S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky and Shadow of Chernobyl story ? *SPOILERS*

[neoglow]

Hey everyone, a while back I bought STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear Sky and decided to play through Clear Sky first as it is the Prequel. I have now finished Sh. of Ch. and seen all the different endings.

Can someone please explain the story of the games to me and how they link together as Im soooooooooooo confused...

Cheers, M.

[NemesiS]

I couldn't tell you mate. I got bored of Sh o CH long before the end. The weight restrictions allied with the constant running miles to the shop to sell stuff did my head in. Even when i applied a trainer about halfway thru to hack it, it still bored me.

[MattyD]

I said come in, don't stand there

What about the story didn't you understand, exactly? It gets a bit complicated if I try to explain the *entire* timeline.

You should really have played through Shadow of Chernobyl first BTW as the events of Clear Sky pretty much spoil the big plot twist in the first game.

I couldn't tell you mate. I got bored of Sh o CH long before the end. The weight restrictions allied with the constant running miles to the shop to sell stuff did my head in.

You're doing it all wrong! Running back and forth to the traders to sell ammo is the most laborious and poorly-paid work in the Zone - everyone has guns so they are not worth anything!

You're supposed to carry only what you need - a decent rifle, a shotgun to defend against mutants, a few medkits, some anti-rad and all the ammo you can carry. Everything else you must scavenge as you go, picking up ammo from defeated enemies and robbing their stashes (marked on you map when you search a body) for vital supplies as you go.

The best ways to earn money are to do jobs for the various factions, and to find and trade artefacts, which is what attracts men into the Zone in the first place. These artefacts are not only worth a lot of money, they also have very beneficial properties that can change your abilities and play style / experience significantly. They may allow you to carry more gear, run further, guard against bullets or even heal wounds in seconds.

When you can combine the effects of several artefacts you don't need to worry so much about inventory management - health-boosting artefacts mean you don't need so many bandages and first-aid kits so can carry more ammo. Or you might find that radioactivity protection from artefacts lets you explore new and more profitable artefact fields.

There's no question that Stalker is a 'difficult' game but that is all part of the appeal - life in the Zone is tough and it's a struggle just to get by. It's a much more immediate and pragmatic sense of adventure than you get from scripted corridor-type games.

[neoglow]

I said come in, don't stand there

lol.

How about the *entire* timeline in a 'nutshell' ??? Pleaseeeeeeeeeee?

[NemesiS]

I did like it for the first few hours. I found it really immersive, more so than a lot of the recentish FPS games that spring to mind.

I just got the impression that i had to salvage as much ****e as i could and then flog it to make money to buy better gear. It got incredibly tedious.

Some of the missions were ok though, but there was just way to much running backwards and forwards getting stuff done. I think i got about as far as Pripriyat or whatever it was called before i knocked it on the head.

I may go back to it again as i still have my save games.

Also i just noticed you mention about stuff marked on the map. In a lot of cases, whenever i got to the "X", there was nothing there, above or below ground!!!

[MattyD]

Pripyat is pretty much the beginning of the end. It's the best level in the game IMO. After clearing through the city you go to the nuclear plant itself and finish the game. There are five possible endings but the 'true' or best ending adds an extra stage or two to the gameplay.

I just got the impression that i had to salvage as much ****e as i could and then flog it to make money to buy better gear. It got incredibly tedious.

A lot of people make the same mistake, possibly due to conditioning by other games. You know, like how you always save the ammo for your best gun 'just in case' and finish the game with a full load having never had the satisfaction of using it

It is definitely hard to scrape the cash for the best suits and gear but this tedious activity soon becomes pointless when you realise the Zone will provide everything you need. Whenever the human foes grow stronger so will their weapons, so it's just a case of scavenging and using whatever's available. Weapons, ammo, healthkits etc, can all be found on the dead. Even the better guns become so plentiful that if one breaks or you find a better one, just toss your current one aside and take another! Suits you can buy with the money you make doing jobs, and some factions will also reward you with such equipment (or at least a substantial discount) if you get into their good books.

Also i just noticed you mention about stuff marked on the map. In a lot of cases, whenever i got to the "X", there was nothing there, above or below ground!!!

The two secrets to finding stashes are:

1) hover the cursor over the stash marker on the map (little purple circles with pyramids inside) for a description. The scale of the map means you're looking for an area about 30m in diameter, so knowing what to look for helps. The text usually specifies what to look for - a backpack in the rocks, a hollowed tree stump, a pipe entrance etc.
2) Once you find what you think is the stash, approach it and point your cursor at the backpack / pipe / hole etc. If you're close enough to 'use' it the 'press F to search' text will appear and you can begin looting.

[MattyD]

lol.

How about the *entire* timeline in a 'nutshell' ??? Pleaseeeeeeeeeee?

