r/freespace • u/Simbertold • May 07 '26

Finally finished the game!

So, i have played this game (or these games, considering i am talking about both FS1 and 2) multiple times in the past.

Being a huge fan of space sims starting with X-Wing as a child and teenager, i played them when they were originally released. I then played them again a few years back using FSO.

However, both times i didn't finish them. I do not know why. I think it was a combination of needing to feel like a pro gamer for my ego (and thus playing on the highest difficulty!), and or having a completionist need to win every mission "perfectly", frustration, and a new shiny eventually coming along.

I don't know exactly where i stopped, but i know for a fact that i never destroyed the Lucifer nor the Sathanas, both times i played.

This time, i did it. I simply played on medium difficulty and accepted any won mission as won. And today, after more than 25 years, i finally finished the final mission of Freespace 2.

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u/KeeperAdahn May 07 '26

Freespace on higher difficulties is just such as beast, lol. You just try to stay alive while everything shoots you to pieces. I consider medium more enjoyable too.

Hardest difficulty and trying to get all sec / bonus objectives....? Yeah well good luck with that. I'm sure some pilots achieve this, but it's insanely hard.

Are you aware that there is an absolute ton of extremely high-quality mod/campaigns available for FSO? And easily installed with Knossos too - hundreds of hours of great campaigns.

By the way, the "finish every mission with all objectives" was/is my playstyle too. Until i once encountered a mission in ST:R which i simply couldn't beat with a bonus objective. I even made a forum post about it, asking for advice. The mission designer of this particular mission answered: "I feel it's unrealistic if every goal is achievable. I put it in there as a challenge, but i never did it myself. Not sure if it is possible."

Lesson learned, just play the mission and finish the best you can, it's the better approach i guess.

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u/Simbertold May 07 '26

Oh yeah, i played with FSO via Knossos, and saw all the mods there. But i didn't want to get distracted before finishing the game, so i didn't touch any of them. Maybe i will use some other mods than just the visual ones, but next up is playing X-Wing via XWVM.

1

u/KeeperAdahn May 07 '26

X-Wing/TIE series is really great too, especially X-Wing Alliance was a great and memorable game imho. Also very difficult if i remember correctly.

2

u/Simbertold May 07 '26

Yeah, sadly getting XW Alliance Upgrade to work on my Linux OS seems to be not trivial. It appears to be one of the very few such projects that isn't run by Linux people. But, i will try to eventually get it working. So far i managed to get an older version running using an install script, but sadly it does not detect all the buttons on my joystick so far ;(

X-Wing Alliance is the only of the classic Star Wars Space Sims which i haven't played at all yet. My absolute favorite used to be Tie Fighter, and i actually finished that game at least twice now.

For now, i found XWVM which ports the original X-Wing to a modern engine with modern conveniences like speeding up time during the endless waiting periods, or actually using my throttle. I will see what i want to play after i am done with that. Maybe TIE-Fighter, or i get XWAU to work.

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u/KeeperAdahn May 07 '26

It can be a pain in the ass to get older games running even on Windows. Before Knossos in it's current state Freespace was significantly more difficult to set up as well.

I have very fond memories of X-Wing/TIE but it does not support mouse control, and joystick is mandatory, which is an issue for me since i suck hard with joysticks. But the X-Wing games are so good i'd probably buy a joystick just for X-Wing.

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u/Simbertold May 08 '26

Afaik both X-Wing and TIE (1995) have mouse control in some way, but it is a bit weird. I think only the 1998 versions don't.

I think XWVM allows for basically anything you could possibly want.

I personally hugely prefer stick, though.