f13.net

On way to comic con, we have a game to announce! Go go BioWare digital!

Virtuous things are happening today.

BioWare Mythic is reportedly set to continue its development of F2P titles with an official game announcement soon.

CVG says that it talked to BioWare Mythic general manager Eugene Evans, who told the site that the developer would be announcing a free-to-play online title on July 12.

The website also speculates that the game will be based on a classic EA franchise.

Any guesses or wishes?

Actually....HERE WE GO, main page just changed:

http://ultimaforever.com/

I don't even know what to say, lol.

wait wtf lady british?

Why is there a gypsy concept art if there are only fighters and mages? This game will be insulting to long time fans, that I'm sure of.

This could easily be a parody.

The game is coming to both PC and iPad platforms courtesy of a thin-client download. The full title is Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, and gameplay consists primarily of four-person parties and various dungeon crawls set in the world of Britannia.

Barnett compared the game to the hunting areas in older BioWare titles like Baldur's Gate, and he pointed out that the essence of Ultima Forever is focused on improving your virtues through a BioWare storyline and plenty of dungeoneering. "It's very much a classic RPG adventure. It's more in Dragon Age's territory than that of an MMO," he explained.

And how does BioWare think classic Ultima fans will respond to a new, casual-focused take on their favorite universe? "We've kept in close contact with a group of hardcore Ultima fans; they're in the alpha, actually," Barnett said. "We can't replicate the original game, and I don't think they want us to. The original game is lauded as very important, and it is, but if you give it to a modern gamer, it's sort of like trying to read Chaucer. You're told it's worthy, but it's sort of incomprehensible."

The KING IS DEAD THE KING IS DEAD LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!  :grin:

So it's Ultima as imagined through the anus of Diablo.

Could this be a hack and slash ?

Yes it is. Do not expect Ultima. Expect F2P Diablo , except more ugly. The game IS a HnS. Click/Click/Click . My enemies are dead.

"Go show those thieves the Compassion this sword is made of !"

The game will be, just like UIV, all about Virtues as well. They’ll dictate your choices throughout the game, in true BioWare RPG fashion. If you find a large sum of money on the floor of the pub and give it back to the owner? That’s Justice. If instead you give it to some starving beggar children? That’s compassion. The entire game is built around these open-ended choices you’ll have to make which will help determine the kind of Avatar you become.  While Paul wasn’t able to talk much about the game’s career system, he did say that Virtues will play heavily into the thing.  “We extend the Virtue system into multiplayer as well. When a powerful player groups up with a lower player, they might not get a lot of XP for working with them, but they’ll gain a lot of Sacrifice virtue.”

The story itself is quite literally a reboot on Ultima IV. It begins 21 years after that title ended, with Lady British now on the thrown in place of her father Lord British. This makes sense given that the lead designer is no longer Garriott, but Kate Flack who’s been handling UO now for some time. It’ll sport the same isometric view we’ve come to know and love, and have all the cool stuff we remember from Ultima IV like hot air balloons, sea travel, and more. Paul says many on the team liken it to Baldur’s Gate with Friends in a lot of ways, getting back to BioWare’s roots in that way.
There are two announced careers right now on the game’s sparse homepage: the Fighter and the Mage, which are as you expect. Paul told me more will come, and those will be the sorts of things you can pony up a little change for.  As for the combat, it’s going to be a bit Action RPG-esque, as is befitting the isometric view. It’ll be position-based as well, with players being able to take advantage of collision detection, and will rely on player reaction as well. It won’t be typical hot-bar and tab-target type combat, but rather require active participation from the player on either platform. He promised me they’d explain more soon, and that they have to save something to reveal later.

People, it's still in Alpha. You're all too harsh.  :why_so_serious:

It’ll sport the same isometric view we’ve come to know and love, ...

And if that kept us from taking the game seriously...?

The story itself is quite literally a reboot on Ultima IV. It begins 21 years after that title ended title ended

Pick a lane hoss.

Otherwise: was excited. Shit, I still have the hand-drawn map I created for Ultima IV the first time.

But please don't give me this crap about the original Ultima series being too hard and this version is for 13 year olds. I was 13 years old and you know what? I read the goddamned manual and learned how to play and everything. Of course the map I drew was because I needed something more functional than that cloth thing. But it was no harder then than Secret World is today. And the market size was probably about the same.

Those words? They do not mean what the writer thinks they mean.

I find it interesting that the Diablo-like is becoming the MMO-lite model of choice.

'Modern' gamers had problems with Ultima IV, at least. (http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2010/09/unplayable.html)

(http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/05/paul_barnett.jpg)

Deal with it.

I'm generally of the same opinion, however Divine Divinity was probably the closest thing to a (somewhat) modern Ultima-like in a looong time. And though Divinity 2 was a good game, I did miss the old style.

This HAS to be a hoax methinks.  Not because of the pissing upon of the Ultima series, but because of how the announcements are coming out.  Anyone who loved the original series will hate this adaptation.  The younger crowd will say "WTF is Ultima?"  The bolded sentence in their quote above reads as if the RPG itself is in peril, not Sosaria. 

Someone from work went to comic-con and now I have the cloth map and tarot cards.

...WHAT DO I DO WITH THESE

This game looks stupid.

this needs a meme

Is that from the Facebook version of it? Jesus that is fugly.

(https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1143749/GuardianFacepalm.png)

 :heart: :awesome_for_real: :grin: :Love_Letters: :roffle:

Yes, darling, but why that naughty look (and is the lack of "the" before "Queen" and "as" before "I can" acceptable?) ?

Does this take place in Britannia or Wonderland?

Except for the whole thing about how those who haven't heard of Ultima aren't likely to buy it, and those that love the IP are cringing at what's being done to it.