The combat in WoD is quite enjoyable and the campaign being almost all fighter based puts it right up my alley. The flight model is a welcome change from the regular FS style and overall WoD really nails the feel of being chaotic (in a good way) but not overly hard (it generally wasn't very hard for me at least). The ships are all quite pretty and there are a few hilarious moments involving Nordera.Thanks for this post and for the playtesting. :yes:
Overall, WoD delivers on the ambitious moments that I expected after playing the previous iterations and improves everything else.
Wings of Dawn is kinda what you get when you take super-focused and polished mission design usually found in minicampaigns like Vassago's Dirge and then just make 27 of those.To repeat myself here again, thanks for this post and for the playtesting. :yes:
Its core strengths are definitely ~feel~ and pacing. Everything feels great to do.
The drifty, slidey flight model makes even slower-turning ships feel alive and not totally lethargic like they do in FS. Primaries and missiles consistently look great and feel nice and weighty. Just wailing on things is so satisfying, especially combined with the AI being a big fan of going fast so it never makes itself an easy target. The (swap) system found on the Rays allows you to switch from a 'DPS' weapon to a 'burst' weapon at just the right time with just the right aim and see your target burst in flames. It's one of the coolest things you'll get to do in FSO.
The mission pacing is nice and tight, leaving gaps just long enough for you to rearm and get your bearings and then slowly ramping up in intensity and sometimes cooling down again to prepare you for the chaotic finale.
This is possible because most of the talky character building stuff has been relegated to the VN segments, so you'll never find yourself wanting to skip through 5 minutes of in-mission blabber when all you want is a 2nd chance at shooting down some green bastards.
And those VN segments are really well done, animated apng character portraits really help bring them to life.
If you decide to read through everything they offer they're usually just long enough that being back in your fighter's cockpit feels ~special~ again. For me, they never felt like they were dragging on or wasting my time but still provided an enjoyable break between the action-packed missions.
It's not gonna launch 20000 fan theories on its deep lore like BP. It's not gonna wow everyone with its serious attitude and amazing polish like BtA.
But it will put a smile on your face bigger than anything else. Wings of Dawn is just pure joy combined with child-like wonder as you keep finding new ways in which the team has bent the FSO engine to their will.
My review is going to be spread out, so I'll just keep a running tally.Another good and encouraging post :yes:
The look and feel of the combat is still great, more frantic than Vanilla FS2, more shooty, more explodey. The weapon system has been rebalanced to have a combo system of sorts. The big difference between this and the first release of WoD is the overall level of polish, and the re-balanced missions (It's possible to kill things now in the UEU prologue for example thanks to a better primary burst weapon). I'm still only a few missions into the first story arc, but it's been worth the wait. Everyone on this project put their heart and soul into it. WORK was put into the ships, graphics, weapons, and music selection, and it pays off big time.
The characters are endearing, and the world building remains superlative, unchanged from Vanilla WoD. The story tweaks of a more limited Human-Cyrva war, and more human factions help the universe feel bigger and more lived in. I suppose the best compliment I can give is I would totally watch this weird FS2 anime.
The Ophelia mission is a huge improvement. While micromanaging the bombs was interesting, in practice I ending up staring at my keyboard more than the action. The "ace" fight was like, well, a moment out of that other anime simulator that I love, Ace Combat 7.
The colony mission is a nice change of pace, and who doesn't love side quests! I love it when games let you explore the world a bit, "mah immersion," etc.
I've only played a few missions so far but I'm liking it a lot! The changes in Episode one are a nice surprise, keeping me on my toes :) And I like the new weapons you've added, that rapid-fire (with cooldown per 4 shots) shotgun thing seems like a lotta fun :)Good to hear, good to hear. :)
I also really like the new loading screens, there's so much cool data to read there; which brings me to some feedback, I'd really like to see them for longer as the missions usually load too fast for me to read them! I dunno if there's anyway (without changing FSO) to have a "click to continue button" like some other games do, i.e. once loading is complete you click to enter the action. Eh - not a priority as I can just crack open the VPs to find all the loading screens anyway... but it just seems a shame for all that work to vanish before it can be properly appreciated!
Anyway; looking forward to playing through the rest :nod: :yes:
Well, its very videogamey rather than the sortof tense quasi realism other mods go for, but frankly that seemingly worked pretty well.You almost say that like it's some kind of requirement that every single freespace mod ever, must follow the same old 'quasi realism' standard.
