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Ultima Online: The New Life of Ultima Online

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  • Blink4m3Blink4m3 Member Posts: 12
    Originally posted by Vagelisp


    -"excuse me... Are you A person?"
    - "Hmmmm what do you mean?"
    - "are you a human?"
    - "LOL you F....... newbie! Of course i am!"
    -"Sorry i thought you are a computer character. What does LOL mean?"
    -"Muhahahaha!!! It is short for laugh out Loud. Come out of town let me help you around."
    -"Thanks! can i have some weapons please?"
    -"Sure! come to my house it's just out of the eastern corner of MoonGlow's Bank."
    -Corp Por! Corp Por! Vas ort Flam!!  
    -" OOOOOoooOOOOo, OOOOooooOOOOO! OOOOoooOOOOOO OOooooOOOOO!"
    "December 1997. Chesapeake server."
     

     

    Bah, moonglow? You got lucky. Compared to the Brit GY, the friggin Compton of old-school UO, Moonglow was musical chairs at a downs convention compared to that madhouse northeast of her majesty's bank.

    I remember UO like it was yesterday. Perhaps, it may very well have been yesterday. I remember logging in to the most boring intro-screen, followed by the lamest server screen, after which was the saddest looking character selection screen any game has ever seen. I couldn't have been happier. The nostalgia of my character names ALONE gave me more joy than any ding/epic on WoW .Day after day hat sad little grey box patcher would make my mid-late pubsecant life a little more bareable.  UO was my home away from home, yet wrought havoc on social and personal relationships alike.

    Doing so little had never been so time consuming. I'll admit I was a bitch for test center, because of the sheer magnitude of the PvP alone (Even before factions.)  Instant housing, instant riches, all you had to do was grind for Lord and you'd be the best bank/house sitter within 2 feet of yourself.

    set tactics 1000 set anatomy 1000 on and on and on. Go make myself a set of armor, tame a @#$%in dragon, play the market with some vanqs (cash was worthless on test.) and so on, over and over and over. This alone kept me numb to reality for a good 5-6 years, at least 2-3 hours a night, a sad much more on weekends.  PK at Brit GY, PKK At brit GY, PKPKKKPKK at Brit GY, by the end of the pre-trammel days, everyone was killing everyone, crafting everything, equiping anything, at the touch of a nifty macro utility (in-game one, of course.) and you could set your skills for the day, or if you were truely a PvPer you changed your skills with every bleeding moment of time not spent trashtalking or ninjalooting (My WoW brethren know nothing of the ninjas that we faced in UO on a daily basis, except we got to slay them, dismember them, and put their limbs and head on the bank roof.)

    When on regular servers Lake superior and pacific, Dark Knight Pointmad and PhredTheBroker respectively, I was captivated by the struggle it took to truely stand out in the game. Nowadays in any sensible MMO there are epics, rares, galore, with the exact same damage/stats/effects etc etc. In Old UO, seeing a person PvPing in a set of Ranger armor gave one the impression of seeing Russel Crowepeeling out infront of a cop at a stoplight in a 66 charger(Or something of equal revolutionarical badassity).

    On regular servers, a person "adept" at swordsmanship and a master of anatomy and healing with the right skill and nothing less than a GM crafted weapon (an every day ordinary thing) could take on the best of any class in too much of a rush to fight without patience. GM or not, 56k or not, there were true heros and extrodinary players in UO, and at one point or another that game made us all seem like the Avatar reborn.

    Then trammel happened.

    take back about 95% of what i just wrote, eat it up shit it out and that's the UO you have now.

    Mix in a little Blizzard D2 gangrape and UO is officially a crossbred bastardchild.

    Add some pathetic excuse for an expansion in the slots after T2A, _______ _______ _______ insert bullshit; not BTR, Rennesiance,or anything else, in those spaces. The true home of the UO scions was tarnished, literally, with brambles and %#$%ing ghost sounds... It seemed to symbolize the epitome of the tired, old, gray haired silver vanq katana in a world of secondary and tertiary skills in the paperdoll, the healing powers of spirit-speak (ftw?) and elves.... elves.... what the hell.

     

    I have gone through practically every bloody MMO since UO, betas, alphas, Darkfall  and none of them come close to bringing any appeal to me. We need to start a petition to bring back OLD uo with the NEW graphics, create a new server in every region, and take all this filler out.The more EA gave us, the more we choked. We all hated OSI so much but the devil we knew was NOTHING. This big bad mess of words I'm passing off as a post, will hopefully entice some other Oldschool gamers to come out of their comfy WoW Cacoons and join back in the community that"pwns their* community l337 pk3r syl3" . EA needs to stop this friggin chemo therapy like appeasment, trying to cure their bad revenue with a painfully complex system which is infesting all fun the game had or should have merely for longevity of a product trying so hard not to die.

    And it wont, if I have anything to say about it!

    An Lor Exen

     

     

     

     

     

    ** http://mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/gameId/0 A comprehensive list of games that Oldschool UO and its communitiy owned/ will own

  • sempiternalsempiternal Member UncommonPosts: 1,082
    I actually prefer the graphics in the "before" images of the article!  What a waste.
  • RejorRejor Member Posts: 36

    *sigh* This brings back memories.

