The System Shock games are my all time favourite! I was around when the ShockEd was about and tried to contribute material then. With the coming of NWN, I transfered my project to design my own “Sytem Shock” style game there.

It’s great to see this game still receieving the attention it deserves, and while I did buy and play Bioshock, I still miss the greater RPG elements that came with SS2.

By the way, if anybody is interested in playeing my own module (a definite homage to System Shock 2), then feel free: It’s called Soul Shaker: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=5418 (NWN with expansions required.)

I stil dream of a System Shock 3 with the same gaming elements as the originals. I still have both SS1 (original and enhanced version) and SS2 (original) and hope I might play them again some time in the future, when the memory fades and the puzzles need rethinking.

Lance.

Well thanks but it seems i have won an achievement for most voted down post

By the way, i was thinking about how one can program the “reaction” stat into a non-turn based combat system.

For instance in ME2, one of the few cool things in my opinion is that the baddies try to flank you. However your NPC squad members dont appear top notice so its up to the PC to keep checking his radar to make sure no enemies are flanking.

Would it not be relatively simple to base the XCOM “reaction” stat on your squad mate’s ability to notice the flanking move? So its not about opporunistic fire reactions by based on their ability to notice the falnking and cover your left, right or rear?

I know Mr Levine claims he is the biggest XCOM fan ever but he is quite wrong about that. I am !

Because this blog is about “what might have been”, i wanted to draw peoples attention to Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 in relation to how the mechanics of a new XCOM squad based game might turn out, whether Irrational is working on this or not.

I’m sure some of you at Irrational have probably been playing ME2 from either a personal enjoyment perspective or from a professional “keeping an eye on the competiion” perspective.

In any case, i have to say i am sorely dissapointed with ME2, considering that ME1 was actually a very interesting game with some new innovations in mixing RPG mechanics into a sci-fi squad based game which did not start with the words “Star Wars”.

If anyone has noticed they scratched almost all complexity and RPG type mechanics from ME2 in order to create a much smoother level-level shooter. Okay so perhaps that is where the money is but there are a lot of mature gamers like myself, who grew up on classics such as Xcom Ufo Enemy Unknown/terror from the deep, both System Shocks, Deus Ex, and other mid 90s to early 2000s games. We are sorely dissapoined with ME2 because it could have been far better from a game depth point of view. Unfortunately ME2 plays like a shooter with some nice cut-scenes, but is otherwise a mindless point and shoot game. ME1 was far better in that the ME universe was somehwat open ended and non-linear, and at least its mission maps did not close after you have pass through. There is just something really annoying about playing a game where you feel there is always a big pointy hand telling you where to go next.

So where does XCOM fit into this?

My view is that XCOM, developed as a squad based RPG, with the PC playing the commander/leader from a thrid person perspective as in ME1, could be absolutely the perfect sequel to the great XCOM franchise.

While the oroginal Xcom was not your typical RPG and some would argue it was not RPG at all, i would argue with that.

One vital aspect of playing on high difficulty levels in the first XCOM was getting the right squad with fast reaction times for those wonderful opportunistic shots when the aliens were moving around the map. If we remmeber corently there were a load of statistics for each soldier which would only imrpove on surface mission if they used their skills. That is a very RPG mechanic and one which could be ever better implemented today.

Anyways, i dont know if anyone at Irrational will read this but i wanted to put my thoughts down about just hopw great a modern RPG based XCOm could be. Look at how successful the first ME game was, and imagine you could drag all that crown over, plus the army of old XCOm fans like myself.,

All i beg is that you dont make a dumbed down shooter game, which lacks intelligent complexity. Please

I bought it, started playing, and by the time I reached deck 4 I was in a very bad mood because SHODAN hadn’t appeared yet.

Then I entered Polito’s room and when I heard SHODAN saying “The Polito for is dead, insect. Are you afraid?”, I just couldnt hold my tears of pure emotion.

For me, that is one of the greatest moments in the history of computer games along with Ryan’s scene in BioShock.

I also walked the Earth with this creeping suspicion in the back of my head. “Maybe I’m just getting old and bitter.”

Then I played Cave Story, and later Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Maybe it’s true that it’s harder to be immersed as we get older, but there are a few newer titles out there who will give me that feeling, so I dare say that a lot of good games today lack the soul that a lot of old goodies have.

Thank you for submitting this cool story – Trackback from Gamerang is the best place to rent video games for $14.95 per month – buy video games, compare prices, read reviews and game ratings….

The one exception is System Shock. Both versions. I’ve already posted that I suspect Project Icarus to be SS3. I still have copies of 1 and 2 sitting here, and I re-run SS2 once in a while. Just found a way to get SS1 running on my computer this evening. So I’ll be busy for a little while…

Incidentally, the first time I played SS2 and got to the dead Polito scene, my reaction was literally “Oh shit.” My wife was sitting there too; she’d seen SS1 and said the same thing.

Sounds like a fantastic game! Would totally play that,.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by irrationalgames: Creative Director Ken Levine shares untold System Shock 2 secrets. http://bit.ly/dlTsaA...

Maybe next time around, if you guys ever get chance to do another System Shock, then you can fully realise all those ideas.

Its funny, even after all this time, I still haven’t played another game that has immersed me so much into the game world as SS2 did. Bio Shock was great, as was Fallout 3 and STALKER, but none have had that same level of immersion I felt. Now that I’m older, I’m starting to wonder if its just games in general that arent as immersive, or if its actually me that understands how they work better, therefore they no longer trick me into that immersive state of mind.