/vr/ - Retro Games

Most people claim to like it
a) because other people claim to like it and
b) it was a somewhat novel concept for it's time (it's predecessor was a better game though)

Exploration, discovery of new weapons/abilities/elements of the story, technical detail and description of every item, reminiscence of 70-90s era science fiction movies.

Deus Ex had all of the above + non-linear character interaction.

SS2 had moments of great storytelling. The dynamic between shodan / yourself and the many was a useful vehicle to comment on the nature of consciousness.

Mechanically the game was quite varied. Each of the skills had some use, and deciding where to throw your nanites and skill points (i forget what the fuck they were called) helped define your character in a way similar to an rpg while expanding your tactical options.

The audio design in general was exceptional. While not as impressive the original, the voice logs were all competently written and fairly well voice acted. Enemies sounded creepy, and the music was pretty great to boot.

It certainly isn't a 'perfect' game but imho shodan alone more than makes up for a few underwhelming floors and an extremely disappointing ending.

It's probably one of my favorite games ever, for the reasons mentioned above.

But it also goes to complete dogshit as soon as you get about 3/4 through the game.

- The horror (it was scary at a time)
- The survival (very limited resources and high difficulty)
- SHODAN
- the twist
- cyberpunk

At the time (and arguably still today) SS2 was the most intense atmospheric experience ever presented in a video game.

>>1346346

Creepy, atmospheric, immersive setting.

Deus Ex is very similar, honestly. You can see where Deus Ex liberally borrowed from it. DX has more sidequest style stuff, and an arguably broader level design, but the same key elements are there.

The music was kick ass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV-Z7N3HFuE

I love the overall game and everything but, what the fuck was that ending?

>>1346346

It was the predecessor to Deus Ex

And although some of the mechanics seem archaic and broken it is incredibly immersive and well put together despite what you claim.

>>1346346
Because it's a very good game.

>>1346440
Thief came out a year before, and it's still better.

>>1346505

Apples and Oranges. They're both excellent.

>>1346516
No, they're fairly similar to some extent. I was talking about immersion anyway.

>>1346516
they're very similar, thief is superior.

For some reason, most shock fags haven't touched Thief, the inarguably superior game. Yes thief is no rpg, but there's a good reason for that. After LGS developed the amazing ultima underworld games, they decided they were sick of creating such systematic mechanical rpgs with such rigid structures. so instead they made the physics based shooter horror flight sim puzzle platformer system shock. they boiled this formula down to a simpler solution, and evolved it into the game that still has the best stealth experience yet, thief the dark project. System Shock 2 was a regression to system shock 1's advancements, a safer RPG.

It's a good game, but system shock 1 is better, and thief 1 and 2 mop the floor with shock 2.

>>1346525
It's a great engine but the game felt more like a puzzle game to me, way too meta. I found neither immersion nor much enjoyment in the game.

>>1346535

Quite the opposite. I played Metal Age years ago, and System Shock 2 and Thief 1 only a few weeks ago when i first heard about GOG and actually got around to buying them.

They're both good, but they're different games. I wouldn't say they're in competition at all.

Mopping the floor is gross hyperbole.

I gave the GOG edition a try when it came out.

I liked the look of it but it all seemed a bit poorly put together. Lots of good ideas but the execution is shoddy.

Compared to Deus Ex System Shock 2 had more focused story and the setting. Deus Ex tried to do too many things at once

I still love the events on Deck Four.

It's a fun horror game with an interesting sci-fi story and multiple ways to play through the game. What's there not to like?

I love System Shock 1 as well (I sought out and played the first game because I liked the sequel so much). System Shock 2 is an engrossing experience that I find it hard not to recommend, even if the Rickenbacker is kind of meh. Cyberspace makes up for that as a short and intriguing final level (that admittedly has way too few enemies).

>>1346535
How is SS1 better again? You need to perform a dance and a ritual just to move across the fucking room.

>>1346608
It's a lot like tank-controls in the RE games. After a while, you get used to them and are almost second nature.