    I remember when Ultima Online first came out that day waaay back when. I didn't have a computer, but I was still totally into it. I went to my friend's house all the time just so we could play my character for like, an hour or two almost everyday. I remember when I finally got the money to buy a longsword, a bronze shield and a suit of chainmail armor. I thought I was totally bad-ass.

    Then I stepped forth and got my head handed to me on a gold platter by a puny orc.

    Best time of my life :)

    When I finally got my computer and bought the game, it was great :) My friend and I played together a lot, we would chop trees together, fish together, fight together. Eventually we got into a guild and it became even better. I got really heavy into the roleplay community. Then, I stopped playing in '99, due to moving and stuff.

    When I finally got back into UO in 2001, it had changed dramatically. Everyone I knew was gone, and the game, in my opinion, has only gotten worse since those days, not better.



    Cmon EA. Stop raping the game. Work on a better GAME, not the graphics. Hell, I don't like all the bigger landmasses... it just makes the community spread out too much.

    I hope a game comes out that has what UO did. Horizons got a bit close, with their crafting system and community, but it just doesn't have that... flair. Style. Class.

    If I find a game that makes me look at the forums, that's one thing. If the forums has stories of what people are doing with their characters in game, that's old school UO. Since UO, I have yet to see stories of what people did with their char in a well written, in or out of character, style.

    In a sense, I find it kind of funny how MMOs have started off so great (UO, EQ), and have fallen to a cookie-cutter style of play in almost every single game out there.

    We need another game just like UO, as far as the skills, what you can do, and so on. No templates, no pre-determined classes, no big quests. Something where you have to WORK at it to make yourself known. Where people stare at you in awe and bow down to your glory just because you had a longsword of Vanq, which you got because you went down to a deep part of a dungeon and were lucky enough to kill that balrog that you stumbled across.  And then heading out and almost losing that sword to a PK, except your friends come in and save your sorry butt at the last minute.

    Quests, in the end, become time-sinks. Sure, they're cool and all, but quests these days gives EVERYONE the same thing once they're completed. I think a previous poster said something about this.  Quests just need to go back to a... moral, good-feeling about something reward. Or just hard cash. Not a useless item or whatever...

    Of course, this is just me rambling on and on about the past I suppose. *sigh*

    Have fun guys :)

    The doll would surely say, "I do not want to be human!" although her master wants her to be even more.

  • GarrikGarrik Member UncommonPosts: 962


    Originally posted by sempiternal
    I actually prefer the graphics in the "before" images of the article!  What a waste.

    Seriously, drop it. All you ever do is flame everything and anything about UO and its just getting real old now, infact anyone who reads your posts should just completely ignore what you say. We all understand your obviously sore about the changes to UO in the past, but stop whining about it. You have said your part to many times already and now whenever i see you post in the UO section i cant take what you say seriously. I wouldnt mind but you have a link to Roma Victor in you sig, how can you flame any game when your playing that POS.

    Perosnally im glad there still working on it, the graphics upgrade looks good, i will be trying it. It will be nice having alot of people playing it again.

    Garrik

    ________________________________

    Waiting for:

    Lost Ark

    New World

    "once upon a midnight dreary, while i porn surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of 'hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, "give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404."

  • theanimedudetheanimedude Member UncommonPosts: 1,610

    Mythic has a history of taking something great, and making it better; EA has a history of taking something great and making it worthless. Frankly, I think EA is right to turn a lot of their projects over to the guys at Mythic, they will do them justice.

    The graphics overhaul in DAoC was the best thing to happen to it since... well since Catacombs. While a lot of people aren't all for it right now, I think it will make the game just that much more appealing. While we say we don't mind graphics, the easier a game is on the eyes, the more depth it brings.

    I was never a UO player (I hated isometric RPGs, they hurt my eyes), I will say that I am glad Mythic is taking the same approach to UO as they take with their own personal DAoC.

    Congrats Mythic on the great gift you got, treat it well, and treat the players as you treat us DAoC players! =)

    image

  • RainStarRainStar Member Posts: 638
    Originally posted by pyros98

    I left because everyone was botting/scripting for skill gains.  Most of my friends weren't online, but mostly afk.  Then I started to do that and the game became meaningless because I didn't earn any of those skill points.  And ultimately AoS release was just so horribly implemented, and then they wanted more money.  If I go back for a free trial, it'll just be to look around...I doubt I'll stay.

     

    AoS is one of the things that finally turned me away from UO. I like the idea of building my own house but beyond that I hated AoS.

    Maybe I'll try it again and see how it is but I have to say that I really liked UO before AoS.

  • AbhinandaAbhinanda Member Posts: 56
    I tried Ultima Online but i found it hard to get into the old game mechanics after playing games like CoH and WoW. But with this new expansion im gonna give it another go. Altho. With Lord British working on Tabula Rasa i really see that as the place to be at the moment.
  • psydexpsydex Member Posts: 187

    I share alot of thoughts with alot of ex-players here. I seem to always "re-try" this game once a year after being a hardcore player since beta to that dreaded publish. AoS was rotten to the core. The devs have received petitions with 1000's of signatures to put back up an old-school server. They always tell us "things are coming". Remember, all of the UO:KR information was supposed to be released by the end of 2006. The PvP patch they keep promising has been delayed to the point of where it's going to out-delay Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy album.

    Everything became very gear dependent and took less of a players actual skill over the years. It's kind of like a FPS making it so even if you remotely put your cross-hair kind of near your target, you'd still hit it instead of having actual skill.

  • Bugboy321Bugboy321 Member Posts: 2

    I played beta in '97 but paying for a game after i bought it was such a novel concept it didn't fly with me.  Little did I know what patching a game can do for it.  I started playing in 2000 when my financial situation improved and have had at least one account going at all times, even if I'm not playing continuously.  $10 a month on the extended pay plan is not a lot of money when other games are getting as much as $15 a month out of you.

    One reason I've spent time away was because of the script kiddies but mostly, I tired of people complaining about this or that latest expansion.  People don't like change for the most part and even with AOS implemented like it was, it wasn't THAT bad once you learned the new systems.  Those that gave up on expansions and left were unwilling to give it a chance, something I've seen in every online game I've played since.

    The other reason I haven't played as much as I could have is that the 10 year old 2D graphics were microscopic on today's large monitors, at least with the 3D client you could drag it out to a larger resolution but the objects in containers were still too small to see well.  Now that UO:KR is on its way that will not be an issue.

    There's something to be said about the familiarity and in some cases, simplicity, of UO.  It's not work to play like some games can be, it's actually fun.

  • sempiternalsempiternal Member UncommonPosts: 1,082
    Originally posted by Garrik  Originally posted by sempiternal

    I actually prefer the graphics in the "before" images of the article!  What a waste.

     Seriously, drop it. All you ever do is flame everything and anything about UO and its just getting real old now, infact anyone who reads your posts should just completely ignore what you say. We all understand your obviously sore about the changes to UO in the past, but stop whining about it. You have said your part to many times already and now whenever i see you post in the UO section i cant take what you say seriously. I wouldnt mind but you have a link to Roma Victor in you sig, how can you flame any game when your playing that POS.

    Perosnally im glad there still working on it, the graphics upgrade looks good, i will be trying it. It will be nice having alot of people playing it again.

       Garrik

    Why even bother to tell me what to do?  I'm entitled to post as much as anyone.  You have no influence over me and even less chance of having any now, so your post does not help your cause.  In fact, it inspires me!

    All I said is that I prefer these graphics:

     

    Over the new ones:

    The new graphics are less sharp and more cartoonish, but they do have more texture.  For example, the shiny steel armor in the orignal graphics does look better than the cloth-like soft textured armor in the new graphics.

    So I don't prefer the old graphics by much, but then what is the point of spending all the money if it does not have a significant impact?

    Typical UO/Electronic Arts update...a new shell for an old game, whithout focusing on what is most important, the integrity of the virtual world and the gameplay.

  • RobbgobbRobbgobb Member UncommonPosts: 674
    My first MMO. I remember learning how to hate PvP there. Also the only time that I got a PK team stuck because of housing and just luckily knowing how to go through an area. I have to say that I wish the game luck and have to say the game just offers me nothing but lore. I am glad it is still going though. Hope Mythic gets it going and would be wild to see Ultima X or E&B brought back from the graveyard because of its success.
  • sempiternalsempiternal Member UncommonPosts: 1,082
    Originally posted by Rejor


    Cmon EA. Stop raping the game. Work on a better GAME, not the graphics. Hell, I don't like all the bigger landmasses... it just makes the community spread out too much.
    I hope a game comes out that has what UO did. Horizons got a bit close, with their crafting system and community, but it just doesn't have that... flair. Style. Class.
    If I find a game that makes me look at the forums, that's one thing. If the forums has stories of what people are doing with their characters in game, that's old school UO. Since UO, I have yet to see stories of what people did with their char in a well written, in or out of character, style.
    In a sense, I find it kind of funny how MMOs have started off so great (UO, EQ), and have fallen to a cookie-cutter style of play in almost every single game out there.
    We need another game just like UO, as far as the skills, what you can do, and so on. No templates, no pre-determined classes, no big quests. Something where you have to WORK at it to make yourself known. Where people stare at you in awe and bow down to your glory just because you had a longsword of Vanq, which you got because you went down to a deep part of a dungeon and were lucky enough to kill that balrog that you stumbled across.  And then heading out and almost losing that sword to a PK, except your friends come in and save your sorry butt at the last minute.
    Quests, in the end, become time-sinks. Sure, they're cool and all, but quests these days gives EVERYONE the same thing once they're completed. I think a previous poster said something about this.  Quests just need to go back to a... moral, good-feeling about something reward. Or just hard cash. Not a useless item or whatever...
    Of course, this is just me rambling on and on about the past I suppose. *sigh*
    Have fun guys :)

    All this exists in Roma Victor!  The problem for most is it's still very new, it was released six months ago and still has lots of development and bug fixing to be done, but Ultima Online was no different.  The key is that at least they are going in the virtual world direction like the original UO, and not the item based kiddie land that UO has become.

    Here is a post that a player made about a combat tournament we had a while ago: 

    By Jessaius:

    It was a battle of high quality, Sylvius positioned me at one side of the arena, and the noble fighter Meinard on the other side.



