Ok, working on my thrid play through.. Just had to check out the new stuff in the tutorial. :^D
Firstly the "tutorial voice" talks over contact VO. That's a little annoying, and frustrating. Also disabling the help prompts, Does not stop the Tutorial VO, and I think personally, that that is a problem. Now I don' think it's a bad idea period to have it, I jsut think it should go with the prompts if you disable them. I also agree with a previous poster here, the Lore keeper's voice does not seem to match her face. She sounds like she's at least starting to reach the end stages of her life span, long as that may be for a romulan, and her face looks... well much younger. There's also, and I'm not sure if this was purposely done or not.. where she repeats ehrself at the end of story about after romulus was destroyed. she repeats: " We're just Dust... scattered by the winds of fate." twice, when the text jsut says it once.
The first half of the dialogue with Nevala after returning from the Khellid hive had no VO for me.. the second half did though. As in I walked up and made contact. there was text, but no VO. I hit the continue button, and there was VO for that part.
D'vex does not say: "But that leaves something else..." It's only there in text.
It's really nice though in total. I've run out of time to play through the whole of the tutorial, but I can't wait! :^)
I agree the new Intro is much much better than it was a couple of weeks ago. The VO allows the player to view the cutscenes for once, which are worth it. They still seem a LITTLE fast though. To be honest, I would expect a little more quality here, in terms of pan speeds, transitions, etc., to make it a bit more dramatic.
And yes, the help tips VO and the tutorial VO are overplaying each other. This occurs in the beginning, and later when the player begins flying the Warbird.
Cutscene that introduces the Warbird: Good, the shuttle is in there and working better than before. But I have a nitpick: this is a fairly 'special' reveal for the character, and could be made better. The camera passes through wreckage to reveal a distant Warbird, and that's excellent. But make that initial pass (wreckage reveal) a little longer, and we need more in the background. The ship, once revealed is too far away and just sitting in open space. Put some other wreckage around and behind it, as though it was hidden there. Let the camera follow the shuttle in closer to give us more detail of the ship...this could be a great cutscene, but currently it's just meh.
Upon initial visit of the Flotilla, in Tmer's office, part of the VO is missing...their appears to be a female present that says something to Tovan or the player, just before Tovan's exit. Text is there, but no VO.
i think the new voice overs are a perfect add on to sto... if you choose to have a season 8 dont add new stuff except voice overs to all original missions ...... as for things that could be better i think cryptic hit the ball out of the park this time....great job.
Tried the tutorial again with the latest build. Much improved. the VO's were great. there is still a gap in the VO that needs to be finished. but the rest is nice. I like the level up VO as well. The pacing on the cutscenes were much better. That added a lot to an already great intro.
Decided to do another run-through of the episode with my existing character. I figure testing them in a mission replay setting might be a good idea. I was interrupted by the servers dying, so the second half will have to come once the servers are online again and I have the time for it:
-=Pre Episode=-
-Really digging the new color-coded skill and weapon toolbar icons.
-New Romulus Command still has federation vendors.
-Floatilla still sells Federation fighter craft - even to a KDF-aligned Romulan.
-"Oooooo.. this Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle looks interesting.. I wonder what that green bar is..."
-=The Helix=-
-Tovan's voice acting feels a bit.. flat - as if reading from a script instead of actually talking to his commanding officer.
-I like the new red alert sound effects.
-I found myself unable to re-arrange my UI during the mission. I think the mission objectives window may have been forcing it out of the re-arrangement mode?
-The cloaking tooltip(and voice-over) are a really nice addition.
-"I'm liking these various spoken 'one-liners'." =d
-Ended up clipping through the Delta Arm of the Suliban Helix during combat. It looked a bit strange/was a little immersion breaking, but I'm not sure if it is a 'big' issue or if a 'solution' would create more (line of sight)problems than its worth.
-Teleporting the Refugees played the Romulan sound effect, but displayed a federation blue teleporter.
-Tovan's third spoken dialogue(just before warping out) didn't bother me. It sounded authentic enough for the situation.
-=Crossroads at Crateris=-
-Nice to see the Reman ships using the Reman ship textures and colors.
-"Argh! Let me re-arrange the UI while in local/combat space, game! Why has the ship 'vitals' window moved overlap with the weapon's tab!?"
-HUD re-arrangement works on the ground.
-Performance seems less choppy/smoother on the ground from the last time I was here.
-"The dripping effect from walking through the water was a nice touch. Is that new? or is it something I have always overlooked?"
-"Ooo, I have a voice to put to the face of Veril now."
-The weapon stash provided mk I items to a level 25 character. Perhaps this should be disabled during the 'mission replay'?
-"I'm really digging this Piercing Rifle, its secondary attack reminds me of the Omega Torpedo Launcher in some ways."
-The audio cue/roar for the arriving Elachi vessal sounds a bit off. It sounds like it's centered in the middle of the zone instead of coming from the east.
-Many of the enemies didn't scale with the player level, although some of them did.
-Perhaps some of the banter between Veril and her father would be better as the new text windows - detracts from the urgency of the situation. Waiting resulted in some of the shuttles getting really far ahead and getting themselves 'sploded.
-The warning about the frontal cone weapon of the Elachi/Mysterous ship is a nice addition, although it did open with the attack many moments before it the notification.
-Warpout effect was Klingon-red instead of Romulan green. New players likely won't encounter this, but I felt it worth mentioning.
-Tovan's VO matches the urgency of the mission much better than in "The Helix". Overall statisfied with the performance.
-Was unable to re-arrange the HUD in local space over New Romulus - appears to be an issue related specifically to that zone layer.
-Warpout from New Romulus local space was Klingon red.
-=Gasko Blues=-
-Away team selection displayed 6 powers for each bridge officer - land and space.
-The red/sealed door between Science and Medical is still mis-aligned, meaning it's possible to see 'through' the level.
-There was a large grin across my chin for Hakeev's dialogue! =D
-One of my officers completely vaporized the station administrator on their own - bypassing the choice for the player to let them live or not.
-I like Hiven's voice. Doesn't sound completely 'Romulan', nor did I expect it, but I still like it.
-I like the combat tooltips here, they introduce some of the finer points of ground combat at a good time.
-=The Search for New Romulus=-
-"I'm liking Tovan's voice acting for this mission."
-Warpout from the Gamma Eridon system was Klingon red.
-Dewa III: Ran/flew through an invisible object between the second and third sensor probe launch locations(just before triggering the Nausican encounter). The camera jolted/rapidly zoomed in and out.
-Away team selection displays land and space abilities on Boffs.
-The tooltips work really nice for this mission.
-"Wait.. Really? You can just press 'H' to holster and draw weapons! O_o;" (I actually learned something!)
Neutral No More- When I acquired the mission I was told to go to the flotilla to acquire a centurion level ship but I am currently at subcommander, so I had to pick up a centurion level ship. Is this a bug with the mission or a bug with the ranking?
I had stopped playing the beta while waiting for the "Neutral No More" to be fixed from the KDF side. Today I log on and receive a very polite message that it has been reset and I have new orders. That is no problem.
My problem is I have to claim a new ship, yet there is no ship for me to claim.How do I advance on this mission?
NVM, my issue has already been addressed. They are working on it
After the last (5/3) patch, and starting a new Romulan character:
The Singularity console is no longer visible on the Rearrange HUD screen. The console appears when in game, but it is not moveable. When you press the ESC key, and choose Rearrange HUD, there is a quick flash of the instructions, but it just stays in the main playing screen. This happens whether you are under Red Alert or not.
Virinat Tutorial
D'Vex voice dialogue does not match text. When you bring your science findings to D'Vex about the device and creatures in the cave, he starts taling about the mining colony. On the next page, the text dialogue starts with "We didn't know what to think." Yet, the voice over says" We didn't know what to believe."
When D'Vex is taling about his ship, he still refers to his captain, for Romulans, it should be Commander.
