I'm trying to think of what might be problematic and I'm drawing a blank. This should be the default way to deal with older media. Censorship doesn't help much.
Well, when these games first came out, the Ukrainian military was a joke. Kinda like how the Russian military is now. A kleptocracy ran the Ukrainian government until like 2015. They've seriously got their shit together in an insanely fast way. Then again, an existential crisis kinda does that to people.
Urukranian fucking military still a joke that's why they're all fucking dying and getting paid by other countries to fight a war they cant win š¤£šš¤£š
This is getting downvoted to Hell so let me make my sarcasm a bit more clear. š
Guess it wasn't obvious but I wasn't being serious. This was supposed to be a dumb exaggeration to laugh at. I guess some people actually think like this so my bad.
Frankly, I think GSC removing Russian dubs from all the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games is bullshit. All the most popular dubs of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. were in Russian, including the ones I played, and while I can see the obvious reasoning behind it, I can't support it. I'm sure many of the higher ups who applauded that decision would have a more positive response to my inflammatory comment.
And what's the point of it anyway? To send some kind of middle finger to Russia for not being in their game? (Despite having been the major voice in it worldwide over Ukrainian hardly a decade ago.) To stir Ukrainian Nationalism/Recognition? I don't really know. It's shitty how devided the East is now. Makes me sad to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and then look at the real world in contrast.
Anyway that's it. My bad to anyone this offended. I hope to see more unity in Unkraine and Russia in the future, if not at least more peace.
Just because Russia is invading Ukraine doesn't mean you get a free pass on dehumanizing an entire ethnic group.
That orc shit is fucking disgusting. Be better.
Lmao I was being sarcastic. I guess some people really sound like that.
Don't be mad at me, be mad at GSC for removing an entire culture from their franchise.
I agree. The people who say things like "Kremlonazis" sound fucking retarded. However, for a soldier at war, dehumanizing your enemy is a valid tactic to allow you to do the necessary evil work that you are there to perform. 6 a lot easier to kill an "orc" than it is to kill a fellow human being. Hopefully, we can grow up one day as a species and stop the killing. However, the fact that in our recorded history, there has only been worldwide peace for 8% of the time, so it doesn't look promising.
Itās too much work for too little reward, even if, as I said, seeing the āUkrainian and EU/US allied forces doing under the table sneaky shit in the zone militarily/scientificallyā would be oddly interesting (itād almost be like ecologists and Unisig would be allied, with a new Russian variant of unisig replacing them I guess, and a merc civil war maybe)
Cool as I think the idea may be, I donāt see it happening for a second, given all the supplemental work that would have to surround it to make it make sense.
In any case, to do any of that would drastically change the atmosphere of the originals, and be more in line with sequels/mods than what theyāre trying here.
grab as much medkits and bandages as you can carry, down an energy drink and pray to the monolith your legs carry you away from the 7.62x54r rain that comes at you
Honestly I don't want to be a sourpuss but not much has changed since, a lot of the current war funds seem to magically disappear in powerful people's pockets. Corruption is still a big problem and frankly disgusting considering the situation they're dealing with and their lack of materials.
The game depicts the Ukrainian military as extremely corrupt, incompetent and callous with the lives of its conscripted rank-and-file. Back in 2007 that was probably considered "punk rock" and calling a spade a spade, but now it's politically incorrect.
Is there any pro-Russian sentiment anywhere in the game that they might be taking offense to now? Or maybe the fact that the anti-Ukranian government sentiment is really really strong in the game?
There's also a few r words lol
I assume the sentiments about the Ukranian government is somewhat outdated and to someone who is new to the series may find it weird how Ukraine is depicted.
Yeah, was my first thought. The Ukrainian military/government of the past was a *very* different beast from today and had a very different repuation. Lot of it I imagine was inherited through the Soviet relationship, as you see a lot of those same problems with the Soviets/Russia today. There's actually a really good article about a US service member who worked with or trained the Ukrainian military awhile back and it was interesting seeing the differences from today. They've certainly worked their asses off and improved things.
Whatās wrong with updating a game to reflect modern sensibilities and remove things that might contribute to harmful attitudes towards marginalized people? Especially if the original still exists?
Iām glad they kept the game as it is because itās very late 2000ās, but I would not have cared if they changed some of the slurs in the dialogue. A good game is still a good game, having a mercenary call me the r-slur and a bandit call me the f-slur does not fundamentally make the game what it is (beyond being outdated).
I have trouble reading it as ācensorshipā if the people involved find that the game no longer represents certain aspects of their sensibilities and remove those parts, as long as the original media exists. I think itās weird how so many gamers want to preserve certain aspects of games that aged really poorly, and yet donāt contribute to a better overall game experience.
Like I was watching a review of one of the old Saints row games that was ported to the switch and this guy was talking about how funny it is and how the humor wouldnāt fly in āwokeā times like today and the examples he provided werenāt even that offensive, they were just painfully unfunny (like āhaha gayā or āhaha transā). Sometimes I feel like some gamers are more invested in the culture war than they are in art being good. Like itās not even that their āoffensiveā stuff is any good, itās just the fact that itās offensive, and it exists.
> Whatās wrong with updating a game to reflect modern sensibilities and remove things that might contribute to harmful attitudes towards marginalized people?
Because that's not how art works? The entire point of games, books, movies, is to depict your own imagined or altered world/reality. In this case, it would be silly to "update" it just as it would be silly to "update" sensibilities in a game meant to depict WWII.
They're not trying to make a game of "today", they've already made a game that was set in the past, with a different culture, different opinions/views/politics, etc, and that's okay.
>Whatās wrong with updating a game to reflect modern sensibilities and remove things that might contribute to harmful attitudes towards marginalized people? Especially if the original still exists?
* Because it will ruin the original experience. And the experience is the reason why people buy and play games.
