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Review: No Prize for Second Contact
gurugeorge
Member Posts: 421 Arc User
Just finished this 4-parter by author contactpsi, and I am moved to rush to the forums here to praise it to high heaven, so everyone can be aware of it and get a chance to experience it.
Anyone who wants to have a Star Trek experience, like a really strong immersive experience of being in a well-written episode of Star Trek (more TNG/DS9, but with some of the fun elements of TOS too), has simply GOT to play these missions. The sequence seriously rivals Cryptic-made missions, in fact, while Cryptic-made missions are usually superbly made, they suffer somewhat from being made for the lowest common denominator (i.e. they're designed to be something that everyone will find some enjoyment in, though not necessarily something everyone will find maximum enjoyment in). This mission, by contrast, is tailor made for people who want to play the role, and be immersed in the role, of being a Federation starship Captain in an episode of Star Trek; if that's what you are looking for, this mission will deliver, in spades. It has dialogue, tons of dialogue, and it requires reading, lots and lots of reading. But on the other hand, if you're a ***** combat-wise, it can easily send you whimpering to the respawn point
I've done a fair bit of Foundry and enjoy it very much as a change of pace from grinding, and I find it a very viable aspect of the game, extending its playability considerably. I'm a casual player of STO, but I do a Foundry mission maybe once or twice a week when I play STO, and there are loads of great, great missions that I've really enjoyed.
But for me, this one takes the biscuit.
The main thing about it is the incredible flow and pacing, with great dialogue and story coming hot on their heels, and actually some damn good gameplay (both space and ground) and level design too, with memorable and engaging characters being the icing on the cake. Even technically it's very well done, with very few glitches or hitches - great attention to detail.
Often, authors will be pretty good at one aspect or another, but IMHO seldom do Foundries have all these aspects present and correct, and to such a high standard. Often, someone will have some great dialogue, but the combat will be a bit meh, or the story and combat will be great, but the dialogue stilted and characters cliched. But somehow, this author manages to juggle all the plates and have the experience come out as seamless and immersive, with the story settting up emotional engagement so that the combat, though relatively sparse compared to many Foundries, is actually meaningful, and you feel something's at stake - you are driven to win.
These are all good reasons for anyone to play these missions, but for me personally, the thing I love most is the way the author makes you feel like you're making real decisions. There are real choices here, both in terms of "tone" in how you respond, and in terms of decision points that alter gameplay. And the kicker is, the way the author sets things up, you are often consulting your officers, so that you feel like they're your team - you're proud of your officers, and they give you advice, and sometimes they're even cheeky and fun; but you always ultimately feel the burden of being in charge, but in a good way, in a way that makes it easy to pretend you're the captain of a starship in the future, a representative of a technologically advanced Federation of planets.
It all just really comes alive.
Great, great stuff, highly recommended. Highly recommended.
And thanks to Cryptic for making it possible for great authors like this to strut their stuff! (And Cryptic: hiire this guy/gal. NOW!
)
Anyone who wants to have a Star Trek experience, like a really strong immersive experience of being in a well-written episode of Star Trek (more TNG/DS9, but with some of the fun elements of TOS too), has simply GOT to play these missions. The sequence seriously rivals Cryptic-made missions, in fact, while Cryptic-made missions are usually superbly made, they suffer somewhat from being made for the lowest common denominator (i.e. they're designed to be something that everyone will find some enjoyment in, though not necessarily something everyone will find maximum enjoyment in). This mission, by contrast, is tailor made for people who want to play the role, and be immersed in the role, of being a Federation starship Captain in an episode of Star Trek; if that's what you are looking for, this mission will deliver, in spades. It has dialogue, tons of dialogue, and it requires reading, lots and lots of reading. But on the other hand, if you're a ***** combat-wise, it can easily send you whimpering to the respawn point
I've done a fair bit of Foundry and enjoy it very much as a change of pace from grinding, and I find it a very viable aspect of the game, extending its playability considerably. I'm a casual player of STO, but I do a Foundry mission maybe once or twice a week when I play STO, and there are loads of great, great missions that I've really enjoyed.
But for me, this one takes the biscuit.
The main thing about it is the incredible flow and pacing, with great dialogue and story coming hot on their heels, and actually some damn good gameplay (both space and ground) and level design too, with memorable and engaging characters being the icing on the cake. Even technically it's very well done, with very few glitches or hitches - great attention to detail.
Often, authors will be pretty good at one aspect or another, but IMHO seldom do Foundries have all these aspects present and correct, and to such a high standard. Often, someone will have some great dialogue, but the combat will be a bit meh, or the story and combat will be great, but the dialogue stilted and characters cliched. But somehow, this author manages to juggle all the plates and have the experience come out as seamless and immersive, with the story settting up emotional engagement so that the combat, though relatively sparse compared to many Foundries, is actually meaningful, and you feel something's at stake - you are driven to win.
These are all good reasons for anyone to play these missions, but for me personally, the thing I love most is the way the author makes you feel like you're making real decisions. There are real choices here, both in terms of "tone" in how you respond, and in terms of decision points that alter gameplay. And the kicker is, the way the author sets things up, you are often consulting your officers, so that you feel like they're your team - you're proud of your officers, and they give you advice, and sometimes they're even cheeky and fun; but you always ultimately feel the burden of being in charge, but in a good way, in a way that makes it easy to pretend you're the captain of a starship in the future, a representative of a technologically advanced Federation of planets.
It all just really comes alive.
Great, great stuff, highly recommended. Highly recommended.
And thanks to Cryptic for making it possible for great authors like this to strut their stuff! (And Cryptic: hiire this guy/gal. NOW!
) Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments
Awesome!
I'm working on my next mission series right now, titled "State of the Union". It's planned as a three-parter.
Thank you again for the very kind words!
-Council Spectre
Looking forward to next series!