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STO To boldy develop what no community has wanted before
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
STO – To boldy develop what no community has wanted before
A Review. (When Cryptic claims STO is complete to launch, I can say my review is, too.)
Often when a MMO is released these days, we hear it is better than expected. Well if that does become a measure, we can all vote Fidel Castro for President, because in the end his reign was better than expected. I’d suppose after 2+ years of MMO letdowns the expectations are pretty low for most MMO gamers.
One thing I must give Cryptic credit for is making credits… or rather dollars. Their ingenuity to milk every possible cent from a product is really admirable, from a mere business point. Various versions of collector boxes to assure the rabid fanboy will buy multiple boxes, contracts with chains like Del Taco for pet shuttles and the unavoidable Cryptic Shop, where you can buy extra what in better days of gaming was included in the box, like additional Klingon and Ferengi races for the Federation player; not to forget the almost standardized Lifetime Subscription, which of course can only be bought until the game goes life, and thus successfully annihilating any chance to see the product you spent a substantial amount of money into, and that’s something I found particularly devious. If you offer a “flatrate”, it is outright deception to only offer it before people can even see the game. Any serious offer of a flatrate sort of payment would be always acquirable. But it is becoming gaming usus just like outsourcing parts to downloadable extra content. Sims 3 furniture or Mass Effect extra companion… today all companies milk their products as good as they can, and one could only wish the creativity of marketing would swap over to the creativity of the game making.
Looking like Champions soon sells their new lv 37-40 zone for money, we can expect to see the cut out levels 45-50 with another paid expansion in April 2010 and extra Klingon PVE content for another cheap $19.99 in May (* sold in 7 different versions with tribble, glowing bath’let and other uber cool extras). Wanna bet?
You know, one could admire a company which releases one new MMO every year, and after Champions in 2009 and STO in 2010 I wonder what will be the next conveyor belt product in 2011? Harry Potter Online? Teletubbies Online? (That would at least have no ugly translation issues like CO and STO.) What really bothers me about STO and CO is not that they are all bad. They are casual fun for a short time. What bothers me is the implementation of the most minimal effort, with maximised simplification of the production via building kits, just like the old Neverwinter Nights fan modules where made. Same engine, same visuals, just a bit new way to arrange the boxes, and voila, here comes the MMO developed in less than two years. Combined with the money making creativity it is a real business masterpiece, I must say.
However, for us gamers it doesn’t look so bright and it might even overshadow the evilness of WOW, because if THAT line of developing MMOs is seen with favour by the bean counters and stockholders, God be merciful for our gamer souls, and we’ll probably see years and years of cheap, fast done, simplified and soulless MMOs made of construction kits.
One of the things which unsettles me above all things is that STO is not Massive as in “MMORPG” at all. It is indeed more as if you play Star Trek Offline with a chat box. The number of other players you share your game with is never much bigger than an old lady’s tea party. There is nothing massive in a world divided into hundreds of instances, zones and loadscreens. For a MMO I see that damn loadscreen WAY too often, and the Sector Map travel is outright ridiculous. Whereas a SPACE MMO suggest a spacious experience, I never felt so crammed and confined into tiny rooms as in STO. Heck even LOTRO when it was released felt bigger. There are a handful of shoebox sized Sectors and a dozen or so worlds in each, and most quest make you patrol them one by one, with a creativity that would honor Tetris developers maybe.
90% of the quests I had were either “Kill 5 Groups of X” - Klingons, Nausicaans, Orions. ALL over. I suppose they just have these three enemy mobs. At least I never saw anything else. Or scan five XYZ – asteroids, stations or satellites. Almost every single quest is made up entirely of these two parts with some fishy “story” in a quick and quite un-Trekkish popup window. One example that stands for many. You find some "eggs" on a planet and that disturbs the colonists. Where ARE the colonists? Why don't I see them? The only thing I DO see are 5 eggs in a SUPER TINY empty and barren ground space. In any Trek Episiode you would SEE the space moths birth at the end, to give some emotion, some soul. You'd hear a debate between afraid colonists who want the eggs destroyed and the scientists who want to study them. SOMETHING to give feeling and emotion! And not "scan 5 eggs text blah blah" and THATS IT.
