Considering how huge Lord of the Rings is in fantasy (one of the most sold books, in all cathegories) Turbine did fail with LOTRO. They took something as complex as Tolkiens world and the conflict of the ring and turned it into an instanced, casual, PvE game with zero depth. It is a disgrace to Lord of the Rings and I am pretty sure Tolkien would never approve it if he was around. Star Trek is not as huge as LOTRO but I think is in the same league so if Cryptic turns it into a casual, easy crap like Champions Online then it will be a disgrace as well. The problem is that the IP owners dont seem to give a shit. They want the licensing money and then they dont care much about the game itself it is not like they are the original creators of the IP, they are just in it for the money.
LOTRO is actually a really good game. Shadows of Angmar was excellent and pretty much true to the Lore.
The zone designs are amazing and it's pretty much an Open World! Not instanced/zoned. Only Moria and Ered Luin has a loading zone.
The problem was, that the moment that Jeff Steefel came aboard and after that it went a bit downhill with his Goat mounts that can get outside Moria and the introduction of the Rune-Keeper class.
But still Mines of Moria was a great expansion and design wise Moria is very well done. It looks amazing.
The stories in the Epic Book quests have a lot of depth. In fact, most of LOTRO's quests are one of the best in any game, next to EverQuest 2.
When it comes to the upcoming SW:TOR. Then Lucas Arts is very on top of this game together with Bioware.
It's just with the Star Trek IP, that the original mastermind is no longer with us and that the current owners don't seem to give a damn about what Cryptic is actually doing.
What I would love to ask them is: Will it be possible for players to affect how the conflict goes between the Klingon and Federation as a whole? I.e. will the actions of a player, or groups of players, affect the world (universe?) in any way?
I suspect that that is one of those 'uncomfortable' questions which never get asked.
Yeah and I am pretty sure what the answer would be if they did answer it. Some PC garbage about it being possible but in effect not really.
Would be nice that for ONCE see an MMORPG that tries to break the WoW mold and do something daring and innovative...
What I would love to ask them is: Will it be possible for players to affect how the conflict goes between the Klingon and Federation as a whole? I.e. will the actions of a player, or groups of players, affect the world (universe?) in any way?
I suspect that that is one of those 'uncomfortable' questions which never get asked.
Yeah and I am pretty sure what the answer would be if they did answer it. Some PC garbage about it being possible but in effect not really.
Would be nice that for ONCE see an MMORPG that tries to break the WoW mold and do something daring and innovative...
STO will have a lot less depth then WoW or EQ2 or any other decent MMO out there.
It's just pew pew pew in space. Pew pew pew some more on instanced ground missions in confined random generated maps.
Level up. Upgrade your NPC crew members. And then Pew Pew Pew some more. Upgrade your ship. Rince and repeat process.
Pretty much like all the already existing single player Star Trek games out there.
There is no real info on any non-combat social activities / interaction and all the other stuff that we take for granted in MMO's these days.
Just Pew Pew Pew in space and on ground. Pew Pew Pew.
For everyone saying you can't have the Borg as a playable race because the Borg act as a single collective, you might want to look at the article again. The question to be asking is what is the freaking difference between the Borg and the "Star Trek Online Borg"?
For everyone saying you can't have the Borg as a playable race because the Borg act as a single collective, you might want to look at the article again. The question to be asking is what is the freaking difference between the Borg and the "Star Trek Online Borg"?
That is a very good point.
Like the rest of this mess, the Borg will likely resemble the IP in appearance, only.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I think people are reading too much into the statement (no doubt becuase of the inappropriate news headline). All they said was they had considered several races, including Borg. They did not say that it will be implemented, just that they had considered it.
Hopefully they had considered it and rejected it because it would be a terrible idea. But again, I think people are reading too much into this.
So they are considering the Borg as playable race along with all the rest for a future expansion, sounds like a good plan to me. Considering all options doesn't mean they are going to pick the Borg! Personally I agree with most that the Borg wouldn't make a very enjoyable race to play, but who knows maybe a NPC Queen ordering the sheep around is what some would consider fun...lol. Anyways I'm more optimistic that the good in this game will outway the missing. They started off in the right direction with Klingon verus the Federation, and I like that leveling up a Klingon will be very different than leveling up a Federation weakling. The exploration sounds rather interesting finding things on planets others may have missed. I do hope they include plenty of non-combat stuff to do such as visiting Starbases, intrique and shops run by real people.
I have followed this game (since Perpetual) for some time now with a great deal of interest. I personally want to see a successful MMO based around this IP.
I have slowly come to the conclusion that this is going to be nothing more than CoV, CoX, and CO with a Star Trek theme.
I am intrigued with the BO aspect of their design, but that won't be enough to save the game. And if the recent Euro Con footage that has shown up on youtube.com is any indication of what this game is going to be about, it will be an Epic Failure.
It seems to be totally lost on Cryptic that core base is coming from other games (WoW, Eve, SW;G, etc) that have one running theme going for them ... "involvement beyond pew-pew".
I am starting to wonder if it is even within Cryptic's abilities to create an "involving" game. The CoX series is tired, CO was a poor attempt to revive a tired series ... and STO seems to be an attempt to slap a poorly fitting dress on CO (the Spaceships are just avatars).
