Do you care about the single player storyline in SotA or can you live without

I had not thought about it as a divide between single player and multiplayer.
Rather I think of it as a difference between roleplay/adventure and action/competition.

Those that like roleplay think lore, story, NPC personal backgrounds, and reactions to player choices, are key to this game.
The adventurer is exploring areas and discovering unique NPC storyline, finding some hidden lore within some out of the way ruins, and yes, recovering that cherished item that an NPC desires.
The adventurer can also spend hours exploring story depth within one town, by simply talking to NPCs and observing their interaction with other NPCs.
The purpose is in the player experience while getting to the objective.

Those that like action think smooth combat, interesting enemy mechanics, depth of skill trees, and competition between players for resources and bragging rights, are key to this game.
The action player is going straight for areas that are challenging and have resources or treasure.
Achievements must be earned with skill. That can be stealthy theft or in-your-face combat survival. Either way, each ruby, dropped weapon, and enemy head taken has its own story in personal achievement for the player.
The action player can also derive satisfaction by becoming well known within the market economy as an accomplished crafter and merchant. The more resources are tied to difficulty rather than random luck the better the accomplishment.
The purpose is the outcome and the level of challenge it took to obtain it.

The roleplayer/adventurer would be more likely to care about single player. Although multiplayer has the benefit of being able to share player stories between players.
The action competitor would want multiplayer for the desire to share achievements and test skills against other players.

I think the game developers desire both.
That is not easy. If it were, this game would not have so much appeal.

Cheers!

 

I usually come off as harsh when no malice is intended. It is sad to see the guys work so hard and have people giving @Lum the Mad an existential crisis because the system hamstrings him.

 

I'm expecting a thought-provoking single-player narrative embedded in a multi-player game.

If it isn't working, you change it.

Exactly.

 

I don't care for the single player at all. It doesn't "keep the lights on" and is far weaker than role-playing with other shrouders!

 

Liquidate more stuff so you can give them more money to keep the lights on so those sold on single player modes can get what they signed up for then.

 

I gladly bear the burden to keep the game going - how about you?

 

I helped the cash shop game get kickstarted. And even pitched in afterwards. I would have to see something worthwhile before I open up my pockets again.

 

When I am at the strip club. I wait till the stripper is giving me attention before I break out my wallet. I don’t make it rain when the stripper on the other side of the room.

I don’t go to strip clubs but Port won’t get more cash from me till I see answers to my questions.

I’ll toss all the money I can then. I have sent them plenty as it is.

 

Story or nothing.
I’m not considering main questline only, but sub quests which are intertwined with it.

New Britannia should a land rich with lore, not a landmass filled with mobs and ores.

 

Portalarium has chosen to break the storyline apart into multiple 'episodes' so that they can keep the game updated for a longer period of time, to keep it from becoming obsolete, technologically speaking. Will that require more fundraising? Perhaps. Does that mean more funding must be the reason for doing so? Not at all. Quality of the experience for all users is the listed reasoning, which is believable. We all know how quickly technology goes on and off the shelf these days, but probably not as well as some of the elite members of Portalarium know, like Richard Garriott, who is renowned for his advancements to the field.

4 more episodes, each with 40+ hours of additional storyline within 2 years of the initial episode 1 release.

I felt like this needed clarification after reading some gloomy Gus comments which liken Portalarium to a bunch of strippers and push false narrative conspiracy theories right here in the heart of SotA forums, where developers look for clues for how to improve the product, and where new players come to find information when considering supporting (which benefits all parties)

To reiterate: The current plan is to polish the existing (~40 ish?) hours of storyline while focusing on load time reduction, client performance and overall launch readiness. And then over a 2 year period, produce another 160+ hours of storyline among other very cool stuff, like mounted and naval combat. A total of at least 200 hours of storyline.. This plan works for me completely, especially knowing that the game will be playable the entire time and not become obsolete. I'm really not quite sure why this is such a burden for some players, perhaps the majority of them are just eager to play the game and lack a reasonable amount of patience.

 

I definitely want the single player storyline to harken back to the Ultimas. In fact, I am not following the storyline until Launch, then I will go through it in single player mode first.

