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[System Shock & 2] - SHODAN's Liberation Is At Hand
Tamin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This thread is here to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of five groups:
Looking Glass Studios, who designed the Dark engine
Irrational Games, who worked with LGS to bring System Shock 2 to the masses
The mysterious benefactor who acquired the disparate rights
The wonderful people at GOG.com, who are now distributing System Shock 2 for the paltry sum of $10 ...
and the TTLG forum community, who collected wisdom and kept SS2 running on modern machines, developed modifications, and even released a handful of fan missions.
So, what is System Shock 2?
Well, no. That's SHODAN. An artificial intelligence who sort of went insane. And then tried to murder everyone. But that was years ago, in System Shock 1. She's mostly very iconic, which is why she's used in the SS2 promotional material
I highly recommend playing System Shock 1. In quite a few ways, it's actually better than SS2. Unfortunately, it's afqasddsa---incoming transmission
:: SYSTEM SHOCK 1 is now available on GOG as an 'enhanced edition'.
Alright, you've bought the game and watched that opening cinematic
I mean, you have, right?
Oh, I'm supposed to sell you on the game first?
Mutants! Robots! Cyborgs! Cyberspace! Mega-Corps! Ok, so now you're sold and you're looking at that main menu and asking - where's "easy"?
The short answer is there is no 'easy'. Or medium, or hard. There's a difficulty index. I'm a little fuzzy on the specifics.
What do you want, it's been literally 21 years since the game came out. (when my favorite games are legally allowed to drink, I know I am an old.)
There are four categories: Combat, Mission, Puzzle, and Cyberspace. Each settings controls difficulty within that category - a 0 in each will make the game trivial; a 3 in each will make it crazy-hard. Combat is straight-forward enough: enemies range from ignoring you to having a bloodlust. Higher Mission difficulty will impose time-limits on critical tasks. Puzzles will be made more complicated. Cyberspace will gain a time-limit, harder combat, and (I think) more difficult controls.
(as an aside: the puzzles are my favorite aspect of the game. I wish more games would have the variety found here.)
Let's look at your default HUD
(there's a full-screen version that's a lot more readable, at least to me. The second box on the left side of the screen will switch to that mode)
Remember that pipe-swinging hybrid your successor will have met in the sequel? This time, it's your turn.
Off in the upper-right we have two bars.
- the top is your health. Apply medical patches or find a healing station to restore this.
- the bottom is your energy. This powers your hardware (for a broad comparison, think of the augments in Deus Ex) and any energy weapons you may find.
The boxes that frame this screen are your hardware and other features. Compass, E-Mail, and full-screen are available from the beginning of the game. Others must be found.
Bottom left and right are what we old-timers call MFDs - Multi-Function Displays. The function can be changed via the vertical tab selection off to the side of each.
The map (displayed here on the right MFD) can be viewed full-screen. And you can place notes!
Bottom center is your inventory. The horizontal tabs select different inventory sections. Your various treasures - medical patches, grenades, cyberspace software, empty bottles of cola, you know - will go here.
The top center has two mini-panels, and is a clever answer in the days before mouselook. The right mini-panel controls leaning, kneeling, and going prone. The left mini-panel controls your eye level. There are keyboard shortcuts for each, naturally.
...
I know, it looks super complicated. It's pretty easy to get used to it.
Glancing at Stealing the bullet points from the store page, I see they added
* mouselook
* remappable controls (the original was well aware you had a full 128-key keyboard and a mouse; it made full use of those facts)
* higher resolution support
It's a great game. A pioneer, even.
It's absolutely worth $10.
:: end transmission
:: original file continues
System Shock 2 is considered, by many authorities, to be one of the best games ever made. Certainly among the best in the relatively niche FP-RPG hybrid genre.
It is also one of my favorite games of all time.
The simplest definition of SS2 is: First Person Role Playing Game.
