Underworld Ascendant Review - The RPG Files - MMORPG.com

SBFord · November 2018

Underworld Ascendant Review - The RPG Files - MMORPG.com

I went into this game expecting great things. It’s 2018 and we were just given a new Ultima-inspired game with the promise of bringing the amazing classics from Ultima Underworld into the era with upgraded graphics and mechanics. I was super excited. That is until I played it. Ladies and Gentlemen, strap in and prepare yourselves, this is our Underworld Ascendant review.

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Slapshot1188 · November 2018

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

alkarionlog · November 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

or he could don't know learn how to fight? even games with broken over powered enemys there is always a mech for you to use and abuse.

but all in all only review I really do care is from other players, and there the reviews are not good

Vrika · November 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

Imho there's good difficulty and there's bad difficulty.

When game presents you with an challenge to overcome that's good difficulty, but when the game upps difficulty to keep you away from alternatives devs did not plan you to take that's bad difficulty.

DarthBumblebee · November 2018

Worse than SotA? Impossible!

Grintch · November 2018

The only link to the previously fantastic Ultima Underworld games is that you're underground, that's it.

Slapshot1188 · November 2018

Vrika said:

Slapshot1188 said:

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

Imho there's good difficulty and there's bad difficulty.

When game presents you with an challenge to overcome that's good difficulty, but when the game upps difficulty to keep you away from alternatives devs did not plan you to take that's bad difficulty.

Sure. Everyone would agree with that. But perhaps it's something just not coming through in the article, but I would say that having an enemy actually adjust their tactics based on your own is a GOOD thing that is sorely missing in many/most/all of today's games. Instead of standing there while you shoot them or "kite them" these skeletons apparently pull out their own bows to shoot you. Sounds pretty good to me.

I haven't played the game. I did back it at the lowest Kickstarter level (like $20 I think) so I will give it a try one of these days.

WBadger · November 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

Vrika said:

Slapshot1188 said:

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

Imho there's good difficulty and there's bad difficulty.

When game presents you with an challenge to overcome that's good difficulty, but when the game upps difficulty to keep you away from alternatives devs did not plan you to take that's bad difficulty.

Sure. Everyone would agree with that. But perhaps it's something just not coming through in the article, but I would say that having an enemy actually adjust their tactics based on your own is a GOOD thing that is sorely missing in many/most/all of today's games. Instead of standing there while you shoot them or "kite them" these skeletons apparently pull out their own bows to shoot you. Sounds pretty good to me.

I haven't played the game. I did back it at the lowest Kickstarter level (like $20 I think) so I will give it a try one of these days.

I agree with adaptive AI being a good thing; however what it sounds like the actual numerical balancing in the game is hot garbage. If being spotted is the equivalent of death because the AI has a nearly 100% block rate while both its melee attacks and its range are doing around half your health a hit, someone did something very wrong.

Kyleran · November 2018

Grintch said:

The only link to the previously fantastic Ultima Underworld games is that you're underground, that's it.

I read quite a few of the reviews on Steam which are mostly negative, some common themes include:

1) While being billed as a spiritual successor to UO1/UO2 it totally isn't, even the positive reviews compare it to Thief and other games. KSer teams pulling a bait and switch seems to be the norm on many equations.

2) Bugs and more bugs ....not so bad at the early levels, increasing greatly as players go deeper. One telling fact is many of the Recommended posters qualify this by saying they recomend most wait until the bugs and framerates are fixed before playing.

3) speaking of framerates they get worse the deeper one goes, but one poster claiming to have an extremely great rig said he had few issues.

4) The save game system seems to be terribly misunderstood, even after reading dozens of reviews it's obvious most people with only a few hours in don't understand it, and I still am unclear about how the "sapling of life" which apparently has to be searched for and then planted in a suitable spot fits in to everything.

5) dungeon levels are reset after every mission, so a player will be returning the exact same content about 5 to 10 times per level.

6) there is a reason for the above, ties into the unlimited lives concept, it's clear players are expected to experiment again and again on how to overcome obstacles, one positive reviewer mentions attempting a key encounter 13 times before mastering.

All well and good except the save game system forces one to go back to the mission start and fight through the same content to try again, much like an old Mario arcade game.

7) No mention of "the Doom Clock" in this review, not surprising as on Steam only one poster who claimed to finish the game in 30 hours actually even mentioned.

Appears this timer ticks off with every mission, or failure, I'm not really sure. Although managing was not hard for the reviewer, there is mention of items to roll it back some, apparently the content and rewards increase as it ticks down.

The game is over when it reaches zero which I would find terribly annoying, and for this one mechanic I would never consider playing as I insist on being able to play on my schedule, just no compromise on this for me.

TLDR: I recomend anyone considering buying this game really take some time to read many of the Steam reviews so you understand what you are getting into. Most reviews good or bad say wait until the bugs get fixed. Finally, play the game for what it is, but don't expect it to be much like the UO series.

BizkitNL · November 2018

Alright, alright. I won't buy it then. Sheesh.

Solar_Prophet · November 2018

They promised a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld. What we got was a bad Dark Messiah of Might and Magic clone. No factions, no interconnected dungeon levels, barely any RPG elements, no NPC dialogue, and the list goes on. This project was a complete bait-and-switch.

Just goes to show that having a bunch of industry veterans involved with a project does NOT mean it'll turn out well. These guys were hot shit back in the day, but over time they've definitely lost the first of those two adjectives.

I hope Otherside doesn't survive this. A bad game I can forgive, but what they pulled here is inexcusable.

