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UO: Kingdom not reborn - a journey into the dark ages of MMO gaming
Elikal
Member UncommonPosts: 7,912
Let me send you this ahead. I was the greatest fan of the old Ultima series that ever lived. I played Ultima 7 maybe 40 times completely through. I breathed Britannia. I knew every turn, every part of its history and every game of Ultima by heart. Trying out Ultima Online - Kingdom Reborn (the new graphics and UI), I was curious to see what had happened to my most beloved Britannia.
My first attempt to play UO was way back, when my MMO career began, roughly four years ago, when I was unsure what MMO to play as my first. The many reviews and opinions didnt help me much back then, so I had to try them out myself. For some reason EQ1 was never really considered for whatever reason. Anyway, 4 years ago I saw the UO graphics, and instantly decided not to play it. I am a very visual person, so back then it wasnt what I wanted.
Now with the graphics update, and almost four years of MMO gaming, I can say I truly like the new graphics. Be it only for the graphical update, I would play UO now right away. While it sure is old fashioned, its good enough for me, if the game itself were interesting enough. Now being born under the sign of Aquarius, I never was a person of much nostalgia. If my current MMO, EQ2, would have a graphic overhaul, I would skip to the newer, better graphics instantly, without ever hesitating! But, not so the UO vets. I talked to many in those days, and all of them told me they preferred the old 2D graphics, a notion which I respect, but totally fail to understand.
Getting into UO a few days and really trying to play some of the basic aspects is a journey I can recommend any MMO player. It showed me how unbelievably far MMO gaming has come with games like WOW or LOTRO now. I mean, really. I thought, having played a dozen of MMOs by now would have prepared me for UO. Far from it! Actually, I felt as if it would be like I NEVER had played ANY computer game at all. NOTHING was self-explanatory! Absolutely nothing!
I started out in some starter town, and there was a very brief tutorial, hardly worth the name, explaining me how to fight. I had the greatest difficulties even to find my way, with the tiny doors hardly looking different than walls. And no far fetching handling there! "You are too far away" was prolly the sentence I read the most. You have to go literally within hand's reach of everything to use it. Well, that sounds pretty logical, but in a top-down world it was pretty annoying, and I acutally felt like a short-sighted, who has to get REALLY close to things.
Getting into New Haven - or ANY town - was quite a hassle. If they have walls around them, I was running around and around to find an entrance. And inside, it was more running to find anything. These cities are real mazes. Its like a giant was walking over Britannia and had dropped houses randomly. A good place for city planners, cause Britannias cities are a mess. However I must admit they were among the most lively I had seen, with chicken, and sheep, and people talking and whatever.
My next dismay began when I tried to learn new spells. I wasnt able to find my spell for several hours until I found them in a white square thing, which was my kind of spell book. There was no levelling, no learning new spells, you just got your skills and raise them by use. So essentially, if you, as a thief, want to learn stealing, you stand in front of a puppet and use the steal skill, over and over again. Hours and days. Sure, you also improve it with real practice, but some are so low you go through A LOT of REAL grind to get to your point. Well, it was then someone told me you can train some skill for gold. Fine, since players of UO are likely the most kind and helpful I have ever seen, I was given quite some gold and stuff. So off to a trainer I went, clicked train and dropped some coin. "Thanks for the money!", the NPC said but no skill. WTH? I repeated it, as I was told, but it was as if the trainer was eating gold. I was quite surprised that such a pointless act is actually possible, to drop coin on a NPC without any window, like "are you sure you want to give 500g to this NPC for nothing?". But no. After the trainer was made rich by me, some player explained me, if I had training quests for any other skill, I could not buy ANY other skills meanwhile.
Its one of those things. UO explains you NOTHING. You have to find out every single bit. Its gameplay of the stone age.
It took me ages to find out to sail my boat. It was typed in commands! Heck, the last time I typed in commands like "turn left" was 20 years ago in some text adventure! Ok, after I finally was able to sail to Britain, maybe visit my old pal Lord British again, I reached the docks, lowered the plank... and was stuck. I could not get out. Since no one was around to ask, I clicked every single thing on my ship, as there was no message revealing the problem, like "you cant go on land here" or something. After over an hour I found out I had to unlock the plank with a key in my backpack! Whew.
