Which is the reason I said I am disappointed at the way RG handled the Kickstarter. He didn’t emphasise on his game instead stressing on the stretch goal, which you put it, may not be met. So backers like me are not even sure what sort of game we are backing, really. And then, there’s 5 episodes… 5 episodes of what exactly? Is there going to be a Guardian as well? All I read is town house, villages, name tags that you can proudly carry to say that you are a backer (Founder level, Knight level, what not) and pets, taming of pets, etc. These are stuff that MMO has done to death, not exactly innovative, though I do agree that when it was first introduced in U7, it was mind blowing. I really don’t see what Shroud has to offer that is as innovative and moving the genre forward as each Ultima did during their days.
Take a look at another Kickstarter, Divinity: Original Sins. They have environment and object manipulations as well, and they have a working game to show, not just concept arts. That has convinced me to cancel my Shroud backing and channel that fund to upp my backing of Divinity.
It looks like they have hit the 1.4m goal for the taming. I can understand that pets and taming may seem familiar and not revolutionary, but the taming system in Ultima Online was pretty remarkable including taming dangerous creatures to fight for you and others just to ride and some that could do both like the Nightmares and high end Ostrich things - Ostards I think they were called. They would also gain in power as you trained them, which was new for the time I believe. I am excited to see them hit that goal and see if they add any more tweaks to that model.
While I will not take advantage of any of the musical additions, I can recognize that they can add to the atmosphere like the cantinas did in SWG and I have heard good things about LOTRO and their musical instrument system. I have to admit that the 1.9m City Theater goal was very intriguing even though I would probably just be an observer. It seems RG still has some promising ideas and the varying levels of offline/online play also have potential if done well.
It seemed like they had a build running during the intro Kickstarter video with a dude running around hacking monsters with a few party mates in tow, so it is far from just concept art I believe. While I don’t plan to pre-pay for multiple episodes, I will stick with my 1st episode contribution and I am still really looking forward to getting to try it.
To be clear I’m totally just ribbing you with this post, habibi, but Divinity just announced their $1M stretch goal: NPC schedules and Weather systems. Sounds awfully familiar! ;)
All you pull-outs please consider Divinity: Original Sin – looks to be the closest to Ultima VII that we’ve gotten in a loooong time. I’ve already backed at physical goods level so am tapped out. =(
I never took the plunge as it gave me too much of a MMO feel right from the start that I haven’t been able to shake off, but as you said if it’s great when it comes out I will just have to pony up the premium price then.
Just withdrew my pledge. If they’d spent more time explaining their vision for the game instead of worrying about backer rewards and indulging in nostalgia, they’d have been welcome to my money. The only thing that’s kept my interest up until now is the interviews RG has been doing. Hes got plenty of interesting stuff to say about RPGs & game design which fuelled my hopes but I cant shake the feeling hes building a hybrid MMO with offline play as an after thought.
Anyway, I put my money towards Divinity: Original Sin instead.
That sucks. I haven’t played Divinity 2, and don’t recall hearing of that bug, although I remember the initial release was a bit botched - people seem to like that game though, and I liked Divine Divinity a lot. Even Beyond Divinity had some moments, although it was a really weird follow-up to DD and there’s a lot of tedium to navigate in order to find what’s worthwhile, but there’s some intelligence beyind it that I like. I recall them also working on a game called the Lady, The Mage and the Knight that got abandoned in development, but had some promise. In any event, the Larian guys are big Ultima VII guys, and that’s the sort of vibe they’re aiming at with Original Sin, plus turn-based combat and optional coop play – and I really like the visual look of the game, so it’s an easy one to back. I’m disappointed NPC scheduling is a distant stretch goal for Divinity Original Sin, as that’s the most defining feature of those Ultima games.
But back to Shroud of the Avatar – I decided to make up for all you hesitant folk and increased my donation size again-- primarily as a reward for past deeds, but I also still think Garriott is a forceful character who has genuine creativity and a style of design that could bring some new elements to the genre – I just want him back making Ultima-style games. There’s nothing in gaming that I’d rather see, so I have to contribute in a big way to it. I just want it to happen too badly, even though I know my wants are driven significantly by nostalgia – there’s enough that I like from what I’m seeing that I can believe that it might happen.
Yeah, this line of thinking is definitely better describing what made the Ultima series so unique. Along with the emphasis on an overall plot that involved more than just killing the bad guy, and actually acting heroically, from U4 onwards.
I’ve also bumped up my pledge for basically the same reasons as Desslock (+ the written manual, cloth map, and hope it’ll reach the stretch goal to add an underworld). The old dog may pull off a new trick but even if he doesn’t the old tricks are still good.
Watching the various video interviews (like the Matt Chat one) convinced me that he still “gets it” and I’m on board with his vision of what an RPG could and should be. I don’t know if he’ll be successful in creating a great game (same goes for all the other Kickstarters I’ve backed) but I’m willing to put some money towards the attempt.
Yeah, I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the discussions and interviews he’s released for the kickstarter – and I generally agree with most of the game content ideas as well, although I would prefer even less emphasis on some of the MMO vanity aspects, like viewable titles, and even more virtual world building, but I’m reasonably happy with the mix.
I was very happy that the waterfront/ship travel stretch goal was hit, as well as the one that adds renewable resources, etc. Those features all sound great - and even though I have little interest in PvP, I think the idea of having certain “jobs” or activities that you voluntarily undertake making you vulnerable to PvP is a fantastic compromise – it captures some of the feeling of the “wild west” aspects of Ultima Online, but only for voluntary (rewarding) activities, and those activities actually strengthen the virtual world aspects of the game by adding “smuggling” and other jobs into the setting in a meaningful way. That’s so much more interesting to me than just having designated PvP zones, let alone being unwillingly vulnerable to other players.
The contributions seem to be picking up steam - it’s getting a decent push in the last few hours, and is up to 1.75 now, which is getting to be respectful.
Glad to hear that you guys are also chipping into Divinity Original Sin too. I am very optimistic about that one.
I should not watch this thread lest I get the itch to back him again. I’ll wait till the game is released to make my judgement. At the moment, let me play Wasteland (Oct) followed by Original Sins (Dec) in peace.
There’s a live stream at the main site, with Richard Garriott, Tracy Hickman and a bunch of Stratics guys at the main Shroud of the Avatar site, running all the way until the end of the kickstarter- good opportunity to get any final questions asked
