Star Trek Online - Message from Jack Emmert
Today we learned that Cryptic Studios, the company behind the original City of Heroes and now Champions Online is the studio now behind the development of Star Trek Online. In this feature, we bring you a letter to the community from Jack Emmert as well as a promotional list that is meant to give players an idea of Cryptic's vision for the game.
Engage!
A letter from Jack Emmert
Star Trek® has been a part of my entire life. Few other of my geeky obsessions can make that claim.
I started watching the original Star Trek when it reached syndication and cult status. I can remember even more vividly where I was for the premiere of every subsequent Star Trek series. For Star Trek: The Next Generation, I watched "Encounter at Farpoint" lying on the floor of my childhood apartment. When Star Trek: Deep Space Nine rolled around, I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. I watched the first episode in the basement of my dorm with a dozen other students. A few years later, I was at Ohio State and saw Voyager travel to the Delta Quadrant while sitting on a friend's couch in Columbus, Ohio. And I was thrilled to see the beginnings of Starfleet in Star Trek: Enterprise. At the time, I was just starting out as a game designer, with little to no idea that I'd be jumping into that very universe within several years.
When the opportunity came for Cryptic to obtain the license for Star Trek, we were absolutely thrilled. I realized how many people at Cryptic loved the IP when the possibility of us getting the rights leaked out to the rest of the company. I had more Trekkies in my office asking to work on the project than I ever imagined.
Cryptic would now be given the task of bringing to life this entire universe that has been so brilliantly conceived and executed over years of TV, movies, books and comics. There are few other fictional backgrounds that fit the MMORPG medium so well. After all, Star Trek was never about a single character, ship or even planet; Star Trek was always about an entire universe. And MMORPGs are uniquely suited to create such a thing and allow players to explore every inch.
Admittedly, Star Trek has its challenges. We want to make a game that best captures the real essence of Star Trek. We see Star Trek as much about exploration as combat. As much about the variety of alien civilizations as it is about the core Vulcans, Klingons, Humans, etc. It's going to be an exciting ride over the coming months as we begin to unveil STO. I can't wait.
Cryptic's "About Star Trek Online"
Become part of Star Trek®: The Star Trek universe will appear for the first time in a massively multiplayer online game. Everything from the elegant domes of Starfleet Academy to the ancient temples of Vulcan, from the towers of Qo’noS to the Fire Caves of Bajor, from the mysterious Mutara Nebula to the unexplored voids of deep space, all will be represented in stunning 3-D graphics. Immerse yourself in the future of the Trek universe as it moves into the 25th century: a time of shifting alliances and new discoveries.
Adventure in the Final Frontier: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations in an expanding vast universe. Make contact with alien races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will change the future of the Star Trek universe.
You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.
Surface, Shipboard and Deep Space Adventures: Command your vessel in thrilling space battles, or beam down to planets with your away team for face-to-face confrontations. Missions will take you and your friends into space, planetside and even inside starships!
Powered by the Cryptic Engine, Star Trek® Online will be developed for both console and PC formats. With customizable ships and characters from the Klingon Empire and United Federation of Planets, ground, space and shipboard gameplay and unique options for player-generated content set in the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online is the MMOG that allows you to boldly go where no one has gone before!
For more information on Star Trek Online, visit the new website here.
it already sounds better than what Perpetual was doing.
Good luck Jack
I was looking forward to this but I just hope for the love of god it feels nothing like the city of heroes gameplay.
i dont see why it would...its not fair to base their developing style on one game...
They said it's being developped for PC AND Consoles.... I sure hope they don't make the same mistake as Age of Conan and force the PC user into a zoning wonderland because of it
I am one happy geek...
though mostly a ST:TNG fan I am highly anticipating how this game will unfold....
Yeah, that was my only concern, the release for PC and console. Still, can't help but feel excited, especially considering that it mentions opportunity to play as a Klingon, which if I remember correctly the Perpetual version wasn't going to have (I could be wrong, been a while since I paid any attention to that version). Keeping my fingers crossed that this is done well.
Im a little disheartened, as soon as I seen him say towards the very end, "It is being developed for both the Console and the PC." I lost all hope. Good luck to Cryptic, I cannot name one good MMO that has been released with both platforms in mind.
The Perpetual version only had Federation pilots. They also had no bridge you could walk on. It looks like Cryptic is changing that. Sounds like they have a good understanding of the genre and intend to design the game around that.
