Least favorite WC?

What's your least favorite Wing Commander game?

  • WC

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • WC II

    Votes: 3 8.8%
  • WC III

    Votes: 3 8.8%
  • WC IV

    Votes: 3 8.8%
  • WC: P

    Votes: 14 41.2%
  • WC: SO

    Votes: 11 32.4%

  • Total voters
    34
IIRC, Prophecy was meant NOT to have many FMV cutscenes, because that was the mainstream complaint about WC4 that had come before it.

Mainstream reviewers had panned it (WC4) for being all movie, no game, and Prophecy was going to "fix" that issue.

But of course, if you were a WC fanatic, then you loved the FMV, and not having it in WC:p was seen as disappointing. I think WC:p was great nonetheless, though, that Lance Casey guy is a bit of a dork :D
 
OK... Let's get the ball rolling...

First off, TCSTigersClaw, Armada was an amazing game. It enabled me, a fledgling pilot at the time, to pit myself against my friends... And kick their asses sometimes. You can't do that in any other WC to date.

Secondly, I think I want to change my vote.
I voted instantly for WC:p as my least liked game, but then I read the entire thread... After reading LOAF's post about the underlying symbolism of the game, I realised that ... I actually LIKED WC:p. Seriously. The game's graphics were decent, and the story had merit. I didn't like seeing Dallas die, especially after giving him a major peptalk. He seemed to be pulling out of his rut. And then, whammo! Dead. I mean ... Ow. He was really trying out there.

Of course, the comment about seeing Blair ("Hey! That's me!")... Very accurate. "I WAS that guy, like, 20 minutes ago." :p

And, although I'm a hardcore "BLAIR IS STILL ALIVE!!" person, even I face the reality that he's gone. And, it gets me in a small way. Not as much as, say, Vag's death... I cried there... But, it still gets to me.

Lastly, I think I like all of the WCs... With 1 and 2 coming in last. Not because of story, or gameplay, but because of the asteroid belts. I went though missions flawlessly, only to have an asteroid nail me, and having me start the first mission all over. :(

Ahh well.

(Oh... I'm back. Again.) ;)
 
Originally posted by Eder
The part of WCP that throws me off isn't the plot itself, but things such as that as soon as you encounter the fearsome aliens, you trash 10 of their ships, your sensors can read their armor and shield data, which apparently work just like the humans' stuff. Then, a couple of missions later, there are the fearsome aliens again, taking the time to throw inconsequential sentences (in english...) at you, using 100% compatible communications technology. Then you meet an alien capship, and guess what? Yeah, only torpedoes and plasma guns can damage it - just like human ships - and it has a bridge and an engine (or at least equivalents) which (like the launchers on alien carriers) can be identified instantly by your sensors, locked on, and damaged by your torpedoes, in the same way you'd damage any human ship, except that the alien ships have shield emmiters - which, despite nowhere to be found in human technology, seem just as identifiable by human sensors.

--Eder

I have to agree with junior. There are only so many ways you can design a ship, and the general layout is going to be the same. Saying that their shield generator could be seen by sensors, and that this makes no sense, is like saying their launching bays for fighters really aren't launching bays. Everything is the exact same, even if they call it different things. That's just kinda the way things are, when your building a ship, certain principles have to be used-shields, weapons, communications, etc.

So while it may seem rather trite that the human technology could understand the outputs from alien ships, just try to remember that when your doing a job that requires x and y steps to complete, that is usually the way it works for ALL countries/races/things. (Although I'm sure there's some exception that someone will try to bring my entire argument down on me with. :) )
 
There are only so many ways to design a ship, alright... but provided that you're human and that you are using materials available to humans.

I expect unknown aliens from some unknown corner of the galaxy (or maybe somewhere even farther away) to have technology that, while not necessarily superior, is at least different.

Who says their shield emitters have to give off large ammounts of energy allowing them to be identified by human sensors? Who says they have to give off any perceptible ammount of energy at all? Who says they have to use the exact same levels of energy fields to defend their ships (light shields for fighters, phase shields for capital ships, only with the added bonus of shield emitters, which, granted, generate some form of previously unknown shield impenetrable even to torpedoes).

Ah, and since you mentioned their launching bays... Who says they have to store fighters internally? :)

I'm NOT saying that all that is impossible, or absurd, or even unlikely. Storing fighters internally, for example, has countless advantages over attaching them externally to the hull, at least at first glance.

What I AM trying to say is: if whoever created the Nephilim was trying to design a truly alien and "difficult to understand" (can't find a better term...) race, they really lacked creativity in the technology department, although some other aspects were well done... and some of the technology was well done, too, such as the Skate and Stingray fighters, but that's about it.

--Eder
 
I'll agree with you they could have done a better job at "making the mystery", but I just see it as likely that, while the materials might be different, the construction process should probably be the same. Certain things would probably be needed (or prefered), and that'd just be how things were, different races or not.

However, I will agree that there is some merit to how similar they are to our equipment, and there could be some margin for difference there. But I'm sure it's just to make the game function. :)
 
Originally posted by Eder
Ah, and since you mentioned their launching bays... Who says they have to store fighters internally? :)

I'm NOT saying that all that is impossible, or absurd, or even unlikely. Storing fighters internally, for example, has countless advantages over attaching them externally to the hull, at least at first glance.

What I AM trying to say is: if whoever created the Nephilim was trying to design a truly alien and "difficult to understand" (can't find a better term...) race, they really lacked creativity in the technology department, although some other aspects were well done... and some of the technology was well done, too, such as the Skate and Stingray fighters, but that's about it.

Funny you should mention fighter storage. The fighter hangers on the Nephilim ships actually do seem to be pretty much unique. Unlike fighter bays on any other sci-fi carrier that I've seen, the Nephilim bays are more organic in nature than most bays, and the launching mechanism actually seems to 'spit' them out of the ship. The bays are heavily shielded, and unlike the bays on the Midway, which get blown up all too often, seem to be impervious to weaponry. IIRC, you can also see the bay open when its launching fighters.
You were complaining about the 'sameness', and yet in your haste to point this sameness out, you went right past something that was unique.
 
Originally posted by Anagram
And, although I'm a hardcore "BLAIR IS STILL ALIVE!!" person, even I face the reality that he's gone. And, it gets me in a small way. Not as much as, say, Vag's death... I cried there... But, it still gets to me.
Maybe Blair's death is less impacting because you've seen him die so many times... :D
 
Originally posted by junior
Funny you should mention fighter storage. The fighter hangers on the Nephilim ships actually do seem to be pretty much unique. Unlike fighter bays on any other sci-fi carrier that I've seen, the Nephilim bays are more organic in nature than most bays

That's simply aesthetics. All the Nephilim ships look more organic than other WC ships.... that's about one of the only fearsome things they have going for them, if you ask me :)

Originally posted by junior
and the launching mechanism actually seems to 'spit' them out of the ship... IIRC, you can also see the bay open when its launching fighters.

Spitting out fighters would be a nice touch of uniqueness, indeed... but I can't say that I've ever paid attention to wheter you can see the bays opening or not. Either way, that does not add uniqueness to the launching procedure. Even if the game's engine does not show any launching bays opening, it's safe to assume that ALL launching bays, be it human, Kilrathi, or Nephilim, open before launching fighters. (Thank God, huh? :p)

Originally posted by junior
The bays are heavily shielded, and unlike the bays on the Midway, which get blown up all too often, seem to be impervious to weaponry.

They are not impervious to weaponry in any way. They are, just like most Nephilim bridges and engines, covered by a shield emitter, which, once destroyed, leaves the launchers with no protection but their armor and "alien" phase shields.

--Eder
 
Originally posted by Eder


That's simply aesthetics. All the Nephilim ships look more organic than other WC ships.... that's about one of the only fearsome things they have going for them, if you ask me :)



Spitting out fighters would be a nice touch of uniqueness, indeed... but I can't say that I've ever paid attention to wheter you can see the bays opening or not. Either way, that does not add uniqueness to the launching procedure. Even if the game's engine does not show any launching bays opening, it's safe to assume that ALL launching bays, be it human, Kilrathi, or Nephilim, open before launching fighters. (Thank God, huh? :p)
So you want something unique, you GET something unique, and yet it still isn't enough. The problem is that unique has to apply by your definition. An organic, as opposed to mechanical, launching system that is different from pretty much anything else out there in ANY sci-fi series somehow doesn't qualify as unique.
Hmm...
You should watch the launch process on the carriers some time. Its not hard to do. Just make sure you're pointed at the hanger right around the same time that the last Nephilim fighter gets destroyed, and you'll see it. And it consists of more than just opening the flaps that cover the hanger, iirc.


They are not impervious to weaponry in any way. They are, just like most Nephilim bridges and engines, covered by a shield emitter, which, once destroyed, leaves the launchers with no protection but their armor and "alien" phase shields.

Then I guess I just haven't spent enough time pounding away at them with them to see.
Seriously, the impression that I've received while playing the game is that you can't destroy the things, but I suspect that's more of a design move then anything else. Being able to destroy the hanger would make it impossible for the carrier to launch more fighters, which would make the missions easier. Giving the hangers script immunity would make it impossible to cut off the flow of Nephilim fighters until the carrier is destroyed.
But it could be I've just never pounded on them long enough.
 
hangers??

I just use kleenex.:D

(its supposed to be hangars)
 
IIRC, only one of the bays of the Leviathan is protected by a shield emitter and that's ridiculous.
And IIRC when Nephilim fighetrs start, they aren't spit out, they just fly out in a straight line and fairly slow even. Plus, I think the bays just lose their "closedness" when they launch fighters.

But it has been some time since I played WCP. In fact it has been a rather long time since I played any WC game. :(
 
Originally posted by junior
So you want something unique, you GET something unique, and yet it still isn't enough. The problem is that unique has to apply by your definition. An organic, as opposed to mechanical, launching system that is different from pretty much anything else out there in ANY sci-fi series somehow doesn't qualify as unique.

Of course it does qualify as unique, but this is just looks, and looks are not what I'm talking about. If you read the first post I made on this thread, about one page down, you'll see that I mention how the "uniqueness" of the Nephilim limits itself to the aesthetics, while there's really little to set them apart from Confed or the Kilrathi gameplay-wise (the cluster fighters and shield emitters are the only things I can think of). And you are yet to show me something unique to the Nephilim gameplay-wise, which is what I'm talking about ever since my very first post on this subject.

Originally posted by junior
You should watch the launch process on the carriers some time. Its not hard to do. Just make sure you're pointed at the hanger right around the same time that the last Nephilim fighter gets destroyed, and you'll see it. And it consists of more than just opening the flaps that cover the hanger, iirc.

I'll try that soon, but I really doubt that the engine would allow for more than moving around a polygon or two...

Either way, like I said, wheter you see it in-game or not, it's clearly obvious that human hangar bays also open before launching fighters. So there's nothing unique in that, really. The difference may be that the game engine shows the Nephilim carriers doing so, while it doesn't show the Midway doing so, but to base yourself on that fact to say that only the Nephilim carriers open they fighter bay doors before launching fighters is just nonsense.

--Eder
 
Originally posted by junior

An organic, as opposed to mechanical, launching system that is different from pretty much anything else out there in ANY sci-fi series somehow doesn't qualify as unique.

You have obviously never watched Farscape, dude. I'm talkin' living ships here, man. That shit's f***ed up, man. If ya want uniqueness, check that series out. It's got lots and lots a weird thingies.
 
Never saw B5 ('twasn't on here for long),

forgot 'bout SAAB (but where those ships conscious?),

don't know any real livin' ships on star trek (I don't count that 1 TNG episode where Enterprise-D goes apeshit, nor do I count the Voyager's neural gelpacks, nor do I count 84whatchamacallit Bioships 'caus they only appeared shortly, but then again I haven't seen all, that is not to say not many, ST episodes),

I don't think WCP where conscious beings either,

And I don't know that Lexx thingy (Belgium does not have many Sci-fi shows on...ever :(. )

And: okay, so I'm a Farscape-nut. So sue me.:p
I just think there are some really cool ships in that series
( *rethorical question* have you ever seen a transport in any sci-fi universe with Moya's beauty and grace?, or Talyn's?, or a Prowler, or..... ad infinitum *end rethorical question* )

But indeed, my knowledge of Sci-Fi is very imperfect. For this I apologize and beg forgiveness as I bow my head before thee. ;)
 
Originally posted by Talyn 83
don't know any real livin' ships on star trek (I don't count that 1 TNG episode where Enterprise-D goes apeshit, nor do I count the Voyager's neural gelpacks, nor do I count 84whatchamacallit Bioships 'caus they only appeared shortly, but then again I haven't seen all, that is not to say not many, ST episodes),

Heh heh

The very first episode of ST:TNG was about a pair of gigantic living organisms that were masquerading as a starship and a planetary starport.

Does that qualify?
 
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