How would you fix System Shock 2?

So, I'm making my first ever run through System Shock 2, and I love it, but there's also a lot of problems with it. The different classes have no real differentiation beyond a handful of starting proficiencies, the cyber-implants are underwhelming, and the psionics are so mostly useless that I'm half-tempted to quit my Psi-Ops run-through and start over as a Soldier with Engineering skills multiclassing because it seems like it'd be better. If you were in charge of a total System Shock 2 revamp, how would you fix it up so to make the RPG elements stronger?

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I don't know, but the level where your going through the flesh sewer is shit

make it more like ss1

>I love it but there's a lot of problems with it

Sounds like every pc game from that era.

I'd remove Psi.
Most of Psi is a waste of points, and the parts that aren't (Speed boost and Invis) are bulshit broken.
Given how often the player uses the wrench, I'd make the melee combat more involved like Chivalry, Mount & Blade or Mordhau.
ABSOLUTELY NO PRESS X TO AWESOME OR QTES OR CUTSCENES IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT, that shit is straight fucking cancer.

Personally, here's what I'd do:
>Probably drop the breakable weapons angle; it doesn't really add anything.
>Weapon customization, ala Bioshock; certain mods or the number of mods you can install could be tied to your class (Engineer should be able to customize their gear way more than the soldier or psi-ops).
>Each class has unique abilities/traits beyond just a selection of bonus skills, and you can't "cross-class" the way you could in the original.
>Psionic energy regenerates naturally, instead of having to constantly hunt for/buy psi-stims.
>More powerful and useful psionic powers - in particular, more psionic offensive options, to make up for the Psi-Ops' limited access to guns.
>More inventive cyber implants. For example, a retractile-armblade, ala the ones from Cyberpunk 2077.

Oh shit I misread the point of this thread

>Probably drop the breakable weapons angle; it doesn't really add anything.
Tension over limited resources is a central part of the game. Do not remove it.
>Weapon customization, certain mods or the number of mods
I agree with weapon customisation, but modifications should be a limited resource that is temporary - the mods can break.
> you can't "cross-class" the way you could in the original.
Completely wrong as far as SS2 goes. Taking away the player's option to do everything poorly is taking away the player's option to fail. If the player can't fail, it's not SS2.
>Psionic energy regenerates naturally, instead of having to constantly hunt for/buy psi-stims.
Again, completely against the central theme of tension over limited resources.
>More powerful and useful psionic powers
No, the player does not need to be more powerful. More abilities to avoid combat would be handy, making psionics more of a stealthy class, but carrying with it the potential to be severely fucked if you get found.
>More inventive cyber implants
Probably a good idea, especially if they're part of a set of exclusive options that the player will want both of, so that the option is meaningful and not just "Get more powerful".
> a retractile-armblade
Either that blade needs to require some damn rare resources or for it to be a very late-game option, because the Wrench is overpowered as it is.

Overall it seems like you don't want System Shock. You want a game that wins itself. That game already exists. It's called Bioshock.

>more rpg elements
>in a looking glass game

Not every game needs fucking stats to be a roleplaying game

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I would keep the RPG elements much the same but give the combat an overhaul. Better movement, AI and hitboxes.

Yeah, psi was a bit weird. I appreciated it being odd abilities that help the other trees but it was a pain to access quickly.

System Shock does.

I agree. The combat is quite stiff with regards to what the enemies do. The problem is there aren't really any good role models for a game like SS2, which has to have decent melee combat, and decent gunplay, against an enemy whose job is to get you to waste resources.

Get rid of weapon degradation, update the graphics, and make body of the many nott suck ass by making you run around in a circle while fending off a billion enemies all at once

>Get rid of weapon degradation
No
>update the graphics
Maybe, as long as the graphics help enhance the gameplay or the sense of tension, rather than just being made to look good in screenshots
>make body of the many nott suck ass
Yes

>game has damage modifiers
>it's an RPG!
I'm gettin' real tired of this meme

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Fix the enemy balance and increase pressure on the player. Early game is stressful and challenging, but later on the player is usually extremely overpowered. Standard 6 breaks the game completely.
Enemies don't keep up with player advancement at all to the point where a Rumbler dies in 3 AR shots. And enemies are too safe to melee if you just keep backing in and out.

Fix that, nerf standard HARD, then make energy/exotic really strong for its enemy type. Then you'll have actual choices to make. Leave Psi in but just rebalance it.

Sounds like you got "frustrating" mixed up with "scary", user. Don't worry, it happens to a lot of people. That's why we end up with shit like Alien Isolation.

