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Temporal Front Review

Captain's Blog Stardate 93894.55

Welcome to another Admiral's Blog. This time, let's talk about "The Temporal Front". What do we like about it? What don't we like about it? Most importantly, what does this mean for the story? Warning, spoilers ahead!

As all of you who played it may have realized, this episode is essentially a copy of "Time and Tide", which is sort of a copy of "Surface Tension". You go to a meeting, talk to some people before it starts, then start the meeting, get interrupted by an attacker, and fight your way to the end of the story. Security is horrible! How many times are we going to have a meeting and let it get interrupted by people with weapons?

Fine. Whatever. I don't want to waste your time complaining about the recycled plots. Here's something I did enjoy. I thought Cryptic did a great job with the cutscenes. They just looked so much better than most other episodes, almost like something from one of the shows. For me, they made the story come alive. I can't explain it, but when I saw all the ships headed for the gateway and going through it I thought, "this is awesome".

The assassination attempts at the beginning was pretty cool too. Note, I said attempts. I don't remember reading anything about J'mpok's fate, and I don't believe he died. After you capture the assassin, if you go back to the meeting room, you see J'mpok writhing on the floor. Cryptic could have just as easily made him lay there motionless. Hopefully they don't leave J'mpok's fate unanswered in the next episode. That entire scene, including the attempt on the President's life, was fun to watch.

The rest of the story was just ok. Clearly we're involved with the Temporal Cold War. A passing remark about Archer defeating Vosk was made. Frankly this was a missed opportunity to help out Archer and his crew. Even if we didn't meet any of them, but just doing something behind the scenes to help out would've been fun. I'm thinking something along the lines of "Trials and Tribble-ations". Maybe they're saving it for another episode?

Overall I did enjoy this episode and think it was ok. It nudged the story ahead a little bit, but I couldn't even tell you in what direction. There's an inidcation that the Klingons are unhappy, but I would hate for Cryptic to breakup the alliance. We've been waiting six years to get to the point where both factions are officially allied, so it wouldn't make sense to end it after a few months.

Vosk was dealt with in the past, so he's no longer our concern. Nothing else from this episode needs our attention. The only cliffhanger is J'mpok and as I said, I really don't think he died. Maybe Cryptic just wanted to tell the story of how Vosk went back in time. If that's the case then I'm ok with that.

In the comments let me know your thoughts on this episode.

Written by Attilio on April 16, 2016 at 06:24 pm

Comments

Chris (Member) said...
April 18, 2016 at 11:40 am

Good review-

J'mpok's character certainly was oddly handled.

I ran the episode with my Orion toon, and I was certainly worried about our Chancellor's condition!

After all, this was the great warrior who in 2393, while meeting at the Great Hall, slew Martok and assumed control of the Empire. Without him the Gorn would not have been brought under the banner of the Empire!

While I certainly knew it would take more then a cowards poison to bring down such a hero of the Empire, I was relieved that during the episode debrief, J'mpok was still the POC I was speaking with.
He certainly seemed alive, though there was no mention of his recovery, or even mention of his inconvenience with poison, etc.

I figure this is due to a few options:
One: Whoever creates the dialog for the end of the episode, didn't read the episode plot about J'mpok. [CRYPTIC!!!]
Two: By traveling to 29th century, we stopped the individuals who were going to travel back and attempt the assassination! (But then, why did we to travel to 29th century in the first place? Darn Temporal Mechanics!)
Three: He's just that tough that he didn't even think being poisoned was worth mentioning. (And didn't want to thank the wonders of Federation medicine.)

-Chris

Reply to Chris
RiverSong (Member) said...
April 25, 2016 at 06:33 pm

I thought it was a nice story but a pain to get through. My level 60 eng fed had a hard time at it. My tac kdf it was little easier but not really. I saw the poisoning happening as soon as i saw the drinks. They really need to gear the hardness of a level to the level of a character

Yeah I was thinking I missed the mentioning of J'mpok.

Or I will add to the above poster. J'mpok thought well it is obvious i am well so I don't need to say anything.

I am looking forward to the next one.

Reply to RiverSong
BerryRJ (Member) said...
April 28, 2016 at 04:06 am

They don't mention J'mpok because that is not who is poisoned. If you look closely you will see the person poisoned has a different face. No scar, different forehead ridges, and a different beard.

The person poisoned is one of the random generic NPC's in First City and the Academy. No idea where he came form as he is not in the room before and while he is there, J'mpok is missing.

Maybe a bit of mystery, like how Batman is never is the same room as Bruce Wayne? ;)

Reply to BerryRJ
Chris (Member) said...
May 03, 2016 at 09:58 pm

So, on my last run through, I saw that they have updated things so it's not J'mpok who takes the drink, he is now standing near the Fed President.
It's Captain Kagran who get's poisoned. (He is responsible for coordinating the efforts of the Iconian Resistance, and reports to the commanders of Starfleet, the Klingon Defense Force, and the Romulan Republic. He's the POC when you are rescuing Qo'noS from the heralds.)

Reply to Chris
dudeorama (Member) said...
May 08, 2016 at 08:08 pm

Yeah, it's not J'mpok, but a klink redshirt that gets poisoned...

Reply to dudeorama
Chris (Member) replied...
May 09, 2016 at 12:13 pm

Captain Kagran is no redshirt! He is an honored member of the KDF! Don't you remember working with him before?

(Poor KDF named characters keep getting killed off as the 6 year story continues....)

Reply to Chris
goldenavariel (Member) said...
May 13, 2016 at 09:00 am

I'm glad to hear they changed out who got poisoned.

I liked most of the cutscenes once they stopped letting my ship blow up during the station destruction scene. My personal favorite was the one that comes up just after disabling the assassin.

My least favorite was the one after disabling Vosk - one moment he's down here on the floor intimately involved in the fight and the next he's at the top standing tall while his crew is holding my team off? Boo. If they wanted that scene they should have made him untargetable while we are swarmed by his crew and maybe a 1st officer boss.

The assassin's defiance followed by totally rolling over was strange and kind of pathetic. Or maybe the na'kuhl in general are thick headed? I'm not sure. I can overlook it but the whole "interrogation" seems kind of dumb... and fun at the same time. I have conflicted emotions.

The whole scene with Walker trying to save the ship (why?) made me want to slap the *** out of him. Assuming that getting the invasion plans was the plot point that needed to be checked off, they should have just started with that goal to begin with. And why were the Na'kuhl still attacking us when the ship was on count-down to destruction? Why weren't they running for the shuttles and escape pods? For the glory of Na'kuhl? *rolls eyes*

Those kind of things - characters acting dumb - just irritate me. I blame the big layoffs they had a while back.

I did like the battles. Although the Na'kuhl seem a little overpowered, especially on the ground, it was a good challenge.

I'm thinking the mission's main purpose was to set the stage for the next Season and the new original-series-era faction (or whatever it is). I might be wrong but dealing with Na'kuhl temporal terrorists seems like a likely over-arching theme.

Reply to goldenavariel
lblackmoor (Member) replied...
June 06, 2016 at 05:24 pm

Especially as they say they're going to have to recruit more temporal agents to assist with the crisis.

Reply to lblackmoor

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