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Ultima Online Previews: The New Life of Ultima Online
The recent EA Mythic Press Event was an eventful one for the ten-year-old Ultima Online. Managing Editor Jon Wood fills us in on the details.
By Jon Wood on January 31, 2007
The New Life of Ultima Online
The recent EA Mythic Press Event was an eventful one for the ten-year-old Ultima Online. Managing Editor Jon Wood fills us in on the details.
Ultima Online is one of those rare MMORPGs that almost everyone has heard about at one time or another in their gaming careers. You don’t even have to have been a gamer when the game was released (nearly ten years ago). In fact, it has always been a bit of a legend in the industry and when MMO people get together, you can bet with pretty good odds that someone will start telling a story from the “good old days” in UO. It’s a game which, if it were a human, would be likeable, charismatic and wise in its advanced years. Unfortunately, for many of the new generation of MMORPG gamers being brought into the genre by games like Guild Wars, Dark Age of Camelot and World of Warcraft, the wizened look of age leaves the game unappealing to many 3D gamers.
;)
Recently (and even not-so-recently), people have been speculating that the old MMO giant would soon pass quietly into the gentle night, joining so many games that have come and gone within its lifetime. Last week, we learned that not only was there life left in her, but that the entire game would be getting a whole new lease on life.
When EA (the company that was most recently responsible for UO) obtained the popular MMORPG studio, Mythic Entertainment, Ultima became the adopted sister of the well established and with Dark Age of Camelot still showing strong, and the new little brother on the way in Warhammer Online, the new parent company could easily have neglected their new step child. Instead, they announced that they would be sending her off to 3D college so that she could continue to be a strong, contributing member of the family.
When Aaron Cohen, the game’s Producer, stood at the front of a room full of press it felt akin to a doctor standing in the waiting room delivering the good or bad news. Would the patient live or die? With the announcement of Kingdom Reborn, a free to user graphical upgrade, the crowd had their answer. The mood in the room seemed to be one of genuine surprise as the announcement was made, and I know that I heard an impressed murmur from time to time as we were treated to a side-by-side showing of the old look of the game, with the new.
;)
Fans of the old game shouldn’t be too concerned though. Kingdom Reborn doesn’t change the game so much as coat it in a brand new, younger skin. While the graphics still aren’t exactly what recent 3D gamers are used to, I have to admit that the difference is astounding.
As former Senior Editor Dana Massey once mentioned in an editorial titled, “Graphics Whores”, I am the kind of player that is easily turned off by a game that doesn’t have the flash and sparkle (call me sallow) I’ve become used to in my gaming experience. I am not the only one, there are many people out there just like me. When I tried to play UO for the first time (to try to build up my own retinue of UO stories I could bring out at parties), I decided that the game simply wasn’t for me. Now, after seeing Kingdom Reborn, I find myself feeling the need to go back.
The details are sharper, the lighting is prettier, even the props set around the world look brighter and clearer. It all looked, in a word, better. Looking at the side-by-side, you can tell that everything is the same, but different. The buildings are still in the same places, with the same architecture, but the walls are smoother and more vibrant. The monsters, which didn’t appear to be fierce by today’s demanding standards, seemed somehow more threatening in their new treatment. Even the drab cobwebs (which had been applied liberally to the dungeon that we looked at) were in the same place, but looked somehow stickier.
;)
Some of the monsters are going to look a little bit different now that the developers have the ability to add a higher level of detail. The example that best fits is the earth elemental. Before, it looked like a kind of mud-creature, now it appears to be made out of joined boulders. This is because the developers went back to the original design documents. They are “re-building the original vision of the designers” by doing the things that couldn’t be done justice back in 1997.
More good news in that this update will be free to players (something that you don’t hear nearly enough of these days), and will be phased in over time, allowing players to choose to keep the old look or move into Kingdom Reborn.
Along with the new graphics engine, Kingdom Reborn will also feature a new, more modern interface that makes gameplay easier for player more familiar with current UI layouts as well as an “inviting new player experience combined with improved skill training”.
;)
As it turns out, the new step child is not only doing well, but she’s also an over-achiever. Along with the announcement that Kingdom Reborn will launch and re-invigorate the game, but EA Mythic also plans to release a new expansion for the game as well.
Stygian Abyss is the name given to this newest add-on (this one is going to be a paid expansion). We are promised that this new expansion will mark the first time that humans will be able to travel to the homeland of the Gargoyles. Why Gargoyles? You may ask. The answer is simple; Stygian Abyss will be introducing them as the new playable race. Not only that, but it will include the largest dungeon in Ultima Online history.
When all is said and done, the question of whether or not Ultima Online has a place in the merged EA Mythic family, the recent press event has proven that not only is the game welcome, but it is also a vibrant and contributing member. Or, as the tagline for Kingdom Reborn states, “The game that started it all, starts again”.
Interesting!
I played UO for almost 5 years until my community died off and I started playing DAoC instead, I will most certainly visit UO again and take a look at the new look!
Actually (for me) it never would have been the look of UO that I'd find unattractive or uninteresting. Possibly at first glance were this my first entry in this day and age, but I'd still play it just to see what it was. I did play UO from 97 till about 2000, quit for a year and came back for power scrolls, that lasted a year.
Unfortunately, UO had changed. It changed and the reason I had left the first time still remained, so it was only a matter of time (realization) until I'd leave again. This much I knew. What made UO, and most of the stories people tell at parties, was the meaningful fun and mechanics. The rewards and penalties, and the community! (lets not forget community).
I left UO when I was a tamer on Siege perilous, the new hardcore server. I logged on to see the skills patch that transformed skills earned into something entirely manipulated by players, thus trivialising skills progression. "The final straw" for me, So I just logged off and quit abandoning my characters and account.
A year later I came back to see Trammel and Felucia with a new account. Logging in placed me in Trammel, but everything seemed different somehow. I realised later when I entered Felucia, that this was the "old world" where all of "my stories" took place. Felucia was a ghost town, Cities abandoned by players, and player vendors left to decay with nothing on them for sale. It was for all intentions an empty world... half the game empty.
Turns out Felucia was the only area eligable for PvP, That thieves had been made useless, and so many other things (item insurance, no scribing penalties, meditation, etctra) had changed that had made UO a fun game. So it never stopped with trivialising character progression, the game had become entirely trivial compared to what it once was.
You see, I'd never have quit UO. I'd still be playing today with my 2D buddy. I've been looking for a "Fun game" ever since then. Were I a new player and were UO as fun as it once had been? I'd not need the graphic enhancements or 3D world. I'd be playing a fun game and having fun.
