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The Trekkie Dream Star Trek Online Never Lived Up To
warrior41
Member Posts: 65
Perpetual Entertainment image. 2004.
When Star Trek Online was first announced in 2004 by PE, there was a lot of excitement online. Because the vision of STO that many thought would come to be was groundbreaking and true to Star Trek and exciting. Sadly, after years of chaos and switched developers the current STO that is out there is a far shake from what I envisioned to be ideal. After years of following the game I decided not to buy or play the game, and I most likely never will, because the core mechanics of the game that I do not like will never change, even after updates and expansions.
Cryptic's STO is essentially a solo-experience and overwhelmingly emphasizes combat. As most reviews point out, there is little Star Trek essence. Major reviewers give the game mediocre reviews. There is no meaningful social interaction in the game. It is a highly instanced universe. The ground environments are barren and soul-less. Exploration and diplomacy are barely existent.
The vision of STO I had years ago that got me excited was this. A true MASSIVELY multiplayer universe. Less instancing. Ship interiors that are fleshed out and functional, and serve a purpose in game for socializing and exploration and training and relaxing. And ship interiors would not be a seperate instance like it is now, it would be part of the space engine. So you could look out the windows and see the planet you are orbiting and control the ship from the bridge.
Space stations would be true places of activity for socializing and equiping and training. There would be Holosuites for games and training. There would be games to be play like Dabo and chess at bars. The game would not be a simulation, because that would not be fun, but would be more accurate and realistic than the arcade-like version we have today.
Gameplay would include combat as a major portion, but exploration and diplomacy would be much bigger too. You would be able to team up with 1 or 2 other players to complete missions and explore space. Exploration would be more fluid and realistic than the sector map we have today.
Guilds would get their own space stations. Guilds could fill up a capital starship if they like as well. That would be true Role-Play.
Housing would play an important part of the game. There would be quarters available on your ship, as well as at space stations and ground locations. At space stations, you would have an awesome view out the window. You could invite other players into your quarters to relax and socialize.
There would be a true second antagonist faction. Something like the Dominion or Romulans or Klingons. A second faction would have it own storyline and housing and ships, and there would be combat between factions.
So that is the STO I envisioned, but will never come to pass. I would have enjoyed playing in the post-Nemesis setting with this kind of game.
Cryptic's STO is something I would never play.
Comments
Having recently purchased a copy of the game..I'll just say that its a very casual experience. I believe that Cryptic seriously miscalculated regarding what fans of the franchise wanted in an MMO. It's a shame that the Star Trek IP fell into their hands.
I know there's no way to keep Perpetual Entertainment from turning into martyred saints in the minds of some disgruntled Star Trek fans. But I wanted to point out that just because they promised features you wanted to see in the game doesn't mean they were ever going to deliver them. Anyone who watched the development of Dark & Light knows that a company can describe a game that sounds remarkable, and then release a product that's nothing like the thing they described. I don't know much about Perpetual -- actually, the only thing I really know about them is that they had two prominent, well-hyped games in development, but never managed to release either of them.
A good idea in my opinion would have been to start players off as low ranking recruits aboard a ship for maybe the first 10 levels. The ship interior could have served the same purpose that towns or cities serve in other games. In other words players would move throughout the ship following orders (quests) from superior officer NPCs. Some of the quests would require grouping with other players, such as 'forming away teams' for surface missions.
Once the player increased in rank to10th (or 15th, 20th, whatever) level, they would be given the opportunity to transfer to one of many NPC ships or starbases to serve aboard. Once a certain rank was reached they would be offered their own command, and either rely on the pre-generated NPC crew, or request other high level players to serve aboard as crew. This way you have players moving up in the ranks in a way more true to the setting, and their eventually would be ships populated by individual guilds.
Just some thoughts for what its worth. Any other ideas?
The problem isnt that they miscaculated what fans of the franchise wanted. The problem is by their own admission they didnt target fans of the franchise as their core base they wanted to lure the casual gamer.
