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."

Comments

Ultima IX: Ascension

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Ultima IX: Ascension

[AtariAmarok]

"It is by far the most lush, detailed and beautiful world in 3D that had ever been made at the time,....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."

I felt that way about Disneyworld, except that the broad tawny expanse of the Pluto guy-in-a-suit's back just cried out to have some sort of "Lion King 1 1/2" adbill plastered on it. There's still a few unused polygons there.

Re:Ultima IX: Ascension

[Wetterschneider]

Thanks. You picked up on the one aspect of U:A that really turned out the way we hoped - the hand-sculpted continent. It's true - every single polygon on the entire landmass was tweaked into place in an attempt to make a smallish map feel like a huge one to the player and present, at the same time, all kinds of picturesque vistas. I'm truly saddened that the gameplay was clunky, erratic and buggy - that it was rushed out the door in a less-than-polished state. But the art team came through - and we did what we set out to do - that is, make a game that people might want to boot up just to wander around for a bit, taking a little virtual vacation in Britannia.

7th anniversary?

[Xoo]

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 :-)

Re:7th anniversary?

[GearType2]

UO has celebrated every year their anniversary[bad grammer I know, i'm getting ready for work]. Although never like this, they always do something.

For anyone that tried to play.

[rmarll]

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.

Re:For anyone that tried to play.

[Pluvius]

I hear it's actually decent now that computers have advanced and patches have been released.

Rob (I'd have to play through the previous ten games first, though. I'm pretty obsessive about playing through most games in order.)

Re:For anyone that tried to play.

[WWWWolf]

Personally, I'm thrilled - I'm a game collector and want to have every Ultima here, and I only have U1-8, UUW1 and SE here.

Of course, I'm pretty much aware that Ultima IX is garbage compared to just about any part of the series. Yet, when browsing the 500+ nitpicks about the game, I suddenly had felt the need to get the game and see how bad things were in Britannia. The site probably had completely the opposite effect to me than what was intended =)

I'm only hoping for a complete remake of the series, possibly with U8 and U9 completely rewritten.

I wonder how many long term players.

[Seumas]

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.

Re:I wonder how many long term players.

[hsoft]

A few years ago, I would have said: Buy UO now, it *IS* the answer :). However, since origin has been bought by EA, it is morphing into a standard powergaming/levelling/hacknslash MMOG. I reopened my account last month, and it is even worse now (The magic items now have diablo-like properties :( ). Ahh, the good ol' days... I guess that the answer would be to find an old UO client, and play on non-EA servers (which is illegal...).

Re:I wonder how many long term players.

[scot4875]

EA bought Origin before UO was even released.

If UO is moving in a different direction now than it was on release, it's because of other forces.

--Jeremy

Re:I wonder how many long term players.

[GearType2]

to be fair, the diablo like properties have made the game tons funner, but the one thing they forgot to do was remake the monsters... my mules kick ass now, and that's not fun, I like things to be hard, that's why for 4 years I played a fisherman! Now my fisherman can pk, that's not right!

Re:Classic?

[Wtcher]

...were so buggy? The only major bug in UVII: Black Gate at first release was the key bug, where you would lose a key whenever you went to sleep - but they quickly fixed that with a patch (I admit it was the first time I ever had to patch a game, though). I don't remember encountering any game-breaking bugs in UVIII either, aside from that game simply not being finished. In Serpent Isle, there was a room that you couldn't leave after entering - of course, that room was an easter egg anyway, so it did not at all affect the gameplay.

I'm not saying none were buggy, but I think you exaggerate overly much. ;)

Re:Classic? Ultima VII is...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.