Comparing SotA to Ultima VII

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Lord_Darkmoon, Apr 6, 2016.

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  1. warxnox

    warxnox Avatar

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    If anyone needs some help on how to run/install Exult please PM me.

    Well in fact I didn't mean it had to be easy and fast, but the opposite is note true either. Why do such features seems so far to be implemented ?

    Perhaps I don't get the "big picture" and have not all the data, but it seems that a bunch of people here do think that which is not in the game is just not in the game yet. What if it will never be implemented ?

    The closer we are from the "launch", the more questions we have about what we think are "missing features". Don't you think it is legitimate ?
     
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  2. Lord_Darkmoon

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    Another thing that made Ultima VII feel more immersive:
    Everything could be done directly in the world. There were no windows popping up when we wanted to bake bread, wie mixed the ingredients directly in the game world. There were no lists etc. Nothing that ripped you ot of the world. We played in the world and not in some windows...
     
  3. SmokerKGB

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    Actuelly, when you buy them from here, they've already done the converssion for you, so no need for the other program... That's for if you have the original software which was created before the Giga HTz CPUs were around, so they didn't include "slow down" elements, other wise the software runs at light speeds, far faster than any human to follow...

    I also backed "Underworld: Ascension" and they gave me a discount on the whole set, so install was a breeze, and playing brought back memories, but the graphics are so dated, that it wasn't fun... They came with all the clue books & maps too for each episode (which I wish I had way back when, as you need to take notes and draw your own dungeon maps)...
     
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  4. Andrew Silverston

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    In Ultima VII days, games were developed to provide people with countless hours of fun. In these days, games are made as part of business opportunity and to charge people money for virtual items and virtual property. There is a lot less fun today in games because devs focus more on business part of the deal. They lost their imagination and talent of inspiring players. Some Devs may have inspiration, but it's usually crushed by the publisher or a lead developer because things are "irrational", "insignificant" and "unprofitable" to the "product".... :(
     
  5. Andrew Silverston

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    Yeah, we heard a sound, saw simple animations and were happy because we knew that our bread was backing. Now we click all kinds of menus and buttons, drag ingredients into more Windows, submit every change, argue about the fonts in those windows and artificial sounds on clicks... There is just so much stuff today that completely destroys immersion... It's just sad.
     
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  6. Dane Sardock

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    Hit the nail on the head there. I was actually looking up Ulitma 7 when I found SotA and immediately signed up. I really miss having to actually think while playing a game. Now days you get a quest, a marker appears on your map and off you go. I wanna feel like I have had to investigate and discover where I need to go instead of just being told.
     
  7. Mata

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    Welcome Dane Sardock!
     
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  8. Bowen Bloodgood

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    I think you mean the closer we are TO "launch". There's an arguable difference I think between legitimate concern and pessimism. As I stated earlier if they announce a launch date and we get close and some of this stuff still doesn't look like it's close to being in.. I'll join in the crusade. But it seems some people are immune to the dev's various assurances. How many times do Richard, Starr and Lum have to say "we're working on it" "it's a high priority" "we definitely want this to happen to it's only a matter of time" or whatever else before people relax and take their word for it? Some it seems never will until their fears are finally laid to rest by a complete system.
     
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  9. Dane Sardock

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    Thank you. I'm really excited to see where things go.
     
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  10. Lord_Darkmoon

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    We are getting closer to launch. RG stated that Episode 1 will be released by the end of the year. This means around eight months until "release". I'm getting nervous to see a great offline experience until then... Eight months is not much time, considering the state the offline mode is in and considering that there are still so many things missing from the overall game...
     
  11. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Yet a lot can still happen in 8 months and it's not like we know for sure they haven't done anything at all. The bulk of the game is in place. Now if it was in this state with a certainty of 4 months to go.. and with no production after launch.. I might be a little concerned myself.. but I look at the schedule and I see.. main storylines fully playable by a certain release.. another scheduled for polish etc.. I see single player features scheduled.. ok they might get moved around like everything else but they're there..

    If you want to give yourself grey hair over it that's up to you. I'm not there yet.
     
  12. Andrew Silverston

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    It's not really about the fuss over unfinished game. You can consider that the last wipe means locking in all the gameplay features. Usually, the next stage after that is called Beta - when all the core features are locked in and there won't be any more core features added' until an expansion or a big update months after release. They will be working on polishing for a few months what they have locked, balancing the game features, fixing bugs etc., and preparing the game (Episode1) for "official release".

    Then some time after that, they may add more game features (Episode 2), but it will probably be a paid update/expansion (unless your pledge includes multiple episodes) since that requires a lot of QA hours, balancing and polishing again. After the final wipe, all the game features officially are locked in (Game state and character state), and game, either they call it this way or not, switches from the Early Access to Beta testing. The may still add some insignificant features until the end of the year, that doesn't require reassembling the code (and another wipe), but I don't think it will be anything major, like sieges that were added this Release.
     
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  13. Kara Brae

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    When I recently started playing Ultima VII again, the first thing that delighted me were the dialogues. They were interesting and funny and I loved the way companions made jokes and sarcastic comments (if only they weren't always HUNGRY :))

    Maybe it is hand-holding, but I enjoyed having a limited number of replies to choose from and the knowledge that each interaction with an NPC covered all the important dialogue options. A dialogue system like SotA has is supposed to be more realistic because you can type in free-form questions, but in practice it is impossible for the NPC devs to cover every option the player could type. Example: in R27 if you failed to ask the dying guard in Highvale what his name was, the healer wouldn't come and heal him. The healer didn't understand things like "a guard is dying" or "there is a survivor". You had to type the guard's name for him to react. I think that particular dialogue has been or will be tweaked, since it is a tutorial dialogue, but it is a problem common to free-form dialogue. The Ultima VII dialogue can't fail in that way.
     
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  14. Cinder Sear

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    I worry that those that can't spell or maybe english is their second language, and the game is not localized will be harmed most with trying to type exactly the phrase the NPC expects..
    Also, it is very frustrating when I'm trying to finish a quest, and I can't get them to acknowledge a task completion because I didn't expressly say 'Myron is Dead' or 'I killed him' or any other SPECIFIC thing that triggers these quests.

    Impossible to program the NPC to allow for human interaction, IMO. And crazy to try.. but keep trying!! I just hope it does not degrade the quests in any way, and currently things need to be improved if we are to expect to have a conversation with an NPC.

    As a noob to Ultima VII, I quite enjoyed the dialog of the NPC's and party members.. I would be SO HAPPY to see this level of interaction mirrored in SOTA. We all would.

    I don't think this IRC style chat is the way to go for questing.
     
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  15. Sir Cabirus

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    That's interesting, I never knew that one can save the dying guard. Thx :)
     
  16. Lord_Darkmoon

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    Try it. The way the healer behaves and walks while escorting him to the guard you will think it is better for the guard to just die ;)
     
  17. HoustonDragon

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    One of my favorite things is how much crap EVERYBODY gives poor Shamino about his girlfriend, and other NPCs would react depending on who was in your party at the time for the conversations. Standard stuff now in RPGs, but at the time, it was very cool to have it noticed :p
     
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  18. Sir Cabirus

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    One of my favourites:

    (Iolo) "Ahem, I have heard something about an actress, no?"
    "What dost thou know of it?"
    (Iolo) "Avatar, ask him about 'Amber'."
    "Thou art a swine, Iolo."

    I like it :)
     
  19. HoustonDragon

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    Spark's reaction to the Bee Cave was also highly amusing :p
     
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  20. Sir Cabirus

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    I must confess I can't remember :eek:
     
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