R
Rudyom
Guest
Hail and well met,
I played Ultima Online from December 1997 to December 2003. In the last week I have begun to visit Britannia. The main drawcard was the prospect of a new ‘enhanced client’ modelled closely on the original 2D client. To be honest, I, like many others, was never a fan of the 3D client.
There have been significant changes to the world. I find that the world I once knew no longer exists. This is not unexpected, given the passing of some six years. The game world presented such a new and alien environment that I felt it might be interesting to put forward some of my early observations.
New Player Experience
Yes, I admit, I put myself through the new player experience. I felt it would likely be the best way of coming to grips with some of the changes which have occurred in the world. On the whole, it did a good job of giving me a grasp of the basics.
However, I did become ‘stuck’ a few times with some of the actions that were required. The directions given were commonly written in a way which did not describe the action required. A particular example is how to select the katana as a quest item. Working out how to complete that small task had me stuck for two or so minutes. The description of the task was simply not good enough. I was determined to figure it out and persevere. To a new player, I imagine the experience would have been exceptionally frustrating and a poor introduction to a wonderful game.
I recognise these issues might only have presented themselves because I was using the new enhanced client. It is possible changes are still being made. I think, however, that the issues I encountered were not client related.
Enhanced client
On the whole, I have to say that compared to the legacy client the enhanced client is quite well done. The new additions and features I have seen are positive improvements over the old client.
There issued which immediately caused concern was the ‘paperdoll’ or character portrait. In all honesty, I believe they are probably the ugliest pieces of artwork I have ever seen in a retail game. They honestly made me cringe: the stance, body proportions, facial textures, complexions and even the hair could only be described as repulsive. There is not one positive thing I could say in relation to them.
I imagine it may present some hurdles to fix correct, given different garments, weapons and armour templates have been created for them. An easy fix may be to allow the use of legacy character artwork (as is the case for containers). I personally would prefer the 12 year old artwork.
If the enhanced client used the artwork for legacy character portraits I would probably have been sold on it instantly. I get a bigger window, better spell effects, nice options and my character still looks cool.
Gameplay
There were two things which struck me on re-entering the world: the abundance of neon clothing and items; and the adoption of weapons and armour with properties. I will discuss neon clothing below. The issue of weapons and armour properties I may discuss in another post.
They say that if we do not consider the mistakes of the past we are bound to repeat them. If we consider the issue of neon or miscoloured items we need to start at the beginning. I recall the very first true black dye tubs and items of clothing. They were not lawfully obtained in the game, but were created through a third party program.
I seem to recall an initial attempt was made to outlaw the colour as it was created through an exploit. The primary concern was that the art work was not supposed to be hued in that fashion. The availability of the dye tubs spread so quickly that they could not really be contained. It came to a point where, instead of being removed, they were tolerated. They were eventually made available through the veteran rewards system when that was introduced (really, a nice piece of UO history).
The primary point I am making is that the introduction of true black was not by design but rather by exploit. The artwork was never supposed to function that way. It never looked right, it may have looked cool, but it did not look right. Thankfully, good taste prevailed and more often than not people would accessorise by having a true black item amongst other colours (an entire outfit of true black never looked good).
It is puzzling that the current artwork is abused in a manner which is far worse than true black ever was. I think it began, on a large scale, with the introduction of faction items which had a unique colour hue. It seems, however, that using item hues have hit a slippery slope. At some point someone said ‘let’s make an item look like this’ and it opened the proverbial floodgate for other items being given ‘unique’ hues. The current game world is filled with weapons, armour and clothing which is neon blue, neon green, neon yellow and ‘fire’.
They are out of place. The rest of the art in the game landscape does not look so garish or bright (except for grown plants, house items etc). They look horrendous. It would do the game world wonders aesthetically if the colour palette for items, armour and clothing were rolled back or toned down.
Concluding comments
To end on a positive note, I will say now one of the most enjoyable things I encountered on returning is the people. The best memories I have of Ultima Online concern the people and characters I met a long the way. It is nice to know that in Ultima Online one can still walk up to a bank (even if it is the wrong one) and speak to people who are friendly, welcoming and above all creative.
- Rudyom
I played Ultima Online from December 1997 to December 2003. In the last week I have begun to visit Britannia. The main drawcard was the prospect of a new ‘enhanced client’ modelled closely on the original 2D client. To be honest, I, like many others, was never a fan of the 3D client.
There have been significant changes to the world. I find that the world I once knew no longer exists. This is not unexpected, given the passing of some six years. The game world presented such a new and alien environment that I felt it might be interesting to put forward some of my early observations.
New Player Experience
Yes, I admit, I put myself through the new player experience. I felt it would likely be the best way of coming to grips with some of the changes which have occurred in the world. On the whole, it did a good job of giving me a grasp of the basics.
However, I did become ‘stuck’ a few times with some of the actions that were required. The directions given were commonly written in a way which did not describe the action required. A particular example is how to select the katana as a quest item. Working out how to complete that small task had me stuck for two or so minutes. The description of the task was simply not good enough. I was determined to figure it out and persevere. To a new player, I imagine the experience would have been exceptionally frustrating and a poor introduction to a wonderful game.
I recognise these issues might only have presented themselves because I was using the new enhanced client. It is possible changes are still being made. I think, however, that the issues I encountered were not client related.
Enhanced client
On the whole, I have to say that compared to the legacy client the enhanced client is quite well done. The new additions and features I have seen are positive improvements over the old client.
There issued which immediately caused concern was the ‘paperdoll’ or character portrait. In all honesty, I believe they are probably the ugliest pieces of artwork I have ever seen in a retail game. They honestly made me cringe: the stance, body proportions, facial textures, complexions and even the hair could only be described as repulsive. There is not one positive thing I could say in relation to them.
I imagine it may present some hurdles to fix correct, given different garments, weapons and armour templates have been created for them. An easy fix may be to allow the use of legacy character artwork (as is the case for containers). I personally would prefer the 12 year old artwork.
If the enhanced client used the artwork for legacy character portraits I would probably have been sold on it instantly. I get a bigger window, better spell effects, nice options and my character still looks cool.
Gameplay
There were two things which struck me on re-entering the world: the abundance of neon clothing and items; and the adoption of weapons and armour with properties. I will discuss neon clothing below. The issue of weapons and armour properties I may discuss in another post.
They say that if we do not consider the mistakes of the past we are bound to repeat them. If we consider the issue of neon or miscoloured items we need to start at the beginning. I recall the very first true black dye tubs and items of clothing. They were not lawfully obtained in the game, but were created through a third party program.
I seem to recall an initial attempt was made to outlaw the colour as it was created through an exploit. The primary concern was that the art work was not supposed to be hued in that fashion. The availability of the dye tubs spread so quickly that they could not really be contained. It came to a point where, instead of being removed, they were tolerated. They were eventually made available through the veteran rewards system when that was introduced (really, a nice piece of UO history).
The primary point I am making is that the introduction of true black was not by design but rather by exploit. The artwork was never supposed to function that way. It never looked right, it may have looked cool, but it did not look right. Thankfully, good taste prevailed and more often than not people would accessorise by having a true black item amongst other colours (an entire outfit of true black never looked good).
It is puzzling that the current artwork is abused in a manner which is far worse than true black ever was. I think it began, on a large scale, with the introduction of faction items which had a unique colour hue. It seems, however, that using item hues have hit a slippery slope. At some point someone said ‘let’s make an item look like this’ and it opened the proverbial floodgate for other items being given ‘unique’ hues. The current game world is filled with weapons, armour and clothing which is neon blue, neon green, neon yellow and ‘fire’.
They are out of place. The rest of the art in the game landscape does not look so garish or bright (except for grown plants, house items etc). They look horrendous. It would do the game world wonders aesthetically if the colour palette for items, armour and clothing were rolled back or toned down.
Concluding comments
To end on a positive note, I will say now one of the most enjoyable things I encountered on returning is the people. The best memories I have of Ultima Online concern the people and characters I met a long the way. It is nice to know that in Ultima Online one can still walk up to a bank (even if it is the wrong one) and speak to people who are friendly, welcoming and above all creative.
- Rudyom
Maybe to be seen and welcomed is important too..
