New video: an Ultima Online demo reel…from 2004!
Ultima Aiera is pleased to present this demo reel — which was apparently only ever released internally at Electronic Arts and whatever studio was doing the development (Mythic Entertainment?) — from a second attempt at making Ultima Online 2! which was part of a pitch to Electronic Arts, by Origin Systems, to begin developing Ultima Online 2 again.
This footage dates back to 2006 2004 (the proposed release date was FY06), and seems to depict what I would assume to be a PVP area within the game. To the best of my knowledge, the graphics are in-game (that is: this may be a scripted sequence, but it is not specially rendered), and show off a the game’s magic and combat systems in action, as well as horse riding and the terrain and scenery. and I have been informed by BanditLOAF at the Wing Commander CIC that it is actually something of a kit-bash of content excerpted from, among other things, the canceled Harry Potter Online and various other Ultima projects which never saw the light of day.
But here’s where it gets interesting: this is pretty much the assassin’s bullet, the final nail in the coffin. In a way, this video can be considered to represent the moment that Origin Systems died. As BanditLOAF informed me, this video was produced as part of the very last pitch that Origin delivered to EA, proposing to resurrect UO2 and begin new development on it. Electronic Arts turned the pitch down, and Origin was closed instead. So, at least in one sense, this video is Origin’s dying breath.
Update: Welcome, WCNews readers…and thanks for the link, LOAF!
Whoa, this actually looks interesting, but this is crazy odd. If that was pitched in 2004 it really must have been pitched very close to Origin’s closure considering OSI was closed in April of that year.
I’m also surprised that they *would* have pitched a new UO2 at that point, considering they were still working in Ultima X at that time.
The engine looked neat though!
One things I’ve just thought up: I remember back before OSI was closed there were persistant rumors of OSI creating some kind of “Ultima Online 2.0” – as in not a different game but a major 3D update of UO.
Kinda wonder if this video could be a pitch for such an attempt considering how much it feels like vanilla UO.
Altough I’m pretty sure these rumors came around before UXO was annouced, so probably a year earlier than that.
Oh well.
Here is where the waters get muddy–VERY muddy.
Sergorn, you may be (or may not be) thinking of Ultima Online-Third Dawn (the UO 3-D release), which was Origin’s very last active project worked on before the giant lay-offs in 2001…Origin kind of ‘died’ twice–once in 2001, with the leaving (firing?) of Garriott and the layoff of 75% of the staff, and then again in 2004, with the closing of the doors of the Texas offices.
I have video of the day after the 2001 layoffs, with scenes from Starr Long’s house, the Origin offices the day after, and the bonfire, where they burned much of the UO (and UO2) documentation.
All the scenes are incredibly sad, with folks walking around in shock, asking each other what they’re going to do for the future. It’s also hysterical at times, with folks just completely piss drunk, and screaming at the camera, “EA SUCKS!” 🙂
Nope this rumored UO 2.0 thing had nothing to do with Third Dawn (which really was just the 2D client with crappy new 3D models). This was much later. As with all rumors though hard to know the truth of it and it might have just been confusion related to Ultima X.
Note that Garriott’s departure and UO2’s cancellation were actually unrelated.
Richard Garriott actually left in March 2000, along with another 20 persons of so. At that point, all non-Ultima project (such as Harry Potter Online and whatever version of WC/Privateer Online that was being worked on a that point) were cancelled, and plan was to have the company focus solely on Ultima Online games, with OSI focusing on maintening UO, getting UO2 out of the door, and start prepping for “UO Next” which was the codename for the next game after UO2. (Note that we know all that because an internal e-mail from Jack Heistand that got leaked at that time).
UO2’s cancellation came exactly one year later when EA did a big layoff, including 85 people at Origin. Most of these being the Ultima Online 2 team. As that point Origin had basically no other role outside of maintening Ultima Online, altough they eventually went on to develop Ultima X a couple years later.
