OK, let me first explain the reason for this thread. This is not an intentional knock against the FE. I have yet to play it, and I don't want to create an us. v. them attitude.
It's more a curious experiment.
I don't know if the majority of you will say: "How can you even compare Cryptic stuff and foundry stuff? Of course, a foundry mission is sub-par. The FE is far, far better than the best foundry mission I've played."
In some ways, I think that reaction would be understandable. They have all the tools. They put in the resources. Meanwhile, foundry authors struggle with a half-broken tool that never gets updated or expanded. Cryptic can simply do amazing things that foundry authors could never do, so of course their content is better, right?
Foundry authors are inherently handicapped by the toolset, although perhaps some have far more time, I guess.
So, anyways, how would you compare today's FE to the best foundry mission you've played?
If there is any possible mission that could even compete with Cryptic content, wouldn't you say that this is a good reason for the devs to expand and fix the toolset?
Again, sorry if this experiment completely flops. It's probably a dumb question from an over-enthusiastic supporter of foundry authors and their potential to add truly epic quality stories to this game, in a way that is far more powerful than 2 Cryptic FEs a year, despite all the tools, skills, and playing field advantage that the Cryptic devs have.
"City of the Polmar Rhee" is one of a stratified handful of top-notch Foundry missions I have played. The art assets and storyline reflect the great (and largely untapped) resource (and resourcefulness) of Foundry authors.
"Second Wave" simply *cannot* compare to some of the greater Foundry stories.
Perhaps Cryptic will start approaching the level of "City of the Polmar Rhee" and their own Rommie/Reman FE series starting with next week's episode.
So, anyways, how would you compare today's FE to the best foundry mission you've played?
Today's FE wouldn't compare well to some of the best Foundry missions IMO. Although I couldn't tell you what it was missing it was definitely lacking something to make we want to do it again, compare that to some of the Foundry missions that I've played many times (Conjoined is still one of my favourites, I love the twist at the end) and it's a strange one.
If I had to say why it didn't compare well then it would probably be the pacing, something the best Foundry authors do very well; some parts of the FE seemed a little forced and either too quick (like dumping me in Bajor at the end with just a dialogue box to talk to) or a little too long (the space battle above DS9, just seemed long for the sake of being long) whereas some of the Foundry missions are nicely paced so that even a slow non combat mission that'll take an hour or two will leave you surprised so much time has passed. The above mentioned City of the Polmar Ree (sp) is a good example of that; a fairly long mission with beautiful sets (I love the arboretum at the beginning) and paced so that there's always something going on to keep your attention. Today's FE lost my attention a couple of times, especially running around doing the optionals as it just wasn't interesting to be running around DS9 fetching consumables for an NPC.
I'd guess it just comes down to the little details that a Foundry author can spend the time getting right more than anything. Today's FE wasn't bad, it just seemed a little strangely paced so I'm waiting to see what the others are like, I've always found the first of the series to be my least favourite so I'm hoping the same carries on for this series and I enjoy them more than I did today's.
Whether the toolset should be looked at I have no idea as I haven't used it in months. If it meant that it was easier for Foundry authors to make good quality missions like they are now then go for it, if they're being held back by the toolset then I'd love to see what they can do without those limitations.
I think it would have paced better if they opened the Bajor social hub upon completion and had us beam down and speak to someone who would get the process started of investigating. It would also give people the option of, well, not going back to DS9 as much through the week.
The abruptness feels similar to the ending of Coliseum, which I would otherwise say is the best mission in the game.
There isn't closure. They don't, to use writer jargon, put a button on their scenes. As a result, it feels like one thing happening after another. The characters
I really liked the bits with the Cardassian guy. The diversion of blame. The frustration over his people's lack of military. The snark. He was the stand out character for me. Going after a wine that Bajorans slaved over, perhaps thoughtlessly or perhaps using us to get something he could never ask for himself. The Ferengi also felt like a real Ferengi.
I liked the Gorn but he seemed awfully loyal to the KDF. I felt like his loyalty needed to be addressed. He felt like a Gorn raised by Klingons.
