There is usually meaning behind opinions I'm an experienced gamer that does not feel entitled to having free AAA games; I'm more than willing to pay high dollar for a complete game, and I'm more than willing to wait until development is completed. I waited 3 years for Implosion, and I paid the initial $9.99 launch price, and then asked myself "Why is the dev being so generous"? Since you all like numbers and analytics, it should be a well known fact that most people who purchased that game were very satisfied customers, myself included. Implosion is new to this world; Star Trek, on the other hand is not. It's 2016 now, and true Star Trek fans that also happen to be gamers, want to play a full-fledged Star Trek game...I don't think I need to elaborate on what a true Star Trek game should be like. The devs AND the people should be able to see everyone's opinion, and then make a decision on their own accord. diaskeaus has put forth valiant efforts to deliver the truth about this game's flaws AS A GAME, and he has my praise; it's a shame that true gamers' opinions get shunned so easily. Boardum, I admire you expressing your "unmetered" raw opinion about this game and the business model that it uses, but I still believe that you don't understand it's not the fact that the game is F2P, it's the whole game that's the issue. If this same game was stripped of all IAPs and left as is, do you honestly think that this game would be any better? I think not! Separating truthful comments into different threads.....your decision to do this was solely for TouchArcade's benefit; it does not improve the game in any way, not to mention, if Disruptor Beam decided to drop by and saw the original "purified" thread, they'd think they created a masterpiece, and will probably aspire to continue developing (ruining) games like this. It's all more about the money nowadays anyway; if the garbage makes money, then make more garbage, updates being recycled garbage. My argument is not about F2P games as a whole, as I DO play a couple faithfully, my argument is about THIS game in particular. To put it simply, my expectations were ruined 100% when I played this game...in April 2014, the promotional footage looked very promising, but Disruptor Games always kept their mouths tightly shut about how the final game would be--structure, monetization, etc. Back then, my hopes were high, and I even strongly suggested to them to not go down this "F2P model" road. Over a year later, the final game is released like this......do you honestly think I'm just going to quietly walk away without saying a damn thing when everything I had hoped for in this game was crushed to shit after over a year of anticipating something great?! I, as one person may not matter to a dev (for you number/analytics people), but I am certainly entitled as one who went through the whole process and experienced the game to voice my opinion. This whole disappointment fiasco would have been less intense if Disruptor Beam just told us what the hell they were planning from the start instead of buttering us up for blatant disappointment. They should have stated all long-term details from the start. If they said the following during the development phase, then I would not be here posting rants: "Hello everyone, we are very excited to be working on our new game "Star Trek Timelines" for mobile! We have just started the development of the game, and we can tell you that this game will be online-only with a gatcha-like system for upgrading your characters and equipment. The game will feature multiple types of currency, all of which can quickly and easily be increased via In-App Purchases. We have written a compelling storyline featuring a new being named "Q", and we are very excited." -D. Beam Team The very second sentence would have sealed the deal for me; I would have walked out right there quietly knowing what to expect. We all know that online-only games (especially those with gatcha/card battler systems) are technically "endless" until the server gets shut down, which in turn tells us that the game is not full-fledged, likely giving us less of a true gaming experience. Check the numbers on that shit. Devs need to stop hiding the damn truth; casual gamers (the increasing majority) can accept an announcement like that without much opposition, but true gamers like myself already know what's going down, so we tend to avoid games like this from the start.
Whoa - 24 hours after my post and all hell has broken loose and the thread has been dissected and moved. I don't see what's wrong with saying that to progress with this game you have to spend money. So I am stuck in a mission in episode 2 as I don't have a crew member who has high enough medical skills. If I skip the medical challenge, I don't have a crew member with high enough science rating. I have not enough 'credits' left for even one go at the 'Time Portal' in hopes to get another crew member. The better ones have to be acquired through hard cash anyways. I've also tried to level my Spock up with items to see if he can get higher science rating. I need two more items, one is done through transmission missions which has timers (and the item is not a guaranteed reward). It probably doesn't matter though as there is a bug in getting the other item. I can't actually upgrade Spock. That is where I am at for the last 48 hours. Stuck. I've even considered restarting the game to ensure I upgrade Spock earlier but there isn't an option for this. I emailed Disruptor Beam yesterday and waiting to hear back. ... or I can pay for acquiring better crew members with hard cash. Been on the STT forum, and it would seem during beta testing this mission was noted to be too difficult to get through for the reasons I have mentioned. The developer didn't change this. I suspect this is deliberate. I am not optimistic that any updates will rectify this. In general, the gameplay is shallow. Away missions consist of dragging crew members who has a higher skill rating than required to overcome a challenge. Ship battles are clicking on icons to enhance the ships ability (with cool down timers). I don't post on TA forums that often, but I do regularly view the forums. I really don't see what was wrong with the discussion regarding this being a poor game and the developers maximising their chance to make money at every opportunity with the game design. I am glad that I am not the only one who has the same opinion for this game. But then it is posts like Boardumb's which call the discussion a cesspool which will make me think twice about posting in the future.
Wow! Just read this pathetic embarrassment, and I think I understand why this place is dying. Hint: It's not because of "shit posters" being negative for no good reason. Good luck TA.
