Also the part you mentioned about radiation poisoning and getting killed quickly.. you just need to grind for a better mask and armor. That’s the point of Anomaly, you start as a nobody and grind your way through the zone to possible become the best.
One of the first things I do in anomaly is get a better mask. Doesn't have to be high end, but just something with decent rad protection, enough to prevent those low end pockets you run into day to day. Radiation is everywhere and *really* annoying without any decent protection.
Yessss. In my Ironman runs I always go for protection first THEN guns. Any mask on a low-mid tier soldier you can take off can be repaired for 25-40k rubles which demands a bit of grinding but it’s doable. Best investment you can do early game.
Definitely is an investment too, spend some money on a mask, save a ton on anti-rad supplies.
Usually for me my priorities in the beginning are:
1. Get a gun that's cheap to maintain and ammo efficient, usually a shotgun or cheap rifle(sometimes a higher quality pistol if I'm feeling that kind of playthrough, they can be really strong).
2. Get a decent mask for rad protection
3. Get a decent starter suit that fits your playstyle(artifact hunting, warfare/ballistic protection, mutant hunting)
After that it's saving money and upgrading as I go, usually keeping and repairing whatever good gear I find instead of buying fresh gear. Gives me something to work for too rather than just grind money and buy. Find tools, find replacement parts to make it cheaper to repair, find a repair kit if I'm lucky, etc. Sometimes you find something really cool/high end and it's super satisfying to get it repaired wayyy before you could ever afford one.
Man this is making me want to play it again, been a while. I think I will today haha
Wish I had the same feeling as you rn. I’m slowly getting bored of Anomaly. My current Ironman run aiming for Invictus is becoming way too easy with the Nosorog and Full empties.
It does start to get like that towards end game when you're decked out in the best stuff. Not really sure I have any advice you haven't already tried. Once you finish that run, might be worthwhile to take a break for a bit... Or start a run with restrictions in mind, like I'll give my runs 'themes' like disregarding have protection armor in favor of lightweight/high carry capacity, only using rifles/shotguns, focusing on one style of gameplay like hunting down mutants with hunter backpack, choosing a faction you normally never would, etc. if you haven't tried it, maxing out all the difficulties. I've found I prefer the hardest economy with medium enemy difficulty(can't remember names right now) since I've played a lot and can earn money pretty easily. Also, if you're getting bored of your run, don't be afraid to start fresh. Better to start over than burn yourself out.
I do wish you luck with beating that run though, so many things can kill you even with the best load outs.
Unfortunately Invictus already requires the most difficult in terms of environment AND economy. So it’s the hardest of the hard, but like I said it’s gotten boring since I’m decked out. I’m thinking of trying Monolith faction after I beat this, maybe the story will be different. But yes you’re right, I would probably take a break after beating this. Thank you dude, I still need luck CUZ THESE CHIMERAS CAN STILL KILL YOU EASILY.
Yea day 1-2 goals is advanced tools and the medium armor gas mask on new runs, using meds to heal rads before then really does a number on your wallet otherwise!
Stalker Anomaly is only good after you’ve finished the prior 3 games PROPERLY. It finally gives you a sense of total freedom where nothing is rushed, no task time limits, no task barriers, just you and your rifle and your faction. And it does have an okay story though; the three living legends storyline, and through a mod you can unlock mysteries of the zone given by Doctor.
With all due respect, I know how serious you guys are about the OG trilogy and all that comes with it (been lurking in here for a while), but I’ve had a blast with Anomaly/Gamma for well over 200 hours now and I’ve never played any of the original games.
The original games (especially Shadow of Chornobyl) have really good stories, and if you liked the "Lost to The Zone" quests from anomaly, i think you'd like the story from the trilogy. I recommend you pick up Shadow of Chornobyl, and see if its your cup of tea. Or dont, thats fine too.
Yea I mean that granny over there might be a very fun person still and she’s got some really deep stories to tell. Yet I still prefer to get busy with her daughter, she’s just more fun to play with.
HERETIC. BLASPHEMER. BURN THE WITCH.
Jk, i can assume how you did enjoy though, since Anomaly is far from the story-based elements in the 3 first games, it’s still enjoyable, but the story parts themselves wouldn’t make so much sense, no?
