Asked About Getting Ultima Online Back, Richard Garriott Says He May 'Soon' | MMORPG.com

System · August 12

Asked About Getting Ultima Online Back, Richard Garriott Says He May 'Soon' | MMORPG.com

Richard Garriott starts speculation by saying he may get Ultima Online back "soon".

Tiller · August 12

Why? is it because his other projects failed? (Shroud of the Avatar)

How about no...let it go, no one missed him. These veteran developers are past their prime and so are their new ideas, leave it in the past.

It really reminds me of when Ron Gilbert got a chance to make another Monkey Island, he hated MI3 because it wasn't his. His game was sub-par at best, and not even close to being as good as Monkey Island 3.

This would just be another one of those moments. I feel it's doing fine as it is, and there are plenty of decent emulators running with different mechanics to give everyone what they want.

Herithius · August 12

Between him owning the rights or EA I'd probably lean towards Garriott as he would be inclined to at least do something with it.

However based on the last 20+ years I wouldn't have faith that Richard Garriott would be able to do anything better or worse than any other developer tackling it.

mikeb0817 · August 12

Wait, EA still owns UO? I thought when the little guys like Standing Stone and Broadsword scooped up a game they were also owning the IP.

Tiller · August 12

Herithius said:

Between him owning the rights or EA I'd probably lean towards Garriott as he would be inclined to at least do something with it.

However based on the last 20+ years I wouldn't have faith that Richard Garriott would be able to do anything better or worse than any other developer tackling it.

Yeah he shouldn't do anything to it, he would do nothing but piss people off by changing something few asked to be changed. It's like having the guy who built your house years ago come in and tear one story off and make it a single story house because they like it better this way. Just because you built it, doesn't mean you have the right to change it once it's out of your hands.

MaeEye · August 12

I don't understand how this is news. This is a comment that is based off of another comment to a politically charged news story that RG posted.

Richard has stated in the past that he's reached out to EA several times about buying out UO and nothing ever happens. How is this different?

Antarious · August 12

I thought UO was purchased by a group of former Mythic Employees.. just like DAOC was. Company name Broadsword or some such... maybe I just misremember.

ValdemarJ · August 12

mikeb0817 said:

Wait, EA still owns UO? I thought when the little guys like Standing Stone and Broadsword scooped up a game they were also owning the IP.

Short answer: Broadsword is a subsidiary of EA.

Longer answer: EA purchased Mythic Entertainment (the studio behind DAoC) and renamed it "EA Mythic". Fast forward through many changes and EA Mythic was dissolved and reformed into Broadsword. Broadsword runs both DAoC and UO now.

Tokken · August 13

Richard Garriott is living in the past. Let it go, man!

Ginaz · August 13

Another irrelevant old school dev who hasn't produced anything of value in 20+ years trying to resurrect their reputation and career. Maybe him and Raph Koster can collaborate on a project together that will inevitably fail.

achesoma · August 13

Nostalgia is poison.

GrimDogGaming · August 13

EA would literally turn off the servers and bury the code before ever giving Garriott UO back.

Mensur · August 13

I would play UO if it got a new engine etc. But then again, the really screwed it up with Shroud of the Avatar.

mikeb0817 · August 13

Ginaz said:

Another irrelevant old school dev who hasn't produced anything of value in 20+ years trying to resurrect their reputation and career. Maybe him and Raph Koster can collaborate on a project together that will inevitably fail.

I really don't know where all the hate for Raph comes from. The guy visits our dated, barely populated message board and engages in deep conversations with us. He respects our opinions and shares more about his project with us than other communities I frequent.

ShinyFlygon · August 13

Ultima Online was nothing but a rest stop on the journey of the MMO genre. It wasn't particularly good, and it contained absolutely none of the charm of the single-player series.

I'd much rather see a modern single-player party-based RPG set in the Ultima world, something mechanically along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with all the towns and virtues and characters we remember so fondly. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that it would be best if Garriott were NOT involved.

Sovrath · August 13

ShinyFlygon said:

Ultima Online was nothing but a rest stop on the journey of the MMO genre. It wasn't particularly good, and it contained absolutely none of the charm of the single-player series.

I'd much rather see a modern single-player party-based RPG set in the Ultima world, something mechanically along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with all the towns and virtues and characters we remember so fondly. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that it would be best if Garriott were NOT involved.

Wasn’t he the creator of the series? I’m betting he would have a lot more insight into the creation of any new Ultima games.

Ginaz · August 13

mikeb0817 said:

Ginaz said:

Another irrelevant old school dev who hasn't produced anything of value in 20+ years trying to resurrect their reputation and career. Maybe him and Raph Koster can collaborate on a project together that will inevitably fail.

I really don't know where all the hate for Raph comes from. The guy visits our dated, barely populated message board and engages in deep conversations with us. He respects our opinions and shares more about his project with us than other communities I frequent.

I don't have anything against him personally. I just can't understand why people have put him on a pedestal and think he has anything relevant to add to the current gen of MMO's or gaming. He hasn't done anything noteworthy in 20+ years and has firmly rested on his laurels. His days of being relevant have long since passed.

mikeb0817 · August 13

ShinyFlygon said:

Ultima Online was nothing but a rest stop on the journey of the MMO genre. It wasn't particularly good, and it contained absolutely none of the charm of the single-player series.

