system shock 2 is quite, um, shocking :D

[fragnbrag]

some recent discussion on the game "system shock" in another thread piqued my interest in this oldie - i got it a while ago from a friend but never installed it because screenies of the character models (at the time) turned me right off - they were way worse (graphical quality-wise) than even quake2 monsters.

in fact, they looked exactly as bad as the character models in "Thief" (gee wiz :p anyways, there's a recent mod that replaces the crap models with, well, much better looking ones (not all characters but most) so i decided to hold off HALO and get this one out of the way...

i'm not regretting the decision at all - even though it might seem like the same old familiar "Space-Marine-vs-the-alien-invaders" type game it's really quite different. "DeusEx" seems to have taken a lot from SS (imo) -you can really tell but SS2 is every bit as deep (or even more complex imo) wrt the RPG aspects...

I believe SS2 was released mid 99 but was (unfortunately for LookingGlass/IrrationalGames) overshadowed by the popularity of Half-Life (imo)... Considering when it was made, SS2 looks "not too bad". Even today, unless you look really closely at the details you have to keep reminding yourself this is an OLD game.

There seems to be extensive use of messhes all over the maps, some look quite good while others not too good by todays standards; texture mis-alignments abound and the lighting seems a bit off in some spots -- it's best to dark this game down a Lot, the older DARK ENGINE graphics and effects look a LOT better that way, especially the blackish shadows -
you really will feel like you're on board a starship like the USS enterprise, and in spots it feels a lot like the ship in ALIENS... putting things in perspective, Half-Life did not look as good as this game does (imo)...

The *worst* part of SS2 some of the character models which were HORRIDLY SIMPLISTICALLY UGLY just like in thief :p Just look at the SS2 cut-scene AVI's to see what I mean. The new graphics mod unfortunatly does not convert/replace *all* of the characters, so you have to just kinda go with the flow a bit...

Anyways, i highly recommend this game to anyone wanting a good scare before halloween.... kind of a primer for the upcoming DOOM...

i'm currently playing on "impossible" (which is really only "hard" mode) as a Marine (of course) it's pretty challenging and damn SCARY too :0. especially difficult since it's hard to build skills and the weapon i rely on the most so far is always the damn wrench :evil: this soundtrack is absolutely AWESOME too - you'll get goosebumps for sure..

so far (i'm starting the 4th misson now, barely alive, but alive...

just found out how to take screenies (ctrl-F9) so i'll post some screenies as i go along...

cheers

**edit**

good description of System Shock 2 is here (http://pc.ign.com/articles/161/161087p1.html?fromint=1)

note that the slideshow pics show the game as it looks WITHOUT using the character graphics mod....

[Lord_Simeon]

i played SS2 a few years back now, and still have fond memories of it.
Like you said, good primer for DOOM.
The creepy ambience as your sneaking around the ship stands the hairs up on your neck.

:D

[fragnbrag]

i played SS2 a few years back now, and still have fond memories of it.
Like you said, good primer for DOOM.
The creepy ambience as your sneaking around the ship stands the hairs up on your neck.

:D

i've not a lot of experience with RPG type games, or even "stealth" games (i plyed deusEx a Lot but i did not, for example, enjoy "thief" much at all, maybe i was more turned off by the crappy looks of the characters :/ i will say this tho - deusEx taught the FPS player (like me :) that you don't always have to go in guns-a-blazing, in fact, it's not always a good option ... in this game SS2 i'm armed with more "smarts" and am managing the situation pretty well i think, in spite of the fact i've regened a few times already and am sneaking around almost dead most of the time (damn, i think i was killed by a psi-damn monkey one of the times :p always seem to be 1 hypo away from death, have to save my precious bullets for security cameras -- soon i should have the tech skill to fix some of the rifles...

here's a quick screenie showing the improved character detail...

cheers

[Freakish]

I played this awhile back and REALLY liked it. It's got great atmosphere; enough that it made me jump many times when people burst out on me...the RPGishness of it is pretty cool as well.

I was kicking myself when about 3/5 of the way through the game I realized the hypos and psi injections give more after the immediate injection..I'd been wasting 3-4 at a time running them all at once not realizing your health/psi creeps up after. doh!

But yeah - the game is a lot of fun even if graphics are outdated. The story's pretty cool and interesting and the game's a lot of fun. Durn..now I wanna reinstall it..I never did finish it and didn't copy over my savegame files when I formatted last..

[MortalPlague]

I'm still trying to get a hold of it! I have to satisfy myself by playing the demo over and over again for now... :sour:

Ah well, my cousin has it. He said he'd lend it to me, but I've got to get to his house, which isn't easy. He lives pretty out of the usual way for us, and he's busy quite a bit, too. I'll get it eventually...

[fragnbrag]

for anyone interested who hasn't seen this yet - here is a link to the System Shock 2 patch/modification called "Rebirth". nnote the first four screenies show the difference in the models really well -- this site sure shows how dedicated some FANs of games can be :) The guys web site looks pretty good imo:

note select the screenshots item on the left menu then click on the thumbs to enlarge...

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/sshock_rebirth.htm

the patch is really simple to use, just install the game, dl the patch, unzip and copy a few files where instructed and *presto* a whole new look...

cheers