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Star Trek Online Open Beta Starts Today
Today Cryptic Studios will begin the open beta of Star Trek Online, opening their test servers to invitees and anyone who has pre-ordered the game. The beta will run through the 26th, and the game will officially launch on February 2nd; head-start players will be allowed in on January 29th. The game is set in the old universe (not the rebooted one from last year's movie), and takes place roughly 30 years after the events in Star Trek: Nemesis. There are two playable factions to start — the Federation and the Klingon Empire — and more may become available later on. There will be conflict between the two factions, but supposedly all PvP will be "optional and consensual." Players will be able to choose from a variety of ships, and they'll see cameos from familiar characters. Eurogamer has a hands-on preview of the game, and fans of the Trek universe will be pleased to hear that "Cryptic is clearly thinking about Star Trek first and MMO convention second." A number of gameplay trailers are available for viewing, and the official forums have a nice collection of facts.
Klingon: Sir, I propose that we engage in physical combat--with your consent of course.
Federation: Why that would be smashing! Gentlemen's rules apply?
Klingon: Why of course sir, let us stand 5 paces apart and engage in fisticuffs on the count of five.
Federation: And no hitting in the groin or other sensitive areas?
Klingon: I wouldn't dream of it, sir.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
- 18 month development time
- lackluster character animation
- PVP-only Klingon "faction"
- typical tank/dps/healer holy trinity (even in ships for pete's sake)
- subscription fee AND microtransation store
This is a half-ass, generic MMO wrapped in the designs and sounds of a franchise we're prone to get nostalgic about. It's a cheap ploy, and I won't support Cryptic and their shitty games.
Yes, I'm bitter at the terrible mess that was Champions Online. But they have not shown any change as a developer.
Caffeine is my anti-drug!
Duranin - A NWN2 Roleplaying Persistent World
one side filled with kirk and spock and picard wanna-bes.
and the other filled with the klingon speakers.
so, uh, who is gonna run the internets while you all are gone?
"Where possible, the game will provide non-violent ways to resolve conflicts."
So in other words, this is Picard-style Star Trek. You Kirk-style players can stay logged into Eve.
If WoW is getting boring, this will not hold you for more than a month unless you really love Star Trek and must buy this game in collectors edition (twice, so you have one to play and he other to display.)
I can't force myself to log into the game anymore. For one, it gets to be extremely tedious being confined to a small square box until you warp which zones you (with load screen) to a "warp zone" where you fly around and choose what zone you want to "drop out of warp" into. Add that to the extremely lackluster combat of flying circles around the enemy and occasionally turning around to distribute damage to the other shields and you have a really, really lackluster game.
Basically, it's the Champions Online game with ships instead of super heroes. Same engine, same zone structure (with instancing), and the same quest log/quest types. The only thing I can think of right now that they added is a "ship" inventory so you can upgrade shields, phasers, and such with items you will find during battles or apparently "research" by taking rare ores found in sectors to an NPC to process.
Also, Klingons are pretty much 99% PvP based so if you wanted to run a freighter or some other non-combat scenario for The Empire, you'll find yourself without. Land/ship based combat is your typical target and select 1, 2, or 3 to select your weapon/attack. But wow, you can decide if you are in attack mode or speed mode. Woo!
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
- It has been in development for almost 5 years, the team is completely different than Champions
Yet somehow they both came up with the same game! It must be good!
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
An "open" beta means that you have the means by which to join the beta without them selecting you. It doesn't mean that it's necessarily free. It is as opposed to a "closed" beta which means that you can only join by their specific invitation, and that it is entirely likely that no matter how badly you want to join or how much money you have to spend (well, barring buying the entire company), you won't be able to get in.
If you have learned anything from the open source movement, it should be that "open" != "free." You can be charged for open source software, just as not all software that is free (as in beer) is open source.
- It has been in development for almost 5 years, the team is completely different than Champions
Yes and no. The game WAS in development since 2004, but by a different company who went bankrupt and kept the code.
Cryptic took over in 2008, without the code but with the license and art.
- Character animation looks pretty good to me, but what a minor thing to complain about. It'll get better over time too. I could personally care less if it uses ASCII graphics, as long as the gameplay is solid
The animations are terrible. Even Everquest animation was less ugly. The gameplay is certainly not good enough to make up for the graphics.
- Klingon faction is currently mostly PVP -- they want to add more content later. Big deal! In fact, some players will like this.
"more content later" is another way of saying "It's not done and may never be unless we maintain a certain level of subscriptions. Which they will not.
- There's a lot more going on than just tank / healer / etc. You can equip modules in any way you want to give your ship a versatile configuration. Seam with team members for away missions. It may not be the most revolutionary game around but, it does do something different. I for one look forward to trying out the strategic space combat.
In short, you can solo. But in a team you're still going to be in a cookie cutter configuration, just like everyone else. Nobody wants a funky ship or a furry speced warrior.
- It's only microtransaction in the same way that WoW is. You can buy items that don't really affect the gameplay. .
- Initial reviews and impressions are much more positive than with Cryptic's previous offerings.
Which isn't saying much really...
Who knows, maybe it will suck, maybe it won't. We don't know yet.
No. We don't know yet, but the outlook isn't all that good and the past products do not create much goodwill for the developer.
