🚀 go-pugleaf

Ultima 4 and the U7's are the greatest as far as I'm concerned.  I love these 
games.  Here are some of the things I like and some of the things I'd like to 
see:

A hybrid combat system.  I don't know how it would work, but the combat in U7 
seems just a touch too random (which is, I guess, pretty realistic).  I 
thought U4's system was pretty good at allowing you a bit of strategy, but it 
got slow after a while.  One of the things I liked about the 7's was that as 
the game progressed, and your characters were stronger, combat wasn't an issue 
for the lower monsters.  All the way through U4 you had to hassle with the 
combat screen and moving guys around, etc.

I think between the key ring and the auto-feed hot-key, you guys reached a 
happy medium between having to actually buy food find keys vs. a lot of hassle 
in manipulating these items.

I don't know how, but the NPC interfacing still needs work.  Maybe going back 
to typing key words wouldn't be so bad as an option.  It encourages paying 
more attention and *gasp* keeping better notes.

Likewise, I am anti-automap.  Part of the thrill of the dungeons was figuring 
them out.  In the more challenging ones, I ended up making maps for myself, 
but I think the automap feature makes some of this too easy.

I'm sure that the graphics and sound will be awesome, but don't falter on this 
at all.  In addition to being a good game with a good plot, the more "real" it 
seems, the better.

Also, I'm still pretty partial to the first person perspective in dungeons.  
This would get to be a bit tedious in the regular world, but maybe go to a 
system like U4 with separate town/dungeon/wilderness interfaces.  A first 
person perspective in some of the towns might be kind of neat...  The problem 
is where do you break it off.  Also, a party of eight can see more than a 
party of one.  In a dungeon, there would have to be some way of seeing what's 
behind you (i.e. a rear guard).

I actually like how much of a pain in the a** it is when it gets dark.  This 
makes things much more realistic.

Most important - keep the skill required to finish the game pretty high.  I 
like seeing my character progress.  I also like learning some of the tricks of 
the game on my own.  Don't make things too obvious or even necessarily 
consistent with previous games.  This is a very sophisticated audience you are 
playing to, they don't want to play Ultima 4 or 7 (or any other Ultima) again, 
but they do want the "feel" of Ultima.  That's your challenge - make it all 
new, yet keep it the same.

Also, there's a thread that's been floating here (it seems like) forever.  
It's called Origin CD ONLY FOREVER or something.  There's a huge debate about 
pushing system capacity and designing for high end systems.  IMHO, assuming a 
mid 1996 release date, the game should run adequately on a fast 486, but 
exploit the features of a Pentium for best performance.  By the time it is 
released, this may not even be good enough.  Don't sacrifice the game for 
downward compatibility.  I'd rather wait for a new system to play the best 
game possible than get a game that's no better than what we already have.

Good luck with this game.  In many rpgers opinions, this could signal the end 
for Origin, or a new birth...


_________________________                 _________________________       
Mike Pisarczyk           |#####     #####| If you choose not to
                         |######   ######|  decide you still have
mvpi...@engprn.mobil.com  ### ## ## ###     made a choice.
                           ###  ###  ###                      -Rush
My opinions are my own!  |#####     #####|
_________________________|#####     #####|_GO BLUE!________________