Overland Map Changes

Ultima 7

 

I know but, let's be real we're not making another single player ultima in the early 90s.

Btw, that first shot is some kind of skin and scaler people made to play Ultima IV or V with nicer graphics right ?

It never looked that good back in the day.... I didn't have an Amiga tho

 

Right

 

Any way you cut it someone will be disappointed - in terms of art style - but I'm hoping for more functionality

 

I think if we go with a lot of the ideas....shortened sight distance, darkness effecting the map...not knowing places before finding them then it will bring alot of exploration in.

At this point whining about a seamless world isn't going to change anything.

 

adding darkness and fog of war won't help this.

Its a hastily cobbled together map that uses artwork never intended for this purpose. Simply making superficial adjustments is not good enough.

 

Maybe you misunderstood me. I was not talking about a monoscale map. But when you look at how the overland view looked and behaved in the RTX demonstration, you could get the impression of your avatar walking around in a big lush world and zooming in on areas. This is what I want and I beliefe that this is how the RTX overworld view was like.

 

I'm just expressing my opinion, if I don't like I just don't like, I didn't like in the early state and I don't like now.

Maybe your idea of immersion is different from mine but I ensure you that I have a neat idea about what immersion means.

I'm just saying that jumping from hex to hex is annoying to me, hope they find a way to travel from hex to hex with no need to jump into overland map

 

What are Dev+ members thinking about the changes to the overland map? What is going on in the VIP-corner?

 

I have a feeling that at this point there isn't really a discussion, it's a you're right and if we like it at all we are wrong thing here.

 

Lord Darkmoon, I understand you. I don't think the world was that big and lush tho - in particular at Roosterteeth it looked like they were showing you walking around

the bottom part of the main map where Ardoris is now... the 2 cities and the river between them.

In the Roosterteeth map... you were like a giant and your view distance was like that whole area on the bottom right !!

Walking the entire main map would have taken literally 5 minutes !!!!

 

I need a grappling hook.

 

Same as here - the issue is aesthetics - as some folks have already elluded: this is large issue of taste and preference

_ I'm riding the fence ... If they go the 3d I'm happy, if they stay with paper I'm happy ... in the absence of functional features ... its the same to me

 

I certainly agree with those who want more interaction and meaning to the cloth map.

I'd like to see it stay cloth, maybe ditch the 2d paper aspect and go 3d, but in a cloth map style,

and have things like overland encounters, definitely night and limited vision, etc.

Hopefully people can get behind that. But the general Idea, I think, is a good one.

Certainly love seeing runic labels on cities and such. Miss moon gates tho

 

I think there's a graphics upgrade package for UV so that you can play it with better music and a nicer scaler than just running in dosbox like you are there.

 

Incorrect. I have posted previously my thoughts on how to improve this map, if we are indeed stuck with it. Fog of war and the like only disguise shoddy presentation.

If they are going to go with a paper/cloth style map, then they should build it properly, with art created specifically for this purpose. Right now all we have is the original flat artwork, with the photoshop layers extracted and thrown on billboards in unity so they stand up.

 

Nah I like the original look of U5. I don't like the graphics patches.

I've tried the music before, its nice, but not a big deal.

 

I wouldn't mind being a giant, as, yes even in a zoomed out version of the world, there would have to be some abstract elements. Just like in the Heroes of Might and Magic series or Age of Wonders and even in the old Ultimas you were a giant on the overland map.
And I would prefer being represented as a giant as opposed to a flag...

And the Roosterteeth map was before the stretch goal to double the size of the world.

 

In all the early videos, you had an animated representation of your character walking (clearly walking, not point and click) in a fully realized overland map with fog of war (I can take or leave it), other characters, wagons, animals, dragons (all fully animated and seeming "alive").

I want to wander around, not slide a shield.

You can be speechless, but that seems a little condescending. As if other people's preferences simply don't matter. If they had shown an overworld map with a sliding shield rather than one with an animated avatar walking from place to place, I would have invested substantially less, because that playstyle does not appeal to me. And there is nothing wrong with that. It's not something to be speechless over.

As I've said before, I can live with the new art direction, but a fast travel mechanism with a sliding shield is too far. I hate it to death.

Now for all I know, they might return to an animated, fully controllable avatar. I just don't know. It's one of the things we haven't gotten any real dev comment on.

 

I prefer the map. I want to spend my time in the hexes as much as possible, rather than in travel mode.