So now there is going to be yet another MMORPG based on the Ultima world: Ultima X: Odyssey. (Yahoo news link) I thought everyone agreed the MMO market was saturated last year and was getting worse. The Sims Online has not pulled in the casual gamers and companies continue to throw buckets of money into the development of games in this genre.
This subject has been covered ~147 times here. SO maybe we can talk, instead, about where has Origin Systems been spending it’s hibernation these past several years. I remember reading articles regarding Origin’s fall from grace and maybe I just assumed they were no more. Does anyone know what they have been doing all this time? They are a part of the evil EA empire now. Surely they have been doing something.
BTW, www.uxo.ea.com. That’s the game’s website and the link is dead right now. EDIT: No longer dead.
No this one’s gonna fix everything. You won’t have to kill rats to level up, the combat will be fun, it’s going to be better. Nobody’s ever made these claims before, so I believe them.
“Ultima X: Odyssey takes the genre to the next level through its innovative new Odyssey Adventure System ensuring that players experience a greater sense of adventure and reward from both questing and combat,” said Andy Hollis, vice president and chief operating officer of Origin Systems.
UXO offers a higher level of challenge, adventure and character customization through the Virtues, a popular component of the award-winning Ultima series. In UXO, players can ascend their characters to become the Avatar once they have mastered all eight Virtues. Mastery of a Virtue allows a player to unlock special powers and, eventually, create disciple characters. Players can build a pantheon of heroic followers, all of whom can aid one main character in pursuit of attaining the status of Avatar
I don’t quite see how this works. There’s going to be one Avatar, boosted by the rest of the gameworld? There’s going to be loads of Avatars, running around yelling “Sherry the Mouse, I choose you!” whenever they get into trouble? Loads of Jedi Knight style Avatars who have completed The Epic Quest? That’s just a bit bizarre. I thought that the whole point of the Avatar was that it was a singular achievement - you have The Avatar who turns up to save the world when necessary, rather than what sounds like a super-Paladin.
(Not that it matters. Like most gamers are ever going to pass a Test of Humility…)
(and it would be fantastic if all conversation was restricted to “Name? Job? Bye!”)
Maybe, just for fun, we can all go to the forums, sign up, and bitch at the developers about how the trailer sucks and how the virtue system is not going to work and how great it would be if Lord Britsh could guest star and how UOX will never be as good as UO was originally and how developers are stupid and suck as a rule.
You know, get the complaints in early before everyone posts the good ones.
Disciple based combat would be pretty funny though - a hundred self-proclaimed Messiahs running around Britannia trying to steal market share. The battle system would be easy as well.
JESUS summons PETER!
“I don’t want to fight you, but I will if I must!”
JOHN THE BAPTIST attacks!
“Aha! Water beats rock!”
Andy Hollis used to have a nice corner office at Origin back in 98. I know this because I saw his nice corner office. He was overseeing the Jane’s group there that was working on A-10, as well as the Baltimore group that was working on F-18. After A-10 got canceled, I get a little confused as to who was working on what. Andy left at some point to race cars. Now he’s back I guess.
Remember folks – Longbow and Longbow 2 were done by an Origin team. Jane’s was just the brand that EA released its sim titles under.
I’m glad Andy Hollis is back, regardless of what he’s working on. The two Longbow games are still the pinnacle of combat helicopter simulations. :) Dunno about the game itself, however…too many MMORPG’s…
Why can’t EA go back to what made this game so popular in the first place? A top down, 3D, party oriented game? Acheiving greatness through virtue? Like the Knight Errants of old?
Sounds like they decided to do like Valve and hold off untill there’s actually something done. Maybe this will become more of the norm, but I doubt it.
