🚀 go-pugleaf

Thanks for giving us the chance to say something I'd like like to see for the next Ultima. I've been playing Ultima since Ultma IV and essentially I'd say I grow up with Britannia. The best Ultima I've played so far is probably Ultima VI, with Ultima IV slightly behind it, and Ultima VIII if not for all the very frustrating arcade actions.

So here's my wish list:

I. Game Interface and Game Play

1. No more arcade actions. Please. This is an RPG game, not an action game. Don't try to blur the lines between different kinds of games. A new idea is nice, but put it into other non-traditional Ultima series, like the 1st person 3D combact system in Ultima Underworld.

2. Bring the keyboard back. Make use of hotkeys. Mice are nice, but they are slow. Typing C is a lot easier than bring up the inv menu and click on the combat mode icon. It's much faster that way too and adds so much to the replay value of the game. I don't know about the others, but I hate to pay some 80 bucks for a game and it only lasts for 1 week or so.

3. Give us back the command window like the one in Ultima IV to VI. Let us know what is happening when the sword hits the monster. How much damage has been inflicted? Just how many hp are left for the monster before it dies? We're given no clues of this in Ultima VII and VIII at all! We just click, click, and click faster. 

4. In Ultima VII, all I do in combat is hitting the 'c' key. In Ultima VIII, all I do is clicking. You call this real-time combat? I prefer the combat system in Ultima VI: you have a choice to control your characters or not. A turn-based combat system will be nice. I personally like the combat system in 1st-generation AD&D (like in Champion of Krynn) best. 

5. Bring back solo mode. In Ultima VII, I have to talk to all 7 party members, digging deep into the menu with clicking and clicking and clicking (darn, but why can't I just press Y for Yes?) in order to get into solo mode. This is annoying. I remember in Ultima VI, all I have to do is pressing 1.

6. Make the NPC more live-like. Say, when the Avatar wants to do something, Iolo will give a suggestion. Then Durpe will argue with Iolo, and Avatar then turns to Shamino for his advice. If Avatar takes Iolo's suggestion, Durpe will get mad. It comes out that Iolo's suggestion doesn't work and Durpe will laught at him. This is what an interactive game should be, instead of just putting live actors into 256 colors.

7. Make the world BIGGER. And give us the chance to freely wander around. I don't know about you, but for me, the first thing I want to do in an Ultima game is to visit every city and find my old friends. In Serpent Isle and Ultima VIII, I can't do that at all. I want places to go to, NPCs that I can talk to and the like. The world should be big enough for me to get lost (I remember how much time I spent just to find the logger in Yew in Ultima VI.)

8. Sub-quests. Many of them. In some way, I think the idea of virtually unlimited missions in Privateer may get into work. Maybe you can make up some random character that wants people to help them, like finding his husband, rescuing his son and such. These quests should have nothing to do with the main plot, and all it affects is your 'popularity' (See below). This adds so much to the replay value of the game.

9. Aside from those physical stats like Strength, Wisdom and such, the Avatar should also have a 'popularity' stat. The popularity will change whenever the Avatar accomplish a quest, or do something to the neighborhood in Britannia. (Like stealing should lower his popularity, and killing a tiger that constantly theathen the lives of the villagers will increase it.) Popularity should be directly tied to how the NPC reacts and speaks to him. This is discourage people from stealing in the game. Come on! You a
re the Avatar, with all those 8 virtures. You should not steal in the game!

10. Give a stats on the weapon and armor. Just plain saying that plate armor is better than chain armor but is heavier in the manual is not enough. I remember Ultima VI wasn't like this.

11. Make the clothing and weapon change reflect in the Avator's picture. Sure, it kinda works in Serpent Isle and Pagan, but the little moving figure representing the Avator is always like that.

12. Bring back the portrait. I love seeing them and that give me a little idea what kind of person I am talking to.

13. Give the NPC a personality. Some NPC should not give you any information until you threathen him, and some will only give you information when you befriend him. What kind of tone I choose to speak in should matter.

14. Jumping and Climbing are nice, but don't make that arcade action type. Say, in a house the door is stuck, the only way you can get in it is to climb and drop through the hole on the roof of the building. And, make the 'use the sword tho break the door' in Ultima VI back. It's a lot more fun than picking the lock.

15. Please bring back the party. I enjoy having my old friends on my side.

16. Let the Avatar do something evil. Discourage stealing, but give us the option. Let us say something naugthy to Gwenno so that Iolo will get mad, and if the Avatar continues to do so, Iolo will leave the party. If it gets to the point that Iolo really hates the Avatar now, make it that Iolo and Gwenno will hate you so much that they will try to assassin you until they are dead. Now this is interactive.

17. Continue with excellent graphics and sound, but don't sarcifice speed. Ultima IX should still be playable comfortably on a 486. Don't make us upgrade everytime we get a new Ultima!

18. Some NPC should start the dialogue first. Say, when you get to Lord British's dining room, Lord British will say 'Hello Avatar, want to have dinner with me?' And you can say Yes or No. You can choose where you sit beside, and where you are starring at. Normally you should look at LB when he's talking to you, but it should also be possible to have the Avatar looking the pretty maid behind him instead....

19. Give a love theme to the Avatar. And a complete love theme. This has given Wing Commander II a great plot, and it will certainly make Ultima IX a more enjoyable adventure.

20. Make the world real. Inflation and money supply should put into play. Rich people should really be rich, and when you kill them, even their clothes can sell for some 500 gold pieces. This gives players the incentive to do evil things, so that Avatar will be as real-person as you and I are. 


II. Game Plot

Here's a sample game plot for Ultima IX that I make up:

So you leave Pagan, and Guardian is waiting for you. You defeat him, at least you think, and you get back to Britannia. There you find the world changes a lot. People are accusing you for things you haven't done. It's not long you discover that there's a fake Avatar now in Britannia -- who looks and speaks exactly like you. This fake one is making everyone in Britannia hate the Avator, and all your former friends: Iolo, Shamino, Durpe... leave you. In an incidence, you rescue a pretty girl (Or a guy if you
 are playing as a female avatar) who truly believes you are innocent. She/he is the only one in Britannia who still supports you. So here the quest begins: you should again prove yourself as the Avatar, and discover what's the plot for that fake Avatar, and expose his evil things to the world before it's too late....... Just when you're at it, Lord British disappears, and the false Avatar is nowhere to be found. A new strangely Batlin-smiliar looking guy becomes the new ruler, and you are wanted everywhere
 by the new government. Your lover is arrested for some odd reason. Your friends, Durpe and the like, are sent to arrest you. Your tasks are now very difficult:

1. You have to mask yourself or guards everywhere will find you and kill you at sight;

2. Your friends like Durpe will still recognize you, but you do not want to kill them in combat (unless you are doing an 'evil' Avatar) and have to flee everytime you see them until you can convince them into the party;

3. You have to rescue your lover;

4. You have to show you are the true Avatar by showing your eight virtures (something like Ultima IV);

5. You have to rescue Lord British (like Ultima V);

6. You have to befriend the villagers that hate you, city by city (something like Ultima VI, but in that case it's the gargoyles.);

7. You have to find out the reason for all those fake Avatar and such;

8. You finally have to defeat the Guardan once and for all (who's behind all these, as you can guess.)

Just my two cents.

Hermann Lee
UBC Computer Science 3rd year.