To Be Or Not To Be: The Map

I'd like to share this one too...

I would rather see the map being drawn and colored in (if it's supposed to be a place uncharted by you before), instead of fog of war. Fog of war worked on a 3d zoomed out map, but it doesn't work with cloth.

 

Yea, uncharted supposing you don't have a map. But in all of the Ultima games, we had a cloth map reference that we got from LB, and I'd suppose we can get one in this game too. What's more interesting to me is just making the map a zoomed out version of your field of vision as a player, which is how it worked in U1-U5.

 

Should the map be like in Ultima 4 or 5 with similar functionality as well as day and night effects and weather it should definitely look like a (3D) zoomed out view of the world for atmospheric and immersion reasons.

 

Yea, although its important to acknowledge that a lot of the functionality will be still be there. We'll still see overland encounters, and we'll still have a range of vision. Likely, mounts will still make travel faster. So it's not just going to be a fast travel map, they're just making it work differently.

I'm sure there are reasons behind it, which I can only guess. Probably they think it would be too complicated to have both a travel environment and an in-game cloth map, and have the player check between the two. Back in the old U1-U5 days, our cloth map was real and in front of us, and we compared it to what was on our computer monitor. In this case, it would be in-game, and we'd be comparing one in-game screen to another. Also, probably they think the ability to get lost in traveling is overrated and not needed, and having a person know where he is on the map makes things simpler.

So I think I recognize the reasons why they're choosing the options they are.

 

Oh, I was so hoping for an Ultima 5 style overland map with monsters, camping, day/night, weather, encounters, animals, exploration.. All in gorgeous, atmospheric and immersive 3D...

 

I expect we'll still see all of that, just on the cloth map. And with situational awareness of where we are in the map and not restricted by the field of vision.

They're going to have to do some kind of implementation of darkness, I think, just because the "fog of war" is going to have to be smaller during night time.

 

I can't imagine this being as atmospheric and immersive as a detailed 3D view with all those pop up paper animations and paper trees and paper cities etc...

Imagine wandering through a forest, animals roaming around, dark clouds appear, it begins to rain, lightning strikes down... This would look fantastic in a zoomed out 3D view, I am sure. But how would this look like on a cloth map with paper clouds?

 

Thank you for all your feedback (at least the constructive kind). Here is our response:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/navigation-through-new-britannia.10474/

 

Woohoo a response! Thank you DarkStarr!

 

Once again you have answered our call. Awesome feedback.

 

As always, Lord Darkstarr comes through! Well done!

 

Unless it's a band of Elves

I agree with your point, it shouldn't behave like a magical crystal ball.

 

I am going to lock this thread for ease of feedback aggregation. Please provide any future constructive feedback about the map in DarkStarr's thread (Navigation through New Britannia).

Thank you!