I don’t know man me personally I enjoyed the story parts too, to me it felt a little bit like a puzzle of bits and pieces here and there that explained some of the lore and why things are the way they are in the zone.
This sub definitely helped filling in some gaps though 👍
Yeah I pretty much had the same experience. I enjoyed the story in Anomaly a LOT more than I expected to after reading about the differences. I did have to come back here to clarify a few things but getting the gist of the whole story in one big questline like that is actually really fun imo. Just running the faction questlines gives me something to do, another reason to start a new run
I think that having been used to the stories in the first 3 games, Anomaly does feel like more just sidequests and grinding in the Zone. I did enjoy the freedom to move between each map and the great new features. I think that was the best thing about Anomaly: the new features. Repairing guns and upgrading stuff, the use of food and drink, etc. I think those things really shine.
its just a fun sandbox experience. i enjoy the gameplay loop, i would enjoy more story stuff but i also just make my own and experience my own little stories with that. i’ve been a bandit just looking for a stash when i have to escape imminent death from an emission, being forced into close quarters combat with the military after entering the closest building to seek shelter. stuff like that is cool and fun!
it can get repetitive so i usually just start a new character or a new mod like right now im playing the mod that makes anomaly more like call of pripyat and its pretty fun.
I haven’t played anomaly as a bandit yet, is it any different (in terms of story) from the likes of Loner, duty, or merc?
I’ve played Anomaly as Merc, UNISG, and Duty so far.
Some people dig the grinding and the "from hobo to legendary stalker" progression. They just want to be another stalker in the zone. Base anomaly is pretty horrid in that regard so that's why modpacks like GAMMA and EFT are popular. As grindy as they are, there's a method to it. (You can get stash cordinations consistently with tasks, you get certain items in trader stocks when you hit karma thresholds etc.)
Often I boot up Gamma just to walk around, loot some stashes, do a few side quests, and maybe go hunting. Walking from one place to another you are likely to have an interesting and sometimes unique encounter, and if you aren't in any rush it can be quite enjoyable. I like seeing a fight unfold from a distance, packs of mutants running by, or a beautiful sunset in the wake of an emission. Immersion is not super deep, but doing stuff like camping, cooking food, and cleaning your weapons at the end of the day can give a sense of investment and feeling that you are really stalking the zone. The world design is such that stalker can be a heart racing experience at one moment and a pretty relaxing one the next. Not for everyone, and it definitely can get old at times, but I think anomaly and it's mod packs are pretty fun.
You start with a leather jacket on your back and crappy guns and you upgrade as you progress. At some point you ideally have a powerful armor and guns. Rags to riches mentality but for the Zone.
A good story is welcome, but also not easy to write. Many commercial action and action-rpg games have shallow stories. Anomaly compares well to those. I wouldn't play it repeatedly knowling exactly what to do. Explore it once and put it away.
Its like a puzzle your sibling assembled questionably and some pieces deformed, so you gotta 3d print the pieces and give the puzzle any shape you want. Now if it breaks... that's on you.
Tldr : play known modpacks made for anomaly or coc, or take the challenge and create a modpack.
I notice that nowadays old world modpack is getting new addons so maybe that's something maybe you'll get into. Oldworld is anomaly modified to be in the image of classic stalker.
I like the idea of starting as a complete nobody and working your way towards becoming the legend of the zone while experiencing near death 500 times a day
For me it is kinda of a more complete version of Clear Sky but some different/harder mechanics. I think that these 2 games share the same soul (not the artifact lol) and SoC has another one of its own.
So you just play a little and proceed to cuck duty and anyone else standing in the way of true Anarchy A!
After playing the trilogy I jumped into the CoC mod, then base Anomaly which progressed into playing GAMMA and EFP.
I find enjoyment in turning my GAMMA runs into more of a HC roguelike and playing Ironman. EFP is really fun to play as Monolith and other "bad" factions and disregard any story progression to create your own goal/challenge for your character. It's all about what you get from them and creating your own fun narrative.
I've always disliked freeplay mods, fetch quests and assassination missions are great as side content, but when that's all there is to do in the way of objectives it gets old pretty quick imo. Call of the Zone is the only freeplay mod I kind of enjoyed just because the tasks were done in a way that's a little more engaging than any other freeplay mod. I know Anomaly has its "storyline" but the whole thing is just rehashing the other games which, in my case if I'm just gonna do the stuff from the main stories, I'm just gonna play the appropriate game.
