S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha

[Fassou]

Few are the ones who visit this forum, and they haven't heard of a saga of FPS (those, the shooting ones :facepalm:) video games called S.T.A.L.K.E.R., among other things by the tiresome ones like me, who don't shut up about it .

To start, let's do a little memory:

In the summer of 2007, the first game of the saga appears, under the name S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl, after countless delays, which included the departure of members of the development team to found their own studio (4A Games, the ones from Metro2033), and all sorts of misfortunes that led it to compete for the least coveted vaporware awards with milestones like Duke Nuken Forever, among others.

The following year (2008) they release the prequel, under the name of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - ClearSky, which is the most regular of all, and finally in 2010 they publish S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Call of Pripyat, with which GSC Game World, returns to demonstrate that they know how to do things well, but that doesn't prevent the studio from ending up being another victim of the crisis, the situation in Ukraine, and a more than likely unfortunate management in economic terms.

And now, let's get to the point.

Since 2004, when a beta of the original game was leaked, popularly known as Build 1935, many of us suspected that between the original idea of the game, and what was published in 2007 (SoC), there was an intense process of content elimination, mainly due to pressures from THQ, to get the game published once and for all.

Especially since the publication of the prequel (ClearSky), the modding community has shown great interest in the virtues of the X-Ray engine and its artificial life system ALife, creating all kinds of mods, to add and change weapons and objects, improve existing textures, atmospheric effects, etc …

The growing specialization of these MODs, some very well known like Misery, encouraged the creation of improved versions of the games themselves, and the developers of these projects to begin to shape what many of them had already longed for from the beginning, to recover the original game, as the guys from GSC had imagined it, before the cuts.

There were several attempts to recover the essence of the original game, one of them and perhaps the most popular, being based on internal material from 2004, provided by GSC itself in 2009, is called Oblivion Lost (2009), in clear reference to what was the name of the project (STALKER - Oblivion Lost), until the mutilations in its final phase.

Even with numerous flaws, it managed to incorporate a large number of animals and monsters eliminated, but in essence it maintained the original campaign as a development thread, but the use of preliminary versions of the X-Ray graphics engine gave it a too rough appearance.

Finally, numerous projects have been merging in favor of others more ambitious, and this summer (2014), thanks to the guys from the Dez0wave Group, we have been able to enjoy what we can call, "the game most similar to what they wanted to do at GSC back in 2003".

Its name: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha

This game can be downloaded from its web, and already has three patches published, that solve some small bugs found in some missions. The game is complete and it is no longer necessary to start from an installation of the original game to then modify it, although it is supposed that you are morally obliged to have an original version of the game (STALKER - SoC), to use this full modification.

The links (they take you to the websites, from where to download the files)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - LOST ALPHA (v1.3000) - Part 1/4 - Mod DB (2GB)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - LOST ALPHA (v1.3000) - Part 2/4 - Mod DB (2GB)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - LOST ALPHA (v1.3000) - Part 3/4 - Mod DB (2GB)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - LOST ALPHA (v1.3000) - Part 4/4 - Mod DB (151MB)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Lost Alpha - Patch v1.3003 - Mod DB (630MB)

Translation into Spanish of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Lost Alpha - Clan DLAN (500KB)

The opinion

From what I've played (I hope I have little left to finish, although I also wish it never ends ), it is a well-rounded game, created by fans for fans of the saga.

Yes, it is advisable to approach it as a new title, forgetting the original game, and be clear that although the maps, objects or characters are very similar, in many cases they don't even have the same names, nor the same characteristics, nor develop the actions or functions they performed in the 2007 game.

We will be able to explore several new maps, and the already known ones are larger and more detailed, in addition to there being more artifacts (some are found and others can be made), monsters (practically the same as in Oblivion Lost), and the theme of factions is somewhat different.

If the secret laboratories of the official saga seemed few to you, you already know where to find more .

Well, if anyone wants to try it, they already know where to get it, so we'll see you in The Zone.

See you later! Stalkers!

P.D: It is also a candidate for MOD of the year (2014), and you can vote for it if you want at MODDB.com (3 days left)

2014 Mod of the Year Awards - Mod DB (in Released Mods / STALKER SoC)

[Tecnho]

If they made me a game like this without the mutant monsters and all that, it would convince me more, lately I really enjoy survival games but I already have too many monsters and zombies, with humans we already had more than enough.

[Fassou]

You have to like the saga for you to like this one, but the monsters, many of them are more annoying than dangerous, except for the dwarves, the chimeras, and maybe the bloodsuckers, depending on the situation.

