Please don't pull a "Lost"

captainhunter1 · July 2015

I just want to ask our Dev team, "Please don't pull a 'Lost'" on us with the storyline for the game.

You know, "Lost", that TV show that had all this really great build up story-wise and then after six years, the writers pretty much admitted they had no idea where they were going with it. Loose end after loose end. All with the promise it would all be explained in the end....

And we all know how that turned out.

So please, I have faith in you guys, I have seen what you can do when you apply yourselves - don't pull a 'Lost' on us after five years of build up. ('Broken Circle' has shaken my faith that badly). Give us a satisfying conclusion that wraps the loose ends and actually makes sense in the Star Trek setting.

P.S. Ask for help if you need it, the entire Community is willing to help - just look at all the feedback here on the Forums. There are a lot of great ideas on how things could be set straight.

seriousdave · July 2015

Just saying that they have a thing for leaving stuff open and unanswered. Like tholians, voth, undine, vadwaur and the list goes on. So don't expect an epic conclusion for this one or else you're gonna be disappointed

woodwhity · July 2015

I wouldnt hold my breath.

bluedarky · July 2015

seriousdave wrote: »

Just saying that they have a thing for leaving stuff open and unanswered. Like tholians, voth, undine, vadwaur and the list goes on. So don't expect an epic conclusion for this one or else you're gonna be disappointed

They are however in no danger of the plug being pulled anytime soon however so they have plenty of time to sort things out.

Also, how was the Vadwaur stuff left unanswered?

warmaker001b · July 2015

seriousdave wrote: »

Just saying that they have a thing for leaving stuff open and unanswered. Like tholians, voth, undine, vadwaur and the list goes on. So don't expect an epic conclusion for this one or else you're gonna be disappointed

It could be worse. It could have been handled like the Federation-Klingon War.

lordgyor · July 2015

The Undine plotline was answered.

shpoks · July 2015

I think it's painfully obvious by now that Cryptic, just as the writers of LOST, has no idea or concept where they're taking the game's story. Apart from content that came at the start of the game and its release, like the Borg arc and tying of the old school STFs with the storyline and the old tutorial (and even that was dealt with the lazy time-travel excuse) and a few isonlated 'incidents' once in a blue moon throughout the years, they've exibited a clear lack of talent, knowledge and vision in terms of writing an engaging a fulfilling storyline.

angrytarg · July 2015

shpoks wrote: »

I think it's painfully obvious by now that Cryptic, just as the writers of LOST, has no idea or concept where they're taking the game's story. Apart from content that came at the start of the game and its release, like the Borg arc and tying of the old school STFs with the storyline and the old tutorial (and even that was dealt with the lazy time-travel excuse) and a few isonlated 'incidents' once in a blue moon throughout the years, they've exibited a clear lack of talent, knowledge and vision in terms of writing an engaging a fulfilling storyline.

I wouldn't choose such hard words, but in essence you are right. What's obvious to me is that the reason STOs writing is so disappointing is the mere fact that it's supposed to be Star Trek online. The shows and movies had very mixed levels of writing as well, but all in all a lot of players expect a certain level of storywriting that is not present. Instead we have a level of storytelling that's appropriate for a arcade-y MMO type of game which's connection to Star Trek is mostly justified with visuals and name-dropping but it does feel like whoever is writing the stories is unable (might very well be due to deadlines, license issues) or unwilling to actually take the lore at hand and extrapolate it instead of writing an unrelated gameplot and add familiar names and terms later on. Or, if multiple people deal with the writing, one doesn't know what the other does (which is Star Trek's original problem as well).

EDIT: It is also "unlucky" that often storylines get abandoned in favour of the recent content which is all build around selling new stuff. The Tholian part of the whole story seems completely abandoned, nobody talks about Defera anymore (which was an original STO race with unrelated lore and it worked much better than forced recognition!), what happened to the Borg (which acted "odd" from the very moment we saw them in the old tutorial?) anyway? Of course it is hard to connect all these stories, but that happens if seemingly you don't know what kind of story you want to tell and just write up what you feel like fits right now.

flash525 · July 2015

The Iconian stuff is suppose to wrap up before Season #11, right? That's what, six months away? That's six months to bring the Dominion into the fold, and to explain what the Tholian are doing with their interest in the gateways; maybe they know of some weakness the Iconian have, and they're working on it? I don't believe the Krenim technology is going to be the saving grace everyone is expecting it to be, thus other means of dealing with the Iconian threat are going to be required.

shpoks · July 2015

angrytarg wrote: »

I wouldn't choose such hard words...

I usually wouldn't either, however the recent developments in the direction of the storyline - including the strong leaning towards a certain future direction of the storyline has left me nothing short of apalled. At the moment I have serious concerns that they're taking the game storyline into the direction of "oops, oh well, the last 5 years you played in STO never actually happened" (in terms of the in-game story development, ofcourse), which is like the laziest, most uninspiring and boring way to handle a plot and I'm afraid is another thing I saw comming years ago just as I saw the removal of the exploration clusters comming. Let's face it, apart from a few shining individual beacons (episodes), STO storyline was never something really exceptional but, apart from a few really terrible episodes (ex. Divide et Impera), it was good and entertaining enough to pass. However these last developments are just......ugh....

I think it's pretty clearly displayed by the amount of negative feedback the lastest episodes have received which was almost never the case with story releases before.

The way I see it, STO's story content kept up pretty good even with all the unfinished storylines left for "better times" or whatever untill they started tailoring and developing the episodes around showcasing the latest ship that'll end up in the C-Store and you get to test-drive it instead of the substance, which was only emphasized after they started developing the episodes around which Star Trek actor they were able to get to do VO work for STO, leaving the player characters as sidekicks to TV stars and leaving the quality and plausability of the storyline taking the backseat and in the background of a TV star or a starship.

So yeah, I might have used harsh words, but that's just how I feel about the entire ordeal. If they manage to turn STO's storyline, as weak as it was at times, into a complete and utter joke - then this game will become nothing more than a bug ridden, epileptic WoT in space with a Star Trek skin. Meh...

ursusmorologus · July 2015

one word: Fek'lhr

azniadeet · July 2015

Have faith in the prophets, child.

mustrumridcully0 · July 2015

As usual, people assume the worst.

I am not sure that the STO writers have everything planned out. They probably don't. But I suspect htey have more of a plan than some fear.

I don't think they will undo the past few years of story-line development. That never happened in Star Trek either. For a single episode (even if that episode is supposed to span a whole year of hell), yeah, but for several episodes, entire seasons? Nope.

I suspect that the outcome of the Iconian storyline will involve time travel, but not in a way to undo everything that happened - but in finding a decent spot to alter in the time and resolve the situation, even if there are some nasty consequences (like millions or billions of dead people perhaps.)

That doesn't mean you will like it, of course, nor does it mean it will be particularly well written.

welcome2earf · July 2015

WAAAAAAALLLT!!!!!

tacofangs · July 2015

. . . I guess I'll stop working on this church interior, now . . .

kyrrok · July 2015

There's word that the temporal cold war is next in the storyline, but I hope it's just an unfulfilled rumor. ST: Enterprise was themed around it for the first 3 years and 2 episodes, and never recovered from it. They finished out the last year and that was it. If they try a temporal cold war here, I doubt it would be better.

ursusmorologus wrote: »

one word: Fek'lhr

I like this idea a lot. They tried the Klingon Empire once, who's to say they won't come after the galaxy entirely next time? And if there are people who insist that Fek'lhr is dead for all time, then I propose another demon lord of grethor, Duras.

makocalloway · July 2015

Arrrg you spoke the show that was never to mentioned again!

bluedarky · July 2015

Amusing.

You all see abandoned arcs, I see potential plot hooks for after the Iconians are dealt with.

You all see a reset button, I see nothing of the sort.

Perception is a marvelous thing.

angrytarg · July 2015

bluedarky wrote: »

Amusing.

You all see abandoned arcs, I see potential plot hooks for after the Iconians are dealt with.

You all see a reset button, I see nothing of the sort.

Perception is a marvelous thing.

That would require you to genuinely believe that story arcs that have recieved no work for more than three years (four even) have been left open for this very moment.

The reset button, I personally have no problem with that. I understand where the argument comes from, but if they actually go for it and reset back everything to before it's still a conclusion of the story. It's not "reset" for me, just for the in-game lore.