I wish Cryptic a lot of success, the genre is certainly in better hands than it was in with Perpetual. Daron Stinnett for Perpetual was probably one of the more clueless developers out there.
I just hope its not all "instanced missions" like in CoX.I want to beam down to planets and actually explore and see other players there, and not just see a little instanced mission area like the missions in CoX.I have a feeling that's what they will do tho, which is too bad. Would be cool if there was pvp, and you could be Romulans and Cardassians etc. but thats asking for too much I guess.I hope you can at least explore the inside of your ship and other planets/space stations and design the look of your ship and upgrade it.Anyways, despite my predictions, I'm looking forward to this game big time.
FFXI?
If you're a gil farmer bot, FFXI is a huge success. Otherwise, no.
Console/PC issue: this is something that some company sometime will figure out how to do well, Cryptic has as good a shot as any. It can only be good news for fans of both ST and mmos that Cryptic has this license. It already sounds more in touch with the possible, and in the spirit of the IP, than what had been in "development" at Perpetual.
Sounds interesting but how can potentially everyone be a captain?
Will the crew they mention be other players who operate the different stations or just a bunch of NPCs?
If everyone has their own ship, won't that make grouping a bit odd or will it be solo all the way?
Ah well, I suppose I shall just have to wait & see.
Yeah, I have to agree. I would rather see classes, where Captian, Engineer, Pilot, Medic,Comm Officer etc are classes used for group controlling a vessel, rather than everyone being Jean Luc Picard. So, you replace 'Guild' with 'Crew'.
Hopefully they're early enough in the design phase to revisit that decision.
Sounds like this will be the first scifi game to rival Eve, lord knows that game needs soem competition. That game is like the wicked stepkid throwing rocks at the house and nobody says anything because his mom just remarried and he is readjusting....
Might actualy follow this game, though i prefer star wars, cryptic has done a decent job making mmos.
In ST:TOS, ST:TNG, ST:V, and ST:E, the majority of the time, the ship was on its own. If Cryptic stays true to this, it's going to be a very solo-heavy game. So you're going to have to have some instanced missions. Can't really have a First Contact mish with a hundred other Starfleet ships in orbit. Why would a whole armada be sent to map a star cluster?
ST:DS9 was an exception - as a space station, ships came to it, and it was in constant proximity to Bajor. The Defiant was really nothing more than a glorified runabout. I wonder if we'll be able to command a station instead of a ship all the time...
This game is gonna be so bad.
I can see the combat now.
MobA:standing toe to toe with character A,Continuously firing and hitting character A with his phaser...
Mob B:Using cover (snicker),yet still continually hit as phaser fire travels thru solid objects....because its all about the roll and the to hit system...
Character A: standing toe to toe with mob A,has been hit 14 times by mob A's phaser,but since it only does 4 hps of damage,even combined with the 10 other hits taken so far from mob B's phaser,Character A will continue to stand there all day..... also firing his phaser continuously til the mobs fall
------
Weapon customization : OOOOOO ,people will be able to make their weapons fire in different colors.... Pink phasers conquer the universe....
And ohhhh the stat raising mods for weapons....oooooo...i just added a vulcan brain cell to my phaser... i are so much smarter now !..........
Good luck Cryptic :)
Not everyone can be the captain though ?
I am hoping this does not become an Earth and Beyond system, where everyone gets a ship to zip around the universe.
Instancing : Yes, it should be in this game. Holodeck missions, Starfleet Academy, beaming into dangerous areas of planets. This game needs immersion. Don't make an EVE either.
Good News that Cryptic is going to take on the task. Not so good news that It is already working on Champions Online as well. Star Trek Online needs a lot of attention and dedication. Is Cryptic big enough to handle it or will the Black Hole of SOE or NC Soft gobble it up?
I am glad to so STO back on track. I am concerned, however, about the console fiasco. MMO's dont play well on consoles, and they never have. MMO's have always required many buttons, and the ones that didnt (Tabula Rasa comes to mind) are not complex enough to hold the interest of an SWG vet such as myself.
The other thing that concers me, and this is probably just me, is that they are starting everyone with captain. I think that this will give the game a Bridge Commander feel, and make it easier to solo play, which will be nice. I think that doing so, however, removes the sense of achievement you get leveling up. In SWG it meant something to be a Jedi back at the start, and when they changed it to a starting class, the game lost something big. I worry that STO is doing the same thing here.
