I'm a hard core Deep Space Nine fan (we call ourselves "Niners," the series writers even named the Deep Space 9 baseball team after us,) and I don't think I'll like this game much because of misconceptions like "The combat is highly reminiscent of what you saw in the later seasons of that show. The Federation is once again at war, and most of the game revolves around that (as did the series)." Saying such a silly thing makes it look like the author didn't even watch 83% of the series at all. Liked "Way of the Warrior" and "Sacrifice of Angles" eh, Jon? So did I, but did you happen to catch "Duet," "In the Pale Moonlight," "Far Beyond the Stars," or "Trials and Tribble-ations?" These were as much the core of the series as the far fewer battle oriented episodes and they can even rank themselves as some of the very best of Trek, yet not a single battle takes place in any of them. Cryptic seems to be aiming for the hard-core shoot-em-up fans with this game with non-stop combat, combat, combat. But that isn't at all what Star Trek is about, even the war based seasons of DS9.
I agree on all points. Despite the fact that the latter half of DS9 was about the Dominion War there were not many episodes with battles. More than typical? Perhaps. However, to hear defenders of STO talk of it though you'd think that every other scene was a battle. Also, as you pointed out the majority of the best episodes of Star Trek, from all 5 series, don't feature combat. I'm not saying that STO shouldn't have combat. Indeed, combat should be featured in the game. However, it shouldn't be 95% of the game.
STO is pure garbage. It's a poor attempt at a Star Trek game and a poor attempt at an MMORPG.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
My experience with STO since beta was like watching your favorite gaming IP get sold to Uwe Boll for a movie. Cryptic did a mostly copy and paste from Champions for about 60-70% of the games mechanics. The world tries to center on customization (also Champions Online) as a main feature and pushes it often through out the game with ship vendors and clothing vendors around every corner.
If you have played Champions Online then this game will feel very familiar right away. But Cryptic definitely took a multi-million dollar franchise and made the cheapest damn copy and paste version they could. Just as I would sit through a Uwe Boll movie and cry to myself about the waste. I will once again find myself crying about the wasted opportunity to do something great.
I pride myself on playing almost any MMO but this is one that my inner trek fan just can't stomach.
Gom276 Prolific MMO player Just can't say no to any mmo
well, boo hoo. i guess i'm just a common, low born, casual trekkleretta. watching any of the shows has always made me feel all warm and glowing like i'm giving birth through immaculate conception to a litter of glowing kittens...
but i'd be hard pressed to know any of the actors real life names and i've certainly never sent any of them naked pictures of myself like true fans do according to that star trek documentary that shows up on cable infrequently. i'm only naked in front of open windows when i'm making coffee in the morning and old church ladies are trespassing across my yard.
I just downloaded and "played" the open beta. I say "played" in quotes, because I could not bring myself to play the game (in it's current state) for more than 10 minutes. The MAIN reason I could not play this game is because of the scale of the environments. I have seen a decent portion of the ST series, and although I am not a trekkie, I found the scale of the tutorial's environments to be completely unrealistic--to the point that it distracted so much from the game that I did not want to play any more.
All of the rooms that I was in should have been composed of probably 7-9 foot ceilings. Every environment was rendered with at least a relative 20 feet over the character's head. In addition, doors that should have been normal sized doors were fifteen feet monstrosities. In relation to a character, a character's height is only slightly above half of the door's height. Whoever designed the environments was either extremely lazy, incompetent, or both.
Finally, going in between levels of the tutorial ship resulted in loading screens, a la Resident Evil. With the current state of MMO's and level size. there is no reason for this amount of needless loading screens.
I'm afraid that Cryptic has screwed up one of the most promising IP's in a long time. I know it is still in beta, but I suspect that STO will be a trainwreck.
... All of the rooms that I was in should have been composed of probably 7-9 foot ceilings. Every environment was rendered with at least a relative 20 feet over the character's head. In addition, doors that should have been normal sized doors were fifteen feet monstrosities. In relation to a character, a character's height is only slightly above half of the door's height. Whoever designed the environments was either extremely lazy, incompetent, or both. ...
i've read before that game designers intentionally oversize the game's environment because the true-to-scale just looks odd and can be difficult for the gamer to interact with... not defending... just saying that there may be an industry standard in place that hasn't been bucked, yet.
