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 Wing Commander IV: The Search for Spock --- The year is 1996. It’s the biggest budgeted, full motion videoing-est, strangely paced space shooter in town! Presenting Chris Roberts’ epic saga of blowing poo poo apart in space because why the hell not! The Kilrathi are defeated (poor kitties  ) but trouble is afoot for some reason as everyone’s favorite character Christopher Blair (*Mark Hamill after a particularly rough weekend) is drawn back into action because of SPACE TERRORISM!--- Featuring an all star cast!       And more! --- Taking you to wondrous locations!       --- Apropos to the 90s and games shipping on a billion CDs, the adventure begins with an FMV cinematic that tells us more or less nothing, but gets us right into the mindset of blowing people up over mindless drudgery. Also, space terrorism, as I may have mentioned earlier. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpfzZg4YhA --- So whats the deal with this LP? We've been doing these for a while on YouTube and figured we'd post something on SA. If you can't tell already, this isn't a be-all, end-all museum quality playthrough of the game. We barely know what we're doing and we're just having fun with it, and figured it'd be fun to get some participation going on if we can. Also, feel free to laugh at our assorted miserable failures. It's what they're there for! Who the crap are you people? I'm Dewgy and the other guy is Professor Duck. I'm a huge goon, he's new, be nice. (Or don't, see if I care.) We do these LPs mostly out of boredom.  Is this all just a big ploy to make fun of Star Citizen? Stop spreading FUD. Maybe. I hate your voice, and your editing, and everything about you! I hope you die in a car fire!!! Feedback is welcome and appreciated! --- And with the story well underway, we can get right into the meat of the action of the stuff and begin part 1 of our journey through Wing Commander 4. Enjoy! Part 1 : Dollar Store X-Wing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3lSESi8i7w
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Oct 3, 2018 22:49
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*bong* This is your captain, Professor Duck, here. Welcome aboard VVD Spaceways, flight 240. Non-stop service to the Wing Commander Universe. Please keep your seatbelt securely fastened, as the pilot sucks at his job, and this is bound to be a bumpy ride. There is no drink service on this tub, so I hope you loaded up before you boarded. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight! *bong* Along with Dewgy, I’ll be guiding all y’all through Wind Commander IV: The Price of Freedom! I’m behind the controls, so feel free to talk about how poo poo of a flyer I am (‘cause its bad). I’ll be along to help the conversations and to sprinkle in some interesting tidbits and other materials that I find interesting. So, Wing Commander IV. Released for PC and Mac in 1996 on 6 CDs, and then “ported” (not a straight port—some material was cut and the HUD was re-worked to fit it onto just 4 discs) to the PSX in 1997. This game is the high-water mark of the “Interactive movie”, and boy did they pull out all the stops. If you look at the cast for this, Origin went bonkers picking up talent for this thing. Except for shots of ships maneuvering in space, everything was shot on a set. The game cost $12 million to produce, which was insane for the time—another “interactive movie” from the same year, Phantasmagoria II: A Puzzle of Flesh, was made on a budge of $4.5 million, so WCIV was almost 3x as expensive to produce. While that isn’t on par with movie budgets at the time, it was unheard of in 1996 (for another comparison, Duke Nukem 3D, also released in 1996, cost $300,000 to produce) I bought this game new in 1996. I still have the 6 CD set, 22 years later. This isn’t a great game, but I love this game. I hope you’ll at least enjoy it, too.
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Oct 3, 2018 22:50
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I make a semi-regular night of 'Bad Films Friday'. Malcolm McDowell is our mascot.
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Oct 3, 2018 23:44
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McDowell is from that older generation of English actors who don't give a poo poo about legacy and will show up to lick floors if you pay them enough.
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Oct 4, 2018 02:16
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Zeroisanumber posted:McDowell is from that older generation of English actors who don't give a poo poo about legacy and will show up to lick floors if you pay them enough. He has quite the...interesting...history via IMDB. ...and apparently he's hard up for money because holy crap he's been in (and going to be in) a ton of stuff over the last decade
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Oct 4, 2018 20:59
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Pinocchio 3000 was not his finest hour, trust me.
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Oct 4, 2018 22:42
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I used to think the opening of this game was sooo coooool maaaaaan.
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Oct 5, 2018 08:07
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Dreadwroth posted:I used to think the opening of this game was sooo coooool maaaaaan. Yeah, they're easy to mock now but 90s FMV was the best thing ever to early teens when those games were released. And the interesting thing about that generation of British ex-stage actors is that they're not hard up for money. They just come from a professional tradition of not turning down a role just because it's rubbish and the director is a lunatic. If you can pay Sir Patrick Stewart's fee, he will turn up and act in your school play.
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Oct 5, 2018 10:36
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I think there's a certain sort of actor who just loves chewing scenery, the paycheck is a nice bonus.
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Oct 5, 2018 18:13
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lofi posted:I think there's a certain sort of actor who just loves chewing scenery, the paycheck is a nice bonus. Cate Blanchett once said in an interview that she took the role of Hela in Thor: Ragnarok because it was a simple, fun job that asked nothing of her as an actress and Waititi's only direction to her was "I want it MORE smug and hammy!"
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Oct 5, 2018 18:25
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Cythereal posted:Cate Blanchett once said in an interview that she took the role of Hela in Thor: Ragnarok because it was a simple, fun job that asked nothing of her as an actress and Waititi's only direction to her was "I want it MORE smug and hammy!"
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Oct 5, 2018 19:17
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lofi posted:I think there's a certain sort of actor who just loves chewing scenery, the paycheck is a nice bonus. I can tell you I'm one of those actors, although my fee is much more reasonable and I'm not British.
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Oct 5, 2018 20:27
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Dreadwroth posted:I used to think the opening of this game was sooo coooool maaaaaan. The 12-year-old from 1996 in me still is in awe of it. I'm playing a movie!
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Oct 5, 2018 20:30
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Loxbourne posted:And the interesting thing about that generation of British ex-stage actors is that they're not hard up for money. They just come from a professional tradition of not turning down a role just because it's rubbish and the director is a lunatic. If you can pay Sir Patrick Stewart's fee, he will turn up and act in your school play. There's a quote from Michael Caine, who was in the universally panned Jaws: the Revenge, when he was asked what he thought of it. He answered, "I've never seen it, but I hear it was dreadful. However, I've been in the swimming pool I bought with the money I made for it, and that was just wonderful." Epicurius fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 21:33
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Epicurius posted:There's a quote from Michael Caine, who was in the universally panned Jaws: the Revenge, when he was asked what he thought of it. He answered, "I've never seen it, but I hear it was dreadful. However, I've been in the swimming pool I bought with the money I made for it, and that was just wonderful." It's true of some American actors too. One of my mom's friends is a local indie filmmaker, and he was all stoked about having Eric Roberts! in his movie. And it was like, man, that's great! I'm happy to hear the check cleared. On a non-Eric Roberts note, but still with plenty of bad acting, I bring you part two, featuring photo mode! ...sort of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NmJZOY7zvY
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Oct 6, 2018 19:34
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In this post addendum, I'd like to talk about my person experience with this game. I mentioned it above, but I got this game in 1996, about a month after it came out. I was with my parents on a shopping trip to Staples, looking for printer ink. I would usually wander around stores on my own and check out random stuff until I cam across my parents again and we checked out and left. This wasn't going to be a long trip, so I wanted to see what PC software they had, so I wandered over there. I spied the box on the shelf--I had no idea that there was even a Wing Commander 2 and 3, let alone 4. I had played the crap out of the ports of Wind Commander and Secret Missions for the SNES, so this was my first time seeing it as a PC title (I was mostly a console kid--the first computer I had, which was 2 year before this, as we upgraded at Christmas, ran on DOS and had a CGA monitor. It also had a Turbo button that did nothing when pushed--the yellow LED was always on). I read over the box and was immediately sold, so I had to come up with something so that my parents would let me have it. I settled on using my report card, as it was good and they would usually reward me with something small that I wanted for it. It worked, and I took it home that day, This was the first PC game that I really owned (any game that we had for the old computer were throw-aways from our family friends), and it's still one that I can remember well. I have no idea how many hours I've put into this over the time that I had it installed on there, and on the next computer that we upgraded to. I remember being disappointed that it wouldn't work on my Windows ME machine (which was good, because that thing would've somehow managed to ruin the CDs if I had got it working--that machine and that OS were cancerous), and it still sits on the desk in my room--the original 6 CD set that I bought all the time ago. I think I still have the box somewhere, too! Anyway, enough nostalgia posting. Go and enjoy part 2!
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Oct 6, 2018 20:55
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I remember "borrowing" this game (the original 6 cd version) from an ex-friend years ago. Guy was from a filthy rich family so I doubt he ever felt the loss anyway. In any case I ended up losing the box due to moving house several times now. also did anyone spot Casper van Dien in that first video?
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Oct 7, 2018 16:33
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The Confederation lost its greatest hero today.... 5 or 6 times, IDEK, stopped counting. 
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Oct 8, 2018 00:10
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Ah, back when GAMES of this story were made.
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Oct 8, 2018 17:58
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Professor Duck posted:In this post addendum, I'd like to talk about my person experience with this game. Man, this takes me back; did you guys do, or will you guys do, WCIII and or WC V? This series of games and its FMV magic more or less defined my PC gaming experience as a kid (along with Civ and Civ 2); my little mind was blown the first time I saw a hand on the control stick, moving along with my input! in WCII. Also, I didn't realize until much later that Ginger Lynn was in WCIII.
