Author Topic: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge *Updated Jan 18th 2014! MediaVP 2014 support!*  (Read 132769 times)

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Offline Spoon

  • 212
  • ヾ(´︶`♡)ノ
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Spoiler:
That mission where the Vassago dies is so epic, it never gets old. I almost felt sad when it went up, I respected that hunk o' junk.
Spoiler:
Every time I see it get beamed I can't help but say something along the lines of "How about a mouth full of BEAM you bastard son of a shivan" (:<
Urutorahappī!!

[02:42] <@Axem> spoon somethings wrong
[02:42] <@Axem> critically wrong
[02:42] <@Axem> im happy with these missions now
[02:44] <@Axem> well
[02:44] <@Axem> with 2 of them

 

Offline Raiden

  • 27
  • Vassago's Dirge fanboy
    • Ministry of Truth
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Spoiler:
That mission where the Vassago dies is so epic, it never gets old. I almost felt sad when it went up, I respected that hunk o' junk.
Spoiler:
Every time I see it get beamed I can't help but say something along the lines of "How about a mouth full of BEAM you bastard son of a shivan" (:<
Spoiler:
Haha, well yeah, at first I felt great satisfaction seeing that thing get gutted. But then I go all Matthew Broderick and want to pat it on the head. Good fight, Shivan, good fight.
/logic/reason/faith/tradition/knowledge/rhythm/space/religion/
Currently Playing: Dead Space 3
Eagerly Awaiting: Titanfall
I write for god is in the tv. I blog at Ministry of Truth.

 
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
 :eek2:  Wow.  I am at a loss for words.  You have captured the awesomeness of "short story" form in a game.  Very immersive. 
I'm torn now.  I want to beg you to get a voice acting team together, but anything less than excellent voice acting would ruin the perfect mood you've created here.
"Wouldn't it be so wonderful if everything were meaningless?
But everything is so meaningful, and most everything turns to ****.
Rejoice."
-David Bazan

 

Offline Mugsy

  • 22
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
This campaign is awesome. The first mission took me a few tries to get everyone together in one piece, as the pressure kept mounting, and you had very little time to perform your mission objectives. The rest of the missions kept me well under pressure, but I often failed because of one single thing that i needed to do within a few seconds. Nonetheless, all of the missions are well structured


The last few parts is unlike anything i have seen in a campaign. Not even including the special unique circumstances in the last mission,  
Spoiler:
The Red nebula and the derelict ships scared the everliving **** out of me, because i was all alone and helpless, and everything was silent, and i parked my ship near a derelict hunk of metal and waited. It's an irrational fear, next to warping inside Minefields in Freelancer. Don't ask.
, After an hour of pondering the end, i had finally understood everything. The entire ending, as well as the other ones i've seen here from my perspective I will now describe, so BIG spoilers abound. If you have not played it yet, please do so, because this campaign is really, REALLY good.


Spoiler:
Remember that you are being interrogated, and that you are telling your story. What you are experiencing in the end is something you can't quite describe in exact detail to your interrogators. It's not a nightmare, but it's in fact a premonition of things to come (because this is around the time where the Colossus has defeated the Sathanas).

What you remember is depending on the ending. I had only experienced the decent ending, and saw the other two described in this thread, and i have finally pieced it all together.

If you experience the worst ending, where you get destroyed in the nebula, you cannot describe anything to your interrogators, and they figure they should try again.

If you get the decent ending, where you survive your encounter in the nebula, but do not find the required object, as well as warp out, you get the decent ending. Your descriptions are too vague for them, and you overhear that the SOC is now commencing Operation Lion's Den. (If you played through all of Freespace 2, it wouldn't take long for you to figure out what this mission is) They will ask you to remember everything again.

True ending, You find the right target, and stay behind. you understand everything and see a premonition the final mission in Freespace 2. The reaction to your superiors is yet to be determined because i have not acquired this ending yet.

All in all, it was a great experience, and i felt under pressure, scared, confused, it made me think, and after figuring it all out, felt like my mind was blown. I keep calling this a campaign, when really it's not. It's much more than that.