In fact that may well be neccesary, what with the rampant ineptitude everywhere, the anime tiddies, and the goofy characters. That having been said I think it was pretty fun, and super well polished, it just requires that you not take it seirously.Something can be lighthearted and fun, while also being taken seriously. They're not mutually exclusive things, really.
That was all? I haven't had my fill yet! ;)Awesome, thanks! (https://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-allears.gif)
Well worth the wait oh my god.
The expansion to the prelude and actual Episode 1 did well to flesh out that part of the story and really got me into the flow of the revision. I'm obviously going to need to go back to check out the other outcomes since I screwed up some parts not being aware of what would happen if I did certain things, but the fact that even fifteen missions later those actions affected how some of the missions went is absolutely mind-blowing. The added interactive elements to the VN sequences are great, the faction diversity with the characters is great, the combat throughout Episode 2 is a ****ing rush and the cinematics are spectacular. I don't know how I'd word any of this better when I had as much fun with the initial Episode 1 release as I did and find oh look at that, it's even better now.
It's awesome that there's callbacks to some of the original WoD missions, especially since they're much better executed and less restrictive.
Also Mandibles are dicks and **** you for managing to make me tear up to a FreeSpace mod. <3
Seriously, this release is amazing. Don't stop being awesome WoD team.
Really enjoyed the remastering of episode 1. Felt it was much more fleshed out story wise and game-play wise. The new missions certainly added some much needed length to the episode. I always felt that the original vision was too short. The mission Holding off the Nordera while the zephyr reaches the node was a welcomed addition.At the risk of sounding like a broken record: Awesome, Thanks!
The return of OldWod characters in NuWod was fantastic. Like meeting up with old friends you haven't seen in years (I guess it has been years), Misuzu and Milkshake personalities are spot on. Misuzu still being the nerdy care-free jokester and Milkshake being blunt and foul-mouthed but now she has a face. Love the chemistry between these two.
The last few missions were damn intense and challenging but not to the point where you were being overwhelmed and losing track of your objectives. That Nordera torpedo barrage was insane and the way you deal with the juggernaut was masterfully done. Those animated cooling pods with all the effects were so "cool" looking.
Well done Spoon and all those involved. I'll be busy doing another couple runs of this campaign cause I still haven't used half of the ships or even a third of the weapons yet. Too much selection!
My review.Awesome, Thanks! x3 cccccombo
*snip so I don't clutter this thread up too much by quoting all these long and good posts*
They got it to work and I haven't crashed A SINGLE TIME.Honestly, I'm surprised about this too. :lol:
[the inclusion of +18 pack also is a very welcome, it adds to VN nature of the project. Handshake, Gentelmen.](https://i.imgur.com/CwKBtC7.png)
Given that Axem was on the team, I expected cinematics to be little more dynamic and frequent.(We all seen what this devil is capable of already. He works magic with cinematic events) That wasn't the case but the current cinematics are still on a high level.Cinematics in FSO are a lot of educated guess work and are kind of a pain to make. There wasn't too much need for cutscenes, so Axem could be spared a lot of the pain and suffering. :P
P.S. All hail our Cyrvan overlords!Yeah!
*snip again so I don't clutter this thread up too much by quoting all these long and good posts*Cheers! cccccombo breaker
I've have a few technical glitches:1. That's not really a glitch, if she's close to the nuke explosion, then yes, she's going to be exploded.
- In the fight against the Contravention, I frequently blew Orphelia up by accident, despite my best intentions to spare her. Splash damage from some explosions I guess (I used the Nuke).
- In "Spirit Quest" I was run over by a wave of ships warping out.
- In "Search and Destroy" the multiple Resupply Drones kept tripping each other up.
- In "Broodwars" some enemy reinforcement reverted to basic AI behavior at great distance and thus did not impact the mission.
There a few quality of life issues that could be resolved better:1. There's not really a way to resolve it better, red-alert just ends a mission that way. There's no way to check for "player has cancelled jump attempt" and red-alert needs to trigger a good few seconds earlier than the actual jump out in order to work properly. (It's not great)
- As "Solo Recon" transitions via Red Alert, you can cancel the subspace jump at the end, as usual, but the transition to the next mission will continue away. It was annoying when you fail to catch the message about the bonus objective in time.
- Before "Mining Operation" there is no way to go back to Engineering and build a "shopping list" for yourself once you are through with the Visiual Novel Briefing - a quick "back to menu" step would have been nice.
- I found the descriptor "Ore Status" in the mission specific HUD element confusing. How about something like "Ore Collected"?
- I might have missed it, but is there a ammo counter for weapons in the Loadout menu?
- A HUD indicator that you are in Glide-capable ship would be nice, esspecially in a mission like "Broodwars" where I went every two minutes "right, can't glide".
There is a particular perferencial point I would like to make regarding the use of the MarkBox script. I, at times, found the number of marked ships distracting, esspecially since I was using the HLP-1 and my own targeting groups on top of that (I mean, in my own stuff the HUD now looks quite like this (https://media.moddb.com/images/members/5/4078/4077319/screen0040.png) on a not that busy day). It's very much my fault for sticking to my habits, but might serve as food for thought.There is alway a fine line to balance on when it comes to these kind of things, for some people it will be information overload, for others you'll not be marking enough priority targets. Finding the perfect balance here is never going to happen, but I feel WoD has managed to get it overall 'good enough'.
Let me explain that one: One of the claims to fame Rosenkranz and Guldenstern Are Dead has is it commentary on the Shakespear's Halmet. The play reimagines the events of the original Shakespear tragedy through the eyes of two minor character, and by stripping out most of what is played for just for the benefit of the audience in Halmet and so unknown to characters in the play. This turns the intricately plotted and complex series of events into something incomprehensible and seemingly random (as befitting a tragedy that leaves all its principal characters dead by the time final curtain falls).I don't think that really applies here. Now I don't know all that much about Hamlet, so maybe what I'm about to say misses the point. But if you take Episode 2, there's two story threads going on.
To me it feels like something similar is afoot here, as a lot of information is only kept between the Audience, Dawn and first one than two characters.
which side note, is not helped by the last two segments of expostions racing past a "show not tell"-sign.Eventually you come to a point in development where you have to make choices based on budget. Be that monetary or motivational. In my case, I had run out of motivational energy. 'Showing' Acella's exposition through a cutscene or something akin to that, would have taken a significant amount of extra time and energy because it would have required a substantial amount of new 2d and/or 3d assets.
ps. You did not fanservice yourself out the cold stop that the Combat Simulations represent BTWThe simulator missions are 'filler' missions, added with the express purpose of giving the player more time to play around with the various weapons and ships. Sure they don't advance the plot, but they don't have to.
*converstation that started with a Hamlet-reference cut for time*
*Conversation about "Show not Tell" cut for time*
Quoteps. You did not fanservice yourself out the cold stop that the Combat Simulations represent BTWThe simulator missions are 'filler' missions, added with the express purpose of giving the player more time to play around with the various weapons and ships. Sure they don't advance the plot, but they don't have to.
The writing's not perfect on a technical levelCan you elaborate on this? I mean, I'd like to improve, but then I'd need to know a bit more specifically what you mean with the imperfections on a 'technical level'.
Know what's the difference between you and an egg, Stella? An egg gets laid.It sure is good Crystal joined the crew a few missions later!
END it with the revelation that Dawn is really an amalgamation of several different people, and that she was made as a living weapon. That's fine! We care about Dawn! She's a goof and the player character so the revelation that she's a walking Fusion dance with crazy powers is a good one. Move all the Alyerian, Hertek, other, super, anti-life people until it's more appropriate for the plot.
So, after more than 40 crashes
Nightmare was using a 32-bit build while only 64-bit is supported. Believe me, it's a very stable game.So, after more than 40 crashes
This does not bode well.
Nightmare was using a 32-bit build while only 64-bit is supported. Believe me, it's a very stable game.So, after more than 40 crashes
This does not bode well.
Nightmare was using a 32-bit build while only 64-bit is supported. Believe me, it's a very stable game.So, after more than 40 crashes
This does not bode well.
I'd love to finish it, but I can't find all of the uranite in the asteroid. Seems like maybe if there were some way to detect them.....or if the asteroid's colors and textures werent so muddy I cant see the tunnels very well........Try enabling the 'emissive light from ships' flag in the graphics option in the launcher/knossos, it helps light up the interior of the asteroid. You can target ore if they're within a range of 2500 from you, so just flying a circle within the asteroid and cycling through friendly targets should be an easy enough way to locate any uranite ore you can't immediately see.
Speaking of that, the rest of the crew seemed to take the super-psy-power like something... rather normal.But you haven't even seen the reaction of the rest of the crew yet? :confused:
Move all the Alyerian, Hertek, other, super, anti-life people until it's more appropriate for the plot. Because as of this conversation the pacing is back to that same whiplash pace from the first WoD. Which I believe you were fighting hard to get away from.Without knowing the rest of the story and what comes next, how can you tell if it's an appropriate time?
You're trying to cram Season 3 Wings of Dawn revelations into the end of Season 2.:confused: Am I, though? How do you know these things?
QuoteSpeaking of that, the rest of the crew seemed to take the super-psy-power like something... rather normal.But you haven't even seen the reaction of the rest of the crew yet? :confused:
Thanks for the comments&feedback. I've read them a while ago but I've not really been in a good mental state to reply to them. (To be honest, I'm just kind of really ~done~ thinking about WoD at all)I'd love to finish it, but I can't find all of the uranite in the asteroid. Seems like maybe if there were some way to detect them.....or if the asteroid's colors and textures werent so muddy I cant see the tunnels very well........Try enabling the 'emissive light from ships' flag in the graphics option in the launcher/knossos, it helps light up the interior of the asteroid. You can target ore if they're within a range of 2500 from you, so just flying a circle within the asteroid and cycling through friendly targets should be an easy enough way to locate any uranite ore you can't immediately see.QuoteSpeaking of that, the rest of the crew seemed to take the super-psy-power like something... rather normal.But you haven't even seen the reaction of the rest of the crew yet? :confused:QuoteMove all the Alyerian, Hertek, other, super, anti-life people until it's more appropriate for the plot. Because as of this conversation the pacing is back to that same whiplash pace from the first WoD. Which I believe you were fighting hard to get away from.Without knowing the rest of the story and what comes next, how can you tell if it's an appropriate time?QuoteYou're trying to cram Season 3 Wings of Dawn revelations into the end of Season 2.:confused: Am I, though? How do you know these things?
Absolutely amazing!! Very much enjoyed the use of anti capital ship weapons which make you feel like you're directly involved with the capital ship combat. I actually really liked the Nordera, as it's not everyday humanity encounters a technologically inferior species in sci-fi stories. Is there any physical description of the Nordera available? I hope the WoD universe continually expands with future installments (whenever they are done).
Absolutely amazing!! Very much enjoyed the use of anti capital ship weapons which make you feel like you're directly involved with the capital ship combat. I actually really liked the Nordera, as it's not everyday humanity encounters a technologically inferior species in sci-fi stories. Is there any physical description of the Nordera available? I hope the WoD universe continually expands with future installments (whenever they are done).
Human looking with razor teeth if the old WoD descriptions are still canon.
Now that I've cleared what's available, some feedback:Close range knife fighting is a pretty deliberate game design choice, though. I personally like being able to see the thing you shoot at.
--WEAPONS--
Primaries need more range, there was way too much knife fighting. Suggest minimum range of 1000-1100.
Worst Ship IMO: Haze-H: I dont understand what this ship is suppoed to do. Capital Interceptor? 1 Heavy HP makes it not as effective, especially in Breakthrough.The Kaze-H can clear breakthrough incredibly easy and quickly. It has both speed and firepower. It can get to the pods after the very initial beam fire and break two pods before they can close again.
Overall I had fun with this and cant wait for more.:yes:
Absolutely amazing!! Very much enjoyed the use of anti capital ship weapons which make you feel like you're directly involved with the capital ship combat. I actually really liked the Nordera, as it's not everyday humanity encounters a technologically inferior species in sci-fi stories. Is there any physical description of the Nordera available? I hope the WoD universe continually expands with future installments (whenever they are done).Glad to hear. :yes:
Just finished playing through the new version and I must say, that I haven't had this much fun with FS since I played through Blue Planet and JAD for the first time.Awesome, great to hear.
Can't wait for the continuation, but take your time making it so that it will be just as great as parts I&II.
I hope that the CRF will play a bigger role, they always cracked me up when they appeared on screen, and that the references will not cease.
I don't really know what to write as feedback (could be because I only just created this account for this post). The game crashed once during the penultimate mission after destroying a torpedo storage and I couldn't change my fighter during the battle simulation when I picked the Templar during initial selection. Otherwise nothing out of the ordinary occured to me.
I also couldn't quite figure out how to move lateral and vertical, don't know if I missed something or if I am just blind.
All in all 9.7/Beam Spam
Awesome, great to hear.
It's always feels a extra bit special when someone takes the time to make an account to leave a nice review like this (https://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-allears.gif)
Not all that many ships have lateral and vertical movement. The only ships I can think of from the top of my head are the Ray MkIIIE, the Vulture and the Kaze MkII
I used the Vulture during the two defence missions. I really like the design of the ship and the upgraded 30mm autocannon for more dakka.With the default WoD controlscheme, it simply means that you can strafe left and right with A and D and you can strafe up and down with X and Z
But can you explain to me how to use the strafing mechanic?
Will there be abuse of Dawn's powers for hilarious purposes in later chapters?Yes :drevil:
E.g. Milkshake gets to be big for once, enlargement of other things ^^, actually a good version of the Templar, Beam Spam, etc.
I think that she would be capable of doing stuff like that (considering the things she did on a galactic scale) and she seems the type to be talked into things like that for fun, as long as it is revisable and safe.
Any chance we could have a Gauntlet in the Database with all ships and weapons available, just for us to have fun while we wait for the next release?
Big Milkshake. Don't know if either I or Misuzu can handle such a concept.
Any chance we could have a Gauntlet in the Database with all ships and weapons available, just for us to have fun while we wait for the next release?
Such a thing should be easy to create in FRED.
Any chance we could have a Gauntlet in the Database with all ships and weapons available, just for us to have fun while we wait for the next release?Sure, I'll see if I can cook something up in the next few days.
What is your framerate like during the race? It might be possible that if you're having a low framerate, the boost isn't applied correctly, which results in a lot of lost speed.Trending toward 30, with some dips as low as 20. I might try tweaking my settings, but my machine is rather ancient.
*Good words*Thanks (https://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-allears.gif)
Really looking forward to when you have time to complete the rest of it.Time is not the issue, motivation/willpower however...
Really looking forward to when you have time to complete the rest of it.Time is not the issue, motivation/willpower however...
Pls don't leave this unfinished :shaking:I don't intent on leaving WoD unfinished, but I'm kinda burned out on development at the moment.
But it must indeed take a long time to finish another act. :(
Unless it's too spoilerish, could you tell us unknowing people how long the story you wrote for NuWod is going to be?
As Nightmare said, I do hope WoD is continued one day. In my opinion, what you've done here is better than what many AAA game studios have released for quite a few years now, at least to me that is.:)
*More good words*Cheers (https://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-allears.gif)
The recent RPS post about FS2 mods has a short review of Wings of Dawn (https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/02/04/freespace-2-deploys-massive-mods-and-fangames-from-knossos/) :).Very awesome indeed :yes:
There's an 18+ pack with optional pointless nudity??????Right there in the release post and on knossos :p
Is the mission count per act similar to Act 1 and 2? Just an idea (from someone who hasn't managed to release anything yet)- you could split the Acts into smaller parts like Act 3.1 in case it motivates you to get things released more often (you'll get cookies more often :D ), and (though I don't know how you feel) it might be less exhausting than to complete vast things like the latest release.The biggest issue with releasing things in smaller 'sub' acts like that, is that it makes it a lot harder to plan and test out if player choices earlier in the act carry over properly in the later act etc.
Do dumbfire missiles work?I couldn't figure out how to equip missiles because the loadout screen is confusing. Every time I went in I had no missiles and it complicated the whole mission for me. The cheats wouldn't work either.
There's an 18+ pack with optional pointless nudity??????
I'm sorry to bring this up again, but I still have some question regarding Dawns powers what came to my mind that doesn't let me sleep well~ ;) since she's capable of stopping massive ships with ease, is there some containment plan for her power so that the main battles don't just depend on her snipping fingers?Yeah, the game wouldn't become very fun if she could just trivialize every enemy like that :p
Also, is the WoD branch supposed to be merged with the main builts one day?WoD builds and main trunk builds have slowly converged with each other over time, I think right now the only real major difference left is multilock. But it has always been up to the coders to get all of that stuff merged and working.
There's an 18+ pack with optional pointless nudity??????Right there in the release post and on knossos :p
Good to hear you've been having fun. :yes:
I'll have to look into that bug...
If she doesn't show up, you should probably (hopefully) still be able to finish the mission. Her appearing in the mission or not will have no further consequences in the campaign.
The Templar is the best fighter wait what.Milkshake disapproves -10
Also, I'm slightly miffed I didn't get to keep my new friend at the end. Why did everyone have to shoot it? I was going to tame it and ride it gloriously into battle...You need to be at least 8 feet tall to ride!
Some of the people on the Angel were a little one-note, but I didn’t dislike any of them, and I feel like if there was more time, they would have been more fleshed out.Yeah, there's only so much character development that can be done in a single episode, without turning the VN parts into hours long reading.
turning the VN parts into hours long reading.
This is a quick line to say thanks for such a great game. 6DOF games on hard difficulties are my favorite, and this one was just wonderful! I love the kinetic vs energy weapon system that allows quick tactical decisions on who to hit and with what. I love the charming graphics and banter. I love the controls and the gliding and the quick AI and the.... GREAT STUFF!Always appreciated when people leave a message like this :yes: