Star Trek Online

[allthatisman]

I just got my Oct. Edition of PCGamer... inside they have a Beta play-through of the MMO Star Trek game that is supposed to be out Q1 2010... I haven't seen any threads about this game on AT, so what are everyone's thoughts on this game?

I found this "evolving" FAQ on the STO forums... so far I like where they are going with this:

http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=14535

I have been waiting for some sort of space-based sim/mmo game that is NOT EVE.... as well as a decent Star Trek game.

 

[Craig234]

Because Star Trek was really more about the stories than the 'game' aspect, it's going to be hard for any Star Trek MMO to be more than 'a space game with Star Trek skin'.

This is why it was better suited to the adventure genre - the games they did there were good, though again limited by the game genre.

I think the 'quest' format might work ok for it, as you are sent to some planet to deal with a situation that has a trek feel. Not sure how they'll do grinding.

But it can be fun for Trek fans to play with the Trek setup, so if it's a decent space game, it might have a market. I'm interested in it.

 

[allthatisman]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Because Star Trek was really more about the stories than the 'game' aspect, it's going to be hard for any Star Trek MMO to be more than 'a space game with Star Trek skin'.

This is why it was better suited to the adventure genre - the games they did there were good, though again limited by the game genre.

I think the 'quest' format might work ok for it, as you are sent to some planet to deal with a situation that has a trek feel. Not sure how they'll do grinding.

But it can be fun for Trek fans to play with the Trek setup, so if it's a decent space game, it might have a market. I'm interested in it.

I agree, and when I first heard that they were going to make an MMO based on the "Trek" franchise, I thought to myself, how are they going to do this...? The answer is, they are combining the positive aspects of a few of the more successful Trek games into one MMO style game. I think in the end it will turn out to be very dependant on a large fan base with which people will HAVE to interact with each other. It is also going to be very dependant on npc quest based missions that have variety and depth. This will obviously not be a "fishing" or "grinding" style RPG or EVE style MMO... The game is more about resource advancement rather than XP advancement.

 

[SunnyD]

Actually - Star Trek can be quite a bit more than just quest grinding. Ever play Starfleet Command? Or it's direct table-top predecessor - Starfleet Battles? Better yet, the strategic tabletop game Federation & Empire?

Not only can you wrap a ship/fleet combat scenario into the mix, but you can deal with "PvP" strategically in the game, while mixing in Role Playing and Questing dynamics quite easily. I think the Star Trek universe can be wrapped quite nicely and accurately around a game that has elements of pretty much every genre of gaming right now (FPS, Flight/Combat Sim, RPG, Adventure and RTS). It actually sounds like Cryptic is trying to incorporate all of those aspects into the game as well. I'm interested to see what is going to happen with it, and am looking forward to the beta come October/January or whenever it actually happens.

 

[allthatisman]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Actually - Star Trek can be quite a bit more than just quest grinding. Ever play Starfleet Command? Or it's direct table-top predecessor - Starfleet Battles? Better yet, the strategic tabletop game Federation & Empire?

Not only can you wrap a ship/fleet combat scenario into the mix, but you can deal with "PvP" strategically in the game, while mixing in Role Playing and Questing dynamics quite easily. I think the Star Trek universe can be wrapped quite nicely and accurately around a game that has elements of pretty much every genre of gaming right now (FPS, Flight/Combat Sim, RPG, Adventure and RTS). It actually sounds like Cryptic is trying to incorporate all of those aspects into the game as well. I'm interested to see what is going to happen with it, and am looking forward to the beta come October/January or whenever it actually happens.

Well you essentially just said what I said, so yeah. I think Cryptic has the right idea, and I think they also understand that hard-core trekkies are very picky about anything that bears the name "Star Trek". Thus far, few games have really done a decent job of capturing the essence of the shows/movies into one game.

And yes, I have played about a half dozen ST games including the original Interplay series, Eilte force(both), the RTS game(i think its called Armada), and latest(and biggest let-down)... Legacy. I think the best part about this new game being an MMO is that it will have continuing support and the money to back up future development. Assuming the PC gaming mags don't totally tear it apart, I think this has the potential to be huge... EVE will suffer...

 

[astrosfan315]

I wasn't impressed with the video from GamesCon.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Originally posted by: Craig234
Because Star Trek was really more about the stories than the 'game' aspect, it's going to be hard for any Star Trek MMO to be more than 'a space game with Star Trek skin'.

This is why it was better suited to the adventure genre - the games they did there were good, though again limited by the game genre.

I think the 'quest' format might work ok for it, as you are sent to some planet to deal with a situation that has a trek feel. Not sure how they'll do grinding.

