Longtime Ultima player fundamentally disappointed

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by tomprogers, Oct 7, 2018.

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  1. ShurTugal

    ShurTugal Avatar

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    First, the fact that your a kickstarter backer doesn't make your opinion more or less important so why you started off with that is lost on me.
    What authority are you speaking from exactly??? the fact that you've played other games??? news flash for you, others like myself have played many other mmo's and don't agree with you in the slightest so no sir you don't "say with authority"
    clearly you have NOT unlocked the advanced techniques because this is so not a "manage your cooldowns" experience. and with that I am done quoting your post. I could rip the rest of your post with all its inaccuracies and what not but by now I've lost interest. If you don't like the game that your opinion. Many many of us do and support port in all they do..
     
  2. Black Tortoise

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    Self importance may not be the OP's reason (and I doubt it was). I think there is value in claiming "kickstarter backer" status. That implies, in a few words, that the OP has been here since "the beginning", knew what the culture of this game was like before R1, witnessed the development / had access to dev discussions all through the data-wipe era and up to persistence (and the Great Land Rush and all that), and then experienced the iterative development from then until release, etc. That implies someone has a strong chance of understanding the fundamentals of Port's approach to development (without the notion of the iterative process, one could easily freak out at the bare-skeleton nature of many of this game's features).

    I agree with most of the responses that it sounds like the OP hasnt explored the depth of the game, esp with things like the deck system and having deep skills in multiple crafting skills. But there is a lil' more cred to someone who was around in 2013/2014 vs someone who just bought the game a few releases ago.
     
  3. Sir_Hemlock

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    Its been around 30+ years and i still havent finished U5. God i loved that game. BUT, many many years ago, i got up to the final dungeon - only to lose the save when someone stole my disks. I could never bring myself to endure the drudgery of levelling up again.
     
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  4. Beaumaris

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    All good input, Tom.

    When it comes to combat, my advice is to give SOTA more time. Get used to it a bit more. Then go back and try other games. Having played the games you mentioned, games, when I go back to some of them I actually find that SOTA combat animations and skills play much better. In my opinion, of course. Cheers!
     
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  5. SmokerKGB

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    So let me get this straight because I'm confused, like everyone else who read your post: you give SotA the highest marks in this statement as being equal to these other games, and surely not better, but equal too... So, why are you "Kicking SotA to the curb" and hating on it?... You makes no sense dude...

    Sorry you don't get it...
     
  6. Blackghost

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    Backers allowed you to play that game, without them, there is no game.. just sayin.
     
  7. Nelzie

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    I have played some Ultima games in the distant past.

    This feels a little more like Ultima Online, with updated graphics and many of the conceits learned over the decades since UO was initially created.

    It's a hybrid game. It's single player game and a MMO. It's going to have MMO Conceits throughout. The single player version though, has differences. They have altered the power of MOBs and tweaked some other elements that SHOULD make it feel closer to the single player games you are familiar with.

    It's not going to be easy or maybe not even possible to chase that dragon of those old games. To much has changed in the world of CRPGs. Heck, even the Pillars of Eternity game, which is supposed to capture the feel of those old Baldur's Gate games has significant advances and differences and I'm not talking about the flavor text with regards to the races, etc., etc. The limitations of memory, graphics and input options are very different today than they were back then, it's expected to have more options, more speed, more things going on.
     
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  8. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    I love Ultima V as well Sir H. Definitely one of my favorites out of the series. Have you tried playing the updated fan remake that utilizes the Dungeon Siege game engine? It makes replaying the game so much more enjoyable and boy did they do a good job of staying true to the original.
     
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2018
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  9. SmokerKGB

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    You guys are just "nit'pick'n"... It's just a game... Accept it or leave it, but don't just "hate" on it...
     
  10. Sir_Hemlock

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    Its a hybrid game. Its a single player. Its a multiplayer. Its a swiss army knife. It Cuts. It slices. It dices. It corkscrews. It saws. It mends clothes. It updates.

    BUT WAIT! THERES STILL MORE

    it'll drive your kids to soccer practice. It'll do your income taxes. It'll cook you a four course meal.

    BUT WAIT... There's still more... Is there anything this game cant do?

    Call now and i'll throw in this free set of steak knives...
     
  11. Sir_Hemlock

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    I played both UV + False Prophet remakes on the dungeon siege engine.

    They are good games.

    False Prophet had unfinished dungeons + a bug which would slow the game down as time went by, preventing me from reaching the end.
     
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  12. Chrystoph Reis

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    I must be one of the few people that plays regularly that did not like Ultima... I was an EQ player, before that Sierra Online.

    I played DAOC, AC, DDO, ESO and NWO, GW1and 2, Tera, and Wildstar. I beta-tested WOW and thought it was a dumbed down MMO, polished yes... dumbed down EXTREMELY.

