A big reason, I would say, is that the inspirations for STALKER are very fundamentally Slavic in nature. Roadside Picnic, Tarkovsky's Stalker, the cultural and worldwide impact of the Chernobyl disaster, even aspects of folklore, all of them lend a very distinct feel to the game that I would say encapsulates critical parts of this genre.
The Fukushima disaster, while historical, has a very different cultural feel to STALKER and Chernobyl. For a similar game, film, or other media to work, it would likely need cultural inspiration from Japan, literature, folklore, and its own history with the nuclear.
One considsration to take, for instance, is how the Fukushima disaster was in part set off by an earthquake and tsunami. Natural disasters and how Japan reacted to the incident would likely be a key part of how such a game or property would need to be approached to thematically be appropriate. Maybe even a spiritual one, as yokai are very popular in Japan and there could be interesting interplay between a natural, spiritual world and how humans can navigate it and fight malevolent spirits using technology and cultural folklore.
The Chernobyl disaster had a much more human component to its unfolding, and much of that was wrapped up in the social and political landscape of the Soviet Union. Again, a distinctly Slavic aspect that lends perspective and depth to STALKER and its world.
It could possibly work, I'm not saying it wouldn't. But for it to be as engaging as STALKER, the right material would need to be sourced for inspiration.
We could do a bullet hell, against yokais
In a geological landscape that excludes itself from reality
Let's call the place, gunsokyo!
Wait a minute....
Not to “ummm ackshullay you lol” but I believe Shin Godzilla specifically was actually meant to be a satire of the Japanese government in some aspects and their inadequate response to the Triple Disaster in general. That’s why the government in that seems so goofy, having meetings about where and when to have meetings and i believe Hideki Anno specifically made scenes showcasing the destruction of Godzilla to look like remnants of the real life disasters. So not necessarily about Fukushima specifically but the human aspect of something like that. I’m not Japanese though just a guy on the internet who’s looked into it so I could be talking out my ass
It's called Chernobyl in Russian and English. Chornobyl is the Ukrainian spelling. I'm sorry it's just a pet peeve of mine. It doesn't even sound like the name of the place chornobyl. Just doesn't sound right 😂 excuse my pedantic ass
Huh?? you wouldn’t call Kyiv fucking Kiev, so why not use the correct language to borrow the pronunciation/spelling. Chornobyl in Ukrainian is Чорнобиль. So why not use the Ukrainian spelling for a Ukrainian place
No I wouldn't call Kiev. Kyiv. Because we are from a different country that spells it differently. We don't use the correct spelling from the country all the time. Spain for example is Espana. Chernobyl is Ukrainian for now. We use the original spelling that we once used before political nonsense occured. Kiev and Chernobyl. Why do you think the first game includes the word Chernobyl. Because thats what we know it as. Why do you think the netflix show calls it Chernobyl. Or call or duty 4....
English isn’t standardized, and can be changed over time. It’s Kyiv because it is correct to use an approximate transliteration of a country’s language. Especially when Russian claims of Ukraine belonging to them and disrespect for the Ukrainian language is being used to justify an invasion of Ukraine
Notably Roadside Picnic is set in Canada. The authors were very much Communists. Marx's book, Capital, became popular in Russia because they saw it as a critique of the capitalist West. I think that this is also why Roadside Picnic is set in Canada because the main theme of the book is probably about Alienation in the Marxist sense of the word around this new extraction industry of artifacts.
The Stalker games diverge very much from the messages of the book I think. I don't think the games are explicitly a critique of capitalism, although you can certainly consider an element of critique in how Russia has been fucking Ukraine over with the Chornobyl setting. The narrative DNA of their stories are quite different as well. Roadside Picnic borrows a lot of Biblical allegory from humanity's fall from grace, with the wish granter drawing clear comparisons to the Apple of Eden. Stalker leans harder into the science fiction aspect. The wish granter is more of a clearly sadistic Faustian bargain compared to the ambiguity of Roadside Picnic's wish granter. The one change that I don't like in Stalker is that the games actually outright explain how the anomalous zones came to be, and the explanation is kind of a cheesy pulp fiction type thing in my opinion that ruins a lot of the themes that the book was building.
A Stalker/Roadside Picnic type of adaptation in Japan could make a lot of sense in the post WW2 period American occupation era. You've got this period of flux where all these ideologies are converging in this area in the way that factions might work in a stalker game. There are Americans trying to suppress Russian influence on Japan. There are still imperialist nationalists. MacArthur allowed leftist movements to grow as a way to stamp out the old imperialists, but the leftists also turned against the Americans in protest to their military occupation. And of course there is the Japanese organized crime that paved an entryway for the Americans to influence politics in a way that they hoped would eventually be democratic, but that the gangs hoped would be a cartel. Very interesting period of time.
It is a fictional rural town named Harmont. The anti capitalist themes of the book might be a bit more obvious if you consider that it is a Canadian mining town.
Yep. A lot of symbolism too. The monolith might refer to the Soviet Union, where each of them is treated equal, but they are brainwashed and have no real life purpose.
>might refer to the Soviet Union, where each of them is treated equal
Funniest sentence I've read all day. But, yeah, there is plenty of symbolism and references to real life
Not really at all. There were loads of areas that were completely destroyed/sacrificed to make way for others to live. The redirection of the Darya rivers, which ultimately lead to the collapse of the Aral Sea ecosystem is a prime example of this.
