History Awesome / STALKER

*** Unlike most other titles out there, the "Achievements" in CoP '''actually do something VERY useful''' instead of just being there to silently say "Hey, I did this and that makes me awesome". A few '''really help''', including significantly increasing the health pool of each member of the full team you assemble to traverse the gas-filled tunnels that lead to Pripyat, '''drastically increase''' the selection of rare items/equipment you can buy from various Traders to sell things you never thought they would ever sell to you, and even increase the chances of finding artifacts, to point out a good selection of other '''damn useful''' things the "Achievements" are able to do. So getting that "Diplomat" achievement for instance, while irksome for most, helps a '''very great deal''' in the long-run.

*** Killing everyone in the [[LawfulNeutral Duty]] or [[ChaoticGood Freedom]] bases ([[KillEmAll or both,]] if you feel like it) with at most a squad of Dutyers for support.

-->'''Wolfhound:''' There's a stalker closing in on you, looks like he's gunned down our snipers. Watch out, he's coming from the Bar!

-->**Wolfhound:** There's a stalker closing in on you, looks like he's gunned down our snipers. Watch out, he's coming from the Bar!
-->**Subordinate:** Wolfhound, I didn't get it. He knocked down our snipers [[OneManArmy by himself...?]]

-->Wolfhound: There's a stalker closing in on you, looks like he's gunned down our snipers. Watch out, he's coming from the Bar!
-->Subordinate: Wolfhound, I didn't get it. He knocked down our snipers [[OneManArmy by himself...?]]

* When Wolfhound (leader of the hostile Mercenary unit that ambushes Marked One upon entering the starting area of the Wild Territory) finds out that the little "welcoming party" that he ordered to kill the intruder all dead from a subordinate, it's at that point that he realizes that he's not dealing with any ordinary Stalker, and the feeling that one gets from that response is enough to trigger a great feeling of this.

& When Wolfhound (leader of the hostile Mercenary unit that ambushes Marked One upon entering the starting area of the Wild Territory) finds out that the little "welcoming party" that he ordered to kill the intruder all dead from a subordinate, it's at that point that he realizes that he's not dealing with any ordinary Stalker, and the feeling that one gets from that response is enough to trigger a great feeling of this.

*** Forcing your way into Pripyat itself, sprinting through the lead-up to the CNPP as a blowout closes in, buzz-sawing your way through dozens, if not hundreds, of Monolith troops and Spetsnaz deployments along the way. Then fighting your way through the interior of the power plant[[spoiler: and, if you're up for getting the canon ending, the ''outside'' of the plant, where you have to go though a confusing gauntlet of portals that take you all over Chernobyl's rooftops, while at least fifty more of Monolith's very best stand in your way]].

*** Unlike most other titles out there, the "Achievements" in CoP '''actually do something VERY useful''' instead of just being there to silently say "Hey, I did this and that makes me awesome". A few '''really help''', including significantly increasing the health pool of each member of the full team you assemble to [[spoiler: traverse the gas-filled tunnels that lead to Pripyat,]] '''drastically increase''' the selection of rare items/equipment you can buy from various Traders to sell things you never thought they would ever sell to you, and even increase the chances of finding artifacts, to point out a good selection of other '''damn useful''' things the "Achievements" are able to do. So getting that "Diplomat" achievement for instance, while irksome for most, helps a '''very great deal''' in the long-run.

* [[spoiler: The C-Consciousness, making it in, fighting your way through the labs, and going straight up to the site of where it all started, and if you chose to defy the C-C. Congrats, you end up gunning them down, the Zone seems to disappear and for a moment its all green and ok instead of radiation and mutations everywhere.]]
* The fact that The Marked One, [[spoiler: AKA Strelok]], started out with virtually nothing - a leather jacket, a low-grade pistol, and not even enough money for lunch - and a week or two later can and most likely will have changed the face of the entire Zone ''[[OneManArmy on his own]]''.

*** The layout of the bandit camp in this mission even seems to encourage taking this route. There's only one guard in the room with the bandit leader and he's positioned directly in front of the leader, so you can headshot both of them fairly easily before they can draw their weapons. Bandits from outside tend to [[ArtificialStupidity charge the doorway one at a time]], making it easy to stand back and double-tap them as they come in, or you can peek around the corner of the area with the leader's chair and pick them off with an assault weapon. You can even throw grenades into the hallway so they bounce off the wall at a 45 degree angle and explode near the bandits running into the outer room from outside. By the time you're done you'll be stepping over a mountain of bandit corpses in the hallway, and Vano's so impressed that he lets you keep his debt payment! Though doing any of the above violently involving the bandit camps disallows acquiring the "Diplomat" achievement, so it may not be worthwhile to do.

*** Raiding the military base at the Cordon in an optional sidequest for Sidorovich. Especially if you wind up doing it early on, when all you have is a double-barrel, a pistol, a duster and whatever weapons and ammo you pry off the corpses of the military guys you kill.

