Mastodawn

Finished Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown. Overall, IMO, it occupies the same space the series did: mostly good, if a bit uneven at times.

For a Choices Matter VN, I'd give it 8/10. The quests are short, but they do a pretty good job of customizing the later choices based on your earlier ones.

For Voyager rep, I'd go 9/10. I'd have loved more voice work, and content for a few more specific episodes, but what's there is good. The writers did a particularly admirable (ha!) job of capturing Janeway — I never felt frustrated or railroaded by her choices.

For gameplay, I'd say more like 5/10. Even on Story Mode, the resource management got a bit annoying. A small handful of the quests were very poorly designed. And the save system is ... not great.

That poor save management means I wouldn't go for the platinum trophy, but I enjoyed my playthrough. And it's expensive for what you get. But overall it's decent.

#AmPlaying #StarTrek #Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown - Launch Trailer | PS5 Games

YouTube

Show thread

Rick Osborne 6d ago

But also, I acknowledge: I am an unabashed save-scummer. Sorry, not sorry.

I do not worship at the cross of RNGesus, and I do not feel any need to git gud at some randomized mechanic. I don't ever go for the +Crit build in any game. In a choices-matter game like STV:AtU or BG3, of course I'm going to quit and reload for a bad roll.

When we play board games at home, I do the same thing. Bad roll? Change it. Bad outcome of a hidden choice? Pick again. Earned a scar in a legacy game which will affect the next dozen plays? Ignore it. No need to be sneaky — it's all above the table.

Do whatever you need to do to keep the game fun.

If, for you, the randomness is fun, go for it. It's just not for me.

On the rare occasions when I will GM TTRPG sessions, I take the same approach: put the dice away, you're not gonna need 'em. Instead, if you're trying to do something your character might struggle with, let's talk about costs and consequences. No dice needed.

Show thread

Rick Osborne 6d ago

I think the best praise I can give this game is that if the devs decided to release a bunch of little $2.99 DLCs with a handful of episode side-quests each, I would totally be that person who bought and played every single one.

Like, most of the episode side-quests take up maybe 5-10 minutes each. So $3 for 30 minutes of added gameplay may sound egregious. But I think it's a testament to how well the devs handled the choices-matter and away team parts.

(Okay, that's it. I'm done talking about this game. Promise.)