I have enjoyed my game time in STO. So far I have logged about 20 hours worth of time into the game. I have played a lot of missions and think there is a lot of variety in them.
I am by no means a Major Trekkie per se, but I have watched every show and series since the original Star Trek. Just don't ask me to quote sayings or actors names, not gonna happen.
My first missions were mainly solo missions and pretty much was feeding me the control schemes of the game, little by little. After that I was starting to get into instances with other people that had the same quests as me. A couple of these people actually stayed grouped with me for several more missions since we were on the same quest lines.
As our quests parted ways , I had other quests then they had, I continued on with trying some patrol missions. I enjoyed these as they were varied and had multiple space and ground missions in order to complete them. After that I went back to playing the normal missions.
I liked the fact that if other people started a mission instance around the same time as me, it would automatically group us together. It also seemed to scale the NPC mob levels and amounts of mobs for the amount of people that were in the instance. Both in space missions and ground missions.
I probably met more people in those instance missions then I have in a lot of open world MMOs. There seemed to be plenty of content to do at all times. I could either just hail Starfleet or warp back to the station to get more quests. There were also mobs moving around in space that I could just join in the instance and about 20 people would be working together to kill mob spawns.
There was a decent amount of drops from the missions for my ship and my crew members, I had many skills to assign to myself and my crew. Also upgrading equipment on my ship and experimenting with weapon layouts.
As I played I noticed that a lot of time in real life had passed me by and that has not happened in a MMO for awhile. That is a good measurement of how enjoyable a game is for me.
I never even got the chance to try out the PVP side, but will hopefully get to that this week. I did not even attempt to play today because I know what happens the first day of open beta when thousands of testers all try logging in for the first time.
So in conclusion, judge the game yourself. The majority of people in chat while I was playing were stating how much they enjoyed the game. Most were stating that they were having "fun", but they couldn't quite figure out what it was that was giving them that feeling. Now all is not a bed of roses, the game is beta and has some issues, but nothing that cannot be fixed with a little time.
Cryptic... if you keep the content rolling on this game - It will live long and prosper.
Although mostly and original and new generation fan, I was curious about this title. But to hear that exploration is a minor part and combat is the main objective, I think I'll have to skip it.
Besides, is Roper involved in this one? *flagshipped*
I think it will be a fine MMORPG, but from what I've read, right in the MMORPG genre, in a Star Trek setting.
That means combat, and Star Trek was never about combat to me. It was about exploration, also about ship stories, personal relationships. There were scary creatures, such as the borg, but to me it's also about when we don't fight, the quest for peace.
Before I start let me say that I have been playing the Closed Beta the last few months. Let me also say that up until the last couple of tests I was advocating that Cryptic delay the launch of this game by another 30 to 60 days to help polish a few things. However, based upon those last few tests I have changed my mind. Not that it would not help if they delayed it but that the game is pretty much ready to go now. Yes, it still has its flaws but those are more like any MMO...birthing pains. I for one love the feel of space combat to date. It feels more like Star Trek space combat then in any game I have ever played (and I have played just about all). I still have some mixed feeling about ground movement (not combat). Movement just seems a little clunky to me given other MMO and combat movement games out now.
Will STO be good for all people...probably not. No MMO is ever going to satisfy everyone.
Is STO having some "issues" in Open Beta...yes. But again those are mostly due to the sheer number of people slamming the servers. Will Cryptic work them out. You bet. They know what is riding on this MMO. It will be up and running and it will be a lot of fun.
Interesting breakdown. I guess it goes without saying that there are many exceptions for each group. DS9 is my favorite series and I'm passing on STO after having been in the Beta for a few weeks.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
I actually enjoyed what I've played of the game over the last weekend.
I don't feel that it's completely linear as another poster mentioned. From what I've seen so far many missions can be done in any order you want, and there are even missions that require that you patrol several systems before the mission is complete, and it doesn't specify any order that you have to complete them in.
