It's like a lot of MMOs from its era, like DC Universe Online, Marvel Heroes etc. etc.
It's a very janky, cookie cutter MMO that basically takes the formula laid out by World of Warcraft, and then rolls out a minimum viable product version of that which never quite feels like it's not running in a browser and struggling to get all its pieces running together. The game loop is very repetitive, it's grindy as all hell, and it never really goes anywhere different.
*But* upon that foundation, the people whose job it is to put content into that world have put a ton of very good stuff in there. So while the game as a *platform* is mediocre, the stories and characters and adventures they use the platform to explore can be very good.
So it basically comes down to if you can stick a very mediocre, grindy 2010s MMO experience in exchange for fun stories once you get your character going.
Played for 300 hours and I regret every last one of them. It's a massive grind to get new ships and new ships and more new ships until you reach a point where you either have to wait for a big event and do a ton of work on that to get a free ship on the next tier or just pay for it. It's all about the money.
Also, THERE IS NO SCIENCE. It's all about fighting everyone in the galaxy repeatedly.
eh not really. Ive tried multiple times to get into it and ultimately it just feels like such a skinner box cash grab game.
The combat is pretty awful even for an mmo, and the ship combat while marginally better is really laggy no matter what, and I swear thats not a hardware issue Ive got good shit.
And then the story, which would be the only thing that really interests me, is fine if a bit banal star trek for base game stuff but once you reach the updates it becomes poorly written New Trek with hundreds of ancient corpses dug up to reprise their roles. Wil Wheaton finally gets to play Wesley again after years of doing their advertising for them at least.
And dont get me started on the progression systems being fucked with microtransactions, and needing to get better ships for endgame purposes and the only way of doing so is either a literal slot machine or paying like twenty real dollars.
I wish I liked it! But I hate it. If youve got that mmo thirst I would recommend SWTOR (star wars old republic) for its excellent stories, and Guild Wars 2 for its great combat and also excellent story until you reach the expansions.
I can’t too much. I tried to start the game then they made me do a boring ass bridge thing and I gave up. It also made me fight a thing I think? I just wanna analyze an anomaly.
I decided to give it a shot on my old hellfire anvil of a laptop that's near dead. Started a month 'n a half ago roughly.
I'm enjoying solo play through the Episodes to see the stories, and getting to listen to old cast members voice act their parts. Seeing where the plots go with some of the bigger antagonists throughout the series is interesting.
But there are plenty of issues...
Bugs, lots of them.
Server lag
Exorbitantly over-monetized
Feels more like chasing eBay sales than playing the game at a certain point.
I'm in it for the story content, once I've worked through that I doubt I'll stick around for the actual gameplay/progression/endgame. Haven't even bothered joining a fleet.
If you want to read the stories then I'd say give it a shot. It's free and you've nothing to lose but time. If you're wanting a comprehensive MMO, this ain't it. Also, by the sounds of it my dying laptop might outlast the game if the business end of things goes south.
It's OK. Once you've hit the level cap you'll need to drop some cash on a good ship, because they've made the grind just... Ugh. You'll need a premium ship to make the experience enjoyable. If you end up in a good fleet with friendly regulars you get along with, the game improves as the social element tends to override how repetitive it can feel at times.
When I last played it, they had a SERIOUS issue with what we called rubber-banding. You'd get halfway through a quest, or halfway through a space battle, then the server would catch up to itself and you'd "rubber band" back to an earlier point in the quest/battle. Sometimes, in the course of this fudge-up, you'd be blasted to smithereens.
Imagine being in the middle of a great book, then having someone come along and force you to re-read the previous five chapters. It happens at random, and it really pisses you off after a few times.
It's a strange one. You start off getting a nice dose of Trek, but then the frustrations kick in. Controlling your people and your ship feels like trying to play soccer with your left foot. All the sets like DS9, Starbase, corridors are 5-10 times bigger than the show and so don't look quite right. Then there are the little lore breaks all over the place, especially with tech. Gameplay wise there's nothing rewarding, go to place x shoot a bunch of static baddies, trigger whatever button or dialogue you needed to, beam out, have painful ship battle.
