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

[Grauken]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...-libelous-drm-posts/?comments=1&post=35446671

Sounds like a healthy and upstanding community

 

[thesheeep]

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018...-libelous-drm-posts/?comments=1&post=35446671

Sounds like a healthy and upstanding community

Sounds like most online communities to me.

 

[Mortmal]

Damn, is it possible this kind of shit is what Garriott really wanted in UO, but couldn't due to graphical limitations? Was UO actually saved by the limits of computer hardware?

I dont understand either, could be like Molyneux . He had an extremely talented team with bullfrog to back up his ideas, but with his team of millenials we had godus.. .In the case of garriot its more weird , i think he gathered the original team , or am i wrong?

 

[grimace]

Damn, is it possible this kind of shit is what Garriott really wanted in UO, but couldn't due to graphical limitations? Was UO actually saved by the limits of computer hardware?

I dont understand either, could be like Molyneux . He had an extremely talented team with bullfrog to back up his ideas, but with his team of millenials we had godus.. .In the case of garriot its more weird , i think he gathered the original team , or am i wrong?

Raph Koster was not involved with Shroud of the Avatar. Rich Vogel's name does not show up either.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/devteam

The UO post mortem may be of interest.

https://www.raphkoster.com/games/presentations/ultima-online-at-20-classic-game-postmortem-gdc/

• Raph Koster (Designer, Independent)
• Starr Long (Executive Producer, Portalarium)
• Richard Garriott de Cayeux (CEO / Creative Director, Portalarium)
• Rich Vogel (VP of Technology and Shared Services, Certain Affinity)
  
  
  

 

[Mustawd]

It’s one thing to hear Taxalot talk about SOTA, and it’s a whole other thing to see these posts in action. What in the actual fuck...

The dance parties are a mix of casual and meta talk about the game, role playing (and Erotic Role Playing),

Well...I guess people have to go somewhere now that Bioware games aren’t being made.

 

[grimace]

It’s one thing to hear Taxalot talk about SOTA, and it’s a whole other thing to see these posts in action. What in the actual fuck...

The dance parties are a mix of casual and meta talk about the game, role playing (and Erotic Role Playing),

Well...I guess people have to go somewhere now that Bioware games aren’t being made.

Adultima

It's an option. You can nope out before it goes that far.

There are fringes and niches and SotA may provide a virtual world for creative folks. AOL Chatrooms and MUDs, IMVU and Second Life, now there's the Ultimate RPG with a cosmetic cash shop.

SotA follows the game as a service business model. Pay once to gain access and have the option to spend more if you want more.

taxalot how's the review progress?

 

[taxalot]

I am editing the review in the PM system of RPGCodex, adding screenshots, titles, and thinking of last minute touches. It will be sent to Infinitron either tonight or by Friday at worse.

 

[Saduj]

Damn, is it possible this kind of shit is what Garriott really wanted in UO, but couldn't due to graphical limitations? Was UO actually saved by the limits of computer hardware?

Didn't play UO much but the more I've heard from Garriott, the more I've come to believe that the Ultimas I spent so many hours playing as a kid (III, IV and V) were saved from his LARPing fetish by the technical limitations of their time.

 

[taxalot]

The review has been sent.

Should it get published, the Ultima Dragons & SOTA community is likely to send hitmen after me but :



Also, I would like to end with a friendly piece of advice from SOTA's team :

 

[grimace]

The review has been sent.

Should it get published, the Ultima Dragons & SOTA community is likely to send hitmen after me but :



Also, I would like to end with a friendly piece of advice from SOTA's team \

Yes, there is humour all around. Who's in on the joke and who is "the joke"?

And are those people laughing or crying?

 

[Junmarko]

Also, I would like to end with a friendly piece of advice from SOTA's team :

It was a learning experience for sure.

Last time I ever back Portalarium. Garriott is a worry though, he sells nostalgia like no one else - I'd still drop cash at his feet with mere mention of U7

 

[taxalot]

Also, I would like to end with a friendly piece of advice from SOTA's team :

It was a learning experience for sure.

Last time I ever back Portalarium. Garriott is a worry though, he sells nostalgia like no one else - I'd still drop cash at his feet with mere mention of U7

They appear to be winding up for Episode 2 (even though Episode 1 is 80% incomplete) ; they're clearly doing another kickstarter very soon, their survival depends on it.

 

[Junmarko]

They appear to be winding up for Episode 2 (even though Episode 1 is 80% incomplete) ; they're clearly doing another kickstarter very soon, their survival depends on it.

To their credit, it had some interesting ideas - reminded me somewhat of The Secret World. Lite detective/mystery solving elements, but it didn't even get that right.

Haha wow. Another Kickstarter for this? Garriott will have my attention if he intends to make an actual Ultima throwback. Until then, Shroud is just a spectacle.

