[Ultima] In which I scream obscenities at Electronic Arts.

[J Arcane]

EA has announced a new Ultima game. Allow the folks at RPS to describe it for me:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010...-ultimas-back/

EA have brought Ultima back at last! Yipee yahoo hooray! Except… it’s not Ultima.

It’s a – gasp! – online, browser-based -gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasp! – strategy game, known as Lord Of Ultima. It’s set in the Ultima universe, but that’s about the extent of its ties to Britannia et al. It’s not an RPG and Richard Garriot isn’t involved, so olden Ultima fans are understandably feeling a little heartbroken right now. Though it’s vaguely MMO-esque, in that it’s you pitting your empire-building skills against other players, so it’s sliiiiightly like Ultima Online. Sorry, that’s a ridiculous thing to say. It’s nothing like any Ultima game to date. So it’s an incredibly peculiar decision on EA’s part, but then they hardly have a rich history of treating the license well.

The chaps behind it are EA Phenomic, the chaps behind last year’s bold, not-awful but somewhat unsatisfying RTS/CCG hybrid Battleforge. While I’ve not delved into myself yet (I’ve signed up, but apparently the servers are full, so I can’t actually get into the bally thing), it appears to be in the vein of sedate city-builders such as Settlers or – and this is, I suspect, key to why it exists – Evony. Which is a name that, rather understandably, tends to inspire strong reactions from clued-in gamers. So far, no irrelevant mammary-based banner ads for this new browser-based city-building game, at least. For all I know it’s a genuinely ace example of socially-networked strategy games, but that’s still very unlikely to justify this wild use of the Ultima name. Hopefully I’ll manage to join a server tomorrow and get a better sense of what, if any, its links to Ultimas-gone-by are.

WHAT THE GODDAMN FUCK?!



You burn one of the best goddamn licenses in gaming history to the ground and then bury it in a mediocre sandbox MMO for over a fucking decade, and then THIS is your return the fucking franchise?

You stupid, worthless motherfuckers. What exactly is "the new EA" about this pure load of goddamn bullshit? A mediocre platformer and RE4 in space are apparently carte blanche to turn one of the finest RPG universes ever made into a glorified Korean Facebook game whose chief competition is a game that sells itself like a cheap whore across half the internet with pictures of ugly prostitutes?

Go fuck yourself EA. Go goddamn fuck yourself.

[UWCrash]

In before RICHARD FUCKING GARRIOTT.

I actually had only marginal problems running Ultima 9 (the stars must have aligned in my favor) and enjoyed it immensely. Terrible to hear their doing it even more disservice, but hey, that's classic EA. If I'm going play a browser based game, I'll stick to Pandemic.

[Ten19]

Basically...

Except… it’s not Ultima.
... It’s not an RPG and Richard Garriot isn’t involved ...
... It’s nothing like any Ultima game to date ...

So basically: who cares? Let them masturbate with the Ultima brand. It's not worth getting fired up unless they actually try to make a real game with it.

[mightbe]

Originally Posted by Ten19

Basically...


So basically: who cares? Let them masturbate with the Ultima brand. It's not worth getting fired up unless they actually try to make a real game with it.

I agree with all of this. Except getting fired up at some point. Ultima went from sacred ground to tired old dog long long ago.

[CappinCanuck]

Originally Posted by Ten19

Basically...


So basically: who cares? Let them masturbate with the Ultima brand. It's not worth getting fired up unless they actually try to make a real game with it.

+1. Plus, it's a browser-based game. That doesn't even count as a game in my books.

[LongStepMantis]

Oh Ultima, once you were a proud bastion of all that was good in gaming. The first half-dozen games and UO were great and revolutionary for their time.

[Kelegacy]

Remember Shadowrun.

I love Ultima and will be ignoring this obviously.

[Vermillion]

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

Remember Shadowrun.

Yeah, I remember it. It was freaking bad ass. Hell, we were still playing it as a group years after it was released. Shaturday!

Just give me Ultima Online with updated graphics. I miss farming wood in my underwear with my grandmaster fisherman!

[LongStepMantis]

Originally Posted by Vermillion

Yeah, I remember it. It was freaking bad ass. Hell, we were still playing it as a group years after it was released. Shaturday!

Just give me Ultima Online with updated graphics. I miss farming wood in my underwear with my grandmaster fisherman!

I have a confession to make. I was that guy who would PK your naked lumberjack and run off with all the shields he was making. Sorry about that.

[Chris_D]

The two U7 games and Underworld were also awesome.

[SilentScreams]

I just want a new Ultima Online. It's been too long since I've played a sandbox MMO as opposed to the "on rails" type IE WoW.
It's not Ultima unless Richard Garriot is involved, so I'll be pretty much ignoring this.

[Ten19]

Originally Posted by SilentScreams

It's been too long since I've played a sandbox MMO as opposed to the "on rails" type IE WoW.

Have you tried EVE Online?

[SilentScreams]

Originally Posted by Ten19

Have you tried EVE Online?

Twice, for about 2 weeks each time. I was in the CoG corp briefly.
Really not my thing. I got bored of running missions all night and gaining nothing for doing so other than ISK. If I run missions all night, I want some XP damn it!
The majority of my play sessions consisted of nothing more than logging in, setting a new skill to train, and logging back off. It was more like a subscription based egg-timer than a game for me.