The Search for New Romulus
When you get to the Dewa III system, after defeating the Nausicans, and deploying the last probe, Tovan has some dialogue. There is another discrepency with the voice over and the text. His third paragraph of dialogue starts with, "There doesn't seem be any... " But his voice over says "don't" instead of doesn't.
On Dewa III, while exploring on the ground map, at the first river area, I found a pack/herd of Epohh that was running in the river, and it were completely under the water.... did we get a new breed of Epohh?
Dewa III, after the final battle and Temer contacts you, he addresses you as captain. Shouldn't it be your current rank, or again "Commander"?
Turning Point
After arriving at Khitomer, and navigating to meet with D'Tan, his voice over and the text completely do not match. Nothing his says in the voice over is in the text.
Unfortunately I got the message that everything was coming down for maintenance, and couldn't testing after Turning Point.
I am able to logon go into the character. But once I try to map move from I get a server not responding for ever. It never times out nor does it recover. Please check that one out.
Happy with most of the recent changes. Game play is smoother and episodes are much better. Over all a much better experience then the beginning of beta play.
In Gasko Blues, I noticed in the cut scene when Hiven finds his brother dead, he's carrying a federation pheser rifle instead of the barrowed Tal shiar weapon. Which looks like a disrupter, but if I was catching the right persons shots.. the energy looks like plasma type. I suppsoe All thier rifles could look the same though... or I was seeing one of my officer's beams. It's definitely one of those things! :^D lol
In the search for new romulus, in space the tutorial VO tells you to press V to scan the area, Your Tricorder, will etc.. you don't use your tricorder to scan you want a reading on something outside your ship. I Mean you still could use your tricorder, but only if you want readings on your bridge. :^D This might be a bit nit picky, but.. I noticed it, and thought I'd mention it. On the ground when it repeats the instructions it's correct that time. :^P
I could not observe wildlife(Epohhs) Untill I had holstered my weapon manually. That only happened at the first area you can do so. Only two Vivver cats appeared in that area, which may also be a problem. There where more my lasty two play throughs, and the next two areas I did, with hostile wildlife had the number of targets i was expecrting.
I believe I saw it mentioned somehwere already, but the Sailbacks have Underscores in their names.
The third area I came to with hostiles, more Vivver cats, i could not observe the Epohhs period. they just kept follwoing me around as long as I didn't get to far away, though getting close again would entice them to follow. They did so in a big clump of epohh for the most part, separating occasionally. I finished the rest of the investigation followed by epohhs. Those Brave, Loyal Epohhs stayed with me all the way through My fight with the Tholians. I awarded them Medals made of sticks and leaves, and fed them a ration bar. Sadly I was forced to leave them behind when thwe Tholians attacked my allies in orbit. I will never forget their actions that day though.
In turning point, D'tan's VO is completely different from the text in the contact dialgue box.
So far, I do have to say I'm really liking the little refinements that have been taking place. I can't wait till it's all finished! :^)
Just started replaying this particular arc. The VO's that have been added make a difference. It's funny, but Tovan sounds precisely how I expected him to sound (which is a good thing). The Updated UI also makes a difference, you can clearly see in a pinch which skills are Tactical, Science, or Engineering. Keep it up Cryptic, this is looking to be a fantastic expansion.
Thoroughly enjoyed the new content.
It was exciting to play a Romulan.
I especially enjoyed being able to fly a War Eagle!
Its a beauty!
Im a push-over for the old TOS ships.
Would be cool to costume in the TOS Romulan uniforms.
There is a gauge in my HUD for a particle burst that I have not figured out how to move out of the middle of the screen to the side.
Is it movable?
All in all I loved it.
Thank you for including me in the Beta.
Okay, managed to get the second half of my replay through the episode with a higher level romulan:
-=The Search for New Romulus=-
-Seeing as I was level 26 at the time, I didn't get to test how the encounter was without the team-wiping mine from the commander - I really do something needs to be changed regarding them though(Either Boff AI or something with the mines themself).
-The space encounter with the Recluse still seemed quite easy, but that may have moreso been due to a well timed alpha strike and having a larger ship(the weavers honestly gave me more trouble).
-I noticed there are no duty officer assignments aboard the flotilla.
-=Turning Point=-
-Tovan's commentary is quite amusing.. it helps set the tone and matches the mood.
-D'tan's spoken dialogue is drastically different from the written dialogue.
-"I how S'taass is going to get some spoken dialogue... it would be great to finally have a voice to match with the character.."
-Again, D'tan's spoken dialogue does not match the written dialogue after Temer's death.
-The mission rewarded another blue bridge officer.. I can see this potentially being exploited.
-=Neutral No More=-
-The Dhelen class(and it's variant) appears to be listed before the B'rel in the shipyard, despite it being a higher tier ship.
While deploying the probes in orbit around New Romulus during "The Search for New Romulus", a tooltip with voiceover pops up explaining the TRICORDER mechanic. The same tooltip pops up again after one beams down to the planet (where it then makes more sense).
On several occassions during "Turning Point" (Khitomer Conference), there is some voiceover NOT fitting to the dialogue-text. The spoken version is either completely different or deviates in some places.
There are times when i get a problem with the VO's
such as there are times the instruction VO will be going then tovan will pop on screen and start talking both are talking at the same time and that is annoying.
Ive had this happen
The Helix
Gasko Blues
Turning point
Ive been replaying the other tut missions to see if i can spot other VO issues like this.
On the flotilla, in the opening cutscene it looks like you are going to a d'deridex class, but when you look out the window near D'Tan, it looks like you are in a Ha'Pax from what I have seen of them. The wings don't match a d'deridex.
Also very annoying that the tutorial and the other voice overs tend to over run each other.
Another thing, while your ranks are in the Romulan scheme, all of the ship BOFF slots are in the federation scheme, very confusing.
From certain angles, the mogai or variant in the flotilla has white wings.
encountered a problem with the 2nd mission, going to that reman planet. i didn't quite complete the initial conversation stuff, before stating my attackon the talshiar ships. after i killed them all, i got that initial conversation to come up again, and only then did it give me the kill 0/3 groups objective. i was not credited for killing them already, so im stuck
*edit ugg, another problem. when back in space, fighting to the nav becon, it never recognized that i had indeed made it to the nav becon
First off, I just want to say it's been great being able to beta test the Romulans - very enjoyable experience. I was hoping to go back into tribble and refresh myself on my thoughts but the server was just wiped. Oh well, I'd still like to leave my feedback and thoughts anyway. Let me say, the tutorial is just superb. I really care about these characters that I'm playing and helping. I think this was an aspect that Star Trek Online has lacked a bit... When I think of the television shows, especially in the later seasons, the crews had really bonded together as a family. They not only lived together but endured many of the same challenges. I feel this is what makes the Romulan storyline so compelling. I would like to see more of this but clearly in different forms (clearly the Klingons are going to have a much different way of "bonding"). But anyway, I just want to say that you should definitely continue the great story telling and maybe someday bring a compelling tutorial to the Federation as well (but clearly not important right now).
Also, I found there seemed to be no introduction to the Romulan "base" on New Romulus. After the mission that has you explore the Tau Dewa sector and you find Dewa III (later to become New Romulus), at some point I got a mission to pick up my DOFFs. What I didn't know was that I had to go to New Romulus to get them. I walked around the Flotilla for quite a while trying to find the DOFF contact not realizing that not only was there a base now established on New Romulus. There may have been something I missed but I remember thinking, "Wow, I had no idea there was anything on New Romulus yet as I just discovered it!" It might be worthwhile seeing if there could be a minor mission added that might introduce the Romulan complex on New Romulus.
I do look forward to playing through the rest of the story and I think people will absolutely love it on launch. Keep up the good work! Cheers!
-=Tutorial=-
-All the voice work is great. I had a grin on my chin the entire time.
-Virinat(ground) is pretty add-tastic when you're the only one there. Not difficult though, given how little damage the mobs do.
