Forlorn Muskeg - taking a glimpse in an easy peasy stalker

[togg]

After dying in in interloper I decided to start a new stalker sandbox in mistery lake and head almost directly to the new region in order to take a tour.

If you haven't visited the region stop reading, there're spoilers. I'll keep my thought short.

 

Playing Stalker again had a special vibe for me. In interloper you don't find so much stuff on the road, this is an advanced map so the balance is more strict but you can still appreciate the layout design in the placement of things. The devs want to tell a story here. The rifle (that I've never used since I was playing on trackpad) near a corpse. The snow shelter with stuff outside. I had never built or entered one before, it was pretty nice!

I've entered the map and travelled on the rails. Slept and left a bedroll on the red train, a lot of wood is needed on this map, there're usually bushes and stuff placed strategically. I arrived pretty soon at the end of the rails. That's it? I love the idea and the feelings of the region, I wanted big spaces for so long, that's one of the best elements in PV. I think the games is extremelly tight and cozy when you get used to it, which is an impressive achievement but also leave the player without a bigger feeling sometimes. It's strange to explain, the gameplay need a certain rythm but having a big layout, something that you can often see in fan art, is very exciting.

Anyway. I had to find a place to sleep. I picked the right side looking at the rails again. I arrived at the farm and forge. Started another fire etc slept on a bedroll, I will discover the bed later. Same for the crates, destroyed them all during an hipothermia waiting. There was *so much stuff* under the crates. 4 accelerants food etc, I was in shock. I always thought that crates could hide something but not such a big stash.

I've completed the exploration of everything in 5 days I think. Taked hipothermia like 4 times, twice in a row once. Arrived at the forge with 2% health and slept at 1 ! That was close

I've missed a secret place where rabbits hide I think but that's ok. And a cave near the waterfalls. I think I've covered everything else. It's a beautiful map with a specific look but I'm still unsure about the pleasure to play here more than a few days. Let's look at some pictures, it will help me recall the details.

 

 

 

 

Isn't this too colorfull? I think the colours have still to be tuned to perfection in rocks as well but they're close.

 

 

The muskeg overlook. Pretty nice but it makes the map looks small. The edge of it are not well hidden as in PV where I think there's a brilliant dinamic between the center and the other parts.

The idea of thing ice wasn't never something that I liked, why bothering the player with a risk that is not needed? But fo course in this big central region it is! So ok. It works.

 

 

 

Nice shelter!

 

 

 

 

This looks like a bug to me.

 

 

 

 

Pretty nice part of the map, I've explored the left side (looking in ML direction) coming from the end after the right side. I saw the short wave tower and find the entrance by escalating the rocks. Nice. This body here on the tick forest is beautiful.

 

 

 

Slept here because of course there's no bed and the cave before was boring

 

 

I wasn't sure if there was another secret part going back to the tunnel but then a campfire showed me the invisible wall. You can actually use this to see the walls in the distance. A little bit of a abuse that will probably ruin the discovery of the maps, don't do it!

 

 

 

And I was back. Ok! Nice map but feels more like a transition zone maybe? I still don't know. The new clothing system is perfect though, I really didn't have any problem with weight. Everything feels as good and even better than before.

 

Sad thing is when I've entered the region I didn't receive the welcome text "new region + the name" :-( I wanted it so bad it wasn't fair.

[farce713]

nice review. and yeah i also have more of the feeling that this map would be a great transition zone.

but i would like to ask you to another topic: how do you handle your weight?

On 11.1.2017 at 5:51 AM, togg said:

The new clothing system is perfect though, I really didn't have any problem with weight.

how? what do you take with you on a trip like this and what do you leave behind?

i myself am not that long in this game (since the last update), i like so many things about it (the art, the realism of elements), but i also struggle with some things.. like weight managment.. 

[togg]

17 hours ago, farce713 said:

nice review. and yeah i also have more of the feeling that this map would be a great transition zone.

but i would like to ask you to another topic: how do you handle your weight?

how? what do you take with you on a trip like this and what do you leave behind?

i myself am not that long in this game (since the last update), i like so many things about it (the art, the realism of elements), but i also struggle with some things.. like weight managment.. 

I think I still have to experience the map more to be able to really say how much I like it. It happened often that I changed my mind after playing more.
 

About the weight. I don't carry a hatchet with me and I usually don't have the rifle but this time I had it. Those two items alone are really big. I take wood on the road, around 5kg. I don't carry a lot of food, since I use the starving mechanic I only need around 800 hundred cal par day.
I don't carry every cup of something that I have. Just the necessary plus one or two reishi tea to warm up. I don't carry any metal unless I have to go to a forge. etc etc.

I think the weight and clothing system work pretty well at the moment, they're exactly balanced so that if you want to carry the biggest possible clothes or the heaviest items all together you will be probably a little bit over 30.