[AustinZ]

I really liked both games. Played the demo of FS1 a long, long time ago at a friend's house, and fell in love, went out and purchased it. I was about to shell out $60+ on eBay for a copy of FS2 before I found Home of the Underdogs and the SCP. The Freespace series really is one of the best I've ever played, in terms of atmosphere and such.

I have to admit, I really liked the FS1 'hopeless' atmosphere- especially near the end, as Vasuda Prime was nuked, the Galatea was destroyed, and Earth itself was under threat. The idea of a inscrutable, indestructible enemy worked really well in this case.

FS2 had its 'set-piece' moments as well- Kappa 3 desperately telling Command to shut down the portal, the Vasudan destroyer trying to spearhead an expedition into the second portal before being vaporized, the moment the Lysander and Actium encountered the destroyer, etc. The Sathanas wasn't nearly as scary the first time around as the Lucifer, though. One thing FS2 does really well in this regard, is maintaining that sinking feeling in your stomach...'how many more of them ARE there?'. There are always these little clues throughout the camapign that point to a much greater Shivan presence than Command will let on to.

One thing that FS2 did really well, though, was gameplay atmosphere. I hated capital ship battles in FS1. The capital ships weren't that scary, their lasers were really kind of useless, and they were helpless against a determined bomber squadron. Having flak, beam cannons, etc. just makes it so much more epic, and actually gives capships a reason to exist.

As for the intros, I liked FS1's intro a LOT better than FS2's. FS1's was dramatic and very well-done. FS2's battle scene was kind of cheesy (maybe too much SCP goodness...I think that, with the exception of the hundreds of fighters, the SCP could probably render a better-looking scene in real-time). The laser that blew up the one Medusa looked like a solid plastic spear. And the narration wasn't that good, either...there are some really good quotes in FS1 and FS2, but I found the opening narration rather pointless.

[peterc10]

ive noticed the lucifer destroyed an orion class destroyer (is it the galatea?) using a beam from the side, but it doesnt have beams there.

[Snail]

No, it's widely believed to be the Legion. It's not canon, but during an interview it was alluded to.

[Vretsu]

Freespace 2, hinging solely on the capital ships. In FS1, capital ships were giant floating bricks. Leviathons were floating catches of points, and nothing more. Orions, for the love of god...giant dustbins, I tell you.

In FS2, capital ships have powerful, death-dealing flak and beam turrets that actually make them a credible threat to other capital ships and to the player.

[Desert Tyrant]

ive noticed the lucifer destroyed an orion class destroyer (is it the galatea?) using a beam from the side, but it doesnt have beams there.

...
Anyways, in response to the actuall topic, depends on what mood i'm in.  Dark mood, FS1, blow **** up, FS2
...And yes, FS1 missles did suck compared against fs2 missles,  but 32 year difference and all...

[Mobius]

Freespace 2, hinging solely on the capital ships. In FS1, capital ships were giant floating bricks. Leviathons were floating catches of points, and nothing more. Orions, for the love of god...giant dustbins, I tell you.

In FS2, capital ships have powerful, death-dealing flak and beam turrets that actually make them a credible threat to other capital ships and to the player.

It's a problem that affected most games. Remember that the programmers' concept of both AA guns and warship defenses was poor at that time. Just like for Colony Wars, ships became dangerous to attack when programmers realized that they're nothing but sitting ducks.

No, it's widely believed to be the Legion. It's not canon, but during an interview it was alluded to.

Never heard of that interview. Link? References? A thread here on HLP about it?

[Vretsu]

I agree that developers in the past have had crappy concepts of capital ship defenses...but heck, even the old Star Wars games had deadly capital ships...and all they had to work with was little green and red laser puffs.

*spits at FS1 discs until dies of dehydration*

[Mobius]

*spits at FS1 discs until dies of dehydration*

Urgh...

Anyways, they wanted the player to be concentrated on something else. And ships able to defend themselves mean, yeah, dangerous strike missions...but it also means easier escort missions

[Snail]

*spits at FS1 discs until dies of dehydration*

BAD BOY!

[Mobius]

More than bad, I would say "Spit Man"!

No offense, of course.

[Desert Tyrant]

*spits at FS1 discs until dies of dehydration*

You should probley clean that stuff up.  Oh, also, stop jacking off to equlibrium, no, John Preston cannot beat the FEAR pointman, assholes!
Er...*runs*

[Mobius]

Maybe I wants to make his FS1 discs look good, they're pretty old and some...urgh...liquid could have the same effect the specular option has on shipmodels!

