System Shock 2 GOG and Steam Release

[DalekFlay]

I'll take no DRM over I can't play my Steam games because my internet went out for 4 hours.

I had Steam offline for 6 months once, never had a problem launching games.

 

[J_C]

That does not work for every game. Some require constant online mode.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I'll take no DRM over I can't play my Steam games because my internet went out for 4 hours.

I had Steam offline for 6 months once, never had a problem launching games.

My steam seldom gives problems working offline, it tries to update itself (even when there isnt one ...) and wont work till i got it online.
It really hurt me when there was some construction near and internet was down :/

 

[DalekFlay]

That does not work for every game. Some require constant online mode.

The only one I know of like that is Dead Island, and it was a glitch they later patched. I always run Steam in offline mode unless I am downloading and have never had a problem launching games. I guess there could be some I don't own that need to be online, but I never heard about it.

Anyway not defending DRM really, just dislike it when people make Steam out as worse than it is. It has enough legit causes for concern, we don't need to make them up.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Weird, the W button doesn't work, my character cannot move forward at all.

Use the arrow keys, or change the key bindings - have you just started playing PC games or something?

It was set to w by default but never worked. For some reason, setting it to 2 does work. It doesn't seem to detect all of my keys correctly, for example I can't remap the quicksave key to F3, and a weird character shows up. I think it is because SS2 has troubles with my Canadian French keyboard.

 

[octavius]

That does not work for every game. Some require constant online mode.

The only one I know of like that is Dead Island, and it was a glitch they later patched. I always run Steam in offline mode unless I am downloading and have never had a problem launching games. I guess there could be some I don't own that need to be online, but I never heard about it.

Anyway not defending DRM really, just dislike it when people make Steam out as worse than it is. It has enough legit causes for concern, we don't need to make them up.

One of the problems is knowing beforehand which games can be played completely free of the Steam client, which ones can be played in offline mode, and which ones require constant internet connection.

 

[Zewp]

I own almost 500 games on Steam and there's not a single one amongst them that cannot be played in Steam offline mode.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Welp. With this GoG version it's time to finally delete the (No longer functioning) SS2 install I've had sitting on this computer for years. RIP in peace comrade. Your saves will live on in the GoG version, after I confirmed they were compatible.
Also GoG version seems to work pretty well but I notice I get a black box in the upper righthand corner when an audio log/email is playing. Not really a big deal though.

And out of my 1,500+ Steam games (Closer to 900+ in reality going by library number and not community Steamwhore number) there are a couple that throw a fit if Steam isn't in online mode. Usually it's just an indie game and the developer being retarded and they patch it later though. Puzzle game where you're a ball (Can't remember the name of it) was like that and was later patched, and there was something else but I don't remember what.
Puzzle Dimension, that was it. http://store.steampowered.com/app/57200/
And here's the specific patch that fixed it. Though it says taking forever, so I guess it did start eventually. http://store.steampowered.com/news/4767/

 

[Zewp]

I can't get the GoG version running on my laptop. It simply crashes when I start a new game. I'll try on my desktop later today.

 

[spekkio]

^
Most likely you lack some files required by SS2Tool (used by GoG, but not directly):
http://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4141.msg46354#msg46354

DL SS2Tool 5.0 and use it to fix the installation (it will DL required libraries).

5.0 should also fix problems reported by HHR! (keybinds).

Modders fixing IT once more.

 

[mck]

Welp. With this GoG version it's time to finally delete the (No longer functioning) SS2 install I've had sitting on this computer for years. RIP in peace comrade. Your saves will live on in the GoG version, after I confirmed they were compatible.
Also GoG version seems to work pretty well but I notice I get a black box in the upper righthand corner when an audio log/email is playing. Not really a big deal though.

And out of my 1,500+ Steam games (Closer to 900+ in reality going by library number and not community Steamwhore number) there are a couple that throw a fit if Steam isn't in online mode. Usually it's just an indie game and the developer being retarded and they patch it later though. Puzzle game where you're a ball (Can't remember the name of it) was like that and was later patched, and there was something else but I don't remember what.
Puzzle Dimension, that was it. http://store.steampowered.com/app/57200/
And here's the specific patch that fixed it. Though it says taking forever, so I guess it did start eventually. http://store.steampowered.com/news/4767/

DEFCON doesn't work in offline mode, I know that. I finally got in the mood to play it after it sat in the backlog of doom for like a year, but then will only let you play the demo version if you are offline.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Finally I completed it. It got really stupid at the end, the plot fell apart, nonsensical elements were introduced, all the meticulous character development and the tense, serious atmosphere got ruined very fast. I never believed I would say this but Dead Space is superior in this regard, although inferior when it comes to the gameplay and atmosphere.

Annoying final boss fight too, what a pain.

All in all great game, but definitely got overrated due to its obscurity.

I have to laugh because I remember all the game journalists who "couldn't wait" for Bioshock because they found System Shock 2 to be an "all-time classic", and found Bioshock to be a 10/10 game when they played it, but in the end the truth is that most of them never touched it, and only went into the hype bandwagon to look edgy.

At least in System Shock 2 you only get sporadic conversations in your intercom, in Bioshock you cannot move three steps before someone tells you exactly what to do in minute details, and you see an arrow pointing to where you need to go.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

The more I think about it, the more Dead Space cannot be anything else but a spiritual sequel. I suppose EA never mentioned it due to fear of lawsuits.

My ranking would be System Shock 2, Dead Space... and Bioshock far, far behind.

It's a shame EA had to completely ruined what was a pretty decent modern take on the formula. Even the quest compass thing wasn't too in your face (you had to press a button and it would draw a small line in the direction where you needed to go). There were some QTEs, but they didn't appear that frequently. The atmosphere was definitely there, and it was more polished and consistent than Shock 2. A pretty great game all things considered.

Just play it and ignore the increasingly dumb, non horror sequels. It was self contained anyway, I thought it ended perfectly.

 

[Jaesun]

Dead Space was System Shock III. They just could not get the right's so they redid the story and designed the entire game around:

Walk into room, get ambushed by monsters: The Game.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I think that's selling the game short, it is more or less what you do in Shock 2 as well. Both games are pretty much "Hey Isaac/nameless soldier, our plumber is unavailable right now. Would you be a dear and backtrack all over this level to activate this? Thanks!

I found hacking not to be very useful, the vast majority of sealed containers contained nothing important, and you could only disable turrets for 2 minutes. Shooting your way through everything was much easier and simpler.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I found hacking not to be very useful, the vast majority of sealed containers contained nothing important, and you could only disable turrets for 2 minutes. Shooting your way through everything was much easier and simpler.

Sadly, this is true. You can deal with turrets in several ways, but destroying them is almost always the best choice. With other critters, either you kill them or avoid them. There are too many ways to disable alarms (or make them irrelevant) for people to really consider alternate tactics than "gung-ho commando style".

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

some days ago a colleague of mine asked me if i could direct him to something decent from gog because gog is the latest fashion, he being skeptical because he's fine with call of duty and here i put my brain on standby in the attempt to preserve it. he went on and told he really loved bioshock: -system shock 2! you have to try ss2.
-how would you compare bioshock to it?
-it's utter shit.
in the end he told he was going to try it because i defended it with great passion.
some days of silence, i thought the cawaduty generation mowed another victim so i called him. he answered that his silence was due to him not wasting a single moment of his spare time, he was too busy playing ss2 and finally understood why i told him bioshock was shit.

maybe there're still traces of intelligent life on this planet.

 

[Sodafish]

I have not played Dead Space, but this talk has me curious. Is the Kodex Konsensus that it's worth a go?

 

[Mastermind]

I hated it. Should've been a FPS, then maybe it would have been playable.

 

[Jaesun]

Dead Space is literally:

Walk into new room, get ambushed by monsters, repeat: The Game.

 

[Sodafish]

To be expected. Damnit, I wanted at least another taste of something almost, but not quite entirely unlike SS2

 

[SCO]

SS1

 

[Jaesun]

Agreed with SCO. SS1 is also a fucking blast (I played it not too long ago). It doesn't have the character development of SS2, but a wonderful game nonetheless.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I have not played Dead Space, but this talk has me curious. Is the Kodex Konsensus that it's worth a go?

First one's worth a go, imo. It's ultimately a shooter and not that scary, but the spaceship is really pretty and atmospheric whenever you're not getting ambushed by monsters. Zero gravity and vacuum sections are pretty cool, and rare enough that the novelty doesn't wear off. It's a very clear SS2 homage, and I've enjoyed it for what it was. Just download the demo and spend an hour on it - if you don't like it, uninstall.

 

[Sodafish]

I may check it out then

EDIT: This was directed towards SS, but I may check out DS too if I get a spare moment.