Shroud of the Avatar (Ultima 'reboot'?) Release 1 - December 12th-ish

[Arglebargle]

I'd say game productions are much more like film productions: Large crews at work, with a ton of chances for success or failure individually. The name at the top can get far more credit or blame than is actually deserved.

Garriott is more of a scatter brained idea guy. He's not a great project manager, given to micro-management and far too attracted to feature creep. His projects were always the worst ones for interminable crunch times. Still, most folks who worked for him seem to like him. Unlike his brother, who apparantly would cut your throat for a dime. Unfortunately, RG tends to surround himself with sycophantic types. Many of the management crew that dillied and dallied around with Tabula Rasa are on the SotA crew. Still, the tight budget created by crowd funding may help keep everyone constrained and focused.

 

[mizzou]

It's an interesting game so far, VERY alpha'ish, but the short session of 5v5 PVP i engaged in has extreme potential.

I had no problems trying to look for work, and much like it would happen in real life, it took me a while to find the right person. Once I found them, I was able to get some paid work relatively easily.

 

[Craig234]

The site has a link to an AMD promotion where you get a $20 credit for the game, so for example I had spent $30, now I have $50 spent.

Main question for me, if I spend another $35, it becomes $40 with a 15% bonus they have going which gets me to the $90 package that includes volumes 1-3 of 5. Hm.

 

[smackababy]

Ugh... I keep getting emails about updates to this, but as I don't believe in using Kickstarter, I can't play any of the updates. =(

Why won't this come out already.

 

[mizzou]

its possible this game will come out in 2015....but not sure. I can tell it WILL be finished....but it needs a ton of polishing.

 

[SunnyD]

Ugh... I keep getting emails about updates to this, but as I don't believe in using Kickstarter, I can't play any of the updates. =(

Why won't this come out already.

It's on Steam Greenlight now...

 

[lozina]

Sounds interesting.

I guess for me it comes down to how detailed and enjoyable the crafting system is and how well they developed it to prevent botting.

 

[Craig234]

I guess for me it comes down to how detailed and enjoyable the crafting system is and how well they developed it to prevent botting.

One of the 'bonus items' you get for spending a ton on the game is a variety of crafting tools that don't need repair, so that seems to be a big part of the crafting system.

 

[Plimogz]

The site has a link to an AMD promotion where you get a $20 credit for the game, so for example I had spent $30, now I have $50 spent.

[...snip...]

This sounds pretty sweet, but looking through the site I've only come across a similar $20 offer from Alienware. Do you think that there is more than one sponsor for this credit, or did you perhaps mistakenly write AMD instead of Alienware? I'll keep looking around, in any case.

I'd find it awfully hard to pass up $20 extra from some corporate sponsor coupled with the 15% black friday offer.

 

[MustISO]

Forgot about this, backed! The first computer game I ever purchased was Ultima III.

That was probably close to my first as well. I had Wizardry, Ultima I and II at that time on a Commodore 64

 

[SunnyD]

This sounds pretty sweet, but looking through the site I've only come across a similar $20 offer from Alienware. Do you think that there is more than one sponsor for this credit, or did you perhaps mistakenly write AMD instead of Alienware? I'll keep looking around, in any case.

I'd find it awfully hard to pass up $20 extra from some corporate sponsor coupled with the 15% black friday offer.

Indeed - I can't find any AMD promotion. But the Alienware promotion IS still active for what it's worth.

By the way, if anyone plans on joining up, please feel free to PM me for my email address so I can get the recruitment bonus. I completely forgot about it. There's a few minimal perks with it, but it'd be cool to have.

 

[Craig234]

This sounds pretty sweet, but looking through the site I've only come across a similar $20 offer from Alienware. Do you think that there is more than one sponsor for this credit, or did you perhaps mistakenly write AMD instead of Alienware? I'll keep looking around, in any case.

I'd find it awfully hard to pass up $20 extra from some corporate sponsor coupled with the 15% black friday offer.

I mixed up who was the sponsor.

Sorry bout that! Still deciding about upping the level. I'm a little dubious, a subscription MMO nowadays with this much 'cash shop' extra stuff...

 

[MarkLuvsCS]

I mixed up who was the sponsor.

Sorry bout that! Still deciding about upping the level. I'm a little dubious, a subscription MMO nowadays with this much 'cash shop' extra stuff...

for what it's worth, it doesn't have a monthly subscription attached to it as well. The updates are going to be sold, but I don't think the updates are going to happen more often than 6 months - year. I'm hopeful they'll have a pretty fun game for release, and keep it going.

 

[Craig234]

Ah thanks, that helps. Still considering the $90 level.

 

[norseamd]

So do you guys think this game is worth getting right now?

 

[alkemyst]

So do you guys think this game is worth getting right now?

Steam has early access for 15% off until the 1st of Dec.

 

[norseamd]

Steam has early access for 15% off until the 1st of Dec.

Yep. Was looking at that but it is still expensive. Granted it might not come down in price for a while so I am wondering if now is the time to buy the game for the cheapest price and still get to start playing the game very early on instead of waiting for some months or even a year or more.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I take it this is nothing at all like the old Ultima games?

 

[SunnyD]

I take it this is nothing at all like the old Ultima games?

In terms of play style - no. Well, it could be considered sort of similar to what Ultima IX should have been, sort of.

In terms of what the game encompasses, yes. It has a very deep, very detailed environment that people have come to expect from Ultima games. You can interact with a lot of things in the world, there's a lot of little details, and there's a great amount of storytelling and lore.

It's a first-person over-the-shoulder adventure RPG game. Very similar to what Dragon Age gives you, with a lot of old school elements to it.

Hope that helps.

 

[mizzou]

Game is still coming along well, they update it very often, so it should be released to their vision at some point.

Honestly, I just can't get into it. I've fired it up a few times, but PvP was the only thing that felt fun and engaging. The world is still pretty stale and rigid. After playing games like Oblivion/Skyrim, we really should be expecting more from our open world or even instanced zoned MMO's.

Once it's done, it should be an interesting game, but I don't have high hopes of it being over a 7/10 product.

 

[Genx87]

I have tried it a few times. But also could not get into it. So I am going to wait until closer to release and see if it peaks my interest.

 

[SunnyD]

Game is still coming along well, they update it very often, so it should be released to their vision at some point.

Honestly, I just can't get into it. I've fired it up a few times, but PvP was the only thing that felt fun and engaging. The world is still pretty stale and rigid. After playing games like Oblivion/Skyrim, we really should be expecting more from our open world or even instanced zoned MMO's.

Once it's done, it should be an interesting game, but I don't have high hopes of it being over a 7/10 product.

I have tried it a few times. But also could not get into it. So I am going to wait until closer to release and see if it peaks my interest.

Honestly the actual gameplay mechanics are rough. And it likely always will be too. What I look forward to out of SotA personally is the lore and the story telling, and also the attention to detail in the world itself. Frankly, that's what the Ultima series is all about and that's what Garriott brings to the table.

 

[DigDog]

gameplay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr5KTdtM3I4

 

[Markbnj]

gameplay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr5KTdtM3I4

Amazing how much that first scene after he logs in reminds me of Dark Age of Camelot, right down to the dialog style and the music.

I'd give this a shot.

 

[Silverforce11]

Did not even know they were making a spiritual successor to Ultima. I was just thinking the other day, that I miss those old-school Ultimas, 5-7 and especially Ultima Online (Naked Magi riding a horse slinging spells!.. good times!).