Lord of Ultima updates: Serpent Isle, Ascension, and Forge of Virtue?
EA Phenomic’s browser-based game, Lord of Ultima, which borrows the Ultima name but bears no other tangible relation to the RPG franchise, has announced a series of curiously-named updates to be released over the coming months (with the first one to be released in about a week):
Hunh?
Not that the expansion packs seem to have anything to do with the actual Serpent Isle. (Presumably, the Ascension and Forge of Virtue expansions will likewise have nothing to do with the Guardian, world-shattering columns, and/or the Isle of Fire.)
Attention BioWare Mythic: on behalf of what I assume is a very large chunk of the Ultima fan community, let me just say that you cannot get those DOSboxed re-releases of the Ultima games pushed out the door soon enough!
(via)
Interesting that they’re using Ultima-themed names, even if the name is all that the game shares with the series.
Thank god there are fans doing neat stuff with the real Serpent Isle!
Huh. I hadn’t heard of this, actually. What an offensive misuse of the property, font face and all! I get that EA owns “Ultima” and all related marks apart from “Lord British,” but you’d think somebody there would have a sense of history and fitting use of the Ultima brand other than an RTS.
Particularly with the engines available to us today. My first thought while playing with Epic Citadel was, “This would make a _great_ Ultima engine.”
The issue isn’t that it’s an RTS, it’s that it has nothing to do with Ultima.
Lord of Ultima‘s shameless cribbing of the Ultima name isn’t just an unpopular notion with us Ultima fans. I’d say more, but I think it’s probably safest for various plans already in motion if I don’t.
I am intrigued, but I can guess at the problems a current “Ultima” game poses for ambitions to bring back the classics, or new RPG titles.
On further digging, there are some vestigial elements of Ultima in LoU: claims of being set in Britannia; shrines and moongates (coming soon™); mention of LB[ritish|lackthorn]. I grant they could do a better job of making an RTS that actually seems like it’s set in Britannia… but my issue IS that it’s an RTS–an RPG is what an Ultima is meant to be.
It definitely comes down to one’s personal taste, if one even cares. Maybe it’s just a name. But it sure carries a lot of personal history for a lot of gamers.
LB is either a tacit reference to Lord British (EA can’t actually use that name due to copyright issues) or a hint about Lord Blackthorn (a name EA can use, albeit one that EA Phenomic seems unlikely to use unless they want to get into a pissing contest with BioWare Mythic).
Claims of setting and moongates are nice touches, I suppose, but…well…
…funny thing is, I could see Ultima actually making a halfway decent RTS, provided that a proper setting and piece of canon history were chosen. Ultima: The Bloody Plains, a campaign-focused, story-laden RTS that told the hitherto unknown story of the war against the remnants of Exodus’ forces just prior to the consolidation of Britannia would, I think, be a great game indeed.
But that’s…er…not what Lord of Ultima is. Which is doubly a pity when you consider that EA Phenomic has cranked out some brilliant RTS titles in recent years. Wasted potential!