Being an ex-Avatar of course I wanted to visit a shrine of virtue. Since I recalled their position quite well, I went to the shrine of Compassion, close to Britain. I had recalled the landscape was quite scenic, but actually I had a bad SWG-deja vu: the continent is LITTERED with player housing! Anyway, since I was still "young" I was assured I would not be aggroed and so everyone suggested me to explore the world while I still was young. So I passed by likely deadly creatures. But there was nothing to say, since in UO there is no indicator to see what level a creature is, compared to you - or what your own strength is compared to anyone. Its all skills. I never liked skills. It gives me no real clue how strong I am or what progress I made. I gazed at the hordes of mobs, and thought, it migh be a nasty, deadly, long try and die to find out what monster is how strong. Either way, finally I arrived at the shrine, and tried what I had done in Ultimas so many times, I chanted the manta of compassion. Alas, being a polite Paladin, I didnt want to step unto the shrine on horseback, which was a mistake, since right away my trusty horse was attacked by the giant scorpions and dropped dead in no time. So there I was, in the middle of nowhere and my horse was dead. It was quite a shock to see that there really were games were mounts can die!
I used the rest of the day to explore the famous places of Britannia via Moongates. It was really something to learn. While the graphics are quite behind todays standard, they would have been enough to play for me if not for the unbelievable cumbersome gameplay. UO lets you learn everything the bloody way. It was VERY unwelcoming, despite the really most friendly players. Its a license to frustration, because nothing is self-explanatory and nothing is as you have ever seen it in any other MMO or single player game.
I was really surprised UO survived all those years, because it is totally beyond me why anyone would torture himself with that game play mechanics still in 2007?
Alas, the Kindom is dead. As a die hard Ultima fan I really would love to see a brand new Britannia, a real UO2, but as it is and as EA is evil, we wont see that ever, I guess. It was fitting quite well into what I learned from playing Vanguard a while. There is no going back to the past, and we should be grateful MMO gaming evolved finally into a way that the game supports and caters the player and not the player has to adapt to a cumbersome, mysterious gameplay. It teaches to be more grateful for the new games and the progress games like EQ2, WOW, GW and now LOTRO have brought into modern MMO gameplay.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Comments
I have to agree, one of the main problems with UO is the fact that nothing gets explained. And, the idiocy of the new skilling system leads vets to get pissed off, because their skills which took months to get now take twenty minutes.
Firstly, being completely lost and utterly confused was part of the beauty of the old-school MMO. It literally FORCED you to interact with other members of the community to survive.. Something which is massively lacking in the modern day MMORPG.
Starting UO from scratch was like starting life from scratch. I mean, is there a tutorial island in real life? Is there a handy guide to tell you exactly what to do, where to go or who to talk to in real life? No. This is part of what made old school UO the most involving MMORPG, nay, GAME of all time.
Comparing modern day MMORPGs to old school UO is like comparing the music of 50 Cent to that of Beethoven. It's something which in its day was taken entirely for granted, yet can only truly be appreciated now when we look back upon it and compare it to the monstrosities of the modern day genre.
Basically, UO was and always will be the best game ever made by man. This isn't an opinion, it's a simple fact.
Weeeeeee, That made me laugh!
And, now that the community has severely declined? And the game has become more, and ironically less, complex? What should we do?
Then i will try the free trail and find out.
UO the best game ever made by man? That is laughable. UO isn't even the best Ultima Game ever made.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
I didn't understand how hard UO is to learn until I brought some friends into it, and was annoyed at how retarded they were.
I am a 4-5 year UO vet, so I know the game in-and-out. I guess I naturally assumed my friends would pick it up faster, especially since I explained everything. Sadly, I don't live in reality.
I disagree that UO is the best, sure it is good game for me and maybe the best for you but such a broad statement to often parts from the fingers of people on this board. Not everyone is going to get into the UO style of play. I enjoy the stumbling around and challenge of UO but must admit that the frustration factor can become overwhelming at times. There should be more of a balance between the open sandbox, learn as you die style and the here is the track and tips for every action style that alot of modern MMOs have. This combination would make for a game that should be easy to get into but challenging.
Sry But OP Go back to "WoW" where everything is handed to you so you get sick of the game in a week instead of yrs. You do realize its supposed to be an MMO standing for Massive Multiplayer Onliine game right in other word massive to the point that you dont get held by the hand unless you ask for help from other Hmmm.. Kind of works like that in RL don't it? Think about it your parents could put the training wheels on and put all kinds of padding on you. But if you dont want to ride the bike you will still not learn. Noone can implant the knowledge of actually riding into your head.
In Wow its soo great that i can run right outside the main gate door and gain a lvl and more ability's just by auto attacking a mob. And ohh wow I lvled I can use more skills. Why dont you just ask for a game that when you log in your auto Max lvl and have everything in game. Then you can just sit around and look pretty.
