I've only played part of system shock 2. I don't know why I never finished it. I remember being fascinated with it, and then just stopping. It was like I hit some part of it where I just didn't know where to go next, decided I'd give it a rest for the day, and never came back to it again.
I had never even seen SS1 before this thread. I knew there must be one, but I hadn't given much thought to actually playing it. I think I've been assuming all this time that SS2 was supposed to be the "good one" and that I didn't need to play SS1.