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Halloween event review
spy8446
Member Posts: 592 Arc User
So we have now had the so called "Halloween event" twice now.
When they first released it, I was hopeful that it would be a truly awesome event, sadly I was disappointed.
I feel that this "Event" if you could call it that, was not only quickly slapped together, but that it didn't really feel like it was a trek world, but like something that would have been in another game instead.
The only thing that has any indication of Star Trek was the Davidians.
Now one might argue that the winter wonderland is not a trek world either, this is true, but it is Q's winter wonder land so it can be anything he wants at any time.
Summer event is on Risa, typical summer ish stuff (still no water fights) it would still fit in the Trek universe.
Now I never did expect the Halloween event to be as big as the summer or winter ones, but I was hoping for more.
We have a few races that could easily be put into the Halloween theme.
Borg = Zombies
Devidians = ghosts
Fek'ihri = demons
Salt Vampires = vampires
aside from the borg, I think the other three could use a little more love and would be perfect for a halloween event together.
When they first released it, I was hopeful that it would be a truly awesome event, sadly I was disappointed.
I feel that this "Event" if you could call it that, was not only quickly slapped together, but that it didn't really feel like it was a trek world, but like something that would have been in another game instead.
The only thing that has any indication of Star Trek was the Davidians.
Now one might argue that the winter wonderland is not a trek world either, this is true, but it is Q's winter wonder land so it can be anything he wants at any time.
Summer event is on Risa, typical summer ish stuff (still no water fights) it would still fit in the Trek universe.
Now I never did expect the Halloween event to be as big as the summer or winter ones, but I was hoping for more.
We have a few races that could easily be put into the Halloween theme.
Borg = Zombies
Devidians = ghosts
Fek'ihri = demons
Salt Vampires = vampires
aside from the borg, I think the other three could use a little more love and would be perfect for a halloween event together.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Old_Ones_(extragalactic)
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ornithoid_life_form
The whole thing draws inspiration from the TOS episode Catspaw.
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When I said "so called" I mean that is too limited. the two holiday events that we have (Halloween is not a holiday, it should be) have a respectable map to play on, min games, multi item gear for the event alone (floaters, Carmel launcher etc) and ones that can be used in the rest of the game.
I do not recall anyone in trek fighting a skeleton or witch (I could see the witch in TOS) unless it was Worf on the holodeck, that said they could have used that skeleton from the holodeck instead of these ones.
I feel the map/missions were slapped together because its so short, doesn't mean the team didn't do any work or anything, I am sure they busted their TRIBBLE to make it, but it feels more like a mini mission, honestly the hardest part of it is the Library.
First, Halloween isn't a holiday....like, anywhere; it is just a single day's event in the real world. It comes nowhere near Christmas, which is a major holiday, that is built-up and celebrated over a number of days.
Second, these maps, as all TFO's do, are taking place on the Holodeck, so witches, skeletons et al are free to join in.
It's a bit of escapism in the STO world, that is all.......bah! Humbug!
Also one could argue that summer really isnt a real holiday either, many people take the time off and some places the schools close for the 2 month break. But there is no celebration for a specific .... thing, like Christmas has.
I just feel that for an event that long, there should be more to it or something instead of one mission that you have to do 10, 20, 30 or what ever amount of times.
Terran event had the choice of 4? missions to do, while not all were new, there was more choices to pick from.
I honestly had no issue with the event this year. I skipped the event last year as I hate playing ground maps on my laptop, but with the choice to do either the TFO or 2 ground patrols, I found it sufficed. I find the fact they reduced QWW time from 6 weeks to 4 way more upsetting than 'lack' of other things to do in this event. It is only their 2nd year running it, but I'm sure they may expand further on it, but I would rather they completely overhaul the QWW map to the standard of maps they now produce first.
I can get behind the whole "it should be," because Dia de los Muertos is a festival that is celebrated on November 1 and 2, and can sometimes run all the way up to November 6, and there is a substantial Mexican-American community within the United States that celebrates Dia de los Muertos in tandem with Halloween. So...why not?
I think that because Halloween doesn't really have a "holiday season" associated with it and is considered more a one day celebration is the reason why we're not really going to get something like QWW or Risa for it. So, this mission map seems appropriate to me.