Starfleet still feels hollow to me in terms of how they're portrayed. It's like everybody is Riker. The Andorian feels especially... not Andorian to me. Was he raised by humans? Lots of human figures of speech.
I thought the inclusion of DOffs as a mission requirement was good. That could be developed more. Classic Trek has an A-plot and a B-plot. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of DOffs doing stuff offscreen that can influence missions. Have them work on lowering a forcefield is disabling weapons inhibitors. It's often said that our BOs yank us around. (I don't see it as them giving us orders, as some do, but the plot grinds to a halt if we don't follow our BOs advice.) Delegating to DOffs makes me feel more in charge and I almost think every mission from Lt 10 on should have DOff assignments integrated.
But the big thing is the lack of structure. The plot doesn't flow in acts. The action doesn't rise and fall in a satisfying way.
The one thing I REALLY do like is that we're dealing with another problem when the Jem'Hadar arrive.
But there isn't a lot of unity to the story. And there isn't a theme that's addressed in a satisfying way.
Love. Loss. Betrayal. Redemption.
That's the difference between a story and living out a moment in real life. Stories are about something. They have a moral or a theme that they address.
I think they got close to that with some of the Reman episodes but it's like they're shying away from it. And it makes the factions seem shallow and hollow and makes it seem like we're wandering around aimlessly while things happen.
I really enjoyed this weeks FE, especially the non-combad lead in (atmospheric, with dialog options), which was good for scene setting. This is also something the best found missions typically do, and always something I welcome in STO (a game where I'm looking for Trek content more than I'm looking for just 'action').
There was a nice non-combat "puzzle" in the forum of dialog during the meeting room (in an original set, which was really nicely done!). This was a kind of gameplay FE's can't really do easily, to a large extent they can only spoof this kind of interactivity as best they can.
With regard to the set, original assets are always great in FE's, because they expand the content base of things can be reused in both official missions and Foundry missions.
Lastly, the combat was good, but actually not up there with the best Foundry missions - better than the majority of them, but not overwhelmingly so though. It's interesting that I very often feel good Foundry missions are better balanced than original STO maps. :-)
The FE's (as a whole) are undoubtedly some of the best missions in the game. They have voice acting and there is always something new to see. But (as is often the case with TV shows) some of the stories and premises of Foundry missions are just so good, and so well told, that I'd put a handful of Foundry missions as being the very best content in the game.
...
Edit Agree about the ending, very abrupt! I guess they want to keep Bajor reveal till Next Week, so as not to detract from the impact. I assume this won't be a problem when this series is unlocked as presumably Bajor will become a permanent public social zone and players will be able to continue straight to the next episode, but for this week it feels a bit jarring that you're dumped in the system.
I agree with much of Leviathan's feedback. Perhaps there's a bit being banked on the fact that they're pulling on a string from DS9?
There was probably a story created that was then TRIBBLE into 5 pieces is what we're seeing here with the new FE. The other FE's more or less had their individual adventures that linked together into a cohesive story.
There are Foundry creations that certainly handle multi-part stories much better than the new FE does so far.
I would have to say that the "Second wave" does not match the best foundry missions by a long shot. If I were to rate the "Second Wave" at completion, it would get at most a 3 star. The side missions were a good idea, as was the DOFF integration, but I could actually do without voice acting when its BAD.
The ground combat section was terrible. I think they could have improved upon the simple, "attack 2 guys, move to next group". They could have had a larger battle with other starfleet/klingons fighting in the promenade, and you had to push forward but more Jem'hadar beamed in behind. It would give sense of urgency and push you to your goal. The station didnt really feel like it was being boarded. It seemed like there was about 10 Jem'hadar.
I have to say that I too have played some multi-episodic Foundry missions that had more story in them then this FE had .
When I finished this FE , I had to stop from going "meh" and remind myself that I just played one part of the whole .
The multiple options with the optional tasks were fun , but the discussions held about an alliance seemed to be ... simplistic . The characters were interesting enough , they just did not say much of interest around the discussion table .
