Topic: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons? (Read 496 times)

Zach · « **on:** 28 July 2008 07:39 PM »

This news article was written by Jaz Hayre and was orignally posted on the StarTrek-Games.com Website.

[img align=left]http://startrekonline.com/img/sto_logo.png[/img] Now that there is calm after the storm last night (or this morning for the lucky few who were in Europe) we can look at the changes Cryptic have brought to Star Trek Online.

Lets Start with the visuals:

A New Logo - The new logo brings back the old "The Original Series" feel - Could this be an early appeal to the reboot by J.J. Abrams? It also goes for a more colorful appeal much inline with Cryptic's past gaming experience with City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online.

A New Website - The colorful new website is simple, easy to navigate and informative. It presents news in simple format, talking directly to fans. It even has a newsletter!

A New Forum - A new moderated forum is available. Something that Perpetual Entertainment heavily resisted, clearly Cryptic Studios are not following the same ethos and have found no issue with having a new discussion forum. Lets also not forget the new dev-tracker! A must have for a developer-gamer relationship.

A Stylized Approach - Cryptic has continued Perpetual Entertainment's promise to have slightly more stylized approach - The colors are bright, there's not much darkness, and there's a lot of bloom!

But lets dig deeper, what about the game itself?

Console Gaming - In an article I had written this week, I stressed the increasing importance of console gaming and the capabilities of consoles in the MMOG market. In true style, Cryptic Studios have made clear their intentions;
image

Powered by the Cryptic Engine, Star Trek® Online will be developed for both console and PC formats.

The initial community reaction suggested that the game would have to be "dumbed down" - This might not be the case, let's look at the consoles:

[img align=right]http://jazhayre.co.uk/images/sitepage.jpg[/img]Firstly, there is no indication about which console(s) Star Trek Online might be available on - the most powerful console being the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3), followed by the Microsoft's XBOX 360, and then the Nintendo Wii. Each console has its weaknesses and strengths, the PS3 has huge raw processing power but has an underdeveloped multiplayer. On the other hand, the XBOX 360 has a a huge online gaming advantage with XBOX LIVE, but the Wii is weak on power and online gaming, but has the largest market between the 3 consoles.

Assuming that power will be a key component for Star Trek Online - We assume it may, I stress may, be available for PS3 and XBOX360.

But does it really need to be" dumbed" down? The answer is that the GUI will have to be "dumbed down" so that players can control movement, actions and socializing with a console gamepad, however, socializing can be difficult without a keyboard - Should we expect some kind of VOIP/Teamspeak service coming to consoles?

More importantly - Is the console and PC version of STO the same? Could we be heading for two different iterations of the same game? One for PC and one for console? It is possible that people playing STO on PC may not be able to communicate with those playing from a console - This would get around the balancing and gaming advantage that comes from using a PC over a console and would allow the the PC version to be more complex than the the console version.

We will of course have to wait for information in the coming weeks to find out more about the consoles which will be supported.

Let's talk Klingons - Are multiple factions coming? Or Klingon vessels?

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.

What it didn't mention was "Cardassian Gul" or "Romulan Commander" - Are there now two playable factions instead of one? The Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets?

The whole paragraph is ambiguous, it could mean that you can be a Klingon Warrior in Starfleet (like Mr. Worf from The Next Generation), but it has indeed left open the door to much speculation.

For sure there will be much more information coming from the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas in 13 days time and perhaps some of this ambiguity will be cleared up once and for all.

knightofhyrule730 · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 July 2008 08:03 PM »

well heres the thing, while i wouldnt play the game on a console, having a console play raises a couple of questions.

FPS ground based interface?
Voice chat?
space based Legacy style combat?

inquiring minds need to know!

nightslayer78 · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 July 2008 08:07 PM »

wow, i am completely baffled that they are (seeming to be) starting with two factions. it will make the game have more depth. but, from what i understand, is that in the 25th century we were allied with the Klingon.

