Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

KickStarter Shroud of the Avatar - Lord British's Not-Ultima Online 2

gurugeorge

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 3, 2019
Messages
7,437
Location
London, UK
Strap Yourselves In
What happened with SOTA was the same thing that happened with Tabula Rasa and UO2 - the white elephant in the room of Richard Garriott pitching out high design concepts with the detail equivalent to napkin scribbles (or any game pitching post starting with "It would be really kewl...") and having everyone else do the actual work for him, taking credit for everyone else's work, spending tons of money on himself while leading nothing (or even being completely absent), so that every publisher regrets their decision to back him and tries to get rid of him.

I'm sure Travian Games (who picked up SOTA because of the CEO Lars Janssen was a total fanboy at the time) wishes forging a resignation letter worked to have gotten rid of him much, much earlier.

As of now, Lord Dick occasionally shows up on the SOTA livestreams like a guest thot for tips while other people are still working on what his Ultimate RPG was (not) supposed to be. So, not much different than when he was dancing around taking shots during the begathons with his pet monkeyboys.

Oh yeah, I remember reading a post-mortem on Tabula Rasa. The game that ended up being made was something cobbled together in the last year or so of development by the long-suffering development team that bore almost no relation whatsoever to the original ideas that had been proposed, or the stuff that had been done in the 5 years or so of development up to that point. Given that, the developers ended up speed-building the framework of a pretty decent MMO and it's a shame it never had enough support to keep it going. I still remember those ad hoc base battles fondly, and the way the enemy spawns used to dropship in.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
Vids of this keep popping up in my cache. Finally saw one where they were hunting. Eh... sure a lot of talk of buying stuff and taxes with irl $$$. Is this game pure pay to win?
 

grimace

Arcane
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
1,959
There is no winning.
There is no losing.
There is only role-playing and how well you stay in character.


There is also ERP.

Adultima dungeons where the greatest danger is ...

having your intimate encounter screenshotted and shared.
 

Aildrik

Savant
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
159
I will always give Garriott some credit for being a pioneer in the CRPG genre, but holy smokes this guy now... a virtue signaling cuck. Quite simply I feel his last great contribution was UO. Tabula Rasa... its all been crap since then.
 

Eli_Havelock

Learned
Joined
Dec 22, 2019
Messages
669
Rejoice, for they are bringing back a feature most MMOs have at launch - MAPS!*

Well, they SAY they are, but like the many years behind the question of loot...

But wait! There's more!

The biggest contribution Lord Brexit has made in years is - wait for it - adding a spoon of Kraft Cheez Whiz to Kraft Mac & Cheese! (Reminds me of how he Pioneered and Inspired by putting Tokein ripoffs into D&D ripoffs.)


* - MAPs have been a part of SOTA for a while from how easily Wayfair purchases could find the in-game sex dungeons. I wonder how many wandered into Dicky G's personal dungeon featuring human remains.

akpdie3sg5a51.png
 
Last edited:

grimace

Arcane
Joined
Jan 17, 2015
Messages
1,959
Mounts! Ride-able tame-able horses.


https://twitter.com/catnipgames/status/1297637402769592320



Catnip Games
@catnipgames
Catnip Games owns and operates Shroud of the Avatar, a free to play sandbox MMORPG from Richard Garriott and Starr Long! Follow for updates on development.
Catnip Games
@catnipgames


Aug 23
What do you guys think? If you're on a mount, should you just not be able to get through door ways or under low branches or should it auto dismount you? Auto dismount might be more convenient in some cases but removes the direct control from the player. Thoughts?
0:28
1.1K views

Catnip Games
@catnipgames
OMG, what is up with that aspect ratio! :O Oh, and obviously this is early footage that no one on the team wants visible but me cuz that's how I roll. Also, no that isn't the proper animation for mount/dismount but it is FUN!
3:52 PM · Aug 23, 2020·Twitter Web App


Catnip Games
@catnipgames
·
Aug 23
Yes, yes, yes. Discussion still underway of how we let you get them. Might be a tame then convert pet to mount type thing.



