Babylon 5

[Reverend]

Getting a bit off topic but just pointing out that 'Mass Effect' isn't a "third-person shooter", it's a character based RPG with some third person cover based combat mixed with more traditional CRPG style "powers". That's an important distinction because one is primarily an action game, while the other is and RPG first and action second. It's also a 20+ hour game, so it's not for those with short attention spans or looking for a quick fix.

Also, "third person shooter" isn't a genre, it's a game mechanic. It's no more a videogame genre than "paperback" is a literary genre or "black and white" is a cinematic one.

That said: yes, there if definitely some Babylon 5 in it's DNA. But not much. It's mostly Star Wars, with some Galactica, Blade Runner, some Asimov along with a whole bunch of literary Sci-Fi from Lensman to Berserker. Which, as it turns out, also served as part of B5's DNA.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

There was a B5 video game Into the Fire in development at one point that never had a release. I believe it would have been a space combat game, which also would have ruled me out. (If it had been a strategy game, point and click adventure, or RPG without a combat element, I might have been interested. I'm just not interested in personal shooter games.)

 

[Reverend]

To my way of thinking, the ideal Babylon 5 game would mesh the story focus character interaction mixed with the quasi-open world setting of a Bioware RPG a la Mass Effect, with a more visceral hand-to-hand combat system and multi-lateral navigation options like the Arkham games.

So basically, you'd play as a Ranger at some point between 'Objects at Rest' & 'Sleeping in Light', travelling the galaxy in a whitestar to unravel some mystery or another, cracking the odd skull with an anla'shok pike along the way.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

An RPG based on Crusade might be viable -- several of the characters are obviously based on D&D archetypes with access to high tech instead of magic. There is also telepathy, which is basically magic.

 

[JWPlatt]

Thread derailed.

...It's also a 20+ hour game, so it's not for those with short attention spans or looking for a quick fix.

Apparently, because the last several posts about shoot and kill games (yuck) have been boring as hell. I want to get back to posts about B5.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

I think the thread's basically done anyway. We've had a bunch of people say it's worth watching the whole thing no matter the variable quality of season 1, those who say avoid certain episodes if you can't stand cheese, and yet others who say...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpb1OXvNNMc[/yt]

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Though after season 4 I don't think much is lost by jumping to the series finale. Season 5 just kinda doesn't work.

I think ME has more B5 parallels than you give it credit. The Reapers are very similar to shadows and they both involve a newly spaceborn human race trying to break into a bureaucratic alien council.

 

[Forbin]

There was a B5 video game Into the Fire in development at one point that never had a release. I believe it would have been a space combat game, which also would have ruled me out. (If it had been a strategy game, point and click adventure, or RPG without a combat element, I might have been interested. I'm just not interested in personal shooter games.)

They did release a soundtrack CD, though!

 

[tomalak301]

Though after season 4 I don't think much is lost by jumping to the series finale. Season 5 just kinda doesn't work.

I think ME has more B5 parallels than you give it credit. The Reapers are very similar to shadows and they both involve a newly spaceborn human race trying to break into a bureaucratic alien council.

You're not giving Season 5 much credit. There is a ton to like about Season 5, namely the second half of the season.

 

[DonIago]

^Agreed. The first half has...issues, but I think the second half is pretty great.

Avoiding the spoilers.

 

[Reverend]

I think the thread's basically done anyway. We've had a bunch of people say it's worth watching the whole thing no matter the variable quality of season 1, those who say avoid certain episodes if you can't stand cheese, and yet others who say...

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpb1OXvNNMc[/yt]

I think the problem for some of us that have been here a while is that we've seen literally dozens of these threads and it's the same talking points and arguments over and over. There's very little that hasn't been said and at this point it feels like some people are regurgitating opinions like coin operated mother birds feeding their demanding chicks...OK, that simile got away from me there, but I was just curious to see where it'd end up.

 

[JWPlatt]

You could say the same thing about the entire cycle of student, teacher, school and education. We don't possess a collective conscious. Knowledge is constantly and necessarily reiterated for the new arrivals.

 

[Reverend]

I think my point was it's largely the same people having largely the same exact discussions with each other ad nausium every time one of these discussions comes up.

 

[JWPlatt]

Yeah, okay, didn't I mention dementia or insanity above? Oops.

 

[Triskelion]

I like Ivanova.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You're supposed to stay on the karmic wheel until you lead a perfect life.

 

[Kail]

Still watching. Getting better. Starting to get to know the characters. After reading the comments here, as I watch the episodes I speculate on which story points will be important and followed up on.

 

[Marsden]

Good.

 

[tomalak301]

Still watching. Getting better. Starting to get to know the characters. After reading the comments here, as I watch the episodes I speculate on which story points will be important and followed up on.

Keep us posted on some favorite episodes or maybe even least favorite episodes. It's always fun reading about my favorite series' from people watching for the first time.

 

[The Lensman]

Still watching. Getting better. Starting to get to know the characters. After reading the comments here, as I watch the episodes I speculate on which story points will be important and followed up on.

Trust me, stick with it.

I was always the biggest Trek fan that my family and friends knew. Grew up on the original, and have a soft spot for TNG because it was the first Trek I got to watch in first run. I gave B5 a try because it was the first real competition to Trek. I thought I'd like DS9 better because it was Trek.

For the most part at the time, I found the first season of B5 largely "meh" until you get to the episode that has the conversation about socks (don't want to spoil anything, you'll know it) and that kept me watching. Coasted along after that and the finale of Season One was a big "Whoa! That was creepy and awesome!" Season 2 expanded on that, while still possessing it's share of "meh", there was an increase in cool moments, creepy moments, and the sense that things were starting to really happen.

There's an episode coming near the end of Season 2 where shit will get real in the kind of way Trek never did without a temporal reset button at the end safely setting everything back to normal. THAT was the episode that truly made me a die hard fan. I called my brother, who sorta kept up with the show and told him about it. I'm sure the complex story lines I was trying to update him on didn't really do much to increase his desire to watch the show.

No, what made him want to watch the show was when I, the lifelong Trek fan, told him "Right now, this show is much, much better than Star Trek." That's when he started watching the show and also became a die hard fan.

I still enjoyed TNG and DS9, but neither of them felt like an experience, either while watching or when done. B5 did. It was, despite it's budgetary limitations, the most epic thing I'd ever seen. It's the only show, outside of the original Star Trek, that I've ever bothered to watch through, in it's entirety, multiple times. Always discovering some new bit of foreshadowing each time. I completely understand when people tell a first time B5 viewer that they envy them getting to watch it for the first time. I do too.

I think if you stick with it, you'll find it a very rewarding and emotional experience. Enjoy the ride, it gets more intense with each episode.