The Learning used to be the time sink in those day's thats what you seem to grasp. As for training skills the vets that still play proilly havent trained skills in 5+ yrs not to mention when they did even when the skills where hard gain system you could still lvl your skills fast you just had to know how. Expl.. A new player gets in game and a vet next to him the vet will know if he casts low lvl spells over and over he will gain. the new player dose not know this. So for someone who has never played UO they will still gain slow and hard unless they communicate to others and get the required info on how to gain fast.
I just returned to UO after 3 yrs and Im loving it again. And I played the plethora of crap out today and find that the day I logged into UO i got the old feel back right away one I havent felt in yrs in any other mmo. L2,WOW,EvE,GW,planetside,and a bunch of freebee's.
I have a feeling a lot of vets will be returning soon especially when the next round of clones come out. Unfortunately I have hopes for WAR but alas I see a Spawn point res system in the works (and no i didnt research this)but I got a feeling. Not to mention classes IMO ruined MMO's. Anytime you implement classes it restricts the pvp IMO. The guy that donsent like healing can still toss off a GH to someone if they need it in UO. Not many people play pure healers in the class systems and that is the downfall of pvp. When a team isent relying on themselves to stay alive and just let members die to be respawned that is crazy. I just think you want everything handed to you OP and if thats the case you'll be plenty please with the upcomming clones. If you want a world to adventure in and get lost in playing well only UO delivers IMO.
"The most important thing is to have the design support the players in setting their own goals in both cooperative and competitive interaction with one another." - Ironore -
Though partly it is scary how development went to simply programmed computerised quests and not letting players shape their game more.
UO has good systems still, like everquests introduced good things.
Many got lost though as both games try to imitate their more successful competitors.
I disagree that UO is the best, sure it is good game for me and maybe the best for you but such a broad statement to often parts from the fingers of people on this board. Not everyone is going to get into the UO style of play. I enjoy the stumbling around and challenge of UO but must admit that the frustration factor can become overwhelming at times. There should be more of a balance between the open sandbox, learn as you die style and the here is the track and tips for every action style that alot of modern MMOs have. This combination would make for a game that should be easy to get into but challenging.
Such blasphemy!
UO is the best, and it's a fact. That's two of us who agree it's a fact, so that make it a factual fact for factoids. Fact Fact Fact.
Now that I've said Fact enough, you cannot deny it's not a fact. Fact.
I'm not being sarcastic either, cause UO is the best MMO ever made. It is just not newbie-friendly, which is a shame. Fact.
2D graphics forever for me! Fact.
Fact.
*agree* Dont you get sick (the op) of being spoonfed games designed not to test the mental ability of a 8 year old?
Currently playing: Planetside, Americas Army.
Praying to Zeus for: Darkfall.
Personally I have no intentions to judge UO at all. Its not my part, I have played it too short and its not fair due to its age. I feel a bit like robbing money from an old lady, critizing UO already.
But if a game has a big overhaul I think a critic impression is ok. And thats what it is, my impression. (I mentioned WOW more for some features, I never played WOW more than a few months, so its not me = WOW fanboi bashing other games here. ^^)
What I see however is a different philosophy. I can accept some prefer to find out all by themselves the hard way. Its not my taste, and essentially gaming is mostly about tastes. But what we do see is, that in UO and EQ1 era MMO gaming was a tiny, tiny niche for a very special kind of people, and it shows in UO, graphic overhaul or not, and from my view thats a loss, because then it will stay with the few vets. I dont think it can really attract new players with that way, because esssentially, if you get a new machine, you get a manual. And if the machine is complex, you have someone who explains you all, on top. I can ask players, but I feel too much depended on players, who didnt know all themselves, because the KR makes some things quite different. A person who said to be subscribed for 52 months told me to tithe at the Ankh by clicking the Ankh, and that just didnt work. He didnt know how it was made in KR, so essentially the vets could not help me in many cases.
Games are not RL, they are for leisure, and when I play a game, and I am hindered in EVERY single step because I dont know how to leave my boat or how to handle my mount, its just damn frustrating. I mean, standing in my boat over an hour, because I didnt know how to exit the boat wasnt interesting, it was just stupid. And there is no popup, no comment in the game to give even the slightest hint why I wasnt able to leave. I prefer the challange in the fighting of Orcs not fighting with the UI. As such UO is extremely cumbersome, even given it was made 10 years ago. I mean, I vividly recall games of those days, and the UI handling is FAR behind everything that was up to date in single player interfaces. Why cant I go to a trainer, left click and select from options and just do the interaction? Why is it either say a cryptic command connection or shift right-click and then drop coin from them backpack on the head? And why does she take all my money, even if she didnt give me anything in return, without any hint why?
