FreeLancer's Future

    Hi fellow Freelancers I was Just wondering how long do you guys thank our favorite Space Sim FreeLancer will last. Now that the new EVE online game has come into play.


    Just in case some of you guys don't know what I'm Talking about. It is a new game like Freelancer but with better graphics and a whole lot more complex game play. And the fact that Freelancer is 6 years old now, and gradually getting older as the years go by.


    Games are gradually getting bigger and better evrey year and will eventually leave the old classics behind. were dos that leave FreeLancer? And the FreeLancer community?


    I just hope Regardless how meny years go by that there will always be a server for FreeLancer lovers to play and chat on. And that there will always be a Programer out there to keep on wanting to do improvments to make the classic game FreeLancer last for whale longer.


    Regrards FreeLancer Trent Shepard

    First off, Freelancers is A LOT older than 6 years old. I alone have had it longer than that.


    Second, EVE Online requires money to play, a lot like WoW, which is the biggest reason a lot of people don't play it. I will admit I have played it, and peronally, it feels like X3 jacked up a little then spun dizzy.


    Third, Freelancer will continue to exist as long as it's allowed to be modded. Personally, that's the only reason I still play it; because I enjoy pushing it to the point where it's short of dividing by zero. It's sad, but once my daughter gets old enough, I'm going to teach her how to mod games, starting with Freelancer.


    The best way, and I really find it funny now, is to go and look at the Freelancer Archives. Search for anything posted by me, then compare that to what I've said here. How I find it funny is that only three years ago I knew nothing, and now I know more than I did then plus more.


    I don't see Freelancer dying any time within the near future. Eventually, something like an FL2 will be made, but until then we will all continue to work towards out next best design.

    Yeh, there still aren't many competitors for FL directly. It's free to play after buying the game, it's decently mod-able, the community itself is making advances where the devs left off, and the play style (more space flight FPS than RTS or true Sim) is still just the right mix of fast pace and exploration. The mod part is great in any game, since a real MMO type is only expanded by the devs -with perhaps a few little guiding suggestions from their community.

    Quote from "Alfa Astrix"

    First off, Freelancers is A LOT older than 6 years old. I alone have had it longer than that.


    Were you a beta tester then? It was only released March 2003 lol

    Simply put, Freelancer is just easy somehow. For modding, playing, goofing with, w/e. And about that upcoming Jumpgate MMOG, I think it will only compete with freelancer if it has both a singleplayer aspect, as well as not charging you for an entry level pass for MP like EvE does. EvE has nothing on freelancer, because it is not moddable, and there is no "twich" combat. M O's.

    Don't tell Locke what he can't do.
    And remember always to regenerate!

    Quote from "Gibbon"

    Were you a beta tester then? It was only released March 2003 lol


    You're probably right. I may have my time frames mixed up. But I could have sworn I've had it for ~8 years now.

    I like Freelancer because it has released my "inner creativity".
    (a new outlet that expanded my horizons).
    It stimulates my imagination and makes me dream.
    I remember dreaming about it a lot after I became really involved
    with it after the first few days.


    EVE is interesting to say the least once you get past the idea of having to pay
    a fee to play every month. But, still it's not the same as Freelancer. It's
    unique. As a matter of fact, I've seen a lot of mod "suggestions" and ideas
    get brought into Freelancer from the EVE world.
    Things started adding up and making more sense to me after I started playing
    EVE and realizing what people were doing and asking to be done to Freelancer.


    I've seen ideas come in from Universal Combat (re: planetary interaction).
    I've seen ideas come in from HALO (re: Ship board encoutners).
    Warping, Interstellar Jumping, long range targeting weapons and all
    other sorts of additional add-ons.


    THATS the reason Freelancer is so incredibly popular and will continue to have
    a following. Because ideas from other games CAN be implemented into
    Freelancer. (although some of those marvelous ideas will never see the light
    of day in Freelancer simply because those ideas are not supported by the
    game engine).


    Freelancer has, in it's own right since its release, opened up a whole can of
    worms.

    I agree. But I think that Freelancer would really need a better engine this days to stay competitive in graphics. I don´t want to mock around but you have to admitt that an engine, released in 2003, which doesn´t even support bumpmaps and all that is rather wierd and really looks old fashioned. And also the possibilities are limited. Yes, the community has found a lot to add/enable. But the most things most exciting and most need for real further progress in modding are not possible or hidden too deep, like warping, fair cloaking, really transferable engines, multiple sectors, etc..

    i presonally don't care if its old. I finished SP many years ago and now playing on a new server {with only few people}.
    For me, it's the best game in the world. When i'll have children, i'll show them FL, at least. I'm sure they'll like it.

    Escapism without a vast learning curve or the need to constantly live a pretend life to keep up, gives FL the edge.


    Yep the graphics are limited but some people are doing interesting things with that and animations.


    But when push comes to shove it is the gameplay and potentials that keep a game alive not the pretty pictures, unless you have no imagination and need everything pumped directly into your cortex.

    Quote from "Tunicle"

    Escapism without a vast learning curve or the need to constantly live a pretend life to keep up, gives FL the edge.


    Yep the graphics are limited but some people are doing interesting things with that and animations.


    But when push comes to shove it is the gameplay and potentials that keep a game alive not the pretty pictures, unless you have no imagination and need everything pumped directly into your cortex.


