System Shock 2 Review by The Lyadhkhor Strategist

[673f7ed854bf7unn_atropos]

°review
Reviewer: The Lyadhkhor Strategist
Title: System Shock 2
Duration: 00:00:00
Language: English
Year: 2020
Topics:
- UI: User interface hard to navigate and outdated (very small)
- visuals: hold up stylisticly, well designed levels, dated models witth clunky animations
- sound design: very good, music is a mixed bag; sometimes inapprotiate non reactive, some amaturish (some notably good voice acting), atmosphere: overwhelming and claustrophobic, feeling of uneasyness
- gameplay: no stealth, no verticallity, engaging exploration loop, backtracking; paintings and black eggs, upgrading; possible to get into unwinable state, weapon maintenance, enemies: hybrids, cyborg midwifes, robots and turrets, annoying flies, worst hacking mini game ever, tedious research
- PSI powers: hindered by ui: no keyboard shortcuts, too specific powers, most interesting gameplay approach
- story summary
- conclusion: holds up, solid, some quirks and flaws, an extremely dense game
Named Modifications: shown: SS2 Community Patch (SCP) Beta 4?, Tacticool, Eldron Psi Amp, ZylonBane’s English subtitles
linked: Four Hundred, SHTUP-ND, Vaxquis Vintage Song Remake v1.0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24bvs-6emA

See the full list of reviews here.

[673f7ed854dcfvoodoo47]

I'll address his three major complaints - 1:58 the UI actually is pretty much perfect, it does exactly what needs to be done the way it's supposed to be done (remember, there's an awful lot that needs to be done - so much complexity is not expected nowadays, I'd reckon). and the reason it's small is because hud scaling is not enabled. 9:22 yes, psi shortcuts exist, and they are quite functional, they just need to be set up.

also, something weird is going on - very sure several builds/mods/modpacks are presented in that video (hud scaling has been enabled everywhere since forever now, for example).

[673f7ed854f38ZylonBane]

I couldn't get past all the pausing as he spoke. There's no excuse not to edit those out.

[673f7ed855320RoSoDude]

SS2's UI is still the slickest and most enjoyable I've ever used in an FPS/RPG. Swapping between the inventory and mouselook is instant and draws only the bare minimum on your screenspace, while still giving you access to every menu option you need. It also saves the most recent position of your mouse cursor, so you only need to move your cursor a small amount to quickly loot multiple bodies and containers in quick succession. Dragging and dropping items within the inventory is simple and efficient. Dropping an item from your inventory is as simple as dragging it from your inventory into the world. Simply right click objects in your inventory to use them, making quick hypo use in the heat of combat a viable option -- or you can bind hotkeys. You can drag items onto your character's "paperdoll" to equip them, or you can bind hotkeys. Similarly with ammo types and firing modes, you can either use simple mouse gestures (drag ammo types onto the gun in question and cycle through the modes on your weapon's info icon, respectively), or you can bind hotkeys. Everything action you could ever need to perform is at your fingertips or only a mouse click away. This means the UI can operate in real time, creating tension even during mundane tasks like inventory management and rewarding learning these efficient ways to manipulate the UI.

I can understand the frustration in that he had some modpack version (oof) with UI scaling disabled and never found the hardcoded psi shortcuts (though they are actually shown in the UI). But I don't understand the rest of the UI complaints.

[673f7ed855684voodoo47]

agreed, that's why I always say;

the UI actually is pretty much perfect, it does exactly what needs to be done the way it's supposed to be done

when NDS were asking about how to improve the SS1 UI, my answer was "get it as close to what SS2 has as possible".

but I understand it can look overwhelming nowadays - when you open it, some info is displayed, you can click on half a dozen buttons, drag things around and place them elsewhere, open a bunch of new windows which have tabs.. you would almost think it's a pda OS of some sort or something.

[673f7ed855854Lyadhkhor Strategist]

This is the Lyadhkhor Strategist and I think I should clarify about how I think the UI can be improved
Better icons
The Logs that can be more easily sorted
A way to read the motes without it being situated as a small box at the end of the screen
A complete redesign of PSI menu which can take up much more space but clearly divided into all powers instead of having to change them 1 by one
All stats/combat in 1 menu
This is all possible due to how much leeway a larger screen provides nowadays and much more information is thus presented in a better way

[673f7ed855c44Lyadhkhor Strategist]

I'll address his three major complaints - 1:58 the UI actually is pretty much perfect, it does exactly what needs to be done the way it's supposed to be done (remember, there's an awful lot that needs to be done - so much complexity is not expected nowadays, I'd reckon). and the reason it's small is because hud scaling is not enabled. 9:22 yes, psi shortcuts exist, and they are quite functional, they just need to be set up.

also, something weird is going on - very sure several builds/mods/modpacks are presented in that video (hud scaling has been enabled everywhere since forever now, for example).

These aren't my 3 major complaints Jank,Backtracking in those 2 levels I mentioned and that Ending are.
Also I used SHTUP and a few mods but I couldn't find the scaling option that might be my problem
The UI is part of that Jank and I didn't like I won't say it can't do its Job it does it's job

[673f7ed855dc2voodoo47]

"3 major complaints that I consider unfounded" is what I meant.

-better icons how? are they too small? not pink enough?
-logs are sorted by deck, what's wrong with that? there aren't that many of them, finding the one you need is not that difficult.
-yeah, a psi wheel of some sort would be nice, I'll give you that one (and that one only).
-all mfd stuff in one menu, nope, I don't see it (pic below, with UI scaling active).

UI scaling can be activated by removing the semicolon ; from the d3d_disp_scaled_2d_overlay 64 line in cam_ext.cfg, all builds of SS2 currently available online have this activated by default (your vertical resolution needs to be 960 pixels or more for it to activate).
[multitab.jpg expired]

[673f7ed855f44Kolya]

Sorting logs chronologically or by the time you found them might be nice. But this is moot, since we can't change the UI anyway.

What is meant by "Jank"?

[673f7ed856022voodoo47]

less than ideal, or something along those lines, I'd reckon.