Every two weeks through the end of the year, we are going to give you some exclusive screenshots that show off the look of Star Trek Online. To begin, we have three exclusive screenshots. Two show ships in space making dramatic turns in varied environments, and the third is a character shot of someone working away in engineering.

Check out all three images here.

Looks pretty, but nothing too special.

TOR is still way more promising.

sweet looking screenies. the olympic looks awesome!

Really looking forward to going where no man has gone before.

The Old Republic will be no better or worse than Star Trek Online.  No real way to compare them since they are two different experiences, just as the movies were.  I never understood the point of comparing Star Wars and Star Trek.  Totally different.  Granted nobody can deny the impact Star Trek has had on the modern world.  We owe everything from cell phones to tele-transportation devices(still experimental, but I know the Duke University physics department has one of the tele-transportation device sites) to Star Trek.  So far all we have from Star Wars, in real life is cinema effects, though I certainly cannot discount that being in the industry myself.  Star Wars is simply designed around fantasy where Star Trek was based off of real science.  Both have their place in the canon of classic Science Fiction.

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Originally posted by brad813

 

The Old Republic will be no better or worse than Star Trek Online.  

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One's being made by Bioware, and the other by Cryptic. After seeing what Cryptic does when they no longer have NCSoft behind them.. um yeah, I think one sci-fi MMO just might be a big giant head and shoulders above the other.

As I've been a big trekky since the early 70s I want to get excited about this game... but it just isn't doing it for me. I agree with the previous poster, TOR will be better.

Really like the third one, with what looks to be some sort of science vessel... However this game is third on my personal hype list, more excited for TOR.

All I am saying is you have to take each experience for what it is.  I am a big time trekkie(even to the point I know what some of the Star Trek actors are doing right now.............I know one of the TNG actors is now an adjunct professor at USC Theater out in Los Angeles, for example.).  I am also a big fan of Star Wars.  These are things I grew up with.  Each game will play differently because each one will have a different context it is set in.  As such, it will affect game play style. I just see each one in this light is all.  I am planning to play both personally, assuming I get time to in between classes, rehearsals, and sleep.  Has anyone heard what the difference will be between the standard edition and the collector's edition yet.  I know that Gamestop.com is including a special constitution class ship as a bonus.  The blue phasers they mentioned for it makes it sound pretty cool to be honest.

The one with the guy in what looks like engineering is my fave - looks great.

Vhalan, Cryptic did an excellent job with Champions Online(although a couple minor tweaks were needed), but if you really look at The Old Republic, it will amount to a sci-fi version of the traditional fantasy mmo.  Sure you will have force powers(can you say magic), but it really won't feel much different in play style I don't think.  However, I am willing to be proven wrong, but with the Star Wars Universe being primarily ground based, you have limitations to what you can do with it.  The space component of Star Trek Online gives it a unique concept, and once they have the ground part working too it should be good all around.  Plus, unlike previous Star Trek games, this will not be scripted based off the movies or shows.  It looks like they took the last two movies as a starting point to allow players to develop the universe further.  It also seems to me they are planning for parallel universe story lines.  You should remember Cryptic developed City of Heroes, one of the best MMOs in the past 5 years, on it's own before NCSoft bought the rights to it.  I tend to think NCSoft tends to take a good idea and ruin it by adding new "features" that end up acting more as restrictions.

Nice screens. I cant wait to get ahold of this game

I think its great we have two new Sci-fi grade A titles to look forward to in the coming months.  I am really excited about being able to play Klingons in STO and hope that the Romulans will be added in an expansion.

Originally posted by brad813

The Old Republic will be no better or worse than Star Trek Online.  No real way to compare them since they are two different experiences, just as the movies were.  I never understood the point of comparing Star Wars and Star Trek.  Totally different.  Granted nobody can deny the impact Star Trek has had on the modern world.  We owe everything from cell phones to tele-transportation devices(still experimental, but I know the Duke University physics department has one of the tele-transportation device sites) to Star Trek.  So far all we have from Star Wars, in real life is cinema effects, though I certainly cannot discount that being in the industry myself.  Star Wars is simply designed around fantasy where Star Trek was based off of real science.  Both have their place in the canon of classic Science Fiction.

This is in no way a debate on the differences between Star Wars and Star Trek. Many of us love both. I for one always loved Star Trek more. This was in fact more of a debate on the direction of how the Trek game is being developed.  Like playing ''as'' your ship. The comments about not making it a simulator.  While no one wants a complete simulator, many want a lot of the features in the Trek shows and movies and it seems a lot of the Trek experience is being left out.

I wasn't excited over TOR either but Bioware knows how to sell their game. Now I'm with everyone else here that thinks TOR will be better. We could be wrong but so far Cryptic hasn't shown much to get excited about. They show a fleet of ships and I think half ass because I want to be ''in'' my ship not ''be'' my ship.

But to each its own.

And I agree, Star Trek and Gene's vision has done a lot for tech but that has nothing to do with this game.

The main thing TOR has going for it right now over STO is it's not scheduled to be released for consoles.  As big of a Trek fan as I am, as soon as I heard that it turned me off to this game completely.

Originally posted by Kylrathin

The main thing TOR has going for it right now over STO is it's not scheduled to be released for consoles.  As big of a Trek fan as I am, as soon as I heard that it turned me off to this game completely.

Another excellent point Kylrathin.

What MMO looks to be more of a single player game?  Star Trek or Star Wars TOR?  It's a close call.  They may both be winners in the department...with the players being the losers.

I'm more interested in the nonspaceship avatars.  If the game is more of an EVE experience with your people avatars as tacked on extra I will probably pass.

But yeah, i'm a major Star Trek fan so I will probably change my mind.  Still though.

Originally posted by Terranah

I'm more interested in the nonspaceship avatars.  If the game is more of an EVE experience with your people avatars as tacked on extra I will probably pass.

I have to second this opinion.

I was unaware this was being released for consoles as well - this automatically gives it a ZERO for me purely due to the necessary dumbing down required for console's inherent limitations for interface/memory/graphic hardware.

It also means more developer resources are trivialised on creating crossplatform compatibility instead of focusing on more ingame content and a single platform's strengths.

I'm sure there are types of MMO that suit console style of play better than on a pc - but whenever I see a developer attempting to crossplatform an MMO I immediately think of one thing GREED and my answer to this is.... NEXT.

I know too little about STO at this point but so far TOR sounds very promising, not just in its design (being able to use the world around you to take cover ect) but also in the graphics and the epic story that is promised. So STO has a lot of stuff it needs to do before it could it even think about reaching the popularity of SW, from a gamers point of view. (I'm not talking about the general popularity between Star Strek and Star Wars.)