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

[Whisky]

As must as I don't want this to make it, it probably will. (Assuming it is going to be a social game or something like that. If it's a real game, then I'd be interested, though skeptical of donating to a man who tears down his mansion every couple of years and rebuilds it.)

Lets face it, a lot of the people are going to see it and think, "OMG! LORD BRITISH IS MAKING A NEW GAME FREE OF EA INTERFERENCE! I GIVE MONEY!" regardless of what he says that the game will be like. We're not immune to this behavior either.

 

[mindx2]

Kenneth says: http://ultimacodex.com/2013/03/lord-british-presents-a-countdown/comment-page-1/

They seem to have deleted my responses over at ultimacodex . I guess LB won't be able to read my reaction to his latest casual, F2P, MMO masterpiece.

I see your responses. Or were there more?

Nah, I had to refresh the page a couple of times until they showed up again. Firefox does that to me occasionally. I jumped the gun as those guys (WTF Dragon and Sergorn) tend to lap up anything Ultima related, especially Ultima Forever, and I just assumed they were censoring any negative comments. My bad.

edit: And they are defending this with examples of "good" tablet games like Baldur's Gate, Ultima Forever (and some Japanese-type stuff?).

WtF Dragon:

To answer the first, I can name any number of excellent mobile games that have demonstrated considerable quality: Underworlds (which Denis Loubet worked on), Galaxy on Fire 2, Dungeon Hunter 1 & 2, Ravensword 1 & Shadowlands, Aralon, Lili, QuestLord, Wild Blood, The Bard’s Tale, and even Ultima Forever (which I have played at some length…although as it isn’t yet out, its inclusion on this list may not be entirely fair). All excellent from a production quality standpoint, and all very fun to play.

 

[HobGoblin42]

Someone should tell WTFDragon, that there are no "excellent mobile games" when it comes to RPGs. Not even one! Closest candidate would be Undercroft which has been released as free (promotional) dungeon crawler by Runescape maker JAGEX.

 

[Infinitron]

These guys are set in their ways. Trust me. I've been arguing with them since before I joined the Codex.

 

[kris]

You guys raise valid concerns but I'll have to point out we've already seen both a successful Kickstarter from an over-the-hill developer who doesn't actually need the money, and a successful Kickstarter for a F2P game. Admittedly neither were hits, but they did both make it. I'm not sure the Kickstarter crowd is quite as discerning as all that.

Such irony that Godus proves that there is no God.

 

[Micmu]

What kind of retard moron would back up a FUCKING MILLIONAIRE.
He has all the fucking funds he needs.

 

[Xavier0889]

Lets face it, a lot of the people are going to see it and think, "OMG! LORD BRITISH IS MAKING A NEW GAME FREE OF EA INTERFERENCE! I GIVE MONEY!" regardless of what he says that the game will be like. We're not immune to this behavior either.

I surely doubt that there's enough people with the resources to back him successfully with that opinion.
Anyway, thou shalt not suffer a larper to live

 

[HobGoblin42]

What kind of retard moron would back up a FUCKING MILLIONAIRE.
He has all the fucking funds he needs.

61,290 people already did it for another millionaire, Mr.Fargo

 

[Infinitron]

More info here: https://twitter.com/aut0br0

What kind of retard moron would back up a FUCKING MILLIONAIRE.
He has all the fucking funds he needs.

61,290 people already did it for another millionaire, Mr.Fargo

Don't think he's as wealthy as Garriott.

 

[evdk]

Don't think he's as wealthy as Garriott.

Of course, if WL2 is successful and LB gets caught in the social gaming crash it might very well come true.

 

[ghostdog]

Eh, Fargo certainly isn't poor, but compared to Garriott he's nothing. Sure he spent a good chunk of his fortune for the space trip, but as Infinitron said he recently won 28 million from that shitty mmo.

