Looks like we’ve got Lord British’s “Ultimate RPG” about to be unveiled. I wonder how Ultima-like it’ll be – he’s clearly appealing to that with the font, the use of “Avatar” and “Virtue”, and what looks to be a Moongate circle with eight standing stones.
I want to believe. I mean, I know we won’t get a single player turn-based RPG like in the old days. Maybe it won’t be tooooo bad, though? At least a bit better than how Ultima Forever is shaping up?
This Kickstarter is my kryptonite. It is the one KS that I would throw almost anything at, and I thought it pretty safe since EA has the IP locked up tight. Though since he is using so many Ultima-like elements maybe that isn’t as locked up as we thought?
I know it’s unlikely that it will be a single player turn-based RPG, but I’m not giving up hope for the next 06 days, 09 hours, 07 minutes, 20 seconds at the time of this post anyway.
That’s correct (and why there is “Lady British” in Ultima Forever). However, I believe he can use “avatar”, “virtues”, “Britannia” as well. I do wonder how close he’ll push it – the name “Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues”, in the Ultima font no less, seems to be lawyer bait. If I’m dreaming EA is letting him do a new Ultima for the PC, and it’ll be single-player, party-based, top-down / isometric, and have turn-based combat. I’m hoping at least one of those comes true, haha. Then again, Ultima Forever got top-down / isometric and… eh. Here’s hoping for at least two of them to come true, then!
This man and his game series has been on the forefront of innovative RPG design for years. Every new entry was a bold step in a new direction. And now people are cheering him on to make the most traditionalist, retrograde game imaginable. That’s incredibly sad.
Why is it sad that someone would want to play a game in a lately underdeveloped genre from someone who has demonstrated mastery of that genre?
Wasn’t his last game Tabula Rasa? I’d think it’d be better to go back a few steps and try a different branch of the path he’s been on, rather than try to build upon that mess.
Also, I’d point out that there is no reason why a RPG designer can’t be very innovative, far more innovative than most if not all modern RPGs, with traditionalist roots. Graphics do not often innovation make, particularly RPGs – let other genres push that envelope.
I’m actually thrilled to see where he takes the great RPG foundation he created with Ultima and how he tries to bring it into this gaming century. Not sad but excited here.
It’s not an MMO, it’s multiplayer, at least according to what they’re describing.
From the stream:
-It’s driven as a single player game, like previous Ultimas
-Only people you invite/are friends with are allowed access to your persistent world
-It can be played offline.
Eh, I think, all things considered, this falls on the not so sucky side of the spectrum. It is PC-based, not a MMO (has multi-player but can be played off-line / solo), classless, crafting, houses. Many UO elements but not a MMO. On the negative side, however, is lack of a party and that it is almost certainly not turn-based. Those are two huge losses. Still, given LB and what he felt about the older games (that they were constrained by technology and that’s why we got what we got), this is about as good as I expected.
(new stuff)
It’s almost like Ultima X (what we saw of it) with some of the (in my opinion) better features of UO sprinkled in. If it can truly be played off-line / solo then I’m definitely interested.
Definitely sounds more interesting now that you put it that way, but I’m going to take a wait and see approach till I get a little more info. It’s not a take my money quick thing like Torment was.
