Very true. The swarming was what made the Nephilim challenging, as well as their obvious disregard for individual life, with especial prejuidice against any life that was not one of the "aligned species." (Quarto caught on to that in EU and swarmed the heck out of you!)
I'm afraid, though, that we see things somewhat differently. While I see what you are getting at in your cheesburger metaphor, I think it might be a little overstated. Yes, FS lacked an awful lot of substance, but it was not entirely absent. For me, the voice acting helped, an in FS2 wingmen had actual conversations in flight as well, so you got a taste of their personalities.
Still, for FS in my mind I had to connect the dots about how I might feel if I had known my wingmen. This was where WC was clearly superior: I didn't have to imagine, because I knew. I felt their fate viscerally. With FS, I had to imagine it, but seeing the larger scale combat and experiencing the huge devestation that happens in war (like flying a mission where 30 of my wingmen buy the farm) also taught me something. There is something to be expreinced and gained from both, but I totally agree that FS would have been much better with developed characters for wingmen. So, while we disagree on some points, I think that is our common ground.
By the way, Quarto, I agree entirely with your point about Dallas. I must have played that mission 17 times before I finally accepted his death. That is one thing I missed in FS, I wanted to care about my wingmen, but I couldn't do it the same way I cared about Vagabond or Iceman. So, you are right. I wish that is something they had done differently in FS, and it was one of the downsides of the series.
They got some things very, very right, and they were way off target on other things. The way I see it, that's the way most things are in life.
Like I said, I know I see this differently than some other people, and I'm not trying to pick a fight or convert anyone. If it didn't work for you, that's fine. For me, my imagination filled in the gaps. The gameplay was what kept me coming back. But the weaknesses are apparent, as well. That is why, in doing WC Saga, we have tried to put the soul back in your wingmen, even though we are using the FS engine. That is a completely valid criticism, and one we are keeping in mind.
until I realized that the presentation of the game is exactly like that of the original Wing Commander. The plot is thin - but the gameplay is fantastic.
) freespace had more variation and imagination in its mission structure (remember that mission were u had to scan cargo containers with no rader or shields?), in it capships were more than stationary targets that you *had* to destroy with a particular kind of weapon, your wingman despite the total lack of personality were actually useful, and the game wasn't an absolute walkover like prophecy (by difficulty I don't mean "running out of fuel and missles whilst trying to keep all my wingmen alive just to get a 90% statistic for the mission, which was endemic especially with secret ops)
