Yesterday morning I thought the same way as you, than yesterday evening I reached omega-5

I get slaughtered, really slaughtered, I stand not a chance in hell, and I was level 25.

So thats the idea, get into mp, and start to make the big money, get the best stuff, and make sure the server you do all this is
a) persistent
and
b) pvp aktiv

to make sure that at the end you can do actually something with the best stuff
and btw you can hire in mp aswell wing man, they have strange names (like spawn) and some fly like ****, some are even real smartasses, but hey at least they bring a good deal of non standart answers

though the ppl at e2 are abit quite, not much talking going on

Ahh, I'm guessing you're approaching Freelancer from the standpoint of the old classic "Elite".

The producers of Freelancer don't come from the "Elite" pedigree, they're all from the "Wing Commander" side of the tracks. If you've ever played a "Wing Commander" title you know how it works: fly a mission, get a movie and another mission. Fly the next mission, get a movie and another mission. Repeat until the credits roll.

Compared to Wing Commander Freelancer is "open-ended". Some missions come from the plot, but sometimes you are allowed to choose between missions. If Wing Commander is "missions and movies" then Freelancer is "missions and movies with intermissions." The "intermissions" are what the developers are referring to as "open ended".

I'm guessing you've played Elite before; might I recommend Egosoft's upcoming title "X2: The Khaak Threat", a title for which "open-ended" means the player is thrown into a simulated economy and expected to make it on his own, uncovering the "storyline" much more circumspectly.

X2 looked so good I wanted to play the original X and its expansion, but it's old enough that the English version is out-of-print. I'm patching the German version to English when I get it, but I'm kind of nuts, so you're probably better off just waiting for X2.

Oh, yeah, and don't be so hard on "Freelancer" -- "Open-Ended Space Sim" is a really bad call, I agree, but just think of it as "Adventure / RPG" and the world makes sense again ...

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I want an ESCORT so a life as a trader is viable

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You're a Freelancer, so you're on your own.

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On to the missions themselves. Every mission is a carbon copy. All missions follow the same pattern of fly to waypoint, engage enemies, fly to next waypoint, engage enemies, mission complete. EVERY TIME. One time you fight Rouges, next time it is Golden Cirsanthimums(sp) BIG WHOOP!! All the dialog in the bars is EXACTLY the same. All the dialog in space is EXACTLY the same. What where they doing for the 4-5 years this game was in development?

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Alot has been said on this subject. We don't like this either. And we're not saying it isn't so. We admit it.

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After reading Max Steele's posts on the cargo ships I am even more disapointed. A life of crime was next on my list, but if the npc ships never actually PICK UP THE CARGO they say they are, what's the point

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Why the fuss about a little thing? I never hated Medal of Honor because the Axis never ran out of ammo (just an example)

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Am I missing someting or is this game ridiculously shallow? Yes the game world is BIG but what good is that is there is nothing to do in the world?

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Play the full game, you can't just judge a game only when you've played a demo.


-Wizard, the quote master


"God bless this acid house!"
"I was near the scene of another crime at the time, officer."

Edited by - Wizard on 26-02-2003 00:05:16

In short: Freelancer is some sort of GTA3 in space. Very open-ended compared to an average game but not that open-ended compared to some classics of the genre.

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"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux

Hmm...The problem seem to be that people tend to compare FL to Elite and Privateer which is probably wrong.

So i guess if yoo loved Wing Commander you'll love Freelancer...if you want a Elite style game you should look at X2 and Eve-online.

I guess you could call Freelancer: Elite 4 Light

But i think the reason why some people get disappointed is because of whats written about the game. I took this from Freelancer's official site:

"Experince a vast, open-ended universe with
and infinite number of adventures."

-- Yes an infinite number of adventures, but only 3-4 different kinds.

"You are the freelancer Edision Trent, an
intergalactic jack of all trades. You mission:
whatever you want."

"Become a smuggler or a rugthless space thug,
a naval hero or a trade. Dodge through asteriod fields while"

-- I LOVE flying through those asteriod fields!!!!

"piloting elite fighters.
The action is endless as you make your way through 48
known start systems. Greed, morality, compassion, anger...
whatever motivates you, the dynamic universe will respond. "

--The only way (as i've experinced) the universe been dynamic is your rep. Thats about it. (correct me if i'm wrong)

So i guess the conclusion is that alot of people expect Freelancer to be more Elite styled, than the Wing Commander style, because FL is been marketing that way.

Any comments or am i completely wrong? (sorry for my poor english at times)

Personally i'll like the game and have pre-ordered it about a month ago.

