Ultima Online

Ultima Online
Studio	Origin Systems
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Erstveröffent- lichung	September 30, 1997
platform	Windows
genre	MMORPG
Subject	medieval fantasy
Game mode	Multiplayer
control	Keyboard , mouse
language	German , English
Age rating	USK PEGI

Ultima Online is an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in which players can interact with other players or with computer-controlled characters in an imaginary world.

history

This game world was based in many areas on the virtual worlds of the single-player series Ultima created by Richard Garriott since 1980 . The game world has existed in its main features since 1997 and was gradually expanded to include new land masses, character classes and the like by means of game expansions. Ä. Greatly expanded and supplemented. Within the game world, thousands of other players can also embody characters of various forms (from beggars to dragon tamers) and interact with one another in a complex manner.

In order to make this possible for a large number of players simultaneously, numerous official game servers were gradually put into operation worldwide . The best game connections for European players are usually offered by the game servers Drachenfels (predominantly German-speaking) and Europe (predominantly English-speaking) with servers located near London , Great Britain .

Game idea

Some characters with appropriate skills make items that other characters or non-player characters ( NPCs ) can buy for gold. This created a kind of circular economic system. Gold can also be earned in so-called dungeons , which make up the adventure aspect of the game. The characters can mainly fight monsters there. However, there are also numerous ways to fight with other characters, the so-called player vs. Player ( PvP ) . What sets Ultima Online apart from all other online role-playing games is a moral element, the incorporation of a system of virtues, which also play a role in the course of the game: spirituality, bravery, sacrifice, pity, justice, honesty, honor and humility.

Another important element is the almost unique learning-by-doing principle. Up to 700 skill points are distributed over the skills. Who z. B. tames many animals, learns taming ( taming ). Unlike in most other role-playing games, skills such as B. Spells are not suddenly learned 100% from one level to the other and always work, but with increasing magery skill (magic ability) the probability of successfully casting spells also increases.

There is also the possibility of learning and unlearning any skill. In addition, there are many different skills, so that the character is always in progress and never, as is often the case in other games, is 'finished' (e.g. at the highest level). There is always the question of whether the other ability would not be better, because every ability has its advantages.

Online server

For long-term participation in games after an audition period, the additional season (from one month to one year) must be purchased in advance. Payment can be made using common credit or debit cards, game time codes , PayPal or money order as well as various alternative forms of subscription.

In addition to the more than 20 official servers worldwide in various geographical regions, there are also a number of freeshards on which mostly not minor changes to the configurations were made. The first German opened in 1998 and is still online today. New monsters have been introduced on some freeshards, changes in skills have been made on others, yet others are particularly dedicated to classic role-playing games or are particularly aimed at player vs. Player (PvP) -interested players. These freeshards only became possible with the appearance of so-called server emulators , which imitate the official server software and enable the Ultima-Online client to be used without access to the official and chargeable OSI (Origin Systems Incorporated) servers.

The number of freeshards has been growing rapidly for some time. This is being massively driven by the development of several new server emulators, the configuration of which has been significantly simplified. Numerous new freeshards can therefore be expected in the near future.

Expansion overview

• Ultima Online (Fall 1997) First published in Germany.
• The Second Age (October 1, 1998) Also known as T2A, this expansion included a new land mass called Lost Lands , followed by the in-game chat system and new monsters.
• Renaissance (April 3, 2000) The size of the game world was doubled, as there were now two facets. The worlds were named Felucca and Trammel , after the two moons in Ultima's Britannia world. On Trammel is Player Killing is not allowed on felucca, however, continue. Felucca was given a "nasty" look. Although the expansion added many interesting aspects to the combat rules system, many players in the first few hours felt this expansion as the beginning of the end of UO, because a lot of what made UO something special (Free PvP (Player versus Player), Player Killing, Looten ), which became impossible due to the Trammel land mass, and most players gradually made their way there. Renaissance is still the most stable, most widely used version for freeshards , but Age of Shadows is gradually overtaking it .
• Third Dawn (March 7, 2001) The most outstanding change was the optional 3D client, which, however, could not keep up with other MMORPGs such as Dark Age of Camelot until the end and was therefore discontinued, not least because a majority of the players are still preferred the 2D client. At the same time as the 3D client, a new land mass was added - Ilshenar . This part of the game world was only accessible with the 3D client until Lord Blackthorn's Revenge was released . Support for this client has now been discontinued. From version number 6.0 onwards it can no longer be started.
• Lord Blackthorn's Revenge (April 19, 2002) Lord Blackthorn's Revenge brought new monsters, based on Todd McFarlane's (known for spawn ) creatures, for a new, dark game world. The game AI, in-game help and character creation have also been improved.
• Age of Shadows (March 7, 2003) With this expansion there was the long-awaited new land mass to build houses - Malas . There were two new skills (Chivalry - Chivalry and Necromancy - Necromancy / Necromancy) as well as the ability to personalize your house.
• Samurai Empire (November 2nd, 2004) With this expansion a new, Far Eastern feel was added. New land mass, new enemies, new weapons, new items and clothes, two new skills (Samurai and Ninja).
• Mondain's Legacy (August 30, 2005) A new playable race: Elves, a new Elven City, new opponents, new dungeons, many new craft items and possibilities, new wood, artifacts that can be manufactured and much more were introduced with this expansion, which was previously only available as a download via a Code is in trade. Furthermore, a large number of quests have been added with this expansion, in which the player must complete certain tasks and then receive various rewards.
• The Eighth Age (October 18, 2005) A collection of all content available to date. The Eighth Age appeared on the official server for its eighth birthday and, in addition to eight different items, was given the opportunity to transfer a character from one shard to another.
• Kingdom Reborn (July 28, 2007) With this extension, a new 3D client has been developed, which is supposed to replace the previous 3D client and later, if it is sufficiently accepted by the players, also to completely replace the 2D client. Thereby u. a. all graphics, as well as the complete UI revised. UOKR will just be a graphics / client upgrade with no new content. The client is adapted to the more or less standardized clients of newer MMOGs, i.e. hotbars, no freely movable icons etc. UOKR is delivered free of charge and can be obtained from the Internet. Instructions for downloading / viewing are also offered.
• Stygian Abyss (September 8, 2009). Stygian Abyss contains a new dungeon - the eponymous Stygian Abyss - which will be the largest dungeon in the UO universe to date, a new land mass (Ter Mur) and a new playable race - the Gargoyles. Female gargoyles are also being introduced to the UO universe for the first time. In addition, there will be 2 new skills (Imbueing and Mysticism) and a lot of new content - new quests, new craftable items, new artifacts and much more. In addition, the Kingdom Reborn Client will be replaced by the Enhanced Client, which is based on the KR core.

Sequels

So far there have been two attempts to establish successors.

• The first attempt, announced in 1999, was initially called Ultima Online 2 and was later renamed Ultima Worlds Online: Origin (UWO: O). The initial idea was a world in which the past, the present and the future came together in one world, caused by an error by Lord British when he wanted to bring the fragments of the gem of immortality back together. Todd McFarlane has been hired to design some monsters. In 2001, UO 2 was discontinued because Electronic Arts feared that it would compete with itself on the then still smaller market of MMORPGs and thus damage the original UO. Some of the monsters and graphics that were created for UWO were later used in the add-on Lord Blackthorn's Revenge .
• The second attempt was called Ultima X: Odyssey and should take place in a world called Alucinor, after the events in Ultima IX: Ascension . Although an executable beta version was available in 2004, EA stopped further development in order to concentrate on the existing UO.

Free clients

There are a number of free clients for Ultima Online that offer additional options in terms of graphics or operation. Furthermore, these clients enable playing on so-called freeshards .

• Palanthir was a 2D client developed by Freeshard UO Middle-earth. Whether this client will be further developed is currently uncertain, as UO Middle-earth had to cease operations due to trademark claims regarding the " Lord of the Rings " universe, but another freeshard is planning to make the client usable for their shard.

• PlayUO or Krrios' client is being developed as part of the RunUO project. Like RunUO, PlayUO is written in C # and is currently only available as a beta version for the Windows operating system.

• Iris2 (3D / 2D client) is an open source client for playing on Ultima online freeshards. Iris2 represents the world of Ultima Online in real 3D. Iris2 has been programmed from scratch and uses the current Ogre3D engine. The complete game logic is written in Lua , and the sound output is via FMOD . Iris2 also includes a 2D renderer that displays the game world like the normal Ultima online client. You can switch between 3D and 2D directly while playing. The client is available for Windows and Linux.

The development of Iris1 was stopped in 2006.

• Ultima XNA is an open source 2D client development written in C #. The aim of the client is to support all functions of the original client while being as flexible and easily expandable as possible. Among other things, there will also be a plug-in functionality with which z. B. Freeshards can insert their own plugins, as well as give the possibility to create gumps via XML. The project is currently at milestone 0.8. The project has been on pause since December 1, 2016, but is not yet considered discontinued.

