I'd love to know, for those who played both the original games, whether you liked the first game better or the second, and why?
The circuit board design is actually somewhat true to the original - it got changed in System Shock 2.
I haven’t played either, but it is interesting that after the Soviet Union collapsed, a lot of video game villains were set up as corporations doing evil shit and the consequences of that. Like System Shock, Resident Evil, FF7, etc. Of course it’s not like the fidelity for games was there before the Soviet collapse to really see if that played a factor. But just kind of makes me wonder. Once the boogeyman disappeared etc
SS1 is notable because of how many new things it was trying at once. It was fully 3D, not that illusion of three dimensions like in DOOM or Duke Nukem. It's actual fully 3D spaces you're interacting with, but with 2D sprites for enemies. It's also interesting how they attempted to have a horror vibe without the tools or really precedent on how to do that. Purposefully scary games didn't really exist yet. Alone in the Dark 1 was one of the very first and it had just come out 2 years beforehand. It's also the definitive origin of putting audio logs in games, which are annoying now, but it was a way to do in media res storytelling. I also like that it even has a story that's still interesting now. Video game storylines in 1994 often amounted to "you're the hero guy and you walk to the right."
System Shock 2 is a masterpiece and I think it still holds up. Very good atmosphere, really cool spaceship aesthetic too. It reminds me a lot of 2001 spaceship aesthetics, or other very clean scifi from the late 60s early 70s. Which is cool they did that, because SS1 had a very clear cyberpunk 80s style.
I don't know what else to say about SS2 other than it's one of those games for me that's nearly perfect. It's too good and it's astonishing how it's still good. You can still play it and it feels great. Some people don't like the voice acting in the audio logs, ( they weren't professional actors) but I've always liked how they sound like normal people.
I guess I don't like how punishing the game can get. If you don't know what you're doing with your upgrades and weapons, you can absolutely get yourself screwed into a position where you simply can't finish the game. The game doesn't do a great job of explaining which skills/weapons are worth having over others. For instance, the exotic weapon skill sounds cool, except outside of maybe the crystal none of them are any good, and ammo is too scarce to be worthwhile. But by the time you realize you've made a horrible build, you're already nearly at the end without any resources to beat the last few levels.
System Shock 2 is one of my favorite games of all time, love the music, aesthetic, gameplay. I do find the last third of the game to drag on too long, but overall it's a classic.
I've only played the second game a number of years ago, but I really loved it and thought it was great. Despite playing the spiritual successor Bioshock first I thought SS2 was easily the superior game
what are your thoughts on the franchise as a whole?
Hurry... :unsus:
RUN. :sus-torment:
EDIT: It's great if you're into the genre. Just posting The Many memes. :soypoint-1: :brainworms: :soypoint-2:
We apologize for the inconvenience. The family of the Many grows with every passing moment. Glory to the flesh. Glory to the mass.
I wanted to like the first game more, but it's very rough in its original form (and I played it when it was new) and a lot of the horror vibes were hidden under quirky music, excessively blotchy visual presentation, and a lot of small flaws that were refined in the sequel.
IDK I actually liked SS1's unique brand of horror. Whereas SS2 is much more conventional as an action-oriented survival horror to a modern audience (dark rooms, scarce ammunition, initially shitty combat, etc), SS1 was basically an immersive sim FPS that overlaid what would become survival horror. You blasting through enemies in brightly-colored hallways vibing to 90s game tracks contrasts with finding mangled corpses of the crew members scattered throughout, listening to their panicked audio logs and trying to piece together what the hell happened (and how it's all your fault), all while an AI pseudo-god is watching and responding to your every movement. That subtle, persisting dissonance is something you never quite get used to, which is lost in the Remake which tried to incorporate elements of SS2 and modern SH games.
I'm a weirdo who actually prefers 1 to 2, while considering both to be on the Top 10 games overall. It's more action-packed and yet still never loses its suspense and the concept of being a tiny insect constantly moving around a sapient city-sized space station trying to squish you is a rare experience.
I'm just pumped to piss my pants, tbh, to get back to my true gamer living ™.
