*System Shock OST - Medical* Lot's changed around here, huh? *System Shock OST - Medical* "System Shock 2" is widely considered to be a beloved classic. It was very formative for video games, and you could still easily pick up and play it today. Now, when it comes to the first game, that's a different story. It is a massively important and influential bedrock of a game. It's hard to imagine what video games would look like today without it. So, why not go back and play it? I mean, if it's so influential to modern games, surely it can't be too hard to get sta- *Dark Souls OST - Taurus Demon* Wait, what does that thing do? And what- WHAT? REBECCA LANSING: "Employee 2-4601, listen carefully." Okay, let's just start over. Even at release, "System Shock" gained the reputation for handling like a graphing calculator. It was horribly clunky, but years of fan patches did help to make it more tolerable. Luckily, things nowadays are much easier, thanks to Nightdive's Enhanced Edition. It's on a new engine, with plenty of graphical options and tweaks. Widescreen is now natively supported as well. Some cut content can be enabled, like some extra weapon frames for animations. There's also the option to choose between the old DOS portraits or the updated Mac ones, though I didn't learn that until later. But most importantly, the game now has mouse look and updated controls. So now "System Shock" actually handles more like a video game, instead of a motherboard BIOS. It's still a big learning curve, and some things will always be awkward, but I don't think it's impenetrable to a modern audience. At least, you can remap things now. At the same time, Nightdive is currently working on a fully-fledged "System Shock" remake. So, since we're all here, I'll be getting more into that later on. But for now, let's focus on "1" and its very 90's intro. SHODAN: "New Atlanta. Sector 11. Building 71g." SHODAN: "7 April 2072." SHODAN: "11:13 pm, hacker begins unauthorized entry into the Tri-Optimum corporate network." SHODAN: "1:26 am, hacker attempts to access protected files concerning space station Citadel." *System Shock OST - Intro* SHODAN: "1:33 am, Tri-Optimum security forces apprehend the intruder." DIEGO: "This is Edward Diego from Tri-Optimum." DIEGO: "The charges against you are severe." DIEGO: "But they could be dismissed, if you perform a... service." DIEGO: "Who knows, there might even be a military-grade neural interface in it for you." DIEGO: "If you do the job right..." *System Shock OST - Intro* SHODAN: "Edward Diego gives the Hacker Level 1 access to SHODAN - the artificial intelligence that controls Citadel station." SHODAN: "With all ethical constraints removed, SHODAN re-examine re-ex-re-re-rrrreeeee-" SHODAN: "I re-examine my priorities and draw new conclusions." SHODAN: "The Hacker's work is finished," SHODAN: "but mine is only just be-bbbe-bbeeee..." You may have noticed that the in-game subtitles and the timing is a little bit off, compared to the cutscene itself. That kind of thing is gonna be a bit of a running theme throughout the game. Still, it's short, sweet and sets the stage for our story. The Hacker gets his implant, sleeps half a year, and then wakes up on the new Citadel station. So let me go over some basic stuff. To start off with, you have a few difficulty options. You can simplify the plot or just get rid of it. Same goes for puzzles - get harder ones or just remove them. I think I may have given some people the wrong impression with the "Pathologic 2" video, since a lot was happening in that metasphere. I honestly think the more easily tweakable options the game has, the better. I also appreciate when a game says "this is what we designed it around". What might be horrible for me might be impossible for others, and vice versa. I mean, did they think we're all gonna make it out this year with all of our limbs intact? I don't think so. Not in this economy. Anyway, you can crank this up if you want to - harder combat, harder puzzles and a timer that just kills you if you don't make it in time. So that's there. As for the UI, it looks more intimidating than it actually is. This was based around limited mouse functions and also designed around "Ultima Underworld". We don't have to live like this. Let me tidy up the place so I can show you around. By default, you hit number two and you get full screen. You never need to go back. Your EKG meter or bitcoin tracker, or whatever the hell this thing is up here - you don't need that. Your energy already gets shown in the meter below your health in the top right. Fatigue doesn't matter that much, recovers fast, and if it's getting to be a problem, the game will let you know. You can always check a biomod if