I assume there's a few other factions you can choose to befriend? Cause from the sound of it you pretty much would burn down these guys' hideout if it were possible.

What is it exactly that bothers you about the pothead? That he keeps offering you smokes, or that he's such a caricature of the 'shady drug addict bartender cool dude'?

Maybe you just secretly want him, and can't admit your feelings, so you hate him instead. You dirty homophobe!!

lol, yea, that's it. Nah, mainly it's because the voice acting is really annoying. The caricature is pretty grating as well, but it's mainly the voice acting. Did I mention the bar is playing like Jamaican music in the background too? Of course, the bartender is a typical white russian guy.

Regarding factions, there are a few... there's the Clear Sky faction from the beginning.. I think you're automatically a part of that one. Then when you go into Cordon you can join the stalker faction. This is who I'm currently allied with. Then there's Freedom and Duty.

Other factions are the bandit faction and rogue (I think that's what it's called). Ordinarily I would say you probably can't join these, but I'm not so sure. I've wiped out the bandit faction's base and they have a bar/trader area there, so it may actually be possible to become a bandit. I'm guessing I'd need to refrain from killing bandits, but I don't know. The PDA has a screen that shows your alignments toward the various factions.

At any rate, I ended up underground at the duty base doing part of the main quest. I won't say too much about that, since I don't want to ruin the story. I'm still attempting to get out of there. Those annoying flame-thrower creatures are blocking my way.

Man, that place is sounding lamer with every extra bit of info you give (the freedom bar I mean). Good luck finding your way out.

Annoying creatures blocking your way aren't ideal, but it's kinda cool to have some resistance on your path. I hope Fallout 3 will make good use of the same system (no enemy levelling, zones freely accessible with enemies above your current skill, etc).

ok, I tried. I really did. But this game is unplayable. CTDs and bugs everywhere. I'm finally at a point where every where I go, I just CTD. I'm tired of dealing with it.

I regret buying this game. Noone else make the mistake. It's unfinished. Maybe I'll try again in 6 months.

I almost feel bad for telling you that I heard from a few pals that it was quite good...sure, they told me of a couple of bugs, but nothing like what you've experienced (ie game becoming nigh unplayable).

if it's any comfort, FC 2 is only a week away...let's hope that don't suck either.

err, 2 weeks away, but yea, I'm looking forward to it. Don't feel bad about Clear Sky. I just wish I'd acquired a copy through less legitimate means. That way I wouldn't feel like I got cheated.

To be honest, it IS a good game. It's just that it got released as a beta, basically. It should never have been released in such a state. Even NWN2 was in better shape, and you know the issues I had with that game.

Heh, yeah. Osidian are rapidly becoming the RPG bugmeisters of the world. (KotoR II anyone)

Maybe we should check some FC2 reviews just to be on the safe side when it comes out, first.

Zeropunctuation review of Stalker: Clear sky:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... -Clear-Sky

New Stalker in the works, as well as another expansion for the original

http://www.vg247.com/2009/04/11/rumour- ... 9-release/

heh...yea...no. Not buying another bugfest. They lost me on the last piece of crap. Maybe I'll reinstall it again in a few months and see if it's been patched to the point of being playable yet.

Man, I sound like such a bastard. heh...oh well. At least I'm not as ruined to games as Derf.

Yeah, im really jaded.

Nah, i wont be getting this Stalker game. Im surprised theyre persisting with it to be honest.

This might interest you Satis

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/04 ... more-10769

hmm...judging by the article, the game is at least playable now. I wish they'd fix the faction warfare, though. Sounds like it's still pretty broken. But hey, whatever. If I get burned out on my current games, with nothing really on the horizon, I may just reinstall Clear Sky and see how it goes.

I definitely won't be buying any new Stalker game within a year of release, though. That's definitely been drilled into my brain.