As for the claims that it's not an MMO, I disagree with that as well... I had my character set to open team, which basically any other ship/player that was working on the same mission as you, as soon as they entered that instance you were immediately made a team. This helped me GREATLY as there were several missions that I could not have soloed.... In addition to that I found one of the missions was a 'fleet' mission that there were sooo many enemy ships that the mission required multiple players, and OPEN team setting did NOT matter, anyone that entered that instance was there to fight the same enemies. I don't recall the maximum number of player ships, but I remember seeing, easily 20-25 ships in that instance.
With that said, there's still somebugs/glitches that I feel they need to work on, and I don't think that this is release ready come February.. I definitely won't be purchasing it at that time.. I'm going to hang on, listen to those that do sub to it right away and make a decision down the road.
Hrm, I would consider myself a casual ST fan, and DS9 was by far my favorite series, but I don't like STO at all. As others have said, it's just not a very good MMO (much like Champions). It's now so easy to understand why Marvel bailed on Cryptic....
I have played very little, maybe about three hours in.
But it really is Trek enough for me so far. Space combat is a blast, and although the ground stuff is a little uninspiring it takes place in a lot of different environments and scenarios which automatically makes it better than your standard fantasy MMO. At least for me.
It really has been a lot of fun so far. Each to their own I guess, but for me, so far, they have got the Trek feel down. Can’t wait to keep playing!
I'm a hard core Deep Space Nine fan (we call ourselves "Niners," the series writers even named the Deep Space 9 baseball team after us,) and I don't think I'll like this game much because of misconceptions like "The combat is highly reminiscent of what you saw in the later seasons of that show. The Federation is once again at war, and most of the game revolves around that (as did the series)." Saying such a silly thing makes it look like the author didn't even watch 83% of the series at all. Liked "Way of the Warrior" and "Sacrifice of Angles" eh, Jon? So did I, but did you happen to catch "Duet," "In the Pale Moonlight," "Far Beyond the Stars," or "Trials and Tribble-ations?" These were as much the core of the series as the far fewer battle oriented episodes and they can even rank themselves as some of the very best of Trek, yet not a single battle takes place in any of them. Cryptic seems to be aiming for the hard-core shoot-em-up fans with this game with non-stop combat, combat, combat. But that isn't at all what Star Trek is about, even the war based seasons of DS9.
I agree on all points. Despite the fact that the latter half of DS9 was about the Dominion War there were not many episodes with battles. More than typical? Perhaps. However, to hear defenders of STO talk of it though you'd think that every other scene was a battle. Also, as you pointed out the majority of the best episodes of Star Trek, from all 5 series, don't feature combat. I'm not saying that STO shouldn't have combat. Indeed, combat should be featured in the game. However, it shouldn't be 95% of the game.
STO is pure garbage. It's a poor attempt at a Star Trek game and a poor attempt at an MMORPG.
Ironic that a Warhammer Online correspondent says that STO is a poor attempt of a Star Trek game when Warhammer Online is generally considered to be a terrible implementation of the Warhammer IP and more like WoW than how a Warhammer game would be like...
I think it will be a fine MMORPG, but from what I've read, right in the MMORPG genre, in a Star Trek setting. That means combat, and Star Trek was never about combat to me. It was about exploration, also about ship stories, personal relationships. There were scary creatures, such as the borg, but to me it's also about when we don't fight, the quest for peace. I don't think I can play it.
Think if what you are saying. How many people do you think would play an MMORPG which was about peace and non-combat?
I mean there are tons of RTS and other types of Star Trek games (like Star Fleet Command) which was all about combat. So that alone I dont think would disqualify it from being a Star Trek game.
However, the lack of depth, complexity and how linear STO is, in my book would. Because Star Trek has never been simple and linear, it is an open universe after all and Cryptics game is anything but.
