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System Shock 2 |OT| A Perfect, Immortal Machine
- Thread starter DocSeuss
- Start date
That's because Bioshock says "hahaha, this is all a game!" where System Shock 2 works hard to keep up the immersion.
Bioshock also has one of the worst boss fights I can remember.
I am pretty sure that the gaming was rushed at the end according to info back wen it came out. The Rickenbacker was supposed to be as big as the Von Braun (game wise speaking) and with multiple paths like the Von Braun. Due to time constraints it had to be made linear and shorter.
If you don't like the techno, keep in mind that not all the music is like that. Some of the later stuff is very moody/atmospheric.
You might turn it down until you get to a new deck and then give it another go.
In every single way.
BloodMoney
Banned
The assault rifle is certainly better... but a modded pistol is never "useless". I'd actually say the pistol is the most versatile weapon in the game. I keep one in my inventory even after I've got the Asssault rifle. Using the pistol against hybrids (a single shot of anti-personal ammo kills them) is a good way to minimize usage/maintenance on the assault rifle which i use on more difficult enemies.
That I shall do, thanks. The first area got imo a lot better not that the music's off.
phantomspiker
Member
I think the final boss fights in SS2 were far worse.
Macmanus
Member
Takes me out of the game. I either turn it off or put on some dark ambiance like the Quake soundtrack.
If you have the inventory real-estate I'd keep it on you. I keep my pistol loaded with anti-personal rounds and my AR with AP. I'll pop monkeys with the pistol and security mechs with the AR. Everything else gets beat upon with a Crystal Shard.
I should really get around beating this game. I quit back in the day because arachnophobia+high tension games like these don't make for a pleasant combination, but thank the heavens for this modder: http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=134.0
I do have the warmest of memories of sweat dripping down my forehead as I waited for one of those wrench zombies to walk by so I could reset the alarm back to 300 seconds. Man SS2 was so tense, always on a timer, never knowing when a psychic monkey will blow you up
I do have the warmest of memories of sweat dripping down my forehead as I waited for one of those wrench zombies to walk by so I could reset the alarm back to 300 seconds. Man SS2 was so tense, always on a timer, never knowing when a psychic monkey will blow you up
the game isn't pleasant, that's for sure. But it's satisfying.
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
It was like an
Easter egg hunt
fuck you 15th egg for hiding in the spot in the next section
At times, the looping music was a bit too much, but for the most part, it was atmospheric and enjoyable. I'm glad I chose to play the game with the music on.
I used the pistol for the entire game, so much so that
I defeated both the Many and SHODAN with it. Made the NAH part of the ending cutscene even more satisfying.
Yeah, I just think that's pretty much the way Ken Levine does stuff. He doesn't really seem to pull off a Hitchcockian "plan and execute," he's much more "I'll do what feels right at the time," which isn't necessarily bad, if you've got the time, but he doesn't always have time.
I think he'll never have enough time.
I'm liking the music. There's a sort of weird technological disconnect between it and the world that I think works well. It sort of feels very representative of the bizarre and in many ways broken futuristic nature of the Von Braun and the situation you're in as the player.
It's obviously each to their own, but so far I've been enjoying both the sections without music, and those with it.
It's obviously each to their own, but so far I've been enjoying both the sections without music, and those with it.
don't play this game then. It's scary and has an exceptional positional audio design.
MacGurcules
Member
Oh man. That's what makes it so good.
It's pretty scary. You're on a timer most of the time and enemies respawn indefinitely so it gets pretty tense.
I had to play it in bursts or I'd jump at everything.
Scariest game I've ever played, though I haven't done Amnesia.
I can play through games no problem with a 2.1 set up or if I leave the headphones on the stand (kind of a pseudo 2.1 set up if you think about it).
If I play with them on it just becomes too real, since the positional audio combined with the close screen is just too much.
Its not like I'm jump scared, it just gets too tense and I don't feel like playing anymore. Makes me want to rush through the game, rather then enjoying the experience. Something about the audio just engages my flight or fight response and its not comfortable.
If I play with them on it just becomes too real, since the positional audio combined with the close screen is just too much.
Its not like I'm jump scared, it just gets too tense and I don't feel like playing anymore. Makes me want to rush through the game, rather then enjoying the experience. Something about the audio just engages my flight or fight response and its not comfortable.
ok, so here's how you can bind PSI powers to hot keys.
