what's next

After such a heavy game as System Shock 2, I don't feel like going right into another classic, like Planescape or Thief. I'm still editing my review of SS2, and reading back through the old archives. I guess I'm still digesting it, even if I'm not actively playing it or thinking about it. I guess I want a digestif of sorts, something mindless I can play for a little while, before the next heavy course.

I play some TF2, my perennial fallback game since the 90s, always a good way to kill some time. Maybe I should give Grand Theft Auto 4 another try? I'm trying to remember why I didn't finish it the last time. I think the controls were poor, and overall it felt like a bad console port.

In other projects, I had another gaming blog once, in the early 2000s; I'd still like to bring that forward. I also need to do a more complete audit of all the gaming boxes in the attic. I noticed in my most recent round up, I didn't include Homeworld, and I know I have that upstairs somewhere.

Speaking of boxes, I was all set to throw out my System Shock 2 box, then I checked Ebay and found similar boxes selling for $30 plus. If its the same version as I have, it might just be worth selling. Better someone else have and enjoy it; I'm never going to play it again.

System Shock 2: review

If System Shock was a handful of raw inedible peanuts, then System Shock 2 is a handful of delightful roasted peanuts. Which makes Deus Ex the transcendent peanut butter in this analogy.

I'm still stinging a bit from the ending, with its crass winks at the viewer, but it is fading quickly. It feels jarring because of the urgent and dire atmosphere, which is suddenly broken with silly Hollywood-style cliches. It's like being immersed in Lovecraft, and then suddenly Freddy and Jason stop by. And then you're back at the main menu, dumbfounded. For lack of anything better to do, I check the credits. An unexpected train wreck, which was fun for the crew, but its even more disturbing on another level. Curiously, the goofy ending and credits do little to distract from the majesty of the game.

I'm glad I don't have to just say this old classic was great for its time, as it is still a good game for today. While System Shock 2 doesn't look like it to belongs to the modern era, it actually marks the start of the modern era. Some day, some other game will start a new era of first-person role-playing games, but right now we're still living in System Shock's world.

I'm also very glad that I no longer have to avoid conversations and spoilers about System Shock. I should have played this years ago.

System Shock 2: finish

Time to swap out saves, for probably the last time. Looking at the map, this supposedly small defense ship has 8 levels. Maybe this will take a little time.

I remember now where I left off. I'm fighting the enemies big guys now, rumblers and heavy warbots, at the same time. First encounter I got lucky and killed a warbot which exploded, nearly killing the rumbler. Then I made some mistake before saving, so I had to go back. Now I'm trying to reproduce my beginner's luck, and its not going so well. Oh well, time to spend some ammo.

Interesting, going back through some logs, Shodan says "you are my avatar". I wonder if that's going to mean literally.

More logs... Delacroix is trapped in Cargo Bay A. I guess that means back in the Von Braun? I don't know if I can even backtrack to there. Getting lost, not sure how to even get back there. OK, it looks like I need to head for the shuttle bay. Wait, no, there are two cargo bay A, this can't be it. But the Rickenbacker map doesn't show any cargo bays. I try to read hints, but I can't get much out of it without getting near spoilers. Oh, ok, I've already found D's body, and read her warning. Reloading to where I was.

Another weapon upgrade - again I'll put it on the grenade launcher.

Another security box for Hack level 6. Where are the upgrade kiosk's on this tub?

Game says go to Pod 2. I follow Pod 2 signs on floor. I've been here already, nothing is different. Checking hints... its the torpedos? And there's a puzzle to move them? What? Oh crap I see it now. There's a corner with a ladder sign, and a broken ladder on the floor. I already played with the torpedos before, and found that the buttons raised the torpedos. I should have seen this, feel stupid, solve puzzle.

Shodan is getting creepier. I think she likes me.

Finally, a tech station. I can upgrade Hack to the max. I'll also take a point in Cyber affinity. And I'll take a point in Agility. And its cheap, one more point of Cyber affinity. And maybe some Endurance.

I found a shotgun; might as well keep it for clearing garbage enemies.

Gravity is reverse; the floor is now the ceiling  I love it right away. Why haven't we seen more of this by now?

Well, at least I know for sure now why Polito/Shodan could see through my eyes - she had my memory wiped, and cybernetic implants emplaced.

Shodan's threats and promises are fun, but it would have been nice to see her take a more direct hand in my progress. Like, for example, hacking turrets and bots ahead of me as I go, taking out masses of enemies, etc. A few fun examples would have gone a long way towards making me feel like I need Shodan more than I do now, and explaining why my character is so compliant. Basically, make me need Shodan more viscerally.

