[Th3Cap3]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this, but I wanted to say to everyone who has worked on/continues to work on Age of Aquarius and War in Heaven. You lot have done an outstanding job! I just recently fired FS and FS2 up and after running through the missions again it reminded me how much I love these games. THEN! I came across all the mods in the FSO installer and thought Blueplanet sounded amazing and boy was I not disappointed!

The cutscenes, the missions, the story line, the voice acting, and all the new models are just simply amazing! It's been a while since I played a game that hooked me into the story line and induced emotion, but the Blueplanet campaigns have certainly done that.

I am definitely looking forward to acts 4 and 5 of War in Heaven, can't wait! Keep up the amazing work you guys are doing!

[procdrone]

Sometimes, i have the feeling that BP puts up a definition of quality for all FS2 mods. (kind of discouraging) but one fact is true - its technical mastership of its own.

Damn you BP team, most of freders don't even bother to start making missions because of you

[Italianmoose]

I completely agree, BP blew me away (even if it did feel a bit far-out!). I especially like how much effort has clearly been put in to making it feel 'right', when compared with FS2.

[Th3Cap3]

Yeah, I wasn't entirely sure where they were going with the story...I was a little confused at first but I really like how the story developed...I mean...crazy :-)

I also like what they did with throwing in a little variety in the missions...it was always just "you're a fighter pilot only" kind of thing, it was interesting.

[cosmicwombat122]

This campaign is amazing so far!  Waiting for the final two acts is going to be painful.

[Nyctaeus]

BP has amazing storyline and it's perfect in terms of development. If anyone wants to make something great, take a look at BP. It's perfect example how mod should be made. It's good encouragement for young modders. If you want something as good as BP, take this as an example .

I can't wait for WiH Pt. 5 guys

[DanielBeaver]

BP is really something else. What they've done to expand the universe, to emotionally invest the player in the storyline, the writing and concepts, not to mention the very thoughtfully designed missions... it seems unreal that something like this exists.

[Valikdu]

I loved BP so much that, if I was an artist, I'd have drawn several pieces of it by now.

Alas, I'm not, so instead I've commisioned some.

[Gee1337]

Blue Planet has set a benchmark when it comes to modding, and I believe that it is a benchmark that translates to all other moddable games. Hell, I've played so called "professionally made" full released games that aren't as good as BP, and for me there is not bigger testament to a modding community.

The mod even attracted interest from the original FS2 developers, who have been quoted, "Would commit murder to make an FS3!" (please don't flame me for bringing up FS3 haha) and the mod itself was even talked about on the podcast that was recently aired. It would be hope that the original developers and the BP team can join together one day and maybe make an official sequel which integrates the BP story line and work into the "official" timeline and maybe make that official sequel possible one day. However, it should only be done with the official "majority" approval of the community here and of course to get the IP away from Interplay.

If this got kickstarted, I would back it!

[The E]

It would be hope that the original developers and the BP team can join together one day and maybe make an official sequel which integrates the BP story line and work into the "official" timeline and maybe make that official sequel possible one day.

No offense, but this scenario is not at all what we (as the BP team) would want to happen. BP is our vision, not the community's, and certainly not that of :V:. Declaring it to be canon would be doing a disservice to the multitude of other stories people have told.

[Luis Dias]

All these love letters to BP are just great, I wonder if someone could store them all in one single thread / page, I reckon they would already be in the hundreds now.

[Gee1337]

None taken The E, and a very fair point you have there.

I see the modders of all projects here as the HLP community. People like me would not have a say in what would become canon and what wouldn't. Being part of an official canon would cement your immortalisation though!

[cmap38]

In this small community alone there are games polished enough to compete with BP. I mean, look at Diaspora. It is extremely impressive. People are still actively working on really good stuff.

Honestly, I prefer BP more due to its attention to detail and plausibility in its universe and in its gameplay, rather than due to the things it does right as a modding megaproject. New ship models and lighting features are cool and all, but as long as I get that that tight, thoughtful integration between story, plausibility, and gameplay, I'll be happy.

[bloated]

I feel bad for saying this but can't help it anymore.

I'm going to offer this up as an explanation, when the first Star Wars movie came out George Lucas was hungry for success, money and understood his limits.  It's why he gave up on editing the movie and passed that torch to the pair that got the academy award for editing.  It's why he allowed his mentor to do The Empire Strikes back.  Once that hunger was gone, once George lost all of his humility it all began to go ever so slowly downhill.

disagree if you like but while I personally enjoyed Return of the Jedi it did have Ewoks in it which was the beginning.

20 years later and successful George became an all in one kind of guy, while Goerge's strengths are exceptional (technical) he's both an absolutely horrible writer and editor.  Unfortunately for all of us 20 years later was the time of the Prequels starting with The Phantom Menace &  like it or not, (I Personally despised it and almost walked out) the Prequels were controversial enough to spawn a condemnation cottage industry the likes of which no other franchise has or likely will have.  By the time the prequels were made George whether it be deliberate or by accident had shuffled anyone who criticized his vision out of his company, Lucas Arts by the time of the prequels was not diverse, it was singular.  All dissenting voices were gone.  It's why like or hate them everyone can acknowledge they didn't succeed like they could have.

I'm saying all of this for a reason, I do have a point that I'm trying to convey, I'm trying to convey it in the most polite manner possible because truly I appreciate all of the effort going into the BP campaigns.

Oh wait, another example:

I consider Valve (the makers of Half Life) to be one of the best development houses in the industry, these guys are the last of the pioneers of 3d fps franchises, Epic has given up and gone with engines only after turning the Unreal franchise into a joke, ID software couldn't improve over time and wound up getting absorbed leaving Valve as the last legend still in play.  (although HL3 still isn't out and I get the impression they don't really care anymore after making so much off steam)

that said during Half Life 2 Episode 2 Valve offered up commentary bubbles in game talking about how decisions were made and why some areas were intense while others were more cerebral.  It all made sense, they mentioned forcing the player to look up at the opening of the game because game testers weren't looking up on their own and the software guys had spent a lot of time on the sky, it was a harmless trick, they mentioned why after so much intense action play testers would begin experiencing fatigue so that was when an area would require a patient exploration of the board to get past it whether it be flipping a switch to shut off the electricity so the player could walk in the water or finding a barrel to use to stack to overcome an obstacle.

you may have noticed I've written quite a bit and if you've made it this far are likely far beyond the "get to the point phase".

it's been deliberately done to reinforce my point and I apologize for it.

I just started BP2 and I had to go through 21 pages of diary, discussion, mission briefings just to get to the mission which I failed.   And what bothers me more than the actual failing of the mission (which was heavily scripted and didn't allow for improvisation) is that I might have to read through the 11 pages of mission briefing just to figure out what the game wanted of me.

balance is a good thing.  Balancing between fun, story and gameplay are a good thing.

just sayin.

p.s. I really don't mean to criticize that which I love, I'm not trolling or trying to stir up controversy but c'mon, 21 pages? I want to know the whole story, I want to experience all that BP has to offer but I feel like it's becoming challenging.  Very sorry to criticize and only hope it raises something to consider.

[Colonol Dekker]

[TechnoD11]

"a lot of very interesting points which i won't directly copy to make this a shorter post."

You do raise one of my primary concerns with BP. When I first saw that opening cutscene with the taking of artemis station, I was invigorated to get right to the fight. 5 seconds later, wall of text. Granted, it was a damn fine well-written wall of text and did much to push the story, but it was still a wall of text. However, after the first one you sort of get used to it. In BP, its more than a "jump to this point and destroy these guys" kinda mission outline. Instead, its a "Your an important part of the workings of the universe and these missions are critical steps in your progress" kinda mission outline. And so those walls of text serve to give backstory, whether it be emotional, political, or sociological backstory.

About your other point, I think it took me 6 tries to

Spoiler:

take down the carthage in "Her Finest Hour"

so I won't be the first to say that BP can be difficult. But, that's what makes it so rewarding!

/end rant

[camelpockets]

"a lot of very interesting points which i won't directly copy to make this a shorter post."

You do raise one of my primary concerns with BP. When I first saw that opening cutscene with the taking of artemis station, I was invigorated to get right to the fight. 5 seconds later, wall of text. Granted, it was a damn fine well-written wall of text and did much to push the story, but it was still a wall of text. However, after the first one you sort of get used to it. In BP, its more than a "jump to this point and destroy these guys" kinda mission outline. Instead, its a "Your an important part of the workings of the universe and these missions are critical steps in your progress" kinda mission outline. And so those walls of text serve to give backstory, whether it be emotional, political, or sociological backstory.

About your other point, I think it took me 6 tries to

Spoiler:

take down the carthage in "Her Finest Hour"

so I won't be the first to say that BP can be difficult. But, that's what makes it so rewarding!