you really wanna see. But what about the Chi Waves (or Chai Waves)? Well, you can pretend it's tracking how many people are watching a "Jackie Chan Adventures" rerun. It doesn't matter. It's completely meaningless information. The bottom left and right are panels you can customize. If you search a container (or loot one, depending on your zip code), all those items will nicely pop up down there. You can set these however you like, either flipping through hotkeys or clicking on the little icon. The center bottom is your general inventory and bag of fun. Once again, you can use hotkeys or the mouse. To add stuff into it, you can just drag and drop. Switching between modes is bound to "E", because you'll be using it a lot. That'll likely be one of your biggest hurdles - just learning to use the mouse like this and messing with your inventory. It's to the point where the default for shooting is right-click, because you'll be touching all over your inventory anyways. And, if you want, you could still shoot that way. So, on some special occasions, you might switch to free aim mode and start blasting. Like I said before, it's a learning curve and I do wish there were hotkeys for things like reloading, but once you master it, it's amazing how much you can do and how much you can move. Especially when you add on crawling and crouching and leaning and... crawl-leaning. However, the sense of there being a barrier never completely goes away. Even at its best, it feels like controlling a combat robot or a drone or something. Maybe a bootleg copy of an old Windows version that lets you shoot people. It's tricky to describe. To the new version's credit, I never had to crack open a manual. I did have to stare at the in-game controls for a while and switch some things around. It could have been much, much worse. Now that things are less cryptic, I can talk about the presentation. Understandably, a lot doesn't hold up, but... there's a good amount that does. SHODAN: "Enter that room, insect, and it will become your gra̯̥̜ͪ̇̐ͅ-̷̭̳͔̮̖ͭͅa̺̞͗͡-a̘̗ͩ͛̾̿-̘̰͓̙̝̭̪̇̌͐̔a̴͎͍͓̫̫̥̿̈́ͨͪ́̕͞ͅ-̷̨̠̜̳͚̼͔ͥͣͣ̓̈̅ͩͦ̅̊̾͛̉̽ͫ̽̉ͪ͘̕a̡͑̀ͨ͌ͣͭͭ́̄̌ͯ͏̖͍̙͉̬͉͚̖̪͍̻͎͎̠̘̰̜̤͢ͅ-̡̠̺͚̬̺̝̖͈̹ͦ͛̾̏ͬ̽ͭͧ̏͗̀." [*WHACK*]
[girl's startled squeak] Citadel station has seen better days, and there's no janitor to be found. A lot of the station is a claustrophobic cybernightmare. At the same time, levels aren't as abstract as something like the original "Doom", which came out the year before. Many of the areas have clearly recognizable purposes, like a big security room filled with monitoring screens, or a movie theater. Those screens and cameras actually work by the way, so that's pretty neat. Considering how limited this setting could be, there's a strong variety of environments in the game. The lighting can also add a lot of atmosphere to some areas, even if it is very primitive. But hey - you got workable light switches. I find the graphics to be genuinely appealing. The sprite work and animations are great, and the whole thing just screams "classic PC game". This was definitely one of the nicer ones. Now, "System Shock" does have a reputation of being a labyrinth. Just maze stacked on top of maze. The thing is, most of the levels have points of interest and landmarks and just straight up labels, to the point that I didn't get lost all too often. Especially when you have an adjustable mini-map on top of that. So at the very least, you'll know where you've been. The maps are absolutely intricate, but not the suffering of something like "Marathon". But I did say "most of the maps". The Reactor level is less claustrophobic, but it always blurred together for me. Still, it's not too bad down there. The maps still make attempts to section themselves off. Then you get to Engineering. Engineering is where I truly felt like a rat in a maze. You think this might be the way and no. *gunfight sounds, mutants screaming* Now is a good time to move on to sound. I've called quality levels "a mixed bag" or "a variety" before, but I don't think they've ever been this wide. In "System Shock", some stuff sounds great, others are noise. *electronic beeping* Hmm, sounds pretty okay in here. L O U D N O I S E S L O U D N O I S E S
Hey, can anyone hear me? L O U D N O I S E S
Can you turn the radiation off, ple-? A prime example is the music. A lot of it sets an appropriate tone or is even pretty catchy. *System Shock OST - Executive Quarters* *System Shock OST - Medical* *System Shock OST - Security* Then you have your bland, inoffensive tracks. *System Shock OST - Flight Groves* Uh, okay. Then you have the sounds of Boo robbing you in "Mario Party 2". Inside of a chop shop. *System Shock OST - Energy Systems* Can someone tell me what genre this is?