Note that ironically the cancellation of UO2 was a great opportunity for Richard Garriott which was just getting Destination Games started ended with a majority of OSI’s laid off staff to come work on Tabula Rasa. Which of course explains as well while the original version of TR had such a “UO2 vibe”.
I do remember the bonfire with the “We Created World” T-Shirt though (altough in retrospect it seemed a bit unfair since they did had one more ambitious project before their ultimate closure in 2004).
I wouldn’t say Origin died in 2001. The bonfire (with t-shirts and press releases and invitations for reporters!) was as much about promoting Richard Garriott’s new company as it was honoring an ‘end’ of Origin. The only difference between firing the first Privateer Online team in 1999 and the UO2 team in 2001 was that the latter happened when NCSoft could use the news to their advantage. In both cases it was sad that folks lost their jobs and that a promising project wasn’t going to happen… but development at Origin continued.
Great video. For me that’s the first official Ultima project that’s looked decent since Ultima VII.
More intriguing however is the mention of ex-Origin employees drunkenly burning things in a bonfire while yelling at the camera. Maybe my imagination has the best of me, but it sounds priceless. Anyone know where I can get a copy?
Correct Sergorn–There was a year between Garriott’s departure and the big layoffs in 2001. I was just pointing out that there were multiple projects that may be confused with each other:
UO, UO2, UO3D, UONext, etc, that were all gong on during the 2001 layoffs–when you said ‘major 3D update for UO’, I recalled that video of everyone sarcastically saying that at least they finished “3rd DONG!” (apparently the joke name for Third Dawn).
LOAF–I don’t recall any press releases or reporter invitations in regard to the bonfire–can you quote any sources, or reporters at the event? While it’s true that Garriott hired much of the laid-off staff for NCSoft, it was coincidence that he was starting his new company just as his non-compete’ ended with EA, and the layoffs occurred at the same time.
The ‘We Created Worlds’ bonfire/funeral/party was never developed as a way of promoting NCSoft–it was a culmination of all of those hard times at Origin…
* The failure of U9 (after a multitude of issues)
* The directionless management decisions of EA (and Origin management) after the success of UO
* The firing/hiring practices of EA (to make quarterly budget projections) which disheatened many employees
* The leaving of Garriott, along with the the Privateer 3 team almost a year before.
To say the bonfire was nothing more than a PR stunt for Garriott is (in my opinion) an insult to the man and the Origin team–it was a stress reliever and a bitter farewell to all of the guys who worked so hard to create the games we loved. The T-Shirts were made as a way of remembering all the good things that the team created, but the bonfire was a pure impulse decision a day or two after the layoffs–there is actual film footage of the idea’s germination at Starr Long’s house party the Friday night of the layoffs (I’ve got it here…somewhere). I’ve always wanted to isolate that particular moment–this looks like a good time to do it. 🙂
True, Origin kept going, but aside from a few UO updates, nothing came out of the studio–I was so hoping that UXO would be released!
Kevin-
I was given the video by an Origin employee, who made me swear that I wouldn’t post it–it contains a lot of commentary by Origin employees that would put them in a *very* bad light. I’ll ask the guy if I can show ‘snippets’ of it and if he agrees, will post them to this forum.
It’s in 3 separate sections:
* Party at Starr Long’s house, the evening after the layoffs–everybody is sad/confused/angry/drunk
* Shots of the offices at Origin, the day after, to clean out the desks–incredibly sad, with the cameraman moving from office to office, with the entire building in disarray–a few half-hearted-10-second interviews.
* A short video clip of the bonfire, with very dark video, and no interviews.
Like I said, I’ll shoot the guy an email, and ask if he’ll let me post a few clips–just to get the flavor of the moment.
I don’t think LOAF was saying the bonfire was ‘just’ about promoting Destination Games (at that time, it wasn’t yet part of NC Soft, this happened during E3 as I recall) but it obviously did gave a lot of free advert for DG. Not that I’d blame him, he certainly had reasons to be bitter at EA and with the talent they had just laid off recruiting them for DG was the right call.
