Overland map related travel concerns

It was not about your opinion, it was your opinion projected from a magazine article about something self-admitted to never having heard about; something that has major influences even in the online list you just posted. Technically it was not even the article, put the pseudo pollster numbers aggregated from that site.

I think it is fair to say the expectation would be the same for Ultima.

Say someone posted that they read an article on MMORPG and think SOTA is a piece of crap because of that article, and that they never heard of Ultima.

Sure they have an opinion, albeit, IMO, a very mis-informed one.

 

I'm sorry you felt intimidated from my comments or felt I was trolling you, that really wasn't the intention...the rant was nice though. It is interesting you accuse me of doing a bunch of assuming on you then immediately assume a lot about me. I will try to refrain from using the word bizarre...and I'm sorry I assumed you had a limited knowledge....it just seemed that way from your comments.

 

I know this thread is a bit older, but calling other peoples' comments a rant and saying that others have 'limited knowledge' are hard to interpret as anything but antagonistic. It certainly detracts from the sincerity of your comment. Come on Rune, I know you can do better than that.

 

"sizzle"

Greetings from a new guy,

As a new guy here, just started like... yesterday? I would like to throw in my comments as a 15+~ year gamer. Initially, I thought that the map, being the way it is, was awesome and immersive; I later found that there was nothing to do but walk from point A to point B and zones were generally small. Just coming from playing a very small indie title, Project Gorgon, that had semi-persistent portals made the transition feel fairly similar... But the biggest issue I see lies in two points below.

Opinion: The map has nothing to do on it, you just walk.

Commentary
I think that having something like rare "cache's" you could stumble upon would be a very interesting mechanic. Not something would be directly added to your inventory, but more of an optional random encounter. While walking you would stop auto running and would get a little message saying you "found" a treasure cache, bountiful grove, condensed minerals, etc, that you could enter into a procedurally generated high density zone that would allow you to collect a few additional resources (that would be non-re-spawning expendable) without NPC inference. It would mean that if you were an explorer, you could spend more time walking around the mini-map finding neat little caches.

Opinion: Zones don't feel like they bring you in

Commentary
I am quite used to being able to walk a large distance, in a single zone, before reaching some form of barrier, or entering another zone. The overworld map would be more immersive if the little segmented zones were a bit larger.

Other thoughts

• I think that it would be interesting to see randomly tidbits of things here and there to add some flavor to it. For example adding, maybe, a mini game you could play on the map that would unlock a hidden entrance to a secret desert crypt in the middle of the desert by moving stones found that could be right clicked into shapes, or other little fun things like that.
• Providing flight through hot air balloons would reduce some of the annoying grueling of walking, at a higher gold price providing a cash for time saving sink.
• Adding walk-over buffs that could be attained for specific zones that were invisible and gained through exploring would add short term fun benefits when fighting in the zone they were found in.

I especially like this idea
If you've ever played age of wonders, I feel like that game's mechanics would fit WONDERFULLY into the world map, not the combat but the FEEL. For example, having NPC caravans that were moving through the map that would bring up a scroll not scrolling, scroll as the item of text that would provide special offers, rare merchant goods that could be bought in specific sets:

Example Situation​

"Greetings traveler, you seem to be of heading in the other direction. I have some goods you may be interested in, I would be willing to trade 3 coal, 6 iron ore, 3 copper, and 1 ruby for 251 of your coin. Are you interested? Additionally, I would purchase 20 soot bark for 50 gold each, if have them on you."

Something like that I believe would fit EXTREMELY well with their implementation of regional pricing, as it would give long distance traders access to something that fighters would rarely find, a map caravan with bulk combo goods at discount.

Considering interactions in this world would allow for market-consumer interactions that offer different game play, and I think that adding content into the overworld map would all for increased player interaction via unique benefits/possibility gains. As a parting note, why not add a rare traveling band of monks that you could talk to that would sell you a specific unfindable recipe that couldn't be used without having it, requiring unique resources that isn't obtainable in any other way? If this was added, marketers and item-haulers would have their own way to play the game that would add something that couldn't be obtained easily otherwise, and increase immersion.

 

Welcome, and wow! *thumbs up* Those seem like great suggestions. In particularly, I like the idea of random encounters being potential boons based on the schedules of other NPCs.

 

Hello Fellentier!

Events, roaming NPCs,and random encounters are all planned to be implemented into the overland map. You've arrived just in time to see these things being developed before your very eyes! I think these suggetions and ideas will be quite helpful to ensure a variety of dynamic experiences. Thank you!