I personally believe that Cryptic didn't care who they targeted.. They agreed with Atari to have the game ready in the required 2 year window that Atari laid out.. Cryptic took the path of least resistance and chose the quickest route in reaching the 2 year window.. even if it meant leaving out Klingon PvE content, reducing the max level to 45.. etc etc etc.. This game IMO is a perfect example that if you are going to rush a job, don't be surprised if it turns out 1/2 arsed..
First few levels the game is interesting but it gets very repetitive. Space exploration is about to flight your ship around a belt of asteroids in every freaking System instance. The only new stuff you see on those instances are the color of the stars. The rest is the same piece of rock. This game is not worth a monthly sub.
Dude,THAT'S a good idea! It would be cool AND give what others (like me) wanted: Meaningful ship interiors,not just housing-inside-ships. As for the OP,that made me think: Who was the lead designer of STO while in perpetual hands? Imagine what we could get in a interview with that guy.Could be awesome
You didn't expect too much then, hey? This problem is unique to IP's such as ST. Of course alot of the emphasis is on combat, as that is one of the most enjoyable features of many computer games. Infact I think nearly all mmorpgs focus heavily on combat in one way or another. ( Yes I am aware of those that dont ). Some of you pretend that combat almost never took place in Star Trek. Combat features in every film. ST the TV show was a look at the morality of mankind and the issues that plague us. Trying to make a succesful and enjoyable game out of that concept would not get passed the storyboard, IMO.
So you are in orbit around the planet, for what purpose? To explore it, yes? Ok how many unique features can be programmed and designed to allow everyone to explore new worlds? How long before it become tedious? Diplomacy. In what form? Like that in VGSoH? Or simply selecting dialogue?
More realistic in what way? Flight physics? Have you watched an episode of ST? I think what you want is closer to that of an offline RPG.
The problem isnt that they miscaculated what fans of the franchise wanted. The problem is by their own admission they didnt target fans of the franchise as their core base they wanted to lure the casual gamer.
And from purely a business standpoint I guess you can't blame them for that...
But they still could have catered to a casual crowd in a VERY different way and direction...I was expecting something VERY different...I have to admit the 1st time I logged in during CB and did the Tutorial I was like "I have My own Ship already?" Huh? Where is Star Fleet Academy? Etc, etc...
The Game just failed BAD for me in the 1st week of Play...I gave it several chances, including at launch...But for Me personally, and I think I'm close to the definition of a Casual Gamer (minus the Forum addictions...lol), it was WAY too boring...
Don't we already have a section available here for talking about Perpetual's Game which never happened? I just don't get the fondness for a company that had the IP for four years, went bankrupt and only had art work to show for it. Where was this great new engine and all that other grand stuff they were talking about? It's amazing how attitudes change because I remember many folks across the net getting angry with the fact that Perpetual was doing a lot of talking and not showing anything to back it up. It's amazing how those rose colored glasses fit.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
The problem isnt that they miscaculated what fans of the franchise wanted. The problem is by their own admission they didnt target fans of the franchise as their core base they wanted to lure the casual gamer.
And from purely a business standpoint I guess you can't blame them for that...
But they still could have catered to a casual crowd in a VERY different way and direction...I was expecting something VERY different...I have to admit the 1st time I logged in during CB and did the Tutorial I was like "I have My own Ship already?" Huh? Where is Star Fleet Academy? Etc, etc...
The Game just failed BAD for me in the 1st week of Play...I gave it several chances, including at launch...But for Me personally, and I think I'm close to the definition of a Casual Gamer (minus the Forum addictions...lol), it was WAY too boring...
why did you think this? You played during closed beta, didnt like it and then played it at launch?
yumpimyimini ~ you thinik it possible to make and support the kind of "star trek online" you and your "fans" would have wanted soley with star trek fans? While there are many trekkers how many of those would play an MMO?
In fact the company was sued by its public relations firm for back pay. They were hiring (and ultimately neglecting to pay) a PR firm despite not yet having products to publicize. That should tell people where their priorities were.
People lament that STO hasn't lived up to their expectations. Flip it around and look at it from the perspective of the present owners of the Star Trek IP that licensed the game. They have to be looking at Cryptic and asking..."what did you do to our brand?"
