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System Shock 2 Retrospect...and Possible Followup?
Starsmore writes: "Gamespot has a retrospective on the 1999 cult classic System Shock 2, which normally isn't that big of a deal on it's own, although it's a nice read for those interested in some of the stories behind the production of System Shock 2. The biggest draw is that tucked at the end of the article (and shown below for those that don't want to RTFA), is this: 'But why even look back at System Shock 2 at this point? Because Irrational has been, and it plans to make a related announcement this Friday (tomorrow). The studio has decided that it wishes to further what it started in System Shock 2--to work on games that promote "emergent" gameplay--open-ended exploration that offers many choices and combinations of options to players. You'll see what we mean tomorrow. Be sure to come back then.' " Could this possibly mean a sequel to the System Shock franchise? Update: 10/09 22:30 EDT by C : As many of you suspected, Irrational is in the process of developing BioShock , a "spiritual successor" to the System Shock games. Here's hoping they can distill much of what made games like System Shock and Thief so successful, yet succeed at their aim of building a game with truly emergent gameplay.
Could this possibly mean a sequel to the System Shock franchise?
Wait until tomorrow and you will find out.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
to work on games that promote "emergent" gameplay--open-ended exploration that offers many choices and combinations of options to players
There's a few out there if you look hard enough (Morrowind, for example), but most single player games just aren't very deep these days. Of course, to make a really open-ended game requires a LOT more testing, driving up the budget and especially the time to develop the game - and modern games already take a long time to develop. Most developers feel the extra effort isn't worth it in most cases, unfortunately.
Is that like reading Slashdot for the trolls?
Hey, I didn't put that stuff in on my original submission, don't blame me. :P
"If Common Sense was so common, it wouldn't be such a valued trait."
The original System Shock is a classic - I absolutely loved that game. SS2 was even better, however its much more creepy to play if you turn off the in-game music and just have the sounds of the things moving around.
If they announce a sequel I'll be a happy man indeed.
System Shock 2 was one of the last games that really scared the hell out of me. Clive Barkers: Undying did a pretty good job of that too.
If only Clive and the System Shock crew could get together, I'd be afraid to turn lights off for the rest of my life.
as long as it's _really_ open ended. That is, I can do what I want and live with the consequences. I can play the game however I see fit. Morrorwind did a great job of this, but it left it open to easy exploitation once you learned the system, and the game got really easy. This was fine, because there was so much to see and do I didn't care that the challenge was gone. What I hate is seeing the 'seams' in games. You know, the places where the game developer's limited what you could do because it would fsck up the pacing of the game or let you finish it too quik or they're just full of themselves and want you to do things their way (**cough** Half-Life **cough).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I recall there being a bunch of hullaballo with EA being pricks about that license. If Irrational hasnt accuired the license then we may be looking at a spiritual successor to System Shock 2.
"I am a kernel in the linux army"
Deus Ex itself was butchered. They took out the RPG aspect of it, limited you on what you could carry, and took out the side quests...I was extremely dissapointed in it.
System Shock, along with the Thief series and the first Deus Ex, is pretty much one of my favorite games ever. There was just something amazing about the atmosphere, but even more, slowly piecing the plot together from the emails of now dead crewmembers was just amazing. There's a reason Doom III pretty much lifted it intact; it worked great in SS2.
System Shock was absolutely excellent; I'm wondering if the proposed sequel will live up to the high standard set by the former. Generally, sequels don't seem to hit the high level of enjoyment as originals; it is interesting to note however that Half-Life 2 is very good, and has a lot of the same gameplay elements as Half-Life (another game I worship, incedently).
Doom 3 was a sequel to Doom1 (imho) because the engines for all *Doom* games was based on the same engine. And Doom 3 is epic (and that may be an understatement.)
What I am saying is, in essence, that SS2 could very well be brilliant as well; but don't be too shocked if it doesn't have as drastic an impact as its predecessor.
I loved this game ... but then again I hated the lack of bullets, it was quite much just hacking computer terminals and smashing zombies with axe :)
class he-man extends man!
