Poll: Could BioWare make a good Star Trek RPG?

[Aprilgold]

You know that might be right up their ally.

Really ? I don't remember Star Trek being about all these bullshit romances.

That's seriously off topic and kind of unnecessarily angry buddy. Also have you seen how many times Kirk fell for someone?

Yea, but you know Biowhore would 'expand' on that further and make aliens and even Spock a gay love interest.

Yes and we all know that this totally optional part of the game that takes up less than one percent of the game will run it into the ground right?

I think his point is that its completely unneccessary.

No, I don't think Bioware could do it because they would make it a useless trilogy, add in large amounts of romances for little to no reason, making it a covered based shooter and multiplayer and make the story some YOUR GOOD GUY X ACTION, YOUR A BAD GUY Y ACTION, YOUR A FUNNY DOUCHE ACTION Z! Then whore out everything for marketing for what I think is going to be a flop.

No, because I still don't trust them fully with Mass Effect 3 and didn't fully enjoy Mass Effect 2.

 

[PotluckBrigand]

You do know that Star Trek online is F2P now right? Give it a try, you might like it.

Blech.

The question for me personally is: "Do I want a Star Trek RPG?" and the answer is a pretty hard "No."

I fucking LOVE Star Trek (TNG movies and "Enterprise" notwithstanding). I even have a soft spot in that cold, hard knot of iron I use as a heart for a couple of the seasons of Voyager, but I'm happy with Star Trek as it is.

I used to love Star Wars, too, and while I still like some aspects of it, this hyper-media blitz of SW products is wearing on me, and it's making me give a shit about Jedi less and less as the years drag on and MORE stuff gets thrown at me.

I did play the Star Trek MMO, and I thought it was... well... pretty awful. Well maybe that's not fair. "Awful" is an (heh) awfully strong word, but I didn't like it very much.

I don't need to see the ST Universe expanded upon by people who have less and less to do with its original inception. I even like Bioware (and begrudgingly, I would have to say if anyone could do it, they could), but while your lurkers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

 

[StBishop]

No, because no one could. Because it's Star Trek.

Honestly.

 

[Sixcess]

Possibly, but I'm inclined to say no.

I'm not sure Bioware's typically witty/snarky, anti-authoritarian, over-sexed characters would be a very good fit for the Star Trek universe

http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/4/40/Kirk_alt_on_bike.jpg

Yeah, you're probably right.

C'mon Viking. I love a good bit of selective quoting as much as the next man, but no fair posting that and snipping my next sentence.

If they did do a Star Trek game I suspect it would feel much more like the 2009 film than any of the tv shows.

 

[GaltarDude1138]

it'll probably just come off as KoTOR without lightsabers/the force or Mass Effect without Biotics/Reapers.

Well, I suppose the Borg/Klingons (Depending on which era) could be the go-to bad guys, and BW could throw in an explanation to suddenly give you a limited range of Q powers, and if that is so, then perhaps Q could be characterized as some sort of inter-dimensional Illusive Man.

That could be the entire plot; Q wants you to stop the Borg/Klingons evil plans and gives you limited Q powers for you to train and attack bad guys with. Along with the trusty (and probably upgradeable) phaser.

I think it could work, but that's just my opinion.

 

[ZeroMachine]

it'll probably just come off as KoTOR without lightsabers/the force or Mass Effect without Biotics/Reapers.

Well, I suppose the Borg/Klingons (Depending on which era) could be the go-to bad guys, and BW could throw in an explanation to suddenly give you a limited range of Q powers, and if that is so, then perhaps Q could be characterized as some sort of inter-dimensional Illusive Man.

That could be the entire plot; Q wants you to stop the Borg/Klingons evil plans and gives you limited Q powers for you to train and attack bad guys with. Along with the trusty (and probably upgradeable) phaser.

I think it could work, but that's just my opinion.

Hey, you'd know better than I would, I'd wager. I'm not a Star Trek fan. Only Star Trek thing I ever even remotely enjoyed was the new movie.

I just know Bioware's style. Potentially amazing. Or catastrophic.

 

[boag]

I know that BioWare has made a good Star WARS game (and a to-be-determined-if-its-good MMO Star Wars game) but as I think about Mass Effect, the more I think that BioWare would be a perfect fit for making a Star Trek RPG. It seems to me that Mass Effect has a lot in common with Star Trek as a whole (i.e. character driven space exploration story) rather than Star Wars (space fantasy war story), and was wondering if that could possibly come to fruition.

So, I ask you: Do YOU think that would be a good idea?

They already did, its called Mass Effect.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Depends in which direction they would do it. Most likely if it was appeal to the original Star Trek fan but I would think it would suck however if they reimage it like to something similar to J. J. Abrams then yeah I would think it may work.