-Singularity charge-up beeps are an interesting touch. I'm mildly concerned a new player will wonder what is causing the noise though.
-Mobs were able to see through my battle cloak on approach at 4km range with singularity level 3. I was surprised.
-When customizing the T'Liss, the blank 'Windows' option appears to have the same options as the 'Style' menu - and impacts the ship in the same way(choosing between decal or no-decal).
-While talking to D'Tan, I only JUST realized the Flotilla takes place onboard a Ha'apax.. neat!
-The voice-over for the tutorial tooltip about the mission tracker window overlapped with the voice-over for the Tau Dewa Sector flavor introduction upon first entering sector space.
-=The Helix=-
-Perhaps a tooltip about ship explosions causing damage to your ship might be a good inclusion here..(around the third encounter against three Tal Shiar T'Liss)
-The Valdore that is a part of the Flotilla had blindingly white wings - possibly a texture issue.
-=Crossroads at Crateris=-
-Woah.. Veril looks... different. I liked the previous look, but I suppose this is more in line with the player and bridge officer models.
-"I really wish we were given a melee weapon so these new shiny items would stop auto-equipping into the player's secondary weapon slot.." New Players may not realize one of the new weapons (presumable intended for their bridge officers) ended up there.
-I like the encounter addition at the first shuttle.. it encourages players to 'blow up' the second one...
-Elachi ship arrival still sounds centered in the zone instead of coming from the east.
-Perhaps the Elachi ship should blow up the second shuttle if you bypass that encounter - like I did..
-The Northern Elachi Walker appears sunken into the ground. It's beams originate far above it instead of from the actual model.
-"Oh wow, there's even a Scimitar in the Tal Shiar invasion fleet."
-"Oh man, I hope we get a chance to get ahold of those cresent-shaped Elachi cannon weapons at some point.."
-The battle with the 'Mysterous Ship' felt much better. Not too hard/impossible to damage, but still threatening enough. I got to see it pop a friendly warbird, in a fairly cinematic fashion, a few seconds before it went down itself.
-The friendly warbirds warped out with Federation Blue warp-trails instead of Romulan Green.
-The tooltip(s) explaining the ship replicator was well timed.
-=Gasko Blues=-
-*Checks sealed door between Science and Medical* "Yep, still misaligned."
-It's still pretty easy to accidentally kill the station commander if you're aiming in that direction to finish off the final ambusher.. =/
-"The science bay makes for a pretty interesting flanking position.."
-"Gah! Stop standing in the painful-teal-plasma-fire-of-doom, Veril! Bad! Don't make me send you back to MMO-Elementary!"
-Captain R'lmus probably has an excessive amount of health..
-I was positioned outside of the range of the Tractor beam at the start of the space section. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not for the station to abstruct its firing solution; so an unobservant player would get caught when they try to move towards the first ship.
-=The Search for New Romulus=-
-I like that New Romulus is obscured by the "Dewa III System" name on the sector map.
-Gamma Eridon might be another good point to explain that being right next to a ship when it explodes is a "bad idea".
-Flew through an invisible object about 10km out from Probe Gamma's target location... again, roughly halfway between it and Beta - before the Nausicans jumps in.
-Bridge officers displayed their ground and space abilities on the Away Team Deployment screen to Dewa III.
-"I wonder if Tricorder/Scan effects should be faction-colored..."
-Ermagerd, I actually didn't get a team-wiping Tholian Commander mine dropped on me.. that was actually an.. enjoyable.. fight! Commander had a pretty healthy helping of health to work through, but the fight was actually.. fun(something I never thought I'd say about a Tholian encounter).
-The Recluse still went down pretty easily, but I imagine most of that was due to it being focused on Temer's ship instead of the player's.
-Ran into an invisible wall/temporary obstruction in the hallway for a second time(encountered it during the tutorial as well). It kept me from moving forward until I jumped over it.. not entirely sure what to make of it. Perhaps an ambient event/sound is interrupting player movement?
-=(Minor Intermission)=-
-I notice Veril starts with "Phaser Turret Fabrication II", despite the player neither having an allegiance with the Federation at this point or with the potential to join KDF.
-It would be nice if some of the quest costumes were present in the drop-down outfit selection of the Tailor once unlocked.
-"Pouches" and "Romulan Republic 1" Chest Gear appear to be identical(encountered while customizing Veril).
-The Flotilla still sells Federation fightercraft.
-=Turning Point=-
-"Hurray! S'taass voiceover!"
-Tovan's Voice-over overlaps with Sela's a couple of times. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not. I like the organic/non-scripted feel, but perhaps if the Tovan's dialogue were delayed another second or two the overlapping wouldn't be quite as jarring.
-"Hakeev's D'eridex uses a green assimiliation beam instead of a blue tractor beam.... interesting.. is that intentional?"
-The Tal Shiar agents might be a nice time to elaborate on melee combat.
-I love the voicework for Temer's sacrifice cutscene, it really helps to drive the scene.
-D'tan's spoken and written dialogue still don't match.
-The Valdore's wings being blindingly white appear to be an issue with one of the LoD textures, the ship in the flotilla's wings are fine at longer range.
-=Neutral No More=-
-The Dhelan is still listed before the B'rel in the shipyard, despite being a higher tier ship.
-When attempting to rename my new Dhelen at the pop-up when you first recieve it, I recieved a red error message: "You do not have a ship by that name." Renaming the ship at the Ship Selection Officer worked fine after that.
-Romulan Klingon Left Arm attachment has different color options from Right Arm attachments.
-Hands(Male): Romulan Klingon have a second color option that can change the character's entire skin color. Additional, version 2 has some strange additional options.
Well so far, closing contact windows does nto Always cancel the VO, at least through the tutorial section. this happened in Helix as well. If the fix was mentioned only for non romulan parts of the game, then obviously disreguard. If it was kept that way for early missiomns for some reason same deal.
That is unfortunately all the time I had for this today, but.. I didn't notice any other issues, everything seems to be comming together nicely. Some places still need thier VO filled in, but otherwsie, good work! :^)
Some things I noticed going through the tutorial missions on a new Rommie:
1) Voice Over still cuts out on some missions - Specifically Nevala when you return to her, to explain to her what you saw in the cavern. The first communication screen, no voice over. But the moment you hit "continue", the voice over kicks in. I noticed this with Temer in a few places as well. And by the time you get to the Flotilla, his voice overs are completely gone. It's a shame, because it adds depth to him.
2) Once again, beaming into the Romulan Flotilla the first time for the cutscene, I was able to see the Transporter Room, and I saw my character getting up off the floor, underneath the transporter pad, while he was still beaming in. But that was all. I still saw no Romulan NPCs/characters. And this was not true when I first did the tutorials on the start of the Beta. This bug occured after the first major content patch for the Beta. And still has not been resolved. This needs fixing before open beta, and certainly before going live.
3) Romulan NPC AI pathing needs work. Some Romulans are still walking over immovable objects like chairs, tables, and counters.
Perhaps the reman ships in space around crateris should keep moving once the enemy shisp are destroyed, so as to avoid stopping next to them as they explode. Unless of course they have a detah wish.
On the surface of crateris, when talking to Slamek about the transmitter, when Virl's contact duialogue pops up, it still has her old head in it, not the new more saurian like one. Also her mini contact flyby boxes showed her old head. She had her shiny new saurian head back for dialgue with zden after retruning with slamek. She also had her new saurtian head in all space contacts, including the mini contact boxes.
I do like that the officers are now customizable though... and I do like that there are three reman face type options. Though nujmber three does resemble a a benzite in some respects.. mush like number one resembesl a saurian. The eye protection is neat, but the colors for that and the hood seem to be bound to eachother.
In Gasko Blues when Hiven finds his brother dead it looks like he pulls out a phaser rifle in the cutscene.
The tutorial VO in Search for new romulus still says yout tricoprder will point you to your next objective, in space.
