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

[Caim]

So SotA turned into The Sims but with even more expensive microtransactions?

No, it is just Ultima Online redux.
People larping hard wasting their time and money in a parallel digital life.
It was Ultima Online that started, brought to life or simply revealed the penchant of players for inane shit.
The Sims, Second Life, Bethesda larp simulators with horse armor DLC, red boots, all started there.
Garriott is simply cashing in on the social experiment he unwittlingly(?) started decades ago.

So Lord British is the origin and final boss of the ? Interesting.

 

[Kz3r0]

So Lord British is the origin and final boss of the ? Interesting.

He is the alpha and omega of RPGs, all started with Akabaleth and lead us to Ultima Online.
Apropos:

I hope you have prepared a proper speech, villain.

Villain? Ahaha. I'm much less of a villain than you are.

We are?

Look at your alignment and be frank with yourselves for a moment. You are all MY progeny! I'm the one who gave you life, brought you and the industry to where you currently are, and I'm the one to usher the world into a new era. I am the alpha and the omega! I was at the beginning of role-playing and I'm the messiah of the ultimate role-playing to come!

Whatcha talking about, man?

I'm talking about YOU, fools. Each of you. Look inside yourself. To have fallen so far and learned nothing, that is your failure. Were you really born evil, or have you become evil? It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, it's all over now.

*exchange puzzled glances*

Pete and Todd... In a way, I'm proud of you. To have unwittingly pushed my own agenda so far! Admirable for ones as limited as you. Thanks to you, everyone knows role-playing is about streamlining the mechanics and simply playing a role – beyond the game's basic statistics, adding additional depth and interest, eating regularly to enhance immersion, taking off your shoes when entering your house, decorating it and wearing appropriate clothing!

I think I like this guy already.

Do we really have to kill him?

Mike and David... Have not Call of Duty deprived you of sleep? Have you not given in to the demand for higher production values and broader audience? Have you not designed RPGs to be visceral, QTEs to be pervasive, NPCs to be romanceable? What have you to say against that?

Against that?!

That sounds perfect!

And finally, Obsidian folks... Have you not churned out one too many hackneyed projects already? Have you not compromised your vision – the very idea of vision you might've once had – to follow the light? The light of the almighty dollar! So tell me. Have you come seeking the light, my friends? Mwuahahaha.

We were forced to! The publishers left us no choice!

......

Just admit it, the six of you: 4chan and RPGCodex were right all along. But your vision is small time, just as you are. You aren't ambitious enough. I'm different. I had been searching all the time, searching for a way I could become the new hero, a way to renew and intensify my glory.

And they call us evil.

And then I found it! I took possession of this amulet with one purpose in mind. I came here, to the depths of this dungeon… To RULE the entire world! To shed the light of microtransactions into even the darkest places! To make EVERYTHING into a role-playing game! You see, people are tired of their mundane lives. They dream of being heroes. They dream of dragons, QTEs, romances, regenerating health! But after the always short dream, the harshness of the real world kicks in. This amulet – it can change all that! It can transform the fabric of reality itself into the most glorious massive multiplayer role-playing experience the world has ever known!

...This guy is a real businessman.

Yeah, man, too bad he's our rival so we can't let him live.

That foolish underlord Trebor thinks he can stop me. He thinks there is a different kind of role-playing. He clings to numbers, complexity, tactics, turn-based combat, choices and consequences... But he's mad, and I know better. That's not what the audience wants. That's not where the world is heading to. As for you, you'd never reach the heights of MY vision! You'd only get in the way. So long as you and the Mad Underlord meddle with my plans, this world cannot become what I wish it to be... The time for speeches is over. I gave you life, I will also kill you!

 

[Aenra]

Corrections:
(may edit this as i stop skimming read the rest of the article infinijew posted)

i) It's even worse than depicted. The writer wrongly states that you may add additional basement floors and/or expand your property. Wrong. Since a few months ago, the cunts cunts cunts cunts changed their policy once again, explicitly stating that from said stated date and henceforth, multiple instances of any same category (i.e. basements) will no longer be cumulative.

