It's an unfortunate episode for sure. I mean, you can tell what they were trying to do, both make it a sendoff to *all* of Star Trek, and at the same time show the beginning of the Federation.
It's just that, it all came together the wrong way. For example, because everything is in the holodeck, and not time-synchronous either, you just never get invested in the fact that we're witnessing the birth of the Federation.
And Tripp's death was just so shoehorned in and unnecessary.
I read a review of the episode somewhere, and the reviewer also made the good point that it's really weird how the whole crew apparently went into total stasis for 6 years, with no personal or professional growth. Especially Tripp and T'Pol who had a child together the episode before and at the end hold hands, apparently just noodled on for 6 years with nothing happening, only to think about it suddenly.
I think the episode could have been a lot more believable if they had showed the crew having grown/changed etc. Maybe some person died (like Troi in All Good Things), Tripp and T'Pol being married etc.