The unofficial SS2 patch has progressed to the point where now SS2 is playable on any Windows 7 x32 or x64 computer, and it runs excellently with high framerates, updated visuals, and so on. Mods are just as good as ever too.

As someone who owns a DRM-free CD version of the game that still works just fine, is there any benefit at all to buying the GOG version, other than the extras and the "support GOG!" party line?

installation process is easy, you can play right out of the box, free extras.

How is this even possible? System Shock 2 uses SafeDisc.

All GoG games come free of DRM. Any DRM the games had have been removed to make it easier for customers. On top of that the games are made to work on modern hardware regardless of any errors the physical copy might have had. This is why it takes time for them to add games to GoG.

GOG games come out on CDs now?

I believe sear is mistaken. The unofficial patch likely being referred to here strips out the DRM of the game, so that may be what's he's talking about.

To answer the original question, I do not believe that the GoG version offers anything over the original retail version at this point. The only thing that's maybe true is that the GoG version might be slightly easier to install, but considering that the original retail version can now be installed via SS2Tool, even that is a minimal benefit.

In other words, if you already own SS2, there's not a whole lot more here for you besides digital availability.

Several people I know are getting rid of their optical drives. So a GoG version is nice to avoid having to have a CD drive handy to read the disc.
I just bought it on Gog to support it even if I have it on CD. Having to store a backup of the patch or to use a hex editor to unprotect it, and then issues playing videos. I'm rather happy to buy it again. Also it looks good on my GoG shelf.

I have an "EA Classics" re-release that seems DRM-free to me (no key, no CD check) but I may be wrong. It's called DAEMON Tools. Welcome to the 21st century.

Ah, wasn't aware of that. The original European version uses SafeDisc without a doubt though.

I just tried this game for a quick test, did GOG do anything to it? I noticed that I can play on 2560 by 1440 :D

That is awesome but I didn't think the game would support that, so were any changes made to the GOG releases of the game

they've used the ss2tool (see the sticky) to update the game with the NewDark engine. that makes it very compatible with new pcs, among other things.

I also just noticed I can play on 2560x1440p :D

delighted and it looks pretty good

Which you can do before getting rid of your optical drive...

I was thinking more of people that don't have an optical drive at all (which a lot of newer machines don't). But now that I look back over this thread, nobody was actually talking about that. I think I was reading two different threads and my brain combined the contents of both.