Ex 10 Part 3 : The Better Part of Spinelessness

If you recall last time,  I was just about to embark on another foolhardy attempt to assist Bes and Co at the junkyard (note that this is the second whole time I've made it this far in ten attempts.  No one's ever going to believe that it's quite this hard and I'm not just crap, are they.)

I've got a few grenades and some AK rounds I picked up around the place.  All of which I vow to use.

Some, four legged, thing has just tear-arsed in from the north and disappeared at the far end of the yard.  I've got a fair idea what it probably was.  Do I really want to get closer to it and a bunch of guys with guns?

Although, the bandits are taking their sweet time coming our way (amusing to think this amounts to only a few more seconds than you'd expect).  And the fire directed to us seems a lot less than you can hear going on over there. Hmm...

Ex 10 Part 2 : 3AM Eternal

So here we are.  Time is against me again.  Or should I blame the light? I'm not too clear on that.
Visiting Sid's All Night Eating and Rip-Off Emporium isn't nearly as much fun nor as time killing as I'd like.  Plus there's that blowout coming in the "morning".  Maybe it'll pass soon and I'll get the daylight all to myself.  Yeah right.  For now I hover around the edges of camp and twiddle my thumbs.

It's a really moonless night. The kind that makes the headlamp range seem just that much more pathetic somehow.  I think if I wandered out there I'd prefer to turn it off.  If sudden charging death is a split second away I'm not sure I want to know.

Stalker Nights (artists impression)

So instead I hang around with the gate guard listening to the trilling of some anomaly in the distance, the odd howl from some horror of the wildlife, the guy on the PA down at the army post berrating his men all night long.  I wait for the light.  Patience; that's the key.

Ex 10 : Things Ill, Considered

Yes, don't drink and stalk kids. I did and look what happened to me. Left alone in the woods to be shrapnel buggered by the army in the middle of the night, that's what. (The poster is obviously an idealised representation, of course. As if a stalker would use a knife and fork.)

I've discussed old habits dying hard before (usually followed by you dying quickly), but it's difficult not to dwell on what's been learned, what could have been learned, what kinds of personal growth one can take away from a situation of another embarassing ignominious defeat by taking on board and actualising any factors arising in view of taking a positive perspective going forward.

If that sounds like bollox, it's because it is.  Not just for the way it's written either. I'm thinking more and more that there's a point to these Zone dwellers being a bit detached. One that goes beyond being computer game NPCs of limited interactivity. No, somewhere behind all that there's an understanding of how to live at the whims of capricious fate without going nuts.

That moment when it all goes horribly wrong and you have to make one of a number of choices, there's likely to be a couple of good reasonable options. Any of which might just put you in line for something just as bad or worse. Ducking that bullet just makes sure the dog to your left bites you in the face instead of the arse. Maybe the guy would have missed. Who knows.

...
Actually, now that I think about it, I've kinda made it difficult to make any decisions at all with that logic.
Rather than try and think that through I'll just start again. Drinking in the Zone: Bad.

It's 5:53 on 5-1-2012

Sidorovich sends me out into the world in search of the flashdrive again. The weather is looking really nice this morning, for a change. With any luck it'll stay that way.

Expedition 8: Looking for Miss Adventure

0553 5-1-2012

Well, don't look too pleased to see me or anything

OK, so I got caught by one of the meanest traps the game throws at you in the early stages (hah! It's not early anymore!).  The waves of bandits in that vehicle yard fight are notoriously brutal to even the casual player in the unmodded version of the game.  The power of the guns in this thing does give you a certain confidence, particularly when you appear to be doing alright.  Stupid confidence is still confidence.

There's also something just not right about turning your back on people trying to kill you.  Frankly I blame whoever put our arms on backwards.  More eyes wouldn't hurt either.

Call of Pripyat

I believe it's customary when you get cool new stuff to take picture of the box or whatever and post it.  But there isn't one!  So here's a picture of my modem looking slightly ominous across a field of mixer knobs.

For it is by that road from whence it came.

I'm pretty new to the whole digital downloading thing, particularly when it comes to games.  Given the state and cost of Australian bandwidth that's really no surprise.  It took several days of careful offpeak downloading to get Call of Pripyat (which is quite small and well compressed.  Ask me how much fun it was getting GTA 4 recently...).  On the other hand, given the state of Australian game prices and release schedules it's no surprise that I and probably everyone else are jumping ship.  I feel bad for a couple of nice game retailers I'm stiffing by doing this more often.  I'd tell them to get into the downloads business ASAP, except Gabe Newell kinda got there before them, not to mention a few others.  Maybe if they hitched themselves to my ISP and they came up with some deal so downloading the stuff is not counted towards your quota (which they already do a lot of with other stuff).  That'd be nice.

Anyway, impressions.  I only played it for a little while but it seems so different already.  Truly a lot closer to the old 'Oblivion with guns' notion.  You're dropped in without much intro and have to make your own way.  A bit confused, you chat with the first guys you meet and they'll send you to the nearest camp and tell you about interesting stuff.  Then there's bandits who don't shoot you on sight and guys conspiring against each other from opposite sides of the room in the same bar.  Visually it's a little too brown so far.  The short-ish vegetation rendering distance becomes a little too obvious for my liking in this colour scheme.  Hopefully it gets more green and blue as we go along. 

They seem to have really pulled out all the stops this time though, so far.  It's going to warrant a lot of attention, if I can find the time.

Ex 5, part 2: The smell of Garbage in the morning

Coninued from Part 1...

1840 05-01-2012

Yes, the game decided to throw a poltergeist at me as the high level mutant du jour.  When you first meet them they're really scary.  It helps that it's underground and dark of course.  Out here in the open they're not so bad.

Ex 5: Take this shove and job it.

0555 05-01-2012

Another day, another dance with death. My toes are still smarting from the last pas de deux. Sadly, no man leads when Death is on the floor. I see bunions in my future.

As much like Groundhog Day as this is, there's plenty that changes with each new attempt. There's different people wandering around, different weather and the anomalies are in different, sometimes inconvenient, locations.

How could anything that so prettily crushes bolts into oblivion be all bad?

Like, say, a Whirligig right outside Sid's place for instance. It keeps you on your toes (See, I've got more than dance metaphors. Boxing metaphors too).

Ex 4: Cut to the chase

0557 05-01-2012

Sid looks me up and down, waiting for me to do something. I take his job, of course.

I've developed a certain routine for these early stages of the game. (One which I eventually learn is very inadequate and still stuck in old ways of casual playing (that once seemed pretty hard core compared to most other games). My photo journalism still leaves a lot to be desired as well. -Mr Retrospect)

I'm in a bit of a hurry to get somewhere other than here for once. This is probably a bad thing, I know. But I have a, thus far imaginary, audience to consider. If I seem to be playing badly it's your fault.


So Sid->Wolf->Tolik->Petruha...Nimble? What will become of us today fellas?

Ex 3 Part 2: Grasp still to follow.

Continued from Part 1

0715 05-02-2012

It's morning and it's storming once more, not that it seems to slow anyone down. Most of the stalkers seem fine with sitting by the camp fire over, say, somewhere with a roof. It says a lot about the stalker spirit, I think.

The task for the day is to finally make the crossing to the Garbage. I've had my armour patched up (not that it offers all that much protection to begin with) and I've got an MP5 and a couple of clips worth of bullets, some health supplies and food. I could always use more though. Other things weigh on my mind as well; There's a blowout due in about 4 hours if the forecast is to be believed and I already know there's no good shelter in the early part of the Garbage.

I figure I can make it most of the way to the crossing post, or to the crossing post itself, before it hits and wait it out there. Then I can carry on. Of course, these things always go exactly to plan...

I set out on the road north again.

Ex 3: The reach grows

0547 05-01-2012

Talking about those first few moments of the game every time would get a little tedious. So I'll only do it every so often or if something interesting happens. If you need some more detail have a look at the entries for earlier expeditions. This time just take it that I leave Sid's place, talk to Wolf and tool around camp gathering my usual stuff before heading on up to the hill with Petruha and co. The Nimble rescue is on.