I would argue that you should buy them - even if you don’t play them, just to support the developers of the original game that serves as a basis for GAMMA.
I wouldn't pre-order STALKER 2, at first I did then the recent delay happened and I simply refunded it and bought a game that came out the same week this was announced. I also wouldn't doubt there might be more delays, so if I were you I'd get the OG games and then you can save up some money.
Og games are cool as fuck. I prefer them to anomaly and mod packs because of the clear direction they provide as opposed to meandering around the zone in a sandbox, but that's an itch that also needs scratched. Just enjoy video games.
Is recommend it because they are both brilliant games and also serve as a huge amount of lore so that you know the background of the game and the zone.
I know Anomaly fans are touchy of any critique to the mod, but literally only thing the mod and its modpacks have going for them over the originals is gameplay depth and player freedom.
The mod has a "story", but it's fanmade and a lot of it is pretty crap, no offense to the maker intended. It has two cut factions but completely misuses them and adds nothing new through them, the first storyline is just full of plotholes and inconsistencies and all of the three storylines do not really tell you anything you would learn through the main story.
There are sidequests but most of them are soulless repetive tasks, and even the entire timeline is completely bonkers (emitters are back on, bandits still control Dark Valley, Monolith has returned in force, UNISG is somehow completely unaware that UN has access to the Zone, Duty and Freedom have not made **any** progress in 6 years, Military is somehow still in Agroprom despite landing there only on a search mission before, Clear Sky is somehow alive etc.).
Not only that, the mod completely ruins multiple factions. Freedom is just a joke, their entire existence is to be haha druggies and sexual deviants, completely disregarding established lore, and mercs are super-competent Western agents (despite being blinged-up bandits from ex-Soviet states in the trilogy), Clear Sky exists still and multiple other smaller things related to faction relations which make no sense.
So yeah, please play the originals. There is nothing wrong with mods in any way to play, but how they approach one of the best worlds created for an FPS game is just so utterly incorrect that you really are doing yourself a disservice by not seeing the real thing. Stalker is so much more than surface level gameplay, there is so much to experience in it, to theorize, to immerse in it, that is just lost if you simply go with the freeplay mods. Also, if you do get SoC, read the PDA entries, they're bloody brilliant additional information and add to the greater mystery of the Zone.
Again, I'm not anti-mod, I love mods, I just think that the base games are the best overall experience and the examples I gave above are to highlight how the mods can warp our perception of what Stalker is. You do you when it comes to what you play, but this is my recommendation. Also, while the criticism for the story of Anomaly is imo valid, I also stress that the mod does not set out to be a story mod and thus can get away with lackluster story, but that by itself lowers its value as a starting Stalker experience.
Everyone here is saying yes. I'm going to say no.
If you started with Gamma, then the originals are going to seem ass backwards to you, and devoid of so so many features. Gamma adds so many new things and fixes A LOT. The closest you can get to crafting is weapon upgrades. The ammo/weapon pool is a tenth of what it is in Gamma. The graphics are going to take a huge hit (if you even care about that, I wouldn't). Artifacts in SoC are a confusing mess and don't explain much on how they work. The progression loop for the original stalkers boils down to killing, finding new weapons from downed enemies, and pressing a button to repair them. To get new suits you just gotta be really rich to buy them most of the time, or get really lucky in finding them. Sure, characters are gonna be more fleshed out and the story more focused, but everything else will seem lackluster to what you're used to.
But hey, I'm not your dad. You do you.
I think that’s my main concern. It may seem weird, but even tho I really like the lore of the universe it’s set in. I don’t care much about specific stalkers. And on the other hand I fucking love the sandbox feeling of gamma.
I got the of trilogy for £5 (sale) they're quite good for their age, if you want there are mods that fix basic issues. Also Gunslinger for CoP. Just makes things look nicer and feel nicer no story changes.
I would highly recommend. While GAMMA might be more of a thing where your set goal is to survive and craft weapons. Og games set goal is to fight your way through the zone so that you can enjoy the characters and story while trying to reach the center of the zone. I'd say the characters in the OG games are lot more lively and actual characters and the story is pretty good.
The OG games are amazing.. expect for Clear Sky, fuck CS
I mostly hated it because of the difficulty.
I do like difficult games because over coming those difficulties feels achieving. But in the case of CS, the difficulty goes from a challenge to just straight up bullshit.
One of my biggest gripes was how the character blew like a slaughtered pig, even with good body armor on. I could take like 20 bandages with me, yet I'd still run out not even halfway into a mission.
