As soon as I walk onto level 9, I get another video email showing the bridge separating from the rest of the station. There is no running back to the escape pods now.

Right in the middle of fighting a cyborg I get another email showing the rest of the station blowing up.

Level 9 is a decent size – I thought I’d possibly just walk straight into the final battle but its not that simple. I don’t know all this yet but there is a central area where I need to enter cyberspace and battle Shodan. At the moment I haven’t got access to this. I need to hack into a panel in another room using and isolinear chipset. This room is behind 3 force walls which have to be turned off one by one. The 3 walls are controlled from 3 different areas which I have to work through one at a time.

The first area I enter is a maze like room full of cyborgs.

Walking around here nets me quite a few hardware upgrades – I think all the best equipment can be found somewhere on Level 9. I don’t find the switch to open the force wall but I didn’t realise I had to look for it at this stage.

Elsewhere I do find a cage containing a mutant which I have to teleport into, killing the mutant and grab the isolinear chipset which I will need later on.

The second area I explore is another maze this time full of little robots that explode when they get too close. There must be a couple of dozen of these scuttling around in here and they appear to keep respawning. This is probably the most dangerous area on the level.

This time I find a screen showing the force wall and I have another puzzle to solve to open it up.

I find another one of these panels in a strange room to the south. There is a central area and with a load of niches around the side (most of which are closed). I have to run between niches killing robots and pressing a button in each niche which opens another (with another robot), until eventually the center raises giving me access to remove another force wall.

At this point I spent a while looking for the last screen which was in the first section I explored. I find it in the end and open up the remaining force wall.

I’m half expecting a final battle with Shodan in this room but its devoid of cyborgs when I walk in.

I use the isolinear chips on the panel and nothing appears to happen whatsoever.

A bit more exploring and I realise the middle of the map has now opened up. There is a highly radioactive area full of yet more cyborgs. I use a reflex booster + a berserk and clear it out.

Right in the middle is a final cyberspace node which I use to begin my final battle with Shodan.

The final cyberspace area is the largest yet and much more complex that anything I’ve seen before. There are many alternate routes through and loops that lead you back to where you have already been. In the same manner as level 9 in the real world I can get upgrades for most of my software by exploring carefully. One my first attempt I stumble into Shodan nearly straight away.

The final battle with Shodan is a little strange. I lose some of my ability to control direction and get pushed around while Shodan bounces around the room not doing much. All the meanwhile my screen is filling up pixel by pixel.

When the screen fills up I’ve lost the game and have to try again. Second time around I explore cyberspace a bit more and make sure I have the best equipment. I just fire constantly at Shodan this time and although there is no visual evidence I’m having any effect it must work as the final cutscene starts.

My reaction to the end of the game was a definite “Is that it?”. The final battle was a real anti-climax as was the cutscene which followed it. The rest of the game is of course more important than its ending but its nice to have a feeling of satisfaction when you’ve battled through the whole thing. The rest of the level leading up to that was decent enough however so things could have been a lot worse. I prefer this to the sort of ridiculously difficult final boss that you spend hours trying to beat (I’m thinking of Omikron here). I just expected a bit more from a game that had been so good up to this point.

It’s not going to put me off System Shock – I can see myself going back and playing this again at all the highest difficulty levels at some point but for now I’m getting straight on with the next game.

Next: Wing Commander 3

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?