tacticalzen
09-04-2009, 11:01 PM
Hi all, I thought I'd share my hands-on impressions of Star Trek Online with the community from PAX 2009 today.
First thing you should know is that I haven't been as active -- even lurking -- here much. I've been following STO off and on, watching occasional official videos and screenshots. This was mostly due to an interest in this game, so I'm kind of avoiding prejudging it based on work in progress content. Just warning you because at a glance at the forums without getting into it, it seems like there's a lot of debate on what STO should be. I'm going to report first on what I played, then what my hopes are, and I'll leave the debate up to you guys.
Anyway, lots of text ahead, video links below (hit the 'HQ' button for high quality!).
The Demo:
The demo took me from a Starbase in a light cruiser to the hot spot. The camera zooms in and the ship goes to warp, just like you'd expect from Trek. Then it fades out, shows the ship fading back into space.
From there, I encounter three Birds of Prey in an asteroid field over a planet. Although they're pouring fire down my way, either they gave me really good shields or the Birds of Prey were level 1 minion equivalents. I dispatch them relatively quickly. It's pretty impressive how they manage to capture the feel of Star Trek combat, with both sounds and action.
My captain then beams down into a Klingon facility and a relatively standard MMO experience follows; you walk through the facility, encounter random surprised guards, whack 'em and accomplish your objective of taking the base. (video 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiABzxLfLvM))
From there, you beam to an outdoors area with the Guardian of Forever in the distance, and encounter squads of Klingons wandering. You give them their day of glory, and proceed to the gate whereupon the demo ends. (video 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd7EfxVbO5o))
So, my actual impressions.
Environment/Setting: They've got it down.The setting is very nice without looking like Champions' more cartoony style. The ships look like they've been made with love. The special effects are doing well, but it's easy to miss it in the frantic combat. The uniforms are also excellent; the concept artists did a great job. Also, space is a bit more expansive than some screenshots look. For a while, it looked like space was the most cluttered and claustrophobic emptiness you'd ever seen, and that was worrisome.
Space Combat: This is what I was looking forward to, but it seemed like combat was either too short or too long. Either way it involved hitting shields till they dropped, then pumping torpedoes in. Now normally I tend to solo due to my schedule, but this is starting to look like the fun in space combat comes from having fleets and friends, when everything's flying every which way. Watching the fights unfold a dozen or two times through the day, it kind of all felt samey. I don't think I cared as much for my ship as to whether my fuller blue bar was pointing at the bad guys.
Ground Combat: It has a good yet very familiar feel. I may simply have played too many MMOs, but the ground combat is pretty standard. Oh look, Klingon coming around the corner. I start firing, my NPC Officers start firing. Maybe different beams are involved or some of them go in for melee. Loot is dropped from ground baddies just like in CO: Take Take All Cancel. Options seem to be limited compared to Champions, though; you can only do so much phaser-firing and strategy pretty much consisted of maybe grenades, buff your shields, kicking/shoving your enemy to the ground, and pumping him full of phaser fire while he's there. Because that's how the Federation rolls, yo.
Customizability: The ability to customize Bridge Officers completely so that they are an extension of your abilities is a very attractive feature. It seems like they have put some thought into the customization levels, because I had feared that you'd get Federation ships with the equivalent of racing stripes; the customization ability can be a lot more subtle, which is good, since it retains the silhouettes and colors.
Polish: It looks very polished for not even being in Closed Beta. Gameplay was smooth and the visuals were terrific. Of course, I can't speak to game balance because that's still in the air. It seems like they've got the Cryptic Engine ready to handle the combat portion of the game.
Final Analysis
It should probably be more noted that this was a combat demo, because that's all that was presented, and it may carry a lot more significance in context. It was weird, because a month ago I was so-so about Champions Online, and really had my heart set on STO. Now I find myself subscribed to CO, and so-so about STO. One of my friends who is really into Star Trek doesn't even want to touch this game because he's certain it'll just be 'another MMO with a Star Trek skin.' I will not be showing him these videos.
