Lord British Presents

Steviepunk · 3 Mar 2013 at 13:12

Huw said:
Yep. There was indeed a sequel to Ultima Online, and it sounded amazing too, until it got canned halfway through development. Bitter tears were shed.

Had there not been 2 attempted sequels to UO?

I remember UO2 a long time ago, think it was set 50 years (or 500) after UO - this might have been around 2002. Main things I seem to remember about it were an unusual new character race (don't remember specifics though), floating castles and unarmed combat abilities, no real details though

Then I remember another one that was maybe 3 or 4 years ago that was different, think it was call Ultima Ascension - think it had a max level cap for characters, when you reached it you could ascend your character, which would end their game but you would start a new character (their child) that would have a additional ability that could only be gained through ascension. Think the idea was that you would be able to continue ascending characters and that would allow you have a character have multiple 'ascended' powers.

MotherMayI · 3 Mar 2013 at 13:35

Utnac said:
that'll be yet another nostalgia fueled kickstarter then.

If this was an Ultima Online 2 kickstarter I'd be silling to sell my organs to ensure it succeeded.

MissChief · 3 Mar 2013 at 13:44

Halfmad said:
Tabula Rasa. Great ideas watered down and altered due to budget at the last minute which resulted in a game which made little sense.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Rasa_(video_game)

Which was released far too early thanks to pressure from NCSoft (hateful company) and it was very, very broken at launch. Once they'd sorted it out it was actually a lot of fun but it was too late and people had abandoned it then it folded. I've never played an Ultima game but TR had some good ideas and as a Sci-Fi based MMO instantly interested me.

cHk4 · 3 Mar 2013 at 13:48

I want it to be UO2 but the thing is I remember seeing an interview with him a long time ago and he was basically saying the future is mobile platforms and social gaming (IE Facebook)

SPG · 3 Mar 2013 at 16:23

The man is a self important No disguised swearing , got lucky once. Done nothing else.

I want a Jeff Minter MMPPORG with llamas.

Kainz · 3 Mar 2013 at 16:44

Steviepunk said:
Had there not been 2 attempted sequels to UO?

Yer the official UO2 and later on UO X: Odyssey. The latter was in full development flow, being run by Callandryll of the OSI forums. EA then decided to shift all operations to their HQ in San Francisco. A lot of folks did not want to leave OSI in Texas (iirc) and UOX died in mere weeks after that announcement.

Sleepery · 3 Mar 2013 at 18:13

Tabula Rasa was brill. Everyone stop kicking the corpse

Kosmiche · 3 Mar 2013 at 18:46

Never played a ultima in my life. Am I missing something?

Raumarik · 3 Mar 2013 at 19:10

Sleepery said:
Tabula Rasa was brill. Everyone stop kicking the corpse

Mechanics of TR were great but the background and backstory was pathetic and that was down to RG aka Lord British.

Rose tinted glasses here folks, I hope he can pull it off but I've bugger all faith in him. Don't blame NC or anyone else for it being release it was RG who was backing Tabula rasa cash wise, so he was making the big decisions.

Swifty55 · 3 Mar 2013 at 19:18

Halfmad said:
Mechanics of TR were great but the background and backstory was pathetic and that was down to RG aka Lord British.

Rose tinted glasses here folks, I hope he can pull it off but I've bugger all faith in him. Don't blame NC or anyone else for it being release it was RG who was backing Tabula rasa cash wise, so he was making the big decisions.

He admitted that his failings were due to listening to other parties (business partners/publishers). Look how good UO was before EA obtained it. EA ruined it with Age of Shadows!

ElDude · 3 Mar 2013 at 20:49

Swifty55 said:
He admitted that his failings were due to listening to other parties (business partners/publishers). Look how good UO was before EA obtained it. EA ruined it with Age of Shadows!

EA ruin most things so it suits their business model of being cheaper than the designers want it, and they can then make more from DLC/microtransactions. Look what happened to Dragons Age

FlamBango · 3 Mar 2013 at 21:06

Ultima Online, the only game i could live out my transvestite lumberjack fantasies! Windy Miller reporting for duty, have axe, will flounce.

rubberduck · 3 Mar 2013 at 22:47

Chance of this being ultima related? Zero - EA own the franchise.
Chance of this being a MMORPG? Highly unlikely, unless browser/mobile based.
Chance of this being a kickstarter project? Very high

Prepare to be let down.

Raumarik · 3 Mar 2013 at 23:19

Swifty55 said:
He admitted that his failings were due to listening to other parties (business partners/publishers). Look how good UO was before EA obtained it. EA ruined it with Age of Shadows!

EA owned Origin, who created Ultima online FIVE YEARS before UO was even released - without EA you'd have no Ultima Online.

Granted when they wound up OSI the game went downhill very quickly, but once Trammel had been introduced it was already getting worse with each update and subscription numbers were never going to recover.

Garrett left 1999, so he can take no blame for what happened to UO after that but as far as Tabula Rasa is concerned he was entirely involved from start to finish, excuse him all you want he was key in producing a hellishly poor game lore, although the mechanics of the game worked rather well (which is why I liked it).

Hopefully since he's had a good few years he'll do a better job of this new game, but I don't hero worship the chap like I did before. Christ it's like J R R Tolkien finishing Lord of the Rings then punting out 50 Shades of Gandalf the Grey and people excusing it because he's done good work before that and assuming he'll produce another masterpiece if he keeps at it. Doesn't mean he didn't write about how Gandalf liked his staff a little too much..

LateX'Dog · 3 Mar 2013 at 23:39

rubberduck said:
Chance of this being ultima related? Zero - EA own the franchise.
Chance of this being a MMORPG? Highly unlikely, unless browser/mobile based.
Chance of this being a kickstarter project? Very high

Prepare to be let down.

Pretty sure i read somewhere that he had gained access to the Ultima IP and was in the process of making a new Ultima MMO/Game.

rubberduck · 3 Mar 2013 at 23:53

LateX'Dog said:
Pretty sure i read somewhere that he had gained access to the Ultima IP and was in the process of making a new Ultima MMO/Game.

Well as EA are currently producing an Ultima game for mobile market I would be very surprised if he has any access to the franchise... I guess we will find out soon.

Neil79 · 4 Mar 2013 at 00:45

Greetings Adventurers!

Fear not! Any “Ultimate RPG” I would be attempting would be first and foremost a PC game (neither console, nor social media). It would be highly story driven as my original trilogy of trilogies. I would hope to also make it such that it can be played multiplayer as well as solo and offline.

– Richard “Lord British” Garriott

Darujhistan · 4 Mar 2013 at 01:10

'Lord British'

Eerily similar to Peep Show's 'British London'...

Adsta · 4 Mar 2013 at 08:48

It's one of those things while I loved UO. I do not place any faith in this guy at all. I will wait and wait and see what happens. I'm always the sceptic though

Llamaman · 4 Mar 2013 at 09:06

SPG said:
I want a Jeff Minter MMPPORG with llamas.

Get your people to call my people and we'll get something in the diary.