System Shock 2 Confirmed for GOG Release! Out Now! (Via RPS)

I haven't touched a game in two months but I will for this.

I don't know how you can't have a GOG account at this point; they give out great free games constantly. And I'd have greater "piece of mind" for my library of games by not having my eggs all in the same basket.
 
Oni Jazar said:
Yes really. SS1 had a better story, better level design, better weapons, better gadgets, better music, no weapon breakdowns, no magi---er---psyonics, no experience poin---er---Cybernetic Modules. I think the graphics are more interesting and varied in SS1 then SS2. Every floor in SS1 is unique and interesting. SS1 had cyberspace which was an interesting chance of pace. SS1 even has an entire clone of wing commander. SS2 was good and had some amazing sound design but I'll never comprehend how people would prefer it to the original.
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Have you played the original lately?

I would use all of those same points but replace "SS1" with "SS2".

I don't want to sit here and insult System Shock in order to demonstrate my preference for the second game but, having replayed both within the last couple of years, I just can't get behind the idea that Shock 1 is the superior game. It is a mold for what would become Shock 2. It throws more ideas at the wall (such as Cyberspace) but not all of these ideas work. The core mechanics are unpolished even for 1994 with ugly, poorly animated sprites for both weapons and enemies and imprecise controls. The updated ports of the game allow for controls that were not originally possible, which does improve things, but it never feels precise or comfortable to play. There is always this sense that you are bumbling around the environment while saddled with a poorly implemented interface. The window into the game world simply doesn't work all that well. Of course, for 1994, it's an incredibly ambitious game and stood out as a result but that doesn't mean everything worked well.

System Shock 2 was a more refined and focused experience. They made use of elements and themes inspired by the original game while focusing more on the survival aspect. You say the level designs of the original were superior and more varied? I say the second game delivered a more cohesive environment with a real sense of place. Both games feature plenty of variety on their own even if Shock 1 perhaps goes a bit further in that regard. Shock 1 was limited by its graphics engine and could only display simplistic, boxy environments (though slopes and rooms above rooms were impressive in 94). While the "Dark Engine" was far from cutting edge it was well suited towards the creation of an atmospherically lit internal locale. It worked well in Thief and it worked in Shock 2. Shock 1 always abstract in comparison. The variation you speak of came only in the form of different textures (which were sometimes rather garish) while Shock 2 features similar surface detail throughout (it IS a ship, after all) but more varied layouts. The difference between, say, Med-sci and the storage bays were significant, to say the least. Shock 1 was always limited to the same boxy environments in comparison.

As for the soundtrack I believe they both set out to accomplish similar feats but I do prefer the tracks created for Shock 2. Both games feature a mix of high energy tracks and atmospherics. Shock 2 has the advantage in that it features digital audio as opposed to MIDI tracks, but it goes beyond that. The actual compositions in Shock 1 are catchy and definitely trigger a bit of nostalgia but they don't really manage to inspire any sort of tension.

Shock 1 style music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-3u9vO9UUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyGw2a1GDO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVoOhT9yHXs

Shock 2:
v=6Jpg3o6IGBU&playnext=1&list=PL928ABB717CF5CE4D&feature=results_main
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-2faQlX0iI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0yTEDZIu4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZNfoJ-_sqE

I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree. Back in the mid-90s, Shock 1 was definitely impressive in a lot of ways, but I always felt it was an experimental game with a lot of big ideas that weren't particularly well executed. It's a great game lacking in polish and I prefer the focused experience of Shock 2.
 
Might it be worth having an OT for this? I imagine there will be a good community of players jumping on this tomorrow both playing for the first time and returning to it. Might be a nice central location to discuss the best mods etc.
 
Stallion Free said:
And if the patch is incompatible?
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They say it isn't so...

Fans will be able to apply the mods they know and love, and hopefully we may see some new mods from the community in the future.
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Maybe if it doesn't work out of the gate someone will modify the patch for it to work.

Besides, that patch is rather recent and people loved playing the game before it came.

