[Mongoose]

I started playing Descent 3 back in 2002. At that time, I went to have a look inside CD 2 and found the old self-executing FreeSpace 2 Trailer. I played that trailer at least 20 times in one sitting, because I thought it was awesome. However, I was on dial-up back then; getting the 62.x MB demo was out of the question.

Oh, that's where the trailer was.  D3 automatically plays a trailer for Planescape: Torment when you install it, but I'd forgotten that they tucked the FS2 trailer onto the second disk.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Yeah. Funny, isn't it? When you install FS2, they play the trailer for D3, but when you install D3, they don't play the FS2 trailer.

[haloboy100]

Another part of Interplay's bull**** advertising strategy that ruined Freespace's popularity.

Ah, I remember the first time in like '99 where I got the Freespace 2: Colussus Demo disk that came with my Microsoft force feedback joystick. I played that demo for at least a year and a half, over and over again, until it FINALLY came in the mail after waiting six months for it to get here from Interplay (apparently they had stock issues or something).

And that's when I started the campaign over and over again for years while playing squadwar back in the days of the PXO network...
It took me a year of playing that campaign over and over again until I realized just exactly the story to FS2 was about and got hyped to play FS1 after realizing that Interplay still had it for sale.

and then the days came of playing multiplayer online. DarkWing was a good squadron while it lasted...

[karajorma]

Thread split.

[EAD_Agamemnon]

How I got into FreeSpace...hmmm...kinda long story actually...but in the order that it finally grabbed me and has never let go...

Hellbender Demo (HS Sophomore year would play this on only comp that had it in Computer class...after done with assignments of course)>

Fury 3 Demo (from an old PC Gamer demo disc ... which I still got) >

i forget the year but then got Terminal Velocity in full version freeware (damn that game was kick arse) >

Descent 1 and 2 (my mom had the 2nd one and I didnt have 1 until much later)...I loved the Helix cannon...haven't played either in a LONG time >

in late 1999 or early 2000 got the Freespace Demo though I don't remember where but I think off a demo disc somewhere (I re-played this thing to death) >

then finally in late 2000 got Freespace from Chips N Bits (again...replayed so much the discs I'm surprised can still be read given how covered in fine scratches they are (and still kinda nice 'nostalgic' graphics) >

then in 2001ish got FS Silent Threat again from Chips N Bits (for a time I actually thought the pilot you are in ST was the same one as the Alpha 1 you play in reg FS) >

then in 2002ish Freespace 2 Demo (my first taste of the one-shot-smite-thee beams) >

then at last late 2002 to early 2003 got Freespace 2 again from CnB and played it too until the discs got fine layer of scratches...by this time despite impatient anticipation of FS3...the sequel never came... I had gotten FS2 at the time after 9/11 when there were a number of Anthrax mail scares going around>

Descent 3 ... got it only about 4 years ago but could never get into the game and so haven't touched it in a few years

then at last in 2005 my mom found and told me about the Source Code Project...this was when it was 2.6.9 (i think)...oldest one I clearly remember is 3.6.5...whatever it was in 05 though...that information was lost when the computer I had at the time died

btw Chips N Bits (was ChipsBits.com) used to be seller of games from somewhere in new york...at the time anyway I believe...but they appear to have gone out of business long ago now

NOTE: in reference to IP advertising....I don't ever remember much in the way of any advertising for Freespace...probably because the Descent series had the most hype to begin with (blasting robots...carnage and mayhem)

[jkalltheway]

I was searching for a good Space combat simulator. was actually looking for a capital ship simulator, but this game was a treasure

[Lukeskywalkie]

