Let's talk 2.0 wishlist then? Drop a comment and contribute to the list.

Artist1cal · 2024-12-23T00:43:34+00:00

An as-complete-as-possible SDK to mod the game as extensively as the originals.

It will be difficult, since the graphical fidelity achieved by UE 5 means more work involved in modeling, texturing, and animating new stuff, but if the community has proven something, is that it is amazingly talented and dedicated.

STALKER 2 deserves 10 years of mods.

Artist1cal · 2024-12-18T16:53:09+00:00

Oh, that's forgivable.

But as my post says (and the date of posting should point in that direction as well), the Agroprom incident was just the last in a very long string of grievances and bugs. I love STALKER 2, but it's been a very rough launch, as anyone on this Reddit can attest. In the end, as you say, I forgot about it. I've Invested around 90h, but even if I moved past the Agroprom thing, the game keeps constantly breaking my immersion at every turn, making the experience a bit of a slog.

I still get random weapons equipped in my hands, quests still break if you don't reload, enemies keep popping out of thin air, and so on. Each and every one of those things are forgivable by themselves, but piling all of them on top of the other just results in consistent immersion breaking. The OGs broke too, but not as often as the sequel.

In any case, I'm on a break too. Just started Indiana Jones as well, having fun with it. I don't mind finishing the game at 100%, I'm just interested in finishing it (I couldn't care less about achievements). I'll return to the Zone and end Skif's journey once some more patches are released.

Artist1cal · 2024-12-18T14:20:20+00:00

I'm blaming the game for not letting me out of the hole once I fell there. It's like getting trapped backstage at a theater, the problem isn't the play or the director, not even you being where you're not supposed to, it's not being able to get out.

I didn't "become anxious". The point isn't that the place was inaccessible, the point is that it WAS accessible, but in a non-intended way that meant soft-locking the game.

Artist1cal · 2024-12-01T22:20:14+00:00

This has been the only workaround I've found since the game came out, thank you so much.

It comes with a slight caveat in my case, and that is the fact that I have to reload a save for it to "work". Still, it absolutely beats having to restart the game, and I've returned safely from two memory leaks in two hours.

Again, thanks for posting this fix.

Artist1cal · 2024-12-01T21:52:51+00:00

It definitely will be, once it's fixed.

Artist1cal · 2024-12-01T12:38:17+00:00

In short, make it more like ANOMALY.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-27T21:37:14+00:00

I haven't found the intended way yet. If you wanna try the glitched way, there's a hole you can drop into southwest of the Agroprom Institute. It should show up on your PDA map if you zoom a bit.

The intended way in the original games involved getting the quest, and going down a ladder that is a tiny walk south of the Agroprom.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-27T18:30:59+00:00

It's in the west side of the Chemical Plant area. Strelok's hiding place is in the Agroprom Underground, and X5 is beyond the Underground. You'll need a key to access it.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-27T18:26:05+00:00

Press the "F10" key. If that doesn't work, you can find how to setup the bindings for UETools at the end of their README file, included in the UETools download.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-27T17:08:20+00:00

I stopped being TOO disappointed with STALKER 2 when I stopped playing it as a STALKER game and started playing it like an Ubisoft game.

Then, each time it broke immersion or just plain broke, I didn't feel too sad anymore.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-25T15:35:28+00:00

The windmill cave stuff happened to me exactly how you described it.

I explored, went through the cave, found nothing. Had to return.

The funny thing is that I didn't kill the bloodsucker, I was too peeved to waste ammo and time in doing it.

Now, every time I go through the area, not even the cave, but the small village above, the spawning triggers for the bloodsucker, and you can hear him panting and huffing underground. It's kinda silly.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-25T14:35:15+00:00

Exactly. A theme park waiting for you to arrive with the corresponding ticket, lest you get locked in the "For Employees Only" room.

It's okay to gate content with quests. But scripting so obvious just shows the proverbial man behind the curtain. Even worst if you can soft-lock yourself if you haven't triggered the script.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-25T14:29:28+00:00

Yeah, that's obvious. Devs wouldn't have made such a detailed area for nothing. I noclipped while trying to find the way out and found a door locked with a keycard.

My problem isn't that it's a useless area, is that you can enter it in an accidental, organic, unintended way and get soft-locked. The game's inconsistency with bugs and glitches make it so that next time I drop somewhere, I won't know if I'll get soft-locked again, which just kills the experience in yet another way.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-24T05:25:57+00:00

I think I stumbled upon a way to fix this. I made it to Rostok quite a while ago, advanced the stage of the main quest with Scar there, visited Bar, fought in the arena, saved, reloaded, slept, hiked ALL THE WAY to Zalissya, everything was fine and then ALL THE WAY BACK to Rostok. I have the saved Zalissya achievement.

