History VideoGame / FreeSpace

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The Shivans. Originally, however, they were meant to be [[SicklyGreenGlow green]].

* EvilIsBigger: Aside from the fact that Shivan ships are generally more advanced than their Terran/Vasudan counterparts, many Shivan designs are the largest of their specific class. [[GiantMook Seraphims are the largest bombers]]; the [[FinalBoss SD Lucifer]] is the largest warship of the first game; the SD Demon has 60% more hitpoints than most destroyers in the sequel and is slightly larger than its Allied counterparts; and the SJ Sathanas actually ''looks'' larger than the Colossus, mainly due to its protruding armor plating.
** The Shivans themselves are physically the [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative largest of all three]] races, measuring about 10-15 feet long, with spidery limbs, multiple eyes, [[MechaMook metal skin]], [[HotBlade energy-molten knives]], [[EnergyWeapon built-in beam weapons]], and are nearly immune to bullets. Not to mention [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the fact that they]] [[PowerGlows glow red]].

** The Hammer of Light believes that the Shivans are Cosmic Redeemers and that they are chosen to eradicate all who would oppose them. The Shivans don't really care for them anyway, and destroy them regardless.

* CulturedWarrior: Admiral Aken Bosch is intelligent, cultured, and self-aware; hardly the kind of man you would think would be leading a rebellion based on [[FantasticRacism open racism against Vasudans]]. In his log, Bosch expresses contempt for his NTF movement, calling it "an army of stupid cattle, driven by their hatreds, their fears, and insecurities." This provides an early hint that [[spoiler: his motives are quite different from what they appear]].

* FeaturelessProtagonist: Your character is only ever referred to as Alpha 1. [[DownplayedTrope You can change how you look by changing your portrait in the Barracks room]], including making yourself into a Vasudan pilot in the second game, but this doesn't have an effect on gameplay and never shows up in the campaign proper.
** User-made campaigns don't even necessarily make you Alpha 1. [=FS2_Open=] can allow a mission designer to assign the player to any slot in any wing.

Along with other Creator/InterplayEntertainment titles, [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion both]] [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2 games]] have been part of [[Website/GOGDotCom GOG.com]]'s early line-up of ''[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Good Old Games]]''. As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now also available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

Along with other Creator/InterplayEntertainment titles [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion both]] [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2 games]] have been part of [[Website/GOGDotCom GOG.com]]'s early line-up of ''[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Good Old Games]]''. As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now also available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

Along with other Creator/InterplayEntertainment titles, [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion both]] [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2 games]] have been part of [[Website/GOGDotCom GOG.com]]'s early line-up of ''[[OfficiallyShortenedTitle Good Old Games]]''. As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now also available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

Along with other Creator/InterplayEntertainment titles, [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion both]] [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2 games]] have been part of {{Website/GOGDotCom}}'s original line-up of "good old games." As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now also available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

Along with other Creator/InterplayEntertainment titles, [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion both]] [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2 games]] have been part of {{Website/GOGDotCom}}'s original line-up of "good old games". As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now also available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

Along with other InterplayEntertainment titles, [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_expansion both]] [[https://www.gog.com/en/game/freespace_2 games]] have been part of {{Website/GOGDotCom}}'s original line-up of "good old games". As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now also available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

As of May 7, 2014, [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273600/ the first game is now available on Steam,]] with the second game [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/273620/ joining it]] on June 6th.

** And in regards to the Helios, it's ''bigger than a fighter'', but what's really ludicrous is that a Myrmidon fighter can carry ''four of them!'' Several members of the [=FreeSpace=] 2 Source Code Project theorize that the Myrmidon may originally have been intended to be a next-gen strike bomber, or that the developers made a mistake while modifying the Myrmidon's entry in the data tables. Both theories are equally plausible.

* SensorSuspense: "Incoming jump signature, hostile configuration!"

* ShoutOut: The Ancient technology to track ships in subspace is found on [[Film/ForbiddenPlanet Altair IV]]. And in the cutscene where scientists are testing new shield technology, the firing beam discharges at [[Film/BackToTheFuture 1.21 gigawatts]].

[[TheWikiRule Has]] [[http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page its own wiki]]. For fan-games, see FanWorks.FreeSpace.

** One legendary occurance from the ''Freespace 2'' modding community was a bug that caused everything except the HUD to suddenly disappear. It turned out to be a questionable interaction between several gameplay elements: the "sabotage engines" event would reduce a player's maximum speed to zero, but if the player is using the "match other's speed" option to keep up with another ship, the game would try to determine where to set the player's throttle by dividing the other ship's current speed by the player's maximum speed. As you might expect, ''literally'' dividing by zero caused an unholy chain of breakdowns in the game's system.

* GameBreakingBug: The usage tag for the Trebuchets is set in a way that the conditions are mutually exclusive, which means the AI just don't know how to use them. Some errors in mission settings are also present sometimes which make the missions harder or easier than it is supposed to be.

The franchise ended there despite the [[LeftHanging incomplete story]] of the second game, due to a split between the publisher and the developer. However, in 2002, Volition released the source code for the game. The result of the fandom getting their hands on it is the [[http://www.hard-light.net [=FreeSpace=] 2 Source Code Project]] (known by the fandom as the SCP. No, not [[Wiki/SCPFoundation that]].). It is a single umbrella project dedicated to improving the original source code; the [=FS2_Open=] engine is the result of the project, and is much more powerful and flexible than the original game engine, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ greatly improved graphics]] as well as a plethora of new features for designers to utilize in mission-building, and it is still being improved to this day. This let to a renaissance of fan-made campaigns, new content including ships, weapons, and missions of incredible complexity with the FRED mission editor, the same one that Volition used to create the original game.

** The Lucifer takes it UpToEleven, being the only Destroyer-class warship equipped with shields.

** In ''[=FreeSpace=] 2'', after a successful mission, a Vasudan commander proclaims: "''This victory proves without a doubt our technological superiority over our Great War nemesis. For the second time, the Alliance defeated a species which has annihilated entire civilizations across this galaxy. With the ''Colossus'', we will have nothing more to fear.''" Now, this kind of blatant GenreBlindness is TemptingFate by itself, but in a [[DarkerAndEdgier Dark and Edgy]] setting where the storyline constantly reminds you how hopeless your situation is and how insignificant your victories are, this really takes it UpToEleven.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: The voice of 3rd Fleet Command in the second game.

* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Shivans have no mercy towards their enemies, glass whole planets, do not accept noir demand surrender and take no prissoners, turning every war againt them into this by default.