I carry on finding all the numbers I need from the CPU rooms. For the fifth floor I honestly had no idea where that room was and I didn’t take a screenshot at the time so I ended up searching all over until I blundered into a screen with a number on it.

I work my way through the rest of the levels backwards at a much quicker speed as I can head straight for the right room each time.

Its then back to the Reactor level for the area I’ve not explored yet. Apart from being highly radioactive its extremely well guarded and I need a few attempts to get through as I’m hacked down in seconds before I’ve thinned the numbers down.

The reactor code has to be enterred into a panel up inside the reactor rods. I activate an anti-gravity pad and float up to the top. I try entering the three numbers from the first 3 levels first. It sounds to have accepted this but nothing happens. I then try the same with levels 4-6. This time it works and I can pull the lever to start the reactor explosion.

Shodan doesn’t take too well to this and releases a load of new minions to make my progress all the way back to the escape pods difficult.

When I get to Level 5, I get a message from Edward Diego who is still around. It turns out that the dual lightsabre bloke I fought earlier on was a cyborg version of him. This wasn’t clear at the time (although it was his office that I fought him in).

He is waiting for me by the escape pods so I have to defeat him once more. Again he teleports away at the end.

I open up an escape pod using the code I got in an email much earlier….

….and pull the launch lever. The countdown begins and it looks like I’ve won.

Shodan has other ideas. I kind of wish I hadn’t known how many levels were in this game beforehand as this might have come as a surprise. I’m told by Rebecca that I now have to get to the bridge (via security).

The security level is where Shodan has been building her fortress that I’ve been hearing about throughout the game. This level is tall with things flying around way above that shoot me if I don’t take them out. As ever this level is very different to whats gone before. It puts me in mind a bit of some of the city levels in Doom 2. There is definitely an outdoor feeling to things with such a high ceiling.

My aim on this level is to turn on a lightbridge to allow me access to the bridge. I’m guessing that the bridge will end up being here.

I slowly work my way around the outside of the central structure. I’ve not found anywhere to heal so I have to be careful. If I start getting shot at, its often hard to figure out where the cyborg thats shooting me is. There are a lot of them on platforms half-way up buildings as well as the ones that are flying around. On the far side of the central building I find a door with a recharge station in it. This will help a lot and I can just leave my shield on all the time.

From here I work my way into one of the outer buildings and things revert back to normal. This is a lot easier as I know where enemies are coming from. I find a command access card in an office.

The CPU node room is in this building also. I’m not sure if there is any benefit to destroying these on this level but since I’m here I may as well.

I find a log from Edward Diego who has obviously been here first. He does appear to be wholeheartedly supporting Shodan.

There is another Cyberspace node here. Cyberspace is largely empty this time around. I also have to navigate myself through the tunnels rather than being sucked through + there are no arrows to guide me. This is actually a lot easier as I can slow down.

I manage to open some detention cells but I’ve no idea where these are. Writing this now I’m thinking of the locked up area on level 6 but thats just a guess. There would have to be something very nice in there for me to go all the way back at this point and all I remember seeing is a load of mutants.

I find a new weapon – a plasma rifle. This thing goes through energy very quickly but can kill plenty of creatures in one hit. The shots bounce around as well so I can shoot round corners. The downside is that my shots can bounce back off an enemy and hit me.

I must be getting near now as I get an email from Earth telling me what to do on the bridge + a little map of the level.

I find the switch to activate the force bridge nearby. This is shown being activated on the screen next to it. These screens that show a realtime view of the world must have been a first for System Shock. It’s the sort of thing we take for granted these days but I can’t think of a game where I saw this again until years after this. The textures are very low res on the downside.

The bridge pops up just where I expected it and I head back and into the central building.

I have to climb a really large ladder through a radiactive area and then enter a very strange looking room. I’m getting messages that Shodan is attempting to separate the bridge at this point so I don’t hang around.

I find the lift and try to open it only to be told I need an access card. At this point Diego pops out of nowhere right behind me and I have to fight him again a final time. I don’t have too much trouble with this but the second he dies a load more mutants are lowered into the room. I end up using a few powerups to get me through this area. I grab a new access card off Diego’s body afterwards.

That gets me into the elevator and I finally reach the bridge. I stopped here – in the end I only managed about 2 hours on this yesterday later yesterday evening and rather than attempting to rush this last level I decided to leave it for tonight. I’ve no idea if there are 5 minutes or another couple of hours left at this point.

I went into this game with very high expectations and it hasn’t let me down. The story and level design have both been uniformly excellent and technically the game was way ahead of its time. I still prefer the Underworld games but that may be mainly due to the fact that I remember what it was like to play them back in 1992/3. System Shock on the other hand has to compete with another 15 years of FPS games. Even given this, it still holds up amazingly well – the gameplay here is far more involved than your standard FPS and we would be waiting years for anything that could compete.

I can see how System Shock would make it into a list of the best games ever on that basis although I find it hard to get that attached to an FPS myself. For me most FPS games tend to be technology showcases that date incredibly quickly and are not really worth going back to years down the line. System Shock has more to offer than that and is well worth anyone’s time if they can look past the dated graphics and odd controls but there are still newer games I’d play first.

As much as I like this game, for someone who regards Ultima Underworld as possibly their favourite game of all time, its hard not to see System Shock as a bit of a dumbing down. Technically this game was extremely impressive but its only incremental improvements to what we had already seen in Ultima Underworld (a game which needed to run on a 386) and for those incremental improvements we’ve seen backward steps in other areas (i.e. no conversation system, stats, etc). In short, I’d have preferred a 3D RPG rather than a FPS but playing this has still been some of the most fun I’ve had in this blog and I’ll definitely be trying out System Shock 2 after I finish up with all these Origin games.

Even allowing for messing around with bugs I made a lot of progress on System Shock yesterday so this will be a lengthy post.

I started out by following the advice to complete levels 4 & 5 before attempting 6 so I headed back down to level 4 which is the storage level.  There are the usual new collection of critters including these flying mutants.

I stumble upon the healing chamber quickly. This will make life a lot easier.

I find the room full of CPU nodes in no time.  Its well guarded but my lightsabre weapon seems to chew through any of the games enemies in no time. The only trick is getting close enough to use it.

I come across an area where I have to jump between gaps to attempt to get to the far side of this room. Down below is a pit full of mutants ready for me if I fall.

At the far side is a room full of all sorts of goodies including plastique which I’ll be needing later.

Another area has a set of anti-gravity pads only some of them don’t have any effect unless you hit them a long way off the ground. Its a bit of a 3D maze where I have to find the right route after flipping a few levers.

What I’m really looking for it this environmental suit I’ve been hearing about since Level 2. I get a log which did have the combination on to open a storage room with the suit behind it. Unfortunately its garbled and I can only hear the first number.

I find another log which gives me the last number. There may be another somewhere with the middle one but I can live with keying in 10 numbers and just guess instead.

The environmental suit is inside along with a few other goodies.

I finish off exploring the level and find some jump jets which I can use to rocket myself upwards and reach inaccessible areas. I’ve not used these a whole lot but they do come in handy occasionally although at a huge energy cost.

I head for level 5 and get another email from the survivors trying to make there way off the station.

The level is where all the spaceships dock so its full of big docking areas like this one.

Ther is a button puzzle here where these buttons affect the bridge you can faintly see in the background with each button turing some bits on and others off. I don’t manage to complete the bridge but leave it with a single gap I can just jump over.

Shodan has set a trap for me in one corner of the level, although in all honesty its not much more dangerous than most other rooms. I kill off the guards and use the cyberspace node in here.

I unlock a bay door while I’m in cyberspace and pick up a few new bits of software. The cubes that have blue lines around them are protected by ICE which I have to use my drill on. If the drill software isn’t sufficently high version the ICE starts attacking me and since its invulnerable I just have to leave it. No doubt I can come back later.
 

The life pods are on this level but I can’t use them yet. No doubt I’ll be back later.

I finally find the healing chamber near by. Finding these is a key point on any level and it all becomes very easy as soon as I do.

I follow a series of “Grays” on the walls…

and make it to whats left of the people who have been emailing me. The biggest robot yet is guarding the room. I hide round the corner and magpulse it into submission.

I get a new assault rifle for my trouble.

There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to do on Level 5 after this point so I head back for level 6. This level had 4 groves on it (1 of which has been jettisoned). Shodan is using Beta Grove to grow her mutagen and I need to eject it from the ship. I can’t eject it until I’ve set all the other groves to eject also thanks to a bit of rewiring from Shodan so my first job here is to head to all these groves and flip a switch.

