Overall I like the extra dialog options. Things like 'view on screen' and 'talk first and then shoot' instead of 'kill everything at first sight'. It doesn't change the results but it adds to the immersion. The same goes for the various pop-up messages during missions and combat.
I have to admit, I like the extra pop-up dialogs in the missions. They do give a certain immersiveness to the whole thing. Like when doing "Search for New Romulus" and the Nauissicans follow you, I love how Khev says something along the lines of "you followed us to a whole new system. Really?"
I have to admit, I like the extra pop-up dialogs in the missions. They do give a certain immersiveness to the whole thing. Like when doing "Search for New Romulus" and the Nauissicans follow you, I love how Khev says something along the lines of "you followed us to a whole new system. Really?"
100% agreed, with this post and what voyagerfan quoted. Sure, "on screen" may not add anything as far as accolades or actual progress, but how many times have you heard a captain order "On screen!" on the show? It works well.
The colony world is amazing! It does look a bit Neverwinter-ish (especially considering this is a world of space elves), but that's ok. We don't get to see many plausible rural settlements in Star Trek, but this is really quite good.
When leaving your colony world in the Romulan (Kestrel) Runabout, the interior seems like it should have seats. It seems very odd, especially for a small craft, to not have seats. This is part of my issue with all standing control consoles (even in full-size ships), not that I'm against having a control system where you stand instead of sit, but if it's a standing control console, it should at least have something to hold on to when the craft is rocking about. (See: Ship's Wheel) ...or you know, just put some seats in.
I have a sort of request. I've loved the early levels, and you've gone so far to make your bridge officers 'part of the family', might it be possible to make the core four essentially purple, maybe make their actual skills equivalent to a common bridge officer, but passively make then purple, so when bridge officers are plentiful near end game, we won't have as much reason to dismiss them? It's sort of a thought, as you have to be a subscriber and all, it might be a nice idea.
"..and like children playing after sunset, we were surrounded by darkness." -Ruri Hoshino
OK...so far I've been really impressed--especially with the attack on the first colony. It was absolutely chilling!
I had no issues until I played "Crossroads at Crateris."
Now, don't get me wrong. I know how to survive in an STF. But the fight against that battleship was such that the only way I was able to beat the thing was to destroy all of the Tal Shiar so that the Decimus and one other Dhelan warbird would come in and help me. Was that intentional design--i.e. the strategy you're trying to get players to figure out, or was it not supposed to be that difficult?
The other problem is, you say "Defeat Monbosh Battleship" but that is not the name on the ship itself (it is "Mysterious Ship"). This could lead to confusion with some players not knowing for sure what their objective is. You should change that objective to "Defeat Mysterious Ship," or give the Elachi battleship a name that matches the objective you already have.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I must also add--I'm with those who think giving Tobol the VISOR was a bad idea--both because it moves with his facial expressions, and it's just a rip-off of Federation technology with no design changes to account for it being Romulanized. Either Romulanize it or get rid of it, IMHO.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I must admit I had a pre-test expectation of the Legacy of Romulus before I began trying it. Having played Star Trek games before (as well as quite a few D&D etc) I had a pretty high expectation for the game. Happily the Beta version did not let me down at all. The whole thing looks and feels like a completely new game. The character creation screen has a more simplified structure which makes it easier and quicker to create a character. Yet it retains all of the elements that an advanced player might need.
Plot progression is simple yet logical and consistant so that it really feels as though a story is unfolding (something both the KDF and Fed storylines lack. They feel like they have been tied together with string). And with the excellent artwork and background effects, you get a real sense of "being there". The storyline is immersive and I found myself drawn into the plot and identifying with the characters. And the idea of giving each boff a background and weaving their arrival on the players ship into the plot adds to that sense of story.
The new UI is clean, user friendly and pleasant and I feel it adds a polished look to the whole game. (I can't wait till that is introduced to the main server). The map markers are clear and easy to see on the map which made finding objectives much easier.
Another interesting feature was the way that the game gently informed me that I was heading too far from my objective when trying to rescue colonists from shuttles during the flight from Virinat Mission. Instead of just a voice over, one of your bridge officers pops up to remind you of your objective.
The whole tutorial had a proper atmosphere. Especially on Dewa III/New Romulus where I could hear the sounds of animals in the background in a very realistic way, while insects buzzed around realistically too.
I felt that the tutorial made sense and that it had life to it. All in all a magnificent job.
And now the dreaded bug reports lol.
1) In the race info screen the text reads
"Once based on the planet romulus, Romulans control a interstellar empire..."
Gramatically that would read better as:
"Once based on the planet Romulus, the Romulans control an interstellar empire..."
2) When levelling, the notification text as well as the level and rank indicator bar both showed that that I was at civilian level 2, while the Romulan Rewards screen showed me to be lieutenant level 2, as does the rank bar popup.
There is also no level 4 on the Rewards screen. It just shows level 3 then level 5.
And while levelling, the rank bar popup seems to be out of synch with the levels as it seems to indicate at level 6 that you need 7 more grades to reach centurian whereas Centurian Rank is level 10 and only needs 4 more grades, if that.
3) Also while levelling I noticed that a lieutenant level 1 the Romulun Rewards screen says that it unlocks the Federation Diplomatics Corps, at Lieutenant level 2 it says it gives access to Memory Alpha Research, and at lieutenant level 3 it says it gives access to Fleet Action missions.
