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 Introduction System Shock is a first person adventure game with cyberpunk / horror themes, developed by Looking Glass Technologies and released in 1994. After tampering with Citadel Station AI, Shodan, at the behest of a TriOptimum VP you, the "Hacker," are outfitted with a military grade neural implant and put into a healing coma for six months. Upon waking it becomes immediately clear that all is not well on Citadel Station, and our mission to prevent a catastrophe on Earth - and hopefully save our own life - begins. About the Playthrough The game was originally released on floppy disks, but a CD version (the version we'll be playing) was released just a few months later. We'll be playing on a real MS-DOS retro PC using the CD-ROM Classics release of the game at 640x480 resolution. I've never played the game before, but I think I'm going to see how far we can get by just using the pipe you find at the beginning of the game as a weapon (please ignore a minor slip up where I may or may not have accidentally shot a robot with the dart gun in the first episode). My budget release boxed copy:  Technical Notes PC Specs: pre:OS: MS-DOS 6.22 Motherboard: MSI 815EPT Pro v5 CPU: Pentium III 1266S GPU (AGP): ATI Rage Pro Turbo (8MB) Sound Card (PCI): DCS S817 (YMF724) Music: Roland SC-55 RAM: 256MB 133Mhz SDRAM (64MB Usable) Storage: 120GB ATA/100 Seagate HDD (1.9GB Usable) Optical: 56X IDE CDROM Drive  We need a fairly powerful PC for 640x480 resolution because the game is rendered entirely in software. That means our graphics card really doesn't have much impact on performance, since everything is done on the CPU. 640x480 mode seems to have some screen tearing, which is present even on my CRT monitor - I haven't tested it, but there might be less (or none) if you stick with 320x200 mode. I've also lowered the brightness a bit from what you might see in DOSBox to more closely match my CRT, but if the videos end up being too dark I can tweak it. The controls are wonky in this game - a true product of the 90's. Instead of WASD you get ASDX where S moves you forward and X moves you back. A and D turn while Z and C strafe. Then you've got your lean left and lean right buttons at Q and E with W centering you, and look up and look down on R and V, F centering your view. Finally T, G and B allow you to stand, crouch or crawl, respectively. Holding down Shift while moving sprints, and Space jumps. None of these keys are rebindable to the best of my knowledge and there is no mouselook in this version of the game. Basically, if you want to try out the original System Shock, you might have an easier time of things playing the Enhanced Edition that has a few quality of life improvements including rebindable keys and mouselook. Series Playlist
It's video games. Every day...ish. rojovision fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Apr 25, 2023 |
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Sep 6, 2022 03:30
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Screenshots     
rojovision fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Apr 25, 2023 |
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Sep 6, 2022 03:30
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also reserved
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Sep 6, 2022 03:31
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 Episode 1 - Look at You, Hacker The video output was a bit softer than expected for this one - I think I can make future episodes slightly sharper. rojovision fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Sep 19, 2022 |
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Sep 6, 2022 03:32
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I dont know what it is, but I have a soft spot for these early adventure/RPG/FPS hybrid games. Trying to hit this cold with the time limit on would be brutal! So if difficulty 3 for "mission" is "there's no time limit", then what happens for the lower difficulty levels?
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Sep 7, 2022 12:04
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Crazy Achmed posted:So if difficulty 3 for "mission" is "there's no time limit", then what happens for the lower difficulty levels? Difficulty 3 says there is a time limit. There's no limit on lower difficulties. 
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Sep 7, 2022 12:12
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Tiggum posted:Difficulty 3 says there is a time limit. There's no limit on lower difficulties. Oh, sorry, I meant difficulty 2. So if the time limit is removed for 2, then how does it (presumably) get easier on 1 and 0?