No one in Trek fought a giant, living snowman or a Kramphiri or a Bumble either, but that's in STO. 🤷🏼♀️ So, I think fighting skeletons and witches is acceptable.
Again, I will disagree. It doesn't feel slapped together to me at all. It seems really well thought out to me, with all the little mini objectives throughout, and the themed mini missions when your team gets split up. I suppose the library could be considered the most difficult part. Personally, I've just memorized the locations of the books and the shelves, since 9 times out of 10 I got sent there. 😒
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Halloween is a bunch of similar holidays pushed together and "sanitized" by the Catholic church, both solar/metaphysical ones like Samhain, Dia de los Muertos and others, combined with various harvest festivals (the USA has two separate harvest ones, Halloween and Thanksgiving), some of which have almost disappeared, and others still have their own observation. And it does have a sort of season, pretty much the last part of October and/or first part of November depending on location and whether the holiday is locked to a calendar day or floats with the actual sun angle/phase.
Of course, nowadays it has been so commercialized that it is little more than a commercial holiday for most people.
Just like with anything in STO, it takes time to build up things. The fact we even HAVE a Halloween event outside of the token Hearts and Minds mission is fine with me. Last year all we had was the TFO. This year we have the TFO and 2 patrols. Who knows what we will have... next year. *puts on sunglasses MIB style*
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Remember, no one is saying, "PLAY THIS, DAMMIT!". If you don't like it, or don't want to take part in it, don't take part it.
By the way, what's the name of the pipe organ music playing at the beginning? I keep forgetting the name of that classic tune.
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach.
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IMHO I think it would have done better as a larger event, maybe not QWW size but something more.
I THINK, that we could have used the races mentioned before as perfect representations of Halloween being
Borg = Zombies
Devidians = ghosts
Fek'ihri = demons
Salt Vampires = vampires
and that there could have been a small list of items to reflect that as well. (Actually had a list of them made up too)
It could have been another Q encounter or maybe give it an actual story like ..... Unknown alien artifact's energy drew in the Fek'ihri, allowed the Devidians to lock on it and wake up salt vampires that were sleeping on ..... Drazona so they are all on the same station.
I dont have an excuse for the borg because that station would not stand a chance.
If they had a mission wrapper for the event the way they do for some other ones something like that could work, with strange encounters with those races acting oddly, leading up to Cat's Tale where the characters find out what is really going on and help the Old Ones fix it.
If they had those races (except for the Devidians of course) in Cat's Tale itself it would have detracted from the canon feel of the TFO unless whichever races were selected for a particular run depended on the mix of player-characters doing the run because of the method the aliens used in the episode to come up with the props and scenario (again, I don't want to spoiler the episode Catspaw for those who have not seen it yet, but if you see it then Cat's Tale makes perfect sense).
Wrapping the event TFO like that is something that could be done over time, adding a new mission or patrol featuring that odd behavior due to mysterious interference from an unknown source (by the time the TFO happens they would know it was the Devidians of course) is something that could be added over time (though I suspect the devs probably won't do it).
Overall, it is great that they actually made a new piece of TOS content (and seeing as it is in the same quarter as AoY it is especially appropriate) even if it is based on one of the craziest outliers of TOS.
No, no, no!! Vulcan zombies are waaaaaay more scary than Borg zombies.
humm, assimilated Hurq and bluegills, now that would be interesting.
True, it is the creepiest part of the Spectres arc, which is definitely the creepiest arc overall. There was talk a while ago about adapting something from the Spectres arc, but then they decided to go for "something different" which of course turned out to be drawn from the Catspaw episode when Cat's Tale came out.
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There were many different mechanics involved. Like being transformed into a cat, puzzles to solve, enemies to strike first (without being able to lazily circumvent that mechanic by just shooting everything as in so much content nowadays).
The Skeleton's immunity meant that trying out some new things or re-using older builds like melee ones suddenly became worthwhile.
And the thing felt scary too. The first time of course. Plenty of references to Trek lore too.
Overall I'd rate this something like 9 out of 10. It was something different than the usual mission and with enough variation to keep things interesting for several runs. The only downside is that you had to run it many times, which certainly took away from its strengths. If things like scariness and new mechanics are good points of a mission and you weaken those by encouraging players to play the content very often, then you're weakening your own mission's strengths.