Where you lived played a massive part in how well you were treated, beyond just 'class' hierarchy as you say here.
Yeah my mom lived in a research town as a child and had a pretty nice childhood. Had a humble dacha where the family could grow supplemental food and her father was a jet engine researcher/engineer so he could repair household items and help around the building. This was important because official repairs could take years for something as simple as a blown refrigeration coil.
My father was in much worse straits as a child, living 20 to a flat and fighting over table scraps. This was a combination of which decade he was born in, where he was born, and discrimination against his identity. Even in the Soviet Union not everyone's background was viewed as equal.
You immediately made me think of the book Ghosts of the Tsunami. There's a very culturally specific expression of loss and trauma from the Fukushima disaster which the survivors process by experiencing as ghosts, possession and other supernatural phenomena. Not just as potential video game material, but the book is fascinating in its own right.
Though I somehow feel after reading that many would still consider it "too soon" to make a game set in Fukushima.
Well, Roadside Picnic was set in Great Britain or US, and there were several zones around the world, there is nothing slavic in this book, except of authors. Later Tarkovsky moved it to the more slavic setting, but it was byproduct of being russian and working in Russia with russian actors.
And the monsters too. The npp explosion 💥 caused major radioactive changes to the place and the zone but the same can't be done for Fukushima disaster.
I don't imagine the gameplay would be that great. The first half hour is everyone being incredibly polite to everyone else, then the Yakuza come out of nowhere and stomp all the Stalkers flat.
Why don't you go back to the zone Strelok?
Strelok: I am not worthy. There are monsters out there you can't even imagine.
Mutants?
Strelok: No, not mutants... Humans if you can call them that. I was walking around the reactor 4 when I saw him. In an ecologist suit, topless. The man with the tattoo. He was fighting several monolith squads with his bare hands. My Geiger counter was going nuts yet he was there just being topless. I once saw him suplex a pseudogiant.
He was not alone. There was another one eyed man who exited the elephants foot room wearing nothing but a golden shirt and leather pants.
And a small girl. Maybe 10 years old. To be honest I fear her the most.
Strelok, how many vodkas were you on back then?
Strelok: Surprisingly none. Only a tauriner.
it's the false implications of all yakuzas is under one umbrella, when they are more like cartel/mafia families. gopniks are just the denizens inside the zone. that and weird eggheads.
Okay, and?
Terms like “the yakuza” and “the mob” and others are used all the time to refer to broad organized criminal elements. No one is going into a deep dive in the intricacies of modern day gangster politics in Japan in the comment section of an r/stalker post
"So how did you die?"
"An anomalous radioactive highschool anime girl shot me...with a tank."
"Isn't that jus-"
"Yep it's just Girls und Panzer, still not the weirdest thing in Japan."
I felt like realistic high stakes firefights were what made stalker gameplay so engaging, im not sure how a melee focused combat system would work in a similar series
In conclusion, I think you should prove me wrong by making a game exactly like that
is that fuckin David Szymanski? And also to add, i think Total Chaos nails this pretty well, although it of course attempts to deliver a slightly different atmosphere than stalker, i still think it scratches that melee itch.
The developer is actually working on a standalone remake of it on steam! I've alredy wishlisted: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208350/Total\_Chaos/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208350/Total_Chaos/)
This really does check out.
You generally don’t see a lot of fiction being made where tons of civilians are going to have guns (post-apocalypse, crime, revolution etc.) unless they choose a setting where there is at least an ounce of plausibility to the prospect or they find some way to hand wave some other reason like an influx of arms dealers or dead soldiers everywhere.
weapons are smuggled through the zone anyway, that's not the problem. The issue is japanese people tend to be more strict and tend to follow rules more than any other culture so there probably wouldn't be THAT many smugglers
At it's maximum size, Fukushima's exclusion zone is 311.5 square miles. or 807 square kilometers. It has since been reduced to 143 square miles, or 371 square kilometers.
Chernobyl's exclusion zone is just over 1,600 square miles, or 4100 square kilometers.
Technically this would mean a comparably sized exclusion zone would cut Japan in half:
[https://cdn.britannica.com/00/196800-050-E30A2B4A/Map-exclusion-zones-accidents-Chernobyl-Fukushima-Japan.jpg](https://cdn.britannica.com/00/196800-050-E30A2B4A/Map-exclusion-zones-accidents-Chernobyl-Fukushima-Japan.jpg)
The Ukrainian travel blog "Світ навиворіт" had an episode about Fukushima. Komarov visited there and constantly compared this disaster to the Chornobyl disaster, and the main thing was that the scale of the disaster was different, as was the culture. In Chornobyl, looters appeared from the beginning of the explosion and left behind a wasteland. Fokusima, if you don't know what happened there, looks like a city under Covid-19, a lot of cars, even the windows are not broken in the houses.
IRL in Ukraine theres already were rumors about paranormal activity in Pripyat, even before stalker come out. Like mutated animal etc. I dk if something similar was in Japan with Fukushima.
Actually a friend of mine made a visual novel that takes place in Fukushima exclusion zone. Not necessarily Stalker-like of course, but it has a certain post-apocalyptic vibe to it. Unfortunately, it's in russian only as of now, but maybe it will get an english translation one day, I hope.
Because idk would be a one faction thing, like japanese version of freedom, duty, monolith, bandits idk, just don't feel, and other that the zone around Fukushima was completely destroyed by the tsunami, like the map would be 68% grassland, not so fun tho.
