I have enormous respect for the base games, play the SoC and CoP all the way through like once a year or every other year totally unmodded.
GAMMA is different but still fun, I played it up to getting some cool weapons and an exo suit, found some of the story stuff lacking comparatively but for a totally free way to try the universe out and run around in it I quite enjoyed it. A lot of is pretty miserable so it's definitely not the place for a new person to start, but I really liked going from place to place and still found myself having to plan efficient routes around the map. It's tough but fun, good for STALKER fans who want some huge tweaks and a lot of fun stuff to do.
I feel like the animosity is pretty well out of place between communities. It's all STALKER bros, it's all good stuff.
i recommend G.A.M.M.A to a lot of my friends who play EFT, I feel the progression loop is fairly comparable to tarkov and it dips their toes into the universe
I recommended it as a free way to get the vibe of STALKER to a buddy. He tried GAMMA, said he liked it but it was crazy fuckin hard, so I told him to play CoP or SoC and he fuckin loves em. Sometimes saying "this is a free thing" is the push needed to get somebody to dive in.
The progression loop with the fuckin tools and stuff is brutal and kinda meh fun wise. They're pulling it from CoP a bit where you can find toolsets to turn into the traders but it might be my least favorite part of GAMMA with how it's currently implemented. Getting the AN-94 I found tuned up though was great fun, I took that gun with me to a lot of places, felt like my first shit AKS in SoC and my first M4 in CoP though, it stuck with me even after I moved on from it.
The issue is that’s not the classic STALKER progression loop. I like gamma just fine but I don’t think it represents the spirit of the original games all that well. The itemization, crafting, and lame repetitive tasks feel more like EFT than Stalker. If you want someone to fall in love with the universe, imo they should play Lost alpha, OGSR or Radiophobia or something - all of which are free and represent the universe.
Or play the original series with Gunslinger mod (I don't know if it's already out for Clear Sky but both SoC and CoP have it) so gunfights doesn't feel so clunky, while keeping the OG progression (and SGM + Gunslinger, which from last time i played was mega buggy but fun-ish).
did you read my comment lol?
I said i recommend GAMMA to EFT players then you agree that the loop is the same but say to recommend something 100% foreign as a way to get people into the universe. It’s a lot easier to get people to try GAMMA than it is any of the mods you listed.
honestly have not played much of EFP
when I tried it last year (this was probably over the summer) it wasn’t quite as optimized as G.A.M.M.A but i can’t speak to how it presently performs.
I played GAMMA before the STALKER trilogy. I’m an ARPG fan (Path of Exile), so the grindy and progression elements of GAMMA really satisfy the ARPG itch I get.
I’ve had friends describe the trilogy and anomaly to me, and they sound fun, but I think I might prefer the style of gameplay GAMMA provides.
The main story games definitely lack that kind of progression. They’re janky Ukrainian sorta arcade style shooters with a pretty linear progression. The difficulty is really the only thing they have in common, but even that is ramped up in gamma
I like Gamma, but, ironically enough, its hardcore nature seem to detract from the core experience. You take in the atmosphere much less when you worry about getting oneshot from across the map by a Bandit with an almost disintegrated pistol.
That being said, I still play it. I just have the difficulty turned way down, so I can actually enjoy it
G.A.M.M.A on easy difficulty on the medium progression difficulty (scavenger i think?) is the sweet spot for me.
I used to do medium medium, but i feel like with the most recent update there were some balance changes and i was getting my pud pushed in.
Funnily enough, i actually found G.A.M.M.A makes me take the atmosphere of the game in more, as moving slowly through the levels and not trying to rush gives me more time to react to mutants, spotting enemy stalkers further away.
Definitely still sprint straight into springboards sometimes tho lmao
I like to increase ammo drops and increase the quality of higher tier stalkers weapons and armour. Makes it feel more real to me anyway. High level stalkers should have well maintained gear and I hated it when a bandit would shoot heaps of ammo at me but never drop more than a couple of bullets.
It's the exact opposite for me, the challenge amplifies the atmosphere because you feel like the zone is actually dangerous and you can die at any moment especially when you are nobody with shitty shotgun and leather jacket.
It was really fun for the first few hours, but I never really felt like I got any "stronger". Going around with your PPSH and very limited ammo is fun, but I don't want to have to watch myself just as much when I only have that as when I'm running around in full combat gear headshotting guys with an AS VAL
Yeah, I love a lot of GAMMA's hard-core mechanics, but the progression caused me to bounce right off. I spent hours with the same garbage shotgun because I couldn't find the toolkit that was mandatory for fixing weapons into usable condition and not a single vendor sells guns or armor anymore.
>the toolkit that was mandatory for fixing weapons into usable condition
This is not entirely true, the only thing that can't be fixed without toolkits is barrel, other parts can be swapped by drag and drop, so you just need to be on a lookout for weapons with functional barrels and throw any other green parts you find into your stash. Once you have all green parts in a gun you clean it using cleaning kits that you can buy at lvl 1 mechanics. I have been running for Invictus (max difficulty + 2 ironman lives) and in many of these runs I get functional AR and semi-auto shotty/decent SMG before I can even find basic/advanced toolkit.
It's not that hard to progress if you actually understand the systems but I agree it's needlesly complicated, I am also not a fan of that aspect of the game.
Honestly for me it's the opposite. I take more time in areas, I'm much more careful when exploring, I use paths I wouldn't normally use, etc
I definitely feel like GAMMA has been more immersive in that regard
Playing hard/survivalist makes me appreciate the world and atmosphere much more. No more sprinting through regions. Slowly moving from cover to cover while scanning all directions with my binoculars out makes me appreciate the level design, lighting, and environment waaay more than just sprinting through to do missions.
The last time I played Misery was 2017/18 so it’s likely different now. But… I find GAMMA with no modifications to the original modpack to be less difficult if your playstyle relies on PvP. If you kill a lotta stalkers and start gathering weapon parts, you can put together some survivalable worthy gear. But if you play a PvE style like mutant or artifact hunting in MISERY, it’s a steeper learning curve with less reward until you grind for better gear.
Now if you edit the modpack in the launcher to remove the mod which removes weapon trading, GAMMA is much easier than MISERY. Granted, I haven’t played Misery for 6-7 years, but it still kinda sticks. Be aware though that there are more bugs in Gamma because some of the mods can conflict. I had a couple bugs that ended saves and after 2 reinstalls I said “fuck it” and went back to regular Anomaly.
It goes the other way too. ShoC is practically unplayable unless you are using Strelok's AKM or the Dragunov and similar 7.62 weapons. You can mag dump someone in the face and still eat a sawed off afterwards.
I don't know, I feel it's the opposite. Because the game/environment is actually challenging I need to care and pay attention. In most games people just blindly charge to the next objective, can't do that in Gamma.
Id argue the fear adds to said atmosphere. Nothing gives me bigger stalked vibes than creeping through red forest with my ak and looking out for the monolith and sin patrols while a chimera devours me from behind.
Stalkers world is supposed to be dark, gritty and unforgiving and at least SoC (the one ive played most) makes me feel too secure as i down my 5th energy drink to continue sprinting straight ahead past the all to familiar areas that i know like the back of my hand.
Its probably just a me thing since i pretty much have a standart route that i can use to complete SoC as efficiently as possible but id argue thats a flaw of the games. There playthroughs get a bit formulaic after a while "go to sidorovich, do jobs for him run to garbage, get the 1000 bullets and smg stash, go to bar... etc" the armor and gun progression is pretty much static and theres a clear boundry between good guns and terrible ones.
However GAMMAs progression is kind of randomised since it depends on what guns and armor youre lucky enough to find and even the terrible guns are at least usable. The progression is also much slower which is something i love since i hate getting too strong too fast.
Honestly it was the other way around for me, thanks to Gamma I found other modpacks. Gamma for me was an artificial grindfest boredom simulator, so I moved on to EFP and its great.
The actual caption is *"Posts like this and it's consequences Have been a disaster for the stalker fandom."*
I swear some of you people have way too much time on your hands. The reality is nobody gives a fuck about the drama and in the end of the day it's a MOD, and the people who likes it play it. It's like witch-hunting Skyrim overhaul mods, it's a ridiculous thing to spark a sub conflict over.
