Stalker is NOT Dead...Again!

Scott Tortorice

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The great, visionary studio that brought us the incredible STALKER is no more :cry::

Get Out Of Here: GSC Closure “Confirmed”

And here's why:

My friends at GSC believe that the reason for that is failed console publishing deal. GSC couldn't sign any publisher for STALKER 2 on consoles, and GSC wasn't strong enough to do it all by itself. STALKER 2 was going to become PC exlcusive, which isn'ta great future for story-driven game.

Some say that Grigorovich demanded a lot from publishers and his terms were unacceptable, some say that publishers didn't like setting - Eastern European postapocalypse is not that popular outside Europe. I don't know which is true, but guess it is a bit of both.
So the lack of console interest (not surprising considering its lack of CoD heroics) and the lack of interest in its Ukrainian setting by Western publishers killed Stalker 2, and the whole company. Yet more reasons why I am just getting so fed up with video games of late.

I can only hope they sold the license to Stalker, preferably to Activision....:rolleyes:
 

Redwolf

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Re: Stalker is Dead

****ing consoles.

If it wasn't for microsoft's crap fragile operating systems gamers could have used PC with much less effort and we would have decent controller interfaces now.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Re: Stalker is Dead

Stalker 2: A Light In The Wasteland


...GSC Twitter account suddenly offering “We will do our best to continue. However, at this moment, nothing is certain.”
I wouldn't bank on it. From what I read, it sounds like GSC's head dev just got tired of the whole business.

PC Gamer had this funny line:
When reached for comment, Russian-speaking acoustic guitar playing guy spoke Russian and played the acoustic guitar.
Regardless, Jim Rossignol has a spot-on editorial here:

On The Importance Of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

It is also terrifying. Few games have managed to convey such a sense of threat in enemies or environments. The shooters that overtly reach for horror – I’m looking at you, FEAR games – come off looking trite next to Stalker’s claustrophobic, howling terrors.
I think the reason why Stalker was so terrifying was the ever-present sense of isolation. I still wonder just how they did it. Regardless of how they did accomplish this isolation, when I play Stalker, I feel truly alone and abandoned in a hostile and terminal world. And not "alone" in a juvenile "rebel without a cause" type of way, but in a sad, "the end is nigh" sort of way.

I found this interesting:

Stalker is a example to designers that there is also scope to do shooters differently on a mechanical level. They do not have to be linear rollercoasters, nor multiplayer menageries. They can be slow. They can involve wandering. Even contemplation.
Interestingly, I find Skyrim to involve the same dynamic. If there is one studio that might have learned from GSC, it is definitely Bethesda. The more I play the game, the more it strikes me as a medieval Stalker.

Get out of here, Stalker. But don’t ever think we’ll forget what you did for us.
:cry:
 

Wodin

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Re: Stalker is Dead

Stalker for me was one of the best FPS series. I preferes it to Skrim. Skyrim is the same missions over and over again. Noth so with the Stalker games.

Looks like I have to rely on metro2033.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Re: Stalker is Dead

Stalker for me was one of the best FPS series. I preferes it to Skrim. Skyrim is the same missions over and over again. Noth so with the Stalker games.
I found some of the side quests in Skyrim to be same-y, but the main quests were varying nicely for me.

Looks like I have to rely on metro2033.
I wonder if that is why some of the Stalker team jumped to the Metro project? They probably could see that Stalker 2 was dead in the water and wanted to birth a similar franchise with a new studio. Seeing that Stalker is dead for the moment, maybe I'll give Metro a try, too. The original is probably pretty cheap by now.
 

Manilianus

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Re: Stalker is Dead

I refuse to further use PC without new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in sight.
 

Wodin

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Re: Stalker is Dead

hopefully good news indeed. If they are making an announcement then it must be something.
 

Dr Zaius

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Re: Stalker is Dead

Best news I've had in a while. I'm playing the 'Complete' mod for CoP now and it just blows away most other games. Great stuff.
 

Wodin

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Re: Stalker IS Dead

Oh bugger...MMO..terrible..I'm sick to death of MMO's...between MMo's and Casual\Lite games for IOS\Ipad\Android my lovely hobby is being torn apart.

