1. The dual morality play was too much to try and cram into one episode imo. Ended up feeling very forced and clunky.
2. What in the word happened to our shy, inquisitive Lukari friend ? She seemed to do a complete 180' in this episode. All of a sudden she went from humble explorer to an overconfident soldier type.
Another issue I had was the scene where she discusses Diplomacy. She's seems super happy, and this is right after 1000's of her long lost cousins were murdered in cold blood.
I couldn't buy it.
Also leads me back to my original theory on Kumarkaree, that in the end she will be the Big Bad to this arc. Similar to how the Krenim went rogue and stole the Annorax.
3. Under utilized Map. The city map was great but not used to its full potential. I felt like I had just gotten there when we had to beam up. I also feel there were way too many instance changes, beam up/beam down/beam up/beam down/beam on board... too many changes to keep the atmosphere and the story flowing. I felt most of this mission could've taken place on this beautifully crafted ground map. A shame since Im sure a lot of hard work went into it.
I'd like the devs to consider this in future. When you've created a great map, make good use of it ! Don't rush us out of a beautifully crafted map.
We could've done much more in the city... like help the sick, hand out rebreathers... learn more about their history through npcs on map. I wouldve welcomed even more combat if only to hang around longer. News stand was a nice though.
4. What in the world happened to the Kentari.. They looked nothing like their Lukari cousins. Did they get hit in the face with the ugly bat ? I realize this is highly superficial, but something about the Kentari made me sick to my stomach.. Yes beauty is on the inside, but my eye's beholder couldn't find anything attractive about them, inside or out. They kind of just creeped me out.
And the lack of anything visually similar between the two sister races really didn't do anything to make me believe these were long lost factions of the same species.
Conclusion;
You guys can do much better (as seen with the last several episodes released). Just keep it simple stupid, as the old saying goes. Too much was crammed into this ep, too many instance changes, under utilization of a great map, and lack of story flow cohesion.
I think the reason why this didn't work is because it felt as if there was no consequences or repercussions for the actions taken.
Even the TNG morality episodes give the viewer something to think about by episode end, even if the morality play is clunky and bangs you over the head with it.
We didn't get that here, there was no bite to the message. Therefore this episode ends up being convoluted and forgettable.
The city map is just amazing. Please can we get more places like that to visit, or even better some social zones like that, add in some seedy gambling dens and bars, or black market arms sellers.
Very cool Blade Runner or Deus Ex feeling going on there. Such a shame these epic looking maps we are getting these days (Montana map was another one) are limited in use or access.
The new stands was a nice touch, as was the pollution hurting our team. And the general feeling of a planet that's divided was pretty neat. What makes that Prime Minister so worth our trust? Clearly she's one of the elite who lives above the smog, she is probably part of the problem that left the poor people dying down there.
The political side didn't bother me at all. ST has always had some degree of social commentary and a few risks have been taken over the years, or a few jabs at the real world situation. No reason a certain government and leader now should be excluded.
I thought the combat was pretty well done, except for the bit on the moon after hit got nuked. Surely there should be nobody down there and those guys beamed in couldn't our ships in orbit put a stop to that or warn us. Why didn't the Lukari beam down a whole squad of guys to help defend their tech if they thought it was going to get violent down there.
The restoration part was a little bit rushed,should maybe have left that aspect to the next episode. Have us start off restoring the moon then get rushed away to the next mission proper.
I just think the moon shouldn't have been restored at all, or it should have taken much much longer. There's no point throwing in a cataclysm that could change an entire civilisation and then reversing it with the push of a button....
The whole episode itself was fine for me till they whipped out a Genesis device on the moon. That was a bit unexpected and the whole "oh well" feeling at the loss of life on said moon people wise made me happy to leave the Kentar and not come back.
You're ignoring a few things. One, that the Trads seemed to be losing, the PM was a progressive for example. And whether anyone likes it or not, sometimes capitalism gets it right. Have you noticed the articles saying it's too late for Trump to save coal because technology has rendered it obsolete and business is going where the money is. Natural gas is cheaper and easier to extract, so it's kicking coal's tail in the market and renewables especially solar are now cheaper still and winning in the market as well. Our own Trads are fighting it tooth and nail and they have delayed it for decades, but the superior technology is winning and those who don't jump on the future train will be left behind. In the case of the Kentari, if the asteroid mineral really does work as a superior energy source, someone is going to want to make money on it bring a better cheaper product to market and reap the profits by outperforming the competition.
You said it yourself, evolution can be delayed but it cannot be stopped.
I say why wait? Also, as you said, the opponents are going to fight to keep their power and profit as long as possible....perhaps even do some rather despicable things to do it....you really think they would NOT attempt to have the people they find as a threat to their power murdered....er, sorry....have them 'commit suicide', 'a heart attack' or 'tragic accident'? I mean the CIA, for example, years ago, admitted that have what they call a 'heart attack gun' which fires darts that have a poison that causes cardiac arrest. The government of that planet, more likely than not, has some sort of Alphabet Agency, like the CIA, FBI, NSA...groups I often refer to as "murder incorporated", which have both equipment, and the lack of ethics, to have certain people or groups rubbed out if it looks like the tables might get turned. I could see some of their alphabet agencies pull a Stan Meyers on the folks threatening status quo.
And I say, why delay it if one can have it now? I mean look at slavery in the history of the US....it took a couple of centuries to get rid of it...and I am so sure that those folks who were born as slaves, and died as slaves, really appreciated the notion of going slowly and not diving into it. I say if the new technology and science is available, I say get it out, and let the opposition, such as big oil, eat cake. Don't let evolution be delayed. I mean, having the oil industry, the petro dollar (which is akin to 'protection money' like the Mafia were known for), and tons of macro economic and public utilities go belly up, as it were is not going to have me weeping, since I don't have sympathy for bullies and ********. And would mean a few less excuses when the powers that be want to invade...or, 'liberate' other countries that just happen to have tons of oil and so on, and licking their lips at the prospect of getting their fat fingers into it.
Besides, the image of some, like TRIBBLE Cheney, for example, seeing his kingdom crumble.....and him jumping out of a 50th story window, while on the way down, slitting his own throat and screaming "GOD DAMMIT!" would make it even sweeter.
1. The dual morality play was too much to try and cram into one episode imo. Ended up feeling very forced and clunky.
2. What in the word happened to our shy, inquisitive Lukari friend ? She seemed to do a complete 180' in this episode. All of a sudden she went from humble explorer to an overconfident soldier type.
Another issue I had was the scene where she discusses Diplomacy. She's seems super happy, and this is right after 1000's of her long lost cousins were murdered in cold blood.
I couldn't buy it.
Also leads me back to my original theory on Kumarkaree, that in the end she will be the Big Bad to this arc. Similar to how the Krenim went rogue and stole the Annorax.
3. Under utilized Map. The city map was great but not used to its full potential. I felt like I had just gotten there when we had to beam up. I also feel there were way too many instance changes, beam up/beam down/beam up/beam down/beam on board... too many changes to keep the atmosphere and the story flowing. I felt most of this mission could've taken place on this beautifully crafted ground map. A shame since Im sure a lot of hard work went into it.
I'd like the devs to consider this in future. When you've created a great map, make good use of it ! Don't rush us out of a beautifully crafted map.
We could've done much more in the city... like help the sick, hand out rebreathers... learn more about their history through npcs on map. I wouldve welcomed even more combat if only to hang around longer. News stand was a nice though.
4. What in the world happened to the Kentari.. They looked nothing like their Lukari cousins. Did they get hit in the face with the ugly bat ? I realize this is highly superficial, but something about the Kentari made me sick to my stomach.. Yes beauty is on the inside, but my eye's beholder couldn't find anything attractive about them, inside or out. They kind of just creeped me out.
And the lack of anything visually similar between the two sister races really didn't do anything to make me believe these were long lost factions of the same species.
Conclusion;
You guys can do much better (as seen with the last several episodes released). Just keep it simple stupid, as the old saying goes. Too much was crammed into this ep, too many instance changes, under utilization of a great map, and lack of story flow cohesion.
I think the reason why this didn't work is because it felt as if there was no consequences or repercussions for the actions taken.
Even the TNG morality episodes give the viewer something to think about by episode end, even if the morality play is clunky and bangs you over the head with it.
We didn't get that here, there was no bite to the message. Therefore this episode ends up being convoluted and forgettable.
Well, with 2: I say when one sees something so bad in person, you can't help but react in such a way. And seeing people literally sick and left to die on the streets, for merely not being able to make enough money to afford access to clean air, and the planet having been treated no better than a toilet....I'd say she's got reason to be upset.....and with the moon bit, she's also seen some blood and guts already....probably she also looked up recent stuff like the Vaaduar and Iconian conflicts. Remember Picard did not start gushing when the Yamato went boom....
4: The planet, as mentioned, was treated no better than a toilet.....the chemicals in the pollutants were in the air, water and ground (thus transferring to the food supply) probably led to mutations and disfigurements. In Genesis of the Daleks, the Mutos were people who were born disfigured and were kicked out of their societies, forced to live in the wilderness....all of it caused by chemical weapons in the first century of Skaro's 1,000 year war. And real life examples are those depleted uranium round that some GENIUS <----(insert extreme sarcasm here, folks) thought would be a great idea to use in combat....and in those areas you got children being born with really hideous deformities. Hell, there was a time where smoking during a pregnancy was considered ok and normal......I'm sure that caused a few problems.
The moral of the story to this quest might be clunky and bangs ya on the head, anything that causes any sort of arguments works for me.....
1. The dual morality play was too much to try and cram into one episode imo. Ended up feeling very forced and clunky.
2. What in the word happened to our shy, inquisitive Lukari friend ? She seemed to do a complete 180' in this episode. All of a sudden she went from humble explorer to an overconfident soldier type.
Another issue I had was the scene where she discusses Diplomacy. She's seems super happy, and this is right after 1000's of her long lost cousins were murdered in cold blood.
I couldn't buy it.
Also leads me back to my original theory on Kumarkaree, that in the end she will be the Big Bad to this arc. Similar to how the Krenim went rogue and stole the Annorax.
3. Under utilized Map. The city map was great but not used to its full potential. I felt like I had just gotten there when we had to beam up. I also feel there were way too many instance changes, beam up/beam down/beam up/beam down/beam on board... too many changes to keep the atmosphere and the story flowing. I felt most of this mission could've taken place on this beautifully crafted ground map. A shame since Im sure a lot of hard work went into it.
I'd like the devs to consider this in future. When you've created a great map, make good use of it ! Don't rush us out of a beautifully crafted map.
We could've done much more in the city... like help the sick, hand out rebreathers... learn more about their history through npcs on map. I wouldve welcomed even more combat if only to hang around longer. News stand was a nice though.
4. What in the world happened to the Kentari.. They looked nothing like their Lukari cousins. Did they get hit in the face with the ugly bat ? I realize this is highly superficial, but something about the Kentari made me sick to my stomach.. Yes beauty is on the inside, but my eye's beholder couldn't find anything attractive about them, inside or out. They kind of just creeped me out.
And the lack of anything visually similar between the two sister races really didn't do anything to make me believe these were long lost factions of the same species.
Conclusion;
You guys can do much better (as seen with the last several episodes released). Just keep it simple stupid, as the old saying goes. Too much was crammed into this ep, too many instance changes, under utilization of a great map, and lack of story flow cohesion.
I think the reason why this didn't work is because it felt as if there was no consequences or repercussions for the actions taken.
Even the TNG morality episodes give the viewer something to think about by episode end, even if the morality play is clunky and bangs you over the head with it.
We didn't get that here, there was no bite to the message. Therefore this episode ends up being convoluted and forgettable.
Well, with 2: I say when one sees something so bad in person, you can't help but react in such a way. And seeing people literally sick and left to die on the streets, for merely not being able to make enough money to afford access to clean air, and the planet having been treated no better than a toilet....I'd say she's got reason to be upset.....and with the moon bit, she's also seen some blood and guts already....probably she also looked up recent stuff like the Vaaduar and Iconian conflicts. Remember Picard did not start gushing when the Yamato went boom....
4: The planet, as mentioned, was treated no better than a toilet.....the chemicals in the pollutants were in the air, water and ground (thus transferring to the food supply) probably led to mutations and disfigurements. In Genesis of the Daleks, the Mutos were people who were born disfigured and were kicked out of their societies, forced to live in the wilderness....all of it caused by chemical weapons in the first century of Skaro's 1,000 year war. And real life examples are those depleted uranium round that some GENIUS <----(insert extreme sarcasm here, folks) thought would be a great idea to use in combat....and in those areas you got children being born with really hideous deformities. Hell, there was a time where smoking during a pregnancy was considered ok and normal......I'm sure that caused a few problems.
The moral of the story to this quest might be clunky and bangs ya on the head, anything that causes any sort of arguments works for me.....
2. Yeah, I can see what you mean Bailey. I just found her reaction was out of character. She seemed so nice, and empathetic before, then all of sudden seeing her get upset and angry was a bit jarring. But I suppose we all have our breaking points.
The diplomacy scene near the end felt off to me because much like ME 4, the dialog doesn't always line up with the mood of the mission. In certain dialogs I felt as if her lines were recorded in a vacuum without proper context.
But in truth the majority of her lines were well delivered, with a few exceptions. Perhaps I'm being too harsh about a minor thing here though. Next playthrough I'll pay close attention to the dialogs.
4. That's a pretty good point that I hadn't considered. Good head canon there.
The city map is beautiful, but sadly wasted on nothing more than a accolade quest. Aside from the moon vaporization and instant resurrection (which was total eyeroll) the mission was pretty standard meh.
So they fixxed the protomater decay problem from the original Genesis torpedo ?
Given how few people were actually working on it... Seriously, a handful of people who are mostly working in secret made the first Genesis device.
I suspect the reason Starfleet doesn't know how to use Protomatter safely is that the Vulcans gave up on researching it and told everyone else it was a lost cause.... kinda like how they gave up on Time Travel research in Ent era...
The thing is though Kuumarke's hostility to the Kentari (and yours too it seems) comes from a place of privilege. Yeah the pollution sucks, yes there are poor and miserable people but the Kentari are NOT the Federation and they do NOT have the kinds of technological and resource advantages our heroes do. They have to generate power somehow, don't they? Can you imagine how much MORE miserable everyone would be if the power went out? If their economy collapsed? At least they're feeding everyone, which is a hell of a lot better than real-world Earth can say. The street level of that city is vastly ahead of the horrors of third world poverty hell on modern Earth. And like I said, they have gotten a hell of a lot father than Star Trek Earth did at a similar point of development. They have a mostly intact population in a highly developed city with a one world government and no civil wars, where Earth at a similar point was a radioactive wasteland from a WMD-throwing world war rife with atrocities that would give Hitler a raging boner and a death toll of billions. Get off the high horse! Yes they have problems and things could be better, and they need to get better. But looking down your nose at them like they're monsters because they haven't achieved utopia on limited resources with limited technological capabilities is just plain arrogant and judgemental.