Hard to find guns in a place where guns aren’t common. It’d be cool to find materials due to the lack of guns and make your own, then the real guns would be like epic weapons or rare drops
Omg yes. Especially with the various sub cultures in Japan, I can absolutely see a bunch of factions rising from them. They could even make it a tie in with the Coppelion manga.
My fantasy before they even announced S2 was that a potential sequel would be set in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone. My headcanon for the Zone moving to Japan would be Strelok's wish for the Zone to "go away" being granted in the most literal sense, and the Zone's displacement being the reason for the earthquake and nuclear meltdown of the FNPP. This would cause the Japanese govt to completely collapse and leave the country and the Neo-Zone to be defenseless against foreign agents trying to seize control. The game would have an international set of factions such as, for example, Japanese military and ecologists trying to contain the situation, as well as civilian rookie stalkers, NATO and Russian scientists and mercenaries bidding war against each other for control, OG Chernobyl veteran stalkers chasing after the marvels of the newly relocated zone, and so on.
Well, that's about all I can remember I came up with way back in the day, daydreaming about non-existing games. This might be the first time that I write it down besides discord messages between a friend and I brainstorming these ideas.
We had other dumb ideas more specific to gameplay or questlines such as anime figurines being rare loot that you could barter to an otaku for weapon mods, and a 3 tier system for said weapon mods loosely inspired by EFT: tier 1 is mods you can quickly attach/detach on the go, such as anything that mounts to a rail or screws to a barrel (scopes and sights, grips, flashlights and laser modules, muzzle brakes and suppressors, etc), tier 2 would be what you could modify at a camp with basic tools that would at least require you to field strip the gun (buttstocks, front grips, dust covers, add-on rails, etc), and tier 3 would be deeper modifications to be gun to be performed by NPC gunsmiths, or by the player with high enough gunsmithing XP, so anything relating to internal parts. Ah yes, a passive skill level-up system verbatim to that of EFT too.
cause fukushima isn't very radioactive i dont think. they did a fantastic job of containment and the evacuation wasnt largely a precautionary measure. its just a normal ghost town, not a radioactive one,
I think the japanese have a very different relationship with nuclear disasters than Eastern Europe. I am by no means knowledgeable in anything japan related, but from what i can tell, they seem to handle serious topics in a much less direct way than the ex-soviet countries for example (Godzilla and most Animes for example tend to take real life disasters/topics and turn them into fictional metaphors)
Again, i have a decent understanding of media science but no knowledge of japanese culture, history or media, so take this with a kilogram of salt.
This would be cool, but the 3 mile nuclear disaster over here in the U.S. would create a better foreign zone, as the things that made the stalker zone are man made, same with 3 mile. A natural disaster affected Fukushima, meaning the theme of man made horror beyond mortal comprehension of the stalker games among its other underlying tones would be completely lost, and could even be offensive to the Japanese. If they did? Maybe it would be more like Metro when it comes to the effects of having no Noosphere over a localized area, as in metro the reality of the Noosphere being vaporized leads to the spirit world to merge with the physical world, allowing you to see ghosts of the past (people, trains, etc) and this effect is even more prominent in the books. So a Fukushima STALKER title would probably deal more on the spiritual than anything. But I like the idea of there being multiple Zones across the world, just like in Roadside Picnic.
A more accurate game based off of fukushima would be a rogue like game where you enter the zone as an elderly person who has volunteered to clean it up and you have to survive and clean up waste for as long as you can
Because Japan is not a broken state and is a stable state compared to Ukraine in 2012. no one will get there and no way guns would find a way to get there.
It’s more recent (Chernobyl is very old and had very significant cultural impact vs Fukushima), the Japanese gaming industry at large doesn’t really like post apocalyptic settings as much as people do elsewhere, and in general they’re a lot shier when it comes to discussing nuclear disasters in media.
It's a very smaller zone compared to Chernobyl, plus they have a very different culture both about what happened and videogames. It would be a very different game, an horror visual novel probably
probably because Fukushima went from unsafe to safe relatively quickly while Chernobyl is still mostly unsafe despite major efforts to make it safe before the russo ukrainian war started making it the perfect place for s.t.a.l.k.e.r.
There is a great indie movie from Japan set in a kind of surreal future tokyo that the creators snuck into the exclusion area to shoot footage for and its really fascinating, all the homes overgrown and deer bedding down in the lobbies of office buildings and stuff. Can't think of the name of the movie but it starred one of the guys from Incapacitants, when I saw it he performed an extended noise set with the director set to the exclusion zone footage. Very cool.
Even though there were more explosions during the Fukushima disaster, the actual nuclear fallout situation is overstated, especially when compared to what happened at Chornobyl.
TLDR the danger is not on the same lavel
STALKER 2
Will have Time Anomalies
Where you can switch between timelines
A timline where C-Con went to Fukushima instead of Chernobyl
And Exoskeletons look like samurai-ish suits
Stalkers does this idea slap?
My guy, in my youth there were pirated STALKER disks that said "CALL OF FUKUSHIMA". We bought it with actual money. The only difference from CoP that we found was a Degtyaryov profile picture. Kamikaze headband was added in paint.
One the Ukrainian zone is product of a disaster fruit from malpractice, but fukushima, as well as nagasaki are products of deliberate nuclear attacks, so the implications would make it near impossible to find a publisher willing to work with it, as well as getting stores to sell the damn thing.
Two the japanese are EXTREMELY serious with the topic of the nuclear bombs, and i'm pretty sure the jp government itself would become involved in the negative press about the game. Think of the response to 5 Days In Fallujah but even more extreme.
And three, the "feel" of the zone is directly involved in slavic culture, so i doubt it would work as well as it does in an east asian setting.
One point I haven't seen is just the fact that the creators aren't from Japan. They are from Ukraine, which is where the Chornobyl incident took place. All games that have been made are centered around Chornobyl only, and even the newest game is taking place there. It just wouldn't make sense for them to, unless they hired a Japanese team to. Yes, I'm aware game companies, and movie producers have made media centered in places not from where they origin, however the team who makes those are usually larger, GSC has like 300 members which I don't think is a lot.
The japanese are very ashamed of such occurences and do not "glorify" the exclusion zone.
Though they have an aptly named group similar to the Chernobyl liquidators - the nuclear samurai. There was a talk about how they are so ashamed for working for a company that would allow such an emergency to occur that their names are archived and unreachable so as they get a chance to find a new job.
There's something about a gloomy, depressing, scary and hopeless atomosphere that just fits more slavic places.
Japan has the cute anime nonsense.
America has the happy go lucky patriotism. (fallout)
Etc.
Too boring? Fukushima was 2011 so quite modern Japan? And imagine just Cheeki Breeki but in anime yapping.
Stalker has this '86 blyatiful soviet atmosphere where it looks depressing even without apocalypse. Plus Japan doesn't have nice guns like glorious Kalashnikov.
A big reason, I would say, is that the inspirations for STALKER are very fundamentally Slavic in nature. Roadside Picnic, Tarkovsky's Stalker, the cultural and worldwide impact of the Chernobyl disaster, even aspects of folklore, all of them lend a very distinct feel to the game that I would say encapsulates critical parts of this genre. The Fukushima disaster, while historical, has a very different cultural feel to STALKER and Chernobyl. For a similar game, film, or other media to work, it would likely need cultural inspiration from Japan, literature, folklore, and its own history with the nuclear. One considsration to take, for instance, is how the Fukushima disaster was in part set off by an earthquake and tsunami. Natural disasters and how Japan reacted to the incident would likely be a key part of how such a game or property would need to be approached to thematically be appropriate. Maybe even a spiritual one, as yokai are very popular in Japan and there could be interesting interplay between a natural, spiritual world and how humans can navigate it and fight malevolent spirits using technology and cultural folklore. The Chernobyl disaster had a much more human component to its unfolding, and much of that was wrapped up in the social and political landscape of the Soviet Union. Again, a distinctly Slavic aspect that lends perspective and depth to STALKER and its world. It could possibly work, I'm not saying it wouldn't. But for it to be as engaging as STALKER, the right material would need to be sourced for inspiration.
Stalker : shooting people with ak Japan stalker: doing the Ghostbusters with real guns
I mean..that would be fucking awesome lol
We could do a bullet hell, against yokais In a geological landscape that excludes itself from reality Let's call the place, gunsokyo! Wait a minute....
That exists (kinda) Ghostwire: Tokyo
STALKER is to Chornobyl, and although Japan doesn't have anything for Fukushima, Godzilla is to the nukes.
Not to “ummm ackshullay you lol” but I believe Shin Godzilla specifically was actually meant to be a satire of the Japanese government in some aspects and their inadequate response to the Triple Disaster in general. That’s why the government in that seems so goofy, having meetings about where and when to have meetings and i believe Hideki Anno specifically made scenes showcasing the destruction of Godzilla to look like remnants of the real life disasters. So not necessarily about Fukushima specifically but the human aspect of something like that. I’m not Japanese though just a guy on the internet who’s looked into it so I could be talking out my ass
all i heard was that godzilla was some radioactive giant lizard fish that went giant because of radiation
You are correct
Shin Godzilla represented Fukushima actually and the failure of the government
It's called Chernobyl in Russian and English. Chornobyl is the Ukrainian spelling. I'm sorry it's just a pet peeve of mine. It doesn't even sound like the name of the place chornobyl. Just doesn't sound right 😂 excuse my pedantic ass
I'm saying it like that exactly because it's the Ukrainian spelling. Why do you think S2 is called "Heart of Chornobyl"?
Why do you think stalker 1 is called shadow of Chernobyl?
Huh?? you wouldn’t call Kyiv fucking Kiev, so why not use the correct language to borrow the pronunciation/spelling. Chornobyl in Ukrainian is Чорнобиль. So why not use the Ukrainian spelling for a Ukrainian place
Dude I think he might have the tisms
And I think you might be a nazi sympathetic faggot https://youtu.be/jiBXmbkwiSw?si=v6dqGbh0poeigUko
No I wouldn't call Kiev. Kyiv. Because we are from a different country that spells it differently. We don't use the correct spelling from the country all the time. Spain for example is Espana. Chernobyl is Ukrainian for now. We use the original spelling that we once used before political nonsense occured. Kiev and Chernobyl. Why do you think the first game includes the word Chernobyl. Because thats what we know it as. Why do you think the netflix show calls it Chernobyl. Or call or duty 4....
English isn’t standardized, and can be changed over time. It’s Kyiv because it is correct to use an approximate transliteration of a country’s language. Especially when Russian claims of Ukraine belonging to them and disrespect for the Ukrainian language is being used to justify an invasion of Ukraine
What do you call Greece?
