Exult Forum

For those who didn't notice yet, there's bad news on the Ultima 1 forums.

Real sad, thats one of the projects I thought would never stop. Now it just becomes another RPG(and commercial one ...) It might have nice graphics but I dont think those guys can really make "the greates RPG ever" as Telemacho claims. Not even close to it. It would just have been a real nice looking Ultima 1 with more story, something I was looking forward to.

Thats one Ultima link less in my Netscape ...

When the first Exult where you could play through BG was released I got interested in those remakes; but I also could not imagine there are many other teams which are able to do what the exultteam has done. Now I hope there is only one.
At least are most projects "only" mods which are compareable easy to complete.

I am especially looking forward to Ultima 8 for NWN ... (dino! *hinthint*)

When throwing quotes around please check up on who actually said things.. I never said we would make "the greates RPG ever" - Peter did. But you can quote me for saying that we'll make a damn fine game!

- Tele

Sorry, I read over the thread (skipped some parts and read mostly what you wrote) and I thought actually it were you who said it. But that doesnt matter, I still think its real sad, because this was one of the projects which really looked promising.
Its a hard business and standards are real high. I wish you good luck, the engine still looks really impressive. Though I dont know if there is need for another 1st-person RPG-the ones available are not the real blockbuster games.
No offense meant, just sad about how things turned out.

Not to forget: I hate EA ...

got a link for the u8 on the nwn engine?

Anyone want to summarize what your talking about for those of us too lazy to find it?

I wouldn't criticize someone for wanting to do an original game. Without written permission to do the remake, they could get shut down at any time. And since they're fans of Ultima, perhaps their game will be the sort of game (lots of plot/subplot/NPC interaction) that other Ultima fans like.

EA contacted the team and said they are not to use the "Ultima" name since it is not a licensable word.
The peroxide team thus as to change the name of the game and likely some plots/conversations/names.

Also, the game will not be freeware, which IMHO is too bad. Oh well, you have to eat, right?

Artaxerxes

I think the best would be to make the game and document the data files and
wait for somebody to change everything back into Ultima...

Look here:

http://pub137.ezboard.com/fmrgamemakerf ... =698.topic

There is only one big problem: it is commercial. So I doubt they will release anything. It might be a game true to Ultima but it is not Ultima. Look at Arx Fatalis, its a game which is made by Ultima fans, it shall be considered a new Underworld but I dont really like it. Its the Ultima theme which I miss. I especially like the Ultima story and universe.
It may become a real nice game but Morrwind is already one and I dont like it either.
And becoming comercial my expectations rise a huge amount. I dont see why I should be amazed about it at the moment. Perhaps this will change when they release tech demo 3 ...

Sorry, I've been away from the Exult forums. Let me clear some things.

Era (which is the new name for what was the U1 remake) *might* be commercial. MIGHT. MIGHT! As Tele explained in one of the latest posts, going commercial is just a possibility. But as long as they don't find funding, it's freeware. Tele also explained that they might even make it shareware - which means that you play some of it and pay a little to play the rest. But once again, that's just a possibility. They're still on the freeware track.

Now for those anxious to see the U8 remake in action (there's a link to the site in my sig - click on "U8E"), I'll reveal a little secret. We'll release something of it soon enough! For now, we're going to make a site update with new stuff. I've done quite some new dialogue for the remake, so we're heading on the road to a little pre-release. Just wait a few months more, and you'll visit Tenebrae in 3D (hey, don't expect it too soon).

Going back on topic, remember that nothing has changed from the U1 remake other than the name and people's names. The plot is still similar, although slightly changed to fit Era, so it will basically be the same thing we've been expecting.

For those too lazy to read through Tele's post (like me, though this time I made an effort because it's very important), basically the situation is that the U1 team has been trying to contact EA for ages. But EA don't even reply. So Peroxide (the U1 team) are removing all their risks by making an original game. This way, they avoid the risk of having their project shut down when they are near completion. They need this game as something to show people when they come to find a job, so they can't risk having it ruined like that. I think they made the right decision.

Actually, I am extremely happy this way. Now, do not misunderstand me,
let me explain:
Peroxide is doing a great job, has a very nice engine and an enthusiast
team. Maybe I already wrote about it: remaking a game is not a good
idea for me.