I describe System Shock 2 to my friends as 'The best game I've ever played'. I have a half-completed design doc for System Shock 3: Earth, a MMORPG (it's a good idea, trust me). I'll be... checking GameSpot tomorrow.
That game truly kicked ass. I've gotta say that the only games that managed to scare me have been the original Doom and System Shock 2. Everything worked so well together in SS2, I couldn't stop playing it, and when I finished, I played it again as another character. It is so good that I'm getting the itch to install it and replay it one more time. I've a former roommate that played it for a few hours (I purposely turned off the lights in the whole apartment and pumped up the 3D sound) and he kept shitting in his pants until he got up and refused to play any more of it, and that night he kept looking over his shoulder. I just died laughing. Good memories. I wish the do a SS3, I would be first in line to buy it!
If they decide to XBox it to the extreme like Deus Ex: Invisible War, count me out. Please let it be quality.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
What I find endlessly interesting is the amount of effort and money being spent to make video games that mirror real life - as though there isn't this real life out there waiting for you!
I think it's a side effect of standardized education. We're all taught from early ages to respect the institution beyond our own personal judgements. Creativity is supressed in favor of complacency and "sit down, shut up". Psychological shackles are placed and maintained so consistently through our childhood, that we aren't even aware that we wear them. We succumb to the inevitable - prepare for and go to college, get a job, 401k, etc.....
But then, this new environment shows up, free of these shackles, and the first thing we want to do is to make it as much like our life as possible - only without these shackles.
"Free to do whatever you like". No shackles. Yet, the shackles aren't really there in the first place!
You don't need a job - you need money. You don't need a schedule. You don't need a boss. You don't need to sacrifice your day-to-day life in order to pay for that 7,000 environment killer to impress your neighbors. These things are all just stress. They are all just shackles!
The shackles are in your mind. How freeing it is to be rid of them! How pointless video games suddenly seem! The real world is so much richer, so much fuller, so much more inviting!
Finding your passion (such as, for me, engineering) is so incredibly rewarding! Knowing that on the morrow, when I awake, I will create peace for hundreds of people, some I've met, and many more I'll never know.
My works will ease the burden for these fine, good people. Their day will be a little brighter, their song will be a little lighter. And, these good people, will then be a little more free to spend their energies helping those they help.
I know this because they tell me so. I know this because I see the results. I've seen the kids, happy, hopeful, and bright.
What a joy it is to find one's true passion in life! Face your fears, clear away your shackles, and discover your true passion in life! Strength, joy, and peace of mind can be yours.
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
I played the hell out of System Shock 1 and 2, and loved them both. The monster respawning did WONDERS for the atmosphere. Even when backtracking through finished areas the games were really tense. And don't even get me started on the groves. If they choose to do this, sweet. If not, then maybe someone will have the balls to make a DOOM 3 mod. It seems like the perfect engine for it. =)
Brain kills internet cells.
The Many sings to us. Where is the love in your cold world of machines?
Quit your job. Join the many. Embrace the world of flesh.
...Ok, that was either an ad for porn or a sign that my job is in danger. Fucked either way.
Is still Deus Ex (The original, the sequel blows )
Emergent gameplay: Check
Open Ended Exploration: Check
Many combinations of options: Check
Good plot (Espescially considering current world trends): Check
All it needs now is a graphics/ai overhaul and it will be perfect (Someone want to start a doom3 total conversion?)
"The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." - Bush 05
On a side note, anyone remember Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri? *Sniff* I miss LookingGlass...
Brain kills internet cells.
Could this possibly mean a sequel to the System Shock franchise?
Could this possibly be another example of Slashdot's new habit of trolling for comments by adding rethorical questions?
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You may like my a cappella music
Because of this incident (Coumbine), Irrational was asked to bring a demonstration version of System Shock 2 to E3 that had no guns in it.
:-)
Well actually that doesn't sound very hard to me, given how much time I spent with a crowbar in that game and about two bullets left...
I did love it though, and hope they are working out a sequel!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"We've got nothing. Suckered you along there for a while, didn't we!"
I'm waiting for a company to try and do something like that.