Well, the point of my comment here is, "Pretty does'nt make Fun", you can dress up a dog but it's still a dog, or cat or whatever your preferance is...
UO changed.
I play Europa and Pacific, and UO is the only game that I've found where I can log in and say, "Hmmm... What do I want to do today? Do I want to RP, PK, rebuild the house, go hunting, or just shop?" and then be doing that inside of 2 minutes. It's biggest attraction for me is that each character has its own history. If you take WOW or DAoC or most other MMOGs, every character has the same old story and fits one of 6-9 basic molds. Valley of Trials, then the 11 Barrens quests (bird beaks, lion paws, zebra hooves, lizard claws, etc) then... yadda yadda yadda...
In UO, there's more freedom of choice in travel, in character development*, and it is one of the few games where your character can take up an actual role in the game world. If i want to be a tailor, I can be that... and only that. I don't need to increase my fighting gear to increase my fighting level in order to weave better capes.
UO has stuck around not simply because of nostalgic people paying ten bucks a month because they are afraid to let go - it's still around because it offers choices that are not available in most other MMOGs. I believe that, given a few more years, modern MMOGs will eventually catch up to the level of complexity and mutlitude of choices that UO has been offering players since the turn of the century.
*cue the guy that posts "omg evry1 makes same fotm all tank mage that ganked my miner andtook my stiff"
I agree here, that UO had "then" what other MMO's are just getting around to doing NOW.
Houses and boats (non instanced and persistant), and mounts... but the trivial type of "pocket pony" That UO introduced later. UO was revolutionary in so many ways. and #1 on the list was player freedom.
I'm waiting for another "UO", but one that has the original meaningful play and "fun" intact. Darkfall has these possibilities and I'm willing to wait as it's the only option.
UO declined, but why is what developers need to understand. It was'nt because of an old engine, or anything close. Sure players will leave to check out the next best, but they will return also if the game is still fun.
UO lost it's fun factor, it became just as trivial as other games only it also had it's aging problem as well. So not only was it unfun, but it was old. So what's there now (players) are the ones that cling, and the ones that enjoy this changed game of dress up and collecting, but not the same adventure and reality that once was UO.
It changed from what it was. In that change, it lost forever the players that made it live and breath. Now we (most of us) are MMO refugees, wandering from game to game looking for the fun we once had in a world long since gone.
OMG i loved ultima underworld!!!!!!
I loved the Gargoyles in the single-player Ultima-games, so I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how they're implemented.
[gargoyle]
To be hopeful!
[/gargoyle]
I don't see this bringing a lot of folks back, they (mostly) left for other reasons it seems. New players won't go for it either..we're spoiled by the more modern games.n Launching a new server would be one way to attract new folks....another would be to put up a Classic version... ala DAOC... but otherwise.... not seeing this as being a big success....
Well I finally jumped back into UO after a 5 yr abscence and I'm really enjoying it. I left for some of the above reasons, soon after trammel was introduced, the emptiness of Felucca , etc. However, I realized that a game like UO was will most likely not be created again. Its was too raw for new players and most people to adjust to. Lets face it, dumbing down the game did increase its player base. Alot of people couldnt hack being player killed and then looted. I smaller percentage of the players prefer this type of game. They want a consensual system in place. I myself perefered the old system but nowadays if you want a larger player base , its not gonna happen.
Thats why I returned, since most of the games have followed this philosophy, I figured I'd return to the game I liked the most. Simple as that. If they are all gonna have uber loot and safe zones to hunt etc, might as well play in the world I loved best. I prefer the graphics in someways when compared with the newer games, and this reborn graphics engine is exactly what i've been waiting for (diablo2 like). So once I heard about Reborn I reactivated my old accounts and got back into the game.
The community has been great, the roleplaying still viable and the amount of content is overwhelming. Tons to do. Plus its still a skill based game so once your character's skills are set, you can just dive into all aspects of the game. No leveling system to waste time on. You develop your character (may take sometime) and then just dive into playing.
I'm glad i'm back playing UO after a one yr vaction from any MMORPG. The friends and community i've interacted with this past 4 weeks have been top notch. UO Reborn already brought me back and its not even out yet. I can't wait till its implemented.
Cheers to EA for continuing to support UO.
-"excuse me... Are you A person?"
- "Hmmmm what do you mean?"
- "are you a human?"
- "LOL you F....... newbie! Of course i am!"
-"Sorry i thought you are a computer character. What does LOL mean?"
-"Muhahahaha!!! It is short for laugh out Loud. Come out of town let me help you around."
-"Thanks! can i have some weapons please?"
-"Sure! come to my house it's just out of the eastern corner of MoonGlow's Bank."
-Corp Por! Corp Por! Vas ort Flam!!
-" OOOOOoooOOOOo, OOOOooooOOOOO! OOOOoooOOOOOO OOooooOOOOO!"
"December 1997. Chesapeake server."
It took me 2 hours to find out what was going on. Everything got gray and i was a ghost. Suddenly a bunch of guys appeared and took everything i had in my corpse (2 loafs of bread and a knife i think) (this was called the newbie's revenge). I realised that on December of 1997 everything about computer games and entertainment was about to change for ever. And Alas there was no "Load game" button!
9 Years ago i was living in a dream. 9 Years after and i still remeber some of the "words of power". Amazing! It is a shame that modern game designers never played Ultima and learn how to make online games.
On the other hand it is a shame for Ultima's designers to isolate themselves in something that many years after seems like a portal to the past.
I miss it too. But after this 3D MMO mania, i have been seduced to more "appealing" graphics and Environments. This is what only UO is missing right now to become Top 1 MMO along with classic PVP servers. No Felluca, no Trammel, no Siege perillus.
Just UO.
Thou hast mine attention UO Developers. Cal Ort Por.
I can't tell you how many times I've thought about returning.
But you are correct, all UO needs to be "just like" every other game out there is 3D enhancements. It seems the whole MMO genre has been doomed to one trivial theme... give everyone exactly what they want.
I'm sorry, this is stale. I won't support stagnation in gaming.
I'l sit in Darkfalls forums and wait...
It's great to know that the most addictive game I've ever played is getting this overhaul. I played on Chesapeake as a miner and blacksmith - completely defenseless mind you, but the runs to the local mine with my pack mules in PK infested lands were nothing short of nerve-wracking. I used to hire other players for protection on these runs, and we'd always come up against a bunch of PK's on the way back, wondering whether or not they could gank us and kill my pack mules.. lol
There was always something about UO that was incredibly addictive.. though I could never work out quite what it was.
