demand system shock 3

[6647cd80f3781fox]

While I still liked Prey overall, I also thought that its world felt too shiny and sterile (which can be read as corporate) and the characters quite shallow and cold fish-like. That was not the case with System Shock 1 and 2. Not even with any of the Bioshocks. Prey lacked in humanity.

[6647cd80f3a5csarge945]

Yeah. The world in Prey feels like an artificial simulation designed to assess your moral decision making rather than feeling like a real station with real people in it.

[6647cd80f3bd4icemann]

I absolutely loved Prey. A game I return to every few years. The most SS2-like game out there.

[6647cd80f3d4csarge945]

Prey is pretty good. I just wish it was a little better.

[6647cd80f4152JDoran]

I think Prey is mostly great, but it could be better. It does a lot that's better than System Shock 2, but Prey has it's faults, the biggest probably being that the last third of the game really goes downhill, both enjoyment and and discovery-wise, much worse than how System Shock 2's final levels  do. And Prey's enemies don't feel anywhere as dangerous or unnerving as SS2's enemies. And the psionic powers in Prey can feel too 'convenient', in a "Oh look, that specific enemy that has x ability, well here's a defense power that seems custom designed to deal with that enemy", making it feel like an authored game rather than a real-life/nightmarish experience.

Prey has the building blocks of a superb, genre-defining game, with the great game engine, the fun and varied game-mechanics, and the excellently designed levels/environments. But it does really lack in some areas. For example, the game's pre-release videos showed the fantastic way you (your player character) could (using an alien ability) change your physical form to a coffee mug, which looked intriguing. And in the released game you can indeed assume the shape of a coffee mug, and other things. But I only ever used this ability to reduce my size so I could get through small gaps, I never used it for anything else. Maybe it can be used to hide you in plain sight, so nearby enemies don't recognize you and so won't attack you, but I don't know because I just attacked and killed any nearby enemies, as by the time I got this shape-shifter ability, I already possessed enough weaponry, ammunition, and character-upgrades to make weapon combat a realistic response to nearby enemies.

I could have upgraded the shape-shifter ability so that I could imitate a turret gun or an operator, and presumably then used the turret gun/operator's in-built weapon to shoot the enemies, but by then you can have the shotgun/hand-gun fully upgraded, plus the combat focus fully upgraded, meaning that you can take on any non-projectile based enemies, and even some projectile-based enemies, with reasonable confidence. So it seems like Prey's developers thought up this great shape-shifting ability, and programmed it into the game, but then couldn't come up with interesting or game-changing ways to use the ability. And that's a shame, as it's the sort of ability that is fun to use, so should surely be of much more use in the game.

I do really like Prey, and will no doubt play through it again, but System Shock 2 is very much my preferred game. Aside from anything else, playing SS2 feels much more immersive, much more like I am actually in that game (despite, or maybe because of, SS2 feeling somehow more clunky), and more unique than Prey. System Shock 2 would still be in my top ten games ever, but not Prey. Though Prey might be in my top twenty-five, and probably in my top fifty.

I really do wish that Prey had received a sequel (Mooncrash is great, but I mean a sequel that plays like the original game, not a rogue-like like Mooncrash), as a sequel could have corrected he original's few flaws, and built upon it's strengths to become a superb game.

[6647cd8100315JDoran]

While I still liked Prey overall, I also thought that its world felt too shiny and sterile (which can be read as corporate) and the characters quite shallow and cold fish-like. That was not the case with System Shock 1 and 2. Not even with any of the Bioshocks. Prey lacked in humanity.

Yes, as someone else said, when you meet the surviving humans, including Chief Elazar, and they stand around doing nothing, facing a gang of enemies on the other side of the warehouse door, their lack of speech and action makes you feel nothing for them. And how is that some characters, such as Dr. Igwe, and Mikhaila, manage to move around unharmed, when the space-station is teeming with deadly enemies. It just adds to the feeling that the human NPCs are just soulless characters in a video game, rather than real, living breathing people. In that respect, Prey would have been better if there were no living human beings on the station. Of course, better still would have been to write the character's dialogue to be more emotional and realistic, and to have the characters poses and movements suggest terror and near panic.

[6647cd8100434Jimbo]

I got so hyped when the military was coming, thought I'd get assault rifles and soldier enemies. Nope. Floaty robots. Words cannot describe how lame that was.

[6647cd8100577icemann]

For me the choice in where to spend your neuromods could have been better. By the 3/4 mark your pretty much maxed out if you've been fabricating neuromods, with only a few non important left over things to spend it on. Could have used a much more diverse talent tree. Mooncrash did that better imo, though it was class based and in much shorter gameplay bursts.

New Game+ specific content would have been good to see as well (eg new missions and paths to take, new enemy types etc).

[6647cd81006d5Toaste]

Have no problem with maxing out all abilities in one playthrough, I'm glad game values my time and does not drag down progression for the second playthrough. System Shock 2 did the same thing on normal difficulty.

[6647cd810080avoodoo47]

and that's why you play on hard.

[6647cd8100f73Join2]

Have no problem with maxing out all abilities in one playthrough, I'm glad game values my time and does not drag down progression for the second playthrough. System Shock 2 did the same thing on normal difficulty.