Look forward to your review. Hope you burned it lol.

 

[taxalot]

They appear to be winding up for Episode 2 (even though Episode 1 is 80% incomplete) ; they're clearly doing another kickstarter very soon, their survival depends on it.

To their credit, it had some interesting ideas - reminded me somewhat of The Secret World. Lite detective/mystery solving elements, but it didn't even get that right.

Haha wow. Another Kickstarter for this? Garriott will have my attention if he intends to make an actual Ultima throwback. Until then, Shroud is just a spectacle.

Look forward to your review. Hope you burned it lol.

The original plan was one episode every year, but episode 1 took much longer than expected (and yet is still mostly an incomplete game). The game is losing wind, steamcharts is saying players are leaving already, the last beg-a-thon did not attract as much money as usual. And all of a sudden, while the focus was supposedly initially to complete the missing features of Episode 1, we have Starr Long speaking of Episode 2 more and more everytime he appears. It's not official yet, but what a fucking coincidence they seem to speed this up when the income is getting lower.

The next kickstarter is not an official thing, but everyone's betting on it. It's the only thing that makes sense to save this company and allow the game to stay online a bit more.

The review is in the hands of staff ; I hear it's "approved", but don't know when it's coming online.

 

[Max Heap]

The dance parties are a mix of casual and meta talk about the game, role playing (and Erotic Role Playing),

So far this has ruined every single commercial roleplaying server I've played on and I ain't shittin you either.
I played Ultima Online on a very strict RP shard, with quite a lot of players.
Roleplaying mostly meant a believable world there. You had factions, political organisations, intrigue, organized crime, religious zealots, traders, markets, rivalries, a working feudal system, etc. etc.

And everything was played really nicely. It was the best MMORPG I have ever played.
Of course there was that kind of erotic RP too, but that was minor compared to all the other stuff.

And what do ya get on commercial roleplaying servers?

Fuckin goldshire
Second life styled furry gatherings
Draenei with horse shlongs

It makes every single RP shard look like a big community of (really far out) weirdos.
It's the worst.

I remember the best RP community after UO was the one in Warhammer Online.
And you know why? Cause orks don't have dicks, dwarfs have ugly women and while Chaos would lend itself well to tentacle porn Slaanesh is too kinky for even the biggest weirdos. The only ones that had "potential" there were probably dark elves. But the game was too unfinished in those parts. Probably for the better.

 

[grimace]

steamcharts is saying players are leaving already

To be fair, many SotA players use the native (DRM free, but P2P) launcher because the download sizes are smaller. Steam Downloads 4-6 gigs (effectively the size of the game already installed) each month during new release.

Active player statistics are not public information.

The next kickstarter is not an official thing, but everyone's betting on it.

Another crowd funding effort with "unique" (but not exclusive? who knows anymore) rewards is likely.

Probably on https://www.brightlocker.com or Fig.

So far this has ruined every single commercial roleplaying server I've played on and I ain't shittin you either.

Ruined the game for players?
Brought in more funds for the developers via the cash shop?

I'd still drop cash at his feet with mere mention of U7

Ultima 7 was mentioned in the Ultimate RPG kickstarter.

SotA does have the exploration and interactive world (steal stuff, bake bread, hidden passages) of U7. Whether this satisfies single player Ultima fans or not . . .
And there are companions to play with (but they seem to be needing more development).

 

[taxalot]

Yes, their "out of Steam" launcher is also a thing that seems to be working better than their absolutely disastrous update system of Steam and said launcher evades statistics. But still, Steam numbers are decreasing and I _think_ that probably also means that their first party launcher users are also leaving, although it's impossible to be sure. There are hints, though. I'm seeing less and less players on the otherworld ; the monthly donations are going down. The ramping up of Episode 2 to try to create a new buzz is another hint. It's all speculation by this point but every sign Portalarium gives is more worrying than reassuring.

It doesn't take much though to understand that they are not in the situation they want to be. How could they be ? The game has been hardly reviewed anywhere ; when it is reviewed, it's... not good. They are trying hard to get fresh money every month : "oh uhh, maybe if you manage to finish the game we'll give you a free terrain lot ?" "maybe we'll double XP but instead of events we'll do it forever ?" , etc, etc. All their fixes are super cheap and they are not able to mend even simple issues. Spoiling my review a bit, but this is a huge thing to take into account considering how much real money they're asking for some of their virtual items.

... What if you buy a 1300$ lot and the game goes offline the month after ?

They are clearly not communicating on the success of the game, anyway. The biggest sign that there is something terribly wrong going in their bank account is that they put this out of early access/beta to official "release" when it is a game that is openly and franklly unfinished, to the point it could hardly be called an alpha were it another game.

