S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

I don't think i've seen such a persistant fan boy on bit-tech in a while. i actually started skipping posts just to read his garbage and the replies.
bravo on making me feel better.

First game was horrible, over-rated and offered nothing new. I was amazed at how much hype was behind it too...man..

on the plus side, it does alt+tab really nicely!
no lag and no issues when you tab back in :p

Fifth page, second 'shot about lighting - 404 error.

Isn't the NPP in Ukraine and not Russia?

In my country the games are just to expensive and I personally can't justify buying all the tittles I play because four games are equal to the minimal salary here.And now I hear this about a series which I really like so what am I suppose to do?Get another tittle that's sure to be a AAA one and pirate the other, or pirate both and get a new pare of shoes instead?This article was informative and reinforces the fact that we're being sold unfinishied games at high prices.

Originally Posted by seveneleven
Isn't the NPP in Ukraine and not Russia?

Yes it's in the north(ish) east of Ukraine against the border of Belarus.

And the more observate of you may have noticed that the PDA map is upside down in both Stalker: SoC and Clear Sky, except for the NPP. :)

well i tried it with patch 2 and have had 3 BSODs trying to do the first mission in the swamp. Running vista ultimate with a 7600gt (temporary while my gtx is in for RMA), i thought it might be my system but after reading this thread i'm pretty sure its not.

What i would recommend is leave the score at 3, which is what it deserves for now and do a mythbuster-esque revisit towards christmas, if things improved score it higher but leave the original review for reference if not drop the score and go to town on the publishers.

All I can say is; thank **** this wasn't a review of a firearm or a car. these kind of issues with those kinds of hardware would result in lost limbs if you're lucky.
I stopped reading the comments after the second page as there are people insisting that the game should be given a higher score because the reviewers should just ignore the catastrophic failures of the game, because it didn't happen as bad to them. If the game was an actual tangible physical product, you wouldn't be able to ignore its short comings in the least.

...though you can always just cheat and turn up the gamma instead.

Hulk Smash?

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
Keep in mind, a game of this ambition, scope is being made by a small developer in the Ukraine, not saying that makes it right, but that is were the issue lies. I disagree with the guy above, 3 is way too harsh, tonens of people are playing without much of an issue. The game is ambitious, very large and tries a lot of unique ideas, GSC tends to bite off more then they can chew. Still, 3 is hogwash. I have seen other games on here get higher scors that were not even good games and in terrible states.

GSC . "Grigorovich Sergei Company " , is one of the most rich person in the PC world . They had produced Cossacks with 175.000 dolars they had 5 millons of copys sold and 100 millons dolars of revenue . Maybe is the most rich person in the PC games because is he is unique owner of the Company and the developement in Ukranie is very cheap .

I bought the first game when it first came out, however have only recently played it properly as i now have a system capable of doing it justice and several patches later, it is just about playable. I loved the atmosphere created in the first game, such a change from 'Generic American shooter III', however it still had a few faults. I'll wait again for a few months until the new game is patched to a playable state and the price drops on Steam...

Dynamic lighting image (http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/09/stalker-clear-sky/fulfl.jpg) doesn't work.

Originally Posted by seveneleven
Fifth page, second 'shot about lighting - 404 error.

Isn't the NPP in Ukraine and not Russia?

In my country the games are just to expensive and I personally can't justify buying all the tittles I play because four games are equal to the minimal salary here.And now I hear this about a series which I really like so what am I suppose to do?Get another tittle that's sure to be a AAA one and pirate the other, or pirate both and get a new pare of shoes instead?This article was informative and reinforces the fact that we're being sold unfinishied games at high prices.

Ouch.

It hurts my wallet even though I technically have the money to spend on the occasional game (I budget, but money always seems to get pissed away on beer and cocktails :(). So can't imagine what it's like when it's a quarter of your salary!

But on the flipside they do invest $millions in each and every game and if only 1 in 10 games breaks even for whatever reason... you better hope that that one game covers the losses from all the others that didn't make money.

Otherwise there's simply no point doing it. It does come down to cutting corners though...

Ooohh. Ouch. 3/10? Damn that's gotta hoit. Never was really interested in this game so, meh.

great review bit. i just love how you guys talk about the things which actually matter, like the types of bugs, unlike other sites. i also thing the score is completely fair. no game should be released in such a state. i guess im gonna wait a couple of months for this baby to get patched

OK I fixed that image.

I put in about another five hours this evening with an ATI card (HD 4870 X2) and the latest patch to see if it really makes a difference and I have to say stuff has been fixed that changes the game completely to what it was! Just the little things that I've come to remember now I've played the first 8 hours through five times. However, it's now 11:20 and again I've just started getting consistent CTDs again :(

Bugs only makes it a 3 score review ,I cant understand.they will release patches for that.

Originally Posted by Dreaming
:(
I will have to resign myself to the fact that there are no amazing games I have not already completed!

Oh rly?

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/12/28/the_best_games_you_ve_never_played/1

Originally Posted by roshan
Bugs only makes it a 3 score review ,I cant understand.they will release patches for that.

Yeah, but you can't review a product like a game based on how good it'll be in 8 months.

Personally I'd've liked to see a small delay for the most recent patch due to the fact it addressed some of the issues mentioned and is probably the most relevant patch, as it's pre-NA release, and about the time people seem to be picking the game up properly.

I don't think the review is wrong as such, I agree with what was said, only I'm (so far) getting the 8/10 experience, not a 3/10. Not a single crash since starting over on 1.5.0.4, and only a few framerate drops in the swamp.

But, if more than a small percentage of users are getting massive issues, the 3/10 is probably a safe bet.

