no one lives forever 2: a spy in HARM's way
rewards thoroughness with xp to spend on skills
is heaps of fun
can't believe no one's mentioned it so far... \:
Shooters with RPG-like tendencies
it's been a long time since i've played it, so i can't recall the exact list, but there are skills like stealth, lock picking, pistol accuracy, gadget efficiency, etc. you get xp by exploring maps, completing side ojectives, finding training manuals; certain amount of xp gives you certain amount of skill points to invest.
the first one is a pure shooter, and some characters do reappear in the second, but the main story stands on it's own - i've played the second one before the first, and it didn't bother me.
the first one is a pure shooter, and some characters do reappear in the second, but the main story stands on it's own - i've played the second one before the first, and it didn't bother me.
Hm, I seem to be on a roll with resurrecting old posts today...
What's wrong with all of you peoples?!
Not even a SINGLE mention of Mass Effect? It's exactly what the OP is looking for, RPG/FPS hybrid.
And I absolutely LOVE the STALKER games, especially the first and third ones, Clear Sky was quite weak. But ShoC and CoP are amazing, especially with some of the better developed mods.
What's wrong with all of you peoples?!
Not even a SINGLE mention of Mass Effect? It's exactly what the OP is looking for, RPG/FPS hybrid.
And I absolutely LOVE the STALKER games, especially the first and third ones, Clear Sky was quite weak. But ShoC and CoP are amazing, especially with some of the better developed mods.
Which STALKER game did you try? The last one (Call of Pripyat) plays quite a bit different from the two earlier games. It's set on (only) three large maps instead of the dozen or so smaller ones that the early games used, and these maps are really open, you can go anywhere within the boundarys, except those few hills that are too steep, but they usually have some way of getting on top from another angle. And the whole story progression feels much more natural without all those 'bring flesh eye' quests, until second or third time around you can't even tell which quests are actually part of the story and which are side quests, and many side quests will have an impact on how the story plays out. Plus they finally added a decent weapon/armor upgrading system. And of course the mods bring it to a whole new level. But it's not for everyone... it's not really an RPG, not really an FPS, at least not in the CoD way.
Yeah, I also hated that in the first game, eventually mods added repair kits so that was ok. In the third game you can get repairs done by mechanics, they're also the guys that do upgrades to weapons and armor. If you liked the atmosphere and the concept of ShoC then you should def try CoP, it's much more polished off. A slight comparison of the two games: the first one was pretty much unplayable without a whole bunch of patches whereas CoP didn't require ANY patches, the English release (1.6.02) hasn't been patched at all and it's perfectly playable and stable. If you're going to try it out let me know here, I'll suggest a couple of mods that add a lot to the game without butchering it... actually, it's just two mods, but they're pretty large in size. CoP Complete does a lot to improve graphics and the atmosphere, doesn't touch gameplay at all. SMRTR adds a lot of weapons and armor, they're well balanced and generally well hidden. It would take a little bit to merge the two, I did it in about a half hour or so.
No, no skills unfortunately. The recently released mod Misery2 does have specializations, classes basically. There's sniper, recon and assault, your stats (carry weight, weapon/armor profs) will change depending on spec. It's not a major impact on the game, and all of those numbers can be tweaked in the files anyway. I wouldn't recommend something like M2 for a first playthrough though, tbh I wouldn't recommend it at all :/ But that's probably the best thing about the STALKER games, the way they're open to modding. There are mods for all types of players ranging from purely visual to hardcore survival. The trilogy is probably very cheap these days, last time I checked it was around 10bucks for all three games, probably cheaper by now.
I found it for €20 on Steam, only CoP, which I think is enough. I'm not so much into hardcore survival, though. I'll keep it in mind, but at the moment, I've got plenty to game. (Just started Skyrim again, there's Saints Row IV, Dragon Commander, Fallout 2 with Killap's RP, Vampire Bloodlines again,...)
Naw, check on Amazon, they often have bundles with other games and those are much cheaper. There's an action/strategy bundle for 7bucks it's got STALKER CoP, Grand Ages Rome, Shadow Harvest Phantom OPs and Storm Frontline Nation... I've not heard of these others except for Grand Ages though.