The game is almost surely going to have all another
atmosphere, the Ultima I you remember is the flat one, the one where
Iolo just says "hoyo he hum". That's Ultima I - the remake is going to
give you other feelings, to put you on other quests - so basically it's
anOTHER game!

So, why wasting all that good graphics, code, people, on something that
has already been done? If you're a Ultima fan, be creative, tell your
personal story and make your unique game, but do it in the Ultima
Spirit (Ie: NPCs with schedules, no "Generic Man X or Generic Woman Y,
complex dialogues for everyone, a very large world that often gives
you the feeling to be "lost", many side quests and activities like making
bread, threading clothes, mining gold etc.)

The spirit of Ultima doesn't live in doing remakes where you take
a 3d model and name it "Dupre", it lives in making an NPC that has
the depth of Ultima's Dupre.

Well, uhm, those are just my 2 cents again, anyway : )

Wow, that all meant a lot... It all made sense.

In fact, I was one of very few people on the U1 forums who actually approved their decision. I know that everything's going to remain the same as it was originally intended, except that it will have a different name and it will be even better. So there is no reason to make all the fuss that was made on the U1 forums! As long as Peroxide don't get funding, we're still getting what we were expecting, for free. And if they do find funding, then I know that their game will be well worth the bucks I'll spend on it (they're not called bucks here but anyway, who cares).

It won't be called Ultima 1, but it will still be the Ultima we were expecting. As Andrea explained, you need more than something superficial to make an Ultima. A 3D model, a name - these are all superficial things. It's the gameplay that makes the Ultima, not the name.

I made a mistake when posting the name of this thread as "Ultima 1 - A legend is dead". The legend is not dead; it's just coming under a new name. That name for this thread was just copied from the title of Hacki's news on his site because I found it funny... I apologise for this mistake - I didn't know all the facts at the time.

I must agree as well with the decision as for me it was no real remake without the incredible space stuff! REally, who needs it in U1? But also it didn't fell right to me without it
More seriously:
I'm happy with their decision mostly because I can understand their reasoning. Just having that damokles' sword of EA lawyers above your head may make you a bit edgy.
Good luck to tele and the others and I look forward to the next techdemo or even beta...

then I would have called it:
Ultima 1 - A legend is renamed


Artaxerxes

Hehe, that really fits, Artaxerxes!

Well, the Ultima spirit that everyone was expecting doesn't really come from the space that there was in the original U1... that's not what made Ultima popular. Ultima was made especially popular by the quality of gameplay, where an entire world with an incredible level of detail is offered, as well as physical extras (e.g. cloth map, etc.).

Any way, I still think we're going to get an excellent game from Peroxide, who are definately talented to say the least.

Yes, an Ultima without proper Ultima gameplay isn't a real Ultima (see UA), but an Ultima without ANY relation to events or people in Ultima 1-8 isn't either.

Inspired by Ultima is vastly different from belonging to the world of Ultima, so nobody needs to be surprised or angry when Ultima fans rapidly lose interest in Peroxide's project.

Trouble is, anyone who attempts to write a new Ultima game has two choices:

Succeed, and get threatened by EA.

Fail:-)

Yeah, but look at Exult - or even better, look at all the FREE Ultima Online servers, which cause damn financial losses for EA. To my knowledge, they never shut down any of those.

But you are right, of course, the fear of a project being killed by EA is always there

Getting the hard work done is a problem much worse than EA.

Ah, but perhaps a nameless enterprising individual could "separately" come up with a patch after Era is released that would rename various characters to a more familiar spelling, and perhaps art designs (if necessary).

Yes, quite sad that they abandoned the Ultima aspect of things. Yet, they have not abandoned their main ideals, that is what is going to keep it great.

As for our Ultima 8 Demo (I'm the webmaster/artist for that project, btw) we are getting closer and closer to releasing something of value. I am very happy with what we have done so far and we only plan to make it better with plenty of _explanations_ and addons. It currently has my killer kith and a couple mushrooms. I'm such an artist . We are looking for a modeler for NWN as well. If interested, please contact us.

Those who wanted the link: http://www.exodusmachine.net/~ultima8/
Our forums are at the domain minus the ultima8 folder.