Considering that the player doesn't choose their aliied faction until at least level 10 I would feel it would be better if these unlocks were moved to maybe that level or higher.
On a similar point, is there any thing in place to prevent a Romulan player from levelling up past level 10 without choosing an ally. I noticed that the choice aspect was an episode. But can the player access content that will allow them to continue levelling by gaining expeirence past that point without ever doing that episode? Or will the game allow them to do so but withhold faction specific options like crafting (which is faction specific in locations for crafting).
4) During the Flight from Virinet Episode, at the Romulan Flotilla, when meeting Temer in his office. Temer tells the player that the Romulun Republic will give the player "a floating stipend of 2000 energy credits". The player does not receive this EC.
5) In Explore the Flotilla it mentions giving the player a new uniform. While it does provide this uniform, the uniform can only be found by looking in the advanced menus aspect of the tailor and not on the basic tailor preview screens.
A similar thing happens when you go to collect your Faction Ally Type uniform.
6) Neither armour nor weapons appear in the bridge officer status screen preview image. They also don't appear in the Captains status screen either. No matter how many times you turn them off and on they simply do not appear.
7)There is a grammar error in the mission breifing for Gasko Blus. It states "I know there is a group of refugees there. Some of them have been their for years..." This should read "...have been there for years..."
8) The special radiation reports you receive from the Dewa 3 radiation scans in finding new romulus promptly disappear when you leave the planet. You arrive back at the flotilla with no reports at all. Yet the text on finding them suggests you can sell them for EC.
9)At lieutenant rank 9 the game gives a text announcement that you have received Lieutenant Ability Rank III but the Romulan Rewards screen states that that rank should award a Boff. Also no actual ability for space or ground appears.
Ok. so there's the bugs I have found so far. Hope this helps with improving what seems to me so far to be a first rate expansion.
Wow...Admiral T'Nae was VERY bigoted and rude--very much in Solok and Valeris territory. I was quite disappointed in her based on the way she behaved towards her Federation officers.
Honestly, I would've liked to see her be described as drunk or something. Still disgraceful, but at least it would explain her extraordinary lapse of decorum.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Wow...Admiral T'Nae was VERY bigoted and rude--very much in Solok and Valeris territory. I was quite disappointed in her based on the way she behaved towards her Federation officers.
Good. You felt an emotion toward a character. That's actually a sign of good writing, as is having a character that shows different sides to different people.
Real people are like that, and that feeds into the existing theme that Vulcans are hypocrites about emotions. They have them, they just suppress them and refuse to acknowledge them.
What if such bigotry is common among Vulcans, with Spock a rare exception owing to his half-human heritage?
Honestly, I would've liked to see her be described as drunk or something. Still disgraceful, but at least it would explain her extraordinary lapse of decorum.
Honestly, being drunk would be even more out of character than being bigoted. I don't think Vulcans actually drink. I don't think they could accept the loss of control. Being drunk would be far worse than being emotional.
Good. You felt an emotion toward a character. That's actually a sign of good writing, as is having a character that shows different sides to different people.
You forget, she is a Vulcan... they refuse to show emotion
Only played the tutorial and the Suliban Helix mission so far and I'm very impressed. I like the little touches that have been added, such as the detonation of Romulan singularity cores when a ship is destroyed, simple, but a very nice touch. The story arc is good so far and the warbird (the one you start in) is quite fun to fly. I love the new UI and HUD setup as well.
The only glitches I've found so far have already been pointed out. Keep up the great work guys
First off let me say how impressed I have been so far with what I have experienced of romulan story . To follow will be my feedback and suggestons for improvement along with my conclusions.
Tutorial:
-Well I really liked how the tutorial begins with your avatar walking out of a house nice during a typical day in a romulan village really enjoyed the cut scenes leading up to that very nice indeed. The texture detail was not too shabby you could easily tell that some serious effort had been put into this from the artists.
This kind of reminded me of how you begin in Never Winter where instead you are ship wrecked but it ties in nicely with the kind of atmosphere that you establish right at the beginning.
- I was reasonably impressed with the tutorial that introduces you to the weapons that you will you use, the firing rage tutorial reminded me when you had to do that at the beginning of Medal of Honor. The firing range could be a interesting little mini game to play just because its fun .
- The welding animation is a really nice little touch for it adds a more realistic feel and to be honest seeing that happen reminds of the numerous times I had seen Trek characters in the shows use there phasers to seal doors etc so as a epic Trek fan it was majorly cool lol.
-The story is very much reminiscent of fantasy games like Final Fantasy or Two Worlds where your character is in a otherwise normal day going about there business then in this case the mysterious giant spaceship coming in with those creepy spider machines that take people lol. How that sequence then proceeds really amps up the urgency of evacuating the colony and having to fight the Tal'Shiar.
Flotilla:
-This added a real sense that you and the rest of the colony were on the run and trying to not only survive but looking for a new home too. Using them as a hub to get missions or change ship is good for this ties in nicely with the romulan game play. I was glad it was not a starbase as such since obviously they are not in a fleet.
The Suliban Helix:
Wow that was a really nice surprise to see that in here I automatically thought of Enterprise, good job done to get the look of the Suliban down and a great way to introduce that species into the game lots of potential there for future stories especially those that may involve the Cabal . The animations they were of a good quality I liked that they happened in real time rather than a cut scene that enhanced the immersive experience and didn't take you out of the element during that little mission .