Unknown · July 2015

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pweistheworst · July 2015

Sort of silly to freak out about content that hasn't shown up yet.

Sure a vocal percentage of us might not like the way the writers handled one episode or another, but that's not much different than how Trek fans responded to various episodes (and movies) from the various series. As hard as it is for me to believe that ANYONE liked the writing on Star Trek Voyager, I've met plenty of fans who love just about every single episode of Voyager. I also think Star Trek V was the single worst Trek film involving the original crew, but there are other fan who loved Star Trek V and believe Star Trek TMP or ST VI was worse.

There wasn't a single season of ANY Trek series that didn't have plot holes or unanswered questions. We're just in a position to notice it more because we are essentially LIVING through the game with our characters.

As for getting community input for the story, that is largely a bad idea. "Writing via committee" is like having too many cooks in the kitchen ... you end up with something worse than if you trusted one person to produce something great.

I'll admit that the Iconian War isn't feeling as epic as it should, and there are definitely plot holes and silly leaps in logic (if you want to call it "logic") but I don't trust a random sampling of forum members to do any better.

You might not have much faith in the devs, but I have even less faith in my fellow forum members.

daveyny · July 2015

TacoFangs wrote: »

. . . I guess I'll stop working on this church interior, now . . .

That's... Inspirational ...

Just don't altar things so much you don't have a prayer of making the doubters believe in your message of ...

<chuckle>

artan42 · July 2015

tacofangs wrote: »

. . . I guess I'll stop working on this church interior, now . . .

Hmm, a church is a temple, Bajorans have temples, there's a Bajoran temple on DS9. Taco's revamped DS9 is confirmed!

gulberat · July 2015

tacofangs wrote: »

. . . I guess I'll stop working on this church interior, now . . .

Church?

Temple?

Did somebody say DS9 revamp?

I know, I know you didn't--the "Cardassian" in me has to throw that out there.

Anyway, I am very concerned, inasmuch as one can be for a fictional world, that this plotline is not being handled well. While I could be proven wrong, what I have seen (which I have expressed in detail enough in other threads) hasn't given me confidence.

Unknown · July 2015

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sheldonlcooper · July 2015

I have to disagree about the writing. I feel qualified to say that the overall plot buildup, including retcons, over the past 5 years has been excellent. I'm not going to comment on the 'day to day' writing - the dialogue and speeches etc... It's good enough for the most part. The problem is that all the eggs are in the same basket now and we are expecting a huge payoff. I think I've said this before - the writers have written themselves into a corner and are trying to work their way quietly out of it now.

lucho80 · July 2015

My guess, we'll go to the past in the next episode and be the cause of the Whole being broken.

eldarion79 · July 2015

Hopefully, they don't pull the TOR Reboot that is coming out in October.

azniadeet · July 2015

valoreah wrote: »

Just my 2 EC.... we all having objections to the time weapon is intentional. The alliance will want to use it to erase the Iconians. We (as in our individual Captains) will be "the one" who saves them since we so strongly objected to its use.

Boy, I hope that's true.

I've been itching for a chance to disobey orders.

dareau · July 2015

azniadeet wrote: »

I've been itching for a chance to disobey orders.

Why yes, it's long past time for some "well meaning insubordination"...

crypticarmsman · July 2015

Look I'm 100% certain at least one future FE mission will deal with us changing the timeline (with what are seen as disastrous results); and we'll undo taht and they'll find a way to use the weapon to imprison or effectively neutralize the Iconians. I'm sure there will be some Heralds who are upset by this and continue to 'be a threat/attempt to release their Iconian masters' (IE so the enemy Herald NPCs and ships remain in STO.) There will of course be other Heralds who join the Alliance (so we'll get Herald Doffs, Boffs, et al.); and they'll move on to the next 'Galactic Threat'.

As for an 'overarching thought out master plotine' - the majority of the Star Trek franchise never had one (TOS, TNG, DS9 Seasons 1, and 2; VOY; ENT Seasons 1, 2, and 4 - although S4 of ENT had some engaging mini-arcs.); so why should STO be any different?

Please don't pull a "Lost"

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