Underworld Ascendant (Kickstarter)

Backing this was a no brainer.

 

"Rune Gates connect to other worlds as well, including the lands of the Shroud of the Avatar."

Am I to interpret this literally?

 

I wouldn't.

 

I can appreciate what they're doing, but like someone else said, why make a game with old graphics? I hate so say it, but I wish they'd get a publisher behind them with real money and make a top quality game. SOtA is suffering from the same dilemma... there's just not enough money to do it right. In the long run, it ends up a fair to good game and the players have to "settle" if they decide to stick around.

I spent the $ to jump into SOtA, but I can tell already that unless there are huge changes it's not something I'll spend much time with if I play it at all. It's tough for me to play now more than 20-30 minutes because there is so much better. Yes, I know it's in Alpha, and that's what's keeping me around.

I loved UO, and I love the people here... on both sides of the monitor... but there are so many things that are stuck in the 1990's and every time I share my true opinions the answers are "there's just not enough money to change it, but you'll get used to it", or "if we made it better it wouldn't be Ultima". I don't want to have to "get used to" things... and I don't want "Ultima". I want a great game.

I see this going the same direction... and I just can't throw money at it. I know I sound negative... I'm not negative, I'm disappointed... and I SO HOPE I am proven wrong.

 

The problem with publishers is they come at the cost of creative freedom and just because a game has nice graphics doesn't make it a good one. If Minecraft can make it, then I don't see why these games can't.

Don't get me wrong: I like nice graphics as well. I think they add a lot to the game's presentation and hopefully SOTA can deliver a more modern look. But frankly, they shouldn't be a dealbreaker for a niche game like SOTA. Because graphics aren't everything.

 

It would be interesting to see if the two games could share some bestiary, and maybe some gear in some cases.

Lurkers, rotworms, spiders,etc...

 

I so SO agree. Graphics aren't everything... it's why I played UO even up until a few years ago when there were so many beautiful, modern games to play. SOtA's graphics are fine... albeit I think the character models are fugly... but that wouldn't keep me from playing.

However, in my opinion it's not the graphics that make me wonder if this will be something I'll play, even being such a huge lover of UO. I know it's Alpha, but as it stands right now UO was so much better of a game than SOtA is looking to be. In my opinion the housing and crafting is great, everything else is poor to mediocre. With the exception of the concept behind those 2 things, it feels like a 12 year old game.

The layout of the world and the map is pre-UO... and as vocal as I am against it, I can even live with THAT.

It's the combat that in my opinion is boring. It's slow, redundant and non responsive. I can't play more than 20 minutes without logging if I'm doing something that requires combat, which is sad because of how fun UO's combat was... but again, I'm sticking around because I'm hoping for change.

I hate how negative I sound, but like I said earlier I'm disappointed more than negative. My earlier post is just me saying that I wish they'd let a publisher pick them up and get some real money behind the game so they can do it right. It's Lord British, certainly they'd give him the benefit of the doubt and more creative liberty than most, wouldn't they?

 

It most certainly is a bit PreUO, but that is by design not fault...they aren't trying to make uo2, they wanted a game that hardens back to the original ultimas with social aspects of ultima online.

 

R.A. Salvatore just mentioned this on his facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152782769259811&id=54142479810

 

That's interesting. The leisure feel of combat is exactly what I like. No twitch bullshit, no screen covered with 30+ icons, etc. I'm loving it.

 

I find it really exciting to see this game being developed. We are going to get a rich world that has everything designed to work with the single player in mind. No crafting areas, housing, POTs, PVP to take away development time of an excellent adventure.

Makes me a bit sad that shroud never went that route because I think we would be getting two great adventures with detailed worlds with believable cities and strong plots. Oh well, maybe someone will kickstart another ultima style game.

 

Isometric view, lush, detailed 3D-graphics, companions with their own personalities, backgrounds and agendas, detailed and complex NPC schedules, no filler-NPCs, no respawns, NPC economy, an ecology in which flora and fauna affect each other, a highly interactive world (baking bread, moving every object, sleeping in beds, sitting chairs etc.), an epic story... One can dream...

 

No kidding and cities that make sense and aren't made of empty lots for people to place monstrosities on. Weather, go wherever you want, music that suit areas...

 

Paul Neurath has been trying to make this game for over two decades. EA owns the rights, so another publisher can't do it. If EA wanted to fund it at a AAA level, they could and they've decided not to.

It isn't like Paul Neurath has turned down a AAA budget and is preferring to do it on the cheap. This is literally their only option.

I'll take a low budget Underworld over no Underworld.

 

71 Pioneers left

 

That is an over-generalization.

There are plenty of publishers, large and small, that have let developers have enough freedom to do both.

Also, it is a little disingenuous to ALL publishers to say that developers, who don't have their stuff together, and designers, who think they can just keep designing a game over and over and over, are not the ultimate problem having been handed a pile of money, and have managers to deal with timetables.

You can be super innovative, have a smashing design, and work with a publisher, it happens every day.

You can also be super innovative, have a smashing design, have no time management skills, and blame a publisher for telling you the pile of money ran out for the TIME YOU TOLD THEM you would have the product complete.

There are always more than 2 sides to every coin, and you just don't see publishers out here, like whinny designers and failed developers, complaining as much because of professional integrity, or, yes, even failure on their part.

Squeaky wheel and all.

 

i backed sota 100% because of nostalgia. and i wonder if i have a brain tumor, because i was on the tabula rasa boat too.

serialization = reoccuring income, and it keeps a handful of people able to fly into space. for 'publicity'.

The Hendoman

 

sorry, i should have added that i WISH there was a was I could go into space! and leave myself behind somehow, so as i blasted off, I could give myself the finger)

 

Think i'll pass on this one. So far only wasteland 2 has worked out for me.

 

Divinity and Shadowrun Returns?
I've had nothing but success, tbh. I've bought more new games that were kickstarted, too, than regular releases.