Crateris:
Interesting little world although lightening sounds without clouds now that's just funny, my first encounter with reman female very good I like how she eventually joins your crew nice touch there.
-New Romulus
I enjoyed that I was having to actively contribute to looking for a new world then when we got to Dewa 3 going down to do a planetary survey, now that is a real nice little bit of game play plus it flows nicely into the Tholians looking mean as ever.
Not only that while am down there I discover a epic sword that maybe like the sword of khaless in that it could be used to bring the peoples together so that was a nice story touch :P. On the slight downside I would have liked a more sandbox environment to explore but I appreciate that this not a finished product just yet lol.
Turning Point:
Not sure what to make of this particular mission just seemed to involve a load of unnecessary running about to essentially learn what you know already which is that the Klingons don't trust the romulans no surprise there. However at the other end of that scale I was reasonably impressed with how rest of story played out it had a bit of a movie feel to it with just the right amount of action to set up the battle in space so a big plus there.
I wasn't expecting to have to choose so soon which faction I wanted until much further on I can only assume this may have been done for test purposes?
Suggestons:
I couldn't see my armor I had equipped on my character so that little glitch needs to be addressed. Some of the text relevant to the story kind of flew by a little too quickly so I wasn't able to read all of it at the time so that again just needs a little tweak in relation to the timing.
Conclusion:
Over all I was very impressed the story up to the current point I like how you acquire crew since that flows nicely within the quests that you do so a big thumbs up there .
I was particular impressed with how when I used a turbo lift I didn't encounter a loading screen just went in and bang am there epic nice to see a big reduction in the numerous loading screens it gave a much more open feel much like I have experienced in other games like Never Winter and Fallout 3 to name but a few others.
You forget, she is a Vulcan... they refuse to show emotion
And therein lies the problem: she has no credibility whatsoever because of that. Why Starfleet let such an unstable and racist officer on this mission is unfathomable.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
The overlay to move the consumable items purchase pop-up menu apparently includes everything except, the buy/cancel/+/-/ and part of the slider button it self. Any click on exempted areas works fine but unless you are dead center in the slider will drag the whole pop-up window , could see this as very frustrating for a new player since its annoying me already
I wasn't entirely sure my character would have known what a Tholian (and in an EV suit no less) would look like. Granted, not may 6-legged aliens in Star Trek. I just don't know how well known they are.
This could easily be remedied by having a boff state the info, maybe even how they know it.
Secondly, it seemed odd that my boff suddenly knew the tholians wanted what was under the rock. Something as simple as scanning the rocks when not getting attacked, and finding something under them.
Thirdly, and maybe this was wholly me not watching the objectives, I started wandering, missed the top scannable radiation, and had to run all the was across the map to get back to it, and then back again to get to the bridge. Perhaps if there were shortcuts between the 'aisles' like there are in IKEA, it wouldn't be such a travel if someone misses one.
Some really nice stuff in the mission too, though. The running animals when the tholians show up, epohh appearing when some predators were chased away. Good stuff!
Chewson Pwan - VA
S.S. Doff Lundgren
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The Village: Nicely done. I would have liked to be able to talk to some of the Romulans as you walked past to get to the part the mission really began. You just had one person to talk to on the way, so despite the village being full of people it felt a little empty. When I say the mission was on a farm I had visions of that "run back and forth across the map" first KDF mission,. but thankfully it wasn't like that at all
Flotilla:I thought the part of the space tutorial before you got full impulse was just a touch too long. Maybe shorten the distance between the "action points" just a tad. I know you wanted to show how full impulse was a good idea, but I thought it was too long. Great work on letting us fly the "Balance of Terror" ship though! That brought a smile to my face.
The Suliban Helix: Eh, so I've just found out that this was something to do with the Enterprise series? Pity I've only watched one episode of it. So to me it was orbiting a wierd space station filled by a bunch of defenseless whining aliens who reminded me with every communication about how pathetic they were. Kind of interesting when I first saw it, but then they opened their mouths. Not a bad mission aside from that, with lots of things to do.
Crateris: Loved the ground part of the mission. Hi Sliamek! I found a place last mission where you would fit in just fine. Oh look, a Reman with mammary glands. Of course, all alien females have them *facepalm* Definite "Nosferatu" edge to her looks though.
The fight against that dreadnaught was a nasty fight even on normal difficulty. I'm in two minds about that, but I suppose its after 2 or 3 missions so its high time to put the player up against a real challenge. Besides, its the first time you have really gone up against the gits who destroyed your colony so having them as a walkover would be anti-climactic.
Blues: It was okay, but had the "twist" telegraphed even worse than the Kardashians sending their itinerary to CNN. Fun running fight to get to the transporter though.
Also slight inaccuracy in the "press X do give 30% to all damage" tooltip. That's all RANGED damage, does not affect melee. Might be good to change that text.
New Romulus:
Space:
Would it be possible to have the planet marked as Dewa. Flying up to a planet marked "new Romulus to find out if it would turn out to be new Romulus is a bit of a stretch of the old "suspension of disbelief"
Ground: Ok we have to scan 20 random things as we progress in a linear path. T E D I O U S. This is supposed to be a wondrous exploration of a new world, not an introduction into grinding. It would be much better to have those 3 radiation patches in a triangle but the player can run around exploring a flat terrain as much as he wants. After the third thing is scanned the mission can proceed with the bridge.
When I saw the Tholian I was expecting a "what the hell is that?" not "A tholian!" how the heck does a Romulan farmer know what the hell a tholian is? It just jarred and again was a break in suspension of disbelief.