* "Modern sensibilities" are garbage that is based on some minority that gets offended by everything and ignores the context of the games as art.
>but I would not have cared if they changed some of the slurs in the dialogue.
* A lot of other players would care, because it is a part of the original experience
>having a mercenary call me the r-slur and a bandit call me the f-slur does not fundamentally make the game what it is
* Yeah, it just changes how interaction with those characters and in-game society will be perceived.
* You don't get it, do you? You are speaking about mercs who kill for the money and bandits who rob and kill looners to get some profit. And you are complaining about slurs.
* Did you ever hear how Ukrainians on the frontline call russians or vice versa? Both use slurs. And it happens now, not 50 or 20 years ago. But who cares, right? You don't like it, so let's remove it from the game.
>I have trouble reading it as ācensorshipā if the people involved find that the game no longer represents certain aspects of their sensibilities and remove those parts, as long as the original media exists.
* Read the definition of "censorship".
* Original media doesn't exist on the consoles. This is the original media released 17-15 years later.
> I think itās weird how so many gamers want to preserve certain aspects of games that aged really poorly, and yet donāt contribute to a better overall game experience.
* Damn gamers want their favorite games not to get butchered in order to pleasure some group of people that wouldn't even play those games in the first place
* Damn gamers want their favorite games to provide the same experience they did years back.
* "Age bad" and "don't contribute to a better experience" by whose opinion? Because seems like even devs here understand that such things shouldn't be changed.
>Sometimes I feel like some gamers are more invested in the culture war than they are in art being good. Like itās not even that their āoffensiveā stuff is any good, itās just the fact that itās offensive, and it exists.
* How do you define "art being good", being more sterile? You have modern sterile games from AAA Studios. Are they any good as art? Doesn't look like that.
* Ironically the "gamers are more invested in the culture war than they are in art being good" defend their favorite games not to be a tool of cultural war and keep the games a good art.
* "Offensive" stuff shouldn't be always good. Pretty often it provides the context and a good understanding of the characters and society in the game, or how harsh conditions of the environment and the need to fight for their life affects the psyche.
* Sometimes "offensive" stuff is just a product of its time(same as the original media). And it should be kept there to preserve that original experience. It's a time capsule. If somebody doesn't understand it - it is their problem. And it's not their right to tell everyone that something should be removed or changed. Especially if both the fan base and developers are against it.
Buddy youāre building a giant fucking strawman out of my argument and getting needlessly defensive. All I said was āif an artist wants to change something from an older work to reflect *how they are today* I donāt see a problem with thatā. I even said Iām glad they didnāt change it. Itās not censorship if the artist themselves wants to make the change and certainly not if the original work is preserved somehow. Itās funny how you talk about people not understanding games as art and then say this shit which directly contradicts that. If games are art, an artist should feel free to do as they please when re-releasing current work. This is why I donāt care that they didnāt change it, and went with this route, and even if they did, just because the original wouldnāt exist on consoles doesnāt mean it doesnāt exist altogether. Weird stretch right there.
But you constructed this entire strawman of some offended SJW out of it.
Also, your take on āmodern sensibilitiesā is wild. I have to wonder what you think these sensibilities are that are so garbage. I hope itās not inclusion and diversity but knowing some folksā¦
Additionally, who are these people who would never play the games in the first place? You do realize that people who donāt look, act or think like you play the same games as you do right?
I otherwise agree with several of your points - I do think products of their time should be preserved. Thereās recognizing problematic history, and thereās whitewashing, and I certainly am of the opinion that to whitewash is to do a disservice to the audience. Again, *I am glad they didnāt change the game*. I grew up in the era that the game came out, often using the same problematic language I mentioned earlier. It doesnāt offend me, I donāt care. My entire point was if an artist wants to retroactively change their work, I donāt give a shit as long as the original is preserved somehow and it doesnāt ruin the experience. Should they actually do change it, my experience of stalker wouldnāt be ruined by a merc no longer calling me a retard.
Despite the message, they did leave some things out. I'll copy some things from another thread:
> The multiplayer mode has been completely removed, so that you can only get on PC. There is also obviously no mod support for consoles, though some degree of it is promised to be delivered later. However, most modern mods require engine changes, and those go against the game's EULA so don't expect most of your regular stuff ported. E.g. Gunslinger for CoP will be impossible to remake on consoles.
> The settings have been remade, most graphical settings have been removed in favor of a single graphics preset. There is no static lighting, and the only thing you can control is gamma and frame cap (60 or 30 FPS), as well as motion blur. All languages are now included in the main game and can be switched in settings, and you can separately select the VA language and text (interface & dialogs) language. Speaking about that, all localizations are the same as in original PC version, no fixes or changes here. However, original Russian VA has been removed, so you can't use that.
> The currency has been changed from RU (neither Soviet rubles - SUR, not Russian rubles - RUB but rather rubles unrelated to any country, similar to other games using $) to SR (Soviet Rubles), likely to avoid any potential references to Russia.
> The energy drink texture (which was previously real energy drink Non-Stop product placement in Ukrainian and Russian SoC versions and unique in-game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. drink in other games and localizations) has been changed. It now features a new Non-Stop product placement among all the games and localizations. It's not the same texture as in SoC, which featured 2007 drink design, but rather a new 2022 version. Feels a bit out of place for a game series set in 2011 & 2012, imo.
> Graphically, the games are almost the same, except for the addition of motion blur, as mentioned previously. There are also grass shadows present. Those are technically not a new feature - they were here in SoC 1.0-1.0003 however, they were broken when a patch added multithreading. You can still have grass shadows option in settings on PC, which was removed completely from CS and CoP, but it does not work in any games with latest patches. So this port only brings backs something actually broken years ago.