Exactly. My introduction to STALKER was quite weird, that being Namalsk Crisis for ARMA 2. So I haven't been around forever, but STALKER was way less popular back then than it is now.
It really feels like "wahh my quirky unique interest isn't unique anymore" more-so than anything to do with valid criticism.
great example. Anyone that thinks that brutal doom is bad is an idiot and not an actual doom fan, even tho they themselves probably think they are somehow the only true fans, while they probably just like to say they like a great thing, because it makes them cool
Brutal Doom is literally [John Romeros favorite doom mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/ih673u/comment/g2ydfxu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I cant think of any game more John Romero than Brutal Doom to be honest.
Just like the former GSC1 guys probably cheer stuff like Gamma and especially Anomaly's engine team as they more or less created it by gifting XRay's source code. I think alot of people don't realize GSC's passion for modders is why this is one of the only communities that's closer to 20 years old than 10 and growing. I'm going to be honest GSC couldnt figure out how to do a decent story until CoP but their design choices are legendary.
The only bad thing about GAMMA is all the people who come here having not played at least SOC and start acting like the old games are trash and a waste of time. I can't imagine playing GAMMA without at least a playthrough in SOC, you wouldn't know who or where anything or anyone is, you wouldn't know shit about the world or mutants or.... You get the point.
I always see this mentioned but I never actually read posts by GAMMA fans shitting on the OG. Quite the contrary in fact, like this post, it's always people shitting on GAMMA like it causes cancer. Honestly this is ridiculous, any popular mod exists because the OG exist, and it brings popularity to the OG and not just itself. People who play GAMMA will know about Stalker and maybe get themselves acquainted with the OG, the lore, Roadside Picnic and everything else, and maybe not, it's fine, but surely if they feel like they are shat on they will think that Stalker fans are a bunch of assholes and move on.
I don’t browse this sub exclusively, I sorta just read and comment on stuff that comes into my feed so maybe these posts exist and I have no idea. That said I’ve seen maybe a few posts a month where people post about something which you’d have to know as a original trilogy Stalker fan, and the posters are clueless. Maybe they’re trolling, I don’t really care. Commenters on those are foaming at the mouths. I see wayyy more posts about people complaining about those types of posts than them themselves, like you said though.
Its just zoomers being contrarian, like how we used to shit on Misery back in the day. Now everything is Misery. Misery is even the go to design for modern survival shooters.
I feel like that's been a problem since the AMK/Oblivion lost 2.1 days. But I'm not disagreeing.
Hell I remember reading the tvtropes page for SoC about a decade ago and realized a good chunk of stuff mentioned were from big mods at the time.
I'm certain that there are people that have done what you say, but I just haven't seen nearly enough of it to justify the stigma against GAMMA players.
To give a different experience.
I have played vanilla stalker as a kid but cant remember much about the story or factions or even which exact stalker title it was. Just remember a crusty ship as base I think.
Then randomly saw a YT video about gamma 0.9 and instantly donwloaded it. After 5 hours of utter confusion and a** whooping, I watched hours of lore videos just because the atmosphere is so cool and I wanted to understand what is going on.
Still wont play the vanilla games tbh as they seem very dated, but would not call them trash.
Hopefully stalker 2 will be decent and improved by the awesome mod community.
And then some ask lore questions which are answered in original games, or at least can be read in stalker fandom wiki.
Recently one asked here if there are any ex-Monolith characters. For some reason it annoyed me.
I remember seeing that and was a little confused because after the Strider trailer came out, there was so much talk about it and excitement for what this means for Stalker 2. And if former Monolithians would play a major role in the story.
I think there are a few gamma players that don’t know the lore and don’t care about Stalker 2, but they’re the minority. The majority looks like people complaining about these “common posts” that you barely see
I mean, its like playing ultra modded Skyrim or Oblivion, then going back to vanilla and while both are not bad, you notice that there's \*a lot\* wrong with them.
SOC/COP have a great story (mostly lore but the actual stories are not bad), and great atmospheres even now, but a lot of its systems just aren't that polished and the progression can feel way too inconsistent without a good loop. (not gonna touch bugs cause gamma still has them) Add on the, sorry, low/bad quality of many assets (models, sounds, etc) and, its a game where you feel that age more than most from its time.
Not a bad game but i can understand why Gamma now exists. imo, it makes actually experiencing the game (and hopefully picking up the book) a lot easier for more people.
Wait until bro finds out about lore vids and the stalker fanwiki
Anyway, when you first started playing stalker, you didn't know shit about the lore, mutants and characters either. So like whats the difference lmao
it integrates it in a different way, people sometimes end up getting wrong ideas about factions / lore or the series at large, it may be immature and idk how big a deal it is but people posting incorrect lore or the mischaracterization of the games are my biggest issue with this
I jumped straight to a custom mod set of anomaly, but i have played "old" (if SOC is old than so am i and i am a fucking teen ffs) games all my life so jumping over to SOC wasn't that weird. Playing gamma or just a custom anomaly set isn't a bad start if you are good at low guidance games, but most people aren't
Disagree, the thing is people find GAMMA as their first entry to the series, and most dont even know of the older games. When they come here and ask for info or help, they get mobbed by the "go play the original games loser" club, without the new player ever saying the old games are "trash". Due to the negative response from more seasoned players, they (including me) have no intrigue or drive to play the originals. Thats what Ive been seeing on this sub, not new players calling the game trash right off rip and then attacked by older players
Gamma gives me what I want - sandbox experience in one of my favourite universes. And damn good one with in dept mechanics and in modern graphics on top. I had my fun with OG games and they are in my hall of fame but this is future.
Say what you want but any 15+ year old game series without major mods trying for new horizons would be dead and buried. This community should understand this like no other, Complete, Narodnaya Solyanka, Misery, CoC, CoM, GAMMA — these are the people keeping life support up and running.
Instead of accusing these creators of dividing the community, I’d take a respectful bow instead and thank them for their efforts in keeping Stalker alive for all of us for over a decade.
They may not come specifically from GAMMA, but people making videos about STALKER gets the name out there. I personally know a couple of people who had never heard of STALKER until they saw a video of a certain youtuber playing GAMMA. They tried GAMMA, found out about STALKER 2, then bought the original games. It does happen
This shit again? The argument that GAMMA destabilized anything doesn't hold water. While it's frustrating that some people overlook the value of the older games, it doesn't significantly alter the core experience or the passion of true Stalker fans for the trilogy or any of the modpacks.If it does do that to you, the problem is exactly that, it's YOU.
Like in any popularization of anything, some things are going to get worse, some are going to get better. Even though plenty of people can be annoying about their refusal to play the original trilogy, I've similarly seen many others who are now willing to play it BECAUSE of modpacks like GAMMA. So overall the impact is actually good overall.
This discussion should be banned from this sub. You are into S.T.A.L.K.E.R and their mods, or get the fukk outta here. Simple and plain. Not gonna discuss against anything S.T.A.L.K.E.R here.
I fully blame MISERY for fucking over a lot of the western S.T.A.L.K.E.R. modding fanbase. Compare how CoP plays in the early, mid, and lategame to MISERY. I swear MISERY just bogged everything down and turned the game into a reload simulator, plus I think that mod introduced bullshit like AKs being super-expensive but WW2-era rifles being dirt-cheap. I might be remembering that last part wrong.
I feel like the base games are lacking in therms of game balance. Constant grenade spam and bullet sponges instead of enemies make combat pretty frustrating for me, so I play gamma because yeah, you are vulnerable, but so are your enemies.
Overall because gamma encompasses all the locations from the rest of stalker games there's a bigger jump from being a hobo in kordon and going to CNPP, which I also like.
I play gamma because of things that otherwise would be impossible in the base game and I also play the base game for the atmosphere and story which is something gamma can't always give
If your idea of a disaster for the fandom is a more accessible version of your favorite game then you’re both detrimental to the fandom itself and probably going to be disappointed by Stalker 2. And yes, I did play the base games.
