Star Trek Online beta, part 1

So, last night, I got home, fired up the Star Trek Online torrent to FINALLY get the client, and that sucker came flying down @ 1.5-2MB/sec. Every digital download game should distribute via torrents.

But, like I said before, I won't run torrents on Windows boxes for safety reasons, so I then had to transfer it over the network to my gaming box, at which point I installed it, then fired it up, and BAM, their servers were down.

Long story short, I finally got things up & running somewhere between 0200 & 0300 last night.

I wish I hadn't been so exhausted by the time things really got rolling, because I might've been a little more patient. The game walks you through some character-building stuff, and there are some interesting customization options, but they say right upfront that not everything is in place yet. I built myself a basic human Federation dude, since I didn't see any Klingon options yet, but I know that will be happening (I may also have had a bit too much wine & missed my chance).

After that, you're dropped into a starbase, where you begin to be put through the paces in terms of movement, combat, talking, inventory, etc. It's the worst part of every MMO, but STO does a good job of keeping it interesting. Everything you're doing in the game makes some kind of sense, since everything in Star Trek is so hyper-detailed. Sure, the Borg are acting all fucked up and not assimilating folks, but I'm giving the writers the benefit of the doubt, and assuming that this is going to be explained at some point.

I gotta say that I LOVE the space combat, even if everything I did last night was baby stuff. Everything I saw showed me that Cryptic understands how Star Trek space combat is supposed to work, with phasers, photons, movement, shields, and most importantly, power reallocation, so I'm really pumped to do more of that.

The ground combat works nicely, too, but it's strange not having a cover mechanic (CliffyB is smiling somewhere). I dunno, it just seems ridiculous now to have shooting in a game and no cover mechanic.

Anyway, that very minor gripe aside, the ranged combat works nicely, via number keys assigned to recharging skills, and I had only minimal experience with the melee stuff, but I expect that it's smarter to just keep your dude out of melee.

Movement (ground) is done via the standard WASD, but I'm hoping that some tweaking can be done on the A & D keys, since they swing the side-to-side movement WAY too much. That was honestly the biggest issue I had, which is a good sign.

I've yet to actually communicate with any other players, though I could see them infesting the chat last night. I'm thinking I may just avoid 'human' contact 'til the game actually starts since half of what I saw was people not grasping intuitive game design and asking retarded questions ('how do I get to (next objective)?' 'I dunno, keep moving forward through the level?') and the other half was people bitching about the game running like shit, which I thought was running beautifully. I really got the sense that many of these people were strictly console gamers that sometimes dabbled with PCs and Star Trek and other things that require too much thought for most people. This is, by no means, to slight people who only play console games, since I know many, many very smart people who don't play PC games, since many PC games require at least a couple years of training just to install them and troubleshoot them yourself when they inevitably don't work the first time.

Anyway, I was very disappointed with the quality of player of most of the other players, but this is an open beta, so it's bound to attract the unwashed masses.

That being said, I do look forward to really, truly roleplaying with other Trekkies. This brings me to the big question.

How much does this game feel like Star Trek?

Thus far, a bit. It's hard to say, since all I've done is play through the info-dump training, but the sights and sounds are there (even if the visuals are your standard MMO blah-style, so as to make it as playable as possible for as many people as possible), and much of the lore is dead-on, but I have the sense that the 'war' that has broken out in 2409 between the Federation and Klingons is going to narrow the focus of the game and keep it from being a means of 'relaxing in Star Trek,' which is kinda what I want. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about kicking some ass in Star Trek, but I'd like to have the option of just chilling and relaxing in that amazing universe, as well.

We'll see. I just haven't had enough time with the game yet to really get a feel for it yet.

So, yeah, to recap, here's the basic breakdown of what I did in the game last night:

Locations I visited:
 - starbase in the Vega system
 - my ship, the U.S.S. Shepherd (exterior)
 - interior of another ship
 - a planet (forgot which one)
 - starbase orbiting Earth

Things I did:
 - created a Tactical-focused C.O. who is now ranked Lieutenant, j.g. after starting out as an Ensign

 - recruited a Bajoran engineer chick
- blasted the Borg with a phaser, a pulse rifle, and my FISTS; also blasted their asses in space
 - have been assigned as C.O. to the ship I created, the U.S.S. Shepherd
 - finished the info-dump training part of the game

Things I plan to do tonight & tomorrow:
 - customize my ship
- recruit more bridge officers, since this is how you add stats to your ship & crew
 - visit any locales that I can from the shows & films (DS9 is at the top of the list!)
 - start questing; maybe hook up with a friend to quest together
 - EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE

What I Loved:
 - space combat feels RIGHT
 - uniform customization is neat, but when I do get my TOS movie-era uniforms for buying Star Trek on Blu-Ray?
 - authentic sights & sounds
 - lore is dead on
 - control is intuitive in every circumstance
 - lots of character customization

What I Didn't Love:
 - visuals are not very sharp; look outdated for a PC game, but I'm told many MMOs are like this now
 - very little NPC voice work; most of them communicate through text boxes; really pulls one out of the experience
 - A & D keys really swing character too much from side-to-side; this may be addressable through control options
 - other players; people on the internet just kinda suck

So, yeah, I'm gonna get showered up here in a minute, then jump back in, and I'll be back tonight and/or tomorrow with more reports on Star Trek Online. Sorry this is so late, but I'd hoped to get more play time before I put this up, but the fucking servers were down!

-Blaine