One of my favorite moments was when we were approaching the computer core and the hallway filled up with 20 Devidians: I actually said
"Oh Sh@t!".
It has been along time since an MMO gave me on of those moments.
NOTE TO CRYPTIC: You should print up this thread and wall paper one of your offices with it. If you ever think that your community (I could say paying customers, but community works better) doesn't appreciate every nano second you put into this game, go into that room and know we freaking love you guys!
That was an awesome mission. The voice over was a great touch too.
too bad i have to work next weekend, I'll have to wait till tuesday to play the next episode.
I am really happy that yall seem to love the mission. It was a lot of fun to work with the whole team to put it together and try and add in the spooky parts. I hope everyone has a good Halloween weekend and thanks again for the feedback!... It really helps us figure out what is liked and disliked for the future episodes.
-Chaddington
PS.... I am curious to see if anyone has done a 1 person elite run through and a 5 person elite run through. If so how was it? I expected around 5-10 wipes at the boss encounter. The final encounter should be scaling with your team size as well... At least I think it should. Anyway.. just was curious
We did 3 man elite and there were LOTS of devidians in the last room.... Final boss was a beast to deal with.
We only managed to do it as a running battle backwards using the ramps to limit LOS and recover to HP. Yes, we died many times. Which helped to string out the Devidians, which was handy
Wedidn't wipe on every encounter, but we did sometimes. We became very cautious about clicking on anything till we were all prepared.
My only concern about this episode is that you may have raised the bar to a level you cannot achieve again.
Part of me worries that the next two installments will be a let-down by comparison.
Seriously, well done Cryptic. The atmosphere of this mission was perfect.
And I think you owe someone a new pair of shorts. When the voiceover started, one of the guys on Vent damn near soiled himself. Whoever on staff voiced that, give the dude a raise, along with the episode writers!
One of my favorite moments was when we were approaching the computer core and the hallway filled up with 20 Devidians: I actually said
"Oh Sh@t!".
It has been along time since an MMO gave me on of those moments.
NOTE TO CRYPTIC: You should print up this thread and wall paper one of your offices with it. If you ever think that your community (I could say paying customers, but community works better) doesn't appreciate every nano second you put into this game, go into that room and know we freaking love you guys!
AT that moment, I had exactly the same thoughts. As I turned around to to leave the corridor for more maneuvering room, I saw Devedians behind me, as well. I though to myself (borrowing a famous phrase) "Oh boy!"
I played in a group of 4 and one boff on advanced. The difficulty seemed just right at that level for advanced, gave us a challenge but wasn't overly difficult. We died a couple of times but nothing that would lead to frustration. The pacing seemed perfect at this level, I didn't feel like the mission was too long or two short.
To everyone who worked on this mission, great job and keep up this level of quality.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I wondered if it might actually BE Redjac, initially. I wondered if it'd somehow gotten loose from where they trapped it, on top of the Devidian issue. hehehe.
Kirk didn't trap it, merely scattered its essence all over space. So it could have reintegrated itself by now.
I completed the mission not two minutes ago and had to immediately make my way here to the forums to share a word or two. That was, without a doubt, the best mission yet made for this game. It was atmospheric and immersive and engaging and complex. It included brand new enemies, brand new equipment, brand new music, and brand new audio effects. The story was creative and mysterious and very well-written.
And on top of all that, the mission was genuinely terrifying. Absolutely terrifying! Here I am, sat in the dark, headphones plugged in my ears, and I find myself cranking the volume levels to properly enjoy the new background music for the mission... Let's just say that I was utterly unprepared for some of the scares that were in store for me. Honestly, I think leapt out of my chair. Preparing this mission to coincide with Halloween was a stroke of absolute genius.
Simply put, "What Lies Beneath" was absolutely stunning. Kudos, Cryptic. You've earned it. And thank you!
(Oh, and it's good to know I'm in the company of such good Trekkies; like you, I was at one point shouting, "Redjac! It's got to be Redjac!" And I had to burst out laughing to find that dead redshirt on the floor. Ah, what fun! What a mission!)
AT that moment, I had exactly the same thoughts. As I turned around to to leave the corridor for more maneuvering room, I saw Devedians behind me, as well. I though to myself (borrowing a famous phrase) "Oh boy!"
The biggest Oh TRIBBLE moment in the game so far. I was thinking "I'm going to need a bigger gun." :eek:
I just finished the episode.....I think I would have liked it more if the flash light would have worked. It made it REALLY tedious to find the way through the darkest areas. Other than that, I thought it was pretty good. Is it me, or are the devidians getting stronger as the episode goes on? I do realize that the difficulty ramps up to equal your current level, but the different types of devidians seem to be getting more powerful.
All in all, not a bad episode.....tedious....but not bad
Well done Cryptic and thanks!
It was certainly an enjoyable episode!
I also like the new little bells and whistles you've added.
The quick nofication window is a nice touch. Especially with the attached creepy dude voice :cool:
the environmental lighting effects are fantastic. the torch is a great idea, BUT I wish it actually illuminated the area! I was expecting to see the floor and walls in front of me, it did not illuminate anything unless i was standing right in front of something. Made it tricky to see in the dark.
oh and i also liked how you've lowered the ceiling a little for the interiors. i hope all interiors become less cavernous
the devidian "elite" mobs were quite tricky, i think i died maybe 2 times. but i got em in the end.
can't wait to try out next weeks time travel episode
I am really happy that yall seem to love the mission. It was a lot of fun to work with the whole team to put it together and try and add in the spooky parts. I hope everyone has a good Halloween weekend and thanks again for the feedback!... It really helps us figure out what is liked and disliked for the future episodes.
-Chaddington
PS.... I am curious to see if anyone has done a 1 person elite run through and a 5 person elite run through. If so how was it? I expected around 5-10 wipes at the boss encounter. The final encounter should be scaling with your team size as well... At least I think it should. Anyway.. just was curious
I just attempted an Elite run with my Klingon Tactical, whom is geared with the best. The Umbral's life sucking ability was an instant death, even with a Medic dedicated to healing. It was too much for my Away Team and had to abort.
So I really do think that the Devidan's life Sucking ability is too much for Elite and the only way to complete the mission at that difficuilty is a full team of Doctors doing heals. So I really think the Devidians really do need to be tweeked at higher difficulties. Afraid it's much worse than the Overpowered Breen were for the Deferi Ground Missions.
I had to put a cloud over this shiny post, but are you guys even testing these mobs on Elite before releasing to Live? It's these overpowered moments is why nobody does Elite anymore.
I just finished the episode.....I think I would have liked it more if the flash light would have worked. It made it REALLY tedious to find the way through the darkest areas. Other than that, I thought it was pretty good. Is it me, or are the devidians getting stronger as the episode goes on? I do realize that the difficulty ramps up to equal your current level, but the different types of devidians seem to be getting more powerful.
All in all, not a bad episode.....tedious....but not bad
I only got lost in one area near the end and so I needed to turn up my Gamma to 130-140% so i could figure out where I was and where I had to go next, otherwise it was a pretty good Mission
So far I have out fitted all my BOs with the Flash light and my self, so I hope we do get to keep it... and hopefully Cryptic will let work everywhere else
I completed the mission not two minutes ago and had to immediately make my way here to the forums to share a word or two. That was, without a doubt, the best mission yet made for this game. It was atmospheric and immersive and engaging and complex. It included brand new enemies, brand new equipment, brand new music, and brand new audio effects. The story was creative and mysterious and very well-written.
And on top of all that, the mission was genuinely terrifying. Absolutely terrifying! Here I am, sat in the dark, headphones plugged in my ears, and I find myself cranking the volume levels to properly enjoy the new background music for the mission... Let's just say that I was utterly unprepared for some of the scares that were in store for me. Honestly, I think leapt out of my chair. Preparing this mission to coincide with Halloween was a stroke of absolute genius.
Simply put, "What Lies Beneath" was absolutely stunning. Kudos, Cryptic. You've earned it. And thank you!
(Oh, and it's good to know I'm in the company of such good Trekkies; like you, I was at one point shouting, "Redjac! It's got to be Redjac!" And I had to burst out laughing to find that dead redshirt on the floor. Ah, what fun! What a mission!)