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Sep 7, 2022 12:15
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Crazy Achmed posted:Oh, sorry, I meant difficulty 2. So if the time limit is removed for 2, then how does it (presumably) get easier on 1 and 0? That's a good question. I don't know the exact details of what this means, but from the manual: COMBAT. Sets fighting skill for your opponents. To avoid confrontations, select “0.” For a challenging fight, select a higher setting. MISSION. Sets playing difficulty for the overall story. Select “0” if you want no plot elements, “3” to test your skills against SHODAN’s best defenses. PUZZLES. Adjusts difficulty of wiring and grid access panels. Puzzles are already solved at the “0” setting. At “1,” they’re easy to solve. “2” puzzles are engaging, but not too difficult for hardcore jockeys. On “3,” you’ll wear out your electrodes. CYBERSPACE. Sets game difficulty during cyberspace sequences. This affects both time limits and combat difficulty in cyberspace. I tried playing around offscreen briefly and on Plot Level 1 there's no keycard in your stash to open the first door to progress past the initial room (door still opens, obviously, it's just unlocked). The in game "Text Length" option is also defaulted to "Terse" which shortens the flavor text, so the note you leave yourself goes from like 3 pages of text to 1. On plot level 0 there seem to be no logs at all, so "no plot elements" seems to be literal. On level 3 there's a 7 hour timer that shows up on the HUD. Maybe I'll make an extra video showcasing the differences in difficulty after we get a couple more episodes in. rojovision fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Sep 7, 2022 |
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Sep 7, 2022 14:29
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rojovision posted:MISSION. Sets playing difficulty for the overall story. Select “0” if you want no plot elements, “3” to
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Sep 7, 2022 15:01
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My brother and I have always heard the medbots sound as "your memos are never good" it's an inside joke for us.
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Sep 7, 2022 15:40
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Somehow eight year old me figured out how to play this game without actually knowing english and i suspect the little was smarter than i am
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Sep 7, 2022 15:41
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You may want to try the GOG enhanced version, it's probably better for modern computers.
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Sep 7, 2022 18:17
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By popular demand posted:You may want to try the GOG enhanced version, it's probably better for modern computers. Yeah I'd say that's the way to go for someone who just wants to try the game without fighting with 90's controls. I played around with it a little bit, and it seems to work well - the widescreen in particular is nice on a modern display. As far as this specific playthrough goes, I'm trying to present the game in its native operating environment (though not necessarily with period correct hardware). There are probably a dozen or more EE playthroughs out there and just as many of the original in DOSBox, but probably only a couple on a real MS-DOS machine. On a personal level I also want to experience old games with whatever their quirks might be - hanging from CD loads, weird bugs, goofy controls, etc. Hopefully people end up finding it as interesting as I do.
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Sep 7, 2022 18:30
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 Episode 2 - The Big Plan
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Sep 9, 2022 16:02
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Hell yeah, System Shock rocking out with the absolutely worst soundtrack imaginable. I love it.
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Sep 10, 2022 20:37
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I normally only follow screenshot LPs, but I might make an exception here. Playing the slightly more modern 'Enhanced Edition' is brave... playing the original on original hardware is walking through Hell in gasoline knickers.PurpleXVI posted:Hell yeah, System Shock rocking out with the absolutely worst soundtrack imaginable. I love it. Ha ha
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Sep 10, 2022 23:22
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Hey, I love System Shock, it provided the DNA for some of my favourite games ever, but some of the tracks are just... oh dear God they are just what they are. I also love how the BERSERKER PACK makes the game look like Cruelty Squad. PurpleXVI fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Sep 10, 2022 |
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Sep 10, 2022 23:33
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The muzak one in the elevator is my favorite!
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Sep 10, 2022 23:40
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It's good to see that the pipe is carrying you this far, but surely it'll be less interesting if you restrict yourself to just one weapon?
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Sep 11, 2022 00:03
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Crazy Achmed posted:It's good to see that the pipe is carrying you this far, but surely it'll be less interesting if you restrict yourself to just one weapon? I guess it depends on what you're looking for. I think it's interesting to see how far we can get in the game with just the starting weapon. However, I didn't bill the playthrough as a challenge run because I don't know if pipe only is even feasible for any playthrough, much less a first one. I've already got another video ready for Monday, but after that we may start to use our other weapons - without spoiling anything specific, let's just say that the limitations of the pipe will soon become more apparent than they already are.
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Sep 11, 2022 07:04
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Yeah, I guess it's pretty on-brand for this as a proto-survival-horror sort of game to be scarce on ammo, so not wasting precious bullets on low level mooks is definitely par the course. Especially when the game's been fairly liberal on handing out medi and berserk patches, I'm definitely feeling my gamer hoarder syndrome 
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Sep 11, 2022 07:14
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Citadel Cyberspace embraces the Internet of Things.
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Sep 11, 2022 08:33
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Oh also, if it was the inspiration for the sequel, you never 'clear' an area, enemies can respawn where you've already been
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Sep 11, 2022 10:42
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ASDX are the proper controls, games since have been getting it wrong (though I'll agree re-binding should have been included for different keyboards). Pipe-only is a challenge and you'll probably want to use other weapons in at least a few places. I think it is technically possible to finish the game with the pipe unlike in SS2 but it'd be hard/tedious on a first time through.
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Sep 12, 2022 06:51
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Holy cow, the original System Shock on an original '90s PC. That's... pretty high effort. The original game was kinda typical-ish? I seem to think that there were a lot of games that had a similar feel and story to this. But it was SHODAN who made System Shock special.
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Sep 12, 2022 08:30
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 Episode 3 - Leaden Limitations We will most likely try out some weapons other than the pipe next time.
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Sep 12, 2022 16:04
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I think my biggest surprise is you actually listening to SHODAN when she tells you to piss off and stay away from her high security areas. I feel like that would generally attract me to it when the game's villain tells me to stay away. 
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Sep 12, 2022 22:55
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PurpleXVI posted:I think my biggest surprise is you actually listening to SHODAN when she tells you to piss off and stay away from her high security areas. I feel like that would generally attract me to it when the game's villain tells me to stay away. Whaqt do you mean villain, she's just trying to run the station as efficiently as possible. Giving people all these cybernetic enhancements for free to help with their work
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Sep 13, 2022 00:14
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Veloxyll posted:Oh also, if it was the inspiration for the sequel, you never 'clear' an area, enemies can respawn where you've already been It seems like that's the case so far. Probably to dissuade you from constantly going back for the free healing and as an obstacle after respawning. Kangra posted:ASDX are the proper controls, games since have been getting it wrong (though I'll agree re-binding should have been included for different keyboards). I'm surprised to say it, but I can see the case for it since you're moving forward 90% of the time in these games. You'd just want to change turning left and right to strafing for a modern mouselook game. I'm all for ESDF over WASD personally since that's where your fingers are supposed to be on a regular QWERTY keyboard, but maybe I'll try SDFC sometime. This game might have been slightly too early for rebindable keys. I don't recall exactly when that became a fairly standard feature. painedforever posted:The original game was kinda typical-ish? I seem to think that there were a lot of games that had a similar feel and story to this. But it was SHODAN who made System Shock special. I'm curious what some of those other games might be, especially if they flew farther under the radar than SS did. I've played through the first Ultima Underworld at least, which I assume was more popular because Ultima, but I'm not sure. SHODAN has been great so far, especially with the voice work and associated FX. PurpleXVI posted:I think my biggest surprise is you actually listening to SHODAN when she tells you to piss off and stay away from her high security areas. I feel like that would generally attract me to it when the game's villain tells me to stay away. Haha, well I figured I'd see what happens, though it doesn't seem like it made much difference. I typically don't heed the warnings either when games tell me I better not do something, or else, especially when save scumming is on the table.
