How many of you played System Shock when it first came out in '94? - by DentonSHODAN
Dam on 24/10/2009 at 21:02
Didn't even have a comp back in '94 :erg: . Of course, when I finally got a comp in '97, CD version of System Shock was the first game I bought for it (having drooled on the review for years).
Bjossi on 24/10/2009 at 22:56
I lost my SS1 virginity in October 2006.
zombe on 27/10/2009 at 00:14
Quote Posted by Matthew
Showoff :mad::mad::mad::(
I still do not know how the resurrection chambers work (well, i have some ideas - never had the chance to actually confirm them though, resisted the temptation to die on purpose also) ! :p
Sorry, I got sidetracked ... i blame MightyMouse.
Found the logs of my grand-grand-...-PC. At that time, most games and other demanding task needed every bit of processing power i could muster. At 1996/06/08 18:36:19 is the first dedicated boot log entry named "SShock", everything else is speculation. I can not remember where or when i got it, but i remember playing probably-demo of it, that had only the first level iirc, first. Then the floppy version (which most likely was the time SShock boot menu entry was made). Didn't understand much English back then, German was more understandable - used that.
... so much time has passed :( ... quite freaky, looking at the logs from past ...
C0rtexReaver on 28/10/2009 at 16:16
Quote Posted by MightyMouse
I agree about the difficulty levels. I spent months wandering around trying to work out some areas where I was stumped. This was before the internet and you couldn't download a walkthrough. If you were really stumped, you could write in to the local TV guide, which had a tech section that contained help for gamers.
It may have been before you were on the Internet, but it was certainly not before the internet.
There was plenty of UseNet traffic about it: (
http://tinyurl.com/yf5hcjv)
-CR
C0rtexReaver on 28/10/2009 at 16:18
Quote Posted by D'Arcy
I'd be annoyed if I had a floppy missing from my original Shock. They should have mailed the floppy back, along with the CD.
Not so bothered by it. The box & manuals are vastly more valuable than the floppy media. This was long before the age of cheap & reliable CD burning and/or hard disks with space for a CD's worth of data. I was happy to have the upgrade to the CD.
-CR
elkston on 30/10/2009 at 18:53
I played the original floppy disc version right when it came out in '94.
I recall being overwhelmed with excitement and completely engrossed in the game. The one unique thing it did at the time was give you a true sense of vertical exploration. Now some of this was hinted at in Ultima Underworld which came out the year prior, but it was much more central to this game.
The sense of heights and sometimes inconsistent gravity created some killer moments in SS. Playing the first time took so much out of me that to this day, I have not played through the entire game again (where as I have played SS2 multiple times).
It's too hard to go back to the old graphics and control schemes for me at this time. But back '94 -- SS burned bright.
Al_B on 30/10/2009 at 23:44
The original Underworld came out in 92 - two years prior to SS1, although UW2 did come out in 93. I don't disagree with your basic point, however. Although some areas of the Underworlds did use vertical space to a good effect (e.g. pits of carnage lvl 2) - stepping out onto the security level or the flight decks in SS1 was a great use of space in the game. Part of that may be down to the limitations of the Underwold engines. The ceiling was always at a fixed height, so levels normally had to grow 'downards'. SS1 was much more flexible about its level design.
You really should go back and play it through again. In my experience you forget that the graphics are dated very quickly and although the control scheme isn't the most natural it's not so bad that you can't get to grips with it again.
Spock on 31/10/2009 at 15:17
I enjoyed SS so much that I just had to get SS2 when it came out. I just checked my 'library' shelf and found SS2 in its original box but couldn't find SS. :(
Let's see, in 1994 I would have been ... 46! I guess where games are concerned you're never too old. :cool:
Silkworm on 2/11/2009 at 05:47
I couldn't get the demo to run on my 486/66DX laptop... One of my few regrets in life, because back then I actually had the free time to enjoy a game like that, and at that age I would have LOVED it. Not to mention that the whole WASD paradigm had not yet been burned into my soul (I would teach myself this concept for Deathmatch in Doom 2 a year later), and thus the interface would have been less annoying.
Rolander on 2/11/2009 at 16:07
System Shock 1 was the very first PC game that I bought, on recommendation from a friend.
Got so used to rapier-rushing Sec-'bots ...
