I completely agree with most/all of your points, and that's why I loved UO until it was screwed up. Sure the graphics were basic and it was tile based, but it was really fun. There weren't really any fetch this, kill these monsters sorts of quests, heck, there weren't really any quests, just large scale hand created events by the team, like orcs invading a town, that really made the world seem more alive than all the MMOs I've played in the last few years.
But of course it couldn't last, EA had to come in and screw it up for me, just like they do everything else.
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Adam 'Staunch' Bryzak
DS Friend Codes at
http://abryzak.org