Yea you need to fly IN the station between the two pylons
Ah... I had a problem like that on ATTS and just decided to let the player leave the map from whole map. I will give it another go. I like the space maps so far.
A TIME TO SEARCH: ENTER MY FOUNDRY MISSION at the RISA SYSTEM Parallels: my second mission for Fed aligned Romulans.
Ah... I had a problem like that on ATTS and just decided to let the player leave the map from whole map. I will give it another go. I like the space maps so far.
Fall-away buildings were cool. In the subway where we get attacked after clearing away rocks, I managed to lose my away team inside a wall. I beat the last group solo and when I got to the surface my boffs were still stuck below the map. I played around with the rally markers and that caused my away team and a surface group to begin fighting inside some of the geometry. They all eventually exploded out of the ground as I was fighting the third group. No harm done but I thought I'd report it.
Story is good. I didn't drink the unknown liquid, not my style. Stuck with what was identifiable. I didn't ask what I looked like either but rather just went with the flow.
Has a bit of the "Inner Light" vibe going on.
Good job.
First, I want to thank you for your work. More work than I could imagine must have gone into this. Thank you for adding something I looked forward to playing.
"Purity II: Of Thought"
I thought that some of the dialogue was phrased awkwardly. There were technical glitches but they generally do not bother me unless I can no longer play the mission.
I was confused throughout this mission and just went along with it as you intended for our Captains to do. I thought the intent was interesting but the execution had me scratching my head. The ending left me confused.
Hopefully it will iron itself out in another mission. I was confused but not that interested by the end of the episode. On one hand I enjoy not knowing what is exactly causing the confusion-Is it temporal, a joke, a dream, or drug or psychic manipulation. But the ending came off as a bit odd to me, the revealing text actually cheapened the episode for me. I would have been more interesting if my VA slipped into darkness and left me wondering and asking more questions.
The back story was interesting but it was confusing having people on the Moon believe one thing when you had four crew members along with you. A line acknowledging just how crew were being perceived would have been a nice added touch. What might have helped also, and I'm not sure if this could be done technologically, is during a point of realization queue some music STO style and have a dialogue box pop up with text and a message breaking the momentum and forcing the reader to focus on the message and what possible realization is occurring. Similar to when Kirk realizes/discovers/has an epiphany.
Given the reveal at the end, if the episode was an attempt to get me to empathize then the choir was being preached to for a second time. If not, then outside of additional back story I wonder was the purpose of the episode was. If it is literal like the ending of the first episode then there is going to be quite an explanation given to fill and round the story out. What I'm taking away is additional background which advances the story somewhat, but other than that what just happened? All and all this is just an opinion and should be taken as such. No need to stress over this, and this is certainly not personal.
I really appreciate the work being put into this series, and I love the idea of Foundry series being supported by Cryptic and released as this. A lot of hard work was put into the visuals, and I finally got to shoot some of the slavers so that was good. Those people are very good with old weapons (I played it on Elite). I also like being given a choice in missions, hopefully my choice means something.
"Purity: Of The Day"
The daily was very good. I liked the puzzles and loved them more after getting blown up (Played on Elite) while trying to solve them-That was a great surprise! Cryptic please take note of this technique. I was great that I was actually under pressure to complete a task, and there were consequences for me for being slow. Once again loved being given a choice as to how to respond to the captain.
I liked the warp technique. This was a very enjoyable mission. Thank you.
The continuing story is good, but not great. The first one had a better plot, and was better paced. Episode II failed to draw me in, as it felt confusing, and disjointed. Don't know if that was the intent, but it feels a bit rushed...
The mission has good custom environments, and some great tricks showing what the Foundry can do.
Problem with these tricks are that bridge officers tend to get stuck, wich happened to me in the tunnels, despite carefull use of waypoints. I lost two bridge officers in the wall, and only had two left to help me fight once topside again.
I also felt that the lack of space combat was a let down. The mission being pure ground might be needed for story purposes, but it felt tedious and a drag to have to fight so many enemy mobs.
So, Episode II is good, but not great due to bugs causing bridge officers to get stuck in geometry.
End of review.
Hope Episode III will explain things, as Episode II felt confusing and disjointed...
I'd love to wright in depth thoughts, but this is a breif post for the moment
regarding Part 1
general story feedback
Loving the Investigations and morality play feel, Its nice go in and ask questions instead of going in with my gun drawn( granted i don't mind the combat since it was all in good context), the Admiral was a bit frosty, But i chalked that up to her being insulted/frustrated by my unwanted arrival and interferance, since my VA character was threatening her authority and autonomy, i thought it reasonable to get a frosty reception
I agree with what nagorak was saying about having a more middle ground option, might be nice, since not all my characters are idealists, but we certainly aren't sellouts either
I really liked the cliffhanger, though i can understand why it could be emersion breaking for some, but i think the dramatic ending makes it worth that minor drawback, i like it when you are forced to flee sometimes, you can't win them all
1- the refueling process, not sure what the issue for most is here since i was told to fly between two scanning beams or something to that effect, So i flew in between like i was told, instructions were fairly clear in my opinion, I tend to have instructions in dialogue in my own mission, so i always read carefully to look for instructions when playing other missions
2- did i spot crazy Chalasky as a freighter captain?
