I just got System Shock 2 this weekend and it rocks! At first I got stuck on the first level, running around aimlessly, not knowing where to go, or what to do, till after several minutes I finally noticed the elevators that take you up to some training scenarios. Silly me. I've only played it once so far but it looks like a pretty good game, as I've heard it is, plus I only paid $15 for it at a videogame store, $2 cheaper than Costco has it for. Who else has played it, and how do you like it?

Well, I've played this game several times now but still haven't finished it yet, but I'm very close. Guess what? Costco now has it for only $8.99, for those of you near a Costco, though that's not to say that yours will have the game. Still, it's a pretty good, fun game. Try it out. If you need help you'll find an excellent walkthrough here, but you might want to do what I did and paste it on Notepad for easier reading cuz the text on the page runs offscreen to the right side. You can also find tons of cheats for it here, and several other places but they all have the same ones.

I have SS2, Mark, but it won't run on my system. Apparently I need to upgrade my 3D card, which came out just before the game and so the game was not designed to accommodate it. I may get another 3D card soon; would you say it is worth getting one early in order to play this game?

BTW, if you enjoy RPGs like BG and SS2 I cannot recommend Deus Ex highly enough. It is great fun and the story is wonderful.

Peter.

I don't have a 3D card, or else not much of one with my almost 2yo system, judging by how poorly some games look, such as Half-Life, and Unreal Tournament doesn't even play, even though it installed. I've since uninstalled them, but I'll keep them till I can get a better system. Of course I wasn't really planning on playing any or many games very often when I first got this puter, either. The only two games I'd previously gotten on the older puter were Star Wars Rebel Assault 2 and Star Trek Starfleet Academy. The first of which I still have, the second of which I got rid of cuz it wasn't doing anything on this system.

I'd say get the card for the game, but ask around about them first, to get an idea of what card would be best for you in your budget. I saw one the other day at a store and the card was $500US. That's the most I've seen for one but some may go higher, and probably will.

I haven't played BG yet, and it'll be awhile if I ever get around to it, if I'm still interested in trying it, but I may check into Deus Ex. I think you'll like SS2. It's pretty intense and scary. I like the Marine most cuz you get to use the heavy weapons that can save your ass if you're good and fast enough. I'm almost done with the game but I'm stuck in the Body of the Many. After that you go up against the mad computer Shodan.

(I'd've posted all of these as one post but I kept getting that "Internal Server Error" message, so I had to break it up.)

What a fantastic game. One of my all-time favourites.

I've stopped playing it now for one simple reason. It's a little *too* scary. I intended to play this game in order to cure myself of my morbid fear of spiders. Get to Operations level, progress through and what happens? Yep...

I haven't touched it since...

ROFL! Dammit I wish I could get the game working. I LOVE these games that set your heart racing. A friend has offered to sell(!) me his old 3D card to complement my present one so hopefully it will work then.

Peter.

This game scared the crapola outta me when I first played it, right from the moment after you see your first ghost and open the door into the Med/Sci corridors and two Hybrids attack you, but not right away. You'll see one thru the window of a small room just to the left, and I think he either sees you and attacks or just notices that the door you're at is open and then attacks.

Hint 1: Save your game just before you enter that door, in case you die too quickly, so that you can see your mistakes and correct them. In fact, save often, most especially after you've had a hard time getting to a particular point and also when you're in a safe spot to do so, like if you're up on a ledge or catwalk that enemies can't climb up.

Hint 2: The elevators are great for hiding in, cuz enemies can't operate their controls. You can also store extra items in them.

Hint 3: Wear headphones to further enhance the fright effect, cuz you can hear things more clearly, which both helps and scares you even more. Listen closely for the deep, monotonal Hybrid voices ("I'm sor-ry", "You do not belong here."), monkeys chattering, doors hissing open when something walks thru them, soft footsteps and the whirring of security cameras that will sound an alarm if they see you before you disable them (they'll beep once before sounding the alarm, so quickly use bullets, the EMP rifle or the energy pistol on them, unless you wanna face a horde of Hybrids when you haven't enough ammo). Those sounds will really creep you out. The lack of conveniently finding ammo just anywhere adds to the tension a lot, as well as weapons degradation, although that gets pretty tiresome. And then there's the techno music that suddenly flares up in tension-filled moments. Otherwise, you usually just listen to mildly pleasant tones.

I've never played the original game, and the end of this one leaves the door open for another sequel, but Looking Glass, the company that created both games, has closed down so anymore sequels don't look likely, unless someone buys up the rights to them, I suppose. I also like that this isn't a linear game, in that you're not forced to go in just one direction, but instead you're welcome to explore around and do all the things you need to in order to advance in the game in no particular order, just as ong as you do complete all tasks first.