1. Go to the root directory, open user.bnd with notepad or any text editor of your choice.
2. search for lines like this: bind f1 "quickuse 1"
bind f1+shift "quickbind 1"
3. change ONLY bind for "quickuse X" to a key you want your power mapped to and save the file.
4. open the game, load your last save and hit tab. Open MFD in the right bottom corner of your screen and open the list with your powers
5. drag you mouse pointer to the power you want to bind and press SHIFT+F1 (F1-F10). Your power will be mapped to the key you wrote down in user.bnd file.
for example you want activate Agility psi power by pressing "1" on your keyboard. So you should have the following lines in your user.bnd file:
bind 1 "quickuse 1"
bind f1+shift "quickbind 1"
you can bind any key you want UNLESS IT'S USED BY SOME OTHER ACTION. For example you want to bind v to activate cryo psi amp for some reason. Your actions:
1)Check if "V" isn't mapped to some other command (and it's often mapped to something)
2)If it's mapped - assign some other key to this action, if not proceed to the next step.
3)write the following in user.bnd:
bind v "quickuse 1"
bind f1+shift "quickbind 1"
4)go into the game, open MFD, point at cryo psi amp and hit shift+F1
5)now you can activate cryo psi amp by pressing "V".
this stuff is vital for PSI users. I don't know how people completed the game without this.
it can be included in OP
1. Go to the root directory, open user.bnd with notepad or any text editor of your choice.
2. search for lines like this: bind f1 "quickuse 1"
bind f1+shift "quickbind 1"
3. change ONLY bind for "quickuse X" to a key you want your power mapped to and save the file.
4. open the game, load your last save and hit tab. Open MFD in the right bottom corner of your screen and open the list with your powers
5. drag you mouse pointer to the power you want to bind and press SHIFT+F1 (F1-F10). Your power will be mapped to the key you wrote down in user.bnd file.
for example you want activate Agility psi power by pressing "1" on your keyboard. So you should have the following lines in your user.bnd file:
bind 1 "quickuse 1"
bind f1+shift "quickbind 1"
you can bind any key you want UNLESS IT'S USED BY SOME OTHER ACTION. For example you want to bind v to activate cryo psi amp for some reason. Your actions:
1)Check if "V" isn't mapped to some other command (and it's often mapped to something)
2)If it's mapped - assign some other key to this action, if not proceed to the next step.
3)write the following in user.bnd:
bind v "quickuse 1"
bind f1+shift "quickbind 1"
4)go into the game, open MFD, point at cryo psi amp and hit shift+F1
5)now you can activate cryo psi amp by pressing "V".
this stuff is vital for PSI users. I don't know how people completed the game without this.
Sportbilly
Member
I love the description of the mod-
Not that I was a fan of them (or in Thief for that matter), but that's a bit extreme
Conciliator
Banned
I finished this last night(third time, first time in probably more than 10 years). A bunch of thoughts honestly I should have made some notes(not that anyone on the internet cares what I think, but it's fun to write it all down), but here are some. I played on hard, marine.
Great game though and in a fundamental sense it still holds up pretty well. I finished it in three days because it was fun.
-Inventory management is PROFOUND. Every 10 minutes it's fucking Sophie's Choice with this game. This is the maybe the biggest thing that makes Bioshock just less interesting mechanically.
-Fuck The Many boss fight. Awful. Actually fuck that whole level, even though conceptually it's cool. It looks atrocious. Hell it kind of looked atrocious in 1999.
-Whatever the respective merits of SS2 versus more modern games, it is undeniable that voice acting has gotten better all around.
-Instant quick save and quick load makes any game so much easier. I would have never finished on hard if it was checkpoint based.
-Hydroponics is a great level. So is recreation. Engineering is awful.
-Lo-fi graphics makes hiding secrets a lot harder. Some people have decried the way Bioshock and other games highlight items, but the truth is that the nature of seeing shit is just different with modern graphics.
-Some of the stuff with Shodan makes no sense. She manifested a holographic face of herself and then died when I shot a screen with her face on it? I mean I know I'm thinking about this shit too hard, but that stood out. Also her 'reveal' is really theatrical for a cold, ruthless machine. You know she was thinking 'this guy is gonna FLIP when he see's my face on all four walls'.
-Fuck The Many boss fight. Awful. Actually fuck that whole level, even though conceptually it's cool. It looks atrocious. Hell it kind of looked atrocious in 1999.