3- This 'mess hall' , when i first saw it, i thought of it as some kind of private dining room, much like the Captains private dining rooms that certain Starfleet ships have on their deckplans? so perhaps it makes perfect sense for it to be locked up along with the office, since they would be part of the same restricted/private space belonging to the official that is using the area , i wouldn't be surprised to learn he had a private gym somewhere around there
4-yeah the fight in the office was very hard, i struggled with that one for a while even with a toon speced with multiple ground traits and the entire Away team packing MKXII gear and Elite Fleet firearms ( had to draw them out into the doorway where i could turn the tables using AOE in a tight space )
5- i can see how opinions differ on the bridge scene, and it would certainly be nice to have a wide range of responses, But not everyone is using a VA, so perhaps unwise to assume we outrank the Captain, though i think the level restrictions on the missions means we at least equal his rank
even so i agree with other posters that i would certainly not pull rank on another officers Command, however it did feel odd to be given a random conn position that my BOFFs would be better trained to use so i have mixed feelings on that one
Part 2
WTF? i am so confused , but more importantly i am intrigued so Good job there
and some really creative map design
however, one thing i want to point out, and this isn't directly the fault of the author, is that after i was forced to relog my character after a disconnect, my character spawnned inside the geometry of one of the buildings , fortunatly i was able to allow the enemy mobs to kill me through the walls and respawn normally and carry on ( this happened twice )
not entirely sure if anything could be done but thought it might be worth bringing up
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
First of all thank you to everyone that has played Purity II: Of Thought. I've been taking a keen interest and watching the reviews and glad that has been as well accepted as it has.
I always knew this mission was going to be a bit controversial, not so much for the content,but for the style. It can be very hard to pull of, as one reviewer said, a "metaphysical" mission but I am quite happy with what I accomplished with this. Yes, it's not going to be for everyone but no foundry mission really does hit all the right notes for everyone. It was purposed and planned to occur this way and for that I make no apologies however I also recognise that people not liking it for the style is just as valid opinion as those who do like it.
As for another criticism, one that was well summed up by otowi, the guy who just posted
...and some great tricks showing what the Foundry can do.
Problem with these tricks are that bridge officers tend to get stuck,
Another thing that I always knew was that the Tunnel was always going to be problematic when it came to pathing and associated technical issues. I designed it with this in mind (and also gave the warning) but there are always going to be things that aren't going to work the way you intend and that you can do nothing about. As always it's a trade off and I had to ask myself one question. Is the mission going to be better with the tricks and associated bugs or without? I answered that and thought it would be better. I'm sorry to those that have had problems and can only suggest that you try again.
Finally there are those that are confused by what's going on. That's certainly understandable too. That's part of the aim that I had. Get the player thinking "What the heck is going on here?" The answer is coming with Purity III.
@gerwalk0769: "if the episode was an attempt to get me to empathize then the choir was being preached to for a second time."
It wasn't really an attempt for empathy from my perspective. It's aim was to show how the Megarans got to where they are. Sajan society being "overrun" by Obani, racial tensions between the two groups, various failed attempts by the Sajan government to deal with the Obani.
Yes, you may see things from the Sajan perspective but you also get the Obani perspective as well, 2nd hand from one of the Conclave members but also from that Obani you talk to. Not to mention the cycle of escalation and retaliation that involves both sides in a conflict like this. I would have liked to have gone more into the Obani perspective but there was simply no way to have it work within the confines of the story that we as a group had determined.
@adverbero: Thanks for letting me know, one of the unusual circumstances that slips past our internal group QA process. If/when I get a chance to edit again (At some point after the series is complete at least) then I'll make sure to address that by redesigning the map.
It wasn't really an attempt for empathy from my perspective. It's aim was to show how the Megarans got to where they are. Sajan society being "overrun" by Obani, racial tensions between the two groups, various failed attempts by the Sajan government to deal with the Obani.
Yes, you may see things from the Sajan perspective but you also get the Obani perspective as well, 2nd hand from one of the Conclave members but also from that Obani you talk to. Not to mention the cycle of escalation and retaliation that involves both sides in a conflict like this. I would have liked to have gone more into the Obani perspective but there was simply no way to have it work within the confines of the story that we as a group had determined.
The chronology of the overarching plot is getting confusing.
In Part I we saw that the Obani, using Starfleet weaponry, had already conquered and enslaved the Sajan. In Part II the Sajan apparently rule the same planet, but the Obani, with the Starfleet weaponry, are on the verge of overrunning them. This tells me Part II is some kind of historical re-enactment. What's been left unclear is just how long ago it's supposed to be. At one point, one of the weapons is ID'd as being a 150-year-old model; i.e. from the TOS era. Did the PD violation, and ensuing Obani conquest, actually take place during the TOS era? If that's the case, then has the Starfleet cover-up really been going on for that long, with the rogue admiral just being the latest in a long line of rogue admirals to oversee it? (And if that's the case, the Part I promotion is a little misleading, as it gives the impression that it's all a recent thing, stemming from the ongoing militarization of Starfleet.)
The chronology of the overarching plot is getting confusing.
In Part I we saw that the Obani, using Starfleet weaponry, had already conquered and enslaved the Sajan. In Part II the Sajan apparently rule the same planet, but the Obani, with the Starfleet weaponry, are on the verge of overrunning them. This tells me Part II is some kind of historical re-enactment. What's been left unclear is just how long ago it's supposed to be. At one point, one of the weapons is ID'd as being a 150-year-old model; i.e. from the TOS era. Did the PD violation, and ensuing Obani conquest, actually take place during the TOS era? If that's the case, then has the Starfleet cover-up really been going on for that long, with the rogue admiral just being the latest in a long line of rogue admirals to oversee it? (And if that's the case, the Part I promotion is a little misleading, as it gives the impression that it's all a recent thing, stemming from the ongoing militarization of Starfleet.)
