I think the biggest drawback of this game was the linear story line.....the ships in each area are increasingly better because it wouldn't have worked for the story any other way....if the best liberty ship was comparable to the best reinland ship than it would have made it too easy to get outstanding ships in single player.....this of course has led me to completely forget SP all togather....I think I'm still on manhatten waiting to do that second mission.....
I think if they eliminated the story line all togather and just let it be a realtime adventure game in a semi-static universe it would increase the game play immensely.....there could be like side scenarios......where you build of a relationship with local NPC's or something......but none of this should limit your freedom to wail on anyone you want and still progress in SP

Good?....Bad?......I'm the guy with the gun.

agreed... despite the large universe and potential for exploration, the actual single player plot (ie: the Privateer plot redone) would've been a lot more entertaining and immersive if it didn't require one to go through it holding hands with Juni the whole time. With Privateer, you had the same mysterious artifict from a previous race, except you had to figure it out all by yourself (research, evading, finding the right contacts on random bases sometimes out of blind luck) instead of having some chick tell you where and what to do every step of the way. This aspect made it all the more corny when the game forces (or should I say 'lets'?) the player to actually play the game as a Freelancer in between every couple of plot missions. For FL2: more NPCs, more sub-plots, more overall independence.

Uranium 235, Pegleg, Batfink and History Buff had similar threads. I decided to make a list of common ideas presemted by most posters to avoid unnecessary repetition.

As a service I'll list the things almost everyone can agree on, so no one else will waste the time of those who would actually read through all these posts, like myself. If you do want to recite one of these things, please expand on it, don't just repeat it.

A: Ideas MOST everyone agrees with:
A01. More dynamics in market/trade system.
A02. More dynamics in "living universe" (the universe doesn't revolve around you, enemies don't break off engagements to come after you, AI prioritizes)
A03. More, More, More:
__a) commodities
__b) ships
__c) weapons
__d) variable upgrades (ala Privateer 1)
__e) new systems
__f) contraband
__g) possibly new factions as well (Church of Man Retros, anyone?)
A04. More and balanced ship CLASSES with varying speeds.
A05. Scrap shield batteries for recharging shield.
A06. Scrap nanobots for repairbot.
A07. Ability to hire other ships:
__a) wingmen
__b) cargo
__c) escorts
A08. More types of random missions:
__a) cargo run
__b) escort
__c) defend station
__d) smuggle a person
__e) rescues
__f) espionage
__g) undercover
__h) blockade runs
__i) recon
A09. Automatic turret (whether auto or hire a co-pilot)
A10. Realistic random events to increase need for certain goods. (accidents, famines, etc.)
A11. Mouse control has more axis of movement:
__a) rolls right-left
__b) strafe up-down
A12. More ship-to-ship communication with AI:
__a) commands for allies and friendlies
__b) taunts
__c) threats/requests (Drop cargo or else, etc.)
A13. Capital ships should be stronger with more weapons.
A14. Factional area_assaults against other factions (All out war)
A15. Customize a character. (at least for MP)
A16. Customize a ship. (decals, paintjobs)
A17, Ability to buy varying types of maps, scanners and other ship components.
A18. Own multiple ships. (have a garage or pay storage fees)
A19. Adjustable HUD options.
A20. More 3D universe, not limited to just X & Y plane.
A21. More intelligent AI, especially when dealing with ships of different levels and their general agressiveness.
A22. Expand MP # of users limit and increase functionality.
A23. New or expanded plot and new rumours.
A24. More wrecks & hidden treasures (Perhaps random).

