there was a huge theory that they're actually bad guys, who collaborated with o-soznanie or whatever it is in english, just fanatically trying to destroy strelok, and using "saving the zone" as a justification. there was a long video on russian youtube, i remember watching it when i was in high school, lmao.
Regarding Monoliths camo, many link it to urban camo due to them holding Pripyat and the Plant, but its more based of Birch Trees which are one of the most prevalent trees in the zone, allowing them to slip away into forests during ambushes. I myself own a Monolith suit and have taken some photos next to birch trees and taking low cover next to them, it does surprise how well you bleed into the fauna.
I always play Merc and help Clear Sky as much as possible. I also avoid the Loners until I can shut off the Brain Scorcher. The cool thing about the Mercs is that while the organization as a whole is driven by money you the player can pursue your own goals. Fostering a ceasefire between the Mercs and Loners is always high on my list.
I'm a military guy myself. My second favorite would be Ecologist and third would be Clear Sky. I honestly like all the factions and how they interact with each other, really brings that immersion and atmosphere.
This question is so hard to answer so here are my answers: My favs are in this order: Mercs, Monolith, Ecologists, Freedom/Duty The faction that I join the most and agree with the most- DUTY: I also think that the Zone is too dangerous and all its creations are to be destroyed in order to save civilian population from such horrors. If you take it from their POV - X18 is full of dead soldiers all over the facility, the rest of them are a walking zombified husks. The most experienced DUTY members are the surviving first responders to the second explosion. Most of them went in completely blind and without proper gear as nobody knew what the hell happened there - leading to a massive onslaught and a desperate fight for survival. So they are dying by fighting the Zone to protect you from the horrors and yet here you are - some random jack aßß risking your own Life in order to get some money by selling Artifacts to who knows to - as you are the lowest of the low in the Black market chain and you probably don’t even consider that these things can be weaponized and used in Terrorist attacks or whatever. All factions are cool tho and even when I don’t like them - like Loners - I can at least understand where are they coming from and why they do things that they do.
"If you're looking to be appreciated and treated like family, thats Freedom all the way! Theres no chores, no brainnushing and no morning wake up drills. If you're a real stalker, who loves the free life and a good drink in the company of like minded fellas, join right in! We always got cold booze for no blood."
i like merc and clear sky since they both fit perfect for building your own story, you can find any backstory for being a merc, working with ecologists, working for yourself, or working with anyone in-between, and clear sky feel so close to having a fully fleshed out identity if they weren't killed off in clear sky
UNISG is my shit. Alternatively, renegades. I like the thought of a bunch of truly despicable people banding together to just be worse bandits, it’s pretty funny to me.
6:35 I live in Ukraine and know something about prisons in our country and our northern neighbors. In general, it's pretty bad if you have bad moral stability, other prisoners can beat, abuse, rape (if Bandits call you "Pituh\pitushara" during a shootout, he means it). Arbitrariness on the part of prison guards is also possible. You know these wonderful practices from the Soviet Union) Of course, this is not always the case, and the majority comes out relatively whole, albeit marginalized, it is difficult to find a job, people do not trust. There are also problems with the law on self-defense, regular cases when victims are thrown behind bars because they killed or maimed the attacker. Also, the events of the game take place during the time of president Yanukovych, this is a dude who was literally a bandit himself. Unjust sentences were regular then. But the biggest motivation to run away is to guys from Belarus, in this country there is a death penalty and it is used quite actively (about 300 since 1991). Misinformation about the Zone also plays a role, because the general public obviously does not know what is happening there. Bandits think that this is just a small radioactive Wild West where you can sit for several years while you are wanted, what could go wrong?..
I genuinely thought you were an Merc fan! I mean there's nothing wrong with simping for bloodsuckers and having a great time in the zone with lots of marijuana and alcohol but it did caught me in surprise. Overall, I wouldn't blame you ;)
Before even watching the video: I love Clear Sky, STALKER: Clear Sky was my first stalker game, learning about Lebediev and all the backstory in COP really hook me up. I also like the blue camo, sure it stands out, but is unique @edit: btw, uncheck affinity for core 0, if thats the FPS you're playing at
My favorites are the Mercenaries. I like really the idea of being part of a near spy/black ops operation in the Zone. Proper professional soldiers, scary boogeymen. Other than that not all Mercenaries need to be bad people. Like in real life, a mercenary group can be used to supplement your nation's forces or protect you when nobody else can or want to. Like Scar (sort of like a specialist hire) in Stalker Clear Sky, who helped the Ecologists and Clear sky factions. Then you have the real life Swiss guard, who heroically defended the Papacy and still do so to this day. So either mercenaries can be scumbags who only fight for money or the most loyal and professional soldiers you've ever seen, or somewhere in between.
