System Shock 2: Impressions and Opinions?

S

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Right, last night going through some old PC games that my older brother had given me a couple of months back, I stumbled across the highly venerated 1999 cult classic System Shock 2 CD, and after realizing that I have never played such a critically accliamed game I decided to install (and subsequently patch so that I could play System Shock 2 in XP) the game on to my HD and bask in the glory of one of the dearly departedLooking Glass cyberpuck classic. Anyway, what I am asking the members of GAF are what are your own interpratations and experiences with System Shock 2, and is it really as a good a game as some people have been saying?
 
back a few years ago I couldn't even finish the System Shock 2 demo. Creeped me out too much.

I may have been a giant wuss however.
 
Yea, I am not that far into the game and it already gives me the creeps, a wonderful job was certainly done in conveying a scary atmosphere. Also, I am quite surprised at just how well System Shock 2 looks for a five year old game. Oh sure, there is some dated looking character models and the textures are a bit bland and blocky compared to today, but on the whole the graphics have aged like fine wine rather then milk left out of the fridge.
 
Are you using the updated models?

SSR_Compar_4.jpg


http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/sshock_rebirth.htm
 
The update is called "System Shock Rebirth". It makes the models more bearable.

The game is absolutely top notch. The only FPS that compares when it comes to moody atmosphere is Clive Barker's The Undying.
 
Great game. A little dated in graphics now, but still worth playing. Ground breaking and original, at least at the time of release. The game shouldn't be missed.
 
Look out for crashes if you have a hyperthreaded CPU. Dark10x and I played through in coop about a month ago, but in order to play, I would have to:

ctrl-alt-del out of the game at the menu
find the sshock processes running (I did em both to be safe)
right click on the processes to set processor affinity
uncheck one of the two listed CPUs

There was a fix for this, but it prevented my copy from booting when I ran it.

Through the Looking Glass (ww.ttlg.com) is your go-to resource.

Here's a link to the XP compatibility thread.
 
Yea, I am a bit worried about that random crashes, hasn't happened yet, but as I said I am not that far into the game yet.
 
Oni Jazar said:
I just can't let a SS2 topic be without saying that the original SS1 was better. :)
Click to expand...

It was the best PC game ever, possibly, until HL1 was released.. Thing is, like all good things, it was underappretiated and went largely undetected by the masses :( I believe its release had coincided with one of the Doom releases or something, which really hurt it bad. No?
 
Yea, this game feels more like a "First-Person-Adventure" then Metroid Prime does.
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Yep, System Shock is unquestionably one of the defining series in video game history. I reinstalled it about a year ago to play it with Rebirth, might have to play again with Rebirth and shtup both.
 
Unison said:
The only FPS that compares when it comes to moody atmosphere is Clive Barker's The Undying.
Click to expand...
Think I missed the boat on that one, by which I mean when I got around to playing it (last year) it was hard to look past the dated graphics and level design. I didn't find it atmospheric at all. Didn't play very far, but it definitely aged poorly.

SS2 has aged a lot better, and these user mods are like, a real shot of... botox.. or something.
 
ArcadeStickMonk said:
Think I missed the boat on that one, by which I mean when I got around to playing it (last year) it was hard to look past the dated graphics and level design. I didn't find it atmospheric at all. Didn't play very far, but it definitely aged poorly.
Click to expand...


That's odd because it's a year or two newer! I will have to give it another look too.
 
undying_screen003.jpg

undying_screen004.jpg

undying_screen044.jpg


This is not an ugly game, imo!

Maybe it doesn't hold up, but I remember being even more impressed by the sound than the graphics.
 
Speaking of which, may I just say kudos to EA for not sticking their noses in the development process for once and letting System Shock 2 excel in just about every area. I mean, could you imagine System Shock 2 presented by EA TRAX?
 
Shard said:
Speaking of which, may I just say kudos to EA for not sticking their noses in the development process for once and letting System Shock 2 excel in just about every area. I mean, could you imagine System Shock 2 presented by EA TRAX?
Click to expand...
Heh, could you imagine if EA bought the dev house and killed the franchise... oh snap!
 
Society said:
Heh, could you imagine if EA bought the dev house and killed the franchise... oh snap!
Click to expand...


They killed just about every other Origin franchise, so I don't see why they should stop.
 
They managed to kill Ultima which was probably the longest lived RPG franchise on the PC at the time - there's NOTHING EA can't possibly buy and kill.
 
Of course, the thing is that EA Didn't buy up System Shock, Looking Glass, or Irrational Games, and as a result the survivling member of the development commitee is going to develop a "sipirtual sequel' for all of us.
 
System Shock 2 is awesome. I play it about once a year sometime because it's just great. It's scary, but I think it's far more about creeping you out as you progress than making you jump from a surprise like RE games. The RPG aspects of it are awesome, too, but I've never played through it as a caster type.
 
Shard said:
Of course, the thing is that EA Didn't buy up System Shock, Looking Glass, or Irrational Games, and as a result the survivling member of the development commitee is going to develop a "sipirtual sequel' for all of us.
Click to expand...
Element(Oxygen) a team member that worked on System Shock 2 said EA does indeed own the System Shock name.
 
Society said:
Element(Oxygen) a team member that worked on System Shock 2 said EA does indeed own the System Shock name.
Click to expand...

I did not know this. Ah well, we are still getting Bioshock.
 
Ugh, I played around with it for an hour, but I can't get SS2 to work on my PC!

First my Grim Fandango disc shatters, now this!

:-(
 
Is System Shock 2 freeware now, or do I still have to buy it? I'd like to give it a spin, since my crappy PC can probably handle this game.
 
Unison said:
You have to buy it, but it would be less than $10 just about anywhere.
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I wonder if I could download at one of those pay to download sites. Oh well, I'll try to remember to pick it up the next time I'm at eb.
 
Unison said:
Ugh, I played around with it for an hour, but I can't get SS2 to work on my PC!

First my Grim Fandango disc shatters, now this!

:-(
Click to expand...

You have XP or 2000? you need the XP/2000 patch.

I just tried this game in dark room with headphones...my heart is hurting after that shit.
 
Unison said:
Ugh, I played around with it for an hour, but I can't get SS2 to work on my PC!

First my Grim Fandango disc shatters, now this!

:-(
Click to expand...

setup.exe -lgntforce

then you need the sshock2.exe patch file.
 
Bioshock looks pretty cool, but some of the things the devs have said (in particular mentioning that biomods would allow you to survive air pressure, which seems trivial and crappy) concern me a bit.

SS2 was goddamn brilliant, and it saddens me that no one at id learned anything from it before making Doom3.
 
id marches to the beat of its own drummer ... a drummer that dropped out of high school and spends its rent money on Sabbath t-shirts.
 
System Shock 2 was a bit of a dissapointment for me. No matter how hard I try, I can't bring myself to finish it.

Then again, I stopped trying a year ago. Maybe I'll reinstall it.
 
Spike said:
setup.exe -lgntforce

then you need the sshock2.exe patch file.
Click to expand...

It installed fine, but when it boots up & i click new game or options, it crashes to a black screen, even with the patch file!
 
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