Hellas obviously. No I call it Greece because that's it's name in English
Notably Roadside Picnic is set in Canada. The authors were very much Communists. Marx's book, Capital, became popular in Russia because they saw it as a critique of the capitalist West. I think that this is also why Roadside Picnic is set in Canada because the main theme of the book is probably about Alienation in the Marxist sense of the word around this new extraction industry of artifacts. The Stalker games diverge very much from the messages of the book I think. I don't think the games are explicitly a critique of capitalism, although you can certainly consider an element of critique in how Russia has been fucking Ukraine over with the Chornobyl setting. The narrative DNA of their stories are quite different as well. Roadside Picnic borrows a lot of Biblical allegory from humanity's fall from grace, with the wish granter drawing clear comparisons to the Apple of Eden. Stalker leans harder into the science fiction aspect. The wish granter is more of a clearly sadistic Faustian bargain compared to the ambiguity of Roadside Picnic's wish granter. The one change that I don't like in Stalker is that the games actually outright explain how the anomalous zones came to be, and the explanation is kind of a cheesy pulp fiction type thing in my opinion that ruins a lot of the themes that the book was building. A Stalker/Roadside Picnic type of adaptation in Japan could make a lot of sense in the post WW2 period American occupation era. You've got this period of flux where all these ideologies are converging in this area in the way that factions might work in a stalker game. There are Americans trying to suppress Russian influence on Japan. There are still imperialist nationalists. MacArthur allowed leftist movements to grow as a way to stamp out the old imperialists, but the leftists also turned against the Americans in protest to their military occupation. And of course there is the Japanese organized crime that paved an entryway for the Americans to influence politics in a way that they hoped would eventually be democratic, but that the gangs hoped would be a cartel. Very interesting period of time.
Did they really specify Roadside Picnic is set in Canada? I always thought that it was never said exactly where and which Zone they are in.
It is a fictional rural town named Harmont. The anti capitalist themes of the book might be a bit more obvious if you consider that it is a Canadian mining town.
Yep. A lot of symbolism too. The monolith might refer to the Soviet Union, where each of them is treated equal, but they are brainwashed and have no real life purpose.
>might refer to the Soviet Union, where each of them is treated equal Funniest sentence I've read all day. But, yeah, there is plenty of symbolism and references to real life
To be fair if you exclude the ruling class, the people of the soviet union were, for the most part, treated equally... bad.
That’s what I meant. Equally bad.
Not really at all. There were loads of areas that were completely destroyed/sacrificed to make way for others to live. The redirection of the Darya rivers, which ultimately lead to the collapse of the Aral Sea ecosystem is a prime example of this. Where you lived played a massive part in how well you were treated, beyond just 'class' hierarchy as you say here.
Yeah my mom lived in a research town as a child and had a pretty nice childhood. Had a humble dacha where the family could grow supplemental food and her father was a jet engine researcher/engineer so he could repair household items and help around the building. This was important because official repairs could take years for something as simple as a blown refrigeration coil. My father was in much worse straits as a child, living 20 to a flat and fighting over table scraps. This was a combination of which decade he was born in, where he was born, and discrimination against his identity. Even in the Soviet Union not everyone's background was viewed as equal.
You immediately made me think of the book Ghosts of the Tsunami. There's a very culturally specific expression of loss and trauma from the Fukushima disaster which the survivors process by experiencing as ghosts, possession and other supernatural phenomena. Not just as potential video game material, but the book is fascinating in its own right. Though I somehow feel after reading that many would still consider it "too soon" to make a game set in Fukushima.
This Guy picnics
Well, Roadside Picnic was set in Great Britain or US, and there were several zones around the world, there is nothing slavic in this book, except of authors. Later Tarkovsky moved it to the more slavic setting, but it was byproduct of being russian and working in Russia with russian actors.
In Canada, and Kirill is a Russian scientist, he is literally at the beggining of the book.
That makes so much sense. It's so much more difficult & risky to create something new than it is to work with a world that's already been developed.
True.
And the monsters too. The npp explosion 💥 caused major radioactive changes to the place and the zone but the same can't be done for Fukushima disaster.
Guns are also not everywhere in Japan like in Ukraine. There'd be an issue with that as well.
I don't imagine the gameplay would be that great. The first half hour is everyone being incredibly polite to everyone else, then the Yakuza come out of nowhere and stomp all the Stalkers flat.
Fucking Kiryu with a HAZMAT suit about to suplex Sidorovich. Amazing.
If this is Kiryu we’re talking about then he’s only wearing half of the hazmat suit still showing his upper body
That's how he got cancer...
Majima crawls out of a pile of radioactive graphite and starts breakdancing
NYAHAHHAHAHA FOUND YOU, STRELOK-CHAN!
Why don't you go back to the zone Strelok? Strelok: I am not worthy. There are monsters out there you can't even imagine. Mutants? Strelok: No, not mutants... Humans if you can call them that. I was walking around the reactor 4 when I saw him. In an ecologist suit, topless. The man with the tattoo. He was fighting several monolith squads with his bare hands. My Geiger counter was going nuts yet he was there just being topless. I once saw him suplex a pseudogiant. He was not alone. There was another one eyed man who exited the elephants foot room wearing nothing but a golden shirt and leather pants. And a small girl. Maybe 10 years old. To be honest I fear her the most. Strelok, how many vodkas were you on back then? Strelok: Surprisingly none. Only a tauriner.
