We're a Citizen amongst the Stars. Let's Play Freelancer!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Reindeer Games > Let's Play! > We're a Citizen amongst the Stars. Let's Play Freelancer!

«‹›19 »

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

What is this?

quote:

Freelancer is a space trading and combat simulation video game developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is a chronological sequel to Digital Anvil's Starlancer, a combat flight simulator released in 2000. The game was initially announced by Chris Roberts in 1999, and following many production schedule mishaps and a buyout of Digital Anvil by Microsoft, it was eventually released in March 2003.

The main storyline of the game is linear in structure, some areas of the game will only open up to us when we advance the story but we can choose when to do so. We take on the role of Edison Trent, a "mercenary freebooter" and experienced pilot of single-seater spacecraft. Most of our time is going to be spent ~~in combat~~ trading and taking on various jobs and missions, we're going to need a lot of money to buy bigger ships and better equipment. There are forty-eight systems that we can visit in the game controlled by several different faction controlled areas with their own unique ships and equipment. There are numerous planets and space stations contained in each system, some systems even contain secret locations. Travel between systems is almost instantaneous with the use of jump gates and each system has its own highways which utilise smaller gates to increase the speed of ships between locations of interest.

LP details

I do have some experience with space sims but that experience is very rusty. Apart from putting some time into No Man's Sky, It's been over a decade since I last played Freelancer to completion and that was the last time that I played any game in the genre seriously. Frontier: Elite II was the game that I played the most in my childhood by a long margin, I'm getting nostalgic even thinking about it.

I'm going to aim for at least one video a week. The first couple of videos will be setting up the game and going over the mechanics of the game while we start the storyline. I will include the entirety of the main storyline and missions as well as including a variety of side content. This is going to be a video LP and I will be recording commentary as I play.

:siren:

There are a variety of mods for this game ranging in size and scope. For this LP I am using a couple of graphical mods, jflp.dll and HudShift.dll. The first adds widescreen resolutions and the second shifts the HUD to the corners of their intended resolution as without it they would remain in their default position. :siren:

Let's Play: Freelancer

Rocket Baby Dolls fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Mar 28, 2022

# ? Feb 13, 2021 22:47

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Dec 14, 2024 03:56

Hwurmp: May 20, 2005

Trent: Make sure he lives, he owes me some credits.
Medic: :yosbutt:

# ? Feb 13, 2021 23:30

sb hermit: Dec 13, 2016

voice acting is very stilted and that medic was hired right off the street.

pretty standard, if not downright impressive, for 2003

also, I get a lot of deadly premonition vibes from that sax in the bar

# ? Feb 13, 2021 23:48

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

sb hermit posted:

voice acting is very stilted and that medic was hired right off the street.

pretty standard, if not downright impressive, for 2003

also, I get a lot of deadly premonition vibes from that sax in the bar

This game has in equal measure a) some weird voice acting, and b) some really great music. And we'll see both in equal measure as the game continues.

# ? Feb 13, 2021 23:56

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

Apparently, this is the last game that Chris Roberts was involved in that was actually released. Even though he's credited as the original concept, he wasn't involved in its production, design, writing, etc... but still took all the credit for it all because he's Chris Roberts.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 01:28

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

I played this game a lot as a kid. In retrospect, the game has a strong "what could have been" vibe. It's a lot of fun, the space given to you was enormous and fun to play in, but it feels unfinished.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 01:28

Cooked Auto: Aug 4, 2007

Freelancer 1 dash 1. You are cleared. To dock.

Remember that we don't own this LP, but we have an understanding with those who do.

Cooked Auto fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Feb 14, 2021

# ? Feb 14, 2021 01:29

HiKaizer: Feb 2, 2012; Yes!
I finally understand everything there is to know about axes!

It's been a long time since I played this game and I did not remember the game going this hard with the plot this early.

There's also another extended opening, but it tips a little bit too much of the game off too early I think so I am glad they went with the shorter one.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 01:33

grimlock_master: Nov 1, 2013; Fuck you, suzie

All I remember from this game is "TRENT, WE NEED TO GO FASTER"

# ? Feb 14, 2021 02:58

DoubleNegative: Jan 27, 2010; The most virtuous child in the entire world.

This has been on my to-do list for a long while now! I'm glad someone else got to it before I did. Will be quite intently following this one!

# ? Feb 14, 2021 04:27

biosterous: Feb 23, 2013

Cooked Auto posted:

Freelancer 1 dash 1. You are cleared. To dock.

freelancer alpha 1 dash 1 :colbert:

e: i love this game and replay it every few years (often modded to hell though). i'm enjoy going through it through someone else's eyes :buddy:

# ? Feb 14, 2021 05:20

Mordja: Apr 26, 2014; by VideoGames; Hell Gem

biosterous posted:

freelancer alpha 1 dash 1

e: i love this game and replay it every few years (often modded to hell though). i'm enjoy going through it through someone else's eyes

Every few years I'll reinstall it and the Crossfire mod with intent to go through the story and actually reach the new content and every time I stall out. :negative:

# ? Feb 14, 2021 05:30

OutofSight: May 4, 2017

While the game is a prime example under space-sims for taking gross breaks from any real presentation and scale of space, it makes playing it quite fun. Blasting your way through some rogues in an asteroid thicket or finding some treasure after some rumor from the space-bar are really the high points in the gameplay loop.

The story is ...there and never moves beyond some b-movie action plot. But a competent and fun b-movie with some nice set pieces. One of these games you would like that they show up on GOG.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 08:00

Torrannor: Apr 27, 2013; ---FAGNER---
TEAM-MATE

my dad posted:

I played this game a lot as a kid. In retrospect, the game has a strong "what could have been" vibe. It's a lot of fun, the space given to you was enormous and fun to play in, but it feels unfinished.

Yeah, it was quite fun, even after the main story was finished, but it could have been so much more. I'm actually considering reinstalling it and trying out some mods, seems like they could really make a difference.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 08:27

anilEhilated: Feb 17, 2014; But I say fuck the rain.; Grimey Drawer

Oh man. I remember loving this game, cannot wait for the LP to show how rose-tinted that view was.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 08:56

Samovar: Jun 4, 2011; When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.

Hwurmp posted:

Trent: Make sure he lives, he owes me some credits.
Medic:

God, I'm happy that I'm not the only one who noticed that.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 09:55

Cooked Auto: Aug 4, 2007

biosterous posted:

freelancer alpha 1 dash 1

gently caress, I knew it was missing something. That line is ingrained into my brainstem by this point from playing the game so much back then that I hesitated for a moment when I typed that.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 10:44

Gothsheep: Apr 22, 2010

Oh man, I used to love this game. Some of those 'procedural generated' conversations you have with NPCs at bars are so janky they really crack me up.

I also never really understood why Juni helps you as much as she does when you show up. Especially considering how much of a rude rear end in a top hat Trent is, just sort of walking up in the middle of a conversation like he has some reason to be there, when he really does not have anything to offer.

I do like Trent in general though, even if he is pretty cliche. One thing that always amused me was how Trent feels like an RPG character who you only play the space battles for. Don't want to spoil anything, but as the cutscenes unfold, you can almost see how he's investing his character points every time he levels up.

EDIT: Also man, I forgot how much the LSF uniform emphasizes the crotch area.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 11:21

inscrutable horse: May 19, 2010; Parsing sage, rotating time

Freelancer alpha 1 dash 1. Mind if I take a peek in your LP? Didn't think so! Just remember to keep it icy man. You don't want to end up a corpse because you were daydreaming.

God, I love this game :allears:

# ? Feb 14, 2021 11:40

HiKaizer: Feb 2, 2012; Yes!
I finally understand everything there is to know about axes!

You can visibly see Juni soften up a bit after learning Trent survived Freeport 7 so I think he gets a little bit of a pass for being a survivor of that tragedy. It's a novel way to drop him into the plot instead of him having the McGuffin or being some kind of natural genius.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 11:51

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

HiKaizer posted:

It's been a long time since I played this game and I did not remember the game going this hard with the plot this early.

There's also another extended opening, but it tips a little bit too much of the game off too early I think so I am glad they went with the shorter one.

Here is the extended intro which has been remastered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9OCaGFoQEU

This game also has quite the cast list:

Edison Trent is voiced by Ian Ziering (Beverley Hills 90210, Biker Mice From Mars... Sharknado and more) and Jun'ko Zane is voiced by Jennifer Hale (Mass Effect (Commander Shephard) as well as hundreds of other games and shows as numerous characters and voices). Both of them were also voice actors in Mighty Ducks too.

We will also be hearing John Rhys-Davies, George Takei and Christopher Lee later on in the game.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 12:26

Samovar: Jun 4, 2011; When I want to relax, I read an essay by Engels. When I want something more serious, I read Corto Maltese.

Also, the planet Manhattan? What a horrible fate for an innocent planetoid.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 12:36

OutofSight: May 4, 2017

Samovar posted:

Also, the planet Manhattan? What a horrible fate for an innocent planetoid.