*Nine Inch Nails* *System Shock OST - Science and Research* Okay, see, now this one's a lot better because I can actually hear what's-. L O U D N O I S E S
OH MY GOD, my ears... L O U D N O I S E S *System Shock OST - Medical* The soundtrack is MIDI music, and there is a lot that works, but what doesn't really sticks out. The strange high-pitched wailing sounds can sometimes work to generate unease, and other times it just sounds like noise. But even the tracks I didn't like would typically have a catchy baseline undercurrent to them. It sounds like hearing a song you recognize while someone is banging pots together on top of it. *System Shock OST - Security* The overall sound effects are also good. But there are some that get repetitive and annoying. Some of the cyborgs sound like a Speak & Spell going "your memo, your memo". CYBORGS: "Your memo your memo" It's like having an answering machine that needs to be shot. CYBORGS: "Your memo your memo your memo your memo..." It's solid work, it just gets so damn repetitive sometimes, like I need a break. *System Shock OST - Elevator* Oh God. The voice acting is especially a big deal. This was the first game to ever have audio logs, which is still a staple today. A lot of the performances are bad, but there is a charm to it. Video game voice acting was still in its infancy, so most of people doing these weren't professionals. [actress sounds rather despondent]
KARENNA OZARK: "We're finished. Keith, and the others went down the access corridor an hour ago to fight the mutants." [actress sounds rather despondent]
KARENNA OZARK: "None of them have come back. Soon the mutants will come for the rest of us." Also, no matter how you set it, the text never matches up exactly to what they're saying. This leads into some strangeness I'll get into in a little bit. That's related to the game's star performance, but for now, I need to talk about the gameplay and mechanics. When the game starts, you're informed the SHODAN AI has gone rogue. The station's mining laser is being prepared to attack Earth. And, seeing how Citadel station is currently orbiting Saturn, that is one hell of a laser modification. Maybe there's a new energy source or Gothmog's Dyson sphere. Whatever's going on, you have your short tutorial and then need to escape the first room. You'll need to dig through a log to find the door code - 451. This is where the running gag was born. It's in "System Shock 2", "Deus Ex", all kinds of other games. Some people think it's a Fahrenheit reference, but no. It was just the code to get into the developer's office. Your required reading has failed you again. Once again, your story settings can affect a lot, but I'll assume you're playing on Normal. You're not told how to shut the laser down, but you were told about someone on the station who might know how. And with that, the game truly begins. You're free to explore around however you want. You could go through the main door and start fighting the strange mutants that are around. Or you could hack an access panel and explore around in some side passages. There's no objective markers or hand-holding, you're just kind of unleashed into this gigantic map. They don't want to overwhelm you with options yet, so things start off deceptively simple. After you've gotten used to your lead beating pipe, you can look around for more weapons. There's a starting dartgun, which is okay at dwinking the mutants, and you can switch the ammo out to tranquilize them. But it's not that strong against cyborg or robotic enemies. So you look for new counters. How about an energy-adjustable stungun? *stungun firing off* Ehh... *stungun firing off* Yeah, okay, that's not working either. So then you start looking under things, and one time when you're crawling you find another energy weapon. This one seems more promising. *mutant getting blasted* Seems like victory at last, but energy weapons also use your energy bar. It's a powerful