Hellow guys, following my series “Good Old Game#MagicNumberHere”. And if you want, you can read the Good Old Games#1 HERE!
Today I will “talk” about a really amazing game that consumed a lot of time of my life. :3 And probably the BEST (or maybe the second BEST) MMORPG ever released in the Humanity Story.
This game is…
Ultima Online but…
I’m not talking about the Ultima Online that is running on an EA Server right now, and you can go there and play, no, no, not this one, I’m talking about the Ultima Online: The Second Age, an awesome, incredible and amazing game released in 1998, published by EA, developed by Origin Systems, designed by the great Raph Koster and ” created by Richard Garriot.
Different from most current MMORPGs, this old MMO does not have a linear sequence of story, doesn’t possess scalar quests, the player just builds his life with the other players in the world and grow over time your own skills. The player must learn in this MMORPG to manage well their gold pieces and his own life, because it can become expensive.
Ultima Online happens in an Ultima Universe, similar to other games of the series (including some extremely classic NPCs such as Lord British).
At the time of its release date, Ultima Online wasn’t easily accessible here in my country for one big main reason. Was his way of payment, which the international transaction was not very easy, but anyway, I end playing Ultima Online in the Official Shard and later in alternative free shard who sought to imitate the original server. Many of them have become extremely popular, some servers could often achieve a higher amount to a thousand players online simultaneously.
Ultima Online proved a unique and popular game, however unfortunately EA bought the rights to the game in 2000 and others interesting features of the game were removed or altered, but thanks to today Free Shards players can enjoy the original game of Origin. Oh, and In Ultima Online the “Servers” was called of “Shards”, cause of the plot of the game. 😉
Why Ultima Online is a unique game?
Good, let’s “talk” a little about the game, unlike the current MMOs, Ultima Online wasn’t about focus on Grind killing monsters, and say killing monsters would be a part of the survival task. The goal was really to build your life in a medieval world, you could become a carpenter, blacksmith, tailor and obvious, as already mentioned you could just become a beautiful archer, mage, swordsman and many other things. The freedom of Ultima is impressive, an hour you could be building a beautiful armor, another time could be an engaged on an incredible battle against a dragon.
The world of Ultima Online was immense and it was possible to travel by riding, using boats and Runes. The runes were stones, in which a magician could record their position to eventually return to the same place using the “Recall” spell.
The system evolution is very similar to Oblivion or Daggerfall, the more you used your skills, more you become powerful, no “Level up” system here. For example, a blacksmith can start building small iron daggers when he is a novice and later when become a Grandmaster he can craft beautiful Halberd Diamond with his name engraved and still with some knowledge of poison was possible to add a dose of poison in the blade and make it even more lethal weapon. Produce a Robe must go through the whole process, the player can plant your cotton (or buy), weaving the fabric and sew the Robe everything in great detail, but without complexity.
A Hardcore game.
Although I don’t really appreciate the word “Hardcore” games, Ultima Online was a serious game that could destroy or brighten your day. The game provided a lot of freedom to the player (which does not occur today in the most current version), PK (Player Killers) was everywhere in the game, your trip from one city to another could easily be finished for a PK (or a guild full of bloodthirsty players). The Player Killers avoid entering in the cities, not because they could not, but because there in the cities have NPCs “Guards” that could kill them easily and if a player typed “Guards!” an NPC guard could appear to protect this player looking for some thief or killer. The death of a player is somewhat complex to accept, because in your death, all your items in your bag and in your body, become available to other players to loot. For example: do you know that magical, unique and amazing item that you got? If a PK (Player Killer) kill you, you may send a Goodbye to this item. Perhaps one of the most tense moments in the life of a player is when he buys a house and he need to “deploy” his new house, because besides being very expensive, the player shall carry a deed of the house allowing it to be “deployed” on any free surface of the map and only outside the protection of the guards,that mean a PK could kill you and take your dream home away.
Of course it’s can get very worse on a Permanent Death Shards (Servers), but that one is not for me. :3
Ultima Online has the possibility to interact with the whole scenario, a little like the Elder Scrolls series, we “take” or “use” almost everything we can see.
The political and trade of the game was extremely functional, players traded raw materials(wood logs, ore, gems etc…) for cash with other players. All raw materials has its uses. The clans could create your own hierarchical systems, could build a fort and fight for their rights and domains.
Nowadays the official game is very different from before and it is available for sale and monthly pay in http://www.ultimaonline.com, now have so many new expansions, some upgrades made the graphics of the game become very better like the Third Age, Kingdom Reborn, and others. Many upgrades and changes made by EA, it includes powerful changes in relation to the PK system, besides the gates to teletransport the player between towns and worlds, the System itself has been changed, Skills, Quests and even a bit of Grind it was adopted, but there have some good free shards of Ultima Online Second Age if you look for it.
Bellow a screenshot from the expansion Kingdom Reborn, with a better visual.
For last, Ultima Online is a great game and brings a unique and exceptional experience.
Wy IndieG4m3z 