Freelancer Demo, and my thoughts on the game...

[Sienthal]

Alright, I recently acquired the Freelancer demo, and I must say that it is possibly the coolest space sim I've played yet. I mean, with all reverence to the FreeSpace series, the demo alone is enough to nearly put down its throne. It has a combination of both freedom and storyline, and the gameplay is fast and engrossing.
You can accept random missions, take to pirating or trade, or simply follow the story (To the end of the demo, anyway). There's just so much cool stuff to do even in the small part of the demo. The graphics too are pretty damn good.

My main and only fear is that the full game will not be as good as this demo is. I sincerely hope that this won't be true, because I would hate to see all that potential go to waste.

[Hotfoot]

Alright, I recently acquired the Freelancer demo, and I must say that it is possibly the coolest space sim I've played yet. I mean, with all reverence to the FreeSpace series, the demo alone is enough to nearly put down its throne. It has a combination of both freedom and storyline, and the gameplay is fast and engrossing.
You can accept random missions, take to pirating or trade, or simply follow the story (To the end of the demo, anyway). There's just so much cool stuff to do even in the small part of the demo. The graphics too are pretty damn good.

My main and only fear is that the full game will not be as good as this demo is. I sincerely hope that this won't be true, because I would hate to see all that potential go to waste.

You can't compare Freespace to Freelancer, especially not when you include Freespace 2 into the comparison. Freelancer is a good game, don't get me wrong, but comparing it to Freespace is like comparing, say, Battlezone to Command and Conquer. Sure, there are similarities, but not enough for a straight comparison. Even if you put aside the differences in controls and the user interface, there's still the type of games that Freespace and Freelancer attempt to provide. Freespace is unabashedly a combat space sim, and it manages to make such combat both challenging and fun. You do nothing but combat, but the combat is done very well. It is also a linear game (with the possibilities for alternate endings, sort of), meaning that nothing you do has any major effect on the overarcing story.

Freelancer, however, is an exploration, combat, and trading game, which allows you to explore the entire setting of the game as you see fit to do so. If anything, it's comparable to Privateer, I-War 2, and Elite. However, in Freelancer, the economy model is static (not good, in my opinion), you can only ever have one ship at a time, and the world, while alive and very interesting, is also static. While the attack of the cloned NPCs doesn't bother me that much, some more variation would be nice.

It does look quite nice though. Hopefully there will be some mods and patches forthcoming to make it even better. Persistant online servers would be ever so sweet.

[weemadando]

TO be honest I want an Elite or Privateer type game set in the Crimson Skies universe.

[Trytostaydead]

Is it just me but do you guys in these RPG type action games always choose the cutest wingmen or party members instead of their actual fighting abilities? Just a thought..

[Hotfoot]

Is it just me but do you guys in these RPG type action games always choose the cutest wingmen or party members instead of their actual fighting abilities? Just a thought..

Last I checked, Freelancer was more of a space sim than an RPG, though it has been referred to as "Diablo in Space", and I was under the impression that there was only one party member: You. Wingmen are occasionally assigned on a per-mission basis, but other than that, you're alone in the world.

[HemlockGrey]

So it's sorta like Escape Velocity: Override in 3d?

[Hotfoot]

So it's sorta like Escape Velocity: Override in 3d?

Well, if I knew what Escape Velocity: Override was, maybe.

[Utsanomiko]

Escape Velocity Review

It's an old Mac game, specifically, it's an electronic emulation of cocaine. I've been looking for a game that's close to it for years, and one of my earlier game designs resembles a greatly expanded version. If Elite, I-War 2, or Privateer are like it, I'll have to look them up (though Privateer doesn't resemble it enough, iirc)

[phongn]

The latest version of EV (Escape Velocity: Nova) is being ported to Windows. I've played it on an emulated Mac, quite fun.

[Utsanomiko]

The latest version of EV (Escape Velocity: Nova) is being ported to Windows. I've played it on an emulated Mac, quite fun.

Ohh, sweet baby Jeebus. I am so going to be there, dude.

[Posbi]

I wasn't too impressed with the Freelancer Demo...

[Captain tycho]

Speaking of the Freelancer demo, where did you download it from?

[Datana]

Speaking of the Freelancer demo, where did you download it from?

Try happypuppy.com.

[Captain tycho]

The latest version of EV (Escape Velocity: Nova) is being ported to Windows. I've played it on an emulated Mac, quite fun.

Ohh, sweet baby Jeebus. I am so going to be there, dude.

At last.
YES BABY!
WHOO!

I've been waiting for a long time to hear that man.

[Vympel]

Freelancer demo seemed fun to me.

[phongn]

The latest version of EV (Escape Velocity: Nova) is being ported to Windows. I've played it on an emulated Mac, quite fun.

Ohh, sweet baby Jeebus. I am so going to be there, dude.

At last.
YES BABY!
WHOO!

I've been waiting for a long time to hear that man.

My Athlon 1.53GHz box can't play EV:N (Mac 68k) that well, but damn, I'm willing to spend the time waiting for it

(EV and EV:O work better, but aren't quite as fun)

[Sienthal]

Alright, I recently acquired the Freelancer demo, and I must say that it is possibly the coolest space sim I've played yet. I mean, with all reverence to the FreeSpace series, the demo alone is enough to nearly put down its throne. It has a combination of both freedom and storyline, and the gameplay is fast and engrossing.
You can accept random missions, take to pirating or trade, or simply follow the story (To the end of the demo, anyway). There's just so much cool stuff to do even in the small part of the demo. The graphics too are pretty damn good.

My main and only fear is that the full game will not be as good as this demo is. I sincerely hope that this won't be true, because I would hate to see all that potential go to waste.

You can't compare Freespace to Freelancer, especially not when you include Freespace 2 into the comparison. Freelancer is a good game, don't get me wrong, but comparing it to Freespace is like comparing, say, Battlezone to Command and Conquer. Sure, there are similarities, but not enough for a straight comparison. Even if you put aside the differences in controls and the user interface, there's still the type of games that Freespace and Freelancer attempt to provide. Freespace is unabashedly a combat space sim, and it manages to make such combat both challenging and fun. You do nothing but combat, but the combat is done very well. It is also a linear game (with the possibilities for alternate endings, sort of), meaning that nothing you do has any major effect on the overarcing story.

Freelancer, however, is an exploration, combat, and trading game, which allows you to explore the entire setting of the game as you see fit to do so. If anything, it's comparable to Privateer, I-War 2, and Elite. However, in Freelancer, the economy model is static (not good, in my opinion), you can only ever have one ship at a time, and the world, while alive and very interesting, is also static. While the attack of the cloned NPCs doesn't bother me that much, some more variation would be nice.

It does look quite nice though. Hopefully there will be some mods and patches forthcoming to make it even better. Persistant online servers would be ever so sweet.

I did mean the entire series, . Still, perhaps it's not the best comparison, as you say it's not.

A Crimson Skies type world would be interesting.

In the game you're essentially alone, but you can tag along on convoys or patrols if you feel the need for a little extra safety.

EV is the EverCrack of the mac, but I still like Freelancer more,

[Slartibartfast]

I already got the full version. I have to say the game is pretty awesome, and very fun.

[Vympel]

Excellent. Will be buying it on Monday.

[phongn]

I might head to EB this weekend and see if they'll give me trade-in credit for SimCity 4 (Good game, but my poor 1.53GHz Athlon XP struggles with it) to get Freelancer

I'm playing the demo with a hacked savegame file (boosts the endgame limit to one million rather than some ludicrously low number). My light freighter is rather heavily armed now after capturing so many weapons and I'm the bane of rogues everywhere.

(Except for one time when I was exiting Detroit Munitions and got jumped by like eight fighters on exit)

[Ghost Rider]

Got it...fun game...some addictive value in it.

[Strafe]

Got my copy today, loads of fun, and so much to explore! I can see this game sucking away my free time.

My advice is to get chummy with the Liberty Navy asap so you can buy their restricted Heavy Fighter model from the Battleship Missouri. It'll go a long way later on trust me. That baby has got tons of hardpoints and very good shielding. Tho it's maneuverability isn't so hot compared to the Patriot. But that matters little since one Defender would rape a Patriot anyways.

[Slartibartfast]

I finished the campaign this weekend. Its missions are a lot of fun and difficult, unlike the repetitive missions... hopefully some mods will come out that will allow extra interaction and stuff, maybe even building your own station

The cinematics remind me of Anachronox. Anyway the space combat engine is excellent. The reason you have to use the mouse is because all guns fire off-axis - for this reason using the external view is very important, you can't target shit with the cockpit view (imagine wearing those horse shades that only allow you to see straight forward ).

It's a lot simpler than Privateer. The upgrades are very linear, you get a feeling that you're going from one episode of Diablo to the next one (the Rheinland territory has better stuff than the Kusari territory, which in turn is better than Bretonia which is also better than Liberty). Makes you wonder how these guys would be able to have a war at all It's a bit like playing a japanese RPG.

To be fair, even if better tech is linear, you can still kick ass of superior tech, if you have better aim and dodging skills. All ships have the exact same top speed, the difference is mainly the hull strength and the power limit (cheap ships can't "wear" the best guns, and their energy banks recharge slowly).

The 3D designs are awesome... Liberty ships look like metal birds (like the Freedom Force logo), Bretonia ships look pretty Victorian, Kusari ships look like sail barges... bounty hunters pretty much look like Slave-1.

It's a bit like the Dungeon Siege of the space sims, except that it's not dull and un-interactive.

[TrailerParkJawa]

I just downloaded the demo and played for a few minutes. I had no dialog sound during some of the cut scenes and radio traffic. Did anyone else experience this?