Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 2]- The Beginning
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- Patreon: / firesteel
Twitter: / _firesteel_
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Let's analyze the rather odd introduction of Freespace's world and plot.
The first four missions of the series are rather dense in how they introduce the entire series' universe. From the word count alone it doesn't seem like very much but between what those words are and their surrounding context there's a lot to unpack. These opening missions gameplay does as much to characterize the state of the Terran-Vasudan War as the little bits of exposition do. The Vasudans never seem to have the upper hand and if you pay careful attention to the first briefing, you'll understand why. You'll also realize that you're part of a conquering force and that the 14 year long war you're caught up in is built on pettiness.
These first missions also set the stage for the imminent upending of this carefully built context. We're stuck looking at a fairly limited view of the Terran-Vasudan War but technical stagnation appears to have set in. Notice how there are no shields and the heavy focus on a new prototype weapon being the highlight of the last two missions of the opening.
Also of note is how the opening cutscene is largely ignored until the fourth mission and even then, it's only referenced in a couple lines of dialogue. You're treated exactly as a regular pilot in the military. Speculation is unnecessary. Just focus on the known enemy we're in the process of crushing. Those few lines of dialogue do happen to put this early part of the series in an intriguing context and foreshadow the series' eventual direction with Silent Threat and Freespace 2.
I hope you enjoyed this combination of analysis and retrospective. Stay tuned for more!
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Missions:
Eve of Destruction
The Field of Battle
Small Deadly Space
Avenging Angels
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Freespace Reference Bible: www.freespacemo...
Silent Threat Reborn: www.hard-light....
![Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 3]- The Shivans](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/npDNFpWlHmE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 3]- The Shivans](/img/tr.png)
![Freespace the Forgotten Classic [Part 1]- An Introduction to Freespace and Me](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nqXxJ85hILE/mqdefault.jpg)
If you want to check out all the community content, the best place to start is the Knossos Launcher: fsnebula.org/knossos/
any chance you'll continue this series with freespace 2?
@@zanjose9806 I want to come back and do more of these videos but I'm swamped with other work at the moment
@@Firesteel that's a shame, looking forward to that day. Best wishes
There should be more Freespace content on youtube. I am so happy that someone started it. Your vids are awesome. I hope to see something about Blue Planet.
I'm definitely planning on doing Blue Planet once I'm done with Retail/Silent Threat Reborn (which for the purposes of this series is retail). I can't say I'm going to get to every campaign just because of how many there are but I'm at the very least going to hit the big ones like Blue Planet and Derelict, maybe even Inferno if the download still works for a bit of history. I'll definitely do Between the Ashes after I actually get around to playing it as well.
Firesteel id also recommend vassagos dirge.
I'm definitely going to do something about it. I need to play it at least one more time because of how dense everything is and the unfortunate lack of voice acting making getting all the dialogue a bit trickier in parts. I'm starting with the big stuff then we'll see just how long it takes me to get through a lot of the mods I haven't played yet.
@@Firesteel why did you stop the series
About depicting mankind as the possibly worse party of the war, Origin did a similar thing, if more mildly, in _Wing Commander: Armada_ , one of the less popular installments:
In the manuals of WCI and II, the Kilrathi look like the bad guys, being the sole aggressor when they shot an evac vessel (my recollection is a bit sketchy after the years) containing children. However, in the WC:A manual, we can read the Kilrathi view of the events, too. Apparently, the radio waves we're using caused pre-war Kilrathi hardware to malfunction, possibly up to a point where lives could be at risk. A Kilrathi warship was hailed repeatedly, and the crew noticed that even the latest components (the newest generation of shields, which should mostly remedy the issue) suffered and that their shielding diminished the closer the human vessel approached, and they opened fire because at that point, another transmission could kill their shields entirely.
Well, that's not so much a "Humans are probably the real monsters" setting, but a "grey vs. grey" setting where poor communication (in more senses than one) gets people killed. But then again, FreeSpace's backstory with the Vasudans can be reduced to a series of similar blunders committed by the humans.
