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What makes a great FE?
isthisscience
Member Posts: 863 Arc User
I was trying to figure out why I really don’t like the latest FEs as not much has changed. So was putting together a list of what the pluses and minuses of each were and boiled it down to a few areas. No doubt may would disagree, and I’d love to hear other people’s views on it. These at least are things I found important.
Compelling story in of itself: Temporal Ambassador was a great standalone episode that had great progression through to our initial world introduction, investigations, retake of the Enterprise and final restoration of the timeline. Sphere of Influence was part of an arc (taking the Republic arc into the Sphere arc) but had its own great story with the activation of the gate, investigation of the sphere and defeat of the forces. It both wrapped up the episode well and had a lot of questions for the future progression of the alliance and the Iconian story. In contrast some other episodes like the latest ones don't stand much on their own as they fail to offer a compelling build up and do little to wrap up or add suspense for the rest of the arc.
In short, regardless of the arc, it should be a compelling story in isolation as it will be weeks or months before the next part.
Combination of play styles: Dust to Dust was a great combo of puzzles, ground combat, space combat and character exposition. Temporal Ambassador being another example of this. It gives for a varied play through that aids re-playability by stopping it becoming too repetitive. By contrast something like House Pegh is (almost) entirely built around ground combat. A mix of space and ground combat helps but if it is reliant on combat then it helps to have some unique challenge like defeating the Vaadwaur in Capture the Flag using the vents.
In short, combat should be broken up with objectives that you can't just F-smash through but give you a different kind of challenge.
Original maps or challenges: A Step Between Stars had that great EVA section above the sun which gave the mission a really unique twist (equally, flying close to the sun made the intro segment interesting in what would have been a dull interact-with-4-things map). Other unique activities include the EVA segment on DS9 in Boldly They Rode, Puzzles in Dust to Dust, being in the TOS era in the comet arc, piloting exercises in Delta Flight and fighting on the disintegrating (old) ESD in Surface Tension. It's a great feeling to think "it is awesome I'm doing this!" and capturing that is key for a classic FE.
In short, being in a unique environment or an existing environment in a unique way makes for a memorable and engaging experience.
Great use of NPCs: I don't mean VOs here, everyone loves an actor in the game but I don't see that as the key element. Rather, I'd say it is great use of internal game lore and NPCs. Seeing T'Nae and Drake in Temporal Ambassador gave a different side to their characters and was more rewarding than, say, the T'Nae and Shon making token appearances in Temporal Front. Khaless in House Pegh was a good involvement as was the great integration of the crew in Capture the Flag. Bringing in Cooper, VanZyl and Gaius as a reoccurring characters throughout FEs made their appearances in episodes far more engaging than Kleenex NPCs (in and out for an episode) for example the keen Cardassian in Sunrise, the keen Commander in Temporal Front or the keen every-Talaxian-ever. If you were to swap keen Temporal Front girl for VanZyl it would have been far more dramatic (not that I want VanZyl dead, I like her, but if you're going to kill someone - kill someone you care about. You can't care about someone you just met no matter how much you are told to like them for their keenness).
In short, fewer but more developed NPCs can help you care more about the story as you care about those in them. But make their inclusion matter, rather than one-line cameos. Otherwise they become over-used while getting no actual development.
Thematic Rewards: The three-set reward may be good spec, but I honest don't pay attention to what was from where when I've slotted them to a ship. Unique items in your tray can make you remember the episode though. By this I mean the cane & pattern enhances from the comet arc, the Kobali officer you "find" in Dust to Dust (nice to make you hunt for a reward rather than getting it by default - and provides a background for a boff), the reinforcements from Delta Flight and the Ambassador Class from Temporal Ambassador. All these things scream the episode by their nature and are like a nice souvenir from the shop as you leave.
In short, a small thematic reward is a memento of missions, helping you recall and revisit.
Compelling story in of itself: Temporal Ambassador was a great standalone episode that had great progression through to our initial world introduction, investigations, retake of the Enterprise and final restoration of the timeline. Sphere of Influence was part of an arc (taking the Republic arc into the Sphere arc) but had its own great story with the activation of the gate, investigation of the sphere and defeat of the forces. It both wrapped up the episode well and had a lot of questions for the future progression of the alliance and the Iconian story. In contrast some other episodes like the latest ones don't stand much on their own as they fail to offer a compelling build up and do little to wrap up or add suspense for the rest of the arc.
In short, regardless of the arc, it should be a compelling story in isolation as it will be weeks or months before the next part.
Combination of play styles: Dust to Dust was a great combo of puzzles, ground combat, space combat and character exposition. Temporal Ambassador being another example of this. It gives for a varied play through that aids re-playability by stopping it becoming too repetitive. By contrast something like House Pegh is (almost) entirely built around ground combat. A mix of space and ground combat helps but if it is reliant on combat then it helps to have some unique challenge like defeating the Vaadwaur in Capture the Flag using the vents.
In short, combat should be broken up with objectives that you can't just F-smash through but give you a different kind of challenge.
Original maps or challenges: A Step Between Stars had that great EVA section above the sun which gave the mission a really unique twist (equally, flying close to the sun made the intro segment interesting in what would have been a dull interact-with-4-things map). Other unique activities include the EVA segment on DS9 in Boldly They Rode, Puzzles in Dust to Dust, being in the TOS era in the comet arc, piloting exercises in Delta Flight and fighting on the disintegrating (old) ESD in Surface Tension. It's a great feeling to think "it is awesome I'm doing this!" and capturing that is key for a classic FE.
In short, being in a unique environment or an existing environment in a unique way makes for a memorable and engaging experience.
Great use of NPCs: I don't mean VOs here, everyone loves an actor in the game but I don't see that as the key element. Rather, I'd say it is great use of internal game lore and NPCs. Seeing T'Nae and Drake in Temporal Ambassador gave a different side to their characters and was more rewarding than, say, the T'Nae and Shon making token appearances in Temporal Front. Khaless in House Pegh was a good involvement as was the great integration of the crew in Capture the Flag. Bringing in Cooper, VanZyl and Gaius as a reoccurring characters throughout FEs made their appearances in episodes far more engaging than Kleenex NPCs (in and out for an episode) for example the keen Cardassian in Sunrise, the keen Commander in Temporal Front or the keen every-Talaxian-ever. If you were to swap keen Temporal Front girl for VanZyl it would have been far more dramatic (not that I want VanZyl dead, I like her, but if you're going to kill someone - kill someone you care about. You can't care about someone you just met no matter how much you are told to like them for their keenness).
In short, fewer but more developed NPCs can help you care more about the story as you care about those in them. But make their inclusion matter, rather than one-line cameos. Otherwise they become over-used while getting no actual development.
Thematic Rewards: The three-set reward may be good spec, but I honest don't pay attention to what was from where when I've slotted them to a ship. Unique items in your tray can make you remember the episode though. By this I mean the cane & pattern enhances from the comet arc, the Kobali officer you "find" in Dust to Dust (nice to make you hunt for a reward rather than getting it by default - and provides a background for a boff), the reinforcements from Delta Flight and the Ambassador Class from Temporal Ambassador. All these things scream the episode by their nature and are like a nice souvenir from the shop as you leave.
In short, a small thematic reward is a memento of missions, helping you recall and revisit.
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