Anyway, deranged fans who want Garriott to make another old-school Ultima-like game, beware ! Apart from various medieval weapons, Garriott also has modern ones in his house :

In 1997 the house was broken into by a deranged fan. Garriott held him off with an Uzi, firing a warning shot while waiting for police to arrive.

 

[Jasede]

"house"? He lives in a goddamn mansion.

 

[evdk]

So he does not actually have the Death Touch IRL. Disappointing. He should've at least tried to LARP it, it could have worked with a nutjob.

 

[dibens]

Millionaire or not, only a moron would spend his own money on a business project. This is especially true for vidya games, which are notorious for not making their money back, despite being critically acclaimed. Even if funds are not an issue, Lard British would be stupid not to exploit the Kickstarter- he could promise to deliver a bag of burning shit to people's doorsteps and still get the project funded on his name alone.

 

[Diablo169]

I could hardly take him seriously when he used the nickname Lord British, never mind changing his legal name to Richard Garriott de Cayeux. You grew up in Texas you wanker.

 

[BigWeather]

A Kickstarter may not follow (but it wouldn't surprise me in the least). I'm a huge Ultima geek, but I'm definitely one of the fans that Spellcaster mentions -- don't like anything past Ultima IX (and, if I'm being honest, VII and it's expansions / UW timeframe). Ultima Online had some decent ideas, though. Everything after (fan remakes aside, of course) is crap. However -- I'm still hopeful. Heck, I was even hopeful when Ultima Forever was announced. I'll see what it is and evaluate it on its own merits. At a minimum it needs to be: PC, party-based, turn-based combat. It can be online, if needed (and, yes, I know that typically dashes party-based -- but that can be solved), but ideally that'd be limited to voluntary participation or doing it kind of like Demons Souls does. I keep hoping that someday EA will wake up, bring RG on board, and realize that there is a HUGE potential for a true successor to the core Ultima series.

 

[Diablo169]

I keep hoping that someday EA will wake up, bring RG on board, and realize that there is a HUGE potential for a true successor to the core Ultima series.

EA don't care about niche markets like turn based RPGS, they care about making cold hard cash and you can do that easier and in higher volumes with corridor shooters.

 

[Jasede]

They'd just make Ultima IX again if this happened at EA. Not a chance.

 

[Infinitron]

Turn-based? Hah, to EA, even a game like DA:O is now niche. I fully expect there to never be an AAA party-based top-down CRPG ever again. Certainly not now when Kickstarter games are about to fully take over that market.

 

[BigWeather]

Yeah, you're right about EA. Though a future EA may be more like the EA I knew and loved in the 80s, so there's always hope. I'm going to keep on hoping until that countdown hits 0 but I'm not overly optimistic.

Enough worrying over the Ultima IP -- how do we get SSI from Ubisoft? I want a new Wizard's Crown! I'm also still holding out for Phantasie V as mentioned in the interview a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Excidium]

Ultima fans are not learning animals.

 

[Stabwound]

I never got something... Is there a LB fan somewhere that actually enjoyed his last creations or the latest Ultima stuff that are not even related to him? I haven't seen literally one person saying he liked Tabula Rasa, Lords of Ultima, Portalarium crap or this Ultima Forever thing. ONE. Who are these people being considered market slice for these projects? Is there at least one veteran Ultima fan that look at those things with excitement?

I don't know, but the same thing has been done with countless other game series, not just Ultima. Might & Magic puzzle games, Syndicate FPS game, X-Com FPS game, etc. The names are probably just used for recognition as annoying as it is.

 

[Roguey]

More info here: https://twitter.com/aut0br0

What kind of retard moron would back up a FUCKING MILLIONAIRE.
He has all the fucking funds he needs.

61,290 people already did it for another millionaire, Mr.Fargo

Don't think he's as wealthy as Garriott.

http://wikimapia.org/16992912/Brian-Fargo-s-House

 

[JarlFrank]

There were Ultima games after U9?

 

[Jasede]

Niiiiiice.