Example being, if you own a lot with one basement sublevel and you buy an extra one now, you can't add it for a total of two sublevels. You'd need a new row and a new house on top of it (charged separately [for your convenience [[obviously,lol]]), so as to use that extra basement level.

ii) The article makes it sound as if finding an empty lot and/or being able to acquire it will be a relatively fair procedure in the future. Read my posts above

(all that said? For the interest of fairness i have to repeat that far as 'modern' "mmos" go, SotA is a noble approach systems-wise. I am just pissed off because a) the unfairness was not evident until recently, b) some of their whales are PvP junkies and in fear of allienating them they have purposefuly muddied the waters, direction-wise. Still, i have not sold my assets. Nor do i plan to. Make of that what you will)

 

[Roobenator]

Spoiler

Corrections:
(may edit this as i stop skimming read the rest of the article infinijew posted)

i) It's even worse than depicted. The writer wrongly states that you may add additional basement floors and/or expand your property. Wrong. Since a few months ago, the cunts cunts cunts cunts changed their policy once again, explicitly stating that from said stated date and henceforth, multiple instances of any same category (i.e. basements) will no longer be cumulative.

Example being, if you own a lot with one basement sublevel and you buy an extra one now, you can't add it for a total of two sublevels. You'd need a new row and a new house on top of it (charged separately [for your convenience [[obviously,lol]]), so as to use that extra basement level.

ii) The article makes it sound as if finding an empty lot and/or being able to acquire it will be a relatively fair procedure in the future. Read my posts above

(all that said? For the interest of fairness i have to repeat that far as 'modern' "mmos" go, SotA is a noble approach systems-wise. I am just pissed off because a) the unfairness was not evident until recently, b) some of their whales are PvP junkies and in fear of allienating them they have purposefuly muddied the waters, direction-wise. Still, i have not sold my assets. Nor do i plan to. Make of that what you will)

How much have you invested?

 

[grimace]

Let us all keep this in mind:
https://youtu.be/m0TLucYOf8w?t=270



" . . . when a game isn't finished correctly . . . "

 

[Tytus]

So what is the state of the game by now? Anyone here is playing/following it?

 

[grimace]

https://youtu.be/Ta2RRN43vgA

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

What the fuck did I just watch.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Bumvelcrow]

I shall keep calm and pretend I didn't read that.

Garriotttttt!!!!

 

[Melan]

When I think of Ultima's DNA, I certainly think of microtransactions and player-financed real estate. That was in Quest of the Avatar.

You can buy a $10 Wooden Outhouse, a $10 Ornate Tile Hot Tub (on offer, reduced from $15!), or a $150 Druid Town House that looks like a home carved out of a gnarled old tree. You can buy some cupid pants and wings in time for Valentine's Day. The Shroud of the Avatar Add-On Store is like an expensive medieval Sims catalogue.

The $10 Wooden Outhouse might actually be from Warriors of Destiny.

 

[Aildrik]

So what is the state of the game by now? Anyone here is playing/following it?

I fired up the client a few days ago and then patiently waited for it to patch up. I'm actually rather impressed. You do the whole character customization bit and then get dumped off on what looks like an island floating out in space, orbiting far above what I assume is Britannia. You talk to some lady who asks you the moral dilemma questions that the gypsy asks you in Ultima 4,5,6, etc to pick your class. I was pleasantly surprised to see that! You then port down, but I didn't make it much past that. I will say they have made a lot of progress in regards to the models, graphics, etc. I will probably play some more this week and report in on what I find.

 

[Aildrik]

When I think of Ultima's DNA, I certainly think of microtransactions and player-financed real estate. That was in Quest of the Avatar.

Yeah, not sure what to make of all that. In many ways I don't give a crap if that stuff is there for players with way too much disposable income, if it is mainly cosmetic and for RP nuts. Depends on what the functionality. I know in UO, you pretty much *had* to have housing or you rapidly ran out of space to carry extra armor, items or do much in the way of tradeskills.

That said, working together with a friend to cobble together enough $$ for our first two story house was an awesome endeavor. Running your own merchant stores was a great way to earn $$. Can you still buy deeds with ingame currency or has that all been shunted over to RL money purchases?

 

[m_s0]

When I think of Ultima's DNA, I certainly think of microtransactions and player-financed real estate. That was in Quest of the Avatar.