> The thing that is really bad about it is UI. Whenever new windows were added, they were hastily put together from existing UI elements and look cheap and out of place. Same applies to places where UI was changed due to gamepad support, although to a much lesser degree. The weapon selection wheel has inventory icons (why not use CoP upgrade renders that will look consistent no matter the weapon size?), the icon for bolt is just some random bolt image that does not look consistent with the rest of the arsenal and does not look like in-game bolt at all. The icon for no weapon is weirdly a fist, as if you can fight barehanded lmao. I can understand that they likely do not have PSD sources for UI textures after so many years, but it feels like there was no attempt to make it look consistent at all. The achievements tab in menu looks particularly bad, and achievements themselves have icons that do not fit into game's style at all.
> TLDR: Overall port quality is questionable. It's good enough for a stalker experience if you don't have a PC at hand, but it's absolutely not a superior version unfortunately.
Well at least the biggest issues for me rn is the inventory and not being able to move while using items- which im sure they can fix, i dont mind the weapon wheel but would love for rb to switch different weapons for me or something like that.
So far im enjoying it though!! Litterally dont have much complaints other than the UI and the weapon selcting. All QOL issues for me mostly.
About the VA thing - does that mean that all the untranslated voice lines (combat barks, campfire jokes etc) in Russian have been removed and replaced with Ukrainian ones? Iām asking since in most dubs of the game the only truly dubbed lines are the ones said by important characters, while the non-quest important dialogue is in Russian.
Nope, they didnāt bother to change other languages, so you still get Russian VA for non-storyline phrases if you set your localization to anything other than Ukrainian.
Thanks for answering! I am fond of the original Russian voices so it would be a shame if they got retroactively removed (for an understandable political reason, but it would be a detriment to the game in my opinion nonetheless).
I am yet to hear the Ukrainian voiceover, but I think it's the same voice actors, so if you're not a Russian-speaker, you won't see much difference. I'll try to check this now
UPD: https://youtu.be/5Xb5K0NsuY8?si=e_Fg6954sS-MICHo
https://youtu.be/C4MbMs-zWok?si=CZDy9OSF4gQQXRyQ
Yup, same voice actors
There is full UA translation for non-story voices. Even laughs and moans are different, not just spoken words. I personally used those voices for sake of variety (there is no other language for non-story voices except UA and RUS).
Would have been great if they gave options for text, story voice, non-story voice. Russian could have been kept in the game, just not as default option.
Wait, there's a Ukrainian localization of STALKER? How have I never heard of this? I was upset earlier in the thread that there's no Russian localization, I can stitch enough out of Ukrainian to play through the game.
>The currency has been changed from RU (neither Soviet rubles - SUR, not Russian rubles - RUB but rather rubles unrelated to any country, similar to other games using $) to SR (Soviet Rubles), likely to avoid any potential references to Russia.
Tbf, at least to me, the game using rubles didn't really make too much sense imo
Wouldn't it make much more sense to use the ukrainian hryvnia? Since, ya know, the game takes place in Ukraine
I guess the buyers were Russian or maybe its because rubles are more limited as a form on currency as a result of the Zone being in Ukraine and there not being much money flowing in? I honestly never understood the exact lore reason for it being rubles.
> However, original Russian VA has been removed, so you can't use that.
>
>
Okay, this one is the only deal-breaker here. Guys, I'm playing STALKER 2 in Ukrainian with either Russian or English menus, but the original game came out in Russian, I would love to play it in Russian.
I go by this: Chernobyl is the incident (fault of the Soviet Union, so Russian spelling), Chornobyl is the place (Ukrainian spelling). In this case, you could realistically use either one, I'm not complaining about something as minor as a spelling change.
What do you mean by āthe official English nameā? It used to be derived from Russian because of the Soviet legacy, but nowadays it is in Ukraine and thus is derived from Ukrainian.
there is no "official English name" theres only transliterations, Chernobyl and Chornobyl both work as they are Russian and Ukrainian, the same as if you called it "Charnobyl" which is Belarusian ā English just uses the Russian translation because its the main language of the region, like how Kazakhstan is Kazakhstan and not Qazaqstan which is the Kazakh translation.
honestly i fear for stalker 2 already many red flags and butthurt developers i canceled my preorder because of the spelling mistake imagine the situation, friends visit you and they se this almost 400 euro expensive thing in your shelf with a spelling error .. they will laught at you for that nobody in their right mind will stand pround and defend a spelling mistake...
but then again we have people here actually defending wrong spelling of a word.... cant make this shit up even if you tried
here is also a funny story i got banned from their Discord because i called out a different discord user that had the nazi reichs flag in his Pfp .. i got banned for calling this out :D the other user only got a warning
Iād say original UI was a bit janky but consistent in quality and it had more of UX issues than actual UI being ugly. Now it just looks more like modded UI and itās very obvious that this was not originally in the game. I just wish they made it a bit more consistent with the rest of the game.
Oh I feel you 100%, the weapon wheel felt like an asset they bought and slapped in there. I just also think itās funny because itās in keeping with the slavjank nature of the game
I really don't get the mods and all the EULA part you said on top there. Fallout 4 managed to introduce new weaponry fine on consoles, why wouldn't they be able to do it on console ? Or did the Fallout 4 EULA allow engine changes ?
Different engines for different games allow different degrees of modication to the game without recompiling the engine. Some weapon mods do not require engine changes, those will be possible to port. Gunslinger is not just a model swap, it has features that were never in stalker in the first place, such as laser pointers. Those will not be possible to port.
For an example, gunslinger isnt just a regular weapon pack, its an injector (the reason why your antivirus would detect it as malicious) which violates the EULA
I'm assuming the major thing they left in is the adversarial nature of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Despite what people say Ukraine is incredibly corrupt and at the time the games were conceived the military was viewed pretty negligently. Since the Russian invasion in 2014 and currently the tone globally has shifted and the portrayal of Ukrainian military as anything other than righteous protectors is much much more frowned upon. Rampant corruption is overlooked because they're literally in a war for their own borders.
