Ultima X: Odyssey Fact Sheet Parcival, 2003-07-25
We roamed the net for you and tried to put together a short overview on what we know about Ultima X: Odyssey so far.
The facts
Quote 1: "The really exciting news this month should be going public as you read this. For over a year now, Origin has been quietly woodshedding Ultima-X its new MMORPG. And it's going to surprise you. I can't say anything just yet except maybe three quick words: Unreal Warfare engine. Watch this one. EA surprised everyone when Battlefield 1942 showed up out of nowhere last year. They may do it again." Jeff Green in the June 2003 Issue of GMR Magazine (page Page 21) (Quote taken from the Wayward Avatar forums)
Quote 2: "No comment." EA on the leaked "Ultima X: Odyssey" title screen image
Quote 3: Taken from the UO stratics boards: 'Hollis reiterated that Origin isn't going to work on anything that competes with Ultima Online. Yet other comments hinted that other teams are working at Origin, in addition to the 15 to 20 people dedicated to Ultima Online.'
1 Screenshot
1 Logo
A little deduction
1 logo + 1 screenshot + 'other teams are working at Origin' They are working on something, whatever it is?
Unreal 'Warfare' Engine Unreal Engine We already have e good idea of what the Unreal Engine is capable of. The unreal engine is used by some RPG like games already; Thief III, the sci-fi action RPG Black 9 and of course the Ultima spin off Ultima Unreal.
Thief III
Black 9
Ultima Unreal An even better example is the massive multiplayer online game in development with the Unreal Engine, Lineage2.
Lineage2
'Not to compete with Ultima Online' This asks for some speculation. I found some unconfirmed rumours that Ultima X will incorporate the Old World of UO and maybe allow players to go back and forth. There is also a chance that Ultima X, despite being a MMORPG will have a stronger focus on a short-term and single player like experience and will thus appeal to a different kind of public than UO. But maybe Lineage sets a good example to what we might expect of UXO, because that is a part 2 as well that is expected to replace its predecessor. On the other hand, they might just do it differently, just to lure players away from the competition.
Quote: "Q: When Lineage II is released, what happens to Lineage? A: For those of you who currently play Lineage, the predecessor to Lineage II: There are over 70 people on the Lineage development team, working hard to further develop the game. There will be continuous updates for Lineage - in fact, we recently announced six more episodic updates to be released over the next three years. We'd like to emphasize that Lineage and Lineage II are separate games. There is no plan to discontinue Lineage because of Lineage II.
Q: Is there any plan for data exchange between Lineage and Lineage II? (Taking, for example, account, character, or item movement.) A: Lineage and Lineage II share the same concept and background story, but are totally different games. There will be no exchange or movement of characters or items between Lineage and Lineage II."
Some speculation
On the UXO screenshot, the mage character has rune letters on his robe: Does it read Amun (4 characters), or are there 5 (Camun)? There is just one (weak) link to 'Amun' in combination with UO. The War in Umbra; "Ryujin Al'Danzai has found the missing Tablets of Amun'Khur!" Wise words on this kind of speculation were spoken by our editor Dhruin: 'It's just as likely to be some runes the art department thought looked nice in my opinion.'
The bottom line
We might have called this feature 'what we don't know yet about Ultima X: Odyssey'. Anyway; to be continued…
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