S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2

[Max Peck]

Maybe a silly question, but did you have your flashlight turned on?

That was my first thought.

[Scraper]

Maybe a silly question, but did you have your flashlight turned on?

I did.

[Max Peck]

The other obvious/dumb question is whether you adjusted the gamma setting. I'm not having any problem seeing things in the dark while using the flashlight, but I did tweak the gamma. The default setting is usually too dark on my monitor for pretty much any game, so I'm used to making it brighter as a matter of habit.

[naednek]

I didn't feel like it was too dark. As far as slow walking are you encumbered? Not sure if this is a thing in this game

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[Max Peck]

Carry capacity is limited so over-encumbrance would explain slow movement. I'm still very early in the game and I've already had to ditch some gear to keep my encumbrance in the green.

I think I've already run into what appears to be a graphic glitch:

Spoiler:

There's an anomaly that repeatedly moves through a section of the sewer tunnel and it zaps you if you come into contact with it. It took me a few reloads to figure out what was happening because it was invisible. However, in one reload it was visible as a bluish ball of electricity, so I suspect it's supposed to be visible. I'm not sure whether I accidentally did something that made it visible that one time, or if there's just a bug that makes it invisible most of the time.

So far performance has been good (50ish FPS @ 1080p) on my PC (i7-9700KF, RTX 2080S, 32GB RAM) with graphics on the "High" preset.

[coopasonic]

Encumbrance is definitely a thing. Guns sell for decent coupons, but you can't sell broken ones so drop them right after you unload them. Bullets are precious. You do have a personal stash in the first town so you can unload stuff you don't want to sell like extra bandages or vodka.

[coopasonic]

I think I've already run into what appears to be a graphic glitch:

Spoiler:

There's an anomaly that repeatedly moves through a section of the sewer tunnel and it zaps you if you come into contact with it. It took me a few reloads to figure out what was happening because it was invisible. However, in one reload it was visible as a bluish ball of electricity, so I suspect it's supposed to be visible. I'm not sure whether I accidentally did something that made it visible that one time, or if there's just a bug that makes it invisible most of the time.

It was visible for me so I only got to check it once, no reloads needed.

[Scraper]

Carry capacity is limited so over-encumbrance would explain slow movement. I'm still very early in the game and I've already had to ditch some gear to keep my encumbrance in the green.

I think I've already run into what appears to be a graphic glitch:

Spoiler:

There's an anomaly that repeatedly moves through a section of the sewer tunnel and it zaps you if you come into contact with it. It took me a few reloads to figure out what was happening because it was invisible. However, in one reload it was visible as a bluish ball of electricity, so I suspect it's supposed to be visible. I'm not sure whether I accidentally did something that made it visible that one time, or if there's just a bug that makes it invisible most of the time.

So far performance has been good (50ish FPS @ 1080p) on my PC (i7-9700KF, RTX 2080S, 32GB RAM) with graphics on the "High" preset.

I checked to see if it was encumbrance and it wasn't I am still in the green and just to make sure I dropped everything I was carrying, but it made no difference.

I did give the game one more shot this morning and I am out until they make significant patches. I was in the intro sequence, I had activated the 3rd beacon, and I was at the part where you get the screw to throw at the anomaly. Keep in mind my character is still stuck moving like a snail no matter what I do. I throw the screw at the anomaly and try to run through it and I die. I reload 7 more times trying different tactics and no matter what I do I still die, I assume because I'm not fast enough to escape. This is made extra worse given that the load times after a death are last Gen long.

At this point I still really want to play the game but I'm going to wait a couple of months while they sort it out. It kind of reminds me of a Bethesda game at launch but worse when it comes to bugs.

[Freyland]

Haven't played yet. Is there a run key, perhaps?

[TheMix]

It appears that by default the 'x' key will activate Walk. It's unclear if that is a toggle or not. Assuming it's like other games, your default movement is likely running. With an option to sprint (i.e. faster run) or walk.

Did you toggle on walking by accident?

[coopasonic]

You do have a personal stash in the first town so you can unload stuff you don't want to sell like extra bandages or vodka.

Though there doesn't seem to be a personal stash in the second zone. This displeases me. I found a sniper rifle but not enough ammo to justify repairing it and carrying it so I want to stash it to see if more ammo shows up. I really don't want to go back to the first town. I guess I could try just adopting a nearby stash as my own and hope the inventory persists. It seems to be pretty persistent so far but I haven't been paying that much attention.

I'm still in the "like it, don't love it" camp on this game. Generally I can play a game for hours and the time just disappears. With this, after an hour or so I am ready for a break. Some of it might be the tension knowing death is around every corner but that's just a kinder way of saying the game is frustrating.

[Scraper]

It appears that by default the 'x' key will activate Walk. It's unclear if that is a toggle or not. Assuming it's like other games, your default movement is likely running. With an option to sprint (i.e. faster run) or walk.

Did you toggle on walking by accident?

I'm playing on the series X and I thought about a walk toggle, so I went into the settings and changed the walk setting back and forth from toggle to "hold" and it didn't make a difference. I'm convinced it's a bug.

[coopasonic]

Though there doesn't seem to be a personal stash in the second zone. This displeases me.