I think my hopes for STO still lie in the systems under development. I didn't get to see any out-of-combat customization of the crew, numbers under the hood for gear or characters, character development, Starbase interiors, the Genesis system, epic star maps where you can see lines of battle or missions to undertake, none of those things. Of course, it's probably at least a year away, so they've got some time to do it. I just hope that we can see more than phaser fire, although that is one of its strengths right now.
Recommendations
There are still plenty of things they can do to improve the more personal nature of Trek. Even just having your Offices respond with actual voiceovers when you click on them would go far. Just, say, 4 types of voices saying 'Yes, Captain?' or 'Enemy approaching' would help. We're not talking The Old Republic level of voiceover commitment, more like Starcraft audio cues. Then throw in an option for people who want just text cues if audio annoys them. And if you made them replaceable on a local client, I swear that my tactical officer will completely use Worf voice clips.
Work on those non-combat systems! Star Trek wasn't exactly known for its awesome martial arts skills and gripping hand phaser firefights. Well, before the new movie anyway but that's a different thread. :)
Some additional notes (and I'm sure many of you know this now, but it was news to me):
Progression seems to be in zones. You can go wherever you please with a caution advisory, but it looks like you'll take care of Klingon issues here, for example, then go to Cardassian space to handle things there, etc. So it kind of looks like things might be zoned by character rank/skill suggestions.
Defeats so far are slaps on the wrist, you just restart the section you're at or the mission you're on.
Looks like plot twists and communications are going to be via pop-up heads/viewscreens and text accompanying it.
If you pick up loot from space combat, you can only try to equip it via engineering if your ship is out of combat; no grabbing that Klingon Disruptor Cannon +5 and throwing it at your Chief and telling him to make it so in 30 seconds while under heavy fire.
Interface can be laid out how you want; move things to where you want to see them or makes sense for you.
NPCs have move-to, target commands similar to Guild Wars' Heroes, it looks like; otherwise they're pretty autonomous
If you don't have enough Bridge Officers to come with you on an Away mission, they'll be filled out by redshirts (5 member teams)
Bridge Officers are completely yours, and with the points you earn from experience you decide where they go; you can upgrade your Officer's skills even if you never let them leave the ship
Personal Log: Can we get an astrometrics lab nao plz? :)
First thing you should know is that I haven't been as active -- even lurking -- here much. I've been following STO off and on, watching occasional official videos and screenshots. This was mostly due to an interest in this game, so I'm kind of avoiding prejudging it based on work in progress content. Just warning you because at a glance at the forums without getting into it, it seems like there's a lot of debate on what STO should be. I'm going to report first on what I played, then what my hopes are, and I'll leave the debate up to you guys.
Anyway, lots of text ahead, video links below (hit the 'HQ' button for high quality!).
The Demo:
The demo took me from a Starbase in a light cruiser to the hot spot. The camera zooms in and the ship goes to warp, just like you'd expect from Trek. Then it fades out, shows the ship fading back into space.
From there, I encounter three Birds of Prey in an asteroid field over a planet. Although they're pouring fire down my way, either they gave me really good shields or the Birds of Prey were level 1 minion equivalents. I dispatch them relatively quickly. It's pretty impressive how they manage to capture the feel of Star Trek combat, with both sounds and action.
My captain then beams down into a Klingon facility and a relatively standard MMO experience follows; you walk through the facility, encounter random surprised guards, whack 'em and accomplish your objective of taking the base. (video 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiABzxLfLvM))
From there, you beam to an outdoors area with the Guardian of Forever in the distance, and encounter squads of Klingons wandering. You give them their day of glory, and proceed to the gate whereupon the demo ends. (video 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd7EfxVbO5o))
So, my actual impressions.
Environment/Setting: They've got it down.The setting is very nice without looking like Champions' more cartoony style. The ships look like they've been made with love. The special effects are doing well, but it's easy to miss it in the frantic combat. The uniforms are also excellent; the concept artists did a great job. Also, space is a bit more expansive than some screenshots look. For a while, it looked like space was the most cluttered and claustrophobic emptiness you'd ever seen, and that was worrisome.
