'Stones' ? A plea from a fellow Bard ? (Dev) Replied

As one who's roleplaying history has drawn influence from the early Ultima games, it is my sincere hope to be able to hear the familiar 'Stones' as part of the new game. I realize there may be trademark or copyright issues with all of it, but as much as I love the story of the Ultima games, my memories are drawn perhaps even more to the music.

I still have a CD I made from around the year 1999 of Ultima music that I converted from midi->wave->mp3 clear from Ultima 3 through Ultima Online. I called it "Ultima Hits". I can still picture in my mind when I hear the Ultima 3 - 'Wander' midi of the pixelated monsters raising their arms opposite each other in rhythm with the music. Classic!!! In fact, I still have all those converted mp3s on my ipod that I use as background music for playing medieval board games with my kids.

In addition, while I can play a basic version of Stones on my mandolin, my 14yr old son, who has never played an Ultima game, knows how to play Stones quite well on the piano. It brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. My 8yr old even knows it's an 'Ultima' song when he hears it.

So even if 'Stones', or the many other wonderful pieces of old are copyrighted, please know that the effort put into musical scores DO play a huge role into the enjoyment of a game. In fact, after writing this post, I think I'll put in my 'Ultima Hits' tomorrow as I drive to work!

"Music triggers emotion and transcends generations..."

Daylar de'Otaros
Master Bard of the Burning Heart Guild
Co-author, "Ultima Online Strategies & Secrets Unofficial: The Burning Heart Guild"

 

Wasn't David Watson the composer for Stones? It seemed like he might be on board from the recent video with Richard. It's really iconic to me as well. My favorite fantasy track. It's especially beautiful on the piano. It's wonderful your son can play it. I'm not really sure what kind of copyright would be on the track, in any case, I bet you can expect music of similar quality at the very least.

 

Pretty sure all the old songs are off-limits because of EA, but they have said the music will be similar and I believe the original composer is on-board.

BTW, I also have all the Ultima songs on Midi. I used to have an old website where you could play them all in the browser. Man I feel old.

 

Oh man, Stones. To this day, I keep one of Ymochel the Drow's versions on heavy rotation in my youtube playlist, as I considered his version superior to Brad Venable's. Just my 2 gold, of course.

 

UO's music was awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/user/greenfruit10

 

Here you got some nice Ultima remixes incl. stones.. twice:
http://ultima.cfkasper.de/media.php#MUSIC:

For my little project by my amazing musicians

 

I agree that 'Stones' needs to find its way into the game. If it or other iconic tunes cannot be included for copyright reasons, than please make it an option to easily swap out ingame songs. Then those who own copies of 'Stones' (such as the version that came with U9) can import it in if they choose.

 

Live feed of David Watson playing Stones and someone singing would be epic. Brad Venable does a good job in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSZoRm-4mVM

 

My favorite rendition!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k26rXxiRhc8

 

This is a unique version as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqajBoaH1wg

 

Awesome links and thoughts. Keep em coming...

 

I wouldn't mind hearing some of the old UO tunes back in this game.

It's not like EA uses any of them.

I think if the Fellowship tune starts blaring out during the game, that would be one of the coolest things ever.

I have full faith that the music in this game will deliver though.

 

Well if the proposed musical instrument system is sophisticated enough we'll be able to play stones in game ourselves!

 

Great thread. I really enjoyed all the links!

 

Harp!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udUx6lt-lBE

 

I'm working on an electronic remix. Stay tuned!

 

I agree Ms.Chif that Widiar version of Stones on the piano is a unique version and my favorite.

This is a favorite site of mine where you can download music from U7 and UO.
http://dor-lomin.com/archive/ultima/musicarchive/

Finally here is a quote from the latest Transcript of the Reddit Q&A with Richard Garriott. I love his answer!

<i>Q: Stones? Stones!

A: Stones.

 

Well just to calm the waters that EA does use the Ultima music in game of UO. Go to any town and you will hear the city theme. Or just fire up your own Harpsichord or Music Box and play all of the tracks (that is if you battled enough monsters and collected all of the music tracks. So if anyone was thinking that EA does not use the Ultima music, they still do.

LordG

 

I spent a few days making this trance remix of Stones. I call it "Forsaken Stones". Have a listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S36v-ZUzxwg

A trance remix of David ?Iolo? Watson?s age old theme of ?Stones? that I know you will enjoy! We bards may not be rich in coin, but we are rich in spirit! And lockpicks.

Wax Poetic, my friends,

~Holt Ironfell

 

Since it hasn't been posted yet.
http://moongates.com/