Anyone else remember powerhour :-p
I'd love to see Ultima Online somehow changed into a 1st-person view game. It's cool that they're still building on it, but shinier top-down isometric graphics don't really impress me at all.
I do, but can't quite place the time period or what my characters were doing.
I remember I was'nt a fan of it, and felt it was somehow a corruption. To me it was un-natural to dedicate an hour server wide for "training up". Training was for me something that came with just playing my characters.
I never macro'd or ran scripts. I remember bards in vesper and all the racket they made. I used my thief to silence them, carpenters also.
All this had only made me miss the game more...
I remember powerhour. Heck, I perfected it's use (thanks to the help of "friends"). UO was great. I stuck around way too long. I wish AoS had never been released. I would have kept playing it.
Hasta,
Nieves
For more memories: www.uopowergamers.com
Bah, moonglow? You got lucky. Compared to the Brit GY, the friggin Compton of old-school UO, Moonglow was musical chairs at a downs convention compared to that madhouse northeast of her majesty's bank.
I remember UO like it was yesterday. Perhaps, it may very well have been yesterday. I remember logging in to the most boring intro-screen, followed by the lamest server screen, after which was the saddest looking character selection screen any game has ever seen. I couldn't have been happier. The nostalgia of my character names ALONE gave me more joy than any ding/epic on WoW .Day after day hat sad little grey box patcher would make my mid-late pubsecant life a little more bareable. UO was my home away from home, yet wrought havoc on social and personal relationships alike.
Doing so little had never been so time consuming. I'll admit I was a bitch for test center, because of the sheer magnitude of the PvP alone (Even before factions.) Instant housing, instant riches, all you had to do was grind for Lord and you'd be the best bank/house sitter within 2 feet of yourself.
set tactics 1000 set anatomy 1000 on and on and on. Go make myself a set of armor, tame a @#$%in dragon, play the market with some vanqs (cash was worthless on test.) and so on, over and over and over. This alone kept me numb to reality for a good 5-6 years, at least 2-3 hours a night, a sad much more on weekends. PK at Brit GY, PKK At brit GY, PKPKKKPKK at Brit GY, by the end of the pre-trammel days, everyone was killing everyone, crafting everything, equiping anything, at the touch of a nifty macro utility (in-game one, of course.) and you could set your skills for the day, or if you were truely a PvPer you changed your skills with every bleeding moment of time not spent trashtalking or ninjalooting (My WoW brethren know nothing of the ninjas that we faced in UO on a daily basis, except we got to slay them, dismember them, and put their limbs and head on the bank roof.)
When on regular servers Lake superior and pacific, Dark Knight Pointmad and PhredTheBroker respectively, I was captivated by the struggle it took to truely stand out in the game. Nowadays in any sensible MMO there are epics, rares, galore, with the exact same damage/stats/effects etc etc. In Old UO, seeing a person PvPing in a set of Ranger armor gave one the impression of seeing Russel Crowepeeling out infront of a cop at a stoplight in a 66 charger(Or something of equal revolutionarical badassity).
On regular servers, a person "adept" at swordsmanship and a master of anatomy and healing with the right skill and nothing less than a GM crafted weapon (an every day ordinary thing) could take on the best of any class in too much of a rush to fight without patience. GM or not, 56k or not, there were true heros and extrodinary players in UO, and at one point or another that game made us all seem like the Avatar reborn.
Then trammel happened.
take back about 95% of what i just wrote, eat it up shit it out and that's the UO you have now.
Mix in a little Blizzard D2 gangrape and UO is officially a crossbred bastardchild.
Add some pathetic excuse for an expansion in the slots after T2A, _______ _______ _______ insert bullshit; not BTR, Rennesiance,or anything else, in those spaces. The true home of the UO scions was tarnished, literally, with brambles and %#$%ing ghost sounds... It seemed to symbolize the epitome of the tired, old, gray haired silver vanq katana in a world of secondary and tertiary skills in the paperdoll, the healing powers of spirit-speak (ftw?) and elves.... elves.... what the hell.
I have gone through practically every bloody MMO since UO, betas, alphas, Darkfall
and none of them come close to bringing any appeal to me. We need to start a petition to bring back OLD uo with the NEW graphics, create a new server in every region, and take all this filler out.The more EA gave us, the more we choked. We all hated OSI so much but the devil we knew was NOTHING. This big bad mess of words I'm passing off as a post, will hopefully entice some other Oldschool gamers to come out of their comfy WoW Cacoons and join back in the community that"pwns their* community l337 pk3r syl3" . EA needs to stop this friggin chemo therapy like appeasment, trying to cure their bad revenue with a painfully complex system which is infesting all fun the game had or should have merely for longevity of a product trying so hard not to die.
And it wont, if I have anything to say about it!
An Lor Exen
** http://mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/gameId/0 A comprehensive list of games that Oldschool UO and its communitiy owned/ will own
*sigh* This brings back memories.
I remember when Ultima Online first came out that day waaay back when. I didn't have a computer, but I was still totally into it. I went to my friend's house all the time just so we could play my character for like, an hour or two almost everyday. I remember when I finally got the money to buy a longsword, a bronze shield and a suit of chainmail armor. I thought I was totally bad-ass.
Then I stepped forth and got my head handed to me on a gold platter by a puny orc.
Best time of my life :)
When I finally got my computer and bought the game, it was great :) My friend and I played together a lot, we would chop trees together, fish together, fight together. Eventually we got into a guild and it became even better. I got really heavy into the roleplay community. Then, I stopped playing in '99, due to moving and stuff.
When I finally got back into UO in 2001, it had changed dramatically. Everyone I knew was gone, and the game, in my opinion, has only gotten worse since those days, not better.
Cmon EA. Stop raping the game. Work on a better GAME, not the graphics. Hell, I don't like all the bigger landmasses... it just makes the community spread out too much.
I hope a game comes out that has what UO did. Horizons got a bit close, with their crafting system and community, but it just doesn't have that... flair. Style. Class.
If I find a game that makes me look at the forums, that's one thing. If the forums has stories of what people are doing with their characters in game, that's old school UO. Since UO, I have yet to see stories of what people did with their char in a well written, in or out of character, style.
In a sense, I find it kind of funny how MMOs have started off so great (UO, EQ), and have fallen to a cookie-cutter style of play in almost every single game out there.
