Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Ultima Online: The 8th Age
MaeEye
Member UncommonPosts: 1,107
Do we have a bunch of clowns running our game or what? WTF?!?!?! UO is so HUNGRY for money and attention and NEW PLAYERS it's not even funny. Wait...wait. I got it. To attract new players...UPGRADE YOUR GRAPHICS. And I don't mean copy and past 3d characters into a 2d world. I mean, make it's 3D! Like....Morrowind, or Prince of Persia or any other game out on the market today.
I honestly don't get EA and what their trying to pull for UO. UO would be so much fun it they would upgrade to new graphics. I've been a UO player since 1999, and it's just time to upgrade. Yes, the game sucks now compared to then. . .but their not going to change that. So the only hope to attract new people is to get cool graphics. 
EA. . .I'm jobless. . .you can hire me to keep your company running.
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
Comments
gamertag - Swaffle House
Ultima Online is known for the way it looks. Why don't you put a sport engine in your pick up truck... or why don't you wear women's clothes?
You just don't.
What will he do next?
They're not gonna upgrade UO's graphics to make it look like EQ2 or other modern MMOs... what you really want is UXO, which fell through.
but why did it fall through? The game was so far ahead, and i bet tons of people would have played it...I know I would have.
If not 3d...then at least upgrade it's 2d graphics to somehting like diablo or AOE3 or something. It can still keep it's original look, just graphically better though.
Belive me...I love(d) UO. I love it's graphics, and I used to love it's game play. But this game is going way down hill. It makes me sad...why did they run Origin away?
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
The most common reason UXO fell through was basiclly cause EA screwed themselves over. What I mean by that is this. At the time it was canceled, UXO was in a decent playable state. You can even say it was very playabel and stable and this was the Alpha. They were about to enter the Beta stage. How could this be? Well the engine it was using was a modified version of the Unreal Toruney engine. So a lot of time wasn't spent on creating an engine or controls. A good deal of the art work for monsters, etc were being done by another company and not the devs directly so they were free to work on other things like the quest and virtue systems and other things. The event EA held to showcase the game had devs and fans playing the game in it's Alpha/Beta state and reviews were very favorable for the game in how it played, looked, and how it was stable. It wasn't like UO since it was more geared toward adventuring and fighting. Not choping wood, crafting, etc the way UO is. Which means it really wouldn't have pulled that many people away from UO itself but other games. It could have worked well together unlike UO2 which most like would have pulled players away from UO since they seemed to be doing the same thing.
Before entering Beta, EA had the great idea to basiclly move the entire development for Ultima X: Odyssey from Texas to California. Basiclly the entire dev staff lived and worked in Texas and had for a number of years since that is where Origin, the original company behind the Ultima games and UO was based. Devs didn't want to move so one by one, even in twos, members of the development staff resigned from EA and working the game. Not just any developers mind you but all of the lead guys, head producers, programmers, developers, etc down to the normal team members I believe. These men and women had families and were active in the community during the development. After that things went quiet for a while with EA saying the game was still in development. Some of the positions were filled but not after a month after that started happening the cancelation of the game turned out.
One of the more popular reasonings I've heard and I think is true is that EA found it hard to actually replace the developers that were working on the game after so many refused to move from their homes just because EA wanted to move that section of the company. Hard as in people not willing to take the positions or not wanting to work for EA(heard EA requires it's employees to work hellish hours with no overtime, more so then any other game developer and has a few law suits, a class action one too, I think as well, out against it due to this) or some other reason. It looks like they shot themselves in the foot and killed their own game due to their management decisions.
One could look at it as if the game was always going to be canceled but I doubt that. Things were going strong and the game was getting a big push before they decided to move the section behind the game to the main headquarters and thats where everything fell apart. It's also what makes it so tragic cause the game was looking great. From reports it was playing great. It was pretty stable as well, huge world, and would have been out in no time.
It would have done extremely well I feel. Maybe not the numbers generated by World of Warcraft but it would have been received very well.
I still get sad thinking about it. It was one of the few games I've ever truely looked forward to.
Meanwhile, EA keeps doing god knows what to Ultima Online. The game needs a complete overhaul. Even if EA doesn't want to go the full 3D route that UXO was going (it's graphics were similar to WoW in terms of style, more cartoonish in a way and not ultra realistic so it would have been more accessible to a lot more people) or other MMORPGs have taken. Something as close to the graphics shown in the Dark Alliance games or Champions of Everquest or the game Sacred would work just as well. Keep the isometic view point but make the areas (either far better quailty images, painted backgrounds, etc) better, redo the characters on screen. There is no reason why a person's computer has to be put through a stress test. Hell even keep the UO as it is now open and release the new version of UO along side. Judge how many people play each. Off special deals to those still playing the old version to swtich over. Off to transfer characters with full gear and bank equipment for a low fee. Keep the monthly fee the same(don't go over $13 a month). The code from what I heard for UO is horrible and is the first thing that needs to be replaced.
I've played UO a few times. Each time I came away from it I couldn't believe it was still my computer things were so slow and lagged so much. I don't think graphics are everything, hell I still play Tetris on my gameboy but UO's graphics have got to go. No need for normal MMORPG graphics but an upgrade of some kind needs to happen. The games I listed should be the direction they go I feel since it will keep the same feel the game already has but with better performance.
MaeEye, I've noticed that you have made several posts about what UO used to be.
It's over, the UO that you knew is gone, I would reccomend stop posting on this message board if it's bothering you. Just continue your life and be fond of the memories you had.
I also wanted that old feeling and recently made a post about it, but its over.
It was nice while it lasted.
I know I have to let it go, and have been for the last year or so.
But it's so hard to let go of something that started it all and was so amazing. This was my first MMORPG ever and no other MMORPG ever compared to this game. It's just sad to see what EA did to it, which is why I will never buy another EA game again.
Total time played: 9125 Days, 21 Hours, 29 Minutes, 27 Seconds
Time played this level: 39 Days, 1 Hour, 24 Minutes, 5 Seconds
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
Join eRepublik today!