Descent: FreeSpace

[RogueShadow]

For me, it really was one of my favorite games of all time.

Yet i'ts practically abandonware, the creators don't seem to acknowledge it.

And I read somewhere the license agreement for FreeSpace2 says you can give copies to friends? I really would need to see somebody with a copy of it's official license agreement to believe that. haha. And if it does, can I be your friend? All I got is the demo unless I can find it magically, I have the first game.

I am also told the Source Code has been released, very interesting...

Oh man. I need this game.

 

[FictiousWill]

I have freespace2, it's fairly crap imo.

 

[RogueShadow]

If you don't want it.. I do! GIVE GIVE

The least I can find it USED is $60.

 

[DarkStar]

Freespace 2 isn't quite as good as Freespace but it's definitely not crap. It's actually really awesome.

 

[FictiousWill]

If the source code is released and the game is public, can't you download (pirate) it? It's 3 disks if I remember correctly. I'd mail it to you, but I can't find disk 2... I still say it's a crap game though.

 

[RogueShadow]

It's a big mess. The Source Code is released i'm told, but it's not supposed to be freeware or abandonware, in fact people are selling it for hundreds of dollars. Find the license agreement for it and figure out if it says you can give copies to friends, somebody told me it's in there lol.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Freespace is for the flight genre what Half Life is for FPS

It has the same elements that make it great.

The great story, that evolves as you play. Doing things that actually make sense. Great voice acting. It's sad that there's no Freespace 3, as they ended the story once again in a cliffhanger. That's another way it related to HL so much, in the way they ended.

Whatever happened to Admiral Bosch and stuff, did the Shivans just kill him when they took him away or is he working with them now? Why did the Shivans make Capella go supernova? I had always thought they were in the invasion business for the sake of subspace node control. It's all weird. At least some mods pick up the storyline, but I still yearn for something official.

 

[Axyon]

I have both Freespace 1 and 2, and I'd have to say that Freespace is the better game. Yes, 2 may have ships many times larger than the juggernaughts of 1 (I'm in love with the colossus), but the epic fighting and experience of it was done first by 1, and Freespace just just can't replicate how damn cool it was as a new experience in the first game. That said, 2 is still an excellent game. I too would like to know what happened to Bosch, plus how everything else pans out.

 

[crabcakes66]

I loved them both.

1&2. I have to say I played 2 alot more though.

Id love to see FS3 on a modern engine........ i havent played a space sim that was worth a shit since.....well freespace.....

 

[Feath]

I regard Freespace 2 as the best, because I think it's got the better story.

I think Freespace 2 is actually my favourite game of all time.

 

[Loke]

I have both Freespace 1 and 2 and I must say that both are great, but I liked FS2 a little better.

Loved the Corvettes and Cruisers that had those big beam cannons, looked so beautiful when they shot at each other.

 

[RogueShadow]

I got FS2 when I was too new to the gaming scene to enjoy it, I wish Freelancer had come out first, then FS2, but the gist of that is that I didn't particularly enjoy it. If someone wants my copy, I can look for it and send it their way (free).

*nods*
Talk to me buddy. I'll make the most out of that game.

 

[MultiVaC]

I thought FS2 was better, simply because I could no longer go one on one with a cruiser and easily own it in my little fighter. Now they have those cool flak guns and the anti-fighter beams. Plus capships can destroy eachother without me getting old by the time they finish, because they have beam cannons.

 

[Feath]

The area of Freespace 2 was big Cruiser battles with the fighters/bombers just tipping the balance. like the way the Player wasn't the centre of that design. You were important but not that important.

And the fact that most of the Freespace 1 and 2 was spent just losing and withdrawing. They really gave you a sense of desperation and hopelessness.

 

[crabcakes66]

The area of Freespace 2 was big Cruiser battles with the fighters/bombers just tipping the balance. like the way the Player wasn't the centre of that design. You were important but not that important.

And the fact that most of the Freespace 1 and 2 was spent just losing and withdrawing. They really gave you a sense of desperation and hopelessness.

Agreed 100%.

