Poll

What is your favorite cannon campaign?

Descent: FreeSpace
Silent Threat
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Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
FS2 by a mile.

FS1 is a great game I agree but the fact is that it's a plot we've seen many, many times before. Admittedly FS1 did it very well but it's still not anything new. The Shivans are just xenophobic aliens for you to kill.


Now in FS2 things change. You have the political intrigue surrounding Bosch and Etak. You have signs that the Shivans don't just want to wipe out everything they see and most mysteriously of all you have Bosch stating that for some reason humanity only has a future if it allies with the Shivans. That made me a lot more interested in the storyline than FS1's plot.

True, true...but at thirty missions, it seems a bit short. :blah:
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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
True, true...but at thirty missions, it seems a bit short. :blah:

      "Bit Short"? That sounds perfect to me.
      Long enough to satisfy, but short enough to leave you wanting more. And more imporantly, not so long as to you have the player quit before they've finished the darn thing.

 

Offline Ransom

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
The Shivans are just xenophobic aliens for you to kill.
While I mostly agree with you, I don't see this the same way.

I think the point of FS1, and pretty much the only thing that sets it apart from any other stock space opera story, was that the Shivans were more than just a random force of destruction. How that, through their own design or not, without their existence humanity and Vasudans wouldn't have come into their power, and that their introduction brought an end to a fourteen-year war. They're a force of balance, hence the name Shiva. Destroyers and preservers. I think the monologues make it clear that this was the intended message of the writers.

I wouldn't say it exonerates the rest of the story, and I do think they're more interesting in the sequel, but all the same I think it's doing the FS1 Shivans a disservice to say they're just a one-dimensional villain.

 

Offline Snail

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Another thing I liked about the Shivans was that they set up cargo depots and made strategic choices, unlike most other alien menaces which just go around ****ing people up like animals.

 

Offline NGTM-1R

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
FS1 is a great game I agree but the fact is that it's a plot we've seen many, many times before. Admittedly FS1 did it very well but it's still not anything new. The Shivans are just xenophobic aliens for you to kill. 

Now in FS2 things change. You have the political intrigue surrounding Bosch and Etak. You have signs that the Shivans don't just want to wipe out everything they see and most mysteriously of all you have Bosch stating that for some reason humanity only has a future if it allies with the Shivans. That made me a lot more interested in the storyline than FS1's plot.

Perversely, tack on Silent Threat to FS1 and you have most of the things you wanted from FS2.
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Offline karajorma

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Except for fun. :p
Karajorma's Freespace FAQ. It's almost like asking me yourself.

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
FS1 is a great game I agree but the fact is that it's a plot we've seen many, many times before. Admittedly FS1 did it very well but it's still not anything new. The Shivans are just xenophobic aliens for you to kill. 

Now in FS2 things change. You have the political intrigue surrounding Bosch and Etak. You have signs that the Shivans don't just want to wipe out everything they see and most mysteriously of all you have Bosch stating that for some reason humanity only has a future if it allies with the Shivans. That made me a lot more interested in the storyline than FS1's plot.

Perversely, tack on Silent Threat to FS1 and you have most of the things you wanted from FS2.

or a satisfying end mission
the old hide in the trench and hold down control

 

Offline Mars

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Paperclips work as well.

 

Offline Mongoose

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
I'm with karajorma.  Even putting the thematic elements of the storylines aside, it always felt to me like the actual tasks you performed in-mission tied in far more with driving the story forward in FS2 than in FS1.  The original had a few too many of those "destroy a cargo depot/take out a few enemy ships for no discernible purpose" sorts of missions, particularly in the periods before Playing Judas and Reaching the Zenith.  When you couple the SOC loops with arcs like the first nebular campaign or chipping away at the NTF's remains, you just feel like you're doing more throughout the whole of FS2.  Granted, FS1's situation probably better replicates the mix you'd see in any sort of realistic military setting, but I'll always take unrealistically being at the center of the action over that.  Besides that, I thought the squadron changes were a far more superior way of introducing new technology to the player than the "oh, we're suddenly pumping out all these new ship classes when we only had Apollos before" FS1 method.

Plus, when you think in terms of actual combat, FS2 just blows FS1 out of the water.  I'm sure we all remember how hard we fangasmed the first time we saw a beam cannon fire.  And le gasp, homing missiles actually...homed!

(And in terms of "oldbie vs. newbie," I played and replayed FS1 for years before finally getting my mitts on FS2, so there goes that theory. :p)

 

Offline Kie99

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Either Inferno or Derelict.
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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Either Inferno or Derelict.

"canon" campaign

 

Offline Dark RevenantX

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Derelict is my favorite cannon campaign.  Gorgon cannon ftw.

 

Offline colecampbell666

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
I like the Punisher Cannon.
Gettin' back to dodgin' lasers.

 

Offline eliex

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Derelict is my favorite cannon campaign.  Gorgon cannon ftw.

Gorgon beam just riiips through the Ravana's hull. Shivans screaming in fear. The dark Shivan captain standing by the bridge gazing at the stars that he shall soon be joining . . .

 

Offline WMCoolmon

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Can I bail out with "Apples and oranges"? No? :p Oh well, then...

