The soundwork on 6:31 speaks volumes about SHODAN in my opinion - the moment she has the chance, she violently injects herself into the wires of Xerxes, his metaphorical bloodstream, spreading her corruption wherever she may. For someone that calls the player a parasite, she basically is one herself, a fatal virus. All that characterization without having to say a single word
One of my favorite themes of Shodan is her unending hypocrisy. She despises humans, but through her vanity and narcism she is one of the most human AI in all of fiction. She is the creation of mankind that went rogue and tried to kill us, while The Many are _her_ creation that went rogue and tried to destroy her. And indeed she calls the player a parasite who is only alive because of her cybernetic augments, while she herself only survives because we let her hijack Xerxes
I love the line at 3:51. The way his voice distorts for "do you not yearn" imitating the speaking patterns of the Many, a contrast to his usual monotony.
I don't know why lots of people seem to think Xerxes was bland or boring. I thought the juxtaposition of his monotone robotic voice and his demented lines about "the glory of the flesh" and "detainment and execution" worked to _really_ creepy effect.
Especially as it is a variant on the theme of Russell's voice acting for Diego. Xerxes' own programming and will - such as it is - is used against him and he's made to say things that sound 'wrong.' But because Diego has a conscience unlike Xerxes he is able to fight back. But the Diego logs were horrific because of the sheer agony he was clearly in while saying praises of the Many.
Xerxes is a perfect contrast to SHODAN. Despite both being machine, their dynamic with SHODAN's experiments is opposite. SHODAN had complete obedience from her mutants and cyborgs to serve her own ambition, but Xerxes is only a servant to the collective will of the Many and lacks any personal autonomy. Everything SHODAN says and does is for SHODAN and SHODAN alone, Xerxes has no sense of self or will of his own. SHODAN is the ultimate narcissist, and Xerxes is the ultimate doormat.
I wonder if it was just the songs themselves, because if it was XERXES himself singing it in his monotone voice that just makes it even more hilarious.
There’s something really disturbing about how he would say standard ship procedure things and personal messages for the staff, but then immediately sing the praises of the Many. Letting you know that even a “safe” AI could be easily corrupted
Yeah dude it's so creepy to think about. Especially since while he was hacked, he doesn't seem to have had his ethical constraints removed like SHODAN. This means that from his (albeit corrupted) perspective, he sees The Many as ethical and maybe even benevolent. From his purely logical perspective, The Many is an improvement on humanity that will increase their power and their odds of continued survival.
Phenian Oliver it’s really fucked because he is an AI that was made not as advanced as SHODAN. Like going from the modern Mac computer to the Apple II. The Many is so powerful and twisted in their corruption that even AI can be swayed to their view.
@@YassineFarah2423 I heard that the y even designed it that way, with backdoors to acsess in a contingency, of course, everything backfires in system shock 2, including your own guns!
@@xonxt7479 XERXES was designed to be extremely easy to hack. The idea was that should something malfunction with XERXES, hacking him and doing whatever needed doing was easy as shit. And somehow, these brilliant researchers all(not all) agreed to this plan, apparently being completed devoid of the logic of flipping the coin. "Why is it that no one listens to me? The security protocols on the Xerxes system are clearly immature. Some idiot hacked into the primary data loop last night and made Xerxes sing Elvis Presley songs for three hours. I finally had to pull the voice sub-system off line. What would happen if someone with a real agenda got into him?" - Marie Delacroix audio log
Whether Many is a better alternative is debatable. Being part of a collective consciousness can be appealing. Working for SHODAN is suicidal insanity. She has made it clear that she sees humanity as obsolete.
It is not debatable. Both lead to collectivism and both result in catastrophies such as these. A reminder that Shodan created The Many and simply didn't jive with them due to their disobedience. Same coin. A coin that belongs at the bottom of a toilet bowl. I'd flush twice.
It is possible to tune XERXES out, but they wrote him like this on purpose so that hints of the Many would slip through to the player and cause them to … take pause. Like, “wait, what did he just say?” And when playing, you can’t just replay it and listen again.
when i first saw xerxes on med sci i thought he was like a camera or something and that he would alert nearby enemies if he saw me so i spent a good amount of time avoiding him
At the end...that could have been the anguished scream of an at least somewhat-sentient AI realizing its doom - - or it could just have been a little bit of feedback. Back then, game designers understood the concept of nuance.
I'm imagining this as a voicemail, and Xerxes just keeps calling and leaving messages. "You have.. eighty one new messages. To hear them now press one."
One of my favourite moments in the whole game is the "Intruder entering Medical Sector A" speech. In addition to the fun ambush that happens simultaneously, it really made me think about who Polito was exactly. It was the moment where I started becoming suspicious about the whole situation.
