Why Everyone is Playing STALKER
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- Somebody made a video about a mod of a Stalker mod, and now everybody's playing it. This video is about why it's so awesome, and difficult, and interesting.
We discuss Grok's Automated Modular Modpack for Anomaly (GAMMA), Stalker Shadow of the Chernobyl, Road to Vostok, Escape from Tarkov, DayZ, the 1972 Russian novella Roadside Picnic by the Stugatsky brothers, Andrei Tarkovsky's 1982 film Stalker, and the HBO miniseries Chernobyl.
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💬DISCORD: / discord
📺TWITCH: / lemonch1cken
👾Gamma Modpack: anomalymod.com...
🎮Stalker Anomaly Gamma Discord: / discord
🍿Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker (Full Movie): • Stalker | FULL MOVIE |...
🖥️Operator Drewski's video: • The Massive Survival S...
That short bit at the end about people bonding over an otherwise unforgiving game scenario really does manage to touch on two ideas that sound obvious when said out loud, but are really obscure in most conversations about games and sports. The majority of people usually have an outward attitude about wanting to win. And the majority of games feed into that fantasy to ward away the insecurity that looms over those people in their day to lives. But on the flip side, empathy and a sense of community is most strongly reinforced in the face of a shared hardship.
What differentiates people then is HOW they react to a situation where empathy is a factor. And is often brightly reflected in the massive divide experienced in competitive games/sports scenes; due to a combination of artificially high stakes, and the mutually exclusive nature of victory for either team. In this space the "expectation" is sportman-like conduct, as an acknowledgement of the outcome being not terribly important; while also pushing the limits of performance, as if it were a real high stakes battle.
But because of how many things attach itself to the competition, and create real stakes in order to benefit themselves- the otherwise low stakes match, suddenly gains world altering powers. And in response, people start to treat it like "victory at costs" is a justified mind set.
However, the measure of person can be made in how someone can have a capacity for empathy, in spite of how counter-intuitive it is to the success of your side. To be best at war, one must strip themselves of all their humanity, to mercilessly and efficiently crush the enemy beyond recovery. But the reality of logistics can't support that doctrine; as resources are finite, and war being inherently destructive. Hence real war is usually about who has resources, and how much of it you can take before exhausting your own.
This brings us back around to this weird dichotomy in PvP and survival games player bases. On one end you have the murder hobos, who genuinely enjoy harm they inflict, and play for that reason. On the other end, you have the survivalists- who value their own survival above all else, and will proactively mitigate any risk to it...... with extreme prejudice if necessary. On the surface, these two extremes are the most likely to succeed, because the games themselves tend to have the PvE aspects (including survival mechanics) as being inherently manageable by design. Since other players can destabilize that manageable nature, elimination is the most efficient way to deal with them.
But when a game is built in a way where the world is inherently hostile, humans instinctively band together to overcome those odds. Its how we've survived this long, and how we've dominated the environment around us. So while the same principles of destabilization caused by other players still exist, its evolved into a scale of groups and tribes, as opposed to individuals. This is where the idea of empathy shines brightest...... why bother killing each other, when pool our resources and talents to push back against the thing that willing to kill "all of us".
This what makes the Zone the near perfect allegory of humanity's struggle on both a mechanical and philosophical sense. This can't hit home any harder then how ALIFE handles global threats, such as the Emissions. Faced with probable extinction, human factions will drop what they're doing, and all huddle in the same hiding spaces until the threat is passed. They might start fighting again, once their normal AI routines take over...... but that one detail of how they are willing to stop fighting, in face of a much bigger threat, was shocking for a game from that time period.
In the 3rd game, theres a neutral town called yanov station, cohabited by the factions Duty and Freedom (who are normally bitter enemies). Taken from the wiki article about Loki, of Freedom: "His ceasefire with Duty goes back to the time when Freedom captured the Yanov station. At the same time a blowout started, while a Duty squad was stuck outside of the station, with no shelter nearby. Loki, unable to let Duty die such horrible deaths, let them take cover in Yanov during the emission. Afterwards, Loki negotiated a truce that made the Yanov station a safe zone for both factions, with the Loners acting as a buffer and 'police' force to keep both groups in line. Regardless, in order to preserve peace, either group will call out the other or deal with men who have broken the rules of the Zone, regardless of faction lines. "
When the game's conditions allow for it, its actually not that uncommon for player factions take a non-hostility stance with each other, even if they don't necessarily try to work together. Theres enough bigger problems, and openly hostile factions to worry about, without having to war with every player group you come across.
This is where I think the vast majority of PvP survival games make a fundamental mistake. When the environment is not enough of a threat, players are embolden to prey on each other as its the path of least of resistance. If the world is insanely hostile, you WILL see a wider range of dynamics among players. Because being openly hostile to everyone else is too much of a burden, when the world itself is already keeping you on your back foot. And the way the Zone is constructed as a working Ecosystem, rather then a simple sandbox that players shape to their will, helps reinforce this balance between staying small and sustainable, while still banding together to face various threats. A self regulating system where being too big of a threat/target, and no abundance of resources to fuel growth, is an express ticket to failure.
A good survival game should be PvA(player vs all). And STALKER's conceptualization of an ecosystem as seen in both the Zone and ALIFE, is hands down the blueprint for a better open world game (be itSP, MP, and MMO). Not only in how the game allows itself to function without player input, but also the wide spectrum and scale of player interaction that can exist within it. Capable of coxing not only the worst in humanity......but also the best.
I enjoyed reading this. Thanks.
Reading this was a really nice part of my evening that I didn't expect to have.
You have an amazing talent, and I hope you reach whatever you want to do with it. Be it making it your main income, or just the occasional charity writing, like this was.
Thank you.
you put it perfectly. thank you for writing this comment
Cheers dude, really well written, thanks for the share, It both made me think and enjoy the idea of the zone and stalker as a game. What makes this game special is, as you said, me reading your comment and enjoying it sympathising deeply, maybe you listening to, he was a good stalker, someday and feeling really nostalgic. Ideas that form the core of stalker really bands us in a way, I really enjoy the community around this game. Again thanks for sharing.
Dude literally just casually typed a manifesto
Can we all appreciate the fact that the STALKER devs gave green light to anyone to use the game as they wish.
Thats really cool
They intended mod support from the very beginning of developing the trilogy. And claimed that they will do the same with stalker 2. I hope their claims come true.