    Tunicle,
    You have effectively hit the nail on the head. As I've said before, Freelancer is the genuine article; not only does this game give the player a vast world to explore and modders plenty of room to work, it also provides genuine escapism w/o demanding one's entire life to acomplish plain ole' fun. Let's hope it finds it's way well into the future. Thanks,
    Lancerwarrior

    "A little excitement in an otherwise dull day..."

    And again, people compare FL to EVE. EVE is NOTHING compared to Freelancer when it comes to gameplay... the hardcore battles, the style, everything.... Even if EVE has more graphics and more features, that's still not as good as FL I think.


    BTW, FL will have better graphics soon :mrgreen:

    first time i saw EVE i was like 'wwwwow sequal of freelancer'
    after first hour... it was
    WTF is this is something gonna happen at all
    after 10h ingame...
    WTF im doing something wrong nothing happens
    after 1 day ingame...
    OK THIS IS NOTHING TO DO WITH FL, EVE is PointNClick game.
    like patiance games which come with windows, u pay it on ur own...
    ENGINE is TERRIBLE, outboard camera LOOOOL, i was rly shocked.


    yes freelancer engine is missnig serverside parts for massive multiplayer
    however it can b easy compensated by fiew tricks, as well as, well desinged roleplay rules
    IMO game engine is excellent motion, anims, all done quite fiew years ago, its not requiring good comps, fancy internet connections, all it requires its PLAYER.


    eaven comparing this two its nothing but insult for FL....


    who likes eve can play WoW and others pay_for_ur_"SKILL" games, freelancer is pure skill=skill game.
    sry for hard words i dont know how to xplain it better...

    I have to say amen to that. FL I think is in it's own group for two major reasons.


    1) Like Knife said, it's skill = skill, not $ = skill. I personally can't stand it when a n00b claims they're 1337 and just because their mommy and daddy have credit cards, they can stand that.
    2) Even though the game was rushed out, it still ended up pretty good (think if they haddn't rushed it). And with that, we actually benefit with it becoming so easy to mod and get our ideas out there. As I've said before, I personally only still play FL to mod it. With that said, I want to show me and my teams latest ship we're going to have in our up coming project (still needing people to help, textureres especially). And for future questions, yes, the pilots are the exact same size as the default FL pilots.

    Tunicle wrote:

    Quote

    But when push comes to shove it is the gameplay and potentials that keep a game alive not the pretty pictures, unless you have no imagination and need everything pumped directly into your cortex.

    For anyone who knows us it will come as no surprise that I whole heartedly second that. People do not play Chess because of the fantastic graphics. It is amazing how many games are made these days with graphics that would test a pc with a terrabite of RAM and the game play is crap. FL has a game play that you can immerse yourself into on many levels from the minute you start it. The open ended nature of Vanilla FL has also transferred readily into MP. Again so many games are on a per mission basis and you can start in the same place to repeat the same mission until you are old and grey (if not already), while FL has a natural flow without you having to give up your real life to flow with it.


    Furhter, anyone who thinks that the "unfinished" feel of Vanilla was a drawback is pure nuts. It is nearly as though the developers gifted us the start of a story and asked us to put our own ending to it. Look at the variety of story lines, game codes and upgrades that have grown in so many different directions from the one beginning. If FL had been an open and shut finished article none of the work Lancers have done in the last 6+ years would exist.

    A good game can stay good for a long time. For example, I recently took out my old X Beyond the Frontier CD and started playing it again. That game came out in 1999 - which is ancient by PC game standards. Still, I've been having blast with it. I'd also forgotten how much Freelancer is derived from it.


    Now FL is a much more interesting game than XBTF, in which the action is very slow in comparison. Notice that new folks are still discovering FL and getting hooked on it. I expect FL to be around in some shape or form for many more years.

    I play FL since 2005, and i joined EVE-Online this years for short while. I got to say FL gameplay have the full time actions, while in EVE you are a commander and much of a "CPU" of that ship you're flying.


    I find FL gameplay is rather simplicated. EVE-Online combat system are complex, one wrong move can leads to losing alot money, another word: which is much more fun when there are risk. PvP/PK/Camping is alot fun too.


    For all the comparasions i did move on to EVE and i like it alot (Feel realistic and powered). But im back to FL because is much of a "freeware" game with good expansion like the Plasmafire mod that gives new effect toward FL. EVE requires monthly timecode, but can be replace with ingame ISK money for timecode. Mean if you know how to make alot money (ISK) in the game, you'll never need pay a cent to play in EVE!

    I had to take a break from Freelancer due to a lack of interest in the
    community I was building a mod for, and a lack of needed assistance
    in resolving a particular problem that had left me scratching my head.
    I think I've figured out what the problem is finally. Now I just need to
    get the motivation back to continue working on it.


    It was turning into a large mod with the addition of new, original,
    custom built ships, additional factions, a lot of visual changes
    and new systems.


    Honestly, I still prefer Freelancer. But besides it's modability, I noticed
    a lot of "copying" of things from EVE and other games into other mods
    of Freelancer out there. Frankly, seeing all that dissappoints me.
    Sure as hell isn't easy when you're doing it by yourself for about two years.


    imho:
    Where do you think the "active economy", warping, dockable ships, refining,
    building stuff, player owned stations, yada yada yada (and the list goes on
    and on) ideas came from?


    Global server went down prematurely because the system was hacked into
    to attack MS. It wouldn't surprise me if there is a connection to the former as
    retrubution for the plagerism that MS wouldn't do anything about.
    No, this isn't a far fetched crazy thought. It's damned probable.


    Eve has been around longer than Freelancer, but, I still prefer Freelancer
    more than eve. Why? Because I can be creative with it.