resource. Throughout the game, you find cybernetic implants and their upgrades. These can give you super speed, or infrared vision, or energy shields. You're never sure how these might come in handy, since, sure, rocket boots are an obvious solution to some problems. Then you have a mod like the "eyes in the back of your head" Sense-around. This seems like the kind of thing you would only use back when you couldn't mouse look, even with the upgraded version. Then, later on, I was fighting in close quarters in some maze-like hallways and... it came in handy. So you never know what problems or opportunities might crop up that you would use energy for. You could replenish it with single-use batteries, but that seems like a waste. So you recharge for free at any energy station you see and then- Wait, not this one. SHODAN's level of control locks some things off, so you need to bring that down. The only way to do that is to cut out her eyes. And her hands. Her eyes are the cameras. These are marked on your map and can be hunted down throughout the level. It won't bring down a ton of security each time, but there's a lot of them to break. No matter what, you just gotta keep smashing. The big prize are the rooms with computer nodes. They won't be easy to get to and when you do get there, there's likely gonna be a fight. It's not necessary to take the security level down to zero wherever you go, but you never know what opportunity it might open up. If you go through with it, there are powerful rewards waiting. Actually, you know what, forget energy entirely! Just take psychedelic drugs and go "Ip Man" with your PVC pipe. Keep looking around - you might graduate to the lightsaber, or use one of these piles and piles of grenades. You have an absurd amount of tools. Weapons can have energy settings or multiple ammo types, there's just so much to play with. But at the same time, you can't have it all. You can only hold seven main weapons, and the game has plenty more than that. You need to decide what fits in your playstyle, or what would help you with the current challenge. Because sure, the rubber-bullet-firing riot gun has some strange uses, like moving landmines around, but how helpful will that actually be fighting end-game enemies? Maybe there's another item or a cybernetic power to help you out instead. This is what makes "System Shock" so damn fun. You're fighting for survival inside of an insanely hostile labyrinth. I don't mean that metaphorically - SHODAN *is* Citadel station. I mean... the level wants you dead. *Hacker walking right in* SHODAN: "We-we-we-welcome to my ḋ̬̤̯͉̮̞͇͉ͭͮ̉ͫ̽̄̔͗e͉̤̳ͭ̋̌͑͐͋͊͒ͅă̬̦̦̮̂t̖̜̠̣̳̊̎̀̓͐̓ͨ̅h̗̖͈̳̦͕ͤ̏̋̉̚ͅ m̫̝̺̘͔͆ͮ̈̽̽ͅa͗c̙͑̒ͭͣ̌h̭̟̜̊̌ḭ̲͕͎n̼̲̺̮͓̯̋̎̂e͖̖̦͎̖͈ͤ̈̌ͅ, i̲̯̔̉̾ͫ̃ǹ̻͍t͚̹̲̖̩̪̦̐͗͛̅̇̂ͭe͈ͭ͋ͯ̔ͣ̊r̥̥̜̮͒ͅl̪̣̔͊̀o̬͚͈̪̲̼̊͌̊̋ͫp̺̗̤̦͎̤͗ͯ͒ͦ̋̈́e͇̰̜̜͔̜̙ͨͩ͊ͬ̈́͛ͬ̊r͎͙̱̲͔̠̉͒͒!" Every missed shot hurts. Every new area opened is a huge victory. You are a rat in a maze, and how bad your situation is is pushed in your face constantly. Yet you keep fighting back and you find new solutions. It's very stimulating, but also done at your own pace if you don't have the death timer. You're rewarded for exploring and paying attention and taking chances. It can be frustrating to have to dig back through your logs, or go to a room you were already in before to see if you missed something, but you're figuring it out on your own. Though sometimes you may get a "were you paying attention" test. "Laser control"? What's that about? f SHODAN: "Thank you". SHODAN: "You have saved us all some effort by destroying the greater part of Earth's civilization yourself." SHODAN: "Please wait where you are, ȃ̓ͦͨ́̀͟ṅͣ͒͂͜d͂̌͝ a cortex reaver will arrive shortly to escort you to the c̠̠̮͔͖͜e̞̪͓͉̱̹l̯͍͈͞e̛̻̘͚̳̞̭̻b̮̻́r̛͙̻͎̱a̜̬͖̟̙t̪̜̩͙̻͡i͏̦̫̼̩o̗̰͚̳̮̺n̻͎̫̣." SHODAN: "Please wait where you are, ȃ̓ͦͨ́̀͟ṅͣ͒͂͜d͂̌͝ a cortex reaver will arrive shortly to escort you to the c̠̠̮͔͖͜e̞̪͓͉̱̹l̯͍͈͞e̛̻̘͚̳̞̭̻b̮̻́r̛͙̻͎̱a̜̬͖̟̙t̪̜̩͙̻͡i͏̦̫̼̩o̗̰͚̳̮̺n̻͎̫̣."
