Hi @anomalousdugout👋
How is going?

I created a mod that adds all notes and audio logs from latest Almanac Zone Memory to the in-game PDA.
At the moment, it only includes Ukrainian voice-over, original Ukrainian texts, and original images. Many people are interested in the project and are already translating my mod into other languages.

If you’re interested in creating an English voice-over for this mod, please let me know!

Zone Memory - Global - Gameplay Text Notes
Zone Memory - UA - Gameplay Audiologs
Available on Nexus

Thank you!

instead of addressing the issue of plot holes, they simply filled them with fast-binding cement, awesome

the biggest issue with the lore changes for me was the artifacts not working outside of the zone. that kind of removes all reason for loners and mercs even being in the zone. bandits, ecologists, military, monolith,  duty and freedom make sense but without artifacts there's no reason for people outside the local area being in the zone. the lack of smuggling artifacts for money means almost no one would travel to the zone there's nothing to be gained . and with no one traveling to the zone means all the non military/ ecologists would die out from the fighting.

It's a shame that the Almanac has so many mistakes and inconsistencies, it's genuinely such a cool project with so much juicy lore, with everything consolidated in one place, this would have been the perfect chance to establish a definitive canon timeline once and for all. Well maybe it is exactly that, they could still update the game to make everything consistent, but let's face it, that's probably not going to happen. I'm still very glad we got it, but figuring out what exactly takes precedence is going to be a major headache from now on

It seems the canon of STALKER is something of an anomaly.

At least this youtube channel stayed true to itself ❤

Captured Monolithian: You'll never get me to talk!
Stalker: get the 2000 videos of AD trying to piece the puzzles of STALKER 2 and the OG STALKER lore and story..

Scar being agent when first entering Swamps was crazy too

Your critique is valid - I think the main problem is GSC trying to push the franchise further and further, but too quickly for editors to fact-check and actually keep up with it. If we're speaking from the point of promotional marketing they doing 200% of what is required imo, but quality of that promotion itself is...  well... Their main priority is game of course, so I honestly take everything else with the grain of salt - the whole almanac case is a mess on its own, not only they underestimated the amount of people who would try to get the whole collection - it was also probably 95% made by a 3rd parties and not GSC themselves (which is again, understandable, as they are currently pushing patches and DLC). I wonder how many GSC employees are actually in a "story department" - as far as I know, they have an ongoing recruitment for narrative designer and game writer for a hot minute now (I check now and then, don't judge me lmao). Nevertheless, I'm not sure that "let's just push merchandise stuff" is a good tactic when it's done halfheartedly. I'm not against that and don't mind supporting it financially, but please, GSC, make it more thoughtful than it is nowadays...

Myklukha honestly looked like a npc placeholder model before so I'm glad to see him get something custom sculpted. I think the leader of Freedom deserves something like that, but I agree with you overall. Some things are to be expected with time, some things might be careless typos made by GSC or their partners with supplemental material, but IF that is the case it would be nice if they would acknowledged it and provide errata at min. Stalker is great at keeping things mysterious that should be mysterious, but some stuff seems like clerical errors not setting the tone.

Happy you mentioned it dude, you of all stalker fans deserve straight answers so you can continue sharing with the rest of us. Hopefully GSC listens n straightens up

GSC shouldn't become Befesda.
One of the reasons I love S.T.A.L.K.E.R is that you have solid fact you are theorize out from and if that's being broken, that sucks.

I have hope tho.

к сожалению долгострой всегда приводит к этому, бесконечные смены концептов, смены движков, течение времени и в следствие смена сотрудников за десятилетия производства игры, итого выходят разработчики, черпающие лор игры своей франшизы с фанатских вики полных фейков, а сами разработчики это чисто работники, которые приходят по графику и уходят, вместо того, чтобы любить свой продукт. такой подход относится не только к сталкеру 2, но и в принципе к огромному количеству современных игр, время энтузиазма в играх почти кончилось

A.D. thanks for all the hard work. You are probably one of my favorite STALKER content creators because you have made accessible what once was relegated to the STALKER russian wiki. The state of the STALKER english wiki is just terrible .

I agree that GSC really should get their writing staff and tell them to get their shit together on the lore. I love the Elder Scrolls but since Morrowind having such a fluid canon has worked against them and actively devalued the uniqueness of the setting.

There’s so much dedication to the whole stalker universe & its lore. This channel alone I’m sure has spent hundreds of hours in deep research & making videos of the lore. Along with its fan base that has believed the same lore & facts that have been true since the early 2010s. For GSC to start picking and choosing what to get rid of and what to replace, they could do much better.

I love the way your voice can amplify the mystery of the stories you tell ❤

I think the simple answer is - game takes priority over any other secondary promotional and merch materials. All of the merch is subcontracted to other companies with some minimal oversight from GSC.

The publishers of the art book probably asked “When does Scar’s story begin?” and GSC answered “End of summer 2011” since in the story Scar wakes up on Sep 10th, but we don’t know when Nimble found him, or when his trip to the Swamps even began.

The D4 and other big “retcons” are probably mistakes because, if we are being honest, the devil will break his leg trying to walk the STALKER canon. Low level employees are for sure not lore experts, so the entire book canon depends on how well the GSC employee knew canon when book publisher asked them about specific events.

Thank you for making this video. The situation frustrates me too. I wish they'd take the time to make sure their information lines up, but it seems they aren't paying close enough attention. How do you release an almanac with bad information? It's just disappointing...

I think this is an issue of those involved on the games not paying attention and now years later, 'fixing' assumed issues and actual others. It can grow bigger an issue if there is no foundation to reference from to begin with. It could be worse, it could be Warhammer where it really can't be taken seriously because everything is retconned eventually.

I'm just wondering if the Bungie approach of 'the games take precedent over supplementary material' regarding canonisity should be looked at with the Stalker games too.