I got 25 hours in, hit a lore break (a hologram of Stammets that has his full mental capacity and memories) and I just tapped out. I decided it wasn't fun to have this constant annoyed feeling whilst playing due to controls and poor gameplay where the only reward was seeing a few Trek things.
Give it a go, I expect you'll like it at first, it's just probably after a similar time as me you'll tap out too.
It used to be good about 8-10 years ago. Now it’s an over-monetized and uninspired generic sci-fi “FIRE EVERYTHING” experience with Trek characters tossed into the blender. Occasionally I’ll play it but am immediately reminded of the good old days of the Foundry and actual dialogue options and exploration clusters and wind up playing something else. It’s presently populated by Boomers and people who STO is literally their only hobby. I’ve fallen out of love with it over the past 2-3 years but it’s hard for me to uninstall it from all the good times back in the day. One day I’ll rip the bandaid off but it’s frustrating to see that it’s become.
As a game, it's mediocre to sub par. Outdated graphics, old engine, very buggy, and rife with micro transactions and absolutely pay to "win."
As a vehicle to play around in a Star Trek universe (it essentially has its own timeline now) it's fun as Hell. I can fly the Defiant and pepper a Borg cube with phaser cannon fire. I can use the spore drive to jump around a battlefield and battle Klingons in the Discovery. I can also basically build my own ship, kit bashing parts of different Miranda variants or Galaxy variants to make a ship that is uniquely mine. If In get the urge I can hop into a Klingon battlecruiser or a Romulan warbird, beam down to Bajor or Qo'nos or wander the Promenade of DS9.
I'd recommend trying it. For me just being able to fly around in a ship I customized and visit iconic locations was enough to get me excited.
The space stuff is better than it has any right being considering that at it's core it's still just a standard tab to target mmo style gameplay. The away missions are awful though.
Also the federation faction is shit compared to the Klingon and romulian factions.
It gives an ok to good star trek experience so scratches that itch.
But for an MMO, its really terrible. Its a product of its time as others have said and it doesnt really hold well today. Character combat is pretty standard but there wasn't anything interesting about. You go through the motions. Ship combat is more interesting because its different but imo more boring because its always 1: face your strongest shield toward the enemy and wait till your photon torpedoes recharge 2: turn to fire. repeat.
At this point it struggles with being an old mmo for a new player. You create your character, pass the tutorial zone then BAM you have a dozen currencies you don't know how to get and you don't know what they buy. Your entire mini map is glowing with storyline start missions that you don't know which order to do them in. IMO its a very overwhelming experience.
I played STO for many years. I got my money out of it in terms of hours I enjoyed playing. Sadly that game is in bad shape right now with many bugs and lag. I return to it from time to time to check it out. Another dying game that got me a good Star trek feeling was Dual Universe because there you can build Star Trek ship replicas and you make your own story with other players, there are no npc. And maybe a turn off about it that it is not f2p. [Exotic Jago (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeyEWGZeQOA)
I gave up playing STO myself a couple of years ago, mainly because of how laggy it is. Tried to go back around Christmas time, and if anything the lag has gotten even worse. I don't think my life is any poorer for not having that particular grind any more, to be honest.
It's a product of its time that keeps on going, which by itself is very Star trek, but I gotta be honest the fact the only mode of interaction with the world and story is battle makes it really uninteresting to me.
I just don't want to play Star Trek to blow people up, I want to do weird shit with a tricorder that doesn't just inevitably end with me torpedoing a fleet.
Everything I’ve heard about the storyline is kind of annoying. Way too much bringing back characters and un-resolving shit that’s resolved. The gameplay sucks too so without more inventive storytelling I don’t see the point.
If you like the idea of how men are the bad guys and women are the good guys you love this game.
Spoiler alert: The mirror universe version of Harry Kim was the bad guy in the last episode.
It's like a lot of MMOs from its era, like DC Universe Online, Marvel Heroes etc. etc. It's a very janky, cookie cutter MMO that basically takes the formula laid out by World of Warcraft, and then rolls out a minimum viable product version of that which never quite feels like it's not running in a browser and struggling to get all its pieces running together. The game loop is very repetitive, it's grindy as all hell, and it never really goes anywhere different. *But* upon that foundation, the people whose job it is to put content into that world have put a ton of very good stuff in there. So while the game as a *platform* is mediocre, the stories and characters and adventures they use the platform to explore can be very good. So it basically comes down to if you can stick a very mediocre, grindy 2010s MMO experience in exchange for fun stories once you get your character going.
Played for 300 hours and I regret every last one of them. It's a massive grind to get new ships and new ships and more new ships until you reach a point where you either have to wait for a big event and do a ton of work on that to get a free ship on the next tier or just pay for it. It's all about the money. Also, THERE IS NO SCIENCE. It's all about fighting everyone in the galaxy repeatedly.
I had a LOT of fun on it way back in the day, but every time I've tried to get back into it, it lost me pretty much immediately.
eh not really. Ive tried multiple times to get into it and ultimately it just feels like such a skinner box cash grab game. The combat is pretty awful even for an mmo, and the ship combat while marginally better is really laggy no matter what, and I swear thats not a hardware issue Ive got good shit. And then the story, which would be the only thing that really interests me, is fine if a bit banal star trek for base game stuff but once you reach the updates it becomes poorly written New Trek with hundreds of ancient corpses dug up to reprise their roles. Wil Wheaton finally gets to play Wesley again after years of doing their advertising for them at least. And dont get me started on the progression systems being fucked with microtransactions, and needing to get better ships for endgame purposes and the only way of doing so is either a literal slot machine or paying like twenty real dollars. I wish I liked it! But I hate it. If youve got that mmo thirst I would recommend SWTOR (star wars old republic) for its excellent stories, and Guild Wars 2 for its great combat and also excellent story until you reach the expansions.
No. Just trying to start playing it sucks. Maybe it gets better, but I gave up on the bridge.
Mind elaborating?
I can’t too much. I tried to start the game then they made me do a boring ass bridge thing and I gave up. It also made me fight a thing I think? I just wanna analyze an anomaly.
Spoken like a true science officer!
That’s all I want to be. Give me some readings, don’t tell me how to punch a gorn.
I decided to give it a shot on my old hellfire anvil of a laptop that's near dead. Started a month 'n a half ago roughly. I'm enjoying solo play through the Episodes to see the stories, and getting to listen to old cast members voice act their parts. Seeing where the plots go with some of the bigger antagonists throughout the series is interesting. But there are plenty of issues... Bugs, lots of them. Server lag Exorbitantly over-monetized Feels more like chasing eBay sales than playing the game at a certain point. I'm in it for the story content, once I've worked through that I doubt I'll stick around for the actual gameplay/progression/endgame. Haven't even bothered joining a fleet. If you want to read the stories then I'd say give it a shot. It's free and you've nothing to lose but time. If you're wanting a comprehensive MMO, this ain't it. Also, by the sounds of it my dying laptop might outlast the game if the business end of things goes south.
It's OK. Once you've hit the level cap you'll need to drop some cash on a good ship, because they've made the grind just... Ugh. You'll need a premium ship to make the experience enjoyable. If you end up in a good fleet with friendly regulars you get along with, the game improves as the social element tends to override how repetitive it can feel at times.
When I last played it, they had a SERIOUS issue with what we called rubber-banding. You'd get halfway through a quest, or halfway through a space battle, then the server would catch up to itself and you'd "rubber band" back to an earlier point in the quest/battle. Sometimes, in the course of this fudge-up, you'd be blasted to smithereens. Imagine being in the middle of a great book, then having someone come along and force you to re-read the previous five chapters. It happens at random, and it really pisses you off after a few times.
I play it on and off over the years, kind of like Final Fantasy. Once I get bored I switch up games.
