I wish someone would do a T2k sandbox computer RPG

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by Targan

Great thread, this one. I agree that ARMA 2 does NATO vs WarPac combat really well (especially with the right mods) and I'm also a huge fan of Fallout 3 and FO New Vegas (I absolutely saturated both with mods). I had no idea that mods had been created for the Stalker games, but now that I do (thanks to raketenjagdpanzer and Stainless) I'm going to go and look up those mods and replay SoC and Call of Pripyat. Yay!

SoC basically "ends", regardless of what ending you make of it, so I don't regard vanilla SoC as a true sandbox. STALKER Complete redefines how the game works. Unfortunately, even with the Complete mod, the game becoming a true sandbox eventually leaves it kind of hollow: once you've beaten all the missions, there's really not much else to do except ramp up money (for no reason). Kill off all of the Monolith Cult at the NPP (and in the creepy "shelter areas" underneath) and the whole NPP becomes just a big hole in the ground. Sure, it'll take a few runs if you've got OCD about cleaning out an entire area of any and all salable goods (artifacts, weapons, dropped 'gear from dead people) (and I am), but ultimately, it's just a great big radioactive playground after that.



<spoiler>

You know how in vanilla STALKER, if you fall off a building or gantry outside at the NPP, once you're behind it fighting the Monolith guys, you get this red flash on your HUD like you're taking psychic damage and it injures you pretty badly every "flash" until you die? Complete removes that; you're free to explore the entire area. It's basically a big red herring: the sinister looking "energy ripples" aren't anomalies, and with the exception of the Sarcophagus area, there's no radiation, either, so it's basically just a movie set at that point. It has its own creepy poignancy, given some historical perspective, but it's just this vast expanse of an industrial graveyard that's about as dangerous or mysterious as your living room.

I wonder if it's different with Oblivion Lost...