KickStarter Shroud of the Avatar - Lord British's Not-Ultima Online 2

[rusty_shackleford]

rusty_shackleford

So, how much of this is a LARP vs. enjoying the game itself? There's an sp mode and I'm curious how it would play, especially when grouping with NPCs for more difficult encounters.

I'm playing the online mode.
Actually enjoying it, the areas are well made and the quests+puzzles well done.

Any issues with trolls, boxers, or people giving away OP gear?

not as far as I can tell

 

[rusty_shackleford]

keywords nearly all npcs will respond to:
(duh ones)

"name"
"job"
"avatar"
"rumors"

(still kinda obvious but usually not pointed out, many "hidden" quests/tasks are available from this)

"help" <- "quest", "work", etc., seem to also do the same thing

something most NPCs will respond to but is almost never brought up in conversation for some reason:

"where are you from?"
"lord british"
"how are you?"

infrequent responses:

"ultima"

and you can introduce yourself to nearly all NPCs using your real name so they use it when speaking to you from then on e.g.,
"I am known as Rustford Shackleton"

I suspect this gives a bonus to truth virtue if you are honest, as sometime this is an actual prompt response rather than something the player can do on his own.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The inhabitants of this realm are devious, only the lowliest of knaves would resort to such trickery as to replace a treasure chest with a deadly mimic.

Our friend and knight Sir Jaesun was thankfully not inside the mimic.

While exploring the vast reaches of New Britannia Rustford came across a secluded village hidden in a forest that housed both humans and elves together. Rustford enjoyed the sights, but sadly they had not heard of Sir Jaesun.

He bid the elf and humans goodbye with assurances of his soon return when able, and set off once more. Rustford's bravery shan't yet fail, even in the face of the foreboding unknown.

 

[Delterius]

have you looked for ser jaesun in a bakery

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I guess so few codexers played the game that nobody even bothered to mention the hamfisted and dated DRUMPF(literally, he's called Drumplmouth HAHAHA SO FUNNY!) allegory in one of the starting zones. Jesus christ.
2 of the starting zones are high quality, the third one is trash tier, and of course it also has the DRUMPF reference. Libtards can't fucking do anything right.

I'm not even sure if they're starting zones anymore though. I made two characters and both went to the Solace Bridge area, which was very well done along with the follow up outskirts that had a lot of environmental storytelling.
The second one, Highvale, used verticality nicely, had some puzzles, and overall decent quests. Good looking area.
Blood River is just trash. Every 5 steps, you get attacked by mobs that appear out of nowhere. The quests don't make sense, and it sends you all over the map while the map is covered in a bunch of random traps like giant pressure plates(???) for no reason. The area itself is very bland and unappealing.

Nothing like having a "no politics allowed" rule on global chat, communication platforms, etc., and then putting hamfisted political bullshit in your game though.

tbh completely ruined my mood and pulled me out of the game, no Rustford updates tonight.

 

[Grauken]

Nothing says fantasy like when the orcs ands elves start talking about current days politics

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Nothing says fantasy like when the orcs ands elves start talking about current days politics

it's literally about drumplmouth wanting to kill all the elves for ... reasons.

Went from extensively debating mortality and death with an aging titan(who ages in his earth time rather than New Britannia time and is now realizing he's in fact not immortal but merely very long lived) in a different area questline a couple hours ago to this. Can't even express how disappointed I am.

 

[Grauken]

Nothing says fantasy like when the orcs ands elves start talking about current days politics

it's literally about drumplmouth wanting to kill all the elves for ... reasons.

I would have expected orcs

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Went from extensively debating mortality and death with an aging titan(who ages in his earth time rather than New Britannia time and is now realizing he's in fact not immortal but merely very long lived) in a different area questline a couple hours ago to this. Can't even express how disappointed I am.

And the other 'starting' area questline, which I'm not sure how far I'm into yet, is about a city state ruled by lovers -- the shogun and the high priestess -- who have been torn apart by the invasion of undead into the province due to their conflicting views on how to resolve the crisis and possible political machinations due to palace intrigue, with each of them having a separate palace facing each other on opposite sides of the city.

the third area is DRUMPF.

It's like someone spitting into your dinner at a fine restaurant. How could anyone think this was acceptable?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

so when you get to the major town in that area you get a quest involving drumplemouth's uncle about how he's loaning money to people to seize their property
so you investigate drumplemouth and can either attack or seek the truth, if you seek the truth you go around town getting references that vouch for the character of drumplemouth employing people who were out of a job, paid off their loans to help them etc., and it was all just a plot to steal drumplemouth's money, including one person saying he's finally a trustorthy politician

I have no idea what's even going on anymore

 

[rusty_shackleford]

so I'm going to guess someone on the dev team realized some libtard put really dumb shit in the game and they tried to offset it?
the correct thing to do would have just been remove it, I don't want real world references in games like this

 

[Grauken]

you suffer for the dev teams sins

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Rustford crossed vast deserts and perilous frozen tundras, searching in the dankest crypts, wildest woods, and the most crowded cities. Finally he heard a rumor that Sir jaesun has purchased a plot of land in a far off remote area.
After a long trek, he arrived on the property but nobody was to be found. Rustford began to sink into a depression, what if Sir Jaesun is lost and never to be found? Has our hero failed in his quest?