I head into my first grove. They may look green and pleasant but there are loads of mutant plants and the like around to make life difficult for me.

After a lot of exploring I find the switch I need to press.

Its back to level 6 – I find the much needed cryo chamber.

I’ve got a bit more background story. Edward Diego apparently lured all the crew of this level into the dining room and then sold them out to Shodan. I’m unclear as to what his motives are but it appears he either wanted this to happen or is playing along to save his own bacon.

I find another cyberspace area and unlock a storage closet.

The creatures guarding cyberspace keep getting tougher but on the whole its not too difficult as I can just keep trying. The only major problem I have is if I try to deice something and can’t manage it.

I head for another grove and flip another switch.

There is some sort of open air cinema for the executives on this level. Its one of the most dangerous areas on the level now with a lot of cyborgs around.

I find a maintenance access area down in the SE of the level.

This gets me to the CPU node room.

and also further on to an exceptionally well guarded area which is tough enough before I run into this dual lightsabre wielding guy. I resort to using my magpulse and about 10 hits later he’s down.

The master jettison control is here. I try flipping it but I just get a message telling me that I haven’t done all the groves yet.

The last grove remaining is beta grove. This place is toxic and even with my environmental suit I use a lot of the health packs and batteries I’ve been carrying around for the last few levels.

The button I need to press is actually right by the entrance. I don’t find it until after I’ve cleared out all the camera’s and got into the secure area on the grove. All the 3 groves have this sort of area which is inaccessible until all the cameras are down.

It’s back to the master control switch only nothing happens….. I’m supposed to get a message about a relay failure at this point. I spend ages trying stuff out and getting nowhere, then resorting to looking at a walkthrough to see whats supposed to happen. I then search the web to see if anyone has ever had the same problem. I don’t find anyone although there are a few people around who have run into other gamebreakers and some much later in the game.

I would have had to play the game through from the start again but Natreg comes to the rescue with a savegame from near the start of Level 6. I don’t bother going for the secure areas of the groves this time around but just dash through as quick as possible. I’m back where I was in no more than about 20 mins – without this savegame I expect I’d have had to spend most of the day replaying.

I’m glad to say that this time everything goes as it should and I get the message when I flick the switch. I have to head down to level 3 and fix a relay before using the switch again. The maintenance doors are now unlocked on this level.

There is a relay analyser in the NW. What I have to do is run round finding relays all of which have a 3 digit number. I then come back here, type the number in and it tells me if its faulty. I literally have to examine every single relay before I find the right one. I don’t know if this is by design or if its bad luck. The analyser tells me to fix it with an interface demodulator (whatever one of those is).

I find a pile of them in the middle room and pick one up.

I use this on the relay – it works so its back to level 6 again.

This time the switch works.

I head back to beta grove to pull the jettison switch but Shodan is attempting to stop me with a hoard of mutants.

I scythe my way through and pull the switch…

The offending grove is flung out into space.

Shodan has yet another backup plan and is now attempting to download herself into Earths computers. I need to head for Level 7 and blow up the 4 trasmitters to stop this. I need to get plastique from the storage level to do this.

I head back for storage. I notice the area with the big gaps now has intermittent bridges. I don’t know where these came from so I guess Natreg found a switch that I didn’t. They don’t help much anyway and I resort to jumping. I grab 4 lots of plastique at the other side.

I enter level 7 and get an email from Shodan giving me a fond farewell.

This level is pretty dangerous and I resort to using some of my powerups that I’ve been ignoring up until now such as my berserk. It has a serious effect on my vision.

I explore half the map before I find a healing chamber with a nearby healing bed. I have to keep away from this as its mined but I can get near enough to use it.

The CPU nodes are in a highly radioactive area. I dash through this as quick as I can without worrying about taking out all the cyborgs.

This has to be the biggest level so far. I spend ages finding my first transmitter. I have to open the panel on the back of it and then use the plastique.

Shodan invites me to stay a while by setting up a barrier as soon as I do this. I get killed but I’m ok having already found this levels cryo chamber.

