Descent: Freespace

[Linkavitch]

Anyone still play this game? I dug out an old copy a while back, and Man is it fun the (31st?) time around! Anyone have any thoughts?

[Victor Thorian]

One of the few games I wish that'd never end. The expansion, and the second game is also great. The best space-combat game I've played.

Also, the story and the method of telling it is awesome.

[Maxymiuk]

The first one was epic, as far as space sims went. The second one somehow managed to improve on gameplay, but the plot went to a stupid place somewhere around the half point. Sure, it was all a buildup towards Freespace 3, but that only goes to show why giving your game a self-contained storyline is a Good Thing.

[Altima]

Yeah, Descent Freespace The Great War is awesomesauce. It's amazing you can get a game that beautiful without a 3d accelerator. It had a great story, and everything.

Freespace 2 was better, mechanically, but the story was sorta...meh. It wasn't nearly as fun as the first. The Corvettes were an improvement, though. Spent less time babysitting capital ships.

[Airk]

I didn't have any issues with the Freespace 2 storyline - sure, it's 'open ended' but who cares? The gameplay improvements, with capships actually being able to take care of themselves, were more than enough to push it above the first in my estimation. Not that the first one wasn't an awesome game (I was sold on it just from the demo, and never would've bought the 2nd had it not been for the first.), but I really haven't felt any urge to go back to it - when I need to scratch the "Epic awesome spaceflight sim" itch, I go to FS2.

[Arbitrarity]

Yeah, the original Freespace had a well designed plot. Freespace 2 had a huge cliffhanger at the end, but was excellent, nonetheless.

On a related note, www.hard-light.net is the home of the Freespace Open engine, a modification to the FS2 engine. It also has many fan-made campaigns, replaced textures and other elements (MediaVPs), and adds a lot of extra life to FS2.
This (http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/4494/lokihugefp7.jpg) is an example of a recently retextured Loki, with unusual coloration.
This (http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8362/orionjn5.png) is another pretty picture.

(Yes, I post this every time Freespace comes up. It's a good set of mods)

[pendell]

Still play it. Still love it. In fact, I think I've posted questions about Freespace on this forum -- there is one mission on the expansion CD I simply can't pass. Give me a minute and I'll ask again.

Anyway, it was and is a great game. The deliberate removal of a hud and the use of so many washed-out colors hid the lack of graphical detail. As a result, it's shortcomings aren't obvious. And it's still an EXCELLENT sim in terms of play experience.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[pendell]

Found my question.

I am specifically having trouble with the mission 'Roadkill' in the Silent Threat expansion in the flight simulator. It involves flying an escort mission for the cruiser STARMASTER as it roles up to a jump point which is surrounded by boxes which ostensibly contain military prototype weaponry.



Jumped by HOL ships immediately. Those are easy to defeat.

The STARMASTER arrives at the jump point and the 'Escort' objective turns from white to gray, indicating it is completed.

I now examine each of the boxes with my scanner. This triggers a message to remain in the area until 'Shivan forces' are cleared out.

The Shivans jump in with waves of Nephilem Bombers, Manticore Interceptors, and two Cain-class cruisers. I kill them all. During the battle, 2 of the 5 boxes are destroyed. The starmaster is at 53% strength.


And nothing more happens. Except, if I try to leave, the mission chews me out for leaving prematurely. So I waited for a full 15 minutes. NOTHING. Absolutely nothing happens from this point on in the mission. I can't make anything happen, and nothing happens to me. So I eventually jump out and fail the mission.


Any suggestions as to what is wrong? I'm guessing there's some hidden trigger that never gets activated during the mission, but I have no idea what it is.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Airk]

A lot of the missions in Silent Threat were...uh... not so well put together. If I'm feeling particularly industrious this weekend (Unlikely, but you never know) I'll reinstall and see if I can rip that mission apart in FRED to see what the victory conditions are. It's been a good long while since I messed with it, but hey, I used to be pretty decent with that editor.

[Linkavitch]

Found my question.

I am specifically having trouble with the mission 'Roadkill' in the Silent Threat expansion in the flight simulator. It involves flying an escort mission for the cruiser STARMASTER as it roles up to a jump point which is surrounded by boxes which ostensibly contain military prototype weaponry.



Jumped by HOL ships immediately. Those are easy to defeat.

The STARMASTER arrives at the jump point and the 'Escort' objective turns from white to gray, indicating it is completed.

I now examine each of the boxes with my scanner. This triggers a message to remain in the area until 'Shivan forces' are cleared out.

The Shivans jump in with waves of Nephilem Bombers, Manticore Interceptors, and two Cain-class cruisers. I kill them all. During the battle, 2 of the 5 boxes are destroyed. The starmaster is at 53% strength.


And nothing more happens. Except, if I try to leave, the mission chews me out for leaving prematurely. So I waited for a full 15 minutes. NOTHING. Absolutely nothing happens from this point on in the mission. I can't make anything happen, and nothing happens to me. So I eventually jump out and fail the mission.


Any suggestions as to what is wrong? I'm guessing there's some hidden trigger that never gets activated during the mission, but I have no idea what it is.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

The exact same thing happened to me in the original game! It was the level where you get prefabricated Apollo fighters, and you jump in, and the Lucifer blows up one of the two science stations you're supposed to protect, then it jumps out. Then you've got to fight Dragons, Nephilims, Manticores, you name it. I beat the entire thing like 8 times, and once I let it sit there for an hour while I did other stuff. I think it was a glitch in the game, cuz the 9th or so time it worked.

[pendell]

??? Puzzled at that. Looking forward to Airk's ripping.

Thanks to Airk and Spartacus for sharing their limited success. I confess to some frustration.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Airk]

Sorry; I got sidelined by extreme laziness over the weekend and forgot this entirely. I'll see if I can't be good tonight. =/ Also, as suggested, you may just give the mission another try.

[zaei]

I love both of these games so much. Those FS2 mod shots look awesome, makes me want to install and fire it up again.

I remember being so sad when the first game ended; I just wanted it to keep going.

[Linkavitch]

Has a Freespace 3 been made? I have one and two, and I saw somebody posted about the third one, but I don't know for sure.

[Maxymiuk]

Has a Freespace 3 been made? I have one and two, and I saw somebody posted about the third one, but I don't know for sure.

That was me, and unfortunately it hasn't.


Despite Volition's interest and desire to develop add-ons and expansions for FreeSpace 2, Interplay told them to stop. Volition was then acquired by THQ in 2000. As Interplay owns the rights to the FreeSpace series (as well as the Descent series) and Volition's owners, THQ, is only interested in pursuing development on what they own, Volition was unable to continue developing the FreeSpace franchise.