SPO and SP Offline

In this thread many people have expressed their concerns in a sufficient and logical manner. Sad that we aren't able to reach you. I'm not interested in a personal conflict and give up a further debate with you. No attempt, but for me it is pointless when two people repeat the same statements over and over again.

 

So when can we hear more about companions?

It's not like I don't understand project base planning / nor game development - I just would like to know a little road map - as to how "full fledge" the companions may shape out to be - I'm not trying to "layer you bro" ... I like many others like myself are just interested in getting a little more in depth "look" as to what we could expect - with the understanding that everything is subject to change ...

is this too much to ask for; I say nahhhh

 

I don't think that companions only affect the story. If they are planned for the game, they have to be considered for the combat system, too for example. How do companions affect balancing? How many companions can one player have? How do you control the companions? Will you be able to manage their gear and skills and create their decks?
Companions cannot be included as an afterthought. As then they would be shoved in and be nothing more than pets. And a true companion is nothing like a pet.

The same for other elements. Respawning for example. The whole balancing could be affected by how they plan to have respawns in the game. What about choices that affect NPCs or parts of the world? Will I be able to kill an NPC? If so, will he be gone for every other player or just for me? Will he respawn? Those are important things for people interested in the SP-part.

 

Richards responses to such questions trouble me deeply... deeply...

 

You and me both. I don't get the whole "shhh be quiet." attitude. If you don't express what you think or desire then at the end of the day it is your fault for not speaking up.

I swear I have no idea why so many think the only thing that matters when playing a game single player is the story. A single player MMO like environment is still a MMO.

I have never said anywhere that I do not think they are going to support anything(I still have hope)...however silence as they say is defening.

I have stated before in this thread that they have changed PVP due to how loud people on the forums were.

I have worked on projects as well, you don't really want to add components to it as you design, you should have a road map for the entire game before you even start. Then, you add to it as you develop, allowing you to not lose focus of the project.

I'm curious how long some of you have been around if you don't remember some of the developers videos talking about things that the game would have long before they were implemented.

When do we start to think it won't happen as well? It's already Sept, the question is...when will this launch?

 

Sleeping is another compromise which could affect quests and story.

If you get a quest in which you would have to follow someone during a certain time of day you cannot advance the time as the game takes place in a multiplayer environment. Either you would have to wait for the time of day or you would have to do some other stuff and maybe then miss this date or such quests are not part of the game.

I also wonder how NPC schedules will work in the game. Will NPCs go to sleep? What if I want to talk to some important NPC and it is night? Will merchants not sell wares at night? Or will NPCs not go to sleep at all?

Another thing that is important for the SP-part and quests: How will quests be handled in the game? Will it just be through dialogues? Or will some events happen that trigger quests? For example will a thief run out of a shop and you will have to catch him? What happens if some other player catches him? Won't I be able to complete this quest? Will the thief run out of the shop every hour (poor merchant) so that others can do the quest, too?
If an NPC will show me the way to a place where he found someone murdered, will he walk away with me? What about the outher players who want to talk to him? Will he clone himself and suddenly be there multiple times?
What if some soldiers burst into a tavern calling for the person who defeated the evil mage? Will all players stand up who did the quest (strange - I thought that I killed the mage)?

 

I too am interested in how they'll make the quests interesting/responsive to our actions.

I'm happy to accept some compromise since I'm one of those who likes Multiplayer elements BUT must have good story/quests/lore etc. For example, because there's not really the ability to 'sleep away the night' in the ONLINE modes (maybe there will be OFFLINE?) then we should be able to 'awaken' sleeping NPCs (the Witcher series handles this well) so we can talk to them (perhaps they're a bit grumpy to start with )

Also, I really hope they get clever with the quests, so that different players might see different things in the same scene or be separated from some scenes from players who have... e.g. If I've killed the dragon, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT DRAGON FLYING AROUND 10min LATER!

For other quests they could just get clever with the coding. e.g. If I've healed the sick guard, when I'm in that scene I see him healed.. others see him sick... wouldn't bother me too much if they are busy chatting to him trying to complete the quest, that's a small price in my mind so long as he looks healed in my scene.

 

I'm interesting in playing this game with friends, but am more interested in the storyline than in the PvP or other multiplayer stuff... maybe a bit of trading with other players. It was Ultima 7 that brought me here :-D
Really hoping the story is good. I've been playing some of Divinity Original Sin but feel it doesn't have the nice storyline and world like Ultima 7 did.

 

I too am all for a rich and deep story told using lots of clever tricks in the game ala Ultima 5,6,7 (and 8 to some degree). I'm happy to play open player online and to make some new friends as I wonder around completing the quests/story but that's really just and aside, a distraction if you will, from my main purpose: To uncover the mysteries of New Britannia!

 

It was Ultima's 3 through to 8 that sold me on the magic of Lord British. I did try UO but without a story it didn't hold my interest unfortunately.

 

There was a story and we worked so damned hard to make it happen... but we were gutted by the guardian. There was seers on every server to animate the storyline, and it was deep and mirroring real life issues with a genius I consider myself almost indebted to...

 

I do wonder when they'll let us test FPO mode or the selective multiplayer logic.

 

I used to play the Ultima games years and years ago - I started with Ultima 4. I played on an off up to Ultima 7.

I always thought it would be fun to play with my brothers (we used to fight over the computer) so was pretty excited to hear about SOTA and that it would be multiplayer... but I've become a bit disheartened by all the focus on an MMO style game - PvP combat, compromises on story mechanics etc. MMO is a bit beyond what I was looking for, but it could still be okay if they do it right.

It's my wish that there are a few releases coming up where the entire focus is on the story mechanics and the "making world of N.B. respond to my actions" Can they setup one or two example quests that offer a full example of how they will tell the story so we can BETA TEST that aspect of the system - so far it all seems to be about testing the MMO side of things.

I think there's a big 'silent' group of gamers out there who are just looking for a good story to play through (but one they can share perhaps?) like the old Ultimas. They might not post so much as the MMO types but they are out there - me and my two brothers for example!

 

Oh, to add to my post above, as an example of the large numbers of people looking for a good story driven game, just look at Pillars of Eternity and Divinity Original Sin, they're both doing really well on sales/hype - BUT I'm an Ultima/Lord British fan from way back, so I'd prefer a story from the champion of role playing games

 

I can only hope that Lord British will not forget us - and hopefully answer our questions

 

I'm in this primarily for the story too but really what could they possibly say at the moment for PVE?

They're working on combat systems. Which will be the skeleton of the entire game.

They can't tell you what kind of combat abilities companions would have because they haven't finished designing combat abilities in general yet.

They can't tell you who companions might be without giving story spoilers, and I wager than 100% of the planned ones won't make it in.

Gix has brought up valid points, I don't see why some people are taking it as some kind of personal attack.

Unless the only thing you want is "There will/will not be companions" there's probably nothing they could tell you (and even then it could be up in the air)

 

You know what guys, they are reading... but people were loud to get pvp asap, that if pvp was like this or that it would be a deal breaker, so now they focus on that to attempt to cater to as much players as possible (ampap) so they're kinda pressed.

All we're asking really here is an update about when could be test the SP mechanics, and whats the basic idea about how it will unfold.

Really this question should not even need to be asked, should be part of the updates or R9 post-mortem...

 

Agree with most your post... but they can totally be clearer and affirm there will be companions and that they understand what people enjoyed in them.

Not merely another "pet" but a dynamic character that can change our whole experience in the game, I know for commoners it sounds like a vague affirmation, but for a programmer or old time Ultima player, its crystal clear

 

You couldn't possibly know something like this without talking to the devs and them telling you why they went with their development cycle.

Empirical evidence running amuck.

 

Are you challenging my omnipotence ? 0.o