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[Preview] Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar: Mobile Gaming Gets Serious
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Last week marked an important moment for fans of both MMOs and the Ultima series with the very quiet launch of Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar in Canada. We've got a full preview and some impressions to share to sit back and read on before heading to the comments to tell us what you think.
Ultima VII: The Black Gate was the RPG that showed me videogames can be so much more than jumping on turtles and breaking bricks. I was absolutely in awe of what I consider to be the greatest game in the series and one of the greatest RPGs of all time. Seriously, download it now on GoG.com for $6 bucks and be prepared to be blown away by its depth and scope if you’ve never played it. It’s worth noting that Ultima Forever (U4E) is a recreation not of the later open world RPGs or Ultima Online, but rather a direct “remake” of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. If you go into U4E expecting something akin to VII or UO, you might be disappointed. This isn’t supposed to replace Ultima Online.
Read more of Bill Murphy's Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar - Mobile Gaming Gets Serious.
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Cutscenes serve nicely to push the story along.
Comments
Thanks for the review Bill. I do not own an Ipad, but was very interested to check the direction EA/Mythic wanted to take Ultima in.
From what I see, we are still facing the same dilemna that get people so angry (myself included) at EA: good to great games, but being treated by EA management just as cash cows: hook the player, then have him spend as much money as he can in the cash shop before getting tired of the game... I have heard the arguments they give us: games being like super productions, shorter span life and everything, but it really comes down to pure and plain greed. Can EA management try to find some balance between greed and ethics? Otherwise, they will keep getting the Worst company in America title each year
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
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Until the technology improves I consider any pad to be a waste of money for a gamer, especially since you can get a nice laptop for about the same money. Pads are good for kids under 12 and that is about it. My 11 year old grandson already wants a laptop for his next birthday so he can play real games.
Just don't get the excitement over mobile games myself.
I think the official word, via their twitter account, is that once the iOS version is fully launched, they'll move on to Android and PC.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
Agree I don't get it. I'm a database admin, so definitely tech savvy, and TBH I still don't get the appeal of tablets at all. The only time I could see myself wanting to use one is in front of the TV, but usually I'm watching something and can't really be looking down to play a half-assed game every few seconds. If I can whatever I'm watching is not interesting enough, and at that point neither is the game.
I guess I'm one of those rare people who actually want TV and games to require my attention.
nethervoid - Est. '97
[UO|EQ|SB|SWG|PS|HZ|EVE|NWN|WoW|VG|DF|SWTOR|SotA|BDO]
24k subs YouTube Gaming channel
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Somewhere Richard Garriott is crying that EA ruined Ultima for him.
Looks like more of the same...
How exactly is it a bit of an MMO?
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
This looks much more like the real deal:
http://albiononline.com/
Player-driven economy
PvP & Full Loot
“Free to Play”, but NOT “Pay to Win”
Unique character customization
Cross platform & one massive world
Territory control system
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Ugh. Watching what EA is doing to the legacy of Ultima is like watching someone smash a beloved family heirloom. Absolutely disgraceful.
Although 'The Weep' is accurately named, because that's all any true fan of the series will do after laying eyes upon this monstrosity.
Excuse me. I feel ill, and need to go retch.
It's a sad day indeed when a family is too afraid of reprisals to publicly thank somebody for saving their lives.
Mobile gaming is not meant to replace traditional gaming. That's like saying motorcycles are meant to replace cars...
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Android is a huge part of the mobile market and it always seems to take back seat to ios. In fact it took 64% of all smartphones sales in Q1. /shakes fist
Anyway, I can't wait to try this on my android tablet or even my Note 2. I loved the game years ago!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Well, to me the game is meant for when you can't get to a PC/Laptop.
I am always waiting for my better half at the Dr.s office. She is always there for at least an hour and it makes the time go quicker. Sometimes I will take her to get her hair done and sit out in the car and play Order and Chaos while she gets beautified. I took my grandson to the park the other day and was able to goof with Avadon for about an hour as well. I didn't even lose him!
Mobile gaming will never replace PC but it is something to do to pass the time.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
You should check out Ravensword Shadowlands.... It is almost like a mobile Skyrim.
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
I am really happy you pointed this out. I think I will start following this game. It looks like something I can get into while waiting inbetween classes. I just "liked" their facebook page. Now I just need to wait for a beta invite....
James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?
I am so good, I backstabbed your face!
Same old argument over what terms actually mean. MMO to me stands for massively multiplayer online. Having 4 people group together to do an instanced dungeon does not in my mind make it massively multiplayer. Its an MO not an MMO. IE its a multiplayer online game but its not massively multiplayer.
For me - in order for a game to reach MMO status you need at least 1000 players in the same world driving the same content with the ability to bump into any one of them randomly at any given time without a majority of the content being hidden away in an instance. At the very least a particular area should be open to at least 100 to 200 people out of the 1000 online at any given time. A small percentage of instanced area's is o.k. without breaking the MM part of an MMO.
The 2nd part of my comment revolves around the freemium model. I have played a number of freemium games and I can say I do not like a single freemium game I have every played. They can be o.k. in the opening get to know the game portion of the game, however, the headaches associated with the cash shop portion of the game quickly add up to the point freemium games become just a chore to play instead of actually being entertaining. So I will definitely not even consider this one with the freemium model.
Screw EA for retaining the rights to the Ultima IP. This is utterly disgraceful.
Oh, and iPad only? Well, I'm certainly not going to give this game a try, so I really don't care. But lol nonetheless.
Sweet blatant advert in the middle of a conversation about another game. Since we're on the subject; "full loot" is the dumbest thing in an MMO. Want a tiny player base for your MMO? Add full loot. "Death has meaning". In real life, yes. In a game? No thanks.