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Reviews and Feedback thread Episode 1 & 2

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Spoon:
Played Wings of Dawn RE episode 1 & 2 and want to share your thoughts on it? This is the place!

All feedback and comments are welcome (but try to keep it constructive).

Report bugs in the release thread.

PIe:
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.
Overall, WoD delivers on the ambitious moments that I expected after playing the previous iterations and improves everything else.

FrikgFeek:
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.
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.

manwiththemachinegun:
My review is going to be spread out, so I'll just keep a running tally.

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.

niffiwan:
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 :)

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:

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