A Look At Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus

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Earlier this year, Cryptic Studios and Perfect World Entertainment announced their first expansion for Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus. The expansion introduces a third - and long-speculated - faction to the game, the Romulans, as they struggle to rebuild after their homeworld was destroyed by a supernova. It goes without saying that the STO community was a-buzz with the news!

I was honoured and privileged to be invited for the closed Beta test of the new Romulan faction. With a leap and a bound, I marched beneath the Raptor's wings and took to the testing server to try out life as a Romulan. (NB: This article may contain spoilers for the tutorial of Legacy of Romulus. You have been warned!)

Meet my character, Caius Ne'Ral, a former tactical officer of a Romulan Warbird, brought to the colony of Virinat a few short years ago by D'Vex, a man devoted to helping the Romulans rebuild after the diaspora. Now trying to start his new life on the colony, Caius has taken up work as a farmer, tending to the vineyards.  With its large, ramshackled marketplace, extensive vineyard and rustic housing, Virinat is quite a quaint and charming little colony - its certainly a far-cry from the former imperialism of the Romulan Star Empire.

After the loss of his homeworld, Caius took to a life of staring wistfully into the distance...

Some may argue that these aren't "true" Romulans as we're used to seeing in the Star Trek series, and they'd be right; so far on Virinat, I have yet to meet a vindictive, militant double-agent, and everyone's been incredibly friendly to my character. It may not be what some would call a traditional Romulan society, but I do like this new approach; a race of people trying to rebuild after the destruction of their homeworld and the destabilisation of their government. The imperialistic Romulans of old are still about, mind you, as their former intelligence department - the Tal Shiar - try to grip on to the old empire with a neutronium fist, and Empress Sela is trying to build an empire fit for her ruling, but the people of Virinat just want to lead a peaceful life secluded from the troubles and conflicts that mar the face of the Alpha Quadrant. It's a move that makes sense for a people without a homeworld or a stable government, and is a fine founding stone for the narrative of the New Romulan Republic.

But back to Caius's life. Some Khellids (a kind of large, flappy bug type thing) have been chewing through the irrigation pipes in the vineyards and Caius has been called upon to fix the leaks, blasting a few Khellids with his plasma pistol along the way. However, the Khellids are acting strangely aggressive, so Caius goes to investigate. In a cave not too far from the town, where swarms of Khellids buzz about as large buzzy insects are wont to do, there's a suspicious looking beacon. With the beacon deactivated, and a few Khellids splattered by plasma fire, Caius returns to the market place in time for an evening of festivity in this new and peaceful world.

I could get used to a life here.

Commemorating the founding of their settlement on this world, the Romulans settle in for a night of revelry. Fireworks sore into the ink-black skies, erupting into firey orange, sparkling blues, plasma green... Wait, that's no firework!

WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS?!

With the ground-works of this new Romulan settlement now established, it's all swiftly blown to pieces by the Tal Shiar. Grabbing a high-density plasma beam rifle, Caius makes a dash for the shuttlecraft where he, and other survivors of this onslaught, would make their escape. Escaping the atmosphere into orbit, the surviving shuttlecraft make their way to an abandoned Bird-of-Prey left in orbit several years ago - a ship I christened the Raptor's Talon.

Set a course for that interesting looking nebula, Mister T'Val.

This segment is another triumph for the opening of Legacy of Romulus; the first bridge officer to join your crew is a man you met on the surface of Virinat, and who helped you escape the devastation. The acquisition of a new officer prior to this (in the case of both the Federation and Klingon factions) just felt like buying a new commodity, but Legacy of Romulus has woven this new officer into the fabric of the story. The fact that he's a somewhat developed character means I'll probably keep him as a permanent tactical officer, as his dialogue makes him as much a part of Caius's story as the other central characters in the game.

In addition, having got main power and primary systems back online, you have to start scavenging for spare parts. Blowing apart debris from ancient, discarded vessels is a good start, as you start to collect components to turn this old rust-bucket into a functioning starship. It's just another thing that helps you engage with the narrative behind Legacy of Romulus and become a part of this rag-tag band of survivors in their exodus. As much as I like my Federation Vice Admiral, in his sleek uniform and state-of-the-art starship with a crew compliment of 2000, there's something about the story of these people from humble beginnings with their battered and worn clothes, forced to try and find a new life amongst the stars in their creaky old starship. The story is further embellished when you pick up a nearby distress signal from other survivors trying to escape the Tal Shiar. Engaging the enemy, you rescue the crew of these now derelict ships and beam them aboard your own.

Deftly evading plasma beams... Not bad for a farmer-turned-captain!

I didn't get to experience much more after this point, as the shard was taken down for maintenance (and there appeared to be a sudden increase in server-side lag), but from what I experienced thus far it had rekindled my excitement for Legacy of Romulus's release.

The story was engaging, weaving in core game mechanics as part of the narrative rather well, and if it continues in a similar vein then it will not disappoint! I encountered no bugs (except the Khellids!) in my first foray into Legacy of Romulus, and aside from the slight lag just before server maintenance the gameplay was smooth and thoroughly enjoyable. Some of the latest updates to the user interface, such as the ability to change the colour of your UI and the updated viewscreen/dialogue window, are a nice touch and create a more Trek-y vibe. The character creation screen has also been given a nifty new make-over, with it's over-hauled layout and dynamic background, which certainly looks good but might take me a bit to get used to! In fact, my only gripe with the experience was that during the cut-scenes, some of the subtitles went by a bit too fast, but I was able to get the gist of things (hopefully it'll be slowed down a bit for release on May 21st).

However, this is only the beta test for the biggest update to STO to date, and as Daniel Stahl stated in a recent Q&A, "This is an early build with many bells and whistles still missing. There is no VO yet and many of the cutscenes aren't finalized. You will find bugs and rough patches, but we would like to start getting feedback on the Romulans at this time."

All in all, Star Trek Online's first expansion looks set to be nothing short of spectacular! From the tutorial alone, Legacy of Romulus shows great promise and I'm looking forward to seeing where the course of events will take Caius and myself next...

Click here for more information on the Legacy of Romulus.

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Bron's main character in Star Trek Online is Oracle@MorosAtum, an Arcturian science officer serving in the 12th Fleet.