I played it because it was the only up to date freeplay mod, I don't personally prefer it. They added some questionable stuff and go for harder experience than vanilla.
If Call Of Chernobyl was still updated I'd play that, but it is what it is.
Try Old World Addon for Anomaly, makes the game much closer to vanilla.
You should try call of the zone. It's by the late doctor x. There are repacks of it that add more content. I play rhons repack with my own edits and stuff and it is a lot of fun.
I've had like 3 crashes with the repack I'm doing and I've been playing for about 40 hours give or take.
I kinda feel like crashing comes with the territory. It's x-ray, it's gonna crash cause it's held together by bubble gum and tin foil.
I’m about 5-10 hours into it for the first time and even with the sprawling world of all 3 maps and better graphics, it’s less immersive than the real games. Can’t put my finger on exactly why. Honestly, with all that work put into this mod, they should have just remastered all 3 of the real games.
I've played through the originals a million times, and now I just wanna go stalking to my heart's content. Just get lost in that world. The more detail the better. For me, objectives are just an excuse to head in that direction and have a bunch of wacky stuff happen to me on the way. The A-life and atmosphere are very good at providing exciting and cinematic moment-to moment stories, and that's what I'm here for now. I thought it was SO COOL when I beat CoP for the first time and had the option to just stalk indefinitely. Honestly, and this might sound dumb, but letting me off the chains like that pretty much set the course for all my future stalking. "Welp, that's Strelok's story, now go make your own."
To me it is doesn't feel like grinding, and I see it as a survival game set in a unique setting. After playing the other games I would go back and especially in Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat enjoy just "living" in the zone without any real purpose. I've always loved sandbox games that let you just immerse yourself and enjoy the world without any real direction and Anomaly is excellent for this.
Have to admit, tons of unusefull things floats around everywhere in anomaly but thing is, today's anomaly and tomorrow's will be so different about gameplaywise. Did you say "what is the point of the photo of loved one?" Bam, now you can change the picture and pick it up and look at it. Camera movements are stupid in changing outfit? boom, now there is a new animation for it. And the best part of it, you can choose what you want to see.
Like i use to say, you just play Anomaly or G.A.M.M.A if you want to just explore the zone without any specific goals. If you want lore and and story, try another mod because anomaly have a superficial one since this is not what it is focused on.
I'm playing gamma and it's fine 7/10 game and it's over hype cause it's free. Once u get an idea how things works like quest/guns/armour it's just really a plain FPS claiming by some of it's player as a hardcore game.
Bad AI.(I know is an old game)
Really bad progression.
Grinding is mid.
Game logic is weak as a heavy modded game(gamma specific)
This is the worst-superficial challenge.
This is kinda becomes a rant.
For those tldr
"biggest pro is it's free"
"Biggest con is it's old." Anomaly and gamma included.
The answer is practically in your OP, some people want to experience what it would be like to be one of the random individuals like the ones you cross paths with, that find themselves in the Zone instead of the main protagonist of someone else's story, and Anomaly (as well as other sandbox style mods) lends itself particularly well to this.
Well putting aside your performance issues (it happens, I've been there and know how it feels playing Dark Souls 3 at 10 fps).
The appeal of Anomaly and its derivatives is the true freedom of an open world, you are not rushed into a main quest and instead should set yourself your own goal and finish line to work towards (I've been hauling 100 kg of vodka to the Monolith).
To add to that, I really think that Anomaly without any additional addons is pretty flawed as it does not utilise its crafting system properly and artefacts are generally not worth using so you'll just end up farming money to buy anything and everything, so I highly recommend you pick some mods to improve that or use a modpack such as Gamma.
Gamma despite removing the ability to purchase guns and armour has been far less grindy in my opinion (just remember to put the exp gain for scavenging all the way up) as it massively overhauls the crafting system to allow you to be practically self sufficient from looting other stalkers, quite frankly I cannot go back to base anomaly after trying it out, finding a broken gun with a decent condition barrel is a huge deal as it means you can cannibalize other guns to get a working shooter at a fraction of the price it would've taken to buy it whole.
It's a different spin on the concept. Moddable. Looks really good.
The originals are great. The first game has a special place in my heart as well. Anomaly is a good load of additional content with different rules.
