Ultima Online: Our Samurai Empire Review

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Our own Reed Hubbard has completed his review of Samurai Empire - the latest expansion pack for Ultima Online.  A preview of the article is below:

For those who remember the beta test and/or the initial launch of Ultima Online, it's hard to believe that the game is now in its eighth year. It's even more astounding to those who remember playing the original Ultima back in the very early 1980s on an Apple II with 48 kilobytes (yes, kilobytes with a K) of RAM. The franchise has come a long way from the days of Ultima I, which included everything from wizards and dungeons to time machines and spaceships, to the very popular MMORPG that has been captivating over a quarter million subscribers for the better part of a decade. As such, it's interesting that for its newest expansion the Ultima team has reached all the way back to the original game for a bit of inspiration. Ultima began when a programmer named Richard Garriott decided to combine his computer expertise with his love of role playing games. He wrote a game called Akalabeth in which the dark Lord Mondain did battle with a champion named Lord British. For his next project he brought Mondain and Lord British together again and the Ultima series was born. In the original Ultima game, there were four major lands. While two of those lands became part of ongoing Ultima lore, becoming Britannia and Serpent Isle, the other two were lost. One of those was known as the Lands of the Feudal Lords. Now, almost 25 years later, the Feudal Lords are making a comeback, at least indirectly, in Ultima Online: Samurai Empire.

To read the full review, click here.

- MMORPG.COM Staff -

GageEndal

I was a beta tester. I was with UO for all of highschool and college. I saw the opening of T2A and played on the Abyss for the whole year it was up. I saw the adverst for UO2 (and the dismissal of it's system soon later) and enjoyed the Paladins and Necromancers as they invaded our world. I built a strong clan on the Napa Valley shard and enjoyed Illishar with my comrades. I left when the introduction of Ninjas and Samurai were introduced. The last thing I needed was a ninja star in the forehead by a punk kid who's giddy cause he dosn't take damage as a Ninja.

I was really disapointed with this update, I would have much rather seen something like a Dragoon or Dancers. Get some of the early FF characters put into the game. But instead I got a Samurai... wasn't very impressed Origin. Perhaps you can make up for it with your next release. I will keep reading up on your website in hopes that something better this way comes.

Too bad wish died.. kinda bored now..