[GolemsVoice]

Soo, I've finally begun with my promised LP. The whole thing starts a few hours into the game, but never fear, nothing crucial has happened so far. For some reasons, the English patch can't be applied, and I don't know what to make of the explanation below, I'm not sure what he means when talking about extracting the gamedata folder from the rar. So for the moment you'll have to enjoy a crazy mix of Russian, German and English!

So, let's begin!

Note: I'll write as Major Dagtarev. Anything that I write in italics will be my own thought on the game.

SO here I am, in the Zone. Finally. What a strange land. Of yourse I ahve been briefed extensively, but nothing prepares you for this, not quite. The land is so quiet, so unusual calm, only disturbed by gunshots sometimes, orn the barking of these hellish dogs. But it is a lingering quiet. I do not like it here, but this isn't my job.
I mde my way to an old ship that is the closest thing to a safe place I found so far. Filled with Stalkers, traders and bandits. Each of them has their own story, and each of them is mad, I fear, in their own special way. Some more than others. But if you go to Rome, do as the Romans do, as my mother used to say, and I've already made some friends. This is my situation so far:

Spoiler

I entered the Zone on that small plateu up north, and was advised to head straigth for that stranded ship, which I did. Luckily, I only encountered some upity pigs, which I quickly put to rest with my pistol. They freak me out, however. They don't look... right.

So I began doing jobs, something to make a living from, get some rep and make some friends. Money is very very tight in this game! It's hard to actually save anything between having to repair your things, buying supplies and new ammo.

A: A Stalker named Kardan, the local weaponsmith, said that he would gladly offer his services, had he not lost his tools. What he needs are Simple Tools (whenever I make words proper nouns, it means they are quest items), Advanced Tools, and Fine Tools. I should search for them. Somewhere in the WHOLE GOD-DAMNED ZONE. Yeah. But of course I asked around, and after a while, I found a Stalker who told me that the old sawmill is probably the best place to look for tools, but that people don't go there for... reasons.
Well, I've got a ... pistol, so I don't care about... reasons, and headed straight for the old buildings. To my horror I discovered that the destruction of the Brain Scorcher did not do away with those Zombies, and hordes of these things had gathered around to walk around aimlessly. I put them out of their misery. They are really bad shots. Still, they give me the creeps. I've got the feeling I'm going to say that alot from now on. But my search was succesful, I found some Simple Tools. Sadly, I took the short route out of that hell-hole and ran away. Still, Kardan was happy to see me, and we celebrated. Well, HE celebrated, with MY vodka.
Here you see one of the weakest points of CoP so far. Some animations are really no longer pretty, and this is one of the finest examples.

A few bottles later, he told me that he had parted in scorn from his old mates, and I offered him to bring his apologies to them should I ever find them. He then fell asleep, muttering drunken things. Yeah. But I think I'll hit the sawmill once again, I've only explored the smallest building so far.

B: Beard , the guy in charge around here, said that a Stalker saw some very strange lights coming from that old digging ship to the east. I should check it out. And I did, only to find it ladden with gravitational anomalies and radiation. But still, I prevailed, and got the warped, glowing steering wheel. When I exited the ship, some guy named Tuna came up to me and told me some sob story about him needing the artifact for it's healing powers. I told him to go to hell, which he didn't like very much, and his tow thugs with AKs didn't like it, too. Once more I did what I had to do, and ran the hell away, through the swamp, the hail of bullets, and the shouted curses. But I made it. And I even received a fine reward, which sadly got spent on repairs and ammunition.

C: A guy named Sultan told me that they, the bandits, are planning to raid a neighboring ship full of rookies, and asked me to join in. I said yes, but quickly told their plans to Grouse, resident lawman, who informed the rookies, so that they were prepared. I still should go with the bandits, but turn my weapon on them, which I gladly did. Scum. That earned me some friends, a few rubels, and the trust of Grouse. Sultan didn't seem to mind. Luckily, he never got word of what happend. If it wasn't forbidden to draw weapons ion the ship, I'd take him out, too.

D: Speaking of Grouse: He told me of a missing hunter, and said that he had various coordinates where he suspected him to be. The first I checked, he wasn't. But the next... Grouse told me to meet him at the abandoned antenna station, which I did. He THEN told me that this freaking building contained freaking Bloodsuckers! All right. But still, in we went, and after countles deaths, Grouse didn't seem too eager to help me out managed to take out the two Bloodsuckers. We DID find their victims, but our hunter was not among them. God, I hate the sight of Bloodsucker victims. I really do. So, because we jumped down an elevator shaft, we had to find another way out. Which, funnily enough, lead through a LAIR OF SLEEPING BLOODSUCKERS. God, I never wanted so hard to just pull the trigger, and I never had to fight so hard to contain me. how those things twistred in their sleep, every movement making you think they'll wake up any minute. But they didn't and we managed to get out.
Grouse had the only sensible thing to say, which was to find some poison gas and release it in their lair. That'll show them. But, funnily enough, he didn't know where to acquire some, but Uhu did. Because he was in no way endangered by a horde of Bloodsuckers, he offered me the information for the bargain price of 2000 rubels. Yeah. But what could I do, so he told me that there was a military convoy stuck on the bridge south, which transported the gas. Thanks, sucker. That would be E.

Ive done some smaller quests, too, but this is more or less the current state of affairs. There are still plenty of quests open, which Ill tell you about when they get important.
Soo, time for a little compairing! Whats new, what has changed?

1. There are almost no Anomalies across the country, they now are gathered around special, handcrafted spots, like the abandoned ship where I found the prot/anomaly, or a scorched farm
2. Important people will now be displayed on the minimap, like people who cant repair, are traders, etc...
3. Zou can now repair and upgrade your weapons and armor!
4. Gasmask and suit are now to separate items.
5. Blowouts are now a regular event, and will kill zou if zou dont find shelter undeground or inside fully enclosed buildings. Ill try to get a picture.
6. There are some new dangers, and the ability to protect yourself against them, like psy/emmison and poisonous gas.
7. Drugs that can boost your protection or your carrying capacity

So, thats it so far, now, you decide! Where to go! Should I get the gas and show those Bloodsuckers? Should I investigate the sawmill a little more? Or should I do anz of the other quests, which mostly involve killing or finding dudes? Or should I see that I do my real objective, which is to look for the downed helicopters (see 1 on the map)? YOU DECIDE!