They need help, not scorn. And their Trads need their fears soothed, as they see the benefits roll in and their own lives improve they'll get used to the new status quo. Give them fusion generators and do the work of installing them in place of the "chemical and atomic" generators they have now, and some atmosphere scrubbers, and things will improve a lot. Insulting them won't help anyone.
You're forgetting the history of the Kentari and Lukari: The Lukari tried to push for change on their original shared homeworld of Kentar, as the ecosystem of that planet was close to collapse. The Kentari thanked them by forcing them into exile. Remember the reaction when you and Kuumarke found the old Kentar in that other mission: The planet is now uninhabitable due to the pollution done by the traditionalist ways.
So her reaction when she sees that they have learned NOTHING from losing their original homeworld and instead managed to push their new home of New Kentar to the brink of ecological collapse yet AGAIN by just doing business as usual as well as still denying that the Lukari were right back then, instead trying to supress them yet again, deserves ALL the scorn imo.
The thing is though Kuumarke's hostility to the Kentari (and yours too it seems) comes from a place of privilege. Yeah the pollution sucks, yes there are poor and miserable people but the Kentari are NOT the Federation and they do NOT have the kinds of technological and resource advantages our heroes do. They have to generate power somehow, don't they? Can you imagine how much MORE miserable everyone would be if the power went out? If their economy collapsed? At least they're feeding everyone, which is a hell of a lot better than real-world Earth can say. The street level of that city is vastly ahead of the horrors of third world poverty hell on modern Earth. And like I said, they have gotten a hell of a lot father than Star Trek Earth did at a similar point of development. They have a mostly intact population in a highly developed city with a one world government and no civil wars, where Earth at a similar point was a radioactive wasteland from a WMD-throwing world war rife with atrocities that would give Hitler a raging boner and a death toll of billions. Get off the high horse! Yes they have problems and things could be better, and they need to get better. But looking down your nose at them like they're monsters because they haven't achieved utopia on limited resources with limited technological capabilities is just plain arrogant and judgemental.
They need help, not scorn. And their Trads need their fears soothed, as they see the benefits roll in and their own lives improve they'll get used to the new status quo. Give them fusion generators and do the work of installing them in place of the "chemical and atomic" generators they have now, and some atmosphere scrubbers, and things will improve a lot. Insulting them won't help anyone.
You're forgetting the history of the Kentari and Lukari: The Lukari tried to push for change on their original shared homeworld of Kentar, as the ecosystem of that planet was close to collapse. The Kentari thanked them by forcing them into exile. Remember the reaction when you and Kuumarke found the old Kentar in that other mission: The planet is now uninhabitable due to the pollution done by the traditionalist ways.
So her reaction when she sees that they have learned NOTHING from losing their original homeworld and instead managed to push their new home of New Kentar to the brink of ecological collapse yet AGAIN by just doing business as usual as well as still denying that the Lukari were right back then, instead trying to supress them yet again, deserves ALL the scorn imo.
Also, it shows that governments NEED to be kept on a short leash...since the mess our world is in is caused by governments being let to do what they want. History shows that major change is not done by governments.....but by regular people...democracy with a smell letter "d". In the 1950's and 1960's, it was NOT the government who said "You know, let's give black people equality!", nope...it was started by a woman who, instead of giving up her seat to a white guy, and pretty much told folks what the establishment can go do with itself.
Also, I mentioned Nikola Telsa before....and regardless if you think the clean safe energy he was going to try and give to the world, thus freeing us from one of the most effective forms of slavery.....look how those, like JP Morgan and Thomas Edison reacted...by pulling the plug on it all.....had Tesla been given a chance, it is possible, if his work proved to be true, all that stuff we see on the Jetsons, Back to the Future 2 and even Star Trek could have been happening now. But a world as seen in those listed series is a nightmare come true to those in power. Don't believe me? Look up all around us....wars going on every day....oil, lithium, opium and so on being the biggest reasons.....money, and something even more cherished than wealth....POWER. The Trads in the episode are trying to do what is known as "Black Shelving" in my opinion.
And Meow.....slavery with financial/debt can be WORSE than WMD. Thinking you are free, when you are not.
This lil video pretty much goes over this better than I can https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ <----some cussing is in there, just to warn you sensitive folks.
The main Trad is probably just another puppet official who is too busy bending over and smootching the hind end of the special interest folks who are the ones who'd truly loose what they got, should the new technology come out.
Nice ground map with nifty accolades. Gotta say I took a while to finding all of the alleys.
Now I'm wondering if the breathing masks one gets from Elachi missions would help against the noxious gases that keep disabling/slowing you on the map.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
overall fun, predictable as all hell plot. Again gorgeous maps. Glad my Romulans keep their re-breathers handy.