Sorry, but even in 1997 such things were ages outdated. Thats more the gameplay of early 1980ies, as in the days of Ultima V or what. Why this isnt reworked after 10 years is beyond me. I mean, ok UO as the first that great and all for the pioneering, but to keep up its not enough. Such controls were old even 1997.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I'll be playing Ultima Online if it had a 3D Engine, not the old fashioned 2D. I love the game, but i hate the graphics.
I tried to read that, but failed.
You must have a bad brain then or some kind of disease. Oh yea, maybe it's the sarcastic troll disease? Troll elsewhere.
I can read all of it just fine.
I tried to read that, but failed.
Hence why you shouldn't even play MMO's
"The most important thing is to have the design support the players in setting their own goals in both cooperative and competitive interaction with one another." - Ironore -
Contrary to the doomsday proselytizing of the OP I think UO is still a great game. It's not for everyone, but it's for anyone who wants a deep and engaging sandbox MMOG.
I think you didnt really understand what I say. I think UO will not face doom, but it wont get new players now either. I didnt criticise the sandbox nature. Sandbox is where you make a lot of things yourself, and I am used to that from the early SWG days. We had no quests and such, and I liked it, no thats not my problem with UO. Just REALLY read what I write and dont say what I said, but didnt.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Really?
I think that's a pretty clear statement. Or did you not mean to toss around such weighted rhetoric to begin with?
Show me one game that you are not lost and confused in at the beginning.
I have not played UO for some time, but it is hardly difficult to pick it up, sounds like you have a challenge to learn different things.
BTW a skill system is far superior to locking characters into classes. If you don't like a skill, you can learn another one.
So you can take your whines to another board, you will not get any sympathy here for sure.
For me.. that's the best thing I read in the thread.
Perhaps because for me... Beethoven would win that contest everytime.. and I am not exactly a fan of "classical" music.
In a sense its a very good comparison .. depending on the view or interpretation of the person who reads it.
I'll try to relate mine..
In comparison to the OP... I'm an Aquarius (since they mention that). I played the original single player Ultima games... mostly on a Commodore 64. Tho eventually I was finally forced to switch to the crapstacular (at the time) PC... I mean CGA and EGA graphics.. were actually worse than a C64. When VGA was the norm... then ok but anyway..
Unlike the OP.. when I was flipping through a gaming magazine one day I saw an ad for UO. This was when beta sign ups were first open (that I knew of) and you paid like $1 to get in (to cover shipping).
Anyway my first thought was... about the single player ultimas.. and being able to play with other people. Thinking of the D&D gold box games that brought pen and paper to computer.. and imagining basicly this huge online variation of table top gaming.
lol
Anyway I logged into UO the first time and um ya... it wasn't hard to learn at all. What it was... When I first ventured outside of Britain.. into the graveyard. *you have gone linkdead*... so I log back in *you have been murdered*.
Well the first 3 to 5 times I died... (pk'd) I had gone link dead. The next time I logged back in and was about to be attacked.. so just like if this happened in the real world.. I fought back. So I got poisoned... by greater poisoned which at the time was bugged. After it wore off my STR had dropped so much .. permanantly due to the bug.. that I couldn't even equip my armor.. so I grabbed shovels and headed to the mountain to get STR back.
Doesn't sound fun ? eh.. I was going to quit before my 30 days was up. The next part would be far to long (it already is). So suffice to say I met a bunch of people... we all played together.. it was great times.
So I have a slightly different viewpoint on UO than the OP.
To me the ONLY MMO that ever came close to UO was Pre-CU SWG. Well that's gone now too and no reason to go into great detail.
To me every other MMO is just like EQ.. in that they take one concept and narrowly go after it.. but miss the true freedom that MMO's should have (and no I'm not talking about rampant pk'ing when I talk about freedom).
Which is why its very hard for me to play anything on the market today.
The sad part is.. giving UO a facelift.. is not really what I see as the right thing to do. If you want a player base that will play a skill based game.. I think you need a new product... not something 10 years old.. full of max'd out characters etc etc
Its not that the game is old... its that.. quite often.. people want a chance to be in a game at the start or close to it.
All of this is just my opinion... and I don't pretend its more than that. But... for me.. nothing on the market can hold my attention for very long anymore. Its also... probably to do with... imho.. the class/level system is the absolute worst idea ever implemented in MMO's.. but that's another story.. and a very long one.
