I bought this game this weekend. I haven't played it much yet, but it seems pretty neat. The graphics at highest settings still choke my pc. :p I'll be upgrading the processor some time in the next few months, we'll see if that helps.

Hehehe...keep us updated. Very interested if the whole "this is what the game was supposed to be!" thing rings true.

well, so far it's pretty cool. Very similar to the previous one... I think the AI is identical. I'm currently in the Cordon, which is the second area in this game and the first in the previous one. I thought that reusing the same areas would end up totally gay but it's actually not too bad. The anomalies are all moved around and so are a lot of other things.

The faction thing is interesting too. I've only gotten a taste of it in the swamps, but it's kinda neat to be fighting besides other guys. Anyway, I'll see if I can snap some screenies and maybe give a bit more play-by-play. It is a bit buggy, though, and the one off "help us" quests are hard to complete... half the time the guys are all dead before I even get there.

I did end up running into an Army patrol.. they were attacking some noob stalkers. It was one of the situations where they called for help and then pretty much got slaughtered before I got there. I ended up using my pump shotgun and pistol to waste 5 guys with the little mini AKs. So now I'm decently armed. I also upgraded my armor a bit. I'm waiting on my first sniper rifle.

I've been playing this too. It's bugged to shit though. So much so that its no longer possible to complete the game (or rather, the 2nd main quest ). You might notice that very soon Satis.

I dont think it's much different to the original. Disappointingly so.

I'm getting the idea that Derf isn't too stoked about Clear Sky


Just repeat the Far Cry 2 mantra dude...it's gonna blow all the other free-form shooters out of the water!

Yea, it's pretty freakin' buggy. That's very unfortunate. However, I'm enjoying just wandering around. I moved from Cordon in the Garbage where I did some murdering... good stuff. I went to the place where all the broken cars are parked (if you played the first game, you may remember it). I was hoping to make friends, but the guys warned me, then started shooting at me, so I had to wipe them out.

I then wandered about some more, did some of the main quest, then noticed some bandits heading to a stalker hangout. I followed and ambushed them when they were attacked by some wild boars and took them all out. I then went to the stalker hangout and helped them defeat another bandit attack. I'd say half the stalkers were killed, but then again those idiots have pistols and the bandits have the mini AKs. Unfortunately noone there bought stuff, so I'm lugging around all this gear.

While I was yaking with them, another bandit attack came... I managed to kill them all but that was it for the stalkers. None survived. I next took out a bandit camp nearby, then headed toward the Agropom Research Facility map. I wiped out the train yard on the way, but it doesn't seem like you can get into the train building. Too bad.

Onto the Agropom map, apparently Duty has a decent presence here... I helped defend against some monster and bandit attacks which made them my friends. They also had a trader set up there so I finally got to sell. I've just been going back and forth helping them defend, then looting the bodies of friends and enemies. I've made a decent amount of money selling their weapons so far.

And that's pretty much where I'm at. The worst bug I've had so far was one of those invisible creatures (you can only see their eyes and a predator-like cloaking haze) kept running through the cordon camp. Every time he came near everyone would start shooting.. there were dead bodies everywhere, so I'm guessing they were killing each other in the process. Lots of cash loot.

I was also in the garbage trying to help a guy against dogs. He told me to get on a rock, so I started climbing up on his rock. He then yelled and shot at a dog in the distance, but I'm guessing he shot me in the head because I just fell over and died. Bastard.

Oh, on a positive note, you can now buy upgrades to your weapons and equipment. I don't really have the money to do it too much yet, but it's badass. Add a larger clip to your weapon, or higher accuracy (you can add more than 1 upgrade), higher rate of fire, add more armor or better anti-radiation to it, add night vision. Very cool. The upgraded weapons from the first game were the best in the game, so it's nice you can now make your own.

Sounds like you're having a lot of fun with it then, even with Derf disliking it. Hey Derf, what's up with you these days anyway? Stop working so much and post more.

Well, I downloaded the patch (didn't realize it was there) because of a pretty serious fast-travel bug. Too bad the patch notes didn't mention that it screws your save games. So now I get to start over. Last time I accidentally started the game on novice mode, so now I'm playing as a Stalker. Previously it was too easy, I'll admit. Now the challenge is more in line with what I like.

I'm about to head into cordon again. I also found my first artifact. Artifacts are much more rare in this game and significantly harder to find.

I would say that a game that doesn't suffer too much from having you starting over again after you're halfway in it is usually not too bad.

haha...I doubt I was even halfway in.

Anyway, I'm still playing this pretty heavily. I'll try to remember to post screenshots at some point. I've been hanging out in the Garbage and Agropom mostly, running around doing missions, collecting guns and selling them. I've also made some caches of weapons and stuff.

This game actually has the zone make emissions from time to time... you've basically got a few minutes to run to a save point in a building. If you don't make it, you die. It's actually a pretty cool mechanic, though it seems like half the time I go from Cordon -> Garbage an emission begins. I'm sure that's a bug. :p

At this point I'm wearing a decent survival suit and have almost fully modded my AK74. I'm also carrying a heavily modded Chaser (12 gauge shotgun) and a .45 pistol. I'm enjoying it... it's very much like the original but the zone feels much more alive with stalkers and such. The previous game was much more barren.

well, even with the patch I'm running into serious bugs. Like every time I try to fast travel from Cordon to the Flea Market in the garbage, I get a CTD. Frustrating. Here are some screenies

Game still looks pretty tight, even if the engine is already a little bit older. makes me want that new pc even more.

Just slap in a new powerhouse GPU and yer good to go.

I dunno...there's something wrong with my previous machine and I want to make a "fresh start" after a year without a high end machine. And if anything goes wrong with the new pc i'll have (fairly) recent spare parts.

The gfx card in the old beastie is an X800XL, which isn't shabby by any means.

Oh, I should probably mention that the engine isn't very well optimized. I'm running at decently high settings, but not maxed by any means. And I still get occasional slowdowns.

So, basically, it'd probably look even better if I had a more powerful processor and/or an upgraded graphics card.

Anyway, I got around my more recent annoyances (crashes) and am continuing onward with the main quest. I run into bugs pretty regularly. Most of the problems are scripting issues with the missions, though the occasional CTD when I try to fast travel is annoying as hell. And the issue with emissions happening every time I travel from Cordon to Garbage is still going on... it only does it if I travel one of the ways (including fast travel). If I just walk the other way in, it doesn't happen.

anyway....

I spent some time in the dark valley hanging out with Freedom. I didn't join their faction, mainly because their characters are annoying. The bartender's name is 'Ganja' and he's always yapping about smoking dope. It's annoying. 'Are you here from some hard liqour or some soft smoke?' 'Too bad we don't have time to light one up'. Etc etc. The trader is just as bad, though not a smoker. 'Trying to pawn your crap off on me. I'll remember next time.' while I'm dropping 3,000ru worth of nice NATO rifles on him. Blah, stfu and give me my money.

They did have a technician that was worth a crap, though.. I fully upgraded my current armor (cost about 30,000) so now I'm more dangerous. I've since completed the missions in this area and moved to Agropom where I'm working for Duty. I may join their faction... at least then I'd get to kill Freedom.

Anyway, I may post some more pics at a later time.