Hehe, when I shined my light to see who the dead guy from the past was. I was all giddy when I saw the red shirt, pure genious. Also I was giggling at the flashlight probe...totally fun new gadget!
THIS was really a excellent mission.
It was real a good story with a nice twist.
When i first heard the voice, i nearly dropped of the chair. (i hope you get what i mean )
I like that there where career dependant solutions at one point in this mission, GREAT JOB CRYPTIC !!!
I'm glad I'm not the only one. I wondered if it might actually BE Redjac, initially. I wondered if it'd somehow gotten loose from where they trapped it, on top of the Devidian issue. hehehe.
Oh man.... that needs to be a mission. Just one. I can even wait till next All Hallow's Eve, but it NEEDS to be a mission...
One of my favorite moments was when we were approaching the computer core and the hallway filled up with 20 Devidians: I actually said
"Oh Sh@t!".
It has been along time since an MMO gave me on of those moments.
NOTE TO CRYPTIC: You should print up this thread and wall paper one of your offices with it. If you ever think that your community (I could say paying customers, but community works better) doesn't appreciate every nano second you put into this game, go into that room and know we freaking love you guys!
I remember that moment TOO! I was like "I am dead, going to need 4 other people to somehow pull this **** off." And then they disappeared XD
- Brilliant Enviroments, I look forward to more uses of that flashlight! (please don't make it useless like the extinguisher after the mission)
- the new non-obtrusive dialogue boxes were great, please make all brief dialogue boxes through out the game use that same style.
- The new voice over set the tone perfectly, it was really unexpected and brought a smile to my face
- Perfectly sized mission: Perfect length and perfect balance between exploration and combat.
Overall a perfect job on that one, really lifted the bar and made it feel like it was ripped straight from a TV show (which because it wasn't made it all the better). I can't wait to do it again on an Alt.
One of my favorite moments was when we were approaching the computer core and the hallway filled up with 20 Devidians: I actually said
"Oh Sh@t!".
It has been along time since an MMO gave me on of those moments.
Your not the only one, I hadn't had a holy ____ moment like this one since the first time I faced the Butcher back in Diablo 1 when playing with my younger brother and the speakers suddenly yelling out 'Fresh meat!' got us both by surprise.
I didn't like the thought of having to fight all those devidians and as soon as I saw them I turned tail and fall back into the room to position my boffs for a killing zone effect before I even noticed they weren't attacking.
Loved the mission, and thought the class specific options were a nice touch. Would be nice if we can buy flashlight drones somewhere as a pet, even if you can only see the light it gives off yourself (to avoid 5000 of them in a starbase lagging machines to death.
Great work. Boss at the end was tough as nails, but that's not a complaint. Loved it. If you guys can get this good of a mission out even 1 out of every 4, this game will be amazing. Keep up the great work.
edit - the being surrounded part was genius. I think my thought was, OMG I am so dead...
Your not the only one, I hadn't had a holy ____ moment like this one since the first time I faced the Butcher back in Diablo 1 when playing with my younger brother and the speakers suddenly yelling out 'Fresh meat!' got us both by surprise.
Hahah, yeah, I remember the first time me and my roommate at the time got to the Butcher, we screamed like little girls and ran back out of the room.
I am really happy that yall seem to love the mission. It was a lot of fun to work with the whole team to put it together and try and add in the spooky parts. I hope everyone has a good Halloween weekend and thanks again for the feedback!... It really helps us figure out what is liked and disliked for the future episodes.
-Chaddington
PS.... I am curious to see if anyone has done a 1 person elite run through and a 5 person elite run through. If so how was it? I expected around 5-10 wipes at the boss encounter. The final encounter should be scaling with your team size as well... At least I think it should. Anyway.. just was curious
Ran through it on Elite alone, died at least twice on the final boss, but my BOs managed to get be back up as I did for them and we took him/it down. All total I think I died 5 times at the most. There were at least 6 for each Devidian encounter on the way down and 7 for the boss fight.
