System shocked

[Duncan]

Oh man, I don't even want to tell you all the classic games I somehow managed to never play. I would lose all credibility as a gamer. But if you want a clue as to one of them, check out the title of this post and the following sentence.

I'm playing System Shock 2 for the first time ever, as a follow-up to Bioshock. I'm not even that far into it, about four hours. Which means I've been trying to activate a stupid elevator for the last two of those hours.

I really can't wait to love this game. I love the whole Thief/Deus Ex/Bioshock family of games so this should fit right in. But is this game going to kick in at some point? Is this one of those games whose best qualities have been so co-opted by other games so it's not so amazing to play anymore? I'm not sure that the problem is it's too familiar, but I'm not doing anything particularly interesting. Getting this game to run on XP was the most tense and exciting thing I've done so far. At least the story is supposed to be good, right? Right? Is there a moment in the game where it suddenly gets really really good?

Because this is "System Shock 2!" I'm committed to playing this all the way through. But please help me rationalise it. I'm actually mostly unspoiled for this game so please don't spoil anything. I'm pretty sure, just from being on the internet and reading Bioshock threads, that:

Janis is actually Shodan or she's evil at least. That's it.

Don't confirm that, either!

Thank you for your patience.

[LOPcagney]

Ugh. Sad to say but same here. I had my friend burn me a bootleg a few years ago but I never got it working.

[DanJW]

Well, there's a moment when you meet the captain or whoevcer it is that is giving you instuctions thourgh the first few levels. If you dont get hooked by that poin then, yeah, you have probably been spoiled by all the games that stole from it in later years.

Otherwise, were you not at least freaked out by the monkey noises?

[Roderick]

I played System Shock 2 foor the first time seriously a year ago. I really liked the gameplay, I loved the atmosphere, but for some reason after about three hours I lost interest because the game proposed too much resistance in the form of respawning enemies. That just freaked me out, because I'm a fragile gamer. I never got any further and lost interest. Which is strange, because I do really like the game and should very much like to finish it!

[Erkki]

Same here. I started playing it for the first time about two years ago, but only played five hours or so before I lost interest. The respawning enemies bothered me too.

Also, I can say the same about Aliens vs. Predator 2.

[Wrestlevania]

I sat down to finally play the game "properly" about 3 years ago. I got as far as the storage facility but was a nervous wreck with no ammo and the twitch reactions of a 4yr-old drinking neat Ribena.

I think it's the only game I've played that's caused cold sweats and heart palpitations.

I definitely need to steel my resolve and have another attempt some time. I'll see how I get on with the current crop of single-player games I'm dabbling with and then jump in.

[Roderick]

This is not the season for replaying classics. There are too many modern classics coming out right now

[brkl]

The monkeys got me. Couldn't go on beyond that point.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I thought it was just me!!!

The spiders are the thing that got me. I remember one jumped on my head... I looked up and... and... and... (collapses into a heap on the floor, shaking uncontrollably)... it still upsets me... *sob*!

The mechanics of SS2 were not nearly as well-rounded as Bioshock's (but the story and world of Bioshock's was not as believable as SS2's - so it's pros and cons). Bioshock was perfectly balanced, but SS2 was just insanely difficult... Two shots fired and my gun is broken... Argh. And they keep coming... Argh!

Thankfully there's some splendid geeks who have hacked SS2 and made it more well-rounded, but the best thing that came out, and the thing that finally let me complete the game, was the official patch that allowed you to set the respawn level to 0.

Thank God!!!

[Duncan]

Well, there's a moment when you meet the captain or whoevcer it is that is giving you instuctions thourgh the first few levels. If you dont get hooked by that poin then, yeah, you have probably been spoiled by all the games that stole from it in later years.

Okay. Like I said, I'll probably finish it anyway (though the reactions in this thread have me less sure of that) but I think it's going to be the difference between playing and liking it and playing it to appreciate a museum piece.

Otherwise, were you not at least freaked out by the monkey noises?

Oh, sure. But they didn't make me say "Wow I gotta see these monkeys!!"

[ysbreker]

I too haven't finished System shock 2 because I got too scared. Even with cheats I was too scared to finish the game (This is also the reason why I still haven't finished bioshock. I'm such a pussy ).

But Systemshock is worth playing, even if just to hear shodan say the following:

'lo-lo-look at you, hackers'.