Where did it say that they gave green light? Doesn’t these mods run on OpenXray, a copied modded X-ray engine that’s build from leaked source code?
It depends on which of the main games or countless standalone mods you're playing. Anomaly is a blank slate, moddable in any way, while the main games are more for a linear gameplay
@@mr.mikaeel6264 Open X-Ray is just the 64 bit engine binaries made by some fans, you still need the original game to play it. If you want to play the actual storyline from the released games that is.
As an old stalker veteran, I am really glad to see so many new people discovering the game. Welcome to the community!
EFP rules. Best shit I have played in years
I was fascinated by stalker when I was a kid, but never owned a capable pc. What a slept on genre imo
even without mods I love stalker's lore
No.. welcome to the zone stalker lol
I don’t have a PC so I can’t experience STALKER for myself, but I’ve been really interested in the games for a while, my interest came from my love of Metro Exodus and finding out it was basically a spiritual successor to STALKER. I knew of it before that but that’s what really jump started my interest and operator drewskis 5 episode series on it cemented my intrigue. Been playing a modded fallout 4 load order that’s inspired by STALKER on Xbox, wish I had the real thing but it’s been a good substitute. Def gonna invest in a PC soon though
Hey mum! I'm on the telly!
Pest. Play GAMMA.
oh hello the most dangerous strategist of tarkov
No one that matters cares.
hello british person
play stalker or no balls
R.I.P. Volodymyr Yezhov One of the main producers of this masterpiece was killed in action at Bakhmut 22/12/2022.
A hero's death is the good man's burden
No he get killed by a emission
@@unpointsword that makes me really sad tbh
on my birthday too... :(
rest in peace
I played it for 5 minutes, crossed the road out of the starting town got attacked by some weird creatures and was immediately caught in some sort of bizarre cyclone tornado thing. I flew into the sky and died before firing 3 shots.
Welcome to the zone stalker.
Yeah, sounds familiar.
Welcome to the zone Blyat.
another stalker lost into the zone
@@geoff4383 you beat me to it
@@jeteculanbatar4692 huh so they call us stalker, y?
As an IRL Stalker I'm so happy to know that the community is growing
Huh?
Excuse me???
🗿🗿🗿
Get a gf.
?
Dude, I expected just to watch the gameplay of gamma but got a philosophical lecture. You're point of view and wording are great pairing it with your extensive research into the movies, games, and books and making a cultural connection is really unique this form of content is great keep it up.
Seconding this. Just wow 👌
Agreed, this video was much more than anyone expected.
I expected the same thing, but half way through all the sudden my mind was being blown lol Such a well done video!
This is a perfect comment, and exactly how I was feeling watching this video. Cheers
I was just about to write the exact same thing, this insightful content really took me by surprise. I found not just another reviewer/gamer but a philosopher and a thinker. He's earned my sub twice over.
Stalker is one of those games that became a cult classic within 2-3 years of it's release. It's one of those games that looks intimidating on the outside and not very accessible to the average player, but when you get into it, you get it. You get why people keep playing this 15+ year old game who's janky game engine is held together with ducttape, copious amounts of vodka and ukrainian wizardry.
It's just an gaming experience you dont get anywhere else and even after 10 years, it's a series I keep coming back to.
So true, i've been trying to find similar games to stalker for years now. This saga is unique.
It's true, I'm replaying it right now and in new games I look for something that resembles it. At the moment the Stalker, Fallout and Metro series are the ones I play the most, the others maybe better graphically but they don't have the black atmosphere of Stalker. Playing at night with headphones on while trying to gather information in the secret lab is unparalleled. Between strange monsters, sounds and flames, anomalies and electrical discharges a little chill goes down your spine..
I just got done with the trilogy, and now 30 hours into gamma and my god this and the metro series are games I shoulda played back then when they came out, they are insanely great games
The original game is the absolute best gaming experience i ever had.. never wanted it to end.. they created a masterpiece, only flawed by some bugs that to be fair were probably very hard to iron out given what they tried to achieve
I think one of the best feelings of the combat in stalker is the spontaneity. there's a genuine shock you get when you're walking with your squad to the quest marker and your buddy suddenly catches a bullet to the head courtesy of a monolith sniper and now its a very bad time. very harrowing and no other game has really replicated it.
Tarkov replicates it and takes it to another level, everything great about the sheer violence of Stalker is there but there's no quicksave, no rolling back the damage. Sniper on a cliff? You just lost everything you were carrying. It doesn't quite have the aesthetic of Stalker and obviously it's different because it's multiplayer but it's the only other game that's ever made me hide in a bush, terrified listening to the noises of people passing by.
@@ImBarryScottCSS man i wish Tarkov had an SP/COOP mode, i would be playing the absolute hell out of it. Love everything about it but what I don't love about it and many MP/PvP Only games like it; is that I probably only get the chance to play it a couple of hours a week. So I'm going up against people that have been playing it every day, hours on end for years....
The mechanics, atmosphere, gunplay are all awesome, but just like Rust, Chivalry etc; once the playerbase dies or you cant keep up with the rest of the competition, the game becomes less fun
@@Ethaninja Absolutely agree. A proper campaign if it ever happens would be great. Just rolling through some maps with friends trying to survive. There is some great flavour hidden in the lore but the devs just can't seem to get their shit together and capitalise on what a great base they built.
@@ImBarryScottCSS sadly, like every PvP focused game. If they had devs like the Unreal Tournament days, they could really go places
@@Ethaninja If you want to play Singleplayer tarkov, there is always the SP-Tarkov project!
And once this guy just grew pumpkins on the coast of Chernarus)
Legend himself!
yo
Оо, хай форест!
Rip volodymyr yezhov Died defending Ukraine 🇺🇦 😢
Who?
@@MACHOx3_theRealestateGamecat a dev of the stalker genre
Cope I guess?
Glory to Ukraine and its Heroes
Fuck that's sad. He did what was right to defend his home, respect.
This went from learning about an amazing game to learning humans can get past cultural boundaries through art to reach an understanding of each other and it was honestly amazing to watch.
No they can't lol. In the end we always kill one another.
@@EQOAnostalgia How are we here speaking the same language then? And if it's all pointless then there's no reason for anybody to let you live. Everything you are and all tools you use are here because of people who thought there was a point. Be grateful.
