Is CIC the only place where Arena gets positive feedback?

Bandit LOAF said:
I think the big thing is that in setting up the backstory for Arena, they were insistent that the exact details of the Nephilim stuff *not* be revealed -- that suggest, to me, that it's a potential playground for a future story (I certainly wouldn't count on seeing Casey again, soon... and definately not Steven Petraca).
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You know what? I actually think I'd be fine with not seeing Casey again.

I have nothing against Prophecy or anything, but, for whatever reason, I was just never "sold" on Casey and his friends. Don't know why, but I just never felt as attached to them as I did the original characters.

Bandit LOAF said:
That said, I know Chris Roberts has a 'prequel' concept that he'd like to develop given the right conditions...
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A Chris Roberts involved WC prequel would definitely be cool, assuming he'd be willing to stop working on movies long enough to do it.

Any idea if the prequel he's interested in developing would deal with the start of the war with the Kilrathi? Or, would it focus more on the Pilgrim war?
 
For whatever reason Casey never resonated as much Blair with the fanbase.

A WC prequel with Chris Roberts might be awesome, I still believe he can make a good game.
 
Delance said:
For whatever reason Casey never resonated as much Blair with the fanbase.
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It was a pretty tough gig though - i mean when "Blair" actually got introduced as more than a character that you named for him yourself, you already knew his backstory from the other games.
 
Dougly said:
Any idea if the prequel he's interested in developing would deal with the start of the war with the Kilrathi? Or, would it focus more on the Pilgrim war?
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The details involving the prequel are unknown, but Roberts famously said that he would enjoy returning to the series. That quote was on the CIC front page for a long, long time.
 
Dougly said:
A Chris Roberts involved WC prequel would definitely be cool, assuming he'd be willing to stop working on movies long enough to do it.
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If you ask me, only he could create a 'real' Wing Commander 6, or Prequel.
It depends a lot on the budget too.

One of the C&C 3 devs said, that they had to add FMVs to to create a real C&C title.
And they got at least a few known actors.

If Wing Commander comes back, it has to come back with a boom. Otherwise only the fans would play it and be disappointed though.


The difference to C&C is, that Wing Commander is dead now way longer than C&C was...
 
He wasn't involved in "Wing Commander 5". The idea that Chris Roberts is necessary to the series is wrong -- and it's something that's helped to prevent new games for quite a while.
 
DaBrain said:
The difference to C&C is, that Wing Commander is dead now way longer than C&C was...
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Not to be snide, but *I've* been here for over seven years. Wing Commander has been far, far from dead - under the radar, at worst - but never dead and certainly not forgotten.
 
For my part, here's where I get a bit "stuck" about being completely bullish for Arena.

No (or at best limited) Z-axis control. One of the things that defined Wing Commander in the early days was that, yes, it had full 100% control on all three axes in three-dimensional space. In the early 90s that was huge, and it became a staple of the series.

It just feels... bizzare, not having that kind of control. It looks like you can do a loop-de-loop but little else. I know LOAF is impressed with the title, and that gives me a lot of hope since he's probably the hardest sell of anyone here concerning a "proper" WC game, but... I dunno.

The game itself looks fun, I'll readily confess. Crazy missile spammy fun with big blasty objectives to fight around. It just... doesn't resonate as "Wing Commander" for me. Wing Commander was always about tight control of resources on your fighter, and palm-sweating full 3D maneuvers. I just can't be completely confident in this until I play it.

On the other hand, if it's only $15 this game will be like robbery. If it's fun at that price I'd be almost willing to say "who cares"?
 
Bandit LOAF said:
He wasn't involved in "Wing Commander 5". The idea that Chris Roberts is necessary to the series is wrong -- and it's something that's helped to prevent new games for quite a while.
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Considering everything, WC5 was a great game, better than a lot of games to that time. However.... it was the weakest WC part in the series.
I don't know how much this has to do with Chris Roberts. Knowing that he's one of the greatest game designers ever... it's not unlikely.

WC5 was way more directed to the 'mainstream'.
We got a rather 'generic' new enemy... well... they had to create a new one, but I'm not that happy with it.

It added some new elements I liked though. It felt more modern. And maybe, that wouldn't have been in the game, if Chris Roberts had been the leader of gamedesign.

Anyway, he practially is Wing Commander. It's his idea.
Is there really anybody else who could create a better WC6 than the father of the series himself?
 
so what you are saying is that no wing commander game will be worth your time unless we can go back in time, rewrite the ending of the kilrathi war, bring back Mark Hamil and Chris Roberts, forget the Nephilim, not try anything new or innovative, and it has to cost no less than 20 million dollars in Full Motion Video to be even slightly worth considering.