True , I may have been spoiled by Babylon 5 , and Sheridans attempts there to forge an alliance against the Shadows .
The ground combat seemed to suffer the STO-DS9 curse -- no NPC's arround , but the combat itself was fun .
Space combat was ... a big let down .
At no point did I feel overwhelmed , or seriously challenged .
Nor did I feel like I was faceing wave after wave of ships . It just felt like an exploration mission -- go here , kill 2 ships , go here , kill 2 ships . Yeah ... . fun .
There was a lack of creativity in this first episode I'm afraid.
Voice acting and cut scenes aside, I imagine that a fair few of our favourite authors could re-make this first episode themselves in The Foundry, and give the characters much better dialogue and make the episode 'flow' better.
There was a lack of creativity in this first episode I'm afraid.
Voice acting and cut scenes aside, I imagine that a fair few of our favourite authors could re-make this first episode themselves in The Foundry, and give the characters much better dialogue and make the episode 'flow' better.
Can you imagine what those authors could do if they had the same cutscene tools and perhaps an automated VO system that turns text to voice?
the quality of the mission is higher because the devs have more tools. thats not in much doubt. that extra polish in terms of cut scenes, new locations ete etc really makes them shine. no matter how hard and author tries he can make a shanty town look as good as the one from mine enemy or a Romulan city as good as cutting the cord.
i would say the best foundry missions have some better action and story than cryptic's from what i've played, but one of the reasons is that there are just so many of them from so many different writers.
There are thousands of them and the more missions there are the more chance that really great ones are going to be made. im sure if cryptic could make a thousand missions there would be some truly epic ones in there as well, coupled with their higher production values and better toolsets.
i would say thought that cryptic's missions is of a steady quality throughout. there are no god awful ones. the foundry for all its great eps, has plenty of average and terrible ones in there as well.
it would be awesome if the foundry authors had access to cut scene tech although i would personally hate voice over work to be added. cryptic's VO is ok without being great. I imagine foundry VO would be very substandard quality and could ruin many good missions.
it would be awesome if the foundry authors had access to cut scene tech although i would personally hate voice over work to be added. cryptic's VO is ok without being great. I imagine foundry VO would be very substandard quality and could ruin many good missions.
I get what you're saying, but I'm not so convinced. The text to voice technology is really evolving. If there was an option for players to turn VOs on and off, while letting foundry authors specify: this text is this female tone or this male tone, etc, then a nice voice to text system could be great.
If I recall, Galactrix's VOed trailer for Syndicate was entirely done with a freebie text to voice program. It sounds great.
This would also hugely benefit Cryptic. It one big sweep, they'd add VOs for every mission in the game, from episodes to patrols.
I think it would have paced better if they opened the Bajor social hub upon completion and had us beam down and speak to someone who would get the process started of investigating. It would also give people the option of, well, not going back to DS9 as much through the week.
This, very much. Another immersion breaker IMO. Some of us would like to be able to RP the aftermath between now and next week. Being able to socialize on Bajor would of been perfect, a follow up to a 2409 version of Pearl Harbor. Yet again Cryptic comes up short.
This, very much. Another immersion breaker IMO. Some of us would like to be able to RP the aftermath between now and next week. Being able to socialize on Bajor would of been perfect, a follow up to a 2409 version of Pearl Harbor. Yet again Cryptic comes up short.
I found myself moving to K-7.
Its about the only logical move. oh well.
To make matters worse if I get the rare armor tech I'm trying for, I have to re-visit DS-9 to turn it in.
This is one of those times where a bold action would have been nice, EG once you do the mission you loose access to DS-9 till its retaken, and they move its unique services temporarily to Bajor.
I get what you're saying, but I'm not so convinced. The text to voice technology is really evolving. If there was an option for players to turn VOs on and off, while letting foundry authors specify: this text is this female tone or this male tone, etc, then a nice voice to text system could be great.
If I recall, Galactrix's VOed trailer for Syndicate was entirely done with a freebie text to voice program. It sounds great.