I will make something clear now, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the First Contact report or not, but the Federation's first contact, of any kind, with the people of Megara is fairly recent, occurring within the past few years.
Any potential chronological anachronism that may result from the historical aspect of this will be dealt with alongside the explanation of what happened. The Who/what/why and how will fully clarify the situation. I'm sorry I can't say more as you'll have to wait for Episode 3.
EDIT: BTW. I used TOS timeframe for the weapons as those were the props that I had. I used the TOS phaser rifles and phaser pistols as the props in that area. We'd already established that Fautor was giving the Obani old weapons, Dominion war surplus in the case of Parquel mine but that doesn't mean she couldn't get her hands on other old weapon technology such as TOS era weapons for instance.
Why does this mission start in a different system than the first? That seems really weird, considering all that's happened is we got in an escape pod.
There was some texture fighting on the outside of the initial building, if you run around outside.
On the second map, I didn't like that invisible walls held me back from finding a way to sneak around. I was hoping since the enemies were not objectives I could bypass them, but the walls made it so there was nowhere for me to go. I couldn't even sneak through the wreckage. If I'm forced to fight my way through the enemies anyway, I'd prefer they just be official objectives.
I agree with what some have said about parts of the dialogue being awkwardly worded. I like that there were some multiple dialogue options, but with those multiple options I often still missed a more generic response. On the shuttle, for example, it seemed like my captain had to make a really wordy response about helping out, when he could have just said "I'm on it." or "Acknowledged." and nothing else.
I liked the maps, especially the underground rail area. The rail was pretty well designed. Yeah, some of my boffs got lost, but the fighting in there wasn't really hard anyway. Definitely a good call not worrying about the bugs there.
Overall, I don't have as much to say about this mission. I found this story more engaging than the first episode. On the other hand, the first episode had the challenge of introducing the whole setting, so it's not fair to really compare the two.
I liked the way the backstory was introduce. The only major suggestion I'd make would be to have someone address the player as the Colonel right off the bat. That might have cleared up some confusion if it was explained right away that you were being seen as a Sajan. I didn't have any problems with it personally, but it seems some people were confused.
I'll continue with my rating of 4 stars for the series thus far. I found the story on this one more interesting, but while still good, I didn't find the overall set design to be quite as good as the first.
My biggest criticism of the series thus far is I get the impression that these missions are being rushed a bit to make the deadline. I feel like they would have been better with some more time for constructive feedback and a bit of editing.
@adverbero: Thanks for letting me know, one of the unusual circumstances that slips past our internal group QA process. If/when I get a chance to edit again (At some point after the series is complete at least) then I'll make sure to address that by redesigning the map.
Its nice to hear that, i like an attentive author, I would imagine that all the authors involved take pride in their missions, and so far, i think its well deserved
I would also add that the tricks really are worthwhile, the bugs may be unfortunate, but i really liked the way the map worked , and on a personal note, I liked the 'metaphysical' mission , whats trek without a few What the heck moments now and then
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
Yes you did! Sometimes his business doesn't do so well and he has to take up odd jobs to pay the bills
Ahh, well i hope he makes enough to fund more advertising slots, i'd miss him if he had to retire
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
My biggest criticism of the series thus far is I get the impression that these missions are being rushed a bit to make the deadline. I feel like they would have been better with some more time for constructive feedback and a bit of editing.
Please keep in mind that, although we have a team of people playing the missions multiple times before launch, as soon as launch date hits, the authors lose the ability to edit. And often, folks are making lots of last minute changes to make things better based on feedback, so it's easy for typos to slip in as the final launch happens.
Please also remember that we set the deadlines during the early summer, expecting season 8 to break the Foundry. Then, the foundry was down for 2 months and usable for 1 month with the crazy work-around. We're doing our best, given the circumstances.
So, the authors are on a mad dash to get things out there before season 8 breaks everything and makes doing something like this project impossible until like March of 2014.
Okay right off the bat we have a contradiction with Part 1. Are we in an Escape Pod as per Part 1's dialogue, or did we escape from the Resnik in one of her Shuttlecraft? Also, as mentioned above, why we the mission in a completely different location?
I really hated the condescending attitude from my own BOFFs. And I did not like the click-repair jobs, whither we are in a shuttle or an Escape Pod, we aren't going to be getting out of our seats in that situation to repair on the go.
The Base
Okay we magically happen to land at the doorsteps of an Obani military building? And the receptionist is.........not at a counter but at a desk in an adjacent room?
Building under attack was good. But when we exit the building, the Shuttle is mysteriously gone (guess plot for Part 3?) and buildings that weren't there when we entered the building are magically there without any explanation.
Also I felt the action died down after finishing the dialogue between the survivors. You could have continued the attack by having NPCs fight one another far off the map or having place markers in between the conversations.
The Attack
The Attack.......could've been more realistic if you had the NPC groups as Patrols and have them approach from the ramp / hatch.
And for a Subway Hatch, why is it on top of a ramp? Architecturally speaking, it doesn't make sense.
Subway
Okay, the group that you just defeated came out from this subway tunnel..........so how they get through it if the tunnel had collapsed? Same goes for the wild animals, how are they in there if there are no holes?
Digging through the weak point was interesting, but it's Star Trek, wouldn't we be using our Phasers? Could've seen this as an opportunity for using attack able objects.
The Compound
Talking to that guy..........made no sense to me.
Use of Debris, Invisible Walls, and lots of NPC groups was a disaster. My BOFFs warped away and left me in a very bad situation. While this game has no death mechanics, this was very frustrating. Out of all parts of this map, this would be the one area you desperately need to fix.
BTW, the "School" felt out of place given the scenery.
And the Ending........why was I experiencing an Obani Death when I'm me?
I'm sorry to say but with all these inconsistencies and other annoying factors, I had to give this mission a 3-Star rating.
I really hope that some of you guys reevaluate how you feel about part 2 when you play part 3. We took some risks with part 2, for good reasons.
If you're feeling a little confused, bewildered by the inconsistencies, and somewhat at a loss for what is going on... you're in exactly the right spot, IMO.
For most of the issues that you raised regarding inconsistencies/weird things happening are definitely on purpose. As I said before, answers will be given in Episode III. I can't really say much more than that apart from re-iterating that it's there for a reason.
It was a Sajan death and a Sajan Base, not Obani. Which once again is structured like it is for a reason to be explained in ep 3.
The issue with patrols in general is that they ... patrol. It's a loop not a simple go from here to here. And so at some point you would see them turn around and head back to the subway making the attack even less realistic. Not to mention the likely hood of forcing the player to deal with multiple high level groups at once.
Thank you for playing and thank you for taking the time to present your feedback. I take all feedback seriously and as you know as an author yourself we want to present the best finished product we can. Sometimes it is out of your hands, sometimes it is not.
Sometimes we do things for specific reasons that make sense to us but aren't available or obvious to the player and this really becomes important in a series, any series, that is released over time.
The emotional goal I had for this mission was for a sense of "What the heck is going on here!" and it seems that this was definitely achieved. I hope you will be satisifed with the answers to the issues that you had with Ep 2 once Ep 3 is released, thank you.
Please keep in mind that, although we have a team of people playing the missions multiple times before launch, as soon as launch date hits, the authors lose the ability to edit. And often, folks are making lots of last minute changes to make things better based on feedback, so it's easy for typos to slip in as the final launch happens.
Please also remember that we set the deadlines during the early summer, expecting season 8 to break the Foundry. Then, the foundry was down for 2 months and usable for 1 month with the crazy work-around. We're doing our best, given the circumstances.
So, the authors are on a mad dash to get things out there before season 8 breaks everything and makes doing something like this project impossible until like March of 2014.
I still think it's cool that something like this is being done, don't get me wrong. However, I think it once again calls into question the whole "can't edit spotlighted missions thing." I guess what I'm saying is that if this is ever done again, what I think would be better is if Starbase UGC were to release and announce the missions first, and that they only be spotlighted after about two weeks post publish. That way there would be time to edit them base on preliminary feedback. I'm sure you guys are running through and editing them, but it's still more of a challenge to have that rest only on a few people's shoulders rather than the whole community.
And you're right the Foundry always has problems to work through, at least in STO. Please don't take my comments as meaning that the whole project was not worth it. That's not my intention at all. I'm interesting in seeing how it works out, in a technical sense, not just a storyline sense.
All we can say is "hindsight is 20/20." While this certainly isn't the first collaborative Foundry project, it is the first be done in this manner and the first to get PWE support. Is it perfectly planned and executed? Of course not. To paraphrase the Borg Queen "It is an imperfect project, created by imperfect people," so obviously we're going to stumble in some places.
That's ok though, that's life. What we want to do is learn things so that the next group that tries something like this - and it is our fervent hope that there are more of these - will craft a better plan and a better project based on our experiences, the next group after that will, in turn, learn from their experiences, and so on.
I really hope that some of you guys reevaluate how you feel about part 2 when you play part 3. We took some risks with part 2, for good reasons.
If you're feeling a little confused, bewildered by the inconsistencies, and somewhat at a loss for what is going on... you're in exactly the right spot, IMO.
Thank you for paying attention.
Fair enough. If the biggest problem people are having with Part II is something already set to be addressed in Part III, that's a very good sign.
Fair enough. If the biggest problem people are having with Part II is something already set to be addressed in Part III, that's a very good sign.
The funny thing is of all things, I didn't have an issue with the storyline of the second mission. It was already hinted in the first mission that the Sajan have some sort of empathetic abilities, when you touch one of them down in the labor camp. That is my recollection, anyway, although it's possible I was just smoking something.
what I think would be better is if Starbase UGC were to release and announce the missions first, and that they only be spotlighted after about two weeks post publish.
The problem is that nobody would play them. These days we need a spotlight to get plays because the search listings are so terrible, and the spotlight is our only UI tool to get plays. I'm not saying that is good, or that we made it to get plays. But that is our reality.
The state of foundry listings is so poor that it's a give and take: Do you want plays and feedback without the ability to edit or do you want few plays and little feedback with the ability to edit? It really has gotten to that point because of the UI, and the fact that having a "next" button in the listings is like rocket science for the devs.
For most of the issues that you raised regarding inconsistencies/weird things happening are definitely on purpose. As I said before, answers will be given in Episode III. I can't really say much more than that apart from re-iterating that it's there for a reason.
I'm interested to see how they are revolved.
But going from a shuttle to an escape pod..........better not be an act of Q is all I'm saying. :P
]The issue with patrols in general is that they ... patrol. It's a loop not a simple go from here to here. And so at some point you would see them turn around and head back to the subway making the attack even less realistic. Not to mention the likely hood of forcing the player to deal with multiple high level groups at once.
All it takes is timing. Certain triggers mixed in with invisble walls and or speed settings, you shouldn't run into such a thing.
Thank you for playing and thank you for taking the time to present your feedback. I take all feedback seriously and as you know as an author yourself we want to present the best finished product we can. Sometimes it is out of your hands, sometimes it is not.
That's why I'm very forgiving over Foundry.........glitches. Sometimes, shes a woman who likes to take the lead in the dance.
Sometimes we do things for specific reasons that make sense to us but aren't available or obvious to the player and this really becomes important in a series, any series, that is released over time.
That's quite the paradox, how could you nerf nerf when the nerf is nerfed. But how would the nerf be nerfed when the nerf is nerfed? This allows the nerf not to be nerfed since the nerf is nerfed? But if the nerf isn't nerfed, it could still nerf nerfs. But as soon as the nerf is nerfed, the nerf power is lost. So paradoxally it the nerf nerf lost its nerf, while it's still nerfed, which cannot be because the nerf was unable to nerf.
That's why I'm very forgiving over Foundry.........glitches. Sometimes, shes a woman who likes to take the lead in the dance.
And one who never actually learned to dance, TBH.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
That's quite the paradox, how could you nerf nerf when the nerf is nerfed. But how would the nerf be nerfed when the nerf is nerfed? This allows the nerf not to be nerfed since the nerf is nerfed? But if the nerf isn't nerfed, it could still nerf nerfs. But as soon as the nerf is nerfed, the nerf power is lost. So paradoxally it the nerf nerf lost its nerf, while it's still nerfed, which cannot be because the nerf was unable to nerf.
Comments
Ah... I had a problem like that on ATTS and just decided to let the player leave the map from whole map. I will give it another go. I like the space maps so far.
Parallels: my second mission for Fed aligned Romulans.
Thanks! /10chars
Foundry Mission Database
Check out my Foundry missions:
Standalone - The Great Escape - The Galaxy's Fair - Purity I: Of Denial - Return to Oblivion
Untitled Series - Duritanium Man - The Improbable Bulk - Commander Rihan
Fall-away buildings were cool. In the subway where we get attacked after clearing away rocks, I managed to lose my away team inside a wall. I beat the last group solo and when I got to the surface my boffs were still stuck below the map. I played around with the rally markers and that caused my away team and a surface group to begin fighting inside some of the geometry. They all eventually exploded out of the ground as I was fighting the third group. No harm done but I thought I'd report it.
Story is good. I didn't drink the unknown liquid, not my style. Stuck with what was identifiable. I didn't ask what I looked like either but rather just went with the flow.
Has a bit of the "Inner Light" vibe going on.
Good job.
Foundry Mission Database
Check out my Foundry missions:
Standalone - The Great Escape - The Galaxy's Fair - Purity I: Of Denial - Return to Oblivion
Untitled Series - Duritanium Man - The Improbable Bulk - Commander Rihan
The dialogue and text buttons could use some cleaning up. (More punctuation issues than spelling issues.)
The Sajan building on the surface is pretty spartan, but well-done nonetheless. (As are the destruction effects as you try to escape it.)
In the subway tunnel, two of my BOffs just vanished. They seem to have gotten stuck inside the rocks.
Having finished it, it's a bit rough around the edges but still well-done, especially the custom structures.
My Foundry missions | My STO Wiki page | My Twitter home page
"Purity II: Of Thought"
I thought that some of the dialogue was phrased awkwardly. There were technical glitches but they generally do not bother me unless I can no longer play the mission.
I was confused throughout this mission and just went along with it as you intended for our Captains to do. I thought the intent was interesting but the execution had me scratching my head. The ending left me confused.
Hopefully it will iron itself out in another mission. I was confused but not that interested by the end of the episode. On one hand I enjoy not knowing what is exactly causing the confusion-Is it temporal, a joke, a dream, or drug or psychic manipulation. But the ending came off as a bit odd to me, the revealing text actually cheapened the episode for me. I would have been more interesting if my VA slipped into darkness and left me wondering and asking more questions.
The back story was interesting but it was confusing having people on the Moon believe one thing when you had four crew members along with you. A line acknowledging just how crew were being perceived would have been a nice added touch. What might have helped also, and I'm not sure if this could be done technologically, is during a point of realization queue some music STO style and have a dialogue box pop up with text and a message breaking the momentum and forcing the reader to focus on the message and what possible realization is occurring. Similar to when Kirk realizes/discovers/has an epiphany.
Given the reveal at the end, if the episode was an attempt to get me to empathize then the choir was being preached to for a second time. If not, then outside of additional back story I wonder was the purpose of the episode was. If it is literal like the ending of the first episode then there is going to be quite an explanation given to fill and round the story out. What I'm taking away is additional background which advances the story somewhat, but other than that what just happened? All and all this is just an opinion and should be taken as such. No need to stress over this, and this is certainly not personal.