You have seen nothing yet. ~~Planet~~ galaxy-spanning government of hats is in full effect in the Freelancer universe.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 13:37

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

I will say that learning about Starlancer's plot is retrospectively souring me on Freelancer.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 13:43

N17R4M: Aug 18, 2012; Because yes we actually DID want that land

Freelancer is a good game. I wish there was something on-par to fill the void.

MP used to be pretty good if I recall, with some wild dogfights, and on some modded (and often RP) servers full on capitalship battles.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 15:37

Cooked Auto: Aug 4, 2007

I think I played more of the multiplayer than of the singleplayer and was slowly dipping my feet into modding stuff so I had some more money to start with and changing the player model as well.
I stopped mostly because I'm bad at keeping myself motivated for sandbox games and giving myself long term goals.

# ? Feb 14, 2021 15:43

biosterous: Feb 23, 2013

gotta use the afterburner (tab key) more, friend!

# ? Feb 14, 2021 19:42

MadDogMike: Apr 9, 2008; Cute but fanged

Ah, Freelancer. Most of my memories are grooving to the soundtrack as I travelled through the blackness of space with the occasional "attacking Freelancer alpha 1-1" serving as a "wait, WHAT?!" wakeup. A load of fun, but never really stuck with it after finishing the plot, think I burned out after that long playing. Was the only flight game I can recall where mouse controls actually felt pretty good and natural, which was a nice trick to pull off. And did anyone ever run anything instead of having an understanding with the people who do?

# ? Feb 15, 2021 00:12

Gothsheep: Apr 22, 2010

Are you going to be doing any dicking around in the post-game stuff? There's a lot of little things like regions of space you never go to, or types of ships you either aren't allowed to or simply won't buy during the main plot.

I wouldn't say any of it is that deep, but it is kind of neat. Especially when you start going way out into the edges of space.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 01:18

Cooked Auto: Aug 4, 2007

Speaking of ships you can't get, I remember during one attempt at the game to grab the Bloodhound, the ship the Rogues fly around in. Can't remember if it was a mod that unlocked pirate stations or if it was always available but you get on their shitlist really fast via the campaign so you can never do much of anything with them.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 02:26

Blackstone: Feb 13, 2012

Oh neat. I reinstalled Freelancer a few months ago because I got nostalgia from the star citizen thread, but at some point I couldn�t bear the long unskippable cutscenes anymore.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 05:58

my dad: Oct 17, 2012; by Fluffdaddy

For those playing along with the LP, there are a few things worth noting.

The starting ship is the most agile ship in the game. It takes a very good pilot, but it's entirely possible to win the game with it. It's actually easier to do so with it than with most of the other early game ships - their extra stats aren't nearly enough to help survive lategame enemies, but the starting ships's agility gives it the ability to not get hit in the first place, which remains useful throughout the game.
It's possible to buy an extra weapon on Manhattan before taking off. This is a very good idea, because
It's possible to stay behind during the big Rogue ambush and kill them off. You get bonus money for it when you catch up, but you have a time limit to do so before mission failure (implication being that King figures you're dead and moves on)
Get into practice of pressing the tractor beam button as soon as you hear something blow up. Otherwise, you'll miss out on a lot of loot, some of it unavailable otherwise.
You want a balance of weapons that are good vs shields and weapons good vs hull, with a bit of a bias towards hull damage.
You want your weapon projectiles to have similar speeds, otherwise they won't connect on target at the same time and you'll constantly be missing with some of them.
There are certain weapon types that do better against some kinds of shields, and worse against other kinds. You're not going to know in advance what your enemies are going to have unless you've already played the game, and usually not worth the hassle of preparing for, but if you're having trouble with a particular mission, this might be the push you needed.
More energy efficient weapons are generally a better choice over more powerful weapons. That having been said, the better a pilot you are, the more your damage is going to come in bursts as you move into a good position, unload as much fire as you can into your target, and maneuver away while your energy recharges.
Use boosters. Use boosters a lot. Boosters are very good at keeping you alive.
To get a faction's ship, you need to befriend a faction. To get a faction's weapons, you merely need to kill a bunch of them.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 07:36

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

I've played a ton of this game in LAN with some friends years ago and my everlasting memory of it is forever going to be that every single time we had an encounter with the Outcasts, one of my friends would start blasting this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgvGjAhvIw

And this is my Freelancer story :v:

# ? Feb 15, 2021 09:49

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

biosterous posted:

gotta use the afterburner (tab key) more, friend!

I will work on it in the next recording.

Gothsheep posted:

Are you going to be doing any dicking around in the post-game stuff? There's a lot of little things like regions of space you never go to, or types of ships you either aren't allowed to or simply won't buy during the main plot.