[Deadend]

Originally Posted by SilentScreams

Twice, for about 2 weeks each time. I was in the CoG corp briefly.
Really not my thing. I got bored of running missions all night and gaining nothing for doing so other than ISK. If I run missions all night, I want some XP damn it!
The majority of my play sessions consisted of nothing more than logging in, setting a new skill to train, and logging back off. It was more like a subscription based egg-timer than a game for me.

Sounds like Farmville.

EA put Ultima on this as it's their only franchise that is relevant to the type of game they are making.

I kind wish EA would make the Ultima X MMO like they were planning to, maybe restart it, give it an art style that isn't TOO WoW, make it be about story and choices and that stuff, you know, an MMO with more than just Pass/Fail as outcomes to a quest. Or just see if Richard Garriott is willing to advise/bless any upcoming Ultima concepts.. or give the world a remake of the Ultima games that run on modern hardware and with modern UI's.

Also, thinking about it.. Why not have the game be called Dragon Age: Kingdoms? As the Dragon Age franchise is EA owned as well, and quite popular at the moment. Hell, why isn't BioWare working on a new Ultima game?

[Ten19]

Originally Posted by SilentScreams

Twice, for about 2 weeks each time. I was in the CoG corp briefly.
Really not my thing. I got bored of running missions all night and gaining nothing for doing so other than ISK. If I run missions all night, I want some XP damn it!
The majority of my play sessions consisted of nothing more than logging in, setting a new skill to train, and logging back off. It was more like a subscription based egg-timer than a game for me.

I won't threadjack much more than this, but just to clarify the real meat of EVE is not found doing PvE stuff over and over again, but to work with a fully realized player corp, doing what you want in the game, hence my suggestion. Anywho, back to Ultima.

[Panthera]

Yeah, this isn't a return to the series, this is just branding. They're making a Civilization facebook game; who cares?

[Philonious]

My 'dream' since EA bought BioWare has been a BioWare made Ultima. Could be fun, and a working Virtue system could make for a neat evolution of the good/evil dichotomy... So choices of Honest/Humility, Justice/Spirituality, etc. With the goal of becoming the Avatar. They could even try for something more open world

Anyhow: I don't really see the point of 'milking' a long dead franchise. People who loved Ultima will stay away and everyone else won't have any idea what this is all about.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by Philonious

My 'dream' since EA bought BioWare has been a BioWare made Ultima. Could be fun, and a working Virtue system could make for a neat evolution of the good/evil dichotomy... So choices of Honest/Humility, Justice/Spirituality, etc. With the goal of becoming the Avatar. They could even try for something more open world

Oh, no no no no no. Keep Bioware away from Ultima. I'd rather have no new Ultima games. I'd want an open-world game and Bioware just can't do that. They like to create "zones" that are offset by loading screens. It's not the same. And none of their games have been remotely as interactive as Ultima.

I think if any company were to do it, it would be Pirahna Bytes or maybe Bethesda...if Bethesda would create something other than 1st person RPGs. They did do Redguard, so I know they can pull it off. Maybe.

Fuck it, just hire out Black Isle...I mean, Obsidian, or track down some remnants of the Origin team before U8. Wasn't Irrational once Looking Glass studios, or a part of them was? Maybe they could do it.

Basically, Bioware is fine and all, but they'd be the last western developer I'd think of to do an Ultima game. We'd probably get Knights of the Ultima Republic instead.

[destoo]

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

Wasn't Irrational once Looking Glass studios, or a part of them was? Maybe they could do it.

Yup. "Employees trickled down to studios such as Ion Storm Inc. and 2K Boston where their influences are still visible in the Deux Ex franchise, and BioShock, the spiritual successor to System Shock 2." --mobygames, re:looking glass.

Just get Warren Spector and Ken Levine back together. I'm sure it will be a force strong enough to attract Richard Garriott.

[MagGnome]

Originally Posted by Philonious

Anyhow: I don't really see the point of 'milking' a long dead franchise. People who loved Ultima will stay away and everyone else won't have any idea what this is all about.

This right here is spot on. Dredging up these old franchises just to milk the IP is both annoying and stupid. See the Dungeon Keeper MMO in China for another great example.

EA is sitting on a whole mountain of classic IPs that will likely forever remain in the vault. It's probably best that way, considering how soulless the company as a whole is. I'd rather not see the old classics turned into FPS games on the 360 or anything of the sort.

Originally Posted by LongStepMantis

I recently played through Dungeon Keeper 2. That being said, those involved in this project can DIAF. Thank you.

Dungeon Keeper 2 was the game that put me off of Electronic Arts for years. I played Dungeon Keeper for hundreds of hours and was super-excited for the sequel. They hyped it up quite a bit, and then released a buggy mess with several promised features missing, including the editor. EA promised extensive support after the games release, including bug fixes and additional content such as the editor, new units, new traps, new rooms, etc. The editor finally came out along with a few new bits of content, but it was too little, too late. The fans were pissed, the game still had some major bugs, and shortly thereafter DK3 was announced. Then suddenly Bullfrog was disbanded and DK3 was canceled. It was one of the last EA games I bought until I purchased Dead Space at the end of 2008.