System Shock 3 pre-New Years bad news

[673f4e803a4a6icemann]

Second that

[673f4e803a718Shimonhead]

Am I seriously the only one who thinks Warren Spector is a complete fucking waste, a joke and a hack? Nearly everything he has ever been involved with has been a failure. He has zero design or development skills from what I see. He does nothing useful to make any kind of game, let alone a good one, except have the media announce Warren Spector is developing a sim. His name should be a flashing beacon that whatever game he is involved with will be a total failure, if it even gets finished. He should have his name erased from the gaming industry. Or at the very least, be locked in a room with System Shocked.

Yet all I see on the net are people singing him praises in every single article about him.

If I'm completely wrong here, I'll own up and apologise...but please first explain by examples what contributions he has done that made any game he has been involved with the roaring success everyone says it is? And what the hell were his exact contributions to developing Underworld, Thief and Deus Ex? Did he actually design the levels? Write the entire story? What?? What makes this guy so adored and worshiped?

[673f4e803a8effox]

I wasn't there but I do believe that he contributed a fair bit to bringing the concept of "ImSims" to life. Ultima Underworld 1+2, Thief, Deus Ex and the fabulous Ultima VII-extensions. In my book that (along with some general decency) earned him some credit and respect.

Still, the original Deus Ex was his last great project in that regard. That's 20 years in the past now and with a veritable flop (UA) as his most recent project under his belt, I can understand that people don't have faith in his skills anymore and become irritated when the media is still throwing his name around as if nothing had changed since then.

[673f4e803a9f4Shimonhead]

Thank you, I appreciate the reply and the insight.

[673f4e803ad58Kolya]

The System Shock 3 team is ‘no longer employed’, it’s been claimed | VGC
Former developer claims project is effectively shelved, after leads confirm their departure…

[673f4e803af77ZylonBane]

Well that sucks. I didn't have super high hopes for SS3, but I felt like it would have at least been interesting to play. And it couldn't have been as bad as Underworld Ascendant. Although this bit from the article is troubling:

“Those high expectations drove a lot of expensive experimentation. We were a small team and knew we couldn’t compete with current immersive sims in production quality and breadth, so we had to be creative and clever and weird. And we were on our way to make something unique and possibly fun, but probably not what the audience was hungry for.”

What the hell, guys? SS2 isn't a classic because of its AAA production values or novel gameplay mechanics (of which it had neither). It's a classic because it's creepy, tense, immersive, and decently replayable.

I guess I'll just have to consider Soma the closest thing we'll get to SS3.

[673f4e803b2d3Shimonhead]

I guess I'll just have to consider Soma the closest thing we'll get to SS3.

I do think Soma is very SS-like...atmosphere and monster-wise at least.

Didn't you like Arkane's Prey?

[673f4e803b416fox]

I feel there's no real middleground anymore. Who bothers with AA-games nowadays? People either go for the "charming independent" kind of game (which would be completely inappropriate for a new System Shock game) or for AAA-titles. Dead Space has been dubbed an AAA- game, I think anything below that and System Shock 3 is already having a very slim chance at becoming the game it should be. Even with a big budget, it's going to be very tough.

[673f4e803b513ZylonBane]

Terminator: Resistance is a recent AA game that's been getting pretty good reviews.

[673f4e803b6c4Creamy]

Can confirm that, Zylon. It sits comfortably between indie and big budget "AAA" and is the type of game you just don't see often these days. It doesn't reinvent the wheel by any means, it's just a simple yet serviceable shooter that is made better by its movie license attachment. You can tell they actually cared and did the best they could. It's also nice to see this game be received warmly by gamers because their previous game - Rambo, was an unmitigated disaster, so it's nice to see that kind of redemption, ya know? Check it out if you see it for a decent price!

[673f4e803b7favoodoo47]

but are the lasers purple?

[673f4e803ba42Creamy]

but are the lasers purple?

They certainly are, some of them! 

[673f4e803bb2cvoodoo47]

all is well then.

[673f4e803bc2eicemann]

RPS gets in on the action:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/02/10/system-shock-3-might-be-in-trouble-as-multiple-devs-reportedly-no-longer-employed/

[673f4e803be84JDoran]

The new Terminator game is pretty good, but it's too easy, too short, and the decisions you make don't feel like they make much of a difference in the game world. I thought the game was bugged at first, because it was so easy and the inventory allows you to carry a high amount (and I mean sky-high) of any given items or ammunition, without even a movement penalty for allowing you to carry so much.

 The biggest problem for a hardcore Terminator fan though, I think, would be that the game is almost insulting in how it nerfs the terminators. They are brain-dead, with hearing and sight that seem vastly inferior to human senses to judge from the way you can look at them from cover, or move when close to them but out of their line of sight, and yet their presumably *much* better than human senses don't detect you. And why is it that you, a member of the hunted and presumably not too wealthy resource-wise human resistance, have technology that can see through walls and other obstacles, yet Skynet's own creations don't have that ability?

Don't get me wrong, I know why it's that way, it's to improve the gameplay and to allow usable stealth (which does work in this game, unlike in most shooters), I'm just saying that to me it doesn't fit in with the Terminator lore. A good game though, and worth playing for any Terminator fan, or for anyone who likes first person shooters.

[673f4e803bf72ZylonBane]

Meh, the T-800s were weak and stupid in Future Shock as well. Didn't make it any less awesome.

[673f4e803c2f0edx]

Wasn't sure to post this as its own topic:

Ownership of System Shock 3’s website has been transferred to Tencent | VGC
Troubled sequel could have found investment…

https://forums.otherside-e.com/t/is-system-shock-3-being-published-by-tencent/10313

[673f4e803c3eaicemann]

Not good.

[673f4e803c4d2voodoo47]

yeeah, asking the chinese for money, I can't see how that could go wrong..

[673f4e803c6ccedx]

Confirmed:
https://twitter.com/OtherSide_Games/status/1263169724336267264
https://twitter.com/OtherSide_Games/status/1263169765788524552

"We are happy to announce that Tencent will be taking the #SystemShock franchise forward. As a smaller Indie studio, it had been challenging for us to carry the project on our own. We believe Tencent's deep capabilities and expertise as a leading game company will bring the franchise to new heights."

Edit: Nightdive clarifying due to the wording of OSG tweets:

https://twitter.com/pripyatbeast/status/1263176573827420160

"Nightdive owns the System Shock franchise and IP, please don't spread misinformation."

[673f4e803ccf7unn_atropos]

"Nightdive owns the System Shock franchise and IP, please don't spread misinformation."

And now: statements from ten shareholders (just their ten cents) 🥳

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKZw59lbGUY

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfUniuD-jsY

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3WZHOjjTBM

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oU_Mqm4PuU

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kEqvJCCneM

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=564Fcm-jq7A

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5EuD7dL-Pw

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bLP5tjFPRk

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-g5_cmuVX0

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN2bkQMs4Zw

[673f4e803ce25ZylonBane]

Was inlining ten YouTube videos really necessary?

[673f4e803cf0cunn_atropos]

Yes. Yes, it was.

[673f4e803d1f9JML]

Was inlining ten YouTube videos really necessary?

Now I know why it loaded 20 seconds on my phone. and yes, I still refuse to use the mobile version, thank you very much.