S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl is set in the Chernobyl exclusion zone which turned from a destiny-breaker place into a threat to all mankind. The Zone is reluctant to open up its mysteries and needs to be forced to do it. It is a rare hero who can reach the very heart of the Zone onto find out what danger awaits him there. ( Hero -> you )
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When i first tryed to start the game the error window appeared and sayed me that i don't have enough page-file (virtual memory (You need to have about 2000 mb)) . Afterwards whe I fixed the VM aand options i played the game at lowest difficulty to see how does the game work. And suprisigly, it was not one of the stupid game here you have to slaughter every living person and go on your own. No. You were a stalker, and you could choose your way of life: Fulfill missions or live like a rookie: trading and doing normal jobs, and mostly staying out of danger. The game covers about 20 km2 of Cherobyl area that is in 60% real Chernobyl-area. I read that some people that worked in NPP Chernobyl or lived in Pripyat have a strange deja-vu when playing the game.
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Day-night cycles real-time. At night (voooooo) everything is dark and you bandits or mutants are waiting for you... At day mostly mutants won't be at this much numbers.
There is about 50 different weapons (including the legendary RPG!) which can be very useful each in their way.
And the best part about game are the anomalyes. Vortex, radiation, whirlig... you step in the wrong part of the land and you can float away or die instantly. The funniest of all anomalies is the no-gravity anomaly. When you step on it (don't step on it) you will fly away:
1) not so far
2) moderate far (you will get hurt)
3) very far (you will fall down and die or you will get cought in a propeller of a heli)
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About every stalker...
Attitude: frindly
neutral
enemy
If you help a Stalker, he will become friendly, but if you wave a weapon in fron of his nose, you will get filled with bullets real fast. And stalkers are not so static. They eat, migrate, play a guitare or just sleep. Even YOU get hungry and have something to eat, or else you are going to starve.
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Radiation is another problem. As one of the stalkers said: "You can not even pee without protection. You will get a dose of radiation"
Now the radiation is not everywhere so high but it is everywhere in the Zone. The stalkers have mostly in their jackets material that keeps the radiation outside of the body. Radiation can be countered with Anti-rad drugs or Vodka (hicup)
At Garbage area, there is a lot of radiation and you have to carry a lot of vodka or drugs...
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Artifacts:
They are valuable or/and can help you.
Sell them to get money
Wear the to be protected.
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Traders:
They have a lot of good goodies. But watch out for fake-traders, their goods suck.
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If you are going to play the game, here are some tips:
- Do not immediatly do the "big" jobs, ask someone for job and ear some money to buy equipement
- Always talk with other stalkers. They have alot of valuable info and warnings and experience
- Take everything from bodyes. Check every body you find
- Do not carry sousage or canned meal. Bread is light-weight and very eatable.
- Do not carry more that 2 weapons. It will slow you down and burn your stamina.
- Kill one enemy at time. Do not run into enemy fire, it's GUARANTEED death.
- Do not help Zombied Stalkers (radiated) it is too late for them. The only thing that you can do to them is to kill them and stop their pain.
- Always reaspond for distress signals. You will get money and weapons
- Never drink vodka
My opinion: You should play Stalker.
