[Mobius]

The Magazines I read(I used to read)didn't "spoil", but somewhat suggested many of the main parts of a plot. "There will be more enemies" or something like that can be interpretated as "A new alien species" or "There will be a rebellion". But nothing was spoiled. At least not here!

And for the reasons I mentioned before, the plot can be "sacrificed".

[Tyrian]

I recently got a friend of mine interested in FSO, and I did it with Into the Lion's Den.  That Sath coming straight at him got him interested real quick...  That mission grabs you just for the sheer shock value.  There's nothing quite like a 6km long warship hurtling at you at over 100m/s.

Since then, he's nearly beaten the retail campaign and has registered here on HLP.

[Hellstryker]

It sucks all my friends hate flying games 

[fsphiladelphia]

Purely for showing off the engine and the concept of huge corvettes firing beams at one another while you dogfight in between them, you could show people the Earth/Minbari War demo in TBP.  It's not FS2, but it hits at the essence of it.

Also any number of Derelict's larger battles are pretty spectacular.

[Vidmaster]

Who'd buy a game if they have absolutely no idea of what's going on.

Me. I just love it when the story surprises you completely. And by the way, this was the case with FS2. I just knew it was a space shooter and it was received well by reviewers.

[Jeff Vader]

I like that to some point, too. Just that I would like to know at leat the general idea. Are we talking about World War 2 or some space age or what? Are there other species and so on. The review I mentioned earlier just spoiled most of FreeSpace 2's plot. They managed to mention within two pages that the Terrans and Vasudans have been fighting for a long time, when suddenly these Shivans arrive and start whippin' the other two around. There was also a screen of the Lucifer jumping in thorught the jump node in Playing Judas, with a note how it was thrilling when you were flying a captured Shivan fighter when suddenly the Shivan command ship appears almost next to you.

[achtung]

How about a mission that shows off many of the SCP features?  Doesn't that sound interesting?

[jr2]

That sound fabulous...   But if they're new, they won't know the difference between a Retail and an SCP feature. ... it's just part of the same package to them. 

[Vidmaster]

by the way, do you have any mission for that in mind ?

writing an own one wouldn't be the optimal solution for showing of FS. It has to be a fully voiceacted mission.

[jr2]

How about a compilation of three or four missions from FSPort, FS2, and a few mods, perhaps Derelict and Inferno or something?  Have each one open with a statement that it is a sample mission from that campaign... but adding the models etc... you'd have to be pretty crafty about it.

[Marcus Vesper]

How about the missions dealing with the demise of the NTF?  Lots and lots of capitol ships to take down, and the firefights are spectacular.  Remote Beam Cannons for the win.  If I was going to show off FS2 to somebody, I'd probably go with that and the second mission for the 242nd.

[Bob-san]

I think bomber missions are too hard to get used to--I had a heck of a time when I first played. Anyways--how about the end of Act 1, where you're attacking that cruiser to lure the Repulse out? Then, the Big C jumps in and fries the Repulse. It's got some great dog-fighting and enough action. When they're bored, turn up the difficulty. It might be too hard, however... the Coward AI setting is surprisingly hard to beat without taking major damage.

[azile0]

The last battle between the Colossus and the Sathanas. the air of 'Aw ****. there goes our miracle' really gets ya.