It's not an official trailer by any means, but it is a closer look at the gameplay of Star Trek Online. We've got an embed of the video for you after the jump.
If you're hoping to hear more about Star Trek Online, Massively's own Kyle Horner is on the ground at PAX to speak with Cryptic Studios about STO today, so watch for that soon.
The issue always comes back to money. Hate it (I do) but its a cold truth of doing business.
Cryptic has to dumb down the gameplay, and they have to make it more solo friendly, and they ABSOLUTELY MUST make everyone a captain, because 99% of people want to play a captain, and don't want to grind to do it. Cryptic has to appeal to the widest audience possible so they make money. You want high production value and stunning graphics? You get the masses of casual players dictating your game mechanics and design. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other options available.
I don't like it any more than most, but STO is the way it is because it needs to be. There's no way to design a workable, fun game that relies on Real World people and their Real World schedules. Are we going to have DOZENS of ship doctor's per ship? Or is each doctor going to randomly be assigned to a different ship each time? That's not very Star Trek either...the shows weren't just about interactions of the crew. They were about the interpersonal relationships of the crew members. You don't get that in an MMO when you never know who is going to be logged in at any given time.
As for exploration, I'm interested to see how that plays out, what with the procedurally generated content that has been discussed. But I don't hold out too much hope, again, because realistically Cryptic can't build a game that does Star Trek exploration. There's no way for them to create enough content to fill a GALAXY worth of exploration. Particularly an MMO's level of content, which the power players burn through in weeks, if not months. It just can't be done.
Star Trek Online is going to be what it is, nothing more. It won't be the shows, and you won't get to be Picard or Kirk or Janeway or Sisko, or any of the other captains you can name. But hopefully you get some great story, and some great experiences in the Star Trek universe. Wishing or hoping for anything more will only lead to disappointment. I say take it for what it is, play it first, and THEN criticize it; until then your opinion is completely unqualified.
You guys completely took my point and twisted its use for your own purposes. I never said WAR was a success or a failure. I simply stated every tiny bit of information disseminated about the game was scrutinized and criticized, to a point where people (like in this game) are swearing they know how the game will play and that they wont play the game, from a PRE-BETA video taken on a cellphone or handcam.
My point is this is why MMO developers in general, are leery to give out tons of early info. That's all I meant. THERE WAS NOTHING IN MY POST EVEN REMOTELY TRYING TO CRITIQUE CRYPTIC FOR LACK OF INFO OR NOT PUTTING ENOUGH MONEY INTO THE GAME.
And the fact that's what you got out of my point and facts says a lot about your mindset.
I can't really let CCon99's comment hang. Let me just point out that Cryptic is a fine developer in an extremely difficult and volatile market. They offer new approaches to design that focus on playability, customization, and enjoyment. Champions Online is a prime example of this. CCon99, I'm sorry, but your comment is unsubstantiated.
Starship combat looks ok, but I hope there's more to the game than fighting.
What made me cringe though, was the animation quality of the ground stuff. This video has me worried that this is going to be PotBS in space, with decent ship to ship action and absolutely horrid avatar movement and combat.
Smooth movement and realistic looking avatar animation doesn't seem to be talked about much, but the fact is that even low end graphics can be helped enormously with quality animation. Screenshots are nice, but I don't play games of screenshots.
