Interview: Mythic On The Future of Ultima Online


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Ultima Online is a pivotal title in the history of online gaming, helping to introduce many of the conventions that are now considered standard in MMORPGs today. As of September 2009, the game will celebrate its twelfth anniversary; more amazingly, the game still has roughly 100,000 subscribers after all this time. With nearly a dozen years on the market, and a new expansion (Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss) releasing soon, we had the chance to talk with Mythic Entertainment Producer Josh Drescher and Mythic Entertainment Development Manager for Ultima Online Calvin Crowner, about the latest happenings of the game, what the future holds for Warhammer Online and the possibility of a return for classic Electronic Arts owned IP.

IndustryGamers: Tell me a little bit about the game's eighth expansion, Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss.

Calvin Crowner: From a timeline perspective, it's between contemporary Ultima Online and after Ultima VI: The False Prophet, which introduced the gargoyles. So what you have is the gargoyle race trying to connect to Britannia; their queen has saved them all but they don't have enough resources to survive, and that's when they find the path to the Abyss which rests between their land and the overworld. There, you'll find stuff from the earlier Ultimas and Ultima Underworld, and if you look at an old Ultima Underworld map, you can see where we've taken a lot of the same shape and architecture.

Josh Drescher: Ultima Online has been around for 12 years and the Ultima franchise has been around for 30 years. What we've done in Ultima Online over the past dozen years is that we've expanded what people can do in that world and we've tried to take into account the 30 years of history. The biggest deal [for the expansion] is to introduce a playable race. It gives me a chance to get back to the roots of the classic franchise and connect with the lore of Ultima.

IG: Why do you think that Ultima Online has managed to keep a consistent fan base after all these years while newer MMOs, like the Matrix Online recently, shut down?

CC: We talk about this every 27 minutes! I think it's about two different things; one, we have a player community that's not like any other player community. They are the guys that stand up on the pulpits and preach about the game for us. The second factor is that the game is sticky after all these years; I think that certain people like that they can get in without being told what to do. There are also options in there that you can't do in any other game, like build castles and explore without boundaries.

JD: What makes Ultima Online distinct and interesting, if you go back into that age of early multiplay RPGs, Ultima Online was on the leading edge, and it was the first time you could do certain things and there were difficulties that came with it that came with anonymous interactions. With every other major game that's come afterward they told you explicitly how to play it. It's like a Disneyland ride: we're going to snap you in and it's going to be fun but everybody sees the same stuff. So what you have is a massively single player experience where maybe it would be better if the other players just weren't around! Ultima Online brings with it a sort of social contract, and that's not for everyone, but there are fanatics that yearn for that level of freedom and Ultima Online stands alone among online games where you can do that. People haven't paid attention to the lessons about PVP from games like Ultima Online and Dark Ages of Camelot nor do they let them make that game what they want it to be.

Full article

And, another interview with Josh Drescher (Part 1 & Part 2)

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UO has always been what I have compared any MMORPG to. I started it back when it was in beta and stuck with it up to 2000. Then I started playing free UO servers, and still do up to this date. The system just has so many possibilities to make your own adventures. Truly an innovating game that set the bar.

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I remember Ultima from many years back.

Ultima VII and its two extensions were lots of fun. A huge world to explore, a good story and many complete novelties at the time.

Ultima VIII was good either, but had the flaw that it had too much jump'n'run elements, many of which were quite hard to do, resulting in much frustration. The world was also only a tiny fraction anymore.

Ultima IX then, however, failed on far too many levels, especially after having been delayed again and again and again. Guess that's why the series was canceled then, even though I had read Garriot had already plans for part X.

It's interesting to see that Ultima Online is still going strong, that many years after the Ultima series died.

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