 

[s0p0g]

Bioware and 'Good RPG' don't really work together in my opinion

really sad, but true, and the impression is fostered with every new "rpg" they throw out on the unsuspecting market.
in a way, it feels their games got worse over the years; and while an one-against-everybody shepard works in an original setting, i doubt they could pull of a convincing ST setting (and when talking ST, i do not talk about the abomination that is Enterprise, or this new flick from some time ago); although it *might* work if they took an approach on the old Kirk-esque Star Trek; after all, Kirk himself was hitting anywoman he ran across. then again, not everybody can or should be a Kirk.
maybe a mummorpegur? it could not be worse than the one available (at least not on the ground; STO's space-stuff is quite neat, actually)

 

[BreakfastMan]

Well, they certainly could. I wouldn't hold it against them if they tried, and I would probably enjoy it. They would have to have much more of a focus on the characters and dialog than the combat though. Not that Bioware doesn't do good characters and dialog, they just need to focus on it more than the combat, which they have never done. Really, it should be more like an point n' click adventure game than a traditional RPG (hopefully blending elements of both).

 

[Mahoshonen]

Well, Bioware does have a tendency to over-emphasize party relationships, especially the complusion to make as many a sexual nature as possible.

However, if you do a Trek RPG starring Kirk, then that would just come with the territory.

Actual space combat is a must, though. There's no excuse for never implementing it in the ME series.

 

[Waaghpowa]

The real question is "Could Bioware make a good RPG?" fullstop. Im not so sure about that atm.

Damn it, I was going to say this.

But yeah, lately Bioware RPG's have been, for lack of a better word, shit.


....how about insubstantial? That sounds nicer than shit right?

 

[viranimus]

Honestly? I do not think that bioware even comes into the equation. ANYONE could make a good star trek game. The problem is that paramount and the people behind the franchise do not really understand the game industry and as such they end up handing the franchise to the wrong developers more often than not.

Honestly, the last truly GOOD star trek game I can recall playing was Invasion for the PSX (I know theres also the voyager FPS that was supposedly pretty good too. I simply never played it) And perhaps the most lamentable example is Star Trek Online which started out with a questionable developer, then turned over to a different questionable developer and then finally released unfinished and well... outdated. Had the right team been behind that project, STO could have been every bit as good if not better than ToR. Instead what we got is a pretty run of the mill wow-era (not wow clone) MMO about 3 years too late.

 

[Erttheking]

You know that might be right up their ally.

Really ? I don't remember Star Trek being about all these bullshit romances.

That's seriously off topic and kind of unnecessarily angry buddy. Also have you seen how many times Kirk fell for someone?

Yea, but you know Biowhore would 'expand' on that further and make aliens and even Spock a gay love interest.

Yes and we all know that this totally optional part of the game that takes up less than one percent of the game will run it into the ground right?

I think his point is that its completely unneccessary.

No, I don't think Bioware could do it because they would make it a useless trilogy, add in large amounts of romances for little to no reason, making it a covered based shooter and multiplayer and make the story some YOUR GOOD GUY X ACTION, YOUR A BAD GUY Y ACTION, YOUR A FUNNY DOUCHE ACTION Z! Then whore out everything for marketing for what I think is going to be a flop.

No, because I still don't trust them fully with Mass Effect 3 and didn't fully enjoy Mass Effect 2.

Yes because Mass Effect 1 didn't have cover based- oh wait...I mean it didn't market itself on romance and-oh wait, I mean you were a complex and three dimensional character not a generic action movie-oh wait. But the choices were complex and not black and white-oh wait. And multiplayer is total crap that always takes away from the experience, same a single game that had a decent campaign and good multiplayer, because no such game-oh wait.

 

[Steampunk Viking]

C'mon Viking. I love a good bit of selective quoting as much as the next man, but no fair posting that and snipping my next sentence.

Fair enough - but you got to admit, smarmy and over sexed does actually describe Star Trek fairly well

 

[Sixcess]

C'mon Viking. I love a good bit of selective quoting as much as the next man, but no fair posting that and snipping my next sentence.

Fair enough - but you got to admit, smarmy and over sexed does actually describe Star Trek fairly well

Oh yeah, it describes James T. Kirk well.

But that has as much to do with when the original series was made as it does the character of Kirk himself. For all its praiseworthy progressiveness, TOS was still very much a 60s show, and its attitude toward women was, at times, notably worse than its attitude towards minorities or non-americans, or aliens. I watched 'Space Seed' (the original Khan story) a few days ago and... well, it's a bit iffy in that respect.

The newer shows moved away from that - arguably becoming too dry and passionless. Riker tried his best to do Kirk-lite, but never really convinced.

Besides, Kirk's only true love was the Enterprise.

 

[Aprilgold]

You know that might be right up their ally.

Really ? I don't remember Star Trek being about all these bullshit romances.

