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System Shock 2 - Why did it take me 9 years to play this?
ShimSham
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So Bioshock is one of my all time favorites, even though it was just released under a year ago. I love it.
With that said, I never played one of the highly acclaimed games that Bioshock was a spiritual sequel to, System Shock 2.
I didn't bother with SS1, and went straight to SS2 with the Rebirth mod and the SHTUP textures added so the game is clearer and prettier than its original 1999 self. This made the whole jump backwards in graphics much less jarring. After I spent a long damn time getting the game to work with Windows XP, I finally got it. I really recommend those mods, especially Rebirth which most people know about.
So between last night and today, I completed SS2. Fantastic game, and I can see why it was so highly acclaimed, especially around '99. Some level design problems got me lost for longer than I cared for, and there was a little too much backtracking, but I enjoyed the game. I would have preferred some more friendly-NPC interaction, but the audiologs filled that void pretty well.
So we should talk about System Shock, and Bioshock. I don't care. It's just on my mind now. So for those of you who didn't wait 9 years to play the game, reminisce. If you still haven't played it, you should look into it if you're a fan of Adventure/FPS games.
Edit: I think my phrasing in this whole post is awkward. You'll have to forgive that as it's 3 in the morning.
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My trouble with System Shock 2 is that the audio is uh.. too good. I could never force myself past a certain point because that game's atmosphere is fucking creepy as shit.
Because you are a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through the corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?
I never asked for this!
Lot of factors.
But yeah, the audio and immersion is somewhere the game has not aged a bit. As frustrating as navigating through The Many's body was, it was worth the end result. I'm just glad to be done with The Many.
I know I sure as hell did. It was bad enough up to that point, and thinking about what it meant unsettled me deeply. Very cool though.
Wow, fucking wow.
INTENSE.
Final Fantasy XI -> Carbuncle - Samash
Bioshock is easy, friendly, and not scary at all compared to SS2. Basically it fails at everything SS2 was good at.
Well, Bioshock and Morrowind/Oblivion. I suppose I could go farther with Jade Empire and Mass Effect, but that might be pissing too many people off at once.
You haven't lost your touch.
I still pray every night that one day System shock 3 will be made and it will be made the way it should. As you can guess, I'm still at it.
Well it is getting made, but it's anyone's guess if it'll be any good.
Oh it'll be good.....
When a dev says theyre making a game more user friendly, they mean that they are making a game for morons too.
Final Fantasy XI -> Carbuncle - Samash
But seriously, like five minutes of work, tops and I had it running.
Also, the thread may explain how the dude got it to run, I don't remember.
Such a wonderful game. What's even more amazing is that the developers themselves did the voices, it's not hired talent. Cortez is voiced by Ken Levine.
SS2 was good. Didn't play very well but had a good atmosphere and told its story really well, just as Bioshock did. The alleged "RPG elements" were so weak that I didn't even notice that Bioshock removed them. I didn't find it scary in the least, other than jumping once when a zombie shot and killed me from nowhere, but it was creepy I suppose. Either way I really enjoyed every element of the game except the gameplay, which was "hit with wrench. fetch quest. terribly designed puzzle. hit with wrench."
2. The Cyborg Midwives and Rumblers were both frightening, the first because they were a horrifically tortured human who could slaughter you handily, and the second because it was a gigantic abomination of flesh with the remains of a screaming face towards the top. The fact that both were engineered by an unfathomably evil creature, The Many, made it even worse.
3. The entire sequence within the Body of The Many. Gross, yes. Unnerving, yes. Scary? At one point you find a digestion room. You better believe it's scary.
4. When The Many first contacts you with its creepy speech, letting you know clearly that it is far superior to anything you can even comprehend.
And those are just the direct events, let alone the creatures that would jump you or just generally fuck with you.
Some might not find it scary. Personally, it quite regularly scared me.
It is pretty much impossible to find legitimately these days. eBay is your best bet of finding a physical copy, it's all over the intertubes in less legal forms though if that's your thing.
strangebedfellows.de
The sad thing is I'm all but certain I won't be able to get it to run on Vista.
EDIT: and I didn't "prime minster" (what the fuck) anybody either.
It's an easy way to make SS2 work on XP, it's also an illegal way so . . .
The game is available on HOTU so I think we can cross that word illegal because I think that the game is now, basically, abandonware, it's been on HOTU for ages
And about strangebedfellows.de, what's wrong with linking it? It's an amazing community and Kolya is basically the shit
I'm playing it on Vista, though with no cutscenes :P
But hey, what do I care? I was just pointing it out. Kolya is the shit and what's on strangebedfellow is great.
I think in every SS2 thread we declare that SS2 is good and proper abandonware anyway and we give sanction to people who submit to the mods links to discuss the acquisition of the game. But remember you need to submit a specific link to a mod for preapproval before that can happen, if someone wants to do that.
猿も木から落ちる
Still refused to work. Then I decided to try installing the game on my mom's Dell, which is also XP service pack 2.
I didn't have to do one single thing. It installed perfectly and ran without problem. There were no hangups, glitches, or any problems at all. So I played the entire thing in her office at night.
And on an entirely different note, my opinion on the game might have been different if I played it around the time it was released. I mean, I really liked it, but I actually still prefer Bioshock. Maybe that's because I played Bioshock first or something, I don't know. I just feel like Bioshock is a big improvement over SS2 while still not losing a lot of what SS2 did really well.
There's a fix .exe floating around somewhere that's supposed to resolve XP issues, too. I don't remember if I had to use it to make everything work, but one exists.
Anyways, I liked this a lot. But while it was pretty scary early on, being a full-on psychic meant that my mid to late game was pretty much me running around invisible solving silly puzzles and occasionally killing anything that came near me instantly.
Edit: Oh you dirty fuck, but I provided a solution like a gentleman so you can go screw!
"LITTLE ONES NEED LOTS OF MEAT"
Durandal, my hatred burns bright for your being able to type faster than me.
Maybe it's the fact that you know you're in a small, isolated, enclosed space, and once you run out of toilet paper.... that's it.
And as for getting SS2 to run on XP, when I did the LP I didn't really have to do much to get it working, a couple of the tweaks on TTLG were all I needed. It really does vary from PC to PC as to how easy it is to get it running.
Looking back on that LP itself I know there's a lot I could have done better, but hey, it's a learning experience for everyone.
Bought the game used (original big box and everything) and have never played it.