    The fight starts, we circle around some, slowly move in towards eachother but avoiding contact. Then I think it is enough, I charge towards Meinard, in hope of suprising him, his range is his advantage, but it won't help him when I get closer. It worked, his reflexes failed, and his chest felt the power of my sharp gladius. But Meinard did not give up, he didn't feel the pain, nor did he pay attention to the fluids that sputtered out of his open wound. My blood started to boil, I was destined to win this battle; I now knew I had a chance.

    Again I attacked his chest, but he managed to avoid my hit. Not letting this hold me down, I slashed again; yet again he avoided it as if it were nothing. He didn't only dodge it, he riposted, with a quick turn of my sword I parried it. I quickly turned my parry into a slash to the right. The Gods must have been with him, he did not dodge it, he did not parry it, but I did not hit him. With my own eyes I saw my sword touching his weapon arm, but without a wound, not even a scratch.

    Meinard, who was not watching his arm, but focussed on me saw his chance and trusts his pilum into my chest. I am not a hardened warrior, I am not ashamed to admit that, I fell down on my knees. The pain was horrible, his spear had hit my stumach, when he removed it from my body, you could even see a bit of bad-digested apple on the spearhead. Suddenly I heard Mars, to whom I had prayed before the battle say, "do not give up, I will not tolerate such weakness".

    Thè God had spoken, I stood up, dodged his attack, watched how his attack connected to my arm without a scratch and attacked. His big shield came in between. I avoided another of his attacks... I suddenly felt really really tired, I could hardly see, and my knees were starting to shiver. I almost passed out, but then I felt something pointy in my spleen. I fell down on the floor and heard Mars saying, "You are no longer worthy of my attention you weak human".

    And here is the actual video from that combat: http://media.putfile.com/Meinard-vs-Jessaius

    Enjoy!

  • Bugboy321Bugboy321 Member Posts: 2
    Originally posted by Garrik


     

    Originally posted by sempiternal

    I actually prefer the graphics in the "before" images of the article!  What a waste.

     

    Seriously, drop it. All you ever do is flame everything and anything about UO and its just getting real old now, infact anyone who reads your posts should just completely ignore what you say. We all understand your obviously sore about the changes to UO in the past, but stop whining about it. You have said your part to many times already and now whenever i see you post in the UO section i cant take what you say seriously. I wouldnt mind but you have a link to Roma Victor in you sig, how can you flame any game when your playing that POS.

    Perosnally im glad there still working on it, the graphics upgrade looks good, i will be trying it. It will be nice having alot of people playing it again.

    Garrik

    I'm glad they are working on it too, it's about time it was updated. 

    But everyone seems to be forgetting there are currently TWO clients, and the unstated goal of OU:KR is to unify the clients.  I happen to prefer the 3D due to the scalability of the window, which KR is already stated to have.  The 2D takes about 1/6 of the screen and is impossible to play since it's so small, and going full screen looks lousy on an LCD monitor with a native resolution of 1600x1200. 

    Besides, once I got a look at my fire steed in the 3D, I could never go back] to 2D.  3D is laggy as all get-out, and looks strange with 3D rendered mobs on a pixie background, so I welcome this overhaul.   However, I don't call putting a new skin on 2D pixies anything resembling progress, but unlike  semp, I'll reserve judgment on KR until I see it live, you really can't tell much from screenies.

     

     

  • sempiternalsempiternal Member UncommonPosts: 1,082

    Well, why can't they at least make a full-blown 3d world, which was overdue in the year 2000?  Everyone knows EA has plenty of money.  The only thing I can think of is that EA has no vision, they had no vision back then in 2000, when MMOGs were growing and they have had no vision for the past seven years, opting to concentrate on their fiscal boxed-sales business rather than upgrading to the new service-based business of MMOGs.  Of course, because their own MMOGs have been relative failures compared to Origin's UO, that probably does not help either.  They are afraid of losing their small share of current UO customers, when in all likely-hood most of those that remain are dedicated and would upgrade to continue playing anyway.

    Now, seven years later, EA is finally trying to do something, likely because of WoW, but it seems like too little too late and insignificant.

    What is even more disturbing is that gameplay is paramount, UO had it and UO lost it, and yet what are they concentrating on most now?  Another skin, even after their experience with the failed UO: Third Dawn and constant requests over the years for Classic servers.

  • dtportnoy69dtportnoy69 Member Posts: 28
    Cool to see I'm not the only one that thinks UO is the best thing that ever happened to MMO's.

    Unlike most peoples encounters, I've had my early days of UO on free private servers. That's how I was brought into the game. It took me a whlie to figure out OSI existed. Either way my first server experience was the best. It was very mystical and immersive despite its graphics. Of course even the private server was pre-AoS. I have enjoyed AoS alot , but it pales in comparison with the way things used to be.



    There are two worlds of UO. The free servers and the OSI servers. Each have their pros and cons. Free servers are personal and run by volunteers, which means they can go down anytime. With a subscription to OSI you're guaranteed your hard work will not go to waste. If you play on OSI and get fed up, take a break, try a few free servers that will suit your taste, and when you get tired give OSI another try with a fresh slate.



    I don't think free servers are quite legit. However, I don't think EA has cracked down hard on them because they know that a huge population of free server players are potential returning customers. Free servers help EA keep a hold of OSI quitters and keeps the UO interest going.



