Yes, I'm sorry. When Deus Ex was released, my friends kept telling me to play it, that it was so 'awesome'. Of course it's undeniably great, but I found it repetitive and quite boring compared to other FPS. The RPG dimension makes the game feel like a garbage collector simulation, you beak crates to collect small items again and again. But once again, I do want to try SS2. I would be stupid no to give it a try.
:)

Well as far as scavenging goes, you do that in SS2 as well, but it makes sense given the survival horror nature. It's also a lot more FPS oriented than Deus Ex - your skill as an FPS player matters a lot more, and encouters aren't 'wait for the crosshair to get smaller' but 'aim and shoot shoot OMYGODITSEATINGMYFACEOFFAAAAA'

Warren Spector and Harvey Smith, designers behind Deus Ex created first "System Shock". Spector was also person responsible for "Ultima Underworld". Those games share many gameplay themes that influenced both "Deus Ex" and "SS2". You may say they've the same ancestors :)

And "Bioshock"? Gameplay wise it's "streamlineed" (pretty much the same meaning as "dumbed down") ""SS2" with different settings. Come on, there is PSI, there's similiar "hacking" mechanic, the same type of foes, "audiologs" as main plot delivery system...

"SS2" is to this day one of the best and most unique game experiences out there. Unless you hate to be scared or hard games - you probably cannot go wrong with this one.

I already played it when I was about 14 years old, but it was a bit too creepy for me at this age. I immediately stopped playing it and never played it since then. So today for me it's like playing it the first time.

Ken Levine did NOT work on the first System Shock, and he did NOT work on Deus Ex. He didn't join Looking Glass until several years after SS1, to work on Thief. From there he went straight on to found Irrational, whose first game was System Shock 2.

Yeah, I meant Harvey Smith. I'll correct it to not create more confusion.

There's a lot of misinformation about Harvey Smith and Warren Spector out there, so I'll toss in my .02 based on why I've heard.

Smith was only a tester for the publisher (Origin) on SS1, he didn't do any real design work aside from suggestions that a tester would make. And Warren Spector gets way too much credit for everything (not that he isn't awesome, but his resume is overinflated). He was not a primary creative force at Looking Glass, he was a producer who helped the designers get their projects done. Doug Church, Austin Grossman, Marc Leblanc, Eric & Terry Brosius...these are the people who made System Shock happen on the creative side. Spector was a big advocate for them who kept the team working cohesively and helped them secure funding.

I noticed there are some TTLG folks in here who, I'm sure, will correct me if I got any of that wrong. (and I probably did )

Well Warren Spector's involvement in the first SS game explains the similar gameplay to Deus Ex. I really like Ultima Underworld so I'd like to try the first one sometime.