test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Having now played all the current Gamma Quadrent episodes...
ajm1067
Member Posts: 205 Arc User
... I think some feedback is in order.
It may help to point out that I am a Star Trek fan first and a gameplayer a distant second. The former is probably why I have stuck with this game on and off for so long.
First of all, in general, the DS9 cast not previously in STO are a welcome addition, along with the reappearance of those characters that were, such as Nog and Loriss.
The scene between Odo and Kira during The Search was, for me, the dramatic stand-out of the arc, thus far, utilising their DS9 characters and history really well. However this seems to have been underplayed with the subsequent Doomed to Repeat episode. You could say that this drama in The Search had to be put to one side for the sake of the mission, but I hope this relationship plays out some more in episodes to come. For me, storytelling like that is really where STO scores, as it did with Midnight and how Sela was driven to act.
Overall though, I am happy with the Gamma story line so far.
As for the gameplay, I had some significant irritations with the opening and closing episodes, Storm Clouds Gather and Tenebris Torquent.
In the former, after running around DS9 way too much to talk to everybody, I was already fed-up. You really should have put D'Tan, J'mpok and Quinn's chat into the conference scene, to save on running about and so alts can ESC past all that, on replays. They are all pre-existing STO characters, and not any of the new (to STO) DS9 cast. People will naturally explore DS9, so why force it?
I get that you want decent game-playing time put-in, but elements such as this running around talking to everyone were unnecessarily lengthy, even taking into account introductory elements. I might be happy to play a compelling episode for up to an hour, or maybe longer, but running around just nattering to endless people does nothing but irritate and bore, especially when so many of us are doing it all over again for alts and alternate rewards.
A definite case of 'less is more'.
Also, this DS9 is cramped, compared to the previous one. It seems to be narrower, so whilst it may be quicker to get around (or would be except for the staircase that barely leaves room for people to pass by), so whilst some things are updated and easier/quicker to get to, it seems that you have gone backwards in terms of overall feel and accessibility. Don't they have safety and spacial standards in the 25th century?
Then there were problems with boffs getting lost or stuck or failing to follow your toon, through doors, up stairs, across walkways, etc, sometimes leaving your away team badly depleted when taking on the Hur'q.
But the real trouble I had was due to a simple issue of standing my toon the wrong side of a panel, when usually all you need to do in this game is stand within range to interact with such.
Why you chose this mission to make an issue of getting players to have their toons stand on the 'correct' side of a panel, with a vague message about the feature not being available, without explaining why, is beyond me.
It led me to believe that I needed to interact with another panel before using the one I was trying to use. But the only other flashing panel was inaccessible. This was because I was not able to move the device and the walkways into place, because I hadn't been able to use the panel I was standing at, because I was the wrong side of it. I had to resort to the forums to find this out.
I regard this as your failure, not mine. After all, is it so hard to have an error message that clarifies that you are not standing the correct side of the panel, given that you are wanting players to bother doing this at all?
As for Tenebris Torquent, I didn't think you would irritate me more than you did with Storm Clouds, but you managed it.
OK, I'm not great at jumping gaps. This was established by that other really annoying episode with Harry Kim and his double on Kobali, but then you let players get past the final stage after so many failed attempts.
After a ridiculous number of attempts, and finally making it, I then ran around finding only two of the three spheres. Seeing that I had been around everywhere, as far as I could tell, I again had to resort to forums and videos to see what I was missing. Boy was I annoyed when I found out how to access the last sphere (no spoilers).
Again, I don't regard this as my failure as a player, but yours as gaming story tellers. I've been playing this game a long time, and if I don't find a way around somewhere, there is something wrong with the environment.
Come on, instead of Tenebris Torquent, how about some Lucent in Tenebris? You need to give better or more visual clues or even clues in the dialogue, to enable players to get around the environment, especially dark ones with inoperative maps. I mean, really, do you have the mindset of trying to catch as many people out as possible with stuff like this?
Having challenges in a game is one thing, but to make things inaccessible because you don't know or see how, is another, and if you've made episodes so annoying to play that you really don't want to repeat them, and are dreading doing so with alts, then is that entertainment?
It may help to point out that I am a Star Trek fan first and a gameplayer a distant second. The former is probably why I have stuck with this game on and off for so long.