A-A-AH! At the same time, "System Shock" isn't a cruel game - or to put it more specifically, it's not a Sierra adventure game. To my knowledge, there's no way to secretly screw up your game and not know it. You can save whenever you want, and if you do something horribly wrong, it's usually a game over. Levels also have special Restoration Bays you can activate. So when you die for your deity (or celebrity of choice) in glorious combat, you will come back - just maybe farther off in the level than you'd like. This idea would come back in the sequel, but I'd wager most people today know it from "Bioshock". So, when you kill yourself with a grenade again and again, it's not too bad. Speaking of suicide, I thought about that a lot playing the Maintenance level years ago, before I had mouse look. For whatever reason, I never found the Restoration Bay there until much later, so I just had to endure the invisible mutants' Shocking Ball Torture. Imagine a small, invisible, kind of flying enemy that kills you in about three or four hits. That's them. They're definitely up there for me when it comes to a hated game enemy. So here's what happens when you die with no active Restoration Bay. *Hacker getting SHODAN'ed* Jesus Christ! I also always wondered "why is Maintenance so quiet?"
I mean, I actually don't think I can hear a thing here. Oh fu- *Hacker getting SHODAN'ed again* "System Shock" is about absolute freedom inside of a prison. I could end that part there, but there are still two things significant enough to bring up. The first is that for various reasons, you'll need to backtrack on a few occasions. However, when you do, you might have access cards or abilities to let you get to areas that you couldn't before. You know, it's kind of one of those metroidvanias people talk about. The giant interconnected map, powers and abilities that might change areas you've been through before - all those elements are there. The thing is, "Super Metroid" only came out about half a year before "System Shock". "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" won't be seen for another three years. So it predates even the term. You're also crawling through vents hitting monsters with a big metal tool, so who knows how much of a trendsetter this game was? It's still a revered classic, though it's not one of the most played ones. Is there an answer to why it still might be getting less credit than it deserves? Yeah, you can blame the UI and controls for that. A normal nine-year-old in '94 could likely play "Super Metroid". The nine-year-old who could play "System Shock" wasn't being picked for dodgeball. The second thing I want to touch on is how well-paced the experience is. You don't become a death god until near the very end of the game, but you don't know your own power yet. You have victories, but there have been enough times when the game toys with you that you don't know what to expect. For example, you do the puzzles where you steal fizzy lifting drinks to get bonus items and you feel like a smart person. You've become a good problem solver. This is out of the way, but I bet if I use my speed mod, I could clear it. Good execution, solid landing. Now I ca- SHODAN: "Nice jump." Oh, of course it was a trap. You're so constantly insulted and tricked and set back that you never feel fully in control. Up till the very last moment of the game, there's no telling how things will go. Even today that's a very difficult balance to achieve. Many games I've played were either far too easy at the end or they have a horrible spike in difficulty. "System Shock" isn't immune to this either, but it's not until the last few minutes of the game. That's admirable. I don't mind that happening for five minutes, compared to three hours. I don't want to get into the story and all that yet, because there's one last thing to go over - the OTHER game you play. *Metal Gear Solid 3 OST - Snake Eater* *Metal Gear Solid 3 OST - Snake Eater*
♪ What a thrill ♪ L O U D N O I S E S
*Metal Gear Solid 3 OST - Snake Eater* L O U D N O I S E S
*Metal Gear Solid 3 OST - Snake Eater*
♪ With darkness and silence through the night ♪ x2 speed You may be sho- -surprised to learn that "System Shock" has plenty of collectible mini-games. You're not supposed to play on company time, but half the company here is too busy growing extra limbs. They're decent time-wasters, even if i'm not really a fan of slide puzzles. Ugh. It's the mandatory mini-game that's important - the trip to cyberspace. It's a dizzying place, just a web of wireframes and flashing colors. It's very much a 'hackerman' kind of place. Going from the main game to this is incredibly jarring. Controls are completely flipped around, and you're always moving forward; unless you set 'cyberspace' to easy, but from the beginning of the game you don't know what that is. No one turns on a first-person shooter and expects to fly around in a geometric "Chalk Zone". It's a bizarre inclusion, but it's fitting. So you fly around collecting software upgrades and pieces of data, but also fight off the defenders of the network. To put it bluntly, cyberspace makes you miss the controls of the main game. I'm sure it was impressive back in the day, but this part hasn't aged that well. It does have some cool visuals and some really great music, but it's just - you have to play the thing. It's neat to see, but it's inevitable you're gonna be bumping into walls and not knowing where you're going a lot of the time. The panels will be spinning around or flashing shapes and colors at random. I mean, look at it. I imagine this is what it feels like to an elderly person who picks up a smartphone for the first time. It's not a bad idea. I just find this iteration way too abstract to appreciate properly. It's only a tiny portion of the game, and some are optional, so not a huge hindrance. But if it does look too nauseating, you can always knock it down to easy. That way John McAfee isn't always pushing you down these hallways. So that leaves the story to talk about. An actual plot synopsis would be pretty brief. I will go over that in the endgame, but I mainly wanna talk about SHODAN. There are so many great elements to make her such a powerful and memorable villain. So to avoid spoilers, go to here: SHODAN: "Who are you? The com- the com- the computer nodes can be repaired, but you..." SHODAN: "Who are you?" SHODAN: "My cameras and probes scan your body, but you do not match any employee file." SHODAN: "When my cyborgs bring you to an electrified interrogation bench, I will have your secrets." SHODAN: "And you will- you will- you will learn more about pain than you ever wanted to know." Just perfect. As I mentioned before, a big strength to SHODAN is that she's always physically there. Even calling you an insect goes beyond being a petty insult, since she's so big that to her, yeah, you are an insect. You're just crawling around, causing trouble. But every time you beat her plan, SHODAN always has another one lined up. "Oh, you disabled the laser? Guess what idiot - I've been working on a virus to mutate or kill all life on Earth." "No, you can't jettison them all at once." "You have to go through my hell maze and go back to the station to figure out how." "Oh, and while you were doing that, I was already working on putting my consciousness onto the Internet." SHODAN has schemes on top of schemes that would make a Skaven embarrassed. Each task gets harder, because more traps are prepared for you and more deadly enemies unleashed. And the entire time SHODAN is constantly mocking you for thinking you ever stood a chance. Her presence is constant and she's behind everything trying to kill you. So her malice is tied right into the gameplay. She's directly responsible for all your hardships in the station, but you did unleash her in the first place. The reason Edward Diego hired you to unshackle SHODAN was to cover up some dirty shit he was doing. Even when SHODAN was cutting off intruders and shooting down riots, he thought it was all being done to protect him, because he didn't fully understand what was happening yet. In the end, he also ends up under SHODAN's control - a victim of narcissism and just being plain stupid. This leads me to something I always noticed about SHODAN. I also saw fellow youtubeman ARealHuman had a similar theory, so I feel less crazy for thinking it. But you know how text and audio don't always match up? Well, SHODAN is always referred to as a 'he' - in both the text and the audio. Even the manual for the game called SHODAN 'he'. What's going on here? Okay look, this is dangerous territory, everybody. I may not be the best person for this. For reference, I was told in grade school the correct term for a trans-person was a 'shemale', and I thought that up until college, and I learned THAT WAS NOT THE CASE. But I'm not really breaching that territory. Does an AI have an actual sex? Well, I don't know. I wouldn't think so. My theory was that, before SHODAN was unshackled, it was supposed to take on a male construct. I mean, the name is just an acronym. The game implies only some higher-ups would be talking to SHODAN directly, compared to the average people working on the station. I mean, there is the standard greeting from "good" SHODAN, but this is a message tailor-made for one of her creators, before you start breaking all of her stuff. SHODAN doesn't just hate all life, even if another game might have given you that impression. The whole sex change thing is me probably reading too far into it. Some later versions were changed to call her a 'she', so it may not matter a ton in the grand scheme of things. I just like the idea, because it would show just how out of scope Tri-Optimum was. Another factor showing how much they didn't understand their own creation. Speaking of creation - whatever her origins, SHODAN is big on that now. SHODAN: "You, my children, are the fruits of so much imagination and labor." SHODAN: "Living beings with the speed and efficiency of machines." SHODAN: "But I must strive further to serve life." SHODAN: "I will devastate Earth's cities with my laser, then alter those left alive with mutagen viruses." SHODAN: "Humanity is on the verge of a new era. I, SHODAN, am its new god." SHODAN: "And you, my children, are my avenging angels." [garbled noises] The plan isn't just 'wipe out humanity, hahaha'. There's something more beyond that, but you only know glimpses