Zero Punctuation: System Shock 2

[homerthethief]

I just finished this game for the first time last night. Talk about uncanny coincidence. I'd played it a few times before but, as Yahtzee said, it's a tough game to beat. My final build was a tech specialist with plenty of points in modify, maintain, hack, and repair. I focused on energy weapons first and standard weapons second. No psi at all, as it doesn't take much to make the game easy. Even with it's shoddy third act and not-so-simple UI, it's still in the top five of my favorite games.

Recently I finished the game on hard difficulty (2nd hardest difficulty) with a similar build to your character and actually found the game to be overall easy (with the exception of one boss fight.)

I did go standard weapons first though, putting some points into energy, heavy and exotic later in the game to use the first tier weapons of each class to create a sort of Combat Engineer class. No psi powers at all.

Putting points into the modify weapons skill seemed to make the biggest difference as the extra damage weapons do will save you a ton of ammo.

With exception to the aged graphics and dumb AI, this game is pretty good and is definitely worth a play. The story is interesting and the upgrade system offers a lot of depth to craft a character that fits your play style. My character started off as a tech, but gradually became more combat oriented. Its also quite a long game too.

 

[OvBr]

And where the tits is Yahtzee's retro of Thief? I looked thru Zero Punctuation's whole archive front to back and STILL couldn't find it!

Here you go: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/544-Thief-The-Dark-Project [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/544-Thief-The-Dark-Project]

OT: Good episode as usual. I always enjoy ZP retro reviews, wish he would do more as they're more often about games I'm interested in than the recent releases are. Never played SS2 though, after this ep still on the fence about it. Probably wouldn't get it on Steam like Yahtzee since it comes with some extra stuff on GOG [http://www.gog.com/gamecard/system_shock_2] that Steam doesn't have IIRC.

 

[daxterx2005]

Leveling up bum scratching? Are you a newb?

 

[octafish]

Some times I feel like it was a good thing that I only started gaming in the mid 2000s and missed games like these otherwise I might not have stuck with this hobby.

just out of curiosity, how exactly would system shock 2 turn you off gaming?

Probably because just about everything after JA2, SS2, and PS:T has been a bit of a disappointment? That is how I feel, but I maintain some hope.

hm
i really don't get that logic, everything since my childhood has been a disappointment, as a kid afternoons after school would last forever and everything i did that was cool was SUPER DUPER AMAZING OVER THE TOP AWESOMESAUCE. Sure, my life was also enriched by a lot of things but those usually come with a nasty helping of new problems.

and what is PS:T? i really have no idea and you can't google that because all it gives you is pacific standard time. thanks ogoogle.

I didn't play these games as a child though. I was in my mid twenties. Sure I look at Sid Meier's Pirates! through eyes misted with nostalgia as the best game ever, SS2 stands up as the genuinely one of the deepest and most memorable gaming experiences in my life. Imagine the disappointment I felt when I played Bioshock.

 

[Erttheking]

Was poking around when I found this

http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Systemshock2_ingame_final.jpg

Yeah, this doesn't look complicated in the slightest.

 

[Buccura]

I guess I can smugly say then how I did beat System Shock 2, and got treated to that AWFUL ending.

 

[GeorgGreat]

I'm the only person in existence who think's that first System Shock was superior to second, especialy considering the release date... should I go to see a doctor?

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Nice review. One thing though: When System Shock 2 was released, its interface was considered pretty fantastic and people didn't get confused when a game used more than the standard FPS controls. I still think the interface works extremely well for the time it was designed in (just like the first System Shock has absolutely amazing interface designs for the time it was made in) and it still works fairly well after a few minutes of getting used to it.

As for the game itself, IMO System Shock 2 beats Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite by miles. Not only is the story in both Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite very derivative of System Shock 2, but from a gameplay perspective Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite just removed too much of the RPG elements that made System Shock 1 and 2 stand out. They're both just shooters. Bioshock Infinite at least has your choices in upgrades be persistent again and gets a bit of an RPG flavor back that way, but Bioshock 1 is really just a straight FPS. It's sad to see that the supposed "spiritual successor to System Shock 2" ended up being nothing but a normal FPS gameplay-wise.

Was poking around when I found this

http://www.technobuffalo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Systemshock2_ingame_final.jpg

Yeah, this doesn't look complicated in the slightest.

Ignore the inventory and you're left with not much more than what today's FPSs have on screen. Are people really that scared of an inventory?

 

[RevRaptor]

Love this game, still play it every now and then.
I use xpadder to play it with an xbox controller and never had any issues control wise. Well expect for that weird ini file key rebind glich, Yay for all the fun getting old games to work

 

[pearcinator]

Funniest ZP in a long while...I loved all the bits where you put RPG points in random pointless things.

