Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
What Ultima Online Gave us 21 Years Ago - MMORPG.com
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
What Ultima Online Gave us 21 Years Ago - MMORPG.com
Ultima Online created the core ideas and concepts that have driven the MMO genre for 21 straight years. Ultima gave us an early look at what PvP on a large scale might be like, it allowed players to explore a world together for the first time. Ultima Online was a revolution, and it changed everything.
Comments
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
All games could learn more than a thing or two from this gem.
This game was first love and one of the best MMO's to ever grace us. UO back when I started playing it (Late 2000 or early 2001) wasn't just a game but was a living, breathing world. It gave people the freedom to create the type of character they wanted and made actual adventuring fun.
I remember spending hours working on my blacksmithing skill so that I could create armor and weapons for people. I also remember the feeling when I saw the skill raise to 100 and felt like I had accomplished an unimaginable feat. It felt so wonderful to be able to repair items for people and to make one of the greatest creations, a full set of valorite platemail armor and to sell it. Just about everything back then worn was player created and they eventually wore out making replacements necessary. Building a treasure hunter was also fun. Even level 1 treasure chests had a sense of adventure and I loved every moment of it.
This game had a soul and the community was great. I feel bad to see what it has become over the years. Age of Shadows, in my opinion, ruined this once great game by making it completely item based and trying to copy Diablo 2. I still check in from time to time but with how item and money driven the game has become it is very hard to compete at all with people.
Even through all of it though this game gave me MANY fond memories. I still check back in from time to time because of nostalgia. Even the somewhat convoluted mess it is now is still better than 90% of the MMO's out there. Honestly if they ever opened a classic server I would be on it in a heartbeat. Sadly though most people only look at graphics and the dated graphics makes people not even want to touch it.
Join us
To put it very succinctly I would say that MMOs are almost trying to hard and overbuilding but inadvertently end up building walls and caging in their own MMO. They develop tons and tons of systems, but all of the systems just help to pigeon-hole the player.
Like someone said earlier, all games could learn much more than a thing or two from these early MMOs.
And so many other players that I met and knew very well on an in-game basis. Also knowing the players you had to watch out for, or the guilds too.
If the devs of UO would have had the assets that WoW had in making the game, and the corporate backing to refine as much as WoW did...
WHOE!
Once upon a time....
Are there any good servers?
Some of the private servers are pretty close to what UO was. But what they lack is the masses of players on simultaneously. Still give you a good idea. Especially the "worldly" feel to it. But if you need the guiding that modern games provide through quests, and the refined quest content they have, you'll have to adjust your gaming style.
Once upon a time....
Once upon a time....
ehhh, while muds did pave the way in some small ways for UO, I don't really agree. UO was actually more inspired by games like Baldur's Gate and the original Diablo then MUDs. Saying that we owe ALL the credit to muds is a bit silly. May as well say we owe ALL credit to Pong. I mean, sure, there were some inspirations there in UO from muds obviously, but the reality is it was it's own beast.
Much more in what way? Aside from graphics, there were plenty of MUDs that were complex like UO.
Lol, "aside from graphics". Yeah, planet earth is basically the same thing as the sun aside from it being a giant ball of flaming gas.
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
http://www.uoforever.com
"Anything," I tell them. They never return. The carrot-stick reward system has ruined the people born to it, I fear, and it will surely ruin me too.
"This is life! We suffer and slave and expire. That's it!" -Bernard Black (Dylan Moran)
"Or a Master Baker with a long sword."
UO's beta forums at various sites were some of the best ever.
I remember a poster named Barbasol who just wanted to play a hermit whose dream was to travel by foot to each of the shrines. And asked for aid where needed in an open world PvP setting. An extreme roleplayer with a gift for words.
Then there was Blade, a poster who boasted how he was going to kill everyone and dominate the game. An extreme PvPer.
Then one day someone realized that they were the same guy by their localized IP addresses (one was at work, the other at home), and the timing of their posts.
Neither was heard from again. lol
Then there was the Mage Tower forum, where players organized an effort in advance of the game to build a Mage Tower on each Shard, a place to practice and trade magely stuff. And that happened in-game.
The first horse riders I saw in-game was a friend from that Mage Tower forum. He and a couple others rode up and saved a group of us from certain death at the hands some foul denizens of Sosaria, and then rode up to me saying "Hail Trebr! Doth though have need of anything?"
I said "Aye, I am out of Mandrake, my friend."
He rode off and returned a few minutes later with a handful of that hard to find (at the time) reagent.
"Until next we meet!" he said, and rode off. "Fare well, Imladrian my friend", I /shouted.
Yes, you could shout or whisper in UO, each carrying your words farther or shorter ranges.
By far the most social and interesting game I've ever played.
Once upon a time....
Everything from a completely revamped and levelable Guild System with Perks, Missions, Quests, Companions, Armory/Store and more, to Achievements, Automated CTF, FFA, 1v1, 2v2 Battles, Hunger Games, and even a Battle Royale are playable with so much more content to keep you engaged for the long haul.
Check out Ultima Shards and choose your world for free!
Website
http://www.ultima-shards.com
Installer, Patcher, Launcher
http://www.ultima-shards.com/download.php
Join The Discord Channel
https://discord.gg/ncSp4hc
Check out the official launch trailer!
See you in game!
Ultima Shards: UOR launches 10/6/18!