I thought the fight was ok though, but I might have not had 2 lieutenants with the commander. 2 AOE attacks was a bit much. BUT if you do include them, this would be a perfect time to tell the player how to control his Boffs by telling them how to place his Boffs along the ridge out of range of the AOE, rather than have them free willed and running into the bowl to be slaughtered.
Turning Point:
The conference was pretty much a maze and I kept running into locked doors. Also practically everyone was casually chatting about killing the Romulans. Even the fed admiral was "TRIBBLE you" and the other one was "babble the hut" but I'm sure that was intentional. I'm amazed that people felt like this mission was weighed to the Klings as basically it was wall to wall jerks. Even the kling admiral dismissed you with "oh this could all be a trick as the battleship got away. Thanks for blowing up the 6 other ships to make us think otherwise, you Rommies is sneaky." Its like looking at a conspiracy forum.
And Sela turning up? Really?? I'm sorry but the klings would have gutted her, Diplomacy be dammed, and if they didn't the fed admiral would have accidentally on purpose blown her ship up. And she had no relevance to the story otherwise. Maybe make it obvious that this was a hologram or something because it added nothing to the mission but a paycheck for Denise Crosbie.
My slightly cynical overview, with suggestions. Hope this helps.
I'm glad that you can calmly asses these things in a split second when you are running in a totally red environment and you are not colour blind. :rolleyes:
If you are being funneled into locked doors with no really obvious difference between the 2 then that's shoddy design. But it was just a minor annoyance and didn't really distract from the mission.
Even though I've played my character to level 21, I thought I'd post here about some of the initial missions.
The intro on Virinat was excellent. The environment is really well produced and the initial missions flow very well. On a side note, I sure didn't expect to see people abducted like that when those drones came flying down as I was escaping. Good stuff.
The introductory space battle was interesting as well, especially with the Quantum Singularity ability that you can use after it charges up. One pet peeve with that though is that it's also tied to power levels.
The initial mission to Dewa 3 was pretty awesome too, mostly for the visuals, but the objectives themselves were interesting in their own right.
The Search For New Romulus the auto travel feature keeps taking me back to the first planet instead of taking to next planet in line regardless if 2nd 3rd etc. While only a minor inconvenience can open map to travel
I must say first that I am very grateful that I was invited to join the closed beta. I truly enjoyed previewing the content!!
The tutorial and Explore the Flotilla went by wonderfully. I thought this tutorial flowed rather well. I have to say congratulations to the environmental designers as they did wonderfully. In addition, a nice touch on including career specific choices so early in the game, this kept me mindful that I needed to pay attention to the choices given to me. I really enjoyed the practice shooting when I picked up my first disruptor.
I am a fan of Enterprise (gasp, I know) so when I saw the second episode I was...giddy? Ok not so much as giddy as excited to find out about the current occupants of the Helix. I do not know if the art or hull design is not finished yet or they are working on the final design materials but my helix and cell ships loaded with not assets attached so I got a whole bunch of plain gray models.
The next mission at the Reman colony was a nice continuation of the storyline from the tutorial. I also enjoyed Gasko station. With these missions, one can see that your ground game is much better from what it was in the launch of the game. No problems encountered here that I noted. I also enjoyed finding new Romulus; it was a nice touch that to choose New Romulus you do a number of actions like the reputation developers on holodeck. It gives the player a preview of what is to happen. This brings me to the end of the From the Ashes Arc. Again, I had little to no bugs to report, except for the Helix and cell ship missing the visual assets.
I thoroughly enjoyed this arc specifically and playing a Romulus in general. I cannot wait until this launches on Holodeck!
Loved the intro, I was horrified when Virinat was destroyed, I wanted to destroy the entirety of the Tal Shiar after that. That, and the first four bridge officers you get, were very well done, though I'd really like the ability to at least change their uniforms.
All the missions seemed really good, but then you have to choose a side and, from a story perspective it doesn't make too much sense. I figured you'd run into the middle some hot Starfleet on KDF action and have to pick a side to survive, thus royally infuriating the other side and pretty much guaranteeing they'll never so much as give you the time of day. Instead... "Wow, maybe we CAN trust these Romulans. Maybe we could learn somthing from this and all be friends. Nah, just kidding, you convinced both of us to help the Republic, but only one of us is going to help you."
Admiral Katrina Tokareva - U.S.S. Cosmos, Yorktown-class Star Cruiser Admiral Dananra Lekall - R.R.W. Teverresh, Deihu-class Warbird General J'Kar son of K'tsulan - I.K.S. Dlahath, Vo'devwl-class Carrier
Khitomer Conference:
Just some observations regarding this mission, decided to rerun it as a few things stood out
Federation side http://i.imgur.com/81XJhRPh.jpg
The first row of the Klingon NPCs [Honor Guard] just feels out of place, if anything I would expect M.A.C.O or Omega Force Operatives to be there as the first tier for the Federation delegation with the Red Shirts as second tier. Just my opinion, but I would swap out those Klingon NPCs for M.A.C.O/Omega Force.
