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Star Trek Online: Preview, Part One
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
In part one of a two part preview of Star Trek Online, Dana Massey discusses key gameplay elements like: Missions, PvE, Aesthetics and more.
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The Star Trek Online intellectual property is so huge that it is impossible for Cryptic Studios to please everyone. In fact, it's near on impossible for them to fully satisfy anyone. To meet the expectations of many hardcore fans, a Star Trek MMO would take hundreds of millions of dollars, at least a decade and no doubt a time machine more improbable than the red goo from the latest movie. Even Cryptic COO Jack Emmert lamented things they had not been able to include in a recent interview.
So, when it came time to preview the soon to launch MMORPG, I have not been looking at it to see if it captured everything that I dreamed a Star Trek MMO would be. Instead, I've asked myself if it did enough.
Honestly, it's too soon to tell. So far, the game is a mixed bag. Some of it is a lot of fun, while other parts need a lot of polish in very little time, and still other aspects leave me scratching my head.
The following hands-on preview is based on hands-on time with the game through their ongoing Closed Beta testing. I've logged, as a rough guess, about 20 hours in the game over that time. This preview won't cover every single detail of the game, but honestly, I think it's a fair amount of time and as much as any prospective customer is likely to give it before they make up their mind.
Read STO Preview, Part One.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
That was a good read, Dana.
And you've sealed my pre-order.
Not that I think that everything will be perfect, mind you. But, as you said, is it good enough?
For me, I think it will be. At least it looks promising.
Dana, what do you get as mission rewards?
Whether it will be a good game or not, i dont really know, its just not the game i was hoping for when i heard they had started developing a Star Trek MMO, even so, all i've read so far seems to indicate that this is more a single player game with multiplayer online options, which isnt really something im all that interested in, i hope im mistaken, but a few tens of players in one area doesnt make an MMO, though i'll accept that 2 or 300 does
i'll wait until the game is reviewed again after launch, perhaps things will be clearer...
Not a mention in the article yet about Klingons. This is not accidental, I suspect. I understand that a second part is due out , but I doubt you'll see the words Klingon and PvE linked together in any depth. Other than the promise that it has PvE , in the future .
While I'll probably purchace the game , a little forthrightness would be appreciated. The article paints an very rosey picture of gameplay , it fails to mention that this mainly applies to the federation faction play. By every indication or comment posted by the developers , implies that the Klingon faction will be some version of Crptics Monster play. Cryptic will state it's not , but more and more it appears it is. Why they've chosen this route is a sad mystery , given the potential of this faction , not to mention future factions. I truely hope I'm mistaken or Cryptic has re-evaluated this position and is attempting to correct it . It appears though that the Klingon faction will for the most part be one-dimensional , and purely PvP entity in game.
Fairly nice review there, but I find it interesting you are waiting on diving into reviews of the pvp system etc. until the game launches pretty much.......STO ask you to do that to cover up how horrid it is? I was a bit bored reading about pve ground combat 1-2-3 button spamming that sounds horrid nice you explained it a bit.
Ok that was a good read, but were missing something here. This sounds like a RPG, I don't see the MMORPG in it, from everything I read it sounds like you have NPC's that help you. Nowhere did I read that you have actual life folks helping you on your missions.
Im like it sounds goof for an RPG, but wheres the grouping, where is the looks of an MMORPG, other than the pvp part it sounds mostly like go do stuff on your on.
Dont get me wring I love to solo stuff, but if thats all the game is, im like how can I convince my wife to by this and play this with me at the same time.
Anybody else noticed, how the article centered around the writer, and I did not find anything in there to support what an MMORPG is.
So thats my 2 cents worth.
Even though it was promised in the preamble, I didn't see much negative in the article.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Your 5-man away team can consist of yourself and 4 players OR 4 NPCs.
Seeing as the writer only put in 20 hours, he probably wanted to give a glimpse at content rather than grouping dynamics. Which, let's be honest, how hard to understand can they be?
Presumably one can group in space as well, but I haven't seen the dynamic. Probably as simple as on ground, a few invites to a max of 5 ships.
Oh, how disappointed you must be. LOL.
Sure, it doesn't rant, but there are negative criticisms in just about every section listed. They are reasonable, and not rabid hyperbole, so you might have extreme difficulty in discerning them.
Regarding the OP, it's an interesting article, especially the part about Away Team missions. It sounds like this might actually provide a very different style of play from other MMOs.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Just the reaction I expected.
A lack of negativity can mean one of two things - either the game is devoid of any serious flaws, or write chose not to mention them.
Tell me which you think is more likely.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I think the real shocker here is the 45 second pause button, which is clearly a more solo oriented casual friendly feature. I'm up in the air on this one until I see it in action.
My second surprise was the avatar on the transporter pad. I know environments need to be larger, but this avatar in relation to the transporter pad looks about 12 inches high. Perhaps it's just the screen shot though...
To me the real action is on the ground, and I'm really surprised it's being developed as an add on to the space game. What ever person on the Cryptic team thought Star Trek was about the ships first doesn't know a damn thing about Trek. Star Trek has always been about the crew and the stories first and the ships second.
If you want to make a space game you better be very careful eh. Star Trek Legacy tried this and bombed.
Just the reaction I expected.
A lack of negativity can mean one of two things - either the game is devoid of any serious flaws, or write chose not to mention them.
Tell me which you think is more likely.
So very... limited.
It can, in fact, mean a great deal more than your simplistic "two things". Additionally, as with assessing anything complex, it's usually a combination of many, many factors.
