Eurogamer: Shroud of the Avatar is UO 2 in so many ways

Eurogamer has a great article up that I'm sure is going to spawn some very friendly discussions here

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...the-avatar-is-ultima-online-2-in-so-many-ways

A couple teasers:
- "He hasn't made a great game since Ultima Online. For us to listen, he'll have to prove it - prove he knows better by making the game we want him to: Ultima Online 2. After playing his new game Shroud of the Avatar for 15 hours I can tell you that it is the sequel he's threatened, in so many ways."

- "But let me make this clear: if you don't know Ultima Online, don't play it - yet. Don't pay the £30 Steam Early Access asking price because you'll see a game with dodgy graphics, archaic combat and ugly menus. You'll grind wolves and skeletons like it's 1997, in a game that looks and feels like it's 1997. You won't have any idea where to go, how to craft or what to do, and you'll want your money back. Look again next year, when pre-alpha is long over."

Check it out and discuss below!

 

well i hope so

the reason i am playing this game is because im a UO fan. i have extremely high expectations for this game

 

I will have to say that it is disappointing that they clearly stick to the UO....forgeting his ultima games that were truely great.

I'm really hoping this isn't UO2....

 

If you ask the Ultima fans, this isn't nearly enough like a single player Ultima and is to much like UO.

If you ask the UO fans, this isn't nearly enough like UO and is to much like a single player Ultima.

To the Ultima fans, I'd say we can't really tell in that they're intentionally hiding the plot and most of the single player content until closer to launch.

 

As long as we keep believing that.

 

there be the problem

we have a ton of people hoping for UO 2, and a ton not

the devs are trying to please both

hope it turns out well is all i say!

 

As an Ultima single player fan and a Ultima Online fan (still have my 20+ year old account open on EA's servers). Shroud of the Avatar is UO2 and Ultima 10 to me!

Well done devs! I can still get my storyline in and get my independent adventures I create myself.

 

My independent adventure seems to have devolved into my Skyrim way of thinking, in that anything not nailed down is going in my pocket for house decoration. At first glance this game reminds me a great deal about Skyrim.

Visually: Skyrim (landscape)
Character Model/Paperdoll and Item Names: Ultima
Grind: UO
Combat UI: WoW
Gameplay/Scope: Star Wars Galaxies
Hype: Nostalgia Boner

 

Someone didn't read the manual.

 

This 3 year old thread is a blast from the past!

 

I may not be a master necro in game. On forums ..,,

 

It lives!

 

That article is 3yrs old...

 

Agreed and feel the same.

This game does have alot of uo in it, way more uo than the any ultima. The bigger issue is that what ever they decide to call it it has to be good when its done.

 

Yet at first I thought it was new and I had to agree with it... Which should speak volumes about how the game has progressed since then...

 

The game is way more blue than UO ever was tbh, SotA is lacking the pvp aspects and the criminal system. There is many things that are close to UO but it's not the same at all. I do enjoy SotA but I hope the direction of the development goes more red/hardcore pvp mindset.... The role playing side of things is covered 100x. Let's see if there's balance coming, the features for pvp coming don't look too promising... Kinda going the route of /duel consensus pvp. Needs to go more towards the UO criminal system with open world.

Not to be the bad guy here, but speaking the truth at least for people with a PvPr mindset. don't hate me (maybe just for one day)

 

Open PvP everywhere would never work in a story driven game with quests. It would be extremely frustrating and annoying being constantly attacked when players just want to finish a quest.

 

I think we both know the player base would panic with open world pvp in the general sense,(no offense intended) but what's currently happening people afraid to flag due to how the system works and preparation to buffer not losing valued items. There needs to be a happy medium for the blue players and red. Right now it seems much more geared for blue players, in all honesty doesn't that make the game much more interesting to have the risk of being attacked? Also suggest group play for certain harder tasks for security? I'm not saying 100% of the game but higher end content should be for sure. Even some of the lower level areas should involve pvp options.

I'm pretty sure they won't put UO criminal system (currently pipe dreams for the best pvp flagging system in all of gaming) in with the direction this game is going. They need to but sadly I don't think this game is going to draw the pvp crowd. To me this game is like playing a single player game with the option of grouping for consensual content including /duels. The mechanics needs to have a intense change for this to called a PVP game, just IMO. Not trying to be the bad guy here, just talking real talk from a veteran pvp mentality. I am happy playing SotA just hoping to see a path change to peek interest of the red crowd.

Additionally the change for adventure level and skill being capped zoning into a pvp area is going to have negative effects, will run off even more pvprs. People want to feel a value in work and gear they have obtained to compete against others, this change is a arena basically like call of duty medieval version. May work for casual players? Not sure if that's the only demographic SotA is going after?

I recongonize the awesome potential of this company and staff, I'm trying to remain optimistic and hope they can figure out a happy medium.

 

In my opinion SotA is far away from Ultima Online or SWG.
A real Open World is the Killer feature. in SotA you spent 1/3 of your time with loading and zoning into instances, a huge immersion breaker.

I hope the next big Landmass (Episode 2?) will be one big World, Unity is capable of streaming!