This would also hugely benefit Cryptic. It one big sweep, they'd add VOs for every mission in the game, from episodes to patrols.
This opening mission stacks up really well (content wise at least) to the Breen FE's first mission.
That mission consisted of a boring escort through a debris field. A "hi how ya doin" conversation that led to an ambush on the ground in the middle of a crowd of non-plussed potential victims of crossfire. A quick roundup of the rest of the breen in the town square, sans torches or pitchforks, an introduction to the overpowered ground combat tactics the Breen would use at the end of the ruins and then a quick space battle with lessons in SNB and Tractor Beams at the end.
This mission consisted of a series of optional treasure hunts while doing DOFF and Dabo sidequests, a much more fleshed out conversation at the diplomatic conference, a baby version of the old DS9 Fleet Action on the station, which led to a baby version of the other old DS9 Fleet Action in space that has a fun fight against a big huge overpowered dreadnaught, and of course the same old space lesson about SNB and Tractor Beams.
This one has more stuff in it than the Breen one. So I think once the bugs are fixed, it will stand the test of time, as long as the next four parts of the story move forward.
As compared to the best Foundry missions I've done? It comes down to the quality of writing, and the Foundry occasionally blows my mind with high quality writing. This mission would be an ok foundry mission but not the best for me because as much as I like the conference scene and some of the stuff in Ops with Andrews, there's too much of this mission that plays like stuff I've already played (the aforementioned DS9 FAs). My favorite foundry missions are written so well that even when I do stuff that seems like I've done it a million times already I don't notice that.
I think a large part of it for me is that there isn't anything really new, such as locations, that we haven't seen before. DS9 despite a few upgrades, like the conference room, is quite a familiar place to me by now and it really didn't help that a large chunk of this mission is running around on errands.
Helping the Belfast's captain using the DOFF system was good, but everything else felt a little old hat. We want new things; you can't sell the same old thing to the same old crowd forever. Hopefully the spacewalking sections in one of the next episodes will fill that gap, but they really needed something special for the first episode to sell it, especially after such a long wait.
Can you imagine what those authors could do if they had the same cutscene tools and perhaps an automated VO system that turns text to voice?
I will be honest. Being a Foundry author has spoiled me. I walked away from this feeling like it was just "okay." At launch, this would have seemed like the best thing ever.
The thing is, I'm starting to reverse my position on the Foundry. Frankly, I think there's 30 or 40 of us so good that it must be demoralizing at Cryptic. I mean, they spend 5 weeks on this?
There's nothing here that should have taken more than 10 days, tops, to produce.
Seriously, to toot my own horn, play my "Yesterday is Tomorrow." That was a mission I made while you were gone, Kirkfat. That has hours worth of optional gameplay. It took me between 7-10 days. Now, imagine it had a designated environment artist.
I dunno. I'm a bit jaded but it feels to me like two and a half weeks and I could blow away the stuff it takes Cryptic 5 weeks+ to do.
I just don't get it.
And if they feel the same way, it worries me that they'll give up on releasing "official" storyline material when that's what I really want out of STO as a player is an evolving, official Cryptic game canon.
The time it took to release this has a lot to do with the negative feedback. It just seems so unpolished and rough for an official mission that has been worked on for a long time. Didn't Dstahl say he was play testing this before he left as EP months ago??
I hope they update the Foundry with more tools, and they seriously need to feature Foundry missions at least once a month.
The other issue is; only Cryptic can further the story of STO, so the need for them to release consistent and "regular" content is really needed. Otherwise it'll either just drag on or stop completely. While I'm sure the Iconians will somehow be involved with releasing the Dominion fleet from the wormhole, it would be nice for the powers of the Alpha and Beta quadrants to start acknowledging their involvement and wrapping up certain storyline elements.
At no point were they mentioned in this latest episode, you'd think with the Borg/Undine conflict being stirred up by them it would've been a nice point to raise during this conference. The Borg are only the beginning, once they weaken all of the major powers even further, the Iconians will step in and take over. That should, at the very least, have been put on the table.