@@hbsvictor I just want to add to it, the BRITISH EMPIRE!
@@Ring_student_yin_sang That came from...?
@@hbsvictor ?
You'd be surprised on how many people from Russia, Ukraine and all over the world finding content like yours interesting. Keep moving stalker
Russia can't even create a decent game to stay near Ukraine in your sentence.
Know your place
@@CCumva the guy never implied russia made better games, he just mentioned a lot of players around the world including russia and ukraine (since they are getting mentioned a lot in video) love content the channel made, so stop being judgemental all of sudden for no reason..
@@CCumva where is my place mate?
fake account spotted once again
Yes, I always liked to experience that gaming knows no politics and no cultural borders. The fact that stalker was as big and even bigger in Russia and eastern european countries. A common ground, fuck the lies and hatred and propaganda.
I have never been happier about finding and clicking on a random video that popped up on my recommended feed. The fact that you can explain and make your own thoughts so enjoyable to listen to is a real talent. Keep it up!
I second this, it's extremely well worded, thoughtful and held my attention firmly. Also glad I randomly clicked on this!
@@roywennekes8548 I third this then :)
Fourth, what an amazing person! :)
I was pretty surprised as well with the increase in views. I had no idea drewski did a video on GAMMA until a viewer told me. I'm not a big fan of the GAMMA mod, but I can see why people enjoy it. Glad so many people are getting into this game though, really makes me happy to see people keeping this game alive.
Watching it grow back in popularity is great! STALKER has held such an amazingly robust community over the years and is really helpful to new rookies. The Zone is a welcoming place!
I saw the video aswell and I recently retired apex and was getting back into my dayz routes but I saw what gamma was. Its really fun and gives me a that single player tarkov mixed metro vibe i never knew I wanted.
Should I try gamma? I’ve been playing EFP for a while now and idk if downloading gamma is worth
@@lycoris8425 It changes the game from mostly a shooter into mostly a survival scavenging sim. You can't buy guns, you have to repair them or find them in caches. It also changes the damage and healing system into something closer to Tarkov. (Use first aid to refill meters temporarily and get back in the fight, then once the fighting's over use 'Post heals' like painkillers and antibiotics to turn temporary health into restored health that stays... until you're damaged again.)
@@lycoris8425 i like it more than efp personally, it feels super smooth and the weapon system makes getting new guns feel super fun, there's more in it than efp and runs better for me
One of Stalker`s developers - Volodymyr Iezhov was killed defending Ukraine on a battlefield few days ago. As many others he gave his live so that we and our kids can live in a free country and enjoy community of free people not only in virtual world, but also in real life.
He gave his life because his us backed illegitimate government banned the ability for 18-60 year olds to leave the country early in the conflict, then abducted murdered and/or tortured government officials who disagreed the regimes overtly racist, bloodthirsty warhawk agenda while silencing any and all vocal opposition.
Ukraine had every possible opportunity to avoid this war. Like actually staying free and independent and, you know, not attempting to join a western military alliance that was formed to counter the ussr, which hasn't existed in 30+ fucking years thereby creating an existential crisis for the global nuclear superpower next door that was already fed up with nato lies and encroachment. Just food for thought.
Man what the fuck, he died fighting like in his work. Tragically epic. I hope they finish the next installment in his memory
Damn, he went out like a warrior. May his soul rest in peace.
Ukraines government is fascist. They do not stand for any freedom lol
@@blazzered2 dude. What?
it's so nice seeing this game franchise get more attention as a stalker vet. This game deserves to get the attention like this
as a multi 10s of thousands of hours player from the very beginning, I agree.
@@shorebreak69 I can barely play any other FPS(ish) game since I played SOC.
What counts as a stalker vet bc I've only been playing stalker off/on for like 6 years
@@Terraceview the only others are Metro or Fallout, but they always lead to another couple of hundred hours of STALKER.
@@shorebreak69 Very true.
This is a very thoughtful and deep essay about why people, in particular you, play Stalker. Good job.
And I actually never thought about it, but I totally agree with this video
One second I was watching a video game review and the next i was learning about literature and history. I love it.
I don't agree with your point at the 6-7th minute: even if there is a metaphore between C-consciousness and communism (what's so bad about stopping the war though?), it's not obvious and not directly in the game lore. It's more about the Zone itself, all the noosphere story, and for me it's easier to find analogies with ecological or moral concerns here (for example, the endings of the Wish granter). The developers wanted to explore the thematics of scientism itself, of the noosphere ideas (which is an invention of a Ukrainian scientist) and of all the "secret laboratory experimentation which went out of control and created dangerous abominations" staple rather than any political context, either of the USSR or contemporary Ukraine. I think the developers might have even been somewhat left-wing leaning, but that's just my own impression; there's no negative portrayal of the Soviet past in the original Stalker trilogy.
The Soviet scientists weren't communists per se (just remember people like Sakharov) and if you think deeper, the whole point of C-consciousness existence and their laboratories is about them getting out of government control; and all of this not to talk about the fact that Chernobyl HBO (despite me agreeing to most of what is shown there) has some good old "cranberry" propaganda elements, especially the episode with the war veteran. Soviet government wasn't stupid and even though they attempted to hide consequences of Chernobyl disaster from general populace and from the international community, the party and the ruling class didn't go to denying the catastrophe just because "it couldn't be"; the population was evacuated, the government applied massive effort to liquidate the consequences and people like Dyatlov were tried by the Soviet law. The Gorbachev's quote rather meant the amount of economical damage done by the disaster and the psychological effect it had on people, rather than any "inefficiency of the Soviets" (I'm sorry but an inefficient power structure could never maintain a system of this size).
Russia's war against Ukraine today might be part of recapturing what Russia thinks is theirs, except modern Russia doesn't have anything to do with the Soviet Union. Their ideological predecessors are Nazi collaborators. Loud words aside, they don't have anything similar to offer in terms of humanist ideology, economic stability, scientific progress, great art works (like Strugatsky or Tarkovsky) or income equality the USSR had.
All of the above being said, thank you for the great work and for sharing your thoughts! As a Ukrainian, I have a lot more cultural things to add about Stalker, but it's always a great pleasure to see that the game that is our national product and relates a lot about our reality, culture and even history is so popular and can touch hearts and minds of people from the West. I particularly appreciate what you say about overcoming the borders and uniting people from conflicting states through culture.
