I have never been scared of sewers in my life..........I am scared the Controllers:

http://stalker.wikia.com/wiki/Controller

Have not been playing this game because my bro has been playing DOTA 2 lately and he is hooked.

Forgive me the gravedigging, but I don't want to start a new thread that's going to be an exact copy of this one...

I started Metro 2033 yesterday and played until Chapter 2 - Dead City. At this point I realized something, that I'm not going to like: the combination of the save system and the limited filters for your gas mask. I'm a scavenger. I love to sneak around and to explore every single corner of an area. But in Metro 2033 that's not possible. If you carefully explore the area (and get caught by the atmosphere, which is why I'm playing games), you'll run out of filters. And thanks to the f*cked up save system, you're screwed. You can't survive without filters and you can't back out to a station to buy new filters. You can only load the last autosave, which doesn't help a lot (doesn't matter if you have no filters or almost no filters). I'll play a bit further, just to see how it will develop, but without sneaking around and exploring, it'll only be half the fun. And to get stuck without filters and without a save game will be no fun...

How is STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl in this respect? Are there any similar "game breakers"? I don't mind if your weapon breaks in the middle of a fight. I'm okay with limited med packs and ammo. As I said, I'm more a careful explorer. I just don't like stuff that forces you to run through a level, because otherwise it'll end the game for you (without a real reload option).

The only thing in stalker regarding that really is:

* * * * *
SPOILER!
* * * * *
When you load up a certain you're given just a couple of minutes to bolt inside (rather a long distance) past a bunch of lethal foes, against a ticking clock. This is easily remedied by one of any number of mods.

* * * * *
SPOILER END!
* * * * *

As to savegames, the stalker games use autosave between levels, quicksave and general hardsaving too (reccomend using all three).
Some of the mods will also leave the game open world to reexplore after finishing the main quest - some adding in the old alife too, so it gets really crazy after the main quest is done!


Edit: should anyone else have any questions regarding S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and stumble upon this thread - feel free to PM me!

Thanks a lot! That's something I can deal with. I think almost every game has one of those parts... I just didn't expect a very short time limit whenever I leave the metro (although this makes sense, if you think about it). And this combined with a single autosave... I think I just didn't expect a fast paced survival shooter. 'Running' around isn't what I would do in a post apocalyptic world full of hostile mutants...

I think I'll give STALKER a try.

Before you exit the Metro and enter Moscow you can buy filters for the gas mask. You also find occasionally filters in the town.

When I say that I have to "run" through a level, you have to see this in relation to how I'm normally playing ;)

I have bought two filters in Market station and found some filters right after coming out of the metro. The small number next to the mask symbol says 34 (which I understand represents the minutes of breathing time from all of your filters combined). Seems that the maximum is around 40 (wikis and walkthroughs say you can't collect more filters when you hit 40, so you can get a little more if you get a good filter when you have 39 left), so I'm not far away from max. filters. This could be a lot of time (haven't finished the level yet), but I know myself and my playstyle... I'm really slow!

I easily get sucked into a game with an intense atmosphere (and Metro IS intense so far). I forget time when I'm searching for items under every desk, or when I look at the environment. Before I realized what the limited filters and the single autosave mean, I wasted a few minutes with hiding from the demons and watching them... I just misjudged what kind of game Metro 2033 is. But that's because I don't read a lot about a game before I'm playing it (too much spoiling and hating on most gaming sites). I just started to play and was taken by surprise when the significance of filters and the lack of savegames hit me.

I'll play through Metro anyway, but it's just not what my gaming mood is right now.

Oh, one more thing:
Normally I don't like when a game tells you too exactly what you have to do, but in this case they really should have added a little notification (or better: a full screen pop up). Something like "We're not kidding! Buy those goddamned filters NOW!", because I always ignore those tutorialistic (wtf!?) "You should buy some healing potions" dialogues that every game has in it's first two hours. I just bought the filters because it was necessary to proceed in the story :P

You should have plenty of time to explore, but if you're just chillin while the game's going and you step away for coffee or a cigarette without pausing it, yes, you're going to run out of filters.

Keep in mind that you can load previous chapters, as well, so if you do get stuck (1 filter really CAN make a difference) just reload from the last station. Sucks, I know, but it's better than reaching a point where you can't move forward.

Potato. I'd definitely go with potato for sure.