/end rant

Damn. Just 6? I probably restarted that mission a good 10+ times before I could nail it perfectly, granted this was on either Easy or normal. Took a bit longer on Insane. Tyring to melt those gas miners is a bit of work

[bloated]

In BP, its more than a "jump to this point and destroy these guys" kinda mission outline. Instead, its a "Your an important part of the workings of the universe and these missions are critical steps in your progress" kinda mission outline.

I suspect that's why BP2 lost me, for me the scales have shifted too far to one side and it's too far a departure from the original premise that I was a cog in the wheel in FreeSpace 2.

Looking at it this way I find Blue Planet is a fascinating contrast to ID's games, games that were built with John Carmacks belief that storyline in a video game is like a storyline in a porno.  I suspect it was ID's and John Carmack's inability to elaborate on their core storylines that left their games regarded as soulless.

Blue Planet is the exact opposite, their is more story than game, especially early into Blue Planet 2, so much so that for me I'm having to take a break.

After the wall of text that I realized I had no choice but to read after failing 5 - 10X's on hard with the mission having lost it's fun element.  I dropped the difficulty to infantile and finished it.  I won't revisit, it's not improvisation friendly.  The next mission had me talking to the shadow council where more of the story is discussed.  And then the next mission instead of being a nice simple fight required I scan transports to find a specific one.  I didn't launch it, I fully understand how most would enjoy it but I regret to say BP2 has lost me.

The game is beautiful and plays perfectly but I regret to say this'll be my last post in the BP discussion area...... for now.

[AdmiralRalwood]

In BP, its more than a "jump to this point and destroy these guys" kinda mission outline. Instead, its a "Your an important part of the workings of the universe and these missions are critical steps in your progress" kinda mission outline.

I suspect that's why BP2 lost me, for me the scales have shifted too far to one side and it's too far a departure from the original premise that I was a cog in the wheel in FreeSpace 2.

Looking at it this way I find Blue Planet is a fascinating contrast to ID's games, games that were built with John Carmacks belief that storyline in a video game is like a storyline in a porno.  I suspect it was ID's and John Carmack's inability to elaborate on their core storylines that left their games regarded as soulless.

Blue Planet is the exact opposite, their is more story than game, especially early into Blue Planet 2, so much so that for me I'm having to take a break.

After the wall of text that I realized I had no choice but to read after failing 5 - 10X's on hard with the mission having lost it's fun element.  I dropped the difficulty to infantile and finished it.  I won't revisit, it's not improvisation friendly.  The next mission had me talking to the shadow council where more of the story is discussed.  And then the next mission instead of being a nice simple fight required I scan transports to find a specific one.  I didn't launch it, I fully understand how most would enjoy it but I regret to say BP2 has lost me.

The game is beautiful and plays perfectly but I regret to say this'll be my last post in the BP discussion area...... for now.

Wait, did you jump straight into Tenebra without playing the first two acts of War in Heaven?

[TechnoD11]

In BP, its more than a "jump to this point and destroy these guys" kinda mission outline. Instead, its a "Your an important part of the workings of the universe and these missions are critical steps in your progress" kinda mission outline.

I suspect that's why BP2 lost me, for me the scales have shifted too far to one side and it's too far a departure from the original premise that I was a cog in the wheel in FreeSpace 2.

Looking at it this way I find Blue Planet is a fascinating contrast to ID's games, games that were built with John Carmacks belief that storyline in a video game is like a storyline in a porno.  I suspect it was ID's and John Carmack's inability to elaborate on their core storylines that left their games regarded as soulless.

Blue Planet is the exact opposite, their is more story than game, especially early into Blue Planet 2, so much so that for me I'm having to take a break.

After the wall of text that I realized I had no choice but to read after failing 5 - 10X's on hard with the mission having lost it's fun element.  I dropped the difficulty to infantile and finished it.  I won't revisit, it's not improvisation friendly.  The next mission had me talking to the shadow council where more of the story is discussed.  And then the next mission instead of being a nice simple fight required I scan transports to find a specific one.  I didn't launch it, I fully understand how most would enjoy it but I regret to say BP2 has lost me.

The game is beautiful and plays perfectly but I regret to say this'll be my last post in the BP discussion area...... for now.

Wait, did you jump straight into Tenebra without playing the first two acts of War in Heaven?

bloated, go into the campaign list and make sure you have Blue Planet War in Heaven 1 selected, you need to play that first before War in Heaven 2.
If you already have, well...