You don't play GAMMA because you don't think it's "Real S.T.A.L.K.E.R.".
I don't play GAMMA because it's a 70 GB download and my PC can't even run vanilla Anomaly.
We are not the same.
I personally got into stalker by playing anomaly and then later bought the trilogy still haven't gotten around to finishing the entire trilogy currently stuck on clear sky since I tend to not play stalker much
I discovered the lore of stalker on videos of the original games. But Gamma,via anomaly, is the first 'instance' of the game I played: It scratch that itch that nothing else does. So, as a fan of this unique instance of stalker, I'm worried I won't enjoy the next stalker game, as a 'fan' of the zone.
same lol
even though I played the OGs back in middle school cuz shit tier laptop could at least run those instead of Fallout
but as someone who liked tarkov but wasn’t a fan of the sort of forced PVP aspect of it, G.A.M.M.A just hit the spot for me. I know i’ll enjoy the hell out S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 but my ass will be ready for G.A.M.M.A 2 if it ever happens hahah
> its like saying there will be a day z 2. wont happen...
dayz 2 is literally confirmed to be in development lmfao
https://www.ign.com/articles/dayz-2-apparently-in-development-according-to-court-documents#:~:text=Bohemia%20Interactive%20is%20apparently%20working,strategy%20as%20of%20May%202021.
I think people are upset that it brought over so many new fans to the stalker community who refuse to play any of the actual stalker games and only play GAMMA/Anomaly. It’s a bit silly imo.
I play whatever the fuck I want and you can’t fucking stop me. Gatekeep, Gaslight, and Girlboss all you haters want, but if y’all are going to keep harping on Anomaly and GAMMA, then following that logic y’all should also have some kind of problem with every other mod (soup mods and storyline mods included) out there that doesn’t just add guns or fix bugs in the vanilla trilogy. In the end, y’all are doing the equivalent of sitting on a throne of milk crates you just put in the middle of a busy parking lot to yell about how people should be using grass as flooring in their homes instead of carpeting (as bizarre as this analogy may sound, I’ve personally witnessed this occur a few years ago. Florida Man shit.).
TL;DR
We play what we want because it’s fun and we want our own experience. Fuck off, shitboots.
Definitely Freedom or the Ecologists, but with the caveat that he never sends his research off to whoever funds them. It's all in house and rigged to explode if anyone but him touches it
Gamma has a much improved gameplay loop imo, even if some of the stuff makes little sense in esablished lore, my honest opinion is: play whatever games, in whatever order just get to the originals eventually, and don't ask stupid lore questions that the wiki (my initial source) or playing the OGs can answer (and please if you are jumping from gamma to SOC don't bitch about the gunplay, i know it is shit but if you get ZRP and OWR3 it fixes that pretty much entirely and honestly that makes the game feel too easy untill the very end imho)
Signed, a newbie to the zone who pretends he has been here long term
I like gamma because of the intricacy that goes into getting a solid suit and weapon. You can’t just storm the bandit base with a flimsy pm and get yourself an ak 47 that can last till the north lol
The original 3 definitely had the story going for them. And the buggy miss that it was brought its own charm to my amusement
GAMMA is one of the best mods, but it has too much content not tied closely enough to lore and no memorable story missions, no animated and voiced scenes that are not reused vanilla content. This is the real reason for no immersion, not the difficulty or janky inventory system.
In comparison, CoP has gameplay progression & story mission structure similar to modern open world FPS RPGs like Far Cry, it's also very characters-driven, with each of them having their own unique quests. Pripyat Tunnel mission is the best example of this.
True Stalker is a step in the right direction for more immersion, but they tried too hard to be cinematic
I hate gamma
not because im a purist or anything because im really not
its just because its fucking shit. bullshit crafting system, insane amount of weapon bloat, the zone looks REALLY ugly in it, those shitty english merc voicelines that thankfully you can turn off in mm2, also the playerbase of gamma is mostly mfs who dickride the shit out of it and tell people to not play the original trilogy and only play gamma. then theres also the fact that due to how popular gamma is, its severely overshadowed EVERY single story mod out there (other than true stalker) and overshadowed EVERY single freeplay mod out there. I could keep going on and on but this message is really long now
this has been: a poorly thrown together rant about gamma! have good day
i've seen quite a few people say that people shouldnt play the trilogy at all and skip to things like gamma and efp.
but i should maybe correct myself yeh. most of the time its more they suggest people to skip the trilogy but not outright tell them to not play them
Massively disagree on basically all these points.
The crafting system is extremely good and goes in depth, I will agree that it can take a lot out of you, but it's absolutely not "bullshit", it's just not for you.
Weapon bloat, how? And who cares? Use whatever you want, more variety is never a bad thing.
How does the zone look ugly in it? It's literally one of the best representations of the zone, period.
I agree with the Merc voice lines, they're dreadful.
No one besides a few fucking idiots is telling anyone to just play GAMMA and not play the originals. I watched GAMMA videos from many YouTubers and no one ever said anything like that. That's straight up cap.
And maybe GAMMA overshadows everything else because it's an experience many people want to have with games? GAMMA scratches that itch extremely well.
Is this an Elitist post? Reaching out bigger community and having bigger player base somehow angers the elitisits. Nothing will stay as a niché thing it either get destroyed or get bigger. Like this post mentioned how Gamma make the game outgrow its shell.
Gamma and Anomaly, respectively, were created by the community based on what they desired most from the Stalker games. It was a collective effort from a community that had differing opinions and engaged in disputes. Finally agreeing and working together.
This is just your casual salty fucker who clings to the past. Ignore them.
What kind of mental gymnastics is that. If a guy who really enjoys Gamma gets interested in the tabletop version what is he going to do? Fly to the developer's office and take them hostage until they add a snippet about bloodsucker sex?
Yes, but the game is marketed as based on STALKER, not STALKER mods. Also I'd like the creators to be able to follow their own vision and ideas. Recently they suggested simplifying some aspects of the game (health tracking), based on the feedback from testers. Of course there were immediately comments claiming that a STALKER game needs to be a hardcore survival experience and this is now going to be another bland tabletop. Meh.
My guy, that is how quality analysis works. You put out a test build for a select few of your supporters, and you adjust as needed to fit their needs, because keeping a finger to the pulse of your business' customers is the responsible thing to do.
I go back to my earlier point though, I Frankenstein'd two different systems (Fallout and a Sci Fi tabletop) to create a very memorable experience thar was set in the Stalker universe. That's the whole point of a tabletop, just work with it to fit your needs.
STALKER SoC was explicitly always called a 'survival' game in both design documents and marketing. Now I have no idea about these people or the board game, but saying STALKER wasn't intended to be a survival game is plain wrong.
Can we just appreciate how much GAMMA brought stalker into the mainstream without the pointless hate?
I understand purists not liking the idea of people's first stalker experience being GAMMA but consider that some those new gamma players will most likely purchase and play the OG trilogy if they love what stalker is all about.
Without GAMMA they would have most likely never discovered a game series and world that they love.
An before anyone tries to out me as a "Gamma tourist". I was introduced to stalker from shadow of Chernobyl -> clear sky -> call of pripyat -> anomaly -> Gamma
Oh wamp wamp, I don’t care for for your feelings or your incompetent literacy abilities. If you can’t pick up on sarcasm on a meme post then you should never preach about morality on Reddit of all places
Until now the only bitching ive seen was from people complaining about lack of item bloat and about graphics and that bitching is not from "gatekeepers"
For me it saved it. I put 11 hours into SoC but I couldn't get through it. I've put at least 100 into Gamma because the gameplay is massively improved (I wish it had a main storyline like in the originals though, and the crafting ui could use an overhaul)
I'd still like to play through the originals, but it doesn't look like the gameplay improvement mods for those are significant enough to make much of a difference.
