/unlurk
Hey all, lurker here. I don't hang around the community often as I really don't fit in with such a stellar collection of talented modders, modellers, coders, voice actors, and just general awesome individuals in general. I would have absolutely nothing constructive to add and would probably seem like a blubbering, incoherent n00b who tried to act what he was talking about! Everyone here continues to amaze me with what I feel just isn't a game, but the FS2 SCP as a story-telling platform itself. The fact is, regardless of what I'm about to write here in this little post - good or bad - buried all the way back on the 24th...or 25th? page now... you guys, the entire SCP community, will continue rolling on churning out great, beautiful stuff, even if no one reads my post because... well, TL,DR! But, that's the way I like it.
Anyhow, I'm here in this thread to obviously talk about BP2: War in Heaven. . . where to start? Not that I have a hundred, million things to talk about as numerous as the stars themselves about it, more like...
What could I possibly say that hasn't already been said? What could I praise that hasn't already been praised? I had absolutely zero technical/gameplay problems with the mod, so I can't really criticize such problems like others have been having; quite the contrary, I consider myself so very lucky that I was able to run this mod with maximum detail, advanced graphics, with anti-aliasing (I can't stand jaggies!) and not have my computer explode on me. I felt like you get the full experience of the story that way.
But what experience? One that in my opinion, transcends stories of not other, also brilliant FreeSpace2 mods, but that of literature and film. War in Heaven was something moved me. No, I don't mean in the literal, physical "OMG THE MUSIC WAS SO AWESOME BLEW ME OUT OF MY CHAIR W-WAIT DID THAT NARAYANA JUST NAIL A TEV PERSEUS FROM 25,000K?! *goes flying out of chair*" (although that'd be pretty awesome), but that it simply...made me think about war. About life.
Life lost.
Life created.
Life saved.
Destroyers, Creators, and Preservers respectively. I'm not just Über-Alpha-One, but Noemi Laporte. And yet at the same time, I am not Noemi Laporte. She made decisions that were not up to me. But to her. To someone who truly was, not just the collaboration of a skilled mod team, but actually a real fictional character who I felt was the best part of the story.
Why? Combat high. The side of Noemi who is in increasingly dangerous situations. For while I couldn't dictate her actions on the flight deck, on Mars, on land... when she's in that cockpit, and the adrenaline starts flowing, guess who's in control? Not Noemi Laporte, but me. You. Whoever else sat behind those controls. We are her other half, the side hungry for more. She was flying, but yet I could control how bloodthirsty, or human she would be in combat. It was up to us whether she'd die in a blaze of glory or survive another nerve-rattling sortie. Yes yes, I know, it's still just my opinion (and believe me, I know that many will probably disagree with me and call me crazy) and my take on things, I know that literally, the story has a set path but... still, it felt like when she talks about being afraid of her other side, of embracing it at times, hating it at times... it was my fault.
I've played many SCP mods and stories over the years. Seen the many alternate universes that the story of FreeSpace itself has encompassed. I never really thought of any as superior or inferior to others, just different ways of telling tales of epic struggles of survival and warfare. How I determine whether a story is great and praise worthy, is if months and even years later, I remember every second of them. Back in 2007, I came across Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius and thought - nothing would ever be the same again. Little did I take into account back then, that the only thing that would exceed the original BP mod, was BP2. And it's not even a complete story that I've seen yet. I could probably go on to write dozens of more paragraphs about everything else, but I'm sure I'm losing folks attention by this point!
As I eagerly and patiently await for the next installment, just as I awaited for War in Heaven, as did many others who lie silently, lurking but secretly appreciative of not just what Darius and his team do, but everyone here does, I just wanted to say thanks guys.
Thanks for taking me to a whole 'nother universe, guys. Bleak as it seems - it's beautiful.
Yeah, it's corny. It's TL,DR - DEAL!! But keep on kicking ass. I've taken up enough of everyone's time already! Back to lurking.
/lurk