Run about as a floating gun (or wrench) and try not to die. This is much harder than it sounds, especially on the higher difficulties. You see, this game is very much a survival horror game; at least early on. Limited ammunition, special ammunition types, and weapon degradation combine to put you in a situation where you are down to your last bullet, a very angry creature is barreling down on you, you aim, hit the fire button ... and the weapon clicks. Jammed.
Pants. Shitting. Terror.
As you accomplish goals, you are given upgrade points. This is explained in a handwavey, in-universe kind of way. I like it.
Upgrading your skills allows you to smash things with the wrench better. Or use different weapons. Or hack terminals. Or shoot fire with your mind. This last is not recommended for the first play through, sadly, as most people consider it unbalanced. Er, in a negative sense. For your first play through, I recommend treating PSI as a supporting power set.
The game is quite possible as a psi-only character. Or a wrench-only character. Or, my personal favorite, a laser pistol only character.
Some gameplay information:
This player is in "use" mode. Accessed by pressing <tab> by default, it suspends mouselook and allows you to access your inventory, equip items, and check emails or the journal. The game is not paused in this mode. Be careful.
At the top of the screen, you'll notice a large grid. Yes, this game features a full inventory system. Can't rotate the items to make them fit better - vertical is the only way to go. Strength upgrades give you extra inventory space.
To the right of the inventory is the equip slots: one weapon, a piece of armor, and an implant.
Implants come in a few different flavors; I won't go into details.
Along the bottom left of the screen, there are the usual RPG staples: green is health, red is mana. The beaker lets you review your research and begin a new one. It'll also tell you which resources you need for a given topic. The question mark transforms the cursor into one, and you can click on the use screen elements to get information. Below this is the map. You'll want to access the map immediately and tick the "minimap" option. Next are "nanites". Call it gold, gil, dollars, credits, or loonies, the point is: money. Purchase items from vending machines, use them for hacking, modifying, and repair jobs. Among other things. The last one in this section shows your current cybermodules (i.e., exp). Expend these at the upgrade terminals.
Jumping across, we first see the "log" button. Check your to-do list, listen to emails and other audio logs. Next is the key card - mostly useless, just lets you know what you have. The MFD button, I've actually forgotten what it's used for. The last, empty box contains the active PSI ability.
Got that? Good. Here's what that big thing in the middle does:
it's a wrench, you hits things with it.
Oh, you meant the blue thing?
This is a "Tech" upgrade terminal; there are four. Weapons, PSI, Tech, and Stats.
As you can see, the Tech terminal covers things like Hacking, Repair (for that jammed gun), Modify (make that gun better), Maintenance (prevent it from jamming) and Research (do more damage to the creatures, mostly)
The Weapons terminal does similar things: upgrade your skill in standard, heavy, or energy weapons. Can't use that rifle until the appropriate skill is leveled.
Stats - agility, strength (hit things harder), a few others. You get the idea. Interestingly, upgrading things like agility affect how you move. And just wait until you inject that speed hypo -- ooh, man. Just try to avoid running into walls. Yeah. Physics.
PSI is the most expansive, as there are 5 levels of PSI powers, each with many different "spells".
There is one other type of terminal. They are exceedingly rare: only four exist in the game. Each offers upgrades from a specialized pool; consider them "perks".
There are 16 perks.
Once a perk is selected, the terminal shuts down.
Choose carefully. The next one is pretty far away!
A note on weapons. A few have an alternate fire mode: the pistol and machine gun switch between single and 3-round burst; and the laser pistol switches to an 'overload' shot. GOG's defaults are 'f' to switch ammunition type and 'v' to change weapon mode. Don't ask me why.
Minigames!
As with other RPGs, SS2 includes a variety of minigames.
The first, and by far the most common, is the hacking minigame. The same game is used for repair and modify, to my chargin.
Each task (hacking a terminal, upgrading a weapon) has an overall difficulty associated with it. This is made easier by upgrading relevant skills and acquiring software. Each attempt costs a few nanites.
Basically, you'll want to connect 3 nodes in a straight line. Each node has a percent chance to light up, or fall dark. If too many fall dark, you can't complete the hack and should restart (or move on to do other things). However, there are special red-outlined, "ICE" nodes. If these go dark, you just failed in a big way. Maybe the alarm will go off. Maybe the chest will explode. The weapon will break.
Some locked doors ask for a 5-digit code. I believe there is a code for every single one, even if the game never gives it to you. On top of this, all of these keypads are "active" from the get-go. That is, if you know the code, you can open the door - you don't need to have been given the code in the current playthrough.
So, it may be in your best interests to write all the codes you are given down as you acquire them, along with a note indicating which doors they open.
It's pretty hilarious to enter Engineering ahead of schedule. Or that armory...
Along the way, you'll encounter a device called a GamePIG (totally not a gameboy, I swear).
Ok, I lied. It's a far future gameboy. You find cartridges and can upload them to the GamePIG. You can also hack the device to unlock all the games. But it's a super hard hack. Needs level 6 hacking, if I recall correctly.
Games include
Overworld 0 (totally not Ulti- ok, yes it's an homage to Ultima 1)
Swinekeeper (Minesweeper)
-- and since I'm not on my computer and can't check, I will grab a list from ttlg for the ones I'm blanking on:
Golf
Ping
Swinekeeper
Hogger
Tic Tac Triop
Swinehunter
Pig Stacker
Burro Hog
Abyss
Kabacon
OverWorld
The bolded ones are the ones I remember. Not all of these are actually in-game.
Modifications:
A few months ago, in September, a guy calling himself "The Raven" (albeit in French) posted what has become known as "New Dark". It's a huge patch for the game, with many fascinating updates.
You can find more information here.
As an aside, the forums at TTLG are a wonderful resource for this game.
What fan community doesn't want their game to look better? TTLG is no different, and there is an excellent texture pack here. If the models offend you, there is also a model pack called Rebirth; not something I personally care for, but I don't judge. Here you go.
ADaOB is "Anomalies, Discrepancies, and Outright Bugs", and was created by Straylight. Would recommend installing this for a second playthrough.
Haven't personally used the others. Likely, they were developed after I stopped following the community. Will be looking forward to installing four hundred in particular.
One mod that isn't listed is this one. A "vague" health bar for the enemies, to add more uncertainty.
update: TetraNitroCubane has kindly collected many of the mods for SS2 in one easy-to-use download
My personal recommendation would be to check the /DataPermMods folder first, and make sure GOG hasn't included anything by default. Until I get my video card back, I'm flying blind here.
Again, ADaOB should perhaps be saved for a second playthrough. The model replacements (Rebirth, Tacticool, Psi Amp) should not be considered "better"; just "higher-polygon" and "more recent". The same might apply for "goo", but I don't know what that is.
For myself, I prefer the aesthetics of the original models, even if they are low-poly. Recent conversations indicate I may be broken in this regard.
For SHTUP, ZylonBane went to great lengths to ensure nothing of substance was changed. Just higher-resolution for the most part.
I imagine Four Hundred, Space Textures, and SHMUP are along the same lines as SHTUP.
There are also many ini modifications you can make, including one that removes weapon degradation. You pansy.
Multiplayer!
There have been some questions asked about the multiplayer mode.
1) Yes, it's official
2) Yes, it's buggy
3) Yes, it's tons of fun
4) It apparently works with the basic GOG install - but mods make it cranky.
If anyone wants in, just post (or pm / @ me) something along the lines of
!SS2 MP signup
Timezone
Preferred time to play
and I will expand this section.
