🚀 go-pugleaf

	I have watched this thread with a large amount of interest because, like
most of you, I have become dissatisfied with the Ultima series of late.  I miss
the "Ultima Trance" which kept me going past all need of sleep, social life, or
food in order to get just "one more" mini-quest done.   I think my favorite Utlima
was either 4 or 5 (can't decide which) mainly because they had such good plot
lines and becuase the game play was so much better than anything else out at the
time.
	By watching this thread and doing a lot of thinking on my own, I have come
up with the following list of what I would like to see in U9.  Some (many?) of
these have been said before.   If so, take them as just another vote towards that
possibility.  


-party
 -multiple characters
 -some short-term, mostly long-term
 -NPC spellcasters/mages!!!


-combat
 -turn based or stop-action (Darklands)
 -intelligent NPC's and monsters (no more worrying about being
  hit by your own guys except maybe rarely if they critically miss)
 -each character should be able to be operated by the user or act independently
  (i.e. computer controlled).  This should be an option on each character's
  stats sheet and changeable at any time.


-no more ARCADE-like sequences!  We can do those on our Nintendo's.
 I know this has been said many times so far.  I can only reiterate
 it and hope you listen.  :)


-characters
 -many different classes
 -skills!
 -let the number-crunchers among us have some fun!  Provide the
  tables and charts we want to make our characters "good" and
  "efficient."
 -Make it into something that might actually be a good paper-and-pencil
  RPG.
 -Characters should be "importable" from earlier Ultima's.  They should be
  able to start at their previous abilities, but should be able to go up 
  from there.  This makes the game somewhat more epic and powerful, but
  is there anything wrong with this?
 

-Stats & virtues
 -I liked the idea of "popularity", but also visible stats for virtues (again,
  an option?).  The avatar should have to WORK to stay the avatar.  If (s)he
  steals, (s)he should have to repent somehow.   Pay the person back later 2 or
  3 times the amount stolen, visit the honesty shrine and sacrifice an equal
  amount, etc.


-Magic
 -LOTS of spells, though all should be useful in at least a few situations.
 -reagents, etc. are great, but a reagent bag is also a necessity for them.
 -different classes should have different spells available to them.
 -the Avatar should have ALL spells available.  He IS the Avatar, after all.
 -gathering reagents can be fun, but also tedious if it has to be done too much
 -look in Rolemaster, AD&D, or any other paper-and-pencil RPG for good
  spell examples.  Computer spells should be DIVERSE.  At the very minimum,
  a "fly" spell should be included.   I HATE it when games don't have one.


-equipment
 -better inventory system
 -no more food like in U7.  Characters should feed themselves automatically if
  food is available.  Only complain if there is none available, or maybe a
  slight mention if food is "low."
 -make a way to add personalized "labels" to all equipment.  I want to be 
  able to label each key as to where it should go to.  


-transportation
 -more modes.  Bring back the magic carpets, balloons, grappling
  hooks, etc.
 -bring back the moongates!!  U6 had a REALLY nice system with the red
  moonstone.


-plot line
 -lots of side-quests for XP and enjoyment.  Not boring ones either.
 -non-linearity is really nice.  Again, if I want totally linear plots like
  U7.5, etc, I'll play my Nintendo.
 -I am not a dog who fetches things for people, nor a message boy for two
  lovers to send notes.  Some people find these kinds of quests enjoyable, so
  keep them in, but it should be pretty obvious that they are not essential
  to the game.  Perhaps this should be an option (see below).
 -I should NOT need a hint book to solve the game.  This makes for VERY
  frustrating experiences and linear plots.   Half the fun of the old ultimas
  was being one of those to write a good walk-through or hint sheet.  If you
  must buy a clue book to do this, it takes the fun away, IMHO.


-land
 -make it HUGE (fill the CD!)
 -don't make it so empty...A huge land is nice, but travelling endlessly
  without anything interesting happening is very boring.
 -random encounters should happen only a moderate amount, not every step
  your character takes.  However, there should also be enough for some
  interest and XP.  The later Ultimas seemed to already have this balance
  figured out fairly well (U6 was best for this, I think).
 -I personally LOVED the way u5 did land in 2 scales -- outdoor, and
  dungeon/city.   Please bring that back.  The way the maps are currently
  laid out, it seems like the land is TINY because the cities take up
  most of it.  Very unrealistic. 


-Dungeons
 -first person perspective, like Ultima Underworld.  Perhaps a series
  of add-ons using the UW engine that could interface directly (character
  transfers, etc) with U9 would be EXCELLENT.
 -being able to see monsters before they attack us would be nice.  U6
  dungeons were good, but needed to be 1st person perspective.


-time
 -scheduling is great, but can also be a pain.  Make an item that can 
  tell you the location of any character in the game (by name) unless 
  purposely "hidden."  (no tracing bad guy locations...:) )
 -adjustable time rate would be an EXCELLENT solution to the problem of
  waiting for NPC's to show up at certain times, etc. 
 -sleep should be a necessity, but not a terrible inconvenience.  All abilities
  should decrease from lack of sleep.


-interaction
 -some people (like me) like typing what they want to say rather than
  clicking on a sentence.   Some don't.  Yet another option.  


-game and interface customization
 -let the user customize how he wants the interface to be.  If they
  like full screen, let them have it.  If they like only half the 
  screen being world-map, a quarter being an automap, and the other
  quarter being character(s) status bars, text screen for
  conversation, etc, let them do it.  I happen to know this is
  NOT that hard to do -- just takes some initial thought and
  preparation in the coding.
 -in Dungeon Hack, you could choose which options you liked in the
  game -- i.e. whether there were undead, secret doors, etc.  This
  was WONDERFUL!  Let the configuration screen in the beginning of
  the game do things like decide whether they want food or not,
  whether they want full or abbreviated conversations, etc.  It would
  be best if these options could also be changed in the middle of
  the game.  
 -configurable hot keys are a necessity (with a default configuration, of
  course).


-take advantage of the CD.  CD's are HUGE and you should fill it up
 with conversation text, soundtracks, more graphics, cinematic
 sequences.  The actual game engine should be quite small in 
 relative size to this data.  However, that does NOT mean skimp on
 the game engine, for in the end, the engine is FAR more important.


-Graphics
 -Nice, but ultimately superfluous to a good RPG.  These should
  take last place compared to playability, plot, interface, etc.
 -also, don't let graphics ruin speed of the game.  Give users
  options of which graphics they should use for their game.  Those
  with P5/90's want the high-end, detailed graphics, and those
  with 386's want something simple and fast.  I know that Origin
  is focusing on high-end graphics, but don't lose the customers
  who don't necessarily have the money for hardware upgrades.
 -if possible, there should be an SVGA mode for 1024x720 graphics.  At
  the very least, a 640x480 mode.
 -a choice of overhead, perspective with view rotation, etc. views should
  be allowed.


-tele-playing.
 -perhaps a modem version should be made that allows multiple players to
  interact in the same environment.  This could also be done (easier) through
  networks.  
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