Loved seeing the generic ships finally get used and used well.... now when do they drop in the Cash Store???
Also the ending cutscene is lol kinds of TRIBBLE up... shows a 23c gorn, generic X-Wing, and your ship flying away.
Considering the direction some of these comments are taking, I'm going to caution everyone to keep things friendly. I'd rather not censor anyone here, as Cryptic is wanting the honest feedback, so let's not let things get out of hand with the socio-politcal commentary.
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If I recall correctly, the original Kentari world fell to a world war, not environmental collapse. You do have a point about them not doing as well as one might hope from the lessons of the first world. However, one shouldn't ignore that they have made significant progress and continue to do so. The Lukari also have the benefit of being a small population, which makes everything vastly easier. Providing for a population of a few million on a planet without jeopardizing the environment is a lot easier than tens of billions like the Kentari seem to be supporting. Looking at the planet from space, it looks like that city spans most of the available landmass so that's a LOT of people to take care of! The fact that they're feeding them all and most of them aren't on the streets is a hell of an accomplishment on limited resources.
And one more time, the Prime Minister is a progressive and she JUMPS at the chance to accept help. She recognizes the problems and wants to solve them. Kentar's problems mostly stem from their population outstripping their technology (in particular clean power generation), as their actual inequality isn't that bad relatively speaking. Lower floors and pollution are a hell of a lot better than third world conditions on this planet, and all things considered penthouse suites vs lower floor apartments isn't that huge a gap compared to the sprawling mansions and gated communities and such our own rich live in while the poorest struggle in shantytowns built from scrap. The worst off Kentari live better than a few billion of our worst off ones.
Kuumarke wasn't wrong, but she was way too harsh and ignoring the challenges the Kentari face that would make achieving better difficult even if there wasn't any sociopolitical resistance at all. Give them fusion reactor tech and spare the insults.
One thing that struck me as possible subtext is that Kuumarke and other Lukari we've seen are pink skinned and the Kentari are blue-skinned which makes me wonder if their split has an unmentioned racial element. It might also explain some of the animosity --on BOTH sides.
And finally, someone who sees "anti-Trump" in a simple message of "don't ruin your environment and keep people in miserable poverty", well that says more about your own perception of things than those of the writers of this episode.
Even a slave master needs to feed his or her slaves in order to continue to be obedient workers.
And unless the technology comes out right away, as opposed to another poster who said it has to be slow, drip-drip in doing so....you'll pretty much have to pull out a Georgia Guidestones and pretty much do a massive depopulation program...which all that chemical toxicity is doing half the job of already. And if one wants to solve problems regarding first world/third world in a world that still uses money, one might need to look exactly where the money is being spent...some planets...not naming any directly ~innocent whistle~ tends to say they have no money to spend on feeding and healing people and getting better technology and energy out, yet there's always money to spend on warfare and killing.
Also one does not need to ruin an environment in order to prevent miserable poverty. You CAN have your cake and eat it, too. It simply takes a few things: 1: Realizing the planet is going to be around long after you are gone, and that future generations will be around on the planet, don't make things bad for them, just for your own convenience. 2: Set aside ego of "we're right and they are wrong!" and actually work together. 3: You can't eat or breathe money...nor is anything really won after you are the last one standing after killing everyone else for that last barrel of oil, or the equivalent of. 4: The gap between the haves and the have nots will, eventually get to a point where the have nots will say "Enough is enough!" and try to pull a French Revolution....results in the deaths of thousands, if not more, on both sides.
And if artificially created, and enforced status quos happen, like seen in the episode, one has every right to spit insults at the perpetrators.
As for the differences in skin colors, it is possible with the mutation theory I posted in regards to the exposure of chemicals and radiation over the centuries. I mean we still are not sure as to why Romulans have speed bumps on their foreheads, where as Vulcans do not.
Well if Kentar tech is that low what are they powering their starships with. I also suspect we have to let the Lukari deal with this matter on their own due to the Prime Directive.
As for the differences in skin colors, it is possible with the mutation theory I posted in regards to the exposure of chemicals and radiation over the centuries. I mean we still are not sure as to why Romulans have speed bumps on their foreheads, where as Vulcans do not.
Personally, I'm going with the mutation/exposure to toxic pollution as the reasoning behind the skin color differences between the Lukari and Kentari. As for the Romulans, it's been established in-game that the Romulans stopped off on Dewa III after the Sundering, and apparently long enough for there to be Romulan ruins left behind. We know that Dewa III had been highly radioactive since the Dewans attempted to open the Iconian Gateway. Perhaps, the exposure to that radiation is what altered the Romulans' appearance over time.
Well if Kentar tech is that low what are they powering their starships with. I also suspect we have to let the Lukari deal with this matter on their own due to the Prime Directive.
The magic of bad writing. If one is advanced enough to build starships, pollution is only a problem because the writers mandated that it's a problem.
They could be using a power source that is just as toxic as the Malon, who are also a spacefaring race with their own pollution issues.
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I also suspect we have to let the Lukari deal with this matter on their own due to the Prime Directive.
Yes, it would be like that by the wording of the PD. However, ST zigzagged a little here, sometimes implicitely interpreting it as only pertinent to pre-warp civs (which Lukari and Kentari aren't), since "mention of space travel" wouldn't be a thing with them.
The magic of bad writing. If one is advanced enough to build starships, pollution is only a problem because the writers mandated that it's a problem.
That's quite an assumption. Make that two. And a half.
(a) while technologies are very interdependent, different cultures have, already on earth during history, very different levels in different fields. Just because one civ conquers both the problems of pollution and space travel, others may only get one or the other.
(b) being able to use a technology isn't necessarily the same as using it or wanting to use it. We do have the technology on earth to cover most of our (current) energy needs with renewable energy. However, we don't do it, for different reasons.
(b½) it doesn't even have to be "bad writing" in itself if it were otherwise. Literatur, movies, and nowadays games, exist to tell a "what if" story. Granted, the morals taken from these may be devalued, but the story itself could hold. Not so much within the ST universe, granted, which - in general - tries to follow "hard science unless needed otherwise" and "like reality unless noted differently".
You are quite right, Cryptic did ask for the community opinion of the story line and that is what most of the comments I read are. While some of the people are way out in left field; the majority of us are calling it as we see it. There are a lot of issues with this story; much of which doesn't make any sense at all.
Not sure here if the left field comment is intended to have a double meaning ("out of left field" as "totally unrelated/unexpected" plus political direction). If not, okay. If it is intended to have this connotation - and I am reading it as if it was - please don't count me in for majority determination - on an American scale I would be on the far left. Though in Europe I'm more of a centrist.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
That's quite an assumption. Make that two. And a half.
It's not an assumption, rather it's not giving in to wishful thinking. And "what if" stories work at lot better if they were believable. This one wasn't.
Comments
2. What in the word happened to our shy, inquisitive Lukari friend ? She seemed to do a complete 180' in this episode. All of a sudden she went from humble explorer to an overconfident soldier type.
Another issue I had was the scene where she discusses Diplomacy. She's seems super happy, and this is right after 1000's of her long lost cousins were murdered in cold blood.
I couldn't buy it.
Also leads me back to my original theory on Kumarkaree, that in the end she will be the Big Bad to this arc. Similar to how the Krenim went rogue and stole the Annorax.
3. Under utilized Map. The city map was great but not used to its full potential. I felt like I had just gotten there when we had to beam up. I also feel there were way too many instance changes, beam up/beam down/beam up/beam down/beam on board... too many changes to keep the atmosphere and the story flowing. I felt most of this mission could've taken place on this beautifully crafted ground map. A shame since Im sure a lot of hard work went into it.
I'd like the devs to consider this in future. When you've created a great map, make good use of it ! Don't rush us out of a beautifully crafted map.
We could've done much more in the city... like help the sick, hand out rebreathers... learn more about their history through npcs on map. I wouldve welcomed even more combat if only to hang around longer. News stand was a nice though.
4. What in the world happened to the Kentari.. They looked nothing like their Lukari cousins. Did they get hit in the face with the ugly bat ? I realize this is highly superficial, but something about the Kentari made me sick to my stomach.. Yes beauty is on the inside, but my eye's beholder couldn't find anything attractive about them, inside or out. They kind of just creeped me out.
And the lack of anything visually similar between the two sister races really didn't do anything to make me believe these were long lost factions of the same species.
Conclusion;
You guys can do much better (as seen with the last several episodes released). Just keep it simple stupid, as the old saying goes. Too much was crammed into this ep, too many instance changes, under utilization of a great map, and lack of story flow cohesion.
I think the reason why this didn't work is because it felt as if there was no consequences or repercussions for the actions taken.
Even the TNG morality episodes give the viewer something to think about by episode end, even if the morality play is clunky and bangs you over the head with it.
We didn't get that here, there was no bite to the message. Therefore this episode ends up being convoluted and forgettable.
Very cool Blade Runner or Deus Ex feeling going on there. Such a shame these epic looking maps we are getting these days (Montana map was another one) are limited in use or access.
The new stands was a nice touch, as was the pollution hurting our team. And the general feeling of a planet that's divided was pretty neat. What makes that Prime Minister so worth our trust? Clearly she's one of the elite who lives above the smog, she is probably part of the problem that left the poor people dying down there.
The political side didn't bother me at all. ST has always had some degree of social commentary and a few risks have been taken over the years, or a few jabs at the real world situation. No reason a certain government and leader now should be excluded.
I thought the combat was pretty well done, except for the bit on the moon after hit got nuked. Surely there should be nobody down there and those guys beamed in couldn't our ships in orbit put a stop to that or warn us. Why didn't the Lukari beam down a whole squad of guys to help defend their tech if they thought it was going to get violent down there.
The restoration part was a little bit rushed,should maybe have left that aspect to the next episode. Have us start off restoring the moon then get rushed away to the next mission proper.
I say why wait? Also, as you said, the opponents are going to fight to keep their power and profit as long as possible....perhaps even do some rather despicable things to do it....you really think they would NOT attempt to have the people they find as a threat to their power murdered....er, sorry....have them 'commit suicide', 'a heart attack' or 'tragic accident'? I mean the CIA, for example, years ago, admitted that have what they call a 'heart attack gun' which fires darts that have a poison that causes cardiac arrest. The government of that planet, more likely than not, has some sort of Alphabet Agency, like the CIA, FBI, NSA...groups I often refer to as "murder incorporated", which have both equipment, and the lack of ethics, to have certain people or groups rubbed out if it looks like the tables might get turned. I could see some of their alphabet agencies pull a Stan Meyers on the folks threatening status quo.
And I say, why delay it if one can have it now? I mean look at slavery in the history of the US....it took a couple of centuries to get rid of it...and I am so sure that those folks who were born as slaves, and died as slaves, really appreciated the notion of going slowly and not diving into it. I say if the new technology and science is available, I say get it out, and let the opposition, such as big oil, eat cake. Don't let evolution be delayed. I mean, having the oil industry, the petro dollar (which is akin to 'protection money' like the Mafia were known for), and tons of macro economic and public utilities go belly up, as it were is not going to have me weeping, since I don't have sympathy for bullies and ********. And would mean a few less excuses when the powers that be want to invade...or, 'liberate' other countries that just happen to have tons of oil and so on, and licking their lips at the prospect of getting their fat fingers into it.
Besides, the image of some, like TRIBBLE Cheney, for example, seeing his kingdom crumble.....and him jumping out of a 50th story window, while on the way down, slitting his own throat and screaming "GOD DAMMIT!" would make it even sweeter.
Well, with 2: I say when one sees something so bad in person, you can't help but react in such a way. And seeing people literally sick and left to die on the streets, for merely not being able to make enough money to afford access to clean air, and the planet having been treated no better than a toilet....I'd say she's got reason to be upset.....and with the moon bit, she's also seen some blood and guts already....probably she also looked up recent stuff like the Vaaduar and Iconian conflicts. Remember Picard did not start gushing when the Yamato went boom....
4: The planet, as mentioned, was treated no better than a toilet.....the chemicals in the pollutants were in the air, water and ground (thus transferring to the food supply) probably led to mutations and disfigurements. In Genesis of the Daleks, the Mutos were people who were born disfigured and were kicked out of their societies, forced to live in the wilderness....all of it caused by chemical weapons in the first century of Skaro's 1,000 year war. And real life examples are those depleted uranium round that some GENIUS <----(insert extreme sarcasm here, folks) thought would be a great idea to use in combat....and in those areas you got children being born with really hideous deformities. Hell, there was a time where smoking during a pregnancy was considered ok and normal......I'm sure that caused a few problems.
The moral of the story to this quest might be clunky and bangs ya on the head, anything that causes any sort of arguments works for me.....
2. Yeah, I can see what you mean Bailey. I just found her reaction was out of character. She seemed so nice, and empathetic before, then all of sudden seeing her get upset and angry was a bit jarring. But I suppose we all have our breaking points.
The diplomacy scene near the end felt off to me because much like ME 4, the dialog doesn't always line up with the mood of the mission. In certain dialogs I felt as if her lines were recorded in a vacuum without proper context.
But in truth the majority of her lines were well delivered, with a few exceptions. Perhaps I'm being too harsh about a minor thing here though. Next playthrough I'll pay close attention to the dialogs.
4. That's a pretty good point that I hadn't considered.
I suspect the reason Starfleet doesn't know how to use Protomatter safely is that the Vulcans gave up on researching it and told everyone else it was a lost cause.... kinda like how they gave up on Time Travel research in Ent era...
My character Tsin'xing
You're forgetting the history of the Kentari and Lukari: The Lukari tried to push for change on their original shared homeworld of Kentar, as the ecosystem of that planet was close to collapse. The Kentari thanked them by forcing them into exile. Remember the reaction when you and Kuumarke found the old Kentar in that other mission: The planet is now uninhabitable due to the pollution done by the traditionalist ways.
So her reaction when she sees that they have learned NOTHING from losing their original homeworld and instead managed to push their new home of New Kentar to the brink of ecological collapse yet AGAIN by just doing business as usual as well as still denying that the Lukari were right back then, instead trying to supress them yet again, deserves ALL the scorn imo.
Also, it shows that governments NEED to be kept on a short leash...since the mess our world is in is caused by governments being let to do what they want. History shows that major change is not done by governments.....but by regular people...democracy with a smell letter "d". In the 1950's and 1960's, it was NOT the government who said "You know, let's give black people equality!", nope...it was started by a woman who, instead of giving up her seat to a white guy, and pretty much told folks what the establishment can go do with itself.
