This is our first look at STO Gameplay (It’s mine at least) and I have mixed feelings. During the video you’ll notice a few things. First of all before I even get into the gameplay I want to express my disappointment that it wasn’t Patrick Stewart’s voice or at least someone trying to copy him. Okay, now that we have that out of the way…
Did you notice that the Federation was fighting the Klingons? Who plunged them back into war? Some of the Federation ships also closely resembled those from Enterprise’s (Scott Bakula’s) era…. So I started thinking maybe this is taking place back at the beginning of the Federation’s existance. But then I saw the Borg. So what’s going on here? Obviously if the Borg are there then we’re into the TNG era yet last we knew the Klingons were allies with the Federation. WTB Explanation, pst.
The Ship combat did look really neat though. I love the sound of phasers and big battles against the Borg will be really cool. Bringing these big ships (I think I saw a Galaxy class and Sovereign class in there?) into battle will make for a lot of fun. I’m slightly disappointed with what I saw of the avatar combat though. It looked really stiff. Shooting phasers at each other could be a very, very odd thing in a game like this. Will we have HP bars? How many phaser hits can we take? I didn’t see a cover system.
I’m excited and scared at the same time. This could turn out to be either a really amazing game and the next step into the final frontier or it could be an epic stinker.
I am *highly* skeptical of this game. I feel like they’re destined to drop the ball.
Looks a lot like SWG.
I think the game is going to be very non-canon and people are just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. It’s a star trek ‘themed’ MMO, not a star trek history simulator. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a purist when it comes to IPs, but I’ve learned you just have to let it go when it comes to MMOs. Gameplay > canon.
That said, the gameplay concerns are very valid. We don’t need another Pirates of the Burning Sea here.
Boldly go where 2000 players have gone before… by completing kill X quests that NPCs give you.
Meh.
So, instead of peaceful exploration, we have to fight fight for our right to MMO? I’m a huge fan of Star Trek, but man, all the battles in the video look kind of cheesy.
Not sure I’ll be dropping my duckets on this one.
@Delthis: You’re right! The avatar combat looked like it belongs in 2003.
lol Sphexish
I’m not really interested. The chances of them doing it right are just too low for me to fall for any hype it tries to generate. Besides, won’t WAR be enough?
Well, ST:TOS established the existence of the Mirror Universe, which DS9 fully exploited. Even Enterprise had a small story arc there.
Maybe the game will be set in an alternative ST universe. 😛
I think I agree with you and the other commentors though. Star Trek is such a rigidly fixed IP that it will be too hard to introduce the combative gameplay elements that MMOGers enjoy without violating the utopian nature of the Star Trek universe. I’m not really sure this one will work.
On the other hand. It is Cryptic doing this. I’m not sure if they’d have picked up the IP without some solid ideas on how to make it work.
I was really bothered by the “no one has gone before” part. I’m not even a Star Trek fan but that just seems wrong. Maybe it was changed to that on tv already but that’s certainly the first time I’ve heard it put like that.
They changed the “no man” to “no one” in The Next Gen. TNG did take a far more politically correct viewpoint that TOS did.
Interestingly, the final episode of Enterprise, at the end of the show, used the “no man” phrasing. Not sure why since Enterprise tended to be as PC as all the new series.
And no, I’m not a Trekkie. I enjoy the shows and have a really good memory for that sort of thing. I prefer darker SciFi.
Big thing im worried about is if its going to be player ship base, Captin base or just normal crewman based… With all the changes and now a new company doing it.. who knows…
Plus there was the big thing with it being a free game where you have to make macro transactions to buy stuff? if it even hints at going that way its going to be a piece of junk
ok I am pretty sure thats the guy who does the voice for kids commercials and voice overs for nick
@Elspath: When Perpetual was in charge I think it was going to be Micro-transactions but now that Cryptic has it I think we’re going to see a traditional mmo.
I think if the game means you need multiple players to run a ship effectively (similar to officer positions etc. etc.) then the game will be interesting. It will have a unique twist on the mmo system and actually keep as authentic as possible (because not everyone wants to be a captain of a ship). If it turns out to ‘attempt an eve’ and allow every player the ability to control a ship single handedly (and it isn’t a shuttle), as well as only giving us ‘group play’ via scenario based situations, then it’s going to be a waste of time.
Webcast said it’s set 30 years (I think) after last film. Some friends are now enemies, some enemies are now friends. NPC Henchmen/Hero similar to Guild Wars as bridge crew, space combat, ground combat, exploration, not level based, type of ships commanded Rank based and Federation v Klingon PVP were the stand out points for me, (though I didn’t have time to watch the whole Q&A at the end).
Oh and he talked about making first contact with new races as part of the exploration side of things, no idea how that could work in a MMO.
I dunno if someone else answered this (Just woke up and don’t have time to read through) but STO is set something like 20+ years after Nemesis (Beginning of the 25th Century).
They had the NX-101 (I think?) Enterprise on some art behind the guy at the webcast too, I didn’t notice it in the trailer though, I suspect it was just to emphasise the beginning of the Federation.
Doesn’t look interesting in the least; more than likely it will just fail huge! However, I’ll wait and judge after some reviews come out, doubt I even want to bother with a beta for it.
I’ll keep my hopes up, I think the video looked pretty good. The avatar combat did remind me of SWG macro spam combat but I’ll wait and see. If it’s not level based, then it may be more twitch based avatar combat which would be fun. That would definitely be more fun for space combat.
That would also mean no grind quests. Yay!
It seems like they are tring to make a WoW version of STO and turning thier back on the exploration, science, negotiating etc. that was so prevalent in the IP in order to allow eveyrone to go PEW PEW accross the galaxy.
So much promise of a great game is showing through if they decide to make a game that will appeal to ~350k-500k people instead of dumbing it down for the masses.
I like the scene in the trailer where they are fighting like four death stars at once. That would be awesome!
Ugh, just ugh. Do not want.
And no, not 2003. It looks exactly like the City of Heroes engine, and that would be 2004. Heck, they even use the same shooting animations. (I’ve been enjoying a lot of CoH lately as I wait for WAR. 🙂 )
Watched the trailer finally. My previous statement (8th comment) still stands. WAR will be enough for me, and STO looks like it’s highly flammable. I don’t want to get burned.
I’ve been doing some digging and found some developer info on the combat system – actually sounds like they are pretty serious about making this Star Trek and not ‘WOW in space’.
http://gamezig.com/game-development/star-trek-online-combat-system
Whow its:
-Space Combat a la EVE (1 Ship/Player)
-(Landing-)Party-Based Action (1 Party/Player)
So.. some old concepts mixed together under Star Trek Look.
/yawn
Landing parties will be you and your AI crew, yes. But they say if you are in a ‘fleet’ with another player you and your crew will beam down and go through the planet with your friend and his/her crew.
Personally i liked star wars jump to light speed. But allot of people didnt like it becose the bigger ships required a group just to use BASIC stuff. You couldent even poilet then without a second person… Now if they do that with startrek i dont think people will be happy. Its greate idea but i dont think i want to be stuck on sensors as we fighting enemy ships…. Everyone wants to be captian 😛
Well Elspath, you’re in luck. Cryptic is gearing towards one person, one ship with a possible change in the future to allow friends to play together on the same ship. But for now, Captain is your job.