"Emergent" and "open-ended" gameplay? I'm really curious as to where you people are getting these ideas. The number of games that I know of that pull either of these qualities is small, mostly including Fallout, Morrowind, Deus Ex, and the SimCity games.
Emergent gameplay is defined as when rather than actions being scripted, the level of interaction with the environment is sufficient to allow the player options. Rather than "grab key, use on door", the player can also pick the lock, find a bomb, or find an alternate route around the door (DX, LaGaurdia Airport, using the metal crates to climb up to the window of the building leading to the hanger). These sorts of games require multiple parallel systems that usually aren't too complex, but annoying to get synced up. The "alternate route" option requires more complex level geometry, etc. If you're dealing with a globally emergent system, rather than a local one, you suddenly need to be able to track all the details going on, such as how many churches you have, and where there's more high res space.
Open ended gameplay is a lot easier, but frequently less useful. Why have a game if all you do is run back and forth killing stuff (FF* ignoring the full motion story, BBS door games where nobody else joins in, Diablo 2) and your level increases ad nauseum? Players only navel gaze so long, even though the EverCrack and Diablo 2 addicts are threatening to prove me wrong.
Morrowind is an example of a game with both emergence and open-ended gameplay gone horribly wrong, as others have mentioned. You can run around all you want, but you can seriously break the storyline if you wander too far, collect items within the Fence, or exterminate entire towns. It's also far too easy to wander off, get lost, and even get bored of the game. The alchemy system is a nice example of emergence, but is so broken to be insane. The enchanting and spellmaking systems, while fun, aren't all that balanced and even your strongest custom spells will look like wet firecrackers against God's Fire. Because of the massive cost of constant effects, you'll also never really keep your enchanted items after the first half of the game because they just can't cut it. The apalling weakness of scrolls is also degrading.
Deus Ex is an example of emergent gameplay and level design coming together to make a wonderful experience. Take Hell's Kitchen, the first time around, where you have at least 30 distinct ways to learn about the warehouse, approach and enter, destroy the generator, and exit to the helicopter. Your 'ware choices seriously affect how you play your character (even if skills make less difference, since there are fewer "real" choices), along with what sort of toys you drag along. The lack of scripting in many places actually improves the game, making it possible to walk out of many areas without ever engaging the enemy.
(flamebait) As for open-ended gameplay done right, we'll have to look at Tetris.
(/flamebait)
If not Tetris, then Fallout 2. You can plot your course almost however you choose - doing a line drive to San Fran to snag the power armor early, go through The Den and either become a slaver or get a five-fingered discount on equipment, become a boxer, wander around the wastes... the game is as open as you want it to be and lets you go whereever you want. The variations are too many to outline, but anyone that's treked past Klamath, through New Redding, and visited NCR knows just how loosely your path is written.
System Shock 2 had very little in these departments. The ability to hack or psi your way towards better gear was nice, but optional, and not terribly emergent -- it granted options, not other ways around. The "open ended" nature more meant farming monsters with a wrench (or energy weapon if the weapon degradation was low enough) -- no new ways around or reasons to hang around. Extra level space does not open endedness or emergence make.
As much as I respect Shock 2, I really feel that Shock 1 was superior for the gameplay, even if I am biased to the Skorpion. Both games have an awesome atmosphere, and were very well crafted. But the limits they pushed were with the story and the technology, not the gameplay.
This is the happiest day in my life.
:)
Ok I may be overreacting a little, but I really loved that game. Even if they don't make a real sequel (for legal reason), I'll be glad to play this kind of game again
Well this makes me damn happy. In a list of my favourite games, System Shock 2 is one of them.
s r_ info.htm
I was overjoyed when Thief 3 came out, especially after, quite sadly, Looking Glass closed their doors.
For those of you who have never played either the incredible Thief Series, or System Shock, you are in for a treat. Be aware that the graphics are sub-par, but the audio! Eric Brossius is FRIGHTENING. He is responsible for the audio in Both the Thief Series, and System Shock 2. They damn well better have him on board.