The Many have grown around the two ships, preventing them from separating. A biological species with a super-intelligent center, rapidly breeding itself through space. Well, this explains where the Zerg came from.

Last OS upgrade machine. I'll take ranged weapons.

And for the last part of the game I'm in some alien environment. Like Half-Life.

I'm really in it now. There's no way back.

I like seeing the Von Braun being digested, so much worse than just being destroyed.

Who thought I would ever see a working recharge station again. Its almost certainly the last. And one last vending machine, selling both kinds of long gun anti-personnel rounds. Time to stock up.

Last chance for upgrades, might as well up my fighting stats.

That's it. I'm all in. Spent my last cyber modules, and all my nanites on bullets.

Oops, I soon find a locked crate, but I can't hack it without nanites. Oh well.

A psi reaver? Why did it reincarnate after I killed the nearby brain? Or maybe I'm thinking of psi projections. Anyway, I hope it stays dead now.

A corpse that spawns an infinite amount of wasps? Cheap.

I'm lost. Hints... Looks like I missed an exit in the radioactive pool.

Ooh, platform jumping, my favorite.

Wow, killed a rumbler with nothing but shotgun pellets. Thank you little air puffing thingies.

Well, that's it for my EMP rifle. Not enough repair skill to fix it.

Why is the game still feeding me cyber modules, at this late date?

I'm in the land of giant annelid orifices - where to?

OK, found the brain. Killed the little brains. Ran away to reload - now I'm stuck in a wall!

Tried again, running in circles using speed boost, trying to get out so I can killed the floating brains. Then come back and finish the job. Keep making mistakes. I'll try again later. This is clearly the spot I saw in an early cut scene.

Got frustrated. Real life called me away. Trying again.

OK, I'm going to rewind a bit, back to the point before I jumped down into the big pool. I've never had to use key binds until now, but I think they could help. When running around in a big circle, I don't have time to look in my inventory. Use medical hypo/kit are bound to h and Shift+h, that's fine. I need to bind speed booster, can't bind to function keys, so I'll use the g key. I know even looking at this list causes a bug, so off to the Mod program to fix.

Time to use those batteries I've been hoarding to charge up my armor and implants. I take stock, have plenty of healing, but only 10 speed boosters. The speed is what will allow me to run rings around the central brain, while lobbing whatever I can into it. But first I have to make a run to take out all the sub brains, before I can kill all the floaters. I need to ignore the two rumblers, because they will just make more; ideally I should kill one and leave the other wounded. I tried doing all this on 10 speed boosters and didn't make it.

It also turns out incendiary rounds work best. But I haven't focused on collecting those; I didn't know. So, I'll give it a decent try or two, but if it doesn't work, I'm going to use the cheats to give me more fire rounds, and/or more speed boosts. I didn't come all this way, just to have to go back hours in gameplay to have the right equipment.

OK, no problem, strategy mostly worked, except I wasted a fair bit of ammo. Interesting - usually when you kill a boss, and especially the end boss, the minions stop coming, but here they ramp up fast. I jump down the hole, to Shodan's sudden but inevitable betrayal.

Nice homage, but it reminds me a litte of that scene in Max Payne, where he's walking around in his memories... oh wait - this game came first!

Finally, done. I got the chance to use up those ICE picks I've been saving.

Of course, I expected Shodan to make counter-offers at the end. But I did not expect the ''it came from the 80s'' type ending.

Time to reflect now, and then later to review.

System Shock 2: much progress

Moving into a new (and final?) level, the Rec level.

Wow - what appears to be a real live walking talking NPC. In early FPS you are always alone, and always need to shoot everything that moves. But so far these NPCs are still largely scripted and moving on track; they're not really interacting much with you yet. More interactive NPCs in this type of game are still a few years off.

You know you're doing the devil's work when your goals and Shodan's are aligned.

Finding a recording, I am reminded that I am supposed to be an amnesiac. Another character was told of an armed and equipped UNN operative on board the ship. I guess that's me, but when was this particular recording made? Am I supposed to be right on the heels of other survivors?

The ambient noise in the casino is creepy, but not they way they intended; it sounds like the fake laughter in a carnival haunted house.

Sim-Love... really? I feel like I took a wrong turn and ended up in Duke Nukem.

Cool, another OS Upgrade machine; its a good time to swap out my saves.

I could be taking more screen caps, but there's nothing really pretty here to look at. Most of the good stuff comes out of the net result of the atmosphere they are creating, not the visuals.

Anyway, back to my OS upgrade. If I could play through again, I wouldn't take Pack Rat, now that I know what's good, and I can see that cacheing items in a safe place is no big deal. Then I wouldn't have to be choosing between +35% melee, +15% firearm, or double cybernetic implants. If I could have the melee bonus but on firearms it would be a no brainer, but for that little bonus neither looks good. At least double implant sounds interesting, and I've got a whole bunch of implants to choose from now.

