Quoting: Grogan

Quoting: denyasisPlayed a little System Shock this weekend. I made it to the Reactor level.

I've been tempted a few times to get that (the new one, "System Shock"... it's a bit confusing, there's the original, there's the "enhanced" but that's older than the current remake lol)

However, from what people are saying it seems like too much combat difficulty for me.

P.S. Ahh what the hell, it's 25% off right now. That convinced me to pull the trigger :-)

P.P.S. Ooohh... also available on GoG (but not 25% off, though GoG doesn't charge tax where they are not required, unlike Steam now, so that's mitigated). I think I'll buy it there. I prefer the standalone installers and having more control over the game's environment and no updates unless I download incremental patches and install them. Better chance of keeping it working that way (and I can still use Valve's kit if I want).

Interesting point, for this game in particular; It has very granular difficulty settings. You can tone down the combat (and cyber space combat), but keep a higher difficulty on the puzzles or plot.

The combat is very much 1994. It's less modern FPS, and more first person dungeon crawler from that era. That said, I'm playing on the default medium difficulty combat wise, and it's not too difficult. I've died a few times, but it didn't feel unfair. There is an interesting respawn system (I think it was harder in the original), so you don't ever really loose any progress when you die.

Quoting: denyasisInteresting point, for this game in particular; It has very granular difficulty settings. You can tone down the combat (and cyber space combat), but keep a higher difficulty on the puzzles or plot.

I have them all on Easy, I was glad to see those settings as such. However, I'm stuck on the first puzzle, I can't figure it out. It's to rewire a junction box to enable a lift to progress (in the medical bay... I think I've explored that area and that lift is my only ticket now).

After getting nowhere I went to find a solution, and there isn't one because the puzzles are different every time in this edition of the game (they changed that so people can't look up solutions). I doubt they'd have unsolvable ones in the pool, but it doesn't look like I have the pieces to connect to the other orange doohickey at the bottom. It seems that's a pretty hard puzzle for the first one.

I downloaded a manual to see if I'm not understanding something about how the pieces work, but it's more of a diagram (not actually showing the pieces) and was not very helpful.

So it is likely the puzzles that are going to abort my game.

Quoting: denyasisBeing able to annotate the map would be a major QOL improvement that I think would still retain the old-school nature of the game.

The original did have that feature!

I actually had a lot of fun mapping out the different levels when I played through the enhanced edition.

Quoting: GroganI have them all on Easy, I was glad to see those settings as such. However, I'm stuck on the first puzzle, I can't figure it out. It's to rewire a junction box to enable a lift to progress (in the medical bay... I think I've explored that area and that lift is my only ticket now).

Something, I did not realize upon on accident is that some of the "dials" can also carry power when facing a certain way. I'm still not certain how to tell when/how and I've made it to the 4th level!

If I were to Levy a criticism on the puzzles it's that how they are supposed to work is not very well explained. The puzzles where you have to get power to a certain level were really tough for me because I thought you had to fill up the power bar instead of getting it between the markers! I would accidentally beat them and not know why!

I believe there is a logic probe or two on the level, you can just pop it into the old telephone jack looking port next to the access panel and it will auto solve the puzzle for you.

Quoting: whizseThe original did have that feature!

I actually had a lot of fun mapping out the different levels when I played through the enhanced edition.

I must have totally forgotten or never noticed, lol!! But yeah bring able to write things on the map *ahem* like codes, would be Amazing!!

I'm to the point where I found the lift to flight deck, but I want to stay and fully map out maintenance cause if I don't, it'll bug me!!

Last edited by denyasis on 8 August 2023 at 5:41 pm UTC

Quoting: denyasisI believe there is a logic probe or two on the level, you can just pop it into the old telephone jack looking port next to the access panel and it will auto solve the puzzle for you.

Damn, when I said I had explored that area completely I could not have been more wrong. There were more doors, more rooms, elevator platforms, more areas. I still haven't found a logic probe though, and I'm going up to anything that isn't obvious junk I don't want to waste slots on. But I'm headed towards "Beta" sector now and I'll keep looking for them everywhere.

I'll get back to that puzzle later, I'm enjoying what I'm doing now. I think this is going to be a great game, if I don't get hung up on some puzzle.

Quoting: GroganI'll get back to that puzzle later, I'm enjoying what I'm doing now. I think this is going to be a great game, if I don't get hung up on some puzzle.

Or you could post a screenshot here and we'll have a look…

Quoting: Pengling+Until August 7th there's currently a steep discount on this trio of Arcade Game Series games if bought as a bundle, where it's £1.39 for all three, instead of the usual £5.59 for the bundle or £2.79 each. Unfortunately, Ms. Pac-Man is not included, which I presume might be related to the ever-encroaching bundle of legal issues relating to the game.