I really appreciate the work being put into this series, and I love the idea of Foundry series being supported by Cryptic and released as this. A lot of hard work was put into the visuals, and I finally got to shoot some of the slavers so that was good. Those people are very good with old weapons (I played it on Elite). I also like being given a choice in missions, hopefully my choice means something.
"Purity: Of The Day"
The daily was very good. I liked the puzzles and loved them more after getting blown up (Played on Elite) while trying to solve them-That was a great surprise! Cryptic please take note of this technique. I was great that I was actually under pressure to complete a task, and there were consequences for me for being slow. Once again loved being given a choice as to how to respond to the captain.
I liked the warp technique. This was a very enjoyable mission. Thank you.
The continuing story is good, but not great. The first one had a better plot, and was better paced. Episode II failed to draw me in, as it felt confusing, and disjointed. Don't know if that was the intent, but it feels a bit rushed...
The mission has good custom environments, and some great tricks showing what the Foundry can do.
Problem with these tricks are that bridge officers tend to get stuck, wich happened to me in the tunnels, despite carefull use of waypoints. I lost two bridge officers in the wall, and only had two left to help me fight once topside again.
I also felt that the lack of space combat was a let down. The mission being pure ground might be needed for story purposes, but it felt tedious and a drag to have to fight so many enemy mobs.
So, Episode II is good, but not great due to bugs causing bridge officers to get stuck in geometry.
End of review.
Hope Episode III will explain things, as Episode II felt confusing and disjointed...
regarding Part 1
general story feedback
Loving the Investigations and morality play feel, Its nice go in and ask questions instead of going in with my gun drawn( granted i don't mind the combat since it was all in good context), the Admiral was a bit frosty, But i chalked that up to her being insulted/frustrated by my unwanted arrival and interferance, since my VA character was threatening her authority and autonomy, i thought it reasonable to get a frosty reception
I agree with what nagorak was saying about having a more middle ground option, might be nice, since not all my characters are idealists, but we certainly aren't sellouts either
I really liked the cliffhanger, though i can understand why it could be emersion breaking for some, but i think the dramatic ending makes it worth that minor drawback, i like it when you are forced to flee sometimes, you can't win them all
1- the refueling process, not sure what the issue for most is here since i was told to fly between two scanning beams or something to that effect, So i flew in between like i was told, instructions were fairly clear in my opinion, I tend to have instructions in dialogue in my own mission, so i always read carefully to look for instructions when playing other missions
2- did i spot crazy Chalasky as a freighter captain?
3- This 'mess hall' , when i first saw it, i thought of it as some kind of private dining room, much like the Captains private dining rooms that certain Starfleet ships have on their deckplans? so perhaps it makes perfect sense for it to be locked up along with the office, since they would be part of the same restricted/private space belonging to the official that is using the area , i wouldn't be surprised to learn he had a private gym somewhere around there
4-yeah the fight in the office was very hard, i struggled with that one for a while even with a toon speced with multiple ground traits and the entire Away team packing MKXII gear and Elite Fleet firearms ( had to draw them out into the doorway where i could turn the tables using AOE in a tight space )
5- i can see how opinions differ on the bridge scene, and it would certainly be nice to have a wide range of responses, But not everyone is using a VA, so perhaps unwise to assume we outrank the Captain, though i think the level restrictions on the missions means we at least equal his rank
even so i agree with other posters that i would certainly not pull rank on another officers Command, however it did feel odd to be given a random conn position that my BOFFs would be better trained to use so i have mixed feelings on that one
Part 2
WTF? i am so confused , but more importantly i am intrigued so Good job there
and some really creative map design
however, one thing i want to point out, and this isn't directly the fault of the author, is that after i was forced to relog my character after a disconnect, my character spawnned inside the geometry of one of the buildings , fortunatly i was able to allow the enemy mobs to kill me through the walls and respawn normally and carry on ( this happened twice )
not entirely sure if anything could be done but thought it might be worth bringing up
I always knew this mission was going to be a bit controversial, not so much for the content,but for the style. It can be very hard to pull of, as one reviewer said, a "metaphysical" mission but I am quite happy with what I accomplished with this. Yes, it's not going to be for everyone but no foundry mission really does hit all the right notes for everyone. It was purposed and planned to occur this way and for that I make no apologies however I also recognise that people not liking it for the style is just as valid opinion as those who do like it.
As for another criticism, one that was well summed up by otowi, the guy who just posted
Another thing that I always knew was that the Tunnel was always going to be problematic when it came to pathing and associated technical issues. I designed it with this in mind (and also gave the warning) but there are always going to be things that aren't going to work the way you intend and that you can do nothing about. As always it's a trade off and I had to ask myself one question. Is the mission going to be better with the tricks and associated bugs or without? I answered that and thought it would be better. I'm sorry to those that have had problems and can only suggest that you try again.
Finally there are those that are confused by what's going on. That's certainly understandable too. That's part of the aim that I had. Get the player thinking "What the heck is going on here?" The answer is coming with Purity III.
@gerwalk0769: "if the episode was an attempt to get me to empathize then the choir was being preached to for a second time."
It wasn't really an attempt for empathy from my perspective. It's aim was to show how the Megarans got to where they are. Sajan society being "overrun" by Obani, racial tensions between the two groups, various failed attempts by the Sajan government to deal with the Obani.