/wave
*goes back under his bridge*
Oh and in regards to what I was saying at the start of my post... In todays world for many Beethoven would be a very different experience. While 50 Cent... may be better at their paticular style than others (or not I have no real opinion). However, for this example.. you could say 50 Cent is one of those many MMO clones on the market.. just like a bunch of others... Where a "real" Beethoven today... would be a very odd or unique thing... As in.. 90 something percent of all MMO's on the market today are class/level/uber loot based or whatever you want to apply. Who cares what game they clone.. its just the fact that.. for the most part they ARE all the same.
UO was at least... different... especially in the first couple of years. I played from 1997... until 2002. Altho I thought being on the "interest team" was the best part of my experience.. the game to me.. is still my Favorite MMO .. followed by SWG Pre-CU... and nothing else for me.. even comes close.
UO the best game ever made by man? That is laughable. UO isn't even the best Ultima Game ever made.
One word: Nubcake
I felt compelled to respond - Which isn't too standard an occurance, as my post count is liable to suggest, but UO is a near and dear subject to yours truly, so. Yeah.
Anyway.
I would have to agree with the consensus that UO's stance of throwing you into the sea with the suggestion of 'start paddling' is, these days, a bit harsh - Even Back In The Day, I recall there being a few screens flashed up after character creation that suggested how to raise one's combat skills and earn a few gold (Equip trainer weapon --> Kill animal --> Sell skinned meat and fur/hide... Back when fur still drpped.) But for all other things, learning all the nuances and tricks and traps and cons - I don't know, maybe I'm a bit of a masochist, but I liked all that. Discovering that someone 'accidentally' dropping their chest at the bank wwarrants a watch-and-see position, or that you probably shouldn't take gates from strangers, that was all great fun. Ah well.
Insofar as low population counts go these days... Heh. How many development teams has there been since Lord British's Origin was bent over and lubed up by EA? And how many of them were of the mentality to try and rip systems out of games that were the polar opposite of UO, and force it into the game? How many strange, foreign, sometimes even outright mind-boggling decisions have been made in the past, say, eight years alone? On the so-called 'official' forums for UO (or what it use to be anyway) I'm seeing some of the more staunch supporters of the game becoming disillusioned. Sad, sad stuff.
I would *really* love to see a throwback shard set up. Felucca only, open PvP and all that, none of the crazy stats and resistances on weaponry, no insurane. See how well-recieved/populated it is. And no, it isn't an impossible feat - Gods know there's more than enough emulated servers run by mere hobbyists to suggests that a full-fledged development team (That's PAID for this stuff) should haev no real problem whip-stitching something together.
I keep thinking MMORPG (like WoW, city of heroes, LOTRO) are a completely different genre from Virtual Worlds like UO, EVE, etc. The games on this site have little in common besides sharing thousands of users. MMORPG fans usually dont understand Virtual Worlds too well
Two Worlds is a buggy mess atm but its a virtual world. Has friendly fire (FFA) and oh my god lol guess what most folks complain about? Friendly fire. and its not about some stranger ganking them. They're complaining that tossing a lighting bolt will kill your friend. duh, its called "player skill". you cant be careless and toss some AoE out there without making sure you dont kill your friends too. Thats what made Diablo rock as well, and FPS games
UO is hard I admit. I dont know about this UO: KR I always play the old graphics pre-trammel client whereas you walk outside town and if some 'red' wants they can kill ya and loot ya clean. UO is a virtual world. If you love WoW, then I just cant see how you could like the old UO
Tutorials normally equal hand holding. Most virtual worlds dont do that. In Two Worlds first night I did the tutorial it was like, "um press your button to pull out your sword. now go fight the bad guys!" That was it. I got my rear end tossed for a couple minutes had to learn on my own. Thats what great about Virtual worlds you have to spend time and effort 'learning'. Requires more player skill its not for faint of heart
The beauty of it was the unknown, of everything. Am I going to start working on a new skill tonight? What happens when I go through that moongate? What kind of encounters will I have once I leave town? Will I be able to find a spot to drop a house? How long will it take me to raise resist? Where is the best place to raise resist? Will I raise my swords skill tonight and if so hopefully I can raise it a few points.
The moment you logged in you didn't have a world map to pull up or NPCs with ! over their heads to indicate they had quests. No whisper command or ingame chat channel. If someone was in Britian and another in Bucs Den you had to ICQ or IM them to talk.
You had to figure out everything from the moment your character first appeared. You never know how long or hard it was to raise any skill, you were just happy it went up 2-3 points in one night. You never knew what kind of loot a creature was going to drop or what was around the next corner. Many of the games these days baby sit people and leave the training wheels on way longer than they should. People should take initiative and try to figure out things for themselves.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!