Everquest is a game, Ultima is a world. If you want to "play", you play Everquest, if you want to live vicariously through virtual reality, you play Ultima.
There you go.
Yeah, in '99 you could call UO a world or virtual reality. However, starting in 2000, UO began to copy Everquest's design.
Now, UO is no longer a very believeable world or virtual reality at all; the game has lost it's best feature.
Originally posted by HaZaD sucky old game... i dont even know that title
UO had its charms but i would not recommend anyone paying to play it anymore.
It offered a virtual medival world with ofc some fantasy(lets face it there were never dragons or summoned daemons) but it was really an interactive world.
It was not as adventurous as say EQ but it was appealing in its own way.
The sad story is not one company have tried to take the direction of UO and the very few who have tried have made a complete mess of it.
I think the future of UO style of play died in 2001 or so when UO2 got canned.Even UOX never looked like a true reflection of UO and that too got canned.
I am amazed no company with serious development or idea has taken on the challenge of making a UO style of world.It has seen at least 500k+ ppl pass thru the offical servers and probably more on un offical servers.
EA is busy trying to buy success by buying mythic with DAoC and ofc WAR but fail to see success on its own doorstep with UO and are busy milking the last drop out of ppl who are dedicated to the game and keeping a 10 yr old franchise alive on life support rather then make progress.
Hey QikDraw. Good to see you are out there. Yes, it's the real me. The most hated person of Ultima Online Media...well by EA Execs anyway.
What made the game great for me?
Community. Being able to play with whomever I want however I want. As much as I hated being Pk'ed, I do miss the pre-trammel days. There was a sense of danger, a sense of adventure in those days. Running from Hobo, Ho Chi, Black Company back in those days was classic good times. I remember once Mr. Bard from B*C came into our room and literally wasted us in 1 minute flat. I sat there and just watched the screen in awe at how quickly he kapwned us. The 'glory' days for me was after Publish 16. I didn't like some of the combat changes but the game was just at it's peak for me. if they would've stopped right there with the combat changes (bugs still needed to be fixed), I think the game would still have had that appeal for me. Sadly, the game just died for me after the item based combat system. Bleh. Playing my Assassin was the best time I ever had in game. Seeing people running around with DP in their character's veins was sweet times. And spear stabbing a mage to death was fun (although, I will admit, stun was cheesy...).
The truly memorable moments was Redrum offering me control and ownership of UOPowergamers.com. After a year of writing I realized just how big UOPG had become in terms of readership numbers and the fact people just wanted to see what I had to say next. The fact that EA spotted me free entry into 2002's UOFaire and flew me to San Fran in 2004 showed me I was important enough to some people to be afforded celebrity status. Who wouldn't enjoy that? Really all I ever was is a guy with webspace that liked to talk about what was on my mind. Anyone could've done that.
For a bit of time I got involved in an online Project for Neverwinter Nights. NWN:UO is still kicking. If you ever log on and run into Wind, remember that Nieves' sick mind created most of that nastiness. Unfortunately, personal events and reasons kept me from completing much of my promised content. The current moderators and administrators do a good job. Check out the game if interested. Tell em Nieves sent you.
The biggest thing I got out of UO though was the relationships I have made. Sadly, I don't talk to many of those people because I don't get caught up in the Fanboi or Online Community of online gaming anymore. And I don't use any online chat modules anymore. Maybe one day, I will fire up the ICQ and see who is still around...
My motto for a couple of years on UOPG was: "play the F***ing game!" Well, that's what I do now: World of Warcraft / Llane Server / Medor
Look me up.
Hasta.
PS-Qik: Tell Adam and Jade I miss them.
Hastax2.