Bigger cyber midwife tiddies

All of this is completely correct. I'd put this man in charge of designing it.

Frustration is a challenge you can't overcome.
Scary is a challenge you can overcome for now, but you're not sure if you can handle a second one.
SS2 is nothing like Alien Isolation, because you have guns and med hypos that can kill whatever's in front of you if you need to. You just don't have enough to run around killing everything.
It sounds like you've got "boring" mixed up with "not frustrating". Don't worry, happens all the time.

Honestly I think the RPG stuff is kinda unnecessary. Why do you need to install modules to be able to use a glowing stick. System Shock 1 is very fun without any skill points

My main issues were that I was getting tired of it towards the end. The body of the Many was just bad and the final fight as well naturally. The enemy animations also looked really clumsy, similar to Thief. It's funny since they were motion captured too, but they still came out really awkwardly

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Do you know WHY weapon degradation is in the game?
Because you have to either ration limited maintenence tools, or deal with your weapon breaking mid-combat and needing to swap one out or repair it.
Granted, Maintenence is a really fucking good stat and you get enough maintenence tools, so it's not as much of an issue as you think. But it still puts some pressure on you. You can't just hang around in one area, you have to make progress.

Are you joking user. System Shock 1 isn't an RPG in any sense.

The RPG mechanics are there because you want to do a whole bunch of things and you can't do them all. It's another limited resource.
It could be simplified a great deal and still be a meaningful part of the player's choices, though.

Sure, but again going back to System Shock 1, I didn't feel like it was lacking anything without the skill points. If I found something, I could use it. You can limit the player hoarding equipment with limited inventory space, which SS2 also had but it was still pretty generous. I suppose I wouldn't mind upgrade modules which make your aim steadier and stuff like that, but outright stopping the player from using them is a bit lame

>So, I'm making my first ever run through System Shock 2
Finish the game if you want your opinion to be valid, zoomie.
>'m half-tempted to quit my Psi-Ops run-through and start over as a Soldier with Engineering skills multiclassing because it seems like it'd be better
Pathetic tryhard.

0/10 thread

I played as a soldier and never even bothered with Psi because their were better uses of inventory and upgrades. If you wanted to let players use a variety of options, a different upgrade resource for each tree would be a good start, though I think specialization makes for a better RPG experience.

The biggest problem I had with it was that melee scaled with the enemies, so acquiring the rapier or crystal is pretty much all you need to clear the game. And you will clear it that way because the lack of bullets and retarded weapon damage mechanic condition you to save them as much as possible. I was half-way through the flesh ball when I realized this was endgame and I had a million bullets stocked up because bashing a giant's head in a few times is easier and more efficient than keeping guns in good shape and managing ammo. The only weapon skills that even matter are the ones that let you wield them, everything else is better dumped into STR and AGI than trying to branch out.

But more than any of that, I would have done something with the idea that modifying yourself too much was giving her power over you. The simplest way would be with a bad end, but limiting exploration to where she wants you to go or imposing handicaps in certain areas would be a good way to make the player consider whether or not they really NEED that game-breaking OP upgrade. Either way, you'd end up with a more consistent sense of threat.

I recently tried a psi run. Mostly useless shit but from now on I will NEVER play a character that doesn't at least get anti entropy field. That power is fucking awesome.

Not that I minded the weapon skills that much, but I wonder if it would help to make the weapon skills control maintenance and modification instead of the tech skills.
So if you didn't spec into energy you might still be able to pick up and use an EMP rifle, but only in a vanilla state for a very limited time, as it would degrade and break quickly. Whereas your specialized weapons would stay usable and you could enhance them with mods.
At the very least it would make all those extra weapons lying around useful.

The resource that limits your use of guns is bullets, not having the gun break after five shots unless you open a menu and apply patches to it after every encounter. You could maybe make it work if the guns break after a much longer period of time, but can't be patched up, forcing you to discard it and find a new one. But really, anything that makes guns less useful is just another thing pushing the player into a melee build, which is the auto-win option you seem to hate.

Also, a "stealth" option is uncreative and just wouldn't work in the narrow halls and generally claustrophobic environment that defined the game's oppressive atmosphere. The reason having limited resources was scary was because there were a seemingly unlimited number of crazy fuckers running to kill you and you needed to constantly have enough stuff on hand to keep them at bay.

Remove everything to do with spiders

You don't like random eggs spitting poison and giving you a one-way ticket to the nearest revival station?

Remove hacky romance subplot.

>using up all your toxin hypos
>getting close to eggs
deserved it