is doable, just need to get some military tactics (like using environment , and especially, move, shoot, move shoot to avoid greande spamming)
Everything's great, except to me , some extra locations that seem a little bit botched compared to the rest: I've been playing up to Darkscape , which i didn't enjoy that much , same thing for Marshes , just a "cameo".
And the RPG adventure side, which requires a LOT of time , times that i don't have no more as a father and a busy worker :-/ . I've been playing stalker since 2007 as it is the only game that immersed me for good and OGSE made it reach its pinnacle.
Time to quit video game world but you guys made a great final to one of the best VG of the last ten years , better than CS and CoP imho, and far better that the whole unch of crap we've been given by major studios.
I played through Stalkersoup, Road to Pripyat, SGM 2.0 - 2.2, Misery, Autumn Aurora, Naradnaya Solyanka, The Return of Scar, Secret Trails 2 and Lost Alpha.
I really thought, no mod's gonna impress me again. I was wrong.
Everyone who likes Stalker and a bit of a challenge, please try this mod! I also recommend it to people who were disappointed by Lost Alpha.
This is finally a mod with a perfect balance and quests that are more than just fetch-quests. Seriously: I'm still impressed by the stories told by many of them!
Thank you for this gem OGSR Team!
Well, first thing - I really love this mod, almost all of the new features are really great BUT difficulty is so UNbalanced.. for exaple the beginning of the game is quite hard, but the worst part just came in agroprom underground, I mean 3 (or 2 not sure) controllers at the same damn time? you got to be kiddin.. Im not even able to shoot 1 shot before the animations occur and certain death. Im seriously thinking about using cheats becouse its unplayable :(.
Have finished the main plot.
Very nice ending with destroying the c-consciousness.
Mod is awesome. Many great ideas. The introduction mod with the Stone Blood effect motivates the player.
And I very like the Dynamic gloss factor changing during rain. Adds immersion. The turning into a Zombie makes the game more interesting.
Psi zones, Horror time and the many configurable setting via OGSE launcher are simply amazing.
In short, this Mod is quality. I had under 10 crashes during complete playthrough. Plus the two crashes with Ghost and Kruglov.
Very good job. 10/10
This mod is simply perfection. I dont know why i discovered it so late. It is something i would advice any dedicated videogamer to play, even as a first stalker experience. It is indeed harder than vanilla, but not in a cheap way.
What is it?
Basically shadow of chernobyl with sooo many improvements and added content in every aspect of the game.
Pros
-Stunning graphics
-original story is kept, but there are soo many side and parallel quests that'll make you crazy. I never got bored a single minute, the zone has never felt so alive and coherent.
-Gun play is top notch. Weapons are very well balanced. I read that in the previous version enemies were a bit spongey, with 0693 + updates it seems devs hit the sweet spot. Buckshots and handguns are so satisfing to use. Of course the are new weapons, as well as items, food, npcs
- Lots of new gameplay features and mechanics that drastically improve immersion (eg portable radio, food can get contaminated by radiaion, pills side effects, blowouts, possibility of being zombified...)
-Improved a life
-Game configurator to tweak various aspects of the game.
- veichles used in a clever and plausible way
- new options and way to complete classic shoc quests
Im soo amazed by this, i think taking it nice and slow, ill hit the 80 hours mark on master, trying to do every quest possible and roleplaying as much as i can.
If you know shoc by heart, play this and prepared to be blown away. This is a perfect example of how to make a masterpiece into something even more epic.
Great Mod!
Very nice mod, if you liked Oblivion Lost than you should also try this, like OL it brings some cut-out content but also adds new stuff