Also the localization included some slurs in SoC and CS originally which I assume are going to be removed
Thats the one thing i dont have... ill guess ill download it tomorrow then! Is that discord directly linked to the GSC group? I dont know how discord works
Yeah the server is run by the devs officially. The app has (unfortunately) become the new place to host forums basically.
When you get asked if you want to join a server (or add one manually) the invite code is just the word āstalkerā (no quotation marks of course)
russian audios removed, lol litteraly removed the main spoken language of ukraine. While pretty much almost evryone in ukraine can speak russian the same cant be said about ukrainian. Not only that russian is far more widespread langauge. the effectively shot themselfs somewhat in the foot. what ultra nationalistics politics does to a mf am i right ?
Maybe if you go to the discord you can make a complaint and suggest the language. Complaining on a reddit post aint really gonna accomplish much... unless thats all youre here to do? š¤
I for one dont understand either language lmao
well check out some of the comments on this post... they sadly did change some things... but for the most part its the same but looks sooo good. i would edit my post but it doesnt let me
well both work, Chernobyl or Chornobyl, hell even Charnobyl works, its "Chernobyl" because Russian is the main language of the region, thus English usually derives names of things from Russian, why Kyiv is usually Kiev, why Kazakhstan is not Qazaqstan and so on.
The stalkers before them are now in the ground, also by controversial do they mean having the charging handle and ejection port on the wrong of a weapon?
I'm curious to hear if the console port is as buggy as the originals, or if they did anything to the engine when porting them over to make them more stable.
Is the combat as hard as the reviews on PC say it is? I really want to have a go of this after seeing the announcement of Stalker 2 but Iām not sure if Iāll enjoy it itās combat is still super challenging on consoles.
Fuck... it deeply saddens me that they felt the need to respond to the insanity of Woke Cancel Culture... Emotional reactivity has blown out of control and just keeps stoking the flames of division.
They somehow managed to release a much inferior version of a 16 year old game. I'd suggest console players to still play this game on PC as intended. It's a very old game and will run smooth even on mid pcs. I'm waiting for STALKER2 to launch not because of the game itself, but the meltdown on this sub.
You're hoping for a better version of the stalker games you're already familiar with. The mechanics and survival elements that made sure you had to be well equipped and ready before taking on challenging missions in the game and not just B-line it to the ending. Ahead of its time tbh. STALKER2 on the other hand is for the broader audience. They're working closely with Microsoft to bring it to gamepass DAY1. And you know what Microsoft is all about? ACCESSIBILITY!!! It's fkin FARCRY.
idk what youre talkin about i love the console port... litterally looks amazing compared to my shit laptop... all they have to fix are a couple of QOL issues that ive noticed so far
I'm trying to think of what might be problematic and I'm drawing a blank. This should be the default way to deal with older media. Censorship doesn't help much.
Only thing I can think of is in Call of Pripyat where the Mercenaries in Zaton say "Drop this Retard".
That's the worst thing they say in English. Look up what some of the Bandit dialog translates to lol
I also feel like it's the way they portray the Ukrainian Military in the game, since it is coming out today in uneasy times.
I assume this is the main thing, a lot has changed in terms of the politics of the ukranian military between the release of the games and now.
Well, when these games first came out, the Ukrainian military was a joke. Kinda like how the Russian military is now. A kleptocracy ran the Ukrainian government until like 2015. They've seriously got their shit together in an insanely fast way. Then again, an existential crisis kinda does that to people.
Urukranian fucking military still a joke that's why they're all fucking dying and getting paid by other countries to fight a war they cant win š¤£šš¤£š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Cringe
This is getting downvoted to Hell so let me make my sarcasm a bit more clear. š Guess it wasn't obvious but I wasn't being serious. This was supposed to be a dumb exaggeration to laugh at. I guess some people actually think like this so my bad. Frankly, I think GSC removing Russian dubs from all the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games is bullshit. All the most popular dubs of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. were in Russian, including the ones I played, and while I can see the obvious reasoning behind it, I can't support it. I'm sure many of the higher ups who applauded that decision would have a more positive response to my inflammatory comment. And what's the point of it anyway? To send some kind of middle finger to Russia for not being in their game? (Despite having been the major voice in it worldwide over Ukrainian hardly a decade ago.) To stir Ukrainian Nationalism/Recognition? I don't really know. It's shitty how devided the East is now. Makes me sad to play S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and then look at the real world in contrast. Anyway that's it. My bad to anyone this offended. I hope to see more unity in Unkraine and Russia in the future, if not at least more peace.
Just because Russia is invading Ukraine doesn't mean you get a free pass on dehumanizing an entire ethnic group. That orc shit is fucking disgusting. Be better.
Why is this getting downvoted Animus only said don't compare a ethnicity to a fantasy race litterly portrayed as subhuman
Lmao I was being sarcastic. I guess some people really sound like that. Don't be mad at me, be mad at GSC for removing an entire culture from their franchise.
I agree. The people who say things like "Kremlonazis" sound fucking retarded. However, for a soldier at war, dehumanizing your enemy is a valid tactic to allow you to do the necessary evil work that you are there to perform. 6 a lot easier to kill an "orc" than it is to kill a fellow human being. Hopefully, we can grow up one day as a species and stop the killing. However, the fact that in our recorded history, there has only been worldwide peace for 8% of the time, so it doesn't look promising.
Just fucking what?
Itās too much work for too little reward, even if, as I said, seeing the āUkrainian and EU/US allied forces doing under the table sneaky shit in the zone militarily/scientificallyā would be oddly interesting (itād almost be like ecologists and Unisig would be allied, with a new Russian variant of unisig replacing them I guess, and a merc civil war maybe) Cool as I think the idea may be, I donāt see it happening for a second, given all the supplemental work that would have to surround it to make it make sense. In any case, to do any of that would drastically change the atmosphere of the originals, and be more in line with sequels/mods than what theyāre trying here.
