The Wing Commander Series - Yeah, I'm not joking

[MuzzonoAmi]

Has anyone else ever played these games? They're awesome. Too bad I can't get WC3 to work on this computer, since Win 98 apparently isn't a real OS it its world. But it doesn't matter since WC2 is obviously the best of the series.

I do think that Angel's death in 3 was far more tragic than Spirit's death in 2, though. And Tolwyn? Yeah, I laughed when he died...I think that was the first time I realized I wasn't like the 'other girls'.

Yes, I realized this is another non-post.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Too bad the movie was so Class-A Awful. Same as with Final Fantasy. What a waste of good brand recognition. The gaming industry should do a better job bringing about their cinematic debuts. I can't really offer much up about the games themselves, since I've only given them very small amounts of my time and never been interested or able to finish one.

*waits for JP's comment on the movies*

[jpmeyer]

Yeah, the movie blew.  The only things that were mildly amusing were how Matthew Lillard had an amusing take on Maniac and the fact that Freddie Prinze Jr. practically begged to be Blair since Wing Commander is his favorite computer game.

That's odd.  Win98 let me run WC3 but not WC2.  But yeah, WC2 is my favorite of the series, too and probably the best.  I think that WC4 is supposed to be like the "fan favorite" (and Privateer, if you count it since it only really takes place in the WC universe and doesn't follow the main storyline.)

The Wing Commander series is quite possibly my favorie computer game franchise, since the games are all at such a universally high level of quality (I believe that WC1 and WC2 won back-to-back Computer Gaming World GOTY awards and WC3 and 4 picked up action GOTY.)  The WC games too were probably some of the most important in advancing computer gaming.  WC1 made everyone upgrade to a 386 and buy a Sound Blaster, WC2 added digital speech, WC3 sold Pentiums and CD-ROM drives, and WC4 sold the first DVD-ROM drives.

I didn't care nearly as much when Angel died in WC3, but I cried when Spirit died in WC2.  I guess it was because with Angel it was because she just got captured and was executed as a spy, while with Spirit there was a lot more going into her decision.  I guess I find the whole love-interest dying more banal than the best friend dying.  I really liked the Wing Commander games because of just how well they managed to allow a branching storyline.  Way too many games (espescially console games) put you on rails where you just have to keep going in one direction or else the game just doesn't go anywhere.  There are distinct "lose the game" points in all of the games but that is almost an entirely separate tract.

The games have these little aspects that are way better than they need to be which is what makes the series so great.  The environment doesn't NEED to be that rich, but it is (like characters playing poker in the barracks.)  The missions don't NEED to be that well scripted, but they are.  The characters don't NEED to be that fleshed out, but they are.  The little quick cutscenes and stuff don't NEED to be as polished (like say, the briefing scenes,) but they are.  Another really good example of this is the scene in WC3 where Prince Thrakkath sends the message to the Victory and he's all like "YOUR TERRAN BIBLE TELLS OF A TIME OF WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH" and during this it cuts from him on the viewscreen to Maniac silently saying "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah."  They all just add up into really great games.

I'll shut up now, but the WC games will probably get me to never shut up even more than any other games with the possible exceptions of XCOM UFO Defense, Deus Ex, Star Control 2, and Sam and Max Hit the Road (although in the latter's case, it's because I can recite enourmous chunks of the game's dialogue from memory.)

[ctthespian]

Yeah WC rocked.  It's funny a few weeks ago I went to my old house to check for some stuff and there in a closet was the WC2 game on 5 1/4" diskettes  That was like a blast from the past.

JP XCom was the bomb too along with Sentinel Worlds.  Who here remembers Sentinel Worlds?

-Keith

[Bram]

Yeah, they were pretty cool, but I was never quite as 'enchanted' with them as you were. I don't think I ever got to see the movie, though.

Games that really got my imagination working overtime were:

- the Shadow of the Beast series  ('The Land of Karamoon') on the Commodore Amiga. This was the first parralax scrolling platform game. It was challangeing, innovative, graphically stunning at the time and full of atmosphere.

- the ueber ueber ueber cool Monkey Island series (especially the first 2 titles) which set the standard for all adventure games of the time with it's cool graphics and incredible humor.

- the MechWarrior series (MW2, the add-ons, MW3 and to a lesser extent the graphically far superior MW4) because of their superior playability and the EVIL intro movies.

The setting: you are one of a team of 2 mercenary Mech units recovering data from a Draconis Combine-controlled planet (the japanese, for lack of a better word . They're fleeing to the site where they will be picked up by their transport ship, while being chased by Combine Mechs.
Dropship commander on the radio: 'I'm a sitting duck down there, so you damn well better be at the dustoffsite when I get there.'
He touches down. Your mech gets cornered. The woman in the other merc mech saves your life so you can make a run for the dropship, stalling her own advance. The dropship commander closes the bay doors after you enter, not waiting for the other mech.
The woman: 'Wait, I need more time!'
The dropship pilot: 'You're outta time. I'm not getting payed enough to die.''
The woman: 'THERE'S STILL ROOM IN HELL FOR YOUR SORRY CARC-...' At this time, a rocket hits her cockpit and the mech explodes. The dropship takes of. The commander talks to you on the radio:
'Look at the bright side, kid. You get to keep ALL the money....'
 
It surprises me that I still know that by heart after all that time. Anyone played those?

[MuzzonoAmi]

I'd have to say that 2 was my personal favorite, but 3 definately had its moments. Like when Hobbes betrays you. I never would've expected that to happen. Has anyone ver stayed with Confed the whole time in 4? I usually defected the first chance I got, so I was wondering how the story changed if you did that.

[BurningIce]

I don't personally remember them very much, but I know I did play them at one time and at that point I really enjoyed them.

[Azhrei]

I really liked WC3, but I kept running into some major bugs, or what I assume were bugs. For example, once in a while my ship would stop flying forward. No shit. It would fly fine, just only backward. I have no clue how that happened, but it happened often enough. A couple times it would let you engage autopilot and you'd lose the mission while on autopilot, because the ship you were guarding got attacking in auto mode and you just kept flying away.

WC3's major problem was that there were storylines to follow where you didn't get the Excalibur, and all of your other ship options were total pieces of shit by comparison. You could play up until that point and then suddenly there was no reason to keep playing. The Thunderbolt IV was just terrible, and the Hellcat was ass.

However, the mechanic was hot.

[Jebus]

It's impossible to stay with the Confederation the whole time in 4.  You are eventually forced to defect in a mission that is otherwise unwinnable.

[Nameless]

Wow, I saw a few people talking about thier favorite games, and nobody mentioned the Fallout series!