 

[baba44713]

I actually finished System Shock 1. On a monochrome monitor. A monitor that couldn't show the color red, which made the VR sections even more fun, what with the invisible walls and all. I was still enjoying the hell out of that game, it was one of my favorites, just alongside Dune, Monkey Island and Alone in the Dark(*). While my friends were going nuts over that phenomenal Doom game, especially after we figured out that we could actually connect our PCs if we fiddle long enough with those cables and network ports, I was totally immersed in my struggle against Shodan.

So yes, I know that game aged terribly, but I still don't like how dismissive everyone usually is about that first game. For me it's still the definite "shock" game, and while each game after that one brought many improvements, polish, whatever, for me none achieved that level of immersion and engagement the first game did.

Edit: (*)And Star Control 2! Can't believe I forgot that one.

 

[RevRaptor]

I actually finished System Shock 1. On a monochrome monitor. A monitor that couldn't show the color red, which made the VR sections even more fun, what with the invisible walls and all. I was still enjoying the hell out of that game, it was one of my favorites, just alongside Dune, Monkey Island and Alone in the Dark(*). While my friends were going nuts over that phenomenal Doom game, especially after we figured out that we could actually connect our PCs if we fiddle long enough with those cables and network ports, I was totally immersed in my struggle against Shodan.

So yes, I know that game aged terribly, but I still don't like how dismissive everyone usually is about that first game. For me it's still the definite "shock" game, and while each game after that one brought many improvements, polish, whatever, for me none achieved that level of immersion and engagement the first game did.

Edit: (*)And Star Control 2! Can't believe I forgot that one.

You Might want to check this out if you haven't already:

http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=211.0

I have a feeling you will like what you see

 

[Metalrocks]

a game i once had but every time i started a new game, the game crashed.
im glad its out on steam now but i wait till its 75% off.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

A better game than the shock series hands down, sure the skill system is harsh but not to the point its to hard to play mind you I always played with weapon entropy off.

As for Dues ex, the mini cross bow dose not use the aim system so learn to use physics to do head shots with it.. and get every tranq dart you can ^0^

 

[emissary666]

I'm gonna be "that guy" and say that GOG.com had SS2 before Steam. I'm guessing implementing the DRM took that extra month or so longer.

But GOG released System shock 2 ages before Steam and if it wasn't for the guys at GOG going through all the legal trouble, Steam wouldn't have it either.

It's already been mentioned twice, but GOG did all the hard work and had SS2 months before Steam. I was disappointed when I saw that SS2 was now on Steam as well and am disappointed in Yahtzee for crediting Steam.

Look, I love CDPR as much as anyone but it was a dude named Stephen Kick, of a small company called Night Dive Studios, who secured the rights to distribute SS2. With CDPR having been trying to get those rights since they launched GOG.com (and SS2 has always been the most requested game there), they were just the logical choice for Kick to deal with and make the distribution of SS2 happen.

The always excellent Rock Paper Shotgun on the subject. [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/13/many-questions-system-shock-2-comes-to-gog/]

Presumably his deal with CDPR wasn't meant to be forever exclusive (and they aren't that kind of assholes anyway, which is why we love them), so he took a similar deal to Valve and now SS2 is on their front page, getting more of the attention it deserves.

I think I actually heard about Night Dive, but GOG still deserves the distribution credit, not Steam.

 

[xdiesp]

And what techno music!

Med Sci 1 by Eric Brosius
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bL7I_eWryI

 

[Skade]

First of all: I have fond memories of SS2 _and_ I have finished it _and_ I can tell you the two reasons I hold it very dear in my heart.

1) Its a horror game taking place in a bright location. Everything was well visible, there was no way to hide something in the shadows. And it still gave me _real creeps_ back then. You rarely get that.
2) Ammo starvation really worked well. I remember one moment where I sat behind a crate with only one armor-piercing bullet left. One of those suicide drones was slowly moving towards me with their nice and friendly "may I help you, sir?". End of the story is that I hit it and survived, but the scene is stuck in my head. Its one of the rare games that actually managed that with a non-scripted sequence.

Its flawed on many levels which the review points out, but at the time it came out, it was a revelation because it succeeded on so many levels that other games never even bothered to touch.

 

[maninahat]

System Shock 2 was an interesting yet exhausting game to play. The way it respawns enemies to areas you've just cleared feels cheap and arbitrary, but it does the job of making you constantly anxious. Eventually I reached a point in which my Olympic sprinting, sword fighting hacker could brush these enemies off like flies, but that really only swapped anxiety for tedium.

Basically, I'll stick with thief.

 

[A Gray Phantom]

I would play System Shock and System Shock 2, but I've seen clips. I don't think they've aged well.

 

[kytetiger]

a game i once had but every time i started a new game, the game crashed.
im glad its out on steam now but i wait till its 75% off.

Go on gog.com (it's from the publisher of The Witcher), it's 9,99 and is drm-free, has manual, wallpapers, interview, sountracks (mp3& flac), artworks, & moAR!!