I played very little of the game but one thing I hated, and I never played Starlancer so I don't know if it applies to that, was the naming conventions.

It sure is a great way to pull me out of the game by talking about going to Pittsburgh, etc. all the time.

Loved Freelancer, never really gotten into Starlancer. Basically Starlancer is more like Wing Commander, while Freelancer is leaning more towards Elite / Privateer. Freelancer plays 900 years later then Starlancer. Stop pretending your previous efforts should have a similar lasting effect like Jesus Christ. :p Loved the free roaming (ignoring that waypoint leading back to the quest / story isn't THAT hard), trading, trying to make money for a better ship / equipment, the different factions, searching for shipwrecks and possible loot....
compared with a standard space shooter (Starlancer) with the standard mission types (which btw also appeared in Freelancer) like escort, interception, attacking space stations, fighting in asteroid fields, etc. - yeah, Freelancer all the way.

But why would you do that? Every planet is exactly the same, only different textures are used. There is no depth to politics, relations or anything. Each faction / planet gives you exactly the same quests, and trading is pointless because in one quest I can get more money in few minutes than wasting half an hour to trade things between planets / stations.

One day, I am going to play both Starlancer and Freelancer. Especially the Starlancer CDs have been staring at me for what seems like decades.

But not before Mechwarrior 3, Mechwarrior 4, Heavy Gear 2, Freespace 2 etc. etc. etc...

JUST PLAY STARLANCER, BRO

It's all action, superb voice acting, great sound effect, atmospheric music, intense space battles and you will hate the TORPEDOS.

It's totally playable on keyboard only.

But just play it :P Remember to use [Z] (match target speed) and [R] (target nearest enemy) and [A] (target crucial enemy) buttons often and you're good.

Matching target speed is crucial, because they will try evasive maneouvers, and matching speed will make staying behind them easier. The enemies sometimes drop their speed rapidly, to get behind you, so be careful. Something that NEVER happens in Freelancer, btw.

What is everyone's opinion on [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachyon:_The_Fringe]Tachyon: The Fringe[/url]? Starlancer and Tachyon came out around the same time. I think I had bought Tachyon first, and I really enjoyed the game.
I have them both sitting on a shelf in my computer room, I wonder how or if they would run on Windows 7.

Yes. I loved Freelancer too for the same reasons.

The difference between Starlancer and Freelancer is that Starlancer does what it is RIGHT. It has amazing action and the game doesn't pretend to be anything else.

Freelancer gives you some options, free roaming, trading and stuff, but everything is so barebones, I get asleep most of the time my ship is on autopilot anyway. Fights are boring as well, because the enemies let you to shoot them in the ass without any real retailation whatsoever. When someone is on your tail, you just make a quick turn and you're on his tail and whack him. Boooo-ring.

Becauase even if you don't follow the quests, the fastest and most efficient way of going from point A to B is to use autopilot, and you know that.

There's little to no sense of not using autopilot, because well... space is space, it's mostly empty anyway.

Freeroaming is WAY , WAY better done in Star Control 2 / Ur-Quan Masters. WAY BETTER.

... and Freelancer doesn't pretend to be "just another shoot'em up in space", which is what you're missing to see, as much as Privateer is that much more then just another Wing Commander part X.

Options Starlancer didn't even had. Therefor Starlancer must be the better game? Nope. Freelancer aims to be that much more then Starlancer ever tried and guess what? It achieved that. Freelancer still has an active modding scene up to now while Starlancer never really made it off the ground - just check Lancers Reactor for prove.

You're even throwing in strategy games? Apples and oranges?

You don't ge the point/. More options not always mean a better game and Freelancer is a great example of that.

They gave me much more options than in Starlancer, but they are so badly executed, so barebones, so shallow, that Starlancer is far better game even though it has only combat. Because there combat is done excellent, one of the best executed space combat sim in history of gaming.

Freelancer is meh in pretty much everything it does. Even Darkstar One is better.

Just allow me to not like this game. If I wanted to trade, I would find myself a game that does that better. Trading in Freelancer is badly done, because the prices don't change depending on the demand and supply. Fights are boring, because the enemy AI is barely responsive to what you do to them, free roaming is pointless because everything looks exactly the same, and the story is boring as hell, because it's about some purple alien egg nobody cares about. Nothing is well executed in Freelancer imho, except the graphics maybe.

If it wasn't called a Starlancer "sequel" I woiuldn't even care.

and if you don't like comparing related but different games, I'd just say - Darkstar One is better, Privateer is better, X3 is better than Freelancer.

Am I the only one that worships this game? :P

No. I am really fond of Freelancer too.
I wish Microsoft can just release their old games here in GOG.

I lost my hope long time ago and pirate the shit out of the games I haven't already bought.

I am so glad I bought AOE 1 + 2 collection back in the day... I am not any good in AOE, just mediocre, but I play those games still and still love them.

Yes, more options does not automagically mean a better game. But neither does it mean that if a game isn't working for you, it sucks. You pretty much went into Freelancer expecting a Starlancer 2 - wrong expectations != bad game.

You lost all credibility here and that's coming from someone who loved Darkstar One. It was praised to be the "next Freelancer" and pretty much failed achieving that across the board - the net is still full documenting exactly that.

Sure. Just allow others to actually like it for what it did. Remember, you're the one starting the rant.

.... for the sake of it, start at least TRYING to be objective.
Privateer? Great game, played it longer then all other Wing Commanders together. However, it was based on the original WC 1 and 2 which had.... pretty clunky combat that in no way can stand up against later games, be it Freespace, Starlancer, Freelancer, whatever.
X3? Sure. But go for X2 which came out about the same time as Freelancer and check how it was received - Freelancer wins.