It took me a good hour of the game before I 'got' SS1's controls, but once I did I had a blast and loved how complex they were. I admit that a lot of people won't be willing to put in the time to learn them, though.

>>1346568

Part of the charm, I think. Yeah, there were big chunks of the game left out, like a Texas/Second Revolution hub, but a lot of the disparite ideas really combined overall to create a good setting, I think.

>>1346608
Did you play SS for five minutes? For some reason, the hacking in SS2 is easier than the hacking SS. I'm not sure who decided to make that change.
>>1346615
>Part of the charm
All of the ideas makes the world Deus Ex takes place in feel all the more living.

>>1346608
>>1346613
I got used to it quit quickly but after finishing the game I found out theres a new patch that enables mouse movement like in every modern game. its on the official website

btw System Shock 1 final battle was the worst part of the game and the ending is totally anticlimatic

Heres a lets play from a guy I respected for his Bioshock Infinite critique and other stuff but I raged so hard when I watched him play SS2 for the first time. He just went forward, didnt listen to tutorial, picked the specialization pretty much randomly (and later regretted it) and didnt listen to data logs. Kinda shows how the gamers change through generations and SS2 is a game that demands your attention.

He really gets into it in part 2 tho

>>1346641
forgot the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qfxxVi4NSY

>>1346632
I say this every time, but I don't think mouselook is necessary for System Shock.

You already just click on enemies to kill them, it probably mucks up with your inventory selecting, and you rarely need to look up or down.

It's as if you added mouselook to Doom. It just doesn't make sense!

I know I am in a minority here, but I always have to say it.

System Shock 2 does a lot of cool stuff, but it also does a lot of boring stuff. I hate how I can't repair a breaking gun, but only a broken gun and that brings it back up to 1 most of the time so it's back to almost breaking.
The labrynthian maps are kinda the point and after a while you get used to the corridors.
The atmosphere is great once you turn off the loud-as-balls techno music blaring. I love how the enemies are zombified humans who are still semi-aware so while fighting you they beg you to run away or to kill them and end their misery.
However I need to say that this game gives it's twist away in the first 5 seconds. "There once was an AI named Shodan." and then they never mention her again. Oh but here's this lady you only ever talk to and she's kinda cold and detached from humanity and doesn't seem to care to much about anything but things being useful towards her own end. Weird.

I recently picked this up for the first time. Didn't play it at release because po' whitey child. Anyway, I absolutely adore this game and here's why: Even though it is antiquated it possesses almost every component a modern title of its relative calibre holds short of ragdoll. The enemy respawns keep the gameplay fresh and within reason of the game's universe, as in this was a passenger ship so why wouldn't there be tons of hybrids? The character building, in my opinion, paces wonderfully with the game's progression. When you first come out of the tube on the Von Braun you only have your base skillset from class selection/training section but because of how the skill trees work you have to be meticulous about what you level and when you level it. This is done all within a set amount of cyber modules, which are plentiful enough to build any kind of character as long as you have the patience for it. On top of all this it followed the curtails of survival horror hype and did something extremely creative and almost unseen in similar attempts at the style(think S.T.A.L.K.E.R.). I just woke up so this is all over the place but I think I covered most of what I wanted to.

>>1346652
I played both, and yes, you need mouse look.

It seems to me that SS made a better use of three dimensions than Doom. By this I mean that you actually HAVE to worry about Z level, the game likes to put snipers in certain places. Hell, there's even a part where you keep getting pounded by little flying drones that are like a hundred feet in the air. You should either have Jackie Chan reflexes or look with your mouse.

>>1346672
>I hate how I can't repair a breaking gun, but only a broken gun and that brings it back up to 1 most of the time so it's back to almost breaking.

That's what maintenance is for, dude.

>>1346701
Mind = blown
Or I guess I'm just more upset I didn't come to this conclusion myself

>>1346705

Did you never wonder what the disposeable maintenance tools were for? Each rank of maintenance and use of one of them increases the objects repair state by 1. So one or two of them and you can easily have the weapon up to 10.

Plus when you upgrade the weapon you'd want to retain those, so maintenance is useful there.

>>1346672
>However I need to say that this game gives it's twist away in the first 5 seconds.
Moreso, it's right there, on the freaking cover.

>>1346708
I haven't found any disposable maintenance tools yet.

>>1346535
Most "shock fags" are LGS fans and so have played Thief as well.Anyway yes they striped away the elements from UUW they didn't think worked to make SS1 more focused.Thief isn't an evolution of that they just wanted to try something different.
The only reason SS2 has RPG elements is because the shooting in the dark engine isn't great so they needed to do something to make it stand out.Anyway LGS obviously thought this was a good idea as their game that got canceled(Deep Cover) was going to have something similar.
I do prefer SS1 but it isn't better by much and I disagree that Thief 1 and 2 are way better.

>>1346346
Personally I prefer SS2 to Deus Ex and I think it's a better game as well.
Anyway SS2 has more stats/skills than Deus Ex (so your criticism about that would apply to it as well).
SS2 is so highly regarded because of the great level design of the Van Braun,the atmosphere,the resource management,Shodan,for being the first FPS/RPG and I guess the writing as well.
SS2's level design isn't that maze like,that would describe SS1 better(which IMO has better level design).
Anyway the reason the game has respawning enemies and weapon degradation is because resource management is a huge part of the game and they really add to that.

Bioshock 2 was better than Bioshock.

Some of the Looking Glass studios staff went to work at Ion Storm (which developed Deus Ex and Anachronox).

As for respawning enemies. Don't destroy the gun turrets. Hack them so they can attack the enemies as they respawn and search.

>>1347415

i agree

I played SS2 quite recently, long after I played Deus Ex. I fucking LOVED IT.

The RPG elements are important to the game... they're not just thrown in.

Plus it's super immersive. There's no help, few resources, and wide flexibilty to create your character (many combinations of which are too shitty to allow you to complete the game). You're on your own, and if you run out of resources or your character sucks, tough shit.

Unbelievably immersive.

>>1346346
It's the only real competition Deus Ex had at the time. Also, the writing is pretty decent at times.

I agree though, the gameplay is terrible.

system shock 2 barely feels cyberpunk with the magical powers you suddenly have

at least system shock 1 had augmentations

>>1347746
>system shock 2 barely feels cyberpunk with the magical powers you suddenly have
Get a load of this scrub.

>>1347951
its true though

the most cyberpunk thing about this game is the city at the beginning and the fact that there's a megacorp

>>1347970

And basically everything else. The Many, Shodan, Psionics, boosters, etc, they're all CP as fuck. Just not a CP constrained by the shallow definitions of saturday morning cartoon writers.

>>1347981
Nigger what, those have nothing to do with cyberpunk at all. SS2 is just generic soft scifi.

>>1348154

Christ, are you one of those people that thinks GitS isn't CP because it's not grungy enough? Or one who shits on poems as not being romantisism because they don't feature evil industrial stuff and good nature. Same principle applies here.

What's in SS2 is easily core CP. There's not a damn thing in CP that precludes them, and they riff on the core themes excellently. Megacorps and bleak cities are handy tools to express CP, but they're far from requisite. They're just common because they're easy to work with.

>>1348184
What the fuck do you even think cyberpunk means? Because it sure as hell isn't the definition that the rest of the world uses.

>>1347415
It was overall pretty obvious cash-in sequel. It just had different weapons, a much weaker plot and few new enemies and plasmids/tonics. Playable, but nowhere near as enjoyable as the first one.

>>1348194

It's a nebulous as fuck genre, honestly. Interaction and deliniation, and subsequent LACK of deliniation between systems and individuals, technology and the changes and lack of changes it creates, the whole punk philosophy like DIY and anarchism generally getting very seriously played with and explored. Rebellion's a part of it, but also CP tends to move beyond black and white in that respect. The rebellion is on behalf of a system, or possible because of it, or generally just not as clear cut as previous eras might have had it.