Originally posted by Qikdraw I started in Dec 98 with UO. I started with the guys I worked with, we all played at work with the T1 line, so no problems running with a 14.4 modem. lol I do have to clarify one point made though. brewster22 said "Then they were gonna make UO2 witch was gonna be like older days just with more stuff to do, but as soon as EA took over they canned that idea.". EA was ALWAYS in control of UO, even back when it started. (Origin had also turned over all the CS to their games to EA, just dealt with UO CS) Its also that RG had more control over the content and style of UO. UO was never intended to last as long as it has, as evidenced by the sloppy original programming. (Even updating in later years was hampered by the original code) UO was supposed to only last a few months. The players forced EA to take another look, and once EA started seeing all the money they were making they started calling UO their "cash cow". Instead of making UO better by fixing bugs, they used UO money to fund those other failed or unrelased games. I quit UO shortly after the AOS expansion, which I was sadly involved in brining to market. I was one of the external OSI/EA testers. Don't confuse this with a beta tester, I was an OSI/EA employee with a paycheque. I just happened to work from home. AOS completely ruined UO for me. They turned a skill based game into a Diablo clone. Even though it added probably the best feature to UO, customisable housing. All the external testers I worked with made the same comment, that UO was turning into a item based game, which was bad. What did make UO enjoyable enough for me to play 6 years of though? Housing. Player made content. PVP (although I wasn't a pvpr). Players and what they did to the game, in ways the developers had never imagined is what made UO special. Who would have thought of using Nightshade and rols of coloured yarn to make a rose plant? Who would have thought of using death robes, which decayed very quickly, to raise up items and lock them down in your house? Rares? Mistakes in the game created an exonomy that the Dev team had no idea to create. Of course when the Dev team started seeing the potential of rares, they flooded the market and ruined it. At my highest point I owned approximately 70 houses across 11 shards and 30 accounts, shared with my wife. (people leaving just kept giving me accounts that I didn't have the heart to close because of the memories.) I had one account that had 14 houses across 9 shards. (double grandfathered) The 5 houses on one shard, Napa Valley, were all next to each other, which took me 3 years to get. I had two golas in UO that I never got to finish. One was to own all the houses NE of Hythloth on Fire Island in Napa. I ended up owning around 15 of the 18 houses in teh area at one time. So close... The other was to give away a house on each shard. I was only able to do it on 9 shards. I used to be an IDOC'r, then just a plain house placer, then I transformed into a merchant. I met endless people online, some of whom I still talk to to this day. I met my wife on UO, and we are still happily married 5 years later. One of my best memories, and one of my greatest honours in-game was to be able to marry Adam Ant & Jade of GUL. I was completely shocked when they asked me to, because I was not a GUL guild member, but just a sponsor of some of their PvP tounaments. It was great though, because I greatly admired both Adam and Jade for bringing something great to the Napa shard. Not only role-playing pks, but ones who held large 'find Adam and kill him' tournaments, that drew people from other shards to participate in. They also held PvP tounaments and encouraged people who would not otherwise eneter into Fel to enter. None of these people were ever ridiculed or laughed at, but only encouraged, even by grizzled PK veterens. The 'Fall of Trinsic' was another memorable episode during my UO days. So many players battled to keep the dark forces from keeping Trinsic as their own that the Dev team had to change what they had planned. So I guess what made UO the best for me, was the people. Of course the worst thing about UO was the people. And the Dev team for listening to the whining. Felix, Napa Valley, Fire Isle Realtors Qikdraw
I started in Dec 98 with UO. I started with the guys I worked with, we all played at work with the T1 line, so no problems running with a 14.4 modem. lol
I do have to clarify one point made though. brewster22 said "Then they were gonna make UO2 witch was gonna be like older days just with more stuff to do, but as soon as EA took over they canned that idea.". EA was ALWAYS in control of UO, even back when it started. (Origin had also turned over all the CS to their games to EA, just dealt with UO CS) Its also that RG had more control over the content and style of UO. UO was never intended to last as long as it has, as evidenced by the sloppy original programming. (Even updating in later years was hampered by the original code) UO was supposed to only last a few months. The players forced EA to take another look, and once EA started seeing all the money they were making they started calling UO their "cash cow". Instead of making UO better by fixing bugs, they used UO money to fund those other failed or unrelased games.
I quit UO shortly after the AOS expansion, which I was sadly involved in brining to market. I was one of the external OSI/EA testers. Don't confuse this with a beta tester, I was an OSI/EA employee with a paycheque. I just happened to work from home. AOS completely ruined UO for me. They turned a skill based game into a Diablo clone. Even though it added probably the best feature to UO, customisable housing. All the external testers I worked with made the same comment, that UO was turning into a item based game, which was bad.
What did make UO enjoyable enough for me to play 6 years of though? Housing. Player made content. PVP (although I wasn't a pvpr). Players and what they did to the game, in ways the developers had never imagined is what made UO special. Who would have thought of using Nightshade and rols of coloured yarn to make a rose plant? Who would have thought of using death robes, which decayed very quickly, to raise up items and lock them down in your house? Rares? Mistakes in the game created an exonomy that the Dev team had no idea to create. Of course when the Dev team started seeing the potential of rares, they flooded the market and ruined it.
