I had a friend who had Wing Commander I, and was quite enthusiastic about it.
He started it up, and talked me through it, but I was into BattleTech, MechWarrior, and the Forgotten Realms RPG games, so I became frustrated very quickly.
A few years later, I found Privateer, with the speech pack, in a discount bin at a local computer store.
As I was bored, with no new games around to interest me, I thought I'd give it a try.
I became hooked! One of my all-time favorite games!
When I discovered that Privateer was a Wing Commander game, I began looking for others.
I discovered Academy, or was it Armada?
But it wasn't what I'd hoped for.
When games started having live-action cut-scenes, I discovered Wing Commander III, Privateer II, then Wing Commander IV, and then Prophecy.
Except for Prophecy's loadout problem, I love them all, and still play them.