Portalarium's Ultimate RPG Has A Logo
Portalarium, the social gaming company co-founded by Richard Garriott, recently revamped their website, giving it a slightly cleaner look. They also added a couple of new sections to the site, one for the recently-announced Ultimate Collector, and one for Richard Garriott’s Ultimate RPG.
At present, there isn’t much to actually see on the Ultimate RPG’s page, apart from a brief description of the idea and link to Richard Garriott’s lengthy missive about it. There is, however, this snazzy new logo, which is evidently associated with the game:
Something old, something new.
There are two elements in play on the shield: a Templar Cross, and our old friend the Silver Serpent. I’m not sure if the Templar symbol is significant in any way, although it is certainly true that a sizeable body of myth and legend has been built up around that once-proud knightly order.
That said, I am assuming that the Silver Serpent is significant in some way, and is a very obvious bone thrown in the direction of long-time Ultima fans. And that, Dragons and Dragonettes, is rather exciting, no?
Side note: To be fair, Bernard de Clairvaux’s description of a Templar could easily apply as a description of the Knights and Paladins of Britannia, or the Order of the Silver Serpent:
A Templar Knight is truly a fearless knight, and secure on every side, for his soul is protected by the armour of faith, just as his body is protected by the armour of steel. He is thus doubly armed, and need fear neither demons nor men.
Just replace “faith”, above, with a reference to the Virtues!
Update: Kindbud Dragon, being a patient Dragon, also noticed that in the image rotator for the Ultimate RPG on the Portalarium main page, another familiar image pops up:
Truth, Love, and Courage!
Okay, the image itself isn’t familiar, but some of the elements in it are. There is, after all, a book…and a candle…and is that a bell?
(hat tip: Sergorn Dragon)
I *love* that Logo. It feels so Ultima-ish, yet somewhat different.
I commented upon on the Ultimate RPG Facebook page, and got an answer from whoever runs it saying that there is a story behind this symbol, though they can’t share it yet.
On a side note there is also this next on the Ultimate RPG splash screen on the main Portalarium with changing pictures (there’s a map, a dagger, a quill and so on…)
“Thirty years have passed since the beginning
Hundreds of thousands of battles have been won
Millions of imaginations have been sparked around the world
But the ultimate portal is yet to open
The ultimate story is yet to be told”
Pretty cool!
I think the logo is just the merging of the de Cayeux family crest with the Silver Serpent logo in order to make it his own crest and not something that would be representative of the game.
A quick Google search of the de Cayeux crest turned up this link:
http://www.houseofnames.com/cayeux-family-crest?a=54323-224
You’ll undoubtedly notice the same style of Templar cross with the blue and yellow background.
Interestingly enough, the de Cayeux crest during the Crusades was a gold background with a slightly different type of cross (scroll down to Guillaume de Cayeux and Eustache de Cayeux:
http://www.cathar.info/120550_crusadersarms.htm
That’s a sweet find, Kindbud. Thanks for the links (and sorry about the auto-moderation)! I’d actually wondered if the blue & yellow were significant, but didn’t have time to look into it.
So, we know it’s his wife’s crest…though, pace Sergorn’s comment, it sounds like there might be a bit more to it than just that.
Still…very cool.
Wow. Good catch!
It’s possible the comment on FB was related to the fact it was inspired by the De Cayeux crest. The actual comment was
“Thanks! There’s a story behind it, but it might be a bit before we can tell it. We’ll investigate…. :)”
But it might from an ingame perspective as well. I mean I can certainly picture Garriott creating a crest in-game inspired by his wife’s crest considering his habit of putting real worlds elements or friends in his games.
Actually considering this habit this is were we might ask: we know Lord British will be in the game of course, but will the ingame character have a Lady British to aknowledge this development in his life ? I wouldn’t put it past him :O
-Sergorn
“On a side note there is also this next on the Ultimate RPG splash screen on the main Portalarium with changing pictures (there’s a map, a dagger, a quill and so on…)”
You missed out on the important bits of imagery: a bell, book, and a candle. 🙂
Oooh good one, I missed that on the final image indeed!
On a side note, the way the splash screen is phrased is very much like the final Ultima IX trailer which started by “Twenty years have passed since the beginning, eight epic stories have been told, only one remains…”
I like how the tease mention how the “ultimate story” is yet to be told, because PR aside it does indicate they care about putting a real story in the game.
Here’s hoping!
BTW, movie about Richard Garriot is coming http://blogs.suntimes.com/demand/2012/01/man_on_a_mission.html
The image is the same as the one from their wedding cake, so I think its safe to assume that its the merged crest of de Cayeux and Richard’s serpent, so Lord and Lady British. I think its great that he is following through, but I’m wondering what kind of game it will turn out to be. “Ultimate RPG” is a bit vague; big, but vague.
Well he gave some good hints about what he aims to do in his latest interviews, so I’d expect it to be a game in the vein of Ultima Online, except it’ll be available on social media and browsers. I also suspect a stronger story compenant since he talks a lot about the importance of story.
We should learn more later this year, though I don’t expect anything until Ultimate Collector is released.
RG movie, it’s about time! Nice link dude!
I can’t wait to compare Mr Barnette and Mr Garriott’s games side by side. I also can’t wait to see which one gets better reviews and does better financially.
What a time to be an Ultima fan!
Yeah, eh?
Not bad at all for a series that hasn’t seen a new full title release in a dozen years and which exists to this day as an Evony clone and an aged MMORPG with a subscriber base numbering in the low hundred thousands.
It’s moments like this that make me laugh when my family lectures me on the immaturity of gaming and the insignificance of Ultima.
Personally I hope both Ultima Forever and Ultimate RPG (or whatever they’er gonnga be called in the end) does well.
From the rumors and hint they also appear to be very different kind of game to begin with outside of the “social game” aspect, so I’m hoping they can be complementary experience.
And I’m hoping there is enough success to have a fullblown Ultima AAA game as some point in the future 😛
>And I’m hoping there is enough success to have a fullblown Ultima AAA game as some point in the future
A singleplayer game, sir 😉
I have just read the message from the allmighty Lord British aka Richard Garriot aka Spacetraveller30millgoneaway.
Sounds intriguing, indeed. Though I just want to point out that it was OSI which “provided” EA with a starting base of ruining UO. EA just followed the paths of Tramell, which was not created by them. UO had the tremendous level of griefing and mindless player-kiling. This is why a lot of whinies quit and of course, quiters are not productive. So instead, of making a sandbox way of solving this problem, they made a mechanical way to solve this problem by first adding statloss, which barely helped, then a lot of restrictions and security (cannot enter the gate though the house, lockdowns etc.) and finished with Tramell – a systematical restiction of any PvP and/or thievery in the said area. Was it good for business? Well, perhaps, yeah. Indeed, the sales grew up after that. Was it good for an MMO as a whole and for the sand-box experience? Well, we know the asnwer.
In conclusion, while I am thankful to LB for providing me years of great RPG experience and I will, of course, wait for any update from “Ultimate RPG”, I still think that it was OSI who turned on the wrong path since very beggining of UO. Wonder why most houses in UO are useless? Wonder why “ore cart” is just for decore and has no use? Well, the ambitious sandbox project turned into a griefers heaven and later became a casual game.
Even though I doubt it will be anything different from another browser-based casual “rpg” I still have a hope on a fully persistent world with a lot of truely sandbox features where griefing will be MODERATED, not mechanically restricted.