    As myself I will be buying every UO edition that comes out to support the cause and I am definately going to try out UO:KR on OSI and if it doesn't bring back that old feeling I used to get, I'll find a free server that will bring that feeling back. If that fails then I'll be in UO purgatory as many of us are; looking for the game that will bring back the best gaming experience ever. Will we ever get that experience again? I hope so.



    Yay EA/Mythic.
  • FlatfingersFlatfingers Member Posts: 114

    Nice to see this veteran game surviving by getting a facelift. UO blazed the trail for all the graphical MMOGs that have followed, some of which still haven't learned the lessons that UO taught about what works and why.

    That said, however, there are a couple of big reasons why I never played UO, and why I probably am still not going to try it now:

    • PKing
    • 3rd-person instead of 1st-person

    I like world-y games, and the idea of not being able to explore a world because some gank squad has decided to pester me is unacceptable. And as for isometric perspective, I just never feel particularly immersed in a computer-based RPG when I'm not experiencing it from the eyes of my character.

    So while I applaud the changes to UO, it's still not for me.

    On the other hand... Stygian Abyss??  I'm another gamer who absolutely loved that game (Ultima Underworld I) -- if the new UO will be borrowing from it, I will definitely be keeping an eye on the new UO.

    Just tell me it'll include "an upset spectre named Warren."

    --Flatfingers

  • archaazarchaaz Member UncommonPosts: 11


     My first dungeon crawl in Sosaria (followed by critique):



    It began in 1998 in the town of Moonglow on the Napa Valley shard, where I was gathered outside the bank with my usual companions. At the time I was using my first character, Percy Blakeney, fighter/melee type, clad in plate mail with a helmet, shield, Viking sword. Basically what is referred to nowadays as a “tank.” I was still rather green. Actually gray, as the first thing I had done in game is accidentally attack someone. This was to last quite a while and lead to many, many deaths by both red and blue players, which actually became something of a joke among those I played with. (I finally went on a massive campaign to feed the less fortunate citizens of Britannia and finally achieved blue status once again- an occasion of much celebrating in Moonglow).



    Also gathered were:



    Kazeneko: Light-hearted ranger/rogue type, deadly with both his bow and his wit. Could hide in a wide open desert at high noon. Wore a goatee, a long black pony-tail, and green/gray clothing. An incredible roleplayer.



    Bullwinkle: Red-bearded crossbow/archer type who always wore a bearskin hat.



    Crystal: An excellent mage/scribe. Always wore a blue or pink dress and a matching mage hat.



    Cullwch: Bald Canadian type character with an unpronounceable name, used a giant two-pronged fork for a weapon and usually wore a really shiny open faced helmet and wore green and yellow a lot.



    Bodhisattva: The most powerful among us. He had a mystique about him. Sort of the wise old battle weary mage/fighter that no one knows much about. Appropriate name? I think so.



    Kua: Another fighter/paladin type.



    So there we were just conversing and having a good time, which accounted for about 80% of what we did, when Bullwinkle suddenly has the idea that we should go to a dungeon. This seemed reasonable and actually pretty exciting, better than hunting mongbats and skeletons.



    So we decide to have Bodhisattva summon a Moongate to transport us there. Unfortunately, this is a rather difficult spell and it took him several tries. Each time he failed there was a fizzling sound and black smoke appeared. We were lined up single file, and going over our checklist of things we would need. All the while, we are trying to avoid the dreaded (and naked) CamelMan, a female thief character (though a male player) and the bane of our existence (we later reached a sort of truce, but that is another story). Anyway, he was finally successful in summoning the Moongate, and we proceeded single file into it.



    The dungeon was great, monsters everywhere. We tore through them with ease. There were pentagrams on the floor, which Bodi told us would summon terrible demons, and that if anyone stepped on one he would leave us all there. We finally made it to the very bottom of the dungeon, though we had by then been scattered far and wide.



    Bullwinkle and I were the farthest along and as we approached the final room, which was surrounded by fire, and actually looked pretty cool, I “heard” Crystal and Kua yelling for us to run and saw them approaching at a high rate of speed. Then, suddenly, before I had time to do much of anything, they died. What killed them? I wondered. It wasn’t long before I saw the culprits, five Pks (can’t remember the names, but they were interesting) from the dreaded S.O.B. guild (Sons of Brittania) all armed with bows and all firing in rapid succession on us. As I ran toward the last room, I saw Bullwinkle suddenly disappear from the screen as his character was teleported back to Moonglow via a recall spell. I was not so well versed in magic, but I somehow managed to get the last door open and close it behind me. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. So they caught me and killed me (after a brief struggle).



    Later, after they had gone, Bodi rezzed himself, came back, and teleported our ghosts to a shrine where we were all resurrected. It was snowing at the shrine, which overlooked the sea, and had a very epic feel to it.



    Of the group only Bullwinkle and Kazeneko lived. Kazeneko had hid himself when he saw them coming. Even though we lost everything, died, and used up about an hour trying to coordinate our resurrections, it was still one of the most exciting things to happen in the game. This is, in my opinion, what made UO amazing, and she still casts an immense shadow over all the class/level based games out there. 