Comments
"Second Wave" simply *cannot* compare to some of the greater Foundry stories.
Perhaps Cryptic will start approaching the level of "City of the Polmar Rhee" and their own Rommie/Reman FE series starting with next week's episode.
Until then ...!
Today's FE wouldn't compare well to some of the best Foundry missions IMO. Although I couldn't tell you what it was missing it was definitely lacking something to make we want to do it again, compare that to some of the Foundry missions that I've played many times (Conjoined is still one of my favourites, I love the twist at the end) and it's a strange one.
If I had to say why it didn't compare well then it would probably be the pacing, something the best Foundry authors do very well; some parts of the FE seemed a little forced and either too quick (like dumping me in Bajor at the end with just a dialogue box to talk to) or a little too long (the space battle above DS9, just seemed long for the sake of being long) whereas some of the Foundry missions are nicely paced so that even a slow non combat mission that'll take an hour or two will leave you surprised so much time has passed. The above mentioned City of the Polmar Ree (sp) is a good example of that; a fairly long mission with beautiful sets (I love the arboretum at the beginning) and paced so that there's always something going on to keep your attention. Today's FE lost my attention a couple of times, especially running around doing the optionals as it just wasn't interesting to be running around DS9 fetching consumables for an NPC.
I'd guess it just comes down to the little details that a Foundry author can spend the time getting right more than anything. Today's FE wasn't bad, it just seemed a little strangely paced so I'm waiting to see what the others are like, I've always found the first of the series to be my least favourite so I'm hoping the same carries on for this series and I enjoy them more than I did today's.
Whether the toolset should be looked at I have no idea as I haven't used it in months. If it meant that it was easier for Foundry authors to make good quality missions like they are now then go for it, if they're being held back by the toolset then I'd love to see what they can do without those limitations.
The abruptness feels similar to the ending of Coliseum, which I would otherwise say is the best mission in the game.
There isn't closure. They don't, to use writer jargon, put a button on their scenes. As a result, it feels like one thing happening after another. The characters
I really liked the bits with the Cardassian guy. The diversion of blame. The frustration over his people's lack of military. The snark. He was the stand out character for me. Going after a wine that Bajorans slaved over, perhaps thoughtlessly or perhaps using us to get something he could never ask for himself. The Ferengi also felt like a real Ferengi.
I liked the Gorn but he seemed awfully loyal to the KDF. I felt like his loyalty needed to be addressed. He felt like a Gorn raised by Klingons.
Starfleet still feels hollow to me in terms of how they're portrayed. It's like everybody is Riker. The Andorian feels especially... not Andorian to me. Was he raised by humans? Lots of human figures of speech.
I thought the inclusion of DOffs as a mission requirement was good. That could be developed more. Classic Trek has an A-plot and a B-plot. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of DOffs doing stuff offscreen that can influence missions. Have them work on lowering a forcefield is disabling weapons inhibitors. It's often said that our BOs yank us around. (I don't see it as them giving us orders, as some do, but the plot grinds to a halt if we don't follow our BOs advice.) Delegating to DOffs makes me feel more in charge and I almost think every mission from Lt 10 on should have DOff assignments integrated.
But the big thing is the lack of structure. The plot doesn't flow in acts. The action doesn't rise and fall in a satisfying way.
The one thing I REALLY do like is that we're dealing with another problem when the Jem'Hadar arrive.
But there isn't a lot of unity to the story. And there isn't a theme that's addressed in a satisfying way.
Love. Loss. Betrayal. Redemption.
That's the difference between a story and living out a moment in real life. Stories are about something. They have a moral or a theme that they address.
I think they got close to that with some of the Reman episodes but it's like they're shying away from it. And it makes the factions seem shallow and hollow and makes it seem like we're wandering around aimlessly while things happen.
In fact, it was one the first fan-made missions using the Foundry ever: "Drawing Proof"
Give us the tools devs and we can do clever things too!