Sci-fi settings are possible, but the reality of most of the texts is that a lot of the ideas and general movers and shakers tend to be anachronistic in a lot of ways. Neuromancer is in many ways a heist story. As technological as a lot of parts of it are, a lot of the characterisations and general events are far older than sci-fi, although sci-fi tends to be leveraged to create the world.

There's often a strong emphasis in the service of the above to focus on the minuate of day to day life. Technology isn't the driver of society, but more of an outgrowth of it. Tech, and the machine, and the Man and everything assocaited with that is generally presented as being a microism of the general human experience. There's a fairly strong emphasis as well on the way humans find a way to express or otherwise exist within said systems. As fond as the genre is of megacorps etc I find that very often it tends to personalise them. Less stormtroopers and more villians, sort of thing. A lot of the stories and characters tend to riff on far older themes and ideas, with the technology sort of aggregating around them rather than being the core of what they are. And the genre's very fold of throwing anarchonisms in. They might be excused by a technological line of bullshit, but there's definitely a primitivist streak a mile wide across CP as a genre.

Also, when I mentioned some stuff earlier.

Are you seriously saying that Shodan, an AI, isn't CP?

>>1348249

Honestly playing Bioshock felt like a weak echo of SS. Lazy design. BS2 was more like an expansion set than anything.

>>1347732
SS2's gameplay is better than Deus Ex's.
Honestly Deus Ex's gameplay is average at best and while SS2's isn't great it's still better.

>>1348303

Kinda feels identical, really. Same interface. Difference is the animation on the NPCs. Thief style prescribed movements.

>>1348249
Gameplay wise it was far better but I haven't played enough to judge its story although the first one was pretty bad so the bar isn't exactly high.

>>1348308
The difference is that SS2 uses weapon requirements instead of waiting for the reticle to shrink and it also uses Thief's stealth system

>>1348324
>SS2 uses weapon requirements instead of waiting for the reticle to shrink
What are you implying? Deus Ex has a skill system too.

>>1346632
I tried the mouselook mod and I think it gets in the way more than it helps. SS1 uses the mouse for many things and with the mod you basically have to disable mouselook to do almost everything.

>>1346346
> or even in the same league as something like Deus Ex?
Because Deus Ex is shit.

Because RP nerds have shitty taste in video games and will latch onto anything that gives a themeatic element despite no decent plot content or viable mechanics. As long as they can roleplay sex robots and pretend to be nano-auged non fatasses they love the shit out of games.
It's less about what makes the game and more about how it adds to their masturbation fantasies. Deus Ex and System Shock 2 are the Halo and Goldeneye equivalents for nerdlings.

>>1348709
>Because Deus Ex is shit.
Do you have a single fact to back that up?

>>1348382

In SS2 you literally cannot use a weapon if you don't have the appropriate skill at high enough level.

In DX you can use anything you want, your aiming reticle just is bigger.

>>1346346
>How is this game considered to be good, or even in the same league as something like Deus Ex?

Are you implying that Deus Ex is worse than "good"? Because Deus Ex is among the ten best videogames ever made and SS2 is its spiritual predecessor.

>>1346357
>Most people claim to like it
>a) because other people claim to like it and
>b) it was a somewhat novel concept for it's time

Most people "claim to" like it because it's one of the best games ever made and basically invented FPS-RPG hybrids.

>>1348709
did you just compare system shock 2 to halo?

>>1348709

Seriously dude, if you don't like Deus Ex, nothing you say matters at all. Your shit taste is beyond help at that point.

>>1346701
>maintenance and repair are different skills

THAT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE

System Shock 2's actual list of flaws:
- audiovisually dated (es expected from a 1999 game, there are HD mods to help this though)
- very poor weapon balance, some weapons are like cheat codes, others are almost worthless
- poor skill balance
- ludicrously fast weapon degradation, firing one burst can take your gun from 100% to almost broken

System Shock 2's actual list of merits:
- fucking amazing atmosphere and story
- single-handedly invented the genre of FPS/RPG hybrids
- SHODAN and The Many are both amazing villains, even the side baddie Xerxes is awesome
- lots of interesting powers and toys to play around with
- legitimately challenging
- generally just super good all around

>>1348764
Maintenance is what you do to avoid having to repair things. I do agree that it is just skill bloat however.

