Sounds to me that episodes will be much like the chapter quest lines in Lotro. 3 seasons of 14 episodes each. Hopefully there will be other quests as well, and not just the episodes. plus you have the exploration stuff. Im just worried that with only 42 episodes at launch, there wont be enough content to keep us busy. Guess we will see.

This is one of the first positive things I've heard about STO since I found out that you couldn't walk around someone elses ship. But, if they can pull of the intermingling of the story AND the multiplayer parts, this has got potential. It sounds to me very similar to the AoC Tortage set up. Do your own thing with the story ... go do things with other players ...

Originally posted by Aganazer

It sounds like the entire game content of 42 episodes will take about 40 hours to complete. Depending on how compelling the random content is, it sounds a little light on content.

Fourty hours is plenty to warant a box purchase and a play through, but not a subscription. Either way I'll buy the game, but I am seeing no reason to believe that it will retain players at all.

That's also what I was thinking.

It seems to me they are focusing on combat and PvP for some reason. The only people left playing this game after a month will be PvPers and people who enjoy grinding mobs.

Originally posted by pcolapat

"At launch, the game will feature three "seasons" of content; each season will feature 14 Episodes, as well as other handcrafted and procedurally-generated content, meaning you'll have your hands - and your Captain's Log - full for quite some time after launch.

While the three seasons available at launch will have common themes, and many Episodes are related to one another, there are only a few Episodes with prerequisites to meet before you can play through them. Think of those Episodes as two-parters, whereas the majority can exist within their own right. They're complete stories that inform but don't lead directly to the others.

Episodes generally last between 45 and 90 minutes and are designed with transition in mind. In many classic Star Trek episodes, the characters were never on one set very long."
 

 

I read the article.

>.< doh! thats what i get for skimming, {facepalmx2}

Originally posted by zaylin

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Athcear

Wow, this sounds like a really cool single player game.

Where's MM part of this MMORPG?

Uh-huh. That's a big issue for me, as well.

 

Key Word: sounds like. The reason imo that it sounds like or seems like a single player game atm, is the fact they are focusing on aspects of the game that pertain to A player, and not the community. just like SWtor sure  your main story line is focused on YOU but, as they have stated, there may be times when you have certain class(s) in your party that will open up new options with in quests. I think STO will have a similar mechanic in that sure  you can do the episodes by your self, but there could be other events that happen when grouping with other players. again EVERY THING is speculation and just that. so far the space combat looks cool,and we all know ground combat LOOKS like it really needs some improvement.

Good group stuff is higher on my list than good solo stuff, so I'm really interested in how that works out.  And as much as anything we're saying is speculation, the fact is that they're choosing to share this very single-player oriented portion and to highlight it.  Solo play is what they're emphasizing, and I will not be particularly pleased if that's the focus of the game.

So, until they release some pretty cool data on the heavy group content (such as people working together to... I dunno... CREW A STARSHIP), I'm going to continue to assume, based on the available information, that this is not going to be a very team-oriented game.  I ask again, where's the MM?

This sounds like a lot of instancing to me.

I just hope that i dont have to do all the missions if i dont want to.

I absolutely hate that every player have to do the same thing.

Originally posted by pcolapat

"At launch, the game will feature three "seasons" of content; each season will feature 14 Episodes, as well as other handcrafted and procedurally-generated content, meaning you'll have your hands - and your Captain's Log - full for quite some time after launch.

While the three seasons available at launch will have common themes, and many Episodes are related to one another, there are only a few Episodes with prerequisites to meet before you can play through them. Think of those Episodes as two-parters, whereas the majority can exist within their own right. They're complete stories that inform but don't lead directly to the others.

Episodes generally last between 45 and 90 minutes and are designed with transition in mind. In many classic Star Trek episodes, the characters were never on one set very long."
 

 

I read the article.

Hm, that seems like the same kind of wrong thinking they made with CO: too less content because the expect very very casual gamers who take months for this content, whereas in reality most will have done it in 2 weeks and THEN WHAT? *sigh*

Read my lips, Cryptic: FOCUS ON ONE MMO AT A TIME. And make one great instead of two mediocre ones.

I can't wait for it to release!

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Originally posted by nekollx
 and there we have it, the devs said it. their will be choices, diplomacy, not everything ends in a fist fight.
 
So there "STO is just combat" nay sayers

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Here , Here, There are alternatives to fighting and Its is great news that the Devs of STO realize this.

Originally posted by Athcear

Originally posted by zaylin

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by Athcear

Wow, this sounds like a really cool single player game.

Where's MM part of this MMORPG?

Uh-huh. That's a big issue for me, as well.