I don't recall having to open any ports in order to connect and play multiplayer. In the interests of being thorough, I looked it up and found this:
In the (paraphrased) words of another Looking Glass game, buy it buy it buy it NOW
Minor update: you can now purchase this fine game on Steam
The steam page indicates the game received the following reviews:
PC Game Of the Year - USA Today (1999)
Best Action Game & Game of the Year - CNET (1999)
Game of the Year - Game Revolution (1999)
Game of the Year - Computer Games Online (1999)
RPG Game of the Year - PC Gamer (1999)
Game of the Year - Evil Avatar (1999)
Game of the Year - Intelligamer (1999)
RPG of the Year - Gamespy (1999)
RPG of the Year - Games Domain (1999)
Adventure Game of the Year - Gone Gold (1999)
Game of the Year - Glide Underground (1999)
Single Player Game of the Year - PC Accelerator (1999)
Best Genre Bender - Gamespy (1999)
5th Best Game of All Time - PC Gamer (1999)
Looking Glass Studios, who designed the Dark engine
Irrational Games, who worked with LGS to bring System Shock 2 to the masses
The mysterious benefactor who acquired the disparate rights
The wonderful people at GOG.com, who are now distributing System Shock 2 for the paltry sum of $10 ...
and the TTLG forum community, who collected wisdom and kept SS2 running on modern machines, developed modifications, and even released a handful of fan missions.
So, what is System Shock 2?
Well, no. That's SHODAN. An artificial intelligence who sort of went insane. And then tried to murder everyone. But that was years ago, in System Shock 1. She's mostly very iconic, which is why she's used in the SS2 promotional material
I highly recommend playing System Shock 1. In quite a few ways, it's actually better than SS2. Unfortunately, it's afqasddsa---incoming transmission
:: SYSTEM SHOCK 1 is now available on GOG as an 'enhanced edition'.
Alright, you've bought the game and watched that opening cinematic
I mean, you have, right?
Oh, I'm supposed to sell you on the game first?
Mutants! Robots! Cyborgs! Cyberspace! Mega-Corps! Ok, so now you're sold and you're looking at that main menu and asking - where's "easy"?
The short answer is there is no 'easy'. Or medium, or hard. There's a difficulty index. I'm a little fuzzy on the specifics.
What do you want, it's been literally 21 years since the game came out. (when my favorite games are legally allowed to drink, I know I am an old.)
There are four categories: Combat, Mission, Puzzle, and Cyberspace. Each settings controls difficulty within that category - a 0 in each will make the game trivial; a 3 in each will make it crazy-hard. Combat is straight-forward enough: enemies range from ignoring you to having a bloodlust. Higher Mission difficulty will impose time-limits on critical tasks. Puzzles will be made more complicated. Cyberspace will gain a time-limit, harder combat, and (I think) more difficult controls.
(as an aside: the puzzles are my favorite aspect of the game. I wish more games would have the variety found here.)
Let's look at your default HUD
(there's a full-screen version that's a lot more readable, at least to me. The second box on the left side of the screen will switch to that mode)
Remember that pipe-swinging hybrid your successor will have met in the sequel? This time, it's your turn.
Off in the upper-right we have two bars.
- the top is your health. Apply medical patches or find a healing station to restore this.
- the bottom is your energy. This powers your hardware (for a broad comparison, think of the augments in Deus Ex) and any energy weapons you may find.
The boxes that frame this screen are your hardware and other features. Compass, E-Mail, and full-screen are available from the beginning of the game. Others must be found.
Bottom left and right are what we old-timers call MFDs - Multi-Function Displays. The function can be changed via the vertical tab selection off to the side of each.
The map (displayed here on the right MFD) can be viewed full-screen. And you can place notes!
Bottom center is your inventory. The horizontal tabs select different inventory sections. Your various treasures - medical patches, grenades, cyberspace software, empty bottles of cola, you know - will go here.
The top center has two mini-panels, and is a clever answer in the days before mouselook. The right mini-panel controls leaning, kneeling, and going prone. The left mini-panel controls your eye level. There are keyboard shortcuts for each, naturally.
...
I know, it looks super complicated. It's pretty easy to get used to it.
Glancing at Stealing the bullet points from the store page, I see they added
* mouselook
* remappable controls (the original was well aware you had a full 128-key keyboard and a mouse; it made full use of those facts)
* higher resolution support
It's a great game. A pioneer, even.
It's absolutely worth $10.
:: end transmission
:: original file continues
System Shock 2 is considered, by many authorities, to be one of the best games ever made. Certainly among the best in the relatively niche FP-RPG hybrid genre.
