A Look at Star Trek Online

For those keeping track over the last few months, I’ve spent a few moments here or there talking about two upcoming games that really piqued my interest.  One of them was Star Wars: The Old Republic, which I can safely put down and keep on the fringe of my radar as Bioware just announced that launch wouldn’t happen until 2011.  Contrary to what people might say, I think this is brilliant.  Recently they had just started taking applications for the closed beta which to me means that there will be extensive testing before the game goes live.  It’s the smart money move for Bioware.  The announcement that they are going to release next year is a sign that the developers and producers won’t be rushed to market, opting for quality over a quick buck.  Kudos.

The other game, of course, was Star Trek Online, which goes live on February 2nd.  If that isn’t considered an ominous segue, I’m not sure what is.  Closed beta started late last year and for people who have pre-ordered through retailers were allowed access to the open beta currently wrappping up.  In addition to those who pre-ordered, several gaming websites were offering open beta keys on a first come, first served basis.  I understand this was likely done with the thought of load testing the servers, which I’m sure they got some useful information.  Load testing, unfortunately wasn’t their only issue.

I pre-ordered the game based on the past performance of Cryptic Studios, the game designers behind the MMOs City of Heroes/City of Villains.  I enjoyed CoX (the name of the combined games) during the time that I played them, but eventually moved on to other games.  For as fun as it was at times, they had issues sustaining my interest.  The hope was that they had learned much during their time as a game studio which they could use in the production of a rich universe such as Star Trek.

Much like every MMO game out there, the first thing you do is character creation and STO is no different.  However, they want each player to start with the Federation until at least level six where you can split off and start playing Klingons and the like.  I messed around with the character creator and came up with an Andorian male with an engineering background.

Cryptic has always been known for their character tuning.  You can twiddle with the controls to come up with something that you’d like if you were so driven to do so.  While you can really spend a lot of time with the shape of the face, body and other parts, one thing that I’ve never quite liked about the character creator is after you get the body type to about what you want, everything else is a variation on a theme.  Where I really notice this is with hairstyles and distinguishing marks.  Sure, you can say that you can have up to millions of different creations and that’s true when you figure in color and size.  But you’re going to be dealing with the same twenty or twenty five hairstyles.  Still, it’s much more than what other games give you, so still kudos to Cryptic.  My complaint is more of one of the entire genre rather than to single someone out.  Having said that though, there are some really creative people out there who came up with some very cool alien species.

It’s hard for me to describe the game adequately.  There are essentially four parts of the game:  space based battle and ground based battles, then choosing between Player vs. Environment (PvE) and Player vs. Player (PvP).  Oh sure, there’s the occasional diplomatic mission, the odd “investigate this and figure out that” mission and while those are fun, they don’t happen very often when compared to combat missions.  Space combat missions seem to be outnumbering the ground missions at least two to one, maybe more.

The good thing about the space combat missions taking up a large portion of the game is that it can be pretty fun.  For me, it’s the most fun part of STO.  Even taking on NPCs is a rollicking little romp, especially when you get some slightly better parts to pimp out your ship and take on multiple ships.  There’s just something about watching the proton torpedoes you just launched slam into an enemy ship and turning it into a ball of fiery plasma in space.  PvP against other players playing Klingons is also a lot of fun.  Some people might complain about the fact there is no penalty for dying, but let’s be realistic.  It’s more fun to not really care if you lose your ship knowing that you’re back in the game relatively quickly, phasers blazing towards your enemies.

Space combat can be like EVE online in some ways but very simplified in comparison.  You notice the similarity especially when other players are focusing fire and you’re their target.  You just won’t last long as they burn through your shields and start hammering away at your hull.  In EVE, you can sometimes warp out to escape losing your ship.  No such relief here.  You have to wait until the red alert drops and for that to happen, you need to be out of their firing range of ten kilometers…good luck with that.  But, it is fun to rotating your shields to cover your weak side, loading up a torpedo salvo and maneuver to bring your weapons to bear.  The fun is in the well paced FPS action of space battle.

Ground combat…it’s okay.  Nothing special really.  In fact, I didn’t even take any screen shots of it.  It’s rather dull fare for MMO games and in a lot of ways, rather pedestrian.  It’s not much to talk about really.  You bring in your bridge officers, you shoot things and you try to get on your target’s flank for better damage.  The thing about the ground game is that it get’s you itching to get back into your ship and to have some fun.

Occasionally, you will have a longer “episode”, which is a chain of missions strung together.  On the few missions I’ve been on where there has been a longer episode, they have been the most balanced part of the game and can be pretty enjoyable.  There’s a sense of purpose here which often links up space combat missions with the ground missions.  Along the way, it will tell a story and fleshes out the game, making it a bit richer by giving you a bit of background and occasional foreshadowing.  The problem is that there’s no impact of these missions to anything else in the game besides getting some skill points and maybe some loot, or progressing the overall story arc.  Still, of all of the game experience so far, the longer episodes have the best Trek feel.

But there are problems here.  First of all, I know this is only beta.  I’ve been in a number of beta tests before, so I am well aware that there are bound to be issues.  I know the game is not quite ready and there are things to be worked out, but…I really don’t think they’re ready.  There are a number of reasons that actually had me reconsidering my pre-order and definitely has me considering how or if I will actually subscribe.

The training, while fun and mostly informative, leaves a lot to be desired and is geared towards people new to MMOs in general.  There are a lot more things which are missing from the training such as ship devices, what consoles on ships actually do, a lack of information on your bridge officers, etc.  When you make a game that has a bit of complexity to it, you have to try to explain part of that complexity and how it fits into the game.  Right now, it feels like they are only showing new players how to move, how to shoot and then cutting them loose and letting them twist in the wind.  Normally, complexity would build with the character, but with STO, knowing how to equip your bridge officers and your ship seem integral from the beginning.

The parts which will drive some players crazy is the haphazard way that inventory and device slots are used and utilized.  Even if you understand that out of the gate, many veteran players will wonder exactly what certain bonuses do.  I could spend my time trying to figure out what deflector shield bonuses do for me, but should I have to investigate that so early in the game?  Where can I find that information easily if that’s the case?  It’s a lot to outfit in a short amount of time and it just doesn’t seem like your character and crew grow organically.  There are a number of things you need to know very early in the game and it’s just not covered.

Although the game as a whole seems lacking some content, the Klingon content is severely lacking.  I know it’s supposed to be the PvP part of the game, but they should at least offer to level the field a bit so there’s more of a battle when going up against the Federation.  Federation players have had at least six levels to replace their starting consoles which can make a big difference in combat.  The Klingons?  Clunky ships that regularly get owned by the “good guys” because the starter Klingon ships are underpowered and fight at a disadvantage.  Plus, the Federation starts with more balanced Miranda vessel rather than the Bird of Prey, which is a very stripped down escort ship.  Weapon punch is focused forward which can be good for alpha strikes, but have big disadvantages in longer combat.

Successful Klingon players will be those who are in a Fleet and who have worked out communication channels and voice chat (which isn’t actually a part of the game, mysteriously enough).  Pick-up Klingon “fleets” are going to be regularly owned by virtue of the other side sticking together and ganging up on ships who foolishly take on superior numbers.  Expect to see numerous changes in the Klingon side of the game shortly after launch.

Beyond the gameplay issues, I’m really questioning the motives behind the game and their various sell tactics.  First of all, the first thing that irritates me is the number of playable character slots which is right now set at three (two until you get to level six where it unlocks a third slot).  The game has two factions, three career paths and two specialization routes on each career path.  That seems to be up to twelve differing characters, not to mention several different races with different starting stats and abilities.  Some people like playing just one character, but a number of people like trying out the game, playing more characters, testing new paths.  To have a game that is theoretically on one server and limit how many characters they get?  Idiotic at best.  When you do not have server shards to experiment with different classes, limiting the number of characters unless you pay for extra slots is needlessly stupid.  This point alone has made me reconsider not only my subscription, but the purchase of the game itself.

The second fishy business move they have is the offering of lifetime subscriptions and special one year rates.  I would normally have no problem with this as some companies do this well.  Turbine with LOTRO does this well and has the content to back it up.  STO…I feel like content is already missing.  What’s the promise for the future?  Will there be future content updates?  If there are only going to be 80 hours of playtime to get through the end game (as I’ve heard rumored), why would you ever want to get a lifetime subscription?  The silence about this is troublesome for me.

I also have some nit-picky complaints as well.  A lot of the forum comments that I see from other beta testers is how much like it is like Cryptic’s other game, Champions Online.  Hell, I see a lot of similarity to City of Heroes as well.  Not just similarity, but functionality that seems almost cut and paste from their other games.  Not that this is necessarily bad, but c’mon guys, you’ve got a whole Star Trek Universe to work with here.  You can at least dress it up a bit and make it feel a bit more Trek-ish.

I have a few friends who are interested in this game and I thought I’d at least try to provide a balanced look at it.  I started playing the beta will the eyes of a fan of the franchise, the mind of an experienced player and good wishes that Cryptic would do well.  But the more I play it, the more I think that early adopters are going to have a bumpy ride until the patches come out.  And they will, fast and furious in at least the first month.  So, should you get it?

Trek fans are going to go one way or the other;  they’re going to hate the game for not being more like the show or they’re going to love it just because it’s Trek.  MMO game fans might be conflicted from an incomplete game rushed to market to cash in on…something.  I mean it’s months after the movie, why rush the game out before it’s ready?  I’m on the fence about this game.  There’s some potential here.  As I said before, the space combat almost makes up for the lack of other compelling content in the game.  Is that enough?  For me, it’s enough for a pre-order and a month of trying it out.  I might…might try a longer subscription, but no promises.

For casual gamers though…it’s really a bit of a conundrum.  The open beta feels as though it was framed as a game just for the fans.   It’s like the Enterprise-B that still has bugs to work out on it’s maiden cruise.  The promise is there and who knows what it will look on launch day.  Head start begins tomorrow for those who have pre-ordered, so I may add a coda to this later.  My best advice right now is that if you are a big Trek fan, get it.  You’ll appreciate the little touches in the game and will likely overlook some of the headaches with the launch.  If you are a MMO gaming fan, I’d wait until the bugs shake out, see how the title matures over the next month or three.

What’s cool about STO:

• Customizable ships and uniforms for you creative types (at least for the Federation).
• Fun space based action.
• Engaging episodes linked together (pun not intended).
• Nice effects in space battles.

What’s not good about STO:

• Buggy.  Infuriating when you defeat an enemy and can’t move when your bridge officer pops in to say something, graphical glitches, instance transfers are not smooth, etc.
• Less than engrossing ground battles.
• Questionable business tactics (silence on pricing for extra slots, the slot limitation at all, the C-store “extras”, motivation behind special pricing).
• Instanced areas that take massive out of Massively Multiplayer.

And, just because I can, here’s some final screenshots to leave you with.