THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Privateer 1 is still my favorite game of all the flight sims, but I have a special place in my heard for P2. Yeah it's not in the WC universe but I quite like the new world they built. Fantastic acting and a great story too.


Super psyched to play this again. Thanks again!

Actually it is in the Wing Commander Universe, just in a very remote part of it.

http://wingcommander.wikia.com/wiki/Tri-System_Confederation

You'll need to follow the F-38 Talon mission quest line for about the only connection though...

http://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/CIS_Code_3_Top_Priority

http://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Talon

Also read through Star*Soldier;

http://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Star*Soldier It's in the Wing Commander Universe, it just has nothing to do with the Terran Confederation or the Kilrathi. It has another government in the same galaxy though.

Any connection Privateer 2 has to the Wing Commander franchise is a retcon. The game was not originally a Wing Commander game at all and was only re-branded as such after the fact to boost sales. . .

- Ryan Paul Fialcowitz

The F-38 Talon mission was in the original game... It was in no way a 'retcon'.

http://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/CIS_Code_3_Top_Priority

F-38 Talon as true wing commander fans will know was the common pirate, church of man, militia flown ship in Privateer I.

There are actually a few other obscure references in the game to things outside of the Tri-System Confederation, but they are very easy to miss.

You can find FAQ at the time that also state that it occurs in the same universe but in a very remote area.

The ingame model for the talon is here.

Iirc one of manuals also makes a big deal about this 'unknown ship' as well, with a picture of the Talon fighter. Assuming it was a way to give players who know the Privateer series a hint to go find the mission in the game related to it.

Well that is quite a bit of cool info. Ultimately though, to me, it doesn't really matter if it was a retcon or not. I love space sims, I love Origin's work and this is another thing to keep be busy until Star Citizen.

Here's hoping the HD versions of the movies will also somehow get made to work with this :)

HD movies mod, and adding the SEGA CD voice work to WC 1 are two mods I'd love to see done.

That and a mod/port of Super Wing Commander, and Arena ;).

http://www.gog.com/news/release_privateer_the_darkening

I like how GOG nods to the remote references between the two Privateer games in their over view!


The next big question is how many weeks until we get Prophecy Gold!? Or Armada release on GOG?

Hm, when was Academy released? About 4 weeks ago? Maybe that's how it's gonna be, one Wing Commander game per month until the franchise is complete.

I kinda suspect that Armada is gonna be next, so that Prophecy can properly conclude WC on GOG.

The Talon's appearance was an easter egg and one that very likely may have been added when the game was rebranded. In addition to the F.A.Q. you mentioned The Tri-System also shows up on a map of the Wing Commander universe I found online.

That said it doesn't change the fact that the game was shoe horned into the existing canon. But then Wing Commander canon has never been that great- characters change nationalities & accents, characters who never met are retconned to have been best friends at the academy and so on. I blame Chris Roberts for this as, much like Hideo Kojima, the man never wanted to make games- he wanted to make movies. This is why the entire series went in that direction and upon Roberts firing he tried his hand at direction. The main problem being that the man cares nothing for continuity and it shows in his work. That said I still maintain to this day that Wing Commander IV: The Price Of Freedom is Mark Hamill's finest work!

- Ryan Paul Fialcowitz

Actually as I understand the development of the game. Before anything was even started, Erin Roberts pitched an 'idea' to Origin that he wanted to do a game that would be like Privateer (a 'spiritual sequel' if you will), he suggested a different name for it at the time, but at that time there was no development or any such on the game, but only the suggestion and request.

Origin came back to Erin and told him go ahead, but he should just make it Privateer II. So by the time that development started, by that point Erin it was already going to be a 'second game' in the Privateer series universe.

The various 'easter eggs' (if you want to call them that) and references to the Terran Confederation, and references to distant earth history outside of the Tri-System Confederation were simply added to link it to the previous game, without being heavy handed about it. A player could go into the game and enjoy the story, and not need to know anything about previous game. But at the same time old players would be able to catch the references.

Personally I think it would have been more amusing if the 'mysterious' ship from distant part of the galaxy, had been a Centurion, and turned out to be Grayson Burrows!. Then again Grayson probably wouldn't much trouble with the pirates (even if their technology was 'comparable').