5482

5483

So, ummm…WC:Prophecy is the only WC game I played. I really enjoyed it, but I understand it’s not considered a high point for the series. I’m thinking if I want a space sim, I should give Freespace 2 a shot first, but something about Privateer intrigues me. Has anyone tried the GOG version? Does it run well? And does it hold up? I’m especially interested in hearing from people who didn’t play it when it first came out.

5484

WC: Prophecy was good for what it was – a constant arcade-style gauntlet of enemies at every checkpoint (and it was even worse in Special Ops, the add on). Freespace relies more on tactical awareness (mainly: who do I need to target NOW in all of these things coming at me?) Privateer is awesome, but runs on creaky tech and is very unforgiving. The GoG version is simply Privateer + the speech pack running in DOSBox. It does not include Righteous Fire, the add-on, an absolutely puzzling lack shown by all of the EA games released by GoG.

5485

Robert, Freespace 2 might spoil you for other space sims, FYI. ;)

5486

Yeah, I know. I thought Freespace 1 was pretty damn good, actually. Playing space sims can hurt my neck and eyes though. I get focused hardcore and I must stiffen (my neck, Brian! my neck!) or something. Very odd. Some FPSs do that to me too. Maybe Independence War would be a bit…ummm…slower?

Also, since this is GOG thread, I think I might get the Guild. I’ve always wanted to try that game, and it’s on sale right now. I actually have the CD, but I like buying from GOG so I have it digital and it’s been tweaked for modern systems.

5487

Can anyone articulate what made Star Control 3 so much worse that the first two games?

5488

Independence War is a tad slower, but also more complex since you have to deal with actual Newtownian physics. It’s a great sim though, highly recommended.

5489

IIRC, it was made by a completely different team that didn’t seem to get what made SC1 and SC2 so great.

5490

SC2 was not developed by Toys for Bob, and sort of got off to a bad start because ofthis.

  1. It ditched the resource gathering of SC2 (which was must beloved) in favor of a very lite strategic layer where you set up colonies and stuff. It was possible to get into a game-over state by wrongly developing a new colony and stranding yourself there (something like: for remote colonies you had to make fuel mining the immediate priority so they could fuel the trip back). But that might have been patched out.

  2. Tried to modernize the graphics. Combat could be 2d or 2.5d but the 2.5d was a bit of a mess as I recall. Graphics were uglier than SC2. Especially when talking to other aliens. The alien interactions were bad. I have a memory of the game getting a lot more brown. SC2’s color vibrance & variety is one of it’s strengths.

  3. Some universe retconning was viewed harshly, as I recall. The humor wasn’t as good, and the story was just sort of bizzare.

  4. I believe it was quite buggy at release.

5491
  1. It also had gamebreaking ship designs. I can’t remember what ship it was – it’s been fifteen years or so since I last played this thing – but there’s one ship that you get that just completely owns anything the AI puts against you. It wasn’t a top-tier or endgame ship, either, just another alien vessel you can buy a bunch of.
5492

Thanks, peacedog and scharmers.

5493

Oh man, I remember reading the preview, where they talked about how they went to great lengths to make actual puppets, and then film them, digitize the recording and then put it into the game. Totally hilariously impractical. I can’t imagine what the thought process was on that one, and no one with any power wasn’t like, “This is stupid, just do standard animations”.

5494

Mid-90s FMV sickness. I mean, we even had an FMV Zork, and if by now you don’t want some rye…

5495

An FMV Zork?

I seem to recall three.

5496

Star Control 3 was terrible compared to Star Control 2, but I do remember finishing it - so there’s that. It’s probably worth $6.

5497

Speaking of FMV, the weekend deal on GOG is 50% off all the Tex Murphy games. In my opinion they are among the games that managed to put FMV to really good use, and I think they still hold up today, except perhaps for Mean Streets, which in my opinion is entirely skippable.

5498

I’ll play it, if they pay me $6 to do so.

5499

I finished SC3 too. I didn’t think it was completely awful, just not nearly as good as SC2. Cows.

5500

I enjoyed Star Control 3, but admittedly I played it before I played Star Control 2, so I had no frame of reference.

5501

I finished SC3. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t up to SC2. The writing couldn’t compare, and it generally felt exactly like what it was–a less competent effort by a studio that had nothing to do with the first two games.