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General discussionSystem Shock Classic surprised me with how great it was.(38 posts)(38 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 21, 2019
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Hawkbit12: My favourite video game of all time, and in fact the one that made me take video games seriously as a entertainment, rather than just time wasters, is Bioshock. Playing Bioshock actually did change my life. It might be my favourite work of fiction in any media.
I never understood the praise for Bioshock. To me, it felt like nothing more than a constant arcade shoot-em-up with a nice skin.
Post edited March 21, 2019 by higix
Posted March 21, 2019
I tried playing the game, but I couldn't deal with the cyberspace, even on easiest difficulty.
Posted March 21, 2019
SS1 HUD is functional in every section it has though, you can get your fatigue status, health and energy with just a glance nothing is a pure cosmetic element and you can go fullscreen if you like it more without the need to mod anything. And when it came out in 1994 basically nobody could run it at high res or even with the full voices, that's why the HUD takes such a big area of the screen: performances.
Don't forget that while SS1 when it came out was incredibly good looking and innovative, SS2 graphics was sub par out of the box.

Never sad SS2 is not fun or has bad mechanics SS2 is just more an ordinary game than SS1. People usually like what the are accustomed to. In SS2 you choose your class and then play accordingly.

SS1 can be played in many ways. The configuration menu lets you select the experience you want to immers yourself in: you like the combat max those features and zero the other ones.
You like the cyberspace and hacking? You can play as a technician, max CB and minigames, disable combat.
You want the game more like an adventure? You can disable the combat, minigames, CS and max the plot elements.
SS can be a roleplay game just without the stats.
And even if you choose the full fledged experience nobody prevents you to avoid the stuff that you don't like.
Posted March 21, 2019
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morolf: I tried playing the game, but I couldn't deal with the cyberspace, even on easiest difficulty.
I had the cyberspace diffivulty turned down to zero and it still gave me a hard time. I guess guys like us just aren't cutout for 6DoF games! XD

If you ever want to try it again though I think the only cyberspace seen you need to do is the end boss and the rest are optional.
Posted March 21, 2019
You sir, have my utmost respect for not getting carpel tunnel from the old controls.
I should give it another try with the EE, but I did like SS2. The most unsettling thing about that game (SS2) for me was how the last 3rd or so of the game gets super linear all of a sudden. You start out taking your time exploring sprawling levels, then you end going through the rest of the madness at a rapid pace (there's a floor that all upside down, including a chapel (this mean the cross is upside down which, I guess is supposed to means it's Satanic? What the dev's didn't realize is that they just made a cross of St. Peter)). You could say the game feels rushed b/c of this, but I think it kinda adds to the tension (only thing rushed might be the dev's research on inverted crosses).
Also, even if you hate it, you gotta appreciate the end section as a SS1 fan ;).
Posted March 21, 2019
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Judicat0r: SS1 HUD is functional in every section it has though, you can get your fatigue status, health and energy with just a glance nothing is a pure cosmetic element and you can go fullscreen if you like it more without the need to mod anything. And when it came out in 1994 basically nobody could run it at high res or even with the full voices, that's why the HUD takes such a big area of the screen: performances.
Don't forget that while SS1 when it came out was incredibly good looking and innovative, SS2 graphics was sub par out of the box.
I actually played fullscreen for most of the game. Made the experience more streamlined for me.

And the graphics are pretty spectacualr for the time. Some of the texture work is almost as good as Redneck Rampage. A game that came out four years later!
Posted March 21, 2019
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Hawkbit12: If you ever want to try it again though I think the only cyberspace seen you need to do is the end boss and the rest are optional.
Thanks, good to know. I did find the rest of the game interesting.
Posted March 21, 2019
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Gengar78: You sir, have my utmost respect for not getting carpel tunnel from the old controls.
I should give it another try with the EE, but I did like SS2. The most unsettling thing about that game (SS2) for me was how the last 3rd or so of the game gets super linear all of a sudden. You start out taking your time exploring sprawling levels, then you end going through the rest of the madness at a rapid pace (there's a floor that all upside down, including a chapel (this mean the cross is upside down which, I guess is supposed to means it's Satanic? What the dev's didn't realize is that they just made a cross of St. Peter)). You could say the game feels rushed b/c of this, but I think it kinda adds to the tension (only thing rushed might be the dev's research on inverted crosses).
Also, even if you hate it, you gotta appreciate the end section as a SS1 fan ;).
I definately wouln't say I hated SS2. Taken on it's own appart from SS1 or Bioshock it's a fun if grindy shooter with a neat body-horror asphetic and some really awesome tchno music! And yes. The upsidedown church is a great visual.

I'm not the biggest fan of how linar SS2 can be. But that's not a bad thing in itself. I'm a big fan of the Half-Life games and those are super-liner by design. My bigger complaint with the game's second half is The Many is sounding so sad and sorry for itself when it has been trying to murder me for the whole game. I don't feel sorry for it. I feel annoyed. I felt no guilt when I put the thing out of its misery.

I do really like the recraetion of the SS1 medical bay at the end of the game. Fanservice aside, it just looks cool!

If you like the more liner and cyberspacey stuff would you consider plying Tron 2.0? It's hard as balls but has some amzing environments and level design.
Post edited March 21, 2019 by Hawkbit12
Posted March 21, 2019
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Gengar78: there's a floor that all upside down, including a chapel (this mean the cross is upside down which, I guess is supposed to means it's Satanic? What the dev's didn't realize is that they just made a cross of St. Peter)).
*LOL* Yeah, that always gets me, too :)

I do like SS2 - a lot of the things criticized aren't negatives to me, aside maybe from the weapon degradation - but comparing it to the first reminds me of Alien vs. Aliens. I think popular opinion is that Aliens is superior, but I think it takes a lot of what was weird and fascinating about the original and makes it more conventional (a strange, inscrutable Lovecraftian being becomes...a giant ant in a colony). And I can't stand the ending of SS2, with SHODAN grovelling before the player-character goes Schwarzenegger on her and then there's a cliffhanger right out of any cruddy B-horror film. I am curious to see what the team on SS3 does since Spector has said they're trying to be faithful to both games...

I tried to like Bioshock but never really warmed up to it. I like looking at the city, but one thing I do really like about the SS games is how cramped they feel and Bioshock has so many wide open spaces that there's no sense of claustrophobia, or dread of seeing what's around the corner.
Posted March 21, 2019
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Hawkbit12: I definately wouln't say I hated SS2. Taken on it's own appart from SS1 or Bioshock it's a fun if grindy shooter with a neat body-horror asphetic and some really awesome tchno music! And yes. The upsidedown church is a great visual.
Why do you consider it a "shooter"? Is (just an example) Baldur's Gate an isometric shooter because you get to fire fireballs in real time?
Posted March 21, 2019
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Hawkbit12: I definately wouln't say I hated SS2. Taken on it's own appart from SS1 or Bioshock it's a fun if grindy shooter with a neat body-horror asphetic and some really awesome tchno music! And yes. The upsidedown church is a great visual.
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teceem: Why do you consider it a "shooter"? Is (just an example) Baldur's Gate an isometric shooter because you get to fire fireballs in real time?
I consider it a shooter because shooting is the majority of what you do. The game is built around shooting enemies, getting better weapons, and then shooting bigger enemies. Just like Doom and Half-life. It feels more like Half-Life than Oblivion.
I assumme from the Baulder's Gate analogy you view it as an RPG? I know it throws in a lot of RPG elements. But that's all they are, elements. There's no role-playing or interacting with characters. Even Bioshock has the good or evil options. Every playthrough of SS2 is going to be exactly the same. All the RPG elements feel secondary and unimportant.
In something like Morrowind or Oblivion I'm playing a character. In SS2 I'm controlling nameless space marine #97563. If having a leveling system and character builds makes an RPG then there are plently of racing games tht are also RPGs
Post edited March 21, 2019 by Hawkbit12
Posted March 21, 2019
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Hawkbit12: All the RPG elements feel secondary and unimportant.
To me all the RPG elements feel primary and the most important. Les Goûts et les Couleurs...
I consider "shooters" games wherein you shoot, with few more interactive elements (like Doom, Quake, Unreal, etc.). But that's of course just my view.

The best genre name I've heard to describe SS2 is "Immersive Sim".
Post edited March 21, 2019 by teceem
Posted March 22, 2019
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teceem: To me all the RPG elements feel primary and the most important. Les Goûts et les Couleurs...
I consider "shooters" games wherein you shoot, with few more interactive elements (like Doom, Quake, Unreal, etc.). But that's of course just my view.
The best genre name I've heard to describe SS2 is "Immersive Sim".
SS1 has always been a bit difficult to categorize.
It isn't a normal FPS because it has inventory, a few puzzles, exploration and story elements.
It isn't a normal RPG, because it doesn't have skills, levels and xp.
It isn't a stealth game, because you can successfully fight enemies (with proper equipment).
I call it First Person Survival :P
Post edited March 22, 2019 by phaolo
Posted March 22, 2019
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Hawkbit12: If you like the more liner and cyberspacey stuff would you consider plying Tron 2.0? It's hard as balls but has some amzing environments and level design.
I'm not sure I'd say I "liked" the linearity, I was more intrigued by the sudden transition from open to closed-ended.
And yeah, Tron 2.0 looks neat. :)
Posted March 22, 2019
I also started with BioShock... but had the opposite impression of SS2 when I finally played it. Loved it and saw BioShock as a shell of it, worse in every way except for the graphics... obviously.

SS2 was also a big influence on other games I love like Doom 3 and in particular, Dead Space.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionSystem Shock Classic surprised me with how great it was.(38 posts)(38 posts)
(38 posts)