System shock 2 - Pacifist's approach - Episode 38

[dsagentutube]

During this video I felt like I was in a college class receiving a lecture.

Not that I am complaining.

[ShephardReborn]

@dsagentutube Good to hear that :-) I am quite certain that you-tube is the only place that has courses on System shock 2.

[BulusMaximus]

You have the voice similar to Sean Bean (Boromir Lord of the rings) ;D

[ShephardReborn]

@BulusMaximus Well, thank you :-) or should I say "dziękuje".

For more narration, go see the ShephardReborn reads - System Shock 2 Fan Fiction by Ken Levine videos

[BulusMaximus]

@ShephardReborn You Speak Polish ? ;D wow ;D

[ShephardReborn]

@BulusMaximus Well, yeah I live in Poland all my life. this makes our conversation in English quite ... hilarious :D Sorry for confusing you a bit ;-)

Nowy wygląd youtube pochrzanił kanały tak że nie widać na pierwszy rzut oka skąd jest dany autor kanału. Chociaż jeszcze przed zmianami wielu ludzi pisało do mnie po angielsku całe wiadomości by później dowiedzieć się że jestem z Polski

[BulusMaximus]

@ShephardReborn W ogóle szacunek za akcent myślałem że jesteś jakimś szkotem czy coś ;D Podobał mi się twój Pacifist's approach cały obejrzałem i się zastanawiałem czy to nie było dla ciebie uciążliwe te skradanie i przeskakiwanie ;D A co do System shocka to mam duży sentyment ;D A ty z jakiej częsci polski jestes ?

[ShephardReborn]

@BulusMaximus W sumie to całe skradanie się i uniki to formuła tej serii, z dwa lata temu była taka fala na filmiki związane z System Shock 2 bo była okrągła, dziesiąta rocznica wydania tej gry. Dużo osób było zainteresowanych, Premierowe odcinki oglądało po pięć, sześć tysięcy osób, teraz jest trochę ciszej, ale ciężko oczekiwać po czterech latach trwania "PA" by wciąż było duże zainteresowanie, staram się utrzymać oryginalną formułę i dokończyć serię - stąd taki styl gry.

[raveboy24]

somebody take the mic away from this guy....and the bong

[donkwich]

Oh god I've never noticed that face on the Rumbler.

[donkwich]

Keep a running tally on how many crystal shard hits you've made and have it be the Top Low score.

[konstantinNeo]

How delightful your commentaries are. Thanks a lot. I enjoyed your analysis. Recently I have begun reading a book called "A course in miracles" and the ideas it shares about "non-dualism" are very interesting. I wont go into commenting about ACIM because the book deserves a reading without spoilers. I wish you could have some spare time to look at it and hopefully bring it in your commentaries.

Thanks again! Will be back to see your work.

[thrawn235]

That is the best and most informative Walkthrough I know, Keep up the good work and dont keep us waiting too long.

[Fironkkuify]

The great thing about System Shock 2's story is that it is usually left up to the player's interpetation of what certain things are supposed to mean. Levine had the basic ideas down but the way it was executed was pretty genius.

You and I think in a similar way in that we look very deeply into something; some would call it "over-analyzing". But if a game can make ya do that, it's bound to have something amazing in store.

Really great episode. X3

[charodon]

The teeth are reminiscent of the giant pistons you occasionally have to ride in Half-Life; in particular, there's a jumping puzzle where you have to jump across three of them to get to a platform on the other side of the room. I assume that's what your last comment is referring to. Interestingly, the "Freeman's Mind" series just recently passed that room, and the narrator remarked how ridiculous giant pistons are.

[anthotheboss9999]

gg :)

[pehmomarsu]

And that comment about communism.. it doesn't matter.. and I have had same thoughts.. but it's worth noting, pace of the game gets slower there, now that fighting in cramped space against hard enemies. Now it's easier to get carried away on commentary because kind of nothing happens in the game. This latest things combined.. I would like to have also "Rush, as fast as possible, through SS2 looting and using all the cyber modules and all possible weapons" -approach from you. :)

[ScaredHelmet]

Why are you using the crystal shard in a pacifist approach run?

[ShephardReborn]

@ScaredHelmet Long explanation: watch the entire series, short explanation: because it's the only way here. Made my way through most of the game without using weapons, but at this point it is basically impossible not to swing a shard from time to time.