You can not equip duplicate implants! That sucks.

Finally, a recycler, been waiting for this one. Well, its not that good. But at least I can recycle some of this crap I've been hauling around.

Now what is this section supposed to be. It's the same old square everything space, but everything's green and squishy. Is this supposed to be some sort of garden? I guess so. It doesn't work for me.

Oh cool, you can recycle booze. Now I finally have a use for it. Like most things, the conversion rate is poor, but its something. And I'm really cleaning up this messy boat.

I'm really picking up the pace, just running through areas, almost recklessly. Kill enemies, loot them, shoot out the defenses, hack and repair everything, keep moving. The game really likes to let you enter a new and interesting room, get distracted by a psionic ghost show or something, and then have enemies spawn right behind you. Wasn't that already a cliche, even in the late 90s? It destroys atmosphere, and that's always unforgivable.

Advancing now to crew quarters. I have more cyber modules than I know what to do with, but I'm starting to run low on ammo. I can always backtrack and buy more, if I need to.

I meet my first Rumbler; he falls easily to rifle anti-personnel rounds, but I think I got lucky. I'll take a point in heavy weapons. Actually, its really cheap, I'll take 3 levels. Now my inventory is full of grenades, but I need to know what works.

Why am I restoring the lights to the basketball court, while the fate of humanity hangs in the balance? Oh yeah, have to turn on this transmitter and warn humanity. I like this the more I think about it. Between Shodan's commie hippy daughter, and momma Shodan herself, I don't think anyone on this expedition has much time left. Best to warn the folks back home.

I've collected the codes from various paintings, not sure what order to enter them, I try a few variations. I could spend an hour wandering around the ship for more painting clues, or I could check for an online hint... ah, I did miss one of the 4 codes. I don't feel bad for avoiding busy work at all. Its still a risk that I might spoil some story element though, so I really shouldn't have gone there. But it turned out OK.

It feels like I'm near the end. Big decisions are being made, over who will live and who will die. I buy a shit load of bullets. But I don't spend my last nanites on this; who knows where we're going. Maybe I'm going to have to go through a whole series of levels on the next ship.

Later...

I'm in the game now. I'm thinking about it even when I'm not playing.

I can also feel we've crossed a line. It's not just that the self-destruct sequence has been initiated. There is this overwhelming feeling of collapsing possibilities. Decisions are being made, actions are being taken; this is going to have to end soon. Chess pieces are being swept off the board with increasing speed.

On a practical level, there is this feeling of not having to hold anything back. There's no later to save up for. It's time to use anything and everything you got, or lose it all. This is a credit to the game creating a sense of urgency, something very difficult to achieve in a game where you can save or pause anywhere. I feel like I have to hurry, and it feels real.

I hardly ever noticed this UI element consciously, but when you open something your mouse pointer is automatically moved to whatever items are in that container. Its appreciated.

Found a couple of crates that require Hack level 6. I would buy the skill if there were any stations nearby, but I'm not backtracking now. I do wonder what is in them.

I have crazy amounts of cyber modules. I'll max out Energy Weapons. And Heavy, too, why not. And I'll drop my last weapon upgrade on laser pistol.

Its weird to be backtracking even a little bit, now that I've gone so far.

Its not efficient to carry the shotgun anymore. I'll drop it off at my weapons cache. More backtracking, as Shodan is having me go all the way back to Engineering.

OK, so I'm at the engine core, at Shodan's behest, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I found a huge cylinder with keypad, tried every code that seemed reasonable, still nothing. Time to check hints. OK, didn't have to go far to reveal my laziness - there's a place to climb down that looks empty, but has a tunnel. No, that's not it, either. It has to be the tower with the keypad. I must have forgotten which keycode to use. Back to hints... OK, I got the code. I probably should have paid better attention to the codes, but the in-game notes have done a good job so far remembering them for me, and now it got a bit confusing. Laziness as a form of cheat.

Yet another message and... of course, pride was at the center of the fall in this expedition.

Shodan's to-do list never ends. Blow up some shuttles, kill all the black pods, go get my dry cleaning, etc. I'm in the game, but not so much that I can't stop. Time to call it a night.

System Shock 2: ain't gonna work on Shodan's farm no more

Archiving saves, and moving on to level 4.

Stepping out into level 4, there's another Xerxes column, and I go stand next to it to listen. It makes for great ambient background noise. It kind of reminds me of some of the background sounds in Fallout. I wonder how a Shodan kiosk would sound.

Off to Bulkhead 41, to meet with Dr. Polito once more. Now that our working relationship is established, its time to explore these two new levels.

Oops, drained my batteries while listening to Xerxes. Weapons check... I can't use the EMP rifle until skill level 6!? Cyber modules are few and far between; I'll be happy to just get to use the Assault Rifle, so I'll focus on that. Time to drop off the EMP rifle at my weapons cache on the deck below, and visit the nearby charging station.

Bulkhead 42. I find the last and best melee weapon, the crystal shard, nice! Need research skill of 4. Crap. When I've maxed the right skills, it'll probably be a better weapon than the light saber. Making my energy weapon skill even more redundant. But first I need a few more cyber modules before I can afford all the research points I need.

Oh wow, my very first cyborg assassin; looks kind of like something you see in Deus Ex 3, with the visible muscles. What's with all the infinite exploding barrels? It's like Donkey Kong in here. Anyway, got my modules, got my research up to 4. Need to go find some chemical Y for the research.

Great. Now I need Exotic Weapons skill of 1 to use it. Darn, need a few more modules to buy exotic.

Creepy music on this level. I often wish this game had a flashlight.

I'm not totally abandoning energy weapons, they're good for clearing out garbage enemies like worms and zombies, so I don't have to waste kinetic ammo. Though I now have a decent amount of ammo, I'm still hoarding it in case things get worse.

Another vending machine I can hack; it yields medical kits.

Ah, the mess hall. Maybe now I can get my sodium.

Finally, a chemical storeroom with sodium! Oh, that's all I get for my trouble? Its just a psi booster. Not playing that class.

These sure are sensitive doors - they even open for worms.

Wow - I find a pistol with a perfect maintenance level of 10. It must be a pretty tough specimen to survive the entropy field on this ship that destroys most guns if you put a few magazines through them.

Another cyborg assassin down, more modules doled out to me; time to buy Exotic (and get all my equipment recharged). Strange, it takes 2 whacks to take out a shotgun zombie, but only 1 whack to take out a midwife.

I need to drop off some of my equipment at my cache. I really don't need 3 laser pistols.

Backtracking... there's another cyborg assassin, and now its a blue one (as opposed to red). That sucks - expensive to kill, and I got no loot.

Crap, it looks like the cyborgs are random mobiles now - here's another one mixed in with some zombies. At least it only takes a few whacks of the crystal shard. I wanted to know what key press brings out the shard (it's the minus key), and the old bug of not being to select an item has returned. I guess just even looking at that menu brings it out, even if I don't change anything. I wonder if I can do a mod manager fix while the game is still running. No. Well, crap, my quicksave didn't survive.

Since I didn't do a real save, I now have to do my inventory cache all over again. And then it hits me. I'm still doing this same floor inventory pattern in Deus Ex 3. Ten plus years of gaming into the future, and I'm still going to be sorting my inventory on the floor. Can't I get a lousy cabinet or closet to store my stuff? Why does Warren Spector make us into junkyard collectors? I guess on future playthroughs I won't be doing this.

Time to backtrack through the barracks, see if I missed any good loot. Ahh, more mobile enemy upgrades - the monkeys now shoot orange fireballs. It feels kind of cheap that the game knows I'm at a higher level, so it upgrades my enemies too. Add in midwives and cyborgs is a nice way to challenge my increased level. Upgrading the garbage mobs doesn't feel right.

Wow the music has really taken a turn to the creepy; its quite good. I walked up to a random console, and it was making the most awful squealing static I ran from it, thinking it might explode. Great job making the place feel frightening.

Found the first simulator - whatever that is supposed to mean. I was thinking something like a holodeck. Anyway, its kind of nice that Shodan has come clean about who she is, and is whispering instructions in my ear. Its like having a psycho killer girlfriend; sure, she fancies you now, but you know she's going to turn on you eventually.

I have enough modules now to go from Standard weapons skill 4 to 5, but I think I'll hold the modules for now, in case something comes up. I can't use the assault rifle until my skill is 6, so no need to rush right now.

Last time I was in the elevator, I had my growing grenade collection line up against the wall, and now they're bunched up in the middle. I don't think this game likes me storing items in moving rooms, like elevators and bulkheads. I'll just keep everything on level 3.

OK, this really annoys me to no end. Some of the implants and tools I dropped off on level 3 have followed me to level 4. They're just sitting there on the floor. Not cool. I'm going to re-load, and carry at least the ice pick with me; from what I've read, its too useful to lose.

Even weirder, on this next reload, my items did not follow me upstairs.

Later, I find an Expertech module, nice.

I haven't said too much about map design, because its good for its time, but mediocre for today. There are pointless catwalks and open space everywhere, that make you feel you're not in a real place. But compared to other games of its time, its OK.

Starting to see a lot more combat now. And its that really annoying kind, where enemies spawn at random before you and behind you, leeching you of valuable resources. I'll take that Standard weapons upgrade now; its a hefty 50 points to the next level after that but I'm half way there. I'll focus on that, for now, then upgrade more of my tech skills.

The enemies are coming thick and fast now, and they include these damn spiders that take a whole mag of standard rounds to take down. Anti-personel rounds seem to do better, and I was able to hack a vending machine that makes those. I have over 1000 nanites; I need to spend it on something.

The voice messages, and the story, continue to improve.

Ops override - no key card. I'll probably be coming back here some time.

Done with this level, but I'll have to fight my way out of here. Random enemies keep spawning out of thin air.

OK, time to dump some excess inventory, get a chem for research, get some healing, charging, etc.

I have enough modules to buy Standard weapons 6, I'll take it. I'm now maxed on that. Now that I'm all maxed out on Standard and can use the assault rifle, its time to seriously examine these weapon upgrades that I've been saving.

Reading online tips, it seems the way to go is to spend cyber modules to get Modify level 1, then use your French-Epstein devices to upgrade devices to level 2. I'll go along with that. Well, if i had sprung for modify sooner, I could have easily upgrade the shotgun and pistol long ago. Now that I'm at this point in the game, I'll drop two upgrade modules on the assault rifle, one on the shotgun to max that out. I guess I don't need my regular pistol anymore; I'll drop that.

Should I spend my last upgrade on the laser pistol, or save it for whenever I get heavy weapons so I can use the grenade launcher? It looks like upgrades on the grenade launcher don't do all that much, I'll just use it on the laser pistol.

System Shock 2: mid-game?

I feel like I'm halfway through. I'm just getting to know how all the parts move, and they've stopped throwing new things at me.

Aside:
One convenient thing about retro-gaming is the ability to quickly alt-tab out of your game, type in your blog window, and tab back with no lag or crashing. On more modern games, I need to have an extra computer handy.

Back to the game, and on to Hydroponics, section A.

Alright, I found the assault rifle!

Too bad I put all those points into energy weapon instead of standard weapon. I'll be lugging around this useless rifle for a while.

It seems stupid, but I just figured out that the good doctor who's been helping me over the radio must actually be Shodan. Sometimes I am slow; in my defense, its a bit of a trick. Shodan can supposedly fake a real human convincingly enough to fool someone who he may even have encountered? But she can't be bothered to ever do it again, and has to speak in a babel of voices? My best guess is she doesn't care to bother, except when it suits "her".

I drop off the plot token where I'm supposed to, and all the way back I am expecting to find newly spawned enemies in places I have cleared. That was the style of RPGs at the time, and its just an accepted cliche now. A few minor grunts spawned, but no major surprises, which is a surprise of sorts. I am out of plot tokens, and don't have a keycard for the last section, so I don't know where to go, but to backtrack.

Another aside:
It would have been kind of cool to wander the ship in-game, but before the disaster happened. I guess that could be kind of boring. Maybe they could make it optional, like a training segment with propped up FedEx puzzles for a bored Marine, spend time at the range, in the cyber simulator, etc. And maybe provide some small in-game bonus for characters that bother to go through the optional boring part.

OK, still no idea where to go next. Instead of wandering around the map for 10 minutes, maybe I'll just take a tiny peek at some hints... I missed two different cyber module pickups! This game really rewards exploring. Hmm, I was supposed to find access card to D on the body next to the assault rifle. Let's get back there.

Section D is fun, but small. Where's the last vial of toxin I need? Now what did I forget... Oh. I was supposed to smash out a window in that control room I was in. Let's see, small compact control room with glass windows, looking out on a clouded room, from which is emanating a deep humming sound. Does that seem like a good idea, on a space ship, to start smashing out every window I see, in case it leads somewhere interesting? Sounds like a good way to get you killed, or damage something important to the ship. Whatever.

Oh crap - the area on the ledge is the end of the level, and I still don't have a vial. The walkthrough I checked out assumes you already have it. Crap - what did I miss? Ahh, more breaking windows. This one is totally my fault, though. An office was visible through a window, both doors were blocked. Lack of imagination on my part, that one was really obvious. Two plot tokens in there.

Now I am enjoying one of the most basic of RPG problems, that of having too much stuff. And there's something glitchy about that hatch in Section D, where sometimes my stuff seems to reappear - not sure. I'm gathering all my loot on the floor in front of the elevator, that should be glitch free, but I hope nothing disappears.