At least they will let us play Klingons. I don't want to be forced to live by the Prime Directive.
This will be a title to keep an eye on, though I am skeptical that they could do it well..
Jack was thrilled to watch Star Trek: Enterprise? Ruh-roh!
Definitely a wait-and-see situation here. The space visuals aren't too promising, but it is early development. I'm hopeful, but remain skeptical, especially since it has a dual dev between console and PC. Never a good mix. You'd think devs would have caught on to that by now. Seems Blizzard has, but what do they know.
No point and click crap plz....
On surface level it sounds good, but I fear it will have no (serious) pvp and possibly be instanced to death. Somehow I doubt a big universe.
If the Klingons and Federation is at peace, they can't wage war. No Romulans? No Borgs? Cooome on.
I fear this might go the guild wars way of instanced missions.
And most of the game is probably about each player being one captain and every so often to do instances/raids together in one ship, maybe.
All this is guess work, but I doubt this game to be what I am truly looking for.
Sounds and looks exactly like what Perpetual were doing.
I'm happy that the Klingon Empire will be a player faction and not just the Federation/Starfleet. Looks like we'll have some PvP based outside of just a holodeck like Perpetual was going to do. Not too happy that it's for consoles as well.
I guess we'll see how this turns out.
Not holding my breath for anything exceptional here, espcially with console co-development.
See you in 7 years.
i can see this game being mostly ship combat and the ground game being some sort of instance mini game with a crew and phazers.
mostly a single player game with a Multiplayer market and chat.
atleast the storylines will be good... i love star trek
Didn't they get the engine and all that. How else can they be ready to show anything off yet?
I agree 100%.
And with Cryptic developing it, this is a very valid concern. randomly generated instanced missions are fine, as long as you have plenty of actual storyline missions to go along with it!
For all of you that are complaining about instances, I'm sure you would complain if the graphics were crap too, which is what they would have to balance it out with. More shiny graphics and special effects means they need an instance so it doesn't bog down every other player in the zone, but if they do it in a large zone, they have to do WoW graphics or worse. Areas will also be sparsely populated with eye candy and the terrain will be flat and uninteresting. But since they're going for "stunning" graphics, you can expect a great deal of instancing. How much and in what form will have to be seen.
As for the game itself, it's going to be tough to manage the two different games in one, like it was for the Pirates of the Burning Sea guys. Every game I've ever seen with that mechanic (PotBS, Auto Assault, etc.) had the worst walking and, when applicable, fighting animations when outside the vehicle.
I've never been a Star Trek fan, but for some reason the idea of an MMO in the Star Trek Universe has me intrigued...It will be interesting to see how the development of this shapes up and whether or not it resembles CoH's gameplay (I don't see how it could and still be successful, but we'll see)
i know all the "omg i must be able to play solo or else this game sucks" is going to hate this idea. but i would love to see an almost "forced" guilding mechanic.
something like you start off as a cadet to get the basics of the game, then for a limited time you can join an NPC ship crew to get more feeling for the game. But eventually if you want to experience the WHOLE game you HAVE to join a player run ships crew.
<Mod edit>
On to my opinion based on this article, its a great idea. Considering SWG is a continued and baffling display of disrespect to fans of SW in general, and pushes to mock everyone else as well (thanks SOE). Hopefully STO will live up to as much as its stated already, cuz it 'sounds' pretty meaty and delicious!
I am excited about this news, I think they have a better grasp of what this game 'should' be.
I am also very worried about the dual format development, if this games interface is geared towards dual format and not towards seperate control systems for PC and Console then it will fail.
They need to keep the PC interface designed FOR PC, and the console one totally seperate entities. Nothing worse than playing a PC game originally designed for console, its a terrible experience and will ruin the potential of this game.
I too am a Star Trek NG, DS9 geek. I'm not too fond of Voyager, but it's better then "Generations". ;)
There is no doubt in my mind that Cryptic can make a solid game with broad appeal. We know that Cryptic has its own engine, plenty of experience implementing content, and in general it's own way of getting it done. My fear if any would be depth of gameplay content after running missions in CoX that recycle one of several mission maps to infinity.
Beyond me how you'd make a Star Trek MMO.. lets face it, this is not Starship Troopers running around blasting things for the point of blasting it. Sure you can make space battles, and ground based scenarios, but if you go overboard and make it a action shooter MMO.. that's not what Star Trek embodied in my mind.
With Cryptic's style of recycling content that is 99% clear the map and kill the guy in charge.. that's not going to cut it here buddy.
some good news and not so good news....I have one thing to say in response....
Hab SoSlI' Quch!
Meh. All I can say is we'll see.
Might be fun, but expect it to be instanced (Cryptic supports this, and is needed for consoles), weak on PVP, and more about storyline and exploration.
I think everyone wants to be their own captain, so I suspect the crew is NPC's you hire/outfit/upgrade your ship with. You want Scotty on your ship, you'll need to be a level 50 Starship captain with the proper ship to put him in.
Yeah, that's pretty much what i'm expecting too. I wouldn't be surprised if STO plays out like one of the current ST games out there (most likely the Starfleet Command series or Bridge Commander). But I don't see either of those working well as an MMO.
In my opinion, the best way to go is to have a player captain and player crews. Funny thing is, this is how Perpetual had it in the very beginning, before they decided to stuff us.
For me im not going to whine .. to i find the finshed game ... they can always change stuff now to relase...
This doesn't interest me at all, which makes me sad because I love Star Trek. I was the weird little girl who adored Spock, and thought the Klingons were the absolute coolest thing ever. I would love to explore this universe, except...
I don't want to be the Captain. That was never a fantasy of mine. I don't want to be all alone on a ship full of NPCs, I want people I can interact with.
I wish Cryptic luck and I hope they are able to realize it in a way that will draw people in and have fun with it, I just don't think I'll be one of them... unless I'm missing something. I hope I am, and I'll surely keep an eye on this, but I don't see myself getting excited about what it sounds like the implementation will be- you are the Captain and you are your ship. That cuts out all the interactivity of the crew in Star Trek which was one of the things I really liked. Ah well. We'll see.
I guess no one read the site? I just hope they add more then just the Federation and Klingon Empire. But they are talking about space travel, worlds, etc. Looks promissing, but we all know that tune already.
Star Trek is my geek shinning through. :) If they do anything like the shows, I'm all for it... even if PvP is out. I mean... just imagine PvP with phasers, shields, cloaks, etc... it would be almost FPS like.
Adventure in the Final Frontier: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations in an expanding vast universe. Make contact with alien races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will change the future of the Star Trek universe.
You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.
Surface, Shipboard and Deep Space Adventures: Command your vessel in thrilling space battles, or beam down to planets with your away team for face-to-face confrontations. Missions will take you and your friends into space, planetside and even inside starships!
I wanna play it; my kids wanna play it; we can't wait! ^_^. This is great news, cryptic is fantastic. My kids and I have all been playing City of Heroes for a couple years now. I'm very pleased that the IP is in capable hands.
For mercy's sake though, please don't parnter with SOE 0_o.
Coming from a fellow Buckeye, I wish you luck. Of course everyone you know wants to work on this game! WHO WOULD'NT!!!
I promise not to flame you until 30 days after launch. I also promise not to fan-boy this game. Then again, I've never fanboy'd any game!
Now! Back to the Darkfall forum, got some matches need flamin...
The best feature was the player crews, and they totally scrapped that from what I can tell.
"Be your own Captain"
Yah, thats nice, but I would have much rather had other players in a ship with me.
They haven't said a damn thing about...well...anything? How do you know you are going to be on a ship all alone. Be a big girl now, and stop listening to the one's posting with as much a clues as I have (none).
They haven't said a damn thing about...well...anything? How do you know you are going to be on a ship all alone. Be a big girl now, and stop listening to the one's posting with as much a clues as I have (none).
You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.
Now they need to pick up Gods and Heroes :)
Sounds like it might share some things in common with PoTBS. But who knows. I'll keep an eye on it to see what develops.
Okay. I love mmos. And I love Star Trek fiction, and about 50% of the shows. So I want this game to work. And I think the thing that will kill it is expectations about mmos displayed in this thread. I will offer a couple opinions, with no basis in knowledge of what Cryptic has planned.
1. There has to be lots of instancing for this to work (away missions, conferences with VIPs, critical battles near planets), it can't be a big giant open world, it just wouldn't make any sense with the ST universe.
2. The choice will have to be made between honoring a central theme of ST - career advancement and the conflicts that arise between personal/group loyalty and oath of service loyalty - and giving people instant gratification in running a ship. I would argue strongly for the former. You would have to work up to bridge crew, then captain. Otherwise it's just a bunch of pretend Picards and Rikers running around.
