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Ultima Online Heads for 7th Birthday With Anniversary Edition
Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting an EA press release noting a special 7th Anniversary Edition of Ultima Online has been announced, featuring the game plus the "five [previously released] expansion packs... one of seven rare and powerful anniversary [in-game] gifts... and a collector's edition of the Ultima Online Fan Guide", as well as a "full version of the classic Ultima IX: Ascension." The official UO site has a picture of the box, and over at UO Stratics, they have clarification from UO's lead programmer, part of the California-transplanted Ultima Online team, that "the primary motivation to release the Anniversary Edition is to get UO back on store shelves until the [late 2004-due] expansion is complete. At the same time we were looking for ways to give players some value [also including 'an extra character slot'] that would complement the package."
Hahaha... More like surplus stock. ;)
I never bought that game when it came out, despite being an Ultima fan. But about a year ago I got my hands on a copy and gave it a whirl (figuring PCs today had to be powerful enough to play it).
What an amazing game. It wasn't nearly the game it should have been to end a series, but if you figure all the crap that the development team(s) went through to get that game into the shape is was at release, hats off to them.
It is by far the most lush, detailed and beautiful world in 3D that had ever been made at the time, and in many, many ways even still today. I was floored at their landscape design, fitting everything into such a small area of land and making it feel like a continent packed with detail down the centimeter. No polygon in that game world was unused, it was amazing.
The gameplay was good, the story was good, and when you play such an old game so later on, your expectations are naturally much lower, and I found myself absolutely loving this game from start to finish. The only thing I really didn't care for was the really bizarre cultural twist they put on the various towns in Britannia (Scara Brae is egyptian? What?!), but other than that it was much good fun.
I've never heard of a game celebrating it's *7th Anniversary*... I guess they figure UO will be much harder to milk any further 3 years from now...
:-)
In all seriousness, UO was a great game that improved in some areas and worsened in others. I think releasing an edition with every expansion is a smart move to entice even more people to try out the game (or come back to it).
I feel like we are lonnnng overdue for a sequal to UO
Karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths....
as well as a "full version of the classic Ultima IX: Ascension."
Because no one in their fricking mind bought it the first time around.
Yes, I bought it. I was out of my mind, I admit it. I thought Ultima 8 was ok too. In my defense though, it was also the only game I've ever returned since I started playing computer games.
Even RG has admitted as much it being a less than stellar moment in the series. This is what happens when you get bought out by a publicly traded company.
I wonder how many players are still playing today and have been playing for the full seven years? I also wonder what type of people they are, in general. I've played a lot of MMORPGs in the last few years - hoping that each one would be the magic bullet that has the right mix of story, world, graphics, community, player-base-size, in-depth-play, imagination and compelling play that would keep my attention and not turn into a boring gold-hording click-fest.
So far, after playing about two dozen MMORPGs, including A Tale In The Desert, Anarchy Online, Rubies of Eventide, Shadowbane, The Sims Online (ick), Neocron, City of Heroes, Planetside and Dark Ages of Camelot - none have held my interest for more than a month and very few have held my interest for more than one or two weeks.
...as well as a "full version of the classic Ultima IX: Ascension."
Sorry, but Ultima VI (I think - it's the one that included "THOU HAST LOST AN EIGHTH!") was the last Ultima sequel that can be considered "classic". Ultima VII and VIII were so buggy as to be unplayable - by the time Ultima IX came out, the series had already been more or less ruined beyond repair.
I still miss the pre-Brittania time-travel and spaceships of Ultima II.
144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
Ultima VII is an RPG benchmark.
Richard Garriott's masterwork, easily. I still give it a whirl every now and again, 10 plus years on. And I still find new and interesting content, conversations and books.
Give me an RPG at least one tenth as ambitious and one eighth as interesting as Ultima VII and I'd be happy.
I hope they are giving away free 3dfx cards with that bundle too, because UIX sure as hell doesn't like direct3d.
I have a P4 2.8, 512 3200 RAM and an overclocked gf5900....and UIX still runs like shite (on highest detail, but come on, this game is almost half a decade old).
A lot has been said about irritating gameplay, a ruined story and a horribly depicted avatar, but in my opinion Origin's single greatest mistake was designing the game to run almost wholely on 3dfx cards, while offering lacklustre support for direct3d.
i dunno, i played UO from the time it launched to a few years later (around the time of the running-out-of-room-to-place-houses debacle started). i think the last expansion i played thru was Renaissance.
this kinda makes me want to pick up this anniversary edition and play again, especially since i've completely given up on SWG now as much as it pains me to say that.
i wonder if they intended something like this by including all the expansions and whatnot. anyone else thinkin of doing the same?