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Privateer 2


Grimm
(@grimm)
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I want to start a memorial topic about Privateer 2, a game that is completely underated in my opinion.

I think Priv2 is one of the most unique freeform spacesims ever created. It is'nt perfect but it has some features that make this game a true gem.

The setting of the game is very special. It is a really dark and despair sector, far away from the authorities and systems you know from the Wing Commander games. Every planet you visit has its own artistic touch between dark and something abstract and bizar.

The characters you meet and encounter are fitting really well into this strange world. There are no hereos in the story of Priv2, everyone including you is just chasing his goals. The main Character Lev Arris(played by Clive Owen in the FMV sequences) is completely different to the typical adventurerlike hereos from typical spacesims. And the most important fact: you decide how Lev Arris reacts to the people he meet and to the situations he encounter. The story is nonlinear.

The main plot itself is very entertaining. The start is not very original(lost of memory...) but the story evolves very well and is interesting till the final showdown. Of course your actions and decicions have some impact on the main plot.

The gameplay is quite different to the first Privateer. Playing a peaceful trader is much more difficult, also because of the fact that you can't fly transport vessels. If you want to trade goods you have to charter a transporter and escort him to your desired destination. Especially in the endgame phase it is very hard to save your transporters from the pirates( or militia if you are smuggling).

I liked the combat in Priv2 very much. I think it is the most intense, fast and andrenaline pumping of all Wing Commander games. But there are flaws in the combat system. At some stages of the game the combat can become extremely difficult especially if you did'nt upgraded you ship recently. The balancing of the game was quite messed up and some main plot missions seemed to be impossible. But with some patience and spacesim experience this shouldn't be a problem.

You have a wide range of different vessels to purchase. They are all fighter type vessels(no bigger ships, or capital ship to fly for you in Priv2) but are all very different in their statistics and fly behaviour. The missions you can fly outside of the main plot are often only the usual stuff like escort, assasination or a quick delivery, but in most cases they are challenging. There are some sidequest with a real story behind them and FMV sequences wich you can only fly if you have chosen the right decisions at the right time.

To sum up my personal rating:

Pro's:

+Great nonlinear story

+Dark and unique atmosphere

+Very good FMV's

+Intense combat

+Challenging gamplay(to purchase the best ships and equipment it takes many many hours...)

+Great choices in Vessels and Equipment

Con's:

-very messed up balancing

-playing a trader is really hard

-only fighter type vessels

-no bigger battles or fights with capital ships(only dogfights)

-a bad choice for spacesim beginners because of the very hard difficulty setting

-simple and repetitive music

As you can see by my post, i love this game. I played it about 10 times and it never bored me. Its a shame that there is no modding scene or a remake planed for this game. I think if you can fix the balancing and add some more interesting side missions, this game can even compete with modern space sims.

If you never played it, there is a let's play series on youtube where you can look at the gameplay, also there are some FMV's but i suggest to not watch it if you want to play the game because of the spoilers.


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DarkOne
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I remember buying this game in the early 90's and just spending a lot of time in this game doing missions. The story that was in Priv2 was actually really good and you also had some great acting from John Hurt and Christopher Walken.

Privateer 2 wasn't as free and opened as I wanted the game to be, but it did provide some good content and some entertaining combat. I only played through the game once so my memory of the particulars are fading.

But what I liked most was Clive Ownes performance and how you got attached to the character in the story. The mission types could have been more interesting and there could be more ships and weapon types. I thought the gameplay it self (flight mechanics) were solid and the combat was enjoyable and sometimes very challenging.

But I agree Grimm I think Chris Roberts did a great job on setting the dark and sinister/strange environment for you to play around in and was sad to find out that we would never see a Privateer 3.

I wish all of the Wing Commander/Privateer games would get a graphical facelift and tweaks and re-released because it would be great to play through them again without having to use DosBox.