The whole 1983-2001 does feel rather unfair for all the people that still remained at Origin back then though, altough there probably wasn’t that many “old timers” left. On the other hand, I do know that the end of UO2 really did appear as the end of Ultima and OSI for many at this time myself included and the annoucement of Ultima X a couple of years later really came as an unexpected and pleasant surprise – I honestly thought OSI would no longer had any use beside serving as UO’s live team.
Regarding the UO2 video a side note: I’ve noticed it actually use the McFarlane UO2 Ettin models in it, which tends to shows the patchwork nature of it. But it still has a pretty nice feel.
I’m pretty sure you don’t really think I’m out to “insult” Origin, Joe. 🙂 (Similarly, I know you aren’t ‘insulting’ the folks who kept working on projects after UO2 by kiling the company three years before it closed.)
I do think there’s room to demythologize this history, though. Richard Garriott has always been very good at controlling his own story. He sells himself as the underdog going up against an unfeeling corporation. I think enough time has passed that we recognize that there’s more to the story–that the guy winking at his fans with the ‘evil’ EA logo in Ultima VII was at the same time selling Origin to them. (If anything, I think it’s a credit to Mr. Garriott to appreciate the genius with which he maintained his image.)
Promoting Destination Games meant putting forth the effort to connect what he was doing now with Origin’s legacy… and you see that game plan everywhere you look, from every interview where he talked about how Tabula Rasa was the game EA was afraid to do to… well, just the name of the company!
I am not saying that this is some particular failing on Garriott’s fault and it isn’t even a criticism–I’d argue that the Ultima legacy was something he built and deserved! I’m saying that he put thought and effort into telling that story from a public relations standpoint (remember, we would follow him anywhere… a million casual players who don’t spend their time following developers’ lives need the story… and he recognized that).
I’m not saying the bonfire was all self promotion… but that was part of it. How many crazy events has Richard Garriott thrown over the years? It’s not a coincidence that you had Gamespy and Gamespot and Slashdot and so on with reports about *this one* (and beautiful photographs of the fire) the next morning. It was a great event for th folks who were fired but they also knew it was great press for NCSoft. (For my part, our Origin handler–who was not laid off–actually asked us not to mention it at the time and then relented later in the day when the news was everywhere already.)
I would be interested to see your video, but I have trouble imagining it was spontaneous–everyone happened to arrive at the party with a mountain of UO2 documentation and then decided ‘aw, what the heck’? It reminds me of Woodstock–we truly value the message and so we think it cheapens the story to imagine that there was a heck of a lot of planning involved. We (and all the news the next day) want to see it as something that happened the day after the layoffs when the UO2 folks happened to get together and go a little crazy. In reality, the bonfire was more than week later and that time involved a lot of planning and legwork on behalf of the Destination team to make it a reality (and that’s work that’s to be credited–they invited EVERYBODY who ever worked for the company in a short amount of time… I know a former Wing Commander PR person who was shocked that anyone even remembered he’d worked for Origin when he got his invite).
And to be clear I think it was a great, stress-relieving event for folks who deserved to be recognized… but I don’t see it as Origin’s death (there were team parties when the Privateer Onlines were cancelled too–but that’s all they were, the end of a game). UO2 was an interesting project, but it was neither the heart nor the body of Origin… I have to either kill the company with some bad decision (going online only, removing Garriott, going Ultima Online only) or when they actually closed the doors.
In my mind, the story to be told is that Garriott is *so good* at this. In fact, I think the insult could be to imagine it any other way–to think that he happened to organize and hold this event *without* recognizing that it was going to give him great headlines and an amazing talking point for a year worth of interviews about Tabula Rasa is to not give him much credit. He is as much a genius at crafting an image as he is at making a game. Chris Roberts and Digital Anvil went through all sorts of similar if less well thought out attempts to hitch their wagons to Origin’s legacy and fell on their faces (they didn’t deserve it as much as Garriott, either).