Kind of like that whole LucasArts/SOE arrangement (that we'll never know the whole,true story about) but I digress.
Why? Because the game has failed to please everyone to date?
They ruined the basics of starship combat by making every weapon have a 10k range. What should have been tactical battles at long range instead became a "chase-your-own-tail and mash the fire buttons" affair at point-blank range.
Heck, an episode of Star Trek I saw yesterday had Voyager target a space station where species 8472 was running a Federation simulation with a view to undercover work. Janeway asked Tuvok to advise here when they were within torpedo weapon range, and he said that they were inside firing range, currently at 3,500 kilometers and closing, ready to fire at her command. In STO, matey, you'd need to be 3,490 kilometers closer!
Another feature I miss is being able to reinforce shields by adding extra power to them prior to taking a hit. Simply trying to repair them AFTER a hit seems insufficient.
Originally posted by: nicoliath
"yumpimyimini ~ you thinik it possible to make and support the kind of "star trek online" you and your "fans" would have wanted soley with star trek fans? While there are many trekkers how many of those would play an MMO?"
You're making a bad argument here. No one suggested making the game only for Star Trek fans. I also don't see how making the game more true to the nature of the IP (in my humble opinion) would exclude anyone. Combat should be part of the game..it's part of all the films/shows..and it's fun. However, Cryptic relied too much on the combat aspect of the game while not fleshing out the rest of it. This is what I mean about miscalculating what the fans wanted..combat and warfare alone do not make for a Star Trek like experience. This being said, the game is still young and Cryptic has time to build on the game.
You're right, CBS Studios, the current owners of the IP are probably like:
"Wow, you were able to sell/register 1 million box copies in under a week? Sure a 200k retention base works then, just use that money to add more, and we'll see where we're at in 3 months."
CBS probably is happy right now. Cryptic retargeted the IP to try and draw the people who were new to Trek but dug the JJ Abrahms reboot. Now, they'll have a decent sized playerbase and I'd bet a healthy 6-9 months of content update cycles to really determine if the game is going to flop.
Likewise, if the game had been built from the ground up for "Trekkies" it would have flopped harder. There's somewhat of a spectrum with the fanbase: (Listed from most hardcore to casual)
"Trekkies" ---> "Trek fans with some series-related collection" ---> "ToS/TNG/DS9 Weekly Watchers" ---> "People who've only seen the reboot" ---> "People who like sci-fi in general" -----> "Star Wars Kid"
Now, each of those tags has a different level of self-immersion into the franchise, and when making the game, you can really only target 3 connected tags to make your largest appeal to.
The question then becomes where do you place the focus. IMHO, STO covers this block:
"Trek fans with some series-related collection" ---> "ToS/TNG/DS9/Voy Weekly Watchers" ---> "People who've only seen the reboot"
Now, I'm not saying its a fantastic game, it's space-submarines and meh-ish Mass Effect 1 ground combat, but they have an interesting enough story that the central "Weekly Watcher" demographic will be able to see/experience some of those noted locations/character progressions from the shows. Miriel Paris story quests alone prove this.
And with a franchise as big as Trek, its understandable that they appeal more to people who'd rather have a massive chat room with a Star Trek skin and some content to explore than the crowd who'd rather have the MMO-LARP-G with mandatory player run ships, harsher faction restrictions on gear (How many Federation Disruptor beam nerd rages have you seen since beta? I've seen 12), etc.
Could the game have more? Sure, but thats what content updates are for down the road. As long as we don't get nickel/dimed for those updates, the game will hold a decent playerbase.
And I don't feel STO will have the same issues CO is having with that content update fiasco. Star Trek is an IP people care about, and there are probably more people who liked/fought to keep Enterprise on networks than have ever actually played the Champions PnP system let alone the terrible, terrible MMO.
Lets Push Things Forward
I knew I would live to design games at age 7, issue 5 of Nintendo Power.
Support games with subs when you believe in their potential, even in spite of their flaws.
