S
Spogfrawn
Guest
I just tried the open beta of UOSA and I wanted to post my opinions on it in the hope the developers might change a few things. I want to start by saying that I’ve been a UO player right from the very beginning and my account has been open for all 11 (and a bit) years since then. I’ve tried all the many versions of UO that came along now and then. Did you know UO was the first PC game to use 16 bit colour? That’s how old UO is! I remember that animation of a wooden box that opened when you started the game then you made your character. Isn’t it funny how the old 2D client has outlived them all?
Anyway, here are my opinions on UOSA.
The Good
1) Macros. Once you turn on the KR functionality you get access to lots of very useful and time saving macros easily placed and bound to keys on those great hotbars.
2) The map and atlas features are a joy. The atlas works now and you can place waypoints to your heart’s content.
3) Zooming out is awesome.
The Bad
1) Tiny icons. Why are the icons (especially items) on the hotbars so small?
2) Backpack and container changes. I can see the advantages of having nice squares in your containers to place items in. But I really like it the old way so I can place items where I want. You can turn this option on, but the graphics are awful and it doesn’t really work properly.
The Ugly
1) Legacy graphics. Don’t get me wrong, I like the old client. It has served us well over the years and still looks sharp and detailed. But the new zoom feature massacres it! The zoom was designed for the new KR graphics and the legacy art gets misshapen, pixelised and blurred, depending on your zoom level. This is the part of UO you look at the most and I find it depressing to see how bad it is. Why did you remove the KR graphics? The zoom worked perfectly with that and it was one of the best things to happen to UO in a long time...
2) Avatars. If you’re going to go back to legacy art, it seems to me that it’s the avatars that should be back as they were, not the buildings and items. The new avatars are wooden, they have strange poses and their hands are way too big. The new faces look like masks and most of the cloth clothes look woolly and drab. We’ve all been getting those great new Tokuno dyes haven’t we? Well they don’t look the same either. Some of the new armour is good, but they don’t even come close to the quality of the old avatars. Even the animations make them look as though they are made of rubber.
3) Interface. Has anybody played Anno 1404? I’m not expecting UO to have amazing 3D graphics like that game (though that would be nice). But look at the 2D menu system on that game – It’s amazing! Lovely bright gems, gorgeous detailed leather windows that look like open books. Elegant embossed leather with stitches that look like real cotton. Why can’t we have a gorgeous menu system like this for UO? What do UOSA hotbars look like? A bright orange line around the edge – great.
4) Consistency. When you first run UOSA you get a lovely digitally painted artwork and that part is great. But then you get dark blue windows with a hideous orange line on them. When you start the game you get more blue windows with tips etc with yellow buttons. Then a grey one that asks if you want vet rewards. Then another grey one that looks different again when you open the guild window. The trade windows have yet another style, and the list goes on. There are so many colours and styles that it all starts to look cheap and nasty. Way too many styles and conflicting colours all over the place.
In Conclusion
When I first saw the screen shots of KR when they came out I was really excited. They looked really good. I downloaded KR as soon as I was able. It had its flaws and I really didn’t like the avatars, but all of the other improvements were fantastic. I loved the new foliage, the detailed new walls, the grass, the rippling water and the flowing lava, the new graphics for monsters, the spell effects. But as I look at UOSA I start to wonder what happened. Who decided to dump all the lovely new graphics? Who stopped the artists working on all the unfinished art? It seems to me somebody decided that we didn’t deserve any new graphics, we didn’t deserve a shiny new interface. So all we’re getting now is new content in a client that makes UO look like somebody gave your PC a virus.
I’m going to stick with the old client, it may be 11 years old, but it still looks far superior to UOSA. KR looked so good. What a shame!
Anyway, here are my opinions on UOSA.
The Good
1) Macros. Once you turn on the KR functionality you get access to lots of very useful and time saving macros easily placed and bound to keys on those great hotbars.
2) The map and atlas features are a joy. The atlas works now and you can place waypoints to your heart’s content.
3) Zooming out is awesome.
The Bad
1) Tiny icons. Why are the icons (especially items) on the hotbars so small?
2) Backpack and container changes. I can see the advantages of having nice squares in your containers to place items in. But I really like it the old way so I can place items where I want. You can turn this option on, but the graphics are awful and it doesn’t really work properly.
The Ugly
1) Legacy graphics. Don’t get me wrong, I like the old client. It has served us well over the years and still looks sharp and detailed. But the new zoom feature massacres it! The zoom was designed for the new KR graphics and the legacy art gets misshapen, pixelised and blurred, depending on your zoom level. This is the part of UO you look at the most and I find it depressing to see how bad it is. Why did you remove the KR graphics? The zoom worked perfectly with that and it was one of the best things to happen to UO in a long time...
2) Avatars. If you’re going to go back to legacy art, it seems to me that it’s the avatars that should be back as they were, not the buildings and items. The new avatars are wooden, they have strange poses and their hands are way too big. The new faces look like masks and most of the cloth clothes look woolly and drab. We’ve all been getting those great new Tokuno dyes haven’t we? Well they don’t look the same either. Some of the new armour is good, but they don’t even come close to the quality of the old avatars. Even the animations make them look as though they are made of rubber.
3) Interface. Has anybody played Anno 1404? I’m not expecting UO to have amazing 3D graphics like that game (though that would be nice). But look at the 2D menu system on that game – It’s amazing! Lovely bright gems, gorgeous detailed leather windows that look like open books. Elegant embossed leather with stitches that look like real cotton. Why can’t we have a gorgeous menu system like this for UO? What do UOSA hotbars look like? A bright orange line around the edge – great.
4) Consistency. When you first run UOSA you get a lovely digitally painted artwork and that part is great. But then you get dark blue windows with a hideous orange line on them. When you start the game you get more blue windows with tips etc with yellow buttons. Then a grey one that asks if you want vet rewards. Then another grey one that looks different again when you open the guild window. The trade windows have yet another style, and the list goes on. There are so many colours and styles that it all starts to look cheap and nasty. Way too many styles and conflicting colours all over the place.
In Conclusion
When I first saw the screen shots of KR when they came out I was really excited. They looked really good. I downloaded KR as soon as I was able. It had its flaws and I really didn’t like the avatars, but all of the other improvements were fantastic. I loved the new foliage, the detailed new walls, the grass, the rippling water and the flowing lava, the new graphics for monsters, the spell effects. But as I look at UOSA I start to wonder what happened. Who decided to dump all the lovely new graphics? Who stopped the artists working on all the unfinished art? It seems to me somebody decided that we didn’t deserve any new graphics, we didn’t deserve a shiny new interface. So all we’re getting now is new content in a client that makes UO look like somebody gave your PC a virus.
I’m going to stick with the old client, it may be 11 years old, but it still looks far superior to UOSA. KR looked so good. What a shame!