Having been a subscriber to Ultima Online since months after its initial introduction, I can honestly say I will probably never buy another EA game once I've weaned myself from this addiction.
Their annoyingly desperate money-grubbing nickel-and-dime business practices, as well as their poor production qualities really cement this decision.
Between buggy releases and the poor attempts to fix them and poor customer support (Via phone, but especially their piss-poor Game Master responses) I'm not at all surprised their revenues are down.
The problem I have with this is that other, older MMOs are adopting this fast-food gaming model just to make a buck.
Ultima Online has become increasingly "fast-food" in nature over the years, getting dumbed down more with each publish. And then there's the recent Star Wars Galaxies re-vamp. Ugh.
I'm glad Blizzard is bringing fresh blood to the MMORPG market, but the fast-food attitude/expectation that comes with that is quickly killing the feel of some of the older MMOs.
The older offerings seem to feel that they have to pander to the McDonald's crowd becuase somehow it'll auto-magically give them 5 million subscribers. Bah.
Good for marketing perhaps, but terrible for the games themselves. Especially if they're the persistant (MMO) sort.
Diablo II had far too much influence on Ultime Online. Many of the systems that Diablo II used were emulated, and the UO hasn't been remotely the same since.
Things that didn't previously exist such as special moves, elemental resistances, etc. were added that did nothing but muck up an otherwise simple and elegant combat system.
Though stagnation would've probably been worse for UO, I still don't feel like the emulation served any purpose but to drag the game down.
Sure, copying something popular is good for an initial box-sales boost, which is great for consoles/single-player games. But when it comes to MMOs, which make their money via subscription, it's important not to alienate your customers.
I'll be curious to see how SWG fares financially after the dumb-it-down overhaul.
Who knows, it may draw more subscribers, if the simplicity of WoW (and the relative simplicity I loved in Pre-AoS UO) are any indication.
Seriously though, I love it when games take actions like that into account. Such as in Metal Gear Solid, when you stared at the chick (Meryl?) through the 1st person view, she'd get creeped out.
Or losing points in a Deus Ex mission for going into the women's bathroom...
I guess I'd have to consider myself one of those shocked nerds.... Though, no zipper mishaps to speak of. Ouch.
The version I played on the Apple ][e had more fluidity of animation than almost any other titles available.
Compared to say, Aztec or Swashbuckler it was quite lovely to look at. Brøderbund developed a couple of really nice-lookin' games for the Apple ][ platform.
Sure, it was pixelated, but no more than anything else at the time, and unlike some other games those pixels were well-animated.
At least on the Apple ][e, Prince of Persia and Lode Runner were nothing alike.
Lode Runner being more Donkey Kong-like with ladder-scaling and evasion and such being the main goals, and Prince of Persia being like a more acrobatic Karateka (Another Brøderbund Apple ][e classic.) but with pits to fall into.
Slashdot Mirror
Having been a subscriber to Ultima Online since months after its initial introduction, I can honestly say I will probably never buy another EA game once I've weaned myself from this addiction.
Their annoyingly desperate money-grubbing nickel-and-dime business practices, as well as their poor production qualities really cement this decision.
Between buggy releases and the poor attempts to fix them and poor customer support (Via phone, but especially their piss-poor Game Master responses) I'm not at all surprised their revenues are down.
The problem I have with this is that other, older MMOs are adopting this fast-food gaming model just to make a buck.
Ultima Online has become increasingly "fast-food" in nature over the years, getting dumbed down more with each publish.
And then there's the recent Star Wars Galaxies re-vamp. Ugh.
I'm glad Blizzard is bringing fresh blood to the MMORPG market, but the fast-food attitude/expectation that comes with that is quickly killing the feel of some of the older MMOs.
The older offerings seem to feel that they have to pander to the McDonald's crowd becuase somehow it'll auto-magically give them 5 million subscribers. Bah.
Certainly I can appreciate that! I didn't say I didn't enjoy WATCHING Tomb Raider... Playing is a different thing entirely. =
I've played Karateka through several times, but never really got into Prince of Persia for some reason.
That reason was grabbing onto ledges.
Needless to say, in later years I didn't appreciate Tomb Raider much either...
Good for marketing perhaps, but terrible for the games themselves. Especially if they're the persistant (MMO) sort.
Diablo II had far too much influence on Ultime Online. Many of the systems that Diablo II used were emulated, and the UO hasn't been remotely the same since.
Things that didn't previously exist such as special moves, elemental resistances, etc. were added that did nothing but muck up an otherwise simple and elegant combat system.
Though stagnation would've probably been worse for UO, I still don't feel like the emulation served any purpose but to drag the game down.
Sure, copying something popular is good for an initial box-sales boost, which is great for consoles/single-player games. But when it comes to MMOs, which make their money via subscription, it's important not to alienate your customers.
I'll be curious to see how SWG fares financially after the dumb-it-down overhaul.
Who knows, it may draw more subscribers, if the simplicity of WoW (and the relative simplicity I loved in Pre-AoS UO) are any indication.
Personal experience I take it?
Seriously though, I love it when games take actions like that into account.
Such as in Metal Gear Solid, when you stared at the chick (Meryl?) through the 1st person view, she'd get creeped out.
Or losing points in a Deus Ex mission for going into the women's bathroom...
I guess I'd have to consider myself one of those shocked nerds.... Though, no zipper mishaps to speak of. Ouch.
The version I played on the Apple ][e had more fluidity of animation than almost any other titles available.
Compared to say, Aztec or Swashbuckler it was quite lovely to look at.
Brøderbund developed a couple of really nice-lookin' games for the Apple ][ platform.
Sure, it was pixelated, but no more than anything else at the time, and unlike some other games those pixels were well-animated.
At least on the Apple ][e, Prince of Persia and Lode Runner were nothing alike. Lode Runner being more Donkey Kong-like with ladder-scaling and evasion and such being the main goals, and Prince of Persia being like a more acrobatic Karateka (Another Brøderbund Apple ][e classic.) but with pits to fall into.
Just because a game is a huge hit, doesn't mean other games should follow suit. Star Wars Galaxies comes to mind...