I wouldn't say any of it is that deep, but it is kind of neat. Especially when you start going way out into the edges of space.

I'm a big fan of dicking around and showing off extra content. I'll try to show off as much as I can in the main LP, I will try to use each ship at least once and I may toy around with different weapon setups on the side jobs. There are a number of secrets in this game which I will also try to show off too. I will definitely look into post-game content.

my dad posted:

For those playing along with the LP, there are a few things worth noting.

The starting ship is the most agile ship in the game. It takes a very good pilot, but it's entirely possible to win the game with it. It's actually easier to do so with it than with most of the other early game ships - their extra stats aren't nearly enough to help survive lategame enemies, but the starting ships's agility gives it the ability to not get hit in the first place, which remains useful throughout the game.

It's possible to buy an extra weapon on Manhattan before taking off. This is a very good idea, because

It's possible to stay behind during the big Rogue ambush and kill them off. You get bonus money for it when you catch up, but you have a time limit to do so before mission failure (implication being that King figures you're dead and moves on)

Get into practice of pressing the tractor beam button as soon as you hear something blow up. Otherwise, you'll miss out on a lot of loot, some of it unavailable otherwise.

You want a balance of weapons that are good vs shields and weapons good vs hull, with a bit of a bias towards hull damage.

You want your weapon projectiles to have similar speeds, otherwise they won't connect on target at the same time and you'll constantly be missing with some of them.

There are certain weapon types that do better against some kinds of shields, and worse against other kinds. You're not going to know in advance what your enemies are going to have unless you've already played the game, and usually not worth the hassle of preparing for, but if you're having trouble with a particular mission, this might be the push you needed.

More energy efficient weapons are generally a better choice over more powerful weapons. That having been said, the better a pilot you are, the more your damage is going to come in bursts as you move into a good position, unload as much fire as you can into your target, and maneuver away while your energy recharges.

Use boosters. Use boosters a lot. Boosters are very good at keeping you alive.

To get a faction's ship, you need to befriend a faction. To get a faction's weapons, you merely need to kill a bunch of them.

Thank you for the advice.

Boosters have been mentioned a few times, I will work on that with the next session. As for the tractor beam, I was fighting my instincts of immediately pressing the button as I was waiting on the tooltip like I was at the start of the combat sequence purely for the tutorial purposes. I know to mash the key as soon as it pops up as I know once it's gone, it's gone.

The weapons talk is something that I'm going to be interested in and it's something that I will need to find a balance in. When I play games I usually like playing the role of the tank but being a space sim, speed and manoeuvrability are important. I'm not a big fan of rapid-firing as when a weapon hits the target I want it to count, but a big part of that is being able to be accurate with leading those shots. I will definitely be keeping a happy medium until I feel comfortable switching things one way or another. There's no point in using slow weapons if they're not going to connect.

It's been a while since I played this, are the rogue ships only available if you go down the route of befriending them? I don't want to get into spoiler territory but I know that they have their own type of ships.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 12:13

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

Double post I know but I forgot to post the screenshots :doh:

:

Screenshots from the first update

Personal Logs: https://imgur.com/a/brAoLoO

News Stories: https://imgur.com/a/thvH1Fn

Rumours: https://imgur.com/a/WZwctX9

# ? Feb 15, 2021 12:16

AtomikKrab: Jul 17, 2010; Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

220 million... covers most of the planet... Come on, just put a B in there.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 13:07

Jobbo_Fett: Mar 7, 2014; Slava Ukrayini; Clapping Larry

AtomikKrab posted:

220 million... covers most of the planet... Come on, just put a B in there.

How dare you question Chris Roberts!

# ? Feb 15, 2021 13:14

Hwurmp: May 20, 2005

bring back milliard imho

# ? Feb 15, 2021 13:19

A good poster: Jan 10, 2010

What's so illegal about transporting a ton of Boron ore?

# ? Feb 15, 2021 14:02

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Dec 14, 2024 03:56

OutofSight: May 4, 2017

A good poster posted:

What's so illegal about transporting a ton of Boron ore?

Probably skipping some corporate/government tax. I am more confused how a ton of Boron (which is a proper trade good in the game) can yield that amount of profit. Must be some impressive tax.

EDIT: O-tone Mr. Trent: 1 MILLION CREDITS!

OutofSight fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Feb 15, 2021

# ? Feb 15, 2021 14:04

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Reindeer Games > Let's Play! > We're a Citizen amongst the Stars. Let's Play Freelancer!

«‹›19 »