Honestly, they should have stuck with how it worked in the original demo. System shock is a game that pioneered half of the mechanics that we now take for granted in modern video games, it doesn't need a "re-imagining", just updated controls and presentation. IMO, that CEO made a really good decision, and not an easy one to be sure.
Nice on them to notice the hubris problem and tone it down long before it actually becomes an issue. There seems to be a wee bit too many projects from Kickstarter which make too much money and end up having the developers completely rethink their plans typically for the worse. Like a certain other game that made millions through crowdfunding.
SS1 Enhanced is honestly perfect I don't see why it needs a remake. I guess maybe the UI needs a overhaul, but after a few hours of playing it I learned to love it and can't imagine playing it any other way.
When they announced the art style change from the original Unity demo was the first time I ever considered getting a refund for a kickstarter, but last month's update actually managed to assuage most of my concerns about the new direction. This new turn is somewhat unexpected but not unwelcome, they must have done some serious budgeting and realized that there was no way they'd get the game shipped with the quality they were going for. Either that or a publishing deal they were expecting just fell through.
Anyway, I don't think this hiatus is going to last particularly long, just have to see what happens at the end of it.
[QUOTE=Yummy Pie;53137718]SS1 Enhanced is honestly perfect I don't see why it needs a remake. I guess maybe the UI needs a overhaul, but after a few hours of playing it I learned to love it and can't imagine playing it any other way.[/QUOTE]
I play a lot of old games and I can put up with a good amount of release date-based quirks, but SSEE is at the point where I gave it a shot, and very quickly left with a "no thanks, I'll wait for the reboot" on my way to installing SS2 instead.
[editline]16th February 2018[/editline]
[QUOTE=Lucien1337;53137788]When they announced the art style change from the original Unity demo was the first time I ever considered getting a refund for a kickstarter, but last month's update actually managed to assuage most of my concerns about the new direction. This new turn is somewhat unexpected but not unwelcome, they must have done some serious budgeting and realized that there was no way they'd get the game shipped with the quality they were going for. Either that or a publishing deal they were expecting just fell through.
Anyway, I don't think this hiatus is going to last particularly long, just have to see what happens at the end of it.[/QUOTE]
Tbh I [I]mostly[/I] liked the Unity artstyle but damn if that blue wasn't eye-searing. It would've made the game be one of the few that I can't actually stand playing for long periods of time.
[QUOTE=WhyNott;53137538]Honestly, they should have stuck with how it worked in the original demo. System shock is a game that pioneered half of the mechanics that we now take for granted in modern video games, it doesn't need a "re-imagining", just updated controls and presentation. IMO, that CEO made a really good decision, and not an easy one to be sure.[/QUOTE]
I guess it's a question of appeal. Who do they want to appeal to? Is the game intended to be a nostalgia fest for only the gamers who enjoyed the original, or is it supposed to be enjoyed by a wider contemporary audience?
System Shock pioneered some gameplay elements and concepts, sure. This also means that those elements and ideas [I]may[/I] feel pretty stale if dropped into today's market. I haven't played the original, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine this situation is similar to how the original Half Life holds little appeal for anybody who didn't play it within a few years of release. The game mechanics, the pacing, the design, etc, have all been improved upon since then, and the experience doesn't hold up as well as it once did.
guess we never see this happen when they ran out of money
or it will be rushed out as Early Access title to cover losses
[QUOTE=Maloof?;53137878]I guess it's a question of appeal. Who do they want to appeal to? Is the game intended to be a nostalgia fest for only the gamers who enjoyed the original, or is it supposed to be enjoyed by a wider contemporary audience?
System Shock pioneered some gameplay elements and concepts, sure. This also means that those elements and ideas [I]may[/I] feel pretty stale if dropped into today's market. I haven't played the original, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine this situation is similar to how the original Half Life holds little appeal for anybody who didn't play it within a few years of release. The game mechanics, the pacing, the design, etc, have all been improved upon since then, and the experience doesn't hold up as well as it once did.[/QUOTE]
I think youre wrong about both half-life and system shock tbh. You would still be very hard pressed to find games that do the stuff that they do as good as they do it today.
half-life still plays great. System shock desperately needs an update
[QUOTE=Maloof?;53137878]I guess it's a question of appeal. Who do they want to appeal to? Is the game intended to be a nostalgia fest for only the gamers who enjoyed the original, or is it supposed to be enjoyed by a wider contemporary audience?
System Shock pioneered some gameplay elements and concepts, sure. This also means that those elements and ideas [I]may[/I] feel pretty stale if dropped into today's market. I haven't played the original, so I can't say for sure, but I imagine this situation is similar to how the original Half Life holds little appeal for anybody who didn't play it within a few years of release. The game mechanics, the pacing, the design, etc, have all been improved upon since then, and the experience doesn't hold up as well as it once did.[/QUOTE]
A remaster/remake that keeps the core of the original in terms of style and overall theme was what the Kickstarter said they'd make, and what the demo they let us play was showing. That's what a lot of people backed the game for, pretty much system shock with the gameplay and graphics updated to be a bit more up to date. Instead, they decided to throw that idea out after the kickstarter and change pretty much everything. The engine change lead to an art style change from what was shown in the kickstarter, which went even further from a faithful recreation of the look of the original to more of a modern high-detail generic sci-fi look, they also said the original iconic MIDI/Cyberpunk Synth soundtrack was going to be replaced with a typical creepy/epic orchestral soundtrack, and then said the level design was going to change drastically to "modernize" it to how level design is now, which had bad implications.
The game went from a remake of the original (which people wanted), to an entirely new game that just has the vague theme and plot of the original, but beyond that isn't System Shock.
[QUOTE=LZTYBRN;53138467]half-life still plays great. System shock desperately needs an update[/QUOTE]
I sotra half-agree half-disagree. It took me a few tries to get into the first system shock when I first tried it back in 2012, but after I got into the flow I found it to be a pretty great game in all honesty.
And, back then I didn't know about the mouselook mod and hadn't even realized that you can change resolution. I completed my first playthrough of system shock at 320x192 res, with the default controls. I am saying this because this has kinda shown to me that there is a genuenly great game underneeth all that inaccessible nonsense, all that needs a little more then better controls and some balance changes.
[QUOTE=nightlord;53138489]A remaster/remake that keeps the core of the original in terms of style and overall theme was what the Kickstarter said they'd make, and what the demo they let us play was showing. That's what a lot of people backed the game for, pretty much system shock with the gameplay and graphics updated to be a bit more up to date. Instead, they decided to throw that idea out after the kickstarter and change pretty much everything. The engine change lead to an art style change from what was shown in the kickstarter, which went even further from a faithful recreation of the look of the original to more of a modern high-detail generic sci-fi look, they also said the original iconic MIDI/Cyberpunk Synth soundtrack was going to be replaced with a typical creepy/epic orchestral soundtrack, and then said the level design was going to change drastically to "modernize" it to how level design is now, which had bad implications.
The game went from a remake of the original (which people wanted), to an entirely new game that just has the vague theme and plot of the original, but beyond that isn't System Shock.[/QUOTE]
TBH I much prefer the new artstyle, the old one had that faux-lofi filter over everything, weird almost cartoony character models, and in general looked like a freshman's first group project.
The new one looks much more realized, fleshed out, and overall better implemented technically.
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