[pehmomarsu]

@ShephardReborn I Understand that series would have met dead end if shard weren't used against the last eggs. However I would like to keep series still "as pacifist's aproach as it could be". Now there are few instances when you might have tried to dodge enemies instead of bashing them. .. can't blame you for that, level is allready quite hard even without that..

[JJMerrill]

The only bad thing about seeing new uploads is the fact that you're so close to end.

[Crebralassassin]

One of the things that strikes me when listening to you is I think you go a little bad too far in drawing out conclusions and themes in the story. I realise that your good at it (your obviously well-eductaed and intelligent0 but do you honestly think Ken Lavine sat down and decided to write a plot abut communism?

[ShephardReborn]

@Crebralassassin Oh, I'm getting lashes about that communism part today, haha. Maybe I did get carried away with this whole political part. By bringing out those different layers of symbolism, I simply meant that, as in every form of art, there are many ways you can relate to it, analyzing it, each time seeing something else. That's why I said "different perspectives". Certainly I don't believe Levine had all of them in mind while writing the story, maybe he even went for something else.

[ShephardReborn]

@Crebralassassin I'm getting whipped about that communism part today, haha. Maybe I did get carried away with this whole political part. By bringing out those different layers of symbolism, I simply meant that, as in every form of art, there are many ways you can relate to it, analyzing it, each time seeing something else. That's why I said "different perspectives". Certainly I don't believe Levine had all of them in mind while writing the story, maybe even went for something entirely different.

[Crebralassassin]

@ShephardReborn Hahah you have to be careful when mentioning communism :-)

Anyway, I enjoyed hearing from you again. (I hope that doesnt sound creepy)

[Crebralassassin]

@ShephardReborn Hahah you have to be careful when mentioning communism :-)

Anyway, I enjoyed hearing from you again. (I hope that doesnt sound creepy)

[RiNSpy]

@ShephardReborn I think the whole communism thing wasn't far fetched. I was thinking the same thoughts when I was first playing the game.

Also, if you think about it, in wildlife, death is nothing more than a survival mechanism, a tool for change and adaptation. With no sense of individuality, most of life truly doesn't know death, only change. And our sense of individuality and self is in itself paradoxical: zoklet.net /bbs /showthread.php ?t=29967

[JohnSavant]

I'm being wordy and annoying, I know, but I'd also like to point out here that Bioshock shows what happens when you take laissez-faire capitalism or any social system to its simplified extreme, Andrew Ryan becomes the '40s counterpart of Shodan, his total freedom of the under-the-sea market becomes a totalitarian regime with yet another dichotomy between the rich and the poor.

[ShephardReborn]

@JohnSavant Not at all, you do give good feedback, that's what it's all about :-) I'll be doing Bioshock sometime next year maybe, so there's going to be a lot of space for us to disagree there too, hehe

[pehmomarsu]

@ShephardReborn Hope you make also System Shock 2 known there. Bioshock is not a bad game, but it does not bring anything new or really unique after SS2. Fate of the SS2 is very sad, it isn't even underrated but it's completly unknown. ..then Bioshock gathers it's voters with "new elements" like resurrection chambers, researching of items, turrets and hacking..

[JohnSavant]

Your thoughts on communism are gross oversimplifications at best, by the way. It would do you good to read some passages from Marx's German Ideology. Just because Stalinist dictators spewed nonsense to and fro and waved a red flag does not mean their "theories" had any merit. And reducing communist theory to biological terminology is basically 19th century empirical sociology which was more or less an ideological tool for European imperialism.

[ShephardReborn]

That's why it's so dangerous, it makes people believe it is something else but a economically-inoperable attempt to create a just and righteously balanced society. Who cares if ideals are noble, when all the practical interpretations failed miserably, unless you want to point some wealthy socialistic dreamland. I'm emotionally attached to this topic, having seen the aftermath of socialism in my homeland.

Don't think I don't value you input, Its always good to have someone who disagrees :-)

[ShephardReborn]

And BTW, Marx knew shit about economy, and never expected anyone using 'Das Capital', as a handbook for making a political ideology, Even Engels in his editor notes pointed out that the system that Marx suggested should be revised in ways that in the end would make it more market-feasible.