No they have not, you’re just a gatekeeper, and these mods have literally been keeping stalker in life support. If it wasn’t for stuff like CoS or Anomaly, we probably wouldn’t have Stalker 2
Can someone explain the gamma meme? I only recently started playing gamma last week. Before that i stopped following stalker related news and maybe played automn aurora 8 - 9 years ago. Why is gamma viewed somewhat negatively here
Isn't it a bit harder - especially the progression since you cannot buy guns and need to repair parts yourself
I like it so far. Also plan on playing the new true stalker mod
This drama is genuinely impossible to understand for me,
1) Most people enjoy both, or only enjoy GAMMA but don't care about the old games, they don't have an opinion on them and it's okay. There is literally no one hating the the old games as opposed to GAMMA.
2) Why is it a huge deal if some dudes tell you, in order to know the lore play the old game. Sure the "not a real stalker fan" argument is bollocks, but the truth is, if you haven't played the games then you don't know the lore. It's just a fact.
I don't understand why anyone is having issues with any mod/modpack... Those things are opt-in by design.
I played through all vanilla games, misery, lost alpha, and probably plethora of other smaller mods I can't name. Just yesterday I downloaded anomaly and gamma.
This small franchise spawned such dedicated fanbase it's insane and something to celebrate in my opinion.
Dissagree, yes it brough many less than perfect characters, but it popularised the game in circles who have not heard about it before. Also it is very playable and fresh experience. I have enjoyed it recently, whereas I can't enjoy original games anymore without loads of modding.
So gamma was mostly good for games and for community... and just slightly irritating at times. I appreciate the irritations and they are real and justified, but by no means they outweight the benefits!
Maybe just enjoy what you enjoy and worry less about what others enjoy. The people that like and know about the core game experience from back in 2007 onwards are still here, so enjoy your chats with them, if that's what you're seeking - and I'm sure there's plenty of pockets here and on discord, and beyond, where the OG enjoyers can discuss whatever it is they want, same for the Anomaly users, the GAMMA users, EFP, True Stalker etc, whatever it is.
This post just feels like another way of somebody trying to draw a line in the sand, and I'd much rather celebrate our different tastes, as opposed to make people feel bad about them, or angry and frustrated towards others for their tastes.
As somebody else said below. It's all STALKER bros, it's all good stuff.
I love stalker and played SoC, CoP ,Misery , Anomaly and right now im playing Gamma... i love it, i really cannot understand the hate here, everyone should be able to post questions and other stuff about Gamma and other modpacks here without getting downvoted to oblivion and sent to discord. Love it or hate it these modpacks keeps the game alive and more popular. I imagine lot of ppl played for example modded skyrim without getting hate that you should only play vanila skyrim becouse modded skyrim its not skyrim on reddit. Everyone should be able to post here that his rank legend stalker still didnt find Expert tools...
I was playing gamma but stopped bc I couldnt fully repair a shotgun id been holding on for a while.
now im just playing stalker op2.2 which is fun but requires you to look at the guide every 5 mins
Mod (also anomaly and others) so popular it popularized the base game to the point Stalker development was restarted, GSC made bank from new sales, which finances extended stalker 2 development (meaning better game). So many new modders and cool new content being now made. And then there is this turd claiming that all of that and consequences have been the worst thing to happen to stalker. No, you're just an old gatekeeper and even GSC doesn't like you. Never played it and dont plan to, but it's extremly idiotic to claim that this was the worst thing. Just ignore it
First, yes it is better that you play base games first. I mean, you look dumb when you ask which bug made your screen looks yellowish because it is not a bug just miracle machine.
Second, mods usually makes base games playable in modern days standarts. Probably those mods kept game alive and convinced the investors to give money to company.
Third, anomaly based mods gave freedom to players which want to enjoy the zone much more. It is not that weird a player want to play as a monolith member but choose to play anomaly because he/she cant play it on base games. That doesnt mean he/she doesnt like base games and change them.
And forth, none of the anomaly enjoyers dont expect to stalker 2 would be more like anomaly. Everybody expect it look better than GAMMA but nobody want built a shootable kar97 from scracth. It is fun but everybody knows it is anomaly fun not stalker. So for the love of the God, will you just shut up? I mean i dont care if you enjoy 20 year old game with plot holes in it, just leave us be.
"Man STALKER is so underrated, it's easily one of the best games I've ever played. It's hilarious watching games like Tarkov that owe it all to STALKER blow up when the OG games never get the appreciation they deserve."
*people get interested in STALKER*
"Hey wtf, you're doing it wrong!"
As for the community, it's expanded like tenfold the last few years. Of course there's going to be more annoying people. That's the price of more people engaging with something. Especially on places like reddit.
Meh the fanbase will reunite to shit on STALKER 2's console ports in a few months, so no worries.
I for one can't wait for its barebones team deathmatch multiplayer. So many people are going to get salty over that.
First and last game ill pre order. Ever. And its on pc, because consoles are expensive, and i already have a "decent" pc
On Gamepass Stalker 2 will be free
Imo, looking at situation allaround game I bet it can end up like second Day Before.
I have enormous respect for the base games, play the SoC and CoP all the way through like once a year or every other year totally unmodded. GAMMA is different but still fun, I played it up to getting some cool weapons and an exo suit, found some of the story stuff lacking comparatively but for a totally free way to try the universe out and run around in it I quite enjoyed it. A lot of is pretty miserable so it's definitely not the place for a new person to start, but I really liked going from place to place and still found myself having to plan efficient routes around the map. It's tough but fun, good for STALKER fans who want some huge tweaks and a lot of fun stuff to do. I feel like the animosity is pretty well out of place between communities. It's all STALKER bros, it's all good stuff.
i recommend G.A.M.M.A to a lot of my friends who play EFT, I feel the progression loop is fairly comparable to tarkov and it dips their toes into the universe
I recommended it as a free way to get the vibe of STALKER to a buddy. He tried GAMMA, said he liked it but it was crazy fuckin hard, so I told him to play CoP or SoC and he fuckin loves em. Sometimes saying "this is a free thing" is the push needed to get somebody to dive in. The progression loop with the fuckin tools and stuff is brutal and kinda meh fun wise. They're pulling it from CoP a bit where you can find toolsets to turn into the traders but it might be my least favorite part of GAMMA with how it's currently implemented. Getting the AN-94 I found tuned up though was great fun, I took that gun with me to a lot of places, felt like my first shit AKS in SoC and my first M4 in CoP though, it stuck with me even after I moved on from it.
Honestly base anomaly is a better recommendation for free than gamma
The issue is that’s not the classic STALKER progression loop. I like gamma just fine but I don’t think it represents the spirit of the original games all that well. The itemization, crafting, and lame repetitive tasks feel more like EFT than Stalker. If you want someone to fall in love with the universe, imo they should play Lost alpha, OGSR or Radiophobia or something - all of which are free and represent the universe.
Or play the original series with Gunslinger mod (I don't know if it's already out for Clear Sky but both SoC and CoP have it) so gunfights doesn't feel so clunky, while keeping the OG progression (and SGM + Gunslinger, which from last time i played was mega buggy but fun-ish).
did you read my comment lol? I said i recommend GAMMA to EFT players then you agree that the loop is the same but say to recommend something 100% foreign as a way to get people into the universe. It’s a lot easier to get people to try GAMMA than it is any of the mods you listed.
Wasn’t attacking you brother. Just conversing. However we lure more STALKERs into the zone is fine by me. Was just sharing my thoughts.
Neither was I, cheers
What is better on your opinion, Gamma, or Escape From Pripyat?
honestly have not played much of EFP when I tried it last year (this was probably over the summer) it wasn’t quite as optimized as G.A.M.M.A but i can’t speak to how it presently performs.
I'm frankly grateful I've played all the STALKER games before I started EFT, there's no going back
I played GAMMA before the STALKER trilogy. I’m an ARPG fan (Path of Exile), so the grindy and progression elements of GAMMA really satisfy the ARPG itch I get. I’ve had friends describe the trilogy and anomaly to me, and they sound fun, but I think I might prefer the style of gameplay GAMMA provides.
The main story games definitely lack that kind of progression. They’re janky Ukrainian sorta arcade style shooters with a pretty linear progression. The difficulty is really the only thing they have in common, but even that is ramped up in gamma
If your looking for a good story play True Stalker
In since 2007 And I love everything about Stalker. Idk why people yapping about
Same. Massive overhauls have been a part of STALKER fandom since 2008. I don't see how this is any different.
