I played it patched to the latest singleplayer patch and never had any problems. I never got around to finishing it though, reformat and loss of save :(

I've beaten Oblivion Lost mod twice, it isn't for everyone. You are likely to get killed right in the first 10 minutes of the game when you get attacked by the cats. If you survive that, you go to the auto park and rescue nimble. And if you are an idiot like I am, you try and get the jacket at the end of the tunnel....in which you are confronted by more cats, blind dogs, and the psy-psuedodogs, with a chance to have an Izlom (I think thats what they are called) right after fighting everything.
Your weapons through all of this? A makarov and a double barreled shotgun.
Of course, once you get your hands on a Russian scope and an Abakan, you pretty much tear up everything in your path.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and kiss your ass goodbye if you get stuck in a blowout, or you are in the middle of a mission during a random one. If it doesn't kill you, it will certainly kill those idiot Duty members outside of the first lab.

Ok, I had this game and sold it and here's why I didn't like it.
1. wtf are these goddamn missions? i can't even read this goddamn text
2. video card at the time couldn't handle it, the game looks like shit in comparison to other high end games but my computer could run those wtf.
3. fuck, you have to do a lot of work and paying attention to understand what's going on. I don't want to read that goddamn much.

I bought it off steam a few weeks ago part of te THQ promotion from what i have played so far its not a bad game graphics are good there is a good atmosphere. It might not be the best game ever but i have seen a lot lot worse.

well it's important to note that this kind of game isn't for everyone, and while I was just posting to contrast the OP's initial post I decided I'd flesh out my ideas a little better, I'm a little more sober now, but, the game requires a lot of reading for it's atmosphere, while reading can be great for storyline in comparison to actual voice actors (they like to be paid per line or some shit) I feel like if I'm pushing my pc that far to run it to begin with, can't I get something nicer to look at other than text the whole damn time?
the game looks like goddamn mount and blade and requires a crysis capable machine, that's a little out of whack for being forced to read all the damn time.
if I wanted to read a book, I certainly would.

You are completely wrong.First off, all the reading (and there is not that much, I am playing Torment right now and that is a different sport entirely) is not mandatory, you can always just click yes yes finish.Second, eventhough Stalker is 2 years old, it is still one of the best looking games ever, if you crank it to the max, not to mention with Complete 2009 mod which makes it look incredible (and it still moves in constant 60fps in 1920*1200 with a year old gtx280).
And no kind of game is for everyone, no matter how good it is, but just because you do not enjoy it because you like different kinds does not mean it sucks.
In other words, you are being an asshole (and a troll at that).

Why do people insist on STALKER not looking good so much? On maxed settings, game looks as realistic as it can. And, therefore, creepy. Textures may be higher-res, and yet, I like it's graphics more than those of Crysis. It just ... Looks better. More atmospheric. Realistic. And it has perfect lightening effects. (and yes, I dislike blur)
I love you. Err, I mean... ... .. I love you.

Call of Pripyat has been released, and the visuals maxed out are amazing. I've got a pretty good rig, so I'll be able to max it too. The effects are amazing, can't say the same about the gun visuals though. (The water is almost drinkable.)

That's where the mods come in. Personally I'm more interested in whether or not they've actually managed to finish this one before releasing it. Or what DRM it has, given what they did to the last one.

I didn't really like it. I don't remember much about it, though, except that shooting a human enemy square in the chest was about as effective as throwing cotton balls at them - and missing.

Again: mods. You can make the game almost one shot one kill if you want. I know I did.

I remember that someone (it might have been you) mentioned such a mod in another thread. If I were to try it again, I would definitely want that mod, but I don't know that I would try it again. The combat was extremely disappointing, but as I mentioned, that rather significant weakness is the only thing I found very memorable.
Oh, I do remember one other thing: exploring seemed completely purposeless. I'm not sure what I was really supposed to do besides follow the story quests, because actually exploring and scavenging - which is what I thought was the main point of the game - seemed completely self-defeating. It's not worth expending forty bullets and a medkit to find twenty bullets and a pair of old boots. Maybe the combat mod would help that, too.

I found that as long as i was using armour peircing rounds they went down pretty fast. or you could just snipe them in the head

Well... I know it's a game and not a reality, but what WOULD you expect to find, besides artifacts, which you DO find, really? Sometimes there is some hidden stuff, but... Those things are REALL hidden.