First of all, in general, the DS9 cast not previously in STO are a welcome addition, along with the reappearance of those characters that were, such as Nog and Loriss.
The scene between Odo and Kira during The Search was, for me, the dramatic stand-out of the arc, thus far, utilising their DS9 characters and history really well. However this seems to have been underplayed with the subsequent Doomed to Repeat episode. You could say that this drama in The Search had to be put to one side for the sake of the mission, but I hope this relationship plays out some more in episodes to come. For me, storytelling like that is really where STO scores, as it did with Midnight and how Sela was driven to act.
Overall though, I am happy with the Gamma story line so far.
As for the gameplay, I had some significant irritations with the opening and closing episodes, Storm Clouds Gather and Tenebris Torquent.
In the former, after running around DS9 way too much to talk to everybody, I was already fed-up. You really should have put D'Tan, J'mpok and Quinn's chat into the conference scene, to save on running about and so alts can ESC past all that, on replays. They are all pre-existing STO characters, and not any of the new (to STO) DS9 cast. People will naturally explore DS9, so why force it?
I get that you want decent game-playing time put-in, but elements such as this running around talking to everyone were unnecessarily lengthy, even taking into account introductory elements. I might be happy to play a compelling episode for up to an hour, or maybe longer, but running around just nattering to endless people does nothing but irritate and bore, especially when so many of us are doing it all over again for alts and alternate rewards.
A definite case of 'less is more'.
Also, this DS9 is cramped, compared to the previous one. It seems to be narrower, so whilst it may be quicker to get around (or would be except for the staircase that barely leaves room for people to pass by), so whilst some things are updated and easier/quicker to get to, it seems that you have gone backwards in terms of overall feel and accessibility. Don't they have safety and spacial standards in the 25th century?
Then there were problems with boffs getting lost or stuck or failing to follow your toon, through doors, up stairs, across walkways, etc, sometimes leaving your away team badly depleted when taking on the Hur'q.
But the real trouble I had was due to a simple issue of standing my toon the wrong side of a panel, when usually all you need to do in this game is stand within range to interact with such.
Why you chose this mission to make an issue of getting players to have their toons stand on the 'correct' side of a panel, with a vague message about the feature not being available, without explaining why, is beyond me.
It led me to believe that I needed to interact with another panel before using the one I was trying to use. But the only other flashing panel was inaccessible. This was because I was not able to move the device and the walkways into place, because I hadn't been able to use the panel I was standing at, because I was the wrong side of it. I had to resort to the forums to find this out.
I regard this as your failure, not mine. After all, is it so hard to have an error message that clarifies that you are not standing the correct side of the panel, given that you are wanting players to bother doing this at all?
As for Tenebris Torquent, I didn't think you would irritate me more than you did with Storm Clouds, but you managed it.
OK, I'm not great at jumping gaps. This was established by that other really annoying episode with Harry Kim and his double on Kobali, but then you let players get past the final stage after so many failed attempts.
After a ridiculous number of attempts, and finally making it, I then ran around finding only two of the three spheres. Seeing that I had been around everywhere, as far as I could tell, I again had to resort to forums and videos to see what I was missing. Boy was I annoyed when I found out how to access the last sphere (no spoilers).
Again, I don't regard this as my failure as a player, but yours as gaming story tellers. I've been playing this game a long time, and if I don't find a way around somewhere, there is something wrong with the environment.
Come on, instead of Tenebris Torquent, how about some Lucent in Tenebris? You need to give better or more visual clues or even clues in the dialogue, to enable players to get around the environment, especially dark ones with inoperative maps. I mean, really, do you have the mindset of trying to catch as many people out as possible with stuff like this?
Having challenges in a game is one thing, but to make things inaccessible because you don't know or see how, is another, and if you've made episodes so annoying to play that you really don't want to repeat them, and are dreading doing so with alts, then is that entertainment?
McVittie's Marauders - The House of Arrgh
Post edited by rattler2 on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
But like you I have some critics too, (beside OFC appreciating much what which was done here and dev's support which was especially invested) as some things made me very frustrated at times.
I believe the 1st quest in the Jemm'Hadar line's (Gathering Clouds?) annoyances I've encountered were a bug to be fixed later, others reported a similar phenomenon so I left it as is, especially as managed to finish it eventually after relog. Like you I had "this feature is not currently available" or something to that effect when operating consoles, and I think it was because my boffs were stuck/standing in the wrong place and bothering and/or because it took me time to figure some things out. (yes, I played solo) Eventually I could do this mission but had to relog for that.
Edit: yes. also too much talking to NPC I couldn't go without bumping and stucking a lot, but managed. This leads me to the next issue as well.
In general, what bothered me a lot, and still bothers me, is my inability to see well in DS9 and getting bumped into things there too (yes, it's lightning 1.0 here but not as pitch black as looked in some others' screenshot. Still very hard for me to manage as I seem to need both more contrast and some more brightness than most to see well enough to understand what I'm seeing.) The small map doesn't help much (resolution wise, focusing/getting out of focus doesn't help much when the minimap area is so small and you want to both see layout but ALSO the quest givers/points of interest etc) when the area is so tiny, so having to use M a lot as well due to that.
In some cut scenes I couldn't see text written or hear at all what was said. It was not crucial but I would wish this was different.
Additionally, in the quest Quark's Lucky Seven, which I really liked, there was a problem in getting the sword considering my old bad machine and/or connection was not very responsive and clicks took time to "catch" or didn't catch at all and I couldn't know if a click was "caught" or not in a reasonable time frame, this along with some motor/coordination issue which made it even more difficult that way. (I can play, just having some problems with some specific types of game contents which require agility/accuracy/otherise coordination or in some case "noticing" or direction sense, and usually those contents "take into an account" a disability/real difficulties in motor or coordination after a few failures, while this quest/part of quest was not skippable or adjustable at all for Jemm'Hadars) Eventually I passed this quest but I think it was after really many quest repeats (ground parts) and maybe multiple dozens of minutes on the one minute quest itself. And that's really a shame because it's a great quest. Please allow people the option to double the timer/add twenty seconds for it/disable the timer if they fail it 10 times in a raw... This will be appreciated, especially as this quest is not skippable by Jemm'Hadars.
I admit when I finally made it, (it took me days and on each of those days I tried when I could, multiple times) it felt great though and it feels like I did quests 1-5 "on my own", with challenge as if it almost worth those multiple hours of trying to finish this single quest. (Almost.) However, too much time and efforts were wasted on it and it was like I almost couldn't make it all - and some people with greater difficulties might be struggling up to it being totally impossible for them even in a lucky day.
As of the last quest in the line, Tenebris Torquent, I am still stuck in, due to not noticing the gaps I have to jump above very well, (mainly a visibility/contrast issue I think) and not "calibrating" my moves as well allegedly. I left the game (logout/change char) in the middle after some failed tries and intending to try again tomorrow but thought it should be some more indication/lighting/contrast so people at least know what they should jump above. I know it's supposed to be dark there, but consider "IRL" people can feel the surrounding while we can't (without VR at least
(There were also many crashes but those could be mostly "my side" issues though, having an old machine with a very old GPU which possibly can't easily keep up with the new contents anymore.)
I like the new ships but dread having to grind the traits i want from my C-store ship all over again to get to my setup build and having to unpack and dismiss 20 c-store ships to get them on my admiralty grind.
love the jemmies like that boffs have multiple specializations but mine have no real space traits i can see all ground so using them for space is kind of not good when other races offer better traits.
I give this arc a 8 out of 10 because i enjoyed the story and cannot wait for next episodes.
"Here boy,. c'mon, you can do it..."
It's still a pain to do therefore, and I'm glad I've put it behind me and can work on finishing the rest of the arc with all the rest of my characters... bearing in mind I hate jumping those gaps, too, in Tenebris Torquent.
On a more positive note, I did previously say that the addition of virtually all the DS9 characters has been welcome, and as others have also said, Andrew Robinson's Garak character has been particularly welcome, and I think very well used. When you add in what I regard as one of the best voice performances in the game to date, I have to agree that his part has been outstanding.
Don't they award gongs for these things? (Put's on Fleet Admiral's voice) Nominate him at once, I say!
The storyline fulfilled expectations, and you also made the round-robin of chats with all the characters at the end much easier with far better grouping than with Storm Clouds.
One slight blemish - with the update I seem to be constantly dropping "Gamma Quadrant" with every map change. Otherwise, it was problem free and enjoyable to play.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
*casts Holy Photon Torpedo*