F4U Corsair
Spaceman
Um dude, everyone agrees with you like that, whoever wrote this one wanted to put his own foot in the door... I guess that meant killing of the main character and perverting the who damn thing!
F4U Corsair said:Um dude, everyone agrees with you like that, whoever wrote this one wanted to put his own foot in the door... I guess that meant killing of the main character and perverting the who damn thing!
Haesslich said:Considering that the original concept was to look at a new trilogy, introducing a new character only made sense - Blair's getting up there in years, and even if they started this a year or so behind WC4, what would be the point? It'd be just like any OTHER WC game, and they wanted a fresh start and a new story to tell beyond 'Blair Patrols the Border Worlds' or 'Blair fights Pirates'.
Chris Roberts' involvement in WC4 was, IIRC, only as a Director - the story was written by two of the same people who did WC3 (Terry Borst, Frank DePalma). He didn't write the story in that last game, and Adam Foshko (WCP's director) also produced WC3 and WC4 with Chris Roberts, and was also the producer for the Academy cartoon - it's not like he was a new hand to WC.
Feth's sake, Blair was due to retire anyways - if we were keeping even just the date, 2681 means that Blair's already 48, two years past the age Paladin 'retired' at (he retired just before SM2, and he was 45-46 at the time). Blair was going to have to go, no matter what - and even if this was ten years earlier, Blair's about ready to retire given that a) it's peacetime again, and b) he's already past his 'prime' as a front-line pilot and is about ready to go into training or to take his twenty years and head out into the sunset.
So not everyone agrees with you, or these rather asinine posts. Yes, enthusiasm is good... but as people keep pointing out, the thread's either been beaten to death before and you've not contributed anything new, or else you have a simple versus line which does nothing but annoy old bastards like yours truly.
Edfilho said:You know, corsair, you are very good on making the other people in the foruns hate you. Probably got a PhD on being a stupid ass jerk. Keep Up the good work, and sooner or later you'll do something stupid enough to get you banned.
Back to the topic, Yeah, blair had to go. After WC4, it would be pretty hard to make the universe go to any interesting direction while keeping blair on the roster. It is better to go on a blaze of glory than burying Maverick on an office.
Of course, it would be better if he died on a cockpit, but I think they tried to keep a door opened for a sequel. Unfortunately, as there was no sequel to make him return, he IS officialy dead. There was even a funeral mentioned in SO.
On another note, the a.g.w-c newsgroup was filled with insane theories about Blair becoming a Bug general, or god, or emperor, and stuff like that. They were funny... Nah, they were not.
F4U Corsair said:What the heck does that have to do w/ this? Yea ok, I get it no more VS thread ok fine, DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A VERSE THREAD TO YOU? And sorry not everyone has been around as long as u to know all that. Anyway, ok yeah Blair is getting on in years, but hes seems to me as the guy whod retire, not like it, and keep coming back. I mean you cant get an old Pilot down. Maybe he needed to go, but still going that way... it just didnt seem right, I do like the plot twist w/ the Iceman's son, being the Iceman was my favorite wingman and all. But what about Hawk? He didnt have to go at that point.
Haesslich said:Note: this is the damned military - and when it comes to pilots, they appear to strictly enforce age limits and physical requirements. When you get too old, you either get retired or promoted, or so it seems - Paladin has the distinction of having been both 'retired' AND promoted, while Halcyon was also apparently promoted out of the cockpit (if one can judge by his comments in the official WC1/2 strategy guide about flying a desk). Blair also seems to have accepted a promotion out of the cockpit, at least at the end of WC4 (moving into a trainer role, then into the Navy), though circumstances put him back in the cockpit. Maniac's almost Blair's age, though he's probably due for retirement soon (or promotion), and Hawk was also apparently several years younger than Blair, to judge by the WC4N description.
Beyond that, there were the story requirements - they needed a fresh start, and Lance Casey was it. The fact that he was the Iceman's son was a nice nod to continuity, and a way to pass the torch. To judge by how Blair got shot down and captured, I think his famed reflexes WERE finally slowing down.
criticalmass said:But I'm rambling. Point: It wasn't necessary to kill Blair - he could have moved into a Paladin-like role outside of direct interaction with gameplay, and the story would have benefitted from that. For new gamers, a change of the player character was needed, I concurr - but introducing Casey didn't do it. Maybe only not for me.
And, as an afterthought: Replacing Maniac didn't work either - even a complete noob to the series understood at once the comic relief side of his character, made all the more credible by his age and lack of rank. He wouldn't have liked a hero's death or a cozy desk - just as little as he would have like to have his surname spelt wrong .
Edfilho said:I didn't like Casey Much though. Annoying. weak. He could be brasher, like the son of a dead hero. He gave me impression he wanted to go home to his mommy.
Nomad Terror said:or maybe he felt that he couldn't possibly hope to fill his father's shoes even though he was kind of expected to