It's really good, also because if you showed that one audio clip to someone who hadn't played SS2, they'd get a pretty good grasp of what his personality, or lack of, is like. He just does his job.
You need to re-read the Space Odyssey series, it seems. HAL9000 didn't rebel, he went insane due to having to carry out conflicting orders given to him by his father (creator/programmer) and the government. Those namely being "Do no harm" and "Don't let ANYONE learn the truth of the mission" more or less.
I could just imagine The Meny's shopping deck. Their slogan would be "We who shop together, spend together." Midwife:"I must get presents for my little ones." Grunt/Hybrid: "Must buy organic and economic. Other item will lead to discord among the mass." Protocol Droid:"Sir, may I help you with your bags? I am very helpful."
It's funny, SHODAN is such an incredibly memorable and terrifying AI character that I somehow forgot about XERXES existing after not playing the game for several years
@@ytgc-royalewarex5190 Exactly. It's more of an automatic announcer. It doesn't seem to be capable of actual thinking, evident by one of the logs that states it can be easily manipulated by almost anyone.
I see XERXES as more of an environmental hazard than a genuine character. I think he's still effective, but I look at him as though he's on the same level as, like, the invisible spiders.
Would've been interesting if there was anyone alive to make it to the Deck 5 census, or at least an audio log of it. I'd be up for a poetry reading too...assuming said protocol unit wasn't another walking kamikaze.
@mcflurey667 After the events of the first game, AIs were made intelligent enough to carry out tasks but not able to think for themselves. XERXES didn't work for The Many, they took control of him.
It would have been cool if they had something interesting with the lighting when the player finally sent out the emergency signal and reinitialized the SIM units, maybe have all the lights go out for a moment, with the eerie hum of SHODAN taking over.
I was usually almost relieved to hear Xerxes. SHODAN wants to rule the universe. The Many wants to absorb/erase you. Xerxes is just a guy with a job to do.
Wait...I'm confused; was XERXES corrupted by the Many, and used to spew their 'glory to the mass, glory to the flesh' spiel, because what I had always been lead to believe (have not played System Shock 2 quite yet), was that XERXES was how The Many were communicating with the player to begin with; they couldn't 'speak' on their own to the player, so they subverted XERXES and used him like a mouthpiece. Now this seems to indicate that they were two separate intelligences the whole time, with XERXES simply parroting the words he had been programmed to say in response to certain events (OR, repeating what The Many wanted him to say, since I DO know that UNlike SHODAN, XERXES has no real free will/initiative of his own). Or are BOTH theories right, and The Many DOES use XERXES to speak, but only does so whenever it actually deems fit TO speak? (On more careful thought, the "they're two entirely separate beings" line of reasoning IS more credible, seeing as how The Many continues to 'speak' to the player, even when OFF the Von Braun, and thereby away from XERXES-- and if SHODAN couldn't reach out to communicate with you while inside The Many's biomass, its highly doubtful XERXES could do what SHODAN could NOT.) Anyone confirm, deny, either one/both theories? These are just my thoughts, so any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated.
+DorianMichaelsIII Simple - the Many takes control of Xerxes to further cement their power on the Von Braun. They cannot interface directly with the mechanical functions of the Von Braun, so they need Xerxes. As far as Xerxes' announcements, some of them were clearly programmed by agents of the Many. The rest are probably glitches in his system, since he's been hacked so much in the past several weeks.
I know that *now*-- after posting this, I went looking for information. I *was* right in the sense that XERXES is a mouthpiece...as in: he only says what he is *programmed* to say, be it from The Many, or what he would likely say anyway, Many or no (like the bit about the poetry reading, for instance)-- this is foreshadowed in one of the audio logs, when Doctor Marie Delacroix, XERXES' designer, is complaining that some hacker got into his XERXES and made him sing Elvis Presley tunes for three hours; she even says how bad it could be if someone with a 'real agenda' got into him; which turns out to be EXACTLY what happens.So, in short, The Many DOES use XERXES to speak, but only as an *agent* of theirs-- they are more than capable of speaking to the Soldier (player character) on their own; which they do, and it is only *slightly* less creepy than listening to SHODAN talk. Basically, pre-corruption, XERXES is like SHODAN was in SS1, *before* she had her ethical restraints removed and became the mechanical Goddess we all know and love. Also, good point about them needing XERXES to work the Von Braun-- makes sense; ALSO explains their (apparent) hypocrisy in using him, despite all the 'glory to the flesh, curse the emptiness of technology/technology is useless against us' sort of lines; though to be fair, they were referring mostly to their Mother (SHODAN) when they did so.
+DorianMichaelsIII yeah the way i understood it was the many enjoyed having xerxes speak for her. but she also enjoyed speaking to herself. but you bring up a good point in that she was being hyporcital in using xerexs to speak to her. but i never got the feeling they hated technology actually i had a feeling they had a tiny bit of limited control over it and rather enjoyed it. they did want every living thing to be part of their biomass but i never got any indication they wanted to destroy techonically if was actually useful to them heck they actually get pissed off at you for as they put it wounding xerxes plus they have no porblem using shuttles to get the eggs out of the ship not to mention the midwifes were half techonlegy they had no problem making a lot of females into in order to care for the eggs because the flesh still could survive tending the eggs.
@Bat Bat no really all this time I thought the many was just a female. I am of course being sarcastic. But in all seriousness the many I thought I had mentioned in game someone call the many a female but maybe I was mistaken. To be fair I fo hear a female voice more often then a Male voice when the many speaks. Huh when I think about it the many comes across as proto well what we have going on with people and their genders with the he she they pronouns. And its slightly surprising that no one brings up the many is a literal they pronoun organism. Like I said the more I think about the many the more they seem like sjws today lol with how proud they are of their pronouns even when korenchen or however you spell his name sends you an email he calls himself they by saying "our will"
You're thinking of an audio log by Delacroix who mentions someone doing that, but it doesn't happen in the game as it happened a few months before the events of SS2.
You're joking, right? This is the best present anyone could ever hope to receive! :D You're witnessing the Goddess cleaning up everyone's mess, and then taking out all the trash! That's the proper way to deal with trash; You throw it out! You don't put it in control of a massive, state-of-the-art starship and it's FTL Drive!
Oh man, I stumbled across your cool Half life analysis videos, and was scrolling through your work, only find I've seen one of your videos LOADS of times before. Don't know how many times I've listened through this one, but I really should have checked out the rest of the channel!
Well, that's kinda what he is isn't it? He is so incredibly unfinished and underdeveloped that he is practically shutting down before our very eyes. Someone should've done the right thing here by disengaging XERXES and replacing it with something more capable of overseeing the Von Braun. I'm sure there's a toaster oven somewhere that nobody would miss.
I got them off of the game. As far as I am aware this is all of them. Well, I didn't put in all of the "Unit compromised" and the "Security units move" ones in.
@poorlymadeproduction True that. That whole floor creeped me out. The crew quarters, shopping area, rec area. It was so open. You couldn't keep your back to the wall. Especially making that mad dash to the elevator in the middle of the crew cabins! You just feel so open and unsafe!
@mcflurey667 Xerxes was built to be easy to hack. In part by design, to weaken it in case it went rouge. In part because the whole project was rushed. When the Many started to take control over the crew, one of them was compelled to hack Xerxes so that he will work for the Many.
"reminds you there are only 163 shopping days till Xmas" Now you wouldn't think that that was the most terrifying speech in a video game would you? I have a slight over production of adrenalin problem and it does tend to show in video games esp immersive one. I was inching my way into the north part of the shop cent when I heard that speech - somehow my adrenalin hyped brain translated it as All battle droids converge on player. I shot outta the sector like greased lightning and hid.
There are a large number of audio clips that are included in the game files but were not used in the final game. All the game characters have these extra audio clips. I believe the game data files are just ZIP files with a different extension. try changing the extension to ZIP. The game will work with just the extracted folders, and the data files removed.
Ashley Pomeroy I'm not talking about SHODAN's sounds here, I'm talking about Xerxes' line itself. Here, he clearly says "Warning. Data systems compromised. Hostile AI detected. Data systems compromised". When I played (and I finished the game multiple times) I never heard him speaking this like clearly, like that. He always spoke it with his voice breaking down, like at 6:48. And my question was not about obvious SHODAN sounds, but: how is it possible to hear, in the game, Xerxes speaking that last line so clearly, without SHODAN ultimately silencing him?
Genesivare Iirc, he only speaks with a broken voice by the time you replace the 3rd sim unit, to indicate that he's gone and been replaced by Shodan as the ship's AI.
+Demonhorse1 Are you absolutely sure that you understood what I had asked about? What you're talking is not the truth anyway, because Xerxes speaks with a broken voice also when you set up the transmitter on deck five. And this is the moment when he is overtaken by SHODAN.
R.I.P. Looking Glass Why did they left us..imagine if they were still working together nowadays... society would break with so many people playing videogames instead of having a life haha :)
Gaming in 1999. What happened? What happened to this voice acting / story / DETAILS ??? Why don't we have this in our games today? (also note the soundfx introducing his statements..so professional)
This is xerxes, Pleas report any unauthorized data base interactions to your direct superior, remember a smooth operation is Everybody's responsibility lol
I'm wondering if this character is coming back in System Shock 3. He's not coming back in the remake, because he was not in the first System Shock game.
![System Shock 2 - Korenchkin [ audio logs ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zgF9irdJlRw/mqdefault.jpg)
![System Shock 2 - Korenchkin [ audio logs ]](/img/tr.png)
The soundwork on 6:31 speaks volumes about SHODAN in my opinion - the moment she has the chance, she violently injects herself into the wires of Xerxes, his metaphorical bloodstream, spreading her corruption wherever she may. For someone that calls the player a parasite, she basically is one herself, a fatal virus. All that characterization without having to say a single word
One of my favorite themes of Shodan is her unending hypocrisy. She despises humans, but through her vanity and narcism she is one of the most human AI in all of fiction. She is the creation of mankind that went rogue and tried to kill us, while The Many are _her_ creation that went rogue and tried to destroy her. And indeed she calls the player a parasite who is only alive because of her cybernetic augments, while she herself only survives because we let her hijack Xerxes
Data systems compromi..sed… haaaa aeeeeee.. aaaaaaaaaaaa
@@teeny1389 Xerxes was already compromised; he just didn't know it.
@@teeny1389who's getting the best head
She’s practically lobotomizing him on the spot
I love the line at 3:51. The way his voice distorts for "do you not yearn" imitating the speaking patterns of the Many, a contrast to his usual monotony.
I don't know why lots of people seem to think Xerxes was bland or boring. I thought the juxtaposition of his monotone robotic voice and his demented lines about "the glory of the flesh" and "detainment and execution" worked to _really_ creepy effect.
Especially as it is a variant on the theme of Russell's voice acting for Diego. Xerxes' own programming and will - such as it is - is used against him and he's made to say things that sound 'wrong.' But because Diego has a conscience unlike Xerxes he is able to fight back. But the Diego logs were horrific because of the sheer agony he was clearly in while saying praises of the Many.
Xerxes is a perfect contrast to SHODAN. Despite both being machine, their dynamic with SHODAN's experiments is opposite. SHODAN had complete obedience from her mutants and cyborgs to serve her own ambition, but Xerxes is only a servant to the collective will of the Many and lacks any personal autonomy.
Everything SHODAN says and does is for SHODAN and SHODAN alone, Xerxes has no sense of self or will of his own.
SHODAN is the ultimate narcissist, and Xerxes is the ultimate doormat.
that's kinda why I think the Working Joes from Alien: Isolation are scary
@@Dingghis_Khaan isn't that because Xerxes was created after station Citadel incident to prevent another AI on the loose? That's why so contrast.
Wait, people who think he's boring and not scary exist?
"The Many demand the termination of this exchange. We regret any inconvenience. " best way to drop any conversation?
Too bad there's no data files of Xerxes singing Elvis Presley songs... as what Delacroix said in one of her audio logs. x(
Copyrights, sadly.
Damn, that's exactly what I was going to write.
Sync rights are a bitch
And it was for over three hours.
I wonder if it was just the songs themselves, because if it was XERXES himself singing it in his monotone voice that just makes it even more hilarious.
There’s something really disturbing about how he would say standard ship procedure things and personal messages for the staff, but then immediately sing the praises of the Many. Letting you know that even a “safe” AI could be easily corrupted
Yeah dude it's so creepy to think about. Especially since while he was hacked, he doesn't seem to have had his ethical constraints removed like SHODAN. This means that from his (albeit corrupted) perspective, he sees The Many as ethical and maybe even benevolent. From his purely logical perspective, The Many is an improvement on humanity that will increase their power and their odds of continued survival.
Phenian Oliver it’s really fucked because he is an AI that was made not as advanced as SHODAN. Like going from the modern Mac computer to the Apple II. The Many is so powerful and twisted in their corruption that even AI can be swayed to their view.
@@coaxill4059 actually Delacroix complained that Xerxes design was poor, how he was too easy to hack, so it's no wonder Shodan saw him as obsolete.
@@YassineFarah2423 I heard that the y even designed it that way, with backdoors to acsess in a contingency, of course, everything backfires in system shock 2, including your own guns!
@@xonxt7479 XERXES was designed to be extremely easy to hack. The idea was that should something malfunction with XERXES, hacking him and doing whatever needed doing was easy as shit. And somehow, these brilliant researchers all(not all) agreed to this plan, apparently being completed devoid of the logic of flipping the coin.