We need another game just like UO, as far as the skills, what you can do, and so on. No templates, no pre-determined classes, no big quests. Something where you have to WORK at it to make yourself known. Where people stare at you in awe and bow down to your glory just because you had a longsword of Vanq, which you got because you went down to a deep part of a dungeon and were lucky enough to kill that balrog that you stumbled across. And then heading out and almost losing that sword to a PK, except your friends come in and save your sorry butt at the last minute.
Quests, in the end, become time-sinks. Sure, they're cool and all, but quests these days gives EVERYONE the same thing once they're completed. I think a previous poster said something about this. Quests just need to go back to a... moral, good-feeling about something reward. Or just hard cash. Not a useless item or whatever...
Of course, this is just me rambling on and on about the past I suppose. *sigh*
Have fun guys :)
Seriously, drop it. All you ever do is flame everything and anything about UO and its just getting real old now, infact anyone who reads your posts should just completely ignore what you say. We all understand your obviously sore about the changes to UO in the past, but stop whining about it. You have said your part to many times already and now whenever i see you post in the UO section i cant take what you say seriously. I wouldnt mind but you have a link to Roma Victor in you sig, how can you flame any game when your playing that POS.
Perosnally im glad there still working on it, the graphics upgrade looks good, i will be trying it. It will be nice having alot of people playing it again.
Garrik
Mythic has a history of taking something great, and making it better; EA has a history of taking something great and making it worthless. Frankly, I think EA is right to turn a lot of their projects over to the guys at Mythic, they will do them justice.
The graphics overhaul in DAoC was the best thing to happen to it since... well since Catacombs. While a lot of people aren't all for it right now, I think it will make the game just that much more appealing. While we say we don't mind graphics, the easier a game is on the eyes, the more depth it brings.
I was never a UO player (I hated isometric RPGs, they hurt my eyes), I will say that I am glad Mythic is taking the same approach to UO as they take with their own personal DAoC.
Congrats Mythic on the great gift you got, treat it well, and treat the players as you treat us DAoC players! =)
AoS is one of the things that finally turned me away from UO. I like the idea of building my own house but beyond that I hated AoS.
Maybe I'll try it again and see how it is but I have to say that I really liked UO before AoS.
I share alot of thoughts with alot of ex-players here. I seem to always "re-try" this game once a year after being a hardcore player since beta to that dreaded publish. AoS was rotten to the core. The devs have received petitions with 1000's of signatures to put back up an old-school server. They always tell us "things are coming". Remember, all of the UO:KR information was supposed to be released by the end of 2006. The PvP patch they keep promising has been delayed to the point of where it's going to out-delay Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy album.
Everything became very gear dependent and took less of a players actual skill over the years. It's kind of like a FPS making it so even if you remotely put your cross-hair kind of near your target, you'd still hit it instead of having actual skill.
I played beta in '97 but paying for a game after i bought it was such a novel concept it didn't fly with me. Little did I know what patching a game can do for it. I started playing in 2000 when my financial situation improved and have had at least one account going at all times, even if I'm not playing continuously. $10 a month on the extended pay plan is not a lot of money when other games are getting as much as $15 a month out of you.
One reason I've spent time away was because of the script kiddies but mostly, I tired of people complaining about this or that latest expansion. People don't like change for the most part and even with AOS implemented like it was, it wasn't THAT bad once you learned the new systems. Those that gave up on expansions and left were unwilling to give it a chance, something I've seen in every online game I've played since.
The other reason I haven't played as much as I could have is that the 10 year old 2D graphics were microscopic on today's large monitors, at least with the 3D client you could drag it out to a larger resolution but the objects in containers were still too small to see well. Now that UO:KR is on its way that will not be an issue.
There's something to be said about the familiarity and in some cases, simplicity, of UO. It's not work to play like some games can be, it's actually fun.
Why even bother to tell me what to do? I'm entitled to post as much as anyone. You have no influence over me and even less chance of having any now, so your post does not help your cause. In fact, it inspires me!
All I said is that I prefer these graphics:
Over the new ones:
The new graphics are less sharp and more cartoonish, but they do have more texture. For example, the shiny steel armor in the orignal graphics does look better than the cloth-like soft textured armor in the new graphics.
So I don't prefer the old graphics by much, but then what is the point of spending all the money if it does not have a significant impact?
Typical UO/Electronic Arts update...a new shell for an old game, whithout focusing on what is most important, the integrity of the virtual world and the gameplay.
All this exists in Roma Victor! The problem for most is it's still very new, it was released six months ago and still has lots of development and bug fixing to be done, but Ultima Online was no different. The key is that at least they are going in the virtual world direction like the original UO, and not the item based kiddie land that UO has become.
Here is a post that a player made about a combat tournament we had a while ago:
By Jessaius:
It was a battle of high quality, Sylvius positioned me at one side of the arena, and the noble fighter Meinard on the other side.
The fight starts, we circle around some, slowly move in towards eachother but avoiding contact. Then I think it is enough, I charge towards Meinard, in hope of suprising him, his range is his advantage, but it won't help him when I get closer. It worked, his reflexes failed, and his chest felt the power of my sharp gladius. But Meinard did not give up, he didn't feel the pain, nor did he pay attention to the fluids that sputtered out of his open wound. My blood started to boil, I was destined to win this battle; I now knew I had a chance.
Again I attacked his chest, but he managed to avoid my hit. Not letting this hold me down, I slashed again; yet again he avoided it as if it were nothing. He didn't only dodge it, he riposted, with a quick turn of my sword I parried it. I quickly turned my parry into a slash to the right. The Gods must have been with him, he did not dodge it, he did not parry it, but I did not hit him. With my own eyes I saw my sword touching his weapon arm, but without a wound, not even a scratch.
Meinard, who was not watching his arm, but focussed on me saw his chance and trusts his pilum into my chest. I am not a hardened warrior, I am not ashamed to admit that, I fell down on my knees. The pain was horrible, his spear had hit my stumach, when he removed it from my body, you could even see a bit of bad-digested apple on the spearhead. Suddenly I heard Mars, to whom I had prayed before the battle say, "do not give up, I will not tolerate such weakness".
Thè God had spoken, I stood up, dodged his attack, watched how his attack connected to my arm without a scratch and attacked. His big shield came in between. I avoided another of his attacks... I suddenly felt really really tired, I could hardly see, and my knees were starting to shiver. I almost passed out, but then I felt something pointy in my spleen. I fell down on the floor and heard Mars saying, "You are no longer worthy of my attention you weak human".
