I had played nox had the game, but my disc got scratched so no longer have it lol. In any case the game was actually really fun and the graphics were definatly a notch above uo's the gameplay was dead on fun tho much like uo pure action and there were lot's of nice combo's and unique aspects. EA should definatly make a sequal to it someday it just had that addictive gameplay akin to games like river city ransom.
After reading some of the responses here, I find myself in agreement with Ultimas supporters. I do not think a better MMORPG has yet been made. With all its flaws it still far surpasses any other game in terms of game-play. I also think that during the course of the last few years this same game play has taken a few sharp turns (and some that merely meandered) for the worst. I played in 1997-1998, took a break because it was far too addictive, and then tried playing on and off every few years. There is definitely something missing, the old excitement is gone. I trace UOs original strengths to a number of different areas:
1. The skill-based system is possibly UOs strongest asset. I have not played many online games (WoW, Horizons briefly, a couple others), but it seems that nearly all, if not all, games currently on the market or in development are level based or a combination of levels and skills. In my opinion, a wholly skill based system is far less restrictive, allowing for a more open ended game, and more freedom of choice. It resulted in characters who were not pigeonholed into one stereotype or another, who were not mere cookie-cutter images of every other character out there. It is my opinion that this system could easily be expanded to include any number of skills, thus adding a near infinite number of combinations. The upcoming Hero's Journey may recapture some of this, not sure yet.
2. Harsh penalties for death, and a fully open PvP environment. These elements added a certain adrenalin-based element that is missing entirely from newer player-friendly games such as WoW. Without strict penalties and open looting the game loses that sense of adventure and excitement, the thrill of narrowly escaping danger, a real feeling of accomplishment in PvP. Note: I am not a huge PvPer, definitely not a PK, more of a role-player, but I still like the feeling of danger at every turn.
3. The open-ended feeling of the world. As there were no leveled areas, from the first few moments of the game there was nowhere you could not go. The whole world was accessible to you, if you but had the guts to brave the PKs and creatures. This made for a far more immersive experience. Also, it was not nearly so user friendly as most games are becoming. You were simply plopped into the world without much of an idea as to what you were supposed to do. It is hard to recapture that magical time (days in my case) spent learning the ropes, exploring the world, and not (as is the case with so many games now) being lead around by the nose from one quest to the next identical quest. Basically you do not follow some scripted story, you make your own. Also, a seamless world is a must, and one to which the rules apply equally throughout. No mystical other safe lands that can be teleported to for example (if this is done at all it should be done on different servers and not different aspects of one server). But by all means make the world bigger, and with todays technology it could be enormous and varied. Houses could defnitely be made more difficult to come by, as they tended to flood the world. And please, please, get rid of the riding beetles and the giant chicken creatures and all the other silly stuff that has been added.
4. The notoriety system. Slightly flawed perhaps, but loads of fun as well.
I do think the new graphics are quite excellent and a welcome improvement. Of course it was never really about the graphics so much as the game play, and I feel that this should only serve as a starting place. UO could be amazing again with a simple return to the elements that made it so wonderful and addictive in the first place (and more of them). One thing that always rather bothered me, as a player of the original Ultima series, was that more was not done with the virtues system, there was a lot of potential there as well.
I might give UO another chance, but I have the same trepidation others have expressed. It is much the same feeling I get when I consider playing Vanguard (though I will likely try it anyway), I really want it to live up to its potential, but the actual experience is so often less than inspiring. I will need much more to encourage me than nice graphics.
I can see the need for a graphics update if they want to bring in new players as opposed to bringing old UO players back.
I checked mmogchart.com and he's correct that UO is in the top ten western MMORPGs as at Jun 06. So thats pretty good. Or pretty bad for all the other recent MMORPG's that dont make it into the top ten.
So I got interested in UO again based on this interview, and decided to go check out the UOStratics forums. It seems based on these forums that the UO servers are an even bigger cesspool then they ever have been. Rampant cheating and duping have been problems for years. So much duping has been going on that you have to be careful about who you buy stuff from, because you might be banned for buying duped items. There is aparently going to be Punkbuster (used to prevent cheating in counterstrike) installed to help curb hacking problems.
On top of this, I swung by the UO auction site, and it looks like gold is being freely traded for real life cash (1 million gold = $1 USD) and some of the sets of armor are going for 100 million UO gold...
There is no friggin way I would subject myself to this crap again. The only forseeable way i'd even consider rejoining this crap is if they installed an effective cheating solution and they opened a new server with an economy that isn't completely bungled.