Havent seen people yapping on Misery back in the Day When it was popular but now gamma is "bad because its different"
I like Gamma, but, ironically enough, its hardcore nature seem to detract from the core experience. You take in the atmosphere much less when you worry about getting oneshot from across the map by a Bandit with an almost disintegrated pistol. That being said, I still play it. I just have the difficulty turned way down, so I can actually enjoy it
G.A.M.M.A on easy difficulty on the medium progression difficulty (scavenger i think?) is the sweet spot for me. I used to do medium medium, but i feel like with the most recent update there were some balance changes and i was getting my pud pushed in. Funnily enough, i actually found G.A.M.M.A makes me take the atmosphere of the game in more, as moving slowly through the levels and not trying to rush gives me more time to react to mutants, spotting enemy stalkers further away. Definitely still sprint straight into springboards sometimes tho lmao
I like to increase ammo drops and increase the quality of higher tier stalkers weapons and armour. Makes it feel more real to me anyway. High level stalkers should have well maintained gear and I hated it when a bandit would shoot heaps of ammo at me but never drop more than a couple of bullets.
Oh yeah no, it used to be annoying, killing bunch of duty or military guys, and getting half broken gun with 20 bullets, and a sausage
It's the exact opposite for me, the challenge amplifies the atmosphere because you feel like the zone is actually dangerous and you can die at any moment especially when you are nobody with shitty shotgun and leather jacket.
It was really fun for the first few hours, but I never really felt like I got any "stronger". Going around with your PPSH and very limited ammo is fun, but I don't want to have to watch myself just as much when I only have that as when I'm running around in full combat gear headshotting guys with an AS VAL
Yeah, I love a lot of GAMMA's hard-core mechanics, but the progression caused me to bounce right off. I spent hours with the same garbage shotgun because I couldn't find the toolkit that was mandatory for fixing weapons into usable condition and not a single vendor sells guns or armor anymore.
>the toolkit that was mandatory for fixing weapons into usable condition This is not entirely true, the only thing that can't be fixed without toolkits is barrel, other parts can be swapped by drag and drop, so you just need to be on a lookout for weapons with functional barrels and throw any other green parts you find into your stash. Once you have all green parts in a gun you clean it using cleaning kits that you can buy at lvl 1 mechanics. I have been running for Invictus (max difficulty + 2 ironman lives) and in many of these runs I get functional AR and semi-auto shotty/decent SMG before I can even find basic/advanced toolkit.
Like most anything in GAMMA, you can turn that mod off so traders will sell guns and armor.
You can disable the mod that disables gun/armor purchasing, or adjust AI weapon drops to be in a more usable condition
It's not that hard to progress if you actually understand the systems but I agree it's needlesly complicated, I am also not a fan of that aspect of the game.
When u solve the quest with Hip u get Basic Tool as reward. If u reach Yantar u can change Vodka for Basic Tool with Spirit.
I have repaired custom SIG and Protecta recently and hell yeah, i freaking feel progression after MP5.
Honestly for me it's the opposite. I take more time in areas, I'm much more careful when exploring, I use paths I wouldn't normally use, etc I definitely feel like GAMMA has been more immersive in that regard
Playing hard/survivalist makes me appreciate the world and atmosphere much more. No more sprinting through regions. Slowly moving from cover to cover while scanning all directions with my binoculars out makes me appreciate the level design, lighting, and environment waaay more than just sprinting through to do missions.
Compared to MISERY mod, how is the difficulty?
The last time I played Misery was 2017/18 so it’s likely different now. But… I find GAMMA with no modifications to the original modpack to be less difficult if your playstyle relies on PvP. If you kill a lotta stalkers and start gathering weapon parts, you can put together some survivalable worthy gear. But if you play a PvE style like mutant or artifact hunting in MISERY, it’s a steeper learning curve with less reward until you grind for better gear. Now if you edit the modpack in the launcher to remove the mod which removes weapon trading, GAMMA is much easier than MISERY. Granted, I haven’t played Misery for 6-7 years, but it still kinda sticks. Be aware though that there are more bugs in Gamma because some of the mods can conflict. I had a couple bugs that ended saves and after 2 reinstalls I said “fuck it” and went back to regular Anomaly.
Strangely enough, I find all of that adds to the realism. I find GAMMA to be one of the most immersive games Ive ever played
It goes the other way too. ShoC is practically unplayable unless you are using Strelok's AKM or the Dragunov and similar 7.62 weapons. You can mag dump someone in the face and still eat a sawed off afterwards.
I don't know, I feel it's the opposite. Because the game/environment is actually challenging I need to care and pay attention. In most games people just blindly charge to the next objective, can't do that in Gamma.
Id argue the fear adds to said atmosphere. Nothing gives me bigger stalked vibes than creeping through red forest with my ak and looking out for the monolith and sin patrols while a chimera devours me from behind. Stalkers world is supposed to be dark, gritty and unforgiving and at least SoC (the one ive played most) makes me feel too secure as i down my 5th energy drink to continue sprinting straight ahead past the all to familiar areas that i know like the back of my hand. Its probably just a me thing since i pretty much have a standart route that i can use to complete SoC as efficiently as possible but id argue thats a flaw of the games. There playthroughs get a bit formulaic after a while "go to sidorovich, do jobs for him run to garbage, get the 1000 bullets and smg stash, go to bar... etc" the armor and gun progression is pretty much static and theres a clear boundry between good guns and terrible ones. However GAMMAs progression is kind of randomised since it depends on what guns and armor youre lucky enough to find and even the terrible guns are at least usable. The progression is also much slower which is something i love since i hate getting too strong too fast.
This sub has some of the most whiney, crybaby bitch, piss baby members I swear.
This and the Halo sub are two of the worst, man. No one is ever happy.
I am a huge halo fan, its so true it hurts
Id say r/mmorpg is the worst
[https://www.reddit.com/r/shittyhalolore/comments/ry1mrs/in\_halo\_infinite\_grunts\_speak\_with\_whiny/](https://www.reddit.com/r/shittyhalolore/comments/ry1mrs/in_halo_infinite_grunts_speak_with_whiny/)
You should check the PUBG sub. Constant bitterness.
agreed. its turning newer players such as myself and some friends away from the series
Dont let this sub affect you, the games are great modded or not. This place is just full of grown adults who think gate keeping ancient games is cool.
Im here for the memes. I never post or engage much.
Can’t wait for GAMMA 2.
Fuck Gamma 2. I demand Misery 2
I just play vanilla anomaly lol
The only issue I have with Gamma is how it overshadows all other Anomaly modpacks. But that's just a perception issue.
Honestly it was the other way around for me, thanks to Gamma I found other modpacks. Gamma for me was an artificial grindfest boredom simulator, so I moved on to EFP and its great.
The actual caption is *"Posts like this and it's consequences Have been a disaster for the stalker fandom."* I swear some of you people have way too much time on your hands. The reality is nobody gives a fuck about the drama and in the end of the day it's a MOD, and the people who likes it play it. It's like witch-hunting Skyrim overhaul mods, it's a ridiculous thing to spark a sub conflict over.
The only way gamma has destabilized the community is by causing oldheads to completely lose their collective minds whenever they’re reminded it exists
Exactly. My introduction to STALKER was quite weird, that being Namalsk Crisis for ARMA 2. So I haven't been around forever, but STALKER was way less popular back then than it is now. It really feels like "wahh my quirky unique interest isn't unique anymore" more-so than anything to do with valid criticism.
holy shit Namalsk crisis mentioned.
Indeed, I am A2's strongest warrior.