OK... To help you understand the game a little better I'll need to give a brief history lesson Chernobyl accident itself and also an overview of the novel (and later is movie adaptation) which, although they predate the Chernobyl accident, are the main influences on the game's vision and story.

Chernobyl Accident

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown on 26th April 1986. The full story is told already by sources such as Wikipedia, and it can get highly technical, so I'll just briefly cover the parts relevant to the game.

When the plant's Reactor 4 melted down it caused a catastrophic explosion. As well as tossing radioactive particles and highly irradiated debris into the atmosphere, the intense heat of the reaction caused the reactor's nuclear fuel and pretty much everything around it to melt into a highly radioactive lava. Scientists worried for years afterwards that this lava might cause a second reaction. Their fears, along with the very real danger of radioactive material littering the surrounding area, led to then-Soviet government to establish the Zone of Alienation.

The game assumes that just such an event occours in 2006, which is where the timeline splits with reality and things like the anomolies and mutant wildlife being to appear.

The Zone

The Zone of Alienation is the 30km exclusion zone set up around the Chernobyl NPP. Parts of the zone are highly contaminated from the accident. Others were set aside to be used as landfill sites for the disposal of irradiated debris gathered during the clean-up, whilst yet more have become massive vehicle graveyards where everything from diggers to helicopters used in the operation were abandoned due to contamination.

The Zone is controlled by the army and paramilitary police not just because it is dangerous in and of itself, but because anyone entering illegally (such as looters and poachers) may bring back and spread dangerous radioactive particles.

Conspiracies

The secretive nature of the Soviet government fuelled many conspiracy theories and urban myths. A popular one in Ukraine where the game was made concerns the Duga-3 radar array, located close to the power plant. Its true purpose - detecting nuclear missiles - was secret during Soviet times, but locals liked to speculate that it was sending subliminal or psycho-active signals into Western Europe.

This actually appears in the game as the

->Open Spoiler<-

Brain Scorcher

, which is

->Open Spoiler<-

being used by the Noosphere Project to prevent anyone reaching the NPP and discovering their secret facility

.

Cont...

[Bowser]

This is a bit tangential, but if the story behind STALKER interests you, you could try reading the excellent novel which inspired the games - Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It was released as part of the SF Masterworks series a year or two ago, to coincide with the launch of the game. I wouldn't say it's a clearer plot than the game, but it is better written :-)

[MattyD]

I was coming to that

I realise this is a lot of text but there's really no point trying to make sense of the game's plot without mentioning this stuff - as you'll see later, it cites or borrows from multiple sources without ever explaining any of them in the game. No wonder people get confused

Inspiration

The main inspiration for the game was not in fact the Chernobyl accident but a popular Russian novel, Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatski Brothers (free online versions are linked in the Wiki page). The tone and atmosphere of the game were further inspired by a film adaptation of the book, Andrei Tarkosvky's critically acclaimed Stalker. Both pre-date the Chernobyl accident by several years.

The story concerns an alien visitation which went unnoticed except for what they left behind - dangerous zones of anomalous activity where strange artefacts that defy conventional science can be found. The areas are tightly cordoned off, but an elite few known as 'stalkers' (meant in the traditional sense of a man skilled in fieldcraft and hunting) risk their lives to enter the Zones and retrieve the artefacts, which fetch a high price on the black market. One legendary artefact in particular is rumoured to be capable of granting anyone who finds it their innermost desire.

The bonus disc from the Shadow of Chernobyl SE explains that the game began as pure sci-fi, until the Ukrainian developers realised the similarities of the scenario with that of the real-life Zone. By fusing fact and fiction they could make the game both a homage to their original inspirations and an allegory on Ukraine's relationship with the real-life Zone. Clever, eh?

Stalker is therefore a composite of the history, urban myths and conspiracies surrounding the Chernobyl accident, hung on a sci-fi framework borrowed from the novel and movie.

Next up is the actual in-game story, complete with Youtube vids. And the whole thing will be full of spoilers, so don't read if you haven't finished the game!

[Synthesthesia]

Sort of related, is this coming to 360? I have it on PC but I would much rather play it on 360. Or even ps3..

[NemesiS]

Sort of related, is this coming to 360? I have it on PC but I would much rather play it on 360. Or even ps3..

???? WHY ???? Who in their right mind would rather play a PC FPS on a console if you already have a capable PC

Madness

[MattyD]

Series Timeline

Pre-1986 - A series of secret military bunkers are built around the Chernobyl area. These host experiments into

->Open Spoiler<-

psychic activity - everything from subliminal suggestion and brainwashing to telekinesis.

1986 - The real-life Chernobyl accident occurs. The Zone of Alienation is established. This offers the perfect opportunity for

->Open Spoiler<-

a group of scientists working in the bunkers to conduct secret experiments without outside scrutiny. They remain in the Zone and found the C-Conciousness Project - research on influencing the Noosphere, the collective conciousness or 'mental atmosphere' of the planet.