 

Key Word: sounds like. The reason imo that it sounds like or seems like a single player game atm, is the fact they are focusing on aspects of the game that pertain to A player, and not the community. just like SWtor sure  your main story line is focused on YOU but, as they have stated, there may be times when you have certain class(s) in your party that will open up new options with in quests. I think STO will have a similar mechanic in that sure  you can do the episodes by your self, but there could be other events that happen when grouping with other players. again EVERY THING is speculation and just that. so far the space combat looks cool,and we all know ground combat LOOKS like it really needs some improvement.

 

Good group stuff is higher on my list than good solo stuff, so I'm really interested in how that works out.  And as much as anything we're saying is speculation, the fact is that they're choosing to share this very single-player oriented portion and to highlight it.  Solo play is what they're emphasizing, and I will not be particularly pleased if that's the focus of the game.

So, until they release some pretty cool data on the heavy group content (such as people working together to... I dunno... CREW A STARSHIP), I'm going to continue to assume, based on the available information, that this is not going to be a very team-oriented game.  I ask again, where's the MM?

Ya I do hope they start to highlight more TEAM/group content as well.

I don't like MMOs that you can fully solo,but I also don't like MMOs that are TO group oreintated as well, a good balance of both would be good. A good example (IMO) is DDO, I started the F2P,went vip because it was a lot of fun with my friends...but when you hit around level 10 there aint much you can do at all solo wise, yes  you can solo some stuff at an WAY increased time and effort. I'm a family man so grouping ALL the time or A LOT is a tad hard. now I'M NOT asking or demanding a game have this just because of ME {grins}, just saying it would be nice :). anywho a bit of subject, sorry. lets just hope it does NOT get released in February like the RUMORs are suggesting.

Originally posted by Stradden

At launch, the game will feature three "seasons" of content; each season will feature 14 Episodes, as well as other handcrafted and procedurally-generated content, meaning you'll have your hands - and your Captain's Log - full for quite some time after launch.... Episodes generally last between 45 and 90 minutes and are designed with transition in mind.

3 seasons, at 14 episodes each, up to 90 minutes each.  Yep.  By my math that's (at most) 63 hours.

If we take out the time spent working on the game engine, we can assume that it took somewhere around three years to come up with 63 hours of game content.  If it then it takes another three years to produce the second 63 hours of episodic content. That obviously won't be enough to keep an MMORPG audience paying monthly fees the whole time.

Is anybody here old enough to have played the "Star Trek 25th Anniversary" game? Ridiculously primitive by today's computer game standards, but I really liked it. When I was done, I felt like I enjoyed not just a game, but a whole new season of The Original Series.  But I'm not completely sure how that could make an MMORPG. There has to be a lot more to this that somehow didn't come through in the interview.

Maybe he means 63 hours of "cutscenes."   But who really knows how much filler there could be in there?  I mean, Star Trek wasn't like the TV show "24."   It didn't play out in real time.  A space battle in the show usually only took a few minutes - why couldn't that be hours?  And, of course, they just sort of showed the actual discoveries, not the painstaking exploration it took to find them.   I guess this might make sense if we think of the TV show as being "edited" versions of real life.  Maybe the MMORPG would expand each episode out into a couple of days of actual play time.

Originally posted by JestorRodo

 

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Originally posted by nekollx
 and there we have it, the devs said it. their will be choices, diplomacy, not everything ends in a fist fight.
 
So there "STO is just combat" nay sayers

---

 

Here , Here, There are alternatives to fighting and Its is great news that the Devs of STO realize this.

Can't agree more Jestor and Neko. I have been very vocal in my critisism of STO, and there's nothing I'd like more than to be proven wrong here. This article is a hint at a much deeper game imo. Look forward to seeing more.

I want to want this game...

Originally posted by Aganazer

It sounds like the entire game content of 42 episodes will take about 40 hours to complete. Depending on how compelling the random content is, it sounds a little light on content.

Fourty hours is plenty to warant a box purchase and a play through, but not a subscription. Either way I'll buy the game, but I am seeing no reason to believe that it will retain players at all.

May not be an ONGOING subscription. However, it certainly merits subscribing till i can finish all the episodes, if indeed they are star trek like.

And at this point, do we really care whether it will retain players? I am planning only to finish all the content, if they are good.

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In other games, you can just bail on Story Arcs and move on ... but this doesn't seem to be the case with STO.  ???

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One of those "other games" where you can bail out of story arcs is City of Heroes, Cryptic's first game. Another is Champions Online, Cryptic's second game. I'd say their track record bodes well on this.

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If we take out the time spent working on the game engine, we can assume that it took somewhere around three years to come up with 63 hours of game content.

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Cryptic started on this game in February of 2008. By my count, that's 21 months, not three years; and that includes the time to adapt the engine.