That's all still a lot better than not being able to have the game at all to begin with though.
 
iXTIRHMPS3XWL.gif
 
ilnadmy said:
Does this game hold up well today?
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I played it for the first time about 5 years ago. The graphics were on par with the original Half-Life. In terms of gameplay, I would say it's like Zelda: Link to the Past on SNES in the sense that even though it came out ages ago, it's still more fun to play than a lot of the $60 games being released today.

If I remember correctly, there were also three paths your character could follow, depending on how you distribute your skill points, like Hacker, Weapons Expert, and I think the other was Psionics where you could attack stuff with your mind?
 
Bumhead said:
BioShock is one of my favourite games of this generation.

I assume System Shock 2 is still classed as essential reading despite playing BioShock first?
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Mister Saturn said:
Absolutely, though it might negatively affect your opinion of Bioshock.
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I gave SS2 serious time after I've completed Bioshock and no, it didn't affect my perception of Bioshock in a negative way. SS2 is a very demanding game with wealth of options which are thrown at you right from the beginning. It is stressful, you are always low on resources, death is quick and swift, there is a lot of micromanagement and it's not a pleasure with outdated clunky interface. There are reasons why it has bombed other than EA botching the marketing. It's not a game for short bursts of playtime. I had to actually allocate time to play it because it wasn't possible to do it as a relaxation after spending a day at work. Back in 1999 such games worked for me because I had no Internet, no TV, no job and no girlfriend. Now I certainly prefer more forgiving Bioshock with vita chambers turned off. I actually can experiment with gameplay in Bioshock instead of barely surviving.

The only serious drawback of Bioshock is
that Ken has used his twist again.
If I'd completed SS2 before playing Bioshock I'd be disappointed with that.
 
King Mystery said:
I played it for the first time about 5 years ago. The graphics were on par with the original Half-Life. In terms of gameplay, I would say it's like Zelda: Link to the Past on SNES in the sense that even though it came out ages ago, it's still more fun to play than a lot of the $60 games being released today.

If I remember correctly, there were also three paths your character could follow, depending on how you distribute your skill points, like Hacker, Weapons Expert, and I think the other was Psionics where you could attack stuff with your mind?
Click to expand...
Marines = soldier

Navy = hacker

And a psychic guy.

IMO navy is the strongest because it can easily repair weapons which is a hilarious thing to be in the game.
 
subversus said:
I gave SS2 serious time after I've completed Bioshock and no, it didn't affect my perception of Bioshock in a negative way. SS2 is a very demanding game with wealth of options which are thrown at you right from the beginning. It is stressful, you are always low on resources, death is quick and swift, there is a lot of micromanagement and it's not a pleasure with outdated clunky interface. There are reasons why it has bombed other than EA botching the marketing. It's not a game for short bursts of playtime. I had to actually allocate time to play it because it wasn't possible to do it as a relaxation after spending a day at work. Back in 1999 such games worked for me because I had no Internet, no TV, no job and no girlfriend. Now I certainly prefer more forgiving Bioshock with vita chambers turned off. I actually can experiment with gameplay in Bioshock instead of barely surviving.

The only serious drawback of Bioshock is that Ken has used his twist again. If I'd completed SS2 before playing Bioshock I'd be disappointed with that.
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TV & IUnternet prevent you from enjoying demanding games? Oh dear.
 
Hooray! My discs are lost somewhere, so this is a perfect time to get back into it.

Stupid question: If I purchase from GOG can I play it on Steam?
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Uh, no? What do you mean exactly? You can download it and then add a shortcut on your steamwall if you want. It's not on Steam though, so you can't, for example, get a key and add it to your steam library that way.

Edit: Beat
 
LiquidMetal14 said:
Me and a friend have been discussing this game for a while. Would be nice if you could do co op.
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Nah, game is all about the terror of being alone and the frustation of never finding another human being.

I can't be the only one who reloaded the game to make sure it wasn't possible to reach that other survivor before he took off
 
King Mystery said:
I played it for the first time about 5 years ago. The graphics were on par with the original Half-Life. In terms of gameplay, I would say it's like Zelda: Link to the Past on SNES in the sense that even though it came out ages ago, it's still more fun to play than a lot of the $60 games being released today.

