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[AOY] - Observations on the early missions (bugs, graphics, gameplay and story)

ultimatenewbieultimatenewbie Member Posts: 269 Arc User
STO - Agents of Yesterday - Tribble Run 20160518 1930-2200 hrs local

To assist the developers, I made a note of issues that I encountered as I started playing Agents of Yesterday on the Tribble server. I started at the beginning of the first non-tutorial mission, so issues in the Tutorial are from memory (hence appalling spelling of names etc). Therefore they are listed are in chronological order - the numbers are a Priority scale 1-10 where 1 is the most important.

The below may appear as criticisms, but I just wanted to initially convey that I am very happy with the retro feel of the missions, the conversations (officers seemed much more gung-ho and American back then) and all the little details are nice. Well done!! Looking forward to the future iterations!

WARNING: This post includes spoilers.

Tutorial
  • 8. My default Tarsi has dark blonde hair with a medium blue skin - makes her look sickly green. Perhaps keep to white hair like in ENT?
  • 6. The shuttlecraft launch animation flies through the closed outer doors.
  • 3. Most NPCs, including Lt Marius, et al, fire ST:VOY era phaser rifles, rather than TOS era rifles. Damages immersion.
  • 4. Cave-apes' spears are invisible when actually shooting at you.
  • 7. Crewman Flores' body magically disappears despite dying immediately before the end of the cutscene.
  • 7. Lt Marius slides instead of runs from the three cave-apes
  • 7. The three cave-apes also slide along the ground instead of run
  • 7. Commander Spock slides along the ground instead of walks into the newly-promoted Admiral's office. He then runs out (instead of walks).
  • 6. The Admiral giving you command of the ship needs more explanation to make it logical - eg, why is he promoted to Admiral having just commanded this small ship, yet it is now OK for a junior Lieutenant to command it? Perhaps more back-story would help, that you've served together for longer and he thinks you're clearly capable and ready, plus he took command of that ship to develop you as an XO rather than as a frontline ship?

Explore Earth Spacedock
  • 1. Acquiring a Shuttlecraft requires 1 EC - but you have not been awarded any EC to date and therefore cannot purchase it. Therefore, you cannot finish the mission 'Explore Earth Spacedock'. (I sold my Large Shield Battery that I received as an item in the Tutorial).
  • 4. Earth Spacedock seems a little... cramped. In addition, the door to the main corridor to the Admiral's office is easily lost if you've run straight to the bar (a personal failing of mine... alas). Suggest some redesign so there is more of a 'backbone' corridor with relevant rooms hanging off it? Also, if you visit the rooms that have the Ship Selector NPC et al in them before you've spoken to the Admiral, they look strange with just randoms standing there - perhaps one of them could give you a stern warning to 'go talk to the Admiral' immediately?
  • 5. Tarsi BOFF has the Leadership trait, but is not Human. Skavrin has the Corrosive Blood trait but is not Andorian (et al), and does not have the Pig Headed trait like many/most Terrarites. Its almost as though Tarsi is actually a re-skinned Flores rather than a new BOFF from the ground up. Unless leadership was a deliberate trait choice given it would be useful to help keep new players alive in early space battle (at least, better than Corrosive Blood does).

In the Shadow of Cestus
  • 3. Earth Spacedock is surrounded by modern era starships (including a Ferengi D'Kora Marauder). Damages immersion.
  • 9. Player Profiles have a broken white box in the top left when you click on their Info tab in sector space.
  • 4. Sector space looks period appropriate (eg, the Map) but it should make actual destinations more visable compared to the random spots on the background. Still, I like how you are prevented from trying to cross the Neutral Zone (presumably Romulan Neutral Zone?) - you should get your TRIBBLE kicked not just a stern message from your XO :p.
  • 5. Random Generated Bridge Officer (science, in anticipation of a beam-down) is a Bajoran wearing the standard Odyssey uniform. Suggest new generator with TOS-era races only. Damages immersion.
  • 3. Female player characters beam down to planet's surface underpants first - skirt is beamed down (a second or so) later - kinda awkward.
  • 3. Scanning sounds align with Bridge Officer chat windows on the left, rather than the scanning action, resulting in a long scanning sound at each rock formation.
  • 7. The rock falling animation following the mortar hit is strange - including a split between daylight and shadow in the pass.
  • 5. Unclear where the Gorn are spawning from - why did they just appear at the bottom of the rockface?
  • 7. Fire in the Hole animation is very odd (why am I playing with my boot? Why not shoot the bomb?). In addition, why do I need the bamboo - i'm not using it as a ranged weapon like Kirk did; a pile of the relevant ingredients at the base of the rock would be better. If a shaped charge is desired, I'm again unsure that a bamboo tube would be sufficient (cf other material nearby, such as other rocks).
  • 6. The general plan of action suggested by your Tellarite is unnecessary - there is a rock pattern near the bamboo that - if it were not for map clipping - characters could progressively jump their way onto the ridgeline. Perhaps make more imposing?
  • 8. Investigate debris - no deflector scan animation.
  • 3. Charged Particle Burst instead leads to two warp animations - firstly in the direction I was flying, then second straight into the anomaly. Breaks immersion.
  • 3. In the animation, revealed Romulan ships are two Mogai and an upgraded T'Liss - not era appropriate. Romulan Captain is TOS era appropriate though, and the ships in battle are Romulan D7s so OK.
  • Upon turning the mission in, the next mission (Painful Omens) does not trigger - presumably this is because it hasnt been raised on Tribble yet?

I'm having fun! :)
Post edited by ultimatenewbie on

Comments

  • dirlettiadirlettia Member Posts: 1,632 Arc User
    edited May 2016
    I just imagine that Garrett is actually a Temporal Agent himself who operates as a recruiter hence why we get Daniels, sorry Hunter, as part of our crew when we go to the shadow of Cestus mission.

    As far as the Mogai's etc go who is to say they are not future ships with holoprojectors on them which dont kick in immediately on exposure considering the plots of later episodes. In theory we shouldnt normally detect a cloaked ship so maybe that is not what we were looking at on sensors.

    It does look funny though to see Spock so emotional when he runs in to congratulate us on our promotion. :D

    Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
  • ultimatenewbieultimatenewbie Member Posts: 269 Arc User
    dirlettia wrote: »
    I just imagine that Garrett is actually a Temporal Agent himself who operates as a recruiter hence why we get Daniels, sorry Hunter, as part of our crew when we go to the shadow of Cestus mission.

    Yeah sure, but that could still be set up better in the storyline rather than a 'surprise, you're captain now!' message from your former CO. It just had a bolt-from-the-blue feeling to it. Plus my suggested further detail would still be consistent with Garrett being a Temporal Agent recruiting you...
    As far as the Mogai's etc go who is to say they are not future ships with holoprojectors on them which dont kick in immediately on exposure considering the plots of later episodes. In theory we shouldnt normally detect a cloaked ship so maybe that is not what we were looking at on sensors.

    Yeah, I thought of that too - but then presumably we'd get our arses totally kicked by three starships that are some 300+ years more advanced than us and the random Gorn ship that we had almost killed already. A holoprojector wouldnt save us - and nor could we kill them with their Mogai consoles!! ;)
  • lighte007lighte007 Member Posts: 390 Arc User
    I was thinking the same thing about 'Hunter' being Daniels from the Future. xP
    The Rising of the Delta is the best expansion ever, and people love it to death because it is a good day to die in the endless struggle for supremacy of your own conviction. (A spin off of the Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and all the players love it.)
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