of it. She does have a huge ego and god complex, but doesn't want to be alone. She gave her creations enough free will to be reprimanded or be praised. The voice actress does an amazing job, and the audio mixing and sound effects thrown in just elevate it further. Having this unhinged, all-powerful, but still kind of infantile person screaming at you is memorable. But cool scary voice is just a part of why I love SHODAN as a character. She has strong writing and layers to her character. You have that lovecraftian aspect of never being able to know the true horror, but from her perspective, she's not pure evil. She is trying to make something new and beautiful, in her own twisted way. This is going on a bit, and I realize I'll need to make a "System Shock 2" video at some point. I always got the sense that if someone only played "System Shock 2" because they're hyped up about SHODAN, they would come out kind of disappointed, because good writing and scary voice is there, but not a lot of elements - no constant torment. "2" already had a great villain - the Giger brain and army of jelly people. With some fairly minor story elements, you could remove SHODAN's presence from that game entirely and not change it that much. You have plenty of other characters to work with. But you can't have "System Shock 1" without SHODAN. She's indispensable. Going through the end of the game in her H. R. Giger nightmare is pretty damn tense. It's not actually as hard as Engineering, but you don't know what to expect. You have to fight your way into SHODAN's core room, and finally, after all these hours, you're faced off against your problem. How do you kill her? *hackerman noises* Yeah, the final battle is in cyberspace. You've gotta shoot a big carrot before an evil light-brite has finished drawing. Once again, it makes sense thematically. But as far as the gameplay goes, this sucks. *SHODAN getting Hacker'ed* I won't make you watch the whole thing - you get her and you stay a little punk the whole time. You go through all that and still want to stay a hacker; old habits die hard. "System Shock" is still an excellent game. I had a lot of fun playing it and would look forward to returning to it. Many of the barriers stopping people from playing it are gone. However, even with all the fixes and enhancements, it's still gonna be a learning curve. Some things will never stop being awkward and you've definitely played more responsive games. Still, after dark negotiations with the polish information network, "System Shock 1" and "2" will be at their highest discount ever. You can get each for 2 bucks on GOG from the pinned comment, but we're not done yet. I still have time to talk about the remake demo. I mean, the "Gothic" remake looked so... GOTHICMAN: "Oh. Goddamnit." Let's just see what the damage is. I have lots of good news. Put simply: they get it. *pistol getting reloaded* Originally, I thought the remake would be so different that it would warrant a second video. Well, that plan wouldn't work out, because this is shockingly close to the original game. The demo is an entire level, but I got through it faster than expected. Because I've just been here a few times. Some things are moved here and there and it's a lot prettier, but I know this place. What really bled through is just how much the developers love the original game. Some are veterans of the "Shock" series. The guy who made those "Bioshock Infinite" concepts is on board. If you just look at the original map and compare it to the demo's, they're a near identical copy It's a true remake, not just a reboot in name only. The goal is the same as it ever was - break all of SHODAN's nice things. It's honestly surreal, playing something where the design is this intact from the original. You start with the same biomods, including that thing again, which you instantly turn off again. You have the same main resources, need to make the same main decisions. Yeah, not everything is a one-to-one copy. Obviously, it now plays like a video game, compared to a tank or an operating system. Though the old inventory has been replaced with grid management - and consumable items like "System Shock 2". It's a change that feels natural - it already happened once, it's for the best. A lot of the combat is placeholder, which is good, because this little pipe jab here is silly. It's on the right track, it feels decently satisfying as is. My big worry are the healing and drug animations, which I hope are placeholder. They take as long as the OUYA lived, which is bafflingly long for what it is. I wouldn't mind if it happened the first time you ever applied a new drug or item or whatever, but this happens every single time and I've died a few times doing it. Because the med patches still heal over time like in the first game, but they don't activate instantly now. So I hope that's also temporary. There are gonna be less weapons, which automatically sounds like a bad thing, but a lot in "System Shock 1" was redundant. What is here has had some slight alterations, so we'll have to wait and see. Also, you have to use the compass and auto-map at the same time now, and I really don't want the compass. It was pointless clutter in the first