I always disable all that shit.

I prefer Stalker, but both of them are quite bad. Stalker's rubber gun barrels finally annoyed me enough to quit, and Metro is particularly annoying with the on-the-rails gameplay and checkpoint saves.

I have done since that experience! *huaarf!

Thats easily fixed with one of many small mods

Question how RPGish is STALKER.

I know there are quest givers but what about stats and skills, is there skilled in Rifles otherwise you will be either "missing" or not doing enough damage?

Not in the vanilla version, but there are tons of mods - some adding more RPG elements like that. I think inferno was one that utilised such a system
When it's done - which it pretty much is. Though of course its an entirely new game in a new version of xray engine so theres planty bug fixing and the likes to be done - dezowave don't want to release another "broken" game... and of course because of the new engine etc, GSC are taking a look at things on each new version it seems, so theres that angle to be considered as well. Considering all the new areas added, storyline and so on it will no doubt be worth the wait.

It looks great to say the least. Definitely high up on my list.

For a more open world go S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and for a linear but also entertaining experience go Metro.

Both games are fantastic, it depends on your tastes.

Now if it was my call, I'd go with both.

Yep! and without an official Stalker 2 being worked on by GSC right now (least as far as anyone knows) then its the next best thing - hopefully it will also be highly moddable itself as its really a standalone game.

Only sort of, there's a third-party program but it can't unlock all the options, or at least it didn't for me. Maybe if you dig into the .ini file or the config file or something you can find them all, but I have no idea.

Just like Sachys said there are no stats affecting the amount of damage you deal or how accurate you are at shooting, still there are accents that make firing guns in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. more mundane compared to most other games. Guns get less accurate the more you use them and finally they can break completely, occasionally they can jam (some guns tend to jam more than others). Also you can hardly hit anything further than few meters away from you while moving and since most weapons have a strong recoil and it's hard to see where exactly the bullets are going because the fire from the barrel is obscuring your view while you're aiming with iron sight for the most part it's best to fire two or three rounds in one burst at distant targets.

So guns work more realistically rather than just number crunching?

pretty much - and as ive kept mentioning there are mods for all sorts - some small for ballistics tweaks, some add guns and skins, others are complete redesigns - thats how ive managed to play the game for about four years straight

but its also about stalking in the sense you can just run and gun - cover is important, as is surveying a scene before you move in

...and then theres the anomlies (which also feature in metro - but to a lesser extent as i recall)...
dammit - now i wanna play SoC and my damn disc is knackered! -_-

If you count being able to fire a magazine from an assault rifle at a guy a few metres away with the crosshairs right on his chest (or is Stalker an iron sights game, I forget?) and miss with every shot 'realistic', yes.

ironsights - or a scope if you get some decent loot