Registered: Mar 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 8

Mini Disclaimer: Although I am a newbie to this bulletin board (first post), I can assure you that I am NOT a newbie to FreeSpace gaming or bulletin boards in general (I moderate at Section31.com). So, rest assured that I will not be asking the tiresome question: "Will there be another FreeSpace?" and other such questions that have appeared far too many times to count. However, here is what I am genuinely asking...

Is there an official reference guide of some kind for FreeSpace 2? I am aware of the Reference Bible for the original FreeSpace, but is there an official document of some sort for FS2? It would be interesting to read the developers' commentary on the NTF, Admiral Bosch, the Knossos subspace portal, the nebula that lies beyond it, the Shivans' destruction of Capella and many other fascinating elements that went into shaping one of the finest Science-Fiction stories ever told.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Finland
Posts: 553

No

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 8

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jabu:
No

---

Thanks ever so much for your wonderfully articulated response. There is a difference between providing a direct answer and being curt. I know which one your answer was.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Nov 2000
Location: Finland
Posts: 553

I'm unsure which part of my answer you didn't understand...

No, there isn't an official reference guide for FS2.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 8

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jabu:
I'm unsure which part of my answer you didn't understand...

No, there isn't an official reference guide for FS2.

---

I'm sorry to criticise your original answer - I just found it to be a little snappy. I must at least give thanks to you for giving me a rapid response, so thanks.

I guess this thread can now be closed.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392

I don't think it needs to be forcefully closed.

There was unfortunately no reference bible released for FreeSpace 2. I have put in a request to Volition for something along those lines but so far nothing.

The big problem is Interplay. They won't let us have the Intro Mp3, Reference Bible, or anything to help us better understand the game, universe, and make our own modifications to it.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: The Cold Northland!
Posts: 8392

They wont even allow the release of any more Mp3 files.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Downton, Diego Garcia, BIOT
Posts: 421

of course, interplay has been devolving into a corprate entity ever since they started creating all of these little companies to make thier products. i remember when descent 2 came out, you wouldn't beleive the kind of support those guys gave you, not only that, i remember that, unlike the other campanies, nobady complained all that much when interplay delayed a game from realeasing. after all, we all knew that they were still working on something in the game to make sure it was perfect, now, its beginning to get to the point where peple are starting to not trust interplay, and this could be damaging to them.

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: England
Posts: 632

why not? are they tight or something. And to think i just bought Giants which they published

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 8

quote:

---

Originally posted by IceFire:
The big problem is Interplay.

---

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: UK
Posts: 8

quote:

---

Originally posted by IceFire:
They wont even allow the release of any more Mp3 files.

---

That is so damn annoying. FreeSpace 2 had some wonderful musical scoring.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charger:
of course, interplay has been devolving into a corprate entity ever since they started creating all of these little companies to make thier products. its beginning to get to the point where peple are starting to not trust interplay, and this could be damaging to them.

---

Their slogan, "By Gamers, For Gamers" grows less truthful every day. *sigh* Gaming was once a hands-on affair where individuals and small teams would slug it out, hour upon hour, and make something that they were geuinely proud of. Now, gaming is a corporate affair where everyone wants to cash in. That's not to say that games today are of a lower quality (much the opposite), but certainly, the person who plays the game is no longer thought of as a gamesplayer, simply a consumer. These corporations don't care that much about what the person who buys the game actually thinks of it, just that they buy it in the first place. And of course, since too few people bought the FreeSpace games, Interplay scrapped the series before the final instalment was made.

I don't wish to blast Interplay in all of this, you understand; it is the nature of the beast that game publishers should care more about sales figures than the games themselves. Although Interplay certainly could have marketed FreeSpace 1 and 2 a little better, they would probably still have fallen short of the sales mark. Space combat is a difficult genre to crack. Despite FreeSpace 1 and 2 being praised in every single magazine I have ever read and on every single Internet site I have ever been to, it wasn't enough to convince the right number of people to buy them. Just as there many great films that are sorely overlooked, there are many great games also. FreeSpace was sadly just another series that fell by the wayside. At least the company behind FreeSpace remain in the industry. Looking Glass Studios - one of the finest development houses to ever grace the PC market - folded last year because many of their games had been tragically underestimated by the average gamer (i.e. sales targets were not met).

[This message has been edited by cry0genic (edited 04-02-2001).]

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Duelist Kingdom
Posts: 774

FS2 rocks, as evidenced by the large number of custom campaigns in the works/already done. Interplay does not rock. They have no concept of how to market or advertise (I saw a single ad for FS2 in PC Gamer in November '99 and haven't seen another one since). Thank God that [V] was bought by THQ; Interplay would've driven Summonner and Red Faction into the ground with bad advertising. I don't mean to bash Interplay, but as a publisher they're completely incompetent!

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged