Shroud of the Avatar - Richard Garriott to launch new Ultima style RPG for the PC! Very recently, Richard Garriott (aka Lord British) announced that he and other notable game developers will be collaborating on a new RPG for the PC entitled "Shroud of the Avatar". From what it looks like, it will be a brand new Ultima style RPG with an open world, open exploration and full environment interaction. The game will feature both single player and multi-player modes and will not be an MMO (thank god). The project is raising money very quickly and will probably reach its Kickstarter goal of $1,000,000 which will allow Garriott's software company Portalarium to publish the project. The last thing he wants is to have to take this to a major publisher and then deal with big brother influencing the games content. As a big fan of the Ultima series, I am way pumped for this game and have already backed it! I am very much looking forward to seeing what Lord British comes up with on this one, as he is a true pioneer of the role playing genre. Kickstarter link with video introduction to the game - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0?ref=live :infinity::infinity::infinity:
Ultima? or Ultima underworld? whichever way this goes, I'm psyched. loved early Ultima games and uu games. so good, so groundbreaking.
Not really sure, as its still in early development stages. It appears it will start as a digital download, and probably end up hitting Steam, Gamefly, etc. I know everyone who pledges at least $30 on KS will get the full game as digital download, project development updates and alpha and beta versions before the full release. There was a $25 option, but they were limited and are already gone. From what I've seen in live streams with the team it is far more Ultima and not so much UU. I am psyched too man, this has far too long in the making!
This is a new project update from the developers. its pretty much what I thought, but is a more detailed answer... "The offline single player version of the game for those who purchase it through KickStarter will not use any form of DRM. We had been holding off on committing to that because we don’t know what our final distribution system (Steam, GOG, etc) is going to be and some of them use DRM. We may have DRM of some sort on post-KS sales but we’ll commit to keeping KS versions DRM and “phone home” free for the single player version once launched. "
It looks like a cross between ultima underworld and mount & blade with the zooming map, not a bad combo as long as they clean it up from the vids they've showed already.
Meh Ultima Online was the pinnacle of its time. I used to love playing it until somone switched on the carebear feature and you no longer had murderers, thieves and everyone in the same facet. After that it pretty much went down hill. Sigh......
I don't think this looks anything like Underworld. Have you played Underworld? Its a Heretic style FPS. This is a third person perspective top down RPG. That doesn't sound so bad to me, why do you think it bad? Personally I am most interested in the single player mode of this game though, rather than the MP. All of my favorite RPG's (Ultima's included) were single player and I never got too much into multi-player with RPG's. Well, Neverwinter Nights 2 a bit but that was about it lol.
^ its a first person perspective Heretic style game with RPG elements and weapons instead of guns. I own it, I've played it lol. I guess FPS may not be the right term, since there are no guns.
It looks like a lot of people pledging are clamoring for a physical copy of the game. I'm not sure if you can read the comments section without being a backer, but it can be seen here http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0/posts/426644?ref=activity They seem to be responding to the player base and adding things all the time, so we could get one!
UPDATE - http://tech2.in.com/news/pc/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-kickstarter-closes-at-19-million/870050 The Kickstarter campaign for SoTA has been hugely successful! Not only was the game funded, the project hit nearly 2 million dollars, twice the original goal. Pledges are continuing to flow in via https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/, where they are well over 2 million now! Because of the high $$ amount raised, it appears we will also receive a game story related, full length novel by author Tracy Hickman of Dragonlance. The gaming community has really rallied together and proven they want this game to happen. Thanks to all here who pledged their support (if any) and I hope you look forward to this game as much as I!!
For those of you who backed the project on Kickstarter (at least $45 level), today is the first day of alpha testing for Shroud of the Avatar! Unfortunately I am stuck at work atm, but I have already downloaded the content and will be logging on this evening. Very excited to check this out in its early stages.
