I've Never Played Single-Player Offline Mode...

Yes, agreed.

For sure.

Can you point me to where it was confirmed that neither of these features are planned to be implemented by Ep. 1? I believe you... but I'd also like to see what the rationale was.

Do you really think that Port believes those elements are not important to the single player experience? You're starting to lose me here because I just can't fathom how in the world Portalarium would delude themselves into thinking that these elements are not integral to what made U7 great.

It's one thing to say that those elements have (unfortunately) been delayed. It's another thing to assume that they have been abandoned entirely. I just have a really hard time imagining that RG has decided that those things are not important to the single player experience.

 

I wonder who the single player guy is at Portalarium. Who is standing up and fights for a great single player (offline) mode and SP features?

Chris Spears is the UO guy as is Starr Long. Lum is a MMO guy, too.
Richard is in New York most of the time if I am correct.

So who is looking after the SP (offline) part?

 

Lum likes sp games; he says his favorite Ultima game is Ultima V.

 

This paints a slightly different picture though...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Jennings_(game_designer)

But it's great that he likes U5

 

Here's the one about time advancement:

I really don't remember where the one about companions is, but if I find the time to track it down, I'll post it.

In my mind, this particular function is absolutely essential. A complete deal breaker. There is no reasonable explanation for time advancement not being included on release, IF single player really matters to Port. Waiting until Episode 2 for essential functions is not really acceptable.

 

Well... as we all know Richard Garriott aka @Lord British is the Creative Director. And again- I have a really hard time believing that he would be satisfied with Offline Mode without- at a minimum- interactive Companions, and time advancement. As we also know, he was screwed over by EA after they bought Origin, and screwed over AGAIN by NCsoft after they bought Destination Games. So why he would now take this golden opportunity to make the game he always wanted to make, and piss it away... well I have no idea why he would do that. Do you?

Starr Long aka @DarkStarr was also at both Origin and Destination Games... I'm assuming he is "on board" with delivering on their promise.

@dallas Snell is the Chief Operating Officer. He was at Origin and also at EA.

Gina Marie Dionne aka @FireLotus is a "Content Writer"

Sandra White is the "Project Coordinator" who is responsible for: " Ensuring the successful delivery of a game, on time and within budget. Overseeing all aspects of a game’s development and delivery. Control the financial and other resources needed for a project and co-ordinate the work of the production team, making sure that the quality and vision of the game is maintained, whatever problems may arise. Understand everybody’s contribution to a game and keep an overview of the entire process from start to finish." so I suppose she is the person to talk to about why or why not these elements of Offline Mode get attention, or what the overall plan is.

@Chris Spears is the "Technical Director" and "responsible for making sure the studio is making the right technology decisions." So if there was some kind of "technology decision" that made interactive Companions and/or time advancement "impossible" I suppose we can lay the blame on him. Although in consideration of the fact that U7 had these implemented back in 1992, I don't see how these featured would be limited by technology in 2016.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the dev team, but the point of it all is: The leadership at Portalarium has been around since the very beginning of computer gaming. They've been through all sorts of sh!t with respect to "big name" studios sweeping in, buying up their companies, gutting their games and essentially taking the "heart" out of them.

I think it is fair to say... this team knows A LOT about how to make games. And yet despite all their experiences, people are somehow worried that they are going to try to pass off a half-baked version of Offline Mode and renege on the commitments they made during the Kickstarter.

Umm... ok... I suppose that is possible, however it would pretty much amount to career suicide. Not to mention very embarrassing.

 

I really hope that you are right.

 

Just because these people are career vets, doesn't ensure that they will give single player the attention it deserves. They have confirmed that there will be no time advancement in Episode 1 for a game with NPC schedules.

It's not about whether or not they are qualified, it's about where their priorities lie. And delivering a Single player experience (beyond having a great story) that can stand up to other single player RPGs does not seem to be a priority for the team.

Because they are trying to do too much (make a game that functions well as a both a single player and mmo style game) something has to give. Because MMO game elements are unique to the social demands made upon them. They have chat windows, there cannot be time advancement, because time flows at the same rate for everyone, etc. Systems that work well in MMO gaming are simply awkward in a single player RPG. Since they started with the MMO and worked backwards towards single player, these systems have become core to the game despite not being a good fit for the single player experience. What is an over-worked team to do? Create all new systems to make the single player game as great as possible? Too expensive, too time consuming - as we have seen with the time advancement issue.

I have absolute faith that the people at Port are capable of creating an amazing Single Player game. I just don't think it's a priority for them.

And not to beat a dead horse, but if the single player experience was a priority, then they would not be content to say that time advancement is not in the schedule for episode 1. They would make time and fit it in, because it is integral to any single player RPG with NPC schedules.

I'm certain they can deliver a less than stellar single player experience without much undue embarrassment as long as the multi-player game is on point. And, based on what I've observed, I feel like that is their plan.

 

OK, thanks! So let's look at that entire thread (Single Player Offline: Unique Features).

That sounds to me like a fairly clear statement that they intend for the Companions to be interactive. Though nothing about being able to equip them with gear...
I also see this:

Hmmm... looks to me like some members have been continuing to repeatedly do exactly what they have been asked NOT to do with respect to feedback/concerns in Offline Mode. (Maybe this is the reason Port doesn't feel those kinds of posts deserve a response.)

This exchange seems to indicate that they actually do not plan to give away the entire plot before Ep. 1 release, but rather plan to have some surprises in store.

