System Shock 2 - Available from GOG and an Interview
 

System Shock 2 can now be purchased from Good Old Games for only $10.
Rock Paper Shotgun has an interview with Stephen Kick of Night Dive, who secured the rights and worked on the release, and Guillaume Rambourg at GOG.com.
More information.

Yay!!

Quickest purchase I've made in a while. Now, to find the time to play it……again!



-Carn

I still have my original copy, but the effort they put in to make sure it works on modern operating systems is more than welcome, and probably worth the ten bucks all by itself.

Too bad those responsible for the fixes won't see any of the money though. Nice that it's finally available for those that didnt buy it back in the days though, but i'm not gonna support, don't see the point really :)

Fantastic! I didn't play it first time around. Downloading now… quite excited about this! :)

Although I thought System Shock 2 was a bit dumbed down and more action oriented than its predecessor, it’s still one of the best PC games ever. For those who missed it, think of it as BioShock in space (BioShock is its spiritual successor). SS was designed by the people who brought us the Ultima Underworld, Thief, and Deus Ex series… so if you liked any of those, you’ll love SS2. :thumbsup:

What if we liked U:U, Thief and DX, but despise Bioshock? :D

You'll still have pretty good odds on SS2.

Any modding advice? From what little I've read so far, people seem to think the texture mod and the Rebirth model mod are essential. Personally, I general stick to mods that preserve the original gameplay, though I don't mind dressing up a game as old as this one.

I think the environment texture mod is good, makes the signs actually readable, but the monster model update makes them less scary. There may be better options for the monsters but I didn't bother.

I don't understand how any fan of the games you mention could "despise" Bioshock. It's not quite on the same level as those titles, but it's still a very good game in it's own right.

Maybe the political take. They laid on the ayn rand stuff pretty hard. Also they transported most of the gameplay elements straight from SS2. It's weird seeing CC cameras in an underwater city from the, what, 40's?

Weirder than people injecting themselves with a genetically altering substance that gives them superhuman abilities? ;)

Bioshock had an incredibly powerful premise, setting and atmosphere. But as a game - it was about average.

It took everything great about System Shock 2 - dumbed it down and made it weaker and less interesting.

The story started out being interesting, but fell apart about halfway through. The whole "morality" concept of the little sisters was a very bad joke. Kill them or save them? Wow, the dilemma! The game was supposed to punish you for saving them - and yet you end up with special powers and anything but a disadvantage. There's a sequence where you have to do everything you can to save one, and yet if she dies - the game just spawns another one. That's some weak shit right there.

As a big fan of the Shocks - I can easily appreciate not liking the game. That said, I found it to be OK overall. Still a massive disappointment, though.

System Shock 2

Thats top 5 gaming experience in my life.

Elevator, music, a rusty pistol about to give up and encounter 7 enemies with 6 bullets in my mag.

I wonder if I could stand the graphic now?

Concerning Bioshock, I enjoyed it for what it was. They created a very good sound fx environment.

A remake of System Shock games with better controls and updated graphics.
Id pay for that, full price.

C

I'm not a fan of Bioshock, but I don't understand your "dumbed down" opinion about it. Weaker and less interesting I understand, It's your personal opinion, But dumbed down? Why? It's because it doesn't have the half-hour tuturial/ training course of the equipment/ characteristics management options (quite similar to Deus Ex, if I recall it correctly)? Or the logs for everything said and red before? But System Shock is supposed to be an RPG, right? I wouldn't call it that, because the interactions I remember mostly are zombie smashing, not dialogues, but anyway… Bioshock is a shooter. For a shooter it has quite a complex story - or so it seemed to me , because, as I don't like shooters, I gave it up after a couple of hours. Anyway, not trying to pick an argument, but the "dumbed down" thing (mostly applied in comparisons between older and newer games) is something I can't quite understand… Possibly I was dumbed down.

Few years ago after replaying both SS1 and 2 I played bioshock and it was a huge letdown. System shocks had interesting world to explore. Bioshock felt like plastic dx10 world filled with crazy people who all want to kill you. The world in bioshock was hard to understand while in system shock it was clear. Also there was more freedom in system shock especially in the original.

I didnt like the story, setting or atmosphere of bioshock I think that was the killer for me since the gameplay wasnt that great either. It was just too stupid and unbeliavable imho. Nazies in the bottom of the ocean? Right…Its like saying that "Iron Sky" had good story and setting.

Totally different genres if you compare it to the setting of system shock. Bioshock is more like crazy comedy while system shock is science fiction.

In System Shock 2 - you had a much more intricate character development system, and you couldn't possibly attain everything (far from it). You had three distinct classes with distinct advantages.

In System Shock 2 - you had to pick your weapons and abilities very carefully - because you couldn't possibly gain access to them all. You had a very limited amount of upgrade points to spend.

In System Shock 2 - you had to carefully scavenge resources - and you weren't limited to "9" health hypos or "9" psy hypos. It was true survival horror - and you really had to manage your expenditure. You could end up with nothing left at the end, where Bioshock threw these things at you at all times. You literally couldn't run out of resources, making that entire aspect meaningless.

In System Shock 2 - you would go back and forth between the levels you gained access to. It was a major part of the game and made it a much less linear and predictable experience. In Bioshock - it's basically one tiny themepark after the other - with little or no consistency in terms of level design.

In System Shock 2 - you had a limited inventory, which meant you could only carry a very limited selection of weapons - especially if you wanted some of the larger ones.

In System Shock 2 - you had to maintain weapons and repair them when broken.

In System Shock 2 - you didn't find tape recorders the size of small people next to EVERY SINGLE relevant scene. You found logs that didn't necessarily relate directly to the scene in question. You actually had to piece a few things together to get a complete picture.

In System Shock 2 - you actually had to find and activate the character regeneration chambers - and because of the limited resources, it was a big deal if you died.

On and on… Stuff like that.

Clear?

Yes, up to a point. I understand why you prefer System Shock, but all those things are unusual in shooters, aren't they? Even if the shooter is somehow inspired by the older RPG/Action RPG or whatever System Shock is labeled. I don't see why Bioshock was dumbed down just for being a FPS. Unless that's it, it is dumbed down for being an FPS…