[JohnSavant]

@ShephardReborn

You're basically reducing communism to some biological analogy taken from an insect collective. So, a zoologist would be more suitable to see the "flaws" of such a system than actually studying writers from Marx to Fredric Jameson, and that's just downright insulting. The Many have as much to do with actual communism than Inquisition with actual Christianity. You're obviously biased since you've "seen" the effects, and even therein lies your flaw ...

[JohnSavant]

... it's like saying a soldier who fought in WWII knows the political and economic issues that caused it in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy your input concerning the cyberpunk themes in SS2, but I just cannot overlook these simplistic explanations when comparing The Many with the Stalinist regimes. You might as well compare it to theocratic or fascist societies, and the analogy would still be misleading.

[JohnSavant]

Anyone can draw conclusions from seeing certain regimes collapse and having a detrimental effects on the further progress of society. I come from Yugoslavia and I've learned that planned economy cannot work without a democratic political and economic organization of society backing it up. In fact, it was planned economy without the anarchy of the market that put Soviet Russia on the economic and political map. It only collapsed because the minority (bureaucratic elite) tried to rule over all.

[JohnSavant]

The Many and Shodan are both extremes of metaphysical points of view totalizing every aspect of being. One is total collectivism, the other total individuality (Shodan's final level as the extension of her ego "leaking" into the whole of universe, for instance). Only pointing out that "communism doesn't work" is being very myopic, I would think that the recent events concerning the unbridle capitalism would also lead you to thoughts that Shodan represents bourgeois ego in its extreme form.

[JohnSavant]

Dear Ken Levine, drop the crappy, mainstreamised and consolised rip-off called the Bioshock franchise and return to the cyberpunk roots of the classic RPG shooter called System Shock. Oh, and BUY the trademark back!

[ProDCloud]

After the war he expects his mother (the state) to thank him and reward him and "accept" him but she doesn't need him anymore when hes broken and tired and her rival for power destroyed. Thinking she had no more opposition she attempted to assume complete control. Goggles being godless realized that he determines his values and found out that made him god in a sense which gave him the strength to take on the tyrant which was no match for the now self actualized "god" goggles.

[ShephardReborn]

@ProDCloud It's an interesting interpretation, somehow going back to what I discussed way back in episode 30, Player is just a pawn in conflict between two greater powers, although you just saw that there's another angle to it - that their struggle redefines the protagonist, as an equal to them, ultimately destroying both to I'm so glad that people are willing to discuss whatever I try to put into those videos, makes my work more rewarding.

[ProDCloud]

Of course just like in modern society you are born under one of the two ideological "controls" and i think goggles was born under the state (shodan) when he was brought out of cryo sleep. At first shodan acted like a good mother and after her "transformation" thats when the "abuse" began. Even with the abuse he needed her to survive, just like children who are abused stay with their abusers. The battle of the many can be seen as being drafted for war.

[ProDCloud]

I dont know i also think that Shodan can be interpreted as another "communal" entity i mean if she sees herself as a goddess then doesn't the idea of "god" connote some kind of unity? Or am i just being semantic.. Yeah i think most if not all of the cyberpunk genre embraces anarchism..well vanilla anarchism at least. I think that Shodan represents the state ideology and The Many represents religious ideology which i think are the 2 gods that rule the current modern society.

[ShephardReborn]

@ProDCloud What you conveyed here kinda touches another aspect of Shodan and Many struggle that I omitted - reason vs. faith, I hope to elaborate on that next time.

[Muzzleflash219]

ive never even thought about how hypocritical the many sound about you corrupting their womb, until you brought up the fact they live inside a parasitic growth festering between two ships.

[kduhtdkzrt]

Back home? Does that mean the next episodes gonna come more frequently now? Hooray!

[ShephardReborn]

@kduhtdkzrt I'll certainly try to wrap up the whole series by the end of this year :-)

[Rubenos01]

At last! ^^

[augustgirl515]

I must admit, that I truly do love your in-depth commentary and concepts that you come up with about this game. Like your discussion about the symbolism of it. It adds and interesting perspective for sure, and gives it a dynamic that I never would have thought of. Definitely worth the wait as always. :)

[ProDCloud]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA­AAAAAAAAAAAAAY