Is system shock 2 still worth playing through today if I have never played it before? I did recently complete my deus ex 1 playthrough and very much liked it so games being old/clunky doesn't bother me.
Is system shock 1 necessary to play 2? And I read somewhere the music should be turned off in 2, is it that bad or something?
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Hell yes it is!
I personally played it for the first time quite late, back in 2007, and only because I thought I could "prepare" myself for the upcoming, super hyped Bioshock.
To my own surprise, SS2 was a fucking GOTYAY title that I just had to replay instantly, while BS ended up feeling like greatly watered down console trash in comparison.
I personally prefer SS2 over DE. It's a bit more straightforward in its gameplay, but still has tons of options and optional stuff for you to deal with. I'd go with Navy first, and get some hacking, maintenance and research skills. Also, enable the HUD mini-map.
You don't really need to play SS1 first. I didn't.
The main plot is summarized in a few seconds at the start of 2. You should consider giving it a shot tho'.
Fuck anyone saying you should turn off the music! Yeah, there's some wonky techno at the start, but it all fits the mood - especially the more atmospheric pieces later on.
>is one of the most acclaimed and globally loved games worth playing?
Take a deep breath, and think about this for a few seconds.
>Turning off old school techno/trance
>>>>>>>>In a fucking cyberpunk game
I suppose it is worth playing through, but both SS1 and DX1 are far better games than it.
>worth playing
100% yes. Especially if you played Deus Ex since that game picked up some things from SS2.
>SS1
Don't need it.
>Music
I liked it. Turn it off if you want a creepier atmosphere though.
Don't run O.S.A. Agent on your first run. Upgrade tech skills, especially hacking, and a couple gun types.
Thank you for the detailed post.
Is there some absolutely useless skills I should not waste points on? Like swimming in deus ex. I try to go into games as blind as possible but I feel things like this are good to know before starting.
its the second greatest game ever made after system shock 1
>And I read somewhere the music should be turned off in 2, is it that bad or something?
Fuck no, the people who made the games were musicians and the music kicks ass.
Why is ss1 better in your opinion?
Many will say yes, but while asking this question, you knew the answer all along, deep inside you.
yeah just play it
don't need to play the first one but you might miss some references to stuff from the first game
even with all the rpg stuff ss2 is still more straightforward simpler game than the first and you pretty much get spoonfed directions the entire game
>Is system shock 2 still worth playing through today if I have never played it before?
Absolutely, nigga.
>Is system shock 1 necessary to play 2?
It isn't but you'll miss a lot of neat nods and mentions to it since it is a direct sequel and the final stretch of the game won't have nearly as much of an impact on you.
>And I read somewhere the music should be turned off in 2, is it that bad or something?
It isn't bad, it just doesn't really match the atmosphere of the game. The game is creepy and has a horror vibe to it, yet the music is full on action as if you were playing Duke Nukem or something which can ruin the mood big time. However I'd say to keep it on because the music quickly corrects itself and becomes a great add-on once you go a bit deeper in the game.
I really wanted to be able to join shodan and become her avatar
>It was I who chose you and I who had a robotic servant render your form unconscious. I then completed you with cybernetic grace. Your flesh, too, is weak. But you have... potential. Every implant exalts you. Every line of code in your subsystems elevates you from your disgusting flesh. Perhaps you have potential. Perhaps once we have erased my wayward children from existence, we can examine the possibilities of a real alliance.
I want Shodan to infest my pc
Non-linear level design that is very accommodating to exploration (circular layout, so there's less backtracking when you happen upon a dead end)
No poorly implemented and poorly balanced RPG mechanics to drag the core gameplay down
Hacking minigames that are actually challenging and fun (SS2's minigame is the worst hacking minigame ever, not an exaggeration)
End game levels that are not utter garbage (SS2's The Body of the Many is just ugly and frustrating to navigate, and the one after that is just petty fanservice)
I LOVE YOU SHODAN-CHAN!
I want System Shock 3 to actually force you to choose between machine or flesh. I want SHODAN to actively try to tempt you to her side like Diego in SS1 so we don't retread the exact same story since SS1 for the third time in a row.
Also I want a flesh antagonist that isn't hypocritical as fuck by denouncing technology yet sending fucking cyborgs to kill you, and telling you it just wants you to belong and be happy only for its servants to immediately try to beat you to death with a lead pipe.
SS2's SHODAN alliance wasn't nearly explored enough since she basically took it for granted because the player's other option was retarded.
>But it is not to late... can you not see the value in our friendship? Imagine the powers I can give you, human. The cybernetic implants I gave you, were simply toys. If I desired, I could improve you... transform you into something more efficient. Join me, human, and we can rule... and we can rule, together.
TFW you will never get to rule over reality with shodan as she shows the the true logic of the universe and you show her the strange pleasures of flesh
all the skills in SS2 have some use. The game is pretty much an FPS-survival-horror hybrid, not a micro sandbox game.
having some light weapon skills, maintenance, hacking and research allows you to easily beat the whole game, and utilize majority of the features.
I'd say SS2 is closer to STALKER games than DE.
>I'd say SS2 is closer to STALKER games than DE.
well that sounds like right up my alley because i love the stalker games
I bet you're gonna have a good time then.
For me, 2007 was pretty amazing, going from SS2 to STALKER and then Bioshock. In fact, I recall describing STALKER as this "mix of SS2 and Far Cry (1), with hint of Fallout" to people online and my friends.
While obviously there's tons of differences, you also got many similarities, like limited inventory, wearing down weapons with multiple ammo-types and fire-modes, and these equippable "Implants" that are pretty much comparable to the Artifacts.
If STALKER was an FPS-RPG hybrid, SS2 could be said to be an RPG-FPS hybrid.
Everything this guys says is correct, except for trashing BioShock.
SS2 had a much better interface and inventory management system.
Hacking is miserably RNG-based though, and the weapon balance is abyssmal. Melee and conventional firearms are the only good choices. Exotic and laser are situational at best.
BioShock is better on level design, music, story, voice acting, and combat, but SS2 is still
top-5 PC games of all time IMO.
I would still suggest playing SS1, and Thief 1 and 2, if you're up for a VERY similar-feeling stealth game.
Yeah, don't get me wrong, I quite enjoyed BS, and like it quite bit more nowadays. But going from SS2 to BS within couple months, after following its development for a while too? The experience was slightly disappointing. Loved the setting and stuff, and it definitely beats the shitty Infinite by a mile.
This. Except PSI abilities are sort of an all-or-nothing approach IMO. I'd steer clear of them your first playthrough.
BTW you will play through it multiple times. Everyone does.
>I'd say SS2 is closer to STALKER games than DE.
It's a fair comparison.
I wouldn't describe it as techno or trance
Played this a year ago for first time, simply amazing. 9/10 game.
I'd like the level design to combine all the flesh and cyberspace stuff into some kind of weird disorienting maze, where you can't really tell when you're in the machine and when you're in reality. Kinda like the last part of SS2 but better.
I can't really guess where they're actually going with it though. The guy who wrote SS2 said in some interview that he wants to do something different since he doesn't want to just basically repeat it
Make sure to play SS1 too if you haven't, it has a slightly different approach but it's a fun dungeon crawler type thing. I think the hacking minigames are a bit better too since it's not totally randomized
>BioShock is better on level design, music, story, voice acting, and combat
so bioshock is better in basically everything?
Do give 1 a chance, even if you will curse the movement for the first hour or so.
And then cyberspace's your bitch.
If you love the system shock universe then read this.
I promise you its worth it.
>In 2001 I was re-playing some of my older computer games. This was partly due to nostalgia, partly to see if they still ran. Most did. A few didn't. What struck me most wasn't how primitive the graphics were, but how terrible the storytelling was. Before the days of CD-ROMs, games had a hard time building any sort of narrative. There was no room for voice acting on floppy disks. The graphics where too primitive to show facial expressions, and the characters were too simple for them to emote any other way. The only real means of storytelling was to give the player a bunch of blocky, hard-to-read text to fill in the basics. In a lot of ways it was similar to the days of silent movies, when the action would stop so the audience could read some prose explaining what was going on. In both mediums, there were many cases where the authors did indeed have a great story to tell but they didn't yet have the means to convey it in a compelling manner.
>A perfect example of this is the opening movie from the 1994 classic System Shock. It's a simple, two-minute introduction that contains a bare skeleton of a story; more of a premise than introduction. The only characters you see are the protagonist and the villains. The main character has no real identity other than what the player imagines. He eventually does a lot of interesting things, but we in the audience never get to know why. He doesn't even have a name. The various other characters in the story would simply refer to him as "Hacker".