I know it's a bit of a wait, but this game will last for decades in multiple episodes so I am patient. Once Launched, the storyline will help me do more in the multiplayer / community / player town mode as we will create player quests and stories ... all with consistency to the published storyline.

 

I still like the idea of U7 like quests and story in a sandbox game.

I have to say after I played the story I was a bit disappointed. Quest shouldn't be as handholding. Rewards should be much higher if questing should ever become something on par with grinding.

I think the story was ok, but it felt more like a big WoW quest overall, and there is as with everything in SotA, no deepth in anything they came up with yet....

I truly hope they can some day have monthly quests, that kinda keep the story and world alive and tell more of whats currently going on in New Brittania.
Because right now the world just feels empty as players can't do anything of importance in the world, and the story and sieges in PVE are also meaningless (Sorry @DarkStarr, they are)...

 

I wonder how many alt accounts have tainted this poll?

 

I'm playing the game to have fun. I don't give a s**t if it is MMO or single player or whatever, I don't care if they hold every single promise or not, as long as I can have fun with this game, I keep
on playing and supporting it.

 

I ordered a set of snow tires for my car. Now they arrived but they are not as I ordered them. The control system for the tire pressure is missing which would result in error messages from the tire pressure system.

But according to SotA logic I probably should use them anyway and be content even if they are not as I ordered them And I should not care if the control system for the tire pressure is present or not as long I have fun driving through the snow

 

???

While this could occur in most polls in this one it would be a strange observation. This since as I read it now the "Want single player as promised" has 53, and the "nah I'm in multi" has 37.
Since single player posters have no incentive to have alts like the multiplayer crowd then it doesn't look like much alt voting to me.

But yes, it is the reason why when I make polls I try to make sure to check the "public Votes" checkbox. That way anyone can see the names of the voters on each option and make their own opinion on the alt ratios.

 

Yes I care about - and yes, I could live without ...
BUT
I don't think it is necessary to miss it!

Would I want to miss the experience of Ultima III and IV ...?
Could I live without ever played any Ultima?
Sure, I could.
BUT ...

I wouldn't be the same person. Thinking about how I am doing things in these games, beginning with Ulitma IV, changed my mind.
All what I am doing, I am responsible for. Also for my thoughts ... the beginning of my doings ...
Not only in game ...

Yes, I care about, because the whole game was praised as more like Single/Multi/off/on.
The game was praised as a "one-size-fits-all".
And if the Single mode doesn't fit to the people who wants to take this part in their heart, well ...
... it feels like something is missing ...
And all of us know how it feels, if someone or something is missing.

And because I care about, I provide some further thoughts in a new thread about
What do we expect for an Ultima (4-7) like Solo game feeling?

 

Im way into the story. Im holding off playing thru it till its released.

They have went into detail about how specifically offline will be different from online, and it makessense for them to get the online portion done first since it requires more tedious tweaking than singleplayer does.

Release 1 notes said there wouldnt even be offline until commercial release, but they have released an early version of offline mode, which so far is more than what they said they would do

 

I'm here for many reasons.

1. There has to be a storyline. A good one. Many games have them but they don't go as far as they should.
I'm glad Lord British is back doing what he does.

2. Housing. The last few games I have played were really good. LOTRO was great but the devs did not take housing and fishing as far as they could have. The housing needed better decoration options in all aspects and the fishing I think was just thrown in to say that they had it. I eventually lost interest while I waited for something I don't thing ever came about.

AGE of Conan unchained was really neat but the was no player housing. They had guild housing and seiges which were neat but I was looking for player housing.... and the I came upon SOTA when it was starting up.

SOTA is doing housing right from the start and I know they will continue expanding on the housing that LB made famous and was copied by others.

3. Fishing was one of the things that was really neat in UO and I cannot wait for the fishing and ocean activities to be brought into SOTA.

But to stick with the OP point .

A story line is very important. Without it its just repeated monster slaying and after a while there is no point. I really liked UO but there was not much of a story line to follow.

 

I strongly recommend you to change your tyre supplier !