I have enjoyed my game time in STO. So far I have logged about 20 hours worth of time into the game. I have played a lot of missions and think there is a lot of variety in them. I am by no means a Major Trekkie per se, but I have watched every show and series since the original Star Trek. Just don't ask me to quote sayings or actors names, not gonna happen. My first missions were mainly solo missions and pretty much was feeding me the control schemes of the game, little by little. After that I was starting to get into instances with other people that had the same quests as me. A couple of these people actually stayed grouped with me for several more missions since we were on the same quest lines. As our quests parted ways , I had other quests then they had, I continued on with trying some patrol missions. I enjoyed these as they were varied and had multiple space and ground missions in order to complete them. After that I went back to playing the normal missions. I liked the fact that if other people started a mission instance around the same time as me, it would automatically group us together. It also seemed to scale the NPC mob levels and amounts of mobs for the amount of people that were in the instance. Both in space missions and ground missions. I probably met more people in those instance missions then I have in a lot of open world MMOs. There seemed to be plenty of content to do at all times. I could either just hail Starfleet or warp back to the station to get more quests. There were also mobs moving around in space that I could just join in the instance and about 20 people would be working together to kill mob spawns. There was a decent amount of drops from the missions for my ship and my crew members, I had many skills to assign to myself and my crew. Also upgrading equipment on my ship and experimenting with weapon layouts. As I played I noticed that a lot of time in real life had passed me by and that has not happened in a MMO for awhile. That is a good measurement of how enjoyable a game is for me. I never even got the chance to try out the PVP side, but will hopefully get to that this week. I did not even attempt to play today because I know what happens the first day of open beta when thousands of testers all try logging in for the first time. So in conclusion, judge the game yourself. The majority of people in chat while I was playing were stating how much they enjoyed the game. Most were stating that they were having "fun", but they couldn't quite figure out what it was that was giving them that feeling. Now all is not a bed of roses, the game is beta and has some issues, but nothing that cannot be fixed with a little time. Cryptic... if you keep the content rolling on this game - It will live long and prosper.
This experience you describe is typical for a Cryptic game. They are a blast for the first couple of weeks but then you will see that there is zero depth and virtually no end game which will lead most people to quit after a month. Just look at CO, it had quite a good start but only after a month it was down to 1/3 of its original subscriber base and now after 6 months it is lower than 1/10th.
Unless Cryptic has done something radical with STO I predict it will pretty much be the same. Probably it will have a few more subscribers because if the massive IP but in the end if the game has no depth and replay value, people will get tired and move on.
Really I think Cryptic should create single player games instead of MMORPGs since none of their games have the depth and replay value of an MMORPG and they seem incapable of creating an endgame that lasts and is enjoyable. They failed doing that with CoX and CO and most likely they will fail with STO as well.
I would actually say big-time Voyager and later fans would like the game the most. Frankly, the quality of the writing of Voyager was rather poor -- they often seemed to realize they had no idea how to handle a complex plot, so 10-15 minutes before the end they'd repeatedly hit the plot with a hammer until it was a one- or two-dimensional plot and then it would wrap itself up. TOS, TNG, and DS9 had much, much better writing over all (as always, there are exceptions), and people who stop there probably stopped because they found the plots after this rather lacking. No offense to the Voyager fans, but I think people who liked the show are rather easily pleased, and similar people that will like STO will also be easily pleased. I'm not saying this is the only way to look at the fans of the shows (certainly there are 9ers and TOS-only people), but I think as far as STO is concerned, it is the most useful.
I thought Championsfan put it very well in another thread. He said he played CO a LOT and liked it (and even admitted that lots of time invested tends to do that). Then he went and played Mass Effect again, and that made him realize just how very unpolished CO was. He said STO is very similar in this regard. People who are willing to pay top dollar for a game that maybe has slightly better quality than CO* -- which is still an unpolished game will be happy with STO. People that have higher demands will not be pleased.
*Assuming Cryptic learned something from doing CO that has helped with STO and also assuming STO's two combat systems doesn't slow such progress down.
Well the last Star Trek show I did enjoy was DS9 and so far I like STO. Played only the last 3 days in closed beta.
Can't say much how good it will be in the long run but honestly the last MMOs that I played more then 2 month are EQ1 and SB and I really don't care if the game don't last longer not with so much other games around that want to be played like ME2, AvP & B:BC2.
True the ground combat looks in a weird way like CO, special when a Gorn throws a rock at you but the environment I have seen in the first missions looks much better then CO did. Space Battles are absolutely fun so far. I really enjoy every minute of it.
No doubt STO could have much more going, special with the ST background and some systems like the genesis don't work so good atm.
Just like player avatars in space, Ships in ground combat is also awesome.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
This article confused me. Sentences like "I think that casual Star Trek fans are likely to enjoy this game " tick me off.