I also noticed the Dewa3 system no longer gives away any spoilers in sector space. lol :^D
The Rihan Sailbacks still have Underscores in thier names.
1) Veril needs voice overs. - Even though her father only says the first line of his text, it's at least something. In fact, voice overs should be more prevalent now in the game, than before. You guys have gotten a lot of practice with it, and it has made the game so much better. I'm somewhat disappointed that the amount of Tovan's voice over work starts to drop off after this story arc's finished.
2) Item Clipping using Tovan's original chest piece and the Romulan Republic uniform top. - About where his "Pouches" chest piece crosses over his chest, and the right lapel, the chest strap gets clipped by the jacket and lapel. This kinda limits the customization of the officers, because I tried to keep aspects of their original gear to make their Romulan Republic uniforms more personalized. I hope this can be fixed.
3) Male Boots of Republic 1 display a fourth color, but there is no 4th color option to change. Player has to go to Civilian Basic to change the color before switching back to Romulan Republic 1.
4) Plasma trails on T'Liss Light Warbird should be green, not smoke. - All the other Romulan ships have green contrails/plasma trails. The player's first Romulan warbird should as well. Especially since the warp flash is green on even this ship.
5) LCARS Loading screen designs should change more significantly to match those of their respective races. Right now the Romulan and Klingon versions are too similar to the Federation one. Furthermore, I noticed that the loading screen would occasionally switch back to the Federation design, on both romulan and kdf characters, but the color scheme remained the same.
6) Khitomer Outpost is on Narendra III. The planet Khitomer, also known as Camp Khitomer, was a separate planet were the First Khitomer Accords were signed between the Federation and the Klingons. As it stands, in the "Turning Point" mission, the history that Tovan Khev gives on the planet is partially wrong. The Narendra system is where the Khitomer Massacre by the RSE was committed. The Khitomer you have the players visit is where the First and Second Khitomer Accords were signed by the Federation and the Klingon Empire. I know it's asking a lot, but as a Trek fan, I feel that this needs fixing. I don't want to see erroneous information in my STO stories.
7) Radar needs to be replaced in "Turning Point" with sensors. No 25th Century empire uses radar in space.
8) Brigadier General G'Dan repeats the same stuff that Councillor Woldan says at Khitomer. Some more variety in the Klingon convos would be an improvement.
9) On character selection screen, Romulan rank and title default to ally equivalent, rather than displaying Romulan rank and title.
10) Beta Thoridor is misspelled in the system map, on the 2nd communication screen from the Mining facility.
Ijust recreated my rom toon on tribble after the wipe... It went well until that mission you are on that reman colony (cannot recall the name). It was smooth until I had to escort the 2 NPCs to a shuttle for evacuation. They boarded the shuttle fine but the mission did not complete or go to the next chapter, which I believe is me going back to my ship and escorting the shuttle.
Issue: mission did not progress and stuck at escort to shuttle...
Here's another batch of feedback after playing through the missions again.
I played these on May 8th (before the latest patch), with a female Alien Romulan
that allied with the Federation.
The Helix
No noticeable bugs.
Crossroads at Crateris
What have you done to Veril?! She looked so much better before! She has kept her previous, nice look in the mini-contact pop-up and the dialogue with Slamek though. When returning to Zden, Veril went off on her own and aggroed everything - she went to 0 hp and just kept on going (luckily without dragging me or my team into combat).
Gasko Blues
Hakeev still looks very still on that viewscreen, any chance of animating him? Otherwise a clean mission.
The Search for New Romulus
Very nice that the Dewa III system is no longer named New Romulus! It was a dead giveaway for this mission. When I try to use the "plot a course"-button to Gamma Eridon, my ships just flies around Galorndon Core in an endless loop. When using the map to plot the course it works fine.
Tovan's VO says "There don't seem to be any civilizations-", instead of "doesn't". The adult and mature rihan sailbacks have underscores in their names. The Tholian ground fight is much more manageable now! Plotting a course to the flotilla took me to the Galorndon Core system.
Turning Point
After the conference, in sector space, using the "plot a course"-button took me in a half circle and back to Khitomer again, and not to the flotilla. Otherwise I noticed no bugs in this mission.
Neutral No More
No noticeable bugs in this mission.
Joined in March, 2011. Lifer since December, 2011.
Here's what I experienced in my play through of the early portion of the closed beta before the major update a few days ago. Might be a bit redundant at this point, but listing it here just the same before open.
Tutorial
Impressions: Simply put this mission is in and of itself more entertaining than a lot of the Fed Episode missions available presently in Holodeck. What surprised me the most about this mission was that it was fairly (seemingly?) non-linear for a tutorial. Obviously the mission itself progressed in a linear fashion, but that did not prevent you from going back and talking to some characters again, and the townfolk had interesting conversations you could spy on. Quite masterful really, it will be effective in drawing in both gamers who don't like their hand held, and others who could like a detailed walkthrough to get them started.
The story was excellent and while I expected the day for my character would to go to pot, I did not expect it would progress in the fashion it did, very epic/metal. The scenery was largely excellent, and I was excited to find out that dynamic changes in music on the same map have been implemented into the engine. If enabled on the Foundry that will be a very useful tool indeed.
Another outstanding touch is the implementation of BOFFs with a personality. This more than makes up for the lack of customization they can receive.
Reading through this thread, it appears that the KDF tutorial has been improved as well. Should that be the case, hopefully the Fed tutorial is going to be updated as well as it is vastly inferior to this one.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
--- Explore The Flotilla
Impressions: The Flotilla concept is quite interesting and well executed. The Romulan interiors here, as opposed to the sort of boring metalish boxes we have seen in the past, and very catching and a cut above the pre-Season 7 scenery we have seen.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
--- The Helix
Impressions: Not as epic/metal as the tutorial but still more compelling than similar missions available to the Fed or KDF presently. The presence of *real* multiple choice conversations (where you can hail the enemy or blow them off) is refreshing and excellent. I'm not familiar with the Enterprise episode(s) this one is based off of but the mission is interesting in its own right. The adjustable space-terrain present in this mission is brilliant.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
--- Crossroads at Crateris
Impressions: Another solid mission, more great visuals and gameplay. Nice to see that a female Reman design has been hashed out, and also interesting to see Slamek before he became a prisoner. Somehow I got the impression that he was already on Hakeev's side as a saboteur while playing the mission? It would explain how he could be "captured" here and then subsequently be free to be present on another Reman ship later on. Of course I don't have the fully picture on Slamek's movements yet.
The part where the "new" aliens start to assault the colony was impressive. I like all this dynamic scenery coming into the game.
I can see where some people are saying the "boss fight" is a little hard. I personally don't think it's that bad, I didn't die at all. Of course I normally play as a Space-oriented TAC so going down the same route with this test character made things somewhat easier.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
--- Gasko Blues
Impressions: More reminiscent of normal STO fare but still a high quality version of a normal mission. Certainly something I'd expect in a 4-star or better Foundry mission. Most of the story is a bit signposted (you know the Tal are already up to no good, that the guy's bro dies, etc) but it gets better when you get to the space battle. I enjoyed having to deal with that tractor beam at the beginning.
Despite the shortcomings in the mission's story, the set design was once again excellent.
Bugs: In the briefing -> "...they've been their for years..." should be "...they've been there for years..."
Tobol's VISOR flexes when he moves his eyebrows in close-up view.
--- Search for New Romulus
Impressions: Longer mission. Certainly I know by this point where New Romulus is, and it's still marked on the Sector map as such! Kind of a giveaway.
In any event, a nice fun mission generally. It was nice to be able to explore the area north of the familiar New Romulus map. The Tholian Commander was a bit tough. Not bad for a veteran like me but it could be a problem for newbies. Suggest that it's 1 CMDR/1 LT or 3-4 LTs and no CMDR.
