S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Fallout 3: Seperated at Birth?

[Alex Handy]

For some unknown reason, I got addicted to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the week before I got Fallout 3. I made it under Chernobyl, but then got sidetracked and never went back to STALKER. I'm currently far enough into Fallout 3 to have seen Oasis and the Republic of Dave.

Anyway, I keep getting the two games confused in my head. They are strikingly similar, frankly, and a lot of the differences sometimes trip me up. For example:

-I sometimes forget that Fallout 3 pauses when yer in the inventory screen.

-I spent much of my newbie time in Fallout 3 worried that carrying too much ammo would weigh me down. F3 ammo weighs nothing. STALKER ammo weighs quite a bit in large quantities.

-I've caught myself being irradiated in F3, only to realize I was waiting to hear the Geiger counter sounds to warn me, not looking for the HUD warning.

-I keep expecting my weapon to jam. Sometimes I think the 10mm submachine gun in F3 is jamming when my character jams the clip in, then yanks it out and puts it back in. What's up with that animation?

-I find I never want to throw away guns in F3 because I expect them to have ammo in them. STALKER forces you to empty clips out of guns.

-They both crash, and in both games, I've managed to get stuck in some element of the environment and had to restart from a save.

The games are so close in spirit and atmosphere, I have to say it's quite uncanny. And yet they are both quite different in some rather significant ways. Still, playing them back to back is an interesting exercise in trained response.

[Adree]

For some unknown reason, I got addicted to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. the week before I got Fallout 3. I made it under Chernobyl, but then got sidetracked and never went back to STALKER. I'm currently far enough into Fallout 3 to have seen Oasis and the Republic of Dave.

Anyway, I keep getting the two games confused in my head. They are strikingly similar, frankly, and a lot of the differences sometimes trip me up. For example:

-I sometimes forget that Fallout 3 pauses when yer in the inventory screen.

-I spent much of my newbie time in Fallout 3 worried that carrying too much ammo would weigh me down. F3 ammo weighs nothing. STALKER ammo weighs quite a bit in large quantities.

-I've caught myself being irradiated in F3, only to realize I was waiting to hear the Geiger counter sounds to warn me, not looking for the HUD warning.

-I keep expecting my weapon to jam. Sometimes I think the 10mm submachine gun in F3 is jamming when my character jams the clip in, then yanks it out and puts it back in. What's up with that animation?

-I find I never want to throw away guns in F3 because I expect them to have ammo in them. STALKER forces you to empty clips out of guns.

-They both crash, and in both games, I've managed to get stuck in some element of the environment and had to restart from a save.

The games are so close in spirit and atmosphere, I have to say it's quite uncanny. And yet they are both quite different in some rather significant ways. Still, playing them back to back is an interesting exercise in trained response.

I think Fallout 3 does the whole "ruined wasteland" look way better than STALKER. Also in the manual it does say guns can jam but I've never seen it happen, of course I've never had a gun below 10% durability.

[malkav11]

There's a sound effect for getting irradiated in Fallout 3 as well.

[anaqer]

Fallout 3 has the tcl (toggle clipping) console command to break you free if you got stuck... I'm not aware Stalker had anything of the kind (which is retarded beyond measure).

[Adree]

There's a sound effect for getting irradiated in Fallout 3 as well.

Hell it's even geiger counter sounds.

[Alex Handy]

Hell it's even geiger counter sounds.

I play with the volume down a bit and use a 360, versus headphones on the pc with STALKER, so my bad. Louder in the headphones, so I must not have noticed it in F3.

[bloo]

I think Fallout 3 does the whole "ruined wasteland" look way better than STALKER.

Well, Stalker does looks very much like the actual Chernobyl-Pripyat area now, so it's got reality going for it.

[Papageno]

Yeah, remember in the STALKER universe, there's been another Chernobyl-like incident in the area (and therefore quite a bit of radiation), but the whole place hasn't been literally burned in the nuclear fires like the outdoor areas in Fallout 3.

[Funkula]

I would really love to see STALKER rebuilt on the FO3 gameplay engine. I couldn't get terribly far in STALKER because the gameplay just could not hook me (largely due to the crappiness of the gunplay), but I loved the concept and setting. Fallout nails the gameplay for a desolate open world, and I'd really like to see the content of STALKER repurposed to use the RPG systems of Fallout.

[gordonrumble]

I actually preferred the stalker wasteland over the fallout one, because it was less monotonous and more believable. When I played staler I would find varied underground vaults and hideouts, grass, clay, a city level totally different than the grassy area outside, swamps, construction yards, silos, warehouses, military bases, wooded areas etc, and i would frequently have the environment shift. In Fallout, while there is some variation it is almost weirdly invariant. While wandering around DC downtown everything looked the exact same, to the point that I would get lost. The subways were likewise identical to one another. The wasteland was for the most part one long monotonous trek where everything looked the same. I loved Fallout 3 and beat it thoroughly, but was disappointed by the repetitive scenery. Stalker's no angel in that regard, but I found it an improvement in terms of environments. Fallout 3 had better missions than Stalker did by far, however, and is the better game.