I was wrong. There is a personal stash in the second region by the vendor. It just isn't marked on the map like it was in the first region. I even looted it without noticing I was looting my own stash.

[jztemple2]

I've decided to go for a refund. I've put in some time in the game and remembered how much I dislike horror games, even ones with appeal like this one. My nerves just won't take it

[Max Peck]

Funny, I've never really seen the STALKER games as horror, but it actually does say it right on the tin:

Unique gameplay built on a blend of FPS, horror, and immersive sim

[hepcat]

1 hour in and I’ve decided it’s not worth my time. It’s just annoying. The crappy controls should have been my first clue I wasn’t going to enjoy this. Thankfully, it’s a game pass game, so I can just uninstall without feeling like I wasted my money.

[Daehawk]

This guy seems to have a lot a fun with it

[coopasonic]

14 hours in (per the save screen, 16.3 per steam, so a wee bit of time being dead and some pausing and dealing with our pets ) and I'm starting to appreciate it a lot more. I just got to the fourth zone and it is definitely keeping my attention now.

[Grifman]

Funny, I've never really seen the STALKER games as horror, but it actually does say it right on the tin:

Unique gameplay built on a blend of FPS, horror, and immersive sim

The mutants inhabiting underground bunkers always freaked me out, especially the ones that could turn invisible and the ones that used telekinesis. I definitely thought of Stalker as sort of a horror game in certain areas.

That said, sounds like this one needs a bit more time in the cooker, but there's no rush, still have plenty of games I need to get to.

[jztemple2]

Which just goes to demonstrate that it's often the devs and their story that sell a game, not the game itself. Imagine if this was a game by Ubisoft...

[Max Peck]

I dunno, from where I'm standing it has more than a little to do with the game itself.

[Grifman]

The jank abides - player finds bug from the original Stalin Stalker 2:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-f ... rtwarming/

[Punisher]

There are no bugs only in game anomalies.

[coopasonic]

24 hours in and I haven't hit any meaningful bugs. For about a minute I was able to sprint without my stamina going down. I would like some more of that bug please.

All of my frustrations appear to be working as intended. Most of them revolve around the anomalies where light explodes with no sign that I can see. There is a split second between the light and the explosion where you can move away, but they are generally packed pretty tightly and you just dodge into another one. I spent a few minutes trying to deal with one that was around a stash and took probably a dozen deaths before giving up.

[Max Peck]

I've had a couple of random CTDs and am encountering an annoying bug where the compass hud keeps switching off. Reapplying the UI settings seems to fix it until the next time it happens. I also have a weird bug with a some looted armor. It has significantly better stats than my starting leather jacket, but has what looks to be a placeholder name and it uses a graphic for a loaf of bread. Clearly, the Zone is messing with my gear and/or my head.

Storywise, I'm still at the first settlement. I've been running a few missions and raiding an apparently infinitely respawning bandit camp at a nearby POI in order to farm some supplies. My penchant for exploring and meddling in the affairs of others paid off, scoring a very nice scoped rifle fairly early on. My standard loadout for now is my pistol (silenced), the scoped rifle and a shotgun.

[coopasonic]

24 hours in and I haven't hit any meaningful bugs.

I should have kept my mouth shut. I now can't get most saves to load including any new saves. I see quite a few complaints along the same lines.

You might think this is no big deal, but after 98 deaths you come to realize loading saves is pretty important.

[Max Peck]

Info regarding future patch

Spoiler:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is getting a first patch during the week to come — both on PC and Xbox.

The game has been out for several days now (it’s still surreal to say that), and we’ve been following your feedback in all possible forms carefully. To the more than one million stalkers in the Zone, thanks for playing — that means the world to us.

We are sure you have things to handle in the Zone, but so do we.

The following update will include:

Crash Fixes, including:

• Issues and memory allocation failures, which previously caused the game to exit unexpectedly, particularly around rendering, skeletal meshes, and quest-related cutscenes.

Main Quest Progression Fixes, including:

• Several bugs blocking the main quest progression, NPCs getting stuck in objects, incorrect quest markers, and issues with quest cutscenes.
• Revision of the main quests (like Visions of Truth or A Minor Incident) to ensure smooth transitions, avoiding rare cases of players not being able to proceed further.

Gameplay & Balance Adjustments, including:

• Fixing the price of the weapons with upgrades installed compared to their value without attachments.
• NPCs behavior, including the way they act when lacking a shelter during the Emissions.

Cutscenes & Visual Fixes, including:

• Rarely missing facial animations, misplaced NPCs, and visual inconsistencies like detached heads and clothes clipping.
• Quality and stability improvements of the visual effects.

Softlock Fixes, including:

• Issue where players were unable to close the trade screen after putting ammo in a wrong slot while playing on a gamepad.

User Interface Improvements, including:

• Quest notifications now showed correctly during dialogues.
• Corrected texts and missing interaction prompts.

Noted to be addressed in future updates:

• Analogue sticks dead zones bugfixes.
• A-Life system bugfixes.

[Holman]

This is one I'll be watching, but I probably won't play it until I upgrade my PC in a couple of years.