STO Update: New Gameplay Trailer + New Screenshots + New Details November 6, 2009
by Joseph Gunnell , Filed under: Star Trek Online , trackback
This Star Trek Online update we have new screenshots and a new gameplay trailer. Plus some new game details have been revealed in a few recent interviews. See below for all the latest on Cryptic’s exciting upcoming MMORPG
Combat Gameplay Trailer
Atari has released a new game play trailer this week filled with approximately forty seconds of raw brutal combat. Most of the scenes involve the Federation in both space and ground combat; however there are a few moments of Klingon ships in combat. The video shows, a Borg cube taking fire from several Federation vessels; several Romulan warbirds getting destroyed; and a few ground battles between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire. The trailer gives the feeling that the Romulan’s and the Borg will be the main adversarial groups at launch for Star Trek Online.
New Game Details
IncGamers.com recently interviewed a lead designer of STO, Al Rivera (click for full interview). The interview is a little short but some questions that gamers have not been getting answers to have been answered. Some of the key notes from the interview:
- At launch Klingon game play will be more about social game play than a story arc
- Federation and Klingon ship progression will be different…
- Klingon’s have five Birds of Prey, four Raptors, three battle cruisers and a carrier.
- All Klingon Players will start with a Bird of Prey but will be able to upgrade to the next Bird of Prey or to a Raptor.
- The Federation has 16 ship configurations and three different ship types. A new set of configurations will be unlocked at each rank (five Escorts, five Cruisers, five Science Vessels, and one starting Lt. Cruiser).
- You can ‘craft’ your Bridge Officers and train them in special ways. You can also unlock special recipes to craft new items.
In another interview with TenTonHammer, Craig Zinkievich answered some user submitted questions about Star Trek Online. Here are a few interesting facts about the game:
- More on crafting. One of the crafting systems involves scanning anomalies, collect artifacts and bio-samples.
- There will be five man instances (instances are missions that require more than one player). The instances can be completely random so you can meet other plays who are already answering a distress signal. Raids will also be five man but will be more challenging then instances.
- Star Trek Online may be Windows 7 compatible at launch.
Craig did a second interview with TenTonHammer; this set of questions is very specific and go into detail about positioning yourself in combat, ship speed, regulating power between combat and much more. The full interview is very thorough about the games mechanics, if you’re interested a link is provided below. Here are a few snippets from the interview:
- Cryptic is using the Xbox 360 controller as a peripheral for Champions Online and is looking into using it for Star Trek Online, however nothing official about STO has been confirmed yet
- Voice chat won’t be available at launch, so if you interested in verbally speaking with your team mates you may need a ventrillo or teamspeak server.
Screenshots
Atari has released four new screenshots of Star Trek Online, all of which are space based.
Cryptic also gave three screenshots to MMORPG.com two of which are space based and one which is ground based. Enjoy!
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Comments»
Can’t wait for February 2nd! Looks like a fun game.
This is shaping up nicely. Really looking forward to it. Ground graphics are killer…so are the ship graphics, a little nitpicky on the weapons fire, but otherwise I can’t wait for this to come out!
NO VOICE THAT?????!!!!!!
THEY PROMISED THIS BEFORE. SUCKS
Looking good.
IT LOOKS AWESOME!!!
I’m not convinced… I can only describe the graphics as ‘unsubtle’. Everything is flarey and bright and it’s difficult to see what’s going on. In other news, I appear to be an old man…
@6 hahahaha
You know, i kinda like the design of the ‘new’ ships. It gives us something ‘new’ while keeping it familiar. And in keeping with the how the older designs functioned, they follow the original Matt Jefferies design well (rockets and saucer disks). Also, it makes sense that Starfleet would ‘update’ past designs in order to allow for streamlined functionality. I mean, why overthink new ship designs…
“The more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain” – Mr. Scott
Its weird with this game cause half the time something new comes out for it I hate it but then sometimes it looks awesome. Thankfully the last few bits to come out look good so I’ll probably end up giving it a shot. Oh, and I remember back in the day the WoW South Park episode and how they used Team Speak. Well after playing WoW for about 3 years now I have yet to meet anyone or be in a guild that uses it, everyone uses Vent.