By the way, if you want better system shock 2 graphics, check into Rebirth:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/s
Its a mod that makes for better graphics.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
... finding my passion sounds like too much work. And when things sound like too much work, I close my eyes and cover my ears and go "LA LA LA!"
Then I go and play a game, and feel much better. Hooray for games! That was your point, right? Now I understand.
Maybe you've forgotten that Final Fantasy is NOT a role-playing game? Where's the role-playing in "Uhh... Yes." and "Uhhh... No." in your dialogue? When your character is all but faceless and plays himself? That's an adventure game, where you run around and save the world and watch the character emote on their own.
"You can't fight ideas with bullets."
Besides, technology has moved on. Now, imagine the Doom 3 engine used to run the System Shock 2 game. Wouldn't that be yummy?
I really hope they'll make a sequel. Since i've migrated my gaming pc from win98 to win2000 some years ago i haven't been able to play this game. I used to be so addicted to it! All those nights i've spent in the dark, only illuminated by the faint light of my old 19" crt. Those creepy voices in my headphones, trying to suppress screams when zombies come out of nowhere to get me...
I WANT MY PSY-AMP!
I have just finished playing through both SS2 and Clive Barkers : Undying again, both of which on my new hardware provided me with a far more satisfying experience than Doom 3 did.
It's the first System Shock that was a cult classic. SS2 sold too damn many copies to be "cult."
Come to think of it, SS1 is the one I still have a CD of, too.
Oh man, I've been waiting for a game in the true tradition of System Shock for ages. Tomorrow's going to be interesting :)
I did these things and scared the hell out of myself when I actually came across the first hybrids/cyborgs. If you aren't scared in the slightest by these games, you aren't playing them correctly.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/ssho ck_rebirth.htm is a nice little project that aims to update the aging graphics with better textures.
Unfortunately, it has kind of died (latest update in 2003...), but the downloadable Beta 1 works fine.
stupid freakin XP and Norton declared it to be the worst thing since code red and sasser. Pisses me off. Anyone know how to run SS2 on XP? I dont want to go back to 98!! I'm SCARED!!
I tried it a few years ago, and agree that the atmosphere was great and it was wonderfully creepy.
What made me eventually get annoyed to the point of giving up on it were things like the painfully slow movement of the character, and that the "zombies" not only could all use any weapon, but were extremely accurate with them as well whereas I couldn't even use a shotgun without acquiring the appropriate experience levels.
I began to find it more frustrating than playable, and quit. Which was a shame as I was looking forward to playing what I'd heard was a classic game. I'd still be interested in a sequel, though.
Cress, cress, lovely lovely cress
For those interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, System Shock 2 is available for download at an abandonware site located at this adress: http://www.the-underdogs.org/ Just scroll through the list of games till you get to the end of the 'S' section and follow the instructions to download the 148mb installer.
But are we about to be told that SS2 (and SS in fact) will have a new sequel that will be advanced and revolutionary and groundbreaking, but will capture all of the excellent features of the first two games?
And will we then be told that it will be released exclusively for XBox/PS2?
And will we then be told it will make best use of two analog sticks?
And will we then be told it will have a unified ammo system and generic instead of localised damage systems?
Please, please, please don't let them do to System Shock what they did to Deus Ex.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
I still remember the cooperative multiplayer, crawling through that damned ship while on a phone line with a friend of mine. That was hands down the best cooperative-horror game experience I've ever had. Both players could specialize--I hacked, he fought--and the entire experience was so *immersive*. We still talk about one moment when, hacking a crate, he had the bright idea to come up behind me, groan "I'm... sorry...." into the mic, and club me from behind. I knocked half the stuff off my desk trying to turn around so quickly. Screw Doom 3. I miss System Shock 2.
The ultimately ironic thing is that my friend and I were talking about System Shock 2 today beacuse i've never played it and we are going to play it at my LAN next week.
Have you metaroderated recently?
Almost every movie based on a game sucks. SS2 is one of the few games made that has enough story to not need fight scene fillers. It would have to of course be altered somewhat. Maybe two people so there is more dialog than Polito/Shodan's orders (though her insults are to such a loathing that theyre down right funny) and logs. Of course it would have to be a man and a woman so we could get the obligatory boobie scene.
Funny thing was I dug this game out a few weeks ago and Ive been slowly going through it again. Right now Im trying to get sim units under Shodan's control.
Some cool SHODAN's quotes to give you the chills and flashbacks:
"Step right into my trap, little hacker!"
"Look at you hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?"
"Welcome, to my DEATH MACHINE, interloper!!"
The rest of cool quotes can be found here: http://www.ttlg.com/ss1/archive/voice.htm
http://www.sshock2.com/ is still an awesome Web site. Don't forget its forum.
I never did get to play co-operative play with SS2. I heard it is pretty cool. Did anyone play it?
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
ok this'll probably get me flamed but i'd play a remake of SS2 with a better engine. the game was wonderful but i could never get the mouse movement smooth and responsive like it is in ID FPS games (Quake etc., or Unreal) for example. Was i doing something wrong or did anyone else find the engine had problems (movement wise, it had problems in other areas like collision detection and dodgy animation IIRC but those aren't as important to the experience).
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
*Screeches like a littel girl, and then giggels incesantly* Seriously system shock 2 was an awsome game, a sequel, or a connector, or something, would be awsome.
-Millions of Monkeys, Millions of typewriters, 6 hours of sorting through faeces encrusted pages to find: This post
...Quake 1 gave me a big scare. The first time I played this game I started by looking around in the room where I spawned at the start of one of the levels. One of those chainsaw toting Ogre monsters (which I had not seen since he had gotten behind me) revs up his saw and lets out a loud scream. The combination of speakers on a high volume setting and a sound quality I was not used to (I had previous played DOOM on a 386 with a crapy sound card) combined to startle me to the point that I dropped a can of Coke on the keyboard.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Not really a game that scared me, per se, but the original Thief made me more tense and paranoid than any other game I've ever played. Of course, you HAD to play it with the lights out to really experience it the way it was meant to be. But all the elements came together in that game so well. And unlike many other "stealth" games that have popped up since then, Thief was one of the few where you weren't enormously powerful. So you COULDN'T simply force combat whenever you wanted to, because your opponents were mostly tougher and/or would alert lots of other opponents to your presence. You HAD to be stealthy most of the time. Hell, if you played it on the most difficult skill level, you weren't allowed to kill anyone at all!
To be honest, I'm surprised how many people consider Doom 3 such a "scary" game. Don't get me wrong, I like Doom 3, and certainly there are some startling moments; but too many of these are caused by something jumping at you from out of nowhere. It seems too forced at times, and you come to expect it. When I played Thief I was always on edge, trying to get into the darkness, listening for footsteps, waiting for just the right moment to sneak up behind someone... what fun that game was the first time through.
"Emergent" usually refers to a phenomenon which results from the combination of other phenomena, none of which by themselves can achieve the larger phenomenon.
Traffic jams are an example - individual drivers usually take the most immediately advantageous action at any point in time. (Ride the bumper of the person in front of you, jam in to faster-moving traffic if a hole presents itself.) But the emergent result of the individual behavior is a traffic jam, something that none of the individuals involved were trying to create, but that formed from the combination of lots of people exhibiting the same selfish behavior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence
It seems like somebody was playing buzzword bingo here and decided that since emergence is a pretty hot topic these days, they should appropriate the word even though it doesn't really have anything to do with what they're talking about.
I played a coop mode a few years ago in the dorms with another guy. Works well since each of you can specialize in something different with the cyber modules. Keys and logs were shared as were the cyber modules (if anyone picked them up, everyone got them). Traveling was weird since if anyone activated a door both were zipped to it instantly, which could be annoying and advantageous at the same time.
We did tend to not stick together too much since I was the brawny uber-marine packmule with an assault rifle who could deliver death hand-to-hand better than the Grim Reaper. My friend was more of the hacker/psyboost junkie who could run (away) faster than a gazelle and pop me in the back of the head with a telekenetic fireball while I clobber the offending annelid worm to death.
... that the article talks about System Shock 2 as if it was the original game? I mean, they mention what lead to the inclusion of the logs, weapons caches etc etc but all of that was already in System Shock 1! Not a single one of those aspects was new in SS2, all they had to do was copy them from the original game. The only real news was the weapons breaking down (that created some nicely hectic moments) and the co-op multiplayer (which wasn't even in the first release of SS2 but only got added later on via a patch).
I'm not saying SS2 is a bad game or anything (it's one my all-time favourites) but in my opinion the first part was better and I find the article quite misleading on the history of the two.
Great Environment + Great Story + Great Gameplay = One of the best survival horror games of all time, like 'Alone in the Dark' on steroids.
Heh, i think i've figured out, on some (possibly very deep) subconcious level, why we found SS2 so scary. Not only did Shodan say those things to us, she was a woman, and a babe. Those flashbacks are of your first date, or if you haven't had one, what your nightmares are about. It's all very Freudian.
(this post semi-serious).
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
"I have a half-completed design doc for System Shock 3: Earth, a MMORPG (it's a good idea, trust me)."
1) What are you smoking?
2) Can I have some?
Scariest. Game. Ever.
The last PC game I was majorly in to, and I mean MAJORLY, was Falcon 4. In this game, an entire war was being simulated. How you performed your missions had a bearing on how well the entire war went, to a degree. If I recall correctly, you could set your own mission, like a bombing mission on one of their long-range search radars. This would hamper their intel thereafter if you are successful. Or an airfield, a supply line, etc. Is this considered an open-ended game?
.rm format should be outlawed. i'm not even kidding.
i always liked the music, of both shock1 & 2, for the overall atmosphere.
theres a nice compilation of Shock1 and Shock2. The TTLG Jukebox. Still rocks.
and remember to salt the fries!
SPOILER! (altho you really should have played it by now..)
In DX I also ended up using the glowing sword all the time - why bother with bullets when this was so lethal? Scenarios also tended to become repetitive but worst of all: the guns were utterly crap. There is no sensation of using them. FarCry has a shit plot but you feel like you're battering lead all over the place and there are still few game experiences to compare with the joy of launching a grenade or the terror of tripping a laser-mine in HL. Bring on SS3!
Did anyone feel that System Shock 2 was just trying to remake System Shock 1 but not make it really obvious it was copying it? Like the way the situation you are in at the start is exactly the same (you're a cyborg, everyone is dead, someone is telling you to come and help them etc.). It just felt like an excuse to tred the System Shock 1 plot again but not admitting it. I know those elements for System Shock are required, but it did seem quite contrived. For example, Edward Diago's son (I think) messed up the station or something. It was just stupid making them related, like copying but not admitting it like I said. An all out remake or a different plot would have been better. System Shock 1 had more plot elements to it and more parts of Shodans plan to foil.
I don't consider anything cult classing until it is verified that there is a cult worshiping it.
In playing the game, I haven't really noticed any increased difficulty from the additional players. There might have been something subtle, but it didn't appear on the first run. Perhaps things might change when the third player comes along - even if the monsters aren't tougher, there'll be a bit more resource in-fighting...
System Shock 2 was, in fact, a terrible game. I don't know why everyone loves it so much. Makes me fear for the Tribes series which fell into their hands. At least they can't make anything less stable than Tribes 2.
It has been some time since I played, but I think you might be a little off base. I seem to recall some challenges you could get through either by hacking things, or burte force through... I do seem to recall being able to progress in multiple ways.
I concentrated on the hacking skill, harldy using weapons at all - I found that worked pretty well, especailly towards the end that was pretty useful. In my mind it was better balanced than most people think.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sorry, I'm just used to having games use crowbars (which actually makes a lot of sense given how many crates you usually see all over). I had forgot.
Even the long sticks of metal you use to crush opponents were more original in System Shock!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm sick of how they keep writing books. It's gotten to the point now that people actually read books to escape reality! They even imagine these fictional book-worlds as though they are real.