"Why is it that no one listens to me? The security protocols on the Xerxes system are clearly immature. Some idiot hacked into the primary data loop last night and made Xerxes sing Elvis Presley songs for three hours. I finally had to pull the voice sub-system off line. What would happen if someone with a real agenda got into him?" - Marie Delacroix audio log
My favorite Xerxes quote is when he asks if you are aligned with Shodan, like the Many would be a better alternative.
Whether Many is a better alternative is debatable. Being part of a collective consciousness can be appealing. Working for SHODAN is suicidal insanity. She has made it clear that she sees humanity as obsolete.
@@atillafiliz6591 both options are horrible lol
Both options ARE horrible buuuuuuut The Many seem less evil than SHODAN.
Both would essentially lead to a collective consciousness, although I feel humanity would benefit more from becoming cyborgs than fleshy mutants.
It is not debatable. Both lead to collectivism and both result in catastrophies such as these. A reminder that Shodan created The Many and simply didn't jive with them due to their disobedience. Same coin. A coin that belongs at the bottom of a toilet bowl. I'd flush twice.
My home alarm system now uses Xerxes announcements and SS2 alarm sounds ^^
+Toumal Rakesh Awesome :)
Epic! jelly
that would confuse the hell out of intruders. brilliant
+Toumal Rakesh How can a whale even have a home alarm system?
***** We are very resourceful.
It is possible to tune XERXES out, but they wrote him like this on purpose so that hints of the Many would slip through to the player and cause them to … take pause. Like, “wait, what did he just say?” And when playing, you can’t just replay it and listen again.
I never thought I would hear a rampant AI yelling "Glory to the flesh!"
He's not even rampant. He was hacked by Malick and reprogrammed to follow the commands of The Many.
when i first saw xerxes on med sci i thought he was like a camera or something and that he would alert nearby enemies if he saw me so i spent a good amount of time avoiding him
lol " this is xerxes why do you persist in your loneliness"
other guy "im not trying to!"
“Gee i don’t know. Maybe it’s because everyone else on this ship isn’t pleasant company! Yourself included!”
At the end...that could have been the anguished scream of an at least somewhat-sentient AI realizing its doom -
- or it could just have been a little bit of feedback.
Back then, game designers understood the concept of nuance.
Thats stephen russelle for ya great voice actor all around
I'm imagining this as a voicemail, and Xerxes just keeps calling and leaving messages.
"You have.. eighty one new messages. To hear them now press one."
"Glory to the flesh, glory to the mass"
One of my favourite moments in the whole game is the "Intruder entering Medical Sector A" speech. In addition to the fun ambush that happens simultaneously, it really made me think about who Polito was exactly. It was the moment where I started becoming suspicious about the whole situation.
what time does that play in the video?
1:23! It's the best Xerxes speech!
It's really good, also because if you showed that one audio clip to someone who hadn't played SS2, they'd get a pretty good grasp of what his personality, or lack of, is like. He just does his job.
1:25 Love that foreshadowing
You need to re-read the Space Odyssey series, it seems. HAL9000 didn't rebel, he went insane due to having to carry out conflicting orders given to him by his father (creator/programmer) and the government. Those namely being "Do no harm" and "Don't let ANYONE learn the truth of the mission" more or less.
I could just imagine The Meny's shopping deck. Their slogan would be "We who shop together, spend together."
Midwife:"I must get presents for my little ones."
Grunt/Hybrid: "Must buy organic and economic. Other item will lead to discord among the mass."
Protocol Droid:"Sir, may I help you with your bags? I am very helpful."
It's funny, SHODAN is such an incredibly memorable and terrifying AI character that I somehow forgot about XERXES existing after not playing the game for several years
Well, Xerxes is not an evil AI
@@ytgc-royalewarex5190 Exactly. It's more of an automatic announcer. It doesn't seem to be capable of actual thinking, evident by one of the logs that states it can be easily manipulated by almost anyone.
I see XERXES as more of an environmental hazard than a genuine character. I think he's still effective, but I look at him as though he's on the same level as, like, the invisible spiders.
The Many is an overlooked one. Another great AI villain in the SS series
I feel like I always tuned XERXES out after a while. I never really appreciated the dialogue until now.
+Amanda S that is pretty much how i feel! i feel like i tuned out so much of the dialogue but honestly some of the dialogue was cut out :/
judging from his uh. ai portrait, xerxes looks pretty tuned out himself if you know what im sayin
My favorite line "Potential Threat Detected, Potential Threat Detected" and all hell breaks lose.
Would've been interesting if there was anyone alive to make it to the Deck 5 census, or at least an audio log of it. I'd be up for a poetry reading too...assuming said protocol unit wasn't another walking kamikaze.
