I didn't really mind it. It took me by surprise though, I wasn't expecting it to get so sci-fi.

Alright, got the other two endings. Those were definitely better.

I have to say I don't like either ending. A simple mind bending radiation would have been a lot more realistic and immersive than that experiment.

Go and read roadside picnic.

Which was much, much better.

I don't really mind the sci-fi angle, but I do mind that they felt the need to explain stuff that really should have remained a mystery. It's the old midichlorian debate; sometimes the questions are better than the answers.

Yep, it was. Shame they didn't choose the same approach in the game. I just said that because it explains the 'wish granter'

The game definitely sparked my desire to visit Prypiat and surrounding areas. :)

EDIT: Maybe the next summer, for this one I doubt my girl would want to come with me on a 'radioactive trip'.

Can one clear out a region in Clear Sky?

For example, join the Clear Sky faction and hold every location in the Swamps?

You can't. Factions respawn no matter what.

Yeah, I wouldn't bother too much with the faction wars for this reason.

Ah, that's a shame. Thank you both.

I guess I'll focus on the main stuff. Would have been awesome if you could bring a faction to glory by taking over the whole Zone.

It could be cool, but since the ending is set in stone and you can't change it (since it's a prequel) the faction wars don't even matter. They're just for some fun and to get some unique equipment along the ride. You can safely skip them.

Clear Sky is a disaster compared to Shadow of Chernobyl.

Limansk is a damn crash-fest, and in other areas many times I've been failing various quests in just a second or two after taking the quests (for no reason whatsoever).

And now I'm watching a playthrough on YouTube, because I can't pass Limansk.

Not sure I completely agree with this. Although yes, CS is certainly the most non-linear of the three games, I would argue that CoP is a more open game than SoC. The world was more dynamic (enemies actually roamed around freely and spawned randomly), leading to more unexpected situations, and it also had much vaster areas. Likewise, the sidequests were more than simple fetch quests, and took you all over the world and encouraged exploring every nook and cranny of The Zone (IIRC, there was actually an entire underground area that was completely optional). SoC was mostly about the main storyline, since a lot of the sidequests were pretty bland and/or inconsequential, and the whole world was set up more as a series of directed encounters (relatively speaking, of course) rather than as a collection of miniature open worlds, like CoP. Then, of course, there's the fact that you could complete the main quest in CoP and still dick around the world, whereas ending SoC's main quest ended the entire game.

I suggest trying out complete mod. I had very few crashes during my whole playthrough (like 5 or something, none in Limansk actually).