Now, granted. MMORPGs rarely have stuck out with choices or consequences. But when you play a STAR TREK game, your Officers hail everyone before you even ask, no choice, nada, and 95% of all missions are solved by default with VIOLENCE, something is VERY VERY wrong with a Star Trek game! Gene Roddenberry’s vision was a better future, a future where humanity solves it’s issues with conversation and diplomacy, and the utmost violence between Klingons and Federation in Star Trek TOS was a goddamn barfight on K7! I mean, I can understand eras change and a video game can’t be all talks. But WTH possessed Cryptic to make a Trek MMO without any diplomacy, without ANY quest to find other solutions than “kill everything that moves”! That would even in any non Trek context feel ridiculous but in Star Trek even more. And that is where construction kit development entirely and totally fails to create anything of quality. When the subjectively felt 12 Cryptic employees quickly fumble together another action clone and paste a Star Trek pastiche over it, you can’t expect a gaming masterpiece to be the result.
Another thing which is quite irritating is the always odd size proportions. Why are bridges like huge warehouses where the Captain has to yell to make himself heard? Why is DS9 entirely devoid of ANY sort of life? A handful dumb NPCs scattered all over? Hello? A nine year old child with the Neverwinter Night toolset can make that! I never felt that any of these Space Stations are actually alive, and the totally out of place proportions surely add to it. On the other hand are those tiny, crammed sector space maps (prolly the worst part of the game), where there is NOTHING unseen to “discover”, where you can travel from one end of the Galaxy to the other in moments. These sector maps are devoid of EVERYTHING exciting, everything that feels like travelling through the vast regions of space! Sorry, but the person who invented those sector maps is in serious need of a new job!
While it is quite possible to be entertained for a one time run through for a few months, Cryptic has repeated it’s idea of total zip replayability which also plagued Champions Online. What good is it for to roll another ship or class when you play through all the same content in exactly the same way? I don’t know, but is no one at Cryptic thinking about the long term value of a game? Maybe different starts for the different classes would at least make a different start. And some more quests and places, something to make the galaxy actually feel BIG and vast!
As to quests: where is in this game the story? I guess compared to an EQ era MMO STO wouldn’t have been so bad. Games like EQ and EQ2 were usually just half assed quest stories dropped all over the world, because in most cases people didn’t even care. But ever since LOTRO happened, we can see what is possible, and at least for me going back to pre-LOTRO storytelling is a hard thing. Like being used to drive a Mercedes and suddenly being stuck with a Fiat Punto. You DO miss something. The big vision of stories which create this wonderful big carpet of a world story, region by region, and there is that line of events which connect all the parts and one by one lead you to a big story of sorts. Here just like in CO the STO quest world has little to no coherence. Klingons and Orions attack, and prolly it’s their fault, since both are not known to be quite ingenious in their plots. They seem to just randomly attack here and there, well it’s war after all, and that’s it.
As a sort of resumee I can see two things after playing Champions Online and Star Trek Online. First, it takes a lot more time and effort to make a good MMO than to make a half baked MMO. Creativity and detail can not be accelerated by standardized rubberband methods of fabrication. You can do that, but the result will be less than mediocre. Second, it is apparent to me that Cryptic is entirely unable to grasp such things like “story”, “atmosphere” and “longevity”, for their MMOs are entirely devoid of them. Where CO had *some* feeling of “soul” and some sort of “story”, however basic, STO seems entirely empty of it. Copy-Paste Klingon/Nausicaan/Orion attacks all over, reason, rhyme and soul: zero. I travel from system a to b to c, kill X of Z, scan 5 of X, and it adds up to nothing. They could as well place those systems in a line to save us the travel time and be done with the totally superfluous and boring sector space.
But the really outrageous is that Cryptic dared to bribe the almost 80 years old Trek icon Leonard Nimoy into supporting STO! As a Trekkie I find that the sin which can not be forgiven. You really had to drag him down into this? I think not.
Verdict: given our expectations have been constantly fallen in the last 2 years of MMO making it’s ok for a brief time if you are a hardcore Trekkie. Therefore a mercy verdict of 60/100.