And here is the actual video from that combat: http://media.putfile.com/Meinard-vs-Jessaius
Enjoy!
I'm glad they are working on it too, it's about time it was updated.
But everyone seems to be forgetting there are currently TWO clients, and the unstated goal of OU:KR is to unify the clients. I happen to prefer the 3D due to the scalability of the window, which KR is already stated to have. The 2D takes about 1/6 of the screen and is impossible to play since it's so small, and going full screen looks lousy on an LCD monitor with a native resolution of 1600x1200.
Besides, once I got a look at my fire steed in the 3D, I could never go back] to 2D. 3D is laggy as all get-out, and looks strange with 3D rendered mobs on a pixie background, so I welcome this overhaul. However, I don't call putting a new skin on 2D pixies anything resembling progress, but unlike semp, I'll reserve judgment on KR until I see it live, you really can't tell much from screenies.
Well, why can't they at least make a full-blown 3d world, which was overdue in the year 2000? Everyone knows EA has plenty of money. The only thing I can think of is that EA has no vision, they had no vision back then in 2000, when MMOGs were growing and they have had no vision for the past seven years, opting to concentrate on their fiscal boxed-sales business rather than upgrading to the new service-based business of MMOGs. Of course, because their own MMOGs have been relative failures compared to Origin's UO, that probably does not help either. They are afraid of losing their small share of current UO customers, when in all likely-hood most of those that remain are dedicated and would upgrade to continue playing anyway.
Now, seven years later, EA is finally trying to do something, likely because of WoW, but it seems like too little too late and insignificant.
What is even more disturbing is that gameplay is paramount, UO had it and UO lost it, and yet what are they concentrating on most now? Another skin, even after their experience with the failed UO: Third Dawn and constant requests over the years for Classic servers.
Unlike most peoples encounters, I've had my early days of UO on free private servers. That's how I was brought into the game. It took me a whlie to figure out OSI existed. Either way my first server experience was the best. It was very mystical and immersive despite its graphics. Of course even the private server was pre-AoS. I have enjoyed AoS alot , but it pales in comparison with the way things used to be.
There are two worlds of UO. The free servers and the OSI servers. Each have their pros and cons. Free servers are personal and run by volunteers, which means they can go down anytime. With a subscription to OSI you're guaranteed your hard work will not go to waste. If you play on OSI and get fed up, take a break, try a few free servers that will suit your taste, and when you get tired give OSI another try with a fresh slate.
I don't think free servers are quite legit. However, I don't think EA has cracked down hard on them because they know that a huge population of free server players are potential returning customers. Free servers help EA keep a hold of OSI quitters and keeps the UO interest going.
As myself I will be buying every UO edition that comes out to support the cause and I am definately going to try out UO:KR on OSI and if it doesn't bring back that old feeling I used to get, I'll find a free server that will bring that feeling back. If that fails then I'll be in UO purgatory as many of us are; looking for the game that will bring back the best gaming experience ever. Will we ever get that experience again? I hope so.
Yay EA/Mythic.
Nice to see this veteran game surviving by getting a facelift. UO blazed the trail for all the graphical MMOGs that have followed, some of which still haven't learned the lessons that UO taught about what works and why.
That said, however, there are a couple of big reasons why I never played UO, and why I probably am still not going to try it now:
I like world-y games, and the idea of not being able to explore a world because some gank squad has decided to pester me is unacceptable. And as for isometric perspective, I just never feel particularly immersed in a computer-based RPG when I'm not experiencing it from the eyes of my character.
So while I applaud the changes to UO, it's still not for me.
On the other hand... Stygian Abyss??
I'm another gamer who absolutely loved that game (Ultima Underworld I) -- if the new UO will be borrowing from it, I will definitely be keeping an eye on the new UO.
Just tell me it'll include "an upset spectre named Warren."
--Flatfingers
My first dungeon crawl in Sosaria (followed by critique):
It began in 1998 in the town of Moonglow on the Napa Valley shard, where I was gathered outside the bank with my usual companions. At the time I was using my first character, Percy Blakeney, fighter/melee type, clad in plate mail with a helmet, shield, Viking sword. Basically what is referred to nowadays as a “tank.” I was still rather green. Actually gray, as the first thing I had done in game is accidentally attack someone. This was to last quite a while and lead to many, many deaths by both red and blue players, which actually became something of a joke among those I played with. (I finally went on a massive campaign to feed the less fortunate citizens of Britannia and finally achieved blue status once again- an occasion of much celebrating in Moonglow).
Also gathered were:
Kazeneko: Light-hearted ranger/rogue type, deadly with both his bow and his wit. Could hide in a wide open desert at high noon. Wore a goatee, a long black pony-tail, and green/gray clothing. An incredible roleplayer.
Bullwinkle: Red-bearded crossbow/archer type who always wore a bearskin hat.
Crystal: An excellent mage/scribe. Always wore a blue or pink dress and a matching mage hat.
Cullwch: Bald Canadian type character with an unpronounceable name, used a giant two-pronged fork for a weapon and usually wore a really shiny open faced helmet and wore green and yellow a lot.
Bodhisattva: The most powerful among us. He had a mystique about him. Sort of the wise old battle weary mage/fighter that no one knows much about. Appropriate name? I think so.
Kua: Another fighter/paladin type.
So there we were just conversing and having a good time, which accounted for about 80% of what we did, when Bullwinkle suddenly has the idea that we should go to a dungeon. This seemed reasonable and actually pretty exciting, better than hunting mongbats and skeletons.
So we decide to have Bodhisattva summon a Moongate to transport us there. Unfortunately, this is a rather difficult spell and it took him several tries. Each time he failed there was a fizzling sound and black smoke appeared. We were lined up single file, and going over our checklist of things we would need. All the while, we are trying to avoid the dreaded (and naked) CamelMan, a female thief character (though a male player) and the bane of our existence (we later reached a sort of truce, but that is another story). Anyway, he was finally successful in summoning the Moongate, and we proceeded single file into it.
The dungeon was great, monsters everywhere. We tore through them with ease. There were pentagrams on the floor, which Bodi told us would summon terrible demons, and that if anyone stepped on one he would leave us all there. We finally made it to the very bottom of the dungeon, though we had by then been scattered far and wide.
