What Is A Thought, Compared To A Mind? Let's Play System Shock 2

[Whoracle]

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Episode 09 - OoopsErations | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

A short hisory of the universe and operations on the Von Braun.

[sonofzeal]

Question - have you ever played SS1?

Because man, if you're "susceptible to tension", SS1 will eat you alive........

[Whoracle]

Nope, never played SS1, but it've been planning on LPing it as my next solo LP, so we'll see how many pant I'll go through soon

[sonofzeal]

Nope, never played SS1, but it've been planning on LPing it as my next solo LP, so we'll see how many pant I'll go through soon

Huzzah!


Just keep in mind that SS1 was released the same year as Doom, so interface conventions on FPS games weren't set yet, and the control scheme is rather different than what modern gamers have come to expect. Still, it's my favorite of the whole line, and the unique interface provides some tactical options that will be vital to survival, such as nuanced degrees of leaning and crouching.

Also keep in mind that SS1!SHODAN is not precisely the SS2!SHODAN. In SS1, part of the atmosphere comes from watching her change and develop throughout the game, just as you become more and more potent yourself, which is something SS2 lacked imo.

Finally, SS1 has four difficulty meters (Mission, Combat, Puzzles, Cyber). Beating it with all at 3 is mind-numbingly difficult, since Mission 3 adds a time limit to the game and Puzzles 4 pretty much requires a full walkthrough guide to complete without excessive wallbanging, and the two in concert pretty much doom any honest effort right from the get-go. I'd recommend... Mission 2, Combat 2-3, Puzzles 1-2, Cyber 2-3. Combat, Puzzles, and Cyber depend on how hardcore you want to be, but don't underestimate obstacles even on the lower settings. Contrary to what other sci fi might have taught you, robots don't miss. Ever. Well, unless you're under fairly substantial cover, but still. The game is not for the faint of heart.

[Whoracle]

Oh, I played the first 10 minutes or so, and since a wee bit older, I've played DOOM and it's ilk back in the day, so that won't be a problem. As for the difficulty, I'll probs go with 2 all over the board, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

[Whoracle]

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Episode 10 - Desecrating Recreation | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

Running through Recreation like an idiot.

[sonofzeal]

Oh, I played the first 10 minutes or so, and since a wee bit older, I've played DOOM and it's ilk back in the day, so that won't be a problem. As for the difficulty, I'll probs go with 2 all over the board, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Good good. :)

On second though though... I recommend Puzzles 1 for a Let's Play. Puzzles 2 will slow you down significantly, and while there's a couple moments when it definitely adds to the tension, mostly it just takes you out of the game and is relatively boring to watch. Puzzles 1 will speed things along, while letting you keep the sense of it.

[Whoracle]

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Episode 11 - Balls To The Wall | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

I finish the rest of Recreation and begin my ascent to Command.

[Whoracle]

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Episode 12 - Falling Higher | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

A fast run through the earlier Decks to do a mad AIs bidding. Typical for a friday afternoon, really.

Also, with this episode my backlog is officially exhausted. Since I've got quite a bit time on my hands this weekend, it's highly likely that I'll be able to finish the thing come saturday, meaning a BIG update on monday. No need to prolong this any further, I guess.
Stay tuned!

[Whoracle]

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Episode 13 - Piggybacker | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

We'll finish the Von Braun for good and manage to FINALLY get onto the Rickenbacker. I wonder what awaits us there?

And man, the Rickenbacker is HARD.

And, as is to be expected when I get optimistic about something, that's all I got done this weekend. On the plus side, I got sore muscles all down my back and in my neck, and have sucessfully hhelped a friend of mine move her stuff out of her flat. Since that's not done yet, I highly doubt I'll be able to shoot the next episode before tomorrow evening at the earliest, so there'll be no new episodes until wednesday.

[Domochevsky]

Y'know, as much as i like Shodan, her speech pattern and constant (pointless and impotent) threats jammering into your ear are starting to become slightly annoying.

[Whoracle]

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Episode 14 - Spiders! | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

I explore the Rickenbacker and meet my Nemesis: Invisible freaking spiders!

And Domo: Next episode we'll be rid of her for a while. It grates you as much as me, I assure you...

[Whoracle]

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Episode 15 - All Flesh Must Be Eaten | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

New Episode!

Sexy times! We penetrate the body of the many and experience a "nice" change of scenery. Also: Shodan finally shuts the **** up, and we have a guest commentator - My foster cat.

[Whoracle]

Double Feature!

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Episode 16 - The Book Of More Flesh | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

More fleshy goodness! I manage to die an embarassingly amount of times, finish the Body Of The Many (tm) and have a good old flashback to simpler times.

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Episode 17 - Final Destination | Our Site :: Blip.tv | Download[/table]

This is it. The End. Terminus. The Omega to Episode 01s Alpha. The Final Countdown. Home Stretch. The Green Mile. Yada yada yada. Finally done with the game. I had a hell of a time, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.



As for my next projects, well, Kingdom Hearts is still going on, or rather will be soon, same goes for Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth. In Addition to this, I'll start an LP of System Shock, the predecessor of this fine gme here, somewhen this week, as soon as I've figured out how to capture video from a DOSBox. Any hints towards this goal'd be helpful.

See you around

[Domochevsky]

And she still doesn't shut up, hm? >_>

(Really? "Join me and we can rule together"? After being the entire game utterly blatant about how she is gonna betray you and calling you insect at every opportunity, making pointless threats? Man, clichees back in those days...)

[Whoracle]

Well, she is a mad AI, after all, so some incoherence is to be expected

[sonofzeal]

And she still doesn't shut up, hm? >_>

(Really? "Join me and we can rule together"? After being the entire game utterly blatant about how she is gonna betray you and calling you insect at every opportunity, making pointless threats? Man, clichees back in those days...)

Yeeeeeeah, the SS2 ending just kinda sucked donkey parts. Shame after an overall great game. I mean, total OOC moment for SHODAN asside... "Nah"? And... shooting a monitor of which there are thousands throughout the game?

SS1's ending may not have the stuff of legends, but it made a lot more sense and fit the tone and atmosphere of the game far better. The battle's in cyberspace - her domain, not yours, and where all your epic gear and ninja skills don't matter - and the battle itself usually ends up terrifying and intense and overwhelming. Whoever designed that fight was brilliant, they knew just how to change things up enough to put the fear of god into you while still giving you familiar tools to work with and win. And when you finally pull it together...

Spoiler

Show

"It's over."

You're not the triumphant badass; for all your skills you're still just lucky you go through alive, and only barely at that.

In comparison, SS2's bossfight felt... gimmicky, forced (if she's got Physical God powers, why are you a threat at all), and pretty easy once you figure out how to do it. And then the ending sequence made no sense.

.....you know what? No. I'm writing the SS2 ending out of my personal canon. Once SHODAN gets the McGuffin and things start going scribbly, it's all over and the rest is just a reassuring delusion she's feeding Goggles. After all, she's learned well enough that lone troublemakers can do a lot of damage, and the power trip would be appealing for her. She takes perverse pleasure in the irony of letting him think he's the badass SHODAN-killer while he's mewling like a kitten at her tender mercies.