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Post by Cola Powered Gamer on Aug 3, 2019 5:58:12 GMT -5
What an amazing and an in-depth review of Wing Commander. I liked that he covered almost everything and in such great detail. Full review here
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Post by teroknor on Aug 3, 2019 10:55:11 GMT -5
The anecdote about X-Wing being delayed after the developers seeing the Wing Commander demo at the 1990 summer CES is not correct. I think it originally came from this article, but the timeline doesn't match up. Larry Holland's game shown at that show was Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, not X-Wing. SWOTL wasn't released until late 1991, and work on X-Wing didn't start until then, i.e. after Wing Commander II was already out. The error is acknowledged here, but it looks like the original article was never updated with that information.
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Lord Dalek
Full Member
WHY DOES HE HAVE A SECOND/THIRD/FORTH/ETC. FORM?!?!
Posts: 249
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Post by Lord Dalek on Aug 3, 2019 21:51:38 GMT -5
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Post by Discoalucard on Aug 3, 2019 23:04:29 GMT -5
The anecdote about X-Wing being delayed after the developers seeing the Wing Commander demo at the 1990 summer CES is not correct. I think it originally came from this article, but the timeline doesn't match up. Larry Holland's game shown at that show was Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, not X-Wing. SWOTL wasn't released until late 1991, and work on X-Wing didn't start until then, i.e. after Wing Commander II was already out. The error is acknowledged here, but it looks like the original article was never updated with that information. I agree this seems to be the case. I edited it out. That forum thread has this rather snarky response from one of the X-Wing developers: Kind of a bullshit sentiment!
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Post by dsparil on Aug 5, 2019 8:39:49 GMT -5
I've had the first one for a very long time, but I've never been able to get into the series. That X-Wing developer was being overly snarky, but I always preferred how the X-Wing games were more like simulations. I mainly really hate the asteroids though. That's always been my stumbling block. They're way too dense although I suppose you can just go around them. I really should just suck it up and push past that.
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fuchs1a
New Member
former 50 Cent Bulletproof QA Tester
Posts: 3
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Post by fuchs1a on Aug 9, 2019 13:55:56 GMT -5
Hi all! fuchs1a aka AB Silvera here. I'm doing this Wing Commander series, and wanted to start by saying thanks for all the kind words! Thought I'd address a few things brought up: What an amazing and an in-depth review of Wing Commander. I liked that he covered almost everything and in such great detail. Full review hereThank you! It's 'she' btw My bad! You said this JUST as I got to the bit in the first Wing Commander novel in which Knight appears. He's been added to the article. Oops, my bad again! Thanks for catching that. Kurt edited that out before I got to it. I took it from the article you mention, and had no idea the anecdote was inaccurate. Real talk: I've never cleared WC1 and 2 without cheats. Call me a fake gamer girl if you wanna, but those first two games are monstrously difficult, plus for years I couldn't figure out how to set the clock speed right for them. As part of research for this piece, I did learn how to do that, so: look forward to seeing me try to play through WC1 and 2 with no cheats on YouTube, haha. That's all I have for now! The articles will cover the entire series, with my inspiration for it being the fantastic series on Ultima on the site. I also hope to make video versions of these essays. Thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad you're enjoying my work!
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Post by Nester the Lark on Aug 9, 2019 23:07:23 GMT -5
Just wanted to say, I'm really enjoying this article series as well! I was a big Wing Commander fan back in the '90s. It was one of those games where about once a year, I'd spend a week or two just playing through the whole series. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the articles!
One thing, though. You don't go into much detail about the Kilrathi Saga versions. Not sure if you just didn't think it was worth mentioning or if it'll have it's own separate section later, but aside from all three games being ported to work natively in Windows, it did have some interesting upgrades. Mainly, Wing Commander I and II had completely reorchestrated soundtracks by George Oldziey, as well as entirely new sound effects. Wing Commander III also had it's music reworked (outside of cutscenes), for the better, I think. WC1 and 2 also have the option to remove the cockpits, so you get a full screen view of space. And finally, the invincibility cheats in WC1 and 2 can be activated directly from the launcher, but IIRC, it automatically changes your call sign to "Cheater."
