Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Blue Planet => Topic started by: Ioustinos on October 03, 2009, 12:55:04 am
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Since reviews are invited by General Battuta via this thread (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=65655.0) . . . here's mine.
SPOILER ALERT
Wow. So much is done right in Blue Planet. It could be sold and I bet few would know that it wasn't created by a successful gaming company.
In my view, the greatest part of Blue Planet is the atmosphere. Alternate universes aren't anything new in the sci-fi world, but Blue Planet is one of the few alternates that I've really gotten into (and certainly the only one in a FS campaign). You feel so alone, and at times I was even able to feel dread, particularly in the beginning. When returning from SOL to find out that . . . nothing's there, and then chasing the Duke. . . just wow. I was so drawn into the story that I was forced to feel dread and dismay. I credit the atmosphere for giving me these feelings. Blue Planet simply feels different than other mods. I can't quite explain how you've managed to pull this off, but damn, great work here. Maybe it's the music, or the characterization, or the plot, or a combination.
Another superb success is the mission design. There's a reason Forced Entry is widely regarded as the best mission of all time (or at least a great contender). The missions in Blue Planet combine the right amount of classical FS feel with the new advances of the SCP, giving an end result of a "new classic" kind of feeling. If there's a campaign that shows just what the SCP can do for fun gameplay, this is it. They're not repetitive either, which is always a plus.
The storyline is deep, intriguing, and well-developed. Further, it's consistent with FS canon. Since we'll see Duke Nukem: Forever before we ever see a FS3, I find it interesting to see explanations for the Shivans. While I personally think a lot of the horror and dread is removed by making the Shivans a sort of deity-like species (at least when compared to humanity), this doesn't detract from the fact that it does everything you want a story to do--hook you in, keep you there, and love it. Call me biased in favor of humanity, but I personally enjoy believing that there are no higher power (ish) things in charge, and the Shivans/Vishnans sort of seeing whether we're worthy or not just isn't my type of thing. Regardless, Blue Planet does a fantastic job of making me see how this isn't at odds with FS canon, and as I said before, the story does what we all want it to do. Besides, part of the fun of a campaign is seeing someone else's work.
Simply put, Blue Planet is an inspiration to FREDers out there. It's definitely on the must play lists, along with Derelict and Transcend. If I ever get back into making my campaign, I'll take pride in looking at Blue Planet to get ideas and to see how things are done correctly.
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Agreed. Very few sci-fi series are written intelligently enough to discuss things like religion/deities in a way without straw-manning various positions. I'd say really only Babylon 5, Stargate, Enemy Mine, Freespace and maybe Mass Effect treats the topic well so far as mainstream sci-fi goes. Actually, the quasi-religious dread of the Shivans is what makes them such effective cosmic terrors. The Vishnans aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I appreciated them. I hope we get to see them again in the 'main' Freespace universe.
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:wtf: Where does FS go even near religion?
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:wtf: Where does FS go even near religion?
Hammer of Light, much? :p
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I don't think you can call that a good and proper exploration of the religious impact the shivans had....
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I'm just pointing out that the melding of religious themes was something BP excelled at. Not everyone agrees with it, but it was well done. Derelict had a few similar moments.
The quasi-mystical nature of the Shivans is present in the main games, but never elaborated on. That's for the best I think.
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I don't think it's present in the canon campaigns.
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I actually agree with manwiththemachinegun. The Shivans are treated reverentially, even mystically, by both the Hammer of Light and Bosch, and even the game's text - music tracks, ship names, things like that - suggest a certain mystical aspect.
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I don't think you can call that a good and proper exploration of the religious impact the shivans had....
It may not have been a full-fledged exploration, but it was "near religion," which kind of disproved your statement. :p
And yeah, I agree with Battuta. FS doesn't explore any specific set of beliefs in the sense that Blue Planet did, but its portrayal of the Shivans is that of some nigh-omnipotent force on a cosmic scale, a very spiritual sort of treatment. The Hammer of Light saw them as fulfillers of an ancient prophecy, Bosch looked upon them as the potential saviors of humanity, the Ancients viewed them as an avenging force of the universe sent to punish them for their sins, and the "player's" monologue at the end of FS1 portrayed them as preserving some sort of galactic balance. Even Petrarch quoting Shakespeare at the end of FS2 evoked a sense of other-worldliness upon them. That same sense of mysteriousness that drives so many in the community to theorize about the true nature of the Shivans very much casts them in a mystical light.
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IMO, the Hammer of Light was just an excuse for the player to fight Vasudans, or else the whole Vasudan shipset would've been pointless after the Shivans showed up.
The whole religions and mysticism thing is just a side-effect of that.
But I do agree the Shivans did spread around some cosmically awesome aura.
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IMO, the Hammer of Light was just an excuse for the player to fight Vasudans, or else the whole Vasudan shipset would've been pointless after the Shivans showed up.
The whole religions and mysticism thing is just a side-effect of that.
Huh.. never thought of that; however the Vasudan ships could still be used to help to just as Terran ships did