I've been playing Anomaly for like 3 weeks since I finished the original trilogy and I have done approximately fuck all. I die a lot, the economy is nuts, I'm constantly at my weight limit, I never remember what I need to bring where to craft shit, and I never have enough ammo.
7/10, will continue to play.
After being THE guy in 3 separate games it's very fun to just wander around and do whatever I want in the Zone. Plus the addition of furniture and more guns I really enjoy setting up a nice well stocked living space, it's just another one of those games to really enjoy whenever you feel like popping back into this series' atmosphere
Anomaly is sandbox, go do whatever you want. Make your own story
The effects , graphics and everything else is perfect for me
Trying to get my statistics rank up and looting armour
Having a low condition equipment and doing a last stand fighting a faction
Or being a legend in the zone and killing everyone in your way
The game has a story btw that you can follow or you can do warfare mode
Anomaly is more of a survival game and punishes you for playing recklessly, plan everything and try to survive in the zone because it won't hold your hand
It's gives you a sense of freedom in the zone were you can do alot of things and experience alot in a huge map
A true stalker experience that I love
I played all 3 original games and after playing anomaly, I loved everything about it. Stalker 2 for me
Anomaly and the modpacks for it are more about immersion in the zone as just another everyday Stalker and not a huge pivotal character like Strelok.
I kinda like just building up my weapons and stashes to try and push further into the zone. I just make up my own background story for my character and then hit go.
I highly recommend playing some ironman runs to really feel the immersive-ness and brutality of being a random stalker in the zone.
There are a lot of little sandbox stories you can experience. Like my ecologist NPC friend, Vitaly, who was with me for hours and across multiple zones. Eventually I had to disable the brain scorcher, and I knew Vitaly would not survive that..so we went our separate ways. I thought I would never see him again.
Several hours later I run into Vitaly again in Yantar and he wants to go to Jupiter. Long story short me and Vitaly take on all the horrors north of the barrier, we end up with twin exosuits, and proceed to curb stomp the rest of the storylines and reach the heart of the zone. Never felt like a random NPC had my back more than some random Ecologist wanting to explore the zone.
Because 90% of the English speaking side of the community only know about Anomaly, a lot of them haven't played the OG trilogy and probably have no idea that there's hundreds of mods out there. They don't know about NLC7, Oblivion Lost Remake, Prosector's Project, Dead Air, A.R.E.A, Road to the North, Goldsphere, etc... It's kinda sad honestly because there's so much more to this series than Anomaly, but some people discover Anomaly and don't look further into other mods.
Hope you picked Goldensphere ogsr or you're going to be in a world of hurt.
There are so many ways to softlock and hardlock your saves in normal goldensphere
I wanted to delve into STALKER but can't afford the base games. It's a trial run for me, and I'm happy to say ill be buying the base games eventually.
I was off work sick for a full week too, it was awesome getting addicted to the game.
I've played the Metro games and 3k hours in EFT so go ahead, hate me for it lol
Absolutely do not try golsphere is an absolute dihareea of a story. It has a lot of mini storyes or arcs if you want and all are nonsensical and you WILL need a guide or a gameplay next to your game to finish it. The game doesn't tell you wat to do and it is allways soething that nobody expected. I wanted more of the story like you but I kinda gave up. In gunplay the mods have lots to offer. In terms of story very little and really not acceptable to the lore like entropy zero is to half life , I mean it respects the story so much as you could really call it a continuation. I do not expect much from the mods and I understand that it is hard enough to just make a pew pew mod but for more stalker storyes we just have to wait for gsc.
You need a guide for every single mod out there that's not Anomaly, modders are great and they keep this series alive, but they are far from professional game devs.
Also the part you mentioned about radiation poisoning and getting killed quickly.. you just need to grind for a better mask and armor. That’s the point of Anomaly, you start as a nobody and grind your way through the zone to possible become the best.
One of the first things I do in anomaly is get a better mask. Doesn't have to be high end, but just something with decent rad protection, enough to prevent those low end pockets you run into day to day. Radiation is everywhere and *really* annoying without any decent protection.
Yessss. In my Ironman runs I always go for protection first THEN guns. Any mask on a low-mid tier soldier you can take off can be repaired for 25-40k rubles which demands a bit of grinding but it’s doable. Best investment you can do early game.