It is also one of my favorite games of all time.
The simplest definition of SS2 is: First Person Role Playing Game.
Run about as a floating gun (or wrench) and try not to die. This is much harder than it sounds, especially on the higher difficulties. You see, this game is very much a survival horror game; at least early on. Limited ammunition, special ammunition types, and weapon degradation combine to put you in a situation where you are down to your last bullet, a very angry creature is barreling down on you, you aim, hit the fire button ... and the weapon clicks. Jammed.
Pants. Shitting. Terror.
As you accomplish goals, you are given upgrade points. This is explained in a handwavey, in-universe kind of way. I like it.
Upgrading your skills allows you to smash things with the wrench better. Or use different weapons. Or hack terminals. Or shoot fire with your mind. This last is not recommended for the first play through, sadly, as most people consider it unbalanced. Er, in a negative sense. For your first play through, I recommend treating PSI as a supporting power set.
The game is quite possible as a psi-only character. Or a wrench-only character. Or, my personal favorite, a laser pistol only character.
Some gameplay information:
This player is in "use" mode. Accessed by pressing <tab> by default, it suspends mouselook and allows you to access your inventory, equip items, and check emails or the journal. The game is not paused in this mode. Be careful.
At the top of the screen, you'll notice a large grid. Yes, this game features a full inventory system. Can't rotate the items to make them fit better - vertical is the only way to go. Strength upgrades give you extra inventory space.
To the right of the inventory is the equip slots: one weapon, a piece of armor, and an implant.
Implants come in a few different flavors; I won't go into details.
Along the bottom left of the screen, there are the usual RPG staples: green is health, red is mana. The beaker lets you review your research and begin a new one. It'll also tell you which resources you need for a given topic. The question mark transforms the cursor into one, and you can click on the use screen elements to get information. Below this is the map. You'll want to access the map immediately and tick the "minimap" option. Next are "nanites". Call it gold, gil, dollars, credits, or loonies, the point is: money. Purchase items from vending machines, use them for hacking, modifying, and repair jobs. Among other things. The last one in this section shows your current cybermodules (i.e., exp). Expend these at the upgrade terminals.
Jumping across, we first see the "log" button. Check your to-do list, listen to emails and other audio logs. Next is the key card - mostly useless, just lets you know what you have. The MFD button, I've actually forgotten what it's used for. The last, empty box contains the active PSI ability.
Got that? Good. Here's what that big thing in the middle does:
it's a wrench, you hits things with it.
Oh, you meant the blue thing?
This is a "Tech" upgrade terminal; there are four. Weapons, PSI, Tech, and Stats.
As you can see, the Tech terminal covers things like Hacking, Repair (for that jammed gun), Modify (make that gun better), Maintenance (prevent it from jamming) and Research (do more damage to the creatures, mostly)
The Weapons terminal does similar things: upgrade your skill in standard, heavy, or energy weapons. Can't use that rifle until the appropriate skill is leveled.
Stats - agility, strength (hit things harder), a few others. You get the idea. Interestingly, upgrading things like agility affect how you move. And just wait until you inject that speed hypo -- ooh, man. Just try to avoid running into walls. Yeah. Physics.
PSI is the most expansive, as there are 5 levels of PSI powers, each with many different "spells".
There is one other type of terminal. They are exceedingly rare: only four exist in the game. Each offers upgrades from a specialized pool; consider them "perks".
There are 16 perks.
Once a perk is selected, the terminal shuts down.
Choose carefully. The next one is pretty far away!
A note on weapons. A few have an alternate fire mode: the pistol and machine gun switch between single and 3-round burst; and the laser pistol switches to an 'overload' shot. GOG's defaults are 'f' to switch ammunition type and 'v' to change weapon mode. Don't ask me why.
Minigames!
As with other RPGs, SS2 includes a variety of minigames.
The first, and by far the most common, is the hacking minigame. The same game is used for repair and modify, to my chargin.
Each task (hacking a terminal, upgrading a weapon) has an overall difficulty associated with it. This is made easier by upgrading relevant skills and acquiring software. Each attempt costs a few nanites.
Basically, you'll want to connect 3 nodes in a straight line. Each node has a percent chance to light up, or fall dark. If too many fall dark, you can't complete the hack and should restart (or move on to do other things). However, there are special red-outlined, "ICE" nodes. If these go dark, you just failed in a big way. Maybe the alarm will go off. Maybe the chest will explode. The weapon will break.
Some locked doors ask for a 5-digit code. I believe there is a code for every single one, even if the game never gives it to you. On top of this, all of these keypads are "active" from the get-go. That is, if you know the code, you can open the door - you don't need to have been given the code in the current playthrough.
So, it may be in your best interests to write all the codes you are given down as you acquire them, along with a note indicating which doors they open.
It's pretty hilarious to enter Engineering ahead of schedule. Or that armory...
Along the way, you'll encounter a device called a GamePIG (totally not a gameboy, I swear).
Ok, I lied. It's a far future gameboy. You find cartridges and can upload them to the GamePIG. You can also hack the device to unlock all the games. But it's a super hard hack. Needs level 6 hacking, if I recall correctly.
Games include
Overworld 0 (totally not Ulti- ok, yes it's an homage to Ultima 1)
Swinekeeper (Minesweeper)
-- and since I'm not on my computer and can't check, I will grab a list from ttlg for the ones I'm blanking on:
Golf
Ping
Swinekeeper
Hogger
Tic Tac Triop
Swinehunter
Pig Stacker
Burro Hog
Abyss
Kabacon
OverWorld
The bolded ones are the ones I remember. Not all of these are actually in-game.
Modifications:
A few months ago, in September, a guy calling himself "The Raven" (albeit in French) posted what has become known as "New Dark". It's a huge patch for the game, with many fascinating updates.
You can find more information here.
As an aside, the forums at TTLG are a wonderful resource for this game.
What fan community doesn't want their game to look better? TTLG is no different, and there is an excellent texture pack here. If the models offend you, there is also a model pack called Rebirth; not something I personally care for, but I don't judge. Here you go.
RoyceSraphim wrote: »
ADaOB is "Anomalies, Discrepancies, and Outright Bugs", and was created by Straylight. Would recommend installing this for a second playthrough.
Haven't personally used the others. Likely, they were developed after I stopped following the community. Will be looking forward to installing four hundred in particular.
One mod that isn't listed is this one. A "vague" health bar for the enemies, to add more uncertainty.
update: TetraNitroCubane has kindly collected many of the mods for SS2 in one easy-to-use download
TetraNitroCubane wrote: »Okay, uploaded to my Drive. I hope this works. Here it is.
This zip file contains all the recommended mods from systemshock.org. Those include:
- 1. SHTUP (object textures upgrade)
- 2. ADaoB (bug fixing and rebalancing)
- 3. SHMUP (original music, better quality)
- 4. Rebirth (new enemy models)
- 5. Four Hundred (environment texture upgrade)
- 6. Tacticool (weapon model replacements for Wrench, Pistol, Laser Pistol, Grenade Launcher, Assault Rifle, and Shotgun)
- 7. Eldron Psi Amp (model upgrade)
- 8. Vurt's Space Textures (for nice window views)
- 9. Vurt's Goo (organics)
All you should need to do is unzip the contents of this archive to /DataPermMods. Make sure there are files in /DataPermMods, and that you havn't unzipped to a subdirectory in there.
One quick way to verify that the mods are running is to start a new game and approach one of the dataphones after you step off the tram. If you can read the text, then SHTUP is running correctly, at the very least.
My personal recommendation would be to check the /DataPermMods folder first, and make sure GOG hasn't included anything by default. Until I get my video card back, I'm flying blind here.
Again, ADaOB should perhaps be saved for a second playthrough. The model replacements (Rebirth, Tacticool, Psi Amp) should not be considered "better"; just "higher-polygon" and "more recent". The same might apply for "goo", but I don't know what that is.