*** The layout of the bandit camp in this mission even seems to encourage taking this route. There's only one guard in the room with the bandit leader and he's positioned directly in front of the leader, so you can headshot both of them fairly easily before they can draw their weapons. Bandits from outside tend to [[ArtificialStupidity charge the doorway one at a time]], making it easy to stand back and double-tap them as they come in, or you can peek around the corner of the area with the leader's chair and pick them off with an assault weapon. You can even throw grenades into the hallway so they bounce off the wall at a 45 degree angle and explode near the bandits running into the outer room from outside. By the time you're done you'll be stepping over a mountain of bandit corpses in the hallway, and Vano's so impressed that he lets you keep his debt payment!

*** Unlike most other titles out there, the "Achievements" in CoP '''actually do something VERY useful''' instead of just being there to silently say "Hey, I did this and that makes me awesome". A few '''really help''', including significantly increasing the health pool of each member of the full team you assemble to [[spoiler: traverse the gas-filled tunnels that lead to Pripyat,]] '''drastically increase''' the selection of rare items/equipment you can buy from various Traders to sell things you never thought they would ever sell to you, and even increase the chances of finding artifacts, to point out a good selection of other '''damn useful''' things the "achievements" are able to do. So getting that "Diplomat" achievement for instance, while irksome for most, helps a '''very great deal''' in the long-run.

*** Unlike most other titles out there, the "Achievements" in CoP '''actually do something VERY useful''' instead of just being there to silently say "Hey, I did this and that makes me awesome". A few '''really help''', including significantly increasing the health pool of each member of the full team you assemble to [[spoiler: traverse the gas-filled tunnels that lead to Pripyat,]] increase the selection of items/equipment you can buy from various Traders to sell things you never thought they would ever sell to you, and even increase the chances of finding artifacts, to point out a good selection of other '''damn useful''' things the "achievements" are able to do. So getting that "Diplomat" achievement for instance, while irksome for most, helps a '''very great deal''' in the long-run.

*** Unlike most other titles out there, the "Achievements" in CoP '''actually do something VERY useful''' instead of just being there to silently say "Hey, I did this and that makes me awesome". A few '''really help''', including significantly increasing the health pool of each member of the full team you assemble to [[spoiler: traverse the gas-filled tunnels that lead to Pripyat,]] increase the selection of items/equipment you can buy from various Traders to sell things you never thought they would ever sell to you, and even increase the chances of finding artifacts, to point out a good selection of other '''damn useful''' things the "achievements" are able to do.

*** Unlike most other titles out there, the "Achievements" in CoP '''actually do something VERY useful''' instead of just being there to silently say "Hey, I did this and that makes me awesome". A few '''really help''', including significantly increasing the health pool of each member of the full team you assemble to [[spoiler: traverse the gas-filled tunnels that lead to Pripyat.]]

* The fact that The Marked One, [[spoiler: AKA Strelok]], started out with virtually nothing - a leather jacket, a low-grade pistol, and not even enough money for lunch - and a week or two later can and most likely will have changed the face of the entire Zone [[OneManArmy on his own]].

* A player who indulges in VideogameCaringPotential will find these moments occasionally. Giving higher-level equipment to Loners, traditionally the worst-off faction, as they rarely associate with each other and get picked on by bandits and bad mercenaries, can lead to surprisingly fierce fighters. Giving a couple of AK-74's to Petruha and Awl after pulling the former out of a Boiler anomaly in ''Call of Pripyat'' can lead to scenarios like finding the two having a post-gunfight meal amidst a pile of bodies, having taken down ''eight bandits and a pair of bloodsuckers'' by themselves later on. If this doesn't prove how the Zone is a [[WorldOfBadass badass-only land]], nothing does.

* Meta example: The fact that, after several years, we are now gonna get a official sequel in 2021.

** Now has [[AwesomeMusic/STALKER its own page]]!

* Meta example: The fact that, after several year, we are now gonna get a official sequel in 2021.

*** Fighting your way through the gas-filled tunnel to Pripyat with at max four badasses at your side. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming And keeping them all alive.]]

* [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome The soundtrack of all games is no slouch either]].

* Noah from ''Call of Pripyat'' is a walking character of awesome. He's a bit nuts, but the guy has a tamed pseudodog as a pet, a load of top-tier artifacts (which is the only thing that can explain why you can pump hundreds of rounds into him and not kill him), navigates the Zone with comical ease, and once tried to detain an entire military squad who wanted to arrest him.

*** Clearing out the entire bandit camp in the Dark Valley singlehandedly with nothing more than a stalker suit, a stolen assault rifle and a bad attitude on your side, and feeling like you're cleaning up the Zone. It marks the turning point of the game, where you stop scurrying around like a rat and begin prowling as the predator. Bonus points if you forgo the lust for big firefights and [[StealhBasedMission go the stealth route]] with a silenced weapon instead, killing the bandits one by one from the shadows and scaring their friends so much they shoot at nothing.