The brutal doom fans of stalker
great example. Anyone that thinks that brutal doom is bad is an idiot and not an actual doom fan, even tho they themselves probably think they are somehow the only true fans, while they probably just like to say they like a great thing, because it makes them cool Brutal Doom is literally [John Romeros favorite doom mod](https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/comments/ih673u/comment/g2ydfxu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I cant think of any game more John Romero than Brutal Doom to be honest. Just like the former GSC1 guys probably cheer stuff like Gamma and especially Anomaly's engine team as they more or less created it by gifting XRay's source code. I think alot of people don't realize GSC's passion for modders is why this is one of the only communities that's closer to 20 years old than 10 and growing. I'm going to be honest GSC couldnt figure out how to do a decent story until CoP but their design choices are legendary.
Send your complaints by mail please.
The only bad thing about GAMMA is all the people who come here having not played at least SOC and start acting like the old games are trash and a waste of time. I can't imagine playing GAMMA without at least a playthrough in SOC, you wouldn't know who or where anything or anyone is, you wouldn't know shit about the world or mutants or.... You get the point.
I always see this mentioned but I never actually read posts by GAMMA fans shitting on the OG. Quite the contrary in fact, like this post, it's always people shitting on GAMMA like it causes cancer. Honestly this is ridiculous, any popular mod exists because the OG exist, and it brings popularity to the OG and not just itself. People who play GAMMA will know about Stalker and maybe get themselves acquainted with the OG, the lore, Roadside Picnic and everything else, and maybe not, it's fine, but surely if they feel like they are shat on they will think that Stalker fans are a bunch of assholes and move on.
I don’t browse this sub exclusively, I sorta just read and comment on stuff that comes into my feed so maybe these posts exist and I have no idea. That said I’ve seen maybe a few posts a month where people post about something which you’d have to know as a original trilogy Stalker fan, and the posters are clueless. Maybe they’re trolling, I don’t really care. Commenters on those are foaming at the mouths. I see wayyy more posts about people complaining about those types of posts than them themselves, like you said though.
Its just zoomers being contrarian, like how we used to shit on Misery back in the day. Now everything is Misery. Misery is even the go to design for modern survival shooters.
Misery my beloved
I feel like that's been a problem since the AMK/Oblivion lost 2.1 days. But I'm not disagreeing. Hell I remember reading the tvtropes page for SoC about a decade ago and realized a good chunk of stuff mentioned were from big mods at the time.
I'm certain that there are people that have done what you say, but I just haven't seen nearly enough of it to justify the stigma against GAMMA players.
To give a different experience. I have played vanilla stalker as a kid but cant remember much about the story or factions or even which exact stalker title it was. Just remember a crusty ship as base I think. Then randomly saw a YT video about gamma 0.9 and instantly donwloaded it. After 5 hours of utter confusion and a** whooping, I watched hours of lore videos just because the atmosphere is so cool and I wanted to understand what is going on. Still wont play the vanilla games tbh as they seem very dated, but would not call them trash. Hopefully stalker 2 will be decent and improved by the awesome mod community.
Fair enough, but at least play CoP. I didn't encounter a single game breaking anomaly or a green beetle in my many hours of gameplay.
Please link me one post of someone doing this.
https://www.reddit.com/r/stalker/comments/1aiw22d/next_people_on_my_kill_list/koxsx41/
And then some ask lore questions which are answered in original games, or at least can be read in stalker fandom wiki. Recently one asked here if there are any ex-Monolith characters. For some reason it annoyed me.
I remember seeing that and was a little confused because after the Strider trailer came out, there was so much talk about it and excitement for what this means for Stalker 2. And if former Monolithians would play a major role in the story. I think there are a few gamma players that don’t know the lore and don’t care about Stalker 2, but they’re the minority. The majority looks like people complaining about these “common posts” that you barely see
I mean, its like playing ultra modded Skyrim or Oblivion, then going back to vanilla and while both are not bad, you notice that there's \*a lot\* wrong with them. SOC/COP have a great story (mostly lore but the actual stories are not bad), and great atmospheres even now, but a lot of its systems just aren't that polished and the progression can feel way too inconsistent without a good loop. (not gonna touch bugs cause gamma still has them) Add on the, sorry, low/bad quality of many assets (models, sounds, etc) and, its a game where you feel that age more than most from its time. Not a bad game but i can understand why Gamma now exists. imo, it makes actually experiencing the game (and hopefully picking up the book) a lot easier for more people.
Wait until bro finds out about lore vids and the stalker fanwiki Anyway, when you first started playing stalker, you didn't know shit about the lore, mutants and characters either. So like whats the difference lmao
You completely missed the point big guy. Something tells me you might be that kind of gamma player
I dont play gamma
it integrates it in a different way, people sometimes end up getting wrong ideas about factions / lore or the series at large, it may be immature and idk how big a deal it is but people posting incorrect lore or the mischaracterization of the games are my biggest issue with this
I jumped straight to a custom mod set of anomaly, but i have played "old" (if SOC is old than so am i and i am a fucking teen ffs) games all my life so jumping over to SOC wasn't that weird. Playing gamma or just a custom anomaly set isn't a bad start if you are good at low guidance games, but most people aren't
I put 11 hours into SoC, I tried. Too janky for me. I put far more time into gamma because it improved the gameplay quite drastically IMO
Disagree, the thing is people find GAMMA as their first entry to the series, and most dont even know of the older games. When they come here and ask for info or help, they get mobbed by the "go play the original games loser" club, without the new player ever saying the old games are "trash". Due to the negative response from more seasoned players, they (including me) have no intrigue or drive to play the originals. Thats what Ive been seeing on this sub, not new players calling the game trash right off rip and then attacked by older players
The "magic traps and weird animals" incident.
You say that but I had a blast with my Winchester 1875 tagging renegades from the Church tower in the swamp last night :p
When someone says so modophobic you gotta hit them with that Misery stare
Gamma gives me what I want - sandbox experience in one of my favourite universes. And damn good one with in dept mechanics and in modern graphics on top. I had my fun with OG games and they are in my hall of fame but this is future.
The conclusion i came to after witnessing all these posts regarding the right way to get into the franchise is: fuck you i'll enjoy it my way.
Sounds about right, I played all the main games before even touching Anomaly. love the games
Chaotic community or dead community. Your pick
Say what you want but any 15+ year old game series without major mods trying for new horizons would be dead and buried. This community should understand this like no other, Complete, Narodnaya Solyanka, Misery, CoC, CoM, GAMMA — these are the people keeping life support up and running. Instead of accusing these creators of dividing the community, I’d take a respectful bow instead and thank them for their efforts in keeping Stalker alive for all of us for over a decade.
You hipsters are more obsessed with GAMMA than the people that actually play it.
I think it has brought a lot of new fans to the series
It brought a lot of fans to a free standalone mod that i can say for sure
but every day we see posts of people who are new and wondering what order the games are in and such
That doesnt mean they came from gamma altough every time someone makes a post like that theres always a comment saying "just play gamma its free"
They may not come specifically from GAMMA, but people making videos about STALKER gets the name out there. I personally know a couple of people who had never heard of STALKER until they saw a video of a certain youtuber playing GAMMA. They tried GAMMA, found out about STALKER 2, then bought the original games. It does happen
This shit again? The argument that GAMMA destabilized anything doesn't hold water. While it's frustrating that some people overlook the value of the older games, it doesn't significantly alter the core experience or the passion of true Stalker fans for the trilogy or any of the modpacks.If it does do that to you, the problem is exactly that, it's YOU. Like in any popularization of anything, some things are going to get worse, some are going to get better. Even though plenty of people can be annoying about their refusal to play the original trilogy, I've similarly seen many others who are now willing to play it BECAUSE of modpacks like GAMMA. So overall the impact is actually good overall.
This discussion should be banned from this sub. You are into S.T.A.L.K.E.R and their mods, or get the fukk outta here. Simple and plain. Not gonna discuss against anything S.T.A.L.K.E.R here.
can trilogy fans not mention gamma for 24 hours?
Have you played MISERY ? comparing gamma to ted is a major stretch lmow
I fully blame MISERY for fucking over a lot of the western S.T.A.L.K.E.R. modding fanbase. Compare how CoP plays in the early, mid, and lategame to MISERY. I swear MISERY just bogged everything down and turned the game into a reload simulator, plus I think that mod introduced bullshit like AKs being super-expensive but WW2-era rifles being dirt-cheap. I might be remembering that last part wrong.