Where is the information on Klingons? Where is the information on their crafting system? Where is the information on their Fleet systems, goals, tools? Where is the information on exploration system? We have nothing.
All we hear about is combat and BOs, and frankly, while the space combat looks pretty ... its appearing to be a button masher, and the ground combat we've seen so far, should be an embarassment to them.
Comments
LOTRO is actually a really good game. Shadows of Angmar was excellent and pretty much true to the Lore.
The zone designs are amazing and it's pretty much an Open World! Not instanced/zoned. Only Moria and Ered Luin has a loading zone.
The problem was, that the moment that Jeff Steefel came aboard and after that it went a bit downhill with his Goat mounts that can get outside Moria and the introduction of the Rune-Keeper class.
But still Mines of Moria was a great expansion and design wise Moria is very well done. It looks amazing.
The stories in the Epic Book quests have a lot of depth. In fact, most of LOTRO's quests are one of the best in any game, next to EverQuest 2.
When it comes to the upcoming SW:TOR. Then Lucas Arts is very on top of this game together with Bioware.
It's just with the Star Trek IP, that the original mastermind is no longer with us and that the current owners don't seem to give a damn about what Cryptic is actually doing.
Cheers
I suspect that that is one of those 'uncomfortable' questions which never get asked.
Yeah and I am pretty sure what the answer would be if they did answer it. Some PC garbage about it being possible but in effect not really.
Would be nice that for ONCE see an MMORPG that tries to break the WoW mold and do something daring and innovative...
My gaming blog
I suspect that that is one of those 'uncomfortable' questions which never get asked.
Yeah and I am pretty sure what the answer would be if they did answer it. Some PC garbage about it being possible but in effect not really.
Would be nice that for ONCE see an MMORPG that tries to break the WoW mold and do something daring and innovative...
STO will have a lot less depth then WoW or EQ2 or any other decent MMO out there.
It's just pew pew pew in space. Pew pew pew some more on instanced ground missions in confined random generated maps.
Level up. Upgrade your NPC crew members. And then Pew Pew Pew some more. Upgrade your ship. Rince and repeat process.
Pretty much like all the already existing single player Star Trek games out there.
There is no real info on any non-combat social activities / interaction and all the other stuff that we take for granted in MMO's these days.
Just Pew Pew Pew in space and on ground. Pew Pew Pew.
HUH???
The game went beta a few weeks ago
It should release in Q1 of 2010
and NOW they are considering making borg a playable race???
So with a few months left they now gonna add a whole new playable race with ships, skills, abilities, lore etc etc
Not even started about balancing stuff with another race in pvp
I think it is only possible if they make mirror classes from klingon/federation but that would be REALLY lame
Anyway, I smell a big pile of marketing bullcrap
For everyone saying you can't have the Borg as a playable race because the Borg act as a single collective, you might want to look at the article again. The question to be asking is what is the freaking difference between the Borg and the "Star Trek Online Borg"?
That is a very good point.
Like the rest of this mess, the Borg will likely resemble the IP in appearance, only.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I think people are reading too much into the statement (no doubt becuase of the inappropriate news headline). All they said was they had considered several races, including Borg. They did not say that it will be implemented, just that they had considered it.
Hopefully they had considered it and rejected it because it would be a terrible idea. But again, I think people are reading too much into this.
My gaming blog
So they are considering the Borg as playable race along with all the rest for a future expansion, sounds like a good plan to me. Considering all options doesn't mean they are going to pick the Borg! Personally I agree with most that the Borg wouldn't make a very enjoyable race to play, but who knows maybe a NPC Queen ordering the sheep around is what some would consider fun...lol. Anyways I'm more optimistic that the good in this game will outway the missing. They started off in the right direction with Klingon verus the Federation, and I like that leveling up a Klingon will be very different than leveling up a Federation weakling. The exploration sounds rather interesting finding things on planets others may have missed. I do hope they include plenty of non-combat stuff to do such as visiting Starbases, intrique and shops run by real people.
I have followed this game (since Perpetual) for some time now with a great deal of interest. I personally want to see a successful MMO based around this IP.
I have slowly come to the conclusion that this is going to be nothing more than CoV, CoX, and CO with a Star Trek theme.
I am intrigued with the BO aspect of their design, but that won't be enough to save the game. And if the recent Euro Con footage that has shown up on youtube.com is any indication of what this game is going to be about, it will be an Epic Failure.
It seems to be totally lost on Cryptic that core base is coming from other games (WoW, Eve, SW;G, etc) that have one running theme going for them ... "involvement beyond pew-pew".
I am starting to wonder if it is even within Cryptic's abilities to create an "involving" game. The CoX series is tired, CO was a poor attempt to revive a tired series ... and STO seems to be an attempt to slap a poorly fitting dress on CO (the Spaceships are just avatars).
Where is the information on Klingons? Where is the information on their crafting system? Where is the information on their Fleet systems, goals, tools? Where is the information on exploration system? We have nothing.
All we hear about is combat and BOs, and frankly, while the space combat looks pretty ... its appearing to be a button masher, and the ground combat we've seen so far, should be an embarassment to them.