This says they don't plan on supporting time advancement through sleep/camp for Ep.1 But it doesn't say that they don't plan on supporting it at all, and it doesn't say that there might not be some other mechanism for time advancement.

Relevant as I heard somebody whining about being forced to run through POTs in Offline Mode, or something like that.

There's an additional "treasure trove" of info provided later on by @DarkStarr:

OK- so this says YES they do plan to have interactive objects, item placement, etc.

More on Companions:

Dynamic world state changes. Check. AND monthly content updates in between episode releases.

Oh look! Here's a little nugget from @Lord_Darkmoon :

Hrmmm. Seems like @Lord_Darkmoon is back to feeling a lack of confidence about the game. (Has anything changed about what to expect for Offline Mode since this post?)

And @docdoom77 I see you were also in that thread.



Soooooo.... what has changed in the plan for Offline Mode since February 17, 2015? Anything?
Why are you guys continuing to "beat a dead horse" asking the same questions and raising the same "concerns" and making the same comments over and over again that have already been answered? Just to be disruptive? Or what?

 

Not trying to be disruptive. And continuing this back and forth in your thread is moving in that direction. I've PM'd you some responses if you care to continue the discussion. But I do feel like, I'm off-topic here, so I won't take up any more space in this thread.

 

It is hard to keep the faith when everything you hear about the game revolves around the MMO part.
Take a look at the Q4 schedule of the game. There is only one mention of the offline game which is the delivery of the offline rewards.
When will all of those unique offline features be created for the game? The release of Episode 1 is approaching very fast. Will they have enough time to really create a great and satisfying offline game that doesn't play like an Offline MMORPG? Time is running out...
And when they create an offline feature like the companions it is a half-hearted attempt to show that they are working on this mode, too. Half-hearted because the companions are just talking pets.
And there is no word about the offline mode anymore. The last we heard about it was about two years ago. Since then there has been silence, with release approaching fast.

 

I always play multiplayer, but since nobody really wanna do anything but mining.... it feels like singleplayer offline :/

I would be happy if they abandoned singleplayer offline mode completely.

 

I think I saw the other side of this record. It says "Meaningful (open) PvP with full loot"

 

You missed the point entirely.

But that doesn't mean you won't still get 27 likes for posting this somehow! You dog.

 

I'll give you a like to @jammaplaya I think ridicule and rhetoric are always good elements in creative work. Not that I agree with them, but that they are necessary to challenge the writer further into their wonderful craft in subject matter.

~Time Lord~

 

after the boatloads of ridicule that spawned from u8 and u9 I highly doubt that RG would put his name on another game in the genre without delivering every promise to the best of his ability.

But even if he does, I have to say, I liked u8 and u9, u8 being my favorite of all the ultimas, because getting through the un-patched version of u8 is what made me the incredible gamer I am today. It made me really use my head to get around all the bugs and grew my patience for crashing (which has come in handy playing sota early access and many other games)

Sure, I could have just hit alt-f4 so many times and just went back to playing U7, LIKE A SISSY... but instead I gobbled down some mushrooms, filled my backpack up with every bit of wood on the map and made myself a bridge to success right over that annoying locked door, and by doing so I have had more success than most players could ever imagine.

My point is, there's always going to be a billion more u7 fans than u8 fans, thus darkmoon is always going to have 9000 more likes than me, and the vast majority of players are always going to be totally reliant on having the game hold their hand the entire way through and never be able to find a way to have a good time on their own, blaming the creator for all their own self-induced eternal sadness. I SAY BAH and good riddance to the lot of them, and I almost hope that the game gets released as is with all the glorious crash bugs and glitchy content it has today just to toughen up some of these chaps.

It would almost make more sense for him to do so, as part of being a father is to make your children stronger so they can live a better life.

 

If I lose internet before power, I would definitely play off line mode for the first time since they introduce save system.

 

This.

Is what I'm trying to convey, although it doesn't appear that the message is getting across. Sure... if Shroud never becomes what I "hope and expect" it to be, I might be out a couple of grand and that would be irritating. But I could be out a couple of grand in so many other ways...

But for Richard Garriott to slap his name on a shoddy product that clearly doesn't live up to anybody's expectations of it (most importantly: his own)... well that would be downright tragic after all that's happened over the last 30 years.

So I think it is fair to say that the stakes are much, much higher for Richard Garriott here than for any of us backers... even Lord of the Manor backers.

 

Agree with your points. I'm am pretty certain that Richard Garriott is doing everything he can to put out the best game possible, and so far, he has gotten a great deal of support from the community. For example, we wouldn't have the excellent music in this game without the help of the Poets Circle. We wouldn't have some of the excellent stories written in the NPC books without some of the contributing writers. About 3 years ago, Port held a Unity contest for people wanting to contribute in-game items to be used as part of the game. The tent that you see in certain areas, for example, was created by someone going by the name of 'hairy man', and he did excellent work. Not sure what has happened since Port has stopped doing this, but it most certainly would help them further if they ran another contest like that. Anyways, the point being that this game wouldn't be where it is now without the extraordinary contributions by the backers of this game. I'm certain that Richard and the Port team are grateful for everyone s help.
I will hold on right to the end, and if this game fails, then everyone loses here, including Richard, which would be unfortunate. The worse for me, is that I would be out of a great deal of money(I probably spent as much as you have on this game), but I most certainly won't miss that money. As you said, it would have just been spent on something else. Actually, I would have just purchased a new lens for my SLR camera on that money