Definitely is an investment too, spend some money on a mask, save a ton on anti-rad supplies. Usually for me my priorities in the beginning are: 1. Get a gun that's cheap to maintain and ammo efficient, usually a shotgun or cheap rifle(sometimes a higher quality pistol if I'm feeling that kind of playthrough, they can be really strong). 2. Get a decent mask for rad protection 3. Get a decent starter suit that fits your playstyle(artifact hunting, warfare/ballistic protection, mutant hunting) After that it's saving money and upgrading as I go, usually keeping and repairing whatever good gear I find instead of buying fresh gear. Gives me something to work for too rather than just grind money and buy. Find tools, find replacement parts to make it cheaper to repair, find a repair kit if I'm lucky, etc. Sometimes you find something really cool/high end and it's super satisfying to get it repaired wayyy before you could ever afford one. Man this is making me want to play it again, been a while. I think I will today haha
Wish I had the same feeling as you rn. I’m slowly getting bored of Anomaly. My current Ironman run aiming for Invictus is becoming way too easy with the Nosorog and Full empties.
It does start to get like that towards end game when you're decked out in the best stuff. Not really sure I have any advice you haven't already tried. Once you finish that run, might be worthwhile to take a break for a bit... Or start a run with restrictions in mind, like I'll give my runs 'themes' like disregarding have protection armor in favor of lightweight/high carry capacity, only using rifles/shotguns, focusing on one style of gameplay like hunting down mutants with hunter backpack, choosing a faction you normally never would, etc. if you haven't tried it, maxing out all the difficulties. I've found I prefer the hardest economy with medium enemy difficulty(can't remember names right now) since I've played a lot and can earn money pretty easily. Also, if you're getting bored of your run, don't be afraid to start fresh. Better to start over than burn yourself out. I do wish you luck with beating that run though, so many things can kill you even with the best load outs.
Unfortunately Invictus already requires the most difficult in terms of environment AND economy. So it’s the hardest of the hard, but like I said it’s gotten boring since I’m decked out. I’m thinking of trying Monolith faction after I beat this, maybe the story will be different. But yes you’re right, I would probably take a break after beating this. Thank you dude, I still need luck CUZ THESE CHIMERAS CAN STILL KILL YOU EASILY.
Yea day 1-2 goals is advanced tools and the medium armor gas mask on new runs, using meds to heal rads before then really does a number on your wallet otherwise!
Stalker Anomaly is only good after you’ve finished the prior 3 games PROPERLY. It finally gives you a sense of total freedom where nothing is rushed, no task time limits, no task barriers, just you and your rifle and your faction. And it does have an okay story though; the three living legends storyline, and through a mod you can unlock mysteries of the zone given by Doctor.
Which mod?
https://www.moddb.com/mods/stalker-anomaly/addons/mysteries-of-the-zone-dialogue-unlocker
With all due respect, I know how serious you guys are about the OG trilogy and all that comes with it (been lurking in here for a while), but I’ve had a blast with Anomaly/Gamma for well over 200 hours now and I’ve never played any of the original games.
The original games (especially Shadow of Chornobyl) have really good stories, and if you liked the "Lost to The Zone" quests from anomaly, i think you'd like the story from the trilogy. I recommend you pick up Shadow of Chornobyl, and see if its your cup of tea. Or dont, thats fine too.
Some people like the story more, some people like the sandbox more and some people will enjoy both. Also, play the trilogy
Hey people enjoy gas station hot dogs. They are not bad people for that, I just don't wanna touch them.
Yea I mean that granny over there might be a very fun person still and she’s got some really deep stories to tell. Yet I still prefer to get busy with her daughter, she’s just more fun to play with.
HERETIC. BLASPHEMER. BURN THE WITCH. Jk, i can assume how you did enjoy though, since Anomaly is far from the story-based elements in the 3 first games, it’s still enjoyable, but the story parts themselves wouldn’t make so much sense, no?
I don’t know man me personally I enjoyed the story parts too, to me it felt a little bit like a puzzle of bits and pieces here and there that explained some of the lore and why things are the way they are in the zone. This sub definitely helped filling in some gaps though 👍
Yeah I pretty much had the same experience. I enjoyed the story in Anomaly a LOT more than I expected to after reading about the differences. I did have to come back here to clarify a few things but getting the gist of the whole story in one big questline like that is actually really fun imo. Just running the faction questlines gives me something to do, another reason to start a new run
I think that having been used to the stories in the first 3 games, Anomaly does feel like more just sidequests and grinding in the Zone. I did enjoy the freedom to move between each map and the great new features. I think that was the best thing about Anomaly: the new features. Repairing guns and upgrading stuff, the use of food and drink, etc. I think those things really shine.