-------------

B: Ideas SOME people agree with:
B01. Buy, build or take over properties:
__a) stations
__b) battleships
__c) planets
__d) depots
B02. Option to join a faction's navy for a term or two.
B03. Higher pricing for all ships and accessories.
B04. Distress calls to/from friendly faction or Navy.
B05. Join, in all respects, a faction.
B06. Pilotable battle or capital ships.
B07. Casino or other ways to make use of stations and planets.
B08. Larger scale for planets.
B09. Internal voice chat for MP.
B10. Other characters with mini-storylines, not necessarily to do with main plot.
B11. Ability to add your own journal entries to record information learned in game (Rumours).
B12. A commodity price list for all visited places.
B13. Taxation: income taxes, lane tolls, gate usage fees.
B14. Bounty Board (most wanted list)
B15. Cloaking device (fair and balanced, for MP & SP)
B16. Races or competitions for prizes.
B17. Measurable passage of time & timed missions.
B18. Adjustable energy allocation (shields, engines, guns)
B19. Less eye candy (Space effects, not Juni)
B20. Faster and more types of missiles and countermeasures.
B21. Player ejection with multiple outcomes (slave, hospital, arrested)
B22. Fuel for flight (Either just for turbo or both turbo and regular flight)
B23. Joystick Flight
B24. Add back in Sol system and previous Starlancer elements.
B25. Include elements used in Elite (planet orbits, better level system, etc.)

-----------

I think that's about it. If you see it in this list please don't post it again unless you elaborate. I don't have EVERYTHING, only the things that get repeated the most.

Sir Spectre

I just love how they did the storyline in Frontier:First Encounters
you actually had to look for the storyline in news.. it wasn't nessesary to follow it, it was just something that was there if you wanted it..

i agree totally with sir specter i have often wished that frelancer had all those things (and some more but if they had all that i would be so happy) but something i would love so much more then all of that is a GOOD F**KING STORYLINE i mean come on. WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT INTRO MOVIE. The in-game Stroyline had absoulty nothing to do with that movie and i dont know about you but it kinda pissed me off. then the stroy itself was kinda far-fetched i mean seriously if the LSF is the liberty version of the CIA or the NSA or any other secret service agency dont you think that they wouldnt just trust any single newcomer that got of the boat(or ship) with an important mission (trying to weed out the rouges) and with a ship FREE OF COST i mean come on you gotta give me something to work with other then some little trusting girl in a bar.

there once was a group of heros.
they were off to save the day.
then i ran them over.
with my car, o yay!

The story was better than a lot of games and even full-blown movies that come out. Now that's not neccessarily saying a lot, but it beats the hell out of Tolkien rehash fantasy RPGs (evil army is bad, get em'), FPS rehashes (evil corporate empire with army is bad, get em') and any sci-fi game where an aggressive warlike race invades humanity on a whim, get em'! (Arguably FL could fit into this genre, though it's not as bad since you barely even fight evil aliens, and it was self-defence against humans. Neat!)

My ideas are as follows:
All factions have following ships
Light fighter
Medium fight [scale down a heavy fighter
Heavy fighter
Stealth fighter [doesn't appear on contacts list unless very close
Torp Bomber [launches torpedoes as standard weapons

Built in weapons [ships have a couple of fixed weapons

You can raid larger ships [in a first person shooter style section and sell thier commodities [ I once scanned a frieghter carrying 4000 units of water

Flying in a planet's atmosphere, you can choose where to land and fight other ships in the skys

GTA: Vice City style storage areas for captured ships [you can have more than one ship

Multiple story paths [if you let something bad happen it will reflect on you later e.g: mission is to destroy a big ship, you fail and the ship turns up later on

cruise diruptors affected by countermeasures

the ability to hire wingmen

and last but not least, everybody seems to think you should be able to talk to other ships, i have a good list:
distress calls
specific help calls
Taunts
drop cargo
surrender
orders for wingmen or other characters

Many people apparently have said about joining a faction permently. I wish i could start my own faction, hire people to my cause, build a couple of stations to work from, hay maybe even design our own ship. A guy can dream can't he?

And one other thing. The abilty to fly a capital ship. (Cruiser, battleship heck even a luxury liner.)

Edited by - Flyboy- on 1/1/2004 12:36:56 PM

as wary as I am of disagree with a moderator.........please don't ban me.........I think the storyline compared to modern cinema is a joke.....give me a freakin break man.....this story in a word.....sucks.....its crap....no inventive ideas whatsoever.....if you want a good comparison as far as videogames go.....look at Halo....now THAT is an indepth storyline....or how abot Halflife? but give me a break with freelancer....it wasn't worth seeing the second scene let alone wanting know how it all turns out......I haven't even finished it it was so boring......and one last note .....please don't ban me......

Good?....Bad?......I'm the guy with the gun.

Not sure if it's availible but sub-targets for capital ships. I know it's possible to view in the targeting windows. But to view each subtarget like a ship in the main window (like Starlancer).

Level Advancement without Mission completion
Level Advancement for player and NPC's (by location, kills, whatever)
Topredo Launchers Ships with full-size torpedos, not those piddling little things ships have (similar stylze again to starlancer)

Thats all I can think about that hasn't already been mention or modded right now.

It should have realisticallity. Like the ability to cruise from one system or the other. Catch is, youll take a few weeks,months,years.

Assuming thats how the armored transport from FP7 got to liberty. By cruising most of the way untill the nearest tradelane or jumphole.

Heretic

one thing if they ever did do fl2
is get rid of mission commision or atleast give them a bigger vocab

have you ever used your light saber to open a bottle of Bud Light???????

o o o, i know something(raises hand like a good little child) HOW ABOUT GIVING THE PEOPLE IN DIFFERNT SYSTEMS DIFFERNT F**KING VOICES . serouisly man how come the ppl and kursai and the ppl from bretonia sound like the americans (no offense im american my self) in liberty?

o yeah i would also love torpeadoes that actually do some damage you know those missions where you have to destroy the really big ships (eg. battleshiup, alien battleship, shild generator , and alienan jizmo in that really big and strange spot) yeah torpedoes in those areas ARE COMPLETLY USELESS i sswear to god my level 6 guns did more damage to those things in like 5-6 shots while i couldnt do scrap with like 15 dam missles. yeah i know IT PISSES ME OFF .

there once was a group of heros.
they were off to save the day.
then i ran them over.
with my car, o yay!

Beam Weapons (with FS2-style chargeup, and cool-down)

No more cliff-hanger endings (the storry in FL just stops...no We Won, no nothing, just "get a job!"

More types of guns, like mass-drivers, long range sniper cannons, arcing lightening-like guns.

More missile types (Cluster missiles that explode into a bunch of mini-missiles, swarm missiles that are always launched in packs, EMP missiles that temporarily disable a fighter, etc)

Mountable devices that have special abilities like teleport, tractor enemy ship, cloak, spectral-shield like effect, ramming shiled, etc.

Ability to upgrade a ship like mount better powerplant->can mount higher level guns & shields, upgraded armor->More HP's, and have them spread out through SP so that as you advance you can get the better and better versions of them, and the newly availible ships in that area cost more, but come with the best upgrades that area has to offer already installed.

More diffirent types of ships, with many paint-jobs, I want to see a freighter with a Bilbord-like advertisment on the side, or some tricked-out racing fighter with a crazy paint-job, or just a family "car" puddeling along from planet A to planet B, after all not everyone in Real Life(TM) drives a T-80 or an M1.

Have more interactive NPC that have more reactions besides, "you shot me, I shoot you!" I want to see NPCs cower in fear and drop their loot, or some try to run, while others try to cut a deal, stuff like that. I want to be able to try to bribe that cop that catches me while smuggeling (cardamine, artifacts, headz)or to talk down that junker who wants my 3 units of O2.

Have mini-quests that you can become involved with that happen spontanieusly during the "Got to A, kill B missions" like the NPC you are sent to kill tries to hires you to track down and kill the original employer and you can either take his deal, or you can take his scalp, and if you do take his deal it's a small 2-3 mission quest where you gotta track down the target.

I want to see my actions mentioned on the news every now and then, and have actual conversations with the bar NPCs not the "click and they spill the beans" as is right now.