Hm, it would appear that whatever is going to go down in Midnight has not been approved on the levels it should have been. The Klingons and Romulans had their leaders sign off on it, but it appears that it was the leader of Starfleet rather than the leader of the Federation whose approval was sought on the Federation side. Whatever Kagran's latest idea is, it certainly sounds like something President Okeg should have been consulted about, given Shon's reservations and the fact that D'Tan and Jimpok were.
... It also highlights something that will be a major issue when we start exploring the galaxy and find 'habitable' planets...
Unless you are an advocate of the panspermia hypothesis, you will have to agree that life evolved on Earth will have very little in common with life which evolved elsewhere. You have, in fact, more in common with an oak tree than you are likely to have with any alien life and, as such, I would find it highly unlikely that an alien life form would find a human body to be habitable.
I agree that the Iconians have suffered setbacks. Setbacks for which they are likely unprepared, given their arrogance. It may be that we have already mortally wounded their efforts, though their blindness to their own weaknesses may conceal that fact from the Iconians for a time.
... It also highlights something that will be a major issue when we start exploring the galaxy and find 'habitable' planets...
Unless you are an advocate of the panspermia hypothesis, you will have to agree that life evolved on Earth will have very little in common with life which evolved elsewhere. You have, in fact, more in common with an oak tree than you are likely to have with any alien life and, as such, I would find it highly unlikely that an alien life form would find a human body to be habitable.
That's for real life.
In Star Trek, the whole galaxy was seeded by the Preservers (TNG: The Chase) who felt alone because it was void of any other life forms, which is one of the reasons we can have many hybrids in the shows.
... It also highlights something that will be a major issue when we start exploring the galaxy and find 'habitable' planets...
Unless you are an advocate of the panspermia hypothesis, you will have to agree that life evolved on Earth will have very little in common with life which evolved elsewhere. You have, in fact, more in common with an oak tree than you are likely to have with any alien life and, as such, I would find it highly unlikely that an alien life form would find a human body to be habitable.
I agree that the Iconians have suffered setbacks. Setbacks for which they are likely unprepared, given their arrogance. It may be that we have already mortally wounded their efforts, though their blindness to their own weaknesses may conceal that fact from the Iconians for a time.
Actually the fact that an alien lifeform probably wouldn't find our bodies habitable probably wouldn't stop them trying, nor would it stop them doing massive damage in their attempt.
First, I have no idea when this thing is ending. Yesterday, they said midnight tonight (which to me meant 0300 EST). Today they are saying, midnight tonight. So no clue now, really. Secondly, the Iconian storyline has got to be one of the laziest, sloppiest, and most fouled up story lines that I have ever played. They didn't set the stage for the story, they didn't involve the player in the story to get buy in, they broke immersion an unimaginable number of times, and they didn't plan for any of it. If anything, the episodic treatment of the story only made things worse.
Could they have repaired this mess? Absolutely. So why didn't they? Why just let it ride? Are they really that lazy? Was the damage control forbidden by the brass? Did they decide that it would be too much effort to correct? And the questions go on, and on.
I have seen debacles like this before, Mass Effect 3's ending comes to mind, but this is a persistent world and that bad taste carries forward. I hate to say it, but the writing feels a lot like a TRIBBLE movie where you only have just enough story to get to what you are watching TRIBBLE for in the first place, it's just that STO has better music.
I am a silver player, that said, I still have around $450 to $550 spent on this game for ships, doodads, and such. So it isn't as if Cryptic isn't making money off of me. All I ask is that they toss me a bone on the story and don't jerk me around. For the most part, I enjoy STO. But the conclusion to the Iconian War blows like the North wind, and that's just on what I have played thus far.
First, I have no idea when this thing is ending. Yesterday, they said midnight tonight (which to me meant 0300 EST). Today they are saying, midnight tonight. So no clue now, really.
Midnight is the name of the episode, not when it starts...
... It also highlights something that will be a major issue when we start exploring the galaxy and find 'habitable' planets...
Unless you are an advocate of the panspermia hypothesis, you will have to agree that life evolved on Earth will have very little in common with life which evolved elsewhere. You have, in fact, more in common with an oak tree than you are likely to have with any alien life and, as such, I would find it highly unlikely that an alien life form would find a human body to be habitable.
I agree that the Iconians have suffered setbacks. Setbacks for which they are likely unprepared, given their arrogance. It may be that we have already mortally wounded their efforts, though their blindness to their own weaknesses may conceal that fact from the Iconians for a time.
As a previous poster said - Star Trek basically assumes a variant of panspermia, e.g. more specifically an original lifeform seeding life on other worlds.
But even if not - as long as we are talking about literally organic life, it will be based on molecules that we are familiar with. For some reason, the ingredients of our DNA or the RNA were what really worked to create life on Earth, and it seems not very likely that there are actually viable alternative molecules that could have been just as successful as creating life. If there were, they'd be part of our current organic chemistry. It could certainly be that there are alternate molecules that would achieve the same - but since under similar environmental conditions, the ones we are made off are always more effective, they can't compete in the long run.
Of course, once we leave the realm of organic life, all bets are off. With a good chance we wouldn't even recognize each other, and that our different environments would be hostile to the other. The plus side is that we are not very likely to get into any conflicts, barring some aggressive cultural (religious) norm (like: "Our gods demands that we kill anything not created in their image. That means you, water-bags!")
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
The writing isn't that bad. I would like to see one of the nobodies here write a script that wouldn't get summarily trash-binned by the higher ups at CBS.
I've seen worse writing in other MMO's. Much, much worse. Plus you need to take into account that a lot of Star Trek lore is a little open-ended. Like someone mentioned above: Supposedly the Preservers seeded all life in our region of space as shown in the TNG episode "The Chase". However in the TNG episode "All Good Things" Q shows Picard the beginning of life on earth:
"Strange, isn't it? Everything you know, your entire civilization, it all begins right here in this little pond... of goo."
So which is it? Both of these accounts are hard lore straight from the series. But they are mutually exclusive. Which is it? Only one can be true. But if only one is true, then one of the episodes are non-canonical. But episodes from TNG can't be non-canonical because all the episodes are canon. Which is it? ANSWER ME NOW!!!
The writing isn't that bad. I would like to see one of the nobodies here write a script that wouldn't get summarily trash-binned by the higher ups at CBS.
I've seen worse writing in other MMO's. Much, much worse. Plus you need to take into account that a lot of Star Trek lore is a little open-ended. Like someone mentioned above: Supposedly the Preservers seeded all life in our region of space as shown in the TNG episode "The Chase". However in the TNG episode "All Good Things" Q shows Picard the beginning of life on earth:
"Strange, isn't it? Everything you know, your entire civilization, it all begins right here in this little pond... of goo."
So which is it? Both of these accounts are hard lore straight from the series. But they are mutually exclusive. Which is it? Only one can be true. But if only one is true, then one of the episodes are non-canonical. But episodes from TNG can't be non-canonical because all the episodes are canon. Which is it? ANSWER ME NOW!!!
Both, the pool of goo is the seed the preservers used.
But yes, there are massive instances of inconsistency in canon Star Trek episodes that can't just be handwaved away.
Thursday, most likely. These episodes have always been featured for four weeks each. We should have gotten Midnight last week actually. I guess it got delayed for some reason.
The way this arc has disappointed me I can see a "war of the worlds" type ending where as nothing that was mentioned before ,like a simple flu virus simply makes them all drop dead
Tribbles! Iconians are deathly allergic to Tribbles! And we beam over boad loads of them to wipe them out!
A stationary battlezone for the heralds doesn't make any sense really. The only reason we have battlezones for the other reputations (Defera-Omega, New Romulus, Nukara, Dyson Sphere Battlezone, Undine Battlezone, and Kobali Prime) is because the locations make sense. With the exception of the Borg, none of the other enemies can really go anywhere they want, which is what you see with the Heralds. We can't just lock them in one area since they can come from anywhere. Sure, there's the Sphere, but we've already done 2 battlezones in the Solanae Dyson Sphere. I think sphere battlezones are done to death.
They basically did lock them down in 1 place. Only places to experience the Iconians is FEs and qued events. For the solo people they only see the FEs, and have to run a Kobali ground mission repeated just for marks. IF they want to do the Iconian Rep, and the mission has nothing to do with the "war".
Currently my Klingon is working on his Iconian Rep to help with exp and to get it over with. And he isn't even level 60 yet. Thus throwing that Rep goes with the story Arc out of the door. I just won't see what Sela says until I finally get to that part. So at least the Rep is out of the way and I can move on quickly through the story arc.
I don't think our next battle zone will be a sphere, so at least you don't have to worry on that one.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
The writing isn't that bad. I would like to see one of the nobodies here write a script that wouldn't get summarily trash-binned by the higher ups at CBS.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Also, implying that the "higher-ups" at CBS care about story quality control in a game where half the Dominion fleet is parked over Earth at any given time and the Federation's solution to any problem is "shoot all the things".
I've seen worse writing in other MMO's. Much, much worse.
Worse writing than building up an enemy threat for 5 years and then completely failing to make them have any kind of impact?
Over on WoW, Chris Metzen is basically vomiting into a bag and calling that the storyline for the next expansion, and even THAT is better than what we've gotten here, the sorriest excuse for a fake non-war I've ever seen in my life.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Oh really? The foundry is that way. Impress us.
Worse writing than building up an enemy threat for 5 years and then completely failing to make them have any kind of impact?
Over on WoW, Chris Metzen is basically vomiting into a bag and calling that the storyline for the next expansion, and even THAT is better than what we've gotten here, the sorriest excuse for a fake non-war I've ever seen in my life.
You should try some of the other free mmos out there. Go try just about anything by R2Games (warning: their games are pay-to-win trash of the worst kind) and you'll quickly realize that STO's writing isn't all that bad.
While I'll admit the writing could be better, and episodes like Butterfly should've probably been broken up into about 4 different episodes, this game does pretty well for what it is. As for World of W*rcraft, their writing is actually pretty spectacular, and I say that as someone who doesn't even like the current expansion.
I completely disagree. WoW story writing sucks TRIBBLE compared to what we get in STO. The episodes we get aren't that bad. I played WoW pre-Cata and it was bad even back then. Post-Cata it's gotten dumbed down to the point where I couldn't bear to go back even if I wanted to. Playing in some zones is as mentally appealing as watching teletubbies with a bunch of five year olds.
I wish STO had MORE episodes, as that would let them go more in-depth with the story but as long as players keep complaining about them there is little motivation for them to make more. They have to shorten things to fit within the timeframe allotted to us. They are doing good with what they have. IMO if you want better story in the Iconian arc, you should be requesting more Iconian episodes.
This goes back even to the Borg story arc. Everyone and their mother (except me) hates the Borg. Ever since I started playing years ago we have had only 5 Borg episodes. I would bet they don't feel compelled to expand upon that given how unpopular they are. Personally I would love to see like 20 Borg episodes - I think we should have a full-featured 20+episode arc for every story arc in the game. This gives them much more room to tell a compelling story.
If you think you can do better there's always the Foundry. Most foundry missions aren't nearly as good as the official missions. Granted I have seen a few exceptions, but for the most part Foundry missions come up short of Cryptic's work.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Oh really? The foundry is that way. Impress us.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
You should try some of the other free mmos out there. Go try just about anything by R2Games (warning: their games are pay-to-win trash of the worst kind) and you'll quickly realize that STO's writing isn't all that bad.
I've yet to see any concrete examples of writing worse than Butterfly Effect. Only hyperbole and excuses.
Butterfly Effect is trash from beginning to end. It contradicts itself multiple times. It is an idiot plot that relies on immense character stupidity to even move forward. It contradicts the canon of the Voyager episode it's based on (Year of Hell). It's resolution makes zero sense.
Perhaps worst of all, despite being the penultimate episode, and with the overall narrative having already failed to in any way project the supposed threat of the Iconians, the episode doesn't feature their involvement at all.
While I'll admit the writing could be better, and episodes like Butterfly should've probably been broken up into about 4 different episodes, this game does pretty well for what it is.
Then you are settling for less, when this game and it's story, f2p and low budget or not, could be so much more.
As for World of W*rcraft, their writing is actually pretty spectacular, and I say that as someone who doesn't even like the current expansion.