In Soviet Russia, the television watches YOU!
Every time I turn my PvP status to "on" my shirt turns red... What's the deal?
All glory to the Hypnotoad!
I'm trying to figure out why people are continually surprised when non-Windows MMO clients are not available. You want to have a high percentage chance of being able to play a non-console, non-browser based game, get a Windows machine. End of story.
Picard: I want suggestions.
Worf: Lets kill everyone and everything!
Picard: Capital idea, make it so.
The eurogamer preview makes it clear, this MMO is for people that thought Enterprise was a great series, finally space boobies and big battles instead of all the soul searching and boring talking...
If you want your Star Trek to be "The city on the edge of forever" (If I have to explain, I must kill you) or "The measure of a man", then just forget it. There are no moral questions in this game. No Sci-fi to question the nature of humankind.
Even adventure trek like "Starship mine" (Picard does "Die hard") which would translate well to a "Deus Ex/Thief/System shock" style gameplay is beyond this game.
"Yesterday's Enterprise" or even "The inner light", story telling you can forget as well.
So what is left? Simplistic combat and being overrun by thousands of Wesley's. This has about as much to do with Star Trek as "Star Trek: Elite Force". And at least that was based on an element of Voyager (google "worsed voyager episode" common answer? Every single one of them.)
If you think the best of Trek was when Janeway tried to do Ripley (badly) then this might be the game for you.
For non trek fans, you will like this if you liked Champions Online in which case I am suprised you managed to read this far without shortcircuiting your keyboard with your drool.
For trekkies, it is an amusing romp and a bit of fun to hear and see all those sounds again, but it is like having sex with a hooker, the sex ain't worth the eternal regret and feelings of self-loathing.
If you do give it a try, make sure you have the best of trek on a playlist ready to sooth your ravaged mind. Just so that you won't think Trek is "blow everything up". I recommend "The measure of a man", not a blaster fired, no ships blowing up, just Star Trek as it was meant to be.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Garak is one of the greatest characters in Trekdom, and you are denying yourself the pleasure of experiencing his slimyness. That is all.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
My impressions from playing the game:
Your Character: You start off as a junior officer in the position of ship's captain. Your character can be Tactical (tank/dps), Engineering(utility) or Science(buff/heal), and this largely determines your ground combat role, but your space captaining is seperate. Standard races are included as packages for character look, but you can do all sorts of things to your appearance and I've seen some strange things/people in spacedock. You also can customize your uniform to a degree. XP are invested in skills, which give you powers.
Bridge Officers: BO's are pets on a planet, and powers in space. They level up and can be given specific training. You can get new BO's in the same way you can get gear, buy, mission reward and so on. Not all BO's have the same capabilities. They come in three general flavors, Tactical, Engineering, Science, with similar functions to the PC versions. In space, BO’s allow you to do special things with your ship, like fancy photon torpedo spreads and emergency power to shields. BO’s may be equipped with gear just like your main character.
Your Ship: You can customize your ship’s look a good deal. Depending on your preference you can have a Miranda from WoK, something more TNG, or mix and match because you really just like the way those particular nacelles look. There’s also gear for your ship. You can install that disruptor array on your Fed ship if you like.
Ground combat: It’s okay, but not great. However, if you’re ST fan the words “phaser rifles” will probably do it for you. The little phaser has a stun attack. Also, the default unarmed attack seems to be that palm-strike-to-nose thing.
Space Combat: It’s ship combat, not fighter combat. Firing arcs, weapon charge, shield regeneration. Battling a single comparable ship is not intended to be quick in this game. You’re intended to fight an enemy that will try to shelter it’s weak shields and you’re expected to do the same. Many fights are against more numerous small opponents (the Orions deploy fighters), and the management of your weapons and powers is where your time is spent. It’s not about movement, it’s about management. This appeals to me for ship combat of this type.
Quests: The training mission above is what it is, newb training. I never really felt like I was taking on the Borg, but rather like I was helping out after the fight, then joining the big ships to push them out.
The other missions seem much more like ST episodes. Travel to a system that's having a labor disptue as the Fed representative. Discover pirates in the system and clear them out. Beam down to resolve the differences. While the diplomatic options are too simplified and need serious work, I think they've done a good job of replicating the ST episode in game. Things begin "Stardate bla...we are escorting so and so to a Vulcan monastery..." and end with the ship warping out of system or the crew beaming off planet.
It feels like the game will have a story, with missions that are a part of it.
Kirk vs. Picard: Definitely more Kirk. Myabe you could call it “Enterprise-E Picard”. In the Sol area there are public quests that involve Klingon incursions, and I killed a whole lot of Klingons in that Vulcan monastery. Sure, you’re expected to talk to people. Angry Federation workers are an example of people to whom one is expected to be diplomatic. The pirates in orbit you’re expected to explode. It’s a post-Dominion War post-Wolf 359 Federation.
GOOD: It’s Star Trek. Travel around. Meet new folks. Talk to some. Blow up Klingons. Uncover strange anomalies. Meet the alien of the week (probably a PC). Beam in, beam out. Go to warp. Cue music. I also like the ship combat.
BAD: Load screens. Too many load screens. It’s a major failure of the game. Combat pacing and dynamism needs work, but the load screens are a much bigger hurdle. Also, t
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