Octagon7711 · November 2018

Sounds like a really short game that used stealth, restarting from reset levels, and other mechanics just to slow players down, which makes up for lack of content.

lahnmir · November 2018

I didn’t dodge a bullet here, I dodged a freight train. Was about to buy it, watched some gameplay videos on the store page and slowly, slowly backed away. Glad it isn’t just me.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Slapshot1188 · November 2018

Solar_Prophet said:

They promised a spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld. What we got was a bad Dark Messiah of Might and Magic clone. No factions, no interconnected dungeon levels, barely any RPG elements, no NPC dialogue, and the list goes on. This project was a complete bait-and-switch.

Just goes to show that having a bunch of industry veterans involved with a project does NOT mean it'll turn out well. These guys were hot shit back in the day, but over time they've definitely lost the first of those two adjectives.

I hope Otherside doesn't survive this. A bad game I can forgive, but what they pulled here is inexcusable.

Hmmm... been a while but I thought the factions were integral to the game that was pitched. Didn't know they were dropped.

Iselin · November 2018

Disappointing. I'm an old Ultima Underworld fan who played them when they were first released. At that time they were revolutionary and a lot of fun.

BTW your score made me do a double-take. A 3 at mmorpg.com? Nice to see a speck of honest negativity here.

Margrave · November 2018

I'm an old Ultima Underworld fan. Loved them. Was almost about to buy this. So glad I saw this review! Save that money!

kikoodutroa8 · November 2018

It's a bad game, so should get a 7/10

kinkyJalepeno · November 2018

Slapshot1188 said:

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

Bit early for the fanboi train isnt it?
The comments were regarding their almost 100% block rate and 1 hit taking half his health while his hits were feeble forcing stealth constantly.
Go read the player reviews on Steam, people are not happy (mostly negative) and funnily enough one of the criticisms was the crap AI with mobs not seeing the player as they are whacked with a weapon lol
I suggest you go try and be big and clever elsewhere and actually read the reviews.

kinkyJalepeno · November 2018

Margrave said:

I'm an old Ultima Underworld fan. Loved them. Was almost about to buy this. So glad I saw this review! Save that money!

Unfortunately I agree, I loved the originals back in the day, they were ground-braking.

Slapshot1188 · November 2018

kinkyJalepeno said:

Slapshot1188 said:

"Going toe to toe with these skeletons is a very bad idea. Some are easy, but most are extremely difficult. They block your hits and knock half of your health out with one swing. Try to put distance between you and they pull out bows that do just as much damage. It’s insane. "

Sounds to me like a halfway decent AI. You mean they didn't just stand there while you shot at them? How unfair!

Bit early for the fanboi train isnt it?
The comments were regarding their almost 100% block rate and 1 hit taking half his health while his hits were feeble forcing stealth constantly.
Go read the player reviews on Steam, people are not happy (mostly negative) and funnily enough one of the criticisms was the crap AI with mobs not seeing the player as they are whacked with a weapon lol
I suggest you go try and be big and clever elsewhere and actually read the reviews.

Yeah. I’m quite the fanboy. I have made a reputation defending games. You’ve got me there!

jmcdermottuk · November 2018

I played both the original Underworld and Thief and the water arrows are right out of Thief, which was a totally different kind of game to Underworld. I never got much satisfaction from sneaking around in Thief but Underworld was absolutely brilliant. I spent months playing the Stygian Abyss.

It's really disappointing reading this review and seeing that they've made something that's such a departure from the original.

Scorchien · November 2018

I looked forward to this game for a couple years following the dev ..

Did not purchase launch day as i had no oppurtunity to test , and only dev vids and news to go by ,very dissapointed at all i have read ..

I do however wish them luck in fixing it up , i will keep it on follow and see how that goes .. If they can get it up to par ill grab it down the road ..

kitarad · November 2018

I was going to wait to find out how the FOV and headbob (if any) issues were dealt with. I always check on these issues as I have problems with games in first person view. I wait for mods to play in third or increase in FOV before I consider buying and that generally comes very much later. So I did not buy the game. Looks like I dodged a bullet.

Wizardry · November 2018

I noticed OTHER sites giving this game a low score as well,is this just everyone being in safe mode so as to not stick out for being different?
Reason i thought about this was because this site has been shoving Fallout down our throats like it is some godlike game when it is crap.Well this author on behalf of this site says hardly any monsters,yet Fallout you will run into less monsters and somehow that game devoid of content is given high praise.

So it really looks like people picking their spots.I am not trying to say the game is good or anything but you can't give another game high fives for doing NOTHING then give this game a fail for doing little as well.
Another example,what is more boring ,playing this game or constantly reading an entire computer screen in game,i think it is pretty obvious.
The big difference,we know Bethesda will spend a lot of money on marketing to sites to help promote their products.

MrJatobi · November 2018

Wizardry said:

I noticed OTHER sites giving this game a low score as well,is this just everyone being in safe mode so as to not stick out for being different?

Reason i thought about this was because this site has been shoving Fallout down our throats like it is some godlike game when it is crap.Well this author on behalf of this site says hardly any monsters,yet Fallout you will run into less monsters and somehow that game devoid of content is given high praise.

So it really looks like people picking their spots.I am not trying to say the game is good or anything but you can't give another game high fives for doing NOTHING then give this game a fail for doing little as well.

Another example,what is more boring ,playing this game or constantly reading an entire computer screen in game,i think it is pretty obvious.

The big difference,we know Bethesda will spend a lot of money on marketing to sites to help promote their products.

Different people write differently. They also share differing opinions. I did not write about Fallout 76, so I cannot help you in that regard.

I played this game, and judged it fairly. As I do with all of my reviews. The game is bad, so it received a poor score, but that's "my" opinion.

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Underworld Ascendant Review - The RPG Files - MMORPG.com

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey