I just got this game on steam. Its my first time playing a stalker game...

I just got this game on steam. Its my first time playing a stalker game. So far ive done the mission in the boat where i double cross some bandits who wanted to ambush some other stalkers. What else can i expect in this game? I hear it gets pretty hard. Any pointers you guys can give me? S.T.A.L.K.E.R general?

Also where can i get a sniper early game?

Play them in order, rookie
Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky (optional), then Call of Pripyat
Visit the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. general in /vg/

There's a burned village close to the hub, one of the remains of the houses has a Vintorez on the second story. Good luck finding ammo for it though.

For starters, stop playing the LAST game in the series, and get SoC.

Consult this Starting Guide,
then see the /vg/'s huge Stalker General for more tips and links: Play in the release order. Start with no mods - only latest patch, OR get the full "Starter Pack" first; these contain bug-fixers and light visual mods that can help performance as well.
Leave big overhauls for later playthrougs. Avoid the "Complete" -mods. Always play on MASTER difficulty for best realism and atmosphere, and disable crosshair.

Don't give up in the beginning! The starting gear sucks ass and first area can be a bit boring.

Any rifle + scope = a "sniper".

Shadow of chernoble crashed my pc every time i used a health item so i got a refund

Its only hard if you are shit at aiming or dont have good enaugh gear dont carry more than 2 different guns and ammo for them so you have extra inventory space and pistols are near useless, also start with shadow of chernobyl fag the graphics are literally the same throughout the three games and the gameplay changes are minor + the first one has the best story

And everyone says to avoid clear sky so i didnt bother with it

There's no reason for that to happen, especially if you can run SoC.

And like said many times for the past 5 years, there's zero reason to BUY the STALKER games anymore, since old devs are long gone + there's plenty of benefits for pirating the games, like manual patching.

Should've tried the game again with Starter Pack.

You should use more than 1 Anonymous post on an image board as your source. CS is good, just very buggy without fixes.

Why would i make that up? Lol

Where did I ever claim that?

>Lol
Kill yourself.

Did you even try to fix it, it might be something you can do in 5 minutes after a google search

>*especially if you can run CoP.
FTFM

Ill probably purchase it in the morning and see what i can do

i loved soc but i could never get into cop. the world just seemed so bland and generic compared to soc which seemed interesting and alive. maybe it's just the color palette, cop is pretty much uniformly dirt colored, makes things seem repetitive.

I know what you mean, but the well written missions and the first-timer's joys of exploring are totally worth it though. Starter Pack helps with those super bland looking environments too.

This is one reason why I DON'T recommend skipping CS either; it's a fine middle-step between SoC and CoP, gameplay and graphics wise. Also the hardest game of the series.

>actually buying the game

Literally the only game that piracy is justifiable. Even the most diehard fans wouldn't buy it. That slav faggot slave worker deserves no money.

CoP is fun and I still get a lot of playtime out of it, but it is a lot less threatening and alive than SoC. You start off with a decent setup by SoC's standards and it only gets better from there despite the opposition being far easier to deal with. You never have to fight other stalkers (even bandits are friendly with you) outside of scripted events and end-game, you never have to worry about anomalies outside of designated zones, and the open as fuck maps mean you can literally just run away or snipe your way past most encounters. The open maps also make the game feel pretty dead without MSO, which I would consider a requirement for replaying the game.

>Literally the only game that piracy is justifiabl-

I feel the same way.

I don't think it's the art style though, I think it's because basically the premise of CoP is you were too late in getting to the party. The story of The Zone has already happened and CoP brings nothing new, now it just feels like everyone's tired and wants to go home.

Pretty much this.
There's a reason why people call the sequels "standalone expansion packs"; they are pretty much more if the same, aimed at fans.

Why? Because the devs no longer exist? They wouldn't be seeing any money from sales anyway.

If you look at this from an objective viewpoint it was actually Troika that screwed Activision with Bloodlines, they went way over schedule, way over budget and they siphoned resources away from that project to The Temple of Elemental Evil, i.e. they pulled a Gearbox. THAT is why Troika went out of business.

wtf i hate troika now

>First STALKER game
>Blatantly get the third game despite it being no more refined than the other two
>Something that was a single fucking search engine query away
>Start playing the game
>What can I expect? despite already playing the fucking game
Play the fucking game
>STALKER general?
Fuck off to /vg/ you underage retarded fucking nigger dipshit spastic cunt piece of utter garbage fucking murder yourself FUCK OFF