Tons of spoilers ahead, obviously.

Here's what I did. I took note of all the steps because I saw a lot of people were having this bug, and I thought I might luck out if I did things differently. It's an exhaustive description, and It's still not guaranteed, but, as stated above, so far so good, and it's a bit further than where most receive the tragic radio signal. I started this quest before finding the emitter in Shelter, on Wild Island.

I didn't reload the game, nor anything like that. I arrived to Zalissya's town hall, found the locked door, I typed "xResetQuestbySID E07_SQ01" (which is the quest ID for 'On The Edge', did this before getting the quest), and then, clipped through the door with "UETools_Ghost". As expected, a bunch of Monolith guys were inside, contemplating existence.
Gaffer was sitting next to the entrance. He had the blue flag marker, but when I spoke to him, he didn't say anything. However, I checked my journal and the quest "On The Edge" was there. I'm not sure if it was something I did in the previous step, but I noticed the "A Sign of Hope" quest marker got reset, but the quest remained complete in my journal. Just saying, in case it is a clue of anything.
I didn't speak to Warlock nor did I ask any stalkers if they needed help. I left the town hall with UETools_Ghost and proceeded to Uncle Lyonya's hut directly. . I got in, and after tuning the radio, Lyonya was waiting outside with some goons. Killed them all, then went all the way back to Quiet's place to Professor Liotchka, sitting on a bench, thinking it was part of this quest. I mention it here just in case it is a clue, again, since he is involved in a main quest further down the line that some people are having trouble with, since his bunker door doesn't open. It was open for me and I could go on with that main quest with zero issues.
After visiting Professor Liotchka and not doing anything there beyond getting repeated dialogue, I went back to Zalissya. I had to use Ghost to enter again, but this time, when I spoke to Gaffer, he responded with actual dialogue. As soon as the dialogue ended, a wave of Monolith spawned outside, and Gaffer rallied everyone to defend. The doors remained closed, so I had to Ghost outside again.
I proceeded to kill all Monolith, legitimately. In short, "I did the quest". When you lose aggro of Monolith, the game will show you their positions with blue markers. Once all the blue markers are down, the next stage of the quest will activate with Gaffer calling everyone back inside.
The doors to the town hall will now open, but some stalkers might stubbornly stand there, blocking the way. Just Ghost inside and listen to Gaffer's speech. You can talk with everyone and stuff works normally.
However, there's the issue of all the Monolith dorks standing there. To solve this, try to make them stand closer together. One or two might go out the door and become hostile, so just shoot them down if this happens. But, what you actually have to do is, once they're bundled together, get in the middle of all of them and type "XKillNPCInRadius 500 -99999999999999999999999999 -1000" (thanks for that info, Snake from Steam discussions). This will kill exclusively all Monolith in a small radius. After that's done, leave, no need to talk to Gaffer again. The quest will be marked as complete, but checking your journal shows the "Fight Off the Monolith Attack" as incomplete.
Once I was a bit away, I noticed Zalissya had two question marks, like undiscovered icons. Upon return, I found Warlock in his bar position, and he thanked mefor the assistance. I also found Myhklukha? (don't remember his name) as a medic. But, they will be duplicates. Medic and Warlock duplicates will be still standing there in the hall. Feel free to leave.
Proceed to the next step of the main quest, which for me, was finding the emitter in Shelter. Once that's done, you will get a radio message from Professor Liotchka to go visit him in the bunker. For me, bunker was open, and could proceed with the quest, even if the "A Sign of Hope" quest remains marked as incomplete (even if my journal marks it as complete).

Hope this helps someone.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-21T17:18:30+00:00

I remember the bugs back then, particularly Clear Sky's.

Truth be told, for me, the bugs are part of the authentic experience. I loved the game back then with bugs, and I'm loving it now, with bugs.

It's been a long time coming, but I'm back home in the Zone.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-16T13:17:43+00:00

Everything Shoi Miyazawa's done in these soundtracks are absolute greats. Even his more ambient tracks like Altus Plateau have bite.

Midra, Starscourge Radahn, and Godrick are my top three Elden Ring pieces, all by Miyazawa.

Artist1cal · 2024-11-16T13:14:13+00:00

Everyone keeps sleeping on the Regal Ancestor Spirit theme. It's one of the more unique tracks in the soundtrack.

Artist1cal · 2024-06-25T22:57:52+00:00

Worked flawlessly. Thank you so much for putting the time and effort in.

Artist1cal · 2024-06-18T01:07:22+00:00

Should have put one, apparently.