Also, I mentioned Nikola Telsa before....and regardless if you think the clean safe energy he was going to try and give to the world, thus freeing us from one of the most effective forms of slavery.....look how those, like JP Morgan and Thomas Edison reacted...by pulling the plug on it all.....had Tesla been given a chance, it is possible, if his work proved to be true, all that stuff we see on the Jetsons, Back to the Future 2 and even Star Trek could have been happening now. But a world as seen in those listed series is a nightmare come true to those in power. Don't believe me? Look up all around us....wars going on every day....oil, lithium, opium and so on being the biggest reasons.....money, and something even more cherished than wealth....POWER. The Trads in the episode are trying to do what is known as "Black Shelving" in my opinion.
And Meow.....slavery with financial/debt can be WORSE than WMD. Thinking you are free, when you are not.
This lil video pretty much goes over this better than I can
The main Trad is probably just another puppet official who is too busy bending over and smootching the hind end of the special interest folks who are the ones who'd truly loose what they got, should the new technology come out.
Now I'm wondering if the breathing masks one gets from Elachi missions would help against the noxious gases that keep disabling/slowing you on the map.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
Loved seeing the generic ships finally get used and used well.... now when do they drop in the Cash Store???
Also the ending cutscene is lol kinds of TRIBBLE up... shows a 23c gorn, generic X-Wing, and your ship flying away.
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Even a slave master needs to feed his or her slaves in order to continue to be obedient workers.
And unless the technology comes out right away, as opposed to another poster who said it has to be slow, drip-drip in doing so....you'll pretty much have to pull out a Georgia Guidestones and pretty much do a massive depopulation program...which all that chemical toxicity is doing half the job of already. And if one wants to solve problems regarding first world/third world in a world that still uses money, one might need to look exactly where the money is being spent...some planets...not naming any directly ~innocent whistle~ tends to say they have no money to spend on feeding and healing people and getting better technology and energy out, yet there's always money to spend on warfare and killing.
Also one does not need to ruin an environment in order to prevent miserable poverty. You CAN have your cake and eat it, too. It simply takes a few things: 1: Realizing the planet is going to be around long after you are gone, and that future generations will be around on the planet, don't make things bad for them, just for your own convenience. 2: Set aside ego of "we're right and they are wrong!" and actually work together. 3: You can't eat or breathe money...nor is anything really won after you are the last one standing after killing everyone else for that last barrel of oil, or the equivalent of. 4: The gap between the haves and the have nots will, eventually get to a point where the have nots will say "Enough is enough!" and try to pull a French Revolution....results in the deaths of thousands, if not more, on both sides.
And if artificially created, and enforced status quos happen, like seen in the episode, one has every right to spit insults at the perpetrators.
As for the differences in skin colors, it is possible with the mutation theory I posted in regards to the exposure of chemicals and radiation over the centuries. I mean we still are not sure as to why Romulans have speed bumps on their foreheads, where as Vulcans do not.
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The magic of bad writing. If one is advanced enough to build starships, pollution is only a problem because the writers mandated that it's a problem.
Personally, I'm going with the mutation/exposure to toxic pollution as the reasoning behind the skin color differences between the Lukari and Kentari. As for the Romulans, it's been established in-game that the Romulans stopped off on Dewa III after the Sundering, and apparently long enough for there to be Romulan ruins left behind. We know that Dewa III had been highly radioactive since the Dewans attempted to open the Iconian Gateway. Perhaps, the exposure to that radiation is what altered the Romulans' appearance over time.
They could be using a power source that is just as toxic as the Malon, who are also a spacefaring race with their own pollution issues.
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The Malon solve their problem by making it someone else's.
Yes, it would be like that by the wording of the PD. However, ST zigzagged a little here, sometimes implicitely interpreting it as only pertinent to pre-warp civs (which Lukari and Kentari aren't), since "mention of space travel" wouldn't be a thing with them.
That's quite an assumption. Make that two. And a half.
(a) while technologies are very interdependent, different cultures have, already on earth during history, very different levels in different fields. Just because one civ conquers both the problems of pollution and space travel, others may only get one or the other.
(b) being able to use a technology isn't necessarily the same as using it or wanting to use it. We do have the technology on earth to cover most of our (current) energy needs with renewable energy. However, we don't do it, for different reasons.
(b½) it doesn't even have to be "bad writing" in itself if it were otherwise. Literatur, movies, and nowadays games, exist to tell a "what if" story. Granted, the morals taken from these may be devalued, but the story itself could hold. Not so much within the ST universe, granted, which - in general - tries to follow "hard science unless needed otherwise" and "like reality unless noted differently".
Not sure here if the left field comment is intended to have a double meaning ("out of left field" as "totally unrelated/unexpected" plus political direction). If not, okay. If it is intended to have this connotation - and I am reading it as if it was - please don't count me in for majority determination - on an American scale I would be on the far left. Though in Europe I'm more of a centrist.
It's not an assumption, rather it's not giving in to wishful thinking. And "what if" stories work at lot better if they were believable. This one wasn't.