State of the Game?

I too haven't played in about 5 - 6 months and from reading the posts in this thread will probably leave it a few more. Is the money raised so far just for episode 1 or for all 5? To be honest the idea of there being 5 episodes makes my head spin. I'll be old and grey before that happens. I'm actually quite old and grey now but you get my point:- This game is taking an eternity!

 

They just have the money to complete Episode 1. For Episode 2 a new Kickstarter is planned.

 

Can anyone really see an episode 2 really being made? I can't. The big backers will probably have sunk all their money into the first game.

 

I agree with this, the devs dont want smoke blown up thier buts.

Im sure they appreciate hearing how things really are. But delivery method is importnat as well, if you are hatefull with your feed back they wont hear you because they are human and will put those walls up. Chris is a smart man but he is quick to walls .

Make a case but do it professionaly, yes you will have people try and attack your ideas they have thier own agendas and possibly not mature enough to have a conversation about something.

 

Well you could still operate the crafting tables needed for resource processing... But only once. It would feel more immersive I guess, and with some Kobold Technology it is within the lore.
Not fun to smelt thousand of ingots needed for GMing skills... if it is automated we still have the time sink, but player's time can be spent doing more interesting stuff.

Think of minecraft. You operate and maintain the smelter there by putting fuel in it etc... but you don't have to process every single ingot yourself.

 

I still say its not the Automation that would be recived as a good thing..That's NOT what this Game is for..NOt in Release 1..

 

Hello.

I started playing few days ago and I'm having fun. Being honest with the devs and the community, I have been playing released MMOs with a bigger budget with more bugs and less content than what I can find in SotA.

 

The money raised so far (or the current trend) is sufficient to complete ep1. They discussed future kickstarters for future episodes. The prior kickstarter had rewards keys for ep1-ep5, but it was for funding ep1. The scope and direction for ep1 changed after the kickstarter.

 

Anyone knows a source where one could find the amount of venture capital Portalarium has taken? Is that something they ever announced publicly?

 

This thread is depressing. I was genuinely scared to come back, hopped on the forums to see what was going on, and it looks like it's still not in a state most people would call "enjoyable".

 

Removed several posts for constant fighting and warned said posters. Thread may get closed if that continues.

 

It is what you can make out of it. It is still missing a lot of sand though, but slowly but steady they add more life to it.

 

My thoughts are that Episode 1 only asked for a mil. Episode 2, even if they need to do fundraising/new KS, should still only ask for a mil, and the development time should be closer to a year instead of 5 years. Once they got all the graphics, coding, and systems in, all it takes is a little bit of elbow grease to pop out content, right?

Of course, we have no idea if said content will be any good. Still.

 

Problem is their current funding level is $2m for ~30 staff. So if you expect them to do ep2 on $1m it has to happen with half the staff...

 

You never can make a thing suitable to all of us,
but ...
I don't want boring you by telling the "buts"

The reason for me playing this game in the current state - like before:
1. The main quest lines - the story about this realm - the paths
2. The further quests
3. The game has his own charme - may be Ultima players got in touch with it
4. The developers are ambitious
5. Most of players and community members are kind and respectful
We mostly have a good discussion in community and game
and last for this moment, but not last at all
6. I like to see the origin of this whole game

And don't think, I am happy with all, but who is at all the time?
As I talk actual about in
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...skills-chaos-and-questbook.82778/#post-772827

REMEMBER THIS:
We are at R 39! The game isn't finished yet! And for this state it is great!
May be expectations were greater as the state of the game at the moment?
Well, expectations can end in disappointment.
So: hope the best and have fun with what you're having NOW - like in real life.
As you know, there are two things you can do:
love it or leave it.
May be you do nothing of both, so make the best like in your real life and live with it, while doing your best

I am excited every month of the progress. And the last months happened a lot!
We are so close to the completing of the 3 main paths!
And I am looking forward to the next quests, giving story and more life into the game ...

And again. YES, because I haven't so much time to play, I don't like the way of skill decease as it is (you can read about in my thread).
But this is one thing in the whole game. Is the world, we live in, bad, because of a few things we don't like?
I don't think so. And my respect and gratitude to the developers handling so much of negative threads in a good way and keeping there positive attitude!
And after reading all this stuff taking a lot of their time - they find time to make this game better and surprising us with new features
Really: what can we expect for $40? With only $40 you can take part in this game.
I played much more expensive games with less funtime ...

I came late to Episode 1, so the Founder and Royal Founder things were over
I would like to see the new pledges from beginning of Episode 2.
My favorite is: to have the possiblility to take part in game origin! This is what I really enjoy: Reading and seeing how the world is built ... And so I enjoy every state of the game - like it is

 

Port never asked for money for Episode 1, they asked for money for a different game and the when the Kickstarter was over, they retooled to make Ultima Online 2 with the serial numbers filed off. I don't think Port was being dishonest in the original pitch, one would assume that if they were they would have hired some veteran MMO devs. Ergo Port has never disclosed how much money they would actually need to complete the project as it is currently envisioned. They still use the terminology of episodes 1 to 5, but that has no relation to what was pitched in the KS.

 

I'm still having fun...playing.

I think port has a hard road ahead with release. Not, because of the game itself but, because of unrealistic expectations that many people have. Since the beginning people have been disecting every word said, and spinning them to create this amazing game that fulfills their every want. Unfortunately there will be compromises along the way and changes that tarnish' the game when standing next to that expectation they built up.

On its own, the game is still fun... for me. It needs work, it needs improvements, more Unique content and less cloned scenes. But, I think it is gettting their. But when they say the word "released" how many people are just going to compare it to the expectations they had and not what the game actually is.

 

I just went back and read the Kickstarter page and it's pretty close to what we're playing now.

 

A lot, look at Planet Explorers, during early access reviews was mostly positive, after release scores are mixed. After release missed expectations and buggy games are no longer overlooked even from the the biggest fans.

Even bigger example is NoMansSky, although it was not early access. Despite doing solid patches to restore cut features - the stigma is there that features was cut from the game at release that will always cost them future players.

SOTA cannot afford to release with a story that requires patches to make it enjoyable. There are not enough people willing to replay a RPG story with an experienced character even if they reset the quests.

 

I must have missed the part about it being a standard fantasy MMO, could you point it? If you want, I can link the video where LB mentions how horrible grinding is and how SotA won't feature it.