You confuse production values with good writing. WoW has plenty of pomp and spectacle, but it's writing is complete and utter garbage. It's just garbage that looks very pretty.
I completely disagree. WoW story writing sucks TRIBBLE compared to what we get in STO. The episodes we get aren't that bad. I played WoW pre-Cata and it was bad even back then. Post-Cata it's gotten dumbed down to the point where I couldn't bear to go back even if I wanted to. Playing in some zones is as mentally appealing as watching teletubbies with a bunch of five year olds.
Yes, most episodes are decent enough. Except for Butterfly Effect which I must stress again is ridiculously awful.
However, as I've pointed out, the overall narrative has been a complete failure, and their attempts to make up for the failed in-game storyline with these external "Tales from the War" short stories makes it all seem like some sort of parody.
Oh gee, there's a desperate war going on with systems being lost, lives on the line and desperate nations of the brink of defeat? Hey that sounds like a great game. Wish I could play it!
The whole Iconian war has objectively failed to live up to it's own promises, or to even feel like a war rather than an incidental skirmish against hammy overdressed aliens who are about as much of a threat to the Federation as the Kingdom of Equestria.
I wish STO had MORE episodes, as that would let them go more in-depth with the story but as long as players keep complaining about them there is little motivation for them to make more. They have to shorten things to fit within the timeframe allotted to us. They are doing good with what they have. IMO if you want better story in the Iconian arc, you should be requesting more Iconian episodes.
I don't necesarrily need more episodes. I need better episodes. Far better than Butterfly Effect, which, let me say again, is horrible trash and whoever wrote it should be sat down and forced to watch Year of Hell until they understand how to write a story about time alteration.
Of course, other episodes have heavy flaws too, such as the episode before last, where M'Tara dies of chronic stupidity. We need better quality episodes. Not more crappy ones.
This goes back even to the Borg story arc. Everyone and their mother (except me) hates the Borg. Ever since I started playing years ago we have had only 5 Borg episodes. I would bet they don't feel compelled to expand upon that given how unpopular they are. Personally I would love to see like 20 Borg episodes - I think we should have a full-featured 20+episode arc for every story arc in the game. This gives them much more room to tell a compelling story.
If you think you can do better there's always the Foundry. Most foundry missions aren't nearly as good as the official missions. Granted I have seen a few exceptions, but for the most part Foundry missions come up short of Cryptic's work.
Say what now? People don't hate the Borg. People love the Borg. People hate how stupid, weak and cheesy Voyager (and arguably First Contact) made them.
With the new feature episode coming soon which will include a lot of destruction, would it be safe to say that the USS Enterprise will be destroyed and will this lead the way to a new T6 Constitution class starship to usher in the new dawn of exploration.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Oh really? The foundry is that way. Impress us.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
Then don't claim you could make it better. If you could really do it "using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion" then a crappy UI shouldn't stop you for even a second.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
A mediocre UI is better than a wet pen, alien paper, etc. And it's not about "making up for cryptic's failings," it's about putting your money where your mouth is. If you really can make a better mission than Butterfly, then do it. Saying you can, followed up with what's basically, "I don't want to" isn't something anyone is going to respect.
I've yet to see any concrete examples of writing worse than Butterfly Effect. Only hyperbole and excuses.
No, what I gave you was the name of a game publisher with some of the worst writing imaginable. It's like they don't even try to write anything decently.
Butterfly Effect is trash from beginning to end. It contradicts itself multiple times. It is an idiot plot that relies on immense character stupidity to even move forward. It contradicts the canon of the Voyager episode it's based on (Year of Hell). It's resolution makes zero sense.
Perhaps worst of all, despite being the penultimate episode, and with the overall narrative having already failed to in any way project the supposed threat of the Iconians, the episode doesn't feature their involvement at all.
I don't think we're in disagreement that the episode could've been handled better.
Then you are settling for less, when this game and it's story, f2p and low budget or not, could be so much more.
The unfortunately very-real state of F2P games is that trash like lottery boxes and big moneymakers are always going to get a higher priority than storytelling. When I say this game is good for what it is, I mean it--most F2P games (again, look up some of the other ones on the market) don't even bother to tell a decent story. They just throw you in, level you quickly at first to get you hooked in, and then drop their cash shop obstacles in your path until you spend, spend, spend like a crack addict.
