Is it fun yet? They keep building content when the core gameplay loop is boring as shit.
If by ‘core gameplay loop’ you mean combat and/or loot gathering, keep in mind Garriott managed to make a number of stone classics where said loop was arguably the weakest part. It’s a weird alchemy but he pulled it off.
U7 is #1 on my personal list of best games of all time, so that’s a strong point. But also I actually tried SotA and found it boring as shit. That was over a year ago so I was hoping they fixed that.
Wow, once this actually launches then the only Kickstarter I’ll have unfulfilled is the Ultima Underworld one (which I am sure will eventually deliver). I just hope the game is reasonably fun… @stusser is not giving me good vibes…
Well you can install it now and give it a shot, see if you like it.
I think I last tried it more like 2 or 3 years ago. It really has been awhile.
That’s part of the trouble with early access: if you paid for a game that’s a work-in-progress and have a bad first impression, it’s going to be tricky to be convinced to try it again. What’s the incentive? You feel guilty for not finding enjoyment out of the $20 you spent years ago? Something you didn’t enjoy the first time around may have gotten better?
Yeah, those, plus perhaps developer fanboi-ism. That said, I have $40 in SOTA and my admiration for Garriott borders on idolatry – yet I still have a hard time motivating myself to load it up again. I mean, there’s Dawns to be Grimmed and Heads to be Cupped…
I did pay for the game, so when they officially release it in 2 months I’ll give it another shot. I’m not optimistic, though.
I loved Ultima too, but Garriot’s last great game was in 1993. That’s 25 years, dude. If U7:pt2 was a person it would be old enough not just to be drafted, not just to drink a beer, but to rent a car. Maybe time to relax the idolatry.
No, Garriott earned his place in the pantheon with an astonishing string of masterpieces that firmly established the CRPG as one of the great gaming genres.
If he never made another good game since Ultima VII (and he arguably hasn’t) it wouldn’t alter the basis for the idolatry.
Whether each of his new efforts turns out to be any good is an entirely separate question. I backed SOTA for sentimental reasons but am under no particular illusions about its potential. I’ve used the Paul McCartney metaphor before and I’ll use it again. The fact that he arguably hasn’t recorded an interesting song in almost 40 years doesn’t change the fact that he’s a fucking legend.
You have to be 25 to rent a car in the US???
I gave $500 to this kickstarter, but even from the outset I viewed it as a gift of thanks for past memories, as I had little hope that he was even capable of producing a modern game that I’d enjoy. Then I actually started liking all the world simulation details that started appearing and I briefly got hopeful, until I watched some of it being played and it just seemed unfun and far more weighted as a UO sequel than was initially pitched.
Agreed.
Yep, you need to be 25 here. Not by law, I think it’s an insurance thing.
That’s not the case anymore, at least with the major companies, it’s 21 now. They charge more and restrict what cars that they will rent, however.
Oh really? Good, never made any sense to me.
I’m $150 in SotA and $200 or so in UW:A. I’m a sucker for physical editions. Gordon is absolutely right, the core gameplay loop of Ultima has always been weak, particularly U7’s dreadful combat. Ultima is about a living world, with rich history, and engaging – practically unique in computer RPGs – stories. SotA had the weak core gameplay loop down cold when I tried a few years ago. Since then, however, they’ve been working on the three main quests (Truth, Love, Courage) and putting some time into the single-player (the only part I care about) experience, so here’s hoping. I really hope they deliver on the physical goods, at least I got a sweet SotA coin trinket from LB’s DragonCon talk a few years back.
I have little doubt UW:A will deliver. I only KS’d it for $20 but after seeing their progress I upped it to the physical tier. I’m really excited for this one.
I backed this as well, but also haven’t played it for 2+ years. Even then I only played it for a few minutes, because it was so damn clunky. The controls were just awful, the whole thing felt awful. I figured I’d just wait until it got closer to release.
Fired it up today, and the basic feel of moving around the game is so much better. Not saying it feels like it’s butter or anything, but it doesn’t feel like I’m lumbering around this stiff and janky mannequin like it used to.
No idea if the game is any good though.
Well, it’s still janky and unpolished, but it’s certainly better. It has a very oldschool feel to it, and I don’t really mean that in a complimentary way, as I’m referencing how the movement/controls are.
I got past the very initial tutorial area and “sailed” to the next zone (i.e. doubleclicked on a small rowboat to travel to the next zone). I was supposed to bring a dagger I found to a town. Along the way I ran into an NPC that explained that in order to get past the gate, I needed to give the guard a password, “cleansing”. So I wandered my way over, eventually found the gate and guard. He told me that no admittance was allowed, but one of the conversation options I could click on was “say cleansing”. So I did that and the conversation ended, like the guard was supposed to unlock the gate or give me a key or something, but nothing happened. I tried again a couple times, but the same thing repeated. It felt like a glitch, in which case I guess I’m stuck?
Anyway, it’s certainly come along since I tried it a couple years ago, like I’d hope. It’s still_really_ unpolished though. When I said in the post above that the simple act of moving around is so much better, and it is, it’s still really bad. It’s too bad, because there might be a good game under there, but I’m going to have to be in a really determined mood to power through.
The main focus of the developers has been, and still is, the online version. The single player part is way behind and probably always will be. The devs want that sweet online money, they get through extra sakes, it’s clear. The game itsekf is quite poor, and handles it’s controls really badly.
In his defense Garriott was interested in online long before it was a bandwagon – UO was the first incarnation of the modern large-scale MMO. He’s been pretty consistently on that train ever since, which saddens me as his greatest achievements were in single player RPGs. The silver lining is that a whole generation of developers, from Bethesda to Larian to Piranha Bytes to CD Projekt, obviously learned something from Garriott’s pioneering work in single-player gaming.
If you guys get back in game to try it out again, give me a shout! I would gladly jump back in and see how things have developed, and maybe lend a combat hand if my skills have been preserved. I used to hold my own fairly well in the mines and was able to make some decent swords, if I recall correctly.