When it comes to the overall writting compared to the first game, its a massive downgrade. Possibly the earliest example you can find of the oversaturation of what has come to be known today as "millenial writting" (alot of your dialogue choices can be pretty much boiled down to being a goody two shoes, a snarky asshole for no reason, or some reference to american pop culture, the last one not even making that much sense considering your character is a tribal). However that is not to say that the overall writting in this game is bad, matter of fact i would dare to even say FO2 has some of the best world building i have ever seen in a game, each town being rich with lore and characters, each one having its own purpose and its own set of rules and culture, quests dont feel like a checkmark on your long list of chores as each one will affect the world around you immensely, its a kind of weight and purpose attached to how you interact with the game that you dont see alot of these days, and its honestly a feat how a game from 1998 managed to do all that. Incredibly ambitious. I still prefer the 1st one though >:)

Really cool 30 min game with some of the best music to ever grace vidya.
https://youtu.be/269uvoQPV_o
https://youtu.be/IeyVsRCfGHg
https://youtu.be/qwvnj07La-o
PLAY DA GAME.

I mean where do i even begin, its good but its also really bad? Like the fact that it even exists and is a huge mod in itself is a grand achievement but at the same time the whole "realistic" approach to progress is so ???, thankfully you can tweak all of that shit out, there are tons of add-ons out there and those are one of the main reasons of what makes this game so good, its the main modding platform for all 3 games but i still consider Call of chernobyl (or call of the zone) to be superior simply for the fact that its way more stable and crashes alot less, it just sucks that its not getting any support anymore.
>iron man mode
>1 extra life per day survived
yep, its gaming time

Overhated and underrated.
Definitely way more buggy than the other two games even with the unnoficial patch but its such an ambitious entry that nails so many aspects well, i had alot of fun with its more often than not bullshit difficulty and heat seeking grenades.
Honestly i really dont think there's a single bad STALKER game, yes we all know the x ray engine tends to work like an otherwordly artefact at times but the community has more than done their job of fixing and revamping so anyone can actually play these games.
Whether you prefer Shadow of Chernobyl's focus on the tense atmosphere, Clear Sky's faction warfare or Call of Pripyat's more slower paced survival horror gameplay, you cant deny each of the three main games bring something completely unique to the table, hence why i dont agree with the statement of "Dont bother with the main series! Just play Anomaly and other mods!", the main games offer so much variety already, why would you want to deny yourself from experiencing that?
Anyway, check out Tarkovsky's STALKER (1979) and Roadside picnic by the strugatsky brothers, they're both more than worth the read and the watch.