That's seriously off topic and kind of unnecessarily angry buddy. Also have you seen how many times Kirk fell for someone?

Yea, but you know Biowhore would 'expand' on that further and make aliens and even Spock a gay love interest.

Yes and we all know that this totally optional part of the game that takes up less than one percent of the game will run it into the ground right?

I think his point is that its completely unneccessary.

No, I don't think Bioware could do it because they would make it a useless trilogy, add in large amounts of romances for little to no reason, making it a covered based shooter and multiplayer and make the story some YOUR GOOD GUY X ACTION, YOUR A BAD GUY Y ACTION, YOUR A FUNNY DOUCHE ACTION Z! Then whore out everything for marketing for what I think is going to be a flop.

No, because I still don't trust them fully with Mass Effect 3 and didn't fully enjoy Mass Effect 2.

Yes because Mass Effect 1 didn't have cover based- oh wait...I mean it didn't market itself on romance and-oh wait, I mean you were a complex and three dimensional character not a generic action movie-oh wait. But the choices were complex and not black and white-oh wait. And multiplayer is total crap that always takes away from the experience, same a single game that had a decent campaign and good multiplayer, because no such game-oh wait.

I haven't Played Mass Effect 1. I don't think Mass Effect three is going to be the next best thing to crack cocaine. Star Trek had characters that you actually cared for, and if nothing else you cared for the ship because seeing that thing get blown up would be a masterpiece of explosions and property damage.

I didn't care about Mass Effect 2's characters at all because they never really made me care about the case of the universe in general. I literally just went through the game picking renegade options because like Yatzhee has pointed out, its either your Mother Teresa or Eating babies and there is no middle ground. I'd rather be a evil bastard having fun then a good guy having a even more boring of a time. I didn't like any of the characters because I jumped in a little to late to actually learn about them from Mass Effect 1, but quite honestly, I couldn't care less, since my responses to the actually characters would have been completely different then what Shephard would say. I think it would have been a nice option to slap each person who wanted to sleep with me before the final mission because this is no time to be making bonds when your about to die you *****.

Also having the surname Shepehard threw me very far out of the experience, having been just called "commander" would at least allow me to play as someone who I want to be, not some random bloak with a surname as common as grass.

No, I don't think Bioware could do a decent Star Trek game, simply due to their system of communication, since you only have three options it probably would be this. "Kill the bird of preys, rape their corpses and send pictures back to their families" 'Let them go, because they obviously can't help themselves from being assholes' and finally "Make a wise crack about how Klingons smell like ass" each one, in order giving you Bad, Good and Asshole points.

Also, in the future, if your going to tell me I'm wrong about something please just say it instead of sitting there passively aggressively doing it, because one makes you look like a prick and the other is you being honest.

 

[Atmos Duality]

I'm pretty sure at this point it would be something of a Conflict of Interest for them (between the Mass Effect and the Star Wars license).

Ignoring that...they can't possibly do worse than the writers of Enterprise.

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

The real question is "Could Bioware make a good RPG?" fullstop. Im not so sure about that atm.

Sonofa... He stole my line! *sulk*

But yeah, I have lost faith in the company and honestly just don't think they have what it takes any more. I will get ME3 when its cheap just because I loved the first but after that they are gonna have to reprove themselves if they want my money.

 

[CrystalShadow]

In before all the bioware hate hipsters - wait nvm

Considering the quality of pretty much every star trek game in recent history has been nothin short of utter shit I'd say it's a safe bet that bioware can do a much better job of it. Especially in light of the disaster that is STO

Eh. Star Trek games have a bad history in general.
Considering Bridge Commander is one of the best in the history of such games, that says enough...

I'm afraid the Star Trek fanbase is part of the problem. Too many obsessive fans that will pick apart any minor details...
And the basic ideas behind star trek don't lend themselves well to most game genres without a lot of lateral thinking.

Star Trek Online has a few good ideas, but seems to be hamstrung by MMO-itis.

They've forced an MMO-style economy into a setting where it doesn't make a huge amount of sense, for instance.
(The replicator on my starship needs 'energy credits' to function? ... And I have to 'earn' them? Yeah... Right.)

For that matter, the logistical consequences of making everyone the captain of a starship, kind of makes a mess of the setting too.

It's understandable for an MMO, because who honestly wants to deal with the chain of command when your superior officers are other players?

This would be much easier to deal with if it were a single-player game. Then you could set this up in a more logical manner where the things you are doing are more consistent with what people of various ranks in star trek actually do.

Anyway, would bioware be able to pull this off? I honestly don't know, because I actually have never played a Bioware RPG.
(I own 4 of them, but I keep buying things on sale and never getting around to actually playing them.)

I have always thought a Star Trek RPG could be quite interesting.
But I suspect none made commercially would have the kind of depth I'd be looking for from such a game...