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

[Jaesun]

I'd laugh if it got funded then enough people cancelled their pledges to pull it back down below the minimum.

Amusingly THAT actually could happen.

 

[Stabwound]

Nah, you can't withdraw a pledge once it hits the goal. I don't know why but it's BS. Maybe to keep people from withdrawing huge amounts after the campaign ends, but I don't see how that matters unless in the olden days projects would barely just make it. Now they make 5x their goal.

 

[Jaesun]

True, but what CAN happen is a number of the higher $ amounts can fail to go through (It happened with this one: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warbirdgames/jack-houston-and-the-necronauts).

It will still show as "funded" even when it closes and some pledges do not go through.

 

[Murk]

Huh, KS doesn't pre-authorize the amounts (put the funds on hold)?

 

[evdk]

Huh, KS doesn't pre-authorize the amounts (put the funds on hold)?

Well, I do not know about the $1.000+ pledges, but it certainly does not pre authorize anything in the lower hundreds. I'd wager that applies for all amounts.

 

[Murk]

Wow... I'm really surprised there isn't more trolling of funds going on, then.

 

[Jaesun]

Huh, KS doesn't pre-authorize the amounts (put the funds on hold)?

They pre-authorize the funds at the TIME of the pledge. But what it doesn't do, is when the KS closes verify if that KS actually made the funds to be sucessful. It's a bit odd. For huge KS like WL2/PE or Torment it's a non issue, but for ones that barely make it it's a bit misleading. IIRC there was one KS that made it by like 5$ at the last minute heh

 

[evdk]

They pre-authorize the funds at the TIME of the pledge.

You mean "at the end of the campaign." It certainly does not do anything at the moment when you click the pledge button.

 

[Murk]

Autorization would take a bit regardless, it may have a delay. I'm more curious if the funds are ever put on hold -- even if it takes 24 hours or so.

Jaesun, what do you mean "made the funds to be successful" ?

 

[Jaesun]

They pre-authorize the funds at the TIME of the pledge.

You mean "at the end of the campaign." It certainly does not do anything at the moment when you click the pledge button.

It *seems* to go though a check through the Amazon site? Granted I don't know whit how that works.

Maybe I should try to pledge $100,000 to Gariott's KS... and it would go through? (I personally do not have $100,000 on hand at the moment). Man that would be a LOT of hot guys and beer....

 

[commie]

Man that would be a LOT of hot bitches and Vodka...

Fixed for non degeneracy.

 

[tuluse]

Liquid potato is not degenerate? o_O

 

[Jaesun]

Man that would be a LOT of hot bitches and Vodka...

Fixed for non degeneracy.

D:

 

[BigWeather]

I liked U5 and U6, but those were 2 odd choices to pick. Most people are looking for the next U4 or U7 (or UO ugh).

While my favorite Ultima is IV, due to getting to explore the wonderful new world of Britannia and the (still unmatched) unique overall quest, Ultima V was, for me at least, one-upped it in every regard except for story. Much more detailed world, night/day cycle, LIGHTHOUSES!, that glorious underworld to explore, etc. And, I know I'm in the minority here, but I preferred VI to VII due to it not being quite so inventory / world object fiddly and I thought the plot (and combat? It's been a while) was much better. Still, can't really go wrong drawing upon any Ultima between III and Serpent Isle.

 

[Jaesun]

Ultima V was, for me at least, one-upped it in every regard except for story.

 

[BigWeather]

Ruh-roh, where'd I go wrong? By story, I mean of course the overriding story arc, not the minutiae -- the dialogue, etc. was better in Ultima V.

 

[Xavier0889]

Turns out the Britannia Manor, aka RG's larping lair, is still for sale. Probably he wants the KS money for not moving into a non-larpy apartment.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh look! They opened a new plot board on the SotA forums: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?forum=the-tavern

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=plot-concerns

Hello. I am someone that is considering backing this game. However, I am holding back until I have some more idea of what the plot will entail, and I thought I would post up why here.

To try and keep it short, it seems to me that the old “Ultima” style plot really has no relevance in a modern game. Questing for “Lord British” lost its luster a long time ago. From my perspective, as someone that played every single Ultima game ever, I just couldn’t see going to back to that making any kind of plausible sense. There are too many logical holes in the old stories, and the story of Serpent Isle, in particular, sealed this feeling in my mind – the arguements of the old Sosarians made a lot of sense, their theology was proven correct, and I was much more inclined to side with the people of SI than the the British loyalists, at least in my own head.

