Single Player Offline: Unique Features

If they are going to allow this (and yes I think they should) it needs to be clear when your going to break the game (for instance killing LB in U7) rather than a small mistake making the game unwinable like losing a plot critical item like the serpent ring in SI

 

I feel your pain, and your doubts are mine.

But other games - with admittedly more (50x than SotA!) budget - solved this duality in a wonderful way. Let me cite GTAV / GTA Online. Both "worlds" are totally disconnected, you don't get to play with the same characters, even the economy is totally different and scales differently, the storyline is rich and depth offline, and the sense of sandbox and freedom is utterly fantastic online.

Regarding the specific concern of the "empty map", keep in mind that the lots in online are pre-seeded with homes that look like every town is "full". Adding fluff NPCs instead of PC avatars should be trivial, with the resources at hand. There won't be a wasteland of empty lots waiting forever for non existent players, I mean.

 

Firstly, thank you for addressing some of the issues I raised recently.

With regards to Companions though, I know you plan to seed items from the multiplayer world, but have you considered allowing the players the option to seed online Avatars as potential companions? For example, under options you have:

Player Based NPCs - On/Off

And when the player in single player goes to Ardoris say, instead of having a fixed companion, it could take the form (if not necessarily the name) of a player who has a home in that city; matching hair, clothes, skills etc. Perhaps the player could opt in to having their name seeded too. That may seem a bit weird for some, but also it might create a sense of connection between the worlds... as well as justifying why items from them are in the single player world.

There was a poignant story on the power of such virtual suggestion here;
Teenage son discovers his deceased father's ghost car in Xbox rally game

 

Hence why my question specifically asked about Shroud's situation at the end there. Whatever other MMOs have or have not done, Shroud has its own setup and budget. Personally I haven't played an MMO that I could believe was effectively designed to be single player, but here's the thing -- I would never buy an MMO with the intent of playing it like an SP game. Systems like phasing and instances (Guild Wars) are put in place to enable solo or small party play, but in a single player game they wouldn't even be needed. Because they are there, however much you play alone, you know you're in an MMO.


I'm not saying that Shroud needs major overhauls of its map or the like during its story to be good. But I would like to know more about how its SP mode will be distinct from its MP mode, and hearing about its MP limitations might give me a better idea.

Having not played GTAV, I'll take your word for it.

I understand, but that's not exactly what I meant. Suffice to say that I consider fluff NPCs and pointless houses to be wasteland content as well, if it's done badly. That stuff is only ever used to make a(n) (over)large map feel less empty and more populous. With the number of backer lots Shroud is obliged to provide, and how much of that housing is situated in core game maps, in my mind it doesn't look good.

 

I still have lots of fears about the SP Offline portion of the game, unfortunately.

While on SP Offline, will I be able to pretend I'm playing a "standalone" single-player CRPG, just like (for example) Dragon Age: Origins, Skyrim or whatever else (and no, I don't want to compare scope or budget, of course) ?

I assume that, once the "narrative layer" is in place, there will be a precise "beginning" of the story, its evolution throughout quests and exploration (talking with NPCs, "cinematic events" advancing the story, no matter if entirely in-engine or not) that will bring us to different places around the gaming world 'til the end of EP1 plot, right?

 

Offline single player appeals to me. I enjoy soloing and here I'll have a great big world to do it in. Thank you.

 

In some sense I don't mind "fluff" NPCs because it will make the world feel alive in offline mode. But we know Richard doesn't want those, and I'd agree. But we can have many of these non-story based NPCs if they implement my proposed feature: SmackTalk, where every NPC has both a social graph and a knowledge graph that are continually updated. For example, if you ask an NPC some keyword, he might not know it and rather than respond "uhm, what?", he can look at his graphs and tell you who to talk to instead. That's how it works in the real world. And as you interact with NPCs, they will learn from each other and knowledge spreads via those social graphs. So it won't be hand waving magic that some random NPC knew that you finished some quest. He'll know it because he interacted with that other NPC you finished the quest for. It's all very organic and can work for offline and online, where it actually has even greater impact.

 

I think what Richard and probably single player Ultima fans want is something like in the old Ultimas. Next to every NPC had it's place in the world and had it's own personality. The butcher in Paws sold drugs, the local farmer was the mother of the boy who used those drugs... Everything was somehow dependant on each other and all of the NPCs forged a community. You got to know each of them, you cared for them. It was like acting in a world in which every NPC was a real person. This was one of the things that made Ultima unique and created this special atmosphere.
On the other hand take Baldur's Gate for example. Maybe 10% of the NPCs have something meaningful to say. The rest stand around to make the cities feel crowded.
On the one hand you indeed get cities that feel crowded but you sacrifice personality for it.
I myself would prefer less NPCs who are fleshed out like in the old Ultimas instead of seeing NPCs standing around who don't have their own personalities.

 

I, too, would prefer this, but unless the whole 'Help "create" an NPC!' backer reward only shows its effects in Multiplayer mode we won't be getting it. The devs didn't put a limit on that reward and as of June last year 2,017 people were eligible to claim it.

 

Yes, this could be a real problem...

 

Snap! I forgot about that one...

 

Great request but not currently in scope for Episode 1.

 

I have some simple, yet elegant, solutions to this:

1. ultima ABCD[Alt]255

2. spam, spam, spam, humbug

Or more exciting:
3. Locate the dead blacksmith's shop in the first town. Climb on the roof by stacking crates. Walk to the back of the chimney.



Or go mid-game instead

 

DANGIT!!!! I want to play U7 again... thanks...

 

I knew at least one person would see this and fire up U7

That's one something the Ultima's have for me... replay value.

I played house in those games too Even in U8 (with the assistance of hackmove) I decked out the sorcerer's enclave location. Alternating black/red candles lining the walkway between the self-opening doors and many interesting artifacts from my travels. Was a pretty sweet house, wonder if I have the savegame still - it was more than a few computers back and not sure I have the files from my 486 still.

 

Great to hear some news about the offline mode. Looking forward to playing through that to find a deeper adventure.

 

I just saw the new video of Underworld Ascendant and in it the devs show the physics system and how they create a bridge across a chasm by using spells that make some wooden planks fall across the chasm.
Such things may be hard if not impossible to implement in a multiplayer game as it can be easily abused. But I wondered if such things would be possible in the single player offline game?

 

Better yet, an option to locally/remotely host servers run by players.

A lot of games are taking this route lately (Life is Feudal, 7 Days to Die, for example) and it's refreshing. Players are consistently showing they are better at running game servers than the companies that produce the games. There is a lot of money to be had by licensing your server to providers who offer dedicated hosting solutions to players. The player can set the rules and enforce them more efficiently than any company can.

If you look at these types of games, you will clearly see the "official" servers offered by the producers are almost always empty (mostly due to griefers/cheaters), while the player-run servers are packed.

I think it's a big win for like-minded players to group together It provides a far better experience.

 

Ditto...

GRR I didn't even know about that secret! I thought the stash south of Trinsic was a cool hideyhole. lol

 

You're better off not using the secret, imo. It gives you every item of power in the game. You can pretty much just go finish the game after you get it.

It's nice to know it's there, but I never grab it. I DO grab that one below Trinsic you're talking about though. A nice leg up on the competition without breaking the game.