You can buy a $10 Wooden Outhouse, a $10 Ornate Tile Hot Tub (on offer, reduced from $15!), or a $150 Druid Town House that looks like a home carved out of a gnarled old tree. You can buy some cupid pants and wings in time for Valentine's Day. The Shroud of the Avatar Add-On Store is like an expensive medieval Sims catalogue.

The $10 Wooden Outhouse might actually be from Warriors of Destiny.

"Real" estate.

What the fuck happened, Garriott?

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

... the players are talking about their 'assets' in what appears to be serious tones. How far we have fallen when game players are talking about real estate and assets, with a smattering of investment this or that and a perfunctory nod to an actual game, let alone an Ultima?

 

[Caim]

I wonder if those are the same people who pay 5+ figures for internet spaceships.

 

[Taluntain]

Some people get their kicks from virtual toys while others do from RL ones. Not much difference overall, you're still wasting money on personal enjoyment either way.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Some people get their kicks from virtual toys while others do from RL ones. Not much difference overall, you're still wasting money on personal enjoyment either way.

It's hard to blame the players - but Garriott (lest we forget, a RPG legend) has created a virtual toyshop with a loose-fiiting and increasingly distressed Ultima frontage. He's using his past history of making good games, albeit now decades in the past, to sell branded shit whilst pretending there's anything to it other than a money harvesting scheme. It's not the fact that somebody is doing it (people can do whatever they like with their own money) - it's the fact that HE is doing it, and doing it under an Ultima pretence. If this happened in real life it would be described as enabling addiction. I'd be horrified if I didn't find it so morbidly fascinating.

Can we just merge this and the Star Citizen threads, or just create a 'shitting on your fans' subforum?

 

[Taluntain]

Getting on the slippery slope of ethics in capitalism... everything in this system is for sale and the market decides whether a game (especially a MMO or anything MMO-hybrid) gets to live longer than a few months. Without a constant influx of money to further development, it can't and doesn't. Besides, Garriott was one of the pioneers of MMO addiction with UO so what he's doing now really doesn't seem to be straying far from his past endeavors combined.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Are the houses highly customizable at least? UO had best housing after Age of Shadows expansion where you could choose from pre-made houses or simply build your own, piece by piece.

 

[Aenra]

the players are talking about their 'assets' in what appears to be serious tones. How far we have fallen

I did say "my assets", yes. You want to stick to a single word and not only define my person but also equate me to whomever else you may have in mind? Go nuts, its the KKKodex. In the meantime, you might want to consider the following:
- Not everyone is here to philosophise, add moral context AND educate, all in one, in each n' every post they make. Most of all in a fucking gaming forum
- Not everyone devotes the time and attention others might deem essential, again, in a gaming forum of all places
- Not everyone can come up, at a second's notice, with some better word to define a non uniform, diverse collection of ingame priviledges, intangible (virtually) specifications, houses, items and conditions. You have a better term with which to refer to their sum total, feel free to share and educate me. Not my native langue English, always up for learning

To the rest of the moral arbiters (read: pseudo philosophers) Codex never changes, lol..

How much does it usually cost you to buy an MMO game, five expansions, and remain subscribed forever? Riiiight... So if someone told you "give me a lot less and i grant you all that plus some ingame shit because thank you", would that be bad? No, not in itself.
So why do you retards generalise? Because one, you have no fucking clue (you haven't bought the game, have you? You just talk out of your ass in general), two, being young, dumb or both, you jump to the easy/codex consensus conclusions.

So in specific then and because since last i posted i've checked it out yet more:

- "Pledges"/"pledging" are not an issue. You can acquire one that is still within the 'fair deal' range as alluded to above and be O.K. You can also "bridge" any gap you may have or have had with big whales by simply adding basement levels to your property/plot. These can be bought ingame, with ingame (forget the store entirely) gold. Unless you find the aesthetic too to be immoral?
- While i too have ridiculed the selling of dresses for fuck's sake on the ingame store, they neither imbalance the game nor hurt ME. IF that's what others want, am ok with it. Dresses you see, which again i detest, go along with wardrobes in general; and the appearance mechanic. And that i do want. Loved what it meant for Lotro, loved what it meant for the old SWG. Which again tells me some of you fuckheads are either clueless, or just mindlessly doing what the poster above you is doing. To take the good one needs take the bad. If you played Lotro and SWG, you would also know that the good far outweighs the bad when such systems are available to all. And they are in SotA.