If I remember correctly, there were also three paths your character could follow, depending on how you distribute your skill points, like Hacker, Weapons Expert, and I think the other was Psionics where you could attack stuff with your mind?
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks. Sounds interesting and worth a look, although maybe once I deal with my backlog first.
 
ElectricBlanketFire said:
Stupid question: If I purchase from GOG can I play it on Steam?
Click to expand...

Not normally -- I think the only game on GOG that worked that way was The Witcher (and it was more "If you bought it on Steam, here, get a DRM-Free version on us!")

Of course, you could always throw it in as a Non-Steam Shortcut.


I'll admit to being a bit too young to have played System Shock 2 (in 1999 I was enthralled with Final Fantasy 7/8, Crash Bandicoot and the like), but I hear nothing but amazing things from it. Bioshock was an amazing game in my opinion, however, so I'm stoked for this re-release of the "non-watered down version" of System Shock 2 (to quote an earlier poster saying Bioshock was the watered down version of SS2!).
 
They finally did it. Wow.

I have yet to play SS2, but as someone who loves games like Deus Ex I imagine it will be right up my alley. Nicely played GOG.
 
subversus said:
I gave SS2 serious time after I've completed Bioshock and no, it didn't affect my perception of Bioshock in a negative way. SS2 is a very demanding game with wealth of options which are thrown at you right from the beginning. It is stressful, you are always low on resources, death is quick and swift, there is a lot of micromanagement and it's not a pleasure with outdated clunky interface. There are reasons why it has bombed other than EA botching the marketing. It's not a game for short bursts of playtime. I had to actually allocate time to play it because it wasn't possible to do it as a relaxation after spending a day at work. Back in 1999 such games worked for me because I had no Internet, no TV, no job and no girlfriend. Now I certainly prefer more forgiving Bioshock with vita chambers turned off. I actually can experiment with gameplay in Bioshock instead of barely surviving.

The only serious drawback of Bioshock is
that Ken has used his twist again.
If I'd completed SS2 before playing Bioshock I'd be disappointed with that.
Click to expand...
As I already pointed in the past, you never fail to disappoint me.

On a side note, SS2 is one of my all time favorites and I didn't like Bioshock at all. It's not even about what came first, which one I'm more familiar with, etc.
It's just that one is a wonderful game and the other never clicked for me.
 
Best part of the upcoming GOG release: no more jumping through hoops to get this game running on a modern system. I don't actually recall SS2 being super hard to get running on Windows Vista (OS I had last time I played) other than running the process with only one CPU core, but it's gonna be nice to just be able to start it up and play.
 
szaromir said:
TV & IUnternet prevent you from enjoying demanding games? Oh dear.
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Of course, by distracting my attention. When you have no option except playing games or reading books it's easy to allocate time and attention. Now I check news, Neogaf, answer my mail, chat with people on Skype, watch YouTube and so on. I can dedicate an hour at best in the evening and I'm usually too tired for anything like SS2 by that time.
 
The last time I tried to buy something on GOG, my bank blocked the transaction, on account of them being some untrustworthy evil foreign company out to steal all my money or something. That was a while ago, and this seems like a fine occasion to try again!
 
subversus said:
I gave SS2 serious time after I've completed Bioshock and no, it didn't affect my perception of Bioshock in a negative way. SS2 is a very demanding game with wealth of options which are thrown at you right from the beginning. It is stressful, you are always low on resources, death is quick and swift, there is a lot of micromanagement and it's not a pleasure with outdated clunky interface. There are reasons why it has bombed other than EA botching the marketing. It's not a game for short bursts of playtime. I had to actually allocate time to play it because it wasn't possible to do it as a relaxation after spending a day at work. Back in 1999 such games worked for me because I had no Internet, no TV, no job and no girlfriend. Now I certainly prefer more forgiving Bioshock with vita chambers turned off. I actually can experiment with gameplay in Bioshock instead of barely surviving.

The only serious drawback of Bioshock is
that Ken has used his twist again.
If I'd completed SS2 before playing Bioshock I'd be disappointed with that.
Click to expand...

Me reading this post:

ibt4uyK5OfWeY4.gif
 
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