Eli_Havelock
Learned
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2019
- Messages
- 669
In digging for other things I discovered this interview with Mike McShaffry that is perhaps the first outright confirmation of what people knew but it wasn't believed because of "Blame EA!"
"Again, it was…definitely Richard that wanted to do that, and he was inspired by Prince of Persia." - Mike McShaffry
Those who knew already knew, but to the laity outside of the inner circles there's the old blame of Ultima 8 laid bare. EA was blamed for all sorts of things with the changes to Ultima from the much-beloved Ultima VII: SI one of them. Suddenly, there were jumping puzzles and action gameplay in our ethical open-world! (Then the ethics were absolutely discarded for some narcissism dialed to 11 with Shroud of the Avatar.) The hints at the fuckery with Elizabeth and Abraham and the blackrock symbols let the Guardian in!
"WHY, EA, WHY?!" - was the common lament. Turns out, it was never EA, it was the head dude getting bored and wandering off for other people to take up the reigns while he still pretended to reign. And those people still put in the jump puzzles!
The whole adding things from other things is probably why overall the Ultimas feel so disjointed in narrative. I personally think Ultima works best in the "Headless Order" to copy the Machete Order of the Star Wars trilogies - you go from the mismatched clothes taken from other people's wardrobes starting at the boots, moving upwards and upwards with the depth of IV's writing and exploration taking on a whole new level, then getting rather stronger and stronger until VI - and then it's off at the shoulders and dumping the rest. A bunch of people from other worlds discover the wild of Sosaria, reshape it into Britannia, discover morals and betterment, then reflection upon those morals with the views of those considered an enemy at a time, and ends on a high note. After that elegance, VII onwards is just... kinda meh. People were more enamored with the UI and the Real-Time combat, and then SI's paperdoll (something seen parallel in Might & Magic). And worlds besides Britannia, indeed - those were sadly mis-marketed and could have expanded more, as the Western RPG makers were firmly convinced RPGs were dead when they discovered the Japanese developers eating their lunches (and would amusingly continue several Western series and styles of development for many years).
The "World's Greatest Game Designer" added jumping puzzles to one of the world's most beloved computer role-playing games simply because he played a different genre and really liked it.
(It makes Richard's fuss around the Deathlord Debacle all that much more funny.)
Well, almost as funny as having "Origin" Google-bombed into being commonly known as EA's download client as tit-for-tat for all the brand hits, other dev studios, and millions of dollars blown EA had to cover for with Lord Brexit's cashing out and bailing act having an effect upon any publisher who treated him like a golden goose to exception of others. Then the white elephant started sucking out that ecosystem until there's no money left. Then he found direct access to the fans who had shrines of him in their homes.
And now you know... the rest of the story of why Shroud of the Avatar actually advertises jumping puzzles.
Super Avatar Bros was never EA - EA only kept it mercifully short.
"Again, it was…definitely Richard that wanted to do that, and he was inspired by Prince of Persia." - Mike McShaffry
Those who knew already knew, but to the laity outside of the inner circles there's the old blame of Ultima 8 laid bare. EA was blamed for all sorts of things with the changes to Ultima from the much-beloved Ultima VII: SI one of them. Suddenly, there were jumping puzzles and action gameplay in our ethical open-world! (Then the ethics were absolutely discarded for some narcissism dialed to 11 with Shroud of the Avatar.) The hints at the fuckery with Elizabeth and Abraham and the blackrock symbols let the Guardian in!
"WHY, EA, WHY?!" - was the common lament. Turns out, it was never EA, it was the head dude getting bored and wandering off for other people to take up the reigns while he still pretended to reign. And those people still put in the jump puzzles!
The whole adding things from other things is probably why overall the Ultimas feel so disjointed in narrative. I personally think Ultima works best in the "Headless Order" to copy the Machete Order of the Star Wars trilogies - you go from the mismatched clothes taken from other people's wardrobes starting at the boots, moving upwards and upwards with the depth of IV's writing and exploration taking on a whole new level, then getting rather stronger and stronger until VI - and then it's off at the shoulders and dumping the rest. A bunch of people from other worlds discover the wild of Sosaria, reshape it into Britannia, discover morals and betterment, then reflection upon those morals with the views of those considered an enemy at a time, and ends on a high note. After that elegance, VII onwards is just... kinda meh. People were more enamored with the UI and the Real-Time combat, and then SI's paperdoll (something seen parallel in Might & Magic). And worlds besides Britannia, indeed - those were sadly mis-marketed and could have expanded more, as the Western RPG makers were firmly convinced RPGs were dead when they discovered the Japanese developers eating their lunches (and would amusingly continue several Western series and styles of development for many years).
The "World's Greatest Game Designer" added jumping puzzles to one of the world's most beloved computer role-playing games simply because he played a different genre and really liked it.
(It makes Richard's fuss around the Deathlord Debacle all that much more funny.)
Well, almost as funny as having "Origin" Google-bombed into being commonly known as EA's download client as tit-for-tat for all the brand hits, other dev studios, and millions of dollars blown EA had to cover for with Lord Brexit's cashing out and bailing act having an effect upon any publisher who treated him like a golden goose to exception of others. Then the white elephant started sucking out that ecosystem until there's no money left. Then he found direct access to the fans who had shrines of him in their homes.
And now you know... the rest of the story of why Shroud of the Avatar actually advertises jumping puzzles.
Super Avatar Bros was never EA - EA only kept it mercifully short.
