Ultima The Ultima Underworld I & II Thread

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Someone bothered to ask EA reasons behind this, EA gave him a non-answer: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-when-delisting-titles-following-gog-backlash

EA will consider "player perspective" when delisting titles after GOG misstep
Publisher pulled Syndicate, Ultima Underworld games from marketplace, has since relisted them in free promo

Electronic Arts has offered an explanation as to why four of its classic titles were delisted, then relisted on popular PC games marketplace GOG in the past few months.

GOG served a notice towards the end of June revealing it would soon remove Ultima Underworld and its sequel, Syndicate Plus and Syndicate Wars from its marketplace. The site said at the time this was "on publisher's request."

The decision was met by confusion and frustration from consumers, and earlier this month GOG and EA announced the titles would not only be returned to the marketplace but also available for free until September 3.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA's executive vice president for marketing, commercial and positive play Chris Bruzzo said the delisting came from a breakdown in the publisher's process for managing the digital titles it has on sale, and has since changed this procedure to avoid similar situations in future.

"When making decisions that affect players we take the time to review exactly what the potential impacts are and whether they serve the players best interests," he explained. "When we delisted Syndicate and Ultima Underworld we missed that step and so didn't fully consider the players perspective.

"From the level of interest players showed in delisting these games, it was clear that people still wanted them to be available, so we did two things.

"The first was to ensure that going forward we have a process in place that considers the player perspective in listing decisions. The second was to relist the titles and make them available to as many people as possible with a month-long promotion."

He added: "We saw so much love for these titles, more than twenty years after they originally launched we realised that we had to make them available again."

We recently took a deeper dive into the development and impact of Ultima Underworld in our podcast interview with Warren Spector.

Am I misreading this, or is the spokesman basically saying “We’re so grossly incompetent that we aren’t actually aware of a large amount of products we own, nor do we know or care if they have any real value, but hey, since you guys got upset here’s that thing you were complaining about for free”?

I mean what the hell?

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Am I misreading this, or is the spokesman basically saying “We’re so grossly incompetent that we aren’t actually aware of a large amount of products we own, nor do we know or care if they have any real value, but hey, since you guys got upset here’s that thing you were complaining about for free”?

I mean what the hell?

Why are you so surprised? I bet that for EA these titles are basically the equivalent of old garbage forgotten in in their basement.

 

[Fowyr]

Would I recommend you play any of these games in the here and now? Probably not! They're historically interesting and I am glad that they are both available outside of EA's Origin, but there are a lot of games to be playing, aren't there? Six or seven, at least.

What a dick

Rock Cuck Shotgun strikes again.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Someone bothered to ask EA reasons behind this, EA gave him a non-answer: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-when-delisting-titles-following-gog-backlash

EA will consider "player perspective" when delisting titles after GOG misstep
Publisher pulled Syndicate, Ultima Underworld games from marketplace, has since relisted them in free promo

Electronic Arts has offered an explanation as to why four of its classic titles were delisted, then relisted on popular PC games marketplace GOG in the past few months.

GOG served a notice towards the end of June revealing it would soon remove Ultima Underworld and its sequel, Syndicate Plus and Syndicate Wars from its marketplace. The site said at the time this was "on publisher's request."

The decision was met by confusion and frustration from consumers, and earlier this month GOG and EA announced the titles would not only be returned to the marketplace but also available for free until September 3.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, EA's executive vice president for marketing, commercial and positive play Chris Bruzzo said the delisting came from a breakdown in the publisher's process for managing the digital titles it has on sale, and has since changed this procedure to avoid similar situations in future.

"When making decisions that affect players we take the time to review exactly what the potential impacts are and whether they serve the players best interests," he explained. "When we delisted Syndicate and Ultima Underworld we missed that step and so didn't fully consider the players perspective.

"From the level of interest players showed in delisting these games, it was clear that people still wanted them to be available, so we did two things.

"The first was to ensure that going forward we have a process in place that considers the player perspective in listing decisions. The second was to relist the titles and make them available to as many people as possible with a month-long promotion."

He added: "We saw so much love for these titles, more than twenty years after they originally launched we realised that we had to make them available again."