Short-sighted. Nothing is "dragged down". System Shock 2 simply offers twice the number of possible upgrades over Prey and blocks off around half (even on normal you can't get them all, but perhaps too many yeah). The end result is a similar number of total upgrades unlocked across a playthrough as Prey. It is better design in every way. More choice. Having to think and weigh all those choices. Vastly different builds possible from playthrough to playthrough, player to player. Replayability increased tenfold. You can't make a character that is peak efficiency in every single scenario. The only way Prey is better in these regards is the unlockable psi powers are more interesting and user friendly...except for when they aren't as Kinetic blast is so OP it makes it all redundant. System Shock 2's systems are also executed far better in that you can't get absurdly OP by comparison, the worst being perhaps the assault rifle (which requires heavy investment and the downside of using the same ammo as pistol). I have much praise in that every unbalanced choice otherwise that everyone complains about is a near-useless choice. Far better as it doesn't break the fucking game, and has merit of its own for being trap choices which is a game of smarts to identify and avoid. Also, sets up mods to easily fix it, technical roadblocks aside.

If you don't believe me on that total count, every skill & attribute tree has 5 possible branches with 6 tiers each. Psi powers there's like 36 or something choices. Throw on all the OS upgrades for good measure. Prey's trees look comparable upon a glance, but they're not. Most don't have second tiers, none go over tier 3. There's like 7 powers. Chipsets are a unique case but it never provokes much thought given no brainer ones for any build that further cut your choices e.g ones that improve Arx propulsion jet, which is good for exploration, combat, sneaking, fleeing, platforming, the guts and exterior, not to mention simply fun over +10% wrench damage type choices. Arx propulsion jet upgrades should have been part of a separate, new system.
Oh, and the fact that there is a stealth/combat focus divide that system shock 2 doesn't suffer from further cuts relevant choices too. As a combat player, none of the stealth shit has any relevance, and sure you could argue to play stealth next time, two unique playthroughs at least, but absolutely no thank you. Not the kind of stealth gameplay I consider good, and the game itself isn't that good. Ultimately, 2 playthroughs is all you're getting at best (if you have standards I suppose). System Shock 2 I am not stopping playing every few years (with diminishing returns, but mods to help) until I die. Still the King of Immersive Sims. Nearly everything about it is more nuanced and substantial.

One more thing, if chipsets are to be included in a total count, then so should SS2 implants. Principally the same.

In summary: In prey, absolutely every combat build is the same as the last playthrough or next player. The same pathetic three guns, the same boring upgrades, near enough. Stealth it's the same case. The only value left is the the order you choose them in. In SS2 there is an infinite number of unique builds possible. The total number of times you bring up the interface to invest (progression rate) is approximately the same regardless, maybe -25% at worst. In Shock 2, you can't break the game effortlessly, and can't make a character of optimal efficiency for every scenario. You have to plan and THINK. You really have to be a bit dim to not see the vast superiority of Shock 2's systems.

[6647cd81015b5Toaste]

Join2

Short-sighted.

Having to think

a game of smarts

nuanced and substantial

THINK. You really have to be a bit dim to not see the vast superiority

[6647cd81016b0sarge945]

Really makes you think

[6647cd8101801Join2]

I know you're posting memes, but that is essentialy the difference. System Shock 2 is an intelligently-designed game and Prey a somewhat casual mass market (past a point at least). But like Bioshock, fools people into thinking it is more than it is if you have the inability to look past the surface. Of course it's still an admirable attempt and far better than Bioshock though.

Time will tell. We won't be talking about this game in ten or twenty years. System Shock 2 will still be very much relevant.

[6647cd81019a5Gawain]

I didn't like Prey's sound design. Specially the suit voice is really bad. I also didn't like most of the songs. The music is too aggressive and didn't really fit the mood/pace I had when playing.

[6647cd8101d49Join2]

I didn't like Prey's sound design. Specially the suit voice is really bad. I also didn't like most of the songs. The music is too aggressive and didn't really fit the mood/pace I had when playing.

WARNING. VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL.

The sound design is generally fine but it for sure has bad stand-outs. That and the sound cues when spotted by an enemy or jumped by a mimic, as well as operator robot deployment. Just awful.

Not sure what you mean by aggressive music though lol. There is hardly any noticeable music at all, and when it is there it is aggressively bland. That is a massive downer for me. Mick Gordon is absurdly overrated, like most game composers these days.

Like most modern games, it doesn't really do anything well broadly-speaking except art direction and graphics. Gameplay is lame. Story is lame. Sound design generally fine but ruined by reoccurring annoyances. Music hardly even present, and bland. Setting and premise...nope it's lame. Trying to be original but all the good sci-fi ideas have been taken at this point, so this is what you get I suppose. Uninteresting not-so-scary typhon, it was all just a simulation within a simulation, and lesbians feel love too didn't you know? Sometimes it is best to stick to tradition.  Talos 1 itself is the most interesting thing in the game, but didn't make me love it like some other media has for their respective fiction.

[6647cd8102056Toaste]

GawainIt was completely opposite for me. Ambiences were as good as in SS2, suit voice reminded me of Crysis which shared the same engine with Prey, as well as the neuromod abilities which were straight up copied from maximum strength/speed/early concept of invisibiilty nanosuit modes. As for the songs, Semi Sacred Geometry stuck in my head long after completion, as well as Realization song from Mooncrash.

I like Mick Gordon's sound in general back from NFS World and Shootmania Storm OST, which shown his potential in general composing works. I've never played DOOM remakes but heard ost and it was fine.

part starting from 2 minute is my favorite, as well as the rest of neuromod division.