The Ultima 6 Remake: Thinking Big
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Zygon Dragon has updated the Ultima 6 Remake website again (he has been doing so quite often of late, which I like to see), this time to share some musings from the project’s technical mastermind, AgentOrangeGuy. Naturally, AOG has a bunch of ideas he’d like to try and implement in his remake of my favourite Ultima game:
…One such idea was having animals spawn raw meat, that would need to be cooked to be edible. It worked somewhat, but I needed to work some bugs out of it first. It would make more sense having to cook it rather than carving it straight from the animal and shoving it into the mouth of a hunger stricken, complaining Iolo.
Another idea is one that could be used in a different, unique mod once we’re done. I could probably implement it in the U6 mod in one area –- the gargoyle war. once all the shrines are cleansed, and the avatar needs to go through Hythloth, there will be a fortress built into the first level (some of it above ground) that will need to be cleared out. There will also be a few gargoyle war parties that will wander the area. So, one of the guard units I will make will be freed up to help for the final assault on the gargoyles in Britannia. I plan on doing some usecode into the commander’s conversation to allow for user input in coordinates and to be able to give an attack order at a given time.
That would be a neat feature to add. Don’t get me wrong, I love me my Ultima 6, and will probably include it in my list of Extra Life games. That said, I’ll be the first to admit that for a game that is supposedly about Britannia being under siege from a horrifying new foe, there is little in the game that actually makes you feel as though there is a war going on all around you. Granted, that’s probably due to the limitations of the engine as much as to anything else, but still…it stands out. The addition to the Ultima 6 narrative of anything that adds to the atmosphere the sense of a land actually at war would be a welcome change, I think.
Ultima VI was a somewhat cold war. Only a few fatalities.
I like the idea about animals and meat. No one should spawn anything, necessarily, but turning animals into meat is a good idea in a game. Eating raw meat and getting sick (unless they’re used to it) is also good.
That last part makes me cringe a bit (actually, a lot). It kinda goes against what I think Ultima 6 is… and what Hythloth is. Especially since it is technically possible to complete U6 without killing any gargoyles apart from the first 3 (and I know some people like to play it like that). Though I think he is saying that he wants to add it as an optional mod… in which case I guess that’s ok.
I think having human war camps near some of the shrines would probably make more sense (humans don’t go to Hythloth, so why would there be a fortress there?). We know that the human armies are trying to retake the shrines. The armies are technically meant to be there.
For what it’s worth, hope giant spiders will still drop edible meat. I mean, that makes total sense.
I really see no reason why you couldn’t quite happily cook and eat the legs of a 40 pound spider. Would it really be any different than snow crab?
Gothic handled raw vs. cooked meat fairly well by simply having monsters drop raw meat, which healed you for five hit points (give or take) and if the player cooked the meat, it would heal for more, such as seven. I remember playing that game, cooking meat, and smiling happily. I felt like I was in Ultima, baking bread.
As long as we can still pickpocket meat, I’m happy. 😉
Fallout (at least New Vegas does… can’t remember Fallout 3) works the same. You get meat and can eat it, but it is better for you if you cook it first.
“That said, I’ll be the first to admit that for a game that is supposedly about Britannia being under siege from a horrifying new foe, there is little in the game that actually makes you feel as though there is a war going on all around you. Granted, that’s probably due to the limitations of the engine as much as to anything else, but still…it stands out.”
Agreed. That is pretty much my biggest complaint about VI (The U6 Project addressed this fairly well IMHO). Also love the idea of the cooked meat.
Yeah, the Trinsic siege worked quite well in U6P. But something like that for every city would get repetitive, fast. And the game isn’t about wiping anyone out, anyway.
Full-on sieges are action set-pieces that shouldn’t be used more than once (maybe twice) in a game. But that doesn’t mean that little skirmishes and small battles can’t be inserted at random times and places.
Dragon Age did this reasonably well, offering both large set-piece battles against the darkspawn and random encounters either with darkspawn or featuring newly-won allied troops fighting darkspawn. Simple enough things, but effective at maintaining the atmosphere of a world at war even so.
And Ultima 6 could have used the same thing, basically: a few random encounters in which a few gargoyles were duking it out with a few guards or knights. Little things, not enough to give a sense of wiping out the foe…but enough to give a sense of larger events happening all around.
“I really see no reason why you couldn’t quite happily cook and eat the legs of a 40 pound spider. Would it really be any different than snow crab?”
It wouldn’t. Might even be better if it had fed on adventurers instead of shit at the bottom of the sea. My problem is with the idea of “dropping”. Kinda primitive. If you kill something then it just stops moving. It should slowly rot over time. Like anything else just lying around, you should be able to do things to it such as move it, cut it up, sell the pieces, cook it, or whatever’s appropriate for the particular object.
The word “dropping” really cheapens the possible mechanics and resulting gameplay.
Sorry for a second post, but I like the ideas about the incursion aspect of Ultima VI. This is interesting because it’s so very different than the original game, whose plot said one thing and whose gameplay said another.
I always took Ultima VI as a sandbox where I could have fun and paid little attention to the plot. If the story were to be fully realized or stressed more, the possibilities really open up.
Maybe there could be a series of scripted events, whose ramifications blended in with the existing world, on a timeline accelerated by the Avatar’s actions. You could mess around and play in the world harmlessly, but when you performed a certain quest or otherwise committed an inflammatory action, one or more plot elements would be introduced into gameplay.
One plot element could involve the Avatar becoming both proficient and efficient at killing gargoyles, organizing bands of executioners targeting small groups at their weakest and using any means available to kill them, their reproductive chain, and hiding incriminating evidence. Dupre might say, “No bodies here” and laugh while Iolo looks up, shakes his head and taps his boot.
“Your bolt’s loose,” says Dupre to Iolo.
“It it?” looking down.
“Gotcha,” Dupre smiles wryly.
Iolo smiles back at he clacks a bolt alongside Dupre’s idle shield, causing him to flinch and the shield to rock gently against the mud brick. He knew Dupre had no idea if his crossbow was loaded, and quickly replaced the bolt with an equally wry, if not more wearied smile.
“Damn the old man,” Dupre thought, still smiling.
I actually fiddled around with my idea to have input coordinates to send troops into battle, it worked. I will use it in a future mod, but you will have the option to enlist the aid of a group of guards, once you give their commander the order… but only at a certain part in the game. When you get the amulet of submission, as far as the gargoyles are concerned, there is a cessation of hostilities because they have what they wanted (the False Prophet) and this will end all hostile gargoyle activities in Britannia.
The Hythloth “fortress” isn’t as hokey as it may sound. Being the main route into Britannia, it would make sense that the gargoyles create a “base” of sorts, to help its forces attack, and to defend the route into their world. The structures will be wooden (probably log structures as in SI), and to help facilitate their assault with supplies and fortifications to prevent Britannian troops’ access into Hythloth.
There will be the feeling of a true war, you’ll see the remnants of this war as well (remember Caradon from Serpents Hold? oh you’ll see the remnants). I don’t plan on over-doing it, but I am putting things here and there of the aftermath of the ongoing war. While you -could- play U6 without harming gargoyles, it was very real for Britannians.. many lost friends in the war and they had an impending sense of doom because they were losing the war. I don’t have any plans of “town sieges” because that is too easy. You will get the feeling of war when you see some of the other things I have placed.
The ‘raw meat’ idea is on hold for now, but it isn’t off the table yet. I just need to fix the code, it isn’t working properly. I plan on making it to where you have to cook the meat, and it will turn into what it is supposed to be (or be burnt if you fail). Of course you could eat raw meat, but you’ll get sick 😀