But hey, stick with simple - black and white, on or off, great or terrible - if that's what you're comfortable with.
So jaded. So world-weary. That's a freakin' scream.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
Danna did say part 2 would be about pvp so I would guess since klingons are pvp centric they will be brought up in that part of the article
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
Just the reaction I expected.
A lack of negativity can mean one of two things - either the game is devoid of any serious flaws, or write chose not to mention them.
Tell me which you think is more likely.
there was negativity in the article it was just more suttle than a forums flame is all. Ground missions are simplistic and not polished. There are only two basic types of missions. No auto attack. Scaling is off. Shall i go on?
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
Yeah, this little gem gave me pause as well.
At its worst, it seems like this could almost be a tool for griefers.
Who gets to pause and is there a cool down? This seems like a PvP nightmare.
For PvE players it won't be bad maybe.
Oh, how disappointed you must be. LOL.
Sure, it doesn't rant, but there are negative criticisms in just about every section listed. They are reasonable, and not rabid hyperbole, so you might have extreme difficulty in discerning them.
Regarding the OP, it's an interesting article, especially the part about Away Team missions. It sounds like this might actually provide a very different style of play from other MMOs.
Well I saw 3 glarring negatives.
(1) Ground based combat is not very pollished, hmmmm while spacecombat was so away missins are very buggy I did see that.
(2) Lack of skills other than mashing a few keys around
(3) its easy to trick the AI and thn kill your enimies really quickly.
There were a few others that might have been kind of negative but those were the 3 thats stuck out for me.
Yeah, this little gem gave me pause as well.
At its worst, it seems like this could almost be a tool for griefers.
Who gets to pause and is there a cool down? This seems like a PvP nightmare.
For PvE players it won't be bad maybe.
the pause button from what has been said in this article and others is for pve ground combat. The question is if you are with other players who gets to use it. I belive he said there was a cool down
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
Hang in there man, im sure someone is digging up something negative as we speak. For myself this is starting to sound like something i may break my hard fast rule of never preorder and wait a month or two to decide. This is some good stuff following right on the heels of the Leonard Nimoy voice over news. I mean, My God man, its Spock.
Hang in there man, im sure someone is digging up something negative as we speak. For myself this is starting to sound like something i may break my hard fast rule of never preorder and wait a month or two to decide. This is some good stuff following right on the heels of the Leonard Nimoy voice over news. I mean, My God man, its Spock.
Remember they have a two week open beta in January which gives plenty of time to try it out before you have to preorder unless your going CE ( as I am sure there are limited amount of those produced at launch like in most games.
Magic is impressive, but now Minsc leads! Swords for everyone!
Personally I have pre ordered multiple copies and am waiting to hand them money for a couple life time accounts, I’m not alone because you can no longer purchase the CE form any game store in my local area and the standard edition is on a week backorder…you know a game is going to be popular when the manager of the local GS say’s better grab a copy online while you can or you will be left with a digital version only for about a month.
Oh, how disappointed you must be. LOL.
Sure, it doesn't rant, but there are negative criticisms in just about every section listed. They are reasonable, and not rabid hyperbole, so you might have extreme difficulty in discerning them.
Regarding the OP, it's an interesting article, especially the part about Away Team missions. It sounds like this might actually provide a very different style of play from other MMOs.
Well I saw 3 glarring negatives.
(1) Ground based combat is not very pollished, hmmmm while spacecombat was so away missins are very buggy I did see that.
(2) Lack of skills other than mashing a few keys around
(3) its easy to trick the AI and thn kill your enimies really quickly.
There were a few others that might have been kind of negative but those were the 3 thats stuck out for me.
Same here. I've also heard and this review seems to perhaps confirm, that photon torpedoes aren't really needed. Just load up on phasers instead. You get the shields down much quicker and they do an ok job against hull (net advantage). I believe the initial ship normally has a phaser and a photon torpedo and it sounds like Dana replaced the latter with another phaser. Overall, the impression I got is that space combat gives you more options and looks better, but neither space nor ground combat is balanced very well.
Well, the other negative is that the non-combat stuff doesn't seem that involved or that great, overall. We'll see how the second review goes.
I have to say I have never had this much fun in a beta of any game. I tend to be sceptic when it comes to trying a new MMO, doubly so here since CO was such a huge letdown for me, but this game is a buy for me and I also am hoping they offer lifetime accounts.
This sword here at my side dont act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! it howls like hell!
Yeah I wouldn't take the whole don't need Torps as gospel guy....it is the case now but we have already been told it's changing.
Also keep in mind non-combat missions haven't been fully revealed yet, what has been showed is only a small sample on low levels.
This sword here at my side dont act the way it should
Keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave
Hauling me faster and faster to an early, early grave
And it howls! it howls like hell!
Hang in there man, im sure someone is digging up something negative as we speak. For myself this is starting to sound like something i may break my hard fast rule of never preorder and wait a month or two to decide. This is some good stuff following right on the heels of the Leonard Nimoy voice over news. I mean, My God man, its Spock.
Remember they have a two week open beta in January which gives plenty of time to try it out before you have to preorder unless your going CE ( as I am sure there are limited amount of those produced at launch like in most games.
Yes that is a good plan. I will see how OB goes. I usually dont expect much from new mmo's but considering its Star Trek, like many, im starting to get impatient .
I think you misunderstood what I said. I've gotten the impression that Torpedoes just aren't worth getting AT ALL. It is just flat-out better to go with phasers.