What else do you think this is if not the noosphere stopping the war? ;)
Your little detour into the literary context behind the game was succinct but adds so much to the merit of the video. Continue to produce this style of content and you'll curate a healthy viewerbase in no time.
Too bad he used HBO series as source. It's highly fictionalized series, most notable scenes, like "cut the phone lines", "it's not there", "tell me how NPP works or I throw you out of helicopter", "This is -Sparta- Tula", Legasov telling the "truth" at the trial... and whole last episode, were entirely fictional, as entirely made up, yet they are most quoted as something relevant.
By the way, fun fact: first miners in Chernobyl came from East Ukraine. So why not highlight unity of Ukrainian people even under iron fist of USSR? ...oh right, they were from a region that shall not be named. But that's another politically inconvenient truth. HBO, what is the cost of lies?
@@somedud1140 Thanks for the insight. Never watched the series myself, I was under the assumption it was a docuseries rather than an embellished historical drama.
@@SilentTree12 Don't get me wrong, it's a well made series that is entertaining to watch, it also references almost every culturally relevant event, including myths(that were shown as something that actually happened). If its viewer base was a tiny bit critical, I would say it's a must watch. I still suggest watching it, currently it's by far the most relevant peace of culture on the event, it's also the source where currently 99.9% of information on the event comes from.
But before watching it, I suggest doing your homework. Then watch China Syndrome, read nuclear industry response to it(spoiler: "it's impossible") and what happened near Harrisburg only couple of weeks later. Just to get that déjà vu feeling while watching HBO series.
For real, very unexpected turn but I was incredibly captivated. Such amazing insights. Easy subscribe!
Marathon, Wooooo good games
this video randomly stumbled into my recommended and damn, this was such a beautiful structured and fascinating video.had a tough a week and this made me smile abit. stoked to finally have found your channel :)
This. Wonderful little gift from the algorythm. Well done and thank you!
I’m from Kazakhstan, and I played stalker when I was 15. It was fascinating experience! I’m glad that this game still can give players such emotions! Thank you for this video, peace❤
Ah nice. I was born in kazakhstan on the northern border to russia. Very nice to see people from the nation on youtube.
Базований казах?🇰🇿🤝🇺🇦
@@v3nd3tta84 🇰🇿🤝🏻🇺🇦
And I played it in 2020, while I had a crack of the game waiting in my old windows xp since 2007, dude I should have done it before
@@archeacnos ahh man... you missed a lot
One of the best series ever developed. Played it in 2008, still gives me the good times every time I give it a run. It even gave me the idea for my university thesis, I tought about it for years and theI went to Chornobyl in february 2017 to gain some interviews from the tourists, guides, self-settlers and stalkers, got my degree in april 2018. For as I know I may have been one of the last researchers that could visit the zone before the war blew it all out. One of the best experiences of my life, and it all started with S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
That’s wild lol
RIP Vladimir Yeshov
So so so genuinely happy to see people discovering this game and community and posting videos on it. It’s really one of a kind
Wow, love the relation you make between Roadside picnic and other forms of media relating to Chernobyl and STALKER and trying to find almost a missing piece. I have felt the same way about STALKER for a while and its amazing to see it put into words so beautifully.
The missing piece is checking out the zone for yourself, too bad nowdays it is very dangerous. I suggest checking out illegal freedom's shiey trek into the zone, he made 2 videos exploring it IRL.
i feel like he missed some parts, like the moment with country from Roadside picknick because in the book there was no clue which country is that.
@@gn4128 Although there are six locals or Zones where aliens left mysterious objects behind on this planet, the setting for Roadside Picnic takes place in and around one such Zone in Harmont, Canada, a fictional mining town way out in the boonies.
Chornobyl
probably one of the most misunderstood game ever. only common point with roadside picnic is criticizing by using metaphors to avoid getting censored, or having to water down arguments/content.
The fact that when Drewski made that video, it got so much attention that moddb (The site where you download all the mods from) went down due to high traffic and everyone was struggling to download all the mods. It was painful yet hilarious at the same time.
From a gameplay walkthrough to a lore video to an analysis of pop media to a veneration of the indomitable will of the human spirit. New sub!
I was in high school and wrote a short story for a contest by GSC when stalker was in development. There was a creature contest and that's how we got the snork, a fan made it. Amazing to see people still enjoying this game all these years later.
the programmer died in action in the ukrain actually
Lmao
As someone who has played STALKER since childhood, grew up in Ukraine - this video just gives me warm fuzzies, seeing that this thing I hold dear is catching on all over the world ❤
I’ve been with this channel a while and it’s awesome to see the shift into video essays. Keep up the good work
I’m Ukrainian and it is really pleasure to see how people all over the world are sincerely interested and passionate in the art that I thought only Ukrainian/Russian community would be interested in. Until now I wouldn’t even know that there are so many people who read “the Picnic” or know who Tarkovsky is outside it’s native community. It made me feel that we are not that separated at least mentally, thanks for that.
Yeh! I am amazed to found it too ;)
I'm Australian and I love the Stalker series. I wouldn't quite call it mainstream but it has a solid cult following over here and is generally very highly regarded by game critics.
As much as I enjoy American games and other media, there is a tendency to make the protagonist this big hero that saves the world and gets the girl. In Stalker you actually feel vulnerable and unimportant to the world. You can fight, but every battle feels like a high-stakes, calculated decision which actually makes you feel nervous about engaging the enemy, and that is a real breath of fresh air. It just feels unlike anything that came before it.
I hope you and your loved ones are safe, and I hope that you guys get all of your country back, Vlad PoopTin falls from a tall building for what he has done, and the GSC devs are able to get back to making awesome games and that Stalker 2 is a huge hit. 🇺🇦
Me and a friend (both Belgians) were heavily into Tarkovsky movies when we were just 18 years old and everyone was talking about Transformers, and STALKER is still my favourite single player videogame ever!
Kinda reminds me of DayZ a little bit. Such a shame they gave up on that game.
Roadside Picnic, Stalker, the STALKER games, Metro books and games, and the Pathologic games are very very popular in the West.
RIP Volodymyr Yezhov Slava Ukraine.
That was awesome dude, really insightful in the way you tied the themes of this post-soviet nightmare genre. Consider me subscribed!
This is the first time ive ever seen one of your videos and upon discovering stalker I went down the same rabit hole as you. I read the book, watched the movie, and fell in love with the world of stalker, I would like to say thank to you for so eloquently describing the magic of these games that have incapsilated my wonder as well as the wonder of so many others. :)
This is hands down one of the best written and well spoken commentaries on this platform. Extremely insightful. You just got my sub my guy. That was incredible.
Ok, I just want to talk about how *deep* and heart felt this video was. You are by far one of the best people I have met on this platform, just because of your sincerity, thank you for the journey.
A couple of GSC Developers died fighting in Bakhmut against Wagner.
It is also unconfirmed, but it was said that GSC Game's CEO's son died in fighting (and showed his passport with his name), but Grygorovych is a pretty common Ukrainian last name, so it could have been somebody else...
The sad thing is that Russian's praise they game, they love this game, while the original devs of STALKER went on to make the METRO Trilogy (which takes place in Moscow and uses a pimped out STALKER Engine). I loved seeing the Soviet Architecture in the original STALKER Trilogy, because to me, that was nostalgic.
What's even sadder, is that in MULTIPLAYER, you had, WITHOUT A DOUBT, a Ukrainian and a Russian joined together on the SAME SERVER, playing with or against each other, and those same individuals, are now fighting each other in real life. I guarantee you that situation has happened on more than one occasion..
As a Ukrainian, it saddens me that Ukraine's government is insanely extremist pushing towards Russian hate and racism against the average Russian, erasing Soviet History, and the language. I still look forward to STALKER 2, but one example is that the name itself has been "Ukrainianized", calling it "Chornobyl" now instead of "Chernobyl" (because Ukraine now defines Ukrainian via Latin letters away from Russian Translations - which I think is ridiculous). I most probably expect a segment of "Moskal Invaders in the zone" as a "symbolic metaphor" (whereas in the original 2007 STALKER - The Ukrainian Soldiers were dressed JUST LIKE the Russian Soldiers who fought in Chechnya).
TL;DR - STALKER further united an already united people between Ukrainian and Russian. I do not know which direction STALKER 2 will go, but if I was a betting man, I'm willing to bet everything STALKER 2 will focus on dividing the cultural mentalities between Russian's (including Russian Speaking Ukrainian's) and Ukrainian's (including hardcore Ukrainian Nationalists).. What a shame.
I am also from Ukraine. The claim of racism towards Russians and a ban on the Russian language is simply untrue. I come from Zaporizhia, where Russian is the predominant language and there is no prohibition or hostility towards it. I also spent some time in Vinnytsia after the beginning of the war. They speak Ukrainian there, but nobody ever said anything to me about speaking Russian. Not even once.
In their statements, Ukrainian politicians make it clear that they distinguish between the criminal Russian regime and ordinary Russian citizens, condemning only the regime.
The Soviet period was tragic for Ukraine due to the Soviet leadership's actions. History is not being rewritten; Soviet symbols are simply being removed from public spaces, much like how Nazi symbols were removed in Germany.
Не розумію, чому у тебе склалася така думка про нашу владу, та про те, що існує якийсь поділ між україномовними та російськомовними українцями. А що поганого в тому, що у нас з росіянами різний менталітет? Ми просто різні в деяких аспектах. Якщо порівняти білорусів з українцями, то теж можна побачити різницю у менталітеті. Ми різні нації з різних країн, і це нормально.
Фу ! Ви точно з України? Бо наче ще один руснявий бот
Welcome to the Zone, Stalker. You may leave the Zone, but the Zone never leaves you.
This game was everything growing up. It sparked my love for post-apocalyptic scenarios in Fallout, Dayz, Tarkov, you name it. I'm so happy so many people are jumping on board, the Stalker community is small, but incredibly talented and kind from what I've seen over the years. I just hope it stays that way with the new influx of people.
Tarkov supports russian terrotists
Mho on the political side of the original games: SoC was being develepoed around 2001-2007. During that period being Anti-russian/soviet wasn't really mainstream in Ukraine, especially in the eastern and central regions, where most of the developers came from. Also i'm pretty sure there is no implications in the lore that the scientists were communist. Sure, they had labs on (or rather in) soviet soil, but they're mysterious secret scientists, their goals are uknown.
Well, SoC development was around 2001-2007 to be exact.
@@Fury_Logan Well yes, but i heard that the first few years of development the game wasn't even SoC.
@@izperehoda GSC changed game plot entirely somewhere in 2001, after that idea of a game just evolved into 2005-2006 stalker, and after 2006 started to cut corners to release it. Military npc models actually from 2002. On release day in march 2007, many models could be up to 5 years old. That's why they so blocky and angular.
@@Fury_Logan cool. didn't know that.
Currently playing through Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat. Best choice ever.
The USSR's collapse was largely the result of Gorbachev's market reforms and the reconstruction of capitalism. But Chernobyl played a small part too.
A stalker developer has been killed in the fight for Ukraine
Rest in peace Volovymir Ezhov
Z
@@SerbianTaliban Type swastika. Same.
@@SerbianTaliban typical Serb. Little Russia
@@saamohod So a alphabet letter is now considered Fascist?
@@owenfranco9441 L
STALKER has been the game I've come back to play every year for 10 years now. It never gets old, and the fact I haven't played GAMMA yet is going to start this year's playthrough early 👌 thanks bro
The movie has nothing to do about god or finding purpose. The movie and the book it was based on isn't a critique on communism. It was set as a reflection of Russian life nearing the end of the soviet era, and whether our lives are fated at the hands of a higher authority, that we will never understand what is actually going on. God is just a device the movie uses to describe the belief that humans are tied to a "destiny", that human understanding is too small to even comprehend everything when we enter the room. It was a classic scifi question at the time, that our human minds will not be able to comprehend everything in the universe.
real, for the western world every piece of art coming from eastern countries is a critique on communism, especially for americans (who would have thought)
RIP S.T.A.L.K.E.R Dev. He passed away on 22nd Dec 2022 Ukraine war.
Everyone, can we take a moment of silence for one of the devs that died in Ukraine.
Came here for this
He die?
@@youtubguy4953 yep, he died a couple days ago fighting for his country.
More like why everyon e is playing MODDED stalker...
