The only real "advantage" paying players have is the ability to buy increased XP and increased Currency income. This doesn't translate to better weapons and crap tho. So ingame everyone is equal

Speaking of shitty endings, the ending of the first STALKER game was HORRIBLE. Even the "good" ending was pretty bad. But the bad ending (which BTW has no indication of being the bad ending) was so bad I just sat there with a expression like this :O for a good 5 minutes wondering what happened to the ending. It was only a week after that that I found out I got a "bad" ending. I replayed the ending of the game and found the real ending which was hidden away in a side room.

I agree, it's mindless fun that requires thinking (great way of putting it tinjaw :P). I completed it fairly quickly tho, like in 6 hours. 6 hours of fun for 5 dollars is friggen great! :D