-Whatever the respective merits of SS2 versus more modern games, it is undeniable that voice acting has gotten better all around.
-Instant quick save and quick load makes any game so much easier. I would have never finished on hard if it was checkpoint based.
-Hydroponics is a great level. So is recreation. Engineering is awful.
-Lo-fi graphics makes hiding secrets a lot harder. Some people have decried the way Bioshock and other games highlight items, but the truth is that the nature of seeing shit is just different with modern graphics.
-Some of the stuff with Shodan makes no sense. She manifested a holographic face of herself and then died when I shot a screen with her face on it? I mean I know I'm thinking about this shit too hard, but that stood out. Also her 'reveal' is really theatrical for a cold, ruthless machine. You know she was thinking 'this guy is gonna FLIP when he see's my face on all four walls'.
Great game though and in a fundamental sense it still holds up pretty well. I finished it in three days because it was fun.
BloodMoney
Banned
Keyboard is necessary to manage inventory.
Yeah lol it's just the stuff you wanna hear with a phobia mod. None of those "i havent tested tihs so i dunno if ti works", just plain old spidey slaughter.I love the description of the mod-
This is something I've always been confused about. People whine and complain about glowing items, but it's like they've never really played the older games. It's really obvious in older games, to the point where they might as well SCREAM "HEY IM A SECRET OVER HERE!" With newer games, you might miss stuff simply because of all the detritus.
I think Skyrim does this quite well by having the detritus look fairly bland (pots, baskets, etc), while the potions and meats and such have color to them, making them more noticeable.
Books, though... Yeah, I got the glowing book mod.
XANDER CAGE
Member
The co-op is actually a blast, been playing that as well as my single-player run-through again. Fuck Engineering. Recreation is awesome though.
I definitely want to play Bioshock again after this, it's been too long.
I definitely want to play Bioshock again after this, it's been too long.
Same.
I've just got to
Deck 4
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
im surprised that people dont like the music. i think it fits very well. Its high energy when it needs to be (like right after you start and enter the Med Sci area proper) and ambient when appropriate.
There's a 360 controller Xpadder profile for the game. The right stick on the controller takes the place of the mouse for inventory management. It's not ideal, but it isn't completely awful either. Keyboard/mouse gaming tends to get very uncomfortable for me due to carpal tunnel issues, whereas the 360 controller is great for me.
Mr.Monitor
Member
As someone who's usually very relaxed during most horror games, I can tell you you'll probably have problems while playing System Shock 2. I found it to be extremely tense, and like someone else mentioned, the positional audio is amazing. I'd still recommend that you at least try it, but given what you've said I don't think it's the game for you.
Try rebooting. If that doesn't fix it try reinstalling the latest directx. You also might want to check your system for registry errors.
Just finished it again after 9 years or so? While it does lose *some* steam towards the end i totally forgot that
That was just a great feeling, again.
I also really like the music (Hydro 1 being my favorite, may be the fist time heard a DnB song actually), but i think it just doesn't fit the mood at all. Nonetheless, one of the greatest games of all time, for me personally.
you revisit parts of the first level of SS1, which is actually a projection from SHODAN!
The NAH! scene was just as cheesy as i remembered it, though.
jim-jam bongs
Member
The difference is that in SS2 items which have been "hidden" in a dark corner actually do take some effort to spot, though I do tend to agree that it's not as big an issue these days as people make out.
Oh I'm going to play it!
This game is supposed to be one of the greatest of all time! There is no way I can justify not experiencing it. Plus this just sounds like the perfect game for me other than the horror parts.
I'll work my way through it slowly and play with my headphones on the stand.
Maybe I'll emulate a really upbeat Nintendo game like Banjo-Kazooie or Paper Mario: TTYD and switch between them when I feel overwhelmed.
The ironic thing is I had no problem playing through RE4, Silent Hill, etc on consoles when I was far away from the TV and with a speaker system. As soon as I get the headphones on, it makes it too tense.
toddhunter
Member
The best thing is SS has plenty of "What the Fuck!" jump scares...plus also the incredibly oppressive atmosphere thing going on.
Syphon Filter
Member
Is there a demo for this game? how is it like bioshock?seems pretty different to me.
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
Gameplay elements (security systems, cameras, powers/psionics), parts of the story (MAJOR SPOILER:
misleading disembodied voice