The beauty of a computer when I was 11 years old (1982) is that I could play the games I wanted to play without the need to get someone to play them with me (i.e boardgames). Since then it's given me thousands of hours of enjoyment. Now everywhere I look I see lite games flooding the market for those mobile\ipad gamers (90%) probably aren't proper gamers but like a 5 min diversion while commuting. Certain strategy developers could be utilizing the massive amount of horsepower the desktops have these days to make some astounding strategy\wargames. Instead they're making games for the mobile devices, which have no where enar the power a decent desktop has so not only haven't they the resources in that sense to play around with they are also taking into account the general owners of these devices so the games come out either casual or "lite".

Then you have things like this. Games using the power (just) yet aimed at MMO crowd. No deep single player experiences for us anymore.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Re: Stalker IS Dead

The beauty of a computer when I was 11 years old (1982) is that I could play the games I wanted to play without the need to get someone to play them with me (i.e boardgames).
That's an interesting point. A few weeks back when I finished my Ogre minis and set them up for a solo game, I realized how long it had been since I've played against myself. I found the experience to be strangely refreshing...and relaxing. Refreshing, because I didn't have to cope with a moronic AI as in a SP game, and there was no need to suffer the rants of a moronic teen in a MP game, and relaxing because I was perfectly matched against an opponent who liked to play like I did. :) I realized then that it had been far too long since I've played something completely solo.

Having said that, there are still some good reasons to play MP, be it 8v8, or MMO. It all depends on the game. Shooters, for example, are supreme when it comes to MP. For example, after tasting BF:BC2's MP battles, I never once tried my hand at the SP campaign that came with the game. Why would I? Likewise, the deep gameplay of a game like Eve Online could never be matched in a SP game (albeit, I think X:Rebirth is gonna try :D). What is more, when you take a look at the often lackluster writing, presentation & AI of a SP campaign, I think there might be wisdom is just abandoning the effort and giving players the meat of the game in a MP setting where all those issues are avoided.

I guess what I am saying is that it depends on the specifics of the game/genre for me. Sins of a Solar Empire, for example, would lose its charm in a MP setting (which is why I never was interested in the MP portion). Same goes for Crusader Kings 2. In other words, creative games, where the player is building something, like an empire, don't always benefit from a MP component (but there is that Eve exception). But competitive "us versus them" games usually do since the game usually comes down to combat anyway.

As for a Stalker MMO - it can work. I agree that if the player is confronted with the typical "renaissance faire" nonsense where you are constantly surrounded by throngs of people milling about looking for quests, etc, the whole Stalker vibe will be ruined. But if the player can enter instanced settings alone, say to explore abandoned buildings and tunnels as in the SP campaign, then I could see a Stalker MMO working just as well as a non-MMO title. Perhaps better, because the player will be able to invite smart friends to help him rather than be followed around by useless AI that just get themselves killed by the first snork they come across.

On the bright side: this is all just another trend now that the console bubble has burst. For awhile, every game is going to be a PC-based MP/MMO F2P. Then devs and players will get bored and someone will say "whatever happened to deep SP campaigns with great AI?" And the pendulum will swing again as the money dries up in the F2P MP/MMO world. Best of all, be it MMO/MP or SP, this is what PCs do best. The sun is setting on consoles and rising on the PC...for the time being anyway (we'll see what happens with the world of tablets).
 

Scott Tortorice

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Re: Stalker IS Dead

Here's an interesting rumor:

On the official Stalker Facebook page, there is a rumor that Bethesda is interesting in acquiring (or has already acquired) the rights to Stalker. However, this cannot yet be confirmed.

I am doubtful. I mean, Stalker would be a natural fit for a company like Bethesda that likes to make sandbox games, but I think the Stalker IP would conflict with their Fallout IP. Still, it is an intriguing idea.

I'll post any further news on this issues as it breaks.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Re: Stalker IS Dead

Update from Stalker FB:

According to my sources the news that Bethesda purchased the Stalker rights is false. I will continue to keep a look out and if I hear anything new, you will all be the first to know!
 
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