Release an Episode 0 first? - Poll [UNOFFICIAL]

It's only a bit more than half a year until the end of 2014. It seems that SotA is still some way off from being in a state in which it can be released. Especially when you think about that they will have to include a full fledged single player game as well. Maybe 1 1/2 years are a bit short for completing a game that wants to be both an MMORPG and a single player RPG.
I believe many of us do not want to get a game that is not what we all expect it to be.
So maybe the devs should concentrate on creating some kind of Episode 0 first. This could include all the basics of the game without the story, dialogues, NPC schedules, companions and everything related to the single player part. It would be a sandbox game. It could still be played in all of the modes, be it single player offline and online, friends only and open online.
After having released that the devs could concentrate on creating Episode 1: Forsaken Virtues in a way that it would be a great single player experience just like it would be the (spiritual) sequel to the single player Ultimas. Some kind of Ultima X with everything we would expect from such a game like complex companions, a deep and exciting NPC-conversation system, a story that is presented in an exciting way, more complex NPCs with more detailed day/night schedules etc. They could take their time and invest the money they got from selling Episode 0 into making Episode 1 a fantastic and better experience than it would now be possible.
I fear that due to time and budget constraints the single player part could not be what we all expect it to be and what it could be if they rush with completing it.

What do you think?

 

You have left me no choice as "I never wanted ....".
It shouldnt be removed, but i am not interested in this part.
Since UO i played no offline game to the end.
Hm, thats wrong, i played Ultima Ascension to the end.
In my opinion, offline games are boring.

 

I'm all for this as I pledged more for the single player aspect (although the multiplayer part has grown on me a lot since the kickstarter).

I could also get behind this if it encouraged more backers and with it, more funds which would then improve the following episodes.

Jimirillo

 

I believe Portalarium doesn't have to do anything out of the ordinary or different to be where it wants to be at year's end.

The game will be released, in the sense that our characters will no longer be wiped, and the Episode 1 content will be there, but a lot of other functionality will still be coming.

So I can't vote for any of the above, I don't think.

 

I have faith in Portalarium''s process, progress and projections.

 

One of the only reasons I pledged was for the original Ultima's and the history of Origin and RG. UO was the reason I was skeptical.

I'm not sure what we will get at the end....not sure how the story will work....not sure of just about anything on here now.

 

These are still pretty early days, in the scheme of things. If it were not crowd funded, there would be a lot less information floating around. We'd be seeing a few promotional interviews with the developers here and there, and probably a high drama promotional clip with pretty art and very little detail. The brainstorming, the progress updates, the access to testing intervals, that'd all still be months away for closed beta participants, and longer for the rest of us. Hang in there

 

I fully expect SotA to ship feature incomplete or late at this point. They have a very small team for audacious goals.

But launching without quests, story, etc. doesn't make much sense to me.

 

You don't need to "expect" that -- the team is openly saying that's the case (ie: they will ship feature incomplete). They're being totally open about it. No need for guessing.

 

I they delay will be ok for me. Even I expect that, no problem, so more "R" for us.

 

Just because what they show isn't complete, which is mechanics. The content could be further along, just a matter of placing it.

 

Kill the unbeliever!!!

 

I think releasing an "unfinished" game is dangerous. Magazines and websites review "what is there during release" and not features that may be added to the game at some point in the future. So the game could get rated at a much lower score because of being incomplete which would then drive away potential customers from it or even worse could put a mark on the game even for the future.

 

In another thread. we were discussing SWTOR, which is a similar game in many regards (a spiritual successor to a single player RPG series with a strong emphasis on story that is online and tried to merge both worlds).

When the launch failed to impress, everyone left and never came back. The fact that the game was improved later didn't seem to matter. No one was willing to give it a second chance.

 

It depends how they go about it - if they take an episodic approach for game 1 - with the story it could work ... the hard part would be to maintain player interest with whatever features they release

For them to release a pure sandbox experience - without NPC's may hurt more than help ..

If they are even thinking about this - the "never ending beta" is the way to go ... that way you are still building user base while working on the game

 

I voted strongly for the 4th option. Personally, I want NO release until it will be done right with all that the developers want in the game and all that the backers were promised. Lord British has fallen victim to games rushed to release in the past and it was always an ugly result. Cough: Ultima 8. I don't think that is something he wants to impose on himself with his own software company! It would be a bit silly for him to shoot himself in the foot right?

I for one am perfectly fine with a delay in any full release. It will mean a better product and a better game all of us can enjoy. Rush it and push out a half finished game this year, and we can look forward to bugs, unpolished features and visuals, and a less than fulfilling experience.

 

I really think the whole game needs to be delayed. So they are able to get both the single player and mmo parts of the game as "finished" as possible. By finished I am talking about finishing things that they have said would be included in episode 1. We do know there will be things that will not come till episode 2 or beyond and I don't expect them to be working on those yet. But releasing the game without all or most of the features we were told we would have in episode 1 would be bad for the game.

 

Actually, I'm certain this is the case. They talked all around it in the anniversary celebration (which I had playing in the background while I did data entry stuff). They talked about holding things back from us until they were done, so as not to skew our perceptions of it. They also talked about systems they have finished, but we haven't seen yet.

 

If anything, I'd do the opposite. Delay sandboxy features which are much harder to implement, much easier to exploit, and have a much bigger penalty for getting wrong the first time.

I'd rather see a buggy quest than say a buggy economy.

But I'm completely in favor of delays to get things right.

 

I didnt read the full text of the choices before voting so I veto mine, but even so polls like this are blurry because the choices are never quite black and white, or even grey. I dont think any of the choices reflect my take on the subject

While its no secret I'm all about the solo campaign, I don't think its even possible to segregate the two from a dev point of view since the single player game is being built inherently to be played online (either solo or friends). In other words they will either both be ready or they wont. Its totally impractical to release an "episode 0", just like its pretty much impossible to release the solo game without online being functional.