Wait!
Do his eyes deceive him? Could it really be, after all this time? Just as all hope was lost!

It truly was Sir jaesun, in the flesh! Rustford quickly informed him about the danger of Lord British's realm and he must quickly flee.

 

[Jaesun]

You indeed did finish your quest and found me. How may I help?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You indeed did finish your quest and found me. How may I help?

How you doing men

 

[Jaesun]

You indeed did finish your quest and found me. How may I help?

How you doing men

I'm doing ok, other than the fucking hot weather here in Seattle. How are you guys doing?

 

[Tweed]

This man gets shit done.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Something strange I noticed was this game has an incredibly high % of female players.
I don't mean female characters, but actual female players. No idea why.

Possibly the heavy emphasis on decorating? I recall EQ2 having a lot of women too and it has a similar focus on player housing.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The area design, dungeons especially so, is surprisingly high quality btw.

Looking at the wiki for the dungeons I liked, many areas have been replaced. Whoever they have doing should get a raise.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Items sold to merchants get recycled back into monster loot tables. One guy even has a player-ran contest to send him items he crafted.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ash-to-treasure-dropped-items-turn-in.168328/

 

[Jaesun]

Something strange I noticed was this game has an incredibly high % of female players.
I don't mean female characters, but actual female players. No idea why.

Possibly the heavy emphasis on decorating? I recall EQ2 having a lot of women too and it has a similar focus on player housing.

It is, it's the decoration thing. There are people who spend weeks, months doing that stuff. Most of them are women, but there's quite a few guys who are also REALLY good at the deco thing.

 

[Jaesun]

Items sold to merchants get recycled back into monster loot tables. One guy even has a player-ran contest to send him items he crafted.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ash-to-treasure-dropped-items-turn-in.168328/

It's a little better explained here: https://sotawiki.net/sota/Player_Crafted_Loot

Player Crafted Loot are various player crafted items that can be found in loot on occasion, from various creatures.

These items will all have a Makers Mark identifier on the item, with the name of the Player who crafted the item.
Players can sell various items that have a Makers Mark on it to NPC's, and these will then enter the loot tables.

It's actually a very interesting system.

 

[Delterius]

Items sold to merchants get recycled back into monster loot tables. One guy even has a player-ran contest to send him items he crafted.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ash-to-treasure-dropped-items-turn-in.168328/

It's a little better explained here: https://sotawiki.net/sota/Player_Crafted_Loot

Player Crafted Loot are various player crafted items that can be found in loot on occasion, from various creatures.

These items will all have a Makers Mark identifier on the item, with the name of the Player who crafted the item.
Players can sell various items that have a Makers Mark on it to NPC's, and these will then enter the loot tables.

It's actually a very interesting system.

so you're telling me this thing is actually good

 

[rusty_shackleford]

just realized the stats on some items vary based on your virtue scores, that's neat.

 

[Jaesun]

so you're telling me this thing is actually good

I have been playing this game now for over FIVE YEARS. For me, currently, it's a fun and enjoyable experience. I don't actually expect other people to like it, or maybe they might. I don't give a shit. The Episode 1 content (That includes owning a house, having vendors, a shit ton of content and stuff, of note you CANT even do that in Ultima Online, unless you have a subscription ) is completely free to play. Install the game and make up your own mind. I can't do that for you.

But there's ONE thing that has kept me here, the current Development team, Catnip Games, is a teeny tiny group of people that are really tying to just get this game in a better shape. They are good, honest people, and they do want to get this game in a better direction. At release, this game was terrible. Period. As of 2022? Not too bad... It's what I would call in a "decent" state. And that took about 5 years... but, it's still here. One of the bigger issues currently with the game is performance, it just is what is is for now. The team knows this and keep trying to get it at least "better". Currently they are moving the game to the Unity 2021 engine and that might improve things a bit better, but who knows.

Performance aside, the rest of the game just has some Fun Shit to Do™. Go mine some gold, go mine some silver, sell shit, make shit. Kill shit, collect trophies, go fishing, do quest etc... For now, it's a fun and enjoyable experience. But that's just me. YOU would have to give the game a try and find out for yourself.

That said, if you are interested in the game or have some questions, feel free to ask.