2006 - A second catastrophic explosion occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Contact is lost with army units sent to re-enforce the cordon as a wave of anomalous energy sweeps outwards from the plant. A new, wider cordon is established under martial law.

Scientists believe the explosion was caused by decaying nuclear matter inside the reactor, but it was in fact

->Open Spoiler<-

an accident caused by the C-Conciousness project interfering with the Noosphere, which they still do not truly understand.

2006 -2011 - Scientists investigation the accident discover strange anomalies all over the zone - everything from gravitational fields and clouds of poison gas to great smouldering rifts in the ground. Wildlife mutates and new strains of local species appear.

Strange artefacts are also discovered near to areas of anomalous activity. Their unusual properties attract a great deal of interest from science, industry, defence etc. Soon a small number of misfits and thrill-seekers begin infiltrating the zone to retrieve and sell these artefacts. They become the first Stalkers.

The Zone also attracts the men who formed the various factions - Duty are vigilante types who believe the Zone is a threat that must be contained. Freedom believe it offers a wonderful opportunity for everyone and should be embraced and studied. Clear Sky and government scientists study the Zone. Other groups like the Bandits simply want somewhere to hide from the law or to make a quick buck.

At some point after the first stalkers appear, a psychic barrier goes up around the NPP, which brainwashes anyone who travels within range. Stalkers call it the 'Brain Scorcher'. The device is actually

->Open Spoiler<-

a defence put up by C-Conciousness to prevent being discovered. It also allows them to recruit an army of brainwashed slaves to perform labour and guard their base. These unfortunates become the Monolith cult.

A stalker legend also begins to circulate, telling of a massive crystal monolith inside the core of Reactor 4 itself. This artefact is said to be capable of granting your deepest desires, and becomes known as the Wish Granter.

2011: Clear Sky - Trends are noticed in Zone's activities. All attempts to enter the area around the Chernobyl NPP result in increased anomalous and mutant activity. In-fighting between the stalker factions always ends in disaster. Stalkers and scientists begin to speculate that the Zone is somehow 'concious' of their activity.

This theory is validated when a group of stalkers

->Open Spoiler<-

led by a man named Strelok

manages to get past the Brain Scorcher and reach the Chernobyl NPP itself.[/spoiler]

The reaction is violent and immediate. Massive emissions of anomalous energy burst from the power plant. The Zone changes almost overnight as anomalies shift and dissipate in some areas whilst intensifying in others. The Zone descends into all-out war as the factions wrestle for control of the newly accessible territories. This is the scenario for Clear Sky.

2011 -

->Open Spoiler<-

Return to the NPP: The Clear Sky faction discovers the cause of the emmissions and resolves to hunt and kill Strelok's gang before they return to the NPP and provok another retaliation.

The end portions of Clear Sky see your character (a mercenary named Scar who is working with Clear Sky) helping the Clear Sky faction hunt Strelok as he flees to the only 'safe' area in the Zone, the NPP itself (safe for him since nobody else knows how to get there safely).

Strelok manages to reach the NPP, but with Scar and Clear Sky hot on his heels. Unfortunately for all involved, the C-Conciousness Project reacts by knocking out everyone in the area. The Clear Sky men are brainwashed into Monolith cultists.

Scar is put to one side to be programmed as a sleeper agent in the hunt to find Strelok, but a mix-up occurs at some point and Scar's PDA ends up in Strelok's pocket. This leads to a mistaken identity - The Project thinks Strelok is actually Scar, and accdidentally put him forward for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. project.

So that's Clear Sky done, coming up in the next installment, Shadow of Chernobyl

[MattyD]

Sort of related, is this coming to 360? I have it on PC but I would much rather play it on 360. Or even ps3..

Never going to happen mate. If only because I doubt GSC Gameworld could meet the quality guidelines imposed by the platform holders - the Stalker games are notoriously riddled with game-breaking glitches and both were barely playable until several months and multiple patches after release

[neoglow]

Wow! Cheers, MattyD, thats awesome and has explained the whole story up to Sh. of Ch., I now understand it all! Mucho thankyou's!

Your'e not a fan of Stalker by any chance are you? hehe.

It has to be said, it is a fantastic series of games, I hope they make a third installment! I think what sums it up for me is 'vastness' and 'freedom'. Similar to Farcry 2 which Im playing at the mo, its huge and you can just go where ever you like.

Free Roaming (even if they are linear or not) or games that just give you "space" are the best types of games IMO, to name but a few, please add to the list if others are thought of...

Stalker
Farcry 1 and 2
Grand Theft Auto series
Mercenaries 2 World in Flames
Test Drive Unlimited
Crysis

Thanks again MattyD for the Stalker timeline, its superb!

I eagerly await the next installment of the timeline! lol its like watching a TV series and waiting for the next episode!

[eastyy]

not sure if the pc game boiling point would count...its free roaming but supposedly a bug ridden mess dont know if it was updated or ever became playable