Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 1]- An Introduction to Freespace and Me
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2017
- Patreon: / firesteel
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Welcome to this retrospective and analysis of one of the greatest games of all time.
If you've never heard of Freespace before, welcome. It's the series that got me into the whole mess I'm in now and why I even have this channel and it was high time to talk directly about it and hopefully get some of you interested. For a series that borrowed heavily from Wing Commander and X-Wing, Freespace is a hugely unique game in its execution. Not only did it become, and remain, the high watermark for space combat games to this day (mainly on account of the genre's death following Freespace 2's launch) but it managed to entwine a novel quality science fiction story around well constructed gameplay.
Freespace's beauty comes from its adherence to realism and maintaining a constant, creeping dread of cosmic horror. If you want an example of how to both build a wonderful action game and a true to its roots cosmic horror experience look no further. Freespace will have you tear through wing after wing of fighters without feeling powerful.
I've managed to keep playing the series for 15 years and this doesn't even count the amazing community content found in the Source Code Project. It's something truly special to me and I hope you'll come along for the ride.
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Luis Dias's Thesis on Freespace 2- www.hard-light.net/forums/inde...
Freespace SCP v3.8.0 RC1 - Hry
![Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 2]- The Beginning](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/AJTGsVktves/mqdefault.jpg)
![Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 2]- The Beginning](/img/tr.png)
![Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 3]- The Shivans](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/npDNFpWlHmE/mqdefault.jpg)
If you want to check out all the community content, the best place to
start is the Knossos Launcher: fsnebula.org/knossos/
You're not alone. FS 1&2 are the only games apart from Thief: The dark Project that I have played at least once a year since I got them. Those vanilla campaigns never get old. A masterpiece if there ever was one.
Even though I grew up with X-Wing, the atmosphere and the way the community kept updating FreeSpace makes FS my favorite space sim
Mind too great game !!!
I still nearly shit my pants with that "Dive! DIVE! Hit your burners, pilots!" right at the start of a particular mission is FS2. Even though it's been over 20 years since I first played that mission, it still gets me lol. Never had my pulse spiked like that since, either.
All these years later and this is still one of the games that follows me from computer to computer. Along with Jedi Outcast and Max Payne. It's half the reason I still have a Thrustmaster HOTAS stick. The other half being MechWarrior. FreeSpace is awesome and I really love the work people have put into making it prettier.
I am a next-generation fan of freespace. I grew up joystick games (rogue squadron on the PC) but I didn't learn about Freespace till my late teens, from of all things an Angry Joe review where he casually mentioned it was the preak of the space shooter and that peaked my intrest.
Since then, it has become a favorite, to the point I own a joystick mostly to play it (and when I'm not it's a great place to wrap my mouse cord around so it doesn't hang loose). It's timeless, and with media VPs its now also gogeous. So to all you obsessive fans, know you aren't insane from nostalgia, the series is worth coming back to.
Descent: Freespace was the first game I saw with 3D acceleration. That was something!
The sheer no hope approach is amazing. You get enough steam to think you're getting on an even footing finally and then they go NOPE.
You don't win these games, you survive these games and depending on FS2 and how you choose. You don't even do that.
This was really pleasant to watch! It just blew my mind when you alluded to the Shivans as somewhat Lovecraftian in nature, but the relationships in theming are there! You also echoed something I never really considered, in that the FreeSpace series is the only game that to this day I still play once every few years. I have never finished any second runthroughs of other games. Why? I look forward to your exploration of various topics in future videos for sure!
I've always peferred freespace 1 for its more modest story and design. It felt more possible in our universe and less cartoony than the second. But what really captured me as a kid was the mystery of the shivans and the profound feeling of fighting a truly other-worldy species. They really made you feel as if the shivans were too different for us to comprehend their intentions and this was beautifully frustrating and intriguing. The vulnerability in not grasping who your enemy is or what they are capable of is exhilarating.
Used to play in Dark Wing on FS2 multiplayer, I miss that community.
We're all here because we crave FS3
This and other games of 90s spoiled me too much, I was child then and set this superb story telling and gameplay as standard i judge all other games by.
So most of todays game is crap by such standards.
This game is still KING of its genre, 20 years after...
And it has some superb mods. The blue planet is truly the most splendid fan made campaign I know of for any game.
@@beojack4592 feel free to name more :)
I'm so lucky, I still have hard copies of Freespace and Freespace 2.
I do to. I moved them out of their flimsy original packaging though. My FS2 didn't have a jewel case originally. Thanks Interplay.
Nice, I even got both their boxes and manuals. Do you remember Privateer 2: The Darkening, I got that one too.
Never played any privateer games unfortunately.
