Capturing Star Trek in a video game is something many have tried, and no one has truly succeeded.  Had I been Cryptic, I'd have passed on the project.

Here's hoping for the best and keeping an open mind, though!

Im not hoping for much, being it a console game port, and judging they took most of what has already been made.

I asume it be a thumped down game, with lots of instances, and evryone as captain where you just have a statistic NPC crew where you can invest skillpoints too.

Originally posted by Hadrian

by "success" i meant met players' and the market's expectations.  in my opinion, games such as vanguard, dark & light, horizons/istaria, PotBS, AoC and TR failed to meet their potential.  

and i was referring to MMORPGs in general, not to cryptic specifically.  (although,  i quit CoH after only three weeks.)

Well, if you didn't expect so much, maybe you'd be less disappointed?

In my oppinion, and this is really just my oppinion, Cryptic's design model for STO is inherently flawed and in a bad way.

My train of thought comes from my personal oppinion that fans of this genre (sci-fi) and most especially fans of this specific series, are by their very nature detail oriented. It seems to me that Cryptic is going for the easy way out by making everyone a captain and not allowing for in depth Start Trek universe to take it's own course played out by the players themselves.

We've seen this game before, Star Trek: Starfleet Command (and its' few sequels) are exactly in this veign and were (are) complete junk.  

Personaly, this is just another of a long list of crappy game put on this poor fanchise that dates back to the early 80's. It's a shame and unless Cryptic has some sort of huge reversal on how they actually plan to develop this game, I can't see it becoming any better.

Originally posted by Narshe

I was one of the many following STO's development for a number of years, being active on a few fan forums, getting really into it.. then Perpetual threw out the first ingame screenshot, and I cried. I will be honest and say that I've never played any of Cryptic's MMOs yet, but based on fan and game reviews, it seems like a really good company focused on fun gameplay. I have to say, the ingame screenshots they have posted on the new sto website look really great and polished already, and at least in my opinion, infinitely better than any of the ones Perpetual gave us. It looks like they're heading in the right direction... but I would like to know what peoples opinions are. Do you think Cryptic will deliver a quality MMO to both MMO and Star Trek fans, or focus more on "fun" gameplay instead of immersing the player in the science and lore of ST? Do you have faith in Cryptic?

For my humble epionion I hope so I am not really into pvp anymore at all so solo heavy content won't bother me as long as I at some time can control most ships solo and the quests are good and the game is stable they'll have a hard time messing up with me I love COH but there is so little else to do besides grind it get's boring but I have faith since they have so many other things they can do with this universe.

I want it to work so bad, but I can't see it.  Star Trek has a strong following with encyclopedic knowledge of the lore, and then a much broader but shallower following who will like the idea of being a captain right away.  But that approach is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of what ST lore is all about.  From the outside, it looks like it's aliens and phasers.  But it's actually about something which COULD work as an MMO, but which at first glance seems utterly boring: careers.  Seriously - most of Star Trek fiction, and a lot of the two decent shows (NGE, DS9), is all about the career choices and work relationships of the characters.  Paragraph after paragraph of complicated soap-opera about difficult life choices.  So the hardcore fans would get this, and it could be a fun little game - work your way up the ladder, instead of levels you get promotions, and new challenges, new postings.  The casual fan would say, "WTF?" and walk away.

All this blather on my part doesn't even get into the problem most have rightly talked about, which is that ST has very few battles involving multiple ships, mostly it's tentative exploration followed by a snowballing crisis of some sort.  A bunch of starships soaring around, or gathered near a planet, is totally not the atmosphere at all.  Unless it's somehow very cleverly instanced, or there's some trick up Cryptic's sleeve which noe of us has thought of (fingers crossed), it's going to be a very, very silly game. 

Can any one name A good Star trek Game?? I Know there are two I think... But im not sure.

This IP has about the worst Track record in History as far as games go.

That says a lot Given the Awsomeness if The Star Trek Universe.

And im with Yall On one thing. If its Not Detail Oriented (Or at least Give the Advantage to those wo use Detail) then its crap.

Edit: and I Had better be able to Explore my ship.. Don't need 2 Eve's Out there Damnit.

A lot of you are overlooking one very successful cross platform MMO - Final Fantasy XI.

Originally released for the PS2 in Japan with a PC version following months later.  The game was amazingly deep and complex considering this fact.   In the US, the PC version came out first followed by the PS2 version and inevitably followed by the XBox360 version years later. 

Its been done before and was successful.  I think the argument because of the fact it has a track being developed with consoles in mind is MOOT! 

And lets be honest here, this is ST.  Its one of the biggest brands when it comes to Sci-Fi.  It has a huge following.  What better way to capture that audience than to develop with multiple platforms in mind.

There are 3 very important gameplay features that Cryptic need to deliver to succeed with STO, in my opinion:

 - Making you way up the federation, from Cadet to Admiral (likewise for the empire). Starting as an actual Captain will kill the game for a lot of fans.

 - Walking about starships and going to different sections of your ship to perform tasks, beaming down to planets, walking around space stations, flying shuttles. "Being" the ship has been done and isn't really what Star Trek is about.

 - Game structure based on the essential carreer paths within Star Trek (Command, Security, Medecine, Engineering).


My two cents.

If jack emmert as a paw in the game from the start it gonna be a mess.

And since he is pretty much Cryptic big cheese, im guessing it gonna be a mess.

Originally posted by Ekibiogami

Can any one name A good Star trek Game?? I Know there are two I think... But im not sure.

This IP has about the worst Track record in History as far as games go.

That says a lot Given the Awsomeness if The Star Trek Universe.

