MINORU'S BLOG

Shik Shak Shock

If we're doing a vote and compiling a list of the best PC games since its inception, I'm sure sooner or later people will be calling System Shock 2 name into the conversation. Released on the eve of the '00s by the now-legendary Looking Glass Studios, System Shock 2 is often mentioned as one of the most influential video games ever. But in actuality, how many of those people actually played the game until the end?

The first time I heard about the game was from a gaming magazine article back in my childhood. I think the article wrote "Top Ten Scariest Games" or something along those lines. It named many horror games, but the one that caught my attention was System Shock 2. The article mentioned "screaming monkeys" and "cyborg midwives" as one of the reasons why. Of course I had to play it.

But during those days, almost nobody else talked about that game. It's like the game was some sort of fever dream of mine. I tried to find the game on the internet to no avail. Even when I found the link and downloaded it, the game refused to run on modern systems. Until finally in 2013, GOG released a non-hassle version of System Shock 2 to play.

I tried it. It was suck. Or I was suck. Regardless, I couldn't get past the first hour of the game. It was ugly as sin; the controls were janky, and there was too much stuff to learn in the beginning that I got overwhelmed. I gave up shortly after. Thus, I put the game back into my endless backlog.

Meanwhile, I played a lot of games known as immersive sim (I kinda dislike the term) such as Deus Ex series, Dishonored, Prey, and Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. Basically those games play like a first-person shooter, but there are different options on how to solve the level instead of just shooting your ways out. You can have techs or magics to help you deal with the enemies. You can go gunblazing or tippy-toe stealthing. Some also have multiple routes and dialogue choices. Games that give you freedom. 

There is also this series called Bioshock, you can guess from the name, that is a spiritual successor of System Shock series. All of these games were my favorites, and lo, they all took inspiration from System Shock 2, which many named as the grandfather of the immersive sims genre. So one day I decided to swallow the pill and jumped onto the decks of the Von Braun, the spaceship that became the setting of System Shock 2.

The first few hours were still painful. Until at one point it finally clicked on me, and then I understood all its praises and reputation. I can find the System Shock 2 DNA in all of my personal favorite games. The freedom play of Deus Ex and Dishonored, the audio logs and environmental storytelling of Bioshock, the body horror of Dead Space, the manipulative AI villain of Portal, and many more. It was a game ahead of its time in terms of gameplay.

The story itself isn't too special nowadays, but it's still fascinating. I won't tell much about the detail of the plot; basically you're a dude who is one of the few survivors of an FTL spaceship expedition that went very, very wrong. You were contacted by another survivor that gave you a mission to try to survive and rendezvous with her. You explored the Von Braun decks which were filled with enemies such as zombies/mutants (of other crew members), suicide bombing androids, the aforementioned monkeys and cyborg midwives. Oh, I did also mention a rogue AI before. Enter SHODAN.

Many have heard of her name and her famous line: "Look at you, hacker: a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?" that was delivered with such a chilling robotic voice. But being actually stalked and taunted by SHODAN throughout the Von Braun corridors while being chased by killer mutant with a shotgun made GLaDOS from Portal look like a tsundere roleplaying ChatGPT.

Anyway, I really enjoyed my playthrough of this game and its unmatched atmosphere. My only gripes with this game are the inconsistent background music and the unbalanced builds. My advice if you play the game is to take your time to read, whether it's the game's manual or the in-game guides.

I played the original 1999 release with mods, but recently they released a remastered version of the game on Steam called System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster which has multiplayer and other trinkets like achievements and QoL fixes. There are many more to said about this game but I'll save those for later. Next, I'll discuss about the grandfather of stealth game.

Can't believe I'm still alive, unlike this blog. So I wrote some kind of a post, in my other blog (please read it if you have time—it's in Indonesian though). After a whole decade of not writing something in the form of a blog post. No, that previous failed comeback post in 2020 doesn't count. That was the post-Covid syndrome talking. What makes me do it btw? I can't say. Maybe I just woke up one day and decided to relive the past glory of shitposting. Yeah, I'll go with that.

P.S. Kirino is still mai waifu

P.P.S Besides my IRL wife of course

 

It was around 6 in the afternoon, when my buddy sent me a Youtube link on Steam chat. I thought for a sec it was probably a silly video or something then I clicked on the link. It was actually an announcement of I LOVE ANISONG guest stars. I was preparing for the worst, maybe someone new will show up. Or it may be this certain idol group whom I adore recently. Whatever, I thought. Then I watched the darn video. Eir Aoi and FLOW, still not amused. I was a bit upset when it get to fripSide, why didn't they come to AFAID earlier. GARNiDELiA, the awesome DJ Kazu and LiSA followed. 'Meh, nothing new this year' that was what I thought at the time when May'n was the next one that get announced. I was getting ready to close the tab when suddenly an awfully familiar voice heard in the earphone. Boy, I wasn't prepared. I shouted my lung out, in somewhat combination of excited and fury. It was Yanagi Nagi herself in the flesh. Yanagi Nagi will perform live in AFA Singapore. Fucking hell. It's almost unreal.

Been following her steps since 2009, I have several mixed reaction for this news. I am of course really, really, really glad to see her getting the recognition she deserves. I am enjoying her works and so do the other people out there. Her fanbase is getting bigger day after day. I still remember the time when it was really hard to get ahold of her new doujin single, let alone to see her face. Good 'ol days. Now we can see her live. As big fan of her I cannot get more grateful for the event organizer. However I am also mad, because it looks like I cannot go to Singapore to attend the show even though there's still time to save money. They could've include her in AFAID anisongs artiste but nay, they didn't. Well they'd better invite her again next year to come to Indonesia. I'm sure as hell I'll go even if it costs me an arm and a leg.

Hello and welcome to my (apparently) dead blog! I hope you don't mind with the lack of new post recently. However if you mind, well, the door's right there mofo. Anyway, it's exactly what it says on the title. I'm going to AFAID and nothing you can do can stop me.

This is my first time attending an anime con and probably the last, unless a certain idol group will perform on the next one. Kinda bummer that the artists lineup aren't as excellent as last year. Though recently I've taken a liking to some of Eir's songs. And both Haruna Luna and MARiA are pretty cute I guess, so there's that.

If there is no change of plan, I'll be in Jakarta from 14th until 18th. So yeah, I'm going there all day erryday. See you there and wish me a safe trip!