Edited by - Lass on 26-02-2003 01:01:36

I am playing the full version. Its still shallow in that there isnt a whole lot to do.

I'm being overly harsh and it wasnt my intent to come to a fan site and bash the game. I'm locked in a Love/Hate relationship with it at this point. There is so much wasted potential here that it would be depressing if it wasnt only a game.

To Wizard who said "You're a freelancer, get over it" I'm not concerned with being solo the whole game but there should be Escort and Shipping missions in the game. If you want to be a trader you are stuck with making your own missions. If you want to be an Escort, you have to insinuate yourself into a convoy's formation and simply tag along. That is not my idea of an immersive experience.

Why fuse over a little thing? I don't call cargo ships, the TARGET of anyone who decides to be a pirate, traveling around space EMPTY, a little thing. This "little thing" as you call effectivly RUINS the thief aspect of the game.


The economy appeared to be a great idea untill you realize that the prices never change. If I bring a HUGE shipment of water somewhere, the price should drop, even if only slightly. If I rob a shipment of oxygen, the destination awaiting the shipment should up the price, as supply will be running low. A dynamic economy would have done wonders for the world. But this all goes back to the fact that you can't really be a trader or pirate. The game has no missions for these occupations, so you have to wing it.

Now, as for Multiplayer, I may be spoiled but player run servers scare the crap out of me. Does anyone here remember Blizzards Open Battle.net? Would you play on Open B.net? If you answer yes, you are a cheater who is used to horid connections to the games. I expect horrible connections, rampant cheating and servers that disappear when whomever is running it realizes what a shallow game they are playing and takes it down.

I was expecting a Single Player OPEN-ENDED game that allowed me to carve out a niche for myself in universe. Not a linear mission based game that, regardless of your faction, hurls you into combat/cut scenes for an hour. If multiplayer is the only way to experience an open-ended world and player run servers are the only way to experience multiplayer, I don't see how anyone can consider this game a success.

As to comparing FL to all the others people mention, Wing Commander is the only one I've even heard of. Wing Commander didn't try to be a single player MMORPG persistant world type of game like FL does. Wing Commander was a space shooter, plain and simple. FreeLancer was marketed as something else and failed miserably IMHO.

Edited by - Laxer420 on 26-02-2003 01:19:01

Well techincally the game is totally open ended. After the end of the game you have complete freedom. Therefore the game has an open ending, or it can be referred to as open-ended.

Just a little sarcasm, no need to take seriously.

Anyway, give multiplayer a try, complete freedom there. If you don't like playing with other people you can just make your server inaccessible to the internet.

If you look at it that way, the game has 3 modes. Story single player, True open-ended single player and multiplayer.

"Why is this game tauted as "Open-ended"? In single player, you are FORCED to do the story line missions in order to advance in level. You have NO control over the story line missions but are given orders and waypoints. These missions will also RUIN certain factions you have worked to gain. I don't see how this can be labeled "Open-ended"."

Why is GTA3 called opened ended you are forced to do the story line missions to leave an island, you are given orders and waypoints, these missions will ruin your reps with gangs i dont see how gta3 can be labled open ended.

Then the sheep said...

biocunsumer: please show me where I said GTA3 WAS open ended? I hated that piece of drivel.

Carry on sheep...

Well, because GTA3 and Freelancer give you the opportunity to explore a vast city/the vastness of space on your own between and after completing the story missions. And i find both GTA3 and Freelancer very open-ended. But of course that's a matter of definition. In my understanding of the people who run this pla.... uhm... in my understanding of "open-ended" Freelancer hits the mark.

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"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux

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Yesterday morning I thought the same way as you, than yesterday evening I reached omega-5

I get slaughtered, really slaughtered, I stand not a chance in hell, and I was level 25.

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Ahahahaha, really?? LOL, noob.. no really...

Im level 26, and I don't get slaughtered when running around in the omega zones.. perphaps something is wrong with your mouse!

"Open-ended" to me is a MMORPG. A persistant world that you can effect simply by existing. No story line, no hour long forced missions with game-engine cutscenes you cant ESC out of.
The game forces you to be a fighter pilot to make money plain and simple. Anyone considering trading, stealing, or smuggling, you are on your own. There are no missions for these things and that is the truly disappointing fact.

demonic
prove your manhood elsewhere, child, we are having a discussion here.

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. Anyone considering trading, stealing, or smuggling, you are on your own. There are no missions for these things and that is the truly disappointing fact

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And that's exactly what makes it open-ended for me. If i wanna do these things i am totally free to do so, without taking missions first. I don't think that pirates or thieves in the real world go somewhere and ask for a mission to do their thing. They just go and do it, being the freelancers that they are.

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"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux