Big Game Hunting In S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call Of Pripyat

[Ack]

BIG GAME HUNTING IN S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: CALL OF PRIPYAT

Of all the STALKER games, Call of Pripyat features the biggest open areas, and a greater emphasis on hunting mutants than in previous games. They’re everywhere, they walk around openly in large groups, and they will kill you in a moment’s notice. Wander through the hills and swamplands long enough and you’ll see packs of different types of mutants hunting each other, and anyone unlucky enough to wander into them. Tracers rip through the air as stalkers, bandits, mercenaries, and the odd military man fight for their lives against the horrors of the zone. And you’re right there with them, slugging it out, knee deep in horrific mutated corpses.

But sometimes the mutants simply won’t go down. The Zone has turned them into some tough bastards, and hunting that big ‘un can sometimes be more than a little difficult. That’s where this quick and dirty guide comes in, to help you land that hideous twisted trophy hide. Only to make it a little interesting, this guide’s about doing it with your pig sticker. That’s right, this guide’s about going toe-to-toe with the biggest nasties the Zone has to offer and doing them with the knife.

But before you turn your nose up and run from the challenge, here’s a few notes on the knife:

1) The knife is an extremely powerful weapon that can drop even some of the most powerful mutants in a few hits.
2) The knife never needs reloading or repairing.
3) You can never lose the knife or sell it.
4) The knife can cripple an enemy quickly.
5) The knife is the only weapon you can use when running.

Melee weapons are often frowned upon in FPS games, but they shouldn’t be. Be it UT’s impact hammer or shield gun, the knife in CounterStrike or Battlefield 2142, or a pair of binoculars in Call of Duty: United Offensive, they can be both surprising and devastating in the hands of a skilled wielder. And STALKER is no exception. Just remember, melee weapons operate the exact same as any other weapon in an FPS. They have a range and a rate of fire which should be studied and experimented with. They also have a secondary fire with different timing. But on to the meat of this guide:

BIG GAME HUNTING WITH THE KNIFE

1) Blind Dogs – Easy with the knife, as they tend to run straight ahead or leap. Sidestep when they rush and swing away. You can cripple a dog by slashing its backside, slowing it down for the kill shot.
2) Flesh – Mutant pigs are probably the weakest critters in the game, so bringing home the bacon shouldn’t be an issue. They tend to come in groups with Boars; kill them and the Flesh will often flee. Just stab them in the face, as they won’t live long enough to do real damage.
3) Boars – Similar to dogs, sidestep when they charge in. To make things better, they’re big targets, and you can cripple them by slashing their backsides to cripple them. But they’re also bigger, so sidestepping can be a little harder.
4) Pseudo Dogs – Rush them. If you hang back, they may just sit there and throw phantoms at you until you die. Instead, run towards them and make the real one attack.
5) Snorks – Similar to Dogs and Boars, sidestep when they leap and slash them apart. They die pretty quick to the knife, but be wary: they often come in groups, and one can get you while you’re stabbing another.
6) Hamsters – They’ll come to you in groups, but they’re small, which can make hitting them with the knife difficult. Stick with the slash attacks as they’re faster and you have to stab directly onto them to hit them. Also remember they come in packs.
7) Burrers – If you see them first, run up and stab them. If they see you first, hide in a different room for a moment, then run in and repeatedly stab them until death. Their psychic shields don’t work against knives either, so the knife is almost always the best choice for dealing with them.
8) Poltergeists – You can’t knife Poltergeists. Trust me, I’ve tried. Your best bet is to switch to a pistol and pop a few shots into it up close.
9) Blood Suckers – Knifing these guys actually isn’t as bad as you’d think, since they cloak until they’re close enough to attack. Back yourself up to a wall or a corner so you can see when they’re near, and slash right as they do. You can cripple a Blood Sucker’s arm, making him less viable in combat.
10) Pseudogiant – I once had an epic battle in which I was pinned to a wall by a Pseudogiant and spent a minute stabbing it repeatedly in the face after having unloaded two rifle clips into it. While an awesome fight, it definitely isn’t something I want to ever do again. They take massive amounts of punishment, and considering they want to pull you into melee, it’s best to just avoid it.
11) Controllers – One word: DON’T. Never EVER get close enough to a Controller or even consider attempting to stab one, as Controllers grow more dangerous the closer you are. If you must kill one with the knife, hide behind cover, dart out and stab it, and then hide.
12) Chimeras – They also want you in melee, and they’ll do it by repeatedly pouncing on you, taking a couple of swipes while you’re stunned, and then pouncing again. If you can avoid the pounce, do so, and stab it in the side. It goes down quicker than shooting: I’ve emptied over a hundred rounds into one and it still kept coming.

And don’t forget, using the environment or other stalkers is always helpful. Pulling a mutant into an anomaly is a quick way to do some extra damage, though with the bigger guys it won’t be enough to stop them.

[MrPopo]

The Controller one made me laugh, because it's so very true. Are you playing Vanilla CoP or are you using a mod? When I played through I started off with SMRTER (instead of vanilla) and found the encounter rate was quite high, in a good way. One time I was in the gas swamp and a bloodsucker engaged me. At this point I had good armor and a nice auto shotty so I wasn't too worried. Then I discovered that there was also a controller wandering around, as in the middle of the fight he started doing that mind attack on me. Needless to say I ran my ass off until I was far away enough from the controller (with the bloodsucker still in hot pursuit).

[Niode]

Derp. Why do I not have Call of Pripyat yet?

[Ack]

The Controller one made me laugh, because it's so very true. Are you playing Vanilla CoP or are you using a mod? When I played through I started off with SMRTER (instead of vanilla) and found the encounter rate was quite high, in a good way. One time I was in the gas swamp and a bloodsucker engaged me. At this point I had good armor and a nice auto shotty so I wasn't too worried. Then I discovered that there was also a controller wandering around, as in the middle of the fight he started doing that mind attack on me. Needless to say I ran my ass off until I was far away enough from the controller (with the bloodsucker still in hot pursuit).

Good story. For my first play through I decided Vanilla was the way to go. Call of Pripyat has basically fixed a lot of my issues with the STALKER series, and while I have a couple of minor complaints, they are nothing compared to how much I enjoy the game.

Funny story involving a Controller:

I'm in the second area, running from the science lab to the train station to relax for a moment and a chimera pounces at me. I duck under a powerlines tower so it hits the metal support columns instead of me, then book it across the tracks as quickly as I can make it, before turning and sitting for a moment, staring behind me. I wait with my rifle out for a minute, decide I've lost it, and turn to go inside.

That's when I notice a hunched over figure in the distance wandering in broad daylight down the road. I think "man, is that a person? I've never seen any of the NPCs walk like that. Maybe it's a bandit?" So I switch to the binoculars to get a better look right as the figure moves behind some bushes, obscuring my view. My binoculars lock in but don't register if the person is hostile, so I figure it must be a bandit. I think to myself "well, if it's a bandit I'll just walk up and shoot him in the head then go sell his gear." So I switch to my rifle and begin running up to a crossroads the figure was heading for so I can ambush him from behind.

I turn the last corner, run for a few paces, and come to a sliding stop as the figure wanders into the middle of the intersection and I suddenly realize that the bandit I've been chasing down is actually a Controller. In the time it takes for my brain to register what it is, the Controller realizes I'm there. The creature turns and howls at me as I scream "Oh SHIT" and begin booking it to the nearest building to cower behind. I was sitting in my living room with my roommate and girlfriend while playing, so they both jump when they hear the Controller roar and my screaming. I cower for a few minutes, running from cover to cover in an attempt to hide and get back to the train station.

When I do get back, there's NPCs just standing around, hanging out, not a care in the world. Nobody's freaking out like I am, they're all just having a pleasant time. There's a Freedom guard patrolling the place like he's got absolutely nothing to do. And I'm sitting there freaking, wondering when the mental attack is going to zombify my companions and rape my mind. But after a few minutes it doesn't come, and I begin getting curious.

So I leave the train station and slowly begin making my way from cover to cover back to the intersection, fully expecting at any moment to experience the joy of having my brain liquefied. It's not there. There are no corpses, no zombies, nothing at all to indicate that a Controller had even tried to chase me down. I get to the intersection, and it's nowhere to be found. So after taking a quick glance around the place, I pull my binoculars out and look in the direction the Controller had been heading, and there it is just walking down the center of the street. The son of a bitch was apparently going for a Sunday stroll.

Just one of the many great stories I've got because of this game.

[MrPopo]

Controllers never stop scaring the shit out of me. I remember in ShoC going through the tunnel to Agiprom, and suddenly there's that load roar behind you. You turn, and there's this misshapen human there. Then you start taking uber mind damage.

[Ack]

Hmm...on later attempts, I've discovered that the Burrers can actually block the knife with their psychic shield. It doesn't save them, you just stop swinging long enough for them to stop shielding and then go right back to hacking away. Also, they have really adorable faces when you're that close. You can really see the fear in their eyes.

And honestly, this quest to try killing every mutant with the knife has changed the way I play the game.

[Hobie-wan]

I'm still in the first game, but I agree that melee is sometimes really fun in FPS games. I wasn't wild about the shield gun, but the impact hammer was fun. I also loved running up streaks in Quake 3 with the gauntlet.

[Niode]

I caved and bought it, I didn't want to risk it going back up in price after the sales. My bank manager is going to hate me. I'm surprised I haven't had any notifications from the fraud department regarding a large amount of transactions to Steam.

The vanilla version of Pripyat is like the oblivion lost mod for the first game. It's taken them 3 games to get it right, but it's finally there. Now I'm torn between playing Metro 2033 and Pripyat now. Bloody hell.

[Ack]

I caved and bought it, I didn't want to risk it going back up in price after the sales. My bank manager is going to hate me. I'm surprised I haven't had any notifications from my the fraud department regarding a large amount of transactions to Steam.

The vanilla version of Pripyat is like the oblivion lost mod for the first game. It's taken them 3 games to get it right, but it's finally there. Now I'm torn between playing Metro 2033 and Pripyat now. Bloody hell.

Haha, well, in Pripyat's favor, if you want to just fly through the game, you can. The main storyline really isn't that long, but there's a ton of side stuff to do. I just finished playing the game, and the ending was great! I wish there was more to do once you finish the main quest(I'd done nearly all of the side quests by that point), but I suppose I'll live.

I did notice more high-powered mutants wandering around the second area though. I ran into a pair of Burrers at one point in the middle of the night, and watched a Pseudogiant sniff a bunch of corpses...at least, that's what it looked like it was doing. Also, the ending scenes change depending on events in the story, such as whether certain characters die and how you handle specific side missions, and certain achievements can't be earned in the same game as others. It would have been nice if they carried over from previous games too. I would have enjoyed those shop discounts immensely from the get-go.