That said, going forward, I would find it extremely hard to believe (and really, immersion is everything in a game like this) that the people of Brittania would continue putting up with the rule of an apparently immortal theocrat and his crew of also-immortal cronies, especially considering the (long) string of disasters that have occured, almost all of which were caused by either his presence or his interference. To once again cut it short, I think the only kind of plot that I could accept for this game, short of a total remake of Ultima 8 and 9, would be playing the part of some kind of Brittanian rebel, determined to overthrow British and stop otherwordly interference for good. This would allow a whole new dynamic, with new plots/games taking place in Brittania making more sense, and possibly even allowing the rise of a new, Brittanian Avatar, something that is long past due.

I hope some diligent thought is put into this aspect of the game, as really, there is a good bit at stake, to me: whether a legendary series that many here grew up with can find it’s true roots, or whether it will just die a protracted death in obscurity and make a rich man slightly richer. Hopefully, RG’s ego doesn’t hold it back from being what it can and should be.

Looking forward to learning more.

 

[evdk]

Posted by Nicholas the Gryphon, head of the Brittanian National Party

 

[Infinitron]

One of the good things about Garriott is that he's never gotten the console bug: http://ultimacodex.com/2013/03/richard-garriott-consoles-days-are-numbered/

RICHARD GARRIOTT: “CONSOLES’ DAYS ARE NUMBERED”
March 14, 2013 · by WtF Dragon · in Richard Garriott

In an interview with Edge Online, Richard Garriott expressed doubts about the future of console gaming:

The Ultima creator and Portalarium founder told us that he sees consoles as a middleman that’s no longer necessary.​

“Tablets are becoming so powerful, your television is already connected to the internet and frankly it’s powerful. And there’s a cloud of computing behind there that’s easily accessed, so I’m going, ‘Why in the long run do we need a console? All you really need is a controller’. It’s going to be interesting to see how consoles evolve in the next few iterations to see if they can find some new compelling reason to exist. Because, at least from my perspective, I think their days might be numbered.”​

So what of Valve’s Steam Box? Garriott admires the technology, but maintains that the idea of an extra box under the TV might be ‘streamlined out’.​

“Valve’s product is one I only know cursorily,” he says. “But the case I’ll still go back to make is the same. I think digital distribution with things like Steam is great, I actually think that people need to have convenient, ubiquitous access to digital content, and Steam is not only a great way to buy it, but also to stream it. The technology of Steam is fantastic.​

“But I look at it and go, ‘Steam can be delivered on anything, you don’t need a particular piece of hardware’.”​

He also shared some similar sentiments, and lauded the power and relevance of PCs to gaming, in a couple of chats with GamerHub:

 

[Micmu]

This shithead completely lost touch with reality.

 

[Jarpie]

One of the good things about Garriott is that he's never gotten the console bug: http://ultimacodex.com/2013/03/richard-garriott-consoles-days-are-numbered/

RICHARD GARRIOTT: “CONSOLES’ DAYS ARE NUMBERED”
March 14, 2013 · by WtF Dragon · in Richard Garriott

In an interview with Edge Online, Richard Garriott expressed doubts about the future of console gaming:

The Ultima creator and Portalarium founder told us that he sees consoles as a middleman that’s no longer necessary.​

“Tablets are becoming so powerful, your television is already connected to the internet and frankly it’s powerful. And there’s a cloud of computing behind there that’s easily accessed, so I’m going, ‘Why in the long run do we need a console? All you really need is a controller’. It’s going to be interesting to see how consoles evolve in the next few iterations to see if they can find some new compelling reason to exist. Because, at least from my perspective, I think their days might be numbered.”​

So what of Valve’s Steam Box? Garriott admires the technology, but maintains that the idea of an extra box under the TV might be ‘streamlined out’.​

“Valve’s product is one I only know cursorily,” he says. “But the case I’ll still go back to make is the same. I think digital distribution with things like Steam is great, I actually think that people need to have convenient, ubiquitous access to digital content, and Steam is not only a great way to buy it, but also to stream it. The technology of Steam is fantastic.​

“But I look at it and go, ‘Steam can be delivered on anything, you don’t need a particular piece of hardware’.”​

He also shared some similar sentiments, and lauded the power and relevance of PCs to gaming, in a couple of chats with GamerHub:

Tablets? Cloud-gaming?

 

[Metro]

Just when you think he couldn't dig himself any deeper. It's amazing to see him outdo his own decline on a daily basis. This is the first Kickstarter that might start going in reverse.

 

[Tytus]

If Garriot's right, all games will be Angry Brids clones in the future.

 

[Infinitron]

Lord British feeling the effects of the real estate bubble: http://ultimacodex.com/2013/03/britannia-manor-ii-is-still-for-sale/

Some of you may recall that Richard Garriott put Britannia Manor II up for sale back in 2011. Well…it’s still for sale, and the price has dropped by $600,000 to a modest and respectable $3.5 million.