I really enjoyed this weeks FE, especially the non-combad lead in (atmospheric, with dialog options), which was good for scene setting. This is also something the best found missions typically do, and always something I welcome in STO (a game where I'm looking for Trek content more than I'm looking for just 'action').
There was a nice non-combat "puzzle" in the forum of dialog during the meeting room (in an original set, which was really nicely done!). This was a kind of gameplay FE's can't really do easily, to a large extent they can only spoof this kind of interactivity as best they can.
With regard to the set, original assets are always great in FE's, because they expand the content base of things can be reused in both official missions and Foundry missions.
Lastly, the combat was good, but actually not up there with the best Foundry missions - better than the majority of them, but not overwhelmingly so though. It's interesting that I very often feel good Foundry missions are better balanced than original STO maps. :-)
The FE's (as a whole) are undoubtedly some of the best missions in the game. They have voice acting and there is always something new to see. But (as is often the case with TV shows) some of the stories and premises of Foundry missions are just so good, and so well told, that I'd put a handful of Foundry missions as being the very best content in the game.
...
Edit Agree about the ending, very abrupt! I guess they want to keep Bajor reveal till Next Week, so as not to detract from the impact. I assume this won't be a problem when this series is unlocked as presumably Bajor will become a permanent public social zone and players will be able to continue straight to the next episode, but for this week it feels a bit jarring that you're dumped in the system.
There was probably a story created that was then TRIBBLE into 5 pieces is what we're seeing here with the new FE. The other FE's more or less had their individual adventures that linked together into a cohesive story.
There are Foundry creations that certainly handle multi-part stories much better than the new FE does so far.
The ground combat section was terrible. I think they could have improved upon the simple, "attack 2 guys, move to next group". They could have had a larger battle with other starfleet/klingons fighting in the promenade, and you had to push forward but more Jem'hadar beamed in behind. It would give sense of urgency and push you to your goal. The station didnt really feel like it was being boarded. It seemed like there was about 10 Jem'hadar.
When I finished this FE , I had to stop from going "meh" and remind myself that I just played one part of the whole .
The multiple options with the optional tasks were fun , but the discussions held about an alliance seemed to be ... simplistic . The characters were interesting enough , they just did not say much of interest around the discussion table .
True , I may have been spoiled by Babylon 5 , and Sheridans attempts there to forge an alliance against the Shadows .
The ground combat seemed to suffer the STO-DS9 curse -- no NPC's arround , but the combat itself was fun .
Space combat was ... a big let down .
At no point did I feel overwhelmed , or seriously challenged .
Nor did I feel like I was faceing wave after wave of ships . It just felt like an exploration mission -- go here , kill 2 ships , go here , kill 2 ships . Yeah ... . fun .
2800 what ?
My entire star-ship appeared to get beamed somewhere.
I've been through time loops in Foundry missions even.
I haven't yet met a single Cryptic made mission (outside the Romulan FEs) that could stack up to the better foundry missions I've played.
Admittedly I'm most excited about this FE not for the episodes, but for the new gear and cosmetic stuff it comes with.
Voice acting and cut scenes aside, I imagine that a fair few of our favourite authors could re-make this first episode themselves in The Foundry, and give the characters much better dialogue and make the episode 'flow' better.
Can you imagine what those authors could do if they had the same cutscene tools and perhaps an automated VO system that turns text to voice?
i would say the best foundry missions have some better action and story than cryptic's from what i've played, but one of the reasons is that there are just so many of them from so many different writers.
There are thousands of them and the more missions there are the more chance that really great ones are going to be made. im sure if cryptic could make a thousand missions there would be some truly epic ones in there as well, coupled with their higher production values and better toolsets.
i would say thought that cryptic's missions is of a steady quality throughout. there are no god awful ones. the foundry for all its great eps, has plenty of average and terrible ones in there as well.
it would be awesome if the foundry authors had access to cut scene tech although i would personally hate voice over work to be added. cryptic's VO is ok without being great. I imagine foundry VO would be very substandard quality and could ruin many good missions.
I get what you're saying, but I'm not so convinced. The text to voice technology is really evolving. If there was an option for players to turn VOs on and off, while letting foundry authors specify: this text is this female tone or this male tone, etc, then a nice voice to text system could be great.
If I recall, Galactrix's VOed trailer for Syndicate was entirely done with a freebie text to voice program. It sounds great.
This would also hugely benefit Cryptic. It one big sweep, they'd add VOs for every mission in the game, from episodes to patrols.
This, very much. Another immersion breaker IMO. Some of us would like to be able to RP the aftermath between now and next week. Being able to socialize on Bajor would of been perfect, a follow up to a 2409 version of Pearl Harbor. Yet again Cryptic comes up short.
I found myself moving to K-7.
Its about the only logical move. oh well.
To make matters worse if I get the rare armor tech I'm trying for, I have to re-visit DS-9 to turn it in.
This is one of those times where a bold action would have been nice, EG once you do the mission you loose access to DS-9 till its retaken, and they move its unique services temporarily to Bajor.
i guess an on/off feature would be ok.
That mission consisted of a boring escort through a debris field. A "hi how ya doin" conversation that led to an ambush on the ground in the middle of a crowd of non-plussed potential victims of crossfire. A quick roundup of the rest of the breen in the town square, sans torches or pitchforks, an introduction to the overpowered ground combat tactics the Breen would use at the end of the ruins and then a quick space battle with lessons in SNB and Tractor Beams at the end.
This mission consisted of a series of optional treasure hunts while doing DOFF and Dabo sidequests, a much more fleshed out conversation at the diplomatic conference, a baby version of the old DS9 Fleet Action on the station, which led to a baby version of the other old DS9 Fleet Action in space that has a fun fight against a big huge overpowered dreadnaught, and of course the same old space lesson about SNB and Tractor Beams.
This one has more stuff in it than the Breen one. So I think once the bugs are fixed, it will stand the test of time, as long as the next four parts of the story move forward.
As compared to the best Foundry missions I've done? It comes down to the quality of writing, and the Foundry occasionally blows my mind with high quality writing. This mission would be an ok foundry mission but not the best for me because as much as I like the conference scene and some of the stuff in Ops with Andrews, there's too much of this mission that plays like stuff I've already played (the aforementioned DS9 FAs). My favorite foundry missions are written so well that even when I do stuff that seems like I've done it a million times already I don't notice that.
Helping the Belfast's captain using the DOFF system was good, but everything else felt a little old hat. We want new things; you can't sell the same old thing to the same old crowd forever. Hopefully the spacewalking sections in one of the next episodes will fill that gap, but they really needed something special for the first episode to sell it, especially after such a long wait.
Oh dear lord yes, this!
Im getting all giddy at the prospects :eek: :cool:
I will be honest. Being a Foundry author has spoiled me. I walked away from this feeling like it was just "okay." At launch, this would have seemed like the best thing ever.
The thing is, I'm starting to reverse my position on the Foundry. Frankly, I think there's 30 or 40 of us so good that it must be demoralizing at Cryptic. I mean, they spend 5 weeks on this?
There's nothing here that should have taken more than 10 days, tops, to produce.
Seriously, to toot my own horn, play my "Yesterday is Tomorrow." That was a mission I made while you were gone, Kirkfat. That has hours worth of optional gameplay. It took me between 7-10 days. Now, imagine it had a designated environment artist.
I dunno. I'm a bit jaded but it feels to me like two and a half weeks and I could blow away the stuff it takes Cryptic 5 weeks+ to do.
I just don't get it.
And if they feel the same way, it worries me that they'll give up on releasing "official" storyline material when that's what I really want out of STO as a player is an evolving, official Cryptic game canon.
I hope they update the Foundry with more tools, and they seriously need to feature Foundry missions at least once a month.
At no point were they mentioned in this latest episode, you'd think with the Borg/Undine conflict being stirred up by them it would've been a nice point to raise during this conference. The Borg are only the beginning, once they weaken all of the major powers even further, the Iconians will step in and take over. That should, at the very least, have been put on the table.