If you're fed up with being unable to find enough ammo and want to use cheats you can find several sites that have them, such as CNET.com. Most cheats are easy but there are three very difficult ones that I never was able to do. Godmode, weapons not degrading and monsters not spawning are almost impossible but can be done. Otherwise, you can get all the unlimited ammo you need.

Hint 4: Don't bother with the 9mm pistol cuz it only holds 12 rounds, unless you modify it to hold 24, and takes up valuable space in your inventory. Instead use the 9mm AR cuz you can modify it to hold 72 and is therefore much more practical. Don't use standard bullets cuz the better ones are AP (armor-piercing for mechanical enemies) and Anti-Pers (anti-personal for organic enemies). Just keep an eye on your weapons' status, shown as 1-10 in the lower right corner of your screen. When it gets down to about 6, repair it cuz you don't want them to break out at just the wrong moment!

Anyway, that's all the help I'll give ya for now. There's so much more to find out on your own, which is half the fun. Rest assured, there are several pleasant moments in the game but many spots are hard to get thru, too, so again save your game often, especially at safe spots.

BTW, if you enjoy RPGs like BG and SS2 I cannot recommend Deus Ex highly enough.
I've been looking into it. I just got Omikron, the David Bowie game, and will try it later. I've got way more games than I have space for them on my HD>

Mark, if you want to be friendly with me, I suggest you do not suggest I am put on posters to encourage pregnant women to have abortions, and call me a "botched abortion". Such unprovoked attacks are the sign of a sick person, and I want nothing to do with you.

Peter.

Ok. That's fine with me, Peter. The feeling's mutual, and not just with me, but pretty much everyone else on NC. But you really do bring it on yourself (i.e, you provoke us first), so you've got no one to blame except yourself for what we say or feel about you, given what you've said about a lot of people over on the religious boards practically ever since you first posted there. Don't attack others and then act like the innocent victim when we give you the same treatment you give us. Learn to get as well as you give. You're a teen, in that stage of life where you're supposed to go from being a child to an adult, so start acting like one.

BTW, I never said or meant that you should be put on posters to encourage abortions, just that you're a candidate for it, and no, I'm not sick at all. I'm actually a very sane person, and easy to get along with. In fact, I prefer being nice with others and having them be the same with me (remember when I asked you for a truce? Whole lot of good that did). It's just that sometimes we have to resort to stooping down to your level of stupidity in order to make our points get across to you. Not that it ever really seems to work, though, cuz you're just too damned stuck on yourself and tunnel-visioned about your own views.

Anyway, you have the nasty habit of attacking others, and then when they respond you come across with a superior attitude, thinking yours is always the one and only valid point to the exclusion of all others. I'd love to see you debate religion with someone decades older than you who's a lot more knowledable about it, especially the bible, and see how much of a superior attitude you have then.

First of all, shame on all of you for such blatant spoilers. I mean come on, telling the END plot/twist? That's a spoiler for the players most of the game though, let alone newbies. Ah well, I suppose you have to had play it to nitpick it. *g*

*q*
Save your game just before you enter that door, in case you die too quickly, so that you can see your mistakes and correct them.
*/q*

So is this place meant for new players or not?
If no, it's a pointless hint. If it is, you've just given off a surprise that just about all I know love [aka, the first of Many times the game scares the hell out of you].

*q*
The elevators are great for hiding in, cuz enemies can't operate their controls. You can also store extra items in them.
*/q*

Scratch that. Don't save items in the elevator, errors occour and the items get lost. Instead, save them in the Chemiscal Storeroom of the Med/Sci deck instead. Close to the elevator and the items stay where they are.

*q*
If you're fed up with being unable to find enough ammo and want to use cheats you can find several sites that have them, such as CNET.com.
*/q*

Methinks ttlg.com/forums would just about ban you for this. *g*
It's an horror/SciFi RPG. It's not a Doom clone [like SS1 wasn't]. What in the world is the point of cheating?
...hm, a bit like cheating in Thief, making yourself immortal or completely stealthy [where it even possible, nayh *g*]. Makes you go "why".

*q*
Most cheats are easy but there are three very difficult ones that I never was able to do. Godmode, weapons not degrading and monsters not spawning are almost impossible but can be done. Otherwise, you can get all the unlimited ammo you need.
*/q*

Yeah, you can slow down monster respawning and weapon degradation... Don't think there's a god mode at all.
And even those two are pretty much hacks of the game, which were put into the game because people complained about monsters respawning. Go figure. Why not make the char fully trained aswell while you're on the roll? *eyeroll*


*q*
Don't bother with the 9mm pistol cuz it only holds 12 rounds, unless you modify it to hold 24, and takes up valuable space in your inventory. Instead use the 9mm AR cuz you can modify it to hold 72 and is therefore much more practical.
*/q*

Err... Given the fact you find the pistol after 15 minutes and the Assault Rifle after 15 hours, I don't really think that's much of a hint. :P


Of course, I could be wrong. Perhaps the game is more fun without you having to be constantly on your toes for new monsters, without having to worry about your gun breaking or running out of ammo...
And perhaps there is a point to playing the game on Easy, but I'm not trying that one out either. *g*

Easy is still very hard. I've played it on Easy, which gives you up to 108 health points (don't ask how I made it that high, I don't remember; I thought 100 was the top limit), and Difficult, which only gives you 25, though I got up to 28 somehow.

I got way too much into using cheats, which is why I said to use the rifle instead of the pistol, cuz I'd cheated to get it early on. The very first time I tried the game I didn't know about any cheats, and made many, many mistakes, like setting off the alarm on the Med/Sci level, and having I dunno how many Hybrids coming after me and finally killing me. Heck, even the first ghost you see made me jump a bit cuz I didn't expect it.

Guess I shouldn't've spoiled the very first fright, huh? Sorry. Didn't think it might upset anyone. I did enjoy the feeling of isolation on the Von Braun, which added to the tension, especially with headphones on. Unciaa, are you new to SS2? How do you like it? Did you finish it yet? At the end you're turned into a giant squidlike creature and...oh, shoot! There I went and spoiled the ending for everyone! Sorry again. Didn't mean to.

heh! heh! heh!

SS2? I'm actually a System Shock 1 fan, I had to wait 6 years for my favorite game of all time to get a sequel. The first time round I played SS2 on Hard, playing an an OSA guy [specialised... Aka, I researched and used absolutely no projectile weapons. I researched the CShard because it was stronger than the wrench, but I had no guns at all], then the second time round, same character setup, but on Impossible [Impossible gives you 10 HPs,... A Hybrid shot takes 20-30 HPs on Impossible]. So, um, yes, I'm not that new to the game.

Did play it on Normal the 3rd time round though, and researched what I actually needed to research [on Impossible, the cyber modules are so rare you cannot research ANYTHING else at all if you're going OSA... Not enough of them to research weapons. Not enough nanites to regularily buy ammo either, spent all my money on Psi Hypos].

A very good game, Irrational [with help from Looking Glass Studios] did a good job on it.

> I did enjoy the feeling of isolation on the Von Braun, which added to the tension, especially with headphones on.

Isolation? Hm. Well, to a certain limit. Knowing that there might be a Hybrid walking round the very next corner ant any time /really/ makes your heart race. Expecially if you're playing a mini game in the Game Pig, then look up to be facing a shotgun. *g*

http://www.ttlg.com/forums/

I've never played the original. How is it? On SS2 I was tempted, but never played the Game Pig, since it was wasted space in my inventory, but I guess I could've gone to a safe place to play it (i.e. where enemies couldn't attack me unexpectedly). Is it any fun? I've played the game a second time (on Impossible) but only up to where you enter The Many, then I thought, "Eh, screw it," and uninstalled it. I may try it again if I get a better system. The ending leaves an opening for a sequel, which unfortunately won't come, unless someone buys the rights or revives LGS.

I remember at one time the first time I played SS2 it was on the Med/Sci level and I went into that one room with the dividing wall inside where there's an upturned couch or table with a med or psi hypo underneath it, and I could hear a Hybrid somewhere very near, but not sure where, and then I found him on the other side of the dividing wall! Needless to say, he became history very fast before he could see me.

I also remember setting off the alarm on that same level at the back with a desk, near that door with the missing battery that's needed to open it up, and almost needing a change of underwear when all those Hybrids came after me and I only had an unmodified pistol to fight them with!

On Impossible? With or without cheats? Although if you play it as JackOfAllTrades it's doable [a pain as a Psi], but quite challenging, especially if you've played it with cheats the first time round.
Game Pig games are superb, especially Overworld Zero, which is basically an 8-bit RPG in itself.

Hm, SS2 with cheats. Such a wasted experience. :/

SS1 is a superb game, but if you belong in the "graphics are everything! / no mouselook? Heeelp!" group of people, don't touch it. :p