I used to love this game. What happened?
I was a huge fan when I played version 7 or 8, but in 9c everything feels rushed. Instead of just adding content to a great story, the elements that made it so wonderful are now missing. Like the fear and arrogance the raiders had for the stalker at the start of the game isn't there anymore (now they're like "yeah yeah, whatever; let's kick his ass, take his stuff and go home.") I don't feel the immediacy anymore of wanting to know what'll happen next.
If the developers are reading this, I urge you to bring back the elements that made the story so involved, along with the wonderful pacing of before. This 9c version just feels so watered down, like watching a movie in fast forward.
If I were to rate it now, version (9c) would be 3.5 stars out of 5 for me.
Prior versions were absolute stars; 4.5 out of 5 stars - plus I couldn't wait for the next episode.