It’s always a wonderful thing when a particular story sinks into your bones and finds a way to truly excite you, and that’s precisely where I’m at with Star Trek Online these days. Because ever since ‘Victory is Life’ hit the mission log, unique and exciting stories have been pouring out of this game and the entire Star Trek: Discovery storyline is no exception to that rule since it’s allowed for us to experience some important moments in Federation and Starfleet history, and it’s even had a little fun along the way by letting us interact with characters from the Mirror Universe, and I won’t lie, the wait between these missions has been downright excruciating.
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But of all the mini ‘seasons’ that have come out in the past six months, the story arc that I’ve been anticipating the most has been ‘Rise of Discovery’. Because the trailer for this new chapter in the saga, promised us a chance to interact with Captain Gabriel Lorca and his trusty associate Commander Landry and well, that just sounded downright amazing, and thankfully, my long and painful wait for fresh content in STO came to an end at last, on Tuesday. For ‘Rise of Discovery’ is live on console now and I won’t lie, I rushed to my Xbox the instant it was available because I straight up needed my fix and let me tell you now, the first episode in this new set of stories is about as amazing as they come.

Because not only does ‘The Plausibility of the Possible’ look incredibly gorgeous, since it takes full advantage of all the new graphics engines available in game, it’s an epic freakin’ story. In fact, this particular tale outright feels as though it is a lost episode of Discovery. Because it runs about an hour, it has a sweeping story filled to the brim with beautiful cinematics and important character moments, and there’s some epic combat present that definitely gives you pause because…seeing twenty or so Klingons beam down, ready to thrown down, is a scary sight regardless of rank and experience and really, the wonder of this episode doesn’t end with its presentation and storytelling.

Because this one, is filled to the brim with some serious geek out moments. I mean come on, Jason Issacs is sublime as Captain Lorca, and it’s just a giddy experience to beam aboard the U.S.S. Buran and interact with him before bad things happen, and it’s equally as amazing to fight alongside him and while these kinds of interactions are nothing new in Star Trek Online, I will never be tired of them. Because, regardless of which of the shows you love, it’s every fan’s dream to fight alongside a Starfleet captain that’s appeared on screen and this story once again fulfills that dream and to top it all off…the best part about this episode? The fact that it ends on a tense cliffhanger.

So, if it isn’t obvious by now, I was super impressed with this particular tale, and I also loved the little Section 31 nuggets they threw into this one too, and well at this point, I haven’t played the next episode in this segment, simply because, I honestly want to bask in the wonder of this one a little longer and replay it a couple more times to pick up on anything else I might have missed. For this one was an enriching experience, one that sadly sets the stage for an ugly finale since the fate of the Buran and her crew isn’t a pleasant one. But, to quote/paraphrase Jim Kirk, risk if part of the game if you want to sit in that chair, which means that once I’ve had my fill of the wonder of this particular chapter, it’s off to the next one to face the battle and the darkness that awaits. Until next time. 

Well hello again dear reader. It’s been a little while since we sat down to discuss the wonders of Star Trek Online and I do apologize for the delay. But, sometimes you get buried in other projects and tasks, or in this case, a convention and well, when all is said and done, I suppose the timing of an impromptu vacation from writing about STO worked out in its own right, because a special time has arrived for fans of the game on console. For we are but a few days away from the debut of ‘Rise of Discovery’, an event that will provide Captains and Admirals with new storylines involving Captain Lorca and Commander Landry, seemingly before they board the featured ship in the latest chapter in this storied franchise, Star Trek: Discovery.
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But before those new missions arrive on the 25th, we do need to take a moment and discuss one a little surprise that quietly arrived on console, a TFO known as Operation: Riposte. Because if there’s one thing I love about this game, it’s the fact that it works hard to offer fans of the franchise and the game itself as rich an experience as possible, and this TFO just so happens to meet that criteria. For this particular mission, takes us to one of the most important offenses of the First Klingon/Federation War, wherein Starfleet saw an opportunity to go on the offensive at last by liberating a planet known as Priors World from the Klingons and this, might be one of the game’s finest TFO’s to date.

For starters, it’s pretty darn epic in scope, since it features plenty of Klingons to fight through as you work to free this planet from the Empire’s firm grip, meaning that every single second of the battle is intense and if by chance you get a break, you can see the next wave of ships amassing to defend their position against you, prompting you to take a quick breath before opening fire once again, and perhaps the most intense segment of the mission for me, is the moment when you’re asked to defend troop transports from inbound missiles because damnit, this was a tough task to say the least. Because speed is always a wonderful way to evade a starship’s weapons and despite all of Galactica’s top tier weapons, sometimes those missiles would just fly right by my massive Odyssey class vessel, prompting my heart to drop as a rouge warhead barreled toward a transport.

Yet while the battle itself is epic in its own right, as is always the case in the game, the story is what truly makes the experience worthwhile, since this mission finds a way to truly immerse you in the moment and this time around, it’s the voice acting that makes that happen. For this is Rekha Sharma’s first appearance in the game as Commander Landry, and her exhausted yet determined portrayal of a commander who has seen horrors but needs to project confidence for the sake of the battle, only motivates you to fight harder and work harder to complete your goals and really, every element we’ve discussed is what made this TFO worth my while and I see it is enthralling others, since the game has no trouble assembling a task force when I join the queue.

But what matters most when it comes to this mission, is that it stays true to Star Trek Online’s mission of creating a game where every bit of Starfleet history is brought to life in some magical way, and it really is cool that they took the time to assemble a mission that had major implications on the war, while at the same time, provide with us something that helps to build the buzz for ‘Rise of Discovery’, and it is this loving care that keeps me coming back on a daily basis to either play this mission again or complete my Endeavor missions and well, I won’t lie. This mission really did achieve what it was supposed to, since it got the ol’ blood pumping for the latest entry in this story arc, and I’ll be counting down the minutes and the days to Lorca’s arrival in STO and of course, we’ll be talking about the first mission in this new arc, shortly after it goes live. Until next time.