Especialy on the part about small craft just tipping the balance.

The capital ships were actaully large in freespace 2 and that gave you sense of not being as significant to the bigger picture. So many games suffer from scale problems, and that has ruined many a space sim for me.

yeah that heavy destroyer is twice as long as my light fighter........wow :|


I want a space sim with scale ships and newtonian physics damn you....... ;(

 

[RogueShadow]

Nobody seems to have even mentioned the advanced targeting system, one very cool aspect. Targeting just engines, or weapons, or shields, or any other subsystem of the ship. Scanning stuff. Command menu's to give orders to your squadron, or the other squadron's, or individual fighters, telling them to disable, destroy, follow, escort... etc..

 

[Kyorisu]

I loved being able to allocate your shields into different areas. That really helped some of the tougher fight scenes. The A.I. never reallocated it's shields though, would have been more challenging if they did.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Yeah like someone said earlier. The story wasn't "OMFG OUR ARMY IS BLASTING EVERYONE TO HELL AND WE WINZOR OMGWTFBBQ!!11one"

Freespace 1 was so like.. depressing..

First it was like.. whoa.. Tombaugh station was obliterated by the Lucifer.. and I felt partly responsible- they were able to find it by tracking their own ships that we captured, the Taranis cruiser that in the previous mission you had helped tow away after disabling it.

When slowly the Shivan fleets made their way to Earth. Felt like all was lost. Especially after the ships couldn't catch it at the end and they sent you towards the node in a last despare dash. Then as you're flying there that Hammer of Light cruiser cuts RIGHT in front of you to try and stop you to fulfill "destiny." God it was so epic.

Then I loved that in Freespace 2 everything seems to follow through so fluidly. It was eerie when you escorted the GTD Bastion to blow up the node from Gamma Draconis. Everything was just so.. like.. it drug you in. That's sort of like Half Life.. you felt like part of the game.

 

[Axyon]

Yeah, Freespace 2 picked it up very well indeed. When you're testing out firing and targetting against those Pegasus fighters, and Kappa squad flies in trying to warn you about the Shivan attack... great stuff.

 

[Loke]

Love the GTVA Colossus.

Liked how you allied with the Vasudans too. Witch they got the name GTVA (Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance) from.

Maybe misspelled Vasudan, many years ago I played this. Damn, got to start playing it again.

 

[Axyon]

Love the GTVA Colossus.

Liked how you allied with the Vasudans too. Witch they got the name GTVA (Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance) from.

Maybe misspelled Vasudan, many years ago I played this. Damn, got to start playing it again.

I remember when you first allied with the Vasudans in the original game in order to combat the Shivans, bloody hell that part was awesome. I remember watching the FMV where the two races are being briefed, and was just thinking 'holy shit, I love this game'. Defending the Galatea, stealing a Shivan Dragon and flying it... awesome, awesome stuff.

 

[Loke]

Yeah, I also remember when you first saw the Shivans and tried to engage them, but they had a shield protecting their fighters so you couldn't kill them. Very cool.

And that mission were you started on your own and had too scan a lot of ships, including Lucifer... My heart beat 2 times faster when I was just some meters away from it, and saw fighters coming out from the docking bay.

 

[Axyon]

Yeah, I also remember when you first saw the Shivans and tried to engage them, but they had a shield protecting their fighters so you couldn't kill them. Very cool.

And that mission were you started on your own and had too scan a lot of ships, including Lucifer... My heart beat 2 times faster when I was just some meters away from it, and saw fighters coming out from the docking bay.

Hehe, the technology's so much more advanced in 2 it's scary. Dealing without shields was so much easier, it got much tougher when you had to learn how to manage them and everything in the first game!

 

[Loke]

Hehe, the technology's so much more advanced in 2 it's scary. Dealing without shields was so much easier, it got much tougher when you had to learn how to manage them and everything in the first game!

Yeah, agreed. But after a little training you could manage them pretty well though.

Remember in the second game when I was in a nebula guarding a Vasudan capital ship, when suddenly the Shivans motha ****a Juggernaut warped in and destroyed the Vasudan ship.
And I got hit by its large beam cannon once and turned into dust.

 

[Axyon]

Yeah, agreed. But after a little training you could manage them pretty well though.

Remember in the second game when I was in a nebula guarding a Vasudan capital ship, when suddenly the Shivans motha ****a Juggernaut warped in and destroyed the Vasudan ship.
And I got hit by its large beam cannon once and turned into dust.

Heh, then when you finally destroy it, you find out that there's actually dozens of them; definitely another piece of the traditional Freespace 'oh bugger, we're absolutely shafted' formula.

 

[DarkStar]

Was it just me or did the explosions in the Freespace games look really, really awesome at the time. That's one thing I remember.

 

[MultiVaC]

Yeah, I remember making a mission in FRED with about 5 Sathanas and putting their hull integrity at 0 just so I could watch them explode.

 

[crabcakes66]

Was it just me or did the explosions in the Freespace games look really, really awesome at the time. That's one thing I remember.

Yes, they were very nice looking for there time.

 

[RogueShadow]

I just hooked my Belkin n50 Speedpad back up to play the FS2 demo with.
I've got all 10 buttons on the top just for targeting, and the wheel for absolute throttle axis, I haven't decided what i'm going to keep teh D-pad as yet. I have the stuff I don't need at my fingertips staying on the keyboard, like power distro, and shield adjust, and orders. and weapon selection.

 

[Rico]

Are game companies even making space sims like Freespace and wing commander anymore?

Don't tell me about Freelancer... I hated it :O

 

[ShadowFox]

Sadly not really, no.

You guys are bringing up great memories. The first game did have an awesome sense of desperation that I have never felt in any other game. I was so sad when the Galatea was destroyed. Gotta love that ship.

Freespace 2 didn't have the same sense of desperation until the last few levels, but boy were those last few a blast. I loved the attention to detail of the ever growing number of Sathanas around Capella. The last mission was the ultimate in desperation. There was no way you could save every ship, and then the final choice at the end.

 

[Loke]

Love the end in FS2... Especially the ending FMV movie.

The Intro is kinda cool too, like that big battle you see in the beginning. Don’t know how many times I’ve seen that video.

 

[Feath]

PC Gamer UK says something about Freespace 2 along the lines it was the best Space Sim ever but it was released about 3 seconds after Space Sims stopped being popular. So it never got the credit it deserved.

It definately deserves a sequel.

 

[ShadowFox]

I think space sims could become popular again, but somebody needs to make one that is fun and breaks some ground. No developers seem to want to take the risk. Oh well, that will be #1 on my list when I graduate.

 

[crabcakes66]

Are game companies even making space sims like Freespace and wing commander anymore?

Don't tell me about Freelancer... I hated it :O

We have seen a few psuedo space sims like freelancer and even X2, but they are not really my thing.



What I really want to see is a space sim where i can not only fly a fighter....but i could command ships(and stations/installations)...or man a gun turret on a ship....or i could be a marine boarding other ships. I think it would fit well into the new RTS/FPS combination category that is becoming popular.

Eternal Silence 2 is pretty much doing this i think......I hope they can pull it off.

 

[Seppo]

What does abandonware mean?

Anyways, I really like FreeSpace. It's the only space simulator I've played, and before I tried it I didn't really know what to expect. Once you had learned all the important controls, it was sweet. And the training section is the best one ever made.

 

[breadbomb]

Are game companies even making space sims like Freespace and wing commander anymore?

Homeworld 2 is alright but it takes a long time to get used to. I downloaded the demo a long time ago and it was pretty fun, actually.

 

[Rico]

well I classify H2 to be more of an RTS rather than a space sim. I meant stuff like wing commander and freespace.

 

[RogueShadow]

So who else here has FreeSpace2? Wanna be my friend The license agreement says you can give it to friends, no joke either! if you have it read it.

 

[crabcakes66]

Homeworld 2 is alright but it takes a long time to get used to. I downloaded the demo a long time ago and it was pretty fun, actually.

hw2 is a completly differant genre