But frankly It makes little difference, there is still tons of exploring and wandering around to be done. Just with some loading screens sprinkled through.
As for one server...perhaps...and how many instances? A very limited amount of people on each instance.
Ya there are certain draw backs to a smallish MMORPG budget. My point is that at least its one server with instances and not many servers with instances. At least everybody in the community can play together in the same world.
While they have some technological limits, they do have a ton of cool features. They are putting the "role playing" back into MMORPG.
This is only episode 1 there are 4 more to . With each one the world will get bigger and hopefully each instance will also increase in sizesize. The more people who play the more money they have to make it bigger.
They have made plenty of money already. This is not a small budget MMO. The shape of the game is just a strange direction for me. Maybe it will turn out well but time will tell.
I think most of the people haven't understood that it's not a MMO at all, and has never been advertised as such. It's NOT UO2. Never has been, and nobody ever promised it would be. It's more like "Ultima VII with multiplayer". Not massively. Just multiplayer.
The developers have been pretty clear about this since day one, yet some people still wanted to make this "UO2" in their own minds.
The devs sold it as a single-player spiritual successor to the Ultima series and once they realized how many nostalgia junkies they could strip of their hard-earned cash, they took the multiplayer with overpriced cash shop route.
They have made plenty of money already. This is not a small budget MMO. The shape of the game is just a strange direction for me. Maybe it will turn out well but time will tell.
I think most of the people haven't understood that it's not a MMO at all, and has never been advertised as such. It's NOT UO2. Never has been, and nobody ever promised it would be. It's more like "Ultima VII with multiplayer". Not massively. Just multiplayer.
The developers have been pretty clear about this since day one, yet some people still wanted to make this "UO2" in their own minds.
The devs sold it as a single-player spiritual successor to the Ultima series and once they realized how many nostalgia junkies they could strip of their hard-earned cash, they took the multiplayer with overpriced cash shop route.
Yeah Garriott and company tricked the old UO players to invest. There are many Garriott quotes that deliver the feeling that this game was going to be a spiritual successor to UO. Those old UO players now feel cheated and have left the game.
No he did not. And your quotes exist only in your imagination.
I followed this game since its very first announcement on the Portalarium website, and it was always announced as a RPG with multiplayer in the spirit of the old Ultima RPGs.
So did i and it seems i know more about this games history and what have been said and not.
Here is just one example of Garriott calling it a spiritual successor to UO-
So just accept your wrong and continue the discussion from that fact, Garriott tricked old UO players to invest in a game they never would have if they knew what the end result would be - a game that only cater to the hi-money level pledger's and old UO players looking for the next UO game was entirely ignored by developers.
I think the biggest mistake people are making is the assumption that
"spiritual successor" is only in reference to Ultima Online when no one
at Portalarium (including RG) has called it a successor specifically to
UO. I am aware that at least one author of an article has made that
incorrect assumption as well.
From the legal end I take it to mean just as redfish says. SotA is
basically Ultima X but they can't use the name and elements of the lore
because of legal issues. Apart from that I take "spiritual successor"
to mean "in the spirit of" or adhering to the ideals of. Understanding
that there were 9 Ultimas in the main series (technically 10 as 7 came
in 2 parts).. plus Ultima Underworlds I & II directly tied into the
series and also Martian Dreams and Savage Empire which could be
considered side stories.
That's 14 games that came BEFORE Ultima Online. All single player
games. And really if you consider the lore behind UO.. that too was
more of a side story setting as every shard was just a copy of the world
sitting inside of gems a real person could hold in their hand. Where
as the other games were in the REAL Ultima universe. In terms of actual
lore UO doesn't even really count.
Expecting SotA to mirror UO is an erroneous assumption with no basis in
what was ever said officially. If Portalarium made any mistake at all
here it was assuming most people would understand that SotA is the
successor to the series.. and not just UO.
The video in the next post (2:30 mark) is even more precise. "Spiritual successor to Ultima". And also, a nice part about how the game isn't a traditional MMO.
And at least in that video, you can be sure it's really Richard Garriott.
I bought into this train-wreck over two years ago so I do have quite a bit of history in this game. Like many others, I also sold my account once I realized what is really going on.
They are not building the spiritual successor to Ultima, like their Kickstarter described. You know why? $$$
They've spent the last six months -- yes, SIX months -- focusing on player-owned-towns. Why do you think many left after waiting for years? They were expecting Ultima and instead are getting an online version of Barbie's Malibu Dream House. they mentioned POTs and the whales went, "Oooo, I want one!". So they plopped them on the store at a starting price of $900 -- yes, $900 or more -- and to date there are almost 300 of them in-game. WTF??? Where's the Ultima we pledged for? It won't happen. Why? Again, $$$.
