Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Blue Planet => Topic started by: Gedgehog on December 09, 2016, 06:09:28 pm
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I'd just like to write a massive thank you to the developers of this mod, it was a truly wonderful experience to play - the best gaming experience I've had in a long time.
I'm eager to see where this excellently written and put together story will lead me next! Age of Aquarius was a positive experience, but War in Heaven has so far been a massive kick in the teeth, showing us that even the side we like the most can end up losing (which I believe they will, call me pessimistic!)
It was unforgettable.
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Thank you for playing! It means a lot to hear from you.
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I agree with Gedgehog's praises word-for-word (aside from the pessimism :P).
War in Heaven is easily one of the best entertainment experiences I've ever had. The characters, their relationships (the relationship between Laporte and Simms is terrifically done and well-paced), the writing, the mission design, the music, they all make for a powerful narrative and give a lot of depth and personality to a universe that, in my opinion, never realized its incredible potential until now. It's been a while since I've been so engaged in a story. You feel involved and those certain powerful moments really grab you and make you feel what the characters feel, from "Oh ****..." to "**** YEAH!".
Also, as we all know, capital ship battle missions are a blast to play though.
Criticisms:
- I didn't really know who the Fedayeen were during Icarus. If you don't read the ancillary material (which I didn't the first time through), I think there was maybe one passing mention of them before this scene. Would've been a cool moment had I known.
- The Dreamscape was repetitive and its size grew tiresome. It's a good concept and it served its purpose by displaying interesting conversations, but it seems like the creators were limited to the tools they had and the tools didn't quite fit the job.
- Act III seemed too focused on new features. It took me out of being able to focus on the narrative because I had to figure out what the hell I was doing every mission. This usually required a few mission restarts. I understand the narrative reason for these new features though and I'm probably just dumb and slow-to-learn after so many campaigns of essentially the same gameplay.
- Al-Da'wa's nature is still a bit confusing and could use more explanation
- Needs more Olefumi
Anyway, thanks for the ride and I'm obviously looking forward to the next episode (and a voiced act III :D). Morrigan in Shadow has me excited!
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- Act III seemed too focused on new features. It took me out of being able to focus on the narrative because I had to figure out what the hell I was doing every mission. This usually required a few mission restarts. I understand the narrative reason for these new features though and I'm probably just dumb and slow-to-learn after so many campaigns of essentially the same gameplay.
Was this before or after tutorials were added to the dreamscape?
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Yeah, I often wish the dreamscape ship was a bit faster or that the Dreamscape segments were done in VN format rather than having to fly and shoot at people to talk to them.
Then again, almost all interaction you do in the first 2 acts of WiH is shooting at things so the mechanic feels strangely fitting.
Almost as if Laporte's brain is so used to shooting at ships that she subconsciously thinks of all interaction as shooting at things.
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- Al-Da'wa's nature is still a bit confusing and could use more explanation
I honestly think that this kind of ambiguity is a good feature, because it encourages people to get on the forums and start asking questions and posting theories and interpretations.
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- Act III seemed too focused on new features. It took me out of being able to focus on the narrative because I had to figure out what the hell I was doing every mission. This usually required a few mission restarts. I understand the narrative reason for these new features though and I'm probably just dumb and slow-to-learn after so many campaigns of essentially the same gameplay.
Was this before or after tutorials were added to the dreamscape?
There were tutorials and they did a really good job of explaining the features and giving some practical experience while also providing character interaction (e.g. Falconer being a hilarious dick). The more I think about it, this is probably just me sucking at video games. The features were so novel to Freespace gameplay that it took me a while to get comfortable enough with them to use them effectively. Like I said, all these new tricks fit the story well, they just made me work harder at the game than I had become accustomed to. ;) The second playthrough of act III was much better since I understood and had experience with those mechanics going in.
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I don't think Act 3 necessarily does a great job of introducing its new mechanics. The Antagonist is a campaign that does it much better.
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I'm eager to see where this excellently written and put together story will lead me next! Age of Aquarius was a positive experience, but War in Heaven has so far been a massive kick in the teeth, showing us that even the side we like the most can end up losing (which I believe they will, call me pessimistic!)
Which side are you on?
There's been some interesting debates between pro-UEF and pro-TEV people here.