Friday, October 1, 2010

Ex 13: Luck on my side

One of the problems of doing this sort of project is it becomes very hard to play the game casually.  It's serious business now, you can't just reload anymore.  Usually when I start a new game or load up a save session there's this small honeymoon period where I'm happy-go-lucky about the whole experience, "Yay, videogames!", trotting around like there's nothing to worry about.  Luckily it usually dawns on me to stop doing this before I do something stupid or something eats me and then there's that strange feeling of lost  innocence that overwhelms all sense of hope, optimism etc.  I love this game.

It helps that I'm usually in the village at the time, where it is generally safe, and I remember how serious it all is shortly before the fence line.


Case in point: today the game has decided to place a whirligig right on the driveway, in case any positive outlooks should happen by.  I've had anomalies in the area around Sid's bunker before, of course.  But I saw this one and thought how many times I've reached the top of that driveway and practically skipped down into the bosom of safety and security that is the village.

Skipping is never a good idea in Stalker.


0539 1 - 5 - 2012

Cloudy but no rain today.  I loiter around doing the usual gathering of goods in the village for a while until the light gets a bit better.

0758
Petruha and pals await me on top of the hill.  In all the aborted attempts and general terror of doing this mission, I could always just run away and leave it to them. The thought had occured to me. On the other hand, if they bomb out completely,  I'll have to take care of the bandits myself. So here we go.

0800
The way down to the Garage sounds thick with anomalies today.  I always stick to the fence, which is usually fine.  But the other guys aren't usually so careful.  I hear them set off some anomalies on the way down.  I hope we've got a full compliment by the time the battle starts.  I can't bear to look.

0920
The aftermath:  It started badly, with your doofus truly running in and rustling the bushes, waking up the badguys.  The bandits boldly made an advance to block the hole in the wall.  I bravely decided to let them and retreated down the side of the Garage.

This proved to be their undoing as they managed to get themselves pincered by our, largely accidental, formation.  That took care of the first three or four at least.  The others made pretty much every mistake they could, consisting mostly of the guy on the roof, the guy in the gatehouse (why does a Garage need a double gatehouse anyway?  With no windows on the drive/entrance itself?  Anyway... ) and a guy in the main building facing our advancing and spread out force individually.

We nearly lost two guys though.  One out by the fence and another barely won a toe to toe battle in the courtyard.


I would have helped, but Nimble decided to come out and do it for me.

And when he was done promptly went back into the surrender position.


The guy then went off and looted everything with the others while I talked to Nimble.

Still, all's well that ends well.



    "The thumping sound on the roof got louder and louder! And the policeman said "Just get out of the car and run towards me! Run! Don't look back!" So she grabbed for the door and ran. But she couldn't help it.  She looked back and she saw....!!"

1130
I go and fetch Nimble's Jacket right away this time, got the artifacts and cash out in a big way when I get back to camp.  So I spend up and get that MP5 I've always wanted.

The Garage fight was tense but I felt on top of it.  The road to the tunnel for the jacket was treacherous as always. A boar, five dogs and a pseudodog attack, not to mention anomalies, but I managed.  Rich and well armed after the first mission.  Could this be ...confidence?

1142
Off to shoot some dogs for Sid with my shiny new gun.  I need to replenish my cash supply in any case.  The dogs are usually found in the gully west of the Factory, or there abouts.

1211
I arrive at the Factory area to find a guy also with some dog trouble.  His name's Kostic. Sadly for my potential scavenging options he's only got a pistol.  He does alright though, against rats.


I decide not to follow him as he heads over the hill toward camp.

The dogs aren't where Sid said they would be.  I've seen this situation before.  They can get scattered all over the place.  Which can often mean tracking down every dog south of the Embankment until I get the right pack
eliminated. *sigh*  Since there's none right here by the tunnel I'll have to take a little walk.

1305
I had thought Kostic was well on his way, but as I crest another small hill I find him taking on a pack of boars all by himself (or they're taking on him).

I help out as best I can, given I'm shooting directly at him as well, but to no avail.  As you can see things were unlikely to go well.  I hold back and wait  for the boars (bullet sponges the lot of them) to clear out.


On the bright side, wandering over this way helped me find the last dog.

1350
The reward for this mission includes a recipe for making a new recombinant artifact (One of the groovy things AMK puts in.  Not sure if they came up with it).  Ancient glass beads.  Its ingredients and methods are things mostly found ages away toward the end of the game.  Thanks Sid, I think.

Well, onward to the rail embankment (dodging anomaly in driveway).

1437 - somewhere on the road near the Factory
The soldiers guarding the bridge are fighting with something,  sounds like a boar.  Shame the boar will probably win and the soldiers will be all hepped up.

1449
I manage to sneak over despite the exitement.  I think the boar had some success, not that it helps me any.  Fox calls me (or rather Sid on Fox's behalf), as is usual.  I don't have a medkit to spare just now, yet again.  So I go raid the building next door while he lies there and groans.

1520
Be still my heart.  A lone soldier walking across the road!  Far from his pals.  He must be reinforcements.  They have such nice guns.

He hasn't seen me.  He doesn't see me.


And now I have a nicer gun.  No real bullets for it to speak of, but a nicer gun.
Oh right, Fox.

1558
He's alright folks.  We fend off the small number of dogs (sometimes it seems there's dozens of the things.  Today, not so much).  I don't hang around.

There's some activity up the road, however.  A corspe appears on my map a lot closer than usual.  Maybe dogs dragged it.  I head over to check it out.  Which is where I find this guy.


Meet Danilla Somethingorother,  I forget.  He seems to be one of these higher level guys who wanders though from time to time.  I really want to see how he crosses the Embankment.

1702
He handles it by walking straght into the soldiers, is how.  Foolishly I try to help him out.
Danilla drops pretty fast after opening up on them.  And now they're all after me.


He's down there somewhere.  Not well.

Run away.

1720
When the shooting and shouting dies down a bit I try to edge back in and find Danilla's body before the soldiers do.  It's a lot closer to the action than I thought and I end up creeping dangerously close.  But dammit we had an impact.  My scope shows only one left.  They have such nice guns.

I tiptoe in trying to get the drop on who ever is left and end up on the bridge.


...waiting silently for what seems like ages. I see nothing.  I hear nothing.

I back right off and circle right around the other side of the bridge.


Still no sign, yet the blip on my scope remains.  Dammit, dammit. Flip it to auto and get down there and loot those corpses soldier!

Yes Sir!

It works.  And I can still walk with all this crap too.  It's getting dark now though. Someone still shows on my scope.  I don't know where he is.  Curled up in some piece of pipe maybe. Just in case I circle east and cross down the line rather than risk it.

1930

Home sweet home.  I'm so loaded I feel like giving gifts.


Hey there mister gate guard.  That's no weapon for someone in such an important position.


Much better.

2039
Heck of a good day, if I do say so myself.  Time to sleep.

To be continued

2 comments:

  1. Cool, you were on a roll. Beware over-confidence though. hehe

    I recently tried the Master level on vanilla game without saves. Did the garage okay, although I've never been so careful before. By buddies all died, partly because I ran out of ammo half way though and partly because I kept head down they did not.

    It was probably made easier by picking up the nice stalker suit from the box in the roof of that house in the village though... :D

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  2. Yeah, they're kinda gung ho a lot of the time. This is where I find a damage mod can actually help some times. It means even poorly armed NPCs can defend themselves a bit better from bad guys. Sometimes anyway. Although really what it does is make things even more unpredictable.

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