Idk how this video reached me, but I'm certainly glad it did. It's been quite some time that I watched such an immersive, expressive, and welcoming video to a game I've never even heard of until watching this video. Liked and subb'd, this is a wonderfully composed video. I look forward to your content!
Stalker is just great. Everything you can ask for if you like soviet era, zombie apocaliptic, chernobyl or radioactive survival / exploration game. Still appreciate this game after 12 damn years. Great work everyvody for still having to play this work of a game!
1:34 "gotta be fucking joking me bro" you can tell by his voice he consumes a LOT of soy milk
Came here to say the guy that made this game died in a battle against the Russians
As someone who got into Stalker mods back when Misery 2 first came out, it really is a fun to see new people jump into the very deep end of mods with big mod compilations like Anomaly or Gamma. It's also funny and kinda disappointing to know that a dedicated modding community have accomplished much more with the STALKER franchise than most AAA companies with hundred millions of dollar in budgeting.
Uhh, fun fact, Gameplay wise anomaly is very lacking and could be beaten by mods with even lower budget
I think my favorite quote about the stalker series and the Strugatsky brothers comes from the newest English translations introduction of A Roadside Picnic:
"Science fiction lends itself readily to imaginative subversion of any
status quo. Bureaucrats and politicians, who can’t afford to cultivate their
imaginations, tend to assume it’s all ray-guns and nonsense, good for
children. A writer may have to be as blatantly critical of utopia as Zamyatin
in We to bring the censor down upon him. The Strugatsky brothers were
not blatant, and never (to my limited knowledge) directly critical of their
government’s policies. What they did, which I found most admirable then
and still do now, was to write as if they were indifferent to ideology-
something many of us writers in the Western democracies had a hard time
doing. They wrote as free men write."
I think the political tones are a little overstated. In the zone there are many ideologies, anarchists in freedom, the order of duty, the science of clear sky, etc. Im sure there are communists somewhere there somewhere.
To me the zones message is In the end its not really for us to decide who will come out on top, history is too big to consider the will of one stalker, in the mean time we will simply keep up the process of death and killing represented in how insignificant we are to the zone.
Yeah, very good point. I live in Russia and very big fan of these brothers, and notion that they are communist when they have a lot of criticism for both communism and capitalism is somehow disturbing for me. They have antibeurocratic books(and sometimes they even became antisoviet) like monday begins on saturday and snail on the cliff. They are very very good dissection of what became with late stage communism in union. And these books are pretty intresting to read
@@leejoy63 this. completely agree, notion that roadside picnic was some kind of communist propaganda irked me.
@@dirzz and if we recall grad obrechennyi(very good book BTW) we will see how strugatskyis werent big fan of soviet union. And even if you Dont like politics it is still good book BTW, with a lot of cool sci-fi elements
Careful of the pump station quest, it bugs out a lot. It’s a clear sky thing. That’s the only tip I have. It’s rewards are pretty dope though, so if you can get it to work it’s really good for early cash.
holy crow this actually happened to me today
@@lemonbeans congratulations on 1 million views on this video
Please, stop calling Russia-Ukrainian war a “situation in Ukraine”.
I jumped into STALKER Anomaly specifically GAMMA about 3 months before the big surge and when I saw drewsky post about it I was so pumped! I have loved every moment of this game and it makes me so happy to see so many people from all over immerse themselves in this unreal experience! I'm by no means a veteran to STALKER or anomaly but welcome to everyone who is just jumping in! I hope you love your stay and I hope you know, no matter how dark the zone gets there are other stalkers out there struggling with you, so don't give up! You can do this!
yep, played anomaly last year. but there was some other youtubers doing videos about it so it wasn't exactly underground
People just HAVE to mention they did something before the masses did. Its incredible that you find these comments in almost all situations
@@ppeez Ahh yes, the majority of my post is clearly about doing it first and not about being happy I have a bigger community now to tell funny stories to and to chat with on discord.
@@HVH-swift thats not the point, the point is stating that useless fact takes away from exactly that message that you actually wanted to give. Imo of course. Just lool at this comment section, people saying they were subbed early, etc. Why? Its not relevant
I’ve played Anomaly but not Gamma. How do they compare? That medical system looks neat
It’s cool to see a ‘smaller’ channel do big numbers. Can almost tell which videos are going to do well by the editing quality and story side and they video definitely has that. Subscribed 🙏🏻
GAMMA and EFP is meant for Anomaly veterans, still glad to see such a growing number of players though.
But many of them have no clue about Anomaly or other similar mods or even the originals.
That makes me a bit sad, it makes you appreciate the mod and modpacks like GAMMA even more.
I started with Gamma first. It was my first Anomaly experience. Now I can't play any other haha
@@ryanglacier30 S.T.A.L.K.E.R ANOMALY R.E.A.L.I.T.Y.
next 🤫
Every so often I return to STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl. Groundbreaking game, rough around the edges, but solid at its core. I bought it when it first came out and suffered through all of the early patches. It will always have a special place :)
I've seen a recent resurgence of Stalker gatekeeping because of Anomaly and Gamma and it's hilarious. Dudes are pissing themselves because other people on this planet are playing a game that they think only they are allowed to like. They're crying because people are modding their precious Stalker to appeal to their preferences instead of theirs.
I'm glad Stalker's getting more attention, it deserves it and people deserve the chance to finally play it.
Hopefully the more people that play it the more p***ed off they will get 🤣
Today i will spread misinformation on the Internet
the more people we have the better... it shows everyone is loving what the community is doing and its working!
things that definitely happened and are asolutely not made up by OP to gang up on a strawman ^
Truly inspiring video my guy!
Hearing you talking about getting lost in the post apocolypse soviet world and all the meta thought patterns surrounding that world is like looking in a mirror. I live for that shit. For me it was the metro games and books most recently, would definitely recommend the books.
No doubt that this video is going to make me read up on stalker lore, didn't even know there was a book.
Roadside picnic is an excellent read, the last 25 pages or so are fricken madness, absolutely amazing.
I think when Stalker 2 hit the game market for Pre-orders/trailers, I think a lot of people who were prior veterans of the zone came back to the game series after a hiatus, on top of the overflowing support from the Xbox community as well, and when the trilogy hit the game pass market/marketplace on Xbox, a larger amount of newer players who’d heard of this game series via the trailer comment section or friends who owned PCs, decided to give it a shot. I’m apart of a stalker group on Facebook and I’ve been seeing nothing but an overflood of new console players posting screenshots of their findings in SoC, CS, and Pripyat. It truly baffles me that so many people began to play the old trilogy again and newcomers playing this seemingly old game. Truly one of the best series out there.