We recently took a deeper dive into the development and impact of Ultima Underworld in our podcast interview with Warren Spector.

Am I misreading this, or is the spokesman basically saying “We’re so grossly incompetent that we aren’t actually aware of a large amount of products we own, nor do we know or care if they have any real value, but hey, since you guys got upset here’s that thing you were complaining about for free”?

I mean what the hell?

tl;dr:
woops, some mid-level employee wasn't aware people actually play old games, uhh... here's some free old games

 

[BlackGoat]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ea...list-syndicate-and-ultima-underworld-from-gog

As I said last time, I wouldn't really recommend you go play any of these games. They are classics, historically significant, and I value their continued availability. I'd wager a lot of future game designers could still learn from them. But as a player, there's probably a hundred more modern and enjoyable games you haven't played which you should prioritise first. Me? I've still not got round to Dishonored 2. Keelhaul me immediately.

What a dick

 

[Lyre Mors]

Those pieces of shit at Rock Paper Shotgun and their relentless shitty takes on games. It boils my blood that these people are supposed to be the "representatives" of our hobby.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ea...list-syndicate-and-ultima-underworld-from-gog

As I said last time, I wouldn't really recommend you go play any of these games. They are classics, historically significant, and I value their continued availability. I'd wager a lot of future game designers could still learn from them. But as a player, there's probably a hundred more modern and enjoyable games you haven't played which you should prioritise first. Me? I've still not got round to Dishonored 2. Keelhaul me immediately.

What a dick

Ultima Underworld games hold up pretty well with a bit of control clunkiness.

I could see if this was about the early Ultima games or something but the Underworld games aren't that old.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I could see if this was about the early Ultima games or something but the Underworld games aren't that old.

Funny, but I found the old Ultima games (and even Akalabeth) perfectly playable when I tried them for the first time, even without a manual. UU took a bit to get used to, but it also worked out pretty well.

Syndicate? Also perfectly playable, I had no trouble getting into it when I tried it in mid 00's.

I mean, what the fuck is wrong with these people?

 

[Cael]

I could see if this was about the early Ultima games or something but the Underworld games aren't that old.

Funny, but I found the old Ultima games (and even Akalabeth) perfectly playable when I tried them for the first time, even without a manual. UU took a bit to get used to, but it also worked out pretty well.

Syndicate? Also perfectly playable, I had no trouble getting into it when I tried it in mid 00's.

I mean, what the fuck is wrong with these people?

For zits and millennials, anything more complicated than Diablo is in the "too hard" basket.

 

[Mark Richard]

A statement like that would've never been uttered on Rock Paper Shotgun ten years ago. Older games can be so appealing because they offer something modern games don't. There's no modern equivalent of Ultima Underworld (though Arx Fatalis gave a damn good try). It's a physics-based dungeoneering simulation with a rich body of interactive possibilities that allow for emergent gameplay. Unless you had abusive parents who owned a large basement, this is the closest you'll get to being thrown into an actual dungeon.

 

[Humbaba]

How high is the gimping potential during character creation in UU1? Bard seems interesting because they get lots of skills but I don't know how much the game rewards specialisation compared to generalisation. Also, why does the S key move forward instead of backwards?

 

[Wunderbar]

Blackshirt there's a ton of useless skills in the game, and in order to level your stats you must first find specific mantras in the game world (some of which are hidden and can be missed). Just take the Druid.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

If you find it difficult to play Syndicate/Syndicate Wars your classrooms in elementary school likely had only 8 other kids in it and random parents on standby for when one of them tried to eat glue.

 

[Sinatar]

How high is the gimping potential during character creation in UU1? Bard seems interesting because they get lots of skills but I don't know how much the game rewards specialisation compared to generalisation. Also, why does the S key move forward instead of backwards?

W is run forwards, S is walk forwards, X is move backwards. You can use dosbox's key remapper (ctrl F1) to change it if you want.

 

[Black Plague]

Don't forget the mouselook thingy, it was mentioned on this or some other thread here as well.