I remember joining the “Suicide Kings” squadron! “They call us the Suicide Kings for a reason pilot!” ;~)
What I always remember about these games is that I would (often) be the only fighter left in most battles, giving that feeling of desperation and just totally having the odds stacked against you. Especially when you're doing the Shivan covert ops missions. I just picked these both up on sale for less than 10 bucks on GOG.com I highly recommend anyone else do the same.
Yeah, I recently played through silent threat reborn, and by the time the Hades shows up, everyone else is dead, command helpfully inofrms me there are no reinforcements, and the rest of the battle was of me running about in circles crapping out countermeasures like some sort of demented Hansel and Grettle with afterburners. When the mission ended with the Hades running off to cause whatever mischef it wanted, and me floating alone in the wreckage except for a rather outclassed Orion, I understood how much of a defeat that mission was for the characters involved. Multiple fighter wings lost, an epic battle with a space station all made meaningless by one superdestroyer running off unchecked. The mission where we hunted it down was incredibly cathartic.
Wow great video. I've never stoped to look at thouse missions in that kind of context.
When you've had ~15 years to mull things over this is the result. Glad you enjoyed it!
It's the ambiguities, along with the threats and the highlighting that you are *just* Alpha1, even after saving the day, albeit temporarily, that make this classic so unsettling (thrilling).
Brilliant insights, looking forward to more!
Next is going to be a little bit on VA-11 Hall-A (by this weekend if everything goes well) then hopefully before I go on vacation I'll get the Shivan video done. I can't say I can guarantee it but I'll try!
Keep making these videos please! You are really good at breaking these games down :)
This is easily the most memorable game of my childhood.. I was obsessed. I'm saving up for a new PC and hoping dig up my old joystick and copy of the games :)
Updated the description with a link to Silent Threat Reborn's page for those of you who aren't familiar.
Dekker aka Orestes Tactical approves this video.
interesting thoughts i always wondered what MCarthy's motives were and why the GTI mostly rebelled in silent Threat despite the shivans still being around.
Wow that detail looks great, what mod are you using to get the ships looking so nice. Most of the ones i use still use the old models like the Valkyrie and Apollo without the SCP touch. Besides great video, Freespace has so much to offer the Sci-Fi community and i cant wait to see what the modders have in store next
This is the 2014 MediaVPs, FSPort 3.5, and FSOpen 3.8.0 RC2
One aside to note, even though this information is later retconned in by freespace 2, is that avenging angels is the first introduction of the player to the 52nd Suicide Kings squadron, which is the primary interceptor squadron in freespace 2. The fact that so little attention is payed to squadron or fleet organization at the time of the Great War seems to imply the GTA's organizational structure may have been considerably looser than when we see their behavior in freespace 2, allowing for pilots to be swapped between squadrons as seen fit on a mission by mission basis. By Freespace 2, the reformed GTVA seems to adhere by auch stricter organizational structure. Do you believe that this was an intentional change by volition or a byproduct of them refining their narrative craft?
I would guess having a dedicated writer for Freespace 2 helped a lot. FS1 is an extremely minimalist game on that front and if you open up the reference bible, there's a lot there that got cut.
I'd also point out the jump node inconsistencies and only way after the fact saying that fighters couldn't travel between nodes as existing for similar reasons. They were busy trying to get the game working and minor errors slipped through.
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Hey - where can i get these backround Tracks? I love the music of FS
All the stuff I listen to are just extracted out of the .vp files. The Freespace Source Code Project has various tools to let you view and extract the files in those archives. Unfortunately the soundtrack with the GOG version of FS2 is incomplete.
Great video, but your music was louder than your voice at many points which made you difficult to hear.
They took a lot from babylon 5
Except for how they didn't though.
MAKE NETFLIX OR AMAZON OR DISNEY SERIES!!!
No. Please no. Do not ruin this Master piece