Lets see....
Was given descent 3 by my uncle, also a gamer, when I was 12. I was utterly confused by the story, of course, but the game was very enjoyable. I used an old thrustmaster stick, that creaked when I turned with it.
More interesting than the game itself, though, was the trailer for freespace 2 on it.  Must have watched it 50 times.
I hunted down demo's for 1 and 2, and played them both to death.
Year goes by, I get a Logitech stick for christmas,  which comes bundled with freespace 1 and the expansion (That I have since lost *shame*).
Year later, I go hunting for fs2, but no stores in my area had it.  Wasn't common on ebay, at the time, finally I found this tiny UK website that was hawking copies for 24 bucks (actually, 16 pounds). Came in this transparent 3dvd pack, no box art, no manual, and the paper label that says "freespace 2" on it has another label underneath that says "Smart Stens 1st Grade", so apparently this case has been repurposed.  Played it through twice, and then went hunting for MODs, particularly a port of fs1 into the better looking fs2, and that brought me here.
That logitech stick has since died, and I've stored the VPs from fs1 &2 on my various HDs for so long, that I haven't touched the disks in years, but thanks to this place, I've never uninstalled it.  Now I play fs2open, widescreen, with my HOTAS X52, and all is right with the world.

[Saturn]

I started playing Descent in DOS with a CGA screen. I think I was playing using 6.22, windows 3.0 or 3.1, Win 95 was later, anyone remember Hercules graphics cards? Then as each Descent labeled game came out I bought it right away. Moved to a VGA and wow what a difference. Been playing all the Descent versions (except D1) on and off ever since.

I think I came across this site while search for any update files and am fascinated by the skill and expertise of the people who have been expanding the game.  The marketing at the time for Freespace was never close to the other Descent series and was very poor, that is saying a lot because the marketing for the Decent1,2, and 3 games was also virtually non-existent. At that point in time, people had to be very much into the PC Hardware to be using a PC to play.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

At that point in time, people had to be very much into the PC Hardware to be using a PC to play.

Uh, I wasn't. The only thing about hardware that I'm half-confident of doing is upgrading RAM, and I only learned that last October.

[Firartix]

When i was around 8, i somehow installed FS2 or FS1 (i don't remember which one..) as a package on Mandrake.
I didn't understand a single thing :°

Anyway, 2 or 3 years later, someone told me about how cool it was on an irc channel...

And he did again like 6 months ago.
So i installed it again -not as a package though- (thanks to a ubuntu docs walkthrough ), and played FSport, FSport str, and finally fs2.
(BTW, i have to say i didn't buy the game at first... in fact, there was a link to mediavps and stuff in the walkthrough. i only learned about all the copyright stuff on freespace several months later... i guess i can justify myself by saying there's "free" in the name ._.)

And now, i switched to Windows, installed FS2, then FS_Open and all the stuff, and i keep playing lame & useless (and cool, too !) campaigns <_<' !

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Have you tried BP:AoA:DC, INFR1, PI, Derelict and Warzone yet, Fir? Those are good (well, INFR1 not so much, but it did get a lot of attention when it was brand new).

[Rob FSO]

Urmmm.. When my dad got a new computer in 1999, it came with a gaming pack of 8 games (descent 3 was in there too, could never get into it tho), with the first half of fs1 It was branded conflict: freespace, darkness rising.. I still have that disk somewhere. Played that to death, completed it wayyy too many times and would go in the mission simulator and just play the 2 tiranus missions.
Then I was at a computer fayre in about 2002 saw some old games (u know the ones in the huge boxes) and asked the guy behind the table if he had a game called freespace 2, cos I had read about it and really wanted it! My jaw hit the basement when he said he had it, i managed to persuade my dad to buy it for me, was £20 which was a lot for a 13 year old lad at the time. Got home, installed it, played that to death aswell for years just playing the main campaign over and over, but felt a little left out because I hadn't completed fs1. so, in about 2005 I went on ebay to try and find it, found the dual-jewel for a tenner.. Bought it then and there.. Arrived a few days later and was completely amazed by the second half. I will agree that st wasn't quite up to the same level but I've not yet played st:r...
I found out about the modding scene and FSO while bored in IT class one day and managed to download 3.6.7 onto a flash drive only to discover my comp wouldn't run it :'(
When I bought a new laptop few years ago and the first thing i did was install 3.6.9 fell back in love with the game and have played over 50 user-made campaigns since.
I still have all the original disks and I always get the piss taken out of me by my mates for playing 11/12 year old games but i don't care because they're the ones missing out

[Saturn]

At that point in time, people had to be very much into the PC Hardware to be using a PC to play.

Uh, I wasn't. The only thing about hardware that I'm half-confident of doing is upgrading RAM, and I only learned that last October.