>>1348772
>- ludicrously fast weapon degradation, firing one burst can take your gun from 100% to almost broken
This is actually a bug if I recall.

>>1348312
The best thing about Bioshock was exploring the city and finding out what happened. After you finish the game, revisiting Rapture loses its charm because you already know everything. Combat wasnt Bioshocks strong point

>>1348401
you have to toggle it and theres a toggle key. After 2 minutes you get used to toggling

>>1348748
Ultima Underworld?

>>1348772
>audiovisually dated
visually maybe, the audio is amzing. Great music, audiologs, creepy souns...

>poor skill balance
true but most RPGs are guilty of this, especially Deus Ex and Fallout

>ludicrously fast weapon degradation, firing one burst can take your gun from 100% to almost broken

I agree, its ridicoulous

>>1348918
Not a shooter

>>1348918
Made by the same studio.

>played this game in the dark with headphones on

>the soundtrack
>the gutter growls and taunts from the zombie cyborgs

>>1349115

>THE FUCKING MIDWIVES

>>1349115
>not playing every game in the dark with headphones on.
Seriously why would you ever do anything but.

>>1349085
You realize assuming it was a shooter, wouldn't invalidate his claim. Though all he needed to say was System Shock 1. Thereby nullifying the fact that the second one was somehow responsible for the achievements first one accomplished.

>>1346421
>(it was scary at a time)

Shit man it still is scary and this is coming from a guy who rarely gets scared by video games. System Shock 2 did it right by having the scares be focused on sound design and atmosphere instead of enemies popping out from vents screaming OOGA BOOGA!

>>1349129
AP rounds

Resist the urge to kill every suicide droid on the engineering deck.

>>1347732
>It's the only real competition Deus Ex had at the time.

Both games were made by warren spector and netted the same people money. your comment is like saying that pokemon cards competed with pokemon gb games....

>>1348772
I disagree that the story is good.It's interesting at the start but falls apart completely near the end and wasn't anything special to begin with.It definitely wasn't the game's string suit.

>>1349618
SS1 wasn't a FPS/RPG.It has no stats or skills.
UUW can't be a FPS/RPG as it's not a FPS.

>>1350014
Warren Spector wasn't involved with SS2 and had very little to do with any of LGS' games or really any game except Deus Ex that he is somehow known for making.

>>1350017
this. The plot to SS2 is pretty much alien + the mad computer aspects of 2001.

Honestly, though, this is 99% of games that people think of as having "cool" or "original" stories -- they're ALWAYS preceded by something in film by nearly half a century that they shamelessly steal ideas from.

Easiest way to see this: watch a few Akira Kurosawa films and then go play any japanese game noted for its plot -- especially fantasy games.

>>1348748
>and basically invented FPS-RPG hybrids.

Not so much. The idea of FPS/RPG hybrids has existed in various forms for some time. Notable examples would be Pathways into Darkness and Strife. Hexen skirts it with class based play, it's not specifically RPG heavy but that doesn't disregard it's RPGish elements as not existing or the significant it holds as attempting to be a more action based FPS using more traditional styled classes with items.

Less notably, there was also pseudo/RP elements to Terminator, those elements were fairly fucking useless and the game was shitty. There were make your own 'FPS' games with editing/scripting back on home computers. They were ass slow as dogshit and never got any attention.

SS2 did a more thorough job of integrating the two, but it's not like origin/looking glass just sat up and said hey you know what no one's ever thought of before, making an FPS with RPG elements and then invented the genre. They have a large stake in capitalizing on it.