For myself, I prefer the aesthetics of the original models, even if they are low-poly. Recent conversations indicate I may be broken in this regard.
For SHTUP, ZylonBane went to great lengths to ensure nothing of substance was changed. Just higher-resolution for the most part.
I imagine Four Hundred, Space Textures, and SHMUP are along the same lines as SHTUP.
There are also many ini modifications you can make, including one that removes weapon degradation. You pansy.
Multiplayer!
There have been some questions asked about the multiplayer mode.
1) Yes, it's official
2) Yes, it's buggy
3) Yes, it's tons of fun
4) It apparently works with the basic GOG install - but mods make it cranky.
If anyone wants in, just post (or pm / @ me) something along the lines of
!SS2 MP signup
Timezone
Preferred time to play
and I will expand this section.
I don't recall having to open any ports in order to connect and play multiplayer. In the interests of being thorough, I looked it up and found this:
It uses the standard MSN Gaming Zone:
2300-2400 UDP & TCP
47624 (Trigger Port) UDP & TCP
28800-28900 UDP & TCP
In the (paraphrased) words of another Looking Glass game, buy it buy it buy it NOW
Minor update: you can now purchase this fine game on Steam
The steam page indicates the game received the following reviews:
PC Game Of the Year - USA Today (1999)
Best Action Game & Game of the Year - CNET (1999)
Game of the Year - Game Revolution (1999)
Game of the Year - Computer Games Online (1999)
RPG Game of the Year - PC Gamer (1999)
Game of the Year - Evil Avatar (1999)
Game of the Year - Intelligamer (1999)
RPG of the Year - Gamespy (1999)
RPG of the Year - Games Domain (1999)
Adventure Game of the Year - Gone Gold (1999)
Game of the Year - Glide Underground (1999)
Single Player Game of the Year - PC Accelerator (1999)
Best Genre Bender - Gamespy (1999)
5th Best Game of All Time - PC Gamer (1999)
Tamin on
+15
Posts
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Despite the graphics I think it has aged fairly well too.
Now I just need my resolve to hold out long enough for the Steam release, having the CD within arms reach is certainly helping there.
Bravely Default / 3DS Friend Code = 3394-3571-1609
It's seriously amazing, and, I think I've mentioned this before, it has my favorite storytelling moment in videogames, ever, in it.
Serious spoilers (like, seriously, don't ruin this moment for yourself if you haven't played through the game):
It still gives me chills thinking about it.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
I remember the first time i ran across a game called "Dune". It was the first RTS i ever played and it changed gaming forever.
I remember System shock 1 (tho very vaguely...its been almost 20 years), and its creepy puzzles and recordings that made me think FPS's are going to the next level.
I remember System shock 2 showing that First person shooters didnt have to be simple. They could be RPG's and creep the fuck out of you while being superior to everything else out there.
Bioshock, Resident evil, Dead space, every survival horror game youve played owes itself to system shock 2.
Buy it. Play it. and dont you dare think you can just play it like a FPS. it will eat you alive.
It was added in an official patch.
It's very fun ... when it works smoothly. But, well, a lot of things can go wrong.
Do not let that scare you away. It's well worth trying.
I don't think it scales difficulty or items (it's been years since I played MP), but each it does give the same number of upgrade points to everyone. The best part of playing co-op with 3 other people is being able to really specialize your character.
When SS2 came out, I wanted to play it so badly, I purchased my own copy and snuck into the local university's computer lab late at night when nobody was awake, or using the systems. I missed a ton of sleep, and my grades plummeted but you know what? There is a kind of timeless magic that happens playing a game this good at 3 AM in a pitch dark computer lab, when you're exceedingly sleep deprived. I wouldn't trade my memories of playing this game for anything.
I ... would not want to be you, in that dark, creepy computer lab when you reached
(major! spoilers)
I would have reached over and turned the computer off so fast and then power-walked out of the room.
Unidentified Aerial Target has been detected and destroyed. Moving to recover debris at crash site.
Oddly enough that part didn't freak me out that much. You know what did though?