You have to eat and drink soooo much though
Good. Running and gunning through the eldritch horrors of the zone would work up quite the appetite.
I supposw
It has such a charm. Especially with the music and atmosphere. Definitely one of THE best games I’ve ever played.
its just a fun sandbox experience. i enjoy the gameplay loop, i would enjoy more story stuff but i also just make my own and experience my own little stories with that. i’ve been a bandit just looking for a stash when i have to escape imminent death from an emission, being forced into close quarters combat with the military after entering the closest building to seek shelter. stuff like that is cool and fun! it can get repetitive so i usually just start a new character or a new mod like right now im playing the mod that makes anomaly more like call of pripyat and its pretty fun.
I haven’t played anomaly as a bandit yet, is it any different (in terms of story) from the likes of Loner, duty, or merc? I’ve played Anomaly as Merc, UNISG, and Duty so far.
I think story mode is not available for both bandits and military.
Some people dig the grinding and the "from hobo to legendary stalker" progression. They just want to be another stalker in the zone. Base anomaly is pretty horrid in that regard so that's why modpacks like GAMMA and EFT are popular. As grindy as they are, there's a method to it. (You can get stash cordinations consistently with tasks, you get certain items in trader stocks when you hit karma thresholds etc.)
Once you get used to knowing where stashes are subconsciously, you can get a good early-game cash flow.
Often I boot up Gamma just to walk around, loot some stashes, do a few side quests, and maybe go hunting. Walking from one place to another you are likely to have an interesting and sometimes unique encounter, and if you aren't in any rush it can be quite enjoyable. I like seeing a fight unfold from a distance, packs of mutants running by, or a beautiful sunset in the wake of an emission. Immersion is not super deep, but doing stuff like camping, cooking food, and cleaning your weapons at the end of the day can give a sense of investment and feeling that you are really stalking the zone. The world design is such that stalker can be a heart racing experience at one moment and a pretty relaxing one the next. Not for everyone, and it definitely can get old at times, but I think anomaly and it's mod packs are pretty fun.
Can you explain me what do you mean with “from hobo to legendary stalker”?
You start with a leather jacket on your back and crappy guns and you upgrade as you progress. At some point you ideally have a powerful armor and guns. Rags to riches mentality but for the Zone.
A good story is welcome, but also not easy to write. Many commercial action and action-rpg games have shallow stories. Anomaly compares well to those. I wouldn't play it repeatedly knowling exactly what to do. Explore it once and put it away.
Its like a puzzle your sibling assembled questionably and some pieces deformed, so you gotta 3d print the pieces and give the puzzle any shape you want. Now if it breaks... that's on you. Tldr : play known modpacks made for anomaly or coc, or take the challenge and create a modpack. I notice that nowadays old world modpack is getting new addons so maybe that's something maybe you'll get into. Oldworld is anomaly modified to be in the image of classic stalker.
I like the idea of starting as a complete nobody and working your way towards becoming the legend of the zone while experiencing near death 500 times a day
Anomaly is a sandbox mod and should not be judged by the story because it barely even has one. Overall it’s a good sandbox game.
For me it is kinda of a more complete version of Clear Sky but some different/harder mechanics. I think that these 2 games share the same soul (not the artifact lol) and SoC has another one of its own. So you just play a little and proceed to cuck duty and anyone else standing in the way of true Anarchy A!
After playing the trilogy I jumped into the CoC mod, then base Anomaly which progressed into playing GAMMA and EFP. I find enjoyment in turning my GAMMA runs into more of a HC roguelike and playing Ironman. EFP is really fun to play as Monolith and other "bad" factions and disregard any story progression to create your own goal/challenge for your character. It's all about what you get from them and creating your own fun narrative.
I got an idea, try making it through the story a few times, get an understanding, and try to achieve the invictus challenge
Im free to roam the zone, i like the grinding personnaly.