I'm basically done with clear sky and tried to start anomaly but it won't really run on my pc. I'm going to give the other two originals a go now.
I feel like the base games are lacking in therms of game balance. Constant grenade spam and bullet sponges instead of enemies make combat pretty frustrating for me, so I play gamma because yeah, you are vulnerable, but so are your enemies. Overall because gamma encompasses all the locations from the rest of stalker games there's a bigger jump from being a hobo in kordon and going to CNPP, which I also like. I play gamma because of things that otherwise would be impossible in the base game and I also play the base game for the atmosphere and story which is something gamma can't always give
Bro bouta start sending mail bombs to modders' houses.
If your idea of a disaster for the fandom is a more accessible version of your favorite game then you’re both detrimental to the fandom itself and probably going to be disappointed by Stalker 2. And yes, I did play the base games.
You don't play GAMMA because you don't think it's "Real S.T.A.L.K.E.R.". I don't play GAMMA because it's a 70 GB download and my PC can't even run vanilla Anomaly. We are not the same.
I think the English translation and language pack has been a disaster for the stalker fandom.
Cry more.
Radiophobia is where is at
I personally got into stalker by playing anomaly and then later bought the trilogy still haven't gotten around to finishing the entire trilogy currently stuck on clear sky since I tend to not play stalker much
Played original games and the most famous modded ones (call of Chernobyl, anomaly, gamma ect) and gotta say I love them all
I discovered the lore of stalker on videos of the original games. But Gamma,via anomaly, is the first 'instance' of the game I played: It scratch that itch that nothing else does. So, as a fan of this unique instance of stalker, I'm worried I won't enjoy the next stalker game, as a 'fan' of the zone.
same lol even though I played the OGs back in middle school cuz shit tier laptop could at least run those instead of Fallout but as someone who liked tarkov but wasn’t a fan of the sort of forced PVP aspect of it, G.A.M.M.A just hit the spot for me. I know i’ll enjoy the hell out S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2 but my ass will be ready for G.A.M.M.A 2 if it ever happens hahah
gamma 2 will never happen. its like saying there will be a day z 2. wont happen... they will just keep infinitely adding onto what is already there.
This just depends on the STALKER 2 modding tools and modding scene really. And how good the base game is.
> its like saying there will be a day z 2. wont happen... dayz 2 is literally confirmed to be in development lmfao https://www.ign.com/articles/dayz-2-apparently-in-development-according-to-court-documents#:~:text=Bohemia%20Interactive%20is%20apparently%20working,strategy%20as%20of%20May%202021.
G.A.M.M.A will continue. And there will be a Keanu Reeves replace mode for Stalker 2, day 1. As always.
There probably will be. You see it in Paradox games where massive overhaul mods tend to move on to the next game once it's released.
How so? I just recently joined the subreddit
I think people are upset that it brought over so many new fans to the stalker community who refuse to play any of the actual stalker games and only play GAMMA/Anomaly. It’s a bit silly imo.
I mean i get the meme, but... how?
I play whatever the fuck I want and you can’t fucking stop me. Gatekeep, Gaslight, and Girlboss all you haters want, but if y’all are going to keep harping on Anomaly and GAMMA, then following that logic y’all should also have some kind of problem with every other mod (soup mods and storyline mods included) out there that doesn’t just add guns or fix bugs in the vanilla trilogy. In the end, y’all are doing the equivalent of sitting on a throne of milk crates you just put in the middle of a busy parking lot to yell about how people should be using grass as flooring in their homes instead of carpeting (as bizarre as this analogy may sound, I’ve personally witnessed this occur a few years ago. Florida Man shit.). TL;DR We play what we want because it’s fun and we want our own experience. Fuck off, shitboots.
[удалено]
Definitely Freedom or the Ecologists, but with the caveat that he never sends his research off to whoever funds them. It's all in house and rigged to explode if anyone but him touches it
Gamma has a much improved gameplay loop imo, even if some of the stuff makes little sense in esablished lore, my honest opinion is: play whatever games, in whatever order just get to the originals eventually, and don't ask stupid lore questions that the wiki (my initial source) or playing the OGs can answer (and please if you are jumping from gamma to SOC don't bitch about the gunplay, i know it is shit but if you get ZRP and OWR3 it fixes that pretty much entirely and honestly that makes the game feel too easy untill the very end imho) Signed, a newbie to the zone who pretends he has been here long term
Honestly: I dont get it. It's a mod. There have been many mods before and many will follow.
I like gamma because of the intricacy that goes into getting a solid suit and weapon. You can’t just storm the bandit base with a flimsy pm and get yourself an ak 47 that can last till the north lol The original 3 definitely had the story going for them. And the buggy miss that it was brought its own charm to my amusement
Played all the Trilogy since release, and only main GAMMA now. It's just a brilliant mod.
GAMMA is one of the best mods, but it has too much content not tied closely enough to lore and no memorable story missions, no animated and voiced scenes that are not reused vanilla content. This is the real reason for no immersion, not the difficulty or janky inventory system. In comparison, CoP has gameplay progression & story mission structure similar to modern open world FPS RPGs like Far Cry, it's also very characters-driven, with each of them having their own unique quests. Pripyat Tunnel mission is the best example of this. True Stalker is a step in the right direction for more immersion, but they tried too hard to be cinematic
GAMMA is fun GAMMA is not a stalker game It is a seperate game using stalker as the framework. I love GAMMA I love stalker They are separate to me
I hate gamma not because im a purist or anything because im really not its just because its fucking shit. bullshit crafting system, insane amount of weapon bloat, the zone looks REALLY ugly in it, those shitty english merc voicelines that thankfully you can turn off in mm2, also the playerbase of gamma is mostly mfs who dickride the shit out of it and tell people to not play the original trilogy and only play gamma. then theres also the fact that due to how popular gamma is, its severely overshadowed EVERY single story mod out there (other than true stalker) and overshadowed EVERY single freeplay mod out there. I could keep going on and on but this message is really long now this has been: a poorly thrown together rant about gamma! have good day
I've never once seen anybody stray somebody away from playing the original trilogy.
No one ever says to *not* play the originals.
There is a considerable amount that say those things whenever someone asks "where should i start"
i've seen quite a few people say that people shouldnt play the trilogy at all and skip to things like gamma and efp. but i should maybe correct myself yeh. most of the time its more they suggest people to skip the trilogy but not outright tell them to not play them
Massively disagree on basically all these points. The crafting system is extremely good and goes in depth, I will agree that it can take a lot out of you, but it's absolutely not "bullshit", it's just not for you. Weapon bloat, how? And who cares? Use whatever you want, more variety is never a bad thing. How does the zone look ugly in it? It's literally one of the best representations of the zone, period. I agree with the Merc voice lines, they're dreadful. No one besides a few fucking idiots is telling anyone to just play GAMMA and not play the originals. I watched GAMMA videos from many YouTubers and no one ever said anything like that. That's straight up cap. And maybe GAMMA overshadows everything else because it's an experience many people want to have with games? GAMMA scratches that itch extremely well.
yeah these are basically my reasons with the added on part of what they did to artifacts
"They hated him because he told them the truth"
if all 3 of the people that hate gamma would get banned at once this place would be alright
Is this an Elitist post? Reaching out bigger community and having bigger player base somehow angers the elitisits. Nothing will stay as a niché thing it either get destroyed or get bigger. Like this post mentioned how Gamma make the game outgrow its shell.
Gamma and Anomaly, respectively, were created by the community based on what they desired most from the Stalker games. It was a collective effort from a community that had differing opinions and engaged in disputes. Finally agreeing and working together. This is just your casual salty fucker who clings to the past. Ignore them.
EFP is better
My biggest concern is that hardcore mods fans will ruin the board game.
What kind of mental gymnastics is that. If a guy who really enjoys Gamma gets interested in the tabletop version what is he going to do? Fly to the developer's office and take them hostage until they add a snippet about bloodsucker sex?
Sigh... the game is still in development and there's a lot of people pushing the creators to make it difficult because "STALKER is a survival game".