Freeshards

For Ultima Online there were “free servers” (so-called freeshards ) that run independently of the publisher and are free of charge. However, playing on these servers is a violation of UO's Terms of Use. To date, however, no case has become known where Electronic Arts has taken legal action against such a freeshard.

The legal status is unclear. Someone who has never played Ultima Online on a paid server never had to accept the terms of use. In Europe, the DMCA , which was the reason for servers in other countries to be closed, does not apply.

The freeshard era began with the emulator , now called Sphereserver , which was previously called Grayworld followed by TUS (The Ultimate Server). For a long time it was considered the most popular emulator. The most popular version was the Sphere 55i.

Nowadays there are a number of other, partly open-source, emulators. Including RunUO (Windows / Microsoft .NET; C # ; Open Source ), SunUO (Linux / Mono .NET; C #; Open Source), Wolfpack (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD; C ++ ; Open Source) and POL - Penultima Online (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD; closed source).

Freeshards are roughly sorted into two categories.

• Non-RP: A game culture similar to that on the official shards exists on these servers.
• RP (Role Playing): There the player plays a role that he creates for himself. Deviations from this are usually sanctioned.

Almost all servers also have the option of PvP (player vs. player).

Tools

There are a variety of tools for Ultima Online. Some of these are approved by OSI (Origin Systems Inc., manufacturer). However, some tools are very popular without being officially approved. Of the following six popular assistants, only UO Assist and UO Auto-Map are allowed on Origin Systems Interactive's servers.

Officially approved

• UO Assist is a paid 3rd party tool that only works on OSI servers. Some earlier versions could be modified so that they were also available on Sphere.
• UO Auto-Map is a program that displays part of the world map with additional information. By interacting with the client, it can keep track of the player's position in the world. UO Auto-Map is no longer being developed.

Others

• Razor is a free UOAssist clone with lots of new features. The program was once written for RunUO, but is now quite popular even on OSI servers. It requires the .NET framework.
• UOLoop is a tool that, by automating the macros created in the game, simplifies some processes for the player that would otherwise have to be dealt with by tedious clicking. However, some shards forbid the use of this tool, as it is used by power gamers to increase skills despite being absent in the game. Especially in the RP shard scene you come across these prohibitions, because there it is definitely a violation of the shard rules and a disregard for the RP to turn off your character without being present in the game. But there are also interim solutions that approve the program, but require the player to be present, which the GMs can control at any time.
• EasyUO is a program with which you can completely automate many processes in the Ultima Online world. This is very often viewed as cheating . That is why it is forbidden on all official servers and many freeshards.
• Injection is a complex, open source 3rd party tool that runs on Pol, UOX, Sphere and earlier versions of RunUO. There are quite a few modifications as it is open source. Some revisions like u. a. the pG | dE injection have integrated cheat / hack functions - but are already outdated. Injection is prohibited on almost all shards.

Server emulators

• Sphere is an emulator to simulate your own shard. For a long time, all the freeshards in the scene ran on Sphere . There are versions for Windows and Linux . The predecessors of Sphere were TUS and Grayworld. Sphere uses its own script language.
• RunUO is an emulator written for the Microsoft .NET Framework. In contrast to Sphere, the program and “scripts” are completely written in C # and are open source . Version 1.0 can be run under Windows as well as Linux (with minor changes). In summer 2006 the first release candidate for version 2.0, based on .NET 2.0, appeared. The developers of RunUO have announced that they will not support the current expansion Kingdom Reborn.
• SunUO is a fork based on RunUO 1.0. SunUO runs natively on both Linux and Windows. The performance is between RunUO 1.0 and RunUO 2.0.
• UOX3 is written in C ++ and is also open source . JavaScript is used as the script language .
• POL - also known as Penultima Online. The specially developed language eScript is used as the script language.
• Wolfpack is also an open source emulator. It runs on Windows , Linux and BSD . Python is used as the script language .
• Lonewolf is a derivative of Wolfpack 12.6
• Steamengine is a Czech emulator written in C # .

Web links

• Official website
• Ultima online series at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ UODev: New Open Source UO Client: UltimaXNA, July 19, 2009
2. ↑ Ultima XNA Milestones: Milestone 0.8:
3. ↑ github Project Issues: This project is neither alive nor dead.