Dark_Lord_016 Me too! And FS2 is on my laptop still today. I wish someone would make a game that could match the feeling of the masterpieces from 20 years ago. it’s just sad that these game makers can’t seem to put out a game with such substance now.
This series needs to be completed. It can not be left unended like freespace has been. Its too special of a game for it to disappear.
I picked up Freespace when it first came out, but it sat unopened for about two years as I was slowly catching up with my backlog of never played games. It was (and still is) an awesome gaming experience.
Great introduction video. love how you captured the sense and feal of the games and described them
I love this game so much. It's one of the few things that makes me cry.
Great video. Looking forward to watching the rest of the series. Thank you.
I absolutely LOVE Freespace! Greatest. Game. Ever! And the community - they've remade it into something that's the same but so much better at the same time.
Great work on this video dude, I'm so glad I found it, and I can't wait to watch the rest of the series!
Thanks! Hopefully I can do the rest of Freespace 1 over the summer (really the only time I have for this sort of thing)
Played this game when I was 10 (in 2000). Did not understand the story because I did not speak English back then. Would probably need to replay, it still looks pretty good!
Dekker approves this Orestes Tactical loves it.
i just finished the fs2 again for the 30th time. one of the best games still, and best space combat games to date. Going to play Blue planet next. I like the lovecraftian description you gave. To me, it's very Mass effect feeling. Except as you said it's a space horror. It leaves you feeling angst and dread, even after saving humanity twice.
Brilliant ! Can't wait to watch the next one !
Nice video, I'm looking forward to the next one.
I like the series please do a part 4
(Dark Wing) Mecc over here telling you to keep it up
I still consider the Freespace series unmatched still today! I absolutely loved them all. I played through FS2 with my Microsoft force feedback pro joystick at least 6 times.
I want a freespace 3. I miss that game!
Mass Effect - Shepard's Story I still have the whole Freespace library of games, including the descent games. I so miss playing through games that captured my attention so completely. I wish there was a new franchise that could compare!
FS3
HL3
DT3
what else? ))
I played the heck out of FS1 and FS2 when they first came out along with Tie Fighter and X-Wing, X Wing alliance...I still go back and watch the Cinematic Cut Scenes haven't played these game in 8 some odd years that last time I installed FS Open...
Can you imagine a movie based on Freespace 1 ? How wonderful it would be, provided they would produce the movie completely based on the storyline of the game.
It could definitely make for an interesting movie but very different from the game (something I'm hoping to get across more once I get back to being able to write these)
Would you consider playing Freespace 1 the whole game ( all campaigns ) and record and upload it on youtube ?
I haven't thought about it. At one point I streamed part of FS1. I'll consider it since that's about the limit of the time I could devote to this.
Thanks if you do I will most definitely watch all of the campaigns this game is still on my number 1 spot
It would depend on how the movie was made and written. As you note in the video, a fundamental part of FreeSpace is the fact that the player character is (but more importantly FEELS LIKE) a tiny cog inside a massive machine. As heroic as Alpha 1 can be, our ultimate impact on the outcome of the story is minimal at best. It would be possible to make a movie that evokes that, but any studio that was willing to put up the money to make the space battles look good would also shoehorn in a central protagonist as a hero they could build a franchise around; that's kind of the nature of movies these days, for better or worse.
WE NEED A FREESPACE 3
Great video! Keep it up
Here I am, still waiting for Freespace 3
Flop. So am I, WTF is wrong with these video game makers nowadays? Nothing measures up in the last 20 years in my opinion. I’ve been so patient, but it’s kind of ridiculous to wait so long for a new space adventure!
Great Games. Great commentary!
Best Spacegame ever. Thanks to the modders.
Did you stop making these vids? They are great! Please don’t!
im so glad i grew up with X-Wing,Freespace1&2, Dune2,BattleZone1&2 Worms and ofc DeusEx!
its a shame so many of those are considered dead now!
and great video!
I may have to revisit the games. I stopped playing at some point because few player-made campaigns actually gripped me, which may have been due to me being spoiled by having chosen Derelict as my first one.
Love this game wish they made a third chapter. It would be great if they bought it out again.
Freespace 2 is still the best space combat game ever. There are some that do other parts better, but for a pure space action game, nothing tops it.
I've also seen critics bash the games because they don't let you customize your character, but I think that's part of what makes them great. You're just a cog in the machine of war, and you get your orders and do what you're told. That's the role you're playing, not some space pirate turned hero or whatever.
Luckily I found out can fly using my thumb sticks on my ps5 controller with the open free space ports
what mods are you running to get the best quality?
I've played this game as long as you have and I have one question I would like answered... am I the only one who plays with the NUM pad, i've never played with a controller or joystick. What controller do you use, and what do you think other's use the most.
I played for many years with the nub/clit in the middle of a laptop keyboard though I was first introduced to the game using a trackball mouse and I bought one a while ago specifically for Freespace.
I play with the numpad! I got a joystick recently and am still getting used to it - my aim is horrible! I'm trying to now navigate with the joystick and use my left hand on the keyboard, after trying to have both hands on throttle and joystick. I assure you, you are not alone, we keyboard jockeys exist!
Oh of course the NUM pad! That was the way to go! For me it was NUM pad + mouse for precision strikes.
I used the Microsoft force feedback pro joystick, the force feedback was so fricking awesome. I can’t believe there is no feedback joystick comparable to it now. It added so much realism when you fired your guns and missiles. The vibration on dual shock controllers is so lame
I grew up with both Freespace and the x-wing games, I played only the wing commander games a couple of years ago. What do you think of the similarities between the three series? I have the impression that while Freespace as a gameplay basis uses Wing Comander (at least it feels so to me the actual handling of the ship has a Wing
Commander feel to me, a bit different from how they handle in the X-wing
series) but it also incorporates a lot of the X-wing series, the narrative pov is similar to that of Tie Fighter and controls as you said were extensive which is more of an X-wing/Tie Fighter thing than something typical of Wing Commander.
Regarding why people don't talk about it it's simple: it's a linear spacesim, the genre has been largely forgotten, it was a largely PC exclusive genre and never caused a stir like the first FPS games, even the X-wing series is largely forgotten, when people make lists about the "best star wars games" it's easier to find an old arcade game that looks like it wasn't that common even at the time than X-wing or Tie Fighter.
Of the big 3, I've only spent exorbitant amounts of time with Freespace. In terms of tone, I'd say Freespace is much closer to Tie Fighter and in the little I've played and seen of Wing Commander, it's clear how early those first few games were. Wing Commander always came off to me as campy compared to Tie Fighter and Freespace which was largely why I wasn't ever that interested in the series. The core flight model in Freespace is certainly on the simple side and I haven't played WC or X-Wing/Tie Fighter recently enough to have a clear picture in my head (might be time to rectify that).
I'd agree on the discussion front, the genre's dead and my musings are more rhetorical. Super Bunnyhop did a retrospective of Tie Fighter recently but that's probably the highest profile look at the genre in at least a decade.
There are also a few things like having a dedicated button to lauch missiles (in the X-wing games you have to switch between lasers and warheads), multiple gun and missile hardpoints that can be fired separately and a four parts deflector shield. Also having a window open for the comm screen where you can see the character speak was from WC, even the HUD-only approach was taken from Wing Commander IV. It's clear that while they used the wing commander gameplay as a basis they took a lot of cues from Tie Fighter for improving it.
Wing Commander is indeed quite a b-movie experience and I enjoyed that aspect but it really shows the limits of Chris Roberts at times.
It's not an easy series to pick up from the start, it has not aged that well, especially the first two have an engine that looks prettier but it also much less practical for gameplay since without walls for a reference like in Wolfenstein or Doom the perspective is kinda screwed up, also the missions are mostly "go to nav and destroy everything" with only 2 and 4 offering some variation.
Also gameplay is a lot more arcade and "twitchy", with 3 I had to lower the difficulty at a certain points because wave after wave of fighters were wearing me down.
EDIT
Now that I think of it: the forced failures in many Freespace missions might be a deliberate subversion of the possibility of going on after failing a mission in the first four WC games, only there you could replay a mission and try to win it again while in FS the failure instead is always something beyond your control.
desertrat810 necroing this I know but the problem with this genera being dead here seems more wide spread then just this. It's not just the genre but story telling in general. Triple a titals are getting worce and worce with pathetic writing and depth relying on cheap gimmicks and nostalgia. Sure there's a good one here and there but today so many games are simply not worth buying. Sad I know but I'm going to use call of duty as a example. Look at the older single player campaigns and look at there general decline in quality as time has progressed. That's the decline that is effecting the market as a hole.
More Star lore than made up fiction.
I found freespace in a bargain bin i think, and i never looked back it was an excellent game and kept me going then i played silent threat and then found FS2 and it's huge community.
😍
I came here because i love the game. Diolch Yn fawr. x
4:00 flying a small ship and blowing up bigger ones is not a power "fantasy": just think of torpedo and dive bombers and such vs huge aircraft carriers in ww2...
If I was talking about WWII you'd be correct but I'm talking about traditional views of game mechanics. Most people would look at the gameplay and not see only the successes and assume that means the game falls into the same category as Doom.
MAKE NETFLIX OR AMAZON OR DISNEY SERIES!!!