Interesting new interview with Lord British

[Zodia]

Article linked here:
http://www.crispygamer.com/news/index.php/2009-04-30/richard-garriott-interview/

Fans of the Ultima series will definitely want to read this new interview with Richard Garriott. It made me realize that one of the things missing from UO 2009 is the virtues, and more specifically good and evil choices that have consequences. UO 1997 definitely had this conflict. Don't get me wrong, I love UO, but somewhere along the way we not only lost Lord British, but also his vision.

I miss Designer Dragon...

 

[JC the Builder]

What I like about the interview is he finally sets straight that all the crazy things in the first 3 Ultimas are not canon in the least. Only content in IV and later could be considered part of the universe. He wasn't really thinking about a story until then.

 

[Phaen Grey]

Good interview, I am looking forward to part 2. Thank you for posting!

 

[Viquire]

What I like about the interview is he finally sets straight that all the crazy things in the first 3 Ultimas are not canon in the least. Only content in IV and later could be considered part of the universe. He wasn't really thinking about a story until then.

Man, and I wanted a blackrock cystal converter assembly to power my intergalactic spaceship.



What level of tinkering might that require, I wonder?

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Man, and I wanted a blackrock cystal converter assembly to power my intergalactic spaceship.



What level of tinkering might that require, I wonder?

New Tinkering power scrolls in the SA expansion will allow your Tinkering to reach 145.

There are going to be many "Easter Eggs" for this level of Tinkering (to be known as "super awesome mythical Tinkering of total ownage"). I'll bet that the blackrock crystal converter assembly for your intergalactic spaceship is one of them.

Inside contacts I have at Mythic tell me that you absolutely should not ever get rid of Medusa hairs, no matter how much they clutter up your house and despite the unpleasant side effect of lethal poisoning you every time you walk within 2 tiles of them. You will need hundreds of them to contain the power for the Vortex Cube, which of course you'll need to channel the power from the converter into the dilitium flex chamber, without which the starship cannot reach escape velocity.

And remember that "the princess will only help a space ace travel through time."

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Article linked here:
http://www.crispygamer.com/news/index.php/2009-04-30/richard-garriott-interview/

Fans of the Ultima series will definitely want to read this new interview with Richard Garriott. It made me realize that one of the things missing from UO 2009 is the virtues, and more specifically good and evil choices that have consequences. UO 1997 definitely had this conflict. Don't get me wrong, I love UO, but somewhere along the way we not only lost Lord British, but also his vision.

I miss Designer Dragon...

This is, I suspect rather strongly, a reference to going red. I would like to remind any whose memories may have become rose-colored through time that being red back then had little if any discernible consequences (stat loss was overcome with comparative ease; reds then as now ran in packs of 5 or more as a general rule and thus faced little risk of death; their "folk hero" status ensured that PK Hunters were socially marginalized by the victims they were trying to protect; etc).

The Virtues if anything have more of a place in today's Ultima; there's at least game mechanics besides resurrection tied to them. Before they were Shrines, sayings by NPCs, and an RP structure that few could have the time between PK attacks to pay any mind to.

-Galen's player

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

UO in 1997 had just as much to do with the Virtuesas they were in the Ultima series as UO 2009... very little if any at all.

Even Designer Dragon has admitted that the "social expiriment" of UO 1997 was a failure due to the lack of control of the players involved (the Anonymous + Keyboard + Internet = Asshat scenario).

That aside, the interview is decent so far (although some of the rambling statements are a bit difficult to read and follow).

 

[Zodia]

...

UO in 1997 had just as much to do with the Virtuesas they were in the Ultima series as UO 2009... very little if any at all.

Even Designer Dragon has admitted that the "social expiriment" of UO 1997 was a failure due to the lack of control of the players involved (the Anonymous + Keyboard + Internet = Asshat scenario).

That aside, the interview is decent so far (although some of the rambling statements are a bit difficult to read and follow).

Galen and Dermott, this is what I meant -- though I expressed it quite inelegantly:
I've played since December 1997 but have never had a red character. I fully realize that back then that the "social experiment" failed in its ends, but the journey of that experiment was worth it. Last night I read ALL of the patch notes from the first 6 months of UOs existance -- there was such a focus by the devs on notoriety and trying to have your actions mean something. Also, they tried to solve things by giving the players tools to solve their own problems (thieves stealing from you? tinker traps were created) instead of just making things black and white (thieves stealing from you? make it so they can't.) And no, I was not a thief. I was part of the GL's that tried to organize and fight the PKs. Yes, in the end, people just figured ways around things, but the intent was right on. The devs were trying for a living world, where resources, creatures, and people were all in a balance that you the player controlled. The devs gave us the tools, and we controlled the world. Sadly, it didn't work out in the end... "good" did not overcome "evil"... and I really don't think its me donning rose-colored glasses, only that I have ALWAYS been less attached to items (my house was looted several times back then and it made me want to play MORE) and more about the experiences the players created. Some obviously see it differently -- everyone has different playstyles. But I honestly believe that LBs vision for UO was to have players decide for themselves to fight for good or evil -- and suffer the consequences. Sadly, the mechanics of the game made being evil too easy and being good not enough of a reward.

 

[JC the Builder]

...

UO in 1997 had just as much to do with the Virtuesas they were in the Ultima series as UO 2009... very little if any at all.

Really? Every dungeon in the game was based off an anti-virtue (the original 8). Your reputation (blue, grey, red) was based off how virtuous you were (good and bad deeds). NPCs reacted differently depending on your reputation.

It appears to me that UO was heavily into virtues when it first launched.

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

The dungeons are still the same (connected to the virtues in name only), so if you want to go that route, you can NOW get Virtue armor in the anti-Virtue dungeons which you could NOT do in 1997.

The original Notoriety system was a complete mess of a system and replaced by the Reputation system which is still in use today.

NPCs still bow to Lords/Ladies, but yes, a LOT of the NPC behaviour has been removed. By the same token, there was added the Humility Quest (the only real Virtue quest in the game).

Point being that UO has only ever had a very light passing relation with the virtues as a whole simply because the game was never written in the same fashion as the Prime series. You have NPCs in UO that have ZERO personality and/or flavor to them compared to the ones in the Prime series that while following a script at least had something of an ingame personality and life and thus did affect and were affected by the Virtues.

We do have the (incomplete) Virtue system now, but really, honestly, does it REALLY do justice to the Virtue concepts? Personally, I don't think so. I've always advocated that the system be stripped out and redone based more on quests than on grinding and then bring in the shrines as well to maintain your level in the various virtues.

But as of 1997 up to now, the connection of the Virtues to UO has been light at best and completely ignored for the most part.

We'll see what happens with SA, if and how it does a better job of connecting UO to the Virtues and to what made the Ultima series special in the first place.

 

[Jhym]

The "virtues" were concepts that were in UO as markers but never really fleshed out and codified. The game also started with no real identifier as to player intentions.

You could come up on someone and really not know what to think of them (other than they did or did not murder others)--- which is why the notoriety system was introduced.

I somewhat like the fact that we were never really TIED to virtue/antivirtue. The game would not be what it is if we were constantly "tested" for each of the virtues and forced into molds that reflect our "choices".

I think that is why parts of TR failed -- the game play and graphics were wonderful, but when he set up the mission trees, he made points of moral ambiguity. These points you had to choose a seemingly "good" or "bad" option. Afterwards your choice changed the mission tree a bit, either making things easier or harder and opening up some side missions or closing them.

However, his mistake was only taking into account a few possibilities in the process. It was never set up so players could choose their own paths, but only the paths that the developers chose FOR us.

That really is not the way to develop a game, and definitely not an online game. I understand that games have to be structured properly to tell their story and get you to the major plot points -- however, YOUR story should be your own. I think this is the next big thing in gaming story-telling : allowing the players to organize the story in their own way, and taking their actions into account to build that story.

If -I- am telling you a story, the story is MINE. I build it, produce it, and hand it to you. If -we- are telling the story, the story should be OURS. You the character should have just as much, if not MORE impact than I the developer.

I'm still mad at Garriott, but I can respect his abilities. Whether I look at any future projects of his is up in the air, however.

 

[MuffinBear]

This is, I suspect rather strongly, a reference to going red. I would like to remind any whose memories may have become rose-colored through time that being red back then had little if any discernible consequences (stat loss was overcome with comparative ease; reds then as now ran in packs of 5 or more as a general rule and thus faced little risk of death;

I remember those days well and reds had alot of danger/consequences.

Remember when guards would guardwack a red if they saw one? You used to be able to gate npcs/monsters...even guards to various places, it was entertaining to open a moongate to a dungeon in front of a guard and wait for him to walk in then go in after him, he would kill every red and monster in sight.



Later though...and I don't know whos idea it was...maybe Designer Dragon but someone decided there was too much PKing going on and implemented that "noto patch" where everyone could kill other players, even blues and not have any real consequences because they would stay blue after PKing a few people.

It was pretty lame being killed by someone and then seeing that person at the bank 10 minutes later.

Allowing blues to kill blues and stay blue to try and curb PKing was a very stupid idea.

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

Waaaaay better
http://pc.wowgoldur.com/2009/04/30/why-do-richard-garriotts-games-include-death-traps-for-kids/

read the first sentence and close your browser.

 

[Raider Red]

Waaaaay better
http://pc.wowgoldur.com/2009/04/30/why-do-richard-garriotts-games-include-death-traps-for-kids/

read the first sentence and close your browser.

that is twisted.Where is that room in UO i want to try that.



and on a side note that reminded me of the scene in revenge of the sith where anakin kills the the young jedi's ,hell that scene kinda bothered me (and still does).

 

[Cear Dallben Dragon]

that is twisted.Where is that room in UO i want to try that.



and on a side note that reminded me of the scene in revenge of the sith where anakin kills the the young jedi's ,hell that scene kinda bothered me (and still does).

oh yeah dude that **** was ****ed up.

 

[Fink]

"they realized that every time you gave a gold piece to a beggar, that that would help your compassion a little bit."

That's what I've been saying should be in UO all along.

 

[Viquire]

"they realized that every time you gave a gold piece to a beggar, that that would help your compassion a little bit."

That's what I've been saying should be in UO all along.

That along with giving blood and virtue specific quests from the appropriate town to bleed over into longer quest chains involving multiple virtues and more complex or longer series of actions.

 

[RoseBlue]

I liked this interview