#3 – There is voice chat, just not built into the game.
Cryptic recognizes that people who play other games and MMO’s have voice programs they are already dedicated to, like ventrilo or teamspeak…so it doesn’t make sense for them to put one right into the game since people will use outside programs anyhow.
Fantastic. More opportunities for ventrillo harassment.
I played the demo for this at Expo in London last week…Pretty impressive stuff, although the ground combat felt a bit awkward.
Starship controls were spot on though.
I have never been into the Gaming. But this may just make me become one.
Glad to see the Borg in action! Wonder if they make an alliance with the Romulans? I guess I’ll have to wait to find out. Borg should become a playable faction at a latter date. Also this needs to be available to the X-box 360 at launch!
Still massively impressed with the graphics. Interesting that so much of this game will take place in vehicles. Haven’t played an MMO like that before. I’m so stoked!
This game looks cool. As far as graphics go, I’ve seen better, but they’re not bad by any means. I like the new Starfleet Uniforms. I’ve never played any MMO’s before, and this is the first one I’ve ever been interested in. I just might have to give it a shot.
One more quick thing, are those Jem’Hadar in that last screenshot? I don’t recall reading anything about the Dominion in any of the backstory…I wonder how that will be worked into the game.
#8
I entirely agree, but generally rather than applying a fresh coat of paint, IMO and “Enterprise-E”-ifying the ships, they made them unnecessarily curvy and added random nacelles everywhere. The problem isn’t updating old designs; it’s that they passed off half-baked ripoffs as new ones.
“Space…the final frontier………to boldly blow stuff up and not explore anything.”
This game looks like it misses the point of Trek, just like so many games before.
Why can’t we have a well thought out adventure game (with SOME combat, don’t get me wrong) instead a mind numbing shoot ‘em up?
That’s what this looks like to me. I haven’t seen one thing to indicate otherwise so far. Why not a video of an away team using tricorders or solving a puzzle of some kind? Will this game have any new content for people that already own combat games?
Is this game coming to PS3/Xbox 360 or is it just going to be for PC?
You know, a few years back when that other company was working on this game, they were going to go with a Bridge Commander-esque feel, except you can wander the halls of the ship you are in command of and recruit people to your ship. Seeing this game now reminds me more of Star Trek legacy than a entirely new Trek Game. And heres a question I have been meaning to ask, why, on the first video for STO was there a Star Wars sounding theme playing? Could you please keep Star Wars out of Star Trek and stick with either the TNG theme or something entirely different?
Rant over…for now
Excited about this game – but let me guess… No mac version available at launch? And now there’s not even a confirmed Xbox version? Cryptic, your killin me!
Why do Ship Phasers in Star Trek still sound like they came out of flash Gordan???
Sameet – I’d rather the dev’s spend time on gameplay than on a functionality that will probablt only be passed over for vent anyways. It could be handy, but when its so easy to get and use vent, I’d just prefer more gameplay content.
Spock with crowbar – Don’t worry there is a good portion of non-combat (such as exploration which is a BIG part), for you to enjoy. The posted videos just focus on combat as thats the most visually stimulating for most people. Although we Trekkies would have a nerdgasm over scanning nebulas, exploring new frontiers and lifeforms, the wider audience will react more positively to more action based vids. Trust me, it’s in no way a shoot ‘em up game, although obviously combat is present. Remember too, that it’s a time of war…
As for the Xbox, I wouldn’t expect that at launch, but maybe sometime afterwards (360 functionality has been discussed). As so few MMO’s have done dual platforms, so its a risk, and can be a costly one at that.