You confuse production values with good writing. WoW has plenty of pomp and spectacle, but it's writing is complete and utter garbage. It's just garbage that looks very pretty.
And yet, the warcraft universe has tons of story material floating around--both potential and already realized. The devs have admitted that Warlords of Draenor didn't go as well as they expected, including the fact that the story felt too disconnected from the gameplay. That problem wasn't the case during older expansions though, such as MoP. There's even world of warcraft novels. While sure, there's more star trek novels floating around, those novels didn't originate from STO, but from the star trek franchise itself.
You're pretty much mistaking one bad "season" of WoW storytelling with the entirety of WoW.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Oh really? The foundry is that way. Impress us.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
If you claim you can do better, and don't prove it, it's a pretty empty claim. Could just as well say that you would make a bug-free game and would not sell lockboxes to finance your MMO.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Oh really? The foundry is that way. Impress us.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
Then don't claim you could make it better. If you could really do it "using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion" then a crappy UI shouldn't stop you for even a second.
I stand by that claim. And if Cryptic ever called me on it I'd be ready.
Otherwise, I am not doing their job for them.
Also, you may misunderstand my point. I'm not saying I have particular writing talent here. I'm saying I could write something better than Butterfly Effect becausee anyone could.
Rick Berman could write something better. No, no. Roberto Orci could write something better. No, wait. Even L. Ron Hubbard could write something better than Butterfly. It's that terrible.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
A mediocre UI is better than a wet pen, alien paper, etc. And it's not about "making up for cryptic's failings," it's about putting your money where your mouth is. If you really can make a better mission than Butterfly, then do it. Saying you can, followed up with what's basically, "I don't want to" isn't something anyone is going to respect.
See my previous point. I could write something better right now, but the Foundry?
To what end? You do realise that the entire narrative of the Iconian NotWar is broken don't you?
No, what I gave you was the name of a game publisher with some of the worst writing imaginable. It's like they don't even try to write anything decently.
I've never heard of them, so you can either provide specific examples as I have or acknowledge that you're just making vague excuses.
I don't think we're in disagreement that the episode could've been handled better.
Then what is the point in defending it?
I can say when Cryptic have done well. The Vaadwaur arc was decent. Not spectacular, but for the budget and resources they had, it was executed well. The Vaadwaur felt like a threat, the episodes made sense and had a point and there was good usage of old Trek lore.
So I will in turn say when Cryptic have done despicably bad, and Butterfly Effect is their biggest failing yet.
The unfortunately very-real state of F2P games is that trash like lottery boxes and big moneymakers are always going to get a higher priority than storytelling. When I say this game is good for what it is, I mean it--most F2P games (again, look up some of the other ones on the market) don't even bother to tell a decent story. They just throw you in, level you quickly at first to get you hooked in, and then drop their cash shop obstacles in your path until you spend, spend, spend like a crack addict.
That's all unfortunate, and I agree perhaps unavoidable.
However, I say Cryptic can do better because they have done better.
And yet, the warcraft universe has tons of story material floating around--both potential and already realized. The devs have admitted that Warlords of Draenor didn't go as well as they expected, including the fact that the story felt too disconnected from the gameplay. That problem wasn't the case during older expansions though, such as MoP. There's even world of warcraft novels. While sure, there's more star trek novels floating around, those novels didn't originate from STO, but from the star trek franchise itself.
You're pretty much mistaking one bad "season" of WoW storytelling with the entirety of WoW.
Oh no I'm not, believe me. I detest the ridiculous story of MoP, the underwhelming story of Cataclysm and many of the novels are outright trash too. Especially anything by the self-important, lore ignoring, mary sue creating, misogynist hack known as Richard Knaak,
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Oh really? The foundry is that way. Impress us.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
If you claim you can do better, and don't prove it, it's a pretty empty claim. Could just as well say that you would make a bug-free game and would not sell lockboxes to finance your MMO.
I'm not sure how I need to "prove" a claim over an episode that is objectively terribly written.
But I'll give an example of what I wouldn't do; I wouldn't write an episode based entirely on "Year of Hell" and then contradict "Year of Hell" at almost every opportunity, as Butterfly does.
I must emphasize again that my point is not that I'm a good writer, it's that Butterfly is so wretched that whoever wrote this should be ashamed, and if whoever wrote this is by any small chance reading this: Your writing is bad and you should feel bad.
I'm very happy I didn't play any of the iconian story arc. Nothing against Cryptic, but to me, they were just better off being as a mystery race, always working in the background. I don't think any amount of good writing would have done them any justice.
Not like it matters anyway, STO has zero impact on Star Trek itself. If another movie or show came in around the same time line as STO, it'd be all but ignored.
Retired. I'm now in search for that perfect space anomaly.
Well, I am looking forward to the finale, I hope it will end with a good climax.
Cryptics Episode has just become better and better with the years; Voice overs, cutscenes, music etc etc.
I don't get stuck on the writing so much, it's Star trek, atleast Quinn and the Iconians are not making baby-lizards in the turbolift.
If Cryptic want really to be "unique", then start writing episodes outside the MMO box. Let the villian live and let the player be defeated or something in those lines.
Comments
Unless you are an advocate of the panspermia hypothesis, you will have to agree that life evolved on Earth will have very little in common with life which evolved elsewhere. You have, in fact, more in common with an oak tree than you are likely to have with any alien life and, as such, I would find it highly unlikely that an alien life form would find a human body to be habitable.
I agree that the Iconians have suffered setbacks. Setbacks for which they are likely unprepared, given their arrogance. It may be that we have already mortally wounded their efforts, though their blindness to their own weaknesses may conceal that fact from the Iconians for a time.
That's for real life.
In Star Trek, the whole galaxy was seeded by the Preservers (TNG: The Chase) who felt alone because it was void of any other life forms, which is one of the reasons we can have many hybrids in the shows.
Actually the fact that an alien lifeform probably wouldn't find our bodies habitable probably wouldn't stop them trying, nor would it stop them doing massive damage in their attempt.
In fact that fact could make it worse.
Could they have repaired this mess? Absolutely. So why didn't they? Why just let it ride? Are they really that lazy? Was the damage control forbidden by the brass? Did they decide that it would be too much effort to correct? And the questions go on, and on.
I have seen debacles like this before, Mass Effect 3's ending comes to mind, but this is a persistent world and that bad taste carries forward. I hate to say it, but the writing feels a lot like a TRIBBLE movie where you only have just enough story to get to what you are watching TRIBBLE for in the first place, it's just that STO has better music.
I am a silver player, that said, I still have around $450 to $550 spent on this game for ships, doodads, and such. So it isn't as if Cryptic isn't making money off of me. All I ask is that they toss me a bone on the story and don't jerk me around. For the most part, I enjoy STO. But the conclusion to the Iconian War blows like the North wind, and that's just on what I have played thus far.
Midnight is the name of the episode, not when it starts...
But even if not - as long as we are talking about literally organic life, it will be based on molecules that we are familiar with. For some reason, the ingredients of our DNA or the RNA were what really worked to create life on Earth, and it seems not very likely that there are actually viable alternative molecules that could have been just as successful as creating life. If there were, they'd be part of our current organic chemistry. It could certainly be that there are alternate molecules that would achieve the same - but since under similar environmental conditions, the ones we are made off are always more effective, they can't compete in the long run.
Of course, once we leave the realm of organic life, all bets are off. With a good chance we wouldn't even recognize each other, and that our different environments would be hostile to the other. The plus side is that we are not very likely to get into any conflicts, barring some aggressive cultural (religious) norm (like: "Our gods demands that we kill anything not created in their image. That means you, water-bags!")
I've seen worse writing in other MMO's. Much, much worse. Plus you need to take into account that a lot of Star Trek lore is a little open-ended. Like someone mentioned above: Supposedly the Preservers seeded all life in our region of space as shown in the TNG episode "The Chase". However in the TNG episode "All Good Things" Q shows Picard the beginning of life on earth:
"Strange, isn't it? Everything you know, your entire civilization, it all begins right here in this little pond... of goo."
So which is it? Both of these accounts are hard lore straight from the series. But they are mutually exclusive. Which is it? Only one can be true. But if only one is true, then one of the episodes are non-canonical. But episodes from TNG can't be non-canonical because all the episodes are canon. Which is it? ANSWER ME NOW!!!
