I was also a little surprised that they announced that they were going to work on more STALKER games. For one, it took them seven years to push this one out the door. And of course, the reasons you listed. I too bought it the day it came out. I was amazingly excited. Then I played the first mission and died almost instantly because aiming was difficult to do, and I didnt play again for months.

And here I am today. I started this game again earlier in the week. I've probably put 2 hours into it so far, and I pretty much die every time I move into a new door. I've learned the value of saving, to say the least. It is a fun game, and I keep coming back to it, but I can't continually play it because it frustrates me.

What a bunch of cry babies. I mean seriously. You insta-death all the time? Gezzsus, get a real.

I just picked up the game earlier this week and here are my complaints:
1. Load times are WAY too long.
2. The graphics engine is slow and inefficeint.
3. A litte too much back tracking in the beginning.

As for the combat, what are you playing on "Master"? Becuase I am playing on Master and the first mission is hard, that is until you get the hang of the game and the combat. Plus that first gun you get just plainly sucks. When you finally improve your primary weapon the game gets a little easier.

The thing I do love about STALKER though is that it doesn't scale the game for you, which is great. I hated how Oblivion did that. So, saying this you can wander into parts of the game that you aren't ready to tackle yet and die repeatedly because of it. In fact last night i went to the military base thinking I could do this mission, and uh yeah... nope. So, I am going to backtrack and take on a few easier tasks until I can improve my weapons and armor.

Anyway, STALKER is a fun game but the problems are with the code engine primarily, but I do agree treking back and forth across the map to finish mission is kind of a pain.

Jeff

I too bought this game after listening to the hype and I agree with the author. I fall asleep walking back and forth just so I can shoot dogs, graphics are unimpressive, the dialogue is pointless except to get icons added onto your palm device.

Personally I dont think I care for the RPG aspect of the game - run back across the map and stash my shotguns or other stuff, go back, sigh...fight the same battles over again...

I think it is a crudely constructed game with clunky animation and graphics (even with a GTX 8800 on max everything)

Basically I quit playing and I wont be buying anymore games from the developer. IF you like to get immersed in a game, I can see how this might appeal to a person, but this walking here and there and back and forth....

I was disappointed at first. The first update fixed a lot of head slapping obvious usability issues and another patch improved the framerates significantly. I found myself enjoying the game more as I continued to play. It just took a while to get over the frustrating aspects. At first I hated it, now i enjoy it.

I can't say that I care much for Stalker. I'm trying to get into it, but it's just not my cup of tea. I find the performance to be spotty and I think the game FEAR looks better. I'm still early in the game and it's losing my interest. I don't nomrlaly die this much, and I can normally shoot well with guns in other games, these seem to radomly spray.

Anyways, I'll be sure to look at the reviews before I run out and grab any other games from them. I bought Stalker on day 1 and I've got about 5 hours of play time in. I keep trying to like it, but for me, it's just not very likable.

Hopefully, before they get too far down the next title path, they'll fix their current one alot more. if STALKER is the best they can do after 5+ years, then I don't see them selling to anyone but the diehards

I liked this game.

It definitely starts out slow, but I think the last half of the game more than makes up for this beginning. Once you get some good weapons it becomes much easier, but not a cakewalk. I liked the multiple ending aspect and have replayed it in order to see a couple more of them. I also liked the overall story telling aspect, and enjoyed the various twists of the plot.

The technical glitches were annoying at times, but overall not enough to make a significant detraction from the game (for me).

I bought stalker the first day it came out, and I'm glad I did.

Alright, I get it, lots of complaints about STALKER...but it seems to me that some of you are missing the point. This game HAS taken a long time to come out and the graphics aren't the best...but there is more to a game than graphics. So far, I am enjoying STALKER way more than I enjoyed DOOM3, even thought, for its time, the DOOM3 game graphics were better. The weapons in STALKER are harder to aim, much like in real combat. The play areas are large, the missions can be approached from different angles, and the setting is non-standard, plus you have to use your brain a bit and manage your supply loadout. ALL great things about the game. PLUS, the new 1.003 patch fixed quite a few things, like too many bad guys spawning again and again. I got sick of HL2 (though I LOVED HL1) and never finished it. It held you in too much despite good graphics; Far Cry was a bada** game and that was because it gave you freedom to move around the areas and take out bad guys YOUR way. If you folks just want to twitch and shoot, get a copy of UT version XXX or whatever the flavor of the month online shooter is today. I'll stick with STALKER and enjoy.

Reason being the game took so long to develop was due to the fact they were creating an entirely new AI system. Don't you people even read game articles before saying "OMFG IT TOOK SO LONG TO MAKE!!!" you try making a game that has AI this complex and see how long it takes you to put a bug free game out. Secondly, while it is harder to actually get a shot off someone it is more realistic as you can not snipe someone too easily with a friggin pistol. Also, I got to the military base on Master setting and while I did die quite a few times, I didn't find it too frustrating. Maybe the people that died a lot are used to the Halo style game play where your gun never recoils and your cross hair never expands due to increased bullet spray. Remember the numerous articles where it was mentioned the game will have a realistic ballistics system?? Again, it helps to read up on games before you by them. I personally think all these qualities made the game fun as you weren't fighting tard AI that would just run out in into the open with guns blazing and you had to actually aim as opposed to "let's see who can shoot the fastest" style of game play. While the game does have it's problems, it is by no means a bad game, especially considering what the developers set out to accomplish.

I ordered STALKER the first day it came out and happily installed it 2 weeks later (in Iraq). After roughly an hour, I wanted to play HL2 again. After 6 more hours, I did start playing HL2. I simply cant stand having to run around outside for 15 minutes to get somewhere, and hate it even more when that path is plagued with enemies that are annoying, begging to be shot, become magnets for my weapons.

Overall, I love every little thing about the game. But I simply cannot go through large sequences of running, trying my hardest to not waste bullets on the hundreds of dogs that come accross my path. I reinstalled windows and have no interest in installing this game again.