    I later joined the Europa role-playing community, specifically the town of Deepwater (as Percy Bandello), finally quitting for good in early 1999. I have gone back occasionally, very briefly, over the years and tried some of the free shards as well, but the magic simply is not there anymore, partly due to the loss of my friends and the disintegration of the Europa community, mostly due to the many changes to the game, especially the addition of Trammel and everything that came after.



    Ultima has been dumbed down over the years to the point of absurdity. All the additions were merely attempts at treating a patient who was not sick in the first place, painting an enormous, toothy grin on the Mona Lisa, if you will, and all because a few people don’t like her trademark smile, what makes the painting magnificent in the first place.



    Why was Ultima fun? Because it was hard, at times unforgiving, and it had a sense of freedom, adrenaline-pumping excitement and epic adventure that has yet to be matched in any MMO. When you began Ultima you were dumped into a world with a steep learning curve, there were no little yellow exclamation points or twirling rings of gold to lead you around by the nose from one uninspired item-gathering, mob-slaying quest to the next.  There were no quests, and no where to be lead to. You were not regimented into narrow roles and restricted to certain parts of the game world. It took time to learn the ropes, and you made mistakes along the way. This made the rewards much greater. Death was no mere waltz to the nearest graveyard and everything is hunky-dory again, death meant something. There weren’t neat little divisions of this or that side, there were varying shades and an infinite possibilities. No game out there gives the sense of ownership of the world Ultima provided. Everyone had his favorite town, each individual was part of the world.

     

    All that said, I think the new graphics are stunning. I actually prefer the isometric style to the newer 3D games out there. I was a fan of the Ultima series, especially Ultima’s III-V, with V easily being my favorite. What I would like to see, beyond the new graphics, is a return to the old-style Ultima. Get rid of all the other-dimensional worlds, and merely expand the actual world. A return to full PvP, with all the original penalties for death, as well as those for murder. Do something (if something can be done) about botting and hacking. Fix the economy. Remove the elves and the new gargoyles. Also, personally, I would like to see more done with the virtue system, as was done in Ultima’s IV and V, have them play more of an integral role in the game, and perhaps an bigger rift between Blackthorn and British. If all they give UO is a new paint job, they are, in my opinion, making a huge mistake, especially if the have the resources to make real changes. There is too much potential in those old bones. She needs an overhaul, or, more precisely, a return to her original state along with some real improvements.  Enough patching.  Enough pandering to all sides. There are enough easy games out there without a sense of real excitement to suit even the most unimaginative gamer. There is only one UO.
  • dragonempdragonemp Member Posts: 10
    I understand why mythic only bring uo to Diablo2 level graphic, because it's simple to implement and won't affect any in game functionalities and feeling, however D2 alone is also a 7 years old standard, move forward just 3 years won't exactly do any good to the game. If the player still playing the game, they are not playing for the graphic, if a player left because the graphic, I don't thinka 7 year old graphic will bring him back.
  • ZitchZitch Member Posts: 129