And what annoys me, is that this article isnt just a review about a game. Or about general gaming. The writer is actually promoting the game to players who like certain shows.
Again, isnt the idea about a review that players can decide for themselves if they should try out that game? But instead this OP, decides to advice this game, before we even get an official review. This really shows serious bias towards STO. More cynic ppl would simply call this an advertisement.
This game will attract the bored Wow players and that is about it. It leads you by the hand all the way. Nothing challenging or new about it, it is just CO with a Star Trek theme. It really has nothing to with the IP beyond using some of the costumes and equipment from it.
This game will be a 3 month wonder for most people if it lasts that long.
Star Trek was about exploration and solving problems that resulted from such, this game has nothing of that. Zero, zip, nada.
That is from a gamers perspective, which is the audience that Cryptic was aiming for, not the trekkies.
It's got to be a good MMO first. Being a fan of the series / world will only take you so far - if the game is junk then it doesn't really matter.
What matters to me more is that the writer is showing serious bias towards this game. Before there is even an official review, he starts advising this game to players. Apparently a review to let players make up their minds for their own isnt necessary anymore. Just write an article about the TV series and use those as argument if players will like a game! So somewhere along the line it was already established that STO is a good MMO.
This is far from objective journalism. Its as if you read someones personal blog.
It's got to be a good MMO first. Being a fan of the series / world will only take you so far - if the game is junk then it doesn't really matter.
What matters to me more is that the writer is showing serious bias towards this game. Before there is even an official review, he starts advising this game to players. Apparently a review to let players make up their minds for their own isnt necessary anymore. Just write an article about the TV series and use those as argument if players will like a game! So somewhere along the line it was already established that STO is a good MMO.
This is far from objective journalism. Its as if you read someones personal blog.
I guess reading comprehension is no longer taught in schools, along with critical thinking.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
Originally posted by someforumguy This is far from objective journalism. Its as if you read someones personal blog.
Expecting objective journalism from an advertising supported gaming site is rather naive.
No, expecting objective journalism from an opinion piece is retarded.
You can take off the tinfoil hat please.
---------- "Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
Comments
I agree on all points. Despite the fact that the latter half of DS9 was about the Dominion War there were not many episodes with battles. More than typical? Perhaps. However, to hear defenders of STO talk of it though you'd think that every other scene was a battle. Also, as you pointed out the majority of the best episodes of Star Trek, from all 5 series, don't feature combat. I'm not saying that STO shouldn't have combat. Indeed, combat should be featured in the game. However, it shouldn't be 95% of the game.
STO is pure garbage. It's a poor attempt at a Star Trek game and a poor attempt at an MMORPG.
Until you cancel your subscription, you are only helping to continue the cycle of mediocrity.
My experience with STO since beta was like watching your favorite gaming IP get sold to Uwe Boll for a movie. Cryptic did a mostly copy and paste from Champions for about 60-70% of the games mechanics. The world tries to center on customization (also Champions Online) as a main feature and pushes it often through out the game with ship vendors and clothing vendors around every corner.
If you have played Champions Online then this game will feel very familiar right away. But Cryptic definitely took a multi-million dollar franchise and made the cheapest damn copy and paste version they could. Just as I would sit through a Uwe Boll movie and cry to myself about the waste. I will once again find myself crying about the wasted opportunity to do something great.
I pride myself on playing almost any MMO but this is one that my inner trek fan just can't stomach.
Gom276
Prolific MMO player
Just can't say no to any mmo
well, boo hoo. i guess i'm just a common, low born, casual trekkleretta. watching any of the shows has always made me feel all warm and glowing like i'm giving birth through immaculate conception to a litter of glowing kittens...
but i'd be hard pressed to know any of the actors real life names and i've certainly never sent any of them naked pictures of myself like true fans do according to that star trek documentary that shows up on cable infrequently. i'm only naked in front of open windows when i'm making coffee in the morning and old church ladies are trespassing across my yard.
make it so... wrinkled up old biddy.
I just downloaded and "played" the open beta. I say "played" in quotes, because I could not bring myself to play the game (in it's current state) for more than 10 minutes. The MAIN reason I could not play this game is because of the scale of the environments. I have seen a decent portion of the ST series, and although I am not a trekkie, I found the scale of the tutorial's environments to be completely unrealistic--to the point that it distracted so much from the game that I did not want to play any more.
