Three years ago

Starr and Richard talking about Shroud of the Avatar in the Kickstarter final few days.
This was before Starr officially came aboard.
Not even one minute in, Richard calls Shroud "story driven, basically solo player experience" and "wonderful open non-combat roles and persistent virtual world of Ulitma Online".

The good old days.

 

I'm highly amused by Starr's epic 'stache

 

Me too!
It kind of carries that old west look.

 

Thank you for this video... here is another interesting one:



Hear what RG says at about minute 3:00.
"What we are hoping we can do is create a story-driven soloplayer experience that harkens back to somewhere between Ultima 4 and Ultima 7 but that also has the ability to play online."

So people should now see why we SP folks think that SotA was planned as a SP game with the option to play online and not as an MMORPG with the option to play alone. And also why we fight for this original concept.

 

It's the spiritual successor to Ultima Online.
"That's the only way I think of it..."

We need to fight for this idea.



Published MARCH 8th 2013 -

I was sold on this very sentence.

 

This is going to be an awesome MMO. Can't wait for July.

 

Oh I got that month ago already
Learned it from you btw. ;-)
I will repeat what I said back than:
I am here for the mmo part. I still belive most of the post KS backers are.
We will have to find a way to coexist.
That being said I still belive the mmo part would benefit greatly from a lot of the SP ideas that are flying around in this forum.

 

Obviously not

Actually I wouldn't mind SotA being like Ultima Online if it wouldn't pretend to be a single player game, too.
If the devs would now decide to make it a true sandbox MMO, cancel the SP modes and the story, then I would even understand this. As then I would know what to expect from the game.
But being both I fear that both parts will not be what we expect.

 

I was playing alone at a time, 6 years of solo playing and singleplayer experiences...

...then I was send to school.

 

I more and more share your feeling, it seems that wanting to satisfy both UO fans and Ultima SP fans, Portalarium will achieve to deceive everyone...

 

To steal from the infamous Starr phrase "Don't lawyer me, bro!"; the game has evolved a lot since the original KS, and has shifted back and forth around the SP and MMO aspects, especially with all of the housing things. I think it's a good sign that DarkStarr and LB both have expressed lately that they want more effort towards the single player modes, since that is also what truly "sells" me as a player. I want to have an immersive and rich world that my character can live in, and make their own stories along with the rest of the atmosphere.

It's also important to recognize that our expectations have always been high for this due to the "spiritual successor" tag to the Ultima series. No, it can't be a direct Ultima sequel or clone, but I also am keeping hope that it remains a strong and enjoyable RPG experience for the long time fans as well.

 

As we've only really seen the multiplayer side of things since the story is being held back in order not to reveal spoilers, I don't think this has really changed, whether one chooses to view the game as multiplayer with a solo player experience or a solo player experience with a multiplayer option makes little difference.

 

Personal opinion.. some folks around here worry too much.. but that's their prerogative I suppose.

 

LOL. Obviously it's not UO2. I gave up on that long time ago. They are trying to please two entirely different audiences with one game. "Hey guys, come invest in this Mario 3/Tomb Raider spiritual successor Frankenstein." I'm glad I don't have that responsibility.

 

I can understand the "Don't lawyer me, bro!" idea and I can understand that dev want to evolve the game. But I don't see it as an evolution what has happened to SotA, I see it as a change in direction. And this is hard to justify with a Kickstarter game as people gave money for the original idea. Then "Don't lawyer me, bro!" isn't enough to justify that.

What we can now see from the single player in terms of the world, NPCs and quests is not what I expected from this game. Sure, it can and will get better but time is running out and I am not sure if all of the goals can be reached until "release".

 

Why is RG talking with John Snow?

 

Shroud has always been intended to appeal to people longing for the days of solo player games, and the folks that used to have LAN parties with a few of their friends, and the MMO fans. Cherry picking what Richard said in any particular public speech doesn't change the intent.

We've all seen snippets of the solo player story in the game, and they've even described it in hangouts, so saying we don't know anything isn't really accurate either.
However, it is more of a waiting game for solo player fans right now to actually play the complete, polished story.

My enthusiasm waxes and wanes, but in the end I try to remember that we'll get there eventually.

 

Because he knows nothing, so RG has to school him

 

That's Jon Snow's bastard son.

 

I don't disagree, really, since a lot of things (housing, in particular) has taken on a life of their own that were not anything near the scope of the KS days. That said, it is kinda what it is, and as frustrating as it has been as a single player/story kinda guy waiting for this game, it's only now that we're finally starting to get to see and explore some of that. I liked that Starr admitted they're not close to where they really need to be for the SP aspect, since it shows that they do recognize the importance.

I'm just not ready to wash my hands of it, since there are aspects of the game that I enjoy, and that I am still looking forward to actually playing in depth once we have the permanent world in July. I would have liked for the story to have been more of the focus and drive up to now, but that's also ultimately their call to make on the development cycle.