We excuse for unexpected uptimes.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
I haven't played STO yet (and most likely won't), but given Cryptic's track record and what I'd been hearing about the game, I'm willing to bet that your review is spot-on. I certainly agree with your general pessimism regarding at-launch DLC, lifetime subscriptions, and tacked-on micropayments in today's gaming industry.
I follow the release of most major MMORPGs closely; however, I only remembered that today is STO's release date because there's a Star Trek marathon on the SyFy channel as part of the game's publicity — which includes STO commercials.
I'm sure IGN, GameSpot and the like will give STO 9 out of 10 stars, even though it's almost certainly incredibly shallow, casual, and not particularly representative of the source material.
Currently Playing: EVE Online
Retired From: UO, FFXI, AO, SWG, Ryzom, GW, WoW, WAR
Good review on Tabula Rasa 2.0.....
errrr... STO...
I agree with all of the OP's points except for the thread title.
Unfortunately it is exactly what the community wants, because the community has changed from folks who like deep, involving virtual world games to folks who like fast-paced instant gratification.
I don't fault Cryptic for going after this demographic, they're out to make a buck. It's just a shame that big IP's like ST aren't given a deeper treatment.
...
This money milking with DLC and 20 different boxes ires the heavenly anger out of me. I mean, once, in the GOOD times of gaming, normal game boxes had manuals and several goodies. Gems like the Ultima boxes, like Stonekeep or whatnot. It was the UTMOST audacity of Sims 3 to give the game 2 furniture sets and add the rest for more money. MUCH more money. Dragon Age and Mass Effect are no better. They take content away and sell it extra. I loath that way of making games. A game should ship with a box and all you ever get is INSIDE the box. End of story. And when you want to tell more you make a sequel, which is an entire new box. Like Ultima VII was followed by Serpent Isle. Or Baldurs Gate by BG2. Or if you must an expansion pack let it be worth the name.
And a COLLECTORS EDITION used to be the aristocracy of games! Withheld for only the most succesful and beloved series! Like the last of the Ultima games had a collectors edition. But for a game that is barely there and with such a mediocrity to even DARE to launch a collectors edition and for THAT price is nothing short of audacity! These days we pay $30 extra because the game has a real print out manual and not some PDF with the note "content may change" written over it.
I always read forums are full with hate posts. Well is it a wonder given the constant decline, the legions of broken promises, lacking features and the other plethora of crap we have seen? If you step on my toe, is it my fault I disturb your peace by yelling?
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Elikal, You shouldn't have posted that in a forum. You should have sent it to Jon Wood (Stradden) as an article.
Very well written.
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
Hey, El, what would you bet that within six months all of the pre-order "extras" will be for sale in the item shop? I originally had a Collector's Edition on pre-order until, one day, I looked at the list of the stuff that was in it and asked myself, "Am I really interested in any of that junk?"
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
Hey now, I played Tabula Rasa all the way to the end in the beta!
This game? Didn't even give it the chance of getting on my computer.
Tabula Rasa was actually a decent game, smart escort quests, none of those "why's this wolf missing his head when I see it on him" gathering quests, active combat, and a world that wasn't completely static all the time. STO? I stopped at "cryptic".
I used to think CO would be amazing because they know what they were doing with superhero MMOS. Turns out NCSoft knows better how to handle one than they do.
Klingons for PvE? Yay! Paying for a race that is already enabled in the game in the first place? Nay I say, nay...
If anyone wants to review STO, do so here at MMORPG.com: www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/352/view/ratings
Hey now, I played Tabula Rasa all the way to the end in the beta!
This game? Didn't even give it the chance of getting on my computer.
Tabula Rasa was actually a decent game, smart escort quests, none of those "why's this wolf missing his head when I see it on him" gathering quests, active combat, and a world that wasn't completely static all the time. STO? I stopped at "cryptic".
I used to think CO would be amazing because they know what they were doing with superhero MMOS. Turns out NCSoft knows better how to handle one than they do.
Klingons for PvE? Yay! Paying for a race that is already enabled in the game in the first place? Nay I say, nay...
talk about being misinformed and then repeating that misinformation as if it were truth. You sir have no clue, especially to trash talk a game you haven't even played. The OP is way off on this subject as well. I think it's time for the MMO genre to go bye bye. There are more important things to worry about than something you can control like a game. Buy it or dont. Simple as that.