    Originally posted by archaaz

     My first dungeon crawl in Sosaria (followed by critique):It began in 1998 in the town of Moonglow on the Napa Valley shard, where I was gathered outside the bank with my usual companions. At the time I was using my first character, Percy Blakeney, fighter/melee type, clad in plate mail with a helmet, shield, Viking sword. Basically what is referred to nowadays as a “tank.” I was still rather green. Actually gray, as the first thing I had done in game is accidentally attack someone. This was to last quite a while and lead to many, many deaths by both red and blue players, which actually became something of a joke among those I played with. (I finally went on a massive campaign to feed the less fortunate citizens of Britannia and finally achieved blue status once again- an occasion of much celebrating in Moonglow).Also gathered were:Kazeneko: Light-hearted ranger/rogue type, deadly with both his bow and his wit. Could hide in a wide open desert at high noon. Wore a goatee, a long black pony-tail, and green/gray clothing. An incredible roleplayer.Bullwinkle: Red-bearded crossbow/archer type who always wore a bearskin hat.Crystal: An excellent mage/scribe. Always wore a blue or pink dress and a matching mage hat. Cullwch: Bald Canadian type character with an unpronounceable name, used a giant two-pronged fork for a weapon and usually wore a really shiny open faced helmet and wore green and yellow a lot. Bodhisattva: The most powerful among us. He had a mystique about him. Sort of the wise old battle weary mage/fighter that no one knows much about. Appropriate name? I think so.Kua: Another fighter/paladin type. So there we were just conversing and having a good time, which accounted for about 80% of what we did, when Bullwinkle suddenly has the idea that we should go to a dungeon. This seemed reasonable and actually pretty exciting, better than hunting mongbats and skeletons. So we decide to have Bodhisattva summon a Moongate to transport us there. Unfortunately, this is a rather difficult spell and it took him several tries. Each time he failed there was a fizzling sound and black smoke appeared. We were lined up single file, and going over our checklist of things we would need. All the while, we are trying to avoid the dreaded (and naked) CamelMan, a female thief character (though a male player) and the bane of our existence (we later reached a sort of truce, but that is another story). Anyway, he was finally successful in summoning the Moongate, and we proceeded single file into it. The dungeon was great, monsters everywhere. We tore through them with ease. There were pentagrams on the floor, which Bodi told us would summon terrible demons, and that if anyone stepped on one he would leave us all there. We finally made it to the very bottom of the dungeon, though we had by then been scattered far and wide. Bullwinkle and I were the farthest along and as we approached the final room, which was surrounded by fire, and actually looked pretty cool, I “heard” Crystal and Kua yelling for us to run and saw them approaching at a high rate of speed. Then, suddenly, before I had time to do much of anything, they died. What killed them? I wondered. It wasn’t long before I saw the culprits, five Pks (can’t remember the names, but they were interesting) from the dreaded S.O.B. guild (Sons of Brittania) all armed with bows and all firing in rapid succession on us. As I ran toward the last room, I saw Bullwinkle suddenly disappear from the screen as his character was teleported back to Moonglow via a recall spell. I was not so well versed in magic, but I somehow managed to get the last door open and close it behind me. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. So they caught me and killed me (after a brief struggle).Later, after they had gone, Bodi rezzed himself, came back, and teleported our ghosts to a shrine where we were all resurrected. It was snowing at the shrine, which overlooked the sea, and had a very epic feel to it. Of the group only Bullwinkle and Kazeneko lived. Kazeneko had hid himself when he saw them coming. Even though we lost everything, died, and used up about an hour trying to coordinate our resurrections, it was still one of the most exciting things to happen in the game. This is, in my opinion, what made UO amazing, and she still casts an immense shadow over all the class/level based games out there.  I later joined the Europa role-playing community, specifically the town of Deepwater (as Percy Bandello), finally quitting for good in early 1999. I have gone back occasionally, very briefly, over the years and tried some of the free shards as well, but the magic simply is not there anymore, partly due to the loss of my friends and the disintegration of the Europa community, mostly due to the many changes to the game, especially the addition of Trammel and everything that came after. Ultima has been dumbed down over the years to the point of absurdity. All the additions were merely attempts at treating a patient who was not sick in the first place, painting an enormous, toothy grin on the Mona Lisa, if you will, and all because a few people don’t like her trademark smile, what makes the painting magnificent in the first place. Why was Ultima fun? Because it was hard, at times unforgiving, and it had a sense of freedom, adrenaline-pumping excitement and epic adventure that has yet to be matched in any MMO. When you began Ultima you were dumped into a world with a steep learning curve, there were no little yellow exclamation points or twirling rings of gold to lead you around by the nose from one uninspired item-gathering, mob-slaying quest to the next.  There were no quests, and no where to be lead to. You were not regimented into narrow roles and restricted to certain parts of the game world. It took time to learn the ropes, and you made mistakes along the way. This made the rewards much greater. Death was no mere waltz to the nearest graveyard and everything is hunky-dory again, death meant something. There weren’t neat little divisions of this or that side, there were varying shades and an infinite possibilities. No game out there gives the sense of ownership of the world Ultima provided. Everyone had his favorite town, each individual was part of the world.
     
    All that said, I think the new graphics are stunning. I actually prefer the isometric style to the newer 3D games out there. I was a fan of the Ultima series, especially Ultima’s III-V, with V easily being my favorite. What I would like to see, beyond the new graphics, is a return to the old-style Ultima. Get rid of all the other-dimensional worlds, and merely expand the actual world. A return to full PvP, with all the original penalties for death, as well as those for murder. Do something (if something can be done) about botting and hacking. Fix the economy. Remove the elves and the new gargoyles. Also, personally, I would like to see more done with the virtue system, as was done in Ultima’s IV and V, have them play more of an integral role in the game, and perhaps an bigger rift between Blackthorn and British. If all they give UO is a new paint job, they are, in my opinion, making a huge mistake, especially if the have the resources to make real changes. There is too much potential in those old bones. She needs an overhaul, or, more precisely, a return to her original state along with some real improvements.  Enough patching.  Enough pandering to all sides. There are enough easy games out there without a sense of real excitement to suit even the most unimaginative gamer. There is only one UO.

    Agreed... magnificent post! /applauds

    Bring it all back, untrivialise the game back at least to the pre 2000 changes (I don't go by patch numbers just dates in time)

    At launch the game did need fixing, exploits and bugs, house rules...

    Beyond that it was perfect and very real.

    No more Trivial MMO's, let's get serious "again". Make a world, not a game
    What I listen to :)

  • rogee14rogee14 Member Posts: 18
    "THOU WILT REGRET THINE ACTIONS, SWINE!" *SMASH*

    oooOooOOOoo OOooo OO ooooOOOooo "Shit."



    I couldn't stop reading all these posts. Reading everyone else's posts of 'Good ole Days' has caused a rush of memories to mind.



    Vender Buy my Bank Guard some hoes!



    I'll never forget the first days after release, before you could sent messages to other players, I used to stay in touch with an in-game friend via the message boards in the N Brit Inn.. I forget the name. I remember starting out as a miner/swordsman and 'tossing ore from the West Pass all the way to the N smithy in Brit. I miss hunting deer for hides in Wind and liches near Yew for gold.  I miss the crowds of people around WB/EBB. I miss the nights of logging on and going reagent shopping with my mage/scribe in-game gf. We'd hit up every mage shop for all the BP, MD, NS, SS, etc and then stock up her vendor and she'd crank out some scrolls to sell. I miss jumping in my ship and going fishing and hunting water eles and sea serps that I crossed. I miss the gaming marathons my roomate and I used to pull, where he'd play for 8hrs then sleep, while I played for 8hrs then go to work, then he'd get up and play 8hrs till I got home from work, then he'd go to work etc... crazy times! I miss being the guildmaster of over 120 members of Night Wolves of Justice - NWJ, which later became Dire Wolves of Justice - DWJ, then a brother guild Shadow Wolf Guard - SWG on PAC. I miss the Good vs Evil wars between the Pacific Guild Coalition and the PK guilds. So many memories I could recount for hours.



    I have told people many times over the years that, I could have written novels about my character's experiences in that game. I can't say that for any other game [except maybe origional SWG].



    Keys to Success:

    • Limited game content: just supply basic lore and iconic figure/characters
    • Maximize total character development freedom: no levels, no classes, no consider system, no templates, NO FKING LEVELS
    • Limited Weapon / Armor type choices, yet vary their appearance. Hvy/Med/Lt armor, NO EPIC BS. [unless reward from GM quest]
    • Maximize non-combat beneficial clothing and dye option: tons of options to create a trademark outfit for your character
    Just bring back the original UO rule set and geographical world within a 'simple' 3D system and you will bring back 80% of all the people who played and left UO over the past 9 years. I can't even begin to word the level of disgust Felucia/Trammel envokes in me. I was grieved upon my return from short absence after a move. The 'old world' MY WORLD was empty! Everything was dead. Everywhere looked like a graveyard.  Then I stepped thru a moongate and it was like stepping in to Willy Wonka factory. F'kin ghey.



    I to am also wandering from MMO to MMO looking, hoping, praying for one that lights the old UO experience. But I think that I am going to have to be the one to do it. I'm in art college for Game Art and Design, so maybe in a few years along with some class mates we'll get permission from Lord B himself to create UO:Classic. No quests [those are for players and GM's to run], no classes so you make and play your own, no epic weapons - because you have your trusty Long Sword crafted by your friend smith, full on PVP outside of guarded cities etc. . . .



    But most of all, people made UO. The community, people like all of us posting in this thread who long for those days again.



    /salute



    Dark Wolf - Pacific Shard

    Chade - Pacific

    Smokin'Joe - Pacific

    Rogee Fellblade - Siege Perilous

    Macros the Black - Napa Valley



    NWJ, DWJ, SWG and KGB alumni

    UO,EQ,AC,AO,DAoC,Lin,RoE,E&B,SB,EVE,PS,SL,SWG,TT,FFXI,
    HZ,CoH,L2,Ryz,EQ2,WoW,GW,RF,DDO,SR,FoM,Van,

  • suskesuske Member Posts: 714
    the dork lord helios now works for uo. enjoy your game while you can.
  • MeonMeon Member Posts: 993

    who knows..maybe theres a future for this agem again..

  • ZitchZitch Member Posts: 129

    LOL, yeah (dreaming)

    Why build and design a new MMOrpg, just take the core elements of UO back in time to what the game was in 1999.

    No item insurance, no pocket ponies, thieves guild, stealth, no skill's locks or arrows (but remove passive learning of skills used by other players (like camping) or make it optional). Keep upgraded pathing in for the AI and some other improvments that did't trivialise gameplay, but made it more realistic.

    Yeah just use what worked and what we all loved in UO. The fanbase already exists, and a few servers would easily be filled. More could come later.

    EA could make some cash on that, with very little in development costs.

    (no brainer)

    No more Trivial MMO's, let's get serious "again". Make a world, not a game
    What I listen to :)

  • archaazarchaaz Member UncommonPosts: 11
    Originally posted by rogee14



    Keys to Success:



    Limited game content: just supply basic lore and iconic figure/characters
    Maximize total character development freedom: no levels, no classes, no consider system, no templates, NO FKING LEVELS
    Limited Weapon / Armor type choices, yet vary their appearance. Hvy/Med/Lt armor, NO EPIC BS. [unless reward from GM quest]
    Maximize non-combat beneficial clothing and dye option: tons of options to create a trademark outfit for your character

    No quests [those are for players and GM's to run], no classes so you make and play your own, no epic weapons - because you have your trusty Long Sword crafted by your friend smith, full on PVP outside of guarded cities etc. . . .
    Preach on! I find it staggering that companies cannot grasp how far superior a skill/point-based system is to a level/class based system. A fantastic list (especially the first two), I would add to it only strict penalties for dying.
  • ZitchZitch Member Posts: 129


    Originally posted by archaaz Preach on! I find it staggering that companies cannot grasp how far superior a skill/point-based system is to a level/class based system. A fantastic list (especially the first two), I would add to it only strict penalties for dying.
    UO did have stricter death penalty, you'd lose skill randomly.  Only later did that change where only muderers lost skill on death, part of the consequence for being a PK. It only served to seperate the men from the boys, perma reds were very good fighters.
    But death in UO also left you open to looting. It was full loot, even the critters would loot ya. So you could add FFA pvp with consequences to the list.
    Being a normal blue player, your death was difficult, but nothing you could'nt recover from within a day or two. If you were a perma red (murderer), and died. It may take a while longer to regain the skills. Just a consequence of behavior, like a curse.
     
    I've posted in this thread several times, not spamming... just can't help it. I loved the old UO.

    No more Trivial MMO's, let's get serious "again". Make a world, not a game
    What I listen to :)

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