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fuchs1a
New Member
former 50 Cent Bulletproof QA Tester
Posts: 3
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Post by fuchs1a on Aug 10, 2019 7:04:37 GMT -5
Just wanted to say, I'm really enjoying this article series as well! I was a big Wing Commander fan back in the '90s. It was one of those games where about once a year, I'd spend a week or two just playing through the whole series. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the articles! One thing, though. You don't go into much detail about the Kilrathi Saga versions. Not sure if you just didn't think it was worth mentioning or if it'll have it's own separate section later, but aside from all three games being ported to work natively in Windows, it did have some interesting upgrades. Mainly, Wing Commander I and II had completely reorchestrated soundtracks by George Oldziey, as well as entirely new sound effects. Wing Commander III also had it's music reworked (outside of cutscenes), for the better, I think. WC1 and 2 also have the option to remove the cockpits, so you get a full screen view of space. And finally, the invincibility cheats in WC1 and 2 can be activated directly from the launcher, but IIRC, it automatically changes your call sign to "Cheater." I had no idea about the music for WC1 and 2 being re-done by Oldziey! I hadn't seen anything about that on my research of Kilrathi Saga. I did forget to add the cockpit removal stuff, as well as the ITTS system in Wing Commander 2. I'll add some of this info in an edit soon, thanks for catching it! I never had the Kilrathi Saga back in the day, and yeah, the research said nothing about the soundtracks. Thanks again!
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Post by Sac (a.k.a Icaras) on Aug 10, 2019 8:36:15 GMT -5
Just checking my Kilrathi Saga box, and it states: NEW FEATURES INCLUDE Modified for Windows 95- no more DOS installation
Over 100 hours of Game Play. 3 full games!
Speed adjusted - older games run at normal speed on contemporary machines. Full instrumental re-orchestration by Wing Commander III and IV composer, George Oldziey.
Music and sound effects converted to top-quality digital sound.
Optional drop-away cockpit support. Play with or without the cockpit in all three games
Throttle and Rudder pedal support in Wind Commander III.Sadly, I don't think it runs in Windows 10 (If anybody is interested I'll try later, I don't feel like messing around with it ATM). I also lost the 1997 calendar that came in the box Oh yes, the secret mission add-ons for 1 and I believe 2 were available, but not in the box, they were separate downloads, probably still out there somewhere.
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Post by Dracula on a bike on Aug 13, 2019 8:52:46 GMT -5
Sadly, I don't think it runs in Windows 10 (If anybody is interested I'll try later, I don't feel like messing around with it ATM). It looks like there are some unofficial patches to Kilrathi Saga for compatibility with newer Windows versions: Oh yes, the secret mission add-ons for 1 and I believe 2 were available, but not in the box, they were separate downloads, probably still out there somewhere. It looks like those are currently available from here:
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Post by Cola Powered Gamer on Aug 29, 2019 18:15:01 GMT -5
Sorry, for the mistake, I just assumed based on initials. Anyway, excellent review and I like that went into great detail. Keep up the good work Also, I wanted to announce that my review got feature on Wing Commnader CIC. Here's the link: www.wcnews.com/news/2019/08/28/indies-plus-cola-equals-wing-commander-reviewP.S. They tell me it is possible to shoot down capships with just your guns, but it takes a little longer. I was never able to shoot down the cap ship, with Hornet. The freighters shields just kept coming back up. If anyone was able to do this, please let me know.
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Post by Cola Powered Gamer on Oct 8, 2019 19:18:48 GMT -5
Will, there be reviews of other games in the series? I enjoyed reading the reviews, and would like to see more of them!
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Post by Discoalucard on Oct 10, 2019 12:18:14 GMT -5
Yup, they're just spread out a bit. Right now, Strike Commander, Academy, and Armada are scheduled for before the end of the year (and I think Privateer too?). The author is still working on the rest.
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Post by Cola Powered Gamer on Oct 16, 2019 20:55:07 GMT -5
Great, can't wait for more reviews. Is there any chance that she will review Space Rogue? It's one of the early space sim games, from 1989 I think? Anyway, great reviews, and well researched too!
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Post by Discoalucard on Oct 17, 2019 8:13:44 GMT -5
It's not currently in the plans, but I'll ask her.
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