I was thinking of starting to play it now that I got it during the sale.
Ive heard the game has a rather big modding scene, my question is should I start a first playthrough unmodded to experience the original or is it worth modding the game from the get go ?

my advice is to at least try it without mods once unless you run into problems that there is a mod to fix it

thats my 2 cents

Thanks for the answer. Sounds reasonable, one more question though, are there any game breaking bugs I should pay attention to ?

none that i have found so far though im still early in so theres still time for some to find me XD

Ok, thanks again. ;)
I sure hope there are none, dont want to lose a couple of hours of progress in another game. >.<

heres a post from teh system shock series forum that may help if you encounter the same issue

https://www.gog.com/forum/system_shock_series/ss2_screen_corruption_flickering_bad_sync_upon_start_resolved

I suggest play full game without mods.
Btw try System Shock Infinite.

Thanks, will keep that in mind. ^^ Will do that, and maybe at the second playthrough Ill install mods.
Ill take a look at gameplay footage, maybe it tickles my fancy. ^^

Use the mod "Better heads" since it makes heads on zombies look much better.

here's the system shock series forum in case you haven't found it yet and need to look for something just kep in mind system shock 1 stuff is in there as well

https://www.gog.com/forum/system_shock_series#1447703209

hope you have fun with the game :)

I think you should try and play the game with the mods that change some of the graphics elements and makes them more appealing. That won't change any story or game-play bits so basically it is the same game but better looking.

This. Many of the game's visual elements haven't aged well, but there's various mods which make the game look much better, without significantly altering the style and design of the graphics. I really can't see a reason for not using those mods, unless one has some kind of nostalgic attachment to the original look of the game, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

I recommend the mod which replaces the original environment textures with higher resolution ones, in particular, and there's several other good texture and mesh mods.

In case this hasn't been posted already:

http://www.gog.com/news/mod_spotlight_system_shock_2

Thanks ! :D
Since they are high-res textures dont really alter the looks/style of the game Ill have a look at those.

As far as I know most of the popular visual updates for System Shock 2 stay ( very ) close to the original look of the game -- just better.

I know some purists would argue that it's better to play the original version when you're playing a game for the first time, but the way I see it, the developers of SS2 didn't use blurry, low-res textures and blocky character meshes because that was their vision of the game -- they did it because of technical limitations at the time. If SS2 had been released a few years later, it would probably look much more like the modded version of the game.

Either way, the strongest atmospheric element of the game is the sound, which is arguably still just as effective as it was back in the day.