Freelancer demo out

[Nspire]

After four+ long years of waiting, the Freelancer demo is out and ready for DL at Fileplanet. Oh joy!

[Nspire]

Sixty-five minutes left in the wait line!

I feel like I am waiting for the New-Years ball to drop.

[MaddMexican]

LoL http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif Fileshack is much better then fileplanet.

[Even]

YES YES!
i need a better vid card, http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif
i saw it at a game xpo this last summer,
great graphics! http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
my friend downloaded it, it is great,
i preorderd it through here

http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[crazy_legs]

it is an ok game.. though i would want to be able to walk around in first person on the planets http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/blues.gif

[Nspire]

The only thing I dont lke is that the random missions you get at the bar all seem like the same Pirate killing missions. I hope that in the full version when I can go to other systems (in the demo you are stuck in the New York system in Liberty space) the missions will vary a little more. Other than that, the game is awesome! My first flight into the Badlands was freaky cool, so was finding that Pirate base.

[Justice]

I thought it was 6 years in the making? I seen a review in a magazine I have, looks cool. I get cable modem next month so maybe check it out then, I hate downloading stuff on this 56krap.

[Mr_Eon]

Don't talk. Don't read.

JUST GO AND DOWNLOAD IT....



Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Ultima Avatar]

What's it about before I download it?

[Nspire]

Freelancer is a space-sim with alittle bit of RPG mixed in. You are Edison Trent, a man who just survived the Freeport-7's destruction. Ship-less and with only a few credits to your name, you get a job with the local police (who give you a newb fighter), you make your way from there. There are 30-some story missions (I am pretty sure you don't have to do the story missions if you just want to freelance) that center around the Freeport-7's destrution. Other than that you do freelance stuff, smuggle drugs, mine, explore (lots of hidden stuff to find), kill pirates (or be a pirate), and so on. Its all really neat.

Also, Freelancer does not support joysticks. It uses a mouse. The devs really put a lot of work into making the mouse system work, and it really does.

[Ultima Avatar]

Sounds like Wing Commander, with the Kilrathi and all that cool stuff.

[Nspire]

It is the sequal to Starlancer.

[TC_JAS]

it sounds like a good game I think I'll get it when I have the money

[SSquared]

All I can say is "Wowzers!"

I had never even heard of the game before. I downloaded it and am blown away. I'm a little sad they have to keep using the D word, but the game looks like it will be great.

I did not have to install DirectX 9 to get it to work. Also, the framerate is beautiful even using a GF2 MX, playing at 1024x768x32.

The space fighting was a bit quirky, but I am slowly getting used to it. Has anyone taken any of the side jobs?

Well, hrummph. I had it all planned on which games I was going to buy this year (I limit myself) and in the last few days I've heard about this and Tron 2.0.

[Shark]

Quote[/b] (Nspire @ Feb. 25 2003,10:21)]It is the sequal to Starlancer.
The devs made it very specific that it was not a sequel to starlancer http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[crazy_legs]

all the characters you talk to say the same thing.. like, "Here's what's going on" or "we may not own this place but we have a pretty good understanding of how it works" stuff like that.. it is annoying http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Nspire]

Quote[/b] (Shark @ Feb. 25 2003,11:11)]Quote[/b] (Nspire @ Feb. 25 2003,10:21)]It is the sequal to Starlancer.
The devs made it very specific that it was not a sequel to starlancer  http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
You sure? I thought it was set in the same universe. The Sleeper Ships where full of people fleeing from the war that is shown in Starlancer.

[Shark]

I read in an interview where they described the gameplay and said, "This isn't a sequel to starlancer, and it wasn't meant to be." It's set in the same universe I think but the history is supposed to not have anything to do with the game. If the devs say it isnt a sequel it isnt! Devs are never wrong!

[Mr_Eon]

It's a sequel - it's just not sequential... ;)

It's Freelancer not Starlancer II.

Starlancer was one of a number of space games that were technologically good, graphically awesome and fun to play. That bombed at retail. The publisher wants to avoid any association with a failed title - hence the "it's not a sequel" jazz.

Crazy - speech and animation are two of the BIGGEST space fillers. It's a demo - I'm sure they trimmed down the number of characters available, and their responses, in order to pare down the file size! It's already 150Mb!