I've read about the discount during a quick read of this thread, then I was so busy that I finally managed to really read everything on Monday after the sale ended and now we are here two more days later.

It's interesting that the article you linked mentions the same culprit that caused the issues for Zaccaria Pinball.

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderLol yeah it was....... Almost mind blowing......

I'd love to hear more about what sort of games you started out with, and then what you went to, with that shift!

Quoting: StoneColdSpiderWell with aim like theirs I dont have anything to worry about......

My robot army's better than that.

Quoting: KlaasI've read about the discount during a quick read of this thread, then I was so busy that I finally managed to really read everything on Monday after the sale ended and now we are here two more days later.

That's always the way. I'll let you know if I see them go on sale again. They're pretty barebones, but for that price I feel that they're worth it.

Quoting: KlaasIt's interesting that the article you linked mentions the same culprit that caused the issues for Zaccaria Pinball.

Ooh, now I am intrigued!

Quoting: PenglingOoh, now I am intrigued!

There's the article that you linked, a different page that links (https://pacman.fandom.com/wiki/History_of_Pac-Man_clones_and_bootlegs/AtGames_systems.

The connection to Zaccaria Pinball is that AtGames pays the developers to recreate tables exclusively for them instead of working on their own game.

So regarding commercial Pinball games, AtGames is unfortunately as annoying as Embracer. And their actions regarding arcade games is not nice either.

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Do you have the Steam version of Sonic 1/2/CD? Unfortunately they have been delisted last year when they released a combined version. There is an engine recreation that is supposed to be better with the older releases – the re-release requires a lot of fiddling and even then the game files do not include the sounds.

Quoting: PenglingI'd love to hear more about what sort of games you started out with, and then what you went to, with that shift!

My favourite 2600 games were..... H.E.R.O., Pitfall, River Raid 1 and 2, Enduro, Chopper Command, Bump n Jump, Xenophobe, Title Max Pro Wrestling, Rampage, Road Runner And Mario Bros........ I had more but those where my favs and I played them a hell of a lot back in the day..........

Then when I got my first PC.... the first game I got was Quake II........ Then the original Quake...... I then moved into more racing games like the original Need For Speed Games and Carmageddon and Geoff Crammonds Grand Prix 2.........

I then spent a lot of that time online actually......... playing QuakeWorld TeamFortress....... TeamFortress Classic....... Counter-Strike....... Tribes and Tribes 2.......

But as the internet and online gaming grew more and more morons were playing online and I went back into playing more SP games........ Playing more racing games like GTR and GTR2..... Getting more involved with NASCAR Racing 2003 Season....... Geoff Crammonds Grand Prix 3 and 4....... More of the Need for Speed games.........

I got back into online gaming again with Counter-Strike: Source.......

I then moved house and online had dialup internet from 2006 - 2010........ Thats when I did way more racing stuff again...... Played the excellent Prototype C mod for F1 Challenge 99-02....... Played Race 07 a lot...... Got more into RPGs as well at that time because of the crap net........ Played the original Witcher and Dragon Age..........

Finally broadband internet was installed in my area and I was able to get back into online gaming....... Played TeamFortress 2....... DOTA 2......... And played more co-op games with games like Dungeon Defenders and Payday and Left 4 Dead.......

My mates all started to get girlfriends or got married or had kids and so their gaming time was eaten up by the Succubuses....... And I went back heavily into Racing Sims........ rFactor, GTR2, F1 2010-15, rFactor 2, Automobilista, NASCAR Racing 2003 Season, Project CARS, Euro Truck Simulator......

Then after the fiasco that was the NES Classis Mini release in 2016 where it seemed only youtubers and scalpers could buy it...... I bought a Raspberry Pi 3B....... And took a trip to Emulationville...... Where I caught up on the games I missed out on from not having other consoles....... NEs and SNES and Master System and Mega Drive and PSX and so on...... I was still doing a lot of racing sims as well......

2022 I made to switch to Linux....... Tried to cut down on my sim racing addiction and started playing more FPS games again...... Mostly boomer shooters...... Doom 2016, Iron Fury, Blood, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and most recently Warhammer 40k Boltgun......

I also do a lot more emulation now that I do it on my PC and not the Pi any more....... And im now able to emulate the PS2, GameCube, Xbox, Dreamcast and so on....... Sports games get a lot of play in Emulationville these days....... As well as racing games........ Back when there was actual competition and developers actually had to try..........

Last major Steam sale I bought WRC 10 and have been playing that a heap....... Plays really well on a gamepad as does NASCAR Heat 5...... I might pull my Logitech G27 wheel out again one day and see if I can get it working on Linux........

I played A LOT more games that what I mentioned...... Those are just the ones I played the most........

I hope thats the answers your question well enough