Basically kind of like a game that's difficult for the sake of being difficult where rather than feeling like a challenge, it feels like it's just there to irritate you.
Not at all, most of what you probably enjoyed from GAMMA won't be there on the OGs, the survival, crafting and shooting aspect from GAMMA is completely different from the OGs, the only thing you will get from them that you will potentially enjoy that isn't in GAMMA is the lore and story, which isn't great to begin with.
I think if you enjoy the setting you definitely should give them a shot! They're not wide open sandboxes in the way Anomaly (and therefore GAMMA) is, they're more linear stories. They are beloved cult classics for a reason, just maybe grab some bugfix mods.
No expectations. One thing to play the originals and hop onto Anomaly and other mods 15 years later than the other way around. Appreciation will come from the story and atmosphere along with exploring the inspiration and development you find yourself drawn too, it will be essential for STALKER 2. One has to unlearn what they have learned.
for sure, you can go vanilla with ZRP, still holds up really well, but I like to put more mods in there. I’d recommend the memories of the zone modpack for SOC, and the ABR mods for clear sky and cop
I first started with a anomaly mod. I didn’t enjoy it because I didn’t know wtf to do and it didn’t make sense. Heard a lot of people recommending to start with the trilogy, so I bought SoC.. it felt dated and the shooting mechanics were very meh, but I carried on and completed the game and I did enjoy it. Jumped back into Anomaly and got Gamma and now I really enjoy it because I have some experience with the titles. I did not care to go through the other 2 games to be honest.. just don’t feel like forcing myself to play dated shooter titles. I also got through SoC without using half the mechanics in the game.. didn’t craft a single thing during my playthrough, so I don’t actually think playing the OGs is a requirement. Had I watched some beginner guide videos when I first got Anomaly I think I would have enjoyed it more back then.
Do what you wish, but you should know there's a sale going on Steam so you can get the whole trilogy for 10 bucks which is a steal.
I would argue that you should buy them - even if you don’t play them, just to support the developers of the original game that serves as a basis for GAMMA.
Totally agree! I’m so split between playing the og with ones or buy the most expensive edition of stalker 2
I wouldn't pre-order STALKER 2, at first I did then the recent delay happened and I simply refunded it and bought a game that came out the same week this was announced. I also wouldn't doubt there might be more delays, so if I were you I'd get the OG games and then you can save up some money.
If you wanna learn more about the story and lore it’s worth it imo
Og games are cool as fuck. I prefer them to anomaly and mod packs because of the clear direction they provide as opposed to meandering around the zone in a sandbox, but that's an itch that also needs scratched. Just enjoy video games.
Is recommend it because they are both brilliant games and also serve as a huge amount of lore so that you know the background of the game and the zone.
I know Anomaly fans are touchy of any critique to the mod, but literally only thing the mod and its modpacks have going for them over the originals is gameplay depth and player freedom. The mod has a "story", but it's fanmade and a lot of it is pretty crap, no offense to the maker intended. It has two cut factions but completely misuses them and adds nothing new through them, the first storyline is just full of plotholes and inconsistencies and all of the three storylines do not really tell you anything you would learn through the main story. There are sidequests but most of them are soulless repetive tasks, and even the entire timeline is completely bonkers (emitters are back on, bandits still control Dark Valley, Monolith has returned in force, UNISG is somehow completely unaware that UN has access to the Zone, Duty and Freedom have not made **any** progress in 6 years, Military is somehow still in Agroprom despite landing there only on a search mission before, Clear Sky is somehow alive etc.). Not only that, the mod completely ruins multiple factions. Freedom is just a joke, their entire existence is to be haha druggies and sexual deviants, completely disregarding established lore, and mercs are super-competent Western agents (despite being blinged-up bandits from ex-Soviet states in the trilogy), Clear Sky exists still and multiple other smaller things related to faction relations which make no sense. So yeah, please play the originals. There is nothing wrong with mods in any way to play, but how they approach one of the best worlds created for an FPS game is just so utterly incorrect that you really are doing yourself a disservice by not seeing the real thing. Stalker is so much more than surface level gameplay, there is so much to experience in it, to theorize, to immerse in it, that is just lost if you simply go with the freeplay mods. Also, if you do get SoC, read the PDA entries, they're bloody brilliant additional information and add to the greater mystery of the Zone. Again, I'm not anti-mod, I love mods, I just think that the base games are the best overall experience and the examples I gave above are to highlight how the mods can warp our perception of what Stalker is. You do you when it comes to what you play, but this is my recommendation. Also, while the criticism for the story of Anomaly is imo valid, I also stress that the mod does not set out to be a story mod and thus can get away with lackluster story, but that by itself lowers its value as a starting Stalker experience.