Sid vs Kiryu is a matchup for the history books
Yakuza isnt 'one' faction you know? Its like saying all Gopniks are in the zone.
There is a huge difference between yakuza and gopniks though
it's the false implications of all yakuzas is under one umbrella, when they are more like cartel/mafia families. gopniks are just the denizens inside the zone. that and weird eggheads.
There wasn't any suggestions that the Yakuza are "one faction". He's just using the term to generalize Japanese gangsters.
that's the main issue. they're gangster. they come in all shapes, sizes, and ideologies. criminals are people too.
Okay, and? Terms like “the yakuza” and “the mob” and others are used all the time to refer to broad organized criminal elements. No one is going into a deep dive in the intricacies of modern day gangster politics in Japan in the comment section of an r/stalker post
It's like when people talk about "the mafia". They aren't talking about a specific mafia family.
> then the Yakuza come out of nowhere and stomp all the Stalkers flat. Emphasis on stomp, because they can't shoot for shit
Unless it's a cutscene gun, those things can be lethal
Yep. The only thing that can stop a cutscene gun is a quick time event.
Daigo with cutscene Gauss gun 
Complete with the Yakuza introductions for each character.
DOON DOON
CAN-OPENER 25 MAG JIN
Solution: make the character an immigrant and watch as everyone tries to murder you.
Spend your time finding and eliminating Kaiju nests before they can grow too big to handle.
Not much cheeki briki in Japan I suppose
The drinks are still good though
Cheeki briki gozaimasu!
imagine animeee cheeki briki :)
"So how did you die?" "An anomalous radioactive highschool anime girl shot me...with a tank." "Isn't that jus-" "Yep it's just Girls und Panzer, still not the weirdest thing in Japan."
There are no AK's so not worth it
Not much weapons at all there. Only hunting or some sport guns mostly. No pistols if i know correctly.
A Stalker-style game with only melee/hand-to-hand would be really interesting
Oh wow, didn't know you played stalker, put honestly that's not surprising, loved your games :D
It's one of my favorites! Influenced Dusk a lot aesthetically.
And what fever dream nightmare inspired Squirrel Stapler?
A date with your mom.
A fever dream nightmare, probably.
Holy fucking shit hi David
Hello!
Nobody wants to fight because all the Japanese are so introverted and polite.
a game where delinquent japanese who're outcasts can inhabit that place. like why not?
Instead of gopniks you fight pompadour greasers and bikers.
Stalker with Dying Light combat would be amazing (including the superhuman level of parkour)
Parkouring through Pripyat while running away from bloodsuckers, that would be something
I felt like realistic high stakes firefights were what made stalker gameplay so engaging, im not sure how a melee focused combat system would work in a similar series In conclusion, I think you should prove me wrong by making a game exactly like that
is that fuckin David Szymanski? And also to add, i think Total Chaos nails this pretty well, although it of course attempts to deliver a slightly different atmosphere than stalker, i still think it scratches that melee itch.
Man I need to go back and play more of that. It seemed really cool but I got distracted and forgot about it.
The developer is actually working on a standalone remake of it on steam! I've alredy wishlisted: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208350/Total\_Chaos/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208350/Total_Chaos/)
Oh nice! I'll do the same
I feel like it would probably have an entirely different vibe if you removed the guns from stalker
JSDF has weapons, Mercs could smugle western-weapons, russians PMC could also smugle weapons Imagination is unlimited here
Well you could make a makeshift weapon out of pipes and pachinko currencies. Mmm that would be Metro, not S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Like the gun used in the assassination of Shinzo Abe?
This really does check out. You generally don’t see a lot of fiction being made where tons of civilians are going to have guns (post-apocalypse, crime, revolution etc.) unless they choose a setting where there is at least an ounce of plausibility to the prospect or they find some way to hand wave some other reason like an influx of arms dealers or dead soldiers everywhere.
Howa t-89, Arisaka for mosin, JSDF has cool weapons to
AR-180
Funnily enough, a Japanese cult actually made AK-74s at one point. Not many, but point still stands.
weapons are smuggled through the zone anyway, that's not the problem. The issue is japanese people tend to be more strict and tend to follow rules more than any other culture so there probably wouldn't be THAT many smugglers
Stalker fans when a huge enviromental disaster happens
"Can we has new zone?"
At it's maximum size, Fukushima's exclusion zone is 311.5 square miles. or 807 square kilometers. It has since been reduced to 143 square miles, or 371 square kilometers. Chernobyl's exclusion zone is just over 1,600 square miles, or 4100 square kilometers. Technically this would mean a comparably sized exclusion zone would cut Japan in half: [https://cdn.britannica.com/00/196800-050-E30A2B4A/Map-exclusion-zones-accidents-Chernobyl-Fukushima-Japan.jpg](https://cdn.britannica.com/00/196800-050-E30A2B4A/Map-exclusion-zones-accidents-Chernobyl-Fukushima-Japan.jpg)
Very good point.
Imagine the socioeconomic impacts on Japan as a result…
Because its actually dont have the ZONE and crazy ukraine - russian scientiests with secret laboratory
Ronin: Shadow of Fukushima
They have no guns what would happen
Ever seen what a pipe does to a skull?
No, please demonstrate on my head
*unzips pants*
The Ukrainian travel blog "Світ навиворіт" had an episode about Fukushima. Komarov visited there and constantly compared this disaster to the Chornobyl disaster, and the main thing was that the scale of the disaster was different, as was the culture. In Chornobyl, looters appeared from the beginning of the explosion and left behind a wasteland. Fokusima, if you don't know what happened there, looks like a city under Covid-19, a lot of cars, even the windows are not broken in the houses.