« Last Edit: August 30, 2010, 03:23:14 am by Mugsy »

 

Offline Axem

  • 211
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Thanks to the latest batch of positive comments. I apologize that I don't respond to most of you individually, but when I see them I smile. :)

I plan to organize some voice acting movement... one day. I'm really bad at this time management stuff...

Mugsy: You certainly are very close. I was worried that people wouldn't "get it" and I know a lot of people probably didn't. But its good to know that my obtuse thought process can be understood by an elite few. :p

 

Offline Shivan Hunter

  • 210
  • FRED needs lambdas!
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Just finished it. Awesome experience. Will probably play again soon.

Spoiler:
They... showed me the supernova. At least I assume that was from Shivan communications. Why the frak would they do that?! It's like they wanted us to know about it...

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Just finished it. Awesome experience. Will probably play again soon.

Spoiler:
They... showed me the supernova. At least I assume that was from Shivan communications. Why the frak would they do that?! It's like they wanted us to know about it...

the real ending may be illuminating

 
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Hi! I rarely post on any forums but this time I have to. This campaign is just GREAT!

Spoiler:
First of all - Rachmaninoff's music. Great choice, it really fits the action. Which of his works are those exactly?

Second - the whole idea of campaign as a retrospection. Marvelous! I especially like the comments of the interrogating officers when you fail the mission.

Third - the dreams/visions missions. The Intermezzo was a real surprise. I as Shivan, strange, random ship names, everything so unreal and surrealistic... And then the Reprise mission with the same ships appearing but this time logical and real :) I understood Intermezzo as reminiscence of events told in Reprise (not sure if this was the Author's goal ;) )

My favourite mission? Definitely Ossia. Great music, suits the action (especially the 'We've been spotted!' moment ;) ). Pure fun to play. Surprisingly I found Myrmidon (which I don't really like) very well suited for thin mission. 6 guns make shot work of pirate ships and 3 Trebuchets can neutralize those annoying flaks.

Generally speaking, great job Man! Congratulations! I'm waiting for MORE of such masterpieces! :)

 

Offline Madcat

  • 26
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
All of the music is credited in the README file in the mod folder. :)

 

Offline Axem

  • 211
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
psyhotik: Glad you liked it. I'm surprised that you liked Ossia the most, it was my least favorite. Mostly because I redid it 2 times and had trouble with it constantly. :nervous: But kudos if you liked it.

Spoiler:
And of course that was the Author's goal. :p

 

Offline wtf_cl0vvn

  • 27
  • Kiubo.
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Just finished playing this campaign, and I am overwhelmed. Quite simply a masterpiece, Mr. Axem (I feel as though you deserve an honorific.)

Where to begin? The way the missions were set up, and the way missions and cutscenes and debriefs simply blend together, feels as though we aren't playing a FS2 campaign; it's a story, an opera, and the narrator is attempting to recollect what happened after being exposed to something perhaps beyond his grasp. Masterfully done.

The music was beautiful. Quite simply amazing. This has to be one of the best musical scores for anything I've ever seen/experienced: movie, video game, theater piece, etc.

I particularly enjoyed the custom models/ships you made here; it all fit seamlessly with what would have imagined these things to look like in the world of FreeSpace.

You haven't made a campaign, Mr. Axem, you've created a work of art in the medium of a video game. If I wore a hat, I'd take it off.
This book is a mirror. When a monkey looks in, no apostle looks out. -Lichtenberg

 
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Damn it, I swear, I haven't hated a video game character as much as the officer in the debriefing.

Maybe because I fail each mission miserably about a dozen (or two... ) on "Hard", but I won't drop the difficulty. Interestingly enough, I finished the default FS II campaign just before "Vassago's Dirge" and it was a cakewalk in comparison, minus a couple of missions.

Fantastic idea. The concept of the story is great, and also makes an interesting and compelling way to explain why the player constantly fails. It certainly keeps me into it, instead of the usual (and dreaded) way games serve you the message "game over", as if you're a complete failure.

Execution - top notch. A rare example of a game proving that gaming can be art.

I better just shut up and try to finish it, though. :nod:

 

Offline Mebber

  • 25
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Very good campaign, excellent story and atmosphere. The campaign is definitely outstanding imo... micro-jumps, a ejection seat experience, flying around in a poorly armed spacesuit through a abandoned space station... woah  :eek:. Not the best campaign for a space warfare experience, but impressive.

I missed some "Bonus Objectives" to search for (or did i simply didn't found them?^^), but i guess your campaign simply doesen't need bonus objectives to increase the replay and 'search-and-seek' value.... you've got the spoons! First i thought of them as quite meaningless since they were easy to spot in the first missions, but in the later ones... 

Spoiler:
I replayed the MJOLNIR-Mission seven times just to find the spoon. I even tried to scan each and every enemy fighter before i figured out were it was hidden  :D.

 :yes:
« Last Edit: October 10, 2010, 04:46:39 pm by Mebber »

 

Offline Axem

  • 211
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Thanks for your comments. :)

I applaud your tenacity for actually finding the spoon in that mission. If I could give you an award, I would! I am amazed at how many people have said they've replayed the campaign multiple times just to find spoons. Who knew a last minute idea implemented in a few hours before release would increase replay value by 500%? :p

Also just to toot my own horn here...

About a month ago, I put Vassago's Dirge on ModDB and it got put on the front page (and on the banner too!), giving the mod's page 1000 hits in one day (Woot). Also got a quick mention on Rock Paper Shotgun in their weekly mod news article. And just recently Vassago got put up on ModDB's September Mod Highlight Reel! Despite them pronouncing Vassago as Vassio (I always thought it was a hard g, Vass-a-go, but go figure), it was pretty cool.

FACT: War in Heaven has only accomplished 2/3 of those things!

 

Offline General Battuta

  • Poe's Law In Action
  • 214
  • i wonder when my postcount will exceed my iq
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Quote
FACT: War in Heaven has only accomplished 2/3 of those things!

I keep sending emails to the RPS guy and he keeps somehow failing to post it.  :(

 

Offline Mobius

  • Back where he started
  • 213
  • Porto l'azzurro Dolce Stil Novo nella fantascienza
    • Skype
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    • The Lightblue Ribbon | Cultural Project
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Hey, VD is on ModDB? It's time to check its page out. :)
The Lightblue Ribbon

Inferno: Nostos - Alliance
Series Resurrecta: {{FS Wiki Portal}} -  Gehenna's Gate - The Spirit of Ptah - Serendipity (WIP) - <REDACTED> (WIP)
FreeSpace Campaign Restoration Project
A tribute to FreeSpace in my book: Riflessioni dall'Infinito
My interviews: [ 1 ] - [ 2 ] - [ 3 ]

 

Offline Deadly in a Shadow

  • 29
  • Buntu!
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
One of the best campaigns by far.  I've never know Rachmaninov but because of your campaign I like the pieces of music he make.
(BTW, I like orchestral classical music like Beethoven :nod:).

The best missions (my opinion) are Prelude and Con Fuoco.
"Ka-BOOOOOOOOM!!!!"
"Uh, Sir we can hear the explosion."
"No you can't, there is no air in space. Sound can't travel through a vacuum!"

 

Offline T-LoW

  • 28
  • Planet Earth is blue and theres nothing left to do
    • German Freespace-Galaxy
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Spoiler:
I just broke the Ossia mission by simply forcing the Hippo out before there was a jamming field :D
The german Freespace-Galaxy

"There was a time before we were born. If someone asks this is where I'll be."

 

Offline Axem

  • 211
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
Alas, it is so. :(

Spoiler:
Despite me actually checking to see if the jamming ship is forced to retreat or get destroyed before the jamming field is noticed, Beta Wing (and the transport) are only summoned if the jamming field is noticed and the jamming ship is destroyed or retreats.

So nice job breaking it, hero. I hope you're happy. :mad:

 

Offline T-LoW

  • 28
  • Planet Earth is blue and theres nothing left to do
    • German Freespace-Galaxy
Re: RELEASE: Vassago's Dirge
No I wasn't because I had to restart this mission twice because at first: It broke. And secondly the damn Lilith blew the Aeolus up with only one friggin' shot :P
The german Freespace-Galaxy

"There was a time before we were born. If someone asks this is where I'll be."