Originally posted by konradg Thats my big question now: What are the people who got turned away, for all these reasons, playing today? Is there a single game that can hold a candle to 98-00 UO? I heard EVE is ok, and i heard WoW is a joke compared to the complexity of UO. What is the most complex MMO out today (besides UO)?
Ehrm, I dont know about EQII, but I do know about EvE and EvE is def. not a complex game, heck I'll even go as far as saying that non player content wise it's pretty shallow. DAOC has far more depth to it then EvE imo.
For the record: I'm playing EvE atm simply because I didnt want to play another fantasy mmorpg, I allready played the best one (DAOC).
Edit: on the article great read and actually makes me want to try it. About time EA was going to do something good for it's mmorpg community.
i've been playing UO on and off ever since 98 till now (recently cancelled my subscription nov. 23, 06) due to the lack of people that plays....im sure the newly expansion will impact some people to come back, but its still not going to get enough people back to get it back to the way it once was...i mean sure you have total freedom, u can become whoever you want to be, but without having friends to play with you is boring...i pretty much do things by myself and can kill pretty much anything in the game by myself, but it gets so boring just because u dont have anyone to talk to....the only place you will see people is brit and luna the marketplace, but they just sit there and sell their stuff and not want to actually go out and have fun...my point is like most of other people is that this game is dying..but somehow it always gets me coming back just because of being able to choose who u want to be and not be stuck to one certain class/skill.
How many servers do they have now? Maybe they should combine down to a couple so that there are players everywhere again....maybe just move everyone to Atlantic
I might give it a shot when the xpac comes out. I still have my 2 main accounts from 7 years ago.
Yeah that's true...havent' played in almost 7 years...didn't they combine servers once arleady tho?
Edit: Reactivated one of my accounts to see some stuff but I forgot my toon is an outcast with 85 short term and long term kills...140 days of being online to get back to blue...I forgot that even in felucca where the ruleset it made for pvp...you STILL get penalized for killing. Stat loss when you res with more than 5 kills...so no way in hell I'm playing again with that horrible rule set. I totally forgot about that.
If they want to make fellucca pvp, then make it unpenalized. It's like in WoW losing a tier 3 peice everytime you die and rez after 5 kills. Just stupid IMO.
Thast my opinoin too waht Aaron said that new grafics is needed and uo needs to atract new young player wiht help quest.Some point is to help young play is for instance to make guildes(player) wich help youngs.But the first is UO:KR the new grafics to atract young and olds,Then Sa,pvp and and.some asked why uo dont have first person look.After UK:KR and Sa E/Mystic has notnig to loose to make 3D first look graics for uo wich work together wiht UO:KR.That means you can choose as player UO:KR3D isometrik grafics from the top and the 3D first look grafics.My opinion is after UO:KR young need quest and storyline wich show thhm all dungeons and the land of uo.I like the micromanagement in uo with thousends of items and posibilities.
Comments
After reading some of the responses here, I find myself in agreement with Ultimas supporters. I do not think a better MMORPG has yet been made. With all its flaws it still far surpasses any other game in terms of game-play. I also think that during the course of the last few years this same game play has taken a few sharp turns (and some that merely meandered) for the worst. I played in 1997-1998, took a break because it was far too addictive, and then tried playing on and off every few years. There is definitely something missing, the old excitement is gone. I trace UOs original strengths to a number of different areas:
1. The skill-based system is possibly UOs strongest asset. I have not played many online games (WoW, Horizons briefly, a couple others), but it seems that nearly all, if not all, games currently on the market or in development are level based or a combination of levels and skills. In my opinion, a wholly skill based system is far less restrictive, allowing for a more open ended game, and more freedom of choice. It resulted in characters who were not pigeonholed into one stereotype or another, who were not mere cookie-cutter images of every other character out there. It is my opinion that this system could easily be expanded to include any number of skills, thus adding a near infinite number of combinations. The upcoming Hero's Journey may recapture some of this, not sure yet.
2. Harsh penalties for death, and a fully open PvP environment. These elements added a certain adrenalin-based element that is missing entirely from newer player-friendly games such as WoW. Without strict penalties and open looting the game loses that sense of adventure and excitement, the thrill of narrowly escaping danger, a real feeling of accomplishment in PvP. Note: I am not a huge PvPer, definitely not a PK, more of a role-player, but I still like the feeling of danger at every turn.