Both, the pool of goo is the seed the preservers used.
But yes, there are massive instances of inconsistency in canon Star Trek episodes that can't just be handwaved away.
Yes, the Wisest Tribble will save us all!
They basically did lock them down in 1 place. Only places to experience the Iconians is FEs and qued events. For the solo people they only see the FEs, and have to run a Kobali ground mission repeated just for marks. IF they want to do the Iconian Rep, and the mission has nothing to do with the "war".
Currently my Klingon is working on his Iconian Rep to help with exp and to get it over with. And he isn't even level 60 yet. Thus throwing that Rep goes with the story Arc out of the door. I just won't see what Sela says until I finally get to that part. So at least the Rep is out of the way and I can move on quickly through the story arc.
I don't think our next battle zone will be a sphere, so at least you don't have to worry on that one.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
I could write a better episode than Butterfly Effect with my eyes closed using wet paper and a broken pen while drunk during an earthquake caused by an alien invasion.
Also, implying that the "higher-ups" at CBS care about story quality control in a game where half the Dominion fleet is parked over Earth at any given time and the Federation's solution to any problem is "shoot all the things".
Worse writing than building up an enemy threat for 5 years and then completely failing to make them have any kind of impact?
Over on WoW, Chris Metzen is basically vomiting into a bag and calling that the storyline for the next expansion, and even THAT is better than what we've gotten here, the sorriest excuse for a fake non-war I've ever seen in my life.
You should try some of the other free mmos out there. Go try just about anything by R2Games (warning: their games are pay-to-win trash of the worst kind) and you'll quickly realize that STO's writing isn't all that bad.
While I'll admit the writing could be better, and episodes like Butterfly should've probably been broken up into about 4 different episodes, this game does pretty well for what it is. As for World of W*rcraft, their writing is actually pretty spectacular, and I say that as someone who doesn't even like the current expansion.
I wish STO had MORE episodes, as that would let them go more in-depth with the story but as long as players keep complaining about them there is little motivation for them to make more. They have to shorten things to fit within the timeframe allotted to us. They are doing good with what they have. IMO if you want better story in the Iconian arc, you should be requesting more Iconian episodes.
This goes back even to the Borg story arc. Everyone and their mother (except me) hates the Borg. Ever since I started playing years ago we have had only 5 Borg episodes. I would bet they don't feel compelled to expand upon that given how unpopular they are. Personally I would love to see like 20 Borg episodes - I think we should have a full-featured 20+episode arc for every story arc in the game. This gives them much more room to tell a compelling story.
If you think you can do better there's always the Foundry. Most foundry missions aren't nearly as good as the official missions. Granted I have seen a few exceptions, but for the most part Foundry missions come up short of Cryptic's work.
And deal with the world's worst UI? No thanks.
Nevermind the fact that it's not my role to make up for Cryptic's failings.
I've yet to see any concrete examples of writing worse than Butterfly Effect. Only hyperbole and excuses.
Butterfly Effect is trash from beginning to end. It contradicts itself multiple times. It is an idiot plot that relies on immense character stupidity to even move forward. It contradicts the canon of the Voyager episode it's based on (Year of Hell). It's resolution makes zero sense.
Perhaps worst of all, despite being the penultimate episode, and with the overall narrative having already failed to in any way project the supposed threat of the Iconians, the episode doesn't feature their involvement at all.
Then you are settling for less, when this game and it's story, f2p and low budget or not, could be so much more.
You confuse production values with good writing. WoW has plenty of pomp and spectacle, but it's writing is complete and utter garbage. It's just garbage that looks very pretty.
Yes, most episodes are decent enough. Except for Butterfly Effect which I must stress again is ridiculously awful.
However, as I've pointed out, the overall narrative has been a complete failure, and their attempts to make up for the failed in-game storyline with these external "Tales from the War" short stories makes it all seem like some sort of parody.
Oh gee, there's a desperate war going on with systems being lost, lives on the line and desperate nations of the brink of defeat? Hey that sounds like a great game. Wish I could play it!