All of the rooms that I was in should have been composed of probably 7-9 foot ceilings. Every environment was rendered with at least a relative 20 feet over the character's head. In addition, doors that should have been normal sized doors were fifteen feet monstrosities. In relation to a character, a character's height is only slightly above half of the door's height. Whoever designed the environments was either extremely lazy, incompetent, or both.
Finally, going in between levels of the tutorial ship resulted in loading screens, a la Resident Evil. With the current state of MMO's and level size. there is no reason for this amount of needless loading screens.
I'm afraid that Cryptic has screwed up one of the most promising IP's in a long time. I know it is still in beta, but I suspect that STO will be a trainwreck.
i've read before that game designers intentionally oversize the game's environment because the true-to-scale just looks odd and can be difficult for the gamer to interact with... not defending... just saying that there may be an industry standard in place that hasn't been bucked, yet.
I have enjoyed my game time in STO. So far I have logged about 20 hours worth of time into the game. I have played a lot of missions and think there is a lot of variety in them.
I am by no means a Major Trekkie per se, but I have watched every show and series since the original Star Trek. Just don't ask me to quote sayings or actors names, not gonna happen.
My first missions were mainly solo missions and pretty much was feeding me the control schemes of the game, little by little. After that I was starting to get into instances with other people that had the same quests as me. A couple of these people actually stayed grouped with me for several more missions since we were on the same quest lines.
As our quests parted ways , I had other quests then they had, I continued on with trying some patrol missions. I enjoyed these as they were varied and had multiple space and ground missions in order to complete them. After that I went back to playing the normal missions.
I liked the fact that if other people started a mission instance around the same time as me, it would automatically group us together. It also seemed to scale the NPC mob levels and amounts of mobs for the amount of people that were in the instance. Both in space missions and ground missions.
I probably met more people in those instance missions then I have in a lot of open world MMOs. There seemed to be plenty of content to do at all times. I could either just hail Starfleet or warp back to the station to get more quests. There were also mobs moving around in space that I could just join in the instance and about 20 people would be working together to kill mob spawns.
There was a decent amount of drops from the missions for my ship and my crew members, I had many skills to assign to myself and my crew. Also upgrading equipment on my ship and experimenting with weapon layouts.
As I played I noticed that a lot of time in real life had passed me by and that has not happened in a MMO for awhile. That is a good measurement of how enjoyable a game is for me.
I never even got the chance to try out the PVP side, but will hopefully get to that this week. I did not even attempt to play today because I know what happens the first day of open beta when thousands of testers all try logging in for the first time.
So in conclusion, judge the game yourself. The majority of people in chat while I was playing were stating how much they enjoyed the game. Most were stating that they were having "fun", but they couldn't quite figure out what it was that was giving them that feeling. Now all is not a bed of roses, the game is beta and has some issues, but nothing that cannot be fixed with a little time.
Cryptic... if you keep the content rolling on this game - It will live long and prosper.
Although mostly and original and new generation fan, I was curious about this title. But to hear that exploration is a minor part and combat is the main objective, I think I'll have to skip it.
Besides, is Roper involved in this one? *flagshipped*
I think it will be a fine MMORPG, but from what I've read, right in the MMORPG genre, in a Star Trek setting.
That means combat, and Star Trek was never about combat to me. It was about exploration, also about ship stories, personal relationships. There were scary creatures, such as the borg, but to me it's also about when we don't fight, the quest for peace.
I don't think I can play it.
Regards,
mszv
Before I start let me say that I have been playing the Closed Beta the last few months. Let me also say that up until the last couple of tests I was advocating that Cryptic delay the launch of this game by another 30 to 60 days to help polish a few things. However, based upon those last few tests I have changed my mind. Not that it would not help if they delayed it but that the game is pretty much ready to go now. Yes, it still has its flaws but those are more like any MMO...birthing pains. I for one love the feel of space combat to date. It feels more like Star Trek space combat then in any game I have ever played (and I have played just about all). I still have some mixed feeling about ground movement (not combat). Movement just seems a little clunky to me given other MMO and combat movement games out now.
