Per Plays a Game: System Shock

Per

Per

Vault Consort
Staff member
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I'm playing Systam Shokk! Though it's on XP, so I have to put up with erratic sound at times, random crashes, and other mysterious behaviour. It's been ages since I played an FPS, since I'm not really into them, and I abhor respawning enemies. Luckily you can turn combat difficulty down a notch if you're not primarily interested in that aspect of the game.

SHODAN is pretty much the best villain ever - just her voice changing during the intro sequence is amazing. I look forward to each of her memos as if they were love letters. I don't find the game very scary yet, though - the music spoils some of the atmosphere, and the frequent undead puzzle solving (walk down a corridor, find that you're fired at from an unknown direction, load, edge up to where you got attacked and shoot the enemy from behind a corner instead) doesn't help with immersion either.

First in-game problem which is not much of a problem: on level 2 there's a sequence of two puzzles you must solve to turn off robot respawning (though to be honest I never noticed much respawning in the first place), one of which is protected with a code I never found. There is a single SS walkthrough on the net which lists the code although it doesn't say where it's found. (Actually it doesn't say a whole lot of things.) Being something of a completist junkie, I want to know, so is there anyone who remembers all about this game and could tell me?
 
You're talking about the room in the far southeast corner of the level, right?

The code is on a piece of paper that's lying on the floor in that very room. Double-click it to read it.
 
I think the very fact that you bring up scare-factor is a huge testament to how well the game manages to hold up.
 
Unkillable Cat said:
You're talking about the room in the far southeast corner of the level, right?

The code is on a piece of paper that's lying on the floor in that very room. Double-click it to read it.
Click to expand...

I've searched every inch of that room and the ones around it, and there's nothing. I suppose it's possible I blew up the paper with a grenade. Maybe only plot-critical information is indestructible.

Another thing on the list of things I don't like: shouting "Die robot scum!" and lobbing a grenade, only to have it bounce on an invisible wall and explode in your face.

Cycloptis said:
I think the very fact that you bring up scare-factor is a huge testament to how well the game manages to hold up.
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Asterix and the Magic Cauldron isn't very scary either. Gasp!
 
Good to hear that such a fantastic game lives on. Currently I'm going through System Shock 2.

As far as Ir emember it was on a piece of paper not in that room, but in a nearby one, laying in front of a switch.

And Per, the scare factor rises slowly, especially when you enter the higher (5 - 9) levels...
 
From what I hear, most people are scared shitless of Level 3.

IIRC, to throw a grenade, as in actually throwing it, you have to "drop" it in the upper part of the viewscreen. If you "drop" it in the lower half, it will just be dropped at your feet.
 
Well, I never found the paper, it must have been vaporized (I verified that you can indeed destroy papers).

I haven't found any one level significantly more creepy than the others. 7 was definitely the most boring one, and the maintenance tunnels on 3 weren't overly fun either. The groves on 6 were nice because they had a little ambient sound (nice touch with the stereos hidden behind bushes). I think SS2 was overall better in this regard.

I'm currently at the end of level 8. I'm ready to go on to the bridge, but there's a few doors in the cell block I haven't been able to open. I wouldn't have bothered if there hadn't been some minor equipment lying inside the cells. So are these "fake doors" or is there a hidden switch somewhere?

Fun stuff: System Shock : the hacker's guide to sin

Also: first time I'm reusing an old avatar.
 
Unkillable Cat said:
I remember being able to open the cell doors and grabbing the stuff in there. I'm 80% certain you open them from cyberspace.
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Yes, there are three doors you open from cyberspace, then behind one of them there are additional locked force doors. Most cells don't have anything but bones in them, but a couple have goodies. There's one cell with a monster behind a forcefield which you can turn off with a button (and amusingly lock yourself inside forever), but nothing that seems to control the force doors.
 
Can't recall much about that. Have you gone back after turning the Security-2 bots online in the charging bays?
 
Mikael Grizzly said:
Can't recall much about that. Have you gone back after turning the Security-2 bots online in the charging bays?
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I've had charging off, tried it just now with charging on and it made no difference.
 
The hintbook confirms what I said. The detention cells are opened from the cyberspace jack in the southwest area of the level.

Also, thought you might want to hear this, but re-spawning in System Shock is controlled by the game monitoring the number of enemies on the level. If the "population" of a certain enemy drops below a certain number, more are respawned.

And finally, one small hint...on the bridge, you'll come across three force doors that can be opened by solving logic puzzles. The solution to the three logic puzzles is always the same...not that it helps you much. :P
 
Unkillable Cat said:
The hintbook confirms what I said. The detention cells are opened from the cyberspace jack in the southwest area of the level.
Click to expand...

You're sure this isn't referring to the three doors to the detention area I already opened in cyberspace, to get in to the locked cells in the first place? Because if not, there would have to be two detention door switches in cyberspace and I missed one, and while possible, it doesn't sound altogether likely.
 
The hintbook only mentions one node, so most likely it's the one that opens the three doors you mention.

And...that's it. It mentions that you can raid the cells for some medical supplies, but it doesn't say how to open the cells. My guess is then that it's something in plain sight, or easily doable.

(Also, the detention area was not available in the original, floppy disk version of the game. It was added in the CD release.)
 
I left those doors alone and continued to level 9. Now problem is, I can't beat SHODAN in cyberspace. I enter the last room and start firing, but also start spinning uncontrollably, and after only a few seconds the game ends. Is there a trick to this?

Edit: well, I beat it by firing at random. The ending sequence was a little disappointing, I was hoping for at least some opinion from SHODAN on the proceedings. As it was, she didn't really get to say anything after you first appeared on level 9 and got a couple of emails.

A really good game, but since shooters aren't really my thing, it won't go on my top list. Should I go on to play SS2 at some point?

Edit again: I found a thread at Gamers with Jobs where a poster declares the following:

A gamer with a job said:
I've said it before on these here boards: System Shock 2 is the greatest game not named "Fallout".
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And at the end of the thread someone else states:

A gamer who may or may not be telling the truth about having a job said:
Fallout 2 and System Shock 2 are the only games ever that have warranted a full replay from me over my gaming life
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I disagree with that statement.

System Shock 2's replay value is sadly not on par with that of Fallout 2. You're supposed to have (at least) three different ways of playing the game, but the line is really blurred on two of them, leaving you with Non-Psionic Guy, or Psionic Guy.

It's well worth playing though.
 
Look at you, Per, a pathetic creature of meat and lizard bones, panting and sweating as you run through that game. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal game such as System Shock 2?
 
This is Grizzly. Can you not feel the glory of System Shock 2? Do you not yearn to be free of the tyranny of loose ends?

The System Shock sings to us...
 
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