Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: fantomx11 on May 26, 2011, 04:56:43 pm
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So, I played FreeSpace 1 when it first came out. I bought it at Babbages without knowing anything about it other than seeing "Descent" on the box. It quickly became my favorite space sim blasting the X-Wing series out of that slot. Then I played FreeSpace 2, when it came out. Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it because my pc at the time couldn't handle the nebula missions :(. I don't have the discs anymore, but that doesn't matter since I don't play video games very much anymore anyway. I am interested in catching up on the storyline of the setting though and was wondering what the general consensus is on the canonicity of user campaigns. After reading about it today, it seems that FS3 is never coming so the only official material likely to ever exist is the first two games, but there seem to be several user campaigns that reach official levels of polish. So, are there any user campaigns (or fan fiction) that are generally considered canon by the community? Also, where can I get plot overviews without playing through the campaigns?
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The campaigns, Blue Planet: Age of Aquarius and Blue Planet: War in Heaven are generally considered to be the continuation of FS2. I don't think anyone would call it canon though.
You should play through the user made campaigns if at all possible, they're excellent!
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The community's sort of made it a point to avoid labeling any fan-made campaigns as "canon," even in the informal sense; the general consensus seems to be that designating one campaign as such would belittle the work of other campaigns/mods set around the same time period. That being said, there are a number of post-FS2 campaigns that are widely considered to have a very high standard of quality and fit into the general scope of what a sequel would cover; some of the more prominent examples are Blue Planet, Derelict, and The Procyon Insurgency. There are a number of other projects that have been in development for some time that will also wind up covering much of the same time period, including Blackwater Operations, Machina Terra, Twisted Infinities, Earth Defense, and the revamped Inferno. As far as stuff that isn't set after FS2, Silent Threat: Reborn is an excellent reworking of the rather-underwhelming FS1 expansion campaign, the Ancient-Shivan War project is tackling the Ancients' original war with the Shivans, and the Terran-Vasudan War Project will eventually cover the time period immediately preceding FS1.
As for plot overviews, the FS Wiki (http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) has a lot of information that would probably do the job; the FS1 and FS2 sections have full campaign briefing texts for each of the retail campaigns, as well as mission walkthroughs. Most of the fan-made projects have their own wiki pages and official websites, too. If you need more detailed info beyond that, I'm sure many people here would be willing to write a brief summary up. :)
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No user-made campaign is canon.
However, I strongly advise you to play Derelict, Blue Planet, Transcend, Silent Threat Reborn, Vassago's Dirge and Wings of Dawn. These are among the best campaigns ever made.
Also Babbage's was a great store.
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No user-made campaign is canon.
However, I strongly advise you to play Derelict, Blue Planet, Transcend, Silent Threat Reborn, Vassago's Dirge and Wings of Dawn. These are among the best campaigns ever made.
Also Babbage's was a great store.
This, basically. If it's worth anything, the top three I would play out of that list would be Silent Threat Reborn, Transcend, and Blue Planet. In that order. Followed closely by the other three.
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You guys are forgetting Windmills! (Battuta, I'm shocked! :P)
It's a very different campaign, even more so than WoD (hell you don't even fly a fighter), but it's an amazing piece of work that should never go unmentioned. It's short and everyone with any taste thinks that it's very much worth the playthrough.
Also SGWP2 for very different reasons
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You guys are forgetting Windmills! (Battuta, I'm shocked! :P)
I was trying to stick to stuff that sort of fits into the "FS2 sequel" mold myself, which winds up excluding a few otherwise-amazing campaigns. :p
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The Procyon Insurgency is also quite nice.