EA/Mythic Entertainment mount Ultima's corpse so they can kill it again

[Kukulkan]

How big is the gameworld? Is it Ultima 7 small or much larger?

 

[Jaesun]

I agree. If they removed Ultima from the games name, I would have no problem with it. I still will never play it.

 

[taxalot]

How big is the gameworld? Is it Ultima 7 small or much larger?

It is not comparable to Ultima 7. The Game World is dual scaled (a world map + other maps for towns and dungeons).

Ooops, another NDA breach.

 

[Infinitron]

How big is the gameworld? Is it Ultima 7 small or much larger?

It is not comparable to Ultima 7. The Game World is dual scaled (a world map + other maps for towns and dungeons).

Ooops, another NDA breach.

That's plainly obvious from looking at the images.

 

[Infinitron]

U4E articles in Australian gaming mag: http://forever.ultimacodex.com/2012/11/24/ultima-forever-in-pc-powerplay/

I particularly like this one

5 year old kids > university students

 

[evdk]

Guess someone forgot to inform the kid that 80's games are unplayable today. No worries, peer pressure will beat the enthusiasm out of him.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

http://forever.ultimacodex.com/files/2012/11/pcpowerplay-u4e-article-page4.jpg

Story: "The original ends a bit stragely. You turn up, you're told they need an Avatar but the world doesn't appear to be in that much threat. When you become an Avatar, you're immediately sent back to Earth and nobody seems to be any better off. One of the things we've done this time around is provide you a very visible, narrative reason for adventuring.

So, we've added the Black Weep, which is the manifestation of the planet being unhappy. It's a commetary on the 21st century. The planet is starting to rebel, the people are starting to lose their way. This weep has a graphical imagery, like a pox or a goo, that you can see on the animals or the enviroment. Part of the story is that the planet will require an Avatar, so that people can see that if you're a good person trying to do right, you can make a difference to the world."

 

[Infinitron]

 

[evdk]

http://forever.ultimacodex.com/files/2012/11/pcpowerplay-u4e-article-page4.jpg

Story: "The original ends a bit stragely. You turn up, you're told they need an Avatar but the world doesn't appear to be in that much threat. When you become an Avatar, you're immediately sent back to Earth and nobody seems to be any better off. One of the things we've done this time around is provide you a very visible, narrative reason for adventuring.

So, we've added the Black Weep, which is the manifestation of the planet being unhappy. It's a commetary on the 21st century. The planet is starting to rebel, the people are starting to lose their way. This weep has a graphical imagery, like a pox or a goo, that you can see on the animals or the enviroment. Part of the story is that the planet will require an Avatar, so that people can see that if you're a good person trying to do right, you can make a difference to the world."

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...lligence-peaked-thousands-of-years-ago.78212/

 

[Infinitron]

I finally made a newspost out of all the crap I've been posting here

 

[evdk]

Quote stealing bastard.

 

[Infinitron]

Everybody brofist evdk's post to compensate for my quote theft

 

[someone else]

Hopefully it will turn out better than Ultima VII.

 

[Jasede]

 

[Jaesun]

Moving this to the appropriate forum.

 

[taxalot]

I never thought I'd post in a MMORPG forum.

 

[Infinitron]

Der Krauts on der Ultima: http://forever.ultimacodex.com/2012/12/07/ultima-forever-in-chip-powerplay/

​

​

The Cover​

Power Play magazine, Issue #1, 2013 – This is the first issue of the magazine after being out of print for over a decade.​

​

The Ultima 4 Article​

First article: A brief introduction to Richard Garriott and the history of his games and Origin. It includes a lengthy description of Ultima 3 and of course Ultima 4, which is very much praised. They also show, in a series of screenshots, which games they think were influenced by the early Ultimas. [These include Ogre Battle, Final Fantasy III, and Dragon Quest. -- WtFD]​

​

The Ultima Forever Article​

Ultima Forever article: They begin with telling of the cursed Ultima titles after Ultima 9 (mentioning that both Ultima Online 2 and Ultima X: Odyssey didn’t make it). This is their opinion, of course, and it makes for more drama. They also include a special small feature on Odyssey, concluding that it was axed because EA was worried that it would take too many players from Ultima Online (and that, eventually, WoW did that).​

The more interesting part is where they write that Paul Barnett has been developing Ultima Foreverfor several years now with a small team, and how his major effort has been to keep management from “killing his baby”, that his team had to beg Ray Muzyka to put in a good word for their projects to keep EA from killing it. The magazine hopes that it doesn’t bode ill that Muzyka has left the company since then.​

