Darius --
Just finished. Easily the best FS2 campaign I've played, including Transcend (it lacked Transcend's filler missions.)
The writing was spot-on, barring a few clumsy mistypes in the last mission. The plot roared along, twisting in just the right places. Despite the spare dialogue, I found myself growing attached to the characteres, and even though Bei initially irritated me with his formality and devotion to duty, I really got to like him. The father-son relation swerved out of the way of clichedom and became genuinely touching.
The weakest point of the campaign was the
reveal of the nature of the Vishans as telepathic psychic beings
-- but only because that's a fairly hoary SF trope. I must say that the less I see of them the happier I am, because when it comes to races like the Shivans and their counterparts, less really is more (though the brief interlude flying their ships was a lot of fun.) The dialogue between
Shiva and Vishnu concerning the Great Council and the Brahman was also only moderately successful, since it took away some of the mystery of the struggle between the two.
However, any plot weaknesses in the midsection were more than made up for by a dazzling finale. I particularly like the way that Bei's character -- as well as his father's -- played into the decisions they both made at the end. I can't wait for BP2.
Mission design was gorgeous, music was novel and attention-grabbing. I am
ecstatic about what you did with the capital ships; it was nice to see cruisers that could handle themselves
There were no directives after halfway through the campaign, which was pretty odd (barring a few missions here and there.) Also, perhaps a touch too many disable-the-beam-weapon objectives...but it was still a lot of fun.
I would say that BP2 was easily as enjoyable as the FS2 retail campaign. It deserves a place alongside Derelict and Transcend as one of the greatest FS2 campaigns ever made.
If you need a pair of voice actors, Rian and I are willing to contribute (female and male, respectively.)
EDIT: when I say that 'less is more' when it comes to Shivans, I don't mean their combat roles -- just information about them. Mystery preserves danger, danger preserves excitement. I thought that the fact that the Shivans were the only real combat adversaries in the campaign was great. I never got bored of fighting them.
Lastly, a request: can we see more of the wingmates and their personalities? I liked them a lot, and I want to know more.
Are you planning on bringing in any additional Shivan ships for BP2?