Reminds me of Daggerfall ...

Daggerfall Unity
 

Max Heap

Arcane
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Messages
617
16 acres of virtual land for only 3800 US american dollars??
What a steal!


In all honesty though, I feel like I've seen more "useful" content updates ever since this game has been taken over by some unknown rando publisher, than in the entire time between "release" and Garriott getting out.
Imagine that for a second.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,874
Wtf?!?!

Yeah, second pic failed to load. I downloaded the game a year ago, made an alt, and just quit; didn't even move. My enthusiasm went to the crapper.
 

fabrulana

Augur
Patron
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
120
Location
South Africa
A Beautifully Desolate Campaign
I still remember playing the beta and on the overland map another player came and asked me if I know where he can find Lord British...
I told him that I doubt he is playing his own crappy game.
 
Last edited:

El Presidente

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2018
Messages
1,546
Location
Oval Office

J_C

One Bit Studio
Patron
Developer
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
16,947
Location
Pannonia
Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath
SOTA's community manager made an anniversary event during which he proposed a screenshot/video contest.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...test-happy-new-year-happy-new-century.164887/

No one entered.

Yeah this game is fine.
This is really depressing and really funny at the same time pathetic.
FTFY
 

taxalot

I'm a spicy fellow.
Patron
Joined
Oct 28, 2010
Messages
9,613
Location
Your wallet.
Codex 2013 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Whales.

You only need like 5 to 10 to make a living for one person. Which could be very well the exact amount of people working on this game right now for all I know.

It's pretty sad. I still believe the idea has potential, but incompetence, scammy behaviour and Richard Garriott screwed it all up.
 

Fishy

Savant
Joined
Jan 24, 2019
Messages
398
Location
Ireland
Have to say there's some dark poetry to the mood of dead mmo worlds. Take that lonely disco queen and expand that to entire towns with barely an inhabitant, but left with the furniture, hopes and dreams of gamers that have gone and won't ever come back. And in the midst of that, the last few, still going around, doing the same thing over and over, pretending nothing has gone wrong in that decaying world of their dreams doomed to be plugged out.

I'm almost tempted to actually install the client to visit it and feel the hollowing.
 

J_C

One Bit Studio
Patron
Developer
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
16,947
Location
Pannonia
Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath
Have to say there's some dark poetry to the mood of dead mmo worlds. Take that lonely disco queen and expand that to entire towns with barely an inhabitant, but left with the furniture, hopes and dreams of gamers that have gone and won't ever come back. And in the midst of that, the last few, still going around, doing the same thing over and over, pretending nothing has gone wrong in that decaying world of their dreams doomed to be plugged out.

I'm almost tempted to actually install the client to visit it and feel the hollowing.
To be honest, a totally barren MMO would be the best MMO for me. Because I hate MMOs, I'd rather play a singleplayer RPG. So an MMO without other players is pretty great.
 

kaisergeddon

Liturgist
Patron
Joined
Dec 28, 2018
Messages
243
Location
Texas
Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Enjoy the Revolution! Another revolution around the sun that is.
Kingdoms of Amalur would fit the bill for that pretty nicely, because it's literally that. It was originally designed as an MMO but shifted into becoming a singleplayer game. The remaster was launched on Steam recently, you can catch it for a discount at some point I bet. And to top it off, it's actually a decent game and significantly better than Shroud, if not as interesting due to Shroud being some sort of bizarro world creation of embezzlement and crowdsourced madness.
 

Mortmal

Arcane
Joined
Jun 15, 2009
Messages
9,158
Have to say there's some dark poetry to the mood of dead mmo worlds. Take that lonely disco queen and expand that to entire towns with barely an inhabitant, but left with the furniture, hopes and dreams of gamers that have gone and won't ever come back. And in the midst of that, the last few, still going around, doing the same thing over and over, pretending nothing has gone wrong in that decaying world of their dreams doomed to be plugged out.

I'm almost tempted to actually install the client to visit it and feel the hollowing.
Best marketing speech ever, i am tempted to try too.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom