Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Skinnaird on July 27, 2007, 01:40:17 pm
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Downloaded FS2open yesterday (after leaving the computer on overnight, it took aaages). Never played any of the games in the series before, only Starlancer and Freelancer, and I love both of those games. While the ai is is undeniably better in FS than in either of those games, and dogfighting feels better, so far I've found the missions in FreeSpace 2 a bit on the short side. I also miss the walking through the ship sections of Starlancer because you saw something different happen each time, and npcs saluted you or made comments depending on your rank, and it really immersed you. Because FS doesn't even make you go back to the main menu, all you get is mission briefing text after mission briefing text (whereas in Starlancer, you actually sat down in a briefing room, and saw your commander read the briefing). But the actualy gameplay feels better.
I've only gotten as far as the mission where you have to defend the Trinity from Shivan attack, in the nebula. Is it possible to save the Trinity? I think I'm just being slow. A wing always jumps in and immediately launches loads of missiles; is it possible to stop them? And do the missions get longer as the game progresses?
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Welecome to the forums!
*Insert welecome speech here*
To answer your questions:
Nope..you can't save the Trinity. It's doomed so don't worry about that. Youre still at the begining of hte game so you can expect the missions to build up quite a momentum.
*What's that welecome beam tag?*
Oh well, this will have to do
:beamz:
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:welcomegreen:
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Welcome aboard!
I'll agree that the 'front end' of the game looks a little dated compared to more modern attempts, it's all done in 2d using icons etc, rather than more modern Rendered interfaces. Parts of that is changing slowly, such as using a proper model of the ship in the Loadout screen etc, but much of it is simply down to the way the game is written, it would be nice to have the ability to feel more a 'part' of the crew during a campaign (Freespace 1 did this to a small degree using cutscenes) but it's a huge job, and not one I really see taking precedence at this time.
As for short missions, I noticed that too, it's partly because, in the original FS2, you cannot get your hull repaired in-mission, so your surviveability drops quite a lot compared to games in which you can. The missions do get longer and more drawn out nearer the end of the campaign, but not exceptionally so. That will probably change in Mods with the new features of the SCP.
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To be honest the Starlancer walkthrough bits got on my nerves cause after you'd seen them a few times they were just a delay between you and the next mission. FS2 came from a different school of design. One that said "Never get between the player and the game" So no in-game cutscenes, no shots of your player climbing into the cockpit. Just mission brief, optional armament and ship selection and then straight to the game.
For that reason I absolutely loved the clean interface of FS2 even though Starlancer is a good game too.
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Downloaded FS2open yesterday (after leaving the computer on overnight, it took aaages). Never played any of the games in the series before, only Starlancer and Freelancer, and I love both of those games. While the ai is is undeniably better in FS than in either of those games, and dogfighting feels better, so far I've found the missions in FreeSpace 2 a bit on the short side. I also miss the walking through the ship sections of Starlancer because you saw something different happen each time, and npcs saluted you or made comments depending on your rank, and it really immersed you. Because FS doesn't even make you go back to the main menu, all you get is mission briefing text after mission briefing text (whereas in Starlancer, you actually sat down in a briefing room, and saw your commander read the briefing). But the actualy gameplay feels better.
I've only gotten as far as the mission where you have to defend the Trinity from Shivan attack, in the nebula. Is it possible to save the Trinity? I think I'm just being slow. A wing always jumps in and immediately launches loads of missiles; is it possible to stop them? And do the missions get longer as the game progresses?
To answer your questions, yes (but you shouldn't) and yes. You can hold off the enemy fighters nearly indefinitely if you're good enough, but it's pointless as the Trinity is supposed to die. Don't worry about it. And yes, the missions get longer, and a hell of a lot more intense. The later missions can last upwards of 12 minutes.
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Some missions that were made here got as long as 20 minutes, but they're a PAIN. That particular one that I remember, you spend 10 minutes drifting with the occasional fight, get to your destination, then huge numbers of enemies appear, and you have to survive a pretty annoying attack for ten minutes. If you die, of course, you have to restart :doubt:
x64 speed FTW!
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Thanks for the info. Ahar, that's my second welcome beam! Lucky me. Yeah, I think the fact that the gameplay itself is so great more than makes up for the slightly dated interface.
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Welcome to HLP mate. P.S , you didnt come from WAR alliance forums per chance did you? I've been doing some recruiting there ;)
What did you think of the beam cannons?
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Welecome to the HLP station. Exits are to your left, right, rear, upwards and downwards (3D mate ;)) Don't bother to try to exit tough, they're shut tight and there's only vacuum on the other side - your'e stuck here FOREVER. In case of emergency you can and WILL be used a flotation device. There are flamethrowers under your seats, but due to budget cuts they are filled only with holy water, so unless theres an undead invasion you're pretty much screwed.
In case of n00b there are lockers contaning high-tech plasma rifles, but are acessible only to [V], hyperintelligent shade of blue and God. If you happen to run into a shivan in the ariducts it's probably just Carl (probably..rumor sez he's stuck in there somewhere), so give him your lunch and you should be OK. If you find a box labeled "HEADZ" DON'T open it!
Oh, do not mention the unholy name of Derek Smart or the symbols "F", "S" & "3" in that order unless you want to be eaten alive by n00bs. In case of trolls or flame wars call the admins for only they posses the HLP BannHammer of Justice.
Enjoy your stay..who're we kidding, you stuck here anyway...
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Um Trashman. We killed the welcome speech about 2 months ago. Didn't you get the memo (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,47133.0.html)?
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Some missions that were made here got as long as 20 minutes....
I've done a couple of 30-45 minute missions before ("Project Roadblock," a standalone mission and "Open Season," from Second Front come to mind). On the development side, they're a real pain because, as you build each part of the mission, you have to continue playing through the early bits to test the later bits. After a while, debugging the final bits (especially the debriefing) reaches a level of tedium that can chew away at your will to live. In retrospect, on all the epic-length missions I've made, I can see about where I peetered out and decided I just wanted to get the damn thing done. Dropping a month-and-a-half on a single mission in the middle of a summer vacation kind of sucked....
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Um Trashman. We killed the welcome speech about 2 months ago. Didn't you get the memo (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,47133.0.html)?
Apparently no... :nervous:
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Who is Derek Smart? And I don't understand why there is a Shivan named Carl. Who IS Carl?... I'm so lost.
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Carl is a former administrator around here. I haven't seen him in ages. The hyperintelligent shade of blue is a reference to a novel called Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Um Trashman. We killed the welcome speech about 2 months ago. Didn't you get the memo (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,47133.0.html)?
Apparently no... :nervous:
They used to be funny until the traditional welcome message became constantly warped and distorted into a mockery of its former self.
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Who is Derek Smart?
The less said, the better.
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No kidding..... :lol:
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After you play the FS2 campaign, use the mod feature to enable FSPort, and play through the FS1 campaign and see how it all started. It's a bit of a letdown after FS2, no beam weaponry, no flak, no shields until a few missions after your first Shivan encounter, but it's still a lot of fun.
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That's why I tell ppl to play FSPort first.
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but if you play FSport first, you get a major spoiler at the end with the final cutscene in FS2 being played in the end of FSport . What was up with that?
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Umm, that's not supposed to happen... it's supposed to play either the FS1 Ending Cutscene, or nothing at all. Ask Gooby.
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Gooby? jr2, you are dead.
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What? It's my mm.. err pet name for him, because I think he's a cool guy...
*looks around for banhammer-proof bunker*
But, to put it in context, my uncle called me Goober when he thought I was being stupid or irritating (which I probably was!), so Gooby seems much better. :nervous:
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You shouldn't get that. You shouldn't even see that cutscene unless you're playing the main FS2 campaign
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I got it in Transcend once, which has its own cutscenes. It was very confusing watching time do a re-wind, playing through the first part, warping out and seeing... that (whooh I almost spoiled it for you).