Romulan side http://i.imgur.com/bmmL4frh.jpg
Although the Romulan Republic being in it's infancy, there is a distinct lack of security in a comparable manner to the Federation delegation. Taking into account Sela's presence, I would have expected Tal Shiar NPCs and/or the Romulan Empires Red Shirt equivalent being present in those two rows or at least something that would represent the might of the Romulan Empire as still being a force to reckon with. Considering they want to intimidate D'Tan and his movement. Or, at the very least, with D'Tan's delegation occupying the lower right corner and Sela's the upper right, placing the relevant security for the each faction on the two rows with the middle being left empty (?) or with one Klingon NPC there.
Map View http://i.imgur.com/DfwOsqjh.jpg
The map view provides a good comparison showing the differences between the NPCs placement.
Ok so not sure if this is a bug or just designed this way but I did find it quite infuriating.
The ground part of the home sweet home mission. I had no choice but to follow the path laid out and I couldn't take any short cuts over the hills or through the flowers etc..
So the mission took me a lot longer than it needed too.
Thanks for the invite to closed beta.
I was pleasantly surprised with the tutorial. The story flows smoothly and it gives you a real rpg feeling which is refreshing. Visually Virinat colony looks great, like a small peaceful village. Dewa 3 is just beautiful. There are some things that simple farmer from a small colony should not know but thats been said already. No new bugs that I know of.
Romulan story seems to be very well developed and you did a great job.
Visual Bug: On entering Eta Eridani, captain Harvson hailed me. The bridge viewer "Frame" was missing, and instead of Harvson's bridge he was surrounded by bare-chested Gorns against a light blue skybox. He was still in his captain's chair and apparently oblivious to his "location."
I finished the tutorial up to exploring the flotilla and accepting the suliban mission. No apparant bugs to report other than auto fire sometimes only firing once and then needing to be clicked again but I think that was already happening on holodeck. Other than that great job Cryptic! The tutorial, even in it's unfinished state was much more fun and engaging both in terms of gameplay and storytelling than the original 2010 Federation tutorial ever was and I look forward to playing the finished version in May.
One thing I would like to add is that it would be very helpful if we could get a preset for the republic uniform. I spent most of the energy credits I got from selling my first armor to try multiple times to match the color scheme with the NPCs and it still doesn't look right.
I finished the tutorial up to exploring the flotilla and accepting the suliban mission. No apparant bugs to report other than auto fire sometimes only firing once and then needing to be clicked again but I think that was already happening on holodeck. Other than that great job Cryptic! The tutorial, even in it's unfinished state was much more fun and engaging both in terms of gameplay and storytelling than the original 2010 Federation tutorial ever was and I look forward to playing the finished version in May.
One thing I would like to add is that it would be very helpful if we could get a preset for the republic uniform. I spent most of the energy credits I got from selling my first armor to try multiple times to match the color scheme with the NPCs and it still doesn't look right.
Same thing for the Tal Shiar uniform. :P
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Comments
I have to admit, I like the extra pop-up dialogs in the missions. They do give a certain immersiveness to the whole thing. Like when doing "Search for New Romulus" and the Nauissicans follow you, I love how Khev says something along the lines of "you followed us to a whole new system. Really?"
100% agreed, with this post and what voyagerfan quoted. Sure, "on screen" may not add anything as far as accolades or actual progress, but how many times have you heard a captain order "On screen!" on the show? It works well.
When leaving your colony world in the Romulan (Kestrel) Runabout, the interior seems like it should have seats. It seems very odd, especially for a small craft, to not have seats. This is part of my issue with all standing control consoles (even in full-size ships), not that I'm against having a control system where you stand instead of sit, but if it's a standing control console, it should at least have something to hold on to when the craft is rocking about. (See: Ship's Wheel) ...or you know, just put some seats in.
Raptr profile
I had no issues until I played "Crossroads at Crateris."
Now, don't get me wrong. I know how to survive in an STF. But the fight against that battleship was such that the only way I was able to beat the thing was to destroy all of the Tal Shiar so that the Decimus and one other Dhelan warbird would come in and help me. Was that intentional design--i.e. the strategy you're trying to get players to figure out, or was it not supposed to be that difficult?
The other problem is, you say "Defeat Monbosh Battleship" but that is not the name on the ship itself (it is "Mysterious Ship"). This could lead to confusion with some players not knowing for sure what their objective is. You should change that objective to "Defeat Mysterious Ship," or give the Elachi battleship a name that matches the objective you already have.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Plot progression is simple yet logical and consistant so that it really feels as though a story is unfolding (something both the KDF and Fed storylines lack. They feel like they have been tied together with string). And with the excellent artwork and background effects, you get a real sense of "being there". The storyline is immersive and I found myself drawn into the plot and identifying with the characters. And the idea of giving each boff a background and weaving their arrival on the players ship into the plot adds to that sense of story.
The new UI is clean, user friendly and pleasant and I feel it adds a polished look to the whole game. (I can't wait till that is introduced to the main server). The map markers are clear and easy to see on the map which made finding objectives much easier.
Another interesting feature was the way that the game gently informed me that I was heading too far from my objective when trying to rescue colonists from shuttles during the flight from Virinat Mission. Instead of just a voice over, one of your bridge officers pops up to remind you of your objective.
The whole tutorial had a proper atmosphere. Especially on Dewa III/New Romulus where I could hear the sounds of animals in the background in a very realistic way, while insects buzzed around realistically too.
I felt that the tutorial made sense and that it had life to it. All in all a magnificent job.
And now the dreaded bug reports lol.
1) In the race info screen the text reads
"Once based on the planet romulus, Romulans control a interstellar empire..."
Gramatically that would read better as:
"Once based on the planet Romulus, the Romulans control an interstellar empire..."