3. It would have to exist in an area not explored much by game developers, somewhere between true mmos and single player games that have "online features." Enough persistence to make it feel like a shared world, and enough instancing to make missions and main areas something other than chaos. This may make no one happy.
Bottom line... I don't think anyone can make this IP a big success in mmo's it will be lucky to stick around for a couple years.
You never know...
this should be sweet
I am very excited that this game has been put back in development.
I am concerned, however, about the fact that it's being made for both PC and console. We all know which of the two is the lowest common denominator the game will be tailored to fit. Hopefully they see this fatal flaw and make a bold correction early in the development process.
- Phos
console ? ill pass this one then, just wont work.
What I don't understand is why the MMORPG.com article says that Cryptics version is different from PE's when they bought the bloody thing from PE lock stock and barrel :p heck they've only had 6 months with it and they already have screens and gameplay footage that they're gonna show next week :p Only way that'd happen is if most of the game is the same. Plus they haven't even said much regarding gameplay or features so, obviously nothing to compare to what we know of PE's version.
"What I don't understand is why the MMORPG.com article says that Cryptics version is different from PE's when they bought the bloody thing from PE lock stock and barrel :p heck they've only had 6 months with it and they already have screens and gameplay footage that they're gonna show next week :p Only way that'd happen is if most of the game is the same. Plus they haven't even said much regarding gameplay or features so, obviously nothing to compare to what we know of PE's version."
PE had a version? All I could ever get from their boards and PR output was a couple of screenshots and some bad ideas.
You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat
I dunno sounds kinda weak to me....I wouldn't mind being that odd jr officer who does the repairs in engineering. But it is a game i'll keep an eye on. I have heard of much discontent with the mass instancing going on in AoC and if STO ends up the same way it could be a make or break for myself personally. Im more of an open world immersion type player. I can understand instancing for higher level missions or similar type things. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see what Cryptic cooks up.
Well, looks like we're going to get another dumbed down version so that they can make it for consoles as well as PCs. Sad, because I am interested in an MMO from the Star Trek IP. I'll keep an eye on its development, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Every cloud has a sliver lining as that couldn't be more true for STO. Cryptic certainly have a far far better vision of what a Star Trek MMO should be than the previous development team who had the IP yank from their incompetent companies hands. I didn't like the direction they were taking STO with twhat info they gave. Cryptic look set to delivery a Star Trek MMO as it should have been in the first place.
1. I agree. Any missions that dont involve starship stuffs (combat, space exploration, travel, so on) will need to be instanced. Otherwise you're gonna beam down to a supposedly unexplored planet, only to find other players there. Or transport onto a enemy station only to find everyone dead, meaning the mission you were given doesn't make sense. On the other hand, anything done in starships can be part of one complete world. Because it'll be big enough that the chance of running into other players is low... Atleast I hope it'll be big enough, because darnit it's space!
2. Again, I agree. Giving everyone a ship right from the beginning is like SOE changing SWG so you can be a Jedi without any trouble. And look how many people STILL flame SOE for doing that. To me, Star Trek is more about crew interaction that takes during the missions, not the missions themselves.
Making everyone a captain is pretty much going to dumb the game down to the point where it's not Star Trek.
Just look at Puzzle Pirates. For those who haven't played it, Puzzle Pirates has player-owned ships that typically need player crews to run. And being on the crew can be just as fun as being the captain. If Cryptic can follow this example, they'll have one hell of a game.
It's in space. Space is big. If I beam down to Vagra II, I don't want to see thirty other starship captains "camping teh Armus for epix lewtz". Oh, and I wanna be able to beam down to Vagra III as well (if it's M or L class), just for kicks.
so the billion dollar question....
sandbox or linear design ?
Oh and in case your reading cryptic, dont forget that some of us prefer non-combat class roles. This is Trek after all where life didnt revolve around killing things.
I want to run my own bar on a space station providing drink buffs and a sympathetic ear to passing traders.
Hell man, yeah! This is best suited as a full-time Role-Playing Game, not as a Hack-n-Slash Game.
I agree with previous replies. This game will have a plenty of Instance because that's the best fit for the game.
However, they need to find a good balance. 50% Instance and 50% Persistent.
Example:
You are on an Away Mission on some newly discovered Planet. You left your #1 in the Bridge.
That Planet is an instance at that period of time. However, your ship and your player crews stays in the Open World. They could be fighting someone there already and you have to choose of going back or something.
---
Example 2:
Or that planet and it's immediate sector is instanced.
---
With my Example #1: it is obvious that there is a factor of "Time Period". As introduced by LotRO.
Again, they need to find a good balance. They can't just introduce "Time Period" like LotRO did - it is too much. They can't introduce too much instance like GW did. And too much Persistent world won't work either.
1st: A good balance between Instance and Persistent World
2nd: A good balance between "Time Period" and "Real-Time" flow.
If they can do that (and I believe they can), then STO will be "The" Sci-Fi MMORPG of the century - hands down.
And then they can claim: "Where no MMO has gone before"
"will be developed for console and PC"
Uh oh
To be honest, I'm not huge on Star Trek BUT if this game is done really well, it could be something special. However, when I see a game is being developed for consoles, I always worry because I'm afraid of losing depth, detailed quality content for oversimplifications.
I'm not a fan of "control a crew" type games. Also, I know there are more races than Klingons and Humans, but they specifically only mentioned 2 races we can be. Everything else sounds fine I guess. I'd rather play an essential role in a team than control a whole team myself. I'm not one of those people who care about being a Captain. I'd rather see starships belonging to a guild and the guild running the starship, which the guild leader being the captain. I'd rather the game be about a guild effort to improve your starship and upgrade to better starships, while exploring the universe, forging alliances, and defeating foes. It aint ever going to happen though.
Did you forget about Final Fantasy?
If you read the Jack Emeritt article it states an MMOG not an MMORPG so as for the idea of RPG content I do not think it will be what RPGers are used to.
I am extremely excited about this. I am an oldtimer that STILL really only likes the old original show that aired on NBC in the late 60s. I was five when it aired and was into the reruns as well.
Since then alot of water has passed under the bridge. I was into the first few episodes of ST Generation but lost interest after Natasha Yar left. Tried Voyager but didn't like an android doctor, a black vulcan, nor a female starship captain so watched maybe one episode of that. (Forgive my prejudices). After that, the only other star trek stuff that I liked was Starfleet Command. (Hard to beat for starship play), and Star Trek Elite Force (Voyager) which was done by the classic team of Activistion and Raven. (The movies gave me no satisfaction in comparison to the original show though Wrath of Khan was good Science Fiction).
I am sure alot of the content will be based on the recent changes that have happened to the ST Universe over the years as it has been updated but I hope there is some respect and consideration for some of the storylines and ideas of the original show.
I am sure Cryptic Studios is not interested in satisfying the want and needs of an oldtimer Star Trek fan as myself but none-the-less I wish them luck with their project. (You can please some of the people some of the time but none of the people all of the time).(Or something like that).
The heirarchy, creatures, and storylines (please no soap operas) have changed so much over the years that there is plenty for them to play with. But if their quality and design is anywhere near on par with what they did with City Of Heroes I am sure it will be a good game.
My advice is to look at the world as what it is, a universe. One that is real and that we know so little about. With a canvas like that I can not see how they can fail.
As for the content of the game if they are able to satisfy me in my game playing and what I expect out of a sci-fi MMO I can only say that I would continue to play it for many years to come. I have seen the progress and launches of Eve Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Starrgate Worlds, and Tabula Rasa. Each having the possibilities for new content and exploration that is what the original Star Trek story was about. I have been mildly interested to see where their "new content" goes. 'To boldly go where no man has gone before' is where it should go.
With the birth of Star Trek Online and the possibilities of new content added over time it can make for an extrememly successful MMO. In Jack Emeritt's article I only saw a few of the races mentioned, Human, Vulcan and Klingon. Let's not forget the Romulans and those silly blue skinned guys with the suckers on their heads, I am hoping that the PVP and gameplay is enjoyable. Not so much PVP domination that can overpower and ruin an online multiplayer game but some concern also given to the exploration of space and the now 'ranking-system' that most of the games since the mid 2000's seem to have.
I know there is alot of pressure involved with this probably also including the rights that are involved with Paramount studios. (Worked for a company that sold ST items), But if a good team that is well organized, professional, clever, talented, and the key word here, 'caring", I am sure that the game can exceed expectations that are only dreamt of.
Please Cryptic, take your time, Q&A, and pre beta beta. I still very much love City Of Heroes/City Of Villians. GJ. I wish you much luck and success.
<GlassEye> is watching you play.
Well, I might try it, but I was actully looking forward to getting my friends together and crew ONE SHIP.
