Special Pre-Con Con to Critique ULTIMA 8: PAGAN Wednesday, April 20, 1994 GAMERS FORUM, *HOT* SECTION, Room 12 ATTENDEES: 14H 73504,652 ONR Rm 12 chris Bell 17H 71201,2553 MID Rm 12 Justin Houk 19H 74037,230 ALO Rm 12 Knight 20H 70760,2061 BTI Rm 12 Leo/ADV SL 23H 71643,3376 YIK Rm 12 Sir Baree 25 71302,3657 FTY Rm 12 W-GW 26H 72722,147 CVE Rm 12 Bret Wier 28H 76520,3705 MOJ Rm 12 Adrian Tedeschi 30H 71172,3516 RCX Rm 12 rajac 37 73312,2327 RIK Rm 12 Bo Wilson 37H 73531,551 VND Rm 12 Brian Shapiro 39H 71277,145 STC Rm 12 Arthur E. 42H 76264,110 WLP Rm 12 Gerry 43H 70760,2061 BTI Rm 12 Leo/ADV SL 44H 73314,3667 CBG Rm 12 Mitchell Wareham 46H 100112,3206 FKE Rm 12 Adrian Vogler 4w 76526,2647 PGA Rm 12 mama 51H 74312,646 SON Rm 12 Gee 52 72047,244 WTB Rm 12 JohnV::: 55H 73654,3611 RIJ Rm 12 Rick Ralsten 57H 70714,2272 AUG Rm 12 Ted Kingsbury 58H 71064,1173 LRB Rm 12 Gimlee 67 76114,2352 FJJ Rm 12 Matt ..hi all! (W-GW) Hi MaMa (Justin Houk) Hey, mama! (Gee) mama!!! (W-GW) Justin, Good Man! (Adrian Vogler) hi mama (rajac) hi (Justin Houk) So, how's this "formal" con gonna work? (W-GW) hi Rajac (rajac) okey dokey (Rick Ralsten) Hi all! (Justin Houk) Hiya Rick!! (Leo/ADV SL) I guess we're not formal yet heh? Hello, everyone. (Justin Houk) Hello Leo. (Rick Ralsten) Hey, Justin! Haven't heard from you in a while! (Knight) At this very moment Brittania BURNS!! (W-GW) Hiya GS ..TAP TAP TAP WE WILL COME TO ORDER IN 30 SECS Ok, settle down...Welcome to the conference everyone FORMAL please...that means I am taking ? and will keep a list Please do not type out of turn... ? PLEASE (Leo/ADV SL) I think U8 is awful. ;) (W-GW) Hi Rick (Leo/ADV SL) Hey GF. I'm now up to the Sorcerers. (Rick Ralsten) Hi W-GW (Leo/ADV SL) Hey Adrian! First time I've seen you 'live'. (Justin Houk) Rick, yeah, I've been trying to cut my CServe bill. (Knight) Well I'd like it better if I owned a P5 (rajac) Wish I could stay but my mom says its's time to eat, bye! (Knight) How old is everyone here? (Adrian Vogler) couldn't miss this one (Justin Houk) Knight, I'm 18. (Rick Ralsten) Okay, who here besides me is finihed? (Leo/ADV SL) Adrian, sometime you'll have to visit my Adventure hour. BTW did that package get to you okay so many moons ago? (Gimlee) Guess we haven't started yet then? (Knight) I'm 18 (Leo/ADV SL) GF, oh, that! I was wondering where the paint in U8 was. (Justin Houk) Shot to Rick's head! (Rick Ralsten) oops, make that 'finished' (Bo Wilson) 30 secs, aye (Leo/ADV SL) And counting (Adrian Vogler) Oh yes, I did, thanks again (Rick Ralsten) BtW, I'm 24 for whoever asked.. (W-GW) OK, Short, To the Point and CONSTUCTIVE Likes 45 degree angle (Leo/ADV SL) (That's a _like_ ?!) (W-GW) I'm a slow typer:) Increased NPC Audio ( speech) Beautiful Graphic Representations Main Story Line GA (A.D.T) Is this better, mama (Justin Houk) ok. First, I LOVE the game over all, but I miss all of the people. There's just a handful here (Ted Kingsbury) Are we formal yet?? :) (Justin Houk) it is VERY difficult to fight with my avatar (why don't the other monsters stumble around???) on screen? (Leo/ADV SL) (You can) (Just click on their sentence) (Justin Houk) REALLY!!!! Sheesh. (Leo/ADV SL) (Rick Ralsten) Thanks It looks great, sounds great, and ran bug-free right up to the end (and even includes a PATCH.EXE file where you can edit the program yourself--when told to do so by Origin, natch) to fix bug. The new range of motion avaiable to the avatar is greatI like being able to climb and jump and the story (what little there is) is pretty good Now, on to the dislikes Actually, make that 'dislike,' singular, for I have only really one big one and having played this one through to the end, I can safely say this THIS GAME WAS WAAAAAY TOO SHORT!!!!!!!!!!!! (Leo/ADV SL) (Ted Kingsbury) Here, here!!! (Justin Houk) (That's why I'm taking it slow and savory-like) (Rick Ralsten) It took me approx. 70 hours to complete, a lot of which was spent wandering aimlessly around caverns! (Ted Kingsbury) (not to mention jumping aimlessly into water!!!) (Rick Ralsten) and think, "well, I'm almost done now" only to discover 6 or 7 more areas that had to be done! (Rick Ralsten) Ultimas (up thru 7.5) have always been great values for the money. Hopefully, since I'm assuming U9 will be (Mitchell Wareham) Not to change the subject to much but I goy U6 and have a few Questions please? (Bo Wilson) are not yet able to cough up the cash speaking of which tell the truth and no PR/box copy here- what's the most basic system (Knight) Order??? (Bo Wilson) also, Mama, a follow up? (Ted Kingsbury) bang your little gavel, mama :) (Leo/ADV SL) (386DX/40 with 8 Megs runs U8 just fine on my system) (Justin Houk) 486/66 local bus 8meg:No probs. (Rick Ralsten) (486Dx/33 4meg ram was sluggish upgraded to Dx2/66 VLB+fast video card much better!) (Bo Wilson) is tonight all about u-8 and will someone who's not played it (me) be alternately bored and ashamed? (Ted Kingsbury) (Bo, did I detect a Gene Wilder accent?? :) (Leo/ADV SL) (Yes ) (Bo Wilson) well then I should scoot-- night all! (Ted Kingsbury) night :) (Leo/ADV SL) Okay, I'd start with my likes, but the only thing I like about this game is the graphics (Rick Ralsten) (uh-oh) (Leo/ADV SL) So onto the dislikes. First of all the jumping sequences. What ORIGIN was thinking when they implemented this is beyond me (Ted Kingsbury) 486/DX66 EISA w/16Mb caching fast SCSI-2 ctrl and disk - passable not fast (Kevin & Brian Shap) Hello, all you avatars, you! (Leo/ADV SL) (and why they used it so often is even more beyond me). The storyline is just plain awful, you're not given any clues as to where to (Ted Kingsbury) Go get 'em, Leo!!! (Leo/ADV SL) progress to, so much of the 'gametime' is spent aimlessly wondering the land looking for a special door (Ted Kingsbury) (I smell blood :) ) (Leo/ADV SL) There are some deliberate conversations with NPCs that are nothing but blatant (and awful) tries to lengthen gametime (Ted Kingsbury) sorry :(.. east to get carried away (Knight) Am I on? (Ted Kingsbury) oops, "easy" (Justin Houk) WOW! HOLD IT!!!! (Leo/ADV SL) And then do the jumping platform thing again to go back AGAIN to Stratos, where you can then get the wind thingy And a few misleading directions (who ever said the Sorcerers are in the Catacombs? Or why? They are in Stone Cove instead) (Kevin & Brian Shap) I just came in -- what have we established in our critiques so far? (Leo/ADV SL) .. having gotten that out of my system I like the way the Avatar conducts combat. It's quite well done. I don't like the interface though, the 45 degree angle is awful, it's too easy to lose items behind walls I also can't imagine why ORIGIN didn't put a climb down command to get down off cliffs I can't count the number of times I accidentally walked off, to my death. A prime example is getting the Breath of Wind from Stratos, where you have to go back to Stellos... Well, all this and more will be in my U8 review, so I won't bore you here. GA (Rick Ralsten) (where will you U8 review be, Leo?) (Ted Kingsbury) sorry for the interruptions, Leo ;( (Knight) I like the game overall (Leo/ADV SL) (Rick, in next month's copy of ONLINE REVIEWS, to be uploaded in Section 16 of this forum) (No problem Ted) :) (Knight) Speed is a real big one I don't know how there going to Get the CD-ROM only version to be playable. One way they could improve this is use the Blt functions all As someone else said the speech at times was hard to understand. Most of all I miss not being able to "use" everything like in U7 (Avatar) Hello! (Knight) The plot was good for what there was, but the endgame is really a disappointment Now for likes. (chris Bell) Hello (Leo/ADV SL) (A bad ending, yet another thing to look forward to) :( (Knight) The new perspective is really much better, except for when things are behind walls ( was that slap direct to me? ) The Audio when it was understandable is great. Esp with Pyros (Leo/ADV SL) (No, it was directed at me ) (Knight) Most people seem to find the combat difficult It really isn't that hard, but they should have added an auto combat function ( oops getting off track ) A good idea for U9 would be automapping and the ablitilty to write notes Well thats it. (Rick Ralsten) (what's diificult about combat is when you fall down and the troll pounds you 12 times while you're trying to stand up :) sorry) (Adrian Vogler) OK. A mix of likes and dislikes from me, too Dislikes I agree with Rick, the game was far too short The world of Pagan was too small, too few people There should have been more quests, more sub- quests. The locations one can travel to are so very limited Most of the time. You spend in the catacombs Or places that LOOK like the catacombs I miss the portaits, the big inventory cards (Knight) bye Cruel world (Adrian Vogler) No one said it before, so it's up to me: I hated the arcade sequences OK, now the likes Graphics, music, Avatar movement New view on the world of Pagan (45-degree-angle) But Origin should include a rotate-button, to get things behind walls Ability to climb and the animation of the Avatar OK, that's it from me, GA (W-GW) Dislikes Non-Linearity in Completion of Game. ( What, When and Where.) TOO MANY Arcade Type Obstacles. Intro to U8 not in-depth enough for new Players. Avatar starting out as a ROOKIE even though the Ultima's are sequential. (Leo/ADV SL) (New world, remember? Do these words sound familiar WGW? ) (Ted Kingsbury) There