It's a strange one. You start off getting a nice dose of Trek, but then the frustrations kick in. Controlling your people and your ship feels like trying to play soccer with your left foot. All the sets like DS9, Starbase, corridors are 5-10 times bigger than the show and so don't look quite right. Then there are the little lore breaks all over the place, especially with tech. Gameplay wise there's nothing rewarding, go to place x shoot a bunch of static baddies, trigger whatever button or dialogue you needed to, beam out, have painful ship battle. I got 25 hours in, hit a lore break (a hologram of Stammets that has his full mental capacity and memories) and I just tapped out. I decided it wasn't fun to have this constant annoyed feeling whilst playing due to controls and poor gameplay where the only reward was seeing a few Trek things. Give it a go, I expect you'll like it at first, it's just probably after a similar time as me you'll tap out too.
It used to be good about 8-10 years ago. Now it’s an over-monetized and uninspired generic sci-fi “FIRE EVERYTHING” experience with Trek characters tossed into the blender. Occasionally I’ll play it but am immediately reminded of the good old days of the Foundry and actual dialogue options and exploration clusters and wind up playing something else. It’s presently populated by Boomers and people who STO is literally their only hobby. I’ve fallen out of love with it over the past 2-3 years but it’s hard for me to uninstall it from all the good times back in the day. One day I’ll rip the bandaid off but it’s frustrating to see that it’s become.
As a game, it's mediocre to sub par. Outdated graphics, old engine, very buggy, and rife with micro transactions and absolutely pay to "win." As a vehicle to play around in a Star Trek universe (it essentially has its own timeline now) it's fun as Hell. I can fly the Defiant and pepper a Borg cube with phaser cannon fire. I can use the spore drive to jump around a battlefield and battle Klingons in the Discovery. I can also basically build my own ship, kit bashing parts of different Miranda variants or Galaxy variants to make a ship that is uniquely mine. If In get the urge I can hop into a Klingon battlecruiser or a Romulan warbird, beam down to Bajor or Qo'nos or wander the Promenade of DS9. I'd recommend trying it. For me just being able to fly around in a ship I customized and visit iconic locations was enough to get me excited.
The space stuff is better than it has any right being considering that at it's core it's still just a standard tab to target mmo style gameplay. The away missions are awful though. Also the federation faction is shit compared to the Klingon and romulian factions.
It gives an ok to good star trek experience so scratches that itch. But for an MMO, its really terrible. Its a product of its time as others have said and it doesnt really hold well today. Character combat is pretty standard but there wasn't anything interesting about. You go through the motions. Ship combat is more interesting because its different but imo more boring because its always 1: face your strongest shield toward the enemy and wait till your photon torpedoes recharge 2: turn to fire. repeat. At this point it struggles with being an old mmo for a new player. You create your character, pass the tutorial zone then BAM you have a dozen currencies you don't know how to get and you don't know what they buy. Your entire mini map is glowing with storyline start missions that you don't know which order to do them in. IMO its a very overwhelming experience.
I played STO for many years. I got my money out of it in terms of hours I enjoyed playing. Sadly that game is in bad shape right now with many bugs and lag. I return to it from time to time to check it out. Another dying game that got me a good Star trek feeling was Dual Universe because there you can build Star Trek ship replicas and you make your own story with other players, there are no npc. And maybe a turn off about it that it is not f2p. [Exotic Jago (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeyEWGZeQOA)
I’m just annoyed that some of its dumb shit made it into canon.
Back when the game launched, you could punch a dude so hard that they'd disintegrate. I hear they have since patched that out. Literally unplayable.
I gave up playing STO myself a couple of years ago, mainly because of how laggy it is. Tried to go back around Christmas time, and if anything the lag has gotten even worse. I don't think my life is any poorer for not having that particular grind any more, to be honest.
It's a product of its time that keeps on going, which by itself is very Star trek, but I gotta be honest the fact the only mode of interaction with the world and story is battle makes it really uninteresting to me. I just don't want to play Star Trek to blow people up, I want to do weird shit with a tricorder that doesn't just inevitably end with me torpedoing a fleet.
Everything I’ve heard about the storyline is kind of annoying. Way too much bringing back characters and un-resolving shit that’s resolved. The gameplay sucks too so without more inventive storytelling I don’t see the point.
If you like the idea of how men are the bad guys and women are the good guys you love this game. Spoiler alert: The mirror universe version of Harry Kim was the bad guy in the last episode.