In a recent episode of Nightdive's Deep Dive podcast, Looking Glass Studios programmer Marc LeBlanc shared his recollection of how the team came up with the audio logs in System Shock, which are now a ubiquitous game design standby.
LeBlanc came to the topic after describing why Shock 1 eschewed RPG stats, unlike Ultima Underworld before it and Shock 2 after. Basically, Looking Glass was struggling with a perennial action-RPG conundrum: how to make D&D-style stats and skills matter, but also not feel limiting or frustrating when you already have full control of a character. Waving your weapon at an enemy without landing any hits in Morrowind is a classic example of this disconnect.
