System Shock 2

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Firbozz
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System Shock 2

Postby Firbozz » 14 Mar 2014, 10:58

Hi folks,

So about a year/9 months ago I picked up SS2. I've played a bit of it, but I found it kinda hard to get into the game. It's not a graphics problem for me; I just felt like I was missing something on account of my unfamiliarity with the game's systems/mechanics.

I would like to get through the game at least once, on account of it's cultural value. Any pointers or recommendations with regards to what skills/abilities are important/overall play strategies?

Cheers,

Firbozz
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Prospero101
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Prospero101 » 14 Mar 2014, 13:31

Okay, so SS2 is not a game you play to unwind. It's tense, scary, and extremely stressful.

It's also an "RPG" in the sense that anything from Taco Bell is food. While technically true, there are a number of doubts to be cast. At one point in the story you need the proper level of a certain skill or you simply cannot continue.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what that is without major story spoilers, and System Shock is a game that lives and dies on the experience alone. It's the proto-BioShock.
It's all over but the crying. And the taxes.

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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Stroggo » 14 Mar 2014, 14:06

Sshock2 can be a right bastard at times, but here's four blanket tips that really help:

1. The wrench is your friend, it's your only friend, why? Because the wrench doesn’t take bullets. If you can kill it with the wrench, KILL IT WITH THE WRENCH! Health is cheap and everywhere, bullets aren’t.

2. Always get telekinesis, and always get up your energy weapon skill to at least 1. The laser pistol will save you a stupid amount of ammo, has a kick arse secondary fire, and is more durable than it's ballistic bro. Throughout the game there's loooots of items placed out of reach (the devs went a bit mad with this), telekinesis will let you snag em.

3. Don't bother hacking the replicators, there's plenty of stuff lying around.

4. For most of the game your inventory is going to be tiny, but you can use the elevator to move things between levels (it moves with you). One cool thing you can do is fill it with chems for research, and have a travelling store room!

Sshock2 is one of my all time faves :D if you get into it, you'll really enjoy it.
Last edited by Stroggo on 14 Mar 2014, 23:47, edited 2 times in total.
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Dutch guy
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Dutch guy » 14 Mar 2014, 14:25

Woops, reported this as a spam thread as it just seemed to fit the profile, but didn't bother looking at the userprofile...

Sorry about that.
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Firbozz
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Firbozz » 14 Mar 2014, 20:21

Prospero: Is it worth holding onto a few points so that I can level up what's needed at that one point, or is it basically a win/lose? That is to say, is there any way of mitigating the risk that I have to restart the game on account of my build?

Stroggo: thanks for the tips, sounds like it'll make thigns waaaayy easier than learning the optimal way to do things through trial and error.

Dutch: Just out of curiosity, what makes me seem like spam? Is it my formality? No offense taken, I'm just curious.

Looking forward to going through this classic in the near future, possibly as soon as this weekend.
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Master Gunner » 14 Mar 2014, 21:09

Lack of avatar and the oddity of the post, and some of us default to suspecting everything is spam. Spambots frequently crawl Yahoo Answers and the like for seed posts, and your post looks like something that would be asked there. So it takes an extra second to recognize that you are a legitimate user, and the post wasn't something awkwardly mashed together by a bot.
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Firbozz
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Firbozz » 15 Mar 2014, 01:26

Ah, interesting.

To follow up, I started playing at midnight, and it's now 5:30 in the morning, so I've decided to take a break, made it to the third floor. Been heeding the your advice, and so far it's been interesting. I'm opting for a more tech-heavy build, fingers crossed it doesn't come back to bite me in the arse.
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby empath » 15 Mar 2014, 05:25

Well, you can win the game with any starting class; it just is easier or 'more challenging' in different ways.

Stroggo's right about the TK - it makes it MUCH easier (I'd been intimidated by the PSI stuff and avoided it in my first playthrough - you can win without it, but I kept getting taunted by hard-to-reach items :D TK - even if you don't use any other PSI - gives you much more breathing room)

I have to comment about the theme - this is creepy as FUCK. I feel Looking Glass hit the 'make the player despair' thing RIGHT ON THE HEAD - I have never felt so...forlorn from a game ever - not "RAWR I'm so invincible! You're not gonna win, lol" that just frustrates and angers me, but more "oh god...this is so...how can I hope to get out of this? A whole, no TWO whole ship crews couldn't face all this. What can I do? I can't even get the lights working."

I'm not much for 'survival horror', but this...this set the atmosphere and hit the right balance and...wow.

And the depth - I still love that I've got a savegame where I'm hiding on one of the Rickenbacker's engines out of reach, so I can just play [i]not-Ultima[/u] on my PDA. :lol:
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Firbozz
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Firbozz » 15 Mar 2014, 10:31

Update (spoilered, just in case): So far, I've reached the 4th Floor. Luckily, I recently picked up the laser rapier, and the skills to use it, so I've been running around dicing pretty much everything. I've got the laser pistol for dealing with cameras and egg sacks, but overall things are going well. Starting to get some idea of what's going on in the story. I'm also sitting on about 500 nanites right now.

I think my favourite thing in SS2 so far is how quickly things can change. One minute, you're running around busting dudes at full health, with 7 hypos in reserve. A few minutes later, you're constantly respawning at 15 health, with no nanites to spare and surviving on alcohol drops. That's the part of the game that makes it truly terrifying: Not that you're always on the verge of death, but that even when you think you're doing well, things can get super-bad, super-fast.
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby empath » 15 Mar 2014, 19:07

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Stroggo
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Stroggo » 17 Mar 2014, 22:24

Just checking back to see if you were enjoying yourself.

Firbozz wrote:One minute, you're running around busting dudes at full health, with 7 hypos in reserve. A few minutes later, you're constantly respawning at 15 health, with no nanites to spare and surviving on alcohol drops.


Yep seems about right! :mrgreen: Glad you're enjoying it.
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Geoff_B » 18 Mar 2014, 03:45

monkeysmonkeysmonkeysmonkeysmonkeys!
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Firbozz
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Firbozz » 18 Mar 2014, 08:31

Friggin' monkeys that shoot fireballs! Kinda funny how I updated my position right before SHODAN's reveal (though I suspect there are more twists/reveals to come...) Grabbed the annelid crystal, so I'm beating things up with that now. I belive I'm just about to cross over to the other ship. Hoping to play some more once school stops being quite so demanding, I'm finding SS2 to be a game best playing in long sesions.
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Geoff_B » 18 Mar 2014, 09:49

Did you know that if you pick up the basket ball from the very first location in the game (at the recruitment station), carry it with you and then drop it through the hoop in the sports hall you get an email from the monkeys saying you should join with them instead.
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Firbozz
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Re: System Shock 2

Postby Firbozz » 18 Mar 2014, 10:32

No, but it was mentioned in a walkthrough I was using.
To clarify, I've been using walkthroughs to a bare minimum. I've only used them when I've gotten really lost/frustrated and known I've overlooked something (eg. floor 5 when I couldn't find the last picture frame and had already searched every room on the floor (only to miss the one by the upgrade stations)

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