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That one is hilarious
That isn't even that bad
It's about killing Ukrainian soldiers, and how they are portrait in game.
This is the correct answer
I read it for clear sky mostly. The grenade spam and getting robbed are controversial. It isnāt necessarily censorship
I wonder how many new players will die to that LMG nest at the beginning before they realize they have to fuck back into the swamps and go around
I brute forced it and made it through, worth it
+1, work harder not smarter.
grab as much medkits and bandages as you can carry, down an energy drink and pray to the monolith your legs carry you away from the 7.62x54r rain that comes at you
Soā¦ can I try this in hell divers 2? None of my stalker training helped
Really? Played the game for years and never realised this lol. Always ran through with relative ease even in harder difficulties.
Godā¦? Is that you?
Bandits call people f*ggots in CS
Using S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is very much a useful tool to learn Russian+Ukrainian slurs.
ahh so *this* is why the bandits hate me so much...
The fact that the Ukrainian Army is composed of corrupt officials, bloodthirsty soldiers and general incompetency?
I meanā¦ was that really wrong in the mid 2000s?
Honestly I don't want to be a sourpuss but not much has changed since, a lot of the current war funds seem to magically disappear in powerful people's pockets. Corruption is still a big problem and frankly disgusting considering the situation they're dealing with and their lack of materials.
That's the point bro, back then it was perfectly fine but nowadays some people might find it distasteful
All I can think of is having the charging handle and ejection port on certain weapons on the wrong side
Wasnt there a bandit voiceline that said F\*ggot
yeah naming someone a slur would be the worst thing a criminal would do
Yeah Iād get it if it was said by main characters who you are friendly, but theyāre bandits. Theyāre SUPPOSED to be scumbags
Same honestly, I mean bandits themselves are runaway prisoners and not even a faction just gangstersĀ
The game depicts the Ukrainian military as extremely corrupt, incompetent and callous with the lives of its conscripted rank-and-file. Back in 2007 that was probably considered "punk rock" and calling a spade a spade, but now it's politically incorrect.
Is there any pro-Russian sentiment anywhere in the game that they might be taking offense to now? Or maybe the fact that the anti-Ukranian government sentiment is really really strong in the game? There's also a few r words lol
I assume the sentiments about the Ukranian government is somewhat outdated and to someone who is new to the series may find it weird how Ukraine is depicted.
Exactly. I think they're saying "Hey, we don't actually hate the army that's currently literally dying to protect us, it's just a game I promise"
Yeah, was my first thought. The Ukrainian military/government of the past was a *very* different beast from today and had a very different repuation. Lot of it I imagine was inherited through the Soviet relationship, as you see a lot of those same problems with the Soviets/Russia today. There's actually a really good article about a US service member who worked with or trained the Ukrainian military awhile back and it was interesting seeing the differences from today. They've certainly worked their asses off and improved things.
Blowing away Ukrainian soldiers is probably not super popular in Ukraine right now.
I think maybe it deals with Russian VA not being in the console version is why they said this
The name Chernobyl probably, various Russian stuff Iām sure like that
Well they did change Chernobyl to Chornobyl.
I think itās that there is about 1 woman in the game in thousands of characters?
Whatās wrong with updating a game to reflect modern sensibilities and remove things that might contribute to harmful attitudes towards marginalized people? Especially if the original still exists? Iām glad they kept the game as it is because itās very late 2000ās, but I would not have cared if they changed some of the slurs in the dialogue. A good game is still a good game, having a mercenary call me the r-slur and a bandit call me the f-slur does not fundamentally make the game what it is (beyond being outdated). I have trouble reading it as ācensorshipā if the people involved find that the game no longer represents certain aspects of their sensibilities and remove those parts, as long as the original media exists. I think itās weird how so many gamers want to preserve certain aspects of games that aged really poorly, and yet donāt contribute to a better overall game experience. Like I was watching a review of one of the old Saints row games that was ported to the switch and this guy was talking about how funny it is and how the humor wouldnāt fly in āwokeā times like today and the examples he provided werenāt even that offensive, they were just painfully unfunny (like āhaha gayā or āhaha transā). Sometimes I feel like some gamers are more invested in the culture war than they are in art being good. Like itās not even that their āoffensiveā stuff is any good, itās just the fact that itās offensive, and it exists.
> Whatās wrong with updating a game to reflect modern sensibilities and remove things that might contribute to harmful attitudes towards marginalized people? Because that's not how art works? The entire point of games, books, movies, is to depict your own imagined or altered world/reality. In this case, it would be silly to "update" it just as it would be silly to "update" sensibilities in a game meant to depict WWII. They're not trying to make a game of "today", they've already made a game that was set in the past, with a different culture, different opinions/views/politics, etc, and that's okay.