Meh, I'll just design my own game then :P
The only thing I don't like is that the Art looks like Cartoons......here we go with another WOW..Crap !!
How in the hell can you get World of Warcraft out of STAR TREK?!?!
You haven't seen no more then 7 screenshots and you've alreayd sealed the fate of the game.
WOW! You're really something.
Oh well the dream was nice while it lasted.......
PC + Console = FAIL!
Jack will cave in to a 6-figure income waved in front of his nose just like every other developer.
"Let's make a <fill-in-the-blank> clone/killer says the Director of Marketing, here's $250,000 + perks + bennies Jack , make it happen !!!! "
Everyone in the biz is bought and paid for.
Welcome to free market capitalism 101. - it's what you voted for.
How in the hell can you get World of Warcraft out of STAR TREK?!?!
You haven't seen no more then 7 screenshots and you've alreayd sealed the fate of the game.
WOW! You're really something.
The art does look rather cartoon like. Hope they don't add the silly comic book shaders from the Champions engine.
LOL Space.. the final frontier, errr the epic cartoon.
I have to agree with what other posters have already mentioned - the enthusiasm of the announcement was quite infectious and interest was starting to peak....right up to the mention of consoles.
From a purely practical point of view in order to provide a balanced playfield for both pc and console camps to play in - the interface has to be limited (read: crippled) to the capabilities of the lower specced device. Consequently any interface features that could have been afforded to the sole domain of pc users surely cant be implemented for fear of introducing play-balancing issues against console owners.
Regarding group-play with everyone being a captain or designated a subordinate role within a ship. I doubt too many paying players are going to be happy with being 'ordered' around by some other player-captain ALL the time - perhaps as an option to those who like to group together against the odds.
I sure as hell want the freedom to go where I choose when I chose - not limited by the megolomania of some other player or team decision.
This had BETTER not turn out to be another killfest like EVE.
It also needs to include the ability to make progress through the ENTIRE game via SOLO and/or CO-OP play without any FORCED requirement on PVP or group play.
Here's to hoping they actually pull this off!
Does anyone else here not believe that Cryptic can pull off a true-to-IP Star Trek game? It would be great if they took a chance and said "Hey, instead of the usual talk to Quest Guy A, go collect Quest Item 1 and 2, return to Quest Guy A. We are actually going to make a ST game where you are a part of the ship's crew and actually had a virtual purpose past collecting loot. Instead of a pointless grindfest game, we are actually making a role playing game."
Too bad they didn't say that huh?
Everyone has their own ship? Give me a break.
I just hope this game isn't going to turn into Eve where you don't really go on land, or to other planets, and its all ship to ship battles. Boring. I can see this going badly wrong considering heir "consoles" idea. I actually liked what Perpetual had planned... this one... I have my doubts.
If you go here, http://www.startrekonline.com/about_star_trek_online you'll see that its not all going to be on your ship.
They have so much that they can do with this game, I hope they live up to the franchise
Yeah, I have to agree. I would rather see classes, where Captian, Engineer, Pilot, Medic,Comm Officer etc are classes used for group controlling a vessel, rather than everyone being Jean Luc Picard. So, you replace 'Guild' with 'Crew'.
Hopefully they're early enough in the design phase to revisit that decision.
The only problem I have with this particular way of thinking is it just becomes a game of "forced guilding" I for one play lot's of mmo's and tend to not join guilds as often as I do, now I could see something along the lines of having these "classes" but there is no reason a science officer can't be a captain as one implies rank and one implies specialty
"Captain" can be viewed as either a rank or as a job description. Science Officer is a job description.
When using "Captain" as a job description, it means the person who is in charge of the ship. In the US Navy, you don't need to have the rank of Captain (O-6) to be the captain of a ship. You can be, for example, a Commander (O-5) and if you are the Commanding Officer, you are the ship's captain.
I don't know if that is how it works in Starfleet, but I suspect it is pretty similar. Mainly, I just wanted to show that there is a difference between the rank of captain and the job of captain on a ship.
I dunno... that sounds like exactly the type of ST game I would want to play. Something that actually resembles ST.
PotBST -- Pirates of the Burning Star Trek? Hope not...
PotBST -- Pirates of the Burning Star Trek? Hope not...
They already comfirnmed that STO will be space and land based missions. Would you conspiracy theorists stop with all the BS till you see gameplay footage and then wait until the game is at least in beta before making wild speculations of which you all know nothing about.
Removed