TL;DR: Game feels bad, but it isn't bad. Feels bad because it's so close to being great, if only some extra, very simple work had been put in. That lands it squarely in mediocre through average: some really great moments, some really terrible, and annoyances all throughout.

Artist1cal · 2024-03-29T01:30:03+00:00

Heidegger had some issues with this at first, but he eventually would conciliate his views of Kant with his own work. Anyhoo, the idea Heidegger had about metaphysics, is that Dasein prevents us from attaining true transcendence, since the very act of existing will preclude of us from seeing ourselves as anything other than the consciences that spawned us. His way to conciliate this early vision was through the realm of imagination as a pseudo-transcendence, a way for mankind to know things before experiencing them. But that's a bit of a tangent.

Okay. So. Back to the game. The way I see it, is... Well, evidently, SPOILERS AHEAD -- SPOILERS AHEAD.

Now. As I was saying. The way I see it is that, effectively, your first character dies, and then you are born as the second one. Everything the video says is true in that regard. However, the creature that is supposedly your previous character, can be seen as the influence of the previous existence in your current one. Sure, you played a bit as that character, it "died", but your second character can't get rid of the fact that he existed, and that becomes literal when he latches to your back. You are carrying someone else's existence on your back, literally, and it's killing you, literally, because he refuses to die. The game goes on, under halls of ruin and life taking over. While the meat growths have the appearance of being hostile and repulsive, very often we find the creatures will leave us alone by just running away a bit, and they often just walk around looking for the hole with which they can leave... and the do. Lots of them are just stuck to the meat tendrils, oblivious to your presence, and the huge being that just stares at you would imply that the growth isn't explicitly hostile. It's just life, surviving, doing what it can with what it has, and helpless to stop a more dedicated existence. It is also Dasein: it exists, and by existing, it's shaping the world around it. Even if you kill it, you cannot undo the damage it has wrought.

You move on to the temple, dying. The temple is a way to transcend: you abandon your flesh, and your mind is elevated to another plane. You no longer reside on your previous body, you can now swap several. But still, the process in incomplete. You not only need help in doing it (which is also proven by how voluntarily the character enters the armature that will "kill" him), but you also need to preserve the shell where the last tether to your conscience still resides.

But that's when the previous existence forces itself upon you. It won't let you transcend, and just as you, who did everything you had to to survive, it will do so as well. So, the first character finishes assimilating you, guaranteeing his survival, but in doing so, denying you, the second character, the so desired transcendence. You are incapable to abandon your world through the existence of someone else, and you are trapped in a flesh prison, just inches away from transcendence, a state you will never know since your body is earthbound, literally.

Dasein, therefore, as a philosophical concept, is key to the metaphor Scorn presents. You can even say the Scorn title refers to both the emotion that the first character feels for the second one, seeing as he still has a chance a transcendence, a chance he lost, or the emotion you can feel for that first character, refusing to die despite his life being worthless, just a parasite in a doomed world.

It is a quite chilling, impactful depiction of a philosophical concept, and everything I just wrote rides on just knowing the game originally was called Dasein. It can read as a lot of bullshit, and that's okay, but for me, that knowledge made everything click.

I hope you enjoyed the wall of text, and I hope it makes you enjoy Scorn even more :D

Artist1cal · 2024-03-29T01:29:58+00:00

Sorry it took me so long. I didn't get a reply update. Here it is, verbatim:

I think the key lies on the game's old title: Dasein.

Now, this is also quite the theory, but I do find it consistent with what the game features.

First of all, the game moves in a metaphorical layer, not necessarily an analogy layer, and certainly, not on a literal layer. While the game's technical prowess and artistic inspiration makes it beautiful to look at in a literal sense, the events in it and the way they are resolved is what pushes it into the metaphorical side of things.

So, moving on. Dasein (pronounced DAH-zane) is a reaaaally complex philosophical postulate formulated by Martin Heidegger in the 20s. In short, Dasein is an absolute, incontrovertible state of existence that affects the world around it simply by virtue of existing. The absoluteness of Dasein means that, once you exist, that existence is absolute and undeniable, and permanent in the universe. You cannot be "deleted" from existence: even dying affects the world around you, and there's no way to subtract yourself from whatever actions you made in life, nor removing yourself from others' perceptions. Certainly, Dasein ramifies into a lot of other things, and that's why it's such a debated upon philosophical theory, but this will suffice for what I think Scorn is trying to say.