Bugs: Dewa III/New Romulus space planet texture -> the New Romulus city is visible from space if you fly around it a bit; in-game text says no civilization presently there, so that is a potential immersion problem.
Section of water on planet surface has missing texture, making the water invisible. Will post link later.
--- Turning Point
Impressions: Big call back to the kind of interactivity we saw in the tutorial, this mission is quite polished with all the delegates you can talk to. However, it would be nice if even more delegates could be fobbed for a conversation, especially on the Fed side of things.
KDF perspective was very well written all around. Fed however was surprising and actually I kind of liked it. Sugihara always struck me as "all show no go" and it is nice to see that perception being backed up with official content.
But what I *really* liked was T'Nae. Not really a huge fan of her character previously but wow, this just makes her WAY more interesting. It raises a lot of questions about her ability to professionally handle her operational theater. Certainly makes it a bit clearer why Section 31 is encroaching on her turf early in the Fed campaign when you would think they should be focusing on the KDF; it does seem like the organization (or someone they work with in Starfleet) does not necessarily trust her judgment. For that matter the whole Federation delegation is a perfect window into just how messed up the Feds have become internally. No wonder Worf quit! Also, the barely contained anger when she addresses you...very nice.
Also the real politick on D'Tan's part was solid and believable. I'm not sure why Sela would make an appearance at the conference, it's an awfully big risk for her (especially as she always sort of struck me as a "master in the shadows" kind of person) and I'm not sure what the pay-off is. I suppose it may be come clearer as the faction story progresses.
The space combat sequence was fun, it was nice seeing Jarod as half-way competent for a change. The subsequent ground section was a little more traditional but it did explain all the Romulans in Fed diplomatic clothing that were milling about the map. The ending was great, and I am looking forward to the final voice-acted version.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
--- Neutral No More
Impressions: This mission took me an hour or so to complete. It's not hard at all, but I had a real hard time deciding whether to go with the Feds or with the KDF. Like others had mentioned previously, I was aiming for Fed earlier but the shockingly poor show at the conference evened the choice out for me. Took me a long time to decide to go with the Feds anyway.
The only suggestion I have for this mission, is perhaps the Fed and KDF captains do more of a sales pitch to gain your services? Particularly the Fed captain, as it would balance out the effects of the previous mission a little bit. Not much, but it would inspire some confidence in the UFP.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
---
VA Trevelyan
XO, Renegade Ships
Comments
Firstly the "tutorial voice" talks over contact VO. That's a little annoying, and frustrating. Also disabling the help prompts, Does not stop the Tutorial VO, and I think personally, that that is a problem. Now I don' think it's a bad idea period to have it, I jsut think it should go with the prompts if you disable them. I also agree with a previous poster here, the Lore keeper's voice does not seem to match her face. She sounds like she's at least starting to reach the end stages of her life span, long as that may be for a romulan, and her face looks... well much younger. There's also, and I'm not sure if this was purposely done or not.. where she repeats ehrself at the end of story about after romulus was destroyed. she repeats: " We're just Dust... scattered by the winds of fate." twice, when the text jsut says it once.
The first half of the dialogue with Nevala after returning from the Khellid hive had no VO for me.. the second half did though. As in I walked up and made contact. there was text, but no VO. I hit the continue button, and there was VO for that part.
D'vex does not say: "But that leaves something else..." It's only there in text.
It's really nice though in total. I've run out of time to play through the whole of the tutorial, but I can't wait! :^)
And yes, the help tips VO and the tutorial VO are overplaying each other. This occurs in the beginning, and later when the player begins flying the Warbird.
Cutscene that introduces the Warbird: Good, the shuttle is in there and working better than before. But I have a nitpick: this is a fairly 'special' reveal for the character, and could be made better. The camera passes through wreckage to reveal a distant Warbird, and that's excellent. But make that initial pass (wreckage reveal) a little longer, and we need more in the background. The ship, once revealed is too far away and just sitting in open space. Put some other wreckage around and behind it, as though it was hidden there. Let the camera follow the shuttle in closer to give us more detail of the ship...this could be a great cutscene, but currently it's just meh.
Upon initial visit of the Flotilla, in Tmer's office, part of the VO is missing...their appears to be a female present that says something to Tovan or the player, just before Tovan's exit. Text is there, but no VO.
Turning Point:
-=Pre Episode=-
-Really digging the new color-coded skill and weapon toolbar icons.
-New Romulus Command still has federation vendors.
-Floatilla still sells Federation fighter craft - even to a KDF-aligned Romulan.
-"Oooooo.. this Plasma Piercing Beam Rifle looks interesting.. I wonder what that green bar is..."
-=The Helix=-
-Tovan's voice acting feels a bit.. flat - as if reading from a script instead of actually talking to his commanding officer.
-I like the new red alert sound effects.
-I found myself unable to re-arrange my UI during the mission. I think the mission objectives window may have been forcing it out of the re-arrangement mode?
-The cloaking tooltip(and voice-over) are a really nice addition.
-"I'm liking these various spoken 'one-liners'." =d
-Ended up clipping through the Delta Arm of the Suliban Helix during combat. It looked a bit strange/was a little immersion breaking, but I'm not sure if it is a 'big' issue or if a 'solution' would create more (line of sight)problems than its worth.
-Teleporting the Refugees played the Romulan sound effect, but displayed a federation blue teleporter.
-Tovan's third spoken dialogue(just before warping out) didn't bother me. It sounded authentic enough for the situation.
-=Crossroads at Crateris=-
-Nice to see the Reman ships using the Reman ship textures and colors.
-"Argh! Let me re-arrange the UI while in local/combat space, game! Why has the ship 'vitals' window moved overlap with the weapon's tab!?"
-HUD re-arrangement works on the ground.
-Performance seems less choppy/smoother on the ground from the last time I was here.
-"The dripping effect from walking through the water was a nice touch. Is that new? or is it something I have always overlooked?"
-"Ooo, I have a voice to put to the face of Veril now."
-The weapon stash provided mk I items to a level 25 character. Perhaps this should be disabled during the 'mission replay'?
-"I'm really digging this Piercing Rifle, its secondary attack reminds me of the Omega Torpedo Launcher in some ways."
-The audio cue/roar for the arriving Elachi vessal sounds a bit off. It sounds like it's centered in the middle of the zone instead of coming from the east.
-Many of the enemies didn't scale with the player level, although some of them did.
-Perhaps some of the banter between Veril and her father would be better as the new text windows - detracts from the urgency of the situation. Waiting resulted in some of the shuttles getting really far ahead and getting themselves 'sploded.
-The warning about the frontal cone weapon of the Elachi/Mysterous ship is a nice addition, although it did open with the attack many moments before it the notification.
-Warpout effect was Klingon-red instead of Romulan green. New players likely won't encounter this, but I felt it worth mentioning.
-Tovan's VO matches the urgency of the mission much better than in "The Helix". Overall statisfied with the performance.
-Was unable to re-arrange the HUD in local space over New Romulus - appears to be an issue related specifically to that zone layer.
-Warpout from New Romulus local space was Klingon red.
-=Gasko Blues=-
-Away team selection displayed 6 powers for each bridge officer - land and space.
-The red/sealed door between Science and Medical is still mis-aligned, meaning it's possible to see 'through' the level.
-There was a large grin across my chin for Hakeev's dialogue! =D
-One of my officers completely vaporized the station administrator on their own - bypassing the choice for the player to let them live or not.
-I like Hiven's voice. Doesn't sound completely 'Romulan', nor did I expect it, but I still like it.
-I like the combat tooltips here, they introduce some of the finer points of ground combat at a good time.
-=The Search for New Romulus=-
-"I'm liking Tovan's voice acting for this mission."
-Warpout from the Gamma Eridon system was Klingon red.
-Dewa III: Ran/flew through an invisible object between the second and third sensor probe launch locations(just before triggering the Nausican encounter). The camera jolted/rapidly zoomed in and out.