I'd like to see a Clear sky: revisited in a few months though, It'd be interesting to see what bit-tech make of it after some patches and driver updates.

I'm running 1.5.03, so there's another patch since this? Are saves compatible with the new patch?

I'm in the Red Forest and have been playing for a while now, and have some very nicely done up equipment, wouldn't want to lose all my good work, but the crashes are just reaching an unmanageable point, can't even get in half an hour of play-time without a crash. :/

EDIT: Clearly states below patch link on official site that saves aren't compatible... Damn... To patch or not to patch.

I really don't want to lose my fully modded TRS-301 (Sniper spec, with silencer and scope) and SEVA suit... If the game was stable quest progress shouldn't be too hard to recover, but that loot is special to me.

Originally Posted by CardJoe
Oh rly?

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/12/28/the_best_games_you_ve_never_played/1

Heh perhaps not, I already own bloodlines, arx fatalis and condemned but not really heard of the others. Might have a looksie...

Originally Posted by Berk

Quote:

Originally Posted by roshan
Bugs only makes it a 3 score review ,I cant understand.they will release patches for that.

Yeah, but you can't review a product like a game based on how good it'll be in 8 months.

Personally I'd've liked to see a small delay for the most recent patch due to the fact it addressed some of the issues mentioned and is probably the most relevant patch, as it's pre-NA release, and about the time people seem to be picking the game up properly.

I don't think the review is wrong as such, I agree with what was said, only I'm (so far) getting the 8/10 experience, not a 3/10. Not a single crash since starting over on 1.5.0.4, and only a few framerate drops in the swamp.

But, if more than a small percentage of users are getting massive issues, the 3/10 is probably a safe bet.

I'd like to see a Clear sky: revisited in a few months though, It'd be interesting to see what bit-tech make of it after some patches and driver updates.

NA is not even out yet, Review is bogus, sorry, don't care what anyone says. All other reviews are averaging 8 and never had near as many issues as bit-tech, and the last patch fixes the issues they complain about. This review will give someone in NA who wanted the game the wrong impression and they will miss out on one of the best games of 08.

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
NA is not even out yet, Review is bogus, sorry, don't care what anyone says. All other reviews are averaging 8 and never had near as many issues as bit-tech, and the last patch fixes the issues they complain about. This review will give someone in NA who wanted the game the wrong impression and they will miss out on one of the best games of 08.

That's what I just said you *ing idiot!

The current state of the game is what NA users will get when it drops officially (and it's available in a lot of stores over there)

BT's review is spot on for what they tested, and the experiences they had.


Now, shut the hell up, you're making stalker fans look like raving lunatics, really, you should be ashamed of how stupid you're being.

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
NA is not even out yet, Review is bogus, sorry, don't care what anyone says. All other reviews are averaging 8 and never had near as many issues as bit-tech, and the last patch fixes the issues they complain about. This review will give someone in NA who wanted the game the wrong impression and they will miss out on one of the best games of 08.

I'm sorry, but if you haven't noticed, we're actually a UK-based publication with a UK-based office and UK-based writers... why should we wait to 'buy' the game in North America when it's already been on sale in the UK for 8 days now? Also, did you not read Richard's post saying that he's STILL getting crashes to desktop with the latest patch (i.e. the one released Thursday) on a system with an ATI graphics card in it?

Jeez, some people just cannot read or choose not to because their fanboyism is so blind that it's actually infected their eyelids and their eyes can no longer open.

I'm with the bit-tech staff on this, everyone that has tried the game has had at least a single CTD or BSOD, this is unacceptable, especially for a game that has already had two patches. How may times did COD4 crash or BSOD my machine - 0, what about UT3 - 0, the witcher - 0, turok - 0, grid - 0, hm... starting to see a trend? I can understand a few CTD but BSODS! that is completely unacceptable.

If you know anything about developing on a windows system managing to BSOD the machine is no small feat (especially a vista machine), those guys are doing something extremely risky to pull that off, i can only assume they are overwriting system memory with certain function calls to cause the BSOD.

I cant remember the last time i had a game BSOD my machine. And its not my machine thats the problem, if you look at any forum with a clear sky thread there are gonna be a few people with BSOD or CTDs, so its not an isolated problem. GSC is getting a terrible reputation with both of their newest releases, i dont understand why they didnt make sure they tested their games properly before release.

I think this is a case of : In soviet russia(ukraine) games test you!

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
... snip ...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/give+up

Originally Posted by Tim S

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lepermessiah
NA is not even out yet, Review is bogus, sorry, don't care what anyone says. All other reviews are averaging 8 and never had near as many issues as bit-tech, and the last patch fixes the issues they complain about. This review will give someone in NA who wanted the game the wrong impression and they will miss out on one of the best games of 08.

I'm sorry, but if you haven't noticed, we're actually a UK-based publication with a UK-based office and UK-based writers... why should we wait to 'buy' the game in North America when it's already been on sale in the UK for 8 days now? Also, did you not read Richard's post saying that he's STILL getting crashes to desktop with the latest patch (i.e. the one released Thursday) on a system with an ATI graphics card in it?

Jeez, some people just cannot read or choose not to because their fanboyism is so blind that it's actually infected their eyelids and their eyes can no longer open.

I'm Australian and it's been out here for the same amount of time, I'm pretty sure NA is the only place it isn't out yet - when it's out for most of the world how can a review on how the game is at the time of writing be 'bogus'.

I've decided to try and see things through on 1.5.03... The game will either work flawlessly for a few hours, or crash every ten minutes or so. I'm getting enough long play times that it's been bearable and I'll try and go through until the end.