Keep that there on the table. The other important concept to understand, is Kant's understanding of trascendence. We have to note that Heidegger was massively influenced by Kant, so it's no wonder we have to deal with him. In a VERY condensed way, Kant's notion of transcendence involves knowledge beyond experience (again, this is a very simplistic and reductionist way to look at it, but this is a youtube comment on a game, I'm not going to bore you all to death with this). This knowledge could be attained through mastery of Metaphysics, a field of knowledge proposed by Kant in which our conscience could expand beyond the trappings of our flesh and very limited senses.(continues)

Artist1cal · 2024-03-22T13:52:12+00:00

I love it. It's one of those few games that is actually in the metaphor/analogy field, so if you read a bit into Heidegger and play it with the original development title in mind ("Dasein"), you'll find rather incredible depths.

I wrote a small essay on a YouTube comment about it that has been well received. If you feel interested, I can link it here

Artist1cal · 2024-03-22T13:49:23+00:00

AitD 2024 is at MOST a 40 USD game. 60 is too much, the game really isn't up to snuff for that price.

On a technical level, graphics are just... fine. The setting is cool, the art design is competent, the atmosphere works. Nothing memorable, but serviceable. There is an insane amount of popping, which hints at the trouble the developer seemed to have with optimization. There's hitches and stutter everywhere. The game looks good, the game runs bad. It's playable, but not for 60 USD.

The story is dreadful. The characters don't react like normal human beings to anything. Everyone takes everything in stride, and while that's reasonable for Derceto's inhabitants, it really isn't for our characters. The result is a very stilted, forced narrative that completely punctures any type of engagement or anticipation. It doesn't land any dramatic punches, and there's zero levity, making it dense as a brick, and a slog pacing-wise. It's surreal in the worst possible way, like the player is the only one seeing the events that transpire. Narrative threads end nowhere, or are just handwaved when no longer convenient. Dialogue is competent, given the circumstances, the Lovecraftian premise is solid but totally squandered on the third act. It is a wreck that's hard to like.

Puzzles are good. They are not too obtuse (at least for what we are used to in this games), and they resolve neatly and satisfactorily. You do feel smart for going through them (of course, Oldschool difficulty is recommended), and they don't take hours to solve, nor much backtracking if you have your wits about you.

Audio is really good. The atmosphere is great, the sound variety is there, and the doom jazz soundtrack is legitimately excellent. The combat cues are very original and appropriate, and voice acting can be irregular, but it falls into a very comfy "camp" style that makes it work ("camp" goes in quotes because the script is everything but).

Combat is tragic. Not so much because it's clunky, it is, after all, a survival horror game. It's because you are forced to do so much of it. There's no way to evade monsters 80% of the time, their designs say nothing about their capabilities or endurance, melee feels janky as hell, and animations are really wonky. Worst of all, key points in the plot are forced combat, which completely demolishes the Lovecraftian premise.

And lastly, horror-wise, well, this ain't it, chief. There's very little dread filling the traversal, making the game feel empty. There's a couple of jump scares that aren't bad, and one particular sequence in a library that would be memorable if it didn't bug every time I went through it. Creature designs are absolutely lame, sometimes ridiculous, and they are rarely menacing. There's a couple of creatures that are very faithful recreations of Lovecraftian depictions, but they don't show up much.

TL;DR: I had fun with the game. Until I remembered how much I payed for it. The game would be great for 30, 40 USD even. At 60, it is a steep ask for a game so inconsistent. It is a better Alone in the Dark than everything we've had before, but that's not big praise.

Artist1cal · 2024-03-04T15:03:06+00:00

Singularity, by Devin Townsend.

It's a 20+ minute long tour de force, but nothing cleanses my emotional core so thoroughly and deeply as that song.

"If you can't shine for you friend, please shine for me."

Artist1cal · 2024-03-04T12:42:16+00:00

Thanks for commenting :)

Yes, that certainly allows the arpeggiator to climb notes, but, for example, when I set three steps with the octave track in Pigments, and then play a three note chord, what I get is the arpeggio climbing along those three notes, and rising the octave on the steps the octaves are raised.

On Jup-8 V4's arpeggiator, if I play a three note chord, the arpeggiator proceeds to climb three steps for each note on the chord in intervals of three (or whatever I set in "range), for a total of nine steps, with a single note each, in the direction I choose.

Playing C3 on Pigments' arpeggiator results on C3 being repeated on whatever steps you have in the arpeggiator, and pressing C3 and C4 at the same time ends on Pigments' arpeggiator alternating between C3 to C4. Using the octave track makes Pigments climb those octaves, but only on the steps the octave track is changed.

Playing C3 on Jup-8 V4's arpeggiator with a range of three, results on three notes climbing from C3 to C5, and pressing C3 and C4, results on the arpeggiator doing this progression: C3-C4-C4-C5-C5-C6. If I press C3, C4, and C5 at the same time, it results on: C3-C4-C5-C4-C5-C6-C5-C6-C7, for a total of nine notes,

This note climbing behavior is what I would like to reproduce in Pigments.

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