The second page finally begins to describe U4E. Probably nothing new there, but I’m not keeping up to date with what is known about U4E. [And I can't speak a lick of German, nor read it, but given the length of the article and the proximity to both his GDC Online talk and the interview in Australia's PC PowerPlay, it stands to reason that Barnett probably told the same tale in this interview as he has been telling elsewhere. -- WtFD]​

What’s interesting is that it is intended to be free-to-play title, but they aim to finance the game by selling goodies. Mostly visual things and smaller time-saving stuff, but nothing major to keep it fair for those that can’t afford to pay up.​

The article concludes with the expressed hope that the Ultima curse will be broken.​

​

The RIchard Garriott Article​

Interview with Lord British:​

1. Whether he has anything to do with U4E: No, he hasn’t, but he would still like to see them doing a good job with it, and see it be successful.​
2. How relationship EA and LB is at present: The known fact that they were in very loose talks about maybe doing something together in the far distant future, but nothing came out of it…yet.​
3. Are there more former Origin people at Portalarium: Garriott points out Dallas Snell and John Erskine are there, and says that the company is made up of half veterans and half newbies.​
4. How the Ultima sounding “Ultimate RPG” came to be: It was the working title for Ultimate Collector, and the name stuck. It started out that he talked with a TV production about collectors and that name came up. He liked it and took it for Collector, and then realized that it could become the title for many of their planned games. It was not intended to sound so close to “Ultima“.​
5. Target system of URPG: Tablet, although whether this will be iOS, Android, or Windows Mobile is not yet decided. There will definitely be a later release for PC, and maybe for smaller smartphones as well.​
6. How URPG compares with other Portalarium games that have, up to now, been only casual titles: They took the easy route of establishing basics (client code, server code, account systems) with simple casino games. Then avatar-related stuff and inter-player trading systems for Ultimate Collector, and after all that is established and proven it will be time to develop “the big thing”. This saves money since underlying code alteady exists, and they are also able to earn money off the other games while developing URPG. [They just updated Port Casino Poker, actually. -- WtFD]​
7. What will URPG look like: This has not been decided. Maybe old-school and more sophisticated than classic Facebook titles. Definitely not a modern shooter look-alike. The game will be aimed at a mixture of former UO players and current Facebook game players.​
8. How does he aim to appeal to new and casual players: Easy gameplay without long installation and study of the handbook required. It will be possible to play for just ten minutes instead of hours-long MMO raids. But it is still going to offer a much deeper experience than the common social MMO.​
9. Besides fights and quests, will there be trade/craft: Here he gives a longish answer, mostly that he still thinks most MMO players want to be fighters, even though he admits that in UO there were a lot of people avoiding fights and instead engaging in trades and other stuff. He points out that the first successful Facebook games were farm and coffee shop games. So there probably will be trade and crafts in URPG.​
10. About how many old gamers don’t trust the “free to play” games, and/or fear to be nagged constantly about buying stuff and getting friends to play as well: Lord British asserts that he is just such a gamer, so he is aiming to find a good and fair way to make money off the game through in-game purchases. (Personally I’m looking forward to see how both U4E and URPG are going to handle this.)​
11. Why enter into a partnership with Zynga, when they are known for their annoying nagging: Garriott states that the answer has already been given in other interviews he has done.​
12. Why is LB trying to sell his manor: To build a new and even more awesome manor.​
13. What perspective did LB gain from his visit to space: He saw himself as an environmentalist but realized that he was a bad one, using too much water, energy, fuel and producing too much waste. He now wants to be part of the solution instead of the problem. For example, Austin is aiming to reduce their waste production to zero, and he is spokesman for a group that is giving advice to Austin in this matter.​
14. Do you think computer games are still important: He is playing more than ever, especially on his smartphone (no brand mentioned). Not even visiting space did change that. [In previous interviews, Garriott has mentioned owning an iPhone. -- WtFD]​

 

[taxalot]

This feels like watching a train wreck. Impact is near.

 

[Jaesun]

Target system of URPG: Tablet

Good to know. Now I know where to move any threads about his fucking shit game.

 

[mediocrepoet]

That's awesome. The avatar is a WoW paladin with ankh pauldrons, greaves and tabard.

For some reason I can't get the phrase "art abortion" out of my mind.

 

[Xavier0889]

as much as I love the Ultima series, I want to see this fail into oblivion with my own eyes, even when it was cursed since the moment it was conceived.

 

[Redlands]

as much as I love the Ultima series, I want to see this fail into oblivion with my own eyes, even when it was cursed since the moment it was conceived.

I think that means you do love the Ultima series.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[taxalot]

Paws farmers got rich all of a sudden.

 

[Infinitron]

Actually, it appears to be surprisingly similar to the original in terms of layout.