Anyone notice the Borg screenshot?

[amphigory]

http://www.zam.com/Im/image/gallery/143671

Check out the Borg ;)

[Mile5]

I think you linked to the wrong screenshot.

[amphigory]

Sorry I guess I should've mentioned that it is #3 in that picture gallery.

[StarfleetOfficer]

Good pics :)

[Azurian]

Pretty nice. Though he's lacking Borg headgear.

#1 is a nice view of the Valiant
#2 nice view of the NX-91001
#5 sweet action shot of the Luna


But LOL #4 at the Akira, "I Love Matt" :p

[DerManiac]

*sigh*
To me it looks like they made the typical MMO "mistake". The characters look awesome, the surroundings look awesome, but the scale is horrible. It's the same thing I criticize in every other MMO I've played. Every room seems to be a giant hall. Now at least in Star Trek I was hoping to get a little claustrophobic feeling when on a ship (especially when it's BORG).
In the series, one BORG could block an entire corridor, and you had to squeeze past him if you want to go by unnoticed. Here it seems like you could stay a mile away from everyone.

I mean, when did starship decks ever have a height of 4 times the average crew member?

[Acyl]

*sigh*
To me it looks like they made the typical MMO "mistake". The characters look awesome, the surroundings look awesome, but the scale is horrible. It's the same thing I criticize in every other MMO I've played. Every room seems to be a giant hall. Now at least in Star Trek I was hoping to get a little claustrophobic feeling when on a ship (especially when it's BORG).
In the series, one BORG could block an entire corridor, and you had to squeeze past him if you want to go by unnoticed. Here it seems like you could stay a mile away from everyone.

I mean, when did starship decks ever have a height of 4 times the average crew member?

No, it's not a mistake. It's a deliberate choice. It's not practical to have claustrophobic corridors and tight building interiors in MMOs.

MMOs are intended to be played from third person perspective. In very tight confines, you'll have lots of camera issues. And bear in mind a lot of folks like to play with the view zoomed out as far as possible.

Secondly, you're talking about enemies blocking corridors, yeah? But that's incredibly messy in most games. It's something folks generally don't want. If half the group can't get through a doorway because it's being obstructed, that's a bad thing. It gets groups killed, it gets players screaming at each other.

In Star Trek Online, even while solo you'll have four NPCs following you around. No matter how good Cryptic makes their AI, a whole Away Team running around is probably gonna get hung up on bits of scenery and block each other's paths.

Very small corridors would, well, make it worse.

[DerManiac]

I know about camera issues. Every MMO out there seems to think having the camera hanging in a 45 degree angle above and directly behind you is the only way a game could work.

Take any 3rd person shooter (MGS or Splinter Cell for example): 3rd person camera, but realistically tight interiors. I see no reason why this shouldn't work an an MMO where ground combat is only the "secondary gameplay".

And the "blocking" thing was just an example to illustrate how small interiors are in the series. I was never talking about how players should be able to block each other.

[Acyl]

I know about camera issues. Every MMO out there seems to think having the camera hanging in a 45 degree angle above and directly behind you is the only way a game could work.

Take any 3rd person shooter (MGS or Splinter Cell for example): 3rd person camera, but realistically tight interiors. I see no reason why this shouldn't work an an MMO where ground combat is only the "secondary gameplay".

And the "blocking" thing was just an example to illustrate how small interiors are in the series. I was never talking about how players should be able to block each other.

I agree with you - tight maps and interiors are perfectly fine for shooters.

But we're not talking shooters here, we're talking MMOs. While the ground gameplay for STO does resemble a shooter, it's still using RPG-type targeting and hit resolution. It's not supposed to be a twitch-based game. Which is good because a lot of folks who play MMOs don't play shooters.

Or put it this way - I know a lot of MMO gamers who refuse to try Cryptic's latest game, Champions Online, because the gameplay is closer to a third-person action game than the traditional MMO model. But those very things are off-putting to some people.

Fact is, shooting action games require a degree of mobility and positioning that MMOs don't require. Your average shooter player is a lot more comfortable with fine movement and tricky navigation in combat. The MMO model is different.

All that said, it remains to be seen how close STO's ground gameplay will be to a shooter.

After all, they've already made a hybrid with Champs.

[Osias]

Those sure are some really impressive screen shots. Nice find Mr Amphigory

[JOHNLAMARRE1]

I THINK the federation weapons and all (except the borg) have majorly upgraded big time

[Osias]

I THINK the federation weapons and all (except the borg) have majorly upgraded big time


I agree 120%

[J.L.Picard]

that vigilant just looks plain ****.

[DerManiac]

I agree with you - tight maps and interiors are perfectly fine for shooters.

But we're not talking shooters here, we're talking MMOs. While the ground gameplay for STO does resemble a shooter, it's still using RPG-type targeting and hit resolution. It's not supposed to be a twitch-based game. Which is good because a lot of folks who play MMOs don't play shooters.

Or put it this way - I know a lot of MMO gamers who refuse to try Cryptic's latest game, Champions Online, because the gameplay is closer to a third-person action game than the traditional MMO model. But those very things are off-putting to some people.

Fact is, shooting action games require a degree of mobility and positioning that MMOs don't require. Your average shooter player is a lot more comfortable with fine movement and tricky navigation in combat. The MMO model is different.

All that said, it remains to be seen how close STO's ground gameplay will be to a shooter.

After all, they've already made a hybrid with Champs.

You are probably right. It might not work too well. I still think it is sad, though.

[amphigory]

More Borg!
http://www.massively.com/gallery/star-trek-online-gallery/2336324/full/

From the latest Missively gallery update