Just awesome!

[ThunderPeel2001]

I really can't believe I wasn't the only one who had difficulty completing SS2! I always thought it was just me being a complete softy. I'm glad I went back and did it, though, it's got a good story.

Patches and 0 respawn (although there's still the odd area where things continue to repawn, so you've got to keep on your toes).

Did you install the "enhanced graphics" patches? They looked good when they first came out, now they look dated again... but less so than the original.

[elmuerte]

I haven't played any System Shock game...

Maybe today is a good day to start. Now I only need to find a copy.

[Wrestlevania]

Best of luck on finding a legit copy -- rarer than rocking horse shit nowadays.

I think MS should pay Irrational a fuck-load of cash to polish Shock 2 and sell it over Live in its visually remastered format. No mucking about with the sound design or game mechanics!

[elmuerte]

yeah... guess I'll have to pirate it. (I don't do second hand games)

[Spaff]

play it co-op it's more fun.

Also it gets better and better as you get further in - as more of the story is told, as more ghostly encounters and crazed enemies appear.... or maybe that's just my memory of it. That seems more likely ¬¬

But yeah ,it's like 10 years old. Bioshock is this game reskinned and re-imagined for a contemporary market, and polished to make it a more immense experience to begin with. Also with some of the more indepth parts stripped completley out - half of the RPG things like inventory etc.

I actually found the opposite with Bioshock, it was awesome to begin with but then didnt hold me long enough, I got bored half way in and never completed it... I really should, but with all these other games, i dunno when that's likely to happen!

there is some SS2 mod somewhere on the net that scales up all the models textures and makes it prettier or something, that is probably worth finding... hm mmaybe it's this

http://www.fileplanet.com/125428/120000/fileinfo/System-Shock-Rebirth-Beta-1

[Roderick]

I was forced to resort to some pirated version of the game as well, one that I couldn't quite adjust by tampering with the .ini files, so I was never able to kill the respawn or simply adjust the difficulty. I loved the hacking though. I started out with the 'mage' equivalent, but quickly rerolled as a hacker because I discovered it's extremely beneficial. There's just so much to hack; you can shortcut security cameras, et cetera.

I only ever played the first half hour of Bioshock and obviously, it's very engrossing. I'd like to play the rest. Perhaps it gets boring, but we'll see. The game deserves to be played, in any case.

[Cigol]

I have a retail version of the game laying around (yas, I actually bought it!) but I don't think it's the best FPS in the world (for me that mantle falls to Deus Ex). Looking back I wish I could change some things like the respawn and the difficulty. It was a very frustrating game to play and the weapons did have a criminal tendency to break if you so much as glanced in their direction. The combat too wasn't very satisfying - I can't remember what engine it used but it was pretty clunky. It felt as if it was perfect for rendering a desolate spaceship but once populated with characters it had trouble convincing you of their presence - if that makes any sense (which I'm sure it frikin doesn't )

Comparisons to Bioshock are also unfair as has been said because if you're playing a game that old you have to be in a frame of mind to appreciate it came before such uninspiring titles () A remake (with a different premise) would be cool - but no streamlining for god sake.

[elmuerte]

So far I like system shock 2, although I am getting a bit annoyed of the constant backtracking.

The game world doesn't seem as dead as it was in Deus Ex, it's probably because of the log messages. The background story is a bit difficult to follow because you don't always get the messages in order, but that's only natural and thus a major plus. In Doom 3 all messages were in order, like a holywood movie where everything simply fits into place.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yeah, I do recall that you have to play the game quite quickly to really appreciate the plot, otherwise it's easy to forget who's said what.

[brkl]

I can't understand how someone could say DX is dead compared to SS2.

[DanJW]

Well, Deus Ex is supposed to take place within major world capitols. As such, they do seem rather empty, even if the areas involved have been evacuated. System Shock 2 takes place on a spacecraft where almost all the residents have been killed or mutated, but that spacecraft feels fully realised and seems like it was inhabited only a few hours ago.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I can't say I noticed that Deux Ex seemed empty, myself. It's one of the best games I've ever played

[DanJW]

Oh, yes, I did enjoy Deus Ex, it's excellent. But in terms of modelling cities it was overambitious for its time.

[Cigol]

In retrospect perhaps, it didn't feel like that at the time.