You want to focus on its real issues (not a single fucking one of you has), go nuts. Have done my fair of outlining them myself. The way you act, the way so many of you act here.. it doesn't help anyone

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

... so what you are saying in righteous tone is that you like this direction and I don't, therefore I am a retard that should be quiet.

 

[GarfunkeL]

the players are talking about their 'assets' in what appears to be serious tones. How far we have fallen

I did say "my assets", yes. You want to stick to a single word and not only define my person but also equate me to whomever else you may have in mind? Go nuts, its the KKKodex. In the meantime, you might want to consider the following:
- Not everyone is here to philosophise, add moral context AND educate, all in one, in each n' every post they make. Most of all in a fucking gaming forum
- Not everyone devotes the time and attention others might deem essential, again, in a gaming forum of all places
- Not everyone can come up, at a second's notice, with some better word to define a non uniform, diverse collection of ingame priviledges, intangible (virtually) specifications, houses, items and conditions. You have a better term with which to refer to their sum total, feel free to share and educate me. Not my native langue English, always up for learning

To the rest of the moral arbiters (read: pseudo philosophers) Codex never changes, lol..

How much does it usually cost you to buy an MMO game, five expansions, and remain subscribed forever? Riiiight... So if someone told you "give me a lot less and i grant you all that plus some ingame shit because thank you", would that be bad? No, not in itself.
So why do you retards generalise? Because one, you have no fucking clue (you haven't bought the game, have you? You just talk out of your ass in general), two, being young, dumb or both, you jump to the easy/codex consensus conclusions.

So in specific then and because since last i posted i've checked it out yet more:

- "Pledges"/"pledging" are not an issue. You can acquire one that is still within the 'fair deal' range as alluded to above and be O.K. You can also "bridge" any gap you may have or have had with big whales by simply adding basement levels to your property/plot. These can be bought ingame, with ingame (forget the store entirely) gold. Unless you find the aesthetic too to be immoral?
- While i too have ridiculed the selling of dresses for fuck's sake on the ingame store, they neither imbalance the game nor hurt ME. IF that's what others want, am ok with it. Dresses you see, which again i detest, go along with wardrobes in general; and the appearance mechanic. And that i do want. Loved what it meant for Lotro, loved what it meant for the old SWG. Which again tells me some of you fuckheads are either clueless, or just mindlessly doing what the poster above you is doing. To take the good one needs take the bad. If you played Lotro and SWG, you would also know that the good far outweighs the bad when such systems are available to all. And they are in SotA.

You want to focus on its real issues (not a single fucking one of you has), go nuts. Have done my fair of outlining them myself. The way you act, the way so many of you act here.. it doesn't help anyone

 

[Tytus]

... so what you are saying in righteous tone is that you like this direction and I don't, therefore I am a retard that should be quiet.

Welcome to the Codex.

 

[Roqua]

I absolutely love that people are willing to spend money on houses and wardrobe clothing. They are financing a batter game for me since I have am not able to see the appeal in buying a house in-game just to have one, and give two shits what I am wearing. I just want to be able to make a tough looking character with a normal haircut and have more than a sparkling white or deep jungle black skin hues.

If the only means of storage is getting a house to put chests in then houses have an actual function. But this probably also means the game doesn't have an auction house where I can just buy something, but that I will have to travel all over east kabish and waste all my play time trying to get one minor item upgrade because fucking dick heads want some sort of draw to get people to look at their house like in Anarchy Online and SWG. I don't give a shit what anyone's house looks like and when I buy something I want it now without having the huge annoyance and time wasted of traveling God knows where to get it just because someone wants someone else to look at their house. I don't care what houses look like in real life. I don't care about it in games. I want to kill shit or other players, stop wasting my time with this shit.

I don't know how developers haven't figured it out yet, like in Elder Scrolls Online. I won't play a game where the biggest challenge is buying something and storing what I have. That may be fun for SSD champions but if you work as a professional, which almost always translates into far more than fulltime, and have a family too boot, if you don't respect my time I don't give you my time or money. Speaking about working, I really need to do some of that.