The Darkening: What does this have to do with Wing Commander?

K

Kevin Farlander

Spaceman
The sequel to the first Privateer game doesn't seem to have anything to do with Wing Commander other than two things:

1) You're a privateer

2) In one mission you see a cameo of a Talon fighter

Someone told me what happened was that there was going to be two games that Origin planned two games. One was going to be a separate non-Wing Commander game called "The Darkening" another was going to be a second direct sequel called Privateer 2. For some reason, Origin merged the two games and scrapped (almost) all Wing Commander references. I guess the Talon fighter was just an oversight.

Too bad. I really liked this game. I wish there was a sequel to it. Weren't they making one and scrapped it? The thing is, I never got to finish the game. I scratched (beyond repair) the second CD. How did the game end by the way? I've wondered that for years.
 
Hey Kevin

The Tri System somehow "remotely" belongs to the WC universe: In the 'map of the universe' that shipped with Prophecy, the Tri System is included somewhere, but without connections to the network of systems WC plays in... And techonology and culture are very different. The way I understood it, the Darkening universe is a part of the galaxy that somehow got "lost" or lost connection with the rest of humanity many thousand years ago (maybe originally some colonoy that very soon lost every record of its origins early). It may also play some thousand years in the future...

About your question how the game ends: Where exactly were you standing when your game ended?

I posted a "review" of my playing the game about 10 months ago, by the way. You may want to have a look at this thread. It's missing the final chapter (about 2-3 missions and cut scenes) though.

PS: My "review" thread is here: http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=24265
 
This is one of those only sort of true stories depending on who you ask. THere was two separate projects (and several different privateer 2 and Privateer threes)

Basically Chris Roberts had an idea for a privateer 2 and 3 that would bookend a TV show. THat got shelved somewhere along the way. There was also another Privateer 2 attempt at Origin.

The Darkening sort of started early development as a Privateer: The Darkening, as well, but was being developed accross the pond by Erin Roberts. T THey ended up being told fairly early on - probably before they even wrote the script - to drop the Privateer part of the name and just be "The Darkening" because of the other Privateer projects they were trying to get off the ground at Origin proper. Then when those were canceled They got back the Privateer part and added a 2. Or something like that. Anyway, it's a big confusing mess, and if you search for privateer 2 updates or LOAFs comments on it you'll probably find clearer and more likely accurate explanation.

But you are sort of wrong about removing references. It went the other way around. THere are several references in the ingame text to the WC universe which were to my knowledge added later. Bottom line is that it *is* in the WC universe, it just takes place far away and about a hundred years in the future from any of the other games.

The Darkening team did briefly work on a Privateer 3 though, although I don't think it would have been a direct sequel to The Darkening. They even made an engine for it. But they took it with them to Digital Anvil and turned it into Starlancer (or so Paul Hughes told me).
 
That's a great read!

I've had it up to here, though...why is it that some of the stuff I'm told and read...from reliable people and one web site (I won't identify it) aren't true. Then I say it and I look bad...huh? Back to print media for good.

I was about halfway through it. Then I scratched the second disk. I think I had beaten the mission that after it you had the <critical choice option> with the receptionist and the voiceover was something like ""So close, I must find this"!

I wish I had, back in the day, gotten more games from Origin. I was going through the CD-ROM catalog. I should have gotten the game a few years earlier, then had I scratched it just could have ordered it again. That and gotten the game Strike Commander. Looks like Wings Of Glory 100 years later!
 
Strike Commander was great fun, even though I'm not terrific at atmospheric flight. For all the technological achievements it made (which laid the ground work for Armada, WC3 and WC4), I had fun with it simply because of its great story. It very much felt like Privateer, but set on Earth and in less distant future time frame.

Edit: Oh, and the music is top-notch too. Nenad Vugrinec, if I recall correctly, who also composed Jazz's piano pieces in WC2, among other tracks.

Edit again: And the characters brought to life by many of the same voice actors as in Privateer. Off the top of my head, Burrows as Tex and the female pirate as Gwen.
 
Kevin Farlander said:
That's a great read!

I've had it up to here, though...why is it that some of the stuff I'm told and read...from reliable people and one web site (I won't identify it) aren't true. Then I say it and I look bad...huh? Back to print media for good.
Click to expand...

Well, there's a few different perspectives on this. There's a whole bunch of people that worked on the game when it was just "the darkening." If you ask them, they added the wing commander references and privateer title as an afterthought. This is compounded by the kneejerk reaction some fans had to the game in that it was a neat game but had a totally different flavor from the rest of the series and didn't have as and vast of a universe on a surface level. Some of these were so hostile to the idea of it being a "wing commander" title that they latch on to the stories they want to hear and repeat half-truths ad nauseum.

Erin Robert's idea was always to do a game in the vein of privateer but for most of the development there was no effort to connect it to wing commander. I probably was remembering wrong about when it was called just "Privateer - the Darkening" though as that was a middle itteration. Oddly though, there was a reference way back when WC3 was being worked on in the "unofficial WC3 FAQ" that "'Privateer 2: Darkside' will be the next installment in the Privateer series. The project, headed by Erin Roberts (Chris Roberts' brother), is currently in the initial planning stages. Like WC3, it will utilize live acting for all of the cinematic sequences, and will use an updated version of the WC3 engine for the actual gameplay." So initially they may have toyed with the idea of it actually being in the WC universe... maybe. It might just be talking about a separate project all together.

Erin Roberts' later (as in 2008 IIRC) said: " "Due to the increase in our development costs, it was decided (by people outside the development team and to be fair many at Origin also) that the Darkening had to be tied into the Wing Commander Universe. Although I did not especially agree with this decision, I could see why with the increased expense, senior management / marketing wanted to alleviate some of their risk through branding the title in the WC / Privateer Universe. Although P2 was not set in WC space, we created a number of tie ins through missions and rumours to connect the two universes, to allow the new branding to take place. "



So it went from "The Darkeing", to "Privateer - The Darkening", and Later "Privateer 2 - The Darkening."

There are several canceled P3 projects as well as at least two different Privateer Online attempts over the years. Not including the P2/P3/TV idea there was at least one other canceled P2 at the time the Darkening was being worked on. THere was also a Privateer 3, other than the one I mentioned before, that had a working engine and was cancelled litterally days before the Film shoot was supposed to happen.
 
Not to change the direction of the thread, but on the subject of 'Privateer - The Darkening' and its origins, which flight engine was used in the end? Did they go ahead with the WC3 platform?

Never ever played 'Privateer - The Darkening'... like many WC fans, don't think this really makes me any less of a WC fan :D
 
it almost reminded me more of a wwII flight sim than other WC games. since the weapons fire a lot faster. killing things with your guns is a lot more fun in P2. I rarely ever resort to missiles unless I am getting swarmed.
 
-danr- said:
Did it feel like you were playing Wing Commander in-flight?
Click to expand...

Yes, in that all Wing Commander games (by definition) feel like Wing Commander games, although they handle differently in each engine. P2 had a new engine.

NinjaLA said:
it almost reminded me more of a wwII flight sim than other WC games. since the weapons fire a lot faster. killing things with your guns is a lot more fun in P2. I rarely ever resort to missiles unless I am getting swarmed.
Click to expand...

The P2 guns are good, but the game's proximity missile was super fun to use.
 
Kevin Farlander said:
I was about halfway through it. Then I scratched the second disk. I think I had beaten the mission that after it you had the <critical choice option> with the receptionist and the voiceover was something like ""So close, I must find this"!
Click to expand...

The blonde receptionist at Sherikov Medical Equipment? That's not very far into the game's story, actually... You missed a lot.
 
I was one of the missions I had beaten...that receptionist part. My memory is a little fuzzy.

I think I busted the CD (has it been 10?) years ago. What I would give to play the game beginning to end. I liked it so much, I would played it even after I scratched it, hoping somehow it would work!

Who knows though...my understanding here is that it is not exactly a well liked game...so I probably would have not liked it once I beat it.

And what mght have happened...might have gotten boring. You know those games that have "zero replay value"? That's what I don't like: games that are fun to play that suddenly become boring 1 / 2 through the game and then have ending that leave a lot to be desired. Okay you've played it, you see what happens to everyone...On to the next game...a more "Wing Commander" related one!

Wings Of Glory sort of does that...I'll play the game for the first half and then sleepwalk through the rest of the game
 
Whether or not it's a true part of the Wing Commander universe doesn't really matter that much to me. I thought it was an enjoyable game in its own right.

The combat in Starlancer had a similar feel, too.
 
The P2D is in like 100 or 200 years past Arena Timeline...in a remote area sector of space...at least from reading S*S I've gathered that
 
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