Game:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (2009)

Duration: 0:00

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Instead of immediately going back to Jupiter and Zaton like I did in the previous version I posted, this time I decided to go ahead and follow Colonel Kovaskly's plea to go check on the last position of a four-man squad he had sent out earlier. As I approached the location, I did not detect anyone alive. As I had taken a shortcut through the nearby apartment building, I was able to arrive at the scene, while still inside the stairwell where I could see one body. I climbed the stairs a few levels and could eventually see all four dead.

Going down among them triggered a cutscene where I reported back to Colonel Kovalsky about the missing patrol. Before I could do anything more, Kovalsky said there was information about a Monolith stronghold at the Book Store, and that he was sending men to meet me there. Now this is quite an annoying move. It would seem like I would be allowed to gather up all the loot and bring it back to the Laundromat and then we would talk in person about what to do next and who would be joining me.

Only when I arrived back at the Laundromat and noticed that Vano and Sokolov were missing, and I saw everyone else did I realize that was the only men he had sent. Two men to take on a large unidentified number of Monolith? Two men that weren't even under your command? In his defense, Kovalsky did just lose six men. Two with me earlier and the 4-man squad that were all killed. That left only nine of them, not counting all they had lost from the 5 helicopters. However, it does seem like a dick move to send out so few as if he didn't expect anyone to return, so why send out the last few of your own me, I guess.

I quickly set out to catch up with Vano and Sokolov, feeling even more responsible for what was happening to them since I brough them to Pripyat with me. I catch up with them down the main boulevard, standing by a derelict bus being attacked by rodents. Luckily, they seem immune, and I question why GSC created this scene other than to make me kill them carefully ( no shotgun ) without also shooting Vano and Sokolov. We are soon on our way to the Book Store just on the west side of the Boulevard.

I detect a lot of Monolith inside and just going up to the windows, we immediately get into a firefight. About half a dozen are killed in the main room and the hallway beyond. We get to another passage with a stairway and there are double doors leading to another room where the rest of the Monolith are. The doors prompt be to open them, but they don't work. I go up the stairs and find three narrow windows and I attempt to throw grenades through them, but unlike real life where I know how to throw something out a window, the video game has a disconnect where you think you are going to do something simple, but it doesn't work. The grenades get stuck on the windowsill and I have to comically retreat around the corner twice.

Finally, I throw some that work but are not very effective. The Monolith are below where I can see, closer to the door. I repeatedly jump up firing my AKS-74U down through the window into them, until they are all dead. I go down below and join Vano and Sokolov outside the door, but they have no dialogue and my PDA map and mission prompt show me I have not completed the task to eradicate the Monolith despite none being alive. I am uncertain what to do next as the door will not open, even though it appears it should. For that reason, I decide to end the video here for now. Am I going to have to redo the whole mission again due to some glitchy doors?

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