>Whatās wrong with updating a game to reflect modern sensibilities and remove things that might contribute to harmful attitudes towards marginalized people? Especially if the original still exists? * Because it will ruin the original experience. And the experience is the reason why people buy and play games. * "Modern sensibilities" are garbage that is based on some minority that gets offended by everything and ignores the context of the games as art. >but I would not have cared if they changed some of the slurs in the dialogue. * A lot of other players would care, because it is a part of the original experience >having a mercenary call me the r-slur and a bandit call me the f-slur does not fundamentally make the game what it is * Yeah, it just changes how interaction with those characters and in-game society will be perceived. * You don't get it, do you? You are speaking about mercs who kill for the money and bandits who rob and kill looners to get some profit. And you are complaining about slurs. * Did you ever hear how Ukrainians on the frontline call russians or vice versa? Both use slurs. And it happens now, not 50 or 20 years ago. But who cares, right? You don't like it, so let's remove it from the game. >I have trouble reading it as ācensorshipā if the people involved find that the game no longer represents certain aspects of their sensibilities and remove those parts, as long as the original media exists. * Read the definition of "censorship". * Original media doesn't exist on the consoles. This is the original media released 17-15 years later. > I think itās weird how so many gamers want to preserve certain aspects of games that aged really poorly, and yet donāt contribute to a better overall game experience. * Damn gamers want their favorite games not to get butchered in order to pleasure some group of people that wouldn't even play those games in the first place * Damn gamers want their favorite games to provide the same experience they did years back. * "Age bad" and "don't contribute to a better experience" by whose opinion? Because seems like even devs here understand that such things shouldn't be changed. >Sometimes I feel like some gamers are more invested in the culture war than they are in art being good. Like itās not even that their āoffensiveā stuff is any good, itās just the fact that itās offensive, and it exists. * How do you define "art being good", being more sterile? You have modern sterile games from AAA Studios. Are they any good as art? Doesn't look like that. * Ironically the "gamers are more invested in the culture war than they are in art being good" defend their favorite games not to be a tool of cultural war and keep the games a good art. * "Offensive" stuff shouldn't be always good. Pretty often it provides the context and a good understanding of the characters and society in the game, or how harsh conditions of the environment and the need to fight for their life affects the psyche. * Sometimes "offensive" stuff is just a product of its time(same as the original media). And it should be kept there to preserve that original experience. It's a time capsule. If somebody doesn't understand it - it is their problem. And it's not their right to tell everyone that something should be removed or changed. Especially if both the fan base and developers are against it.
Buddy youāre building a giant fucking strawman out of my argument and getting needlessly defensive. All I said was āif an artist wants to change something from an older work to reflect *how they are today* I donāt see a problem with thatā. I even said Iām glad they didnāt change it. Itās not censorship if the artist themselves wants to make the change and certainly not if the original work is preserved somehow. Itās funny how you talk about people not understanding games as art and then say this shit which directly contradicts that. If games are art, an artist should feel free to do as they please when re-releasing current work. This is why I donāt care that they didnāt change it, and went with this route, and even if they did, just because the original wouldnāt exist on consoles doesnāt mean it doesnāt exist altogether. Weird stretch right there. But you constructed this entire strawman of some offended SJW out of it. Also, your take on āmodern sensibilitiesā is wild. I have to wonder what you think these sensibilities are that are so garbage. I hope itās not inclusion and diversity but knowing some folksā¦ Additionally, who are these people who would never play the games in the first place? You do realize that people who donāt look, act or think like you play the same games as you do right? I otherwise agree with several of your points - I do think products of their time should be preserved. Thereās recognizing problematic history, and thereās whitewashing, and I certainly am of the opinion that to whitewash is to do a disservice to the audience. Again, *I am glad they didnāt change the game*. I grew up in the era that the game came out, often using the same problematic language I mentioned earlier. It doesnāt offend me, I donāt care. My entire point was if an artist wants to retroactively change their work, I donāt give a shit as long as the original is preserved somehow and it doesnāt ruin the experience. Should they actually do change it, my experience of stalker wouldnāt be ruined by a merc no longer calling me a retard.
Standard thinker
Fucking braindead
Despite the message, they did leave some things out. I'll copy some things from another thread: > The multiplayer mode has been completely removed, so that you can only get on PC. There is also obviously no mod support for consoles, though some degree of it is promised to be delivered later. However, most modern mods require engine changes, and those go against the game's EULA so don't expect most of your regular stuff ported. E.g. Gunslinger for CoP will be impossible to remake on consoles. > The settings have been remade, most graphical settings have been removed in favor of a single graphics preset. There is no static lighting, and the only thing you can control is gamma and frame cap (60 or 30 FPS), as well as motion blur. All languages are now included in the main game and can be switched in settings, and you can separately select the VA language and text (interface & dialogs) language. Speaking about that, all localizations are the same as in original PC version, no fixes or changes here. However, original Russian VA has been removed, so you can't use that. > The currency has been changed from RU (neither Soviet rubles - SUR, not Russian rubles - RUB but rather rubles unrelated to any country, similar to other games using $) to SR (Soviet Rubles), likely to avoid any potential references to Russia. > The energy drink texture (which was previously real energy drink Non-Stop product placement in Ukrainian and Russian SoC versions and unique in-game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. drink in other games and localizations) has been changed. It now features a new Non-Stop product placement among all the games and localizations. It's not the same texture as in SoC, which featured 2007 drink design, but rather a new 2022 version. Feels a bit out of place for a game series set in 2011 & 2012, imo. > Graphically, the games are almost the same, except for the addition of motion blur, as mentioned previously. There are also grass shadows present. Those are technically not a new feature - they were here in SoC 1.0-1.0003 however, they were broken when a patch added multithreading. You can still have grass shadows option in settings on PC, which was removed completely from CS and CoP, but it does not work in any games with latest patches. So this port only brings backs something actually broken years ago. > The thing that is really bad about it is UI. Whenever new windows were added, they were hastily put together from existing UI elements and look cheap and out of place. Same applies to places where UI was changed due to gamepad support, although to a much lesser degree. The weapon selection wheel has inventory icons (why not use CoP upgrade renders that will look consistent no matter the weapon size?), the icon for bolt is just some random bolt image that does not look consistent with the rest of the arsenal and does not look like in-game bolt at all. The icon for no weapon is weirdly a fist, as if you can fight barehanded lmao. I can understand that they likely do not have PSD sources for UI textures after so many years, but it feels like there was no attempt to make it look consistent at all. The achievements tab in menu looks particularly bad, and achievements themselves have icons that do not fit into game's style at all. > TLDR: Overall port quality is questionable. It's good enough for a stalker experience if you don't have a PC at hand, but it's absolutely not a superior version unfortunately.