Fair's fair: Kestrel did the mission outline and a ton of clean-up work on the writing. I had a lot of support from the whole team. Without the environment artists, there'd be no dark interiors. No character artists would mean no crazy serial killer and no wicked cool new Devidians. No system designers would mean no mission rewards, no spiders, no Devidian powers, no traps. No producers would mean the mission would never be pushed to Holodeck for play. No sound effects guys would mean no creepy VO or ambient music. No test team would mean no completable mission (the mission went through several iterations where it was buggy and couldn't be finished). No CS would mean no feedback from you guys about how the mission went for you. And of course the rest of the content team taught me how to use the tools and caught my egregious mistakes.
I am gratified that people liked it, though!
HOLY ****, CRYPTIC! Heinig and the Entire STO Team honestly kicked major TRIBBLE with this episode!
"City on the Edge of Never" has been dethroned as my favorite mission in all of STO. "What Lies Beneath" has all the suspense and excitement of a classic haunted house mystery - IN TREK STYLE. I will never forget my first time playing it!
I absolutely loved all of these details:
Searching in the dark with a poorly functioning flashlight.
New (and spooky) Music! Plus event triggered music (STO Audio Team - you rock!).
Walking into the next room, not knowing what to expect (ambushes, spiders, TRIBBLE falling on you - loved it!)
Clues and information scattered in the environment to find.
Optional objectives based on player profession.
The "Oh hell! A hallway FULL of Devidians. I'm dead meat!" scare (nice touch).
TOS Computer Banks with canon sound effects (should have been a bit louder).
Top notch writing, and mission layout (Kudos to Kestrel and JHeinig!)
Flawless work from the Environment Artists! (or maybe it was too dark to see any flaws )
The only bug I noticed was the door that closes and traps you in a room. You can actually interact with that door BEFORE you get locked in which made the dialog a little weird. I was wondering why I was contacting the ship for the encryption key when I wasn't trapped anywhere at first.
This mission has set the bar for truly exceptional content in STO. You made this old nerd smile from the instant I started the episode to the instant I completed it.
And DStahl... if you really want to improve STO's Demo you should include a couple Featured Episodes with it! At the end just say there's more where that came from *if* they subscribe. After today's game play experience I have no doubt it would increase your sales!
I'm very excited for next week where it looks like we'll be traveling back in time to TOS and getting help from "a legend"!! (And yes, I'm gonna be mad at you for the hype if it's not really a TOS character!)
Alright, time for me to have a cig... I don't smoke but I need it after all those nerdgasms!
PS.... I am curious to see if anyone has done a 1 person elite run through and a 5 person elite run through. If so how was it? I expected around 5-10 wipes at the boss encounter. The final encounter should be scaling with your team size as well... At least I think it should. Anyway.. just was curious
So far I only did it on my own on Elite, and almost every group wiped me once - by the end I got the hang of it though, so only the boss was a problem. Got wiped there once, and got resurrected several times by my awesome BOs. I'm looking forward to do this episode with new ground combat mechanics
The Devidian Episiode 3 should be in the demo, guys! I bet you'd get the double of the subscriptions as you got right now. This is an exemplary mission for any newcomer who thinks ground missions should be as much fun as space missions.
What did Eris like specially?
- The dialogue popup windows (Bridge officer and / or enemy messages) ... pleeeease do this in all other missions as well! This is epic!
- The flashlight ... I loved it! This should have been an item to keep forever, not just for this mission, there are other dark spots a well sometimes.
- All these surprises! Spiders falling from the ceiling, plasma venting out all of a sudden in some corridors, creepy voices sounding up at some spots, the Devidian hallway with tons of Devidians (haha wow), and much more. Thanks so much!
I wish I hard turned on my in-game music when I read that there was infact new music just for this episode. Bummer! Now I've done it and I can't replay it since it can't be shared ... so please, if you ever read my post, please include the weekly series episodes in the episode replay for Season 3! Please! Meow!
Comments
"Oh Sh@t!".
It has been along time since an MMO gave me on of those moments.
NOTE TO CRYPTIC: You should print up this thread and wall paper one of your offices with it. If you ever think that your community (I could say paying customers, but community works better) doesn't appreciate every nano second you put into this game, go into that room and know we freaking love you guys!
too bad i have to work next weekend, I'll have to wait till tuesday to play the next episode.
We did 3 man elite and there were LOTS of devidians in the last room.... Final boss was a beast to deal with.
We only managed to do it as a running battle backwards using the ramps to limit LOS and recover to HP. Yes, we died many times. Which helped to string out the Devidians, which was handy
Wedidn't wipe on every encounter, but we did sometimes. We became very cautious about clicking on anything till we were all prepared.
My only concern about this episode is that you may have raised the bar to a level you cannot achieve again.
Part of me worries that the next two installments will be a let-down by comparison.
And I think you owe someone a new pair of shorts. When the voiceover started, one of the guys on Vent damn near soiled himself.
AT that moment, I had exactly the same thoughts. As I turned around to to leave the corridor for more maneuvering room, I saw Devedians behind me, as well. I though to myself (borrowing a famous phrase) "Oh boy!"
I played in a group of 4 and one boff on advanced. The difficulty seemed just right at that level for advanced, gave us a challenge but wasn't overly difficult. We died a couple of times but nothing that would lead to frustration. The pacing seemed perfect at this level, I didn't feel like the mission was too long or two short.
To everyone who worked on this mission, great job and keep up this level of quality.
And on top of all that, the mission was genuinely terrifying. Absolutely terrifying! Here I am, sat in the dark, headphones plugged in my ears, and I find myself cranking the volume levels to properly enjoy the new background music for the mission... Let's just say that I was utterly unprepared for some of the scares that were in store for me. Honestly, I think leapt out of my chair. Preparing this mission to coincide with Halloween was a stroke of absolute genius.
Simply put, "What Lies Beneath" was absolutely stunning. Kudos, Cryptic. You've earned it. And thank you!
(Oh, and it's good to know I'm in the company of such good Trekkies; like you, I was at one point shouting, "Redjac! It's got to be Redjac!" And I had to burst out laughing to find that dead redshirt on the floor. Ah, what fun! What a mission!)
The biggest Oh TRIBBLE moment in the game so far. I was thinking "I'm going to need a bigger gun." :eek:
All in all, not a bad episode.....tedious....but not bad
It was certainly an enjoyable episode!
I also like the new little bells and whistles you've added.
The quick nofication window is a nice touch. Especially with the attached creepy dude voice :cool:
the environmental lighting effects are fantastic. the torch is a great idea, BUT I wish it actually illuminated the area! I was expecting to see the floor and walls in front of me, it did not illuminate anything unless i was standing right in front of something. Made it tricky to see in the dark.
oh and i also liked how you've lowered the ceiling a little for the interiors. i hope all interiors become less cavernous
the devidian "elite" mobs were quite tricky, i think i died maybe 2 times. but i got em in the end.
can't wait to try out next weeks time travel episode
I just attempted an Elite run with my Klingon Tactical, whom is geared with the best. The Umbral's life sucking ability was an instant death, even with a Medic dedicated to healing. It was too much for my Away Team and had to abort.
So I really do think that the Devidan's life Sucking ability is too much for Elite and the only way to complete the mission at that difficuilty is a full team of Doctors doing heals. So I really think the Devidians really do need to be tweeked at higher difficulties. Afraid it's much worse than the Overpowered Breen were for the Deferi Ground Missions.
I had to put a cloud over this shiny post, but are you guys even testing these mobs on Elite before releasing to Live? It's these overpowered moments is why nobody does Elite anymore.
I also saw the reference to Goolum from Lord of the Rings near the end lol
I only got lost in one area near the end and so I needed to turn up my Gamma to 130-140% so i could figure out where I was and where I had to go next, otherwise it was a pretty good Mission
So far I have out fitted all my BOs with the Flash light and my self, so I hope we do get to keep it... and hopefully Cryptic will let work everywhere else
Hehe, when I shined my light to see who the dead guy from the past was. I was all giddy when I saw the red shirt, pure genious. Also I was giggling at the flashlight probe...totally fun new gadget!
It was real a good story with a nice twist.
When i first heard the voice, i nearly dropped of the chair. (i hope you get what i mean
I like that there where career dependant solutions at one point in this mission, GREAT JOB CRYPTIC !!!
Thank you for reading.
Oh man.... that needs to be a mission. Just one. I can even wait till next All Hallow's Eve, but it NEEDS to be a mission...
I remember that moment TOO! I was like "I am dead, going to need 4 other people to somehow pull this **** off." And then they disappeared XD
- the new non-obtrusive dialogue boxes were great, please make all brief dialogue boxes through out the game use that same style.
- The new voice over set the tone perfectly, it was really unexpected and brought a smile to my face
- Perfectly sized mission: Perfect length and perfect balance between exploration and combat.
Overall a perfect job on that one, really lifted the bar and made it feel like it was ripped straight from a TV show (which because it wasn't made it all the better). I can't wait to do it again on an Alt.
Your not the only one, I hadn't had a holy ____ moment like this one since the first time I faced the Butcher back in Diablo 1 when playing with my younger brother and the speakers suddenly yelling out 'Fresh meat!' got us both by surprise.
I didn't like the thought of having to fight all those devidians and as soon as I saw them I turned tail and fall back into the room to position my boffs for a killing zone effect before I even noticed they weren't attacking.
Loved the mission, and thought the class specific options were a nice touch. Would be nice if we can buy flashlight drones somewhere as a pet, even if you can only see the light it gives off yourself (to avoid 5000 of them in a starbase lagging machines to death.
Great work. Boss at the end was tough as nails, but that's not a complaint. Loved it. If you guys can get this good of a mission out even 1 out of every 4, this game will be amazing. Keep up the great work.
edit - the being surrounded part was genius. I think my thought was, OMG I am so dead...
Hahah, yeah, I remember the first time me and my roommate at the time got to the Butcher, we screamed like little girls and ran back out of the room.
Ran through it on Elite alone, died at least twice on the final boss, but my BOs managed to get be back up as I did for them and we took him/it down. All total I think I died 5 times at the most. There were at least 6 for each Devidian encounter on the way down and 7 for the boss fight.
HOLY ****, CRYPTIC! Heinig and the Entire STO Team honestly kicked major TRIBBLE with this episode!
"City on the Edge of Never" has been dethroned as my favorite mission in all of STO. "What Lies Beneath" has all the suspense and excitement of a classic haunted house mystery - IN TREK STYLE. I will never forget my first time playing it!
I absolutely loved all of these details:
The only bug I noticed was the door that closes and traps you in a room. You can actually interact with that door BEFORE you get locked in which made the dialog a little weird. I was wondering why I was contacting the ship for the encryption key when I wasn't trapped anywhere at first.
This mission has set the bar for truly exceptional content in STO. You made this old nerd smile from the instant I started the episode to the instant I completed it.
And DStahl... if you really want to improve STO's Demo you should include a couple Featured Episodes with it! At the end just say there's more where that came from *if* they subscribe. After today's game play experience I have no doubt it would increase your sales!
I'm very excited for next week where it looks like we'll be traveling back in time to TOS and getting help from "a legend"!! (And yes, I'm gonna be mad at you for the hype if it's not really a TOS character!)
Alright, time for me to have a cig... I don't smoke but I need it after all those nerdgasms!
Thank you, Cryptic! Outstanding Job!!!!!!!!!!!
So far I only did it on my own on Elite, and almost every group wiped me once - by the end I got the hang of it though, so only the boss was a problem. Got wiped there once, and got resurrected several times by my awesome BOs. I'm looking forward to do this episode with new ground combat mechanics
What did Eris like specially?
- The dialogue popup windows (Bridge officer and / or enemy messages) ... pleeeease do this in all other missions as well! This is epic!
- The flashlight ... I loved it! This should have been an item to keep forever, not just for this mission, there are other dark spots a well sometimes.
- All these surprises! Spiders falling from the ceiling, plasma venting out all of a sudden in some corridors, creepy voices sounding up at some spots, the Devidian hallway with tons of Devidians (haha wow), and much more. Thanks so much!
I wish I hard turned on my in-game music when I read that there was infact new music just for this episode. Bummer! Now I've done it and I can't replay it since it can't be shared ... so please, if you ever read my post, please include the weekly series episodes in the episode replay for Season 3! Please! Meow!
~ Eris The Vorta