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Ultima Online Expansion Goes All... Samurai?

Posted by simoniker on from the weirdness-abounds dept.

Thanks to Yahoo for reprinting an EA press release announcing the Ultima Online: Samurai Empire add-on, a "new expansion pack" for the long-running PC MMO title. According to the release: "Traveling around a mysterious Asian environment filled with exotic beasts, expansive dungeons and scenic housing areas, players can strive to become a fierce Samurai, dedicated to the art of Bushido and focused on learning new physical combat abilities.... Players also have the choice of joining the elite ranks of the Ninja, where they will concentrate on magical combat and stealth." UO Stratics has both concept art and screenshots from the newly-announced expansion, quite a thematic departure from "the European high fantasy" of the original title, and "scheduled to ship November 2004." We recently covered both Ultima Online's 7th anniversary and the cancellation of Ultima X: Odyssey.

2 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by Kirsha · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Samurai's and ninjas? Is there any mention of such oriental themes in the previous Ultima games? Seems to me like something out of place for Britannia...

  2. Japanese market? by dammitallgoodnamesgo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    EA have been trying to break the Japanese market for a while now (and failing) - I know that I've seen some very prominant adverts for FOMA UO, which is coming soon, and I suspect that Ultima Online has a certain amount of mindshare amongst MMORPG players here - I've seen a few guides for it in the walkthroughs section of shops. It's possible they wanted to encourage the Japanese market by making them feel at home.