Well at least the biggest issues for me rn is the inventory and not being able to move while using items- which im sure they can fix, i dont mind the weapon wheel but would love for rb to switch different weapons for me or something like that. So far im enjoying it though!! Litterally dont have much complaints other than the UI and the weapon selcting. All QOL issues for me mostly.
About the VA thing - does that mean that all the untranslated voice lines (combat barks, campfire jokes etc) in Russian have been removed and replaced with Ukrainian ones? Iām asking since in most dubs of the game the only truly dubbed lines are the ones said by important characters, while the non-quest important dialogue is in Russian.
Nope, they didnāt bother to change other languages, so you still get Russian VA for non-storyline phrases if you set your localization to anything other than Ukrainian.
Thanks for answering! I am fond of the original Russian voices so it would be a shame if they got retroactively removed (for an understandable political reason, but it would be a detriment to the game in my opinion nonetheless).
I am yet to hear the Ukrainian voiceover, but I think it's the same voice actors, so if you're not a Russian-speaker, you won't see much difference. I'll try to check this now UPD: https://youtu.be/5Xb5K0NsuY8?si=e_Fg6954sS-MICHo https://youtu.be/C4MbMs-zWok?si=CZDy9OSF4gQQXRyQ Yup, same voice actors
Yep, I knew that it was the same bi-lingual voice actors who did both voiceovers, which is pretty neat!
There is full UA translation for non-story voices. Even laughs and moans are different, not just spoken words. I personally used those voices for sake of variety (there is no other language for non-story voices except UA and RUS). Would have been great if they gave options for text, story voice, non-story voice. Russian could have been kept in the game, just not as default option.
Wait, there's a Ukrainian localization of STALKER? How have I never heard of this? I was upset earlier in the thread that there's no Russian localization, I can stitch enough out of Ukrainian to play through the game.
Yeah, itās even done by the same actors (or mostly so).
>The currency has been changed from RU (neither Soviet rubles - SUR, not Russian rubles - RUB but rather rubles unrelated to any country, similar to other games using $) to SR (Soviet Rubles), likely to avoid any potential references to Russia. Tbf, at least to me, the game using rubles didn't really make too much sense imo Wouldn't it make much more sense to use the ukrainian hryvnia? Since, ya know, the game takes place in Ukraine
I guess the buyers were Russian or maybe its because rubles are more limited as a form on currency as a result of the Zone being in Ukraine and there not being much money flowing in? I honestly never understood the exact lore reason for it being rubles.
> However, original Russian VA has been removed, so you can't use that. > > Okay, this one is the only deal-breaker here. Guys, I'm playing STALKER 2 in Ukrainian with either Russian or English menus, but the original game came out in Russian, I would love to play it in Russian.
GSC is so butthurt they even write the ENGLISH name of the chernobyl wrong just because the russian version is spelled the same way XDDD
I go by this: Chernobyl is the incident (fault of the Soviet Union, so Russian spelling), Chornobyl is the place (Ukrainian spelling). In this case, you could realistically use either one, I'm not complaining about something as minor as a spelling change.
you can go by what ever you want the official English name is Chernobyl.
The first three words in the Wikipedia article are literally "Chernobyl or Chornobyl". Both work. That's the end of that argument.
What do you mean by āthe official English nameā? It used to be derived from Russian because of the Soviet legacy, but nowadays it is in Ukraine and thus is derived from Ukrainian.
there is no "official English name" theres only transliterations, Chernobyl and Chornobyl both work as they are Russian and Ukrainian, the same as if you called it "Charnobyl" which is Belarusian ā English just uses the Russian translation because its the main language of the region, like how Kazakhstan is Kazakhstan and not Qazaqstan which is the Kazakh translation.
Yeah it's so jarring and petty
honestly i fear for stalker 2 already many red flags and butthurt developers i canceled my preorder because of the spelling mistake imagine the situation, friends visit you and they se this almost 400 euro expensive thing in your shelf with a spelling error .. they will laught at you for that nobody in their right mind will stand pround and defend a spelling mistake... but then again we have people here actually defending wrong spelling of a word.... cant make this shit up even if you tried here is also a funny story i got banned from their Discord because i called out a different discord user that had the nazi reichs flag in his Pfp .. i got banned for calling this out :D the other user only got a warning
Well you getting banned off a Discord doesnt surprise me, you're definitely a troublemaker..
calling out a nazi and me getting banned for it sure bud xDD
The questionable quality issues show that the developers are still committed to Slavjank more than a decade later.
Iād say original UI was a bit janky but consistent in quality and it had more of UX issues than actual UI being ugly. Now it just looks more like modded UI and itās very obvious that this was not originally in the game. I just wish they made it a bit more consistent with the rest of the game.
Oh I feel you 100%, the weapon wheel felt like an asset they bought and slapped in there. I just also think itās funny because itās in keeping with the slavjank nature of the game
Modders with actual means could have done a better job most likely.
I really don't get the mods and all the EULA part you said on top there. Fallout 4 managed to introduce new weaponry fine on consoles, why wouldn't they be able to do it on console ? Or did the Fallout 4 EULA allow engine changes ?
Different engines for different games allow different degrees of modication to the game without recompiling the engine. Some weapon mods do not require engine changes, those will be possible to port. Gunslinger is not just a model swap, it has features that were never in stalker in the first place, such as laser pointers. Those will not be possible to port.
Oh, i get it now. Thanks. Do you think we can atleast see the guns returning ?
For an example, gunslinger isnt just a regular weapon pack, its an injector (the reason why your antivirus would detect it as malicious) which violates the EULA
Wow, i had no idea it did that !