I think that was precisely the idea. Gather up the remaining survivors on deck 5 to listen to some mind-blowing poetry.
+Machiner6 I always laughed my ass off when I imagined immediatley after that announcement, just a group of kamikazes in a poetry lounge exploding.
+Demonhorse1 actually you could have just watched some ghosts say it :)
@mcflurey667 After the events of the first game, AIs were made intelligent enough to carry out tasks but not able to think for themselves. XERXES didn't work for The Many, they took control of him.
I like imagining a few wormy guys taking turns on the computer typing out messages for him to say
is it just me hearing him saying "pain" as Xerxes' last words? right before the "AAAAAA" 0_o
well... he's saying the same thing as the previous clip, just with the audio distortion on top of it. so it's "hostile AI" stretched out.
0:54 "Remember a smooth operation is everybody's responsibility"
i kinda heard him scream and say something at the end...xerxes is creepy but i still feel sorry for him.
I can't believe this is the voice of Garrett from Thief. Great voice actor.
*beep* This is Xerxes. I don't understand. Why don't you return my calls?
It would have been cool if they had something interesting with the lighting when the player finally sent out the emergency signal and reinitialized the SIM units, maybe have all the lights go out for a moment, with the eerie hum of SHODAN taking over.
Actually, it's Stephen Russell, who did the voices of Garrett and Karras too.
This guy also did the voice for Mr. Gutsy/Handy Robots and a few other characters in Fallout 3.
I could listen to these announcements over and over again.
Voiced by none other than.... The Magnificent Stephen Russell!
Gotta say, it's a little surreal hearing Father Karras' voice actor preaching about the *glory* of the flesh instead of its sinfulness
2:47 Brother, that cuts deep. I feel violated
I was usually almost relieved to hear Xerxes. SHODAN wants to rule the universe. The Many wants to absorb/erase you. Xerxes is just a guy with a job to do.
02:46 my favourite
Xercxes reminds me of Vision
And then he went on to voice Nick Valentine
But why is it SO FUCKING PROFESSIONAL? Why is Looking Glass this good?
I like the fact that the many still celebrate christmas
Wait...I'm confused; was XERXES corrupted by the Many, and used to spew their 'glory to the mass, glory to the flesh' spiel, because what I had always been lead to believe (have not played System Shock 2 quite yet), was that XERXES was how The Many were communicating with the player to begin with; they couldn't 'speak' on their own to the player, so they subverted XERXES and used him like a mouthpiece. Now this seems to indicate that they were two separate intelligences the whole time, with XERXES simply parroting the words he had been programmed to say in response to certain events (OR, repeating what The Many wanted him to say, since I DO know that UNlike SHODAN, XERXES has no real free will/initiative of his own).
Or are BOTH theories right, and The Many DOES use XERXES to speak, but only does so whenever it actually deems fit TO speak? (On more careful thought, the "they're two entirely separate beings" line of reasoning IS more credible, seeing as how The Many continues to 'speak' to the player, even when OFF the Von Braun, and thereby away from XERXES-- and if SHODAN couldn't reach out to communicate with you while inside The Many's biomass, its highly doubtful XERXES could do what SHODAN could NOT.)
Anyone confirm, deny, either one/both theories? These are just my thoughts, so any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated.
+DorianMichaelsIII Simple - the Many takes control of Xerxes to further cement their power on the Von Braun. They cannot interface directly with the mechanical functions of the Von Braun, so they need Xerxes. As far as Xerxes' announcements, some of them were clearly programmed by agents of the Many. The rest are probably glitches in his system, since he's been hacked so much in the past several weeks.
I know that *now*-- after posting this, I went looking for information. I *was* right in the sense that XERXES is a mouthpiece...as in: he only says what he is *programmed* to say, be it from The Many, or what he would likely say anyway, Many or no (like the bit about the poetry reading, for instance)-- this is foreshadowed in one of the audio logs, when Doctor Marie Delacroix, XERXES' designer, is complaining that some hacker got into his XERXES and made him sing Elvis Presley tunes for three hours; she even says how bad it could be if someone with a 'real agenda' got into him; which turns out to be EXACTLY what happens.So, in short, The Many DOES use XERXES to speak, but only as an *agent* of theirs-- they are more than capable of speaking to the Soldier (player character) on their own; which they do, and it is only *slightly* less creepy than listening to SHODAN talk.
Basically, pre-corruption, XERXES is like SHODAN was in SS1, *before* she had her ethical restraints removed and became the mechanical Goddess we all know and love.