If cryptic was smart they would have included ship interiors in this game. If you think about star trek, they made alot of episodes that took place entirly on the ship. They did this because it saves money. An episode that takes place 100% abord the ship costs way less than an episode where they have to build a set. Cryptic should take this same logic, apply it to this game and save themselves some money. Trekers wouldnt notice, because that is how the show is sometimes, The epidose happening on the ship every once in awhile is star trek. Cryptic creates that one enviroment, and they could spread out a dozen on board ship episodes across there current episodes, and now you have four seasons not three.

 Loving this game more and more, still a lot to be known but the direction it is going makes me feel really good about what the overall project will bring... hoping to get into BETA

From the screenshots we learn target nearest doesn't work quite right. Something that poor red shirt gets to learn as he joins the collective, where his last thought of frantically trying to cancel phaserball 3 is disseminated.

Originally posted by pcolapat

If cryptic was smart they would have included ship interiors in this game. If you think about star trek, they made alot of episodes that took place entirly on the ship. They did this because it saves money. An episode that takes place 100% abord the ship costs way less than an episode where they have to build a set. Cryptic should take this same logic, apply it to this game and save themselves some money. Trekers wouldnt notice, because that is how the show is sometimes, The epidose happening on the ship every once in awhile is star trek. Cryptic creates that one enviroment, and they could spread out a dozen on board ship episodes across there current episodes, and now you have four seasons not three.

Cryptic doesn't know a damned thing about Trek, other than the names and how the ships look.

This is a quick score, and then they move on to the next scam.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by pcolapat

If cryptic was smart they would have included ship interiors in this game. If you think about star trek, they made alot of episodes that took place entirly on the ship. They did this because it saves money. An episode that takes place 100% abord the ship costs way less than an episode where they have to build a set. Cryptic should take this same logic, apply it to this game and save themselves some money. Trekers wouldnt notice, because that is how the show is sometimes, The epidose happening on the ship every once in awhile is star trek. Cryptic creates that one enviroment, and they could spread out a dozen on board ship episodes across there current episodes, and now you have four seasons not three.

Cryptic doesn't know a damned thing about Trek, other than the names and how the ships look.

This is a quick score, and then they move on to the next scam.

Hmmm, sounds to me like Cryptic pee'd on your cornflakes somewhere down the line. I personaly have enjoyed there games and hope this one will be better than I hope for... erm if that makes any sense.

Originally posted by bumfman

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by pcolapat

If cryptic was smart they would have included ship interiors in this game. If you think about star trek, they made alot of episodes that took place entirly on the ship. They did this because it saves money. An episode that takes place 100% abord the ship costs way less than an episode where they have to build a set. Cryptic should take this same logic, apply it to this game and save themselves some money. Trekers wouldnt notice, because that is how the show is sometimes, The epidose happening on the ship every once in awhile is star trek. Cryptic creates that one enviroment, and they could spread out a dozen on board ship episodes across there current episodes, and now you have four seasons not three.

Cryptic doesn't know a damned thing about Trek, other than the names and how the ships look.

This is a quick score, and then they move on to the next scam.

 

Hmmm, sounds to me like Cryptic pee'd on your cornflakes somewhere down the line. I personaly have enjoyed there games and hope this one will be better than I hope for... erm if that makes any sense.

not to mention they got a bunch of peeps that WANted to be on board the project real bad because they were trek fans as well. So hope that carries over to the game attention/detail too.

Originally posted by zaylin

 

not to mention they got a bunch of peeps that WANted to be on board the project real bad because they were trek fans as well. So hope that carries over to the game attention/detail too.

A lot of people working on Warhammer Online claimed to be big fans of the miniatures game. See how that turned out?

Any actual proof that Trek fans were instrumental in making STO? I ask because statements like "Trek fans want to be the captain" imply otherwise.

Originally posted by syberghost

 

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If we take out the time spent working on the game engine, we can assume that it took somewhere around three years to come up with 63 hours of game content.

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Cryptic started on this game in February of 2008. By my count, that's 21 months, not three years; and that includes the time to adapt the engine.

 

Maybe the other year was spent watching, and dissecting, the "700 episodes" of the shows?  I'd happily get paid to watch TV, though after the first week of OG Trek i'd probably stab my eyes out with a plastic phaser.

Originally posted by syberghost

 

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If we take out the time spent working on the game engine, we can assume that it took somewhere around three years to come up with 63 hours of game content.

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Cryptic started on this game in February of 2008. By my count, that's 21 months, not three years; and that includes the time to adapt the engine.

 

I heard it was 21 weeks.

Whichever, though, if anything even remotely like what you're saying is anywhere near true, then of course there would be no point in discussing any of this.