Will STO be good for all people...probably not. No MMO is ever going to satisfy everyone.
Is STO having some "issues" in Open Beta...yes. But again those are mostly due to the sheer number of people slamming the servers. Will Cryptic work them out. You bet. They know what is riding on this MMO. It will be up and running and it will be a lot of fun.
Let's party like it is 1863!
Interesting breakdown. I guess it goes without saying that there are many exceptions for each group. DS9 is my favorite series and I'm passing on STO after having been in the Beta for a few weeks.
"Many nights, my friend... Many nights I've put a blade to your throat while you were sleeping. Glad I never killed you, Steve. You're alright..."
Chavez y Chavez
I actually enjoyed what I've played of the game over the last weekend.
I don't feel that it's completely linear as another poster mentioned. From what I've seen so far many missions can be done in any order you want, and there are even missions that require that you patrol several systems before the mission is complete, and it doesn't specify any order that you have to complete them in.
As for the claims that it's not an MMO, I disagree with that as well... I had my character set to open team, which basically any other ship/player that was working on the same mission as you, as soon as they entered that instance you were immediately made a team. This helped me GREATLY as there were several missions that I could not have soloed.... In addition to that I found one of the missions was a 'fleet' mission that there were sooo many enemy ships that the mission required multiple players, and OPEN team setting did NOT matter, anyone that entered that instance was there to fight the same enemies. I don't recall the maximum number of player ships, but I remember seeing, easily 20-25 ships in that instance.
With that said, there's still somebugs/glitches that I feel they need to work on, and I don't think that this is release ready come February.. I definitely won't be purchasing it at that time.. I'm going to hang on, listen to those that do sub to it right away and make a decision down the road.
Hrm, I would consider myself a casual ST fan, and DS9 was by far my favorite series, but I don't like STO at all. As others have said, it's just not a very good MMO (much like Champions). It's now so easy to understand why Marvel bailed on Cryptic....
I have played very little, maybe about three hours in.
But it really is Trek enough for me so far. Space combat is a blast, and although the ground stuff is a little uninspiring it takes place in a lot of different environments and scenarios which automatically makes it better than your standard fantasy MMO. At least for me.
It really has been a lot of fun so far. Each to their own I guess, but for me, so far, they have got the Trek feel down. Can’t wait to keep playing!
I agree on all points. Despite the fact that the latter half of DS9 was about the Dominion War there were not many episodes with battles. More than typical? Perhaps. However, to hear defenders of STO talk of it though you'd think that every other scene was a battle. Also, as you pointed out the majority of the best episodes of Star Trek, from all 5 series, don't feature combat. I'm not saying that STO shouldn't have combat. Indeed, combat should be featured in the game. However, it shouldn't be 95% of the game.
STO is pure garbage. It's a poor attempt at a Star Trek game and a poor attempt at an MMORPG.
Ironic that a Warhammer Online correspondent says that STO is a poor attempt of a Star Trek game when Warhammer Online is generally considered to be a terrible implementation of the Warhammer IP and more like WoW than how a Warhammer game would be like...
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Think if what you are saying. How many people do you think would play an MMORPG which was about peace and non-combat?
I mean there are tons of RTS and other types of Star Trek games (like Star Fleet Command) which was all about combat. So that alone I dont think would disqualify it from being a Star Trek game.
However, the lack of depth, complexity and how linear STO is, in my book would. Because Star Trek has never been simple and linear, it is an open universe after all and Cryptics game is anything but.
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This experience you describe is typical for a Cryptic game. They are a blast for the first couple of weeks but then you will see that there is zero depth and virtually no end game which will lead most people to quit after a month. Just look at CO, it had quite a good start but only after a month it was down to 1/3 of its original subscriber base and now after 6 months it is lower than 1/10th.
Unless Cryptic has done something radical with STO I predict it will pretty much be the same. Probably it will have a few more subscribers because if the massive IP but in the end if the game has no depth and replay value, people will get tired and move on.
Really I think Cryptic should create single player games instead of MMORPGs since none of their games have the depth and replay value of an MMORPG and they seem incapable of creating an endgame that lasts and is enjoyable. They failed doing that with CoX and CO and most likely they will fail with STO as well.