I'd much rather see a modern single-player party-based RPG set in the Ultima world, something mechanically along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with all the towns and virtues and characters we remember so fondly. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that it would be best if Garriott were NOT involved.

Maybe depends on your age with this one. I played at launch, and at the time the technology was f'ing amazing. We had like 3 other options and a bunch of MUDS before UO. And, Meridian 59 // The Realm Online // AOL games were nothing in comparison. They still try to emulate the gameplay with new games 25+ years later - MO2 is the most popular one that sticks out.

WhiteLantern · August 13

I see this as nothing more than him playing into the "soon"tm meme.

Kallendal · August 14

I mean, if he was a promoter, a comentator, I believe he would be great in that role. He can hype stuff up good.

after SOTA, I have lost a lot of faith in him, and yes, I was a believer, and will eat crow for it the rest of my life. ;(

where is that post about "why support a kickstarter" again? btw, i still love this rap:

I mean the guy, literally, had his own theme music.... that's some salemenship.

mikeb0817 · August 14

Kallendal said:

I mean, if he was a promoter, a comentator, I believe he would be great in that role. He can hype stuff up good.

after SOTA, I have lost a lot of faith in him, and yes, I was a believer, and will eat crow for it the rest of my life. ;(

where is that post about "why support a kickstarter" again? btw, i still love this rap: I mean the guy, literally, had his own theme music.... that's some salemenship.

I fell under the SoTA spell at the onset. For me though, it was more the addition of Tracey Hickman (Dragonlance author) that sucked me in. I think they only used him to write the intro...

Wargfoot · August 14

Why the UO property was allowed to falter baffles me to this day.

ShinyFlygon · August 14

Sovrath said:

ShinyFlygon said:

Ultima Online was nothing but a rest stop on the journey of the MMO genre. It wasn't particularly good, and it contained absolutely none of the charm of the single-player series.

I'd much rather see a modern single-player party-based RPG set in the Ultima world, something mechanically along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with all the towns and virtues and characters we remember so fondly. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that it would be best if Garriott were NOT involved.

Wasn’t he the creator of the series? I’m betting he would have a lot more insight into the creation of any new Ultima games.

He was the creator, but as with so many of the game designers of the '80s and '90s, he's gotten weird in his old age.

He also knows shockingly little about modern game design. He was big back in the day because he created an interesting world, not because his game was perfect. Mechanically, it was mostly lifted from D&D, so he doesn't really get credit for that.

Since we already have the world, we don't need him mucking up the works with his weird takes on what makes a game fun.

Theocritus · August 14

mikeb0817 said:

Ginaz said:

Another irrelevant old school dev who hasn't produced anything of value in 20+ years trying to resurrect their reputation and career. Maybe him and Raph Koster can collaborate on a project together that will inevitably fail.

I really don't know where all the hate for Raph comes from. The guy visits our dated, barely populated message board and engages in deep conversations with us. He respects our opinions and shares more about his project with us than other communities I frequent.

I imagine deep down he is a gamer like we are...on the other hand, we dont really know if the account is truly him....

Sovrath · August 14

ShinyFlygon said:

Sovrath said:

ShinyFlygon said:

Ultima Online was nothing but a rest stop on the journey of the MMO genre. It wasn't particularly good, and it contained absolutely none of the charm of the single-player series.

I'd much rather see a modern single-player party-based RPG set in the Ultima world, something mechanically along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, but with all the towns and virtues and characters we remember so fondly. It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that it would be best if Garriott were NOT involved.

Wasn’t he the creator of the series? I’m betting he would have a lot more insight into the creation of any new Ultima games.

He was the creator, but as with so many of the game designers of the '80s and '90s, he's gotten weird in his old age.

He also knows shockingly little about modern game design. He was big back in the day because he created an interesting world, not because his game was perfect. Mechanically, it was mostly lifted from D&D, so he doesn't really get credit for that.

Since we already have the world, we don't need him mucking up the works with his weird takes on what makes a game fun.

Hmmm I wouldn’t go that far.

We don’t really have documentation of what he did or didn’t do specifically but he did create a lot of games and there are fans of them.

Personally I would have preferred the original take on Tabula Rasa but there were fans of the final game.

It’s ok for creators to stumble here and there, it goes along with the gig. He certainly stumbled with Shroud of the Avatar though I think he didn’t have enough money and possibly hired inexperienced people.

Weird? I don’t think he’s weird at all. I guess think he’s a bit of a dork who got popular and got a lot of praise and didn’t handle it well. Actors/celebrities do a that all the time.

Since there is a fan base for older games I would be curious to see what he came up with.

Not backing him through crowdfunding and though.

Scot · August 14

ShinyFlygon said:

He was the creator, but as with so many of the game designers of the '80s and '90s, he's gotten weird in his old age.

He also knows shockingly little about modern game design. He was big back in the day because he created an interesting world, not because his game was perfect. Mechanically, it was mostly lifted from D&D, so he doesn't really get credit for that.

Since we already have the world, we don't need him mucking up the works with his weird takes on what makes a game fun.

People getting weirder in their old age, is it possible?

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