Freedom Force 2 demo

[noman]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

The demo came out yesterday. It's about 200 megs. There is a bug which
causes the installation to abort with a 'missing file' error message.
The file is actually there but is not named correctly. You'll have to
add the ascii symbol for (R) after "Freedom Force" in the msi file.

The game plays just like its predecessor. So if you are fan of the
original you'll like FF2.

I never liked the first Freedom Force primarily because of the
interface and the restricted camera angles. FF2 has the same weakness.
The writing is pretty good and over-the-top in a comic book way.
It's just that the overall game controls are not enjoyable at all.
For a game that's all about real time and party based tactical
combat, a less than desirable interface is a significant drawback.

I won't be buying this game.

Interesting thing about it is that it's getting self-published
in North America by Irrational Games. I hope they have a great
experience.
--
Noman

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom> once tried to test me with:

> The demo came out yesterday. It's about 200 megs. There is a bug which
> causes the installation to abort with a 'missing file' error message.
> The file is actually there but is not named correctly. You'll have to
> add the ascii symbol for (R) after "Freedom Force" in the msi file.

I can't believe they released a demo that it too buggy to install. Talk
about shooting yourself in the foot.

> The game plays just like its predecessor. So if you are fan of the
> original you'll like FF2.
>
> I never liked the first Freedom Force primarily because of the
> interface and the restricted camera angles. FF2 has the same weakness.
> The writing is pretty good and over-the-top in a comic book way.
> It's just that the overall game controls are not enjoyable at all.
> For a game that's all about real time and party based tactical
> combat, a less than desirable interface is a significant drawback.
>
> I won't be buying this game.

I enjoyed the first bit of FF1 but I never finished it. I might get FF2 if
they have a new editor that has new features and lets you do more about
customizing your heroes than the first one did.

> Interesting thing about it is that it's getting self-published
> in North America by Irrational Games. I hope they have a great
> experience.

Well they're not off to a good start by putting out a broken demo.

Is it just on certain machines that it screws up? I mean how can you not
know your demo won't install?

--

Knight37

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

 

[noman]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Knight37 wrote:
> Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom> once tried to test me with:
>
>
>>Interesting thing about it is that it's getting self-published
>>in North America by Irrational Games. I hope they have a great
>>experience.
>

> Well they're not off to a good start by putting out a broken demo.
>
> Is it just on certain machines that it screws up? I mean how can you not
> know your demo won't install?

Yes, a few people actually got it working without renaming the *.msi
file. May be Irrational distributed a new downloadable. I got the demo
last night from filefront. Fileshack users also reported the same
problem.
--
Noman

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

Knight37 <knight37m@email.com> wrote:
>Is it just on certain machines that it screws up? I mean how can you not
>know your demo won't install?

My guess is that the files they released install just fine, but then
when one of download sites zipped them up the .msi got renamed because
of the odd character in the file name. It could also be that certain
unzip programs that people use are renaming the file when extracting.

Ross Ridge

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //

 

[nostromo]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

Thus spake Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom>, Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:45:10 -0800,
Anno Domini:

>The demo came out yesterday. It's about 200 megs. There is a bug which
>causes the installation to abort with a 'missing file' error message.
>The file is actually there but is not named correctly. You'll have to
>add the ascii symbol for (R) after "Freedom Force" in the msi file.
>
>The game plays just like its predecessor. So if you are fan of the
>original you'll like FF2.
>
>I never liked the first Freedom Force primarily because of the
>interface and the restricted camera angles. FF2 has the same weakness.
>The writing is pretty good and over-the-top in a comic book way.
>It's just that the overall game controls are not enjoyable at all.
>For a game that's all about real time and party based tactical
>combat, a less than desirable interface is a significant drawback.
>
>I won't be buying this game.
>
>Interesting thing about it is that it's getting self-published
>in North America by Irrational Games. I hope they have a great
>experience.

Steam? >;-)

One thing that put me off in the 1st one: no ability to customise a char
from scratch for the solo campaign - can anyone think of a more wanky
'superhero' in all of comic history than MinuteMan? Was that like a sexual
disfunction he had as a civilian lol? I couldn't stand going through even
the 4 o 5 missions with him before you could drop him *sigh* - hope IG
learnt something from that i.e. 95% of the world doesn't give a flying about
yankee history in the context of a superhero game...

--
No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again.
Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit?
I feel like the maid; "I just cleaned up this mess! Can we keep it clean for... for ten minutes!"

Replace 'spamfree' with the other word for 'maze' to reply via email.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:20:08 +1100, Nostromo <nostromo@spamfree.net.au>
wrote:

>Thus spake Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom>, Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:45:10 -0800,
>Anno Domini:

>>
>>I never liked the first Freedom Force primarily because of the
>>interface and the restricted camera angles. FF2 has the same weakness.
>>The writing is pretty good and over-the-top in a comic book way.
>>It's just that the overall game controls are not enjoyable at all.
>>For a game that's all about real time and party based tactical
>>combat, a less than desirable interface is a significant drawback.
>>

FYI, I didn't like the gameplay mechanics of Freedom Force - the projectile
systems seemed to be slow and easily dodgable. The controls were fine, as
they auto-paused when you attempted to do something.

>>I won't be buying this game.
>>
>>Interesting thing about it is that it's getting self-published
>>in North America by Irrational Games. I hope they have a great
>>experience.
>
>Steam? >;-)
>
>One thing that put me off in the 1st one: no ability to customise a char
>from scratch for the solo campaign - can anyone think of a more wanky
>'superhero' in all of comic history than MinuteMan?

This may have been removed because of game balance issues. As discovered
in Gurps and many other "fully-customizable" games, there are some
combinations that are unrealically powerful - just take a look at any
attribute that requires the GM's approval.

In Freedom Force I, I was planning to create a "hero" that had a powerful
instant-hit attack. Never followed through, but I feel this would have
made the campaign a push-over.

>I couldn't stand going through even
>the 4 o 5 missions with him before you could drop him *sigh* - hope IG
>learnt something from that i.e. 95% of the world doesn't give a flying about
>yankee history in the context of a superhero game...

The game technically stared at the beginning, when there was only one
superhero available. Besides, you aren't getting real American history -
just a recap of how Minute Man came into existance.

 

[noman]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

Nostromo wrote:
> Thus spake Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom>, Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:45:10 -0800,
> Anno Domini:
>
>
>>Interesting thing about it is that it's getting self-published
>>in North America by Irrational Games. I hope they have a great
>>experience.
>
> Steam? >;-)
>

No, they have set up an online store where you can buy the retail
box. In US, Sierra/Vivendi will be the distributors.

Here's an article from one of the Irrational Games founders about
their self-publishing efforts.
http://pc.ign.com/articles/586/586914p1.html
--
Noman

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

bk039@ncf.ca (Raymond Martineau) looked up from reading the entrails of
the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:20:08 +1100, Nostromo <nostromo@spamfree.net.au>
>wrote:
>
>>Thus spake Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom>, Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:45:10 -0800,
>>Anno Domini:
<snip>
>>One thing that put me off in the 1st one: no ability to customise a char
>>from scratch for the solo campaign - can anyone think of a more wanky
>>'superhero' in all of comic history than MinuteMan?

Personally I found it had to believe that any guy would deliberately
call himself Minuteman.

>This may have been removed because of game balance issues. As discovered
>in Gurps and many other "fully-customizable" games, there are some
>combinations that are unrealically powerful - just take a look at any
>attribute that requires the GM's approval.
>
>In Freedom Force I, I was planning to create a "hero" that had a powerful
>instant-hit attack. Never followed through, but I feel this would have
>made the campaign a push-over.

FF was actually pretty balanced in this. You could create a BIG HIT
attack with high accuracy, instant hit etc, but it made the "buy in"
cost of that hero VERY high - so you couldn't import them till late in
the game.

The custom hero I had was a flier (custom winged mesh I downloaded), and
had a very accurate medium damage attack (that could go to fairly high
by the end game) and I couldn't afford to bring him in until the middle
of the giant ant missions - even stacking a bunch of disadvantages on
him. The winged part was part of that since he obviously HAD to have
flight to start with and that's a 1000 cost I think.

The problem with the heroes is that all of the pregenerated ones have a
set of powers they will gain access to as they level up, but a custom
hero doesn't work that way.
You can't design a character to play like the defaults do, you start
with everything chosen accessible immediately and can pick any power
later on if you can afford to buy it.

I'd have loved to design a hero to act like the defaults do - a set of
powers they'll gain as they progress so you can't violate the concept
because of meeting certain types of enemies those powers wouldn't be
good on.


Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:45:10 -0800, Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom>
wrote:
>The game plays just like its predecessor. So if you are fan of the
>original you'll like FF2.

Some nice graphical upgrades are included. Buildings aren't just
solid blocks inside, you can actually see individual floors when you
break one open.

>I never liked the first Freedom Force primarily because of the
>interface and the restricted camera angles.

I find the camera annoying as well, you can't really watch your
battles the way it is now. If you're close enough to the ground to
get a really good view of the fight, you're looking at a patch of
ground so tiny that you can't see two groups of people fighting 20
feet apart.

As a result I end up with the view zoomed nearly all the way out
just so I can see what is happening across the street with the
rest of my team. It's not so annoying that I won't play through the
game at least once though.

>FF2 has the same weakness.

Dungeon Siege was just as annoying, I can only hope that a
fan manages to find a way to unlock the camera like they did
for DS. I don't even care that there is no sky or anything outside
the city, I'll be more than happy to ignore it as long as I can get
a ground level view down an entire street.

>The writing is pretty good and over-the-top in a comic book way.

Enough cheese for a pizza, it's great.

>It's just that the overall game controls are not enjoyable at all.
>For a game that's all about real time and party based tactical
>combat, a less than desirable interface is a significant drawback.

I find the controls easy to use and manage, but you've got to
expect that you're going to be doing some pausing of the game
when you're managing 4 different people with 8 different powers,
most of which can be fired at two different power settings. I
wouldn't even want to try to deal with a set of hotkeys that changed
for every single mission due to having different sets of heros to
control.

--
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability
of the human mind to correlate all its contents." - H.P. Lovecraft

 

[Shadows]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (More info?)

["Followup-To:" header set to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg.]
On 2005-02-20, Johnny Bravo <baawa_knight@yahoo.com> wrote:

>>The writing is pretty good and over-the-top in a comic book way.
>
> Enough cheese for a pizza, it's great.

Too cheesy for me. Boggles my mind why they would take the a
theme with the worest writing ever and then try to make the game
have real writing in it.

Maybe some people will find it nostalgic enough to enjoy it.

 

[alex]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 00:46:50 GMT, shadows <shadows@whitefang.com>
wrote:

>Maybe some people will find it nostalgic enough to enjoy it.

I liked the cheesiness of the first game not because of nostalgia - I
never read comics before the 90s - but because it's funny.


--
Alex
atheist #2007

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 10:31:55 -0500, Xocyll <Xocyll@kingston.net> wrote:

>bk039@ncf.ca (Raymond Martineau) looked up from reading the entrails of
>the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>
>>On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 12:20:08 +1100, Nostromo <nostromo@spamfree.net.au>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>Thus spake Noman <no_m_an@zzzyahoo.yycom>, Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:45:10 -0800,
>>>Anno Domini:
><snip>
>>>One thing that put me off in the 1st one: no ability to customise a char
>>>from scratch for the solo campaign - can anyone think of a more wanky
>>>'superhero' in all of comic history than MinuteMan?
>
>Personally I found it had to believe that any guy would deliberately
>call himself Minuteman.
>
>>
>>In Freedom Force I, I was planning to create a "hero" that had a powerful
>>instant-hit attack. Never followed through, but I feel this would have
>>made the campaign a push-over.
>
>FF was actually pretty balanced in this. You could create a BIG HIT
>attack with high accuracy, instant hit etc, but it made the "buy in"
>cost of that hero VERY high - so you couldn't import them till late in
>the game.

Actually, I made a heavy-hitter at a cost of 10000 - basically a modified
Gangster. IIRC, it should have been available at the time Man O War and
Sea Urchin appeared, making it feel as if it were too powerful for the
point in the game.

My character is:
- Strength 4, Speed 4, Agility 3, Endurance 5, Energy 10
- Timid (panics when hit)
- Unheroic (no insta-healing)
- Density Control (knockback immunity and jumping)
- Myopic (accurracy loss)
- Generic Direct Energy attack: Magnitude Extreme (30), Energy point cost
Medium (50), No Stun, Low Knockback (4), Long range. Air targets included.
Start time 0.88 sec, total time 2.36 sec, 1 contact.
- Material type Flesh.
- Prestigue cost: 8353. (7139 if I changed the energy point cost to
high-70, but that weakens the character.).

With this config, the character gets two heavy attacks before recharching
(very quickly, I might add.) I've looked through the list of stock
characters, and the type of attack as generally not defended against, and
thus feels extremely powerful. I've only seen the Timemaster resist that
attack, and Microwave can fix that problem.

Note the "Myopic" disadvantage. It's basically a free way to reduce the
character cost, since it doesn't penalize anything.

I haven't tested it (forgot to purchase the character first time around,
and it won't work on WinXP SP2 - the patch is due today), but it certainly
has the feeling of being the "perfect character".

(Oh, and BTW - there's one person who claimed to get unlimited prestigue in
one case: keep pounding on Deja Vu's clones.)