I work my way through the 4 transmitters. Another problem solved – now I need to destroy the station. I’m told I need the station code to do this and will have to type this into the reactor down on level R. I need to look for Willard Richie on this level to get the code.

I spend a while searching around at this point. At the end of this corridor is a pile of debris with a cunningly hidden level 3 environment suit which will come in handy.

I find Richie’s remains and a log. I need to get the code from the CPU rooms somehow.

Out of curiosity I have a quick look at level 8 but the door in is locked so I can’t get anywhere.

So I head for the first CPU room on level 6. There is a screen in here with a number. I now need to try to find the numbers from floors 1-5. This would be easier if I could remember where the rooms were and I spent about 15 minutes wandering around level 5. This seemed a good point to stop as now I’ve written this up and have screenshots with little maps in the corner for most of the node rooms. Finding them all should be a lot easier today.

Going through all those levels again is a bit of a chore – it forces you to track down all the nodes but I’ve already done that and if I’d known about this number earlier I could have gotten it first time around. Having said that, this isn’t my save game and I’ve no idea if the number is always the same so it may not have made any difference.

I can’t believe I’ve run into another game breaking bug. This would have been at least the 3rd Origin game I’d had to replay most of if it wasn’t for Natreg. As it is I’m still enjoying it but this might not have been the case otherwise. Provided I don’t run into any more problems I’m optimistic about finishing this up tonight but I’ve still got 2 full levels to do after I finish getting codes and blowing up the reactor.

I’ve spent a good while on System Shock this afternoon and will write it all up later on.

I’m posting this now as I’ve got as far as attempting to jettison the groves on level 6 after also playing through levels 4 & 5. It’s all done except I’ve run into a bug where nothing happens when I try to use the jettison master control switch. I’ve flipped the 3 switches in the 3 groves and from what I gather from reading a walkthrough I’m supposed to get a message to send me back down to level 3 to fix a circuit. In short, I think I’ve run into another game-breaking bug.

I’m around 2/3 through the game and I really don’t want to have to replay the whole thing up to this point again. Does anyone have any ideas or a savegame from around or before this point?

The first thing I find on Level R is a log from a guy called Stevens who had the same idea as me about destroying the laser. His log even has a little map of where I need to go. I can’t honestly say this map helped me out much in the end but at least I know what I’m looking for.

Once again I run into the healing chamber almost straight away. This will make life a lot easier.

I also find one of the machines that fully restores myself. Unfortunately its behind a locked door.

I have to solve another of those annoying puzzles to open the door. Every time I rotate one of the +’s anything on a diagonal from it also rotates. If I’d thought about it before I started this would probably have been easy but instead I blunder straight in and end up spending 5 minutes trying to sort it out.

I get there in the end though and can now pop back here for the rest of this level whenever I need to.

The next place I stumble into is a really high radiation area where the stations reactor is. I die here in no time and need some sort of radiation suit which I haven’t found. There are a few flying robots guarding the place. I take some of these out before I pop my clogs.

I head off in a different direction and find a cyberspace node. There are some new enemies in here and a lot of software upgrades. I also release a blast door lock but I’ve no idea where that applies to.

The game I find this time is a mini version of Wing Commander which runs in game.

I find a likely looking spot for my isotope that I’ve been carrying around. Its even comes up as an isotope receptor when I put my mouse on it which is just as well as it takes me a bit of effort to figure out how to put the isotope in it.

Once done I pull the lever and I get a video email showing the shield going up around the station.

I’m still finding logs from Shodan. Her plan is becoming somewhat clearer. The virus she intends to send to earth is actually a mutagen which will somehow enable her to control earths population. She describes the cyborgs on the station as her avenging angels….

It takes a while but I find a route to the safety override for the laser. I key in the code and don’t realise that I need to pull the lever so I end up coming back again later to finish the job.

Its back up to Level 2 to fire the laser now. The moment I head in Shodan springs a trap on me. I heal and return to clear out the room.

I go and fire the laser and receive a video email showing it blowing up. Thats one threat gone at least. I get another email from Shodan straight after telling me that she will just use her virus instead which she has developed in some groves on the station. That sounds like the next job.

I head back for the elevator to go to level 3. I get another email from someone who claims to be still in the station but is under attack. I seriously doubt I’ll run into anyone friendly in this game so I don’t hold out much hope of a rendevous.

On level 3 I run into a CPU node straight away and take it out.

The enemies here are all these sort of invisible stingrays that flap along the floor firing purple rings at me. They are extremely tough to say the least.

I’m struggling with these stingrays so I head back to see if I can find anything useful on the levels I’ve already visited. Back on Level R I find a low gravity area full of mutants. There has to be something good in here.

I bounce up a couple of ledges using the low g and find a new flechette weapon. I do a bit more exploring and also discover some shield hardware which has to help.

Back to Level 3 again. Just down from the entrance I discover a laser rapier weapon. This thing is to all intents and purposes a lightsaber. It takes out those stingrays in 2 hits – my strategy from this point is to raise my shield then charge in whenever I see an enemy. This actually works pretty well.

I also discover a magnum. By this point I’ve got so many weapons I’m having to drop some to make room for the new ones.

There is a freight elevator here which will take me to levels 4 & 5. I carry on exploring for now but aside from a load of locked maintenance doors I don’t find anything much. These doors won’t open unless there is something to repair I gather.

There is another elevator which takes me to Level 6. I pop up to have a look around and this turns out to be the grove level. I’m a bit unsure if I should really attempt levels 4 & 5 first but unless I really struggle I figure I’ll stick with this for now.

The graphics for level 6 are quite different once again. I’m impressed with how unique each area feels, games like FEAR could learn a thing or two from that. The more I play of System Shock, the more I’m liking it actually. With new weapons and hardware, the complexity is increasing all the time giving me a lot of options on how to attempt to play the game. I’m looking forward to a good long session on this later today and will see if I can’t have this mutagen problem sorted out by later tonight.

I was finishing off Final Fantasy on Wednesday evening which is why there was no post yesterday. I’m not sure what I was expecting but the ending was a bit of a letdown, just a load of scrolling text which drags on forever saying the same thing in a different way over and over again. I’ve not been that impressed by the game itself. The NES version of this came out in 1987 which is a full 2 years after Ultima 4 and the gameplay just isn’t in the same league. I’d be more likely to compare it to Ultima 1 especially given the whole collect 4 gems and go back in time 2000 years to kill the bad guy plot.

I do like the idea of faithful remakes like this though and the 3D treatment given to FF3 & 4 on the DS is better still. If things had gone differently for Origin, I wonder if we’d be seeing new releases of all the early Ultimas. I suppose it could still happen but I won’t hold my breath.

With FF out of the way, my full attention went back to System Shock again last night finally allowing me to make some decent progress.

It was back to exploring Level 1. I found some force bridges which can be extended with switches and let me into a new area.

I find a log from Shodan which is lying around. Shodan appears to have gone insane and wants to become a god. To this end she has been working on a virus to send to Earth possibly as a backup plan in case the laser doesn’t kill off enough of us.

There is an area full of cyborgs in niches, borg style. Most of them don’t move so I just hack at them with my lead pipe to make sure they don’t come back to life later in the game.

Not far from here is the lift to get to the next level. I don’t attempt to use this yet. I’ll try to fully explore each level before I go onto the next one. Next to this is a switch to open a locked bulkhead which gives me a quick route back to the start of the level and the healing station.

I don’t realise it at the time but this is a cyborg production chamber. It used to be a chamber for reviving injured people though and by flipping the switch I can convert it back. I’m expecting this to heal me when I walk into it having done this but no such luck.

I carry on exploring and find this tough guy standing on a pedestal and hurling bolts at me. I get a few hits in but not enough…

Once dead, I wake up with half my health back in the medical chamber. So thats what it does. It’s more or less the same as the silver seed from Ultima Underworld. I suppose whats happening is that the cyborgs are dragging me back to be converted but instead they just allow me to heal. It doesn’t say much for Shodans intelligence that she can’t figure out to flip the switch back again after this happens a few times.

There doesn’t appear to be any penalty for dying as often as I like at this point. Its possible that a few cyborgs/robots might respawn but I’ve not noticed anything else. There are no experience points in this game so its like the system used in Bioforge where I can just run back to the same area again and again if I die.

I make it past the guy on the pedestal second time around and get into a significant looking room. Shodan warns me against going in so it must be important. This turns out to be a room full of CPU nodes. By blowing them all up I drop level security down to about 15%.

