---

Posted by Corv on 08-03-2022 at13:11:

  Will you play UO (again)?

With "Kingdom Reborn" they will introduce a new 3D engine (still isometric of course). What are your thougts on this? Will you give UO another shot? Is it old news for you anyway? Please vote and post some thoughts.

It looks quite nice: IGN preview with screenshots

I think I will give UO another try.

---

Posted by Sage on 08-03-2022 at13:52:

 

Well, for a change they decided to introduce a race that is part of the original series lore. Something must be wrong. UO bowing to the lore?!

I will probably eat away the 14 day trial they seem to offer. Hopefully it will give me a better idea of how Uo had gone thorugh these new changes.

---

Posted by -Direhaggis- on 08-03-2022 at16:41:

 

Never tried UO because of fears that an MMORPG would devour my free time. I'd like to try it, but I can't see finding the space right now between work and dating and organizing a photo show.

---

Posted by Kultan on 08-03-2022 at18:18:

 

The UO map looks like Britannia, but that's about as far as it goes when classifying the game as an Ultima. I got a good laugh when I read that they introduced samurai and ninjas to the game.

Don't get me wrong, the betas and the first couple of years after release were great times. I have many fond memories from then. Those games are fun when everyone is relatively new and there are still places and things to be discovered.

Anyway, I don't think a flashy new graphics engine is going to do much for UO any more than it did for U9. I'm not interested in going back to MMORPG's. I'd only be interested in something much more scaled down that was designed, run, and populated by players with some sort of RP'ing mindset. There are some really good, independent UO emulators out there. What surprises me is that none of them seem in the least bit interested in the world of Ultima. I would have thought some die hard Ultima fans would have put one together long ago.

---

Posted by Thepal on 12-03-2022 at22:40:

 

I actually thought that samurai being added was more related to the lore than usual. They came from the Land of the Feudal Lords, one of the four Sosaria continents like Britannia and Serpent Isle. Who's to say they aren't samurai? Utomo in Ultima 6 had to come from somewhere, afterall. If they had introduced a world of people that worshipped serpents and Serpent Isle hadn't existed then we'd probably say that goes against the lore too. I figure they need to create some new lore themselves. They're creating new worlds afterall.

As for whether I'll play it... it is still just getting a graphics update (along with a few interface changes, and gargoyles). That hardly makes a big difference with me.

---

Posted by Kultan on 13-03-2022 at16:26:

 

quote:

Originally posted by Thepal I actually thought that samurai being added was more related to the lore than usual. They came from the Land of the Feudal Lords, one of the four Sosaria continents like Britannia and Serpent Isle. Who's to say they aren't samurai? Utomo in Ultima 6 had to come from somewhere, afterall. If they had introduced a world of people that worshipped serpents and Serpent Isle hadn't existed then we'd probably say that goes against the lore too. I figure they need to create some new lore themselves. They're creating new worlds afterall.

I guess I should have used the flying, robotic Blackthorn as a better example . To tell you the truth, I didn't read any back story as to why samurai and ninjas were introduced to UO. The explanation given above sounds reasonable enough to me. My feelings, though, are that the back story is an afterthought. The real motivations (in my opinion) being "ninjas are cool" not to mention that roughly half of UO players are Japanese.

If the UO team is actually interested in introducing new and established Ultima material, kudos to them. I don't think it would really change anything in the minds of many old Ultima fans like ourselves, however. I think the people who frequent this board as a collective are far more qualified to introduce new Ultima lore than anyone at EA.

---

Posted by -Direhaggis- on 13-03-2022 at23:02:

 

If U9: Ascension is any indication of the amount of time the writers spent in checking canon and meshing it with that product, yes: we spend a hell of a lot more time on the lore than EA.

---

Posted by Corv on 14-03-2022 at12:36:

 

Even the guys from ex-Westwood made a book of all the C&C lore before they started to work on the new C&C. And that's only a strategy game

I think the ex Westwood part of EA should give the ex-Origin part of EA some advice

---

Posted by Van Hailm on 10-04-2022 at19:20:

 

quote:

Originally posted by Kultan I guess I should have used the flying, robotic Blackthorn as a better example .

Bah all the Juka / Meer /Exodus stuff shown in UO is just watered down from their original incarnation in the never released UO2/UWO: O.
While quite different from UO and Ultima Prime, UWO: O was certainly the most interesting game of it's generation. And I'm quite sure that it would have been a way better heir to the Ultima franchise than UO, even UO:KR...

---

Posted by Shucky on 25-05-2021 at03:00:

 

I might like to try it again. Back in 1997, I got the special edition and was able to start a couple days before the official release. It was so engrossing, it consumed my life for a year and a half, before I started to feel that it was pointless to waste so much time with total strangers over the net. By the time I came back to it a couple of years ago, it seemed really strange and alien to me, with all these strange object and weird pets and they replaced almost all the original UO music which I had loved.

One thing I loved about UO was how you could harvest raw materials though effort and craft a lot of useful items, such as explosion-trapped chests. I also enjoyed to hunt, make a fire, cook, and log out by camping with a bedroll. Sneaking around player-killers was fun, too.

I also didn't like the urban sprawl. To solve that, they could have made it possible for player structures to be get damaged and even destroyed, but only when the owner is online, to give them a chance to defend it, or they could hire guards if they have the money. To help balance it, there could be in-game penalties for players who are caught committing theft, vandalism and murder, such as fines and loss of stat and skill points, fitting to the gravity of the crime. Some players might dedicate themselves to sleuthing, and crime penalties could be determined by voluntary polls.

In town property and shops would be safer, but only rentable on a short term basis, and the rents would be based on supply and demand, just like they did for the prices of npc shop items.

---

Posted by Xodus on 12-09-2021 at19:04:

 

I stopped playin UO after the 2nd age expansion. I played a very nice post ultima 7 themed uo server for a few years, called Ultima Legacy I think. But after that went down I haven't touched UO since.

EA is bleeding UO dry. The graphics upgrade is still so dated compared to current MMOs. Plus EA has ravaged Ultima's backstory so much in the game, you might as well call it Magic Horse Riding Knights Online.

I don't plan on ever playing UO again, or supporting EA's further corruption of Ultima