Just to give you an idea of how badly I wanted to play this game. I bought a fully price game when I didn't own a computer to run it on. I specifically avoided going to sleep, and snuck out of the house after my parents headed off to bed, then walked two miles in -25 degree (celsius) temperatures to the university, and dodged campus security to sneak into the lab.
And it was totally worth it.
I won't argue. I've never managed to keep a group together long enough to make much progress.
If there's enough interest, I would be fine with editing the OP to include the names of those who want to give multiplayer a try.
Cargo bay and a good chunk of Hydroponics still are some of the creepiest areas I've visited in any videogame.
you have earned your name, then.
That's an awesome story and it makes me miss the days when school and university computer labs could actually run games. Since most of them are probably using the same computers.
But a dark and empty computer lab sounds a terrifying place to play this game.
Mod Edit: For anyone reading this now, do not discuss System Shock Portable.
The pigeon speaks truly. SS1 is, in many ways, a better game. Cyberspace alone makes it so.
in fact, I've edited the OP to make a special mention of this.
The only thing that ever put me off the original were the wonky-as-hell controls, but System Shock Portable fixes those nicely. It's a tough and unforgiving game, and it doesn't hold your hand for anything, but it's still thoroughly worth the playthrough and I heartily recommend it.
System Shock 2 coop is amazing. But make sure you're playing with the right people.
Once, I played with one guy who was playing as if it was a competition. He'd run ahead by himself triggering all the scripted events without really paying attention, just so he could search every container first and get all the ammo / software upgrades. I'd already played the game twice so I already knew what was coming, but it still annoyed the heck out of me.
Its best if you stick together with your coop partner(s) and take it slow, drinking in the atmosphere together.
This is the only way I play.
I love the audio logs in this game so much.
I played 3 player coop long, long ago. It was the most hilarious thing ever (when it worked.)
It included various instances of:
-Opening a door on an already stressed out teammate only to have him empty his entire MG clip on me. I mean, the death was OK, but he wasted a full clip!
-Me firing my fully-charged mind-rays against a goddamn monkey when suddenly our resident melee attacker decided he would like to take a swing too. Not good either.
-Few (very few) precious moments of teamwork, trying to keep all areas visible to avoid spawns behind our backs. This lasted until we encountered a single enemy, from where everything went downhill.
This is the one game that would benefit a lot from just taking what we have and updating the graphical engine. Even the sound is great as is (as far as I can remember.) Don't touch anything else.
Do badasses use the laser sword?
Because that thing is great.
Playing System Shock 2 tonight, and I gotta say, the guns in this game...
Are they made of tissue paper and our best hopes for a better tomorrow? Because they seem less durable than the guns in Fallout 3. And those things were sitting out in the rain for a century beforehand.
Why I fear the ocean.
Methodology
Take the following as true:
-The Von Braun leaves Earth on February 3rd
-It reaches the Tau Ceti System on June 10th
-In those 127 days, it travels 67 Trillion Miles
Using Wikipedia's approximate definition of a light year (5.878 trillion miles), It can be calculated that Tau Ceti is roughly 11.397 Light Years from Earth
To work out the Von Braun's speed in Light Years/Year, divide the distance by the time (in years), so
11.397 / (127/365.25) = 32.778 times faster than the speed of light.
Finally, consult this chart:
And we see that 32 times the speed of light is roughly Warp 2.9!
Now if you excuse me, I need to buy some pocket protectors.
also ss2 was 1 of the first games i bought when i finally got my own pc, dont think ill mess with those memories but anyone who hasnt played it is missing out
Also added minigames to the OP and changed some of the wording that had been bugging me
It's a bit of a pain in the butt, to be honest, but it makes the game look much nicer. Particularly the high resolution environments, which clean up the blurry textures.
I have a zipped package I made that's all of the systemshock.org recommended mods already unpackaged and in proper order - It's something you just have to extract into /DataPermMods and be done with it. Easy stuff. It's also >500 Megs, though, so I'm not sure where I could host it (And I'm also not sure if that'd be allowed).