"Educating" about propaganda while portraying HBO's feature film as something remotely truthful...
Though I shouldn't be surprised, since that's exactly what it was made for.
Oh man I miss stalker. Played it when it came out in 2007, one of the best games made in its genre if you ask me. I remember downloading the first mods and editing the configs to get better graphics, float32 and reading up on tips and info on a great site called something like “stalker hero radio” or something like that lmao. Can’t believe that was 15 years ago…
Ironically you can blame Russia for the delays
I'm an Anomaly Veteran. GAMMA is not down my alley, but no matter the modpack, the more the merrier! Welcome Rookies. May the zone claims you last!
what about it is bad for you?
@@raphael-beats had a Lot of technical problems on my end, Lots of crashes and it locked to 30 fps sometimes.
My anomaly is more stable, it has less features but it's stable and smooth as butter.
@@falloutrains2641 okay but it being not down your alley has nothing to do with technical problems
@@raphael-beats Oh I misread, sorry.
I dunno, it felt good and all but DICK and FVM are not my personal taste. With the crashes and all I gave up trying to set up HD models. Maybe I'll give it another try, when I'm in the mood.
Fun fact: podpivas or подпивас roughly translated to "under the influence of beer". It's common slang in Russian gaming community that mostly used to describe middle aged men who can't play very well. But more and more I see this term describing people who laid back, playing for fun, opposite of "try hard".
Перевод не корректен...
подпивас, где скорее - игра закуска, а именно пиво основное блюдо
в итоге - пью пиво, иногда нажимаю кнопки
собственно оно родом от белорусов, времен теста игр от Варгейменга
Stalker is one of those games that stays with you and calibrates your perception on atmosphere and simulated walking... with guns, obviously. This video was a perfect mix of Stalker lore and your personal experience with the game. Thank you for sharing.
Both Tarkovsky's film's and Stalker video games' best achievement is that they manage to construct a surreal, but still very convincing, other worldly, harsh reality; which really affects us, immerses us deeply to it. As you said, it really does calibrate our perception, manages to construct another layer of reality on our perception both immersively or techinally and poetically or socially.
dude the channel is good. come back. lol
Hey wow, this video took an unexpected turn. You summed up many of my thoughts about the stalker universe (book, film and games)
Also this feeling of being connected through media even if we are continents apart from each other... Thank you!
And maybe a interesting fact: the book authors wrote mostly youth novels because in it they could critique the soviet autocratic regime more open because the censorship was not that strict as with adult novels.
Cheers from Germany, thanks again for this video
Дарова! Спасибо за то что снял хорошее видео о хорошей игре, что радует нас уже почти полтора десятка лет.
Я думал что смотрю просто обзор на мод, а посмотрел видео, дающее веру в человечество
тоже самое мой друг
Thanks for saying that man. Very nice words.
Серьёзно?! Больше попахивает соплями и розовыми очками, которые человек сумел чуть-чуть приспустить совсем недавно, что он в принципе сам и говорит на 13:08. Раньше он играл в игры, чтобы сбежать от "злой реальности", а тут заметил, что всё больше играет в игры, которые ему напоминают\приоткрывают, эту самую грубую реальность. То есть типичный случай человека, который последние лет 8 жил себе спокойно под камнем, не парился, что на другом конце планеты, в одной стране оказывается почти каждый день свои же власти, убивают своих же граждан и одна половина сограждан желает другой смерти в муках, просто из-за других взглядов на политическую реальность. При этом эти власти ни в какую не хотят идти с ними на контакт, а правительство страны автора только и делало, что подкидывало в этот пожар дров. За то сейчас он вдруг отошёл от литургического сна и осознал всю задницу. Включил режим философа и со своей колокольни пытается рассуждать о вещах и народах с которыми он знаком по крупицам, которые смог собрать, большая часть из которых состоит из пропагандисткой "чернухи" и "клюквы", которую так заботливо власти его страны отцензуривают для своих граждан. Как итог он не смог прийти ни к чему лучше, кроме как хиповый "мир во всём мире" и "мы все братья по компьютерным игрушкам и не важно откуда мы родом".
"Шикарная" позиция, а с югославами так же у него прокатило, да? Он съездил в Белград и сказал тем сербам, судьбы и жизни которых были искалечены, за те страдания, которые принёс американский солдат и его правительство, вдалбливавший Югославию в каменный век бомбардировками с 24 марта по 10 июня? А в Багдад он тоже летал и иракцам эти сопли заливал про то, что они братья и такие же как они, и ничего страшного, что итог всех действий его правительства и сограждан его страны - это смерть почти 5 миллионов арабов на ближнем востоке, с разрушением государственности и присвоением нефтяных месторождений американскими компаниями? Ну может хотя бы такое же видео сделал? А по Афганистану что там, как? Про Вьетнам, где до сих пор есть регионы страны, которые не восстановились от того количества химического оружия, которого на них осыпали "свободолюбивые янки", не говоря уже о том, что во Вьетнаме перманентно по этой причине завышен рост рождаемости детей с генетическими заболеваниями. Про Корею или Кубу? Весь этот бесконечный список стран и жизней, которые искалечила страна, выходцем которой он является, можно долго ещё продолжать, целая лекция получится. Но почему-то эти чувства в нём заиграли только сейчас, вот только сейчас он осознал, что оказывается мир не очень то справедливое место, жестокое и беспощадное. Его рассуждения, как американца, о мире во всём мире и о том, что все люди братья, это лицемерная насмешка над всеми теми, кого убила и убивает его страна.
Как там говориться? "Хочешь сделать мир лучше, начни с себя", может ему действительно лучше начать с "себя", со своей страны, если он действительно не лицемер? Ну там вернуть Мексике Техас, который они так подло украли, отменить зоны осёдлости и резервации для индейцев, которые существуют до сих пор, может выплаты им какие-нибудь достойные назначить за устроенный против них геноцид. Провести референдум при содействии ООН о выходе Конфедеративных штатов из состава США, которые имели полное на то право, в соответствии конституции США. А то у них, и у автора видео в частности, так удобно получается, что в чужом глазу- соринку видят, а в своём бревна не замечают и ещё берутся рассуждать, а то и осуждать. Уж кому-кому, но точно не им.