>>1350017
He also said it was super good all around. Which is definitely not the case given how poorly done the whole shooting and melee mechanics were.
Just about everything he chalked up to the merits are nostalgia goggles.

>>1349628
I still get shivers thinking about the psychic monkeys

>>1350238
SS2 is a great game but yes its melee isn't great neither is its shooting(although out of all FPS/RPG's it has probably the best).
The game isn't "super good all round" it has a number of flaws but most of what he said was true albeit a bit exaggerated and have nothing to do with nostalgia goggles.

>>1349628

This, god damn. That whole engine has the scariest sounds ever. Thief 1&2 and System Shock 2 are the only games I've ever played where you can tell exactly where an enemy is just by sound.

>>1350310
>you can tell exactly where an enemy is just by sound.
Does it use something similar to OpenAL?

>>1350975
Late 90s Windows games used either EAX or A3D for surround sound. Shortly afterwards Aureal was absorbed by Creative and A3D disappeared.

>>1350310
>Thief 1&2 and System Shock 2 are the only games I've ever played where you can tell exactly where an enemy is just by sound.
So you've only played those games?
That's pretty much is the same in just about every 3D game. Locational sound is the most rudimentary function of sound in a 3D setting. Even if it's not correctly adjusted for environmental effects you should be able to tell exactly where an enemy is in just about every 3D game.

>>1350985
EAX isn't the same thing as A3D.
EAX is not sound modelling, it's 'sound effects' typically being one of two things, muffling based on things in the way or reverb based on the spatial descriptors.
A3D is a more of a suite of things, with HRTF functionality for pseudo-3D soundstage. A3Dverb (this is closest to EAX) and A3Dspace for reverb and reflection effects.

Creatives HRTF functionality is called CMSS-3D. Likely based off A3D's HRTF after they aquired them. Also using EAX in modern OS's uses directsound which is no longer supported, alchemy is a wrapper for Directsound -> OpenAL.

>>1351269
I think it depends on the quality of your speakers, other sounds like BGM and the game itself. The earliest 3D games had no or only mono sound.

>>1350023
>SS1 wasn't a FPS/RPG.It has no stats or skills.
I distinctly remember it as being heralded as a game that revolutionised RPG's by getting rid of ludicrous tropes like numerical skill stats and replacing them with actual gameplay.

The sequel was a step backwards.

>>1351383
SS1 isn't a RPG.Some cRPG fans even argue that SS2 isn't one and is just a shooter with stats.
Anyway a game cannot be a RPG if it doesn't have stats or skills.
The only RPGish elements that SS1 has is its inventory system and augmentations(I think that's what they are called)
The only reason that SS2 has them is because the dark engine isn't suited for shooting but LGS must have changed their minds about it because their canceled game was going to have something similar.

>>1347415
Agreed

>>1352326
>Anyway a game cannot be a RPG if it doesn't have stats or skills.
Wrong. You are describing a roll playing game, not a role playing game.

>>1352367
so GTA is more of an RPG because you can play pretend and larp about pointless right

>>1348709
Fucking this.

>>1352326
>Some cRPG fans even argue that SS2 isn't one and is just a shooter with stats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_word

>>1348736
>Do you have a single fact to back that up?

I chuckled. But seriously, Deus Ex is a wonderful game that blew my mind as a teenager. If someone doesn't like it, well they're missing out on something special.

I tried System Shock 2 once but was never able to get into it. Probably because the twist was so obvious, and the gameplay was tedious. Half the time I was just managing stuff in the menu with no regard for the outside world, which was absurd and immsersion-breaking. Deus Ex had a better balance.

At first I hated on it, since I liked the first one so much and was disappointed by the magic monkeys, slow movement, weapon degradation and softer atmosphere/story.But then I got my shit together and dropped that faggy magic skill so I could focus on my hacker and melee skills and drink booze and actually do damage.It turned out to be very enjoyable.I almost shit myself a few times with those maid robots and midwives.