But it can be fun for Trek fans to play with the Trek setup, so if it's a decent space game, it might have a market. I'm interested in it.

I'm hoping it will turn out sort of like Star Wars: Galaxies did at first. It had a good Star Wars flavor, but kind of took a life of its own. Unfortunately, Sony destroyed that game and I am not sure if STO will be "sandbox" enough for me to get into. I bet I will try it at any rate.

 

[Raduque]

I'm really looking forward to this one.

It looks and sounds impressive. I like the idea of Officers that you can upgrade to get better combat bonuses (both ship and ground).

 

[allthatisman]

The link I put in the first post details a lot about how the game will work... the rest of that site is A LOT of speculation... I do like the fact that this was made using an existing engine that I am assuming works pretty well. At least technical issues will be minimal...

 

[Gothgar]

well... Champs Online seems like it was well done, hopefully they do great with this

 

[Zensal]

Originally posted by: blanghorst

Originally posted by: Craig234
Because Star Trek was really more about the stories than the 'game' aspect, it's going to be hard for any Star Trek MMO to be more than 'a space game with Star Trek skin'.

This is why it was better suited to the adventure genre - the games they did there were good, though again limited by the game genre.

I think the 'quest' format might work ok for it, as you are sent to some planet to deal with a situation that has a trek feel. Not sure how they'll do grinding.

But it can be fun for Trek fans to play with the Trek setup, so if it's a decent space game, it might have a market. I'm interested in it.

I'm hoping it will turn out sort of like Star Wars: Galaxies did at first. It had a good Star Wars flavor, but kind of took a life of its own. Unfortunately, Sony destroyed that game and I am not sure if STO will be "sandbox" enough for me to get into. I bet I will try it at any rate.

Lucas Arts destroyed that game. They told SOE to change it or lose the license. Not "Star Warsie" enough.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Originally posted by: Zensal

Originally posted by: blanghorst

Originally posted by: Craig234
Because Star Trek was really more about the stories than the 'game' aspect, it's going to be hard for any Star Trek MMO to be more than 'a space game with Star Trek skin'.

This is why it was better suited to the adventure genre - the games they did there were good, though again limited by the game genre.

I think the 'quest' format might work ok for it, as you are sent to some planet to deal with a situation that has a trek feel. Not sure how they'll do grinding.

But it can be fun for Trek fans to play with the Trek setup, so if it's a decent space game, it might have a market. I'm interested in it.

I'm hoping it will turn out sort of like Star Wars: Galaxies did at first. It had a good Star Wars flavor, but kind of took a life of its own. Unfortunately, Sony destroyed that game and I am not sure if STO will be "sandbox" enough for me to get into. I bet I will try it at any rate.

Lucas Arts destroyed that game. They told SOE to change it or lose the license. Not "Star Warsie" enough.

They both destroyed it. Keep in mind the NGE was SOE's abomination and LA approved it. Why anyone in their right mind thought that was a good idea, I will never know. It certainly isn't more "Star Warsy" or "Iconic" now.

 

[coloumb]

"The shows and films are law." :thumbsup: [regarding comments about SWG - talk about totally screwing up the time line and overall feel of star wars].

What will be interesting is to see how they handle people who choose to be annoying little twits in Starfleet. From what we've seen in shows/movies - [nearly] everyone in Starfleet abides by rules of diplomacy to resolve issues peacefully. They don't act like little annoying twits who want to challenge you to a duel 24/7 nor are you allowed to do whatever you feel like - you have duties, responsibilities, etc.

Same goes for Klingons - obviously they have rules to follow - you act like a annoying asshat on the bridge - you're gonna die [at least in the movies you would].

 

[TheVrolok]

I'm looking forward to it.

 

[allthatisman]

Originally posted by: coloumb
"The shows and films are law." :thumbsup: [regarding comments about SWG - talk about totally screwing up the time line and overall feel of star wars].

What will be interesting is to see how they handle people who choose to be annoying little twits in Starfleet. From what we've seen in shows/movies - [nearly] everyone in Starfleet abides by rules of diplomacy to resolve issues peacefully. They don't act like little annoying twits who want to challenge you to a duel 24/7 nor are you allowed to do whatever you feel like - you have duties, responsibilities, etc.

Same goes for Klingons - obviously they have rules to follow - you act like a annoying asshat on the bridge - you're gonna die [at least in the movies you would].

I think what they are going for will be more like how Starfleet was towards the end of DS9... sort of cavalier with the "rules" and a little more desperate. Since the tone of the game is war... I think Starfleet will be more science based(spells) and the Klingons will be more brute force(fighters and such). Since all these MMO's almost ALWAYS go back to the D&D balance of things, it just makes sense.