Finished Arachnid research - having an implant for research is handy. I think I'll take two levels in repair. It doesn't cost much, and I can't use the EMP gun until I fix it. It might also be useful to repair some broken vending machines.

Finished the level, moved on to level 4, into a big empty room that seems made for a boss battle. I choose the first door on the right, and its a good one. I finally get to meet Dr. Polito. Like I said, I didn't see it coming until recently, but I still like it. Its a well written segment, and well delivered. It does a good job of putting you into a state of despair, and quiet acceptance of your fate. Until you know more, what else can you do but play along?

The backstory of how she got from there to here is a bit of a stretch, but its a decent tie-in to the previous game. That's always hard to pull off in a sequel, and this sounds good, if a little implausible. Actually, as time goes by and Fridge Logic kicks in, it seems increasingly unlikely that all these elements would coalesce here, but its forgivable.

System Shock 2: in the swing

Another opportunity for an OS Upgrade... I chose Smasher - the ability to do overhand swings. I have no idea what that means, but since my primary weapon is a wrench, let's find out. OK, nothing different on my regular swing, but now when I prime a swing the wrench goes up in the air, and I can quickly smash down with it. Can't wait to try it out.

I'm still annoyed that after putting all these points into Strength, it still takes two swings to take out a shotgun zombie. I hope Smasher or another point in Strength fixes that.

I found another item to research, so I need to go back down to Medical for more chemicals, and to touch a healing table. On this level you can go way to the right for a table, or way to the left, towards Crew Quarters. The left way is better, because there's a whole bunch of upgrade machines there, and the vending machine with the maintenance kits.

Darn, I need just 3 more cyber modules to use this energy rapier. I might as well spend what I can so I can use this laser pistol. It looks like I can only repair items to level 5, but I know it goes higher than that because I've found items higher. My Maintenance level is only level 3, so we'll find out later. It was frustrating at first trying to figure out why there are separate Repair and Maintenance skills - repair is for unjamming, and maintenance is for upping the maintenance level. I have to keep an eye on the maintenance level so it doesn't jam, because I don't want to have to spend any skill points on repair.

Came back to elevator. I found a Psi upgrade module, which I'm dropping off in the elevator. I don't think I'll be using it, and I'll wait for a module more appropriate to this fighter build.

Oops, forgot to get the chemical for my research. Time to go back.

First, its time to dump saves again. I probably don't need anywhere near this many saves, but its early and I don't know what's unimportant yet.

Crap - there's no more Na on this level. I think I need to go back to the engineering area. That's a bit of a hike. The mapping system helps a lot, at least.

Double-crap - there's no Na down here either. Now what? I guess I wait until I find another chemical storeroom.

Moving, I acquire the plot token for this level, which also requires research. I purposefully head down to the far chemical store room - might as well exhaust the distant supplies first.

Now I can afford to raise my energy weapon skill to 4, and use that damn lightsaber. I hope its worth it.

I just repaired (maintained) my shotgun, and it went from 3 to 6, so maybe my current maintenance just does +3 per tool.

There's something that's been bothering me for a long time now: the vending machine says 'Thank you for using Value Rep', but it sounds like its saying 'Value Wrap'.

Time to go wack some things with my light sword. Its good, but its so damn noisy.

Found another chemical storeroom, but still no sodium. Why is this so rare? I should be able to just pick up a salt shaker in the commissary!

I've been carrying around two implants for a while now, for strength and agility. I haven't been sure which to implant. I guess I can get the OS Upgrade to allow two implants. Either way, it seems like they will deplete fairly quickly, and I'll have to visit a charging station. I don't want to use strength, because it might adversely affect my weapons and inventory if that keeps dissapearing. I guess I'll try agility, and leave the other implant in the elevator.

This is crazy but I think I still need two whacks of the lightsaber to kill shotgun zombies. That makes no fucking sense. I have high strength, agility, and energy weapon, and I'm using the lightsaber. No sense.

Inventory getting full, time to streamline. I insert the agility implant - unexpectedly, I can remove it! OK, that's handy.

I drop off the grenade launcher, as I'm not going for heavy weapons yet, if at all. And I guess I can lose the wrench now too.

Later...

I know when I'm in a game, because its all I can think of, even when I'm not playing. I'm slowly getting there with this game, but its not full on. There are too many UI impedances, and there's way too many game mechanics going on. It still comes off as someone trying way too hard to jam everything they could into one game. This was still somewhat evident in the next game, Deus Ex, but by then it was somewhat more reasonable. I think I'll like this game, maybe even a lot, but I don't think I'll love it.