Yes, you may see things from the Sajan perspective but you also get the Obani perspective as well, 2nd hand from one of the Conclave members but also from that Obani you talk to. Not to mention the cycle of escalation and retaliation that involves both sides in a conflict like this. I would have liked to have gone more into the Obani perspective but there was simply no way to have it work within the confines of the story that we as a group had determined.
@adverbero: Thanks for letting me know, one of the unusual circumstances that slips past our internal group QA process. If/when I get a chance to edit again (At some point after the series is complete at least) then I'll make sure to address that by redesigning the map.
The chronology of the overarching plot is getting confusing.
In Part I we saw that the Obani, using Starfleet weaponry, had already conquered and enslaved the Sajan. In Part II the Sajan apparently rule the same planet, but the Obani, with the Starfleet weaponry, are on the verge of overrunning them. This tells me Part II is some kind of historical re-enactment. What's been left unclear is just how long ago it's supposed to be. At one point, one of the weapons is ID'd as being a 150-year-old model; i.e. from the TOS era. Did the PD violation, and ensuing Obani conquest, actually take place during the TOS era? If that's the case, then has the Starfleet cover-up really been going on for that long, with the rogue admiral just being the latest in a long line of rogue admirals to oversee it? (And if that's the case, the Part I promotion is a little misleading, as it gives the impression that it's all a recent thing, stemming from the ongoing militarization of Starfleet.)
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I will make something clear now, I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the First Contact report or not, but the Federation's first contact, of any kind, with the people of Megara is fairly recent, occurring within the past few years.
Any potential chronological anachronism that may result from the historical aspect of this will be dealt with alongside the explanation of what happened. The Who/what/why and how will fully clarify the situation. I'm sorry I can't say more as you'll have to wait for Episode 3.
EDIT: BTW. I used TOS timeframe for the weapons as those were the props that I had. I used the TOS phaser rifles and phaser pistols as the props in that area. We'd already established that Fautor was giving the Obani old weapons, Dominion war surplus in the case of Parquel mine but that doesn't mean she couldn't get her hands on other old weapon technology such as TOS era weapons for instance.
Why does this mission start in a different system than the first? That seems really weird, considering all that's happened is we got in an escape pod.
There was some texture fighting on the outside of the initial building, if you run around outside.
On the second map, I didn't like that invisible walls held me back from finding a way to sneak around. I was hoping since the enemies were not objectives I could bypass them, but the walls made it so there was nowhere for me to go. I couldn't even sneak through the wreckage. If I'm forced to fight my way through the enemies anyway, I'd prefer they just be official objectives.
I agree with what some have said about parts of the dialogue being awkwardly worded. I like that there were some multiple dialogue options, but with those multiple options I often still missed a more generic response. On the shuttle, for example, it seemed like my captain had to make a really wordy response about helping out, when he could have just said "I'm on it." or "Acknowledged." and nothing else.
I liked the maps, especially the underground rail area. The rail was pretty well designed. Yeah, some of my boffs got lost, but the fighting in there wasn't really hard anyway. Definitely a good call not worrying about the bugs there.
Overall, I don't have as much to say about this mission. I found this story more engaging than the first episode. On the other hand, the first episode had the challenge of introducing the whole setting, so it's not fair to really compare the two.
I liked the way the backstory was introduce. The only major suggestion I'd make would be to have someone address the player as the Colonel right off the bat. That might have cleared up some confusion if it was explained right away that you were being seen as a Sajan. I didn't have any problems with it personally, but it seems some people were confused.
I'll continue with my rating of 4 stars for the series thus far. I found the story on this one more interesting, but while still good, I didn't find the overall set design to be quite as good as the first.
My biggest criticism of the series thus far is I get the impression that these missions are being rushed a bit to make the deadline. I feel like they would have been better with some more time for constructive feedback and a bit of editing.
Click here for my Foundry tutorial on Creating A Custom Interior Map.
Its nice to hear that, i like an attentive author, I would imagine that all the authors involved take pride in their missions, and so far, i think its well deserved
I would also add that the tricks really are worthwhile, the bugs may be unfortunate, but i really liked the way the map worked , and on a personal note, I liked the 'metaphysical' mission , whats trek without a few What the heck moments now and then
Yes you did!
Foundry Mission Database
Check out my Foundry missions:
Standalone - The Great Escape - The Galaxy's Fair - Purity I: Of Denial - Return to Oblivion
Untitled Series - Duritanium Man - The Improbable Bulk - Commander Rihan
Ahh, well i hope he makes enough to fund more advertising slots, i'd miss him if he had to retire
Please keep in mind that, although we have a team of people playing the missions multiple times before launch, as soon as launch date hits, the authors lose the ability to edit. And often, folks are making lots of last minute changes to make things better based on feedback, so it's easy for typos to slip in as the final launch happens.
Please also remember that we set the deadlines during the early summer, expecting season 8 to break the Foundry. Then, the foundry was down for 2 months and usable for 1 month with the crazy work-around. We're doing our best, given the circumstances.
So, the authors are on a mad dash to get things out there before season 8 breaks everything and makes doing something like this project impossible until like March of 2014.
The Shuttle / Escape Pod:
Okay right off the bat we have a contradiction with Part 1. Are we in an Escape Pod as per Part 1's dialogue, or did we escape from the Resnik in one of her Shuttlecraft? Also, as mentioned above, why we the mission in a completely different location?
I really hated the condescending attitude from my own BOFFs. And I did not like the click-repair jobs, whither we are in a shuttle or an Escape Pod, we aren't going to be getting out of our seats in that situation to repair on the go.
The Base
Okay we magically happen to land at the doorsteps of an Obani military building? And the receptionist is.........not at a counter but at a desk in an adjacent room?
Building under attack was good. But when we exit the building, the Shuttle is mysteriously gone (guess plot for Part 3?) and buildings that weren't there when we entered the building are magically there without any explanation.
Also I felt the action died down after finishing the dialogue between the survivors. You could have continued the attack by having NPCs fight one another far off the map or having place markers in between the conversations.
The Attack
The Attack.......could've been more realistic if you had the NPC groups as Patrols and have them approach from the ramp / hatch.
And for a Subway Hatch, why is it on top of a ramp? Architecturally speaking, it doesn't make sense.
Subway
Okay, the group that you just defeated came out from this subway tunnel..........so how they get through it if the tunnel had collapsed? Same goes for the wild animals, how are they in there if there are no holes?
Digging through the weak point was interesting, but it's Star Trek, wouldn't we be using our Phasers? Could've seen this as an opportunity for using attack able objects.
The Compound
Talking to that guy..........made no sense to me.
Use of Debris, Invisible Walls, and lots of NPC groups was a disaster. My BOFFs warped away and left me in a very bad situation. While this game has no death mechanics, this was very frustrating. Out of all parts of this map, this would be the one area you desperately need to fix.
BTW, the "School" felt out of place given the scenery.
And the Ending........why was I experiencing an Obani Death when I'm me?
I'm sorry to say but with all these inconsistencies and other annoying factors, I had to give this mission a 3-Star rating.
If you're feeling a little confused, bewildered by the inconsistencies, and somewhat at a loss for what is going on... you're in exactly the right spot, IMO.
Thank you for paying attention.
It was a Sajan death and a Sajan Base, not Obani. Which once again is structured like it is for a reason to be explained in ep 3.
The issue with patrols in general is that they ... patrol. It's a loop not a simple go from here to here. And so at some point you would see them turn around and head back to the subway making the attack even less realistic. Not to mention the likely hood of forcing the player to deal with multiple high level groups at once.
Thank you for playing and thank you for taking the time to present your feedback. I take all feedback seriously and as you know as an author yourself we want to present the best finished product we can. Sometimes it is out of your hands, sometimes it is not.
Sometimes we do things for specific reasons that make sense to us but aren't available or obvious to the player and this really becomes important in a series, any series, that is released over time.
The emotional goal I had for this mission was for a sense of "What the heck is going on here!" and it seems that this was definitely achieved. I hope you will be satisifed with the answers to the issues that you had with Ep 2 once Ep 3 is released, thank you.
I still think it's cool that something like this is being done, don't get me wrong. However, I think it once again calls into question the whole "can't edit spotlighted missions thing." I guess what I'm saying is that if this is ever done again, what I think would be better is if Starbase UGC were to release and announce the missions first, and that they only be spotlighted after about two weeks post publish. That way there would be time to edit them base on preliminary feedback. I'm sure you guys are running through and editing them, but it's still more of a challenge to have that rest only on a few people's shoulders rather than the whole community.
And you're right the Foundry always has problems to work through, at least in STO. Please don't take my comments as meaning that the whole project was not worth it. That's not my intention at all. I'm interesting in seeing how it works out, in a technical sense, not just a storyline sense.
Click here for my Foundry tutorial on Creating A Custom Interior Map.
That's ok though, that's life. What we want to do is learn things so that the next group that tries something like this - and it is our fervent hope that there are more of these - will craft a better plan and a better project based on our experiences, the next group after that will, in turn, learn from their experiences, and so on.
Fair enough.
My Foundry missions | My STO Wiki page | My Twitter home page
The funny thing is of all things, I didn't have an issue with the storyline of the second mission. It was already hinted in the first mission that the Sajan have some sort of empathetic abilities, when you touch one of them down in the labor camp. That is my recollection, anyway, although it's possible I was just smoking something.
Click here for my Foundry tutorial on Creating A Custom Interior Map.
The problem is that nobody would play them. These days we need a spotlight to get plays because the search listings are so terrible, and the spotlight is our only UI tool to get plays. I'm not saying that is good, or that we made it to get plays. But that is our reality.
The state of foundry listings is so poor that it's a give and take: Do you want plays and feedback without the ability to edit or do you want few plays and little feedback with the ability to edit? It really has gotten to that point because of the UI, and the fact that having a "next" button in the listings is like rocket science for the devs.
I'm interested to see how they are revolved.
But going from a shuttle to an escape pod..........better not be an act of Q is all I'm saying. :P
Sorry, its just the names just blur together for me.
All it takes is timing. Certain triggers mixed in with invisble walls and or speed settings, you shouldn't run into such a thing.
That's why I'm very forgiving over Foundry.........glitches. Sometimes, shes a woman who likes to take the lead in the dance.
And that's what a storyteller is all about.
Foundry Mission Database
Check out my Foundry missions:
Standalone - The Great Escape - The Galaxy's Fair - Purity I: Of Denial - Return to Oblivion
Untitled Series - Duritanium Man - The Improbable Bulk - Commander Rihan
I call it, the Stoutes paradox.
And one who never actually learned to dance, TBH.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Don't say that out loud!
She might step on your toes, and give you a CTD to boot! :eek::P
I call it, the Stoutes paradox.