[Shivan Hunter]

 

So, you know how opinions about lighting settings are totally subjective and no-one will really agree on what's the best one? We should have a collective page of different people's preferences about lighting settings, and a short description of why the user prefers them, so newbies can get a good idea of what they'll get out of the experience!

[/sarcasm]

So, after introducing a newbie on IRC to the wonderful world of FS campaigns, I do think a "preferred/community favorite" campaign list is a good idea. But it's all subjective and no-one will be able to agree on a single list, so why don't we set it up like the lighting settings page?

Here's an example of what I have in mind:

[USER]'s Favorite Campaigns

Short description of what about these campaigns the user likes

Campaign 1 (with link to FSWiki page): Short description of campaign 1
Campaign 2 (with link to FSWiki page): Short description of campaign 2
Campaign 3 (with link to FSWiki page): Short description of campaign 3

For instance, here's a preliminary subject-to-change version of mine:

Shivan Hunter's Favorite Campaigns

These campaigns focus on storytelling above gameplay and are usually told in a setting and tone similar to Freespace 1/2.

Derelict: One of the classic FS campaigns, a suspenseful experience with interesting characters. And duct tape!
Transcend: A horror campaign from an unusual perspective in the 103rd Shadow Guardians. Excellent writing. One of HLP's must-play campaigns.
Windmills: An experimental short campaign, but an epic one. You are not a pilot, but a tactical commander leading a wing into some difficult choices.
Vassago's Dirge: A short, beautifully dark campaign about a Shivan destroyer set during the events of FS2.
Operation Templar: An older campaign. A short but sweet look into the victory over the Hammer of Light, and a good FSPort campaign.
Silent Threat: Reborn: It's like Silent Threat, but it has an actual plot, excellent mission design, and voice acting!
Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius: A well-polished campaign with excellent story and great gameplay about the 14th Battle Group's epic journey back to Earth. Includes awesome voice acting.
Blue Planet: War in Heaven: A dark, grim campaign about the GTVA's war with Sol, told from Sol's perspective. Only partially released.

These could all be arranged on the same page, where people could get a good idea about both which campaigns are popular (appear in most people's lists), which are best (which consistently get the most praise), and also the wide variety of FS campaigns

[General Battuta]

dear shivan hunter,

i am deeply hurt that you did not use the word 'beautiful' to describe [a campaign i have a stake in]. your obvious favoritism towards [another campaign] is just a sign of how far this community has fallen. you are part of the system that oppresses [campaigns of a certain type or made by certain people]

screw you,

persecutta

[Droid803]

This is why it will never work!

[Shade]

Or rather, why it should not be in a place such as the wiki. Campaign reviews could possibly work just fine in some other location (the entire board we have which, unlike the wiki, happens to be dedicated exclusively to campaign and missions releases comes to mind as one option), but why this insistence on using the wiki for it?

By the way, if eventually you do decide to use said board (or another HLP board) for it, drop a note here and I'll move the topic there to keep the discussion where things are happening. While I can't do anything such stickying it once it's there (I'm but a forum mod, not global), I can at least do that much.

[Mongoose]

I think the difference with the lighting settings page is that the whole jumble of available command-line options can produce certain objective characteristics that can be documented via screenshots.  It's not really saying, "These are the lighting settings that the community likes best," but instead, "Here are some sample combinations, and here's how they affect the game's appearance."  It's sort of a different setup than trying to formalize some sort of best-of list.

[Black Wolf]

Put your lists on your own page on the wiki, then link to it any time anyone asks for campaigns they should play. Simple, and it kills two birds with one stone (gets them their campaigns, and makes them realize that there's a wiki for freespace.

[Mongoose]

Now that I like. Let's get some personal review list pages going, so that we don't have to type out the same exact comments twenty times.

[Mobius]

Seems an interesting compromise.

[Shade]

Put your lists on your own page on the wiki

No objections to that particular solution. The wiki's personal pages are their owner's personal playground as far as I'm concerned. Within reason, of course. Anyone posting porn there will be banned! Right after copies are made for, uh, evidence.

[Narwhal]

Put your lists on your own page on the wiki, then link to it any time anyone asks for campaigns they should play. Simple, and it kills two birds with one stone (gets them their campaigns, and makes them realize that there's a wiki for freespace.

Great idea. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.

I did just that. While doing it, I noticed there was several campaigns I played I had absolutely no recollection of (Transcend, Boomerang,...)

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/User:Narwhal

[TopAce]

I thought you played a lot more campaigns than that.

[General Battuta]

I really liked Procyon Insurgency's gameplay (like, enjoyed it fantastically much) but all I can remember about the plot was that it was the NTF with Vasudans (Bosch is now a Vasudan admiral,

Spoiler:

the secret goal that the rebellion is a cover for is to find Ancients through a Knossos instead of Shivans through a Knossos

) and it ran into this massively problematic stealth eavesdropping mission that really killed the momentum.

A-grade campaign, though, definitely one of the best out there. Badass FREDwork and an admirable commitment to gameplay agency, although I remember CP and I had a talk about one of his regrets about the campaign, which was that the whole thing basically rewarded Stiletto or Treb spam above all else.

It also had that awesome massive installation assault at the end.