I love playing UNISG, but I recognize that Duty offers new players the most utility and convenience. I just love UNISG because it allows me to do whatever I want. I put on the right disguise and I can talk with whoever I want. And then I take the patch off, and then I have a fight almost anywhere I want.
My favorite apart from Loners, and an ultimate fanboy of, is Sin. Sin is the true cause that will glorify the Zone, the Monolith is just a one big poser cult used for the ambitions of the Usurpers (C-Consciousness) to continually corrupt the Zone. Sin is very ambiguous, since they're cut content. Of many interpretations, I believe we once saw the spiritual value of the Zone, but they have been tempted by their passion of greed after integrating artifacts into our religious beliefs. Our punishment for this passion of greed is now to continually live between the line of humanity and monstrosity. For the Zone takes and the Zone gives, and by granting us a piece of the Noosphere it took a part of our humanity as a keepsake for our sins. My liking of Sin is simply late stage appreciation of the Zone and STALKER. Happens after watching the film and reading the book.
If I’m not mistaken, I believe M81 Woodland camo is nicknamed “God’s flannel” for a reason. It’s the best camo this earth has ever seen. I don’t know if you’ll see this comment, but in all seriousness, I love your all of your content big dawg, keep up the good work!
Duty because the zone does have it's dangers and not all of them want to destroy the zone immediately when they find a way to do so. Kind of like having a kill switch at the ready when things get out of hand, means the ecos can keep researching whilst Duty protects them and if zone gets too much to contain... well the zone be destroyed then. Also are known for their reliable combat armours. If the zone were to be regulated, you would have bandit issues and interference from other stalkers... so the ecos can work with threats being from mutants and anomalies. Freedom is a close second cause I enjoy the atmosphere, loose structure and being casual with other stalkers in the zone. Would take the edge of the horrors you would see in the zone. They are known for more agile and balanced armours with some anomaly protection would is wise considering you never know when you might be fighting and where. Free zone is dangerous as who knows you might be inviting, for the better and for the worse. Loner is a all round just balanced and good, but nothing is stopping others for being scummy to you like Tuna in CoP or Flint. Nobody really likes you and neutral to you, but you're not really hated by many as you're just another random guy in the zone.
Personally I love factions that have no ideals like loners , mercs , bandits however anarchists sounds chill to me and i like them too but i'll never play as freedom :)
honestly i feel like out of all the “villain factions” mercs are honestly the weakest. the Monolith have their own arc of how they slowly started to fall apart and gain freedom after soc, bandits have always been changing their method of operations and leadership game to game and the military got their own main character. Mercs have always been “the western faction with an unknown employer” and have never really changed. i know the mystery is part of the appeal but over all three games we basically have learned nothing about them, they just kinda feel stagnant.
when you look at the war in Ukraine, where convicts are eager to join Wagner - you immediately see why it makes a lot of sense for a convict to join Bandits in the Zone
My favs go in this order. Freedom, Mercenaries, Duty. I agree with freedom and find them badass so I put freedom on top. Mercenaries are just western dudes trying to get paid, and it’s pretty cool. I like Duty because it’s conflict with freedom and it’s own agreeable goal add so much to the faction sphere. Clear Sky is just better ecologists too.
Mercs followed by duty, I’d play Clear sky more but to get to and from their base Is a pain. I play all but Freedom cus why play Freedom when you can play Mercs
I dislike how disjointed freedom and duty feel as far as writing. Freedom is so disorganized I have no clue how they do anything and Duty is hardcore defending Rostok I have no clue why they would not also defend the barrier. Or why defending the barrier wouldn't be something that both could agree on and do together excepting of course for their disagreement on respecting authority vs dude weed lmao.
Lacking the munitions, manpower, or intel to achieve a goal but trying anyways makes you inept. Therefore Duty, Military, Ecologists, and Clear Sky are all pointless factions. Monolith, Sin, Bandits, and Renegades are all objectively harmful (to humanity) factions and therefore evil. Mercs and ITSG could be good or bad depending on their benefactors. But since they have shady western backers who didn't go public with their operations, odds are pretty good that their intentions aren't good. Loners don't have singularly defined goals so they aren't relevant as a complete "faction." That leaves literally just Freedom's hippy goal of "freedom of progress" as being the only viable choice. Almost all the drugs in the zone can give extreme benefits when used correctly like cocaine/meth for agression and attentiveness, weed for sleep/anti depression, etc. And if they are difficult to get regularly, you might not be able to get addicted or have the long term affects from regular use. Also drugs are only a self harm and can't be argued as a societal bad in a context without society like the zone.
Before even watching the video, I’ve always had a soft spot for Clear Sky. They almost beat the zone 😢
They were so close.
They didn’t almost necessarily “beat” the zone. Clear Sky’s goal was mostly to keep the Zone just stable and keep it from expanding.
@@__mindflayer__Zone doesnt expand
@@Batard42069 yes it does. It expands a kilometer every year.
there was a huge theory that they're actually bad guys, who collaborated with o-soznanie or whatever it is in english, just fanatically trying to destroy strelok, and using "saving the zone" as a justification. there was a long video on russian youtube, i remember watching it when i was in high school, lmao.
Regarding Monoliths camo, many link it to urban camo due to them holding Pripyat and the Plant, but its more based of Birch Trees which are one of the most prevalent trees in the zone, allowing them to slip away into forests during ambushes. I myself own a Monolith suit and have taken some photos next to birch trees and taking low cover next to them, it does surprise how well you bleed into the fauna.
I always play Merc and help Clear Sky as much as possible. I also avoid the Loners until I can shut off the Brain Scorcher. The cool thing about the Mercs is that while the organization as a whole is driven by money you the player can pursue your own goals. Fostering a ceasefire between the Mercs and Loners is always high on my list.
Now we need a favorite mutant
Thats a good idea as well, if people really care and want to see
Snork.
@@IntoTheZone Bloodsuckers because of their breedablility. Sorry I'm a Freedom player. I couldn't help it.
Freedom is always first after Clear Sky and lastly Loners
These factions close to my heart
These factions value STALKERs lives and morally well.
I'm a military guy myself. My second favorite would be Ecologist and third would be Clear Sky. I honestly like all the factions and how they interact with each other, really brings that immersion and atmosphere.
This question is so hard to answer so here are my answers:
My favs are in this order:
Mercs, Monolith, Ecologists, Freedom/Duty
The faction that I join the most and agree with the most- DUTY:
I also think that the Zone is too dangerous and all its creations are to be destroyed in order to save civilian population from such horrors.
If you take it from their POV - X18 is full of dead soldiers all over the facility, the rest of them are a walking zombified husks. The most experienced DUTY members are the surviving first responders to the second explosion. Most of them went in completely blind and without proper gear as nobody knew what the hell happened there - leading to a massive onslaught and a desperate fight for survival.
So they are dying by fighting the Zone to protect you from the horrors and yet here you are - some random jack aßß risking your own Life in order to get some money by selling Artifacts to who knows to - as you are the lowest of the low in the Black market chain and you probably don’t even consider that these things can be weaponized and used in Terrorist attacks or whatever.
All factions are cool tho and even when I don’t like them - like Loners - I can at least understand where are they coming from and why they do things that they do.
Dolg is the best faction and none anarchist can convince me otherwise.
"If you're looking to be appreciated and treated like family, thats Freedom all the way! Theres no chores, no brainnushing and no morning wake up drills. If you're a real stalker, who loves the free life and a good drink in the company of like minded fellas, join right in! We always got cold booze for no blood."
Always a CS fighter, but gotta love Fredoomers for keeping in check Monolithians raids and sharing theyre goods, good blessed them.
i like merc and clear sky since they both fit perfect for building your own story, you can find any backstory for being a merc, working with ecologists, working for yourself, or working with anyone in-between, and clear sky feel so close to having a fully fleshed out identity if they weren't killed off in clear sky
Loners are always my go-to faction because on how versatile they can actually be. Mercs are good in that regard to some extent.
UNISG is my shit. Alternatively, renegades. I like the thought of a bunch of truly despicable people banding together to just be worse bandits, it’s pretty funny to me.
No matter how cool the other factions are, loners will always be my go-to
I always thought that the OG Monolith squad went in during winter which is why they have so much winter camo
6:35 I live in Ukraine and know something about prisons in our country and our northern neighbors. In general, it's pretty bad if you have bad moral stability, other prisoners can beat, abuse, rape (if Bandits call you "Pituh\pitushara" during a shootout, he means it). Arbitrariness on the part of prison guards is also possible. You know these wonderful practices from the Soviet Union) Of course, this is not always the case, and the majority comes out relatively whole, albeit marginalized, it is difficult to find a job, people do not trust. There are also problems with the law on self-defense, regular cases when victims are thrown behind bars because they killed or maimed the attacker. Also, the events of the game take place during the time of president Yanukovych, this is a dude who was literally a bandit himself. Unjust sentences were regular then. But the biggest motivation to run away is to guys from Belarus, in this country there is a death penalty and it is used quite actively (about 300 since 1991). Misinformation about the Zone also plays a role, because the general public obviously does not know what is happening there. Bandits think that this is just a small radioactive Wild West where you can sit for several years while you are wanted, what could go wrong?..
I genuinely thought you were an Merc fan!
I mean there's nothing wrong with simping for bloodsuckers and having a great time in the zone with lots of marijuana and alcohol but it did caught me in surprise. Overall, I wouldn't blame you ;)
I liked that even when you like Freedom more you didn't judge Duty with bias
Before even watching the video:
I love Clear Sky, STALKER: Clear Sky was my first stalker game, learning about Lebediev and all the backstory in COP really hook me up. I also like the blue camo, sure it stands out, but is unique
@edit: btw, uncheck affinity for core 0, if thats the FPS you're playing at
My favorites are the Mercenaries. I like really the idea of being part of a near spy/black ops operation in the Zone. Proper professional soldiers, scary boogeymen.
Other than that not all Mercenaries need to be bad people. Like in real life, a mercenary group can be used to supplement your nation's forces or protect you when nobody else can or want to. Like Scar (sort of like a specialist hire) in Stalker Clear Sky, who helped the Ecologists and Clear sky factions. Then you have the real life Swiss guard, who heroically defended the Papacy and still do so to this day.
So either mercenaries can be scumbags who only fight for money or the most loyal and professional soldiers you've ever seen, or somewhere in between.
I love playing UNISG, but I recognize that Duty offers new players the most utility and convenience.
I just love UNISG because it allows me to do whatever I want. I put on the right disguise and I can talk with whoever I want. And then I take the patch off, and then I have a fight almost anywhere I want.
The military- Wrath/Greed
The Bandits-Greed/Envy/Wrath
Duty-Pride/Wrath
Freedom-Sloth/gluttony
Loners-Envy
Mercenaries-Wrath/Greed
Ecologists-Sloth???
Monolith-Wrath
Clear Sky-??? (Haven’t played clear sky yet)
Loner for the most part, but joining the eggheads has some great benefits.
JOIN DUTY!
I’m a stoner, and I like Duty. Feels wrong somehow.
Freedom stronk! 💪💪
the stronkest
My fav is loners, because the goal can be whatever you want it to be, just the way thing should be anarchy
My favorite apart from Loners, and an ultimate fanboy of, is Sin. Sin is the true cause that will glorify the Zone, the Monolith is just a one big poser cult used for the ambitions of the Usurpers (C-Consciousness) to continually corrupt the Zone.
Sin is very ambiguous, since they're cut content. Of many interpretations, I believe we once saw the spiritual value of the Zone, but they have been tempted by their passion of greed after integrating artifacts into our religious beliefs. Our punishment for this passion of greed is now to continually live between the line of humanity and monstrosity.
For the Zone takes and the Zone gives, and by granting us a piece of the Noosphere it took a part of our humanity as a keepsake for our sins.
My liking of Sin is simply late stage appreciation of the Zone and STALKER. Happens after watching the film and reading the book.
Freedom and Clear Sky for me.
Imma guess it's among clear sky, freedom and loners....loners being my favorite...but like ACTUAL group wise im all for Freedom.
If I’m not mistaken, I believe M81 Woodland camo is nicknamed “God’s flannel” for a reason. It’s the best camo this earth has ever seen. I don’t know if you’ll see this comment, but in all seriousness, I love your all of your content big dawg, keep up the good work!
Idk, a ton of people would rather die than live a life in prison, so to me the fugitives can 100% make sense.
freedom, smoke the zaza, hold the barrier, bully duty emo soldiers.
What a life.
My guy, the "clean Wehrmacht" myth has been debunked several hundred, if not several thousand times.
Duty because the zone does have it's dangers and not all of them want to destroy the zone immediately when they find a way to do so. Kind of like having a kill switch at the ready when things get out of hand, means the ecos can keep researching whilst Duty protects them and if zone gets too much to contain... well the zone be destroyed then. Also are known for their reliable combat armours. If the zone were to be regulated, you would have bandit issues and interference from other stalkers... so the ecos can work with threats being from mutants and anomalies.