When you finish with the mountain of games you already have, you give it a chance.

Salu2! Jugón!

[Alien8]

Hello everyone!!!

First of all, I want to apologize because I haven't been online for a loooong time. Between my profession and the two nannies, I have little time to be glued to the screen, and that little time I dedicate it to World of Tanks, which I don't even know if it's commented here...

I don't know if you remember that I'm passionate about the STALKER saga, having played each of the 4-5 expansions 5 times each (I take advantage when I'm away from home and have more time).

Now I've got involved with Lost Alpha, I didn't even know it existed!!!

The truth is that between the experience of the other games in the saga and that it's almost a copy of the original, I'm having a pretty good time, especially because it allows you to save the game (something I had almost forgotten) and that allows you to advance much faster and with guarantees.

I've only detected a couple of bugs that have made me load some previous game and have to repeat some area, but well, it's worth seeing the new content.

I'm already in the Dark Valley, I have an Obokan at full capacity (which leaves room for improvement, it's not all) and a good vest.

Best regards, I hope to come back a little more

[Tecnho]

@Alien8:

Hello everyone!!!

First of all, I want to apologize because I haven't been online for a loooong time. Between my profession and the two nannies, I have little time to be glued to the screen, and that little time is dedicated to World of Tanks, which I don't even know if it's commented here...

I don't know if you remember that I'm passionate about the STALKER saga, having played each of the 4-5 expansions 5 times each (I take advantage when I'm away from home and have more time).

Now I've got myself into Lost Alpha, I didn't even know it existed!!!

The truth is that between the experience of the other games in the saga and that it's almost a copy of the original, I'm having a pretty good time, especially because it allows you to save your game (something I had almost forgotten) and that allows you to progress much faster and with guarantees.

I've only detected a couple of bugs that have made me load some previous game and have to repeat some area, but well, it's worth seeing the new content.

I'm already in the Dark Valley, I have an Obokan maxed out (what can be improved, which is not everything) and a good vest.

Best regards, I hope to come back online a bit more

Hello again, how long has it been, I also play WOT from time to time but I'm more of an RTS, Company of Heroes 2 would be great for you, well, see you around in the threads.

[_Neptunno_]

Fassou, what a great article you've written, well done!! Thank you for the information, because it's certainly brutal. I've only played SOC, but I hope this year I'll finally get around to finishing the saga, joe.

By the way, about WOT Techno and Alien8, let's see if we can do a squad one day. Playing alone is sometimes too hard when you get a lot of "tomatoes" on your team, hahaha.

Best regards!!

P.D: Happy Holidays

[Fassou]

As they said in that ad: Do you like to drive?

And as a gift, the Christmas card from Dezowave

Salu2! Stalker!

PD: Alien8, are you into freeplay?

[Fassou]

To those who plan to binge the game, go ahead and enjoy it, but for those who prefer to take it in small doses, they might want to wait for the next patch (the 4th one), because it will force you to start over, as it is also a kind of "Director's Cut", with changes to the weapon system, suits, A-Life, etc...

@GSC:

1. Huge changes to guns and ways you can use em.
2. New upgrade system for guns and suits.
3. New spawns everywhere. Large A-Life.
4. Combat system tweaks.
5. New animations, redone the old.
6. Redone cutscenes.
7. Traders overhauled.
8. New unique stuff.
9. New nature and weather.
10. New HD grass.
11. Voice acting expanded?
12. Lots of texture changes to balance out the game atmosfear.
13. R2/R3 Shaders changed.

Or you can enjoy it twice

Salu2! Stalkers!

[_Neptunno_]

Nothing else, but the issue of saved games and patches…what a scary mix in Stalker always :ugly:

When will they release that patch?, anyway at my speed they will release the 8th and I still won't have gotten into the mess :wall:
I really enjoyed Metro 2033…it reminded me a lot of SOC.

[Fassou]

This is done for the love of art, so I guess at least by the end of January, so that they can try it out in conditions; but they also mention that they are working on another "secret" project that will be a surprise

In these changes aimed at the "Director's Version" that will bring together the fourth patch, so as not to have two different developments, they are putting in things from Call of Pripyat, so I hope the surprise is another full mod to play solo, about a STALKER CoP

But they are all speculations, you know how these Russians and Ukrainians are.

Salu2! Stalkers!

[Alien8]

Hello everyone again...

I'm FULLY into Lost Alpha.

I'm going through the X10 Laboratory, I've already completed many side quests, I've mentioned more than once that I don't like to leave things unfinished, but even so, I'm progressing quite quickly.

I already have the Exoskeleton, an HK G37 rifle as my main weapon and an Obokan as a secondary, in addition to a modern pistol with a silencer. All of this improved, of course.

The thing about carrying two rifles with sights and one of them silenced (the HK), is because depending on the area you move through, there is more ammunition of one type or another, which is basically what I'm collecting...

I also move around in vehicles, and in fact the trunk is VERY useful for transporting fuel canisters, ammunition and such...

Surely patch 4 will improve the "upgrades" of the weapons and such, because unlike the original games, you can hardly improve the objects.

By the way, Lost Alpha is definitely a SoC with the CoP engine. In fact, and although I haven't been able to use it yet (I don't know what it's for), I even have the basic calibration tools, etc...

It is certainly much more complete than the SoC in terms of maps and such. I'm enjoying it like a dog XD

In fact, one of the things I missed the most from SoC was the vehicle aspect for long journeys and now it's a pleasure to be able to move quickly.

I'm eager to get a BTR, which according to videos on YouTube, can even shoot :mad:

[Fassou]

If you figure out how to fire with the BTR, let me know, I couldn't do it ;D

And about the YouTube videos, I think they are versions with additional MOD's, because in the ones I saw, the vehicle controls were different, and the driver's position, too.

Regarding wearing the Exo-skeleton, I think it ends up being mandatory if you want to carry some weight, because in this version, we don't have the artifact that increases carrying capacity

And be careful about leaving the car loaded with gifts, because if it explodes you'll be left with nothing.

Bye! Gamer!

PD: Well where a Gauss Rifle is concerned

[Tecnho]

I think I'll give it another chance, you've convinced me XP I like the BTR thing

[amd125]

I think I'm going to download it in 3…2...1.. downloading... I'll tell you later because I don't have much free time, but I hope to give it a good go in a few days :wall:

[Alien8]

I'm already going to the X7 lab (the one that deactivates earthquakes). I've bought two different exoskeletons from the Barman, in addition to the FT200M rifle, which is VERY good, not as efficient as the Gauss, but well...

The idea is to have a Gauss as a sniper rifle and the FT200M for short distances, so at least I enjoyed myself in the previous games, I haven't seen the Gauss in the stores in my neighborhood yet

Those exoskeletons, well, with patience I will keep taking them to improve to see if with any of them I can run, since with the one I have, it improves night vision and resistance to radiation or impacts, but the many options they had to improve in previous games don't appear, among them, the one of improved shock absorbers (ability to run, let's say).

Anyway, this is improving by the moment. It's VERY long and addictive. The best WITHOUT A DOUBT for me, since it combines all the best of the previous ones.

Surely with patch 4 the issue of improvements in weaponry and suits will be fixed, but I'm not willing to start again from the beginning, for now... :ugly:

[Fassou]

There are special upgrades, which can only be obtained by completing certain missions, but I think the ability to run with the exoskeleton is not available... yet.

Salu2! Jugón!

[Alien8]

;D Pues seguramente sí, lo sé :fumeta: Por cierto, ya estoy entrando en Prypiat por los túneles. Después de mejorar el FT200M, me quedo con el HK G37. Ninguno de los exos que compré tenía la opción de mejorar, PERO NINGUNA, HOYGAN!!! Es raro que siendo 5Kg más ligeros algunos de ellos, no se puedan ni mejorar en nada :ffu:

[Fassou]

Some objects can't be modified, like for example a shotgun that I have, but of the exoskeletons I remember that the normal one had two upgrades, which I save to buy when I need to repair the suit and save a lot of money, and the exoskeleton that is a little lighter, had the inconvenience of having lower percentages of protection, although it cost almost the same.

Salu2! Jugón!

[Clipper]

¡Esta publicación está eliminada!

[Alien8]

That's why I say that I had made some assumptions (about exoskeletons) if with the one that is 5Kg lighter, you could run, because really with the protection it carries is more than enough (as you can store it, I usually restore if they soften my face too much, so it wouldn't be much of a problem for me that the protection was less). That's why in the end I keep and repair the one that weighs 15Kg but to which you can put the GVN of 2nd generation and the improved ballistic protection. By the way, the toolbox doesn't seem to be useful for anything, and I even have the calibration and basic boxes :llorar: I appear to be able to repair things, but then, when it comes to fixing them (FIX) it says that I'm missing something in the inventory (spare parts?). I've tried having other rifles that are the same to see and they don't get fixed like that, so it's not like in Clear Sky