-Away team selection displays land and space abilities on Boffs.
-The tooltips work really nice for this mission.
-"Wait.. Really? You can just press 'H' to holster and draw weapons! O_o;" (I actually learned something!)
-Was disconnected from server mid-mission.
I had stopped playing the beta while waiting for the "Neutral No More" to be fixed from the KDF side. Today I log on and receive a very polite message that it has been reset and I have new orders. That is no problem.
My problem is I have to claim a new ship, yet there is no ship for me to claim.How do I advance on this mission?
NVM, my issue has already been addressed. They are working on it
at the end part when fighting or just before fighting the tholians in space.
the bridge officers are going on about how they hate the Talshirar. in the voice overs.
while fighting the Tholians and just before
The ground combat is much better vs the tholian comander.
The Singularity console is no longer visible on the Rearrange HUD screen. The console appears when in game, but it is not moveable. When you press the ESC key, and choose Rearrange HUD, there is a quick flash of the instructions, but it just stays in the main playing screen. This happens whether you are under Red Alert or not.
Virinat Tutorial
D'Vex voice dialogue does not match text. When you bring your science findings to D'Vex about the device and creatures in the cave, he starts taling about the mining colony. On the next page, the text dialogue starts with "We didn't know what to think." Yet, the voice over says" We didn't know what to believe."
When D'Vex is taling about his ship, he still refers to his captain, for Romulans, it should be Commander.
The Search for New Romulus
When you get to the Dewa III system, after defeating the Nausicans, and deploying the last probe, Tovan has some dialogue. There is another discrepency with the voice over and the text. His third paragraph of dialogue starts with, "There doesn't seem be any... " But his voice over says "don't" instead of doesn't.
On Dewa III, while exploring on the ground map, at the first river area, I found a pack/herd of Epohh that was running in the river, and it were completely under the water.... did we get a new breed of Epohh?
Dewa III, after the final battle and Temer contacts you, he addresses you as captain. Shouldn't it be your current rank, or again "Commander"?
Turning Point
After arriving at Khitomer, and navigating to meet with D'Tan, his voice over and the text completely do not match. Nothing his says in the voice over is in the text.
Unfortunately I got the message that everything was coming down for maintenance, and couldn't testing after Turning Point.
In the search for new romulus, in space the tutorial VO tells you to press V to scan the area, Your Tricorder, will etc.. you don't use your tricorder to scan you want a reading on something outside your ship. I Mean you still could use your tricorder, but only if you want readings on your bridge. :^D This might be a bit nit picky, but.. I noticed it, and thought I'd mention it. On the ground when it repeats the instructions it's correct that time. :^P
I could not observe wildlife(Epohhs) Untill I had holstered my weapon manually. That only happened at the first area you can do so. Only two Vivver cats appeared in that area, which may also be a problem. There where more my lasty two play throughs, and the next two areas I did, with hostile wildlife had the number of targets i was expecrting.
I believe I saw it mentioned somehwere already, but the Sailbacks have Underscores in their names.
The third area I came to with hostiles, more Vivver cats, i could not observe the Epohhs period. they just kept follwoing me around as long as I didn't get to far away, though getting close again would entice them to follow. They did so in a big clump of epohh for the most part, separating occasionally. I finished the rest of the investigation followed by epohhs. Those Brave, Loyal Epohhs stayed with me all the way through My fight with the Tholians. I awarded them Medals made of sticks and leaves, and fed them a ration bar. Sadly I was forced to leave them behind when thwe Tholians attacked my allies in orbit. I will never forget their actions that day though.
In turning point, D'tan's VO is completely different from the text in the contact dialgue box.
So far, I do have to say I'm really liking the little refinements that have been taking place. I can't wait till it's all finished! :^)
It was exciting to play a Romulan.
I especially enjoyed being able to fly a War Eagle!
Its a beauty!
Im a push-over for the old TOS ships.
Would be cool to costume in the TOS Romulan uniforms.
There is a gauge in my HUD for a particle burst that I have not figured out how to move out of the middle of the screen to the side.
Is it movable?
All in all I loved it.
Thank you for including me in the Beta.
-=The Search for New Romulus=-
-Seeing as I was level 26 at the time, I didn't get to test how the encounter was without the team-wiping mine from the commander - I really do something needs to be changed regarding them though(Either Boff AI or something with the mines themself).
-The space encounter with the Recluse still seemed quite easy, but that may have moreso been due to a well timed alpha strike and having a larger ship(the weavers honestly gave me more trouble).
-I noticed there are no duty officer assignments aboard the flotilla.
-=Turning Point=-
-Tovan's commentary is quite amusing.. it helps set the tone and matches the mood.
-D'tan's spoken dialogue is drastically different from the written dialogue.
-"I how S'taass is going to get some spoken dialogue... it would be great to finally have a voice to match with the character.."
-Again, D'tan's spoken dialogue does not match the written dialogue after Temer's death.
-The mission rewarded another blue bridge officer.. I can see this potentially being exploited.
-=Neutral No More=-
-The Dhelen class(and it's variant) appears to be listed before the B'rel in the shipyard, despite it being a higher tier ship.
STOWiki admin.
such as there are times the instruction VO will be going then tovan will pop on screen and start talking both are talking at the same time and that is annoying.
Ive had this happen
The Helix
Gasko Blues
Turning point
Ive been replaying the other tut missions to see if i can spot other VO issues like this.
Also very annoying that the tutorial and the other voice overs tend to over run each other.
Another thing, while your ranks are in the Romulan scheme, all of the ship BOFF slots are in the federation scheme, very confusing.
From certain angles, the mogai or variant in the flotilla has white wings.
Nouveau riche LTS member
*edit ugg, another problem. when back in space, fighting to the nav becon, it never recognized that i had indeed made it to the nav becon
Also, I found there seemed to be no introduction to the Romulan "base" on New Romulus. After the mission that has you explore the Tau Dewa sector and you find Dewa III (later to become New Romulus), at some point I got a mission to pick up my DOFFs. What I didn't know was that I had to go to New Romulus to get them. I walked around the Flotilla for quite a while trying to find the DOFF contact not realizing that not only was there a base now established on New Romulus. There may have been something I missed but I remember thinking, "Wow, I had no idea there was anything on New Romulus yet as I just discovered it!" It might be worthwhile seeing if there could be a minor mission added that might introduce the Romulan complex on New Romulus.
I do look forward to playing through the rest of the story and I think people will absolutely love it on launch. Keep up the good work! Cheers!
-=Tutorial=-
-All the voice work is great. I had a grin on my chin the entire time.
-Virinat(ground) is pretty add-tastic when you're the only one there. Not difficult though, given how little damage the mobs do.
-Singularity charge-up beeps are an interesting touch. I'm mildly concerned a new player will wonder what is causing the noise though.
-Mobs were able to see through my battle cloak on approach at 4km range with singularity level 3. I was surprised.
-When customizing the T'Liss, the blank 'Windows' option appears to have the same options as the 'Style' menu - and impacts the ship in the same way(choosing between decal or no-decal).
-While talking to D'Tan, I only JUST realized the Flotilla takes place onboard a Ha'apax.. neat!
-The voice-over for the tutorial tooltip about the mission tracker window overlapped with the voice-over for the Tau Dewa Sector flavor introduction upon first entering sector space.
-=The Helix=-
-Perhaps a tooltip about ship explosions causing damage to your ship might be a good inclusion here..(around the third encounter against three Tal Shiar T'Liss)
-The Valdore that is a part of the Flotilla had blindingly white wings - possibly a texture issue.
-=Crossroads at Crateris=-
-Woah.. Veril looks... different. I liked the previous look, but I suppose this is more in line with the player and bridge officer models.
-"I really wish we were given a melee weapon so these new shiny items would stop auto-equipping into the player's secondary weapon slot.." New Players may not realize one of the new weapons (presumable intended for their bridge officers) ended up there.
-I like the encounter addition at the first shuttle.. it encourages players to 'blow up' the second one...
-Elachi ship arrival still sounds centered in the zone instead of coming from the east.
-Perhaps the Elachi ship should blow up the second shuttle if you bypass that encounter - like I did..
-The Northern Elachi Walker appears sunken into the ground. It's beams originate far above it instead of from the actual model.
-"Oh wow, there's even a Scimitar in the Tal Shiar invasion fleet."
-"Oh man, I hope we get a chance to get ahold of those cresent-shaped Elachi cannon weapons at some point.."
-The battle with the 'Mysterous Ship' felt much better. Not too hard/impossible to damage, but still threatening enough. I got to see it pop a friendly warbird, in a fairly cinematic fashion, a few seconds before it went down itself.
-The friendly warbirds warped out with Federation Blue warp-trails instead of Romulan Green.
-The tooltip(s) explaining the ship replicator was well timed.
-=Gasko Blues=-
-*Checks sealed door between Science and Medical* "Yep, still misaligned."
-It's still pretty easy to accidentally kill the station commander if you're aiming in that direction to finish off the final ambusher.. =/
-"The science bay makes for a pretty interesting flanking position.."
-"Gah! Stop standing in the painful-teal-plasma-fire-of-doom, Veril! Bad! Don't make me send you back to MMO-Elementary!"
-Captain R'lmus probably has an excessive amount of health..
-I was positioned outside of the range of the Tractor beam at the start of the space section. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not for the station to abstruct its firing solution; so an unobservant player would get caught when they try to move towards the first ship.
-=The Search for New Romulus=-
-I like that New Romulus is obscured by the "Dewa III System" name on the sector map.
-Gamma Eridon might be another good point to explain that being right next to a ship when it explodes is a "bad idea".
-Flew through an invisible object about 10km out from Probe Gamma's target location... again, roughly halfway between it and Beta - before the Nausicans jumps in.
-Bridge officers displayed their ground and space abilities on the Away Team Deployment screen to Dewa III.
-"I wonder if Tricorder/Scan effects should be faction-colored..."
-Ermagerd, I actually didn't get a team-wiping Tholian Commander mine dropped on me.. that was actually an.. enjoyable.. fight! Commander had a pretty healthy helping of health to work through, but the fight was actually.. fun(something I never thought I'd say about a Tholian encounter).
-The Recluse still went down pretty easily, but I imagine most of that was due to it being focused on Temer's ship instead of the player's.
-Ran into an invisible wall/temporary obstruction in the hallway for a second time(encountered it during the tutorial as well). It kept me from moving forward until I jumped over it.. not entirely sure what to make of it. Perhaps an ambient event/sound is interrupting player movement?
-=(Minor Intermission)=-
-I notice Veril starts with "Phaser Turret Fabrication II", despite the player neither having an allegiance with the Federation at this point or with the potential to join KDF.
-It would be nice if some of the quest costumes were present in the drop-down outfit selection of the Tailor once unlocked.
-"Pouches" and "Romulan Republic 1" Chest Gear appear to be identical(encountered while customizing Veril).
-The Flotilla still sells Federation fightercraft.
-=Turning Point=-
-"Hurray! S'taass voiceover!"
-Tovan's Voice-over overlaps with Sela's a couple of times. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not. I like the organic/non-scripted feel, but perhaps if the Tovan's dialogue were delayed another second or two the overlapping wouldn't be quite as jarring.
-"Hakeev's D'eridex uses a green assimiliation beam instead of a blue tractor beam.... interesting.. is that intentional?"
-The Tal Shiar agents might be a nice time to elaborate on melee combat.
-I love the voicework for Temer's sacrifice cutscene, it really helps to drive the scene.
-D'tan's spoken and written dialogue still don't match.
-The Valdore's wings being blindingly white appear to be an issue with one of the LoD textures, the ship in the flotilla's wings are fine at longer range.
-=Neutral No More=-
-The Dhelan is still listed before the B'rel in the shipyard, despite being a higher tier ship.
-When attempting to rename my new Dhelen at the pop-up when you first recieve it, I recieved a red error message: "You do not have a ship by that name." Renaming the ship at the Ship Selection Officer worked fine after that.
-Romulan Klingon Left Arm attachment has different color options from Right Arm attachments.
-Hands(Male): Romulan Klingon have a second color option that can change the character's entire skin color. Additional, version 2 has some strange additional options.
That is unfortunately all the time I had for this today, but.. I didn't notice any other issues, everything seems to be comming together nicely. Some places still need thier VO filled in, but otherwsie, good work! :^)
1) Voice Over still cuts out on some missions - Specifically Nevala when you return to her, to explain to her what you saw in the cavern. The first communication screen, no voice over. But the moment you hit "continue", the voice over kicks in. I noticed this with Temer in a few places as well. And by the time you get to the Flotilla, his voice overs are completely gone. It's a shame, because it adds depth to him.
2) Once again, beaming into the Romulan Flotilla the first time for the cutscene, I was able to see the Transporter Room, and I saw my character getting up off the floor, underneath the transporter pad, while he was still beaming in. But that was all. I still saw no Romulan NPCs/characters. And this was not true when I first did the tutorials on the start of the Beta. This bug occured after the first major content patch for the Beta. And still has not been resolved. This needs fixing before open beta, and certainly before going live.
3) Romulan NPC AI pathing needs work. Some Romulans are still walking over immovable objects like chairs, tables, and counters.
On the surface of crateris, when talking to Slamek about the transmitter, when Virl's contact duialogue pops up, it still has her old head in it, not the new more saurian like one. Also her mini contact flyby boxes showed her old head. She had her shiny new saurian head back for dialgue with zden after retruning with slamek. She also had her new saurtian head in all space contacts, including the mini contact boxes.
I do like that the officers are now customizable though... and I do like that there are three reman face type options. Though nujmber three does resemble a a benzite in some respects.. mush like number one resembesl a saurian. The eye protection is neat, but the colors for that and the hood seem to be bound to eachother.
In Gasko Blues when Hiven finds his brother dead it looks like he pulls out a phaser rifle in the cutscene.
The tutorial VO in Search for new romulus still says yout tricoprder will point you to your next objective, in space.
I also noticed the Dewa3 system no longer gives away any spoilers in sector space. lol :^D
The Rihan Sailbacks still have Underscores in thier names.
2) Item Clipping using Tovan's original chest piece and the Romulan Republic uniform top. - About where his "Pouches" chest piece crosses over his chest, and the right lapel, the chest strap gets clipped by the jacket and lapel. This kinda limits the customization of the officers, because I tried to keep aspects of their original gear to make their Romulan Republic uniforms more personalized. I hope this can be fixed.
3) Male Boots of Republic 1 display a fourth color, but there is no 4th color option to change. Player has to go to Civilian Basic to change the color before switching back to Romulan Republic 1.
4) Plasma trails on T'Liss Light Warbird should be green, not smoke. - All the other Romulan ships have green contrails/plasma trails. The player's first Romulan warbird should as well. Especially since the warp flash is green on even this ship.
5) LCARS Loading screen designs should change more significantly to match those of their respective races. Right now the Romulan and Klingon versions are too similar to the Federation one. Furthermore, I noticed that the loading screen would occasionally switch back to the Federation design, on both romulan and kdf characters, but the color scheme remained the same.
6) Khitomer Outpost is on Narendra III. The planet Khitomer, also known as Camp Khitomer, was a separate planet were the First Khitomer Accords were signed between the Federation and the Klingons. As it stands, in the "Turning Point" mission, the history that Tovan Khev gives on the planet is partially wrong. The Narendra system is where the Khitomer Massacre by the RSE was committed. The Khitomer you have the players visit is where the First and Second Khitomer Accords were signed by the Federation and the Klingon Empire. I know it's asking a lot, but as a Trek fan, I feel that this needs fixing. I don't want to see erroneous information in my STO stories.
7) Radar needs to be replaced in "Turning Point" with sensors. No 25th Century empire uses radar in space.
8) Brigadier General G'Dan repeats the same stuff that Councillor Woldan says at Khitomer. Some more variety in the Klingon convos would be an improvement.
9) On character selection screen, Romulan rank and title default to ally equivalent, rather than displaying Romulan rank and title.
10) Beta Thoridor is misspelled in the system map, on the 2nd communication screen from the Mining facility.
Issue: mission did not progress and stuck at escort to shuttle...
I played these on May 8th (before the latest patch), with a female Alien Romulan
that allied with the Federation.
The Helix
No noticeable bugs.
Crossroads at Crateris
What have you done to Veril?! She looked so much better before! She has kept her previous, nice look in the mini-contact pop-up and the dialogue with Slamek though. When returning to Zden, Veril went off on her own and aggroed everything - she went to 0 hp and just kept on going (luckily without dragging me or my team into combat).
Gasko Blues
Hakeev still looks very still on that viewscreen, any chance of animating him? Otherwise a clean mission.
The Search for New Romulus
Very nice that the Dewa III system is no longer named New Romulus! It was a dead giveaway for this mission. When I try to use the "plot a course"-button to Gamma Eridon, my ships just flies around Galorndon Core in an endless loop. When using the map to plot the course it works fine.
Tovan's VO says "There don't seem to be any civilizations-", instead of "doesn't". The adult and mature rihan sailbacks have underscores in their names. The Tholian ground fight is much more manageable now! Plotting a course to the flotilla took me to the Galorndon Core system.
Turning Point
After the conference, in sector space, using the "plot a course"-button took me in a half circle and back to Khitomer again, and not to the flotilla. Otherwise I noticed no bugs in this mission.
Neutral No More
No noticeable bugs in this mission.
Joined in March, 2011. Lifer since December, 2011.
Tutorial
Impressions: Simply put this mission is in and of itself more entertaining than a lot of the Fed Episode missions available presently in Holodeck. What surprised me the most about this mission was that it was fairly (seemingly?) non-linear for a tutorial. Obviously the mission itself progressed in a linear fashion, but that did not prevent you from going back and talking to some characters again, and the townfolk had interesting conversations you could spy on. Quite masterful really, it will be effective in drawing in both gamers who don't like their hand held, and others who could like a detailed walkthrough to get them started.
The story was excellent and while I expected the day for my character would to go to pot, I did not expect it would progress in the fashion it did, very epic/metal. The scenery was largely excellent, and I was excited to find out that dynamic changes in music on the same map have been implemented into the engine. If enabled on the Foundry that will be a very useful tool indeed.
Another outstanding touch is the implementation of BOFFs with a personality. This more than makes up for the lack of customization they can receive.
Reading through this thread, it appears that the KDF tutorial has been improved as well. Should that be the case, hopefully the Fed tutorial is going to be updated as well as it is vastly inferior to this one.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
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Explore The Flotilla
Impressions: The Flotilla concept is quite interesting and well executed. The Romulan interiors here, as opposed to the sort of boring metalish boxes we have seen in the past, and very catching and a cut above the pre-Season 7 scenery we have seen.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
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The Helix
Impressions: Not as epic/metal as the tutorial but still more compelling than similar missions available to the Fed or KDF presently. The presence of *real* multiple choice conversations (where you can hail the enemy or blow them off) is refreshing and excellent. I'm not familiar with the Enterprise episode(s) this one is based off of but the mission is interesting in its own right. The adjustable space-terrain present in this mission is brilliant.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
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Crossroads at Crateris
Impressions: Another solid mission, more great visuals and gameplay. Nice to see that a female Reman design has been hashed out, and also interesting to see Slamek before he became a prisoner. Somehow I got the impression that he was already on Hakeev's side as a saboteur while playing the mission? It would explain how he could be "captured" here and then subsequently be free to be present on another Reman ship later on. Of course I don't have the fully picture on Slamek's movements yet.
The part where the "new" aliens start to assault the colony was impressive. I like all this dynamic scenery coming into the game.
I can see where some people are saying the "boss fight" is a little hard. I personally don't think it's that bad, I didn't die at all. Of course I normally play as a Space-oriented TAC so going down the same route with this test character made things somewhat easier.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
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Gasko Blues
Impressions: More reminiscent of normal STO fare but still a high quality version of a normal mission. Certainly something I'd expect in a 4-star or better Foundry mission. Most of the story is a bit signposted (you know the Tal are already up to no good, that the guy's bro dies, etc) but it gets better when you get to the space battle. I enjoyed having to deal with that tractor beam at the beginning.
Despite the shortcomings in the mission's story, the set design was once again excellent.
Bugs: In the briefing -> "...they've been their for years..." should be "...they've been there for years..."
Tobol's VISOR flexes when he moves his eyebrows in close-up view.
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Search for New Romulus
Impressions: Longer mission. Certainly I know by this point where New Romulus is, and it's still marked on the Sector map as such! Kind of a giveaway.
In any event, a nice fun mission generally. It was nice to be able to explore the area north of the familiar New Romulus map. The Tholian Commander was a bit tough. Not bad for a veteran like me but it could be a problem for newbies. Suggest that it's 1 CMDR/1 LT or 3-4 LTs and no CMDR.
Bugs: Dewa III/New Romulus space planet texture -> the New Romulus city is visible from space if you fly around it a bit; in-game text says no civilization presently there, so that is a potential immersion problem.
Section of water on planet surface has missing texture, making the water invisible. Will post link later.
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Turning Point
Impressions: Big call back to the kind of interactivity we saw in the tutorial, this mission is quite polished with all the delegates you can talk to. However, it would be nice if even more delegates could be fobbed for a conversation, especially on the Fed side of things.
KDF perspective was very well written all around. Fed however was surprising and actually I kind of liked it. Sugihara always struck me as "all show no go" and it is nice to see that perception being backed up with official content.
But what I *really* liked was T'Nae. Not really a huge fan of her character previously but wow, this just makes her WAY more interesting. It raises a lot of questions about her ability to professionally handle her operational theater. Certainly makes it a bit clearer why Section 31 is encroaching on her turf early in the Fed campaign when you would think they should be focusing on the KDF; it does seem like the organization (or someone they work with in Starfleet) does not necessarily trust her judgment. For that matter the whole Federation delegation is a perfect window into just how messed up the Feds have become internally. No wonder Worf quit! Also, the barely contained anger when she addresses you...very nice.
Also the real politick on D'Tan's part was solid and believable. I'm not sure why Sela would make an appearance at the conference, it's an awfully big risk for her (especially as she always sort of struck me as a "master in the shadows" kind of person) and I'm not sure what the pay-off is. I suppose it may be come clearer as the faction story progresses.
The space combat sequence was fun, it was nice seeing Jarod as half-way competent for a change. The subsequent ground section was a little more traditional but it did explain all the Romulans in Fed diplomatic clothing that were milling about the map. The ending was great, and I am looking forward to the final voice-acted version.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
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Neutral No More
Impressions: This mission took me an hour or so to complete. It's not hard at all, but I had a real hard time deciding whether to go with the Feds or with the KDF. Like others had mentioned previously, I was aiming for Fed earlier but the shockingly poor show at the conference evened the choice out for me. Took me a long time to decide to go with the Feds anyway.
The only suggestion I have for this mission, is perhaps the Fed and KDF captains do more of a sales pitch to gain your services? Particularly the Fed captain, as it would balance out the effects of the previous mission a little bit. Not much, but it would inspire some confidence in the UFP.
Bugs: Did not encounter any significant issues in my playthrough of this mission.
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VA Trevelyan
XO, Renegade Ships
D'Vex speaks about his captain in the voice dialogue, but in the textual dialogue, refers to his superior as commander: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/576736953351261514/DE341B4D8BB4436C92B76DDFD39AFB5D74CA26F5/