And for those that have never played Priv2 i would recommend it just for the cutscenes and the story. But if you can't do that you might want to download this: http://download.wcnews.com/files/p2/pri ... matics.zip and watch most of the cutscenes from the game itself.


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Grimm
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You are right Darkone. Priv2 was'nt as free as Priv1 or Elite, but on the other side the story was much more intense. Of course if you are looking for a sandbox game like Evochron or the Elite series, than Priv2 isn't the right choice.

If anyone has problems with running the game in XP here is good workaround which worked well for me:

http://originalthp.solsector.net/


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DarkOne
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I cannot fault Origin on Priv2 personally. The development cycle of Privateer 2 wasn't that long compared with games today. But in the end you have to way entertainment value to freedom. And if Priv2 would have been more open but less on the story telling then I probably would have been less excited about the game. I thought the story and cinematics made this game and wouldn't trade that aspect for bigger space environment unless more story was made to cover those areas.

I am a huge 'story' gamer and like to really get into my role in the game. And when I play games like Evochron or X Series I don't feel that connection with my character or the storyline so I get bored and end up playing the game off and on. I played Privateer 2 from first install to the end almost nightly and looked forward to playing it. There isn't that many games coming out today that gives me the same game experiences that I had with all the Wing Commander universe games. HUGE FANBOI 🙂


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BrianRubin
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I played a lot of Privateer 2 and enjoyed it, but I eventually got fed up with one thing -- the fact that you couldn't leave a battle until EVERY ENEMY SHIP was destroyed -- pretty mucg became too damned annoying. Been thinking of revisiting it though.


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Pinback
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Ah Privateer 2 it was the fist PC game I bought found it in the bargain bin in woolworths for a tenner in 98, bit unfortunate that it would be another 3 years until I bought a PC. 😆

Never thought it had much to do with the Wing Commander series, looks more like Origin just decided to add the Privateer 2 name to pick up some more sales.

BrianRubin wrote:
I played a lot of Privateer 2 and enjoyed it, but I eventually got fed up with one thing -- the fact that you couldn't leave a battle until EVERY ENEMY SHIP was destroyed -- pretty mucg became too damned annoying. Been thinking of revisiting it though.

Same here it the most annoying thing about the game especially when you get stuck with a ship you can’t destroy. 😡


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Grimm
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Yes, that was a balancing issue. If you smuggeled something and the militia scans you, it is almost impossible to proceed to the next system because the enemy will respawn everytime you kill them.

And there was a pirate clan who had a vessel in the shape of the skull. This little sucker was fast as hell and killing him without missles could take hours... and if you killed him new ones jump into the system and the game starts again... 😆

But anyway, even with this issues a great game to me 😀


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Pinback
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I will have to dig out my save games and have another go at it some time as I was really enjoying the story.


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Pinback
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Been having a look around the wing commander site and found a game editor for Privateer 2

http://www.wcnews.com/news/update/10142

At last I might be able to beat the crap out that pirate ship that stop me from playing the game.


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BrianRubin
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PINBACK wrote:
Been having a look around the wing commander site and found a game editor for Privateer 2

http://www.wcnews.com/news/update/10142

At last I might be able to beat the crap out that pirate ship that stop me from playing the game.

This editor looked neat enough for me to wanna retry the game, but it simply won't install on Windows 7. Any ideas, folks?


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Pinback
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Doesn’t work on 98 complains about some missing DLL, work fine on XP. Now where have I put the game disks.


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BrianRubin
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PINBACK wrote:
Doesn’t work on 98 complains about some missing DLL, work fine on XP. Now where have I put the game disks.

And this helps me...how, exactly? 😛


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Pinback
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No help what so ever 😳 😀


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Pinback
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Been looking on CIC and it Looks like there a new version of editor out for Privateer 2.

http://www.crius.net/zone/showthread.php?t=25949


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Pinback
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Privater 2 is on GOG http://www.gog.com/game/privateer_2_the_darkening for $5.99

 

Hope they fixed the bug in this version.


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