Patch 1.3 for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is out: nerfs to mutant and altered objects, fewer fights, and more than 1200 changes

GSC Game World just released a big patch 1.3 of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl with more than 1200 «improvements». In quotes because some changes, like in 1.2, are ambiguous.

The following is a long list of changes in several categories. We won’t list them all, but will focus on the most resonant ones. So, in the AI category, we find:

Mutant movement during combat is now smoother

If we’re talking about overly agile dogs, carcasses, and boars — this is very nice. Animals retreat into the Noosphere with a single shot from a normal weapon, but it can be extremely difficult to make this shot. As a result, the Scythian spends a lot of ammo and coupons literally down the drain, while bleeding constantly. Not the most interesting activity. Other aspects of mutant behavior and NPC reaction to steps have also been improved.

The «Balance» category can probably be called «Imbalance» today because of the contradictory nature of the changes. Nerfs and some unexplained changes to the characteristics of modified items, including the most important one, continue:

Strange water: radiation protection reduced

Is it even smaller? This was already done in patch 1.2. One of the most useful items in the Zone is becoming less and less useful — but the maximum weight is still increased. Changes to the rest of the items are not worth mentioning, they were and still are of little use. It is unclear why the developers pay so much attention to them. The author of the news, who still plays S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 almost from the start, «scored» on this junk.

• A-life clashes will now occur a little less frequently on average
• Weakened protection against anomalies in combat suits
• Improved protection against anomalies in scientific suits
• Improved durability of unique weapons found during missions

It’s not that A-life fights are too stressful. Perhaps somewhere you need fewer of them, but in general, just running around the Zone without them is not very interesting. A Scythian can already get anywhere without a fight at all, if you’re lucky, right after the Small Zone. Now it will probably be even easier.

The developers are trying hard to «cram» the player into different types of costumes. Which are initially not very suitable for this, and this cannot be fixed by minor rebalancing. Anyway, you can always go to the Yaniv, roll up a crate and take the «Diamond» exoskeleton, which, even in a completely broken state (I never repair it), is better than any non-exoskeletal armor in the game. Better weapon durability — it’s always nice.

Many bugs have been fixed again, in particular on «Growth», which are not worthy of special attention. As with the last major patch, about 100 other crashes and EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION errors have been fixed. We shouldn’t dwell on the quest fixes either because of spoilers — let’s just say that there are dozens of them. There are several technical improvements to the gameplay, among which one item should be highlighted.

Several upgrade blueprints were moved from «the point of no return» at the end of the game to Pripyat’s caches.