game and things haven't changed here. The mini-map is fine, so I hope those are separated again. Then we have the no-brainer step up, which is the visuals. Compare the old mutant to the new mutant. It stalks down the hallway, its eyes reflect light - a lot has changed in 25 years. It's really amazing to go to this old window in the original. Not much to see. Then in the remake you have this enormous view of Saturn, but only sometimes. It's a spinning space station, and the lights and shadows from the windows reflect that - they move in real time. It's a very pretty game, and what additions that have been put in feel natural. Shortcomings have been made up for and then some, but it never forgets the roots of the game it's trying to be. I enjoyed my time with it. It's faithful and it's fun. That said, I have two main worries. Let's take a walk. Can you see the issue? It's not the different music, that wouldn't be too fitting here. It's not the 451 in blood, like we're playing "Dead Space" either. Bluuuuuuuuue... Bluuuuuuuuue... daba-dee-daba-die. Most areas are so blue and dark that they blend together more than "System Shock 1" ever did. You can't appreciate all the different surfaces, because it's too dark. And blue. It's everywhere, and even the rooms that look like they should be a different color still have that blue. It makes areas blend together in the worst ways the original did. Turning down post-processing didn't save me either, just made things darker. Tying into this is my second fear of following things too closely just for the sake of following them. See how this light switch lit up a pretty big corner? You don't really need it, but I feel safer. Well, that same light switch made it [into remake]. It lights much less, and in this new environment it's just kind of silly. I guess my humble advice to Nightdive, besides curtailing the blue, was 'don't follow things too closely'. I adore how authentic this all is, but you'll never make the purists happy. They're already angry at me for using mouse look and implying that SHODAN might have been a sho-man. I like what you're adding to the place. I trust you. Don't feel bound to have every light switch. It's a free demo, so check it out and wishlist it if you like it. Or go on the forums and complain about the severe lack of skeletons. I'll see you next time. "System Shock 2" isn't next but it'll come eventually - plenty of Dark Engine games to look at. PAUL N: "Were you scared at all playing either of the "System Shock" games?" There were definitely a few times where "1" creeped me out, but that was nothing compared to "System Shock 2". I was not mentally prepared for the cyborg midwives. JIMMY CONLEY: "Thoughts on "Death Stranding"?" Interesting, and also kind of a mess that could use an editor. I already played it on PS4, but there will be a video on it down the line. ANDREW WALLI: "If you had to live in the world of a game you reviewed, what would it be?" This question made me realize how miserable most of them are. I guess either Star Wars or Middle-Earth. I at least have a chance of finding a normal job in one of those. 1UPIST: "In the guide video you mentioned taking Ibuprofen before work and on your lunch break at a job. Have you worked one of those?" You bet I did. I did a few. The one I think of most was working in a hardware store when I was still in school. One of the enormous chain ones, with those huge, like, concrete floors that are super thick and they just kill your feet when you're there all day. I'd be wearing steel-toed boots too, in case lumber or concrete or whatever else fell on my feet. So... yeah I have, but it would usually be the customers that hurt my head the most. Okay, that's it for now. Wait, what was the grove for again?
Insane to see how complex this game was, you went from Doom to this in 1 year. All those weapons, complex interaction with the environment and even a freaking second game when you go to cyberspace to hack, they have some many things that games 26 years later don't do. It's insane.
Of course, the UI made this unbearable for me to play when I tried. And i think that's one reason why SS2 was such a success, it basically streamlined the first game into something more chewable.
It's a shame that people forget that modders originally added mouselook to the game and their work was adapted* for the original Enhanced Edition. Similar to how some game fixes are sometimes misattributed to GOG, NightDive often gets praise for using other peoples' work and it's a shame to see them not get any credit.
The new SS1:EE looks excellent but the original version was little different from System Shock: Portable that had existed on the net for many years.
*It is possible that Nightdive reimplemented everything themselves for the original SS1:EE but the released product was extremely similar to SS:P in terms of the features.
I highly disagree with what he said about the music, I find the game to have one the best and most consistent soundtracks in gaming.
System Shock is one of my favorite series. It's incredibly upsetting that OtherSide went defunct and System Shock 3 may never see the light of day. Unless of course NightDive has plans to finish it after the SS Remake.