Hey now, I played Tabula Rasa all the way to the end in the beta!
This game? Didn't even give it the chance of getting on my computer.
Tabula Rasa was actually a decent game, smart escort quests, none of those "why's this wolf missing his head when I see it on him" gathering quests, active combat, and a world that wasn't completely static all the time. STO? I stopped at "cryptic".
I used to think CO would be amazing because they know what they were doing with superhero MMOS. Turns out NCSoft knows better how to handle one than they do.
Klingons for PvE? Yay! Paying for a race that is already enabled in the game in the first place? Nay I say, nay...
talk about being misinformed and then repeating that misinformation as if it were truth. You sir have no clue, especially to trash talk a game you haven't even played. The OP is way off on this subject as well. I think it's time for the MMO genre to go bye bye. There are more important things to worry about than something you can control like a game. Buy it or dont. Simple as that.
And instead of just throwing around "misinformation" like it was the schoolyard basketball, how about posting proof?
And just because I haven't personally played it doesn't make my opinion any less valid, just because I haven't played it doesn't mean I don't know anyone that has, or read up a little on the game.
Hey now, I played Tabula Rasa all the way to the end in the beta!
This game? Didn't even give it the chance of getting on my computer.
Tabula Rasa was actually a decent game, smart escort quests, none of those "why's this wolf missing his head when I see it on him" gathering quests, active combat, and a world that wasn't completely static all the time. STO? I stopped at "cryptic".
I used to think CO would be amazing because they know what they were doing with superhero MMOS. Turns out NCSoft knows better how to handle one than they do.
Klingons for PvE? Yay! Paying for a race that is already enabled in the game in the first place? Nay I say, nay...
talk about being misinformed and then repeating that misinformation as if it were truth. You sir have no clue, especially to trash talk a game you haven't even played. The OP is way off on this subject as well. I think it's time for the MMO genre to go bye bye. There are more important things to worry about than something you can control like a game. Buy it or dont. Simple as that.
If the OP's review is wrong, then please provide reasons why the OP's review is wrong.
So far, the defenders of this game seem to be repeating a few themes: "It'll get better in time when more content is added." "Well, I am enjoying the game." "It's good for casual players!" "No, you're wrong! You hater!"
Please be original and tell us why you feel the OP is wrong.
STO is the most expensive single player game..
Damn Elikal nice post. I would probably feel comfortable letting you make game director decisions over a title I was producing. Too bad the people with $$$ are all jackasses.
So How is the game? Is it like CO? Is it worth the money? I bowed out in open beta, I found it lacking but I can always hope for the best.
Proud MMORPG.com member since March 2004! Make PvE GREAT Again!
Great post again, if i was member of Cryptic CO i'd propably say, thanks for you 50$ !
Hey, El, what would you bet that within six months all of the pre-order "extras" will be for sale in the item shop? I originally had a Collector's Edition on pre-order until, one day, I looked at the list of the stuff that was in it and asked myself, "Am I really interested in any of that junk?"
wouldnt suprise me if they wasnt in the next patch
same thing that happened with eye of the north and those books from the past bought the preorder just because of those books only to find it all sale in the ncsoft store on eotn launch day
I agree with the OP, very nice post.
Lemmings.
I agree.
I think you touched on some issues not only prevelent in STO but becoming pervasive in all mmo's. I really am not trying to give you a backhanded compliment, but when I think about the way you reviewed Vanguard years ago - you have certainly come a long way in compelling game criticism.
You effectively deflated any interest I have in this game by squarely hitting the nail on the head, confirming my worst fears about what this game may unfortunately be.
Really good job.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder those who have screamed for games to cater to the 'soloer' over the 'group/raider' crowd is finally happy with their vision of a single player centered mmo, or I wonder if they are seeing the fallacy of their wish come to fruition.
I also find it interesting that the STO press touted the 'innovative' quests inspired by Star Trek lore and then released a 'scan these eggs' quest line.
Can they really be proud of quest content with a Star Trek name where diplomacy is NEVER the answer.....I don't know how they justified that. For Q's sake, if a show can keep you on the edge of your seat wondering if the heroes can avoid catastrophic violence, why can't an mmo quest line?