Like a guy above mentioned, I don't think it's very much cyberpunk.In the first one, your character is a lonely hacker living on some shitty Jupiter colony.One moment later you are entering cyberspace (a wireframe one pretty similar to the one described in Gibson's Neuromancer), using dermal drugs, flechette pistols, and sliding on jet rollerskates with a laser rapier.In the second one you are some military guy who gets cyber implants, but they don't really have a role in the gameplay, they are more like and excuse for your HUD.You fight some mutant collectivist entity.Eh I don't know, it's a matter of taste maybe.

>>1352692
cyberspace is arguably the best part of SS1 and im really disappointed that it wasnt in 2

I think we can all agree that SS1's soundtrack is much better than SS2!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZHn_to0HDo

I know no one probably played the Mac version (myself included), but hot damn the tunes are good.

>>1352793
the best part is how they're kind of randomized so you get different parts of the music sometimes

>>1352496
The twist wasn't very important to the plot of System Shock 2.

It was much more interesting listening to Shodan and The Many and trying to survive.

is there any way to disable respawn?

this shit is so fucking annoying

>>1352793
they both have great soundtracks honestly

>>1352990
Open user.cfg with a text editor. If there isn't a user.cfg, create one. Add no_spawn to it.

>>1348772

>Single-handedly invented the genre of FPS/RPG hybrids

What is Strife?

I encountered SS2 from a slightly different perspective having never played SS1, the 'twist' was wholly new to me at the time.

SS2 scared the crap out me at times, at others it was more frustrating than anything (NEED MORE ANTI RADIATION HYPOS! ARRGH!)

-The logs were a story in themselves and I rooted for the couple who were trying to flee the von braun (I think you see them escape from the rickenbacker later in the plot...)

-The pleas of the enemies to "run!" before screaming and running at you with a shotgun were inspired.

-The horror of the midwives desire to protect the children...

The things I liked only echo what others have said before me, but my personal grip with the game was that I was expecting to be able to 'hack' things in a more immersive way. I was expecting something more akin to "linkspace" from Beneath a Steel Sky where a cyber version of the player would hack his way past security sensors etc that would then be reflected in the regular map and when I play it over I often think what a wasted opportunity that was...

I agree that there were buggy aspects of the game but the dynamic sound effects were (at the time) astounding to me, just try stacking some boxes on top of each other and listening to the sound change.

On the other hand I used to get myself an assault rifle and keep it maintained and pretty much drop all of the 'psy' elements to the combat as they seemed less effective than hot lead.

The game had such an effect on me to this day I still name the servers on the network I manage after SS2 characters -the buggiest one always being xerxes...

>>1352793

I agree.This one just explodes my autism and I can't keep my ass on the chair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qBe3qo2uuA

>>1353216

Good question, isnt that Clouds last name?

>>1353821
Yes, but it's also one of the better FPS games of the time.
Very similar to Doom; I believe it uses a slightly modified version of the engine.
It's use of hubs and backtracking was quite innovative.
Worth checking out if you like the genre.

>>1353835
It was an interesting FPS of it's time, not one of the better ones.

I honestly would've liked SS2 more if wasnt so survival-esque with the combat and resource management, and had a bit more action. The RPG element was very poorly implemented aswell.

I know this might sound like a cardinal sin, but I actually prefer Bioshock 1&2 over SS2, for being less survival-esque, and slightly more action-oriented with the combat, while still having that exploration and atmospheric side of things. Though admittedly, they were a bit on the easy side.

>>1346346
The depressive feel of being alone in the space, the soundtrack, the story, the scares. It's not the best gameplay there is, but in many ways it is an iconic game.

>>1355651
Im pretty much total opposite

>>1355651
To add to this, though. Bioshock Infinite is overhyped trash. Has virtually nothing to do with System Shock or Bioshock 1&2 in terms of gameplay elements. Basically felt like Halo, but with a needlessly convoluted plot.

>>1355651
I think its not so much that its survival-esque, but more that its extremely clunky and tedious. Stealthing the enemies because of how weak I am would be more fun if the wrench wasnt so irritating and slow to use.