I applaud the attempt to branch out to other things than combat. The execution might not have been ideal, but at least they've tried to spice things up a bit. I think the part that worked best was the diplomacy elements of the first mission.
When I first saw a screenshot of the awesome space armor they were testing back then, I thought DS9 would be the site of an epic EVA battle ala Moonraker! Alas no one ever thought to counter my obvious intrusion by sending out an EVA party of their own making the spacewalk more tedious than it is cool.
I thought the station was sleeping or something!
Now how would I go about revamping it?
1. Have the space battle unfold first
2. Player ship under an ECM corridor slips in near the station to cripple DS9's sensor arrays (This has NO place in OP: Gamma, but 'wild weasel' to support an EVA commando team is crucial)
3. Player ship deploys boarding assault shuttles & EVA commandos
4. Battle over DS9's hull amid stray starship weapons fire, things crashing into the station, BoP exploding nearby etc - with much more substantial zero G combat (Cue introductory scene of Yellowstone class runabouts making a strafing run like attack helos!)
5. Progress mission as already implemented
I actually liked the Space Walk part.
The Voice Acting however was awful.
The Bajor part was tediously dull.
The worst part was the Satelites, seriously sack the person who thought this up lol, terrible!
Overall, this has been the worst yet and was not worth the looooong wait.
I actually liked the Space Walk part.
The Voice Acting however was awful.
The Bajor part was tediously dull.
The worst part was the Satelites, seriously sack the person who thought this up lol, terrible!
Overall, this has been the worst yet and was not worth the looooong wait.
I thought I'd give some feedback on my experience with "Boldly They Rode" and the whole "2800" series in general now that it's complete. Let's start with the most recent featured episode:
Boldly They Rode
This is probably the most exciting installment in this featured episode series. It's a great way to put the series to bed with a very action-oriented endgame. The EVA on DS9's hull was interesting; a definite change of pace that the game needed and holds up well. Movement is very realistic, with no running or jumping (since doing so would risk flying off into space). While this easily could have made this part of the mission a chore to get through, the ability to use your thrusters to maneuver to different NAV points makes up for the loss of running ability.
I wasn't too fond of the Bird of Prey crashing into the station's hull; aside from the fact that there is no way that could happen the way it was depicted in an actual zero-gravity environment, it just seemed to make the external EVA longer than it needed to be. You've already got sensors and isoleniar rods (as they're called in Cardassian stations) to re-route, and electro-static discharges to dodge. Combine these things with the relatively slow pace of the EVA and I think my point is easy to see. I will concede though that it made for some very nice visuals.
The fight inside the station can be frustrating at times. You can only fire your weapon when you have the Jem'Hadar targeted and he's not shrouded! Hopefully this can be fixed because otherwise the interior combat would be solid.
The fleet battle is much better and is a pretty by the numbers affair. It was nice to finally get some good space combat, something which this series didn't seem to focus on too much.
Finally we get to beam down to DS9 and talk to some of the major NPC's of this series. The dialog with Kurland and Loris is fairly routine, but I was looking forward to talking to Captain Shon of the new Enterprise. Apparently he survived the last episode! That was unexpected considering how the Belfast went out in "Facility 4028"; but the beauty of this plot twist being in a game rather than a TV episode is that it can easily be fixed. Anyways, I was hoping to see some information on what happened to the Enterprise-E, but unfortunately we don't. Hopefully we'll get some answers about that in the future.
I was satisfied with the Female Changeling's voice in this installment. As I noted in my review for "Facility 4028," the voice over for the Female Changeling was just too far off from Salome Jen's (the original DS9 actress who played the role). Thankfully, in this episode the voice sounds much closer to the original. It's not a carbon copy, but it's close enough. The Jem'Hadar's behavior is also much more satisfactory. This is how renegade Jem'Hadar behave! Nicely done.
Overall, not a bad little episode. Some minor details here and there that could be worked on in a future patch, but still a great ride.
The 2800 as a whole
So now that "The 2800" is complete, what is the final verdict? Well, it's definitely a satisfying end to the so-called 2011 Content Blackout. Four out of the five episodes of this series are solid with interesting game play and nice visuals. The series has everything from raw ship-to-ship combat, ground combat, a shuttle mission, and even a little diplomacy. Some may take these things for granted, but keep in mind that STO has faced criticism for having repetitive game play, even by MMO standards. The fact that "The 2800" obviously tries to break away from that is praise worthy. And lets not forget that this series blessed us with the stunning prison map from "Facility 4028."
It's not a perfect series though. The Dividian series is in no danger of loosing it's status as my personal favorite right now. There are plot holes here and there, and "Of Bajor" is outright boring and long-winded (funny coincidence that this is the problem with Deep Space Nine's worst episodes huh?). Still, the series offers some diverse game play, some very nice rewards, and a decent story line that will leave players satisfied.
Ok after about the Fifth time of redoing the dropping down onto the Promenade and getting killed because I just couldn't figure out how to shoot or maybe it was a glitch, I said F this and skipped it, after a couple of months of playing and loving this game this is the first time I have been really frustrated and pissed off, the rest of the mission was easy to figure out but WTF is up with the weapon?
I don't have an issue with the spacwalk part other than a serious need for Kurland to get gagged and spaced. Am running 15 alts for the shard this month, there should be a shutup Kurland option :P
Really? The last time I played it (Just before the rerun thing started again) you couldn't leave the conference unless you were in a team after the dominion attack. You just kept warping back to the starting point in the room when you tried to leave.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
[Unrepentant] Lapo@overlapo: the problem with space STF
is that you can't properly teabag your defeated opponent
Unrepentant: Home of the Rainbow Warrior and the Rainbow Brigade.
Comments
I thought the station was sleeping or something!
Now how would I go about revamping it?
1. Have the space battle unfold first
2. Player ship under an ECM corridor slips in near the station to cripple DS9's sensor arrays (This has NO place in OP: Gamma, but 'wild weasel' to support an EVA commando team is crucial)
3. Player ship deploys boarding assault shuttles & EVA commandos
4. Battle over DS9's hull amid stray starship weapons fire, things crashing into the station, BoP exploding nearby etc - with much more substantial zero G combat (Cue introductory scene of Yellowstone class runabouts making a strafing run like attack helos!)
5. Progress mission as already implemented
The Voice Acting however was awful.
The Bajor part was tediously dull.
The worst part was the Satelites, seriously sack the person who thought this up lol, terrible!
Overall, this has been the worst yet and was not worth the looooong wait.
I thought I'd give them credit.
You know, for trying. xD
I LOVE "Facility 4028" and "Boldly They Rode". They were very well done IMO.
"Second Wave" was an interesting mission, and "Operation Gamma" was also pretty good.
"Of Bajor", while not a total loss, is indeed in need of a revamping.
Overall, I'd have to say this is probably my favorite featured series, with the other three following closely behind.
[Unrepentant] Lapo@overlapo: the problem with space STF
is that you can't properly teabag your defeated opponent
Unrepentant: Home of the Rainbow Warrior and the Rainbow Brigade.
How is it bugged? I just played it the other day and it was perfectly fine the whole way through without a single issue.
[Unrepentant] Lapo@overlapo: the problem with space STF
is that you can't properly teabag your defeated opponent
Unrepentant: Home of the Rainbow Warrior and the Rainbow Brigade.