Bullwinkle and I were the farthest along and as we approached the final room, which was surrounded by fire, and actually looked pretty cool, I “heard” Crystal and Kua yelling for us to run and saw them approaching at a high rate of speed. Then, suddenly, before I had time to do much of anything, they died. What killed them? I wondered. It wasn’t long before I saw the culprits, five Pks (can’t remember the names, but they were interesting) from the dreaded S.O.B. guild (Sons of Brittania) all armed with bows and all firing in rapid succession on us. As I ran toward the last room, I saw Bullwinkle suddenly disappear from the screen as his character was teleported back to Moonglow via a recall spell. I was not so well versed in magic, but I somehow managed to get the last door open and close it behind me. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. So they caught me and killed me (after a brief struggle).
Later, after they had gone, Bodi rezzed himself, came back, and teleported our ghosts to a shrine where we were all resurrected. It was snowing at the shrine, which overlooked the sea, and had a very epic feel to it.
Of the group only Bullwinkle and Kazeneko lived. Kazeneko had hid himself when he saw them coming. Even though we lost everything, died, and used up about an hour trying to coordinate our resurrections, it was still one of the most exciting things to happen in the game. This is, in my opinion, what made UO amazing, and she still casts an immense shadow over all the class/level based games out there.
I later joined the Europa role-playing community, specifically the town of Deepwater (as Percy Bandello), finally quitting for good in early 1999. I have gone back occasionally, very briefly, over the years and tried some of the free shards as well, but the magic simply is not there anymore, partly due to the loss of my friends and the disintegration of the Europa community, mostly due to the many changes to the game, especially the addition of Trammel and everything that came after.
Ultima has been dumbed down over the years to the point of absurdity. All the additions were merely attempts at treating a patient who was not sick in the first place, painting an enormous, toothy grin on the Mona Lisa, if you will, and all because a few people don’t like her trademark smile, what makes the painting magnificent in the first place.
Why was Ultima fun? Because it was hard, at times unforgiving, and it had a sense of freedom, adrenaline-pumping excitement and epic adventure that has yet to be matched in any MMO. When you began Ultima you were dumped into a world with a steep learning curve, there were no little yellow exclamation points or twirling rings of gold to lead you around by the nose from one uninspired item-gathering, mob-slaying quest to the next. There were no quests, and no where to be lead to. You were not regimented into narrow roles and restricted to certain parts of the game world. It took time to learn the ropes, and you made mistakes along the way. This made the rewards much greater. Death was no mere waltz to the nearest graveyard and everything is hunky-dory again, death meant something. There weren’t neat little divisions of this or that side, there were varying shades and an infinite possibilities. No game out there gives the sense of ownership of the world Ultima provided. Everyone had his favorite town, each individual was part of the world.
All that said, I think the new graphics are stunning. I actually prefer the isometric style to the newer 3D games out there. I was a fan of the Ultima series, especially Ultima’s III-V, with V easily being my favorite. What I would like to see, beyond the new graphics, is a return to the old-style Ultima. Get rid of all the other-dimensional worlds, and merely expand the actual world. A return to full PvP, with all the original penalties for death, as well as those for murder. Do something (if something can be done) about botting and hacking. Fix the economy. Remove the elves and the new gargoyles. Also, personally, I would like to see more done with the virtue system, as was done in Ultima’s IV and V, have them play more of an integral role in the game, and perhaps an bigger rift between Blackthorn and British. If all they give UO is a new paint job, they are, in my opinion, making a huge mistake, especially if the have the resources to make real changes. There is too much potential in those old bones. She needs an overhaul, or, more precisely, a return to her original state along with some real improvements. Enough patching. Enough pandering to all sides. There are enough easy games out there without a sense of real excitement to suit even the most unimaginative gamer. There is only one UO.
Agreed... magnificent post! /applauds
Bring it all back, untrivialise the game back at least to the pre 2000 changes (I don't go by patch numbers just dates in time)
At launch the game did need fixing, exploits and bugs, house rules...
Beyond that it was perfect and very real.
oooOooOOOoo OOooo OO ooooOOOooo "Shit."
I couldn't stop reading all these posts. Reading everyone else's posts of 'Good ole Days' has caused a rush of memories to mind.
Vender Buy my Bank Guard some hoes!
I'll never forget the first days after release, before you could sent messages to other players, I used to stay in touch with an in-game friend via the message boards in the N Brit Inn.. I forget the name. I remember starting out as a miner/swordsman and 'tossing ore from the West Pass all the way to the N smithy in Brit. I miss hunting deer for hides in Wind and liches near Yew for gold. I miss the crowds of people around WB/EBB. I miss the nights of logging on and going reagent shopping with my mage/scribe in-game gf. We'd hit up every mage shop for all the BP, MD, NS, SS, etc and then stock up her vendor and she'd crank out some scrolls to sell. I miss jumping in my ship and going fishing and hunting water eles and sea serps that I crossed. I miss the gaming marathons my roomate and I used to pull, where he'd play for 8hrs then sleep, while I played for 8hrs then go to work, then he'd get up and play 8hrs till I got home from work, then he'd go to work etc... crazy times! I miss being the guildmaster of over 120 members of Night Wolves of Justice - NWJ, which later became Dire Wolves of Justice - DWJ, then a brother guild Shadow Wolf Guard - SWG on PAC. I miss the Good vs Evil wars between the Pacific Guild Coalition and the PK guilds. So many memories I could recount for hours.
I have told people many times over the years that, I could have written novels about my character's experiences in that game. I can't say that for any other game [except maybe origional SWG].
Keys to Success:
- Limited game content: just supply basic lore and iconic figure/characters
- Maximize total character development freedom: no levels, no classes, no consider system, no templates, NO FKING LEVELS
- Limited Weapon / Armor type choices, yet vary their appearance. Hvy/Med/Lt armor, NO EPIC BS. [unless reward from GM quest]
- Maximize non-combat beneficial clothing and dye option: tons of options to create a trademark outfit for your character
Just bring back the original UO rule set and geographical world within a 'simple' 3D system and you will bring back 80% of all the people who played and left UO over the past 9 years. I can't even begin to word the level of disgust Felucia/Trammel envokes in me. I was grieved upon my return from short absence after a move. The 'old world' MY WORLD was empty! Everything was dead. Everywhere looked like a graveyard. Then I stepped thru a moongate and it was like stepping in to Willy Wonka factory. F'kin ghey.I to am also wandering from MMO to MMO looking, hoping, praying for one that lights the old UO experience. But I think that I am going to have to be the one to do it. I'm in art college for Game Art and Design, so maybe in a few years along with some class mates we'll get permission from Lord B himself to create UO:Classic. No quests [those are for players and GM's to run], no classes so you make and play your own, no epic weapons - because you have your trusty Long Sword crafted by your friend smith, full on PVP outside of guarded cities etc. . . .