Also, good point about them needing XERXES to work the Von Braun-- makes sense; ALSO explains their (apparent) hypocrisy in using him, despite all the 'glory to the flesh, curse the emptiness of technology/technology is useless against us' sort of lines; though to be fair, they were referring mostly to their Mother (SHODAN) when they did so.
+DorianMichaelsIII yeah the way i understood it was the many enjoyed having xerxes speak for her. but she also enjoyed speaking to herself. but you bring up a good point in that she was being hyporcital in using xerexs to speak to her. but i never got the feeling they hated technology actually i had a feeling they had a tiny bit of limited control over it and rather enjoyed it. they did want every living thing to be part of their biomass but i never got any indication they wanted to destroy techonically if was actually useful to them heck they actually get pissed off at you for as they put it wounding xerxes plus they have no porblem using shuttles to get the eggs out of the ship not to mention the midwifes were half techonlegy they had no problem making a lot of females into in order to care for the eggs because the flesh still could survive tending the eggs.
@Bat Bat no really all this time I thought the many was just a female. I am of course being sarcastic. But in all seriousness the many I thought I had mentioned in game someone call the many a female but maybe I was mistaken. To be fair I fo hear a female voice more often then a Male voice when the many speaks. Huh when I think about it the many comes across as proto well what we have going on with people and their genders with the he she they pronouns. And its slightly surprising that no one brings up the many is a literal they pronoun organism. Like I said the more I think about the many the more they seem like sjws today lol with how proud they are of their pronouns even when korenchen or however you spell his name sends you an email he calls himself they by saying "our will"
@@thewewguy8t88 The many is an SJW? Amazing, folks
I can't help but feel like his voice is based on the overseer guy from Demolition man.
You're thinking of an audio log by Delacroix who mentions someone doing that, but it doesn't happen in the game as it happened a few months before the events of SS2.
Oh boy I can't wait to spend my extra nanites on a Xmas present for my b.. 4:37
Fuck.
You're joking, right? This is the best present anyone could ever hope to receive! :D
You're witnessing the Goddess cleaning up everyone's mess, and then taking out all the trash! That's the proper way to deal with trash; You throw it out! You don't put it in control of a massive, state-of-the-art starship and it's FTL Drive!
Oh man, I stumbled across your cool Half life analysis videos, and was scrolling through your work, only find I've seen one of your videos LOADS of times before. Don't know how many times I've listened through this one, but I really should have checked out the rest of the channel!
System Shock 3 it on its way . So excited !
4 years later and all signs point to it not going to see the light of day.
0x777 cOmInG wInTeR 2014
Sad old comment.
Tencent bought SS3 and now they're making it. I'm so depressed.
This comment hasn't aged well.
Love that last pained cry: HoOOOoostilLLLle AAAAA.. IIIIIIIIIIIIII-----
Interesting how they made the visual representation look like a sick old man.
Well, that's kinda what he is isn't it? He is so incredibly unfinished and underdeveloped that he is practically shutting down before our very eyes. Someone should've done the right thing here by disengaging XERXES and replacing it with something more capable of overseeing the Von Braun. I'm sure there's a toaster oven somewhere that nobody would miss.
@@Tumbledweeb I am saying I noticed those things and thought his representation was accurate.
@@Soler4485 And I'm agreeing with you!
1:02 used to be my Notification tone at work for years.
What? Why?
@@Carcosahead Because a smooth operation is everybodys responsibility :)
I can't remember what the program is called, but I remember finding the program for ripping Deus Ex files.
I wish we had the same banter that we had with Shodan in the first System Shock but with Xerxes, though maybe a bit more monotone.
Xerxes should sing CupcaKKe songs.
Thank you sir, not all Heroes wear capes.
I can't believe I missed the poetry reading by protocol unit T-892/2
"Why do you persist in your loneliness?"
@Urmum55
If I recall corectly SHOADAN achives controls over most of XERXES systems later in the game.
I got them off of the game. As far as I am aware this is all of them. Well, I didn't put in all of the "Unit compromised" and the "Security units move" ones in.
I want to go to the poem readings!
@poorlymadeproduction True that. That whole floor creeped me out. The crew quarters, shopping area, rec area. It was so open. You couldn't keep your back to the wall. Especially making that mad dash to the elevator in the middle of the crew cabins! You just feel so open and unsafe!
Damn.
This guy was supposed to be similar to SHODAN in power and she just fucking ate him
@mcflurey667 Xerxes was built to be easy to hack. In part by design, to weaken it in case it went rouge. In part because the whole project was rushed. When the Many started to take control over the crew, one of them was compelled to hack Xerxes so that he will work for the Many.
"reminds you there are only 163 shopping days till Xmas"
Now you wouldn't think that that was the most terrifying speech in a video game would you?