And that is one thing the die-hard SOTA/Ultima are trying to ignore, it's almost like a huge elephant in the room in the forums and chatrooms related to this game. A vicious circle really : if you don't put money on the monthly marathons, if you don't buy the virtual items, you don't support the developers. If you don't, you might lose everything you bought.

The only way not to lose your money is to lose more money.

Portalarium, recently (even post-writing review, incidentally) has sent sign that they want to cheapen the taxes, that they want to make the terrain lots more accessible ; guess what ? It doesn't make people happy. People who paid a house several hundreds of dollars because it was announced to be tax-free for a while don't want this advantage to be given to players because they complete the single player quest or buy a cheaper lot. Induce less toxic mechanics, and the ones who bit the bullet will get pissed off. It's a trap they can't get out from, and it's only one of the major problems SOTA faces.

Cloud Imperium & Star Citizen can manage better ; they appear to be drowning in cash and if there is a problem they can downsize a bit. Portalarium ? Just check the production value and the current ambitions of the game. It's even hard to know what they're working on right now besides minor fix. That doesn't also exactly spell high confidence.

 

[grimace]

taxalot

The demands of Kickstarter led to the "launch of episode 1". Portalarium must deliver the Kickstarter promises first.

Was crowdsourcing via Kickstarter the best or worst thing for the average Ultima fan in terms of how it influenced the game's development? This is what I ponder often.

... What if you buy a 1300$ lot and the game goes offline the month after ?

What if you as the account holder die before the game service ends? Do you write your SotA log in details in your last will and testament?

There are many questions I have. Thank you for conversing with me about them.

 

[taxalot]

taxalot

The demands of Kickstarter led to the "launch of episode 1". Portalarium must deliver the Kickstarter promises first.

Was crowdsourcing via Kickstarter the best or worst thing for the average Ultima fan in terms of how it influenced the game's development? This is what I ponder often.

... What if you buy a 1300$ lot and the game goes offline the month after ?

What if you as the account holder die before the game service ends? Do you write your SotA log in details in your last will and testament?

There are many questions I have. Thank you for conversing with me about them.

If you die with virtual items, logically, your virtual possessions should get transferred to your next of kin or anyone according to the law of your countries. It's not a Facebook account, something involving private life or anything. I think ? That's another debate whose answer might vary country by country.

To think that they could have avoided all those issues, all that shit, with a simpler game. They could have made a single player RPG, or a series of 5 single player RPGs that are, you know, finished when they are release. Hell, they could have made a UO clone with F2P mechanics if that's what they wanted : they only needed to scale it right.

But they did none of these things. And now, it's only a wild guess if it's incompetence or malice.

It's absolutely insane to see people getting excited at the idea of them asking for some more money to start production on Episode 2. You still haven't got Episode 1, despite what they are saying. You don't have it. That's clearly not a full, finished game you're playing, anyone could see that.

 

[grimace]

https://www.youtube com/watch?v=10X-ZVwbrFc&t=1s



Here's a review from a young man not familiar with Ultima games.

His mana didn't regenerate because he wasn't eating food, using potions, and leaving combat mode. Leave combat mode and your mana regens as you "rest".

There's also a safe fall skill for acrobats to learn.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Infinitron taxalot
So when can we read the review of this game on the main page of this glorious site?

 

[Infinitron]

After I find the time to edit it.

 

[taxalot]

So, I have already mentioned that maps are ranked Tier 1 to 5, Tier 1 providing the lowest level enemies, Tier 5 the strongest. I also mentioned that the game was strongly imbalanced and threw you in random encounters of whatever tier it saw fit without balance, coherence, or anything of the sort.

You will be happy to hear that Portalarium has fixed the issue ; read the latest patch note.

• All random encounters now list as "Tier 3+," except for the Troll encounter which lists as Tier 10+.

I can't. I can't even. What the hell. Are they even trying ? What the fucking fuck. This is a farce of biblical proportions.

 

[thesheeep]

After I find the time to edit it.

Are you telling me taxalot forgot to add the subliminal messages?

So, I have already mentioned that maps are ranked Tier 1 to 5, Tier 1 providing the lowest level enemies, Tier 5 the strongest. I also mentioned that the game was strongly imbalanced and threw you in random encounters of whatever tier it saw fit without balance, coherence, or anything of the sort.

You will be happy to hear that Portalarium has fixed the issue ; read the latest patch note.

• All random encounters now list as "Tier 3+," except for the Troll encounter which lists as Tier 10+.

I can't. I can't even. What the hell. Are they even trying ? What the fucking fuck. This is a farce of biblical proportions.

So... now you won't even know anything about them beforehand?
Wonderful

 

[Zep Zepo]

After I find the time to edit it.

Take 10 minutes out of your daily Cut&Paste news theiving posting and get the damn thing up already.

I need a laugh.

Zep--