Space Combat: This is what I was looking forward to, but it seemed like combat was either too short or too long. Either way it involved hitting shields till they dropped, then pumping torpedoes in. Now normally I tend to solo due to my schedule, but this is starting to look like the fun in space combat comes from having fleets and friends, when everything's flying every which way. Watching the fights unfold a dozen or two times through the day, it kind of all felt samey. I don't think I cared as much for my ship as to whether my fuller blue bar was pointing at the bad guys.
Ground Combat: It has a good yet very familiar feel. I may simply have played too many MMOs, but the ground combat is pretty standard. Oh look, Klingon coming around the corner. I start firing, my NPC Officers start firing. Maybe different beams are involved or some of them go in for melee. Loot is dropped from ground baddies just like in CO: Take Take All Cancel. Options seem to be limited compared to Champions, though; you can only do so much phaser-firing and strategy pretty much consisted of maybe grenades, buff your shields, kicking/shoving your enemy to the ground, and pumping him full of phaser fire while he's there. Because that's how the Federation rolls, yo.
Customizability: The ability to customize Bridge Officers completely so that they are an extension of your abilities is a very attractive feature. It seems like they have put some thought into the customization levels, because I had feared that you'd get Federation ships with the equivalent of racing stripes; the customization ability can be a lot more subtle, which is good, since it retains the silhouettes and colors.
Polish: It looks very polished for not even being in Closed Beta. Gameplay was smooth and the visuals were terrific. Of course, I can't speak to game balance because that's still in the air. It seems like they've got the Cryptic Engine ready to handle the combat portion of the game.
Final Analysis
It should probably be more noted that this was a combat demo, because that's all that was presented, and it may carry a lot more significance in context. It was weird, because a month ago I was so-so about Champions Online, and really had my heart set on STO. Now I find myself subscribed to CO, and so-so about STO. One of my friends who is really into Star Trek doesn't even want to touch this game because he's certain it'll just be 'another MMO with a Star Trek skin.' I will not be showing him these videos.
I think my hopes for STO still lie in the systems under development. I didn't get to see any out-of-combat customization of the crew, numbers under the hood for gear or characters, character development, Starbase interiors, the Genesis system, epic star maps where you can see lines of battle or missions to undertake, none of those things. Of course, it's probably at least a year away, so they've got some time to do it. I just hope that we can see more than phaser fire, although that is one of its strengths right now.
Recommendations
There are still plenty of things they can do to improve the more personal nature of Trek. Even just having your Offices respond with actual voiceovers when you click on them would go far. Just, say, 4 types of voices saying 'Yes, Captain?' or 'Enemy approaching' would help. We're not talking The Old Republic level of voiceover commitment, more like Starcraft audio cues. Then throw in an option for people who want just text cues if audio annoys them. And if you made them replaceable on a local client, I swear that my tactical officer will completely use Worf voice clips.
Work on those non-combat systems! Star Trek wasn't exactly known for its awesome martial arts skills and gripping hand phaser firefights. Well, before the new movie anyway but that's a different thread. :)
Some additional notes (and I'm sure many of you know this now, but it was news to me):
Progression seems to be in zones. You can go wherever you please with a caution advisory, but it looks like you'll take care of Klingon issues here, for example, then go to Cardassian space to handle things there, etc. So it kind of looks like things might be zoned by character rank/skill suggestions.
Defeats so far are slaps on the wrist, you just restart the section you're at or the mission you're on.
Looks like plot twists and communications are going to be via pop-up heads/viewscreens and text accompanying it.
If you pick up loot from space combat, you can only try to equip it via engineering if your ship is out of combat; no grabbing that Klingon Disruptor Cannon +5 and throwing it at your Chief and telling him to make it so in 30 seconds while under heavy fire.
Interface can be laid out how you want; move things to where you want to see them or makes sense for you.
NPCs have move-to, target commands similar to Guild Wars' Heroes, it looks like; otherwise they're pretty autonomous
If you don't have enough Bridge Officers to come with you on an Away mission, they'll be filled out by redshirts (5 member teams)
Bridge Officers are completely yours, and with the points you earn from experience you decide where they go; you can upgrade your Officer's skills even if you never let them leave the ship
Personal Log: Can we get an astrometrics lab nao plz? :)