S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: CS - Diamond in the Rough

[Dhruin]

GameSetWatch has a feature on S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky called Diamond in the Rough, with author Tom Cross arguing the game is a sort of first-person survival tower-defence game:

Stalkers and mercenaries populate the next zone, and an army base guards the only path to safety from the passage between zones. It’s a cruel, relentless sprint from the entry point to safety among the Stalker faction, the military hounding you every step of the way. I died many times here, cut down by a heavy machine gun I couldn’t see. Immediately following my escape, I was enlisted by the Stalkers to help them take several enemy locations. Again, the new weapons and increased numbers of my foes lead to my death, again and again.
It’s in these situations that Clear Sky looks to be a brilliant mixture of tower defense and classic Stalker survival horror shooter. Locations borrowed from the first game are chock-full of deadly new enemies. New items and weapons are no match for the ever-ready forces of the zone, but if I help the Stalkers kill enough military units and mutants, I might be able to buy new items, weapons, and armor. Maybe then I’ll be able to join up with Freedom or Duty, make some real money, and participate in the huge battles that are the highlights of the late game in Clear Sky.

More information.

 

[Nathanyl]

I just bought STALKEROC and I'm having a rough time getting it to run on Vista 64. Can't get past the initial screen where he's explaining how to use the PDA without crashing. Anyone out there with Vista had this sort of problem?

 

[Majnun]

I don't have Vista so I can't help with that. But have you patched the game up?

I'd advise patching to either 1.0005 or 1.0006.

You also might want to check out this (huge) mod:

http://artistpavel.blogspot.com/2009/04/stalker-complete-2009.html

Most people would say play it un-modded first but it sure is prettier (and better) with stalker complete.

 

[curious]

any problem i had with a stalker game, which clear sky had the most I was able to find help in the official forum posts and that was not long after their initial release. I'm guessing by now there's probably your specific problem addressed there as well. Still despite all the stalker series bugs i've found EA games to be the winner for releaser of games that have all kinds of crashes etc before you can even start playing.

 

[Ergonpandilus]

I skipped the game, when it was released because Shadow of Chernobyl was all to familiar with me. When I got bored with it, then I did go for Clear Sky and by the time I got the game, it was fixed beautifully. Though Sky Reclamation project (mod) fixes still some small issues.

PS. You gotta try my RK-95 Assault Rifle!

Download: Ergo's Finnish RK-95 TP

 

[LuckyCarbon]

I really wanted to like Stalker, the original but I'm just not into the survival horror theme. I hate the creeping through pitch black corridors waiting for the monster to jump out of the locker games. I'm a decent FPS shooter player and I do like the open air human opponents fights though. Maybe I was traumatized by a zombie in a cave as a kid or something, I don't know.

The other problem I had was the game was presented as non-linear but ammo and equipment was not. So I'd skip an area and find a great rifle then go backwards and find myself out of ammo in no time and junk rifles I'd pick up to fight with.

One more thing that really bothered me, you didn't seem to have any impact on any area or environment, every time you entered the "middle" zone it came under attack from the same bandits, it got a little tiring.

Any Stalker experts out there have a list of mods to recommend that might make the game more enjoyable for me?