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Oct 8, 2018 21:54
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I totally spotted Casper Van Diem, that plow chin is hard to miss. I keep wanting to think the rear end in a top hat dude with the eyeliner and tan is from some soap opera. Holy crap, after checking IMDB, he has been in a ton of movies. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0750852/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t6 Oh thats why he looks familiar, he was in Babylon 5.
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Oct 8, 2018 22:01
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Wow, that actor bio!quote:Robert Rusler - actor, athlete, writer, and natural performer - was born on September 20, 1965, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He soon moved to Hawaii, where he lived on Waikiki Beach and started surfing and skateboarding on a semi-professional level. At a young age his family moved to Los Angeles, where he began his martial arts career and entered many competitions. Then the bug struck to become an actor and Robert, right out of high school, met his manager and began taking acting classes
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Oct 8, 2018 22:28
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Bliss Authority posted:The Confederation lost its greatest hero today.... It's, uh, gonna get worse
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Oct 8, 2018 23:39
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CourValant posted:Man, this takes me back; did you guys do, or will you guys do, WCIII and or WC V? I've never actually played 3 or Prophecy. It could be something that we might consider--I'd have to defer to Dewgy to see if he'd want to subject himself to my horrid piloting skills for potentially 2 more of these things. I tried watching a YouTube LP of Prophecy, and got maybe 5 minutes into it before I got pissed off about how he knew nothing about any of the games that came before it...that and he just kinda moved around as slow as hell. I'm at least TRYING to keep things moving...my flying skills prevent this sometimes...
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Oct 8, 2018 23:43
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Professor Duck posted:I've never actually played 3 or Prophecy. It could be something that we might consider--I'd have to defer to Dewgy to see if he'd want to subject himself to my horrid piloting skills for potentially 2 more of these things. Ginger. Lynn. FMV.  Professor Duck posted:I tried watching a YouTube LP of Prophecy, and got maybe 5 minutes into it before I got pissed off about how he knew nothing about any of the games that came before it...that and he just kinda moved around as slow as hell. I'm at least TRYING to keep things moving...my flying skills prevent this sometimes... Eh, you couldn't have been worst than I was, back in the day. I remember not being able to get past missions in the WCII days; I'd enter the invulnerability cheat code and ram all of the enemies until they exploded, including Cap Ships.
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Oct 8, 2018 23:51
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What I remember of Prophecy is that is probably the hardest combat in the series, the story was kind of interesting I guess?
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Oct 9, 2018 06:14
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Dreadwroth posted:What I remember of Prophecy is that is probably the hardest combat in the series, the story was kind of interesting I guess? I really liked the design of the Nephilim. I dig the organic technology look, and I thought the Nephilim did a great job of visually presenting a wholly alien threat in a way I don't think the Kilrathi quite managed. Also, the Devastator was worth the price of admission with that plasma cannon.
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Oct 9, 2018 06:22
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If anyone's interested in a WCIII playthrough, the guys at Spacedock are doing a run on their Twitch.tv stream. Kinda infrequent though. Don't remember much about the actual mission structure but I do love the BW Banshee design, it looks utilitarian and not a plane in space like Confed's Arrow and Hellcat.
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Oct 9, 2018 12:00
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Dreadwroth posted:What I remember of Prophecy is that is probably the hardest combat in the series, the story was kind of interesting I guess? Well that bodes well if we decide to do that, given how garbage I am right now with this.
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Oct 9, 2018 20:34
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Dreadwroth posted:What I remember of Prophecy is that is probably the hardest combat in the series, the story was kind of interesting I guess? Professor Duck posted:Well that bodes well if we decide to do that, given how garbage I am right now with this. Actually, I thought the combat in Prophesy was the most 'arcade-esque' of the series, take that for what you will. I had the most fun with it, is what I'm trying to say, lots of bells, bangs, flashes and whistles. In fact, I would say Prophesy plays almost like a stand-alone game, or a possible reboot / start of another series. Too bad it didn't go anywhere. Its worth a play-through and or LP here. 