Anyway, the vanilla CoP isn't anything even close to hardcore survival... some of the hardcore mods make you eat every few game hours, sleep, and kill you after a couple body shots... vanilla is much more lenient. Sleep is completely optional, basically a way to pass time - like if you don't want to run around at night then you can just sleep through it till morning. It's actually pretty easy, I had more issues with the spooky atmosphere then any actual difficulty.
Anyway, the vanilla CoP isn't anything even close to hardcore survival... some of the hardcore mods make you eat every few game hours, sleep, and kill you after a couple body shots... vanilla is much more lenient. Sleep is completely optional, basically a way to pass time - like if you don't want to run around at night then you can just sleep through it till morning. It's actually pretty easy, I had more issues with the spooky atmosphere then any actual difficulty.
CoP arrived today. Are there any mods which you recommend? Anything that adds more (gear) customisation or skills or somesuch is welcome. Nothing that makes the game more "hardcore". I checked the SMRTR mod and I won't touch it because of the "ammo has become really scarce", "helmets reduce field of view", "actor needs to sleep, eat, drink", etc.
How much grinding is involved? I see all these different factions. Please tell me I don't have to do MMO style grinding for them?
How much grinding is involved? I see all these different factions. Please tell me I don't have to do MMO style grinding for them?
Awesome, I'm almost as excited as if I'd just received a copy... I mean if I didn't already have one for years.
edit: One of the important bits that I also recommend is a mod that expands FOV, it's pretty low in default STALKER games, and at decent resolution doesn't look very good... personally I use 85 as opposed to the default 55-60. If you can't find one let me know, all it is is a single .dll that replaces the vanilla one, I could upload it or email it if you like.
I seriously very very much recommend SMRTR, nothing comes even close. The thing about scarce ammo simply is not true, I've played multiple playthroughs with this mod and NEVER had issues with ammo... and you won't either unless you use your sniper rifle like a machine gun (some ammo types are less abundant, like .45hydroshock and the big sniper ones, but they're almost always available at traders, you won't find them out much in the wild because very few NPCs use that type of weapon, so obviously they don't have that type of ammo as loot.) The helmets FOV thing is also weird, IIRC SMRTR offers an option to remove helmet HUDs alltogether, it's included with the main download, I recommend using this option. Personally I find the helmet HUDs to be a bit too hardcore for my tastes, so I always remove them... The sleep/eat... hmmm, eating does become necessary, but it's not a nuisance where you gotta feed 3-5 times daily... plus you'll almost always have more food then you can carry anyway. Eating/drinking is kind of important because if you're hungry then your stamina regen is much slower, meaning you can't sprint as long, it will really become noticeable if you have to jump over something while sprinting.
Seriously though, SMRTR is, like the name says, SMRTR
this is one of those rare times when I'll say don't listen to the whinies who want everything their way. There is no better mod for weapons then SMRTR... and personally I don't have any complaints about it at all.
Actually I don't even have any other recommendations for weapons mods, there are many out there, but there are always problems with them. Swartz adds a ton of awesome weapons, but the whole system he added for switching magazines and attachments is a MAJOR pain, it's annoying beyond my descriptive capabilities. There are many mods that add single weapons, but those will have to be merged and added to the vendors or droplists manually, not an easy or quick thing to do. Try SMRTR, if you have any complaints or issues let me know here, in worst case scenario I'll help you tweak some of the configs to better suit your needs.
Grinding? No. I guess there is a somewhat "grindy" aspect to artifact hunting, but a bit further on you'll meet and help some scientists and in return you'll be able to see if there are any artifacts spawned at the anomalies and what they are. But even before then, I wouldn't really call it grinding, there are only a few locations per zone that could spawn artifacts, they're all shown in your PDA and most of the time there's either a side quest or main story quest at the same locations, so you'll visit them at least once. Artifacts may spawn after a blowout, so if you need money wait for one to happen, then just run through the anomaly fields and check... I normally cover all of the fields on the first map in about 10-15min if I don't stop to pet the furries (with my sig) and obviously it's pointless to repeat because they don't spawn between blowouts.
Anyway, grab yourself the SMRTR mod, don't hold your breath for the .50 release, he's been promising that one for years, and it has always sounded too good to be true. BTW, in SMRTR you'll have to keep your eyes wide open, all the weapons/armor don't drop from NPCs, and they don't sell at the vendors either. They're all hidden in midsize green boxes, there's like 50 scattered around the first map. (***LITTLE SPOILER*** when you first load into the zone with SMRTR, a few meters in front there will be a bent dry tree (no leaves, just branches) the way it's bent allows you to jump up and "climb" it, in the branches is one of the green boxes. Letting you know so you can see what they actually look like, makes it easier to find them if you know what to look for.)
edit: One of the important bits that I also recommend is a mod that expands FOV, it's pretty low in default STALKER games, and at decent resolution doesn't look very good... personally I use 85 as opposed to the default 55-60. If you can't find one let me know, all it is is a single .dll that replaces the vanilla one, I could upload it or email it if you like.
I seriously very very much recommend SMRTR, nothing comes even close. The thing about scarce ammo simply is not true, I've played multiple playthroughs with this mod and NEVER had issues with ammo... and you won't either unless you use your sniper rifle like a machine gun (some ammo types are less abundant, like .45hydroshock and the big sniper ones, but they're almost always available at traders, you won't find them out much in the wild because very few NPCs use that type of weapon, so obviously they don't have that type of ammo as loot.) The helmets FOV thing is also weird, IIRC SMRTR offers an option to remove helmet HUDs alltogether, it's included with the main download, I recommend using this option. Personally I find the helmet HUDs to be a bit too hardcore for my tastes, so I always remove them... The sleep/eat... hmmm, eating does become necessary, but it's not a nuisance where you gotta feed 3-5 times daily... plus you'll almost always have more food then you can carry anyway. Eating/drinking is kind of important because if you're hungry then your stamina regen is much slower, meaning you can't sprint as long, it will really become noticeable if you have to jump over something while sprinting.
Seriously though, SMRTR is, like the name says, SMRTR
this is one of those rare times when I'll say don't listen to the whinies who want everything their way. There is no better mod for weapons then SMRTR... and personally I don't have any complaints about it at all.Actually I don't even have any other recommendations for weapons mods, there are many out there, but there are always problems with them. Swartz adds a ton of awesome weapons, but the whole system he added for switching magazines and attachments is a MAJOR pain, it's annoying beyond my descriptive capabilities. There are many mods that add single weapons, but those will have to be merged and added to the vendors or droplists manually, not an easy or quick thing to do. Try SMRTR, if you have any complaints or issues let me know here, in worst case scenario I'll help you tweak some of the configs to better suit your needs.
Grinding? No. I guess there is a somewhat "grindy" aspect to artifact hunting, but a bit further on you'll meet and help some scientists and in return you'll be able to see if there are any artifacts spawned at the anomalies and what they are. But even before then, I wouldn't really call it grinding, there are only a few locations per zone that could spawn artifacts, they're all shown in your PDA and most of the time there's either a side quest or main story quest at the same locations, so you'll visit them at least once. Artifacts may spawn after a blowout, so if you need money wait for one to happen, then just run through the anomaly fields and check... I normally cover all of the fields on the first map in about 10-15min if I don't stop to pet the furries (with my sig) and obviously it's pointless to repeat because they don't spawn between blowouts.
Anyway, grab yourself the SMRTR mod, don't hold your breath for the .50 release, he's been promising that one for years, and it has always sounded too good to be true. BTW, in SMRTR you'll have to keep your eyes wide open, all the weapons/armor don't drop from NPCs, and they don't sell at the vendors either. They're all hidden in midsize green boxes, there's like 50 scattered around the first map. (***LITTLE SPOILER*** when you first load into the zone with SMRTR, a few meters in front there will be a bent dry tree (no leaves, just branches) the way it's bent allows you to jump up and "climb" it, in the branches is one of the green boxes. Letting you know so you can see what they actually look like, makes it easier to find them if you know what to look for.)