[Akalabeth Angel]

Was just wondering if after this part 2 UEF/GTVA wars wraps up if the BP crew would ever consider releasing the original storyline Darius had planned. I'd be curious to see how it differs from the final product.

[Droid803]

Heck, the talk of how the alpha version was makes me want to see for myself. XD.
Something about invincible UEF warships or something.

[Darius]

There was always going to be a third part: just that the original WiH was shorter than AoA, so the Vasudan arc of the storyline would be under the same chapter. What you would have got if it was still just me working on it would have had less of the awesome that's on there now.

Something about invincible UEF warships or something.

Argh. That's not how it went.

What happened was that most of the UEF losses took place off-screen rather than in-mission, a lot of how badly the war was going for them was told to the player, rather than shown. I talk about it a little bit in the developer's commentary for "Collateral Damage". As Bats said, the first UEF ship to be destroyed in-mission isn't until the second-last mission.

Fighters were pretty bad ass though. The original Steve-O Gattler was a beast.

EDIT: No, you don't want to see the original alpha.

[Akalabeth Angel]

There was always going to be a third part: just that the original WiH was shorter than AoA, so the Vasudan arc of the storyline would be under the same chapter. What you would have got if it was still just me working on it would have had less of the awesome that's on there now.

So did the original story line centre on Samuel or whoever the protagonist was from AoA, or was it always centred on a UEFfie pilot?

[General Battuta]

Yeah, it was about a (male) UEF pilot named Laporte. He only had a few lines. Bei and the defectors didn't make an appearance.

There was no opening cutscene around Artemis Station.

The GTVA's big attack on Earth around mission 4 failed off-screen, and the GTVA war effort broke down after that. They were on the run from that point on.

Admiral Steele died in his first appearance (as did the Atreus and I think every other GTVA warship)

There was no attack on the Meridian and no Admiral Severanti. Nor did Calder, Netreba or Byrne have any development. There was no psych evaluation mission.

There were no Wargods and no attack on the Carthage. Simms was just a random squadron leader.

GTVA ships never warped out. No UEF capital ships were destroyed until the last or second-to-last mission.

The story in the released WiH covers about half of what was in the alpha and mostly follows the same skeleton, but in the original draft Laporte started out based on Rheza Station, not the Solaris. It's the same general story but with a lot of new threads, the GTVA made significantly more competent, and the characters fleshed out more. The biggest change is probably the UEF not kicking the GTVA's ass.

[SypheDMar]

In other words: Blue Planet 2: Alpha - April 1st, 2012

[Mars]

Dang, sounds like the Tevs lose. . . 

[Qent]

Admiral Steele died in his first appearance (as did the Atreus and I think every other GTVA warship)

Now I must see it! After R2 though.

Also welcome back.

[General Battuta]

Dang, sounds like the Tevs lose. . . 

Why would you think that?

We're not dumb enough to post anything that would constitute a spoiler or a hint at a spoiler or some roundabout way of deducing a spoiler

[Scotty]

Battuta!  You're back!

[MatthTheGeek]

It is obvious that whatever plans the BP team had for the Sol war were heavily changed since Alpha. I wouldn't be anywhere close to surprised if the outcome was entirely different than what it used to be.

[Drogoth]

Dang, sounds like the Tevs lose. . . 

Never give up hope! Long live the Tevs! Hoo-rah!

[Woolie Wool]

EDIT: No, you don't want to see the original alpha.

Yes, I do, even though it's not anywhere near as good as the finished product. You're talking to someone who played all three Doom alphas from 1993, which didn't even have working monsters.

I love seeing incomplete and embryonic versions of things I've experienced the complete versions of, and seeing how initial versions develop into their final forms.

[Akalabeth Angel]

EDIT: No, you don't want to see the original alpha.

Yes, I do, even though it's not anywhere near as good as the finished product. You're talking to someone who played all three Doom alphas from 1993, which didn't even have working monsters.

I love seeing incomplete and embryonic versions of things I've experienced the complete versions of, and seeing how initial versions develop into their final forms.

I second that notion.

[Droid803]

EDIT: No, you don't want to see the original alpha.

Yes, I do, even though it's not anywhere near as good as the finished product. You're talking to someone who played all three Doom alphas from 1993, which didn't even have working monsters.

I love seeing incomplete and embryonic versions of things I've experienced the complete versions of, and seeing how initial versions develop into their final forms.

I second that notion.

I pi'th that notion.

[Darius]

I'll see if there's a surviving copy around anywhere.

[Hellstryker]

Yeah, it was about a (male) UEF pilot named Laporte. He only had a few lines. Bei and the defectors didn't make an appearance.

There was no opening cutscene around Artemis Station.

The GTVA's big attack on Earth around mission 4 failed off-screen, and the GTVA war effort broke down after that. They were on the run from that point on.

Admiral Steele died in his first appearance (as did the Atreus and I think every other GTVA warship)

There was no attack on the Meridian and no Admiral Severanti. Nor did Calder, Netreba or Byrne have any development. There was no psych evaluation mission.

There were no Wargods and no attack on the Carthage. Simms was just a random squadron leader.

GTVA ships never warped out. No UEF capital ships were destroyed until the last or second-to-last mission.

The story in the released WiH covers about half of what was in the alpha and mostly follows the same skeleton, but in the original draft Laporte started out based on Rheza Station, not the Solaris. It's the same general story but with a lot of new threads, the GTVA made significantly more competent, and the characters fleshed out more. The biggest change is probably the UEF not kicking the GTVA's ass.

No offense to Darius intended but that sounds absolutely terrible.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Yeah, it was about a (male) UEF pilot named Laporte. He only had a few lines. Bei and the defectors didn't make an appearance.

There was no opening cutscene around Artemis Station.

The GTVA's big attack on Earth around mission 4 failed off-screen, and the GTVA war effort broke down after that. They were on the run from that point on.

Admiral Steele died in his first appearance (as did the Atreus and I think every other GTVA warship)

There was no attack on the Meridian and no Admiral Severanti. Nor did Calder, Netreba or Byrne have any development. There was no psych evaluation mission.

There were no Wargods and no attack on the Carthage. Simms was just a random squadron leader.

GTVA ships never warped out. No UEF capital ships were destroyed until the last or second-to-last mission.

The story in the released WiH covers about half of what was in the alpha and mostly follows the same skeleton, but in the original draft Laporte started out based on Rheza Station, not the Solaris. It's the same general story but with a lot of new threads, the GTVA made significantly more competent, and the characters fleshed out more. The biggest change is probably the UEF not kicking the GTVA's ass.

No offense to Darius intended but that sounds absolutely terrible.

Age of Aquarius probably sounded like crap in point form too but it turned out awesome. So, personally I would give him the benefit of the doubt.
Also, so far as lists go it's a list of "what's different" as opposed to "what's good". If you describe a story by comparing it to another story and saying everything that wasn't in it, I'm sure almost anything would sound bad.

[Dilmah G]

It wasn't a bad campaign - I played it. It wasn't the sterling masterpiece contribution of an entire team, but the story and its missions were still rather epic, from memory.

[Nyctaeus]

A few years ago I saw a "Sneak Peak" - the Vengeance's GTVA Titan on the UEF side. She was fighting with the GTD Titan on the Earth's orbit. That was so cool, so... Can I ask, what was the role of the UEF Titan in the alpha version of the storyline?