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Oct 9, 2018 21:13
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Professor Duck posted:Well that bodes well if we decide to do that, given how garbage I am right now with this. If you'd only bothered to spring for a proper Gravis joystick we wouldn't be having these issues! Harumph! But, given that I didn't either, I can't complain. And I'd say it's about time to get into part 3 of this deal!  New faces arrive and some shakeups occur, and we come back in as our main plot slooooooowly gets started. Very slowly. Oh also we explode a lot in this one too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DCbPl8JDpQ
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Oct 11, 2018 18:17
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Dewgy posted:If you'd only bothered to spring for a proper Gravis joystick we wouldn't be having these issues! Harumph! I'm telling ya, I need to find a Steel Battalion joystick for this to work properly. Anyway, for the supplementary material on today's post, I present Wing Commander IV's Post-Mortem document I don't know if documents like this are standard-issue in the game development world, but its a neat look into the developer's reactions to what they had created, reactions from various places on the internet (which some are amusing to read through), copies of magazine reviews, and a bug list from the playtesters (which feels like either the devs didn't care or "CR" [guess who!] just wanted the drat thing to ship). Overall, its an interesting read to get insight into what goes into a game Also, the QA cycle on this was 6 months, which seems insane to me given the budget they were playing with (which, if you didn't catch it before, was about $12 million) Also, special mention to the insert article in one of the reviews "Is it Time to Take Interactive Movies Seriously?". It's humorous in retrospect. Enjoy! Feel free to keep laughing at my lovely piloting skills!
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Oct 11, 2018 20:37
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Have you guys tried the mouse controls? It might be a bit better for aiming. (Alt-O accesses the inflight options menu if you're not aware)
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Oct 12, 2018 08:05
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RangerKarl posted:Have you guys tried the mouse controls? It might be a bit better for aiming. (Alt-O accesses the inflight options menu if you're not aware) I haven't tried mouse controls, no. It might be something worth mucking about with off-camera, though--thanks!
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Oct 12, 2018 20:00
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Professor Duck posted:I haven't tried mouse controls, no. It might be something worth mucking about with off-camera, though--thanks! We’ll have to see if that leads to less constant death, yeah. But first! We have part 4, and the plot ramps up. We even get a new computer out of the deal, hell yeah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGTLJYSt9k0
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Oct 13, 2018 23:53
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So what strikes me first here is that they did away with the cockpit. 1, 2 and 3 had detailed cockpits which helped sell the whole "WWII Pacific Theater In Space Also The Japanese Are Tiger Mans"-thing and made you, you know, feel like you were piloting something. Lacking a cockpit isn't necessarily a dealbreaker, Freespace did well enough without it, it just seems weird considering that WC4 seems to want so hard to nail the presentation, that they scrapped a relatively easy way to draw the player in just a bit more. What strikes me second is just how... lame these fights are. In Freespace, hell, even in the earlier Wing Commanders, it felt like you got tossed into huge, battle-feeling scrums early on. Here you pop out, shoot two dudes, pop back in for more FMV. I mean, without the failure reel, it feels like there's more FMV than gameplay so far. Also is it 4 or 5 that has an apparently legitimate branching path option but one of them gives you a dead-man-walking scenario, so if you weren't keeping regular saves, lol sucks to be you?
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Oct 13, 2018 23:57
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Isn't that most of the Wing Commanders, or at least be put in a branch that becomes nearly impossible to dig yourself out of? I remember it for the second but I might be confusing it with the Secret Missions.
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Oct 14, 2018 00:10
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Sage Grimm posted:Isn't that most of the Wing Commanders, or at least be put in a branch that becomes nearly impossible to dig yourself out of? I remember it for the second but I might be confusing it with the Secret Missions. I think 1 and 2 just have branches that are harder, and result in less happy events. Plus they're less choices, and more "did you gently caress up this mission or not."-checks.
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Oct 14, 2018 00:52
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PurpleXVI posted:I think 1 and 2 just have branches that are harder, and result in less happy events. Plus they're less choices, and more "did you gently caress up this mission or not."-checks. The original Wing Commander actually has that path--I know because, when Dewgy and I played the original for our channel, we didn't put part 3 in there because that was the endgame. You just...lost the war, the end. I think Secret Missions did that, too. PurpleXVI posted:So what strikes me first here is that they did away with the cockpit. That was something I read about a lot in this one (the lack of cockpit view, that is). IIRC, somewhere in documents it talks about not wanting to build a set for it, or something like that--basically, they couldn't get it to mesh with what they were doing. PurpleXVI posted:
Well, they were aiming for "interactive movie" (and spent huge money on actors), so they milked that for all it was worth. Also, there is more FMV to gameplay, and I realize that I'm terrible
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Oct 14, 2018 01:21
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Sage Grimm posted:Isn't that most of the Wing Commanders, or at least be put in a branch that becomes nearly impossible to dig yourself out of? I remember it for the second but I might be confusing it with the Secret Missions. You can lose Wing Commander 4 in the ending cutscene  Though I am not sure if it branches much. I was decent at space flying by then so I didn't really fail many missions Veloxyll fucked around with this message at 10:57 on Oct 15, 2018 |
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Oct 15, 2018 10:54
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