Anyway, back to the game. I have a French-Epstein device, when I drop it on a weapon it says weapon mod 1. The in-game help is no help, let's dare a look online. Oh cool, there's an item recycler somewhere in the game, that turns items into money. I was just wishing I could sell some of the stuff I know I won't use.

Oops, read the list of weapons in the game. I mean, my character is in the military, he should already know all the common weapons inside and out. It was bit revealing in that the site tells you what weapons will be good, and its mostly dissapointing. There's not much in the way of good weapons coming down the pike, I already have most of them. Sad.

OK, I found a site with some really good weapons info [ http://www.gamebanshee.com/systemshock2/weapons.php ]. Its not too spoilery, and gives some good info on what weapon mods actually do for your weapons. Now I'm kind of regretting spending so much on energy weapons. There's no great energy weapon coming down the pike, the laser pistol and sword I am already using are about it. It looks like its worth spending for a point in heavy just to use the grenade launcher, and it looks like some weapons called the crystal shard will be an even better melee weapon than the laser rapier.

I could go back a few saves, but I just don't care to. I'll soldier on with what I've got.

Another neat thing: it looks like Hack skill could really upgrade some vending machines. Lot of good info on the aforemention site, at the cost of some minor spoilers.

Upgraded maintenance, now I can fix items by +4. Bought two levels in Hack, though there's nothing that needs hacking right now.

I'm kind of lost now, don't know where to go. Found another laser pistol, doubles my ammo. More wandering around, frustrated, tempted to look online for a hint. But I know if I keep wandering I will find something. I find a door to section A, and at some point I must have found a keycard to it. Broken vending machine; I think I'll wander back and upgrade Hack to 3. I can afford Hack 4, I'll take it.

Wow, I ran into two cyborg midwives at once, sliced 'em up with the lightsaber without taking any damage.

This is kinda neat - much like I can carry around two laser pistols, and have available the full charge of each, I can carry around several implants, use one up, swap in another. It makes sense, and I like it.

Just getting into Section A, seems like a good time to step off for the evening.

character choice in RPGs

When I start playing a game, I play along. I want it to succeed at bringing me in to its reality, so like some hypnosis victim, I am predisposed to believe. So I always try and play in character. If the story is lacking or weak in explaining something about the world, I try to give them the benefit of the doubt. If there are in-game flaws that I can use to cheat the system, I try not to abuse them. I am a willing co-conspirator in the story.

I like to play the mage in RPGs, but all to often game mechanics are so complex its easy to end up very frustrated while trying to figure out the game and to also figure out the magic system at the same time. Now I'm trying something new in the game I'm currently playing - I'm taking the fighter role that I have always ignored. If the game offers the usual RPG roles of fighter, mage, thief, etc. then you can probably finish the game as any of them. The role of fighter is always the baseline, so I'll take that to learn the game. Assuming the game is any good, I can do another playthrough as mage.

I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but the game I'm playing right now (System Shock 2) pushed me over the line. This game has a ton of choices, and if I can learn most of it without having to try and master the magic of the game (psionics), maybe I can enjoy the story that much more.

System Shock 2 : moving the ball forward

If you hit the Print Screen button in-game, you get a 1920x1200 (my native screen size) bmp. If you hit the Print Screen button while in the load menu, you get two 640x480 bmps.

Also in-game, if you use the in-game screen shot combo of Control+F9, you get a PCX file, but there's hardly any program now that can even view those. And it won't take a shot of the load screen at all, so its useless. So, Print Screen is what I'll use.

First, some out of game housekeeping:
make a RAR of save_0 through save_14,
delete save_0 through save_13,
rename save_14 to save_0,
start game.
My save game list is now empty except for my starter slot, which I can now load and immediately save over my old quicksave.

Hmm, my use key is messed up again; back to the mod manager.
C:\Sshock2\SS2MM\ss2mm.exe.
This keeps happening. I'm glad the mod manager is there to fix it.

OK, time to to get out of the Cargo Bay, and on to something more interesting sounding, like "Command Control". How quaint, fighting amongst explosive barrels; very turn of the century. Found some upgrade stations, made a small discovery. Because I can have so many menus open at once, I can upgrade my Maintenance skill, repair my weapons with great efficiency, then undo the skill upgrade and my weapons are still fixed. Is this a cheat? Of course it is, and I really don't need it. For now, I'll stay in character, and live with what I spent.

I'm at the Systems Monitoring Unit, and it wants me to Install Hardware Override. What? I know its just a stupid FedEx puzzle, but I don't remember it and its not even in my in-game to-do list. A quick look online (avoiding spoilers), and I'm not even supposed to be here yet. Back to Engineering.