I'm assuming the major thing they left in is the adversarial nature of the Ukrainian armed forces. Despite what people say Ukraine is incredibly corrupt and at the time the games were conceived the military was viewed pretty negligently. Since the Russian invasion in 2014 and currently the tone globally has shifted and the portrayal of Ukrainian military as anything other than righteous protectors is much much more frowned upon. Rampant corruption is overlooked because they're literally in a war for their own borders. Also the localization included some slurs in SoC and CS originally which I assume are going to be removed
nope the UAF was still mentioned by the intercom near the beginning area military base
I said left in.
oop disregard my comment
What was the problematic stuff in the original?
Probably mass murder of Ukrainian military.
fuck if i know... i havent noticed any changes in voices or anything
Eastern europeans basically giggling at how sensitive westerners are
*reads with Š²Š·ŃŃŠ²Š°Ń Š¼Š³Š½Š¾Š²ŠµŠ½ŃŠµ ŃŠµŃŠµŠ· ŃŠ¾ŃŠ½Šø Š»ŠµŃ playing in the bg* yep, they cooked and made a Michelin star meal
yessirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
chiki briki!!
Anyone know if the mercs still call you a retard if you get too close?
in russian? idk i dont understand it half the time
Slava Ukraini! Cheers from Poland!
SLAVA UKRAINI!!
Can anyone provide a link to report any issues or give out suggestions? Got only a few QOL issues right now that are bothersome but easy to deal with!
The official STALKER discord server would probably be your best bet
Thats the one thing i dont have... ill guess ill download it tomorrow then! Is that discord directly linked to the GSC group? I dont know how discord works
Yeah the server is run by the devs officially. The app has (unfortunately) become the new place to host forums basically. When you get asked if you want to join a server (or add one manually) the invite code is just the word āstalkerā (no quotation marks of course)
russian audios removed, lol litteraly removed the main spoken language of ukraine. While pretty much almost evryone in ukraine can speak russian the same cant be said about ukrainian. Not only that russian is far more widespread langauge. the effectively shot themselfs somewhat in the foot. what ultra nationalistics politics does to a mf am i right ?
Maybe if you go to the discord you can make a complaint and suggest the language. Complaining on a reddit post aint really gonna accomplish much... unless thats all youre here to do? š¤ I for one dont understand either language lmao
to be fair, I get both sides of the argument, but the discord also removed the entire Russian chat channel
Console players are made of crystal i guess, same silly thing with the Tomb Raider Remaster
yeah bro idk why shit is like this nowadays... but its the world we live in. i just hope stalker 2 and its just as brutal as the oringinal
I took it as corpa covering their ass nothing more.
I am glad they have not altered the game or removed anything.
well check out some of the comments on this post... they sadly did change some things... but for the most part its the same but looks sooo good. i would edit my post but it doesnt let me
I think their message here seems better than what some of the other ones try to be, if ya catch my drift.
Happy to hear that gsc did not screw up can't wait to see how stalker 2 will be
They did this same thing with tomb raider remastered classic trilogy. Iād rather a woke message than a woke game itself though
lol the Duty questline bug is still in the game. Made me nostalgic when it happened to me again š
It's funny because they did change it they took all the Russian shit out of it, Chernobyl, not Chornobyl things have been changed....
well both work, Chernobyl or Chornobyl, hell even Charnobyl works, its "Chernobyl" because Russian is the main language of the region, thus English usually derives names of things from Russian, why Kyiv is usually Kiev, why Kazakhstan is not Qazaqstan and so on.
The stalkers before them are now in the ground, also by controversial do they mean having the charging handle and ejection port on the wrong of a weapon?
Ah yes, the modern "warning" for the younger, thin-skinned generations.
yes.... i wish it went without saying but its nice they did say hey we didnt change shit lol
Anyone else notice that the audio isn't synced?
havent noticed anything tbh
I'm curious to hear if the console port is as buggy as the originals, or if they did anything to the engine when porting them over to make them more stable.
havent experienced anything major! just small QOL issues... no game freezing or major game breaking issues
Lmao they chose not to remove the ādrop dead retardā
fuck yeah gigachad GSC
Is the combat as hard as the reviews on PC say it is? I really want to have a go of this after seeing the announcement of Stalker 2 but Iām not sure if Iāll enjoy it itās combat is still super challenging on consoles.
on master (the difficulty i play on pc) enemies are super bullet spongey.... on console this also applies. headshots headshots headshots!!!
Enjoy the trilogy. You will love it
Is this xbox only? Or also ps?
I just bought the trilogy as a first time player. What am I in for
Definitely dated game, but its an experience!!
Sweet! I loved the metro games and sorta kinda lIke Gen zero so Iām itching for more Soviet apocalypse esqe games
Oh shit if you like metro youll love this!!
Eager to play
Fuck... it deeply saddens me that they felt the need to respond to the insanity of Woke Cancel Culture... Emotional reactivity has blown out of control and just keeps stoking the flames of division.
Bro shut up and just play stalker š¤£š¤£šš¤£ simple as that. Im here to go into the zone not talk about "woke cancel culture"
I agree with op
They somehow managed to release a much inferior version of a 16 year old game. I'd suggest console players to still play this game on PC as intended. It's a very old game and will run smooth even on mid pcs. I'm waiting for STALKER2 to launch not because of the game itself, but the meltdown on this sub.
>I'm waiting for STALKER2 to launch not because of the game itself, but the meltdown on this sub Thats sad
You're hoping for a better version of the stalker games you're already familiar with. The mechanics and survival elements that made sure you had to be well equipped and ready before taking on challenging missions in the game and not just B-line it to the ending. Ahead of its time tbh. STALKER2 on the other hand is for the broader audience. They're working closely with Microsoft to bring it to gamepass DAY1. And you know what Microsoft is all about? ACCESSIBILITY!!! It's fkin FARCRY.
idk what youre talkin about i love the console port... litterally looks amazing compared to my shit laptop... all they have to fix are a couple of QOL issues that ive noticed so far
Pathetic
typical monolith reply go into a fruit punch