Richard Garriott said once he wanted to make Ultimate Collector 2. He did. It collects people's bank accounts.
They've spent the last six months -- yes, SIX months -- focusing on player-owned-towns.
Anyone who really followed the updates of this games knows this is total bullshit.
I will just say that they added over 40 new scenes in the last release (28). New craftable weapons, too.
People haven't left, they simply wait for the last wipe to invest fully in the game.
Oh give me a break. Glad to see you Garriott fanboys still waste huge amounts of energy obfuscating the fact that this is a sinking ship.
All you have to do is look at the Player Marketplace to see the number of accounts and pledges getting sold.
As for the new scenes, they are just rehashes of existing ones. Weapons are reskins of existing models. What did that take, four hours? $100 in the store! Get 'em before we slap an "Out of stock" banner on them. How the f**k can a digital asset be out of stock? Oh right, higher prices. It doesn't take a genius to figure any of that out.
Portalarium and their mindless fanboys will do anything to protect their investment. Just look at the forums. It's like a happy-happy-joy-joy circle jerk in there. No game forum is like that. You know why? Because all dissenting opinions are wiped away as fast as possible by blithering idiots masquerading as mods.
You can buy into the game but don't show your displeasure or you'll be censored or worse, perma-banned for expecting a Kickstarter promise to be met.
Insane, Joviex, Mordecai, Caliya, Sicherdraht, Peleg, Argyle, Grim, Dewderonomy...all obliterated for expecting to get what they pledged for. And those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There are so many more.
Also, look at some of the sellouts:
Mad Hermit: Spent years doing YouTube videos for SotA. Walked away. $4800 In his last post: "I will say that if I was to name one thing that doused my enthusiasm for SOTA I would say it was the Add-On Store. I never liked the idea of my funding dollars being used to develop things I would have to pay extra for; or the heavy-handed way in which the Add-On Store was being used. TL;DR A premium game should never have a freemium business model."
Or how about Blake Blackstone? Huge amount of money. His reasons were wiped from the forums, but I believe Insane screenshotted it so it's available for viewing if anyone wants to know. I know and it ain't pretty.
Ravicus? Gone. Big investor and participant in the community.
There are so many more.
So don't try it with me. If you want to hear BS, examine the words coming out of your own mouth.
Oh nice, a like of unknown people nobody except you cares about, and who are whining about a game on the Internet. How original.
And sprinkled with the usual personal attacks (fanboy, etc...).
Thanks for providing this. Seems you enjoy doing this for several games, not just this one, seen you on the Black desert forum too. Time for another entry to the ignore list.
If you were really part of the SotA community, those people wouldn't be unknown to you.
One of the most heavily instanced games I've ever played that claims to be an online game world. Its Unity to make matters worse, and the level design looks like amateur hour, its appalling how primitive the gameworld looks.
I just re-downloaded the most recent build ( do that about every 6 months) and honestly couldn't believe how corny everything looked, its as if they are going backwards in quality. Harsh words I know, but I expected more from this developer, we all know who that is.
At least you made me laugh. Some random forum poster called "rgarriott", yeah sure.
All I will accept is that Garriott and his team achieved much more than they announced. And I'm actually PLAYING the game, not just bashing it on a forum.
The final product is definitely a successor to the Ultima franchise, something Electronic Arts dismissed so stupidly twice. Successor to Ultima and UO.
Your real motives are clear since day one. You wanted this to be a pre-Trammel PvP gankfest. Shall I dig out your first bashing posts here? That's your problem with this game, always has been. You never accepted that it would be a story driven sandbox (which was made obvious since day one by the presence of Hickman in the team) and not the PvP gankfest with the Ultima label on it you dream about.
Garriott is definitely true to the Ultima franchise with this game (including UO). Any real Ultima fan who played the all games since the early 80s knows it. I started with Ultima III, but then played the I and II because I liked it so much, then I played all the others of course, and also UO. SotA includes elements from all of them, not just UO.
Here is another link where Garriott with exactly the same signature talk about the game over here at MMORPG.com.
He have called this game a spiritual successor to UO and with those words he tricked the old UO players that believed in him.
It is amazingly fun to read these fanbois desperatly defending this trainwreck of a game.
I guess you invested alot of money into it and that i can understand drives you. Me myself would never be as stupid that i put that kind of money into a guy that haven't made a good game in +15 years.
There's a very good post by "rgarriott" in that thread you just linked...
It is both my HOPE and BELIEF that we can pull into a modern game, the best of UO and U1-9,
UO
(pre-Trammel-Felucca) remains a very unique style of open world. The
pressure to split the world was because the anti-social aspects of some
features drove off new players and PvE players. We think we can relieve
those pressures without splitting up the audience to the greater
happiness of both, Then throw in some real virtue quests and a deeply
interactive world, and deeply interdependent skill areas... and Ta Da
"Shroud of the Avatar!"