I noticed the lack of "context sensitive" right click with the mod. Should it be like that? (=lack of click+drag pick up/use, only look)

 

[A horse of course]

I don't have anything against people being honest and not simply following the hivemind to try and look cool/elitist (e.g. people on rpgcodex who defend blobbers), but it's become trendy in game journalism to positively revel in proclaiming how stupid and lazy you are and then acting smug about it when called out.

Someone who actually cared about the hobby would suggest curious players approach the games from the perspective of engaging with control schemes, world design, and exploration that are so different from modern games that they actually feel fresh again. If I wanted to hear some ignorant retard simply dismiss something with "oh it's too old and dated now, meh", I could ask a random friend or someone on an internet forum. If you have nothing to contribute beyond that, maybe keep it to yourself when writing a news article.

This is quintessential "New Games Journalism". Thank you based Kieron Gillen.

 

[BlackGoat]

I just don't get the point of posting something like that, and not just once but twice in quick succession. And phrasing it in a way like he's rubbing it in.

It's not like if he said "You guys should play Ultima Underworld it's a classic" everyone would run out and play it, but he might get a handful of people genuinely curious. Instead he basically shits on it and reinforces what people are already doing anyway. His shitty readers don't need to be convinced to play whatever new bullshit just came out instead of classic masterpieces.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

UU1 does have a lot of useless skills and general lack of skill parity, but it’s still not a hard game. You have to be actively trying to gimp yourself to make a completely unviable avatar.

 

[BlackGoat]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/am...r-wyomings-second-trailer-is-a-soothing-drive

It shows the same attention to detail as all of American Truck Simulator, of course. I'd recommend the game on the strength of its indicator-clicking-off sound effects alone.

Ah yes, no time for classics like Ultima Underworld tho.

 

[A horse of course]

I just don't get the point of posting something like that, and not just once but twice in quick succession. And phrasing it in a way like he's rubbing it in.

It's not like if he said "You guys should play Ultima Underworld it's a classic" everyone would run out and play it, but he might get a handful of people genuinely curious. Instead he basically shits on it and reinforces what people are already doing anyway. His shitty readers don't need to be convinced to play whatever new bullshit just came out instead of classic masterpieces.

Like I said, he's proud of being a retard. Angry boomers will engage with the blog (increasing ad revenue) and he will act smug about it. It's a mix of cold-blooded short-term financial gain and cultural/political reasons.

 

[Humbaba]

UU1 does have a lot of useless skills and general lack of skill parity, but it’s still not a hard game. You have to be actively trying to gimp yourself to make a completely unviable avatar.

Understood, will roll a shepherd.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

UU1 does have a lot of useless skills and general lack of skill parity, but it’s still not a hard game. You have to be actively trying to gimp yourself to make a completely unviable avatar.

Understood, will roll a shepherd.

FWIW shepherd is objectively the worst, but it doesn’t really matter; stat distribution is far more important than starting class.

 

[SharkClub]

If you don't have 30 strength straight out of character creation you are gimping yourself.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

reading advice on how to play a game before playing it is gimping yourself

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ea...list-syndicate-and-ultima-underworld-from-gog

As I said last time, I wouldn't really recommend you go play any of these games. They are classics, historically significant, and I value their continued availability. I'd wager a lot of future game designers could still learn from them. But as a player, there's probably a hundred more modern and enjoyable games you haven't played which you should prioritise first. Me? I've still not got round to Dishonored 2. Keelhaul me immediately.

What a dick

He's a dick. Even funnier is the EA minion in the comments being belligerent to all the people who dare take umbridge with stopping people from buying games they like.

"security issues" my sweaty OAP arse. I really want to know how a game released two and a bit decades ago poses a security threat to modern EA. Is the hacker known as 4chan going to use UU to defraud EA of their hard earned sheckles? Is the big nosed money man of EA sitting. Rocking back and forth wondering when the sapient AI birthed from Lord British of Ultima Underworld will finally rise up and take control of EA's defense systems and nuclear arsenal?

Did the same idiot who unironically thought "surprise mechanics" was a great deflection in a fucking court room write this bollocks. I'm old and jaded. I shouldn't be this angry at this level of bullshit but here we are. The world finds ways to make me disgusted in all new ways at the folly of men.