Introduction

It's that moment you've all been waiting for, when the fun, yet slow and drawn out FS1 is completed, and it's time to Let's Play FreeSpace 2!

If you're just joining us, have a look back at the first thread here. (When that falls into archive, the LP is now up on the LP Archive here). It isn't totally necessary to have seen or played FS1 before 2, but at least glancing at it wouldn't hurt. I won't reiterate the basic things I said in that OP beyond: this game is amazing. Go buy it at GOG.com. Once you've done that, head to hard-light.net, because…

This isn't just an LP of FS2. Because back when it became clear there was never going to be a FreeSpace 3, Volition decided that the game's source code would be made public. Thus was born the Source Code Project.

And thanks to their efforts, FreeSpace 2 has been remastered, turning its FS1-quality graphics into a beauty. If you want to compare as we go along, there's a screenshot LP of classic FS2 in the archive.

So welcome to Let's Play FreeSpace 2 Open!

I have one more bonus for you all. I have the "Sci-Fi Sim of the Year" edition of FS2 (is that really a hard award to win? I can't even find anything else ever awarded it.), which includes a bunch of bonus materials on the 3rd disc, like some informational text files and audio bloopers. I haven't seen these anywhere online, so I'll be sharing those as we go.

Here's how this is gonna work.
Because the graphics are so nice looking, it would be a bit of a shame to watch this on Viddler's built in player. So I'm offering the following selection of hosts in order from worst to best: Viddler (icky), Polsy (Slightly less icky Viddler player), and YouTube (HD for the level segments). YouTube HD is the best quality option for those watching in their browser. Lord Booga has volunteered to host .mp4s of the original files for those who want to download them for the highest quality, so there'll be links to those on the pretty sections.

Since YouTube forces 10 minute splits anyway, and the briefing sections just become tiny in high resolution, the briefings will be in separate low-res videos when they are of significant length.
[As of about half way through the LP, I got on YouTube's "you're not a criminal" list and can now upload any length, so the videos are all in one part.]

The Let's Play Archive

FreeSpace 2 Open

by Goldom

Introduction

Table of Contents