2) When levelling, the notification text as well as the level and rank indicator bar both showed that that I was at civilian level 2, while the Romulan Rewards screen showed me to be lieutenant level 2, as does the rank bar popup.
There is also no level 4 on the Rewards screen. It just shows level 3 then level 5.
And while levelling, the rank bar popup seems to be out of synch with the levels as it seems to indicate at level 6 that you need 7 more grades to reach centurian whereas Centurian Rank is level 10 and only needs 4 more grades, if that.
3) Also while levelling I noticed that a lieutenant level 1 the Romulun Rewards screen says that it unlocks the Federation Diplomatics Corps, at Lieutenant level 2 it says it gives access to Memory Alpha Research, and at lieutenant level 3 it says it gives access to Fleet Action missions.
Considering that the player doesn't choose their aliied faction until at least level 10 I would feel it would be better if these unlocks were moved to maybe that level or higher.
On a similar point, is there any thing in place to prevent a Romulan player from levelling up past level 10 without choosing an ally. I noticed that the choice aspect was an episode. But can the player access content that will allow them to continue levelling by gaining expeirence past that point without ever doing that episode? Or will the game allow them to do so but withhold faction specific options like crafting (which is faction specific in locations for crafting).
4) During the Flight from Virinet Episode, at the Romulan Flotilla, when meeting Temer in his office. Temer tells the player that the Romulun Republic will give the player "a floating stipend of 2000 energy credits". The player does not receive this EC.
5) In Explore the Flotilla it mentions giving the player a new uniform. While it does provide this uniform, the uniform can only be found by looking in the advanced menus aspect of the tailor and not on the basic tailor preview screens.
A similar thing happens when you go to collect your Faction Ally Type uniform.
6) Neither armour nor weapons appear in the bridge officer status screen preview image. They also don't appear in the Captains status screen either. No matter how many times you turn them off and on they simply do not appear.
7)There is a grammar error in the mission breifing for Gasko Blus. It states "I know there is a group of refugees there. Some of them have been their for years..." This should read "...have been there for years..."
8) The special radiation reports you receive from the Dewa 3 radiation scans in finding new romulus promptly disappear when you leave the planet. You arrive back at the flotilla with no reports at all. Yet the text on finding them suggests you can sell them for EC.
9)At lieutenant rank 9 the game gives a text announcement that you have received Lieutenant Ability Rank III but the Romulan Rewards screen states that that rank should award a Boff. Also no actual ability for space or ground appears.
Ok. so there's the bugs I have found so far. Hope this helps with improving what seems to me so far to be a first rate expansion.
Many thanks for your efforts.
Honestly, I would've liked to see her be described as drunk or something. Still disgraceful, but at least it would explain her extraordinary lapse of decorum.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Good. You felt an emotion toward a character. That's actually a sign of good writing, as is having a character that shows different sides to different people.
Real people are like that, and that feeds into the existing theme that Vulcans are hypocrites about emotions. They have them, they just suppress them and refuse to acknowledge them.
What if such bigotry is common among Vulcans, with Spock a rare exception owing to his half-human heritage?
Honestly, being drunk would be even more out of character than being bigoted. I don't think Vulcans actually drink. I don't think they could accept the loss of control. Being drunk would be far worse than being emotional.
You forget, she is a Vulcan... they refuse to show emotion
The only glitches I've found so far have already been pointed out. Keep up the great work guys
Tutorial:
-Well I really liked how the tutorial begins with your avatar walking out of a house nice during a typical day in a romulan village really enjoyed the cut scenes leading up to that very nice indeed. The texture detail was not too shabby you could easily tell that some serious effort had been put into this from the artists.
This kind of reminded me of how you begin in Never Winter where instead you are ship wrecked but it ties in nicely with the kind of atmosphere that you establish right at the beginning.
- I was reasonably impressed with the tutorial that introduces you to the weapons that you will you use, the firing rage tutorial reminded me when you had to do that at the beginning of Medal of Honor. The firing range could be a interesting little mini game to play just because its fun .
- The welding animation is a really nice little touch for it adds a more realistic feel and to be honest seeing that happen reminds of the numerous times I had seen Trek characters in the shows use there phasers to seal doors etc so as a epic Trek fan it was majorly cool lol.
-The story is very much reminiscent of fantasy games like Final Fantasy or Two Worlds where your character is in a otherwise normal day going about there business then in this case the mysterious giant spaceship coming in with those creepy spider machines that take people
Flotilla:
-This added a real sense that you and the rest of the colony were on the run and trying to not only survive but looking for a new home too. Using them as a hub to get missions or change ship is good for this ties in nicely with the romulan game play. I was glad it was not a starbase as such since obviously they are not in a fleet.
The Suliban Helix:
Wow that was a really nice surprise to see that in here I automatically thought of Enterprise, good job done to get the look of the Suliban down and a great way to introduce that species into the game lots of potential there for future stories especially those that may involve the Cabal
Crateris:
Interesting little world although lightening sounds without clouds now that's just funny, my first encounter with reman female very good I like how she eventually joins your crew nice touch there.
-New Romulus
I enjoyed that I was having to actively contribute to looking for a new world then when we got to Dewa 3 going down to do a planetary survey, now that is a real nice little bit of game play plus it flows nicely into the Tholians looking mean as ever.