In fact the company was sued by its public relations firm for back pay. They were hiring (and ultimately neglecting to pay) a PR firm despite not yet having products to publicize. That should tell people where their priorities were.
Interesting. I can understand people who look back fondly on PRE-NGE SWG because they actually HAD a game that was yanked out from under them. But I'll never understand the love for Perpetual's "vision."
Regardless of whether or not you (people in general) like what Cryptic did with STO, you can't say that you were hoodwinked or promised something that didn't happen. They came right out and said that the game wouldn't have interiors and that the game was being set in a time of war. All of this was controversial and people were angry about it. But they didn't sugar coat it or hide these facts. It was very obvious from following the interviews what this game was going to be like. Perpetual basically wasted four years with grand promises and nothing to show for it. Cryptic did what Perpetual couldn't do in half the time.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
In fact the company was sued by its public relations firm for back pay. They were hiring (and ultimately neglecting to pay) a PR firm despite not yet having products to publicize. That should tell people where their priorities were.
Interesting. I can understand people who look back fondly on PRE-NGE SWG because they actually HAD a game that was yanked out from under them. But I'll never understand the love for Perpetual's "vision."
Regardless of whether or not you (people in general) like what Cryptic did with STO, you can't say that you were hoodwinked or promised something that didn't happen. They came right out and said that the game wouldn't have interiors and that the game was being set in a time of war. All of this was controversial and people were angry about it. But they didn't sugar coat it or hide these facts. It was very obvious from following the interviews what this game was going to be like. Perpetual basically wasted four years with grand promises and nothing to show for it. Cryptic did what Perpetual couldn't do in half the time.
As I recall, PE's version had pretty much degenerated to being the same thing as STO with hub ships. Stinnett was dropping features on a nearly weekly basis in an effort to reduce the complexity of the game to something they could crank out quickly in order to make money. And even then, they had barely started on it. I recall posts by the elite moderators over at STOnet that they had seen a "working prototype" of the game after they had visited PE, but I wonder if that wasn't some of the same bait and switch that Brad McQuaid and Sigil did when trying to dupe Microsoft into continuing to fund Vanguard.
I agree. ktanner. You can't really miss something you never had.
I had a lot of hope for this game, based on what I had been reading about it from when it was first announced. I, too, was expecting something along the lines of what the OP was discussing. If it had been that, I would have bought it and played it. But instead, I waited to see what everyone else had to say, and unfortunately it doesn't sound like they made a Star Trek game, but a game that had a Star Trek shell.
That's too bad because I would have finally found the game I was seeking. Not all of us were hoping for it to fail, but some of us aren't willing to support a game that doesn't make it past the reviews without being skinned alive.
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I really wish people would stop repeating this number... They do not have 1 million subscribers. They have 1 million people who signed up for an account at their official site... You know to register for beta, get updates or whatever... It's kinda like saying 2 millions jobs "saved or created". 100% pure spin to make them look like they're doing better than they are.
people on this site really love to underrate this game. Now don't get me wrong the game needs a lot of work and its current score is justified but the game isn't bad at all.
Why? Because the game has failed to please everyone to date?
Well that's certainly an understatement...
It has not come close to pleasing everyone...I'd be surprised if it's pleased 50% of the Folks who tried to Play it...Obviously there's no way to tell for certain...But this Game has been slammed pretty hard from all directions...Not saying they can't turn it around...Just saying...
Notice the Graphics engine in the perpetual screenshot? Its exactly what todays game looks like, I still believe Criptic took what PE already had and simply finished the product and released it.You are most likly playing the PE STO.Even they decided against the ship interior thing so Even with them you would not have gotten that type of game.As much as I hate SOE they could have made a better Star Trek than Cryptic,Star Wars Galaxies in its current state is a game 10 times what STO is now.
I am not trying to be nostalgic about PE's version. I realize they had gutted down their vision too. I am merely saying that when STO was announced by PE those are the dreams I had for this game, that was ultimately not followed through by PE and then by Cryptic when they picked up the license.
Ultimately this game is already a failure, and has a bad rep. It's a pale imitation of what it could have been. Pity.