Whatever the reason may be, now i am confused if i want to be a Klingon in the Klingon Empire or a Engineer in Starfleet. lol

Hamilton · « **Reply #3 on:** 29 July 2008 09:51 PM »

I didn't catch that this game will be available for consoles... Go'ram it.

Well, I know this is early, and dislike being negative, but just that one bit of information is all that is needed for me.
Integrating with console indicates the following:
- Players will not be able to create content and upload it into the environment (ie: Player created ships). The reason for this is the level of quality of graphics that consoles provide. Additionally, consoles may be limited in drive space for such additional content.
- Multiple server clusters, meaning a less likely chance of a dynamic story arc impacted by the actions of the players.
- Mass Marketing and not a Niche Market (ie: Simplistic, requires little in thinking)
- Targeted Audience is likely to be console gamers (young and action oriented)
- Star Trek Online will be more of Star Wars than of Star Trek (More about Blasting than of problem solving*)

My prediction...
This vision of STO will be a single player game wrapped as an MMO.
I believe this to be the case as this is becoming a trend in the industry.
A player is a captain and the crew are treated as pets.
No need to group up and no multi-player ships.

Ain't I a happy camper...

* Typical situation:
Captain there is an organic lifeform on the starboard bow at 23,000km. It is closing in on an intercept course. Sensors indicate multiple energy spikes.

ST Captain: Can we communicate with it?

STO Captian: Raise Shields and Blast it.

Blackfire · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 July 2008 04:48 PM »

I sympathize hamilton, I would agree with you it does'nt look good right now, but I'll wait and see.

As for consoles v.s. PC's or rather the two together, what can a console do a pc can't? not much really at all, a pc has better controls and can do far more than a console could ever do and for almost the same price. which is why I dont own one or have any desire for one.

Falin · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 July 2008 04:53 PM »

I'm holding my pessimism back a step here and am going to wait and see what the vegas detials show forst, but i'm starting to leam to the negitive side already. i sure hope they don't go the PE route and cater to the crowd trhat's only going to e there 6-18 months max and then move on to the next game that comes out.

Hamilton · « **Reply #6 on:** 31 July 2008 02:18 AM »

Yeah I figure by letting some negativity out there for concern, hopefully can make a difference, eh maybe not.
I just hope that the key element is just not missed; this is Star Trek, not Star Wars.

@ Blackfire,
A console is generally better at providing graphics than a PC due to that a console has more resources dedicated to the game program, whereas a PC may have multiple applications running at the same consuming resources (Anti-Virus, email, chat, networking, etc). Also a console has specific hardware and PC's can have many different types of hardware. Also consoles are harder to crack/exploit than PC's. So developers like consoles, easier to work with and with market sales, a large possible amount of income.

But console gamers are on the younger side and have a different mindset than PC gamers. They are two different types of people and it is difficult for any one game to find the right balance for both. Whichever hardware offers the better chance of return is going to have the game catered to them.

@ Falin,
I'm in an agreement with your perception of the short term crowd. Actually I'm thinking less than 6 months. Trying to keep repeating subscribers is a difficult task, it is much easier to sell as many copies as possible than to retain. Hard to say if Cryptic would follow that route due to only having released one title, but others are going in that direction, sooo it could be possible.

Athos · « **Reply #7 on:** 31 July 2008 02:23 AM »

Of course I was very excited to see Cryptic looking at other avenues than just PC...more marketing, more $$$$, more expansions. :D Klingons are, by far, the most popular alien race in Trek, so it's smart for Cryptic to include them. However, does this mean you'll be a Klingon warrior in Starfleet or a Klingon Warrior in the IKS?

Nothing but great things to say so far!

Author Topic: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons? (Read 496 times)

Zach

The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

knightofhyrule730

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

nightslayer78

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

Hamilton

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

Blackfire

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

Falin

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

Hamilton

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?

Athos

Re: The Big Changes to STO: Consoles & Klingons?