Not only that while am down there I discover a epic sword that maybe like the sword of khaless in that it could be used to bring the peoples together so that was a nice story touch :P. On the slight downside I would have liked a more sandbox environment to explore but I appreciate that this not a finished product just yet lol.
Turning Point:
Not sure what to make of this particular mission just seemed to involve a load of unnecessary running about to essentially learn what you know already which is that the Klingons don't trust the romulans no surprise there. However at the other end of that scale I was reasonably impressed with how rest of story played out it had a bit of a movie feel to it with just the right amount of action to set up the battle in space so a big plus there.
I wasn't expecting to have to choose so soon which faction I wanted until much further on I can only assume this may have been done for test purposes?
Suggestons:
I couldn't see my armor I had equipped on my character so that little glitch needs to be addressed. Some of the text relevant to the story kind of flew by a little too quickly so I wasn't able to read all of it at the time so that again just needs a little tweak in relation to the timing.
Conclusion:
Over all I was very impressed the story up to the current point I like how you acquire crew since that flows nicely within the quests that you do so a big thumbs up there
I was particular impressed with how when I used a turbo lift I didn't encounter a loading screen just went in and bang am there epic nice to see a big reduction in the numerous loading screens it gave a much more open feel much like I have experienced in other games like Never Winter and Fallout 3 to name but a few others.
And therein lies the problem: she has no credibility whatsoever because of that. Why Starfleet let such an unstable and racist officer on this mission is unfathomable.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
the hunt continues
I wasn't entirely sure my character would have known what a Tholian (and in an EV suit no less) would look like. Granted, not may 6-legged aliens in Star Trek. I just don't know how well known they are.
This could easily be remedied by having a boff state the info, maybe even how they know it.
Secondly, it seemed odd that my boff suddenly knew the tholians wanted what was under the rock. Something as simple as scanning the rocks when not getting attacked, and finding something under them.
Thirdly, and maybe this was wholly me not watching the objectives, I started wandering, missed the top scannable radiation, and had to run all the was across the map to get back to it, and then back again to get to the bridge. Perhaps if there were shortcuts between the 'aisles' like there are in IKEA, it wouldn't be such a travel if someone misses one.
Some really nice stuff in the mission too, though. The running animals when the tholians show up, epohh appearing when some predators were chased away. Good stuff!
S.S. Doff Lundgren
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The Village: Nicely done. I would have liked to be able to talk to some of the Romulans as you walked past to get to the part the mission really began. You just had one person to talk to on the way, so despite the village being full of people it felt a little empty. When I say the mission was on a farm I had visions of that "run back and forth across the map" first KDF mission,. but thankfully it wasn't like that at all
Flotilla:I thought the part of the space tutorial before you got full impulse was just a touch too long. Maybe shorten the distance between the "action points" just a tad. I know you wanted to show how full impulse was a good idea, but I thought it was too long. Great work on letting us fly the "Balance of Terror" ship though! That brought a smile to my face.
The Suliban Helix: Eh, so I've just found out that this was something to do with the Enterprise series? Pity I've only watched one episode of it. So to me it was orbiting a wierd space station filled by a bunch of defenseless whining aliens who reminded me with every communication about how pathetic they were. Kind of interesting when I first saw it, but then they opened their mouths. Not a bad mission aside from that, with lots of things to do.
Crateris: Loved the ground part of the mission. Hi Sliamek! I found a place last mission where you would fit in just fine. Oh look, a Reman with mammary glands. Of course, all alien females have them *facepalm* Definite "Nosferatu" edge to her looks though.
The fight against that dreadnaught was a nasty fight even on normal difficulty. I'm in two minds about that, but I suppose its after 2 or 3 missions so its high time to put the player up against a real challenge. Besides, its the first time you have really gone up against the gits who destroyed your colony so having them as a walkover would be anti-climactic.
Blues: It was okay, but had the "twist" telegraphed even worse than the Kardashians sending their itinerary to CNN. Fun running fight to get to the transporter though.
Also slight inaccuracy in the "press X do give 30% to all damage" tooltip. That's all RANGED damage, does not affect melee. Might be good to change that text.
New Romulus:
Space:
Would it be possible to have the planet marked as Dewa. Flying up to a planet marked "new Romulus to find out if it would turn out to be new Romulus is a bit of a stretch of the old "suspension of disbelief"
Ground: Ok we have to scan 20 random things as we progress in a linear path. T E D I O U S. This is supposed to be a wondrous exploration of a new world, not an introduction into grinding. It would be much better to have those 3 radiation patches in a triangle but the player can run around exploring a flat terrain as much as he wants. After the third thing is scanned the mission can proceed with the bridge.
When I saw the Tholian I was expecting a "what the hell is that?" not "A tholian!" how the heck does a Romulan farmer know what the hell a tholian is? It just jarred and again was a break in suspension of disbelief.
I thought the fight was ok though, but I might have not had 2 lieutenants with the commander. 2 AOE attacks was a bit much. BUT if you do include them, this would be a perfect time to tell the player how to control his Boffs by telling them how to place his Boffs along the ridge out of range of the AOE, rather than have them free willed and running into the bowl to be slaughtered.
Turning Point:
The conference was pretty much a maze and I kept running into locked doors. Also practically everyone was casually chatting about killing the Romulans. Even the fed admiral was "TRIBBLE you" and the other one was "babble the hut" but I'm sure that was intentional. I'm amazed that people felt like this mission was weighed to the Klings as basically it was wall to wall jerks. Even the kling admiral dismissed you with "oh this could all be a trick as the battleship got away. Thanks for blowing up the 6 other ships to make us think otherwise, you Rommies is sneaky." Its like looking at a conspiracy forum.