The whole Iconian war has objectively failed to live up to it's own promises, or to even feel like a war rather than an incidental skirmish against hammy overdressed aliens who are about as much of a threat to the Federation as the Kingdom of Equestria.
I don't necesarrily need more episodes. I need better episodes. Far better than Butterfly Effect, which, let me say again, is horrible trash and whoever wrote it should be sat down and forced to watch Year of Hell until they understand how to write a story about time alteration.
Of course, other episodes have heavy flaws too, such as the episode before last, where M'Tara dies of chronic stupidity. We need better quality episodes. Not more crappy ones.
Say what now? People don't hate the Borg. People love the Borg. People hate how stupid, weak and cheesy Voyager (and arguably First Contact) made them.
No, what I gave you was the name of a game publisher with some of the worst writing imaginable. It's like they don't even try to write anything decently.
I don't think we're in disagreement that the episode could've been handled better.
The unfortunately very-real state of F2P games is that trash like lottery boxes and big moneymakers are always going to get a higher priority than storytelling. When I say this game is good for what it is, I mean it--most F2P games (again, look up some of the other ones on the market) don't even bother to tell a decent story. They just throw you in, level you quickly at first to get you hooked in, and then drop their cash shop obstacles in your path until you spend, spend, spend like a crack addict.
And yet, the warcraft universe has tons of story material floating around--both potential and already realized. The devs have admitted that Warlords of Draenor didn't go as well as they expected, including the fact that the story felt too disconnected from the gameplay. That problem wasn't the case during older expansions though, such as MoP. There's even world of warcraft novels. While sure, there's more star trek novels floating around, those novels didn't originate from STO, but from the star trek franchise itself.
You're pretty much mistaking one bad "season" of WoW storytelling with the entirety of WoW.
You told me it was the Epohhs!
dont think so, but am i the only one who was blonde enough to think the mission name (Midnight) was the actual release time/ day XD
I stand by that claim. And if Cryptic ever called me on it I'd be ready.
Otherwise, I am not doing their job for them.
Also, you may misunderstand my point. I'm not saying I have particular writing talent here. I'm saying I could write something better than Butterfly Effect becausee anyone could.
Rick Berman could write something better. No, no. Roberto Orci could write something better. No, wait. Even L. Ron Hubbard could write something better than Butterfly. It's that terrible.
See my previous point. I could write something better right now, but the Foundry?
To what end? You do realise that the entire narrative of the Iconian NotWar is broken don't you?
I've never heard of them, so you can either provide specific examples as I have or acknowledge that you're just making vague excuses.
Then what is the point in defending it?
I can say when Cryptic have done well. The Vaadwaur arc was decent. Not spectacular, but for the budget and resources they had, it was executed well. The Vaadwaur felt like a threat, the episodes made sense and had a point and there was good usage of old Trek lore.
So I will in turn say when Cryptic have done despicably bad, and Butterfly Effect is their biggest failing yet.
That's all unfortunate, and I agree perhaps unavoidable.
However, I say Cryptic can do better because they have done better.
Oh no I'm not, believe me. I detest the ridiculous story of MoP, the underwhelming story of Cataclysm and many of the novels are outright trash too. Especially anything by the self-important, lore ignoring, mary sue creating, misogynist hack known as Richard Knaak,
I'm not sure how I need to "prove" a claim over an episode that is objectively terribly written.
But I'll give an example of what I wouldn't do; I wouldn't write an episode based entirely on "Year of Hell" and then contradict "Year of Hell" at almost every opportunity, as Butterfly does.
I must emphasize again that my point is not that I'm a good writer, it's that Butterfly is so wretched that whoever wrote this should be ashamed, and if whoever wrote this is by any small chance reading this: Your writing is bad and you should feel bad.
Not like it matters anyway, STO has zero impact on Star Trek itself. If another movie or show came in around the same time line as STO, it'd be all but ignored.
Cryptics Episode has just become better and better with the years; Voice overs, cutscenes, music etc etc.
I don't get stuck on the writing so much, it's Star trek, atleast Quinn and the Iconians are not making baby-lizards in the turbolift.
If Cryptic want really to be "unique", then start writing episodes outside the MMO box. Let the villian live and let the player be defeated or something in those lines.