EA/Mythic Entertainment mount Ultima's corpse so they can kill it again

[Jaesun]

Does Lady British send the Avatars on a quest to find that?

I just threw up in my mouth....

 

[Infinitron]

So, this is shutting down tomorrow. Poor Kenneth, who worked so hard to try to promote this game, is posting a bunch of stuff related to it:

http://gallery.ultimacodex.com/ultima-forever-the-great-stygian-abyss/

Ultima Forever: The Great Stygian Abyss
WtF Dragon August 28, 2014 Gallery

Over the course of Ultima Forever’s development and short release window, Mythic sent the Ultima Codex a number of exclusive art pieces. The four images here are examples of that; they are four areas (out of, I gather, many, many more) from the Great Stygian Abyss. Also included in the gallery is a crop of the main world map, which offers a high-resolution look at the Isle of the Avatar as it would have appeared in the game.



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Sadly, development on the game ceased before Mythic was able to add the ability for players to visit the Isle, so the above images are likely all we will ever get to see of Britannia’s greatest — and most feared — dungeon.

http://gallery.ultimacodex.com/ultima-forever-guardians-hollow/

Ultima Forever: Guardian’s Hollow
WtF Dragon August 28, 2014 Gallery

After the shutdown of Ultima Forever’s online services was announced, I took one last stab at extracting the game’s data files — which are encapsulated using Mythic’s proprietary MYP archive format — using EasyMYP. There was nothing to be gained from the MYP files in the iOS version of the game; these use a newer version of the encoding that EasyMYP can’t process. However, one of the MYP files for PC alpha version of the game could be opened using the tool…and inside it, I found these images.



What’s notable about this dungeon is that it’s a holdover, a relic from the earlier days of Ultima Forever’s development. There is no Guardian’s Hollow dungeon that appears in the game; indeed, there are no overt references to the Guardian at all.

The dungeon would really have been, by all appearances, a homage to other Ultimas in more than one respect: there would evidently have been a lot of serpentine art and decoration for players to take note of as they progressed through its depths. Some of the serpent art very explicitly evokes Serpent Isle.

The character art visible in the one image is what gives the age of this set away; the more cartoonish, oddly-proportioned characters date back to…well, early 2011 or 2010, I suppose. By the time that a few of us got a first look at the game in mid-2011, the appearance of the characters — and the art of the game in general — had been iterated upon.

Which is another point: the background art, though still excellent in terms of quality, is somewhat different in style than what appeared in the release version of Ultima Forever.

 

[Infinitron]

http://gallery.ultimacodex.com/ultima-forever-vesper/

Ultima Forever: Vesper
WtF Dragon August 28, 2014 Gallery

The town of Vesper is inaccessible in the release version of Ultima Forever. Not that it isn’t present in the game; it’s located to the south-east of the Shrine of Sacrifice, but it can’t be accessed by land. Mountains, forests, and even a moongate stand in your way if you try to access it. (I think, assuming Ultima Forever‘s boating system had been preserved, Vesper was supposed to be accessible by sea only.)

After the shutdown of Ultima Forever’s online services was announced, I took one last stab at extracting the game’s data files — which are encapsulated using Mythic’s proprietary MYP archive format — using EasyMYP. There was nothing to be gained from the MYP files in the iOS version of the game; these use a newer version of the encoding that EasyMYP can’t process. However, one of the MYP files for PC alpha version of the game could be opened using the tool…and inside it, I found the map of Vesper.

​

Exactly what events in the plot of Ultima Forever would have transpired in Vesper remains unknown.

 

[Thane Solus]

Richard, Richard...

Why are you even trying anymore ?

It is too late. Your buddy Chris Roberts stole the show. He's our new best buddy. I don't want to play with you anymore.

3 years later...



*i said the same thing back then, where is our god now ))