Eon

[crazy_legs]

psh!!! i have seen games for 1-2 gigs!!

[SSquared]

Crazy_legs, are you talking about demos for 1-2 gigs? Eon's comment was in regards to the size of the demo and how they cut out some extra things to keep the demo size down.

Is anyone else playing this? I have been playing it the last few days and having a blast. There is actually quite a bit, even in the demo. After you finish the first scripted mission, you have a whole system to play around in. New jobs, visit other planets.

[Nspire]

Have you found any of the hidden stuff?

[crazy_legs]

yeah yeah.. i refer to full size.. but the things they say maked me soo annoyed and deters me from getting the game http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Nspire]

I think you can skip them if you press escape.

[SSquared]

Nspire - What do you mean, hidden stuff? Some special loot in space? A special hidden something in the bar?

crazy_legs - What types of things do they say? You mean the D word? I wasn't too happy with that either. I am just wondering if anything worse is said that I may have missed.

Nspire - You can skip them with Esc key, but then you miss some important things. Hmmm, actually, maybe what they say isn't all that important. Key statements usually come up as a dialog.

[Nspire]

Quote[/b] (SSquared @ Feb. 27 2003,7:49)]What do you mean, hidden stuff?  Some special loot in space?  A special hidden something in the bar?
SPOILER:



The Junker base, the pirate base (this base look really cool), the research base, the wreckage of old ships in the Badlands (that you get goodies off of when you shoot them), the giant mine-field (not really "hidden", but off the beaten path), and the various jump-holes.

I hope all of the other systems have as much stuff to see and find as the New York system.

[crazy_legs]

Quote[/b] (crazy_legs @ Feb. 26 2003,11:01)]all the characters you talk to say the same thing.. like, "Here's what's going on" or "we may not own this place but we have a pretty good understanding of how it works" stuff like that.. it is annoying http://www.cgalliance.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
that's what i mean.. they just repeat those same phrases when you talk to someone who knows a rumor.. oh yeah, also "you new around here? -yeah -i may know what you want".. something like that as well.. just kinda annoys me

[SSquared]

I totally agree crazy_legs. I've now put in 4+ hours into the game and find the repetitive sayings annoying. I've just been hitting Escape to get me to the dialog displaying the real reason to talk.

I've only found one Level 3 mission. The rest I find are Level 1 and 2. Now that I have a better fighter and better weapons, the jobs are getting too easy. Especially Level 1 missions. Is this a limitation of the demo? Or does it get more difficult after I move to the next level? All of the missions are around the low $2,000's, so it takes awhile to make money.

[SSquared]

Nspire - How did you find those bases? After each mission, I always look around for loot. But I haven't seen those bases you are talking about. Are they certain missions? Almost all of my jobs have been from Liberty Police and Liberty Navy.

[Nspire]

Go to your system map and look at the patrol routes. If a few all meet at the same place, there is probably a base there. Although if you have been doing a bunch of anti-pirate missions, they probably won't let you land (once you are not "hostile" with them, you can land). Best thing to do is to kill the Xenos that hang around the Detroit munitions base. That will raise your standing with just about every faction in the game.

Also, you may want to try to keeping your standing with pirates above hostile all the time. It helps if you are miner.

[SSquared]

Most of my missions have been against the Liberty Rouges faction. I may restart the demo and play differently. I was actually VERY confused by the storyline. They talk about the Liberty Rogues as being bad, and yet I was working for Liberty. But then I realized there are 3 good Liberty factions and one bad one.

Three times I've paid to get a new base/area uploaded to my Neural Net. One time it worked, and the other two times (Houston and California) I never saw anything.

Thanks for the insight Nspire.

[Nspire]

Houston and California are in a different systems. I guess that is why you can't see them.

[SSquared]

Yep. You're right. I went to a California jumpgate and I got "Access Denied".

Unfortunately, the game exits once you reach Level 2. It took me awhile to figure out that's what was happening. So I started up a new game, because I had already forgotten the storyline.

I also took your advice and looked over the patrol routes. I flew into Hostile territory. Whoops. I ended up in some very strange part of space. I'll have to check out some more of it. Thanks for the recommendation.