(You know what’s funny about the contemporary news stories? They only ever mention Ultima Online 2. Half the folks fired in 2001 were working on Harry Potter. I guess there could be any number of reasons for that.)
To be fair Ultima VII was done BEFORE the selling to EA. As I recall U8 was the first Ultima game done under EA. Also a lot of these pokes at EA came from bad blood between Garriott and Trip Hawkins and the fact that he left EA a year before the buyout is part of what lead Garriott to sell the company to EA. Ive seen Origin employees mentionning he would never have sold it to EA had Hawkins still been he big honcho.
Personally Ill point that I feel selling OSI was a great move even if that sounds like heresy to many Ultima fans. Sure things went astray after UOs success and that Online move but up till then OSI kept delivering quantities of high quality games.
Regarding Harry Potter Online, Im not even sure the game had been officially announced so this might explain why it barely gets a mention. Im actually baffled that they actually has HP MMO in the works then – the first movie didnt came until late 2001.
Im also perplexed that such project was never ressurected. A HP MMO would a no brainer – i cant even begin to imagine the number of HP fans who would LOVE to play in some kind of virtual Hogwart game.
With respect to your bottom two paragraphs, Sergorn, you kind of answer your puzzlement in the last paragraph with the observation in the penultimate. The first Potter movie had yet to be released. It was obviously, now with hindsight, that the movie’s wild success was a safe bet, but I wonder if it necessarily looked that way a year or two before the fact. I mean, I can vaguely remember thinking that it was going to suck, because I wasn’t particularly impressed with the director at the time.
As to why they were working on it so early…well, the movie was in production, and I would imagine they’d have wanted to release HPO as a tie-in thereto if the movie did succeed. So it makes sense that the game was in the works prior to the movie, at least from a timing standpoint.
Yeah but I’m puzzled because even after this project’s cancellation there would have been plenty of opportunity to do a new Potter MMO in thr last ten years especially when it became clear that it was such a phenomenon.
I would indeed assume the OSI project was meant as a movie tie in but I mean even today a HP MMO would definitly be viable so this puzzling.
But then it seems to be EA hasnt been that big into MMO since OSI’z closing and the failure of the Sims Online. They did buy out Mythic and Bioware but I dont recall them launching any new MMO themselves.
EA actually did make a second run at Harry Potter Online. They actually announced it in mid-2001 and funded development into 2005… it just died quietly. By that time EA was pretty fed up with massively multiplayer–you mentioned Sims and they also had big failures with Motor City Online and Earth and Beyond.
Sergorn-I don’t think that U8 was the first–it was Ultima 7, and the Origin staff was poking fun from the very beginning (remember Elizabeth and Abraham?–the sphere, cube and tetrahedron?). I think that this was because when Origin sold to EA, they didn’t expect the corporate world in their little sandbox–but they also didn’t expect the HUGE amount of money, either! 🙂 I agree with all that EA was essentially the ‘savior’ of Origin. Without EA, they would’ve went under in 1992, and that’s a FACT–And we would’ve missed out on a multitude of games–Ultima Underworld1 and 2, Wing Commanders 3,4,5 , System Shock, Bioforge, Serpent Isle, U8, Crusader 1 and 2, U9, and of course, UO.
Ben (LOAF), as usual, your wisdom is spot on. I agree that Garriott is a good promotion machine, but I felt the need to come to his defense, and clarify that this wasn’t any part of a ‘master plan’ by him–it was a wild series of coincidences that he used in hindsight to his advantage. The Origin funeral was a truly heartfelt moment. Was it a little childish and snide to use EA as the scapegoat? Probably. But that was the general feeling of ‘sour grapes’ expressed by everyone at the time. EA is a great company, but everyone wants to stand up to the Goliath to help feel better about circumstances.
