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New player, first impressions.

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Hi there.

Well I've had a few hours of play in STO and I thought that I might share my impressions, if only to see if others share them.

My background: I've been playing vidya games since the late 70's. I was a Space Invaders kid, and have fond memories of watching reruns of TOS on rainy weekends.

I graduated through to the Commodore Amiga and the IBM AT. When Wolfenstein 3D (and Doom) emerged I became a fanatical FPS player. Moving through the Quake series right up to TF2 and Left 4 Dead, I loved FPS (and used a custom keymap the whole time).

Now I'm 40 and the reflexes aren't what they used to be. A couple of years ago, a friend intoduced me to a certain MMO based on a certain pen-and-paper fantasy RPG. I graduated from that to a certain MMO based on a very successful mid-20th century fantasy novel (hint: the movies also based on the novel had lots of walking). I have multiple mid-to-high level toons over multiple servers in both games.

I also spent quite a bit of time playing Champions Online, where I headed up a team called 'The Good Ship Venus'. So I'm not entirely unfamiliar with MMO's and Cryptic's products. All the above taken into account, all that follows is purely my opinion.

The basic idea behind STO is sound. The concept of both starship and ground based combat is great, and introduces a much-needed refresher for the fairly stale MMO scene.

The graphics are fine and the audio does the job nicely. Overall, I find the game to be very successful at invoking the 'flavour' of the Star Trek IP.

There is one area in which the game falls down for me, though. The control system/user interface is awful.

As noted already, I use a custom keymap. With twenty years of play I have no intention of changing. And yet I find STO's default keymap to be quirky at best, and downright user-hostile at worst.

Firstly, in Ship mode. I understand the difficulties of three-dimensional movement, really I do. But using a few examples- like the Battlefield series' helicopter flight mode, or even the superhero Flight movement mode in Champions Online- it's not too hard to see how it can be done well.

I find that keys for movement, mouse commands for view and clicking a toolbar for weapons to be too complex. Furthermore, the key-remapping facility seems to be built with only slight variations to the original scheme in mind. I'm still tweaking controls and playing with keybinds, but it's ridiculously complex and unintuitive. It'd be nice to have a simplified flight control scheme.

The both-mouse-button steering is a nice start, when combined with right-click + drag for camera control and left-click for interaction. But it makes steering and using the camera at the same time a bit difficult. I'm considering plugging in my old joystick I'm also but kind of scared of how much work it might take to make it usable.

The ground combat controls are just astonishingly overworked for what is effectively a hybrid TPS/FPS. Is there really a need for two different modes (RPG and Shooter)?

There are literally hundreds of games out there that do third-person and first-person shooting well, on consoles and on PC. I really don't understand the need to have two different modes.

I'll use the aforementioned 'lots of walking online' game as an example. It's also a de facto TPS. In this game I use my custom keymap (NumPad 7895) for movement, right-arrow for target next, and left-clicking screen icons for attacks. It's simple and works well. No matter how much I experiment I just can't seem to easily program in a similar keymap set for STO.

It's a bit of a shame as I do like STO a lot. I just wish that the controls were simpler, or failing that, simpler to remap. Still, I haven't given up yet and will persevere for a while.

I'd encourage the Cryptic UI design team to get out there and have a look at some of the competition's control schemes, which feel simpler, and more effective as a result. We can only hope.

As for me, I'll work on it and see what I can come up with.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    Is there really a need for two different modes (RPG and Shooter)?

    The main reason for this is that Shooter is an afterthought and introduced with season 4. Personally I can't stand it because I am so used to the MMO controls. But others love it and it may attract more players that like these type of controls. So basically there is a choice.

    The controls used in STO are really not much different to other MMO's I have played (CO, TOR, Rift, Conan etc, etc) There is some local flavour to take into account ship movement etc, but not much. Improved Keymaping and adding macros would be a good thing though IMO.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2012
    jkstocbr wrote:
    But others love it and it may attract more players that like these type of controls. So basically there is a choice.

    Choice is always good! But I guess if I had to boil it down, for me, it's a case of one well-implemented system being better then two slightly duff ones that you can switch between.

    One of the changes I'd really like to see is a 'delete all keys' command so the keymap could be completely wiped clean. That would allow someone like me to slowly build their preferred keymap one step at a time, instead of the current process of trying to guess what's what... and then having to duplicate it for the second control system!

    Ultimately, I'm sure that with a few more hours play I'll get it all worked out, but STO is the first MMO- actually the first game- I've ever played in which I've found it to be difficult to remap commands.
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