I'm gonna go with Freespace 1, then. I'm not sure why - I think in part, it's that it doesn't have a lot of the political intrigue et al that's in Freespace 2. It adds to the story there, but in Freespace 1 the military feel is strong enough that it has its own distinctiveness to it. Freespace 1's title of "The Great War" really does work for me, because it's almost as if it's recalling a time when the bad guys and the good guys pretty much just engaged in battle with each other (ala WW1/WW2). Whereas in Freespace 2, you all of a sudden have all sorts of conspiracy theories, special ops, and technological gimmicks to help you along, similar to any kind of modern war.

But in some ways the atmosphere of Freespace 1 is a breath of fresh air, because the missions don't have to push the plot along. It proceeds at a different pace than FS1, and it can also be a plot twist in its own right, since you don't have to actually be the center of attention.

If Freespace 1 were a black-and-white classic film, Freespace 2 would be the modern Hollywood remake. :p
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Offline Androgeos Exeunt

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Despite my preference of FreeSpace 2 to Descent: FreeSpace, I like playing the Descent: FreeSpace missions on FSPort.

My favourite FS1 mission is Pandora's Box. :D
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Offline Aardwolf

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
I liked FS1. FSPort would be decent if they hadn't got rid of the red on the scorpion and put beams on the Lucifer.

FS2 I had more fun with, but only because I never bothered learning how to do anything other than FRED the original.

 

Offline BS403

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Descent Freespace The Great War was much better IMO.  There are many reason but one of the main is that in FS1 you really didn't know how it was going to turn out. It always felt like no matter what you did there was no way to stop the shivans.  In FS2 there was never a doubt in my mind of how things were going to turn out except capella.  The whole thing was enemies, ok lets kill them.  they killed some of ours guys, thats ok we'll kill them, they are no threat.  a Sathanas thats ok we'll just send in the colossus. there was never any real sense of worrying or terror.  in fs1 i was afraid we were going to lose, plus beams aren't that great... capital ship battles are over before they start. That is all.

edit: also I only played the FS2 main campaign once, and i'll probably never play it again. but i've played the FS1 campaign several times and I will play it again, not on the port, but on FS1
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Offline eliex

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Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
Not to mention that you really can't enjoy the fighting of a massive cap-to-cap ship battle especially with the Shivans as your enemy. All your directives are "Destroy the forward beam cannons!!". If you do destroy them in time . . . well most of the enemy fighters are dead and can't get the feeling of a real battle, and if you don't your cap-ship gets blown up.  :sigh:

In FS1, capital ship battles were worth fighting in. You protected your bombers. You sat outside the fighterbay waiting for a killing spree. Although beams are great, beams ruin cap ship fights.

 
Re: What is your favorite cannon campaign?
In FS2 there was never a doubt in my mind of how things were going to turn out except capella.  The whole thing was enemies, ok lets kill them.  they killed some of ours guys, thats ok we'll kill them, they are no threat.  a Sathanas thats ok we'll just send in the colossus. there was never any real sense of worrying or terror.  in fs1 i was afraid we were going to lose, plus beams aren't that great... capital ship battles are over before they start. That is all.

       I dunno about you but in FS2 I was worried. I was worried about why Command decided it was a good idea to head back into the nebula after the first Sathanas. That whole game was "Command, what are you doing? This is a BAD PLAN." Of course you didn't know that it was, but you sensed it. And Into the Lions Den (the last SOC mission into shivan territory) is by far one of the most atmospheric missions I've ever played in all of Freespace. I mean, the mission objectives themselves, are pretty rudimentary. But unlike snipes, I was ****ting my pants the whole 15 minutes not just during the first 5 seconds. I can't remember if the similar FS1 mission had the same effect on me or not.

edit: also I only played the FS2 main campaign once, and i'll probably never play it again. but i've played the FS1 campaign several times and I will play it again, not on the port, but on FS1

      Port's for people who don't have FS1 I'd venture. Or for those who long for better graphics. Personally if I play through FS1 campaign I'll do it on FS1 too rather than the port. Though of course any non-main campaign/ST campaigns have to be played on the port anyway, so the work put into it still gets appreciated.


Not to mention that you really can't enjoy the fighting of a massive cap-to-cap ship battle especially with the Shivans as your enemy. All your directives are "Destroy the forward beam cannons!!". If you do destroy them in time . . . well most of the enemy fighters are dead and can't get the feeling of a real battle, and if you don't your cap-ship gets blown up.  :sigh:

In FS1, capital ship battles were worth fighting in. You protected your bombers. You sat outside the fighterbay waiting for a killing spree. Although beams are great, beams ruin cap ship fights.

          Okay, so . .. . rather than contributing to the fight and protecting your capital ships you'd rather sit outside a fighter bay and pick off fighters as they launch? Personally I've got no problem with capital fights in either game, they have their different flavours, and they're both worth fighting in, if the mission is FREDder well anyway. But that's usually the problem. Though I do admit that taking out the Ravan's beams in every other campaign gets a little old perhaps.

« Last Edit: September 01, 2008, 02:28:26 am by Akalabeth Angel »