Is System Shock 2 like Bioshock before Bioshock became Bioshock? P.S. Sorry for the tongue twister?

the answer is irrelevant, just go and play it.

What was bioshock before ... whatever you said?

Sorry for the way I worded the question. What I am asking is, does System Shock 2 play like Bioshock?

no. but go play it anyway.

There are some similarities... Bioshock was clearly inspired by System Shock 2 (I believe it was even claimed as a "spiritual sequel" since it had many of the same developers working on it). But Bioshock plays more like an action game, whereas System Shock 2 is more survival horror with some RPG elements.

However, I concur with voodoo47: you should absolutely play it.

A thread in the System Shock 2 forum named "System Shock 2". How delightfully recursive.

At least he didn't just call his thread "Thread".

It ... Doesn't. To be fair, Bioshock probably plays a bit better as it's more polished. On the other hand, SS2 has a lot more going for it - much better atmosphere, better survival elements, better character development bechanics... Pretty much everything is better in SS2 than in Bioshock except for FPS gameplay itself, really. I like how constructive you can be.

Mockery as a teaching tool is sadly underrated.

System Shock and System Shock 2 were before Bioshock. Bioshock was made by some of the same people, I'm sure. But the answer you are looking for, is no. Bioshock and System Shock have nothing to do with each other. Bioshock is the spiritual sequels. Same universe? No, I don't think so. It's just the "Shock" in the titles, and the psi-hypos and resurrection tubes/DNA remapper that keeps them loosely tied together.

System Shock is much better in terms of story, and horror, in my opinion... Where I found Bioshock, just, meh, in my opinion, even though I haven't' played a whole lot of Bioshock 1 and 2. Just couldn't get into it.

My advice is to play System Shock 1 and then 2. :)

I never liked Bioshock but I have played enough of it to tell you one thing: In every way that Bioshock is holding your hand and always spelling out what you need to do, System Shock 2 does not. System Shock talks to you like you are a real person, it gives you directives or orders to follow, it doesn't throw you a superflous bit of spoken exposition that can be ignored in favour of on-screen directions. Basic human stuff. You're alone on a space ship, if you can not change a light bulb without someone walking you all the way to the store room with a note taped to your forehead so that you always remember what you are doing, you're going to wander aimlessly and die tired.

If you are willing to listen to what is being said to you, read every scrap of information you uncover within the game world and actually pay attention to it, you will know what to do and you will go and do it like a good soldier.

Actually, you can turn off both the arrow and shimmering of objectives in Bioshock. It's all very optional, and when you do it, you get a much more SS2-like experience (altho still not close enough).

I find it kind of funny that the option is there for everyone, but people still complain about the bloody thing. I'm fairly glad that the game tried to cater to people with different tastes and different priorities, you could even turn off the vita chambers. People who were in this community for way longer than you didn't feel the need to teach him anything. If you're trying to be a productive member of a community, you should adjust to it, not try to adjust the community to you.

A website I found by accident few weeks ago:
http://systemshockbioshocksimilarities.webs.com/ - massive SPOILERS for both Bioshock and System Shock.

Thanks for this. Part of me wants to read it to help explain the similarities and the other part of me doesn't because of spoilers. Yeah I guess I shouldn't have named the thread System Shock 2...oh well.

Not initially. On consoles, the option was initially available only as DRM (which, iirc, one had to pay for), and on PC, it was not available at all; if it is now, it's a result of a patch doubtless a result of fan backlash (which, incidentally, is the same reason that Bioshock has SecuROM protection that no longer contains an activation limit). Speaking as a law student who has had an old school professor who equated mockery of his students and failing to answer their questions to teaching, I must concur. Mockery as a teaching tool is underrated, and rightly so. It does not correct a person's ignorance, and it does not make the person attempt to learn on their own; all it does is make them waste their time and their brain's background operations (including the parts that work on solving problems when we are not focusing on them) with wastefully indulging in feelings of seething hatred at worst and frustrated inactivity at best, and if you're really lucky, they will actively refuse to change out of sheer spite.