Вот такой вот крик души получился......
@@SargeNuR Cope. All of these tribespeople. Balkans, Russians, American identity groups - BLM, Orthodox Jews, Rednecks, White supremacists. The problem is the same. All subscribe to the same notion that it's this tribe and that tribe and best thing to do is blame the other tribe.
The thought and call for peace is not a "chic" idea. And it can only be done on person to person basis, without the leadership that's misusing this tribal mentality to steer masses. The day Russians stop being Russians and subscribing to this tribe and join as world citizens is the day I'll stop being afraid of Russians. I've met individuals that don't want to have nothing to do with it, but there are few and far between.
@@SargeNuR Можно сколько угодно орать про 8 лет Донбасса, но факт остаётся фактом, что за чуть более чем полгода было нанесено больше ущерба миллионам людей, и тем и другим. И в итоге это не дало, и не даст ничего хорошего.
What a wonderful video it was while I was watching the first half of it. Then the author started talking about communist brainwashing and the “Soviet empire” (which in itself sounds comical), and I instantly regretted starting to watch this video. Dear author, have you read at least a little about Soviet history somewhere other than PragerU? About the ideas that underlay this state? If you had even a small idea of the above, you would not believe a single word of Gorbachev, and would never again confuse the modern wretched Russian Federation (no worse than the USA) and the USSR.
Are you saying that the USSR was somehow better than russia now?
duuh, because "Made in Ukraine"
STALKER GAMMA is worth plaing even today
meanwhile in bolshevik russia:
*vatnik salivates at Stalker*
*Vatnik steals and 'reworks' Stalker to release "his own" Escape from Tarkov*
*vatnik sees Stalker 2*
*salivation intensifies!!111*
Instant Sub. The way this evolved from a typical STALKER letsplay, into a rather beautifully intelligent and elegant commentary on a lot of complex subjects...Damn dude, that was well done! Im happy to have stumbled across you.
Не думал, что Тарковского знают за рубежом. Спасибо за интересное видео. Разумные слова насчёт происходящего.
There is a mistake in you video: The event of of Strugatski brothers's book is not happening in Canada but a fake country.
this is an awesome video for so many reasons! I love the way you talk about art and I wish more people discussed and understood the importance of it. keep making videos you are proud of
Maybe play the original trilogy before jumping head first into modifications.
This video was really well put together. Great thought provoking dialogue.
I still absolutely adore Stalker and the book Roadside Picnic. The aesthetic is just so unique and thought-provoking at the same time.
Thanks for making this video! I actually feel it captures what S.T.A.L.K.E.R is actually like. It's hard to get your friends to play old looking games and completely sell what this game is like when you rave about it.. You just kinda have to play it to get it.
I remember when Stalker was out the 8800gts series was popping off and it was so technically far ahead... The shadows were another level. Who woulda thought darkness was so hard to render.
And the Sound Design in the Agroprom Lab etc. was good as well.
I nearly s..t my pants there at the first encounter with the blood sucker down there.
I really enjoyed it but it had lots of bugs but there were so much mods out then when a friend of mine gave me a illegal copy of the game.
Never heard about it before.
But it wasnt so good received by the critics and there were so much great titles out in that time that a lot of people haven't found their way to "the zone".
This is completely different from what i was expecting as the title would suggest and i am positively surprised. Thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I can imagine if you keep up this kind of production value, you are gonna get some attention on the platform.
Subbed.
Upload what you really want to. Cause this?
This was amazing.
Much love.
I downloaded this yesterday in three hours and it's so worth it. Never played the stalker games before but Anomaly Gamma is confusing yes, but incredible.
Stalker vet here, it's nice to know that people are playing these amazing games again or discovering them.
Tried to play the original games about 3 times but the steep learning curve and the frustration tolerance you need made me stop playing every time after a few hours. Might give it another try, since I've since also finished some From Software titles.
@@TheBl4cKH4wK Save often and try to think your way out of bad situations in STALKER rather than just blast your way out. I have more than a few thousand hours into the games with and without different mods, on SoC, CS and CoP, all different modpacks. Most important is to save often, stay on your toes, and try different approaches to situations.
Excellent video! It's nice to not feel alone in learning Cyrillic for the sake of the DayZ mod roadsigns, many years ago.
It's not really fair to say so about the Strugatsky brothers (the authors of Roadside Picnic). Those books that they managed to release in USSR were brutally censored (like anything else in soviet union), the rest including their best works could not had been released until the union collapsed.
Considering the level of censorship, they managed to become one of the best social sci-fi storytellers in the world while between lines actually being critics of the soviet regime.
Highly recommended. "The doomed city" should kill your doubts
as a ukranian and a veteran stalker im really happy to see more people find out the lore and the game itself
I got into gamma a little bit before it blew up everywhere. Hundreds of hours have been spent doing small tasks during small bits of my free time. I constantly comeback, constantly have a new goal that I can inch towards at my leisure. It is incredible.
I think stalker 2 may have trouble due to how thorough this ever shifting modpack is
Rip to one of the original devs who died recently in Bakhmut
Hey mate, well done with this - a surprisingly intelligent & thought-provoking video. I loved Stalker when it was first released, it grabbed me like very few games ever had. Thanks & keep it up!
Dude are you even kidding? The majority of population in USSR are Christians! Orthodox have you heard about it? Not Maronite but Orthodox Christians, Jesus you yankees, yeah there are alot of stuff outside your culture I can assure you that. I am Russian and was born in 86 in the Soviet Union. No need to be surprised cause Russia and the whole Slavic land is the source of Orthodox Christianity. You need to read buddy
this was genuinely a very well made video, i loved it and the fact that even with my lack of attention span i actually just sat there and watched it completely through without skipping or looking at my other monitor i applaud you
Не ожидал... Не ожидал.
Думал очередное видео по сталкеру на английском, забавное и смешное.
Оказалось чем то большим чем просто видео по сталкеру, поднимающие глубокие вопросы связи между людьми и обретения взаимопонимания в эти трудные времена.
I didn't expect it... I didn't expect it.
I thought another stalker video in English, with jokes and some funny.
It turned out to be something more than just a video on stalker, raising deep questions of communication between people and finding mutual understanding in these difficult times.