Shroud of the Avatar: The Novia Overworld Sure Looks Sweet
Golem Dragon will be posting his usual bit concerning the latest Update of the Avatar later tonight, but I just had to draw some special attention to these work-in-progress images of the Novia overworld, which is being worked on by Portalarium’s Abe Robertson.
Do they not look splendid? Why yes…yes, they do.
They do look awesome. That being said, I hope the overworld map at least provides the same level of functionality as that of Ultima V (being the last overworld map an Ultima ever had). At least let people hole up and camp and have Iolo (or whoever) play the lute around a campfire. I think pimping out the overworld map with Ultima V’s features would really let people know it was an Ultima game (at least the ones who remember the older ones). Showing monsters/animals so it wasn’t a Final Fantasy-style random encounter would be nice as well, affording players the chance to evade using the landscape to their strategic advantage (different movement rates for different terrain types with collision for water and mountains).
It would be nice to have some advance warning of monsters and other random encounters; I got wiped by three skeletons the last time I tried to wander around the Hidden Vale.
As much as I’m rooting for SotA, it’s odd to see the series go backward (having an overworld map; though I dig it), then backward further with said obsolete feature having less features than its predecessors (no so much diggitude). Still early in the game though; all we can do is post gentle reminders to ensure they stay on the virtuous path to enlightenment. They seem responsive, as they got rid of the much-loathed parchment map.
I liked the parchment map. 🙁
If I’d never played Ultima I would have thought it was okay-ish, but it was extremely minimalistic, and for a dual-scale world modeled after Ultima it left a lot to be desired. I think a lot of the backlash, ironically, was simply because the mock-up they presented during their Kickstarter campaign was cooler-looking. I do wonder if at some point they will run into the reason they dropped the overworld map and 3D dungeons after Ultima V. Garriott’s stated reasoning (from The Official Book of Ultima) was that they didn’t want to have to create/support multiple systems in one game because it was more efficient to have all the mechanics operate under a single paradigm. I mentioned in a much earlier post here the peculiarity of their reversal of this logic. I suppose the technical need to craft zones/areas/stages instead of a seamless world trumped it, but at some point if the overworld is made sufficiently complex the problem may arise again and they will be supporting two largely discrete systems.
Okay this DOES look gorgeous. THIS is what I expect from an Overland map
Now if they only COULD put a PROPER UI for it. And point and click controls. Because moving using WASD is terrible 😛
WASD is terrible. As we all know, it should use the arrow keys.
Or Ultima 9’s controls. Mouse- driven, click to move. Uses non-letter keys to control strafing and walking backwards. Keeps the letters mostly free and clear…useful for when there’s a need for typed input.
I kinda like the way that scheme sounds, actually. I was messing around when I said it should use the arrow keys since that’s what the older games used.
Garriott did mention recently on Twitter that he wanted to do a hole up and camp option, which is pretty badass. I don’t know if you can rest or not currently, or if it requires a bed or some other type of dedicated sleeping gear. I liked how you could camp wherever you liked on the overworld in Ultima V at the risk of being attacked. If he does pursue that option, it will be interesting to see how it’s handled considering the game’s real-time, multiplayer nature. Will a player actually stare at his sleeping party for an hour or so? Perhaps it will be reserved for single-player offline mode.
Well how long is night in SotA?
Ultima IX’s controls scheme was awesome – effective and intuitive.
That’s a good question. In Sanct it’s real time / 4. In one real-world day four game days pass. In SotA it could be higher/faster. No idea, sadly. That’s the one bad thing about a real-time, multiplayer world; time dilation breaks the multiplayer, so there is none or it’s a fraud.
Perhaps the hole up and camp feature could let the player continue to watch while keeping them online, execute some light AI when needed (keeping the fire going, standing watch, lute-playing, knife-sharpening) and allow the player immediate re-entry/control when requested. People could camp solely to surveil passers-by, manage their inventory while keeping watch, take direct control and survey the area around the campfire or chill in the chat room while monitoring for nearby disturbances.
If RG pulls off a decent H feature in SotA he’s still got a rapier wit about him, all jokes aside.
While my longer keyboard does result in wasd being practically required for movement in games now, I do have a whole section of programmable keys to the left-hand side I can setup for same purpose if needed.