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I would actually say big-time Voyager and later fans would like the game the most. Frankly, the quality of the writing of Voyager was rather poor -- they often seemed to realize they had no idea how to handle a complex plot, so 10-15 minutes before the end they'd repeatedly hit the plot with a hammer until it was a one- or two-dimensional plot and then it would wrap itself up. TOS, TNG, and DS9 had much, much better writing over all (as always, there are exceptions), and people who stop there probably stopped because they found the plots after this rather lacking. No offense to the Voyager fans, but I think people who liked the show are rather easily pleased, and similar people that will like STO will also be easily pleased. I'm not saying this is the only way to look at the fans of the shows (certainly there are 9ers and TOS-only people), but I think as far as STO is concerned, it is the most useful.
I thought Championsfan put it very well in another thread. He said he played CO a LOT and liked it (and even admitted that lots of time invested tends to do that). Then he went and played Mass Effect again, and that made him realize just how very unpolished CO was. He said STO is very similar in this regard. People who are willing to pay top dollar for a game that maybe has slightly better quality than CO* -- which is still an unpolished game will be happy with STO. People that have higher demands will not be pleased.
*Assuming Cryptic learned something from doing CO that has helped with STO and also assuming STO's two combat systems doesn't slow such progress down.
Well the last Star Trek show I did enjoy was DS9 and so far I like STO. Played only the last 3 days in closed beta.
Can't say much how good it will be in the long run but honestly the last MMOs that I played more then 2 month are EQ1 and SB and I really don't care if the game don't last longer not with so much other games around that want to be played like ME2, AvP & B:BC2.
True the ground combat looks in a weird way like CO, special when a Gorn throws a rock at you but the environment I have seen in the first missions looks much better then CO did. Space Battles are absolutely fun so far. I really enjoy every minute of it.
No doubt STO could have much more going, special with the ST background and some systems like the genesis don't work so good atm.
Just like player avatars in space, Ships in ground combat is also awesome.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
This article confused me. Sentences like "I think that casual Star Trek fans are likely to enjoy this game " tick me off.
And what annoys me, is that this article isnt just a review about a game. Or about general gaming. The writer is actually promoting the game to players who like certain shows.
Again, isnt the idea about a review that players can decide for themselves if they should try out that game? But instead this OP, decides to advice this game, before we even get an official review. This really shows serious bias towards STO. More cynic ppl would simply call this an advertisement.
This game will attract the bored Wow players and that is about it. It leads you by the hand all the way. Nothing challenging or new about it, it is just CO with a Star Trek theme. It really has nothing to with the IP beyond using some of the costumes and equipment from it.
This game will be a 3 month wonder for most people if it lasts that long.
Star Trek was about exploration and solving problems that resulted from such, this game has nothing of that. Zero, zip, nada.
That is from a gamers perspective, which is the audience that Cryptic was aiming for, not the trekkies.
What matters to me more is that the writer is showing serious bias towards this game. Before there is even an official review, he starts advising this game to players. Apparently a review to let players make up their minds for their own isnt necessary anymore. Just write an article about the TV series and use those as argument if players will like a game! So somewhere along the line it was already established that STO is a good MMO.
This is far from objective journalism. Its as if you read someones personal blog.
What matters to me more is that the writer is showing serious bias towards this game. Before there is even an official review, he starts advising this game to players. Apparently a review to let players make up their minds for their own isnt necessary anymore. Just write an article about the TV series and use those as argument if players will like a game! So somewhere along the line it was already established that STO is a good MMO.
This is far from objective journalism. Its as if you read someones personal blog.
I guess reading comprehension is no longer taught in schools, along with critical thinking.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me
Expecting objective journalism from an advertising supported gaming site is rather naive.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Expecting objective journalism from an advertising supported gaming site is rather naive.
No, expecting objective journalism from an opinion piece is retarded.
You can take off the tinfoil hat please.
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"Anyone posting on this forum is not an average user, and there for any opinions about the game are going to be overly critical compared to an average users opinions." - Me
"No, your wrong.." - Random user #123
"Hello person posting on a site specifically for MMO's in a thread on a sub forum specifically for a particular game talking about meta features and making comparisons to other titles in the genre, and their meta features.
How are you?" -Me