[spartan_0214]

hello to those of you who decided to post here. I just was wondering if anybody had made a Freelancer mod for Freespace 2.  Freelancer is a part of the Wing Commander Saga, you can figure that out by watching the intro to Freelancer. . . .

[Starman01]

Hello,

actually I don't know of any Freelancer mods for Freespace 2 (though there is a wing-commander mod for the freelancer game out if that's of interest for you, it seems to be really good ).

As for freelancer being a part of the Wing Commander Universe, that's not true. Actually Freelancer is the sequel of Starlancer (fight of alliance forces against the russian koalition), which is explained quite well in the intro. The freelancer universe is playing 900 years or so after their successfull getaway (in the intro), and tells the story of the 5 small star empires that the refugees have been build up.

The game was very fun, only the ship designs were kinda strange and outdated IMO. Would be great if there would be something like the freelancer upgrade projekt (like the XWA-Upgrade Project) that will replace the original freelancer ships with more detailled ones, but I also fear, that the engine will not allow that

Starman

[spartan_0214]

yea, that'd be kewl

[Edward Bradshaw]

yea, that'd be kewl

How ON EARTH did you think Freelancer is in the Wing Commander Universe??? 

[spartan_0214]

I thought that Starlancer was the story AFTER the Wing Commander game (which, sadly, I have never played).

[Edward Bradshaw]

I thought that Starlancer was the story AFTER the Wing Commander game (which, sadly, I have never played).

You know Wing Commander has many games right?   

Alnyway Starlander, judging from the intro movie, was a lot sillier than Wing Commander (igoring the very unrealistic idea of feline-like aliens, that is) And again judging purely from the intro FMV I would be quite disapointed if Starlander had taken place in the same universe after Wing Commander Prophecy.

Freelancer on the other hand had a brillant CGI introduction, and if you get the Freelancer soundtrack you can watch the full uncut version which makes the intro make far more sence and even features the aliens from rest of the game. Basically, the entire solar system gets destroyed because the aliens destroy our sun

[spartan_0214]

yea, I've seen the full intro, and the games were so similar, I thought that they shared teh same story-line. . . .

[CaptJosh]

Why is the idea of felinoid aliens any sillier than aliens who look like us?

[gevatter Lars]

Oh man here seams to be a lot of mixing taking place.

Wing Commander and Starlancer/Freelancer share the same creator as Chris Roberts and his brother where involved in both games.
What they don't have in common is the Story. Each is a universe of its own. So we have WC1-5 along with Privateer 1+2, Armada und Academy on the one side and Starlancer+Freelancer on the other.

Now for these special Freelancer intro. That intro is unofficial. It was, to my knowledge, the original storyline idea from the Robert brothers, but wasn't used for the final game. This way you can't take the intro as part of the Freelancer story. What they keep from the intro was the look of this Alien race.
In Freelancer itself it was never mentioned what happend to Earth....so its open to debat.

So to sum it up....same creators, different universes.

[Edward Bradshaw]

Why is the idea of felinoid aliens any sillier than aliens who look like us?

Starlancer didnt have any aliens that look like us I was refering to the stereotypical political war where the Americans were the good guys and the evil stereotyped Russions were the bad guys.

But talking on a biological level the aliens in Freelancer were so weird you could somehow stretch the imagination to think this life forum "could" have developed. But feline aliens, and especially (in Wc1 or Wc2 I forget which), bird like creatures, are unrealistic to have evolved on another planet if you understand how organisms evolve.  But anyway you see what I really meant by "silly", wasnt really the biological issues which I think is a different kind and really quite forgivable sillyness as nearly all scifi does it, but rather the stereotypical story in Starlancer.

The uncut Freelancer intro was cut because they included story details that must have eventually ended up on the digital version of the cutting room floor. For example in the "official" intro in the game the narrator was an unnamed and annonymous but in this version he had a name and was clearly going to feature as a character in some way. They didnt have to cut all the extra scenes just to get rid of this problem, but presumably they had to cut more because it didnt flow very well if they cut out just that section. I always wondered why the short official version didnt have a title that comes up saying "Freelancer" or something, well this one did. The strange thing is the cut version makes a lot more sence to tie it in to *most* of the Freelancer story, if it werent for that one part of it that they had to cut I think it would have been much better.

[spartan_0214]

Mainly, they cut the Freelancer intro because the creators wanted to leave teh Nomads (the purpley looking bioships) to be introduced later in the game. As I have played Freelancer, it is MUCH better that they not introduce the Nomads that early, because of the surprise that the Nomad introduction brings.

As for the narrator, he never was a part of the game, so they took him out as to not confuse the storyline.

[Edward Bradshaw]

Now for these special Freelancer intro. That intro is unofficial. It was, to my knowledge, the original storyline idea from the Robert brothers, but wasn't used for the final game. This way you can't take the intro as part of the Freelancer story. What they keep from the intro was the look of this Alien race.
In Freelancer itself it was never mentioned what happend to Earth....so its open to debat.

I think the only thing about the original intro that wouldnt have made sence was the story of the narrator, about who he is. Freelancer hardly ever makes mention of the events in the cut version of the intro either. If they made a Freelancer 2 they could decide that earth never was destroyed, and they would be fine in doing that because as you say, its unofficial now that they changed it. But I think as a self contained thing, the original intro would have worked just fine with the Freelancer story. It would make it relate to Freelancer, I think, more than the cut version they actually used, and it also has a cool part where Freelancer title comes up around some cool swirling graphics . Like I said, the only bit that wouldnt fit is the introduction of the character they decided to cut out.

@214: You do make a good point that not introducing the Nomads early would probably good for the plot. 

[gevatter Lars]

I would still like to see the DVD quality version of the Cut Freelancer Intro. I allways thought that its very well made.

[Edward Bradshaw]

I'll have to figure out how to rip it sometime!

[Turnsky]

StarLancer, and Freelancer were done by the Roberts, who made Wing Commander, the aforementioned also played rather alike('cept for freelancer), and had the same flaws in ship scales.

[Ypoknons]

IIRC, the original storyline had a last survivor from Sol coming to warn everyone of the nomads. I believe the narrator would have been him, though I have not seen the uncut version.

[Fade Rathnik]

Well one thing that occured to me after watching the alternate intro,... It gave hints as to where the Order came from. All it takes to start a cult is a few people who belive you when everyone else dosn't, add the magic ingredient' Time' and poof you have a cult. Cults can evolve into establishments and an establishment can be built on.

[Mefustae]

Could someone upload this 'uncut' intro, I can't seem to find it anywhere, and wouldn't mind seeing it...

[gevatter Lars]

The uncut version was on one of the extra CD/DVDs along with some other stuff like the soundtrack.

[Silent Warrior]

HOOOOOOOOOLD on three seconds, there! What's this about a FL-soundtrack?

1... 2... 3... Go.