3. The open-ended feeling of the world. As there were no leveled areas, from the first few moments of the game there was nowhere you could not go. The whole world was accessible to you, if you but had the guts to brave the PKs and creatures. This made for a far more immersive experience. Also, it was not nearly so user friendly as most games are becoming. You were simply plopped into the world without much of an idea as to what you were supposed to do. It is hard to recapture that magical time (days in my case) spent learning the ropes, exploring the world, and not (as is the case with so many games now) being lead around by the nose from one quest to the next identical quest. Basically you do not follow some scripted story, you make your own. Also, a seamless world is a must, and one to which the rules apply equally throughout. No mystical other safe lands that can be teleported to for example (if this is done at all it should be done on different servers and not different aspects of one server). But by all means make the world bigger, and with todays technology it could be enormous and varied. Houses could defnitely be made more difficult to come by, as they tended to flood the world. And please, please, get rid of the riding beetles and the giant chicken creatures and all the other silly stuff that has been added.
4. The notoriety system. Slightly flawed perhaps, but loads of fun as well.
I do think the new graphics are quite excellent and a welcome improvement. Of course it was never really about the graphics so much as the game play, and I feel that this should only serve as a starting place. UO could be amazing again with a simple return to the elements that made it so wonderful and addictive in the first place (and more of them). One thing that always rather bothered me, as a player of the original Ultima series, was that more was not done with the virtues system, there was a lot of potential there as well.
I might give UO another chance, but I have the same trepidation others have expressed. It is much the same feeling I get when I consider playing Vanguard (though I will likely try it anyway), I really want it to live up to its potential, but the actual experience is so often less than inspiring. I will need much more to encourage me than nice graphics.
I can see the need for a graphics update if they want to bring in new players as opposed to bringing old UO players back.
I checked mmogchart.com and he's correct that UO is in the top ten western MMORPGs as at Jun 06. So thats pretty good. Or pretty bad for all the other recent MMORPG's that dont make it into the top ten.
So I got interested in UO again based on this interview, and decided to go check out the UOStratics forums. It seems based on these forums that the UO servers are an even bigger cesspool then they ever have been. Rampant cheating and duping have been problems for years. So much duping has been going on that you have to be careful about who you buy stuff from, because you might be banned for buying duped items. There is aparently going to be Punkbuster (used to prevent cheating in counterstrike) installed to help curb hacking problems.
On top of this, I swung by the UO auction site, and it looks like gold is being freely traded for real life cash (1 million gold = $1 USD) and some of the sets of armor are going for 100 million UO gold...
There is no friggin way I would subject myself to this crap again. The only forseeable way i'd even consider rejoining this crap is if they installed an effective cheating solution and they opened a new server with an economy that isn't completely bungled.
Ehrm, I dont know about EQII, but I do know about EvE and EvE is def. not a complex game, heck I'll even go as far as saying that non player content wise it's pretty shallow. DAOC has far more depth to it then EvE imo.
For the record: I'm playing EvE atm simply because I didnt want to play another fantasy mmorpg, I allready played the best one (DAOC).
Edit: on the article great read and actually makes me want to try it. About time EA was going to do something good for it's mmorpg community.
I might give it a shot when the xpac comes out. I still have my 2 main accounts from 7 years ago.
They will never be able to combine servers because people have all of the landmass covered in houses. How would they merge something like that?
Yeah that's true...havent' played in almost 7 years...didn't they combine servers once arleady tho?
Edit: Reactivated one of my accounts to see some stuff but I forgot my toon is an outcast with 85 short term and long term kills...140 days of being online to get back to blue...I forgot that even in felucca where the ruleset it made for pvp...you STILL get penalized for killing. Stat loss when you res with more than 5 kills...so no way in hell I'm playing again with that horrible rule set. I totally forgot about that.
If they want to make fellucca pvp, then make it unpenalized. It's like in WoW losing a tier 3 peice everytime you die and rez after 5 kills. Just stupid IMO.
I was a huge fan of Nox myself. I have said many times I would LOVE to see a sequel to Nox. Glad to hear someone else give it the props it deserves.
Marcus
Thast my opinoin too waht Aaron said that new grafics is needed and uo needs to atract new young player wiht help quest.Some point is to help young play is for instance to make guildes(player) wich help youngs.But the first is UO:KR the new grafics to atract young and olds,Then Sa,pvp and and.some asked why uo dont have first person look.After UK:KR and Sa E/Mystic has notnig to loose to make 3D first look graics for uo wich work together wiht UO:KR.That means you can choose as player UO:KR3D isometrik grafics from the top and the 3D first look grafics.My opinion is after UO:KR young need quest and storyline wich show thhm all dungeons and the land of uo.I like the micromanagement in uo with thousends of items and posibilities.