This allows me to use a previously blocked button and get into a new area. The new area is just a storage room with a new bit of hardware (biological systems monitor) and some ammo.

My map is starting to look about complete for this level but there are still a few doors I’ve not been through.

One of the logs I picked up mentioned an armoury and gave me a code for it. The weaponry in here is disappointing but I grab everything I can.

That about completes Level 1. I heal up back at the start and head for the elevator. There is a reception committee waiting for me down on Level 2.

I fight them all off then after a quick healing trip back to Level 1 return to explore. There are some new creatures down here including this zero G mutant.

I stumble into the switch for this levels healing chamber. The chamber itself isn’t in sight.

This dead tiger-gor mutant looks significant given the number of dead bodies near it. I’m glad to say I don’t find a live one while on this level.

I do find some security robots which are quite tough enough right now. These take a load of hits. My two best combat strategies for now appear to be leaning around corners and failing that trying to get far enough away that they don’t shoot me but I can shoot them. My weapon of choice is the sparq gun which draws its power directly from my energy. As long as I can walk back to recharge this gives me infinite ammo which is the primary reason I’m using it.

This level has a single teleport to take me to a new area. I expect I’ll see a lot more of these later on.

Level 2 appears is built with 4 sections going off a central hub area. One of the sections is dark and I gather I need to throw the circuit breaker which I find here next to a convenient energy recharger.

I go to explore the previously dark area. There is a high radiation area with some strange looking mutants behind a force door. I never do figure out how to get through here.

I’ve seen a few of these wire puzzles where I have to move the ends of wires around until I get them in the right places. I get some clues here as to whats correct from a meter that fills up the closer I get to the correct solution. Finishing this one here puts the laser override code up on the screen.

There is a new cyberspace node here. This is a much larger and tougher area that the original Level 1 equivalent. I have particular trouble with these guys above. I figure out in the end to drop a decoy first. I can even pick it back up again afterwards.

The 4 heads were guarding a new security access which I grab and head for the exit.

While I was in there I picked up another subgame – Road. Pong was more fun and I don’t waste much time on this.

In the middle of the map is the Laser Control area. I press the button and accidentally wipe out earth….

A reload later and I go back to exploring the south of the level. I find another set of CPU nodes. Blowing them up gets me attacked by a squad of cyborgs. I’ve been making liberal use of the healing chamber and need a respawn and a second chance to survive this one also.

I know I need to turn on the shield using an isotope. I find an area with this isotope. Its seriously radioactive in there but I run in and out quickly. I’ve heard a bit about a radiation suit in my logs but I’ve not seen any sign of it and this didn’t actually hurt all that much.

I hunt around for somewhere I can use my Level 4 access. I remember seeing a locked door earlier and get ENG access by searching behind it. I’ve not seen anywhere requiring I can use the ENG access yet. I would guess it might come in on the reactor level.

I think I’ve seen more or less everywhere on this level now and head for a new lift I discovered. This will take me to either the Reactor level or Level 3. I’d like to get this shield started so I head for the reactor level first. I’m greeted by a severed head and decide this is a good point to call it a night.

I’ve gotten much more into this game now I’ve had a decent couple of hours on it. The station is a dark and bleak place and the game generates a good atmosphere. Its let down a little by some poor acting although the voice for Shodan is excellent. The acting is still a cut above what we got in Strike Commander/Privateer at least.

I’ve gotten used to the controls now and I’m using the keyboard exclusively to move around except for in cyberspace where I revert to the mouse. This doesn’t allow the sort of reaction movement that I would need to play Quake but its just not needed here and this works well allowing me to aim and move simultaneously.

I really do like having the little automap at the bottom right hand corner – this is such a great way of being able to see where you have been easily without having to bring up the full map all the time. Why this hasn’t been adopted in more games I’ll never know.

There is a strange pace to the game – it plays a lot slower than a standard FPS and I spend quite a lot of time searching through cleared areas trying to find something new to do. With finding the respawning chamber early on, I’ve thrown caution to the wind on this second level and just charged straight into each new area – if I had to move carefully it would be slower still but it might add some tension.

I’m getting through rapidly now and apart from some DIY I’ve got to get done, I’ve not a lot on this weekend. I’ll be making a serious attempt to finish this up by the end of the week and move on to game #50.