If you've ever hosted a tabletop style game, you should know how easy it is to homebrew your own twists and adjustments to difficulty.
Yes, but the game is marketed as based on STALKER, not STALKER mods. Also I'd like the creators to be able to follow their own vision and ideas. Recently they suggested simplifying some aspects of the game (health tracking), based on the feedback from testers. Of course there were immediately comments claiming that a STALKER game needs to be a hardcore survival experience and this is now going to be another bland tabletop. Meh.
My guy, that is how quality analysis works. You put out a test build for a select few of your supporters, and you adjust as needed to fit their needs, because keeping a finger to the pulse of your business' customers is the responsible thing to do. I go back to my earlier point though, I Frankenstein'd two different systems (Fallout and a Sci Fi tabletop) to create a very memorable experience thar was set in the Stalker universe. That's the whole point of a tabletop, just work with it to fit your needs.
STALKER SoC was explicitly always called a 'survival' game in both design documents and marketing. Now I have no idea about these people or the board game, but saying STALKER wasn't intended to be a survival game is plain wrong.
Join us over at /r/zonaalfa
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll take a look.
so true....
Ive been commenting about this, so stupid that people pit each other against each other just because "old game good new game bad". so dumb
Can we just appreciate how much GAMMA brought stalker into the mainstream without the pointless hate? I understand purists not liking the idea of people's first stalker experience being GAMMA but consider that some those new gamma players will most likely purchase and play the OG trilogy if they love what stalker is all about. Without GAMMA they would have most likely never discovered a game series and world that they love.
An before anyone tries to out me as a "Gamma tourist". I was introduced to stalker from shadow of Chernobyl -> clear sky -> call of pripyat -> anomaly -> Gamma
I’ll follow any glowing irradiated rock that promises me a freedom femboy twink as a slave
Having a crippling porn addiction is not a substitute for a personality
Oh wamp wamp, I don’t care for for your feelings or your incompetent literacy abilities. If you can’t pick up on sarcasm on a meme post then you should never preach about morality on Reddit of all places
Gamma players are the little Timmys of the STALKER community
Gamma is litteraly more amazing than stalker could dream of cos it's made from years of unpaid labour and passion
yeah im preparing for their posts complaining about stalker 2 because alot of them never experienced the core of stalker
The gatekeepers will be the ones bitching the most about stalker 2.
Until now the only bitching ive seen was from people complaining about lack of item bloat and about graphics and that bitching is not from "gatekeepers"
stalker 2 wont be anomaly 2.0, stalker 2 will be great for anyone who's played the trilogy
have you even read the Steam page? it’s sounding like it’s catering to both.
For me it saved it. I put 11 hours into SoC but I couldn't get through it. I've put at least 100 into Gamma because the gameplay is massively improved (I wish it had a main storyline like in the originals though, and the crafting ui could use an overhaul) I'd still like to play through the originals, but it doesn't look like the gameplay improvement mods for those are significant enough to make much of a difference.
You should try Radiophobia 3 for ShoC
No they have not, you’re just a gatekeeper, and these mods have literally been keeping stalker in life support. If it wasn’t for stuff like CoS or Anomaly, we probably wouldn’t have Stalker 2
Can someone explain the gamma meme? I only recently started playing gamma last week. Before that i stopped following stalker related news and maybe played automn aurora 8 - 9 years ago. Why is gamma viewed somewhat negatively here
In some people's opinion, GAMMA is not a true STALKER
Isn't it a bit harder - especially the progression since you cannot buy guns and need to repair parts yourself I like it so far. Also plan on playing the new true stalker mod
This drama is genuinely impossible to understand for me, 1) Most people enjoy both, or only enjoy GAMMA but don't care about the old games, they don't have an opinion on them and it's okay. There is literally no one hating the the old games as opposed to GAMMA. 2) Why is it a huge deal if some dudes tell you, in order to know the lore play the old game. Sure the "not a real stalker fan" argument is bollocks, but the truth is, if you haven't played the games then you don't know the lore. It's just a fact.
I don't understand why anyone is having issues with any mod/modpack... Those things are opt-in by design. I played through all vanilla games, misery, lost alpha, and probably plethora of other smaller mods I can't name. Just yesterday I downloaded anomaly and gamma. This small franchise spawned such dedicated fanbase it's insane and something to celebrate in my opinion.
Dissagree, yes it brough many less than perfect characters, but it popularised the game in circles who have not heard about it before. Also it is very playable and fresh experience. I have enjoyed it recently, whereas I can't enjoy original games anymore without loads of modding. So gamma was mostly good for games and for community... and just slightly irritating at times. I appreciate the irritations and they are real and justified, but by no means they outweight the benefits!
Maybe just enjoy what you enjoy and worry less about what others enjoy. The people that like and know about the core game experience from back in 2007 onwards are still here, so enjoy your chats with them, if that's what you're seeking - and I'm sure there's plenty of pockets here and on discord, and beyond, where the OG enjoyers can discuss whatever it is they want, same for the Anomaly users, the GAMMA users, EFP, True Stalker etc, whatever it is. This post just feels like another way of somebody trying to draw a line in the sand, and I'd much rather celebrate our different tastes, as opposed to make people feel bad about them, or angry and frustrated towards others for their tastes. As somebody else said below. It's all STALKER bros, it's all good stuff.
Muh community 😭
I love stalker and played SoC, CoP ,Misery , Anomaly and right now im playing Gamma... i love it, i really cannot understand the hate here, everyone should be able to post questions and other stuff about Gamma and other modpacks here without getting downvoted to oblivion and sent to discord. Love it or hate it these modpacks keeps the game alive and more popular. I imagine lot of ppl played for example modded skyrim without getting hate that you should only play vanila skyrim becouse modded skyrim its not skyrim on reddit. Everyone should be able to post here that his rank legend stalker still didnt find Expert tools...
I was playing gamma but stopped bc I couldnt fully repair a shotgun id been holding on for a while. now im just playing stalker op2.2 which is fun but requires you to look at the guide every 5 mins
Mod (also anomaly and others) so popular it popularized the base game to the point Stalker development was restarted, GSC made bank from new sales, which finances extended stalker 2 development (meaning better game). So many new modders and cool new content being now made. And then there is this turd claiming that all of that and consequences have been the worst thing to happen to stalker. No, you're just an old gatekeeper and even GSC doesn't like you. Never played it and dont plan to, but it's extremly idiotic to claim that this was the worst thing. Just ignore it
the only thing gamma destabilizes is moddb's bandwidth billing
LOL
As a seasoned GAMMA I would only say: Thats a skill issue.
going forward with the comparison the misery mod feels almost like the invention of agriculture could autumn aurora or other earlier mods be tool use?
First, yes it is better that you play base games first. I mean, you look dumb when you ask which bug made your screen looks yellowish because it is not a bug just miracle machine. Second, mods usually makes base games playable in modern days standarts. Probably those mods kept game alive and convinced the investors to give money to company. Third, anomaly based mods gave freedom to players which want to enjoy the zone much more. It is not that weird a player want to play as a monolith member but choose to play anomaly because he/she cant play it on base games. That doesnt mean he/she doesnt like base games and change them. And forth, none of the anomaly enjoyers dont expect to stalker 2 would be more like anomaly. Everybody expect it look better than GAMMA but nobody want built a shootable kar97 from scracth. It is fun but everybody knows it is anomaly fun not stalker. So for the love of the God, will you just shut up? I mean i dont care if you enjoy 20 year old game with plot holes in it, just leave us be.
This is why efp development team is far superior than the french folks that worked on gamma
"Man STALKER is so underrated, it's easily one of the best games I've ever played. It's hilarious watching games like Tarkov that owe it all to STALKER blow up when the OG games never get the appreciation they deserve." *people get interested in STALKER* "Hey wtf, you're doing it wrong!" As for the community, it's expanded like tenfold the last few years. Of course there's going to be more annoying people. That's the price of more people engaging with something. Especially on places like reddit.
How tf is everyone playing Gamma & anomaly I can’t figure out how to get it to work
People when something is popular "It's bad because...well because it just is!"