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It's mostly about throwing boulders at thugs: Let's Play Freedom Force! Developed by Irrational Games in 2002, Freedom Force is one of my favorite PC games of all time. What's it like? Well, as you can probably tell from the boxart, it's a love letter to silver age superheroes. What's not so readily apparent is that it's a tactical RPG! Not like your Ogre Battles or your Disgaeas, mind you. It's more of a real-time affair that plays like a vastly simplified version of Dragon Age or Baldur's Gate - or at least that's what I've been led to believe, as I've never touched those games. But it's the simplicity that makes Freedom Force what it is, along with punchy writing, great voice acting and a dollop of good old rear end in a top hat physics. Unfortunately I seem to be one of the few people who's ever heard of this game, so that calls for an LP! And here we are. I'll be taking on the game and sharing it with you all, but I'm not alone. Joining me in this endeavor is my brother, Christmas Present. We'll be passing save files back and forth so we can alternate between missions, and we'll also be doing some of that newfangled text co-commentary. Commentary from whichever of us isn't playing will be denoted by bold text, like this. Since Christmas Present has never actually played Freedom Force before, he'll be doing the first mission, which serves as the game's tutorial. With that in mind, the first update is forthcoming and should be up in a matter of days. Last but not least, 
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May 13, 2014 21:54
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Table of Contents FREEDOM FORCE ISSUE #0 - SPECTACULAR SNEAK PEEK! (Lizard Wizard) FREEDOM FORCE ISSUE #1 - CAME A HERO! (Christmas Present) FREEDOM FORCE ISSUE #2 - STRANGE VISITORS, PART 1 (Lizard Wizard) FREEDOM FORCE ISSUE #3 - STRANGE VISITORS, PART 2 (Christmas Present) FREEDOM FORCE ISSUE #4 - SKATING ON THIN ICE, PART 1 Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 14:05 on Jun 3, 2014 |
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May 13, 2014 21:55
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Freedom Force is coming back? Hurray, time to By the way Freedom Force I and II is on Steam and Good Old Games has Freedom Force II. So if you enjoy the LP you can buy this very game. Please do so because that red guy on top of the metal man needs to pay off his costume. Being a super hero is not cheap. Edit: Good Old Games I trusted you! Sandata fucked around with this message at 08:18 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 13, 2014 22:09
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I remember this game being the poo poo when I was a wee lad. Following the Hell outta this!
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May 13, 2014 22:10
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Sandata posted:Freedom Force is coming back? Hurray, time to Actually, it's only the sequel that's available on Good Old Games. Both of them are available on Steam, though, and there's a bundle for $7.49, the same price as either game individually. It's a two-for-one!
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May 13, 2014 22:15
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I'm really pumped to wait a few days for the first update. Should be fun.  In all honesty I'm looking forward to this. I remember my cousins playing this game and it looking really dumb.
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May 13, 2014 22:35
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I missed this game, as it came out at the height of my 'CounterStrike is the only video game  ' phase (we were all 20 once and it was a post-9/11 world ok), so it'll be interesting to see just how poorly I can play it. Should have a first update up tonight. Since this'll also be my first attempt at doing an LP, here is my resume:GAMES I AM GOOD AT
GAMES I AM BAD AT
GET LIBERTIED UP FOR FREEEEDDDOOOMMMM
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May 14, 2014 00:52
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Christmas Present posted:I missed this game, as it came out at the height of my 'CounterStrike is the only video game Just remember to throw things at guys and you'll be fine. P...probably.
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May 14, 2014 01:09
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This game owns so hard. Near the very end you should use the character creator to bust the game wide open.
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May 14, 2014 01:17
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Coin posted:This game owns so hard. I'd rather do things in a more or less balanced fashion, but we can revisit older missions on higher difficulties using custom characters. We may well tackle a few of the custom campaigns floating around, too!
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May 14, 2014 01:27
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There was a really active community around this game. There was a lot of modding going on, involving adding new meshes and skins, and adding various visual effects to existing meshes. One of my favorite sites was a fanfiction site with tons of stories set in various eras and really expanding on the universe. Sadly that site died out with a lot of really good storylines left hanging in the breeze.
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May 14, 2014 01:34
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Rabidredneck posted:There was a really active community around this game. There was a lot of modding going on, involving adding new meshes and skins, and adding various visual effects to existing meshes. One of my favorite sites was a fanfiction site with tons of stories set in various eras and really expanding on the universe. Sadly that site died out with a lot of really good storylines left hanging in the breeze. The community still exists, but I'm not sure how active they are with the actual modding anymore.
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May 14, 2014 01:41
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Okay, I did a bit more digging, and holy wow.  Yeah we're gonna have to showcase some mods. 
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May 14, 2014 04:08
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Freedom Force is one of those games where I loved the idea and I liked playing it, but the difficulty quickly ramped up as I had to manage more than a few heroes and I couldn't tell if it was legit hard or I was playing it wrong. So, I'm on board. 
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May 14, 2014 04:17
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I only ever played the sequel, and holy hell was the Superspeed hero broken as all gently caress. I'm willing to bet that the character creation gets similarly broken in favor of the player. The sequel ruled, by the way.
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May 14, 2014 04:18
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The biggest problem I had with the sequel was the mission one bug, where the screen was completely black save for some pointer arrows. It stemmed from a visual effect that was supposed to be present throughout the mission, but it just screwed a lot of graphics systems up. I only ever managed to get that bug to go away once, but after that, nothing I knew of would fix it. I'm not sure that bug was ever fixed. Made getting through the first mission impossible.
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May 14, 2014 05:00
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Speaking of bugs, I was trying to get back into this and was having a hell of a time. I'm happy to report that I've found a solution to the problem I was having. The Problem: The game will not even start. This one is fixed by running the game in a window and then setting it to a resolution that you can actually display. Once you get past that, the controlled hero attempts to dash off into the void when you give him a movement command (until you click anywhere on the ground again), and you have to tell them multiple times to interact with objects before they will actually do so. This renders the game fairly unplayable. The Solution: Here's what I did to finally make it work: 1. Locate the fforce.exe. Right click on it, click properties. 2. Click the compatability tab. 3. Check the following: - Run in Compatability mod for Win 98/ME - Disable visual themes - Disable desktop composition - Run as administrator 4. Click apply, then OK 5. Run the exe. Do not run the game from Steam, Steam somehow fucks it up and keeps the glitch going. 6. I also disabled the Steam overlay, but since you're running it outside of Steam that shouldn't matter. If this still doesn't work for you, give that a try as well? God I'm looking forward to completing this game again. FF vs the Third Reich is fun and all, but it just isn't the same.
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May 14, 2014 06:24
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tlarn posted:Freedom Force is one of those games where I loved the idea and I liked playing it, but the difficulty quickly ramped up as I had to manage more than a few heroes and I couldn't tell if it was legit hard or I was playing it wrong. So, I'm on board.
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May 14, 2014 07:00
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DACK FAYDEN posted:I could have written this exact post. Looking forward to someone actually being good at this game. Then you'll enjoy half of this LP!
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May 14, 2014 07:06
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This game ruled. I would spend hours shouting "Nobody can stand against the amazing [SPOLIER NAME DELETED]!" every time he obliterated some poor thug.
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May 14, 2014 07:49
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For FREEDOM! I loved the hell out of this game. It was really big, too - loads and loads of levels, packed to the very gunwhales with the finest in Silver Age nonsense. I will be following this like a bloodhound on the trail of a female bloodhound.
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May 14, 2014 11:27
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I never read a comic book in my life and still loved the game for the wacky-rear end adventure it is. Well, that and smacking people with traffic lights. edit: One thing I didn't get from the OP is whether this is going to be screenshot or video - if it's screenshot, please at least include the origin stories in video format for the sweet, sweet voice acting. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 14:54 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 14:51
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Superspeed heroes and strong heroes who do nothing but throw cars. Oh and the fire guy and his (my) complete lack of respect for collateral damage! This game loving rules, can't wait to revisit it. Also just reminded me of my friend who finished the game before realising that there was a combat pause. Hollandia fucked around with this message at 15:14 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 15:10
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Would it be cool to talk about a problem I'm having with this game here because good god I literally can't progress due to the issue and I have no idea what to do. EDIT: It basically has to do with the first mission so there's essentially no spoilers, Steam being Steam, and just a big ol' mess I have no idea where to even begin sorting through. Blackray Jack fucked around with this message at 18:03 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 17:30
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Blackray Jack posted:Would it be cool to talk about a problem I'm having with this game here because good god I literally can't progress due to the issue and I have no idea what to do. Is it in any way related to this?: RickVoid posted:Speaking of bugs, I was trying to get back into this and was having a hell of a time. I'm happy to report that I've found a solution to the problem I was having. But yeah, I don't think we have a general discussion FF thread, so as long as you're not posting spoilers I doubt Liz Wiz is going to have a problem with it. What's the issue?
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May 14, 2014 18:04
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Not at all. Basically, as soon as I go into the game for any reason and exit, I've learned after experimenting with re-validating the files that it will have to reacquire 8 files every single time. Messing with any of the options will kill all the sound until I reset that too. There is literally no way for me to progress further into the game after the first mission no matter how I tackle it, and I've learned that apparently a cut-scene is supposed to play after beating the final guy but it just goes right to the mission results screen. It also likes to randomly crash on me too for no apparent reason. I tried reinstalling the game, blitzing through the first mission without altering anything, and looking around online to see if anyone else has these problems but apparently not.
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May 14, 2014 18:15
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Blackray Jack posted:Not at all. Basically, as soon as I go into the game for any reason and exit, I've learned after experimenting with re-validating the files that it will have to reacquire 8 files every single time. Messing with any of the options will kill all the sound until I reset that too. There is literally no way for me to progress further into the game after the first mission no matter how I tackle it, and I've learned that apparently a cut-scene is supposed to play after beating the final guy but it just goes right to the mission results screen. It also likes to randomly crash on me too for no apparent reason. Huh. Can't say I've got any idea as to why it's needing to re-grab a bunch of files after closing. That's weird. Your sound problem can be fixed by setting it to use Direct3D software emulation in the sound tab in options; although changing your resolution does have a tendency to change that too, so you'll have to switch it back if you do that for some reason. I also have no idea why the game isn't playing the final cut-scene for you, I never had that issue playing it on an XP machine, and I'm not far enough into the game yet to find out on my current set up. What OS are you trying to run it on? If it's win7/8, do you have your Steam installation in program files or did you save it outside of that folder? (The program files folder marks every file read only and can do a lot of other stuff that makes programs run poorly out of it, thanks Microsoft)
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May 14, 2014 18:41
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I'm running windows 8 (unfortunately) and as for the steam installation being in the program files, I can't really find anything pertaining if I browse the local files.
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May 14, 2014 19:18
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Blackray Jack posted:I'm running windows 8 (unfortunately) and as for the steam installation being in the program files, I can't really find anything pertaining if I browse the local files. poo poo. You may have to do some more internet digging, as I know gently caress-all about the file structure for Win 8. Or maybe someone more tech knowledgeable on here could help. You could always put something up on the Steam Forums for this game, but, well, it's the Steam Community. Sorry.
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May 14, 2014 20:18
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I remember getting this the summer (after?) it came out and thought it was pretty ok. Not great, but not awful. This game, however, sparked within me a love of comic book themed video games and is directly responsible for me playing City of Heroes for the entire time it existed (RIP). This is going to be a good time.
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May 14, 2014 20:36
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There was GOING to be an update today, but Windows decided that the best time to shut down and update itself was in the middle of Christmas Present's recording. By way of apology, here's some gameplay footage of the game's chief feature.
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May 15, 2014 05:52
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Hollandia posted:Also just reminded me of my friend who finished the game before realising that there was a combat pause.
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May 15, 2014 16:37
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The difficulty in these games is kind of weird; they have a decent difficulty curve as long as you play with the tools you're given but it's way too easy to stumble upon things that completely break it. Basically if you have problems, switch up your character roster. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 17:42 on May 15, 2014 |
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May 15, 2014 17:35
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Way back in the day my dad accidentally did just that when he made a weak attack with maxed upward knockback. It ended up making most human enemies bounce off the ceiling of the maps. Several times, usually. Needless to say, it was pretty much a guaranteed KO (or at least a ton of damage) against pretty much anything that didn't weigh in the tons. This character also ended up soloing the final boss. So yeah, really easy to even accidentally break the game.
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May 15, 2014 17:42
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So the cursor bug is back, and this time nothing I've tried has fixed it. Liz, Christmas: Are either of you experiencing this issue? What OS are you running the game on?
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May 15, 2014 19:36
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RickVoid posted:So the cursor bug is back, and this time nothing I've tried has fixed it. Happened to me once the other day, but it fixed itself after closing and relaunching the game. Allegedly, the fix is to disable desktop composition in the executable's compatibility settings.
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May 15, 2014 19:54
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This is apparently one of those games like Mechwarrior 3, it's an awesome game worth LP'ing, but it doesn't like modern systems AT ALL.
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May 15, 2014 22:19
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Rabidredneck posted:This is apparently one of those games like Mechwarrior 3, it's an awesome game worth LP'ing, but it doesn't like modern systems AT ALL. It's the first game I've seen that's allergic to FRAPS. While recording, the game would crash when and only when it finished loading content. Record a mission? Sure. Menus? You betcha. But if a loading bar fills up, program's dead. Of course, it runs on NetImmerse, so weird behavior isn't entirely unexpected. Scaly Haylie fucked around with this message at 22:51 on May 15, 2014 |
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May 15, 2014 22:49
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I know when I played it my computer was still rocking XP into 2013 so maybe if you guys tried running it in xp compatibility mode it'd work better? I had like zero compatibility problems with an otherwise more modern computer that only had an ancient OS on it because I'm lazy.
ArbitraryC fucked around with this message at 23:28 on May 15, 2014 |
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May 15, 2014 23:24
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 09:45 |
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God, I can still remember him saying "TO VICTORY!"
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May 16, 2014 02:53
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