I have enjoyed a few star trek games, namely the Elite Force series, Armada II, and Bridge Commander. Star Trek does indeed have a pretty bad line up of poor-to-mediocre games, but I think that's because the IP is incredibly complex and difficult to integrate into a game, and the majority of the fanbase wants that complexity, the science and lore of Star Trek instead of the quick arcade shooters that the developers have been shelling out. Developers think "Well, let's get rid of all those scientific terms they used in the shows and just give 'em the firefights", and the games always turn out mediocre at best.

Imagine for a minute a Star Trek RPG similar to Knights of the old Republic. Done right, it would've easily been one of the best and most immersive sci-fi games ever. I think a truly great Star Trek game doesn't simply need fans of the series as developers, but people schooled in sciences as writers who can mimic some of the complex work that was involved in writing for the series.

Originally posted by Home15

Im not hoping for much, being it a console game port, and judging they took most of what has already been made.

I asume it be a thumped down game, with lots of instances, and evryone as captain where you just have a statistic NPC crew where you can invest skillpoints too.

Hehehe I was right ! NPC crew not players

just saw the trailer today weeee XD

Originally posted by Ekibiogami

Can any one name A good Star trek Game?? I Know there are two I think... But im not sure.

This IP has about the worst Track record in History as far as games go.

That says a lot Given the Awsomeness if The Star Trek Universe.

And im with Yall On one thing. If its Not Detail Oriented (Or at least Give the Advantage to those wo use Detail) then its crap.

Edit: and I Had better be able to Explore my ship.. Don't need 2 Eve's Out there Damnit.

I can't name one good star wars game either some ok ones yeah but no not many that lived up to what the movies do but that won't turn me against a game made for either ip before I know more than what has been revealed so far.

I have full faith in Cryptic Studios to create the most amazing Star Trek MMORPG that it can be. I'm sure they will do great.

Well, whether it delivers or not my wife will drag me in.  She's been waiting for this game for years and is a hardcore Trek nerd.

Originally posted by Thradar

It's an amazingly complex and deep IP.  And the fans will never be happy because their expectations will be in the clouds.  I don't envy Cryptic's task.

   I can't see cryptic making everyone happy. I've seen posts from some players wanting it so many players have to play communications officers, helmsmen, engineers, etc. instead of captains which to me seem incredably dull. I've also seen others that want to run around the inside of their ship putting out fires or tending wounded during battle rather then actually fighting the enemy. Seems a bit to far fetched  for me. (how many times can one really run around the inside of a ship putting out fires as say a engineer before it starts to get old?) All of this would of course take alot of programing for very nitch (IMO)  items. However will wait and see what cryptic has planned.

Originally posted by Home15

Originally posted by Home15

Im not hoping for much, being it a console game port, and judging they took most of what has already been made.

I asume it be a thumped down game, with lots of instances, and evryone as captain where you just have a statistic NPC crew where you can invest skillpoints too.

 

Hehehe I was right ! NPC crew not players

just saw the trailer today weeee XD

 Come on did you really want your (or someones) Character to be forced to be a communciations officer? ie "Hey whats you character do?" "Oh I sit here on the bridge and wait for incoming messages which i then get to tell the captain, Oh and he sometimes gives me messages to send to various other players/NPC's!" (Yawn).

  Or maybe a Engineer tech. "What does your character do?" "Oh I basically sit here in the engineering room and wait for something to break down or catch fire generally in combat. When that happens i try and fix it. Oh and occasionally i try and get the engines to give more power to shields, or go faster etc."

  I'd rather have the npc crew then try and find a player willing to fill one of the tedious jobs.

After seeing the trailer, screens, and everything else, I'm turning the radar off for this dreck.

They did exactly what I'd hoped they wouldn't: they simply stuck to PE's game plans in order to make the quick buck. Eve Online in space and WoW on the ground.

No thanks.

Originally posted by Thradar

It's an amazingly complex and deep IP.  And the fans will never be happy because their expectations will be in the clouds.  I don't envy Cryptic's task.

   And the fans will expect and equally deep MMO. If Cryptic have realized during the development of STO that the average age of a Trekkie is not 12-16 years old, but mid 20's to mid 30's (Even 40 to 50 year old) they have a chance to deliver. If they've kept looking over their shoulder at WOW whilst developing the game like Turbine did with LOTRO it may result in a Star Trek MMO targeting the wrong age group where the majority of the Trekkie fan base don't reside. They'd make a lot of Trekkies angry if their Star Trek MMO felt childish to play.

Originally posted by IAmMMO

Originally posted by Thradar

It's an amazingly complex and deep IP.  And the fans will never be happy because their expectations will be in the clouds.  I don't envy Cryptic's task.

 

   And the fans will expect and equally deep MMO. If Cryptic have realized during the development of STO that the average age of a Trekkie is not 12-16 years old, but mid 20's to mid 30's (Even 40 to 50 year old) they have a chance to deliver. If they've kept looking over their shoulder at WOW whilst developing the game like Turbine did with LOTRO it may result in a Star Trek MMO targeting the wrong age group where the majority of the Trekkie fan base don't reside. They'd make a lot of Trekkies angry if their Star Trek MMO felt childish to play.

 

Your right a lot of Star Trek fans are more in the 20-40 age bracket, but what age did those fans start taking an interest in star trek? For me it was all to to do with my dad, he thought i should watch this old tv series he used to watch when he was younger....I was 10 years old when i seen my first episode and was a fan ever since. I'm now 35 years old and think the star trek IP has become stagnant, The IP needs new fans...a new generation of fans because if it doesn't change in some way it will die.