But most of all, people made UO. The community, people like all of us posting in this thread who long for those days again.
/salute
Dark Wolf - Pacific Shard
Chade - Pacific
Smokin'Joe - Pacific
Rogee Fellblade - Siege Perilous
Macros the Black - Napa Valley
NWJ, DWJ, SWG and KGB alumni
who knows..maybe theres a future for this agem again..
LOL, yeah (dreaming)
Why build and design a new MMOrpg, just take the core elements of UO back in time to what the game was in 1999.
No item insurance, no pocket ponies, thieves guild, stealth, no skill's locks or arrows (but remove passive learning of skills used by other players (like camping) or make it optional). Keep upgraded pathing in for the AI and some other improvments that did't trivialise gameplay, but made it more realistic.
Yeah just use what worked and what we all loved in UO. The fanbase already exists, and a few servers would easily be filled. More could come later.
EA could make some cash on that, with very little in development costs.
(no brainer)
UO did have stricter death penalty, you'd lose skill randomly. Only later did that change where only muderers lost skill on death, part of the consequence for being a PK. It only served to seperate the men from the boys, perma reds were very good fighters.
But death in UO also left you open to looting. It was full loot, even the critters would loot ya. So you could add FFA pvp with consequences to the list.
Being a normal blue player, your death was difficult, but nothing you could'nt recover from within a day or two. If you were a perma red (murderer), and died. It may take a while longer to regain the skills. Just a consequence of behavior, like a curse.
I've posted in this thread several times, not spamming... just can't help it. I loved the old UO.
Actually I agree. I was referring to what other games should do, and I think UO's original system was perfect.
Its fundamentally the same, such that I did what ever I wanted to. But... its just not the same without people everywhere. In 5hrs I think I only saw 5 people. You have to have people there to enjoy the game, that's the key. You have to have the PK's to present a threat to Blues, so Blues bond together for protection. You have to have the roleplaying so there's content to the world. You have to have the crafters to support the adventurers with gear and adventurers to support the crafters with work.
They key to UO's success was complete unpredictability. What will I do today? Who will I meet? Which friends will I hunt with? Which dungeon will we go to? Will we be challenged by PKs? Will we hunt PKs or PK ourself? Will we come across the spoils of a house that decayed? Will the town criers alert us to a GM run event outside of a city?
The reason UO is not the old UO, is because there is no one there. There is no voice for it either. If everyone was still playing it and constantly e-mailing the company to create a Classic-UO server, maybe they would do it. But as it is now, the ones who spoke up years ago, the whiners, got their way. Because everyone else who enjoyed the game was too busy playing than reading a dumb forum. Now we're the whiners. But I fear its a pipe dream, a lost cause. We'll never see UO like it used to be.
Its going to take a new game, a new developer, a new metropolis of players to create and populate the world we all seek.
Unfortunately, Trammel happened, and many trivialisations pre-Trammel that changed the game.
You are quite right, they complained and the developers listened.
They fixed things that were not broken, or they overly fixed things that only needed slight adjustment. Now no one plays, but some hold onto accounts because they have cash invested, or just can't let go.
I really have no idea why anyone plays UO anymore.
Check out Darkfalls forums. It may take a while, but your support there will advertise a demand for a meaningful MMO again.
Currently the selection of MMO's we see today are trivial copies of either UO or EQ. The latest "Vanguard" uses features from "both", but favors WoW/EQ style mechanics. Still it's trivial compared to what either UO or EQ was.
UO has done nothing but incline downhill steadily for the past nearly 7 years. Granted, we see a lot of new people when expansions come out, but they never stay. UO has a lot of issues, the main being that EA doesn't care about its customers, the second being that they don't like to fix things. Over the years, things have broken, people have cheated, exploited, and duped, the world has become unbalanced. And their answer every time was to give people new shiny graphics rather than fix what was broken.
Granted, the past year, they did do some banning. They tracked known scripters and banned them while deleting their items in game. They tracked dupers and deleted accounts and items in their houses. Then they continued to boast about it like it was some huge victory, posting the numbers of objects and accounts ban. The sad thing was that, while it seemed like a lot, any idiot who had a brain and could do math would see that it was only the icing on the cake. I myself know several people whom should have been banned and weren't and to this day, continue to play as if nothing happened. Plus, the community is still flooded with duped items, since there is no way to tell whether or not an item is indeed duped. And to readd the icing, most of the dupers are back once again doing the same things, and while EA tracks these people, they are out making money and screwing the UO economy in the meantime while EA takes their time to do another mass ban.
Moving along, the game isn't what it use to be. It use to be a world of danger and excitement. You never knew where danger would lurk around what corner. You couldn't bank sit because a thief might steal that brand new silver sword. Now there is no danger, there is no worry. They have their safe world where you can run around and not have a care in the world because nothing bad will happen.
There are a lot of other reasons for the downfall of UO, but the fact of all of it is that EA has ruined one of the best games in the world for whatever reasons they can come up with, and I don't see it getting any better. Not with the new, spiffy looking client, not with the new expansion. Because it's not the game that needs to change, it's the dev team, the GMs, and EA itself. They need to once again start to care about UO.
In the past month, I've logged into the game no more than 6 times. I will check out the new client, but then I will probably be closing my account.
Yep.
Newer players complained that it was too hard to get a house, but rather than telling them to earn one or make friends and share one, instead the devs thought it would be a good idea to try to give everyone a house by opening land expansion after land expansion. At least it's probably a good way to sell expansions. But, what it resulted in is houses becoming almost worthless compared to more limited items in the game. And it spread the population so thinly that there was much less interaction and the towns became deserted; all except the most convenient to visit.
UO has been developed with many poor designs from many different developers over the years. Now it's a wreck.
I'm sure it would be entirely different today and we would still be playing a quality virutal world if somehow Richard Garriott had managed to buy the rights to it and remain the producer.
Yeah this one's a turtle in the developement cycle, likely to be a while....
Small group of developers working from a small studio in Greece.
It seems to have new life as of late, and may announce a beta soon (just a guess). Still it's the only concept worth looking at IMO. Everything else out there is pretty much generic crap. Level progression, quests, and item centric games. Nothing very different between them... even Vanguard which I had hoped would be inovative, was not.
(Diplomacy is the only thing new from Vanguard, and remains to be seen how inovative that sytem will be).
