Is Freespace 2 any good?

[Slobbergoat]

FS2 - mouse + keyboard
IW2 - joystick + keyboard

Why would you play any space shooter with a mouse? Especially an old-school-style one like Freespace?

If you don't mind pickup-dragging fairly often, a mouse makes FS2 basically play like an FPS with rotational viewing, ala Descent / Terminal Velocity; thus you can aim and track opponents with perfect accuracy.

 

[RaXz]

Didn't even try it, I prefer a joystick. It maybe more difficult, but it's more fun in my opinion. Just like racing with a steeringwheel instead of a gamepad. And I want to play as many games as I can with my HOTAS.

I was wrong though, Freespace 1 port for Freespace 2 Open is pretty complete. Looks a lot better, and even has headtracking support, it's only pretty difficult to use without the ships interior.

 

[WDeranged]

How does Freespace 2 Open run for you guys? No matter what settings I use it's still dropping frames and juddering.

Looks fucking gorgeous though, the ships aren't that amazing but the pyrotechnics and vast galactic backdrops are epic.

Anyone getting a nice solid 60fps?

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

Do you have an ATI video card by chance?

 

[DraQ]

How does it compare to Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos?

I haven't played FS2, but I am currently playing EoC and it is a cool game overall, tohugh not without flaws.

Still, when it comes to space-like feel, no spacesim that actually has you shooting stuff (to exclude the likes of Orbiter) comes close to Frontier: Elite 2 and FFE.

 

[laffer35]

I'll just throw my recommendation in here as well.
Really good game indeed.

 

[WDeranged]

Do you have an ATI video card by chance?

Nvidia GTX 280, people over at the Hard Light forums seem to think the game should be running flawlessly on my PC but I have doubts, one person's smooth is another person's 20fps.

 

[Occasionally Fatal]

hm, well i run the blinged out f2open at over 60fps easily on my 3800 athlon (not dual core) and x1800xt and 2 gigs of ram. when i first started tweaking it though, I had huge fps problems, and I found out I needed a newer .dll for the ati card opengl to work properly (the one included in the installation was old and thus incompatible and causing freezes and stuff). im guessing you have something similar. can you run vanilla f2 without any problems?

 

[WDeranged]

Yeah it runs fine with the vanilla exe, can't go back to that though

I'll probably just forget about it a few months and see if anything changes.

 

[Melcar]

Runs at full fps on my HD4850... on Linux *gasp*
The ships look like shinny shit, but the effects and backdrops are fucking awesome. Got bored of the game half way though.

 

[index.php]

It's currently free on gog: https://www.gog.com/#giveaway

 

[Ivan]

last posts are a decade old..wowzers

 

[JDR13]

Was the original Freespace any good, and is there any connection between the games story-wise?

 

[Grimlorn]

Was the original Freespace any good, and is there any connection between the games story-wise?

Yeah IIRC there is some sort of story connection between the 2 games but it's not that big or important. The games are mostly just about flying in space so little story to them. Just mission briefings explaining a little what you're doing and what's happening. I remember playing and beating Freespace as a kid and enjoying it. Never really played Freespace 2, but I remember reading it took place after Freespace 1.

 

[J_C]

Was the original Freespace any good, and is there any connection between the games story-wise?

Yes, the first game is almost as amazing as the 2nd one. And 2 is the continuation of the 1st one story wise.

 

[index.php]

There is a mod called FreeSpace Port that ports FreeSpace 1 and Silent Threat to the FS2Open engine.
The easiest way to install it is via the Knossos launcher: https://fsnebula.org/knossos/

edit: If you want better graphics also dont forget to get the MediaVPs mods.

 

[Matador]

Great mechanics, mission design and graphics with mediavps. Must play.

It's a shame no modern space game has attempted to make a tight SP campaign like this.
Imagine that with elite dangerous gameplay and visuals.

 

[Chippy]

Yes.

 

[circuit breaker]

FreeSpace 2 is an excellent game.

Compared to FS1, beam weaponry is more important and there are missions taking place inside nebulae which scramble your radar. Some love them, some hate them. There aren't that many, though. I think ECM weaponry is also new. There are also spec ops missions which are semi-standalone from the main campaign. IIRC they are skippable.

I can also recommend using Knossos to install FSOpen and updated MediaVPs, and giving Blue Planet Complete mod a chance once finished with the campaign.