LGWI - FreeSpace 2 [Apocalypse]

[@Lemon_Inspector]

GTVA: We'll blow up the Capella jump points to stop Shivans from invading our space! Brilliant! Shivans: These damn Terrans won't stop fucking with our nebula. Let's blow up that star over there and cut them off from our space! Brilliant! And then they lived happily ever after.

[@Palora01]

"Safe forever... it's not like these highly advanced alien that somehow blew up a star, something we can't even begin to guess how they did, are going to be able to build a Knossos device, only we're smart and advance enough for that" - Yeah GTVA was riding high on hopium throughout this campaign.

[@sebastijanglozinic8630]

If they even need devices like the Knossos at all. If Freespace 2 showed us anything, it is that we can not even begin to guess at what the Shivans can truly do.

[@sebastijanglozinic8630]

My theory is that the Shivans blow up stars for resources. Considering that you encounter Shivan gas mining operations several times in the nebula, it may be that the Shivans blow up stars in order to create nebulas which they then harvest.

[@Ricochet2022]

I'm one of those who got the "bad ending" for this on my first playthrough a few years back. I think it came down to being caught off-guard for the unexpected escape run while trying to protect the last convoy that jumps in waaay back away from the Jump Node. Thanks for the playthrough of this. It was really enjoyable to watch, and great to revisit this again from a different perspective.

[@krisslanza]

I always figured its less that Command doesn't have reinforcements to spare, but more that given the complete retreat going on, sending in anyone to reinforce you is kind of counterproductive to their goal. You just had the misfortunate of being the saps already stationed there, so welcome to hell! It's a shame FreeSpace 3 never became a thing, since 2 like a lot of games in the 'middle' sets up a lot of things - then just leaves it all hanging as the resolution got canned. But at least it gave us DIVE DIVE DIVE

[@Klonering]

I found the voice action of the Admiral really brilliant. Maybe not so in the end, but some ago. Immersion was of the charts. At least for me.

[@Ostentatiousnessness]

Well. That was certainly one way for the Shivans to tell those damned kids to stay off their lawn.

[@njdarda]

this game is a timeless masterpiece

[@KainYusanagi]

So since you're saying that the next one will be a Doing it Wrong, does that mean it's a "Lets Get Wrong with It"? ;D

[@KainYusanagi]

jesus, the MOMENT those Dragons show up and you can't blast them out of space immediately, they just tear apart your entire fighter support, even when they're still grey integrity status. Damn.

[@skdKitsune]

Ahh, pity that you're not going to play any fan campaigns. Many of them I consider to be far better than the retail ones. Still nice playthrough!

[@Darthpathfinder]

Well this has been a fun ride. I tend to bounce off games like this a lot of the time. This one looks to be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to watching the doing it wrong part….

[@androssandross7410]

Well that is not how I thought that would go. What happened to bosch and friends? Did I miss something? What was the etak project? Well I enjoyed the story quite a bit anyway

[@Palora01]

A lot of story got cut down due to time/money constraints and we never got Freelancer 3 to finish up the story. I think Blue Planets tries to continue it with the story scraps that could be found.

[@Grimith]

ETAK is a comms device based on on old research to communicate with the Shivans so Bosch could fulfill his desire to ally with the Destroyers and further the Terran agenda.

[@apljack]

A fun jaunt down nostaliga creak. Even though I am pretty sure I have played it, I honestly don't recall it nearly as much as the first. And of course, mistaking the Hades for the Colossus in my mind for most the replay. :P In defense, I am reptty sure I only played it near the release year, and the Hades only stuck in my head because I felt the need to cheese it by hiding in the trench on the ship and constantly lob bombs/call support for 10 minutes straight. Like, I restarted the Hades mission multiple times because I felt I was missing something it had so much HP. XD But yeah, there are a lot of threads left unanswered in this campaign, and it feels a bit incomplete. Shame no official continuation, but in all honesty it feels like the narrative driven space sim has kinda fallen to the wayside(much to my dismay). Elite Dangerous can scratch my itch for the gameplay, but it is sandbox, not plot driven.

[@Foxador]

What was the whole point of Bosch and his NFT army and the whole ETAK device? That whole plot lead to nothing and just was forgotten about, or that's how it felt to me. It didn't serve any point to the narrative, if the narrative is just that the shivans are back and going to attack again. I also feel that having the Colossus appearing too early in the story is to the stories detriment. Since they reveal this supposed "game changer" so early, you as the player, already know that it's doomed to fail and are just waiting for that to happen. Also, for such a 'powerful' ship, they sure let it get walked all over in the game that made it more of a joke. What they should have done was reveal it near the end when the shivans were pushing out. Have it save the day with the first juggernaut, without you needing to save it or weaken it, to give some hope. Make it seem like the terrans have a chance and then you take that hope away by having the Shivans ambush it with like 3 of those juggernauts and destroy it. That would have made it such a bigger impact then it being the stories punching bag and dieing with a whimper and a roll of the eyes

[@Grimith]

FreeSpace 2's plot is Aken Bosch's fault. The NTF was a bunch of jazzhands to give Bosch access to Ancient ruins and tech in Vasudan systems. He found the Knossos portal in Gamma Draconis. He sent the NTF Trinity to activate the thing (you find the Trinity way early in the nebula and it befuddles everyone how it got there). Bosch's desire to build an alliance with the Destroyers in order to advance the Terran agenda sparks... well, all this shit I just played. He's the fulcrum. That's why the game focuses so much on him - until there's a Juggernaut fleet incoming. And he vanishes. Can't get a penpal note from him anymore.

[@Foxador]

@@Grimith I watched the whole thing and it never really clicked that the whole NTF story was just handwaving to introduce the shivians coming back. I was just expecting a better resolution to that story arc I guess. Just seems to be a very overcomplicated way to excuse as to why they're back when it wasn't necessary. Regardless, it was still a interesting look into the game. Never played it myself as I didn't like that first one. For space sims tho, I was always a fan of wing commander. The fourth one especially

[@secondaryfront]

"It didn't serve any point to the narrative" - oh yes, it did. It nails the point that contacting with Shivans is a lost cause. It's not even clear if they are a sapient species, they could be as well biomechanical robots with pretty basic algoritms programmed to do their shit around.