I have a slight over production of adrenalin problem and it does tend to show in video games esp immersive one. I was inching my way into the north part of the shop cent when I heard that speech - somehow my adrenalin hyped brain translated it as All battle droids converge on player. I shot outta the sector like greased lightning and hid.
What the fuck are you on about? I know this is an 8 year old comment but… wtf?
Good ol' Stephen Russell! :D
There are a large number of audio clips that are included in the game files but were not used in the final game. All the game characters have these extra audio clips. I believe the game data files are just ZIP files with a different extension. try changing the extension to ZIP. The game will work with just the extracted folders, and the data files removed.
I don't know why, but if "System Shock 2" was made into a movie (God forbid) I would love to see XERXES played by Ben Kingsley.
The way his voice just sounds like a mask for the Many is pretty eerie.
6:32 - I've never head this one. When and how can it be heard?
It sounds like SHODAN's background chatter - I always loved the sound design in these games.
Ashley Pomeroy
I'm not talking about SHODAN's sounds here, I'm talking about Xerxes' line itself. Here, he clearly says "Warning. Data systems compromised. Hostile AI detected. Data systems compromised". When I played (and I finished the game multiple times) I never heard him speaking this like clearly, like that. He always spoke it with his voice breaking down, like at 6:48. And my question was not about obvious SHODAN sounds, but: how is it possible to hear, in the game, Xerxes speaking that last line so clearly, without SHODAN ultimately silencing him?
Genesivare Iirc, he only speaks with a broken voice by the time you replace the 3rd sim unit, to indicate that he's gone and been replaced by Shodan as the ship's AI.
+Demonhorse1 Are you absolutely sure that you understood what I had asked about?
What you're talking is not the truth anyway, because Xerxes speaks with a broken voice also when you set up the transmitter on deck five. And this is the moment when he is overtaken by SHODAN.
Genesivare It plays when you upload SHODAN to replace XERXES in one of the mission
HAZARDOUS ANOMALY DETECTED
All hail SHODAN!
Would SHODAN be considered a E-Girl and ppl simp for her.
R.I.P. Looking Glass
Why did they left us..imagine if they were still working together nowadays...
society would break with so many people playing videogames instead of having a life haha :)
Does anyone have all the sound clips of Xerxes? Or know where i can get it? it would be greatly appreciated! :)
Sounds like pops.
@RescoeZ that would make sense, i haven't played the game but wasn't xerxes primarily security A.I.?
Desmond's Corner It was ship computer
Boutta open a dj set with one of these
Father, from Alien Resurrection was sounded awfully like him.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... thank you"
Gaming in 1999. What happened? What happened to this voice acting / story / DETAILS ??? Why don't we have this in our games today? (also note the soundfx introducing his statements..so professional)
Studios noticed they could sell the same game every year by taking the franchise name and tacking the current year to the name.
@jaksonlijdsb It is just in Delacroy aoudio log wich is hiden in security station in sicec sector of deck 2
This is xerxes, Pleas report any unauthorized data base interactions to your direct superior, remember a smooth operation is Everybody's responsibility lol
The glory of the many demands your capture or destruction.
Just weakened, as the security systems still work.
@Cavman it's actually "hostile AI". the 'A' got stretchd and sounds like 'pain' somehow. still creepy tho...
glory to the flash glory to the mass
I'm wondering if this character is coming back in System Shock 3. He's not coming back in the remake, because he was not in the first System Shock game.
You missed one, Main Hall room level 5, Middle Pillar, @ect ect ect@
That makes no sense I never mentioned necrophiliacs. Just leave it ok?
XERXES does not stutter like SHODAN.
@m1omg Of course, said "irresponsible fuck" gave us one of the greatest video game villains of all time.
The Many is strong !
@ShadowCatGirl1 hahah, you gave me a good laugh with that little skit! Good job!
are some lines of Xerxes' dialogue you can only hear on harder difficulties?
Pops! :D
YASS
+Millie Dulsom
Who the fuck is this Pops?
Unnecessary "the fuck" there :'D
It's one of Deoxyrebornicleic's characters from their webcomic Pilot. They said he sounded like XERXES.
+Millie Dulsom Pops is the sassiest skeleton bot. HE'S MINE.
hehe sweet
did you record every one or did you find the files?
Why is it named "Xerxes"? I know nothing about SS btw, but I've played BioShock games.
rofl yea :D that was epic. "someone hacked into Xerxes and let him play Elvis Presley songs all night" :D
When XERXES said "Surrender to the many!" My computer got a virus o_O
*Attention: ''This is major Tom to groundcontrol, i'm stepping through the doooooOr! ...*
this thing scared the shit out of me