And Sela turning up? Really?? I'm sorry but the klings would have gutted her, Diplomacy be dammed, and if they didn't the fed admiral would have accidentally on purpose blown her ship up. And she had no relevance to the story otherwise. Maybe make it obvious that this was a hologram or something because it added nothing to the mission but a paycheck for Denise Crosbie.
My slightly cynical overview, with suggestions. Hope this helps.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I'm glad that you can calmly asses these things in a split second when you are running in a totally red environment and you are not colour blind. :rolleyes:
If you are being funneled into locked doors with no really obvious difference between the 2 then that's shoddy design. But it was just a minor annoyance and didn't really distract from the mission.
The intro on Virinat was excellent. The environment is really well produced and the initial missions flow very well. On a side note, I sure didn't expect to see people abducted like that when those drones came flying down as I was escaping. Good stuff.
The introductory space battle was interesting as well, especially with the Quantum Singularity ability that you can use after it charges up. One pet peeve with that though is that it's also tied to power levels.
The initial mission to Dewa 3 was pretty awesome too, mostly for the visuals, but the objectives themselves were interesting in their own right.
The tutorial and Explore the Flotilla went by wonderfully. I thought this tutorial flowed rather well. I have to say congratulations to the environmental designers as they did wonderfully. In addition, a nice touch on including career specific choices so early in the game, this kept me mindful that I needed to pay attention to the choices given to me. I really enjoyed the practice shooting when I picked up my first disruptor.
I am a fan of Enterprise (gasp, I know) so when I saw the second episode I was...giddy? Ok not so much as giddy as excited to find out about the current occupants of the Helix. I do not know if the art or hull design is not finished yet or they are working on the final design materials but my helix and cell ships loaded with not assets attached so I got a whole bunch of plain gray models.
The next mission at the Reman colony was a nice continuation of the storyline from the tutorial. I also enjoyed Gasko station. With these missions, one can see that your ground game is much better from what it was in the launch of the game. No problems encountered here that I noted. I also enjoyed finding new Romulus; it was a nice touch that to choose New Romulus you do a number of actions like the reputation developers on holodeck. It gives the player a preview of what is to happen. This brings me to the end of the From the Ashes Arc. Again, I had little to no bugs to report, except for the Helix and cell ship missing the visual assets.
I thoroughly enjoyed this arc specifically and playing a Romulus in general. I cannot wait until this launches on Holodeck!
All the missions seemed really good, but then you have to choose a side and, from a story perspective it doesn't make too much sense. I figured you'd run into the middle some hot Starfleet on KDF action and have to pick a side to survive, thus royally infuriating the other side and pretty much guaranteeing they'll never so much as give you the time of day. Instead... "Wow, maybe we CAN trust these Romulans. Maybe we could learn somthing from this and all be friends. Nah, just kidding, you convinced both of us to help the Republic, but only one of us is going to help you."
Admiral Dananra Lekall - R.R.W. Teverresh, Deihu-class Warbird
General J'Kar son of K'tsulan - I.K.S. Dlahath, Vo'devwl-class Carrier
Some graphical issues with Vrimek.
http://www.abload.de/img/vrimekvws25.png
Just some observations regarding this mission, decided to rerun it as a few things stood out
Federation side
http://i.imgur.com/81XJhRPh.jpg
The first row of the Klingon NPCs [Honor Guard] just feels out of place, if anything I would expect M.A.C.O or Omega Force Operatives to be there as the first tier for the Federation delegation with the Red Shirts as second tier. Just my opinion, but I would swap out those Klingon NPCs for M.A.C.O/Omega Force.
Romulan side
http://i.imgur.com/bmmL4frh.jpg
Although the Romulan Republic being in it's infancy, there is a distinct lack of security in a comparable manner to the Federation delegation. Taking into account Sela's presence, I would have expected Tal Shiar NPCs and/or the Romulan Empires Red Shirt equivalent being present in those two rows or at least something that would represent the might of the Romulan Empire as still being a force to reckon with. Considering they want to intimidate D'Tan and his movement. Or, at the very least, with D'Tan's delegation occupying the lower right corner and Sela's the upper right, placing the relevant security for the each faction on the two rows with the middle being left empty (?) or with one Klingon NPC there.
Map View
http://i.imgur.com/DfwOsqjh.jpg
The map view provides a good comparison showing the differences between the NPCs placement.
The ground part of the home sweet home mission. I had no choice but to follow the path laid out and I couldn't take any short cuts over the hills or through the flowers etc..
So the mission took me a lot longer than it needed too.
I was pleasantly surprised with the tutorial. The story flows smoothly and it gives you a real rpg feeling which is refreshing. Visually Virinat colony looks great, like a small peaceful village. Dewa 3 is just beautiful. There are some things that simple farmer from a small colony should not know but thats been said already. No new bugs that I know of.
Romulan story seems to be very well developed and you did a great job.
I wish you took a screenshot :P
{UFP}Thomas45 - Thomas Nixon U.S.S. Majesty Unbound
One thing I would like to add is that it would be very helpful if we could get a preset for the republic uniform. I spent most of the energy credits I got from selling my first armor to try multiple times to match the color scheme with the NPCs and it still doesn't look right.
Same thing for the Tal Shiar uniform. :P
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.