    I've also played and a few fly by nights MMOs (Riders of Icarus and some others come to mind)... AND with that being said... SOTA is not like all the other MMOs at all.
     
  13. Vladamir Begemot

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    You never know, once they get the quest journal running right + give the NPC's enough of a brain to point out people who need help + maybe make them come up to you sometimes, they may be able to take out the hand waving.

    To the OP (tagging you doesn't seem to work) did you try the single player offline mode? I hear the companions there give more to the story experience, although I don't know how much.

    And what I'm really hoping for for the Episode 2 addition + Quest Overhaul is more legit NPC's. Sammael style, appearing multiple times, growing with or foiling the player as we go. I really want to give a damn about them.

    Oh, and of course the Dialog UI....
     
  14. ShurTugal

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    I'm a backer but that doesn't give my opinion precedence over others. backers may be the reason the game got off the ground but its not going to be backers to give the game longevity. Its everyone else and that is why everyone's opinion carries equal weight.
     
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  15. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    Do you mean like Shadow of Yserbius or Fates of Twinion through The Sierra Network aka The ImagiNation Network? :)

     
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2018
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  16. Last_Crusader

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    But they couldn't milk the players with a game like that.
    What has turned me off to this game is the constant telethons, item shop, etc.
    It feels less like a game of passion (like a lot of kickstarter projects seem to be) and more of "let's see how many more ways we can keep people buying more stuff" income stream for the developers.

    I, like many, was expecting an singleplayer RPG - or at least one with some multiplayer elements .. not a full-blown MMO. That is where the disappointment lies for most.
    I was expecting what I got outta other "old school" developers kickstarters - Brian Fargo's Wasteland 2 and Bard's Tale IV, Tim Schaefer's Broken Age. Classic-style gameplay with newer graphics and mechanics .. but single player games .. no fluff .. no mmo-grind.
     
  17. sake888

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    Holy Crap! Wow! What an amazing effort to drive away anyone reading this who has just arrived on the scene to attempt to play this game. YOUR venomous comments are one of the reasons the player population is as abysmal as it is. Congrats!
     
  18. Justice Owen

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    Riders of Icarus, originally Horizons. He made that in his basement. I couldn't believe people were still paying $14.99 in the late 2000s for an old game, especially with all the free to play titles available. Then I realized there was a market for retro MMORPGs.



    Anyways, glad to see this thread did not completely derail and had some lively debate with good points being raised.

    I wish I could share the same optimism as some concerning the combat in regards to the 'advanced' techniques or deck system. I still only understand around 80% of it. I do not see the value of it over a single standard hotbar with locked abilities.
    The deck dealing is far too slow and I lose lots of damage waiting or abilities to appear.

    And funny enough I did not even notice the global cooldown until some time later after, which in this game does not seem to bother me.

    I am not sure what to make of it all, though I can say the combat(the player's mechanics) is the least of the things I criticize about the product.
     
  19. Astirian

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    I'm having fun with it, definitely does not feel like a cookie cutter MMO. Feels to me like a modern UO with an overworld. I can be an author or a bard in it, a grandmaster tailor (with grandmastery bonuses coming in 2019!), soon I'll be a dungeon master. Treasure hunting should be a lot of fun and a reason to see the sights. The community is mostly lovely.

    LFG could use a dungeon list maybe, performance and loading are always being worked on. I feel like the game is a lot more accessible now and the NUE should help newbs.

    I'm waiting for some sort of dialogue UI revamp before I play the game offline a la Ultima 7. They've done some stuff like adding the companions (equipable come Ep. II?), adjusted NPC economy, changed spawn rules and difficulty, save games for Single-Player Offline. Maybe it needs a bit more polish? I hear the save state resets the scene you're in (not good).

    I'm certainly getting those Ultima feels though, even in multi-player. My plan is to 'live' in MP and dive into the story segments solo.
     
  20. Justice Owen

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    Nah, far as am I concerned there doesn't need to be any LFG module at all. Let people search the world with commands for players. The results should show approximated adventure level, and their three (debatable) highest skill lines.
    This gives you some idea of what is available out there, and then you would whisper them to extend an invitation.

    On the flipside, as the recipient of those messages, you can generally tell the success rate and the experience you will have, simply by the content and quality of the first few you receive.
    First impressions mean a lot, particularly in an environment where it's smaller and people can't slip away into a crowd of thousands of anonymous inhabitants.
     
  21. Kain Darkmoor

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    I've also never really touched an Ultima game outside of UO.

    I'd have to agree that SotA isn't like any other MMO out there, really at all. So that's an odd complaint to make about this game. If anything the complaints should be the other way around, that it's not *enough* like other MMOs.
     
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