Anyways keep an eye on it... (Darkfall)
Man, and this thread is why UO had to change. They'd have nowhere near the base of players they have now if they kept the open PvP free loot all system you folks loved so much. I played UO for a number of years in the Trammel/AoS era and enjoyed it immensely, until my community disappeared to other, newer games. Still have an active account, I believe. I'd heard all the talk of the "Good Old Days" of UO, so I hopped onto Seige Perilous one day to get at least a small taste of what it must have been like. Couldn't set foot outside of town. Couldn't mine. Couldn't travel. Couldn't get to the moongate. Couldn't do anything except stare at my toon. When I did, there was some hi level mage to kill me and loot my 2 herbs, my mining pick, and my 3 rocks. This is FUN? No thank you. I'm happy you folks all managed to somehow get your skill pts maxed out so you could stand at the moongates and kill and loot low level toons. What great fun you fearless folks must have. Oh, and those rare ocassions when the guild managed to make it thru a Champ Spawn and actually get a scroll or two. Out of herbs, out of ammo, and there you were, just sitting invisible waiting to kill and loot us all on our way back. Yup. Great fun. The good old days.
Sorry, guys, but that's exactly the type of gameplay that killed off hardcore PvP. You guys just couldn't resist ganking the noobs, which would be death to any game intending to draw in an audience. That isn't "reality", it's childishness. No self-respecting criminal would mug somebody for a handful of pennies in the middle of Grand Central Station. There are real life penalties in place to see that doesn't happen. Pickpocket the pennies, maybe. But not the wholescale slaughter of newbs you folks all seem to love so much.
So now we need to have PvP-only servers or areas or PvP flags and all sorts of other stuf to try and control players who just can't control themselves enough to let the rest of us enjoy ourselves. I really do hope that somebody someday does make a full looting PvP everywhere game for you guys to enjoy. Maybe it'll keep you out of the rest of our games and let us enjoy a little entertainment.
Good work, UO, in continuing a fine game and giving it a badly needed graphics update.
That's the difference between people who are into hardcore games and people who aren't. PLEASE don't misunderstand the meaning of "hardcore". Hardcore has a meaning of "above the normal", and in that case UO was the best hardcore game I've ever played in my life. If you don't like to have adrenaline running through your whole body after seeing a red running far away from you, then you wouldn't have enjoyed the old UO days at all.
And only because of that it doesn't mean that the game is childish, you are the one that sounds childish enough by saying that a game sucks because you got pawned while mining. Games can't attract every type of players, or else there wouldn't have so many WoW haters around, and UO would have 16 million subscribers by now.
Well, I guess that's the point then. Can a "hardcore" game generate enough income for a company to make and support it? If UO was, indeed, the finest example of "hardcore" gaming, then the answer, obviously, is No, it can't. There weren't even many competitors at the time, so they could direct the market in whichever direction they wanted. Because they chose to go with the Trammel/Felucca route, insurance and other ways to make death less of an impact shows clearly that they could NOT make the kind of money they needed just off "hardcore" players.
What I don't understand is why you folks all didn't just stick to Felucca? Why did Trammel bother you so much? Why didn't all you hardcore folks make Felucca as vibrant an area as you wanted? Was it that the only folks who went to Felucca were other hardcore players? That the noobs stayed out of there? Does noob-ganking really equal "hardcore" play? And, after all, we Trammelites DID have to travel to Felucca to do the Champ Spawns for the scrolls, so you got your shot at us when we did. What, too many of us usually? We could have been organized and ready for you on the way out? My guild rarely was, so while we weren't newbie toons, we were mostly out of herbs and ammo by the time we got out, so we couldn't put up much of a fight, and you mages could always easily outgun the melee toons anyway. That's what I don't get. Why didn't you make Felucca what you wanted? It was there. It was open. You even got double resources there, so you got the ocassional shot at a miner. (Of course, you DID have to be careful, 'cause that innocent miner might also have been a hi level mage. A friend used to love to bait gankers with his miner/mage in Felucca.)
Yes, I've always been a PvE enthusiast, mainly because I really suck at PvP in any game. Always have and always will. I know, "Practice". That's what I'm always told. Unfortunately, no matter how much I practice, I just can't react well/fast enough in PvP. Group PvP is OK. I used to love pre-CU SWG base battles. And I don't mind getting killed in Ground Zero in Auto Assault because there's no death penalty at all. In that game, PvP actually becomes kind of fun, but you also don't get to that area until your toon is a high enough level to at least stand a chance. It's the Hi Level mage ganking out the new toon that annoys me. There's no way for the low level guy to advance if he can't even leave the town or pick up an herb or two to cast a spell. There's the difference between adreniline rush and frustration, and the latter is not fun for the vast majority of players. It may be fine for you "hardcore" types and, like I said, I really do hope that somebody will make your dream game someday. But it won't be a large company effort because there's not enough of you out there to support the costs involved.
I really think the day the "hardcore" thief killed Lord British marked the beginning of the end of "hardcore" MMOs. ("Hey, I just wanted to see what would happen!") That's when the first seeds were planted that maybe this wasn't the kind of game the makers had in mind. The kind of game that would generate WoW numbers and WoW profits. The kind of game that would still be going strong 10 years later. Which is, in reality, the whole point in the first place.
Oh, and by the way, it DOES seem that somebody's heard you guys after all. If you don't make Darkfall everything you want it to be, then I don't know what you want at all. Somebody's giving you a shot. Take it and prove all us Carebears wrong.
Bump.
This site hosts a well populated old school server: http://www.uogamers.com.
p.s. Rogee, if you're still around, I was Cooper in NWJ in the old school days. Get in touch if you're around!
If only they made it like WoW's 3rd person view, made the game zoomable...
I'm sure they could have done it by now if they didn't do something stupid like waste all that money on UO 2.
12 years later and there is a 2nd race?
12 years!!!
Wow i can't believe how long that has been....
I remember my three years of UO so fondly... i'd go back if the graphics were even as old as WoW's (2003 was only 5 years after 1997 and their graphics still look light years ahead of UO's updated graphics)
UO had a lot less players in the "good old days"
Siege Perillious IS NOT old school UO.
Think about it, back in the day EVERY Server was PVP, it wasn't like you went to a special server to gank people, it was just how things were.
Not everyone you met was a murderer, there were many PKs and PKKs and guilds that did all sorts of peace keeping.
SP is a shallow ghost of what UO used to be.
I'm sorry you weren't around for it, was good times too.