I'll say it - I don't like Automatons

IMHO, they are immersion breaking, plain and simple. Hate 'em, don't fit in.

 

Why not? Automata existed in the Middle Ages; in fact, they've existed since Ancient Greece. They were used in Greek temples to create a sense of magic to onlookers. In a fantasy setting, they get embellished a bit, the same as magic lore does.

The Ultima games have included automata before.. for example Serpent Isle. They've also been in other fantasy settings. Dwarven automata are in Elder Scrolls. Even in The Smurfs, where you have Clockwork Smurf.

 

Talking about clockwork. Where does one get those birdhouse clocks?? I want one for my house?

 

Totally disagree with original post: Love the automatons, and they fit into the clockwork-style of the game universe just fine.

This is *not* a purely medieval setting, and so far I am quite enjoying what Richard and the team are building here.

But each to their own of course.

 

http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Automotones.html

THE AUTOMATONES were metalic statues of animal, men and monsters crafted and made animate by the divine smith Hephaistos. Automatons were also manufactured by the great Athenian craftsman Daidalos.
...
TALOS was a giant, bronze automoton or living statue forged by the divine smith Hephaistos. Zeus presented him to his lover Europa, as her personal protector, after delivering her to the island of Krete (Crete).
...
Talos had one vein, which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail. The Argo, transporting Jason and the Argonauts, approached Crete after obtaining the Golden Fleece. As guardian of the island, Talos kept the Argo at bay by hurling great boulders at it. According to pseudo-Apollodorus' Bibliotheke, Talos was slain when Medea the sorceress either drove him mad with drugs, or deceived him into believing that she would make him immortal by removing the nail. In Argonautica, Medea hypnotized him from the Argo, driving him mad with the keres she raised, so that he dislodged the nail, and "the ichor ran out of him like molten lead", exsanguinating and killing him

 

Do these automatons do anything? Are they just athestic? I guess they're servants, so presumably they do everything servants do.

 

"Edelmann Pledge Rewards: An animated, German Automaton house decoration (we are inspired by the Rathaus-Glockenspiel in Munich)"

 

Yeah, these clockwork pets and automatons are pretty cool and they're great nods to the spiritual basis for this game too. I want to learn more about how this tech fits into the lore of SotA.

 

Mixed feelings. They do look pretty cool but to me they do seem out of place.. even though a version existed in SI. Part of my problem may be that in SI the method of crafting automations had long since been lost. At present there is no lore revealed about them. Presumably the art of building them has been rediscovered and expanded upon (pets). I guess I just hope that they aren't everywhere I turn.

 

Have to agree Budner not a fan either thankfully I guess at Lord Marshall you can still use the Lord servant instead.

I prefer the machines in Skyrim vs the styling of the automations in SOTA, though I guess it's just something that we can probably trade in game to someone that might like this type of thing.




Compared to:

 

I like the simplicity of the automaton in Hugo personally :>

 

I don't see it as "immersion breaking" as long as there's a coherent story behind it as to why it's there. We have hints in various places (e.g. BotA if you have access to it) that there are beings like the Titans that come from other worlds. It is a unique place with its own story, not simply a fantasy trope.

Once we can get into the story in detail, hopefully it will make more sense.

 

Look, I love this game but I don't love everything. The SotA automaton is very high tech, nothing like it was ever crafted before at least the 19th century.

You can craft a story line where these things fit into the environment, but the same can be said about spaceships.

In a game where the most sophisticated weapon is a sword, this doesn't fit. If you can create a high-tech automaton, why don't we have guns?

I'm probably in a minority, but mixing in things like radio, tesla, automatons doesn't fit well IMO. What's next, cars?

Stretch goal for television?

Doesn't ruin the game for me, just seems completely out of place.

 

I agree these humanoid robots strike me as out of place, but we do have the automaton spiders and flies and the Oracle in game already. I just don't think we've been exposed to much of that part of the story yet.

 

This goes way back... space was part of Ultima from the beginning. It has always been a little quirky that way. I'd say more about how you could put it together with story, but that would take revealing too much of BotA. I don't know if I'm allowed to do that...

However there is a point with all stories that you have to suspend disbelief for "immersion." I guarantee that any fantasy/medieval game that might somehow be considered more true to its genre still has many ridiculous inconsistencies. Striking the balance of how much you ask people to suspend disbelief is hard and it's different for everyone.

 

In a world with large varieties of magic, great dragons, undead, Tesla based electric power, teleportation and travellers from another world, a self-mobile doll is the most immersion breaking?

Anyway, Ultima 7.

 

@tekkamansoul, agreed. There are a lot of features that are out of place IMO.

That said, the quirkiness of some of the game features/items distinguishes SotA from other run-of-the-mill fantasy games. Like I said, these things don't bum me out, I just look at them in game and sorta shake my head.

Should also point out that the artwork is fabulous on these items. The automaton especially.

 

So are these like the tinker's golem from UO?

 

What will be interesting to find out is how automata are powered in the game. Magic will probably be at the root of it, so they won't be purely technological devices.

In Serpent Isle, they were powered by a living gem / soul prism . The idea of some type of magic heart is common in fantasy stories. Clockwork smurf is powered by a heart of gold, which is replaced by Gargamel with a heart of stone. Even in some science-fantasy you get sort of stuff like this, like in Astro Boy, where there's a "red core" and "blue core." Like Exodus, who is a daemon attached to a "Dark Core." In Greek myth, they had the blood of the gods, ichor.

Lunar magic I expect might enter this.

 

My first suspicion would be they are powered in the same manner as the radio: Via the energy emitted by the moon towers.

The devs have already mentioned an interest in making it necessary to generate your own power if your lot is not range of a central source.

Adds a natural restriction in that they need to be in range of some sort of power source to operate properly.