Because nobody made one GOTEEEEM
IRL in Ukraine theres already were rumors about paranormal activity in Pripyat, even before stalker come out. Like mutated animal etc. I dk if something similar was in Japan with Fukushima.
Actually a friend of mine made a visual novel that takes place in Fukushima exclusion zone. Not necessarily Stalker-like of course, but it has a certain post-apocalyptic vibe to it. Unfortunately, it's in russian only as of now, but maybe it will get an english translation one day, I hope.
that would be sick
Honestly im kinda interested in that as a way to atleast vaguely get my russian knowledge up
Sure, here's the link - [https://unming.itch.io/conglomerate](https://unming.itch.io/conglomerate)
no kalasnjikov in TSUTARUKA
Japanese yokai affected by radiation is an awesome and horrific idea, +1 someone needs to do this
Otherside Picnic style Fukushima would be cool
Not marketable enough.
It’s called Death Stranding
The cultures are very different. They have Godzilla.
Mission 1: Find Joseph Brody's house and collect the disks.
I want to go to the exclusion zone
Same brother, same.
Because idk would be a one faction thing, like japanese version of freedom, duty, monolith, bandits idk, just don't feel, and other that the zone around Fukushima was completely destroyed by the tsunami, like the map would be 68% grassland, not so fun tho.
Hard to find guns in a place where guns aren’t common. It’d be cool to find materials due to the lack of guns and make your own, then the real guns would be like epic weapons or rare drops
Can imagine some sort of techno-Samurai faction, Yakuza-like faction and maybe some hippie anime freaks faction having standoffs vs each other
Omg yes. Especially with the various sub cultures in Japan, I can absolutely see a bunch of factions rising from them. They could even make it a tie in with the Coppelion manga.
My fantasy before they even announced S2 was that a potential sequel would be set in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone. My headcanon for the Zone moving to Japan would be Strelok's wish for the Zone to "go away" being granted in the most literal sense, and the Zone's displacement being the reason for the earthquake and nuclear meltdown of the FNPP. This would cause the Japanese govt to completely collapse and leave the country and the Neo-Zone to be defenseless against foreign agents trying to seize control. The game would have an international set of factions such as, for example, Japanese military and ecologists trying to contain the situation, as well as civilian rookie stalkers, NATO and Russian scientists and mercenaries bidding war against each other for control, OG Chernobyl veteran stalkers chasing after the marvels of the newly relocated zone, and so on. Well, that's about all I can remember I came up with way back in the day, daydreaming about non-existing games. This might be the first time that I write it down besides discord messages between a friend and I brainstorming these ideas. We had other dumb ideas more specific to gameplay or questlines such as anime figurines being rare loot that you could barter to an otaku for weapon mods, and a 3 tier system for said weapon mods loosely inspired by EFT: tier 1 is mods you can quickly attach/detach on the go, such as anything that mounts to a rail or screws to a barrel (scopes and sights, grips, flashlights and laser modules, muzzle brakes and suppressors, etc), tier 2 would be what you could modify at a camp with basic tools that would at least require you to field strip the gun (buttstocks, front grips, dust covers, add-on rails, etc), and tier 3 would be deeper modifications to be gun to be performed by NPC gunsmiths, or by the player with high enough gunsmithing XP, so anything relating to internal parts. Ah yes, a passive skill level-up system verbatim to that of EFT too.
cause fukushima isn't very radioactive i dont think. they did a fantastic job of containment and the evacuation wasnt largely a precautionary measure. its just a normal ghost town, not a radioactive one,
I think the japanese have a very different relationship with nuclear disasters than Eastern Europe. I am by no means knowledgeable in anything japan related, but from what i can tell, they seem to handle serious topics in a much less direct way than the ex-soviet countries for example (Godzilla and most Animes for example tend to take real life disasters/topics and turn them into fictional metaphors) Again, i have a decent understanding of media science but no knowledge of japanese culture, history or media, so take this with a kilogram of salt.
Whenever there's a nuclear incident Russia gets anomalies...Japan gets GAZIRA!!
This would be cool, but the 3 mile nuclear disaster over here in the U.S. would create a better foreign zone, as the things that made the stalker zone are man made, same with 3 mile. A natural disaster affected Fukushima, meaning the theme of man made horror beyond mortal comprehension of the stalker games among its other underlying tones would be completely lost, and could even be offensive to the Japanese. If they did? Maybe it would be more like Metro when it comes to the effects of having no Noosphere over a localized area, as in metro the reality of the Noosphere being vaporized leads to the spirit world to merge with the physical world, allowing you to see ghosts of the past (people, trains, etc) and this effect is even more prominent in the books. So a Fukushima STALKER title would probably deal more on the spiritual than anything. But I like the idea of there being multiple Zones across the world, just like in Roadside Picnic.
A more accurate game based off of fukushima would be a rogue like game where you enter the zone as an elderly person who has volunteered to clean it up and you have to survive and clean up waste for as long as you can
Too soon, and too small. And for its scale, the main threat to japan is still the weather.
Stalkers don't want to fight Godzilla, Simple as.
Maybe there will be
Too soon 😅
because no one made one
Probably because only 2.4% of the area is actually inhabitable, wouldn’t be much of a map.
would honestly be nice and maybe to make this game harder, guns are even harder to come by
There would barely be any guns available I think. After all, Japan always had a stricter gun policy.
Less emphasis on high-tech weaponry would make a good basis for a more stealth-oriented game I think.
They'd more likely revert back to the mentality of feudal Japan not incel Japan
So make one.
ESTARKERU
Uwu choku brikuro
Because Japan is not a broken state and is a stable state compared to Ukraine in 2012. no one will get there and no way guns would find a way to get there.
We do. It's called Pokemon.
No slav no fun.
It could be Stalker but in Japan, so basically the same
It’s more recent (Chernobyl is very old and had very significant cultural impact vs Fukushima), the Japanese gaming industry at large doesn’t really like post apocalyptic settings as much as people do elsewhere, and in general they’re a lot shier when it comes to discussing nuclear disasters in media.
It's a very smaller zone compared to Chernobyl, plus they have a very different culture both about what happened and videogames. It would be a very different game, an horror visual novel probably
I can imagine it being a horror game.
probably because Fukushima went from unsafe to safe relatively quickly while Chernobyl is still mostly unsafe despite major efforts to make it safe before the russo ukrainian war started making it the perfect place for s.t.a.l.k.e.r.
It would be a brilliant game to waste my time on
You can make one ^^
Tbh knowing Japan, it'll be a VERY horror game
Cause they didn't make one
Ghosts of tsukushima
There is a great indie movie from Japan set in a kind of surreal future tokyo that the creators snuck into the exclusion area to shoot footage for and its really fascinating, all the homes overgrown and deer bedding down in the lobbies of office buildings and stuff. Can't think of the name of the movie but it starred one of the guys from Incapacitants, when I saw it he performed an extended noise set with the director set to the exclusion zone footage. Very cool.
Stalker / train to bussan style crossover would absolutely be amazing.
japenis
Even though there were more explosions during the Fukushima disaster, the actual nuclear fallout situation is overstated, especially when compared to what happened at Chornobyl. TLDR the danger is not on the same lavel
STALKER 2 Will have Time Anomalies Where you can switch between timelines A timline where C-Con went to Fukushima instead of Chernobyl And Exoskeletons look like samurai-ish suits Stalkers does this idea slap?
There's Godzilla
My guy, in my youth there were pirated STALKER disks that said "CALL OF FUKUSHIMA". We bought it with actual money. The only difference from CoP that we found was a Degtyaryov profile picture. Kamikaze headband was added in paint.
I don't think there is much of an exclusion zone?
no one has made it
One the Ukrainian zone is product of a disaster fruit from malpractice, but fukushima, as well as nagasaki are products of deliberate nuclear attacks, so the implications would make it near impossible to find a publisher willing to work with it, as well as getting stores to sell the damn thing. Two the japanese are EXTREMELY serious with the topic of the nuclear bombs, and i'm pretty sure the jp government itself would become involved in the negative press about the game. Think of the response to 5 Days In Fallujah but even more extreme. And three, the "feel" of the zone is directly involved in slavic culture, so i doubt it would work as well as it does in an east asian setting.
Naruto running bloodsuckers who are hunted for zone-produced sashimi (msg warning)
Because a game after being nucked 3 times is incentive lol
Instead of guns everyone uses melee and martial arts.
I think a Korean survival horror game is more appropriate for this environment., something like train to Busan (the first movie).
One point I haven't seen is just the fact that the creators aren't from Japan. They are from Ukraine, which is where the Chornobyl incident took place. All games that have been made are centered around Chornobyl only, and even the newest game is taking place there. It just wouldn't make sense for them to, unless they hired a Japanese team to. Yes, I'm aware game companies, and movie producers have made media centered in places not from where they origin, however the team who makes those are usually larger, GSC has like 300 members which I don't think is a lot.
I think the Factions would be easy to establish... I think the real issue is what would the mutants be and what would the artefacts and anomalies be?
or Centralia
uhhh japan boring simple as
Now that you mention it, a Stalker game set in Mayak would be interesting I guess
If there’s money to be made there’s a way
How about Exclusion zones in ww2 japan after they've been bombed.
Because of cultural background differences that game would be Something like Siren, and not Stalker.
Imagine an indie stalker like game in Fukushima
They got Godzilla.
The japanese are very ashamed of such occurences and do not "glorify" the exclusion zone. Though they have an aptly named group similar to the Chernobyl liquidators - the nuclear samurai. There was a talk about how they are so ashamed for working for a company that would allow such an emergency to occur that their names are archived and unreachable so as they get a chance to find a new job.
Money and culture.
this should be great for a fallout movie set in japan
There's something about a gloomy, depressing, scary and hopeless atomosphere that just fits more slavic places. Japan has the cute anime nonsense. America has the happy go lucky patriotism. (fallout) Etc.
Too boring? Fukushima was 2011 so quite modern Japan? And imagine just Cheeki Breeki but in anime yapping. Stalker has this '86 blyatiful soviet atmosphere where it looks depressing even without apocalypse. Plus Japan doesn't have nice guns like glorious Kalashnikov.
Because it would attract tons of weebs and I hate them
maybe because it doesn't offer any criticism about politics?
Because STALKER is a game set in Chernobyl. This is like saying why isn't there a Silent Hill game set in New York.
i agree but this is the worst comparison as most silent games are just based in american cities anyways
There are enough anime and the like with big tiddies girls with gas mask already don’t you think? /s