Creston wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 22:46:

Silicon Avatar wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 20:50:
Well..

Origin wasn't known for stable products or delivering on time. I don't know what the deal was there, but something was going wrong even before EA came along. EA just made it worse.

I'm sorry, what? Which unstable products did they launch, exactly? Because I can remember precisely one, which was Ultima 7 (which had pretty bad bugs in it until the first two patches. This was in the funny days before you could really download such things off the internet. I remember that those patches were sent to me on 3.5" discs.)

Other than that, though, all their games ran pretty much just fine. Never had an issue with System Shock, or Underworld, or Bioforge, or Wing Commander, or Privateer.

The only other game that gave me grief was Ultima 8. It crashed on me literally every 30, 40 seconds, it was so aggravating. I sent faxes back and forth to Origin's HQ trying to figure it out, until finally they had me send over my BIOS settings. Two days later one of their developers called me (from the US), and spent an hour on the phone with me getting my BIOS settings fixed. While we were waiting for my machine to boot, I had a great time talking to him about the games he'd worked on, and such. And to his credit, he fixed the issue; I never had a single crash after that anymore.

I miss the old Origin...

Creston

RollinThundr wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 14:41:
EA acquired them in 92, Ultima IX released in 97. I think a better question would be what changed at Origin that EA needed to put it's own clueless producers on projects they had no business being involved with.

Silicon Avatar wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 20:50:
Well..

Origin wasn't known for stable products or delivering on time. I don't know what the deal was there, but something was going wrong even before EA came along. EA just made it worse.

Well.. that was sort of my point... as an indie (and possibly a kickstarter) he could really make a game that would fit his Ultima Style without publisher interference.

Creston wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 14:01:

wtf_man wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 11:05:
Personally, I think he's washed up after Ultima IX and Tabula Rasa... but maybe he can do something better as an indie... we'll just have to see.

Ultima IX wasn't really his fault. EA had bought them, and EA put Ed DiCastillo (I think that's what he was called. Something similar) on as senior producer. Ed's previous claim to fame had been producing Command and Conquer. Because apparently, in EA's world, if you make an RTS, that makes you the PERFECT guy to helm the next installment of the world's most favorite running RPG series.

I was heavily involved on Origin's own forum in those days, and the howls of outrage when Ed famously said "Ultima is not about baking bread!" were pretty incredible. To the point where he actually quickly backtracked and said that baking bread would be in the game. It was clear he didn't really get what the whole point was. (which was that Britannia was a living, breathing world, and the Avatar simply existed in that world and tried to right its wrongs. He obviously believed Britannia was just a map for the Avatar to do fucking jumping puzzles on.)

But yeah, Tabula Rasa was terrible. TERRIBLE.

Who knows. I think he may still be capable of making an interesting RPG, but it's just as possible that he's truly just done.

Creston

wtf_man wrote on Mar 3, 2013, 11:05:
Personally, I think he's washed up after Ultima IX and Tabula Rasa... but maybe he can do something better as an indie... we'll just have to see.

The Half Elf wrote on Mar 2, 2013, 21:45:
My question is how many people made the Ultima games? Anyone remember Brad McQuaid and 'The Vision'? One person alone was NEVER responsible for the classic's we love, and the name 'Lord British' just doesn't carry the weight it use to.

The Half Elf wrote on Mar 2, 2013, 21:45:
My question is how many people made the Ultima games? Anyone remember Brad McQuaid and 'The Vision'? One person alone was NEVER responsible for the classic's we love, and the name 'Lord British' just doesn't carry the weight it use to.

As for EA and Ultima, they have tried at least 3 times to bring Ultima back (Ultima Online 2, Ultima X and one other). It's dead Jim.

JohnBirshire wrote on Mar 2, 2013, 21:58:
Ultima is the greatest series of all time, even the creator of the Final Fantasy series credits it with inspiring him to make their first game.

I played Ultima Online off and on for twelve years, no other MMOs have scratched the surface of the immersion that game had, and I've played 50+ of them.

My favorite of the series is Ultima 7, game blew my mind, and is still my second favorite game of all time behind the first Elder Scrolls game.

I know for a fact this announcement has nothing to do with Ultima however. Someone is releasing Ultima 6 using the Ultima 7 exult engine soon though, so at least theirs something to look forward to.

Cutter wrote on Mar 2, 2013, 20:59:

Creston wrote on Mar 2, 2013, 19:32:
Fuck EA for killing Ultima (and all of Origin, for that matter.)

Creston

And how long has UO been going? It just boggles the mind when the dickbags at EA let something this obvious pass them by. Then again I suppose most of the suits at EA have probably never even heard of Ultima, muchless know that UO still exists.