🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3a3sn5$i...@cs.ubc.ca> v9f...@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca (Ho Kiu Lee) writes:
>Subject: Re: Ultima 9 - What Do >You< Want to See?
>From: v9f...@ugrad.cs.ubc.ca (Ho Kiu Lee)
>Date: 13 Nov 1994 02:12:53 GMT

>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.

That is a pretty good plot or something like it. I like the idea of people 
turning against you, a fake avatar, having to convince first your friends and 
then Brittania that you are the Avatar(by upholding the virtues). This is a 
great idea for a plot. But still surprise us. 

And have LOTS of subplots. Those are great!