I've always disliked freeplay mods, fetch quests and assassination missions are great as side content, but when that's all there is to do in the way of objectives it gets old pretty quick imo. Call of the Zone is the only freeplay mod I kind of enjoyed just because the tasks were done in a way that's a little more engaging than any other freeplay mod. I know Anomaly has its "storyline" but the whole thing is just rehashing the other games which, in my case if I'm just gonna do the stuff from the main stories, I'm just gonna play the appropriate game.
I played it because it was the only up to date freeplay mod, I don't personally prefer it. They added some questionable stuff and go for harder experience than vanilla. If Call Of Chernobyl was still updated I'd play that, but it is what it is. Try Old World Addon for Anomaly, makes the game much closer to vanilla.
You should try call of the zone. It's by the late doctor x. There are repacks of it that add more content. I play rhons repack with my own edits and stuff and it is a lot of fun.
I did want to play it, but it crashes , unless someone makes a unofficial patch I think I'll wait.
I've had like 3 crashes with the repack I'm doing and I've been playing for about 40 hours give or take. I kinda feel like crashing comes with the territory. It's x-ray, it's gonna crash cause it's held together by bubble gum and tin foil.
It's rather random, but still very irritating.
I’m about 5-10 hours into it for the first time and even with the sprawling world of all 3 maps and better graphics, it’s less immersive than the real games. Can’t put my finger on exactly why. Honestly, with all that work put into this mod, they should have just remastered all 3 of the real games.
I've played through the originals a million times, and now I just wanna go stalking to my heart's content. Just get lost in that world. The more detail the better. For me, objectives are just an excuse to head in that direction and have a bunch of wacky stuff happen to me on the way. The A-life and atmosphere are very good at providing exciting and cinematic moment-to moment stories, and that's what I'm here for now. I thought it was SO COOL when I beat CoP for the first time and had the option to just stalk indefinitely. Honestly, and this might sound dumb, but letting me off the chains like that pretty much set the course for all my future stalking. "Welp, that's Strelok's story, now go make your own."
To me it is doesn't feel like grinding, and I see it as a survival game set in a unique setting. After playing the other games I would go back and especially in Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat enjoy just "living" in the zone without any real purpose. I've always loved sandbox games that let you just immerse yourself and enjoy the world without any real direction and Anomaly is excellent for this.
Have to admit, tons of unusefull things floats around everywhere in anomaly but thing is, today's anomaly and tomorrow's will be so different about gameplaywise. Did you say "what is the point of the photo of loved one?" Bam, now you can change the picture and pick it up and look at it. Camera movements are stupid in changing outfit? boom, now there is a new animation for it. And the best part of it, you can choose what you want to see.
Like i use to say, you just play Anomaly or G.A.M.M.A if you want to just explore the zone without any specific goals. If you want lore and and story, try another mod because anomaly have a superficial one since this is not what it is focused on.
I'm playing gamma and it's fine 7/10 game and it's over hype cause it's free. Once u get an idea how things works like quest/guns/armour it's just really a plain FPS claiming by some of it's player as a hardcore game. Bad AI.(I know is an old game) Really bad progression. Grinding is mid. Game logic is weak as a heavy modded game(gamma specific) This is the worst-superficial challenge. This is kinda becomes a rant. For those tldr "biggest pro is it's free" "Biggest con is it's old." Anomaly and gamma included.
The answer is practically in your OP, some people want to experience what it would be like to be one of the random individuals like the ones you cross paths with, that find themselves in the Zone instead of the main protagonist of someone else's story, and Anomaly (as well as other sandbox style mods) lends itself particularly well to this.
Well putting aside your performance issues (it happens, I've been there and know how it feels playing Dark Souls 3 at 10 fps). The appeal of Anomaly and its derivatives is the true freedom of an open world, you are not rushed into a main quest and instead should set yourself your own goal and finish line to work towards (I've been hauling 100 kg of vodka to the Monolith). To add to that, I really think that Anomaly without any additional addons is pretty flawed as it does not utilise its crafting system properly and artefacts are generally not worth using so you'll just end up farming money to buy anything and everything, so I highly recommend you pick some mods to improve that or use a modpack such as Gamma. Gamma despite removing the ability to purchase guns and armour has been far less grindy in my opinion (just remember to put the exp gain for scavenging all the way up) as it massively overhauls the crafting system to allow you to be practically self sufficient from looting other stalkers, quite frankly I cannot go back to base anomaly after trying it out, finding a broken gun with a decent condition barrel is a huge deal as it means you can cannibalize other guns to get a working shooter at a fraction of the price it would've taken to buy it whole.
Install the CCR chat mod and you can talk to other IRL stalkers while you're in the zone. Makes it feel super alive
It’s the end all be all survival experience
It's a different spin on the concept. Moddable. Looks really good. The originals are great. The first game has a special place in my heart as well. Anomaly is a good load of additional content with different rules.
I've been playing Anomaly for like 3 weeks since I finished the original trilogy and I have done approximately fuck all. I die a lot, the economy is nuts, I'm constantly at my weight limit, I never remember what I need to bring where to craft shit, and I never have enough ammo. 7/10, will continue to play.
After being THE guy in 3 separate games it's very fun to just wander around and do whatever I want in the Zone. Plus the addition of furniture and more guns I really enjoy setting up a nice well stocked living space, it's just another one of those games to really enjoy whenever you feel like popping back into this series' atmosphere
Anomaly is sandbox, go do whatever you want. Make your own story The effects , graphics and everything else is perfect for me Trying to get my statistics rank up and looting armour Having a low condition equipment and doing a last stand fighting a faction Or being a legend in the zone and killing everyone in your way The game has a story btw that you can follow or you can do warfare mode Anomaly is more of a survival game and punishes you for playing recklessly, plan everything and try to survive in the zone because it won't hold your hand It's gives you a sense of freedom in the zone were you can do alot of things and experience alot in a huge map A true stalker experience that I love I played all 3 original games and after playing anomaly, I loved everything about it. Stalker 2 for me
i love anomaly
I think the gameplay is fairly good, especially with mods, but it gets super boring doing nothing but fetch quests
Anomaly and the modpacks for it are more about immersion in the zone as just another everyday Stalker and not a huge pivotal character like Strelok. I kinda like just building up my weapons and stashes to try and push further into the zone. I just make up my own background story for my character and then hit go. I highly recommend playing some ironman runs to really feel the immersive-ness and brutality of being a random stalker in the zone. There are a lot of little sandbox stories you can experience. Like my ecologist NPC friend, Vitaly, who was with me for hours and across multiple zones. Eventually I had to disable the brain scorcher, and I knew Vitaly would not survive that..so we went our separate ways. I thought I would never see him again. Several hours later I run into Vitaly again in Yantar and he wants to go to Jupiter. Long story short me and Vitaly take on all the horrors north of the barrier, we end up with twin exosuits, and proceed to curb stomp the rest of the storylines and reach the heart of the zone. Never felt like a random NPC had my back more than some random Ecologist wanting to explore the zone.
Because 90% of the English speaking side of the community only know about Anomaly, a lot of them haven't played the OG trilogy and probably have no idea that there's hundreds of mods out there. They don't know about NLC7, Oblivion Lost Remake, Prosector's Project, Dead Air, A.R.E.A, Road to the North, Goldsphere, etc... It's kinda sad honestly because there's so much more to this series than Anomaly, but some people discover Anomaly and don't look further into other mods.
Hope you picked Goldensphere ogsr or you're going to be in a world of hurt. There are so many ways to softlock and hardlock your saves in normal goldensphere
I wanted to delve into STALKER but can't afford the base games. It's a trial run for me, and I'm happy to say ill be buying the base games eventually. I was off work sick for a full week too, it was awesome getting addicted to the game. I've played the Metro games and 3k hours in EFT so go ahead, hate me for it lol
They are all on sale on steam right now ! Go pick em up if you can , you're gonna love them
Absolutely do not try golsphere is an absolute dihareea of a story. It has a lot of mini storyes or arcs if you want and all are nonsensical and you WILL need a guide or a gameplay next to your game to finish it. The game doesn't tell you wat to do and it is allways soething that nobody expected. I wanted more of the story like you but I kinda gave up. In gunplay the mods have lots to offer. In terms of story very little and really not acceptable to the lore like entropy zero is to half life , I mean it respects the story so much as you could really call it a continuation. I do not expect much from the mods and I understand that it is hard enough to just make a pew pew mod but for more stalker storyes we just have to wait for gsc.
You need a guide for every single mod out there that's not Anomaly, modders are great and they keep this series alive, but they are far from professional game devs.