Oh look! Himself says he does NOT want to replicate a pre-trammel UO! He clearly announces that SotA will NOT be the pre-Trammel gank fest you were hoping for! And that's why you are so bitter!
And of course, he clearly says the game is a successor of U1 to 9 too.
I didn't expect it to be pre-trammel and i didn't even want it to be pre-trammel.
Felucca after trammel was consensual PvP and all that entered felucca was aware of the rule settings. That was the best time in felucca.
That would also be a spiritual successor to UO without a gank feast of innocent pray.
That was why i invested a small sum into SOTA and i believed in Garriotts words.
But he lied to all of us old UO players and made this carebear game to fit the hardcore carebear pledgers that developers decided to listen to.
Ultima in 1992: Buy a cool ship that lets you sail the sea with gold you looted on your quests. Ultima in 2016: Pay $1000 real-world money for an awful-looking ship that cannot sail.
Ultima in 1992: Buy a cool ship that lets you sail the sea with gold you looted on your quests. Ultima in 2016: Pay $1000 real-world money for an awful-looking ship that cannot sail.
And its creator should have retired a long time ago. Garriott is way past his prime as a game developer. At least that has-been is doing two things right:
One: Showing game developers how NOT to build a game.
Two: Teaching us that it's not wise to hire your has-been friends to help you out.
Ultima in 1992: Buy a cool ship that lets you sail the sea with gold you looted on your quests. Ultima in 2016: Pay $1000 real-world money for an awful-looking ship that cannot sail.
Agree.
Getting in-game advantages just because you are rich enough to put down a hi-pledge is not a healthy way to finance a game.
Everyone should start the game exactly the same but that is not how it works in this game. The one's that made these +1000$ pledges will get the best house locations cause they can place before the one's that only pledged for 45$. Getting one of the best spots for selling your crafted gear will be a huge +. Also having a house from day 1 (bought with a pledge) before the one's that have to try to get one with in-game money will make it easier to get a shop running/popular and visited.
Stay clear of this game, that's all I can say. I was hyped when I started playing, but after several months of testing, I have stopped playing. The game is incredibly dull and the combat is a joke. I love RPG's like DIVINITY: original sin, but SOTA is just bad imho.
The thing that made me laugh is that I logged in one week after seeing this big patch and a statement saying combat had received a lot of attention and had many changes. Well, I didn't notice anything and the combat was still rubbish.
The game is a joke. Tiny zones filled with terrible looking trees and grass, invisible walls everywhere, horrible graphics and animation, boring as hell combat, awful UI, and pay-to-win.
This game is about as much a spiritual successor to the Ultima games as Cheetahmen is to TMNT. This game isn't worthy to lick the dog shit off Ultima VII's boots. Anyone who thinks SotA is anywhere near the level of Ultima VII, or ever will be, is either a fanboy or an idiot. Or perhaps a fanboy idiot.
I'm so glad I didn't spend more than $20 on this game. It's a half-assed cash grab by a washed up industry veteran using his former notoriety to appeal to the nostalgic feelings associated with his prior work.
Perhaps the next time he travels to space, he should stay there.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
Comments
you can even go into offline mode to do grinding, gathering etc.
Not exactly what you asked I know but I haven't logged in in months so can't be more exact.
(And I have no idea what I clicked that this quoted someone, lol)
While they have some technological limits, they do have a ton of cool features. They are putting the "role playing" back into MMORPG.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
~~ postlarval ~~
~~ postlarval ~~
There are many Garriott quotes that deliver the feeling that this game was going to be a spiritual successor to UO.
Those old UO players now feel cheated and have left the game.
Here is just one example of Garriott calling it a spiritual successor to UO-
http://imgur.com/e5BgsFm
So just accept your wrong and continue the discussion from that fact, Garriott tricked old UO players to invest in a game they never would have if they knew what the end result would be - a game that only cater to the hi-money level pledger's and old UO players looking for the next UO game was entirely ignored by developers.
They are not building the spiritual successor to Ultima, like their Kickstarter described. You know why? $$$
They've spent the last six months -- yes, SIX months -- focusing on player-owned-towns. Why do you think many left after waiting for years? They were expecting Ultima and instead are getting an online version of Barbie's Malibu Dream House. they mentioned POTs and the whales went, "Oooo, I want one!". So they plopped them on the store at a starting price of $900 -- yes, $900 or more -- and to date there are almost 300 of them in-game. WTF??? Where's the Ultima we pledged for? It won't happen. Why? Again, $$$.
Richard Garriott said once he wanted to make Ultimate Collector 2. He did. It collects people's bank accounts.
~~ postlarval ~~
All you have to do is look at the Player Marketplace to see the number of accounts and pledges getting sold.
As for the new scenes, they are just rehashes of existing ones. Weapons are reskins of existing models. What did that take, four hours? $100 in the store! Get 'em before we slap an "Out of stock" banner on them. How the f**k can a digital asset be out of stock? Oh right, higher prices. It doesn't take a genius to figure any of that out.
Portalarium and their mindless fanboys will do anything to protect their investment. Just look at the forums. It's like a happy-happy-joy-joy circle jerk in there. No game forum is like that. You know why? Because all dissenting opinions are wiped away as fast as possible by blithering idiots masquerading as mods.
You can buy into the game but don't show your displeasure or you'll be censored or worse, perma-banned for expecting a Kickstarter promise to be met.
Insane, Joviex, Mordecai, Caliya, Sicherdraht, Peleg, Argyle, Grim, Dewderonomy...all obliterated for expecting to get what they pledged for. And those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There are so many more.
Also, look at some of the sellouts:
Mad Hermit: Spent years doing YouTube videos for SotA. Walked away. $4800
In his last post: "I will say that if I was to name one thing that doused my enthusiasm for SOTA I would say it was the Add-On Store. I never liked the idea of my funding dollars being used to develop things I would have to pay extra for; or the heavy-handed way in which the Add-On Store was being used. TL;DR A premium game should never have a freemium business model."
Or how about Blake Blackstone? Huge amount of money. His reasons were wiped from the forums, but I believe Insane screenshotted it so it's available for viewing if anyone wants to know. I know and it ain't pretty.
Ravicus? Gone. Big investor and participant in the community.
There are so many more.
So don't try it with me. If you want to hear BS, examine the words coming out of your own mouth.
~~ postlarval ~~
Ignore away, scooter.
~~ postlarval ~~
I just re-downloaded the most recent build ( do that about every 6 months) and honestly couldn't believe how corny everything looked, its as if they are going backwards in quality. Harsh words I know, but I expected more from this developer, we all know who that is.
~~ postlarval ~~
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/408742/thread/p1
Still laughing? LOL
He have called this game a spiritual successor to UO and with those words he tricked the old UO players that believed in him.
It is amazingly fun to read these fanbois desperatly defending this trainwreck of a game.
I guess you invested alot of money into it and that i can understand drives you. Me myself would never be as stupid that i put that kind of money into a guy that haven't made a good game in +15 years.
Felucca after trammel was consensual PvP and all that entered felucca was aware of the rule settings. That was the best time in felucca.
That would also be a spiritual successor to UO without a gank feast of innocent pray.
That was why i invested a small sum into SOTA and i believed in Garriotts words.
But he lied to all of us old UO players and made this carebear game to fit the hardcore carebear pledgers that developers decided to listen to.
Ultima in 2016: Pay $1000 real-world money for an awful-looking ship that cannot sail.
One: Showing game developers how NOT to build a game.
Two: Teaching us that it's not wise to hire your has-been friends to help you out.
~~ postlarval ~~
Getting in-game advantages just because you are rich enough to put down a hi-pledge is not a healthy way to finance a game.
Everyone should start the game exactly the same but that is not how it works in this game. The one's that made these +1000$ pledges will get the best house locations cause they can place before the one's that only pledged for 45$. Getting one of the best spots for selling your crafted gear will be a huge +. Also having a house from day 1 (bought with a pledge) before the one's that have to try to get one with in-game money will make it easier to get a shop running/popular and visited.
The thing that made me laugh is that I logged in one week after seeing this big patch and a statement saying combat had received a lot of attention and had many changes. Well, I didn't notice anything and the combat was still rubbish.
This game is about as much a spiritual successor to the Ultima games as Cheetahmen is to TMNT. This game isn't worthy to lick the dog shit off Ultima VII's boots. Anyone who thinks SotA is anywhere near the level of Ultima VII, or ever will be, is either a fanboy or an idiot. Or perhaps a fanboy idiot.
I'm so glad I didn't spend more than $20 on this game. It's a half-assed cash grab by a washed up industry veteran using his former notoriety to appeal to the nostalgic feelings associated with his prior work.
Perhaps the next time he travels to space, he should stay there.
AN' DERE AIN'T NO SUCH FING AS ENUFF DAKKA, YA GROT! Enuff'z more than ya got an' less than too much an' there ain't no such fing as too much dakka. Say dere is, and me Squiggoff'z eatin' tonight!
We are born of the blood. Made men by the blood. Undone by the blood. Our eyes are yet to open. FEAR THE OLD BLOOD.
#IStandWithVic