As for the music, this issue has been raised, and is being looked at, hopefully it will improve, but it has been said before that it sounds like Star Wars.
Can’t remember reading specific information on the Dominion, but as they are a galactic superpower, I’d expect to see them often enough. It’s also been confirmed that we can travel through the Bajoran Wormhole into the Detla Quadrant. The official website has more info, and I’m sure they’re Path to 2409 gives a detailed timeline of events, be sure to check it out.
Next year take a chance and check it out. Well, that’s my 2 cents :)
@Spock with a crowbar
First of all nice name! Second Yes VOY era Trek turned into shoot’em up combat instead of exploration and in that era beyond too! (Stupid Brannon Braga!) But I think Cryptic made a bad situation turn into something better. So far it looks great and I’m thinking about that lifetime membership…
“we can travel through the Bajoran Wormhole”
I’m not really sold on this game, but that phrase made me all tingly.
In that second still, the polygon count is evidently just woefully low. If I compare these shots with those of EVE, I am seriously underwhelmed. Granted, I hate strategy games, so I’d never actually play EVE, whereas I really like RPGs, so there’s still a good chance I’ll spring for STO, perhaps at a point when the costs have come down.
Again, Trek movie provides more info than the actual Star Trek Online site. keep it up gents
Hey it´s a Kazon Ship on Pic No.1
is that the enterprise e refit on the thrid picture ?
Bring out a Mac version; three accounts in this house alone would sign up.
We have the ST typeface, the Starfleet insignia… why not include the Star Trek theme music too? Don’t know why they always seem to skimp on the music. Surely whatever royalties they have to pay to Alexander Courage would be worth it. Sigh…
Looks fun but the Next Genie ships sure are fugly!!!
I’ll try it if there’s an unlockable NX-01 :D I don’t care how obsolete it’d be in the 25th century; if there can be an original Constitution-class, there can be an NX!
Otherwise, snoozes.
in’t it funny how space can never be black anymore?
#34: You’re so right. I miss the inky-black emptiness of the old days.
The Enterprise-E looks pretty good. I wish the other ships looked a little more like what we’re used to, though
I have to congratulate whomever decided to change up the art design, at least that used in the promos, to more resemble traditional designs. Overall, the game is looking better and better in regards to the art.
The graphics, however, don’t stand up to close inspection. The animations, where they exist, are really clunky and stiff.
Sadly, this game, while ok on some aspects, isn’t even in the same league as others of it’s breed, like The Old Republic. At least not in terms of on the ground gameplay mechanics, story or looks.
The Jem’Hadar’s ketracel white tubes are running from the back to the neck, instead of the front to the neck! They have no idea what they are doing!!
First off…Sony tried a bit of a “normal” universe with some combat for those that wanted it. It was called Star Wars Galaxies…albiet, it’s original format.
The problem came when they just wanted those pesky World of Warcraft numbers of subscribers…so, they tried to “focus more on the Galactic Civil War” and also, appeal to the “average gamer” whose so information about Star Wars was “Jedi, and Bounty Hunters”
SWG lost a HUGE amount of it’s fan base with this change of focus.
Cryptic and Atari…if you’re listening, allow us to “live” in the universe. Not necessarilly by being able to fly off in a direction forever. Allow us the CHOICE to be just a farmer, a miner, a merchant, ect. If we WANT to be a Starfleet officer, (or a Klingon Officer) make it something we have to work for…and then make the work WORTH it.
*Added thought
MMORPG’s promise has always been a “virtual life”. Allow us to have a “virtual life” not one dictated by a script writer in California, or Japan.
To post #23. The bajoran wormhole goes to the Gamma Quadrant… not the Delta Quandrant.
Anyway, I really do not play online games and this is really going to be a let down if not ported to Xbox 360. It would be nice if a developer made a great game of the Star Trek like this but with better graphics and have it play a little bit like halo 3. Four of your best mates exploring or pillaging new worlds.