[Squee]

-I keep expecting my weapon to jam. Sometimes I think the 10mm submachine gun in F3 is jamming when my character jams the clip in, then yanks it out and puts it back in. What's up with that animation?
Yep, that's what passes for jamming in Fallout 3. Just slightly longer reloads occasionally. You'll notice it happens much less if your weapons are in better condition.

[Tim James]

As I was playing Fallout 3, I kept thinking how much better the game would look using the STALKER engine instead of the fullbright, shiny, and bland Gamebryo engine or whatever it's called. I agree that the different approaches to inventory management would get rather confusing.

[TurinTur]

I would really love to see STALKER rebuilt on the FO3 gameplay engine. I couldn't get terribly far in STALKER because the gameplay just could not hook me (largely due to the crappiness of the gunplay), but I loved the concept and setting. Fallout nails the gameplay for a desolate open world, and I'd really like to see the content of STALKER repurposed to use the RPG systems of Fallout.

I would like the gunplay from Stalker in Fallout 3, which apart from VATS, the real time gunplay is really mediocre.

[Kevin Grey]

I would really love to see STALKER rebuilt on the FO3 gameplay engine. I couldn't get terribly far in STALKER because the gameplay just could not hook me (largely due to the crappiness of the gunplay), but I loved the concept and setting. Fallout nails the gameplay for a desolate open world, and I'd really like to see the content of STALKER repurposed to use the RPG systems of Fallout.


Try sticking with STALKER a little longer and get some better weapons- the gunplay improves dramatically.

[Eric P]

of the two, i think i prefer stalker more. it's a bit better in its open world design (environment and the like). my problem with stalker is that it's damn hard, but i like that it forces a degree of strategy when dealing with encounters.

but i hate hate HATE it when you will all of a sudden be beset by several mutants.

[Zylon]

Yeah, remember in the STALKER universe, there's been another Chernobyl-like incident in the area (and therefore quite a bit of radiation), but the whole place hasn't been literally burned in the nuclear fires like the outdoor areas in Fallout 3.
Nuclear fires from 200 YEARS ago. You'd think things would be looking more lively by then.

[Alex Handy]

Nuclear fires from 200 YEARS ago. You'd think things would be looking more lively by then.

Yeah, and what's up with that ghoul in the Underworld, Betty, who says she'd been around when the war happened. Ghouls get massive life extension from being ghouls?

[Fugitive]

Yeah, and what's up with that ghoul in the Underworld, Betty, who says she'd been around when the war happened. Ghouls get massive life extension from being ghouls?
Haven't gotten there yet, but the ghoul in Moriarty's bar does mention that their aging is slowed, and that there are still some ghouls from the days of the war.

[Rob_Merritt]

Yeah, and what's up with that ghoul in the Underworld, Betty, who says she'd been around when the war happened. Ghouls get massive life extension from being ghouls?


Yes and so do super mutants actually.

[madkevin]

Yes and so do super mutants actually.

Until they meet me.

[WarrenM]

Until they meet me.
I ran into my first super mutant yesterday just wandering through the wastes. Was looking pretty bad for me until I pulled off a lucky critical head shot.

[Alex Handy]

Another cognitive dissonance I discovered while playing last night: I find myself crouched and trying to squeeze through some opening in F3, and I find myself looking for the second crouch button to squinch down lower and make it through, like in STALKER.

[Papageno]

Nuclear fires from 200 YEARS ago. You'd think things would be looking more lively by then.

Nuclear winter's a beeyatch, yo.

[Zylon]

Nuclear winter's a beeyatch, yo.
Was there a nuclear winter in the Fallout timeline?

[Sebmojo]

I would like the gunplay from Stalker in Fallout 3, which apart from VATS, the real time gunplay is really mediocre.

I don't mind it too much - potting radroaches with a silenced 10 mil never gets old for me. Some of the mods which make it more twitchy and less statbased could be interesting though, as I suspect the clunkiness is very much by design (ie to encourage the use of VATS) rather than intrinsic .

[Sol Invictus]

There was never a nuclear winter in Fallout's timeline. Ghouls live for a very long time.
Harold's got to be at least 200 years old since he was in the first two Fallouts, and he left his vault in 2090, 13 years after the war.

[Papageno]

Ah, well, I stand corrected. I was just going by, you know, what probably would actually happen after enough nukes were detonated worldwide (most of which comes from my mid-1980's reading of The Fate of the Earth, for what it's worth).

I have played a bit of Fallout 1, but not nearly enough, and haven't even touched Fallout 2.

[Squee]

Harold's not really a ghoul though. He ended up the way he is from exposure to FEV when he was exploring Mariposa with The Master. The Master fell in, Harold passed out in some on the floor.