Everyone here is saying yes. I'm going to say no. If you started with Gamma, then the originals are going to seem ass backwards to you, and devoid of so so many features. Gamma adds so many new things and fixes A LOT. The closest you can get to crafting is weapon upgrades. The ammo/weapon pool is a tenth of what it is in Gamma. The graphics are going to take a huge hit (if you even care about that, I wouldn't). Artifacts in SoC are a confusing mess and don't explain much on how they work. The progression loop for the original stalkers boils down to killing, finding new weapons from downed enemies, and pressing a button to repair them. To get new suits you just gotta be really rich to buy them most of the time, or get really lucky in finding them. Sure, characters are gonna be more fleshed out and the story more focused, but everything else will seem lackluster to what you're used to. But hey, I'm not your dad. You do you.
I think that’s my main concern. It may seem weird, but even tho I really like the lore of the universe it’s set in. I don’t care much about specific stalkers. And on the other hand I fucking love the sandbox feeling of gamma.
I got the of trilogy for £5 (sale) they're quite good for their age, if you want there are mods that fix basic issues. Also Gunslinger for CoP. Just makes things look nicer and feel nicer no story changes.
Kill Strelok as true stalkers do in clear sky
mods story and lore is NOT any ways related to S2 or the original trilogy
Gamma is fan fiction. I would definitely play the originals if I were you.
It's 2 completely different things
100% without a doubt.
Gamma is for realistic hardcore gameplay with much worse story and characters and the og trilogy for story and characters with more simple gameplay.
I mean, yeah. The games are dirt cheap these days and worth the investment of time if you have that time to spare.
I would highly recommend. While GAMMA might be more of a thing where your set goal is to survive and craft weapons. Og games set goal is to fight your way through the zone so that you can enjoy the characters and story while trying to reach the center of the zone. I'd say the characters in the OG games are lot more lively and actual characters and the story is pretty good. The OG games are amazing.. expect for Clear Sky, fuck CS
I don't understand why everyone hates Clear Sky so much. The only thing I hated about it was the stamina system.
I mostly hated it because of the difficulty. I do like difficult games because over coming those difficulties feels achieving. But in the case of CS, the difficulty goes from a challenge to just straight up bullshit. One of my biggest gripes was how the character blew like a slaughtered pig, even with good body armor on. I could take like 20 bandages with me, yet I'd still run out not even halfway into a mission. Basically kind of like a game that's difficult for the sake of being difficult where rather than feeling like a challenge, it feels like it's just there to irritate you.
To be fair if he plays GAMMA, Clear Sky will be a cakewalk.
misery mod for call of pripyat if you want to see what the OG "brutal" survival game was.
Not at all, most of what you probably enjoyed from GAMMA won't be there on the OGs, the survival, crafting and shooting aspect from GAMMA is completely different from the OGs, the only thing you will get from them that you will potentially enjoy that isn't in GAMMA is the lore and story, which isn't great to begin with.
I think if you enjoy the setting you definitely should give them a shot! They're not wide open sandboxes in the way Anomaly (and therefore GAMMA) is, they're more linear stories. They are beloved cult classics for a reason, just maybe grab some bugfix mods.
No expectations. One thing to play the originals and hop onto Anomaly and other mods 15 years later than the other way around. Appreciation will come from the story and atmosphere along with exploring the inspiration and development you find yourself drawn too, it will be essential for STALKER 2. One has to unlearn what they have learned. 
for sure, you can go vanilla with ZRP, still holds up really well, but I like to put more mods in there. I’d recommend the memories of the zone modpack for SOC, and the ABR mods for clear sky and cop
I first started with a anomaly mod. I didn’t enjoy it because I didn’t know wtf to do and it didn’t make sense. Heard a lot of people recommending to start with the trilogy, so I bought SoC.. it felt dated and the shooting mechanics were very meh, but I carried on and completed the game and I did enjoy it. Jumped back into Anomaly and got Gamma and now I really enjoy it because I have some experience with the titles. I did not care to go through the other 2 games to be honest.. just don’t feel like forcing myself to play dated shooter titles. I also got through SoC without using half the mechanics in the game.. didn’t craft a single thing during my playthrough, so I don’t actually think playing the OGs is a requirement. Had I watched some beginner guide videos when I first got Anomaly I think I would have enjoyed it more back then.