Just for the record, Garriott cared so much about his staff at Origin that the Origin ‘funeral’ parties were held by him when there was no need for a promotional stunt–but you don’t hear a lot about them. He threw a party for The Harry Potter and Privateer 3 teams the year before– the exact same party, in the exact same place (sans the T-Shirts)…he did the same in 2004 when Origin closed as well–and he wasn’t even with the company for 4 years! Now *that* is cool!
I’m trying to locate the 2001 video now, but I was amazed that the footage is there. You need to listen close, but I recall that 2 guys are sitting at the deep end of Starr Long’s pool, with their feet in the water–(it may have been Victor Meinert and Scott Jones–I can’t recall for sure). They’re obviously drunk, and laughing and joking. Then one of them says, “We should just burn all of it–the paperwork–in a big F-ing Bonfire!” They then obsess on burning the armadillo, which was some kind of failed trophy-icon used by one of the EA staff–apparently everyone hated the idea. Someone actually says, “Yeah! Call Richard–ask him if we can just burn that whole room full of paperwork!”
Wow–now I gotta find it–just to see it again!
“Sergorn-I don’t think that U8 was the first–it was Ultima 7, and the Origin staff was poking fun from the very beginning (remember Elizabeth and Abraham?–the sphere, cube and tetrahedron?). I think that this was because when Origin sold to EA”
Nay, Ultima VII was released in early 92 (it wasn’t even released in one of those “EA Boxes”), the sellout to EA came in late 92 and I think it only became trully effective in 93 (UW2 came in a non EA Box in its first iteration though it was later reissued). I remember Serpent Isle actually came with a small card saying “Origin and EA has recently joined forces !”
As I said the EA thing was due to sour grapes with Trip Hawkins. Ultima had been poking fun at EA long before Ultima VII: the evil pirates in Ultima VI was named Hawkins and most of his shipmates were named after other EA executives. In Ultima V, EA was also considered a swear word heh.
“Without EA, they would’ve went under in 1992, and that’s a FACT–And we would’ve missed out on a multitude of games”
Yup, but that’s something that somes Ultima fans just don’t get – all they care about is how dissapoited they were in U8 and U9 and forget about the great games EA released with Origin.
I can see an Ultima fan arguing against the buyout–you guys had a decade of great games before Electronic Arts took over… but I’m constantly amazed when Wing Commander fans pull out that EA-bought-Origin-and-ruined-it story–it would have been Wing Commander I and II and nothing else! It’s the story everyone wants to believe (including the folks who worked for the company–you know they had the ‘us artists versus EA corporate’ culture up and running before the check cleared in ’92…).
Sergorn is right, Ultima VII was released before the sale–it came out in April and the sale was official in September (the press release is dated 9/10/92). If you look through the 1992 Point of Origin’s, though, you can tell the discussion is going all through that summer at least… there’s even a letter to the editor in June asking why Electronic Arts executives were touring the studio! (I may be wrong on this, but I *think* the first title to transition to having an EA catalog number printed on the box was Wing Commander II Deluxe Edition.)
I would be interested to know more about the relationship between Richard Garriott and Trip Hawkins. Hawkins had left Electronic Arts by the time they purchased Origin… but then EA-owned-Origin ends up putting more resources into developing for the 3DO then anyone should have because of the Hawkins-EA connection!
One clarification for Joe–I think you’re thinking of Privateer Online. It’s a confusing history because there were four (serious) attempts to make games with two names and many of the Privateer Online pitches we’ve seen reuse artwork initially done for Privateer 3!
Yeah I just don’t get how a WC fan could be pissed at the EA buyout – most of the Wing Commander games actually come out under EA and I don’t ever recall anyone claiming that WC1&2 were all that WC should have been and the later games ruined the franchise (well there was some controverse around Prophecy on account that Roberts wasn’t aboard anymore but I’ve always felt it was silly). And hell the blockbusters that were WC3&4 would *never* have been possible if it wasn’t for a company like EA.
But for me the argument stands with Ultima too – I mean not even taking the controversial U8/UO/U9 into account, without the buyout we wouldn’t have had Serpent Isle and Underworld 2 which are often considered amongst the best episodes the series has to offer. But it’s kind of common attitude I guess – always looking at the bad side and forgetting the good stuff that came out of it.
I think a lot of the bitterness from Ultima fans come from U9 – after the dissapointment that was U8, too many people expected U9 to be something like the second coming and it really hurt and broken the community as a whole, which I don’t feel happened to the WC community (perhaps on account that Prophecy/Secret Ops left us hanging for more, while for better or worse Ultima IX really did end the Ultima series).
But as far as OSI goes the way I’ve send it it really went to hell with UO’s success and EA’s decision to put all their eggs into one basket and turn Origin into an Online only company. Which as history proved, ended being a terrible decision even if I can somewhat understand EA’s logic at the time. But I’ve always found it very ironic and saddening that in the end the only Online game Origin would have released was Ultima Online and that all their other projects ended cancelled. Oh well.
I think what Origin’s closure comes down to (and I don’t know nearly as much as some of you here) are three things:
1) Who was making the design decisions behind the failed/lost-an-eighth games and [why] did they lose the masterful vision that guided previous successes?
2) Who was managing the dev teams from a time management standpoint?
3) Did EA unjustifiably force poor design decisions or otherwise negatively influence game development?
Hypothetically, let’s say OSI was doing okay financially and refused the EA buyout, then continued making games as they saw fit. Would the games have still sucked? I’m wondering if the design leads were losing their vision, running out of ideas and generally going astray, and that the EA buyout simply threw gas on the fire and accelerated what was already happening.
Also, anyone know why OSI needed EA’s money? With all their successes, you’d think that they’d have had money for the foreseeable future.
“Hypothetically, let’s say OSI was doing okay financially and refused the EA buyout, then continued making games as they saw fit. Would the games have still sucked?”
But… one of the point I’m trying to make is that…
Origin’s games under EA.
Did.
Not.
Suck.
If anything OSI kept releasing a lot of classics even after the EA buyout. Hell looking at the list of games Origin developped or even solely published after the EA buyout, I can’t find any one that I would call “Bad”. Even Ultima VIII, as controversial as it was amongst Ultima fans, was still a damn good game in its own right. So this is really a question that needs not to be asked.
As for the reasons that lead Origin to financial troubles, one of the main one was the manufactering costs for disks. I suggest reading this article at the Escapist which describe fairly well the OSI/EA situation and points that really EA was not the big bad evil company out to destroy Origin, and that mistakes were made amongst Origin as well: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_14/87-The-Conquest-of-Origin
Well, as to whether or not they sucked, let’s just say the last one I played was Ultima VIII, for about ten minutes, before realizing something had gone horribly wrong at Origin and the romance was over.
I just read that article, and it sounds worse than I’d imagined. A bunch of idealistic artists thrown into a corporate environment driven purely by profit. Failing to adapt, they were slowly torn apart like a wildebeest beset by a pack of hyenas.
They should have thought harder about how to more cheaply mass produce disk media and cut everyone’s salaries, particularly those at the top. I’d say lesson learned, but then there’s the Destination Games acquisition. It’s the nature of things to fall apart, I suppose.
Well… Origin was not just about Ultima you know *shrugs*
Even if we go with the assumption that Ultima VIII did suck, there were still plenty of other great games.
(And in seriousness, I don’t even get if could Ultima VIII feels wrong after 10 minutes of gameplay. For the first hour or so before you get to jumping – it felt like a near perfect update of the U7/SI formula IMO)
Note that I actually don’t think EA had much if any influence about the direction Ultima VIII took. One of the earliest interview I’ve seen about Ultima VIII right after Ultima VII, actually described something that were pretty close to the end result. As a matter of fact I actually believe that in many aspects Ultima VIII is a logical continuation of the changes Ultima went through in Ultima VII and then even more in Serpent Isle.
Now without EA, Garriott might have had a more hands-on approach, but it probably wouldn’t have been that different. Remember all that jumping and climbing ? Yeah well… Garriott loved Prince of Persia. 😛
Now EA did put a deadline to Ultima VIII which lead to an incomplete release, but AFAIK the blame laid solely on Origin. With the buyout being relatively recent, Garriott didn’t want Origin to look like “bad” in front of EA by having the release date pushed even more… so the game was released as it is. I remember him saying that he considered this to be the biggest mistake he made in his entire career. Which says something.
Note that I think Garriott must really be fed up with big corporate development now – I have a feeling the whole DG/NC Soft venture didn’t go as he hoped, hence the fact that he came back through Portalarium as a smaller independant developper. I look forwrad to what he’ll come up with though.
“Well… Origin was not just about Ultima you know *shrugs*”
Yes it was. Kidding… 🙂 I did enjoy the hell out of Wing Commander I and II, actually. Even broke a keyboard with my fist over one particular mission. Ultima Underworld I was really good for its time, though I’m not sure how that fits into the OSI/EA timeline. I played the demo, in which you couldn’t save your game, so imagine how much more intense it was with effective permadeath.
What I’m getting at is that Origin may have been faltering as the company grew, before EA, both from a business and artistic standpoint. I mean, they didn’t plan for the cost of floppies, so huge sales figures meant they lost money or nearly broke even? “I hope this game isn’t popular, because if it sells a lot of copies we’ll run out of money buying floppies!” What the hell Robert? I think EA forced them to grow up or get out, and eventually everyone did one, the other, or both.
I keep going back to Ultima because it’s mostly what I know, but the pattern up to and including VII was basically, “Better graphics, better sound, more interactivity, more realism.” Solid mantra, I say. Ultima VIII took a step backward in many respects, though I don’t have a problem with them attempting acrobatics and physics. Ultima IX clearly took steps backward from the pattern established by I – VII. While 3D is nice, for many games it’s fundamentally irrelevant. “The gameplay sucks, but hey, it’s 3D!” All of that I see as the result of flawed vision, flawed execution, interference from EA or a combination.
I hope Garriott is fed up with corporate development, and I hope he sincerely gets back to his roots in his next effort. I believe that a pure idealistic visionary with an instinctive feel for what is awesome will win out over Tiger Woods 2017 any day. Multi-million dollar budgets are overrated, and often unnecessary.
I don’t know about OSI faltering before the EA buyout… but from their games it doesn’t seem so – artistically speaking I mean of course. But I don’t see anything shocking about how it cost them too much money, I think in the end it’s simply that OSI couldn’t afford to be both a developper and a publisher.
“Ultima VIII took a step backward in many respects, though I don’t have a problem with them attempting acrobatics and physics. Ultima IX clearly took steps backward from the pattern established by I – VII”
This is true about Ultima VIII which took a lot of step back compared to Ultima VII… I don’t think that is true at all for Ultima IX however. I mean not even taking plot considerations into account, outside of NPC Schedule what it is missing really compared to Ultima VII ?
Party I guess… but really was having armed packed mule killing everything for you really an enjoyment in Ultima VII ?
U9 was very much a breakthrough in term of virtual worlds and such, with a lot of interactivity… not quite on par with U7, but unlike anything ever seen before in a 3D game and still lightyears what most RPG produce nowadays. And in any case, you can’t deny that it was lightyears ahead of Ultima VIII in all those aspects. So if we’d say U8 took a couple of step backward compared to U7 – I’d argue U9 definitly took a step forward compared to U8.
Hell in term of gameplay and design I’d argue Ultima IX was a better game than Ultima VII actually, which suffered from atrocious combats, rather bland dungeons design and semi-inexistant plot.
I think a lot of people dislike Ultima IX mostly because of its plot which is okay, but they forget that it had pretty damn impressive gameplay and design in any case and in spite of its rushed release – which says a lot about the talent put by the dev team there.