This thread will contain all of the official RPG-X staff reviews for
Genesis Station Each week the reviews will be added to the first post and the thread bumped for visibility.
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These reviews are slightly edited for grammar and accessibility but the content and the score remain untouched.
QuoteSRP Name: Genesis Station
Episode Name and Number: Season 2, Episode 2
What Happened: A prototype ship, the USS Vesta broke down while on a testing run, similarly testing the skeleton crew to their limits in attempts to either fix or flee the crippled ship before life-support completely failed. The incident caused mass casualties with the cast split into different escape pods. At one point the Captain transfers power from gravity and lighting to life support in a futile effort to keep them alive, which really highlighted the desperate situation.
One turning point in the RP is when the chief engineer heroically sacrifices himself to save the ship and crew from total disaster. Soon after, Gorn arrive to take possession of the "debris field" and summarily execute three members of crew. However, mysterious aliens arrive to obliterate the Gorn from space, disappear and the Enterprise-D comes to give them a lift.
Opinion: I think the scene with the chief engineer and his warp core a real highlight of the episode - quite touching - a brief interlude from the dramatic and tense atmosphere of the crippled ship. Saying that, it was edge-of-seat stuff him attempting to enter the code already!! It was very enjoyable working with the crew/RP'ers in such tense life/death situations.
I will say being a roleplayer, it's a little annoying the episode thread went up in the forums so last-minute, which meant I had to download the required files last minute, which made me late for the RP.
Furthermore, having handcrafted characters to play on these RPs it's also annoying having to come up with Mr. Random NCO (simarily also last-minute) because we're doing a "flashback" episode apparently. It appears to be a new trait among the SRPs, but honestly it's jarring my experience of RP and I just don't want to do it. I want to cultivate the character I create over long-term.
Favourite Line:
"But if you wait until you're ready, you'll never do anything."
-Morgan Sandoval
Score out of 100: 90
Quote
SRP Name: Genesis Station
Episode Name and Number: Season 2, Episode 3
Who Attended: Eight out of ten attended.
What Happened: Amassing at Starfleet Command, the officers and civilian scientists of a yet un-built Genesis Station come together for a meet-and-greet, where orders are given and lines are drawn which may or may not be crossed..
Opinion: A solid flashback episode, it was enjoyable to 'meet' the crew for the first time even before the station's construction. While not much occured plot-wise, I enjoyed having the ability of playing my own character this time. One or two tidbits came out which become more obvious, and learned a little more about Vivian Li...
Score out of 100: 80
Quote
SRP Name: Genesis Station
Episode Name and Number: Season 2, Episode 4
Who Attended: Seven out of ten attended.
What Happened: Not a whole lot. The episode starts in the mess hall where the senior staff could be found crouching for ten minutes, in order to 'surprise' Goodman on his birthday. The party continues for a good thirty minutes wherein nothing else occurs. At this point a briefing is called in the conference room for an away mission. Six crew members depart the Lexington to scan an asteroid, but they cannot and are forced to don EVA suits and beam inside the apparently hollow asteroid. Leo Goodman's suit becomes ruptured and quickly loses oxygen. Luckily the others find him in time and race back aboard the ship to a waiting Sickbay.
Opinion: A whole hour of the SRP timeslot was devoted to a surprise birthday party and a conference room briefing - a SRP runner needs to know when to move the plot along for the benefit of all players. There were long periods when nothing was happening at all, except in the mess hall. It also looks like two players cast themselves as HELM officers, (Pilot Kathryn Knowtheway, for example) creating redundancy where other departments could be filled. Not only has the shuttle/EVA mission concept been done several episodes ago, there didn't seem to be much purpose for it, particularly when leaving the shuttle. Once the map switched (to inside the asteroid) the second half of the episode focused purely on the away team, leaving several people out in the cold. In summary, it was pretty boring since I had no engagement to what was going on, and that's disappointing.
Score out of 100: 50
Quote
SRP Name: Genesis Station
Episode Name and Number: Season 2, Episode 5
Who Attended: Seven out of ten attended.
What Happened: This time it's set on Deep Space 5 years before Genesis Station, during the Dominion War. Things are hectic yet stable - until an unknown explosion emanating from Deck 17 rocks the station. In the aftermath Operations are cut off from Engineering in all senses, the station crippled and a loss of main power. After attempts to reach the latter fail, the crew focus on getting to the bottom of what happened, fearing the worst - a Dominion attack. Once a dynamic duo of Engineers restore some power to DS5 (utilizing a torpedo of all things) they discover Deck 17 gutted - Sickbay obliterated and hull breaches galore. Chief of Security Heydrian decides to launch an investigation, suiting up to sift through the rubble and vacuum of space, discovering explosive material and bulkhead doors rigged to maximize damage. She heads down to Engineering to apprehend their prime suspect, ENG Kaney - wait, one was a doppelganger - but it's too late, as his dastardly plan is put into effect. Heydrian is ill-matched against a shapeshifter and is brutally murdered after being distracted by Ops. Making his escape, his compatriots detonate similar explosives onboard all the station's shipyards - crippling Starfleet ship production and taking several ships with it in the merciless destruction.
Opinion: More interesting this around as players attempt to create lots of solutions within a rapidly changing and shifting plotline - this kept us engaged as the plot moved forward. A couple server glitches did not dampen these positive things, which all players got to partake of. It was well put together this time, the plot keeping us guessing as to who could be the Dominion imposter. That being said I find it difficult to relate what the plot (and previous flashback episodes) have to do with Genesis Station, and because of this I think it best the whole season is not dedicated to these flashback episodes.
Score out of 100: 69