Overland Map Poll [UNOFFICIAL]

Its not supposed to be a fast travel tool its the main content of a sandbox MMO exploring a large open world.
Player towns are pointless if you that's all this game is going to offer once the story is completed .

 

Chris from the dev team said that the map is meant to be just a means to travel from point A to point B. Which is a shame as the 3D overland view would have been the only option to explore and travel the world in its entirety.

 

I'm with you Lord_Darkmoon, I think the overworld map should be half the adventure, and should include wasd movement, just like an extension of playing in a hex. and if you run into a wandering monster out in the overworld it should pull you into a hex for combat.

If it's just a point a to point b travel method I see little value in even having a dual scale map anymore.

I'm a big fan of dualscale maps, but I think the art style and character control needs to remain consistent. graphic quality of the overworld map doesn't have to be the best, but keeping the style the same is important, as well as keeping character movement the same.


As it sits now I'm just clicking on the map waiting for a marker to move, it's not nearly as much fun as it could be. It's boring enough that I see little reason to even include it, just give me a map with destinations and instant travel.

 

Agreed. It was never "just a means of travel" in the Ultimas of old. It was part of the fun of exploring and completely consistant to gameplay. If they have changed both the art direction of the map and also the philosophy of it to "just a means of travel".. then why have one at all? Why waste any dev time or money on it? Just make it a big list of text with the places you can fast travel to (Braemer, Kingsport, Hex 1, Hex 2, Hex 3, Hex 4). You click on the name and you're there.

The reason you wouldn't is because it's not immersive (sorry, Mishri) and not fun. I must say that's the same reason so many people are having problems with the current direction of the dual scale paper map.

 

I just started but like the Overland Map. It reminds me of the great DOS game Darklands, where every once in a while you would have an encounter and it would zoom in for the battle. I didn't experiment much so maybe this is already implemented but there should be a way to zoom in on whatever hex you are on and explore, gather...fight etc. Conversely if you just want to travel you can move from hex to hex. I do like the idea of a random encounter though, like Darklands. Having the Overland map as only a means of travel is ridiculous in my opinion.

 

Even this looks better
By the way this is from a new Kickstarter campaign for a game called Armello...

 

That looks like a masterpiece in comparaison to the kakhi booze-hiding-paperbag with the chess piece we have now!

 

Evidently, this was the inspiration for the style change:



Now, I don't like the art direction. I definitely prefer the original concept.

BUT, if they would include full camera control, a REAL animated avatar that walks around, and freedom of movement, I could overcome my distaste. This video makes it clear to me that the worst thing about the new direction is the sliding game piece and lack of camera controls.

 

But it still would be walking around on a map and not in a world...

 

I agree. I want the original concept, but if that isn't on the plate, then a map-world, where I can wander around as my own avatar and explore, is loads better than a sliding shield on a grid. In fact, to me, it's even more important than the art direction.

The new art direction is not immersive and I much prefer the original plan, but sliding a piece around is the worst thing about all of this and from what hints have come out of dev+ they were doing that before they switched the art style.

The sliding game piece is an absolute deal-breaker for me. Sure I'll play the game, but it will never attain the status of an "Ultima" game that way.

 

I think they use this flag because they want to show the coat of arms on it so that in multiplayer you can see who is around you.
Aside from this being another thing that is clearly for the MMO-fans in expense of the immersion of a SP-game, why not use something similar to old Ultimas? The Avatar in Ultima 4 used a rather big shield. So why not have an Avatar with a shield that displays the coat of arms. If the Avatar faces the "camera" the shield would be displayed prominently. If the Avatar walks "sideways" the shield could also be displayed just like the ears of Mickey Mouse always face the camera. And if the Avatar turns his back towards the "camera" the coat of arms could be displayed on his cape, too.

 

That would be better. Really, the coat of arms could be displayed in a number of ways on an animated avatar. Just a tabard would do the trick.

It really needs to be more than a simple game piece to create any type of immersion.

 

I like the idea of the coat of arms as the icon.. however, I completely understand other players concern. That should be a quick and easy fix: just toggle it as a more realistic avatar for those who want that. That couldn't possibly take much dev time.

 

I tend to think programming time led to the switch. What's easier to program, a sliding shield or a living animated avatar? I understand the dev team has to prioritize to meet financial limits and deadlines, but I'm concerned about the choices they are making on that front.

If feels like the things that were core to the game (like the map and dynamic companions) are being sacrificed.

 

Now here we could say that they seem to have the time to create a hut tub model for housing but not the time to create an Avatar model for the overland map that doesn't destroy immersion and turns our hero into a flag

 

The map change is a BIG concern. I'm not sure what their reasoning for the change was.. but it was a very, very bad change. Hopefully, they'll change it back.. because as it stands, it seriously detracts from the overall experience.

 

In addition (and perhaps repetition) to the above, I think that the world map needs to be re-thought. At least presentation wise, but really it just makes the land into a bunch of small disconnected hex worlds. Going from city to city has no feel of travel. In short, it would be nice if (at the very least) the world map were a feature to travel between hexes, not a requirement. If someone wants to pull up the map anywhere on a hex, and click to go else where fine. But if they want to run from one town to the other without looking at the map, they should be able to do that too.

 

I understood the quote to simply be a reflection of its current iteration for R4. They needed something to get you from A to B and gave us the basic framework with its placeholder art and nothing else. With more time and resources devoted to it, they can make it better towards its goal of being more like the referenced GoT trailer, which clarified the direction they're headed. It will be more dynamic with much more elements on the map as well as using real art assets with all the bells and whistles in glorious 3D. So what we see is placeholder, especially the 2D cut outs. Would I prefer a more modern take like AoW 3 or other games mentioned in the thread? Sure. Heck, I'd love for a complete scene-to scene travel only but we know that's not going to happen given time and budget. There's likely no way they can design 4000-8000 unique scenes given the number of hexes on the map. But given that they want to give us a stylized map like GoT, let's see what they can do. With the increased funding recently though, it is an opportunity to vastly improve in either direction. However don't expect any major improvements anytime soon. Even the core systems are still being iterated upon and we've only played, no, tested their basic frameworks. /glasshalffull

 

That looks like a cartoon.

 

Nah, I don't like it. It look think the scale of things and the style makes it look really fake-ish.

There are plenty of other examples of maps that forum members have brought up that I like, though.