At my highest point I owned approximately 70 houses across 11 shards and 30 accounts, shared with my wife. (people leaving just kept giving me accounts that I didn't have the heart to close because of the memories.) I had one account that had 14 houses across 9 shards. (double grandfathered) The 5 houses on one shard, Napa Valley, were all next to each other, which took me 3 years to get. I had two golas in UO that I never got to finish. One was to own all the houses NE of Hythloth on Fire Island in Napa. I ended up owning around 15 of the 18 houses in teh area at one time. So close... The other was to give away a house on each shard. I was only able to do it on 9 shards.
I used to be an IDOC'r, then just a plain house placer, then I transformed into a merchant. I met endless people online, some of whom I still talk to to this day. I met my wife on UO, and we are still happily married 5 years later.
One of my best memories, and one of my greatest honours in-game was to be able to marry Adam Ant & Jade of GUL. I was completely shocked when they asked me to, because I was not a GUL guild member, but just a sponsor of some of their PvP tounaments. It was great though, because I greatly admired both Adam and Jade for bringing something great to the Napa shard. Not only role-playing pks, but ones who held large 'find Adam and kill him' tournaments, that drew people from other shards to participate in. They also held PvP tounaments and encouraged people who would not otherwise eneter into Fel to enter. None of these people were ever ridiculed or laughed at, but only encouraged, even by grizzled PK veterens.
The 'Fall of Trinsic' was another memorable episode during my UO days. So many players battled to keep the dark forces from keeping Trinsic as their own that the Dev team had to change what they had planned.
So I guess what made UO the best for me, was the people.
Of course the worst thing about UO was the people. And the Dev team for listening to the whining.
Originally posted by MaeEye I think anyone's first MMO holds a special place in their heart, honestly. Having never played EQ1, only the closest thing I've played was EQ2 (which was very fun). Ultima Online was my first MMORPG and RPG game I had ever played. UO got me into the fantasy world and got me into MMO's. I started UO way back in 2000 (t2a patch) and I absolutely LOVED this game. I had never been in a MMORPG world or even played a RPG. This game allowed me to do ANYTHING I wanted. I don't think to this day there was a more free game than what UO offered. The chat systems was awsome, I love how you could only see what people around you say (I don't like the chat system in every game today, where you can hear people in different cities, take the "depth" out of the game for me). I have so many fond memories of UO that their almost hard to talk about, there is so many. My first guild, loved them, we would go on so many hunts in dungeons and get loot. And of course, camping out at a house that was about to fall, priceless. I also remember my very first house I got, in the field north of Minoc, I would sit in my house for hours and never get bored, just doing whatever. That's another thing that was good about UO, you could do anything you wanted and not get bored. I feel like games today are just based on Gaining levels and "pwning" everyone. UO was like a big family. Recently I've been thinking about returning to the game, UO. But I'm afraid it would just be a waist of my time and money. Currently I'm playing WoW (which isn't that great of a game). I've played them all though, I've been through so many different MMORPG's that I can't even remember them. I would have to say that the game that reminds me of Ultima Online a bit is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Right now I'm keeping my eye on this game, it brings housing back, and ship voyages, plus I'm sure you can fight on your steed. If this game fails, I guess I'll kiss the MMORPG goodbye, because WoW isn't going to keep me interested long enough. Long live UO Pre:EA
Couldnt have put it better myself. UO, in addition to being one of the first MMO's, was the ONLY MMO SO FAR that had REAL SKILL BASED pvp, none of this "LOLLOLL!!11 i Heav more levelz than yuo i WINN EPEEEENN!!!11" or "LOL I HAVE NO LIFE i live in the MC. (WoW)"
In that game, gear didn't turn the tide, YOU DID. Untill EA ruined it.
UO was the best...i miss it so much. Really wish they wouldnt made UO 2 instead of trying to update a fossil. I bet if they made UO2 and kept the housing and so on in tact it would be popular. I think my favorite part was , anyone could run UO (prior to the quasi-3d they added later) It was so open based and it made you feel like starting fresh in a new world. Everyone could be different unlike new mmos which focus on combat and pvp instead of customization.
Originally posted by SNieves Hey QikDraw. Good to see you are out there. Yes, it's the real me. The most hated person of Ultima Online Media...well by EA Execs anyway. PS-Qik: Tell Adam and Jade I miss them.
Hey Neives!!
I didn't see your reply until now. I don't know if you were the most hated, you did speak your mind though, and I think people in EA/UO respected that in its own way. But there were definately people who didn't like you speaking your mind either.
I read a good article in PCGamer about Vanguard. I think I'm going to try that one out while I wait for Pirates of the Burning Sea and Darkfall. So if you try those games look me up. At least one of my chars will be a Felix.
Good to see your 'Hasta', its much better than seeing Rico's 'la'.
Hey, do you still have any UOPG shirts kicking around?
I mean IN uo I could spot my friends in front ofa crowded brit bank by the way their characters looked - Try to do that in wow.
Uo had a great community- the guild I was in (Knights of solamnia- lake superior) was awesome. We used to gather nightly at the cotton patch on moonglow for power hour and just had a blast walloping on each other.
IDOCS were the bomb! I dont know what was funner - People grabbing stuff or people trying to place new houses.
Treasue maps - nuff said
I played for about 5 years - After I made my tamer/bard I basically had a UO ATM Machine - i could farm up over 100k in gold in 2 hours - SO I built up a big house - got rares - yadda yadda yadda.
In time most of my guildies had quit playing (for a very long time we were in the top 10 of all guilds for number of members) When power hour changed people started going to the patch less and less - and people were getting bored (lots tried out shadowbane...)
I still have some friends who play (Zion Presario) ANd actually my account is still active (I gave it to a friend)
I thought about giving it another try - so I signed up for the 2 week free trial but there really wasnt any point in starting again- there wasnt enough new stuff to make it interesting again
Est sularis oth mithas
Ciara - Ariel Presario- Blackmore- Yagyu - Spatter - Lake Superior
Comments
Yeah, in '99 you could call UO a world or virtual reality. However, starting in 2000, UO began to copy Everquest's design.
Now, UO is no longer a very believeable world or virtual reality at all; the game has lost it's best feature.
UO had its charms but i would not recommend anyone paying to play it anymore.
It offered a virtual medival world with ofc some fantasy(lets face it there were never dragons or summoned daemons) but it was really an interactive world.
It was not as adventurous as say EQ but it was appealing in its own way.
The sad story is not one company have tried to take the direction of UO and the very few who have tried have made a complete mess of it.
I think the future of UO style of play died in 2001 or so when UO2 got canned.Even UOX never looked like a true reflection of UO and that too got canned.
I am amazed no company with serious development or idea has taken on the challenge of making a UO style of world.It has seen at least 500k+ ppl pass thru the offical servers and probably more on un offical servers.
EA is busy trying to buy success by buying mythic with DAoC and ofc WAR but fail to see success on its own doorstep with UO and are busy milking the last drop out of ppl who are dedicated to the game and keeping a 10 yr old franchise alive on life support rather then make progress.
Couldnt have put it better myself. UO, in addition to being one of the first MMO's, was the ONLY MMO SO FAR that had REAL SKILL BASED pvp, none of this "LOLLOLL!!11 i Heav more levelz than yuo i WINN EPEEEENN!!!11" or "LOL I HAVE NO LIFE i live in the MC. (WoW)"
In that game, gear didn't turn the tide, YOU DID. Untill EA ruined it.
Burn in hell EA, R.I.P. Old UO
Hey Neives!!
I didn't see your reply until now. I don't know if you were the most hated, you did speak your mind though, and I think people in EA/UO respected that in its own way. But there were definately people who didn't like you speaking your mind either.
I read a good article in PCGamer about Vanguard. I think I'm going to try that one out while I wait for Pirates of the Burning Sea and Darkfall. So if you try those games look me up. At least one of my chars will be a Felix.
Good to see your 'Hasta', its much better than seeing Rico's 'la'.
Hey, do you still have any UOPG shirts kicking around?
Qikdraw
Uo was just awesome
I mean IN uo I could spot my friends in front ofa crowded brit bank by the way their characters looked - Try to do that in wow.
Uo had a great community- the guild I was in (Knights of solamnia- lake superior) was awesome.
We used to gather nightly at the cotton patch on moonglow for power hour and just had a blast walloping on each other.
IDOCS were the bomb! I dont know what was funner - People grabbing stuff or people trying to place new houses.
Treasue maps - nuff said
I played for about 5 years - After I made my tamer/bard I basically had a UO ATM Machine - i could farm up over 100k in gold in 2 hours - SO I built up a big house - got rares - yadda yadda yadda.
In time most of my guildies had quit playing (for a very long time we were in the top 10 of all guilds for number of members)
When power hour changed people started going to the patch less and less - and people were getting bored (lots tried out shadowbane...)
I still have some friends who play (Zion Presario) ANd actually my account is still active (I gave it to a friend)
I thought about giving it another try - so I signed up for the 2 week free trial but there really wasnt any point in starting again- there wasnt enough new stuff to make it interesting again
Est sularis oth mithas
Ciara - Ariel Presario- Blackmore- Yagyu - Spatter - Lake Superior