Hi. Most of the people that I knew when FS2 came out were and had been; building their own PC's, only a few purchased them prebuilt. If you were able to afford them, good job! Generally the people I worked with and many others were constantly tweaking the hardware configurations to get better performance. Around the time of FS2 release I think the P2-450 was the fastest processor around. We used to buy Celerons 300a's, change and resolder the chip resistors and overclock them to around 500MHz. Later it was higher. They were substantially cheaper than a P2 (less cache).
I used to write for a website called AGN.com (All Games Network) and hardware modifications (overclocking, lapping CPU's, heatsink modifications etc)  were a large part of the articles. If you have questions on doing an upgrade let me know, I'll help if i can.

[roguevalkyrie]

I liked the earlier Descent games and loved Space sims in general so one day I was wondering around Comp USA looking for a new game and happened to notice Descent: Freespace I took a look at it and decided to give it a shot.

[Qent]

I think it was around summer of 2008. I was searching for any Babylon 5 games, which led me to FreeSpace 2 (I didn't play TBP right away). I saw it was recommended to torrent it, so I downloaded, played, and liked it. When GoG started offering it, I decided to buy FS1 (though I never intended to download it), FS2, and Descent 1-3.

If it weren't offered for download back then, then I can honestly say I would never have played any Descent or FreeSpace. So... I guess let this be a good word for abandonware from a consequentialist viewpoint.

[EAD_Agamemnon]

Lets put it this way...FS1/FS2 is the shiznet FS1 anymore is Nostalgia-ville while FS2 is the Temple of V.

<sigh> Just like Sierra was to make a B5 game but then dumped the idea....Interplay had to go and prevent V from making FS2 like they wanted or do an FS3...

Heil the V gods for making the best space-sim IMO...and who were gracious enough to hand their work down to the FSO team!

[foolfromhell]

I found the Freespace 2: Colossus disc at my aunt's house. She said she got it with her computer. It was like a demo with all missions up to the appearance of the GTVA Collosus. I forgot about the game but got Tachyon: The Fringe a year later and after beating it, I wanted more space sim so I torrented FS2 retail and then found the FS Open project.

I was also a young idiot (8 years old) so I thought Freespace had to do with the Windows 98 game "Freecell" that comes with windows when I first saw the disc. I also thought Freespace had to do with freeing space. I played Descent III but didnt associate one with the other.

[Ariel]

me and my twin brother got gifts from our big sister she traveled abroad and  got us the first freespace .
so we were hooked.
 after a year or so a colleegue from my mothers  work got to the us and bought us freespace 2 and the rest is known i'm playing this game on and of for the past 12 years now and since freespace2 scp came freespace2 got more intresting.

[Lt. Murgatroid]

Hi! Just registered in order to comment this thread.

Anyway, played the Descent II demo to death when I was a wee kidlett. Spent an entire Saturday in 1998 with my dad babysitting a dialup connection as it downloaded the Descent: Freespace demo (You get to fight outside the mines!!) and proceeded to play *that* demo to death. I think I racked up over 1,000 kills doing three missions over and over... Finally, my dad's friend from work burned copies of the FS1 disks for us. I had the time of my life for a week getting all the way to Failure to Communicate, and hit a brick wall. No matter what I tried, I couldn't protect that darn com station.

So what did I do? I restarted the campaign.  Got all the way to Failure to Communicate again, spent a week failing, and restart again. And again. And again. Over the course of two years. Finally I started digging around in the FRED campaign editor, and managed to change the success criteria to basically "Alpha One wins if the com station is destroyed."

What do you think happened? The com station survived. After two years, the only way I could save that stupid science vessel was by leaving it to die. 

Eventually I did pass it legitimately, and steamrolled the rest of the campaign. I even played through the incredibly incomplete Silent Threat, and shelved FS.

Flash forward to 2007, when I was reminiscing about Freespace via Wikipedia, and discovered ST:R. I just had to acquire FS2 so i could play the SCP, which kept me busy until my roommate got me hooked on World of Warcraft. I've been lurking HLP ever since... through STR, Blue Planet, FSO.... the list goes on.

[General Battuta]

Yay!

You should play Transcend if you haven't.