Even worse is the money put into making movies realistic. Why watch the special effects of Lord of the Rings? There's a real world waiting for you outside! I can go downtown and find plenty of bloodthirsty Orcs and a shrivelled Gollum.
This sickening drive to stimulate imagination and have fun is illustrative of a pathetic need to examine life from a new perspective, and it must be stopped.
...all who thought "DNF."
I believe the problem with DX:IW is that the storyline is only effectivly bound by your most recent action or so. Initially, you have to choose between the WTO and Order, before being disclosed that you were really working for the Illuminati.
When you reach Hanger 24, you get the option between which of the three factions you will work with. This only affects which of the three factions at Liberty Island you will be allied with, and only until you get to the Aquinas hub. At that point, you pick and choose which ending you want to complete.
The original DX, although is linear, did appear to have a bit more solutions per puzzle available. Naturally, stealth was emphasised but not required. This changes in DX:IW, where it's possible by design to run through entire armies without any form of detection (as opposed to DX, which is probably by oversight from a last minute implementation.)
In most cases, the choice between the "two evils" was generally made simple enough because one of the two cases involved killing people for no good reason. The only exception would be the Club Vox/Lawyer thing - in every other case, the consequences are marginal compared to some random person dying, whether those reasons are philosophical or in-game.
At the very least, there could have been a buildup of having your actions eventually lock out some of the endings. In DX:IW, there is only one lockout, and I suspect that's based around killing Billy rather than knocking her out in Antarctica.
SS2 was a great game with some extreme exceptions.
A. respawning monsters - bullshit - there were only a finite number of crew members on the ships to begin with, plus my my ammo doesn't respawn, and...
B. breaking weapons - unbelievable bullshit
C. end of the game jumping puzzle - game killing bullshit
But it wont F!#$^*&# run on Windows XP!!!!
They say its because of SafeDisk...ever try to CD crack it? I could only find 2. Instructions were something like:
Drag new EXE to directory, keep unsafedisk in another directory.
Run unsafe disk and point it to game.icd
Test both EXEs it generates and rename the true EXE to shokc2.exe[yes, misspelt].
Run crack and point it to shock2.exe.
Now, in softICE[I think its called] edit hex lines....
At about that point I gave up. I own the game, I have the CD, and windows compatability mode doesn't do jack. I'm not learning how to hex edit to play it....
If you could not find anywhere to buy it you can get a .torrent of System Shock II from
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?gameid=3924
you can also get the multiplayer patch (cooperative only) from herep atch.exe.html
http://www.3dgamers.com/dl/games/systemshock2/shk
As an avid, older gamer I just wanted to say this
SystemShock 1 and Deus Ex were fantastic and
shared some of the same ideas, elements and programmers !!!
System Shock 2 and deus Ex 2 were pale rip-offs
The storylines are everything in these games...
Mess with those, and the whole thing falls flat...
I mean, the easiest ending was the best possible one in DX2...WHAT WERE THEY THINKING ??!!
When I entered that room, and found the body I was not to surprised. I knew SHODAN was up to something. The moment I heard her voice and the images started poppingup, I wasted about half a clip.
I hope one way there will be a System Shock game where you can talk back (via headset) or trade insults with her. I want to taunt SHODAN.
Well I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years doctor, and I'm happy to say I finally won out over it.
System Shock 2 was one of the most overated games ever. Most of what was done in that game was done before (and better) and somehow this game has obtained "classic" status.
I say phooey. Let the game die in peace.
gamespot has the scoop
i ew _6110044.html
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/bioshock/prev
Well the waiting is over - the new game is called 'Bioshock' and is not System Shock related- well apart from the fact it has the word 'shock' in the title and apparently gamespot consider this appealing to System Shock 2 fans.
Bah. Bring back Shodan.
We're in a country where people can't get health insurance, I'm a hard working educated professional having trouble finding a job that pays enough to make ends meet, and some corporate CEO who's poker buddies voted on how high his bonus should be this year, essentially stealing from the public's pension plans and mutual funds profits, is gonna take a 200K joyride. Great.
Eric Brosius is *definitely* on board. Don't know what we'd do without him, frankly.