[Desert Tyrant]

Maybe I wants to make his FS1 discs look good, they're pretty old and some...urgh...liquid could have the same effect the specular option has on shipmodels!

Yeah... Liquid, apparently he yanked the toy too hard while watching Equilibrium.

[S-99]

ive noticed the lucifer destroyed an orion class destroyer (is it the galatea?) using a beam from the side, but it doesnt have beams there.

On the sides of the lucifer there are beam cannons yes. In the animation where the lucifer destroyed that one space station it did it with the side beam cannons, which are used for normal everyday ship destroying or glassing planets.

[Vretsu]

Too...many...in...jokes...

*collapses*

[Zantor]

I don't particularly have a favorite, primarily because each game has its ups and downs.

Freespace 1 has the most complete storyline. I like this because it keeps my interest and pulls you in.

Freespace 2 is better organized, with squadrons and battlegroups, as well as clarifying communications between both sides.

[Kie99]

FS2 for me...capital ships actually have a purpose greater than just being carriers.  Shields really buggered them in terms of being a threat.  Storyline was deeper and more interesting as well, just felt more epic.

[Mustang19]

FS2 capital ships, although stronger than FS1, are badly overrated. Remember that FS1 had pretty mediocre capship defenses. Compare attacking an Orion to, say, a "puny" Galspan frigate. Flak and beams are sexy, but really all they do is prevent you from doing something really stupid like staying in one place and holding down the primary fire button.

First, flak. How many times have you been killed by flak? It does very little damage when you come to think of it, and is really only good for shooting down bombs or softening bombers up to be killed by fighters. Rarely does flak kill you outright. Now, some of the beams- some- are good fighter-distracters, but unless you acidentally get hit by a BGreen a beam isn't going to do more than send you spinning and give you a few percent hull damage. All you have to do is stay out of range, kill turrets with Treb or Rockeye, and close for the kill. If you must bomb, then quick in-and-out runs are the way to go. You'll only take a few percentage points of damage if you're quick (and yes, I do play on Insane). On linked fire, it only takes 3-4 Cyclops salvos to kill a corvette yourself. Destroyers (other than the Orion) are tougher nuts to crack, but if you have a few bomber wingmen you can take them down.

FS2 capital ship flaks are still nothing more than distracters. Fighters and bombers are the core of every space shooter game, and the only thing that really saves your capships is fighter escort.

[Mobius]

*Ha hem* Aeolus *Ha hem*

Another thing in favor of FS2 is the end of the NTF rebellion. Cool part(it's a human faction, not Vasudan or Shivan, so the feelings of the player usually are different).

During the blockade and the following attacks on rebel rallying points, you watched thousands of people die, and no one gave them the possibility to surrender. That part invited me to reflect

[Snail]

FS2 capital ships, although stronger than FS1, are badly overrated. Remember that FS1 had pretty mediocre capship defenses. Compare attacking an Orion to, say, a "puny" Galspan frigate. Flak and beams are sexy, but really all they do is prevent you from doing something really stupid like staying in one place and holding down the primary fire button.

First, flak. How many times have you been killed by flak? It does very little damage when you come to think of it, and is really only good for shooting down bombs or softening bombers up to be killed by fighters. Rarely does flak kill you outright. Now, some of the beams- some- are good fighter-distracters, but unless you acidentally get hit by a BGreen a beam isn't going to do more than send you spinning and give you a few percent hull damage. All you have to do is stay out of range, kill turrets with Treb or Rockeye, and close for the kill. If you must bomb, then quick in-and-out runs are the way to go. You'll only take a few percentage points of damage if you're quick (and yes, I do play on Insane). On linked fire, it only takes 3-4 Cyclops salvos to kill a corvette yourself. Destroyers (other than the Orion) are tougher nuts to crack, but if you have a few bomber wingmen you can take them down.

FS2 capital ship flaks are still nothing more than distracters. Fighters and bombers are the core of every space shooter game, and the only thing that really saves your capships is fighter escort.

Flaks can definitely kill you. They weaken your shields, and then they impact your hull. When 1 flak gun is shooting at you, you're probably not going to take too much damage. But when 2-3 guns are firing at you, you've got problems. I'm always diving and swerving, but those bastards just travel so fast and they have a large damage area (splash damage), and the only way to escape is to get out of range.

And about AAA guns. Whenever they hit me, I'm always bashed around, weakened by at least 1/4 of health. Sometimes, if all three shots hit me, I can be damaged by almost 3/4 or even down to 10%.

I don't know what difficulty you're playing on (I usually do either Medium when I'm doing it for fun and Insane when I want to be suicidal), but your perception of flak and AAA is wrong.