To me it sounds like YOU are done with wing commander, not EA or any of the actual fans. If you want old WC back so bad, go play wing commander III until the end of time.

I will continue to be excited about what is up and coming.
 
Woah... easy.

Let me state this:
-I'm perfectly fine with a prequel.
-Mark Hamil is too old for a role in a prequel and probably dead... for a sequel
-Yes FMVs are just as important as in C&C, maybe even slightly more
-I want a new Wing Commander, not something else with just the name

Maybe I'm not optimistic enough, but I have some doubts about it.

1st Will EA really work on a full-blown WC now?
2nd Will they be willing to spend enough money on it?
3rd It will be really extremely hard to revive the franchise. A lot of things changed. You'd have to start without having a reference game for the new title.
Can you really reach the two target groups... old and new players, without creating a 'generic' gameplay?

I like beeing excited to, but I hate getting disappointed. So I'll wait until really something happens. ;)
 
4th, do you think that constantly dumping on an OFFICIAL WC game is going to in any way encourage EA to give you an WC sequal.

and come on, seriously? A prequal? without the story line of the Nephilim even being tied up?

You'd rather see a prequal than a conclusion?

Nothing pleases you.
 
I didn't say I want a prequel, but that I would be fine with it. Just as much as with a sequel.

It doesn't have to be the Kilrathi war again for me.


Why do you think nothing pleases me?
I've stated what I'd llike to have in a WC title... It's quite a lot, but not more than in the previous titles.

I want a game on the same level... but if you're happy with a worse game, you're lucky cause you won't get disappointed so easily.
 
I want a game on the same level... but if you're happy with a worse game, you're lucky cause you won't get disappointed so easily.
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You need to stop this crap now. Everyone has ben entirely reasonable to you, and you've just insisted on being a jerk against all reason. Consider this an official warning for trolling.
 
DaBrain said:
but if you're happy with a worse game, you're lucky cause you won't get disappointed so easily.
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So, basically since you're not pleased with Arena, everyone who is interested, and does think it will be fun in, has low expectations?

Now, just because it doesn't look like your average WC game doesn't mean it won't be fun as hell. Chris and LOAF already told us it's fun as hell, everyone who played it and thier mother is saying it's awesome. Arena has alot of high expectations to meet for most people, after all it is a new Wing Commander game, and as near as I can tell it did meet them, but since it didn't meet yours, it's a crappy game and everyone who is interested in it has low expectations. That's a load of crap, and honestly, you need to keep stuff like that to yourself.

The cold and simple truth is that Arena is going to rock, it's going to be an outlet for us all to get together and fly Rapiers and Dralthi and generally have a whole lot of fun.

I've said my word, if I was too harsh, I'm sorry in advance.
 
DaBrain said:
One of the C&C 3 devs said, that they had to add FMVs to to create a real C&C title.
And they got at least a few known actors.
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DaBrain said:
-Yes FMVs are just as important as in C&C, maybe even slightly more
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WC1, WC2, and Privateer didn't have FMV, and they were all incredible games - thus showing that the heart and soul of Wing Commander has never truly been about FMV. Also, Freelancer lacked FMV, and I found that to be a great game, even if I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the WC series. I think a WC sequel that's handles cut scenes the same way that Freelancer did could work very well, and on a much cheaper budget than you'd need with FMV.

Honestly? I was really impressed by FMV back in 1994. But, since then, I've just come to look at it as a gimmick. Nice to have, but hardly the only way to tell a story. And, as much as I love WC III and WC IV, there are things in both games that I regret about FMV - not the least being the fact that I always felt that Blair looked "cooler" in the first two games. Whenever I read the WCIII and IV novelizations, I always imagine WCI and II Blair, not Mark Hamil. :p


DaBrain said:
The difference to C&C is, that Wing Commander is dead now way longer than C&C was...
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Wing Commander has NEVER been dead. I've been visiting this site regularly since July, and I visited sporadically (and lurked in the forums) for years prior to that. The Wing Commander community has ALWAYS been active via forums, fan fiction, fan projects, and the like. That helped keep the franchise alive, and is probably why EA is willing to revisit it now.
 
There's a tremendous amount of people with quite a bit of talent that can do great things with someone else's "baby.
The important thing to account for is that there is respect in place for existing material and enough vision to take it to new places.
At the same time you need to take ownership of it and make sure you add something without fear of what a margin may think.
The idea is simply a seed, but a seed needs more than earth to grow, water, sunlight, minerals, insects all contribute to it's growth. Roberts was the foundation, but he didn't make the series great alone, lest we continue to neglect the army of unsung who contributed to making these games what they were. Like a director in a film, he certainly makes an impact, but his was not the only voice in the choir.
 
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