Just bought Freespace 2

[Silellak]

Homeworld 2

Why Homeworld 2, and not the original? Are you presuming he's already played the original? Because the original is one of my all-time favorite games evar.

 

[ortucis]

Homeworld 2

Why Homeworld 2, and not the original? Are you presuming he's already played the original? Because the original is one of my all-time favorite games evar.

Well, he is already looking for mods to improve visuals in Freespace 2, might as well recommend him something that has aged gracefully.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I'll take visual improvement mods if I can get them, but I won't skip out on any good game just for being ugly.

Wasn't a fan of X3, I have to say. Might give it another go, I think the version I played was the original and that was a good few years ago.

 

[Silellak]

Homeworld 2

Why Homeworld 2, and not the original? Are you presuming he's already played the original? Because the original is one of my all-time favorite games evar.

Well, he is already looking for mods to improve visuals in Freespace 2, might as well recommend him something that has aged gracefully.

Homeworld's aged gracefully enough.

 

[commie]

Homeworld's aged gracefully enough.

Yep, apart from the low res textures on the mothership, most of the vehicles and effects look fine and it was a great move by the devs to make the backgrounds look like watercolors which gives them a timeless quality rather than go for the 'photo-realistic' space look which wouldn't look that good now.

 

[Tycn]

Can someone tell me why Freelancer is liked? I fail to see the redeeming features.

 

[Ladders & Snakes]

Yeah, Freelancer was shit, Starlancer was okay. Freespace pwns them all, and Wing Commander V was the best of the series.

FACTS!

 

[ortucis]

Yeah, shit. FACTS!

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Homeworld 2

Why Homeworld 2, and not the original? Are you presuming he's already played the original? Because the original is one of my all-time favorite games evar.

Homeworld is great but... I hate the fact that either faction you choose, taiidan or kushan, the campaign is just the same. The only difference is the design of the ships and one exclusive unit for each faction.

I feel it would be a lot better if playing for the taiidan, the campaign developed in the direction of exterminating all of the higarans/kushans. In fact, since most of RTS of that time aways had different campigns for different factions, it's kinda of lazy work of Relic.

But it's really beautiful, lots of options for each unit, the ability to capture enemy units, etc... Never played cataclism or homeworld 2, though.

 

[spekkio]

Homeworld 2

Why Homeworld 2, and not the original? Are you presuming he's already played the original? Because the original is one of my all-time favorite games evar.

Well, he is already looking for mods to improve visuals in Freespace 2, might as well recommend him something that has aged gracefully.

Graphic-wise Homeworld and Cataclysm aged wonderfully.
And gameplay-wise... level-scaling and automatic hyperpace jump called to say hello...

 

[Silellak]

Thanks to this thread I am installed FS2 Open, and am currently replaying Freespace 1. Fuck me, I somehow forgot just how good these games actually are.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Yes, Freespace 2 is a classic. Millions of keys, good gameplay, a bit of a story, great graphics. Audio. Immersiveness. Action, upgrades.

I haven't played it for a few years, but one of the things I liked the most was just feeling like a cog in the wheel that didn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

Or did you?

 

[Data4]

What's the difference between the SCP and Open? Is it the same thing with a different name? It just occurred to me that I've been seeing Open recommended, but no one said anything about the SCP.

 

[Tycn]

They seem to be used interchangeably. From what I gather, Open is the engine and SCP is the graphics upgrade built for it.

I haven't played it for a few years, but one of the things I liked the most was just feeling like a cog in the wheel that didn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

Or did you?

I did, it is nice that they weren't too fixated on tooting the player's horn. I also think they really captured the 'momentum' of a protracted conflict, with victories, defeats, solar systems changing hands.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Finally got a joystick. Time for heavan.

 

[Tycn]

Finished my playthrough a few days ago. 'He who rides the tiger' of Silent Threat: Reborn was definitely the peak, although the final missions were a bit of a letdown. As was the FS2 ending.

Now, are there any other other space combat sims worth playing? I reinstalled Freelancer and almost immediately regretted it.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Freespace 1 is raping me on hard. Help me resist turning it down to normal.

EDIT: finally persevering and destroying the Eva, boosting away while watching it tear itself apart in my rear view... I think that'll do. Fucking good game.

 

[Luigi]

Does the damage increase on hard?

How was the asteroid belt escort? ^^

 

[Admiral jimbob]

So, uh, I got to the last mission of the Freespace 1 campaign, and I'm utterly stuck. I enter the mission with all wings alive (one Alpha dead and two Betas in the red), and can handle the Shivans easily, but... Delta just won't do what they're supposed to do, and I can't give them orders for some reason. Probably because the AI's supposed to be doing one particular task. Which they aren't doing. I can keep every single Delta alive until the end of the ten-minute timer, but they never destroy more than one or two reactors. I even make sure to destroy the Lucifer's weapons subsystem and engine for them. What the hell am I doing wrong? Don't tell me the port bugged the AI or something...

 

[Severian Silk]

I haven't played it for a few years, but one of the things I liked the most was just feeling like a cog in the wheel that didn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things.

Or did you?

Gosh! You mean you weren't wishing your character was the one-and-only-gods-ordained "chosen one"?! :collapsesintotalshock:

 

[Santander02]

Red alert missions tend to get bugged on occasion. The same thing happened to me the last time I played that mission, the only way to fix it is to kill yourself and click on "replay last mission" and go trough "The Great Hunt" again.

I had to try a few times myself and I was so fed up I just turned the difficulty down to "very easy" just to go trough those two missions and see the ending. "Good luck" is ridiculous easy anyway when it works properly, so if delta aren't blowing up those reactors as soon as they reach the Lucifer then that means the mission bugged up.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index. ... 477.0.html

Couple of other people reporting the same issue. That's annoying. I'll try your suggestion.

 

[Tycn]

Usually it suffices to prevent Delta from getting killed. Have you tried destroying some of the reactors yourself?

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Seems like it was definitely bugged. I watched Delta in Very Easy and they just sat at a distance, firing their lasers.

Ah well, I eventually gave up and ran through on very easy with a payload of six harbingers to do it myself. Not the most satisfying conclusion, but can't complain too much. On to Silent Threat Reborn!

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Silent Threat down. Was a far less balanced campaign than FS1's, had to turn it down to medium quite often, and sometimes even... easy. Apparently those are the difficulties it's balanced to provide a fair challenge on, since they're the ones most people play on, but I'd have liked some love for the hard players - some missions were just almost impossible on it

Nonetheless, I'm deeply impressed at its quality given that it's a fan-made mod, the Freespace community seems to be one of the most ambitous, dedicated and mature modding communities I've seen in a long time.

Now, Freespace 2 better live up to the hype.