Freedom is a close second cause I enjoy the atmosphere, loose structure and being casual with other stalkers in the zone. Would take the edge of the horrors you would see in the zone. They are known for more agile and balanced armours with some anomaly protection would is wise considering you never know when you might be fighting and where. Free zone is dangerous as who knows you might be inviting, for the better and for the worse.
Loner is a all round just balanced and good, but nothing is stopping others for being scummy to you like Tuna in CoP or Flint. Nobody really likes you and neutral to you, but you're not really hated by many as you're just another random guy in the zone.
For me is unisg, that stealth, organization and weapons are my coup of tea, and unlocking them and ending their story is a little challenge i like
All hail the Monolith
i love duty and usually play duty, but monolith is my favorite. they’re basically astrology girls and i love it. слава монолита
M81. Fight me.
im was able to to erase all factions in warfare on hard dificulty with Duty i really love those guys
Mine is MONOLITH
Personally I love factions that have no ideals like loners , mercs , bandits however anarchists sounds chill to me and i like them too but i'll never play as freedom :)
Freedom on top
merc work
I personally like the Mercs the most
No real reason for it, I just really enjoy playing as or against them in GAMMA
FREEDOMMMMMMM
honestly i feel like out of all the “villain factions” mercs are honestly the weakest. the Monolith have their own arc of how they slowly started to fall apart and gain freedom after soc, bandits have always been changing their method of operations and leadership game to game and the military got their own main character. Mercs have always been “the western faction with an unknown employer” and have never really changed. i know the mystery is part of the appeal but over all three games we basically have learned nothing about them, they just kinda feel stagnant.
My favorite factions in order
Clear sky , loners , Duty , military, freedom, mercs, unisg
Welp, time for a Freedom playthrough.
when you look at the war in Ukraine, where convicts are eager to join Wagner - you immediately see why it makes a lot of sense for a convict to join Bandits in the Zone
Same but i just smoke a lot of weed
I like clear sky merc freedom and loners
My favs go in this order. Freedom, Mercenaries, Duty. I agree with freedom and find them badass so I put freedom on top. Mercenaries are just western dudes trying to get paid, and it’s pretty cool. I like Duty because it’s conflict with freedom and it’s own agreeable goal add so much to the faction sphere. Clear Sky is just better ecologists too.
mercs are on top
Mercs followed by duty, I’d play Clear sky more but to get to and from their base Is a pain. I play all but Freedom cus why play Freedom when you can play Mercs
YESSS LETS GOOO THE ANSWER IS HERE. When is next stream?
Tonight at 7:30 central my dude, barring storm bullshit
no tomboy monolith gf why live
I dislike how disjointed freedom and duty feel as far as writing. Freedom is so disorganized I have no clue how they do anything and Duty is hardcore defending Rostok I have no clue why they would not also defend the barrier. Or why defending the barrier wouldn't be something that both could agree on and do together excepting of course for their disagreement on respecting authority vs dude weed lmao.
I prefer mutants
Lacking the munitions, manpower, or intel to achieve a goal but trying anyways makes you inept. Therefore Duty, Military, Ecologists, and Clear Sky are all pointless factions. Monolith, Sin, Bandits, and Renegades are all objectively harmful (to humanity) factions and therefore evil. Mercs and ITSG could be good or bad depending on their benefactors. But since they have shady western backers who didn't go public with their operations, odds are pretty good that their intentions aren't good. Loners don't have singularly defined goals so they aren't relevant as a complete "faction." That leaves literally just Freedom's hippy goal of "freedom of progress" as being the only viable choice. Almost all the drugs in the zone can give extreme benefits when used correctly like cocaine/meth for agression and attentiveness, weed for sleep/anti depression, etc. And if they are difficult to get regularly, you might not be able to get addicted or have the long term affects from regular use. Also drugs are only a self harm and can't be argued as a societal bad in a context without society like the zone.
bandits will always be the best faction >:)
I agree with the philosophy of Duty, but I’m not a boot licking fascist. We can keep the zone from spreading and smoke weed too guys.
Freedom is great
Freedom are cannibals. ARE YOU!?!?!
Not cannibals. What are you talking about? In canon games there is nothing about Freedom beign cannibals.
@@trooperodst6880 yes there is
First