The variety of quests ranging from violence to diplomacy to everything in between is the only thing that could have set this game apart from the others, but yet they seemed to have jumped the shark.
P.S. In my dream mmo, you will never have to 'kill x number' of anything. Impossible? No, I have a plan. Just not enough money. Want me to tell you how? No - I may win the lottery someday.
I agree.
I think you touched on some issues not only prevelent in STO but becoming pervasive in all mmo's. I really am not trying to give you a backhanded compliment, but when I think about the way you reviewed Vanguard years ago - you have certainly come a long way in compelling game criticism.
You effectively deflated any interest I have in this game by squarely hitting the nail on the head, confirming my worst fears about what this game may unfortunately be.
Really good job.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder those who have screamed for games to cater to the 'soloer' over the 'group/raider' crowd is finally happy with their vision of a single player centered mmo, or I wonder if they are seeing the fallacy of their wish come to fruition.
I also find it interesting that the STO press touted the 'innovative' quests inspired by Star Trek lore and then released a 'scan these eggs' quest line.
Can they really be proud of quest content with a Star Trek name where diplomacy is NEVER the answer.....I don't know how they justified that. For Q's sake, if a show can keep you on the edge of your seat wondering if the heroes can avoid catastrophic violence, why can't an mmo quest line?
The variety of quests ranging from violence to diplomacy to everything in between is the only thing that could have set this game apart from the others, but yet they seemed to have jumped the shark.
P.S. In my dream mmo, you will never have to 'kill x number' of anything. Impossible? No, I have a plan. Just not enough money. Want me to tell you how? No - I may win the lottery someday.
Spot on.
Between this post and the post about Cryptic selling alternate playable races in their cash shop rather than including them in the release pretty much guaranteed I will not play this game.
It's quite obvious Cryptic is out for the cash grab and they aren't even trying to hide it.
I will not give such a company my business.
Einherjar_LC says: WTB the true successor to UO or Asheron's Call pst!
Hey, low blow...
I like TR. TR has 100 times the content of STO. I tried STO open beta and I played TR till the very end. No comparison.
I'm not going to bash STO. STO will survive if enough trekkies keep subbing.
Good review, Eli.
Speaking of NWN - I saw more creativity and ingenious programming in unpaid user-created content (including my own) in that game's online persistent worlds than in STO. No comparison.
Give a dozen devoted Trekkies a SF-based version of NWN, and they could shame this overpriced and under-inspired piece of mediocrity.
That should tell us a lot about the state of the MMORPG genre today. It's not just Cryptic - they only stand out due to their shameless greed.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Honestly - it wouldn't have a chance in hell.
MMORPG.com is just another business. We don't pay them - companies who sell MMOs do.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I'm in agreement with ya guys. It is pretty sick what is happening with gaming now days. We have MMORPGs to thank for it really, the idea that you can release a game and make big bucks off the initial sales, and then keep making money for 10+ years with monthly subs + expansions. Now it has hit an all time low... Initial game cost of $50 + a monthly fee + DLC + Expansions + Item shop.... WTF
MMORPGs in the past have always seemed to me as the premium, top of the line gaming experience, not just 40 hours of fun, but years of fun, so the cost was justifiable.
Now we see single player games such as the Bioware games, as fantastic as they are, milking every dollar out of their games with DLC. Who can blame them really? They know people will pay for it. They see WoW, they see Everquest, they see Cryptic and what they are doing. But it sets a bad trend where quality games become more and more expensive for the end user.
I am seriously worried about Biowares TOR MMO. Are they going to follow the trend? Will they make you buy the game for $50+, pay a monthly fee and use a cash shop/ DLC? Gods, that would suck. And it would suck even more if the game is very successful, as every other publisher will want to copy that. We will end up paying $50+ per month to play one MMO. Hooray for the future =/
I say vote with your money. You don't want to miss out on good games like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, but I digress...
I would be very surprised if Bioware doesn't do exactly what you warned about: Pay for game box, pay sub, buy junk at a cash shop. I am already voting with my money. In these hard times, I have to. So, off to the library to check out a book for free!