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Sep 13, 2022 00:58
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rojovision posted:I'm curious what some of those other games might be, especially if they flew farther under the radar than SS did. I've played through the first Ultima Underworld at least, which I assume was more popular because Ultima, but I'm not sure. SHODAN has been great so far, especially with the voice work and associated FX. I'm gonna have to do research, aren't I? You know I'm old, right? I'm going to have to shove around my few remaining marbles and figure out what came out 1994-ish. Oh man, there were so many flight sims back in 1994! I miss it. I think I was happier back then... I can't believe Doom and Robocop vs Terminator were 1993! Weird. But that's not what we're looking for. Right. Corridor 7 was an FPS in which you hunted aliens, and got health from special rooms, and got ammo from various dispensors. Creature Shock had you exploring an abandoned spaceship, and the crew of the ship turned into weird alien/demon/things. Cyberwar, I think, had the same aesthetic. It was based off of some movie too. Iron Angel of the Apocalypse was a weird and trippy sort of game. I don't remember the story, but it had the same weirdly lighted corridors and weird mutant and robot enemies. Sensory Overload was an FPS, and had an inventory system, and stuff to read and look at and things. Pathways into Darkness had a non-linear path through various levels, an inventory, and a leveling system. This isn't a comprehensive list, by the way. I seem to recall another game that had a thing about plugging into cyberspace to hack various things, and then walking around a spacestation or something, but I'll be damned if I can remember the name.
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Sep 13, 2022 06:59
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painedforever posted:I'm gonna have to do research, aren't I? You know I'm old, right? I'm going to have to shove around my few remaining marbles and figure out what came out 1994-ish. Space Quest V?
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Sep 13, 2022 08:09
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Veloxyll posted:Space Quest V? No. C'mon man, don't take the piss. That was an Adventure game. I was talking about FPS games that had the same sort of feel as the original System Shock.
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Sep 13, 2022 08:26
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From what I know, pathways into darkness has a similar vibe in that it's as much (or more) dungeon crawl adventure than it is fps action game. Although from my read on its original design document, doom seems like it was meant to be much more similar to system shock than how it ended up. [edit]blake stone was december 1993 so nearly 1994. It had friendly NPCs, vending machines, and I think also backtracking to previous levels? But at the end of the day it was still very much scifi wolf3d. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 09:42 on Sep 13, 2022 |
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Sep 13, 2022 09:35
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Crazy Achmed posted:From what I know, pathways into darkness has a similar vibe in that it's as much (or more) dungeon crawl adventure than it is fps action game. Wasn't Doom supposed to be an RPG? Or am I thinking of Quake? And then Daikatana became what John Romera always wanted to make, and Quake II became what John Carmack wanted to make, and they were both poo poo because they both needed someone to balance out the other's ego-trips? System Shock was Warren Spector, right?
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Sep 13, 2022 11:16
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painedforever posted:Wasn't Doom supposed to be an RPG? Or am I thinking of Quake? And then Daikatana became what John Romera always wanted to make, and Quake II became what John Carmack wanted to make, and they were both poo poo because they both needed someone to balance out the other's ego-trips? I think you're thinking of Quake, yeah, it was originally supposed to be a fantasy RPG of some sort. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spector#Video_games System Shock was absolutely Warren Spector. In that period, any RPG or FPS/RPG that made some sort of coherent statement about capitalism or politics usually had Spector on board.
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Sep 13, 2022 11:30
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painedforever posted:I'm gonna have to do research, aren't I? You know I'm old, right? I'm going to have to shove around my few remaining marbles and figure out what came out 1994-ish. Cool, there are a couple in the list I've never heard of so I'll have to check them out, thanks.
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Sep 13, 2022 16:54
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Seeing you saving in the same slot all the time makes me nervous that you'll accidentally save right before something is about to kill you  When I played this way back when, I went way overboard on keeping different saves just in case!
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Sep 13, 2022 19:16
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Pseudohog posted:Seeing you saving in the same slot all the time makes me nervous that you'll accidentally save right before something is about to kill you I use every available save slot in every game I play. I can't imagine any reason not to.
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Sep 14, 2022 03:49
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Tiggum posted:I use every available save slot in every game I play. I can't imagine any reason not to. I keep saving in the same slot. Having multiple save files feels very untidy. And that's also why I usually end up not being able to finish games, because I'll screw something up on my primary savefile, and then don't have any way of rolling it back.
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Sep 14, 2022 06:27
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 Episode 4 - Going Up
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Sep 16, 2022 17:35
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