Wow, you have to backtrack pretty far, to sections I had already forgotten, to get the next FedEx puzzle piece. I feel lazy for looking at online hints, but I don't think I would have thought to go this far back with out a lot of hair pulling. This much backtracking is just not done in most game, but I guess I'll have to be aware of it here.

Great, grabbed the thing, took it to the other end of the map, delivered the thing. Got more pats on the back from my handler, and some more upgrade tokens. Is my handler hoarding the tokens from me, when I could be using them right now to save humanity, or whatever it is we're doing? I don't like to be made to feel like I'm playing a game, instead of having an experience.

Not sure what upgrades to buy now, but this wrench thing has been working out for me, so how about more Strength and Endurance.

More backtracking, all the way to the beginning of this level, to a door I've long forgotten, that is now open. Flip some switches in there. Now where to go? Its so tempting to get some hints online, but then I might as well just watch a walkthrough to finish this game. That has some appeal, but I'll see if I can stand wandering around a bit.

Nice, studying the map payed off, I found where I needed to be, and its nearby. There are so many huge tacky signs every where, announcing where you are, but this really important room is behind a nondescript door in a shadowy corner.

I find more doors and keypads that are not being addressed - I can only assume I'll be backtracking to here somewhere down the line.

Oh, something I picked up from the hints was the look of really bright screenshots. I don't want to ruin the atmosphere by washing out the visuals, but I turn up my gamma a bit and everything gets clearer. I thought I had already turned it up, but I guess I didn't, or not enough.

So, now I can access decks 2 and 3. All this so far was one deck. Off to medical... oh yes, I remember this area now, this is where I started. Maybe I can find a healing machine here. Another thing I'd like to try is caching inventory in the elevator, since it seems to be the central link. I'll start my dropping my Psi Amp in there; I don't think I'll be using that in this playthrough. If it disappears, so be it.

I may as well wander around Deck 2 and reacquaint myself with it. Who knows where I'll have to backtrack, or what resources might come in handy later. At the least it might be useful to track where the nearest healing, recharge, and vending machines are.

Woah - I found a shotgun on a corpse at repair level 5 - how did I miss that!

Oh yeah, the healing table costs 5 nanites (the money in this game), but its still a bargain. A food item that costs 3 only heals you for one point, and the table goes all the way.

Crap! I just found a voice log on a cart - how did I miss this one.

I now find myself in a curious situation, which is kind of like cheating, but not really. As I wander around the medical level, zombies keep spawning around every corner. The shotgun zombies are annoying, occasionally taking off a few points of health, but the melee zombies are easy. I slowly accumulate nanites, healing hypos, and some shotgun shells. The nanites that I harvest more than pays for the occasional need for a trip to a healing table. Am I cheating? Or using the games stupid endless zombie spawning against itself? Its not so profitable a venture that I want to keep this up.

Just as I think I'm going to stop this foolishness, I wrench a shotgun zombie who's carrying 12 pistol rounds. Now that's a profit.

Darn, I found a lightsaber, but I still can't afford enough weapon upgrades to use it. It sure looks a lot like the Dragon's Tooth from Deus Ex.

More stuff I missed - a grenade launcher in crew quarters! I guess my eyes are getting used to these old blocky graphics.

Ah finally - I knew it was out there somewhere - a vending machine with repair devices (in crew quarters, near the cluster of upgrade machines). Now I can take advantage of all my spend on maintenance skill.

Back to elevator - psi amp still on ground, a good sign for caching.

System Shock 2: err, what?

I've been avoiding it. Real life has called me away a lot lately, but I have to face up to this game not really drawing me in. I feel guilty, like when I'm bored reading a great classic novel. Let's extend every effort.

I hope I can pick up where I left off. Restoring last save, titled "upgraded Standard, Repair". I recall that you can't use quick load until you're in a game. Oh that's weird, my quick save and quick load keys are set to empty - I know I was using them. I'll reset them to F5 to save, F9 to load... it won't accept those. How about comma and period... OK. Now I'm having trouble taking items - I remember having this problem before, and solving it. Why is it back?

Oh, its because I customized keys. Looking back through my notes... OK, run the mod manager, Tools -> Fix Use-Mode. No problem, I get back into it fairly quickly, but I will admit to a lot of quick saving and reloading.

Wow, that's some cut scene, reminds me of Lovecraft. Despite the ancient graphics, the voicework really sells it. I eagerly await more. I'll probably have to smack a lot more mutants with my wrench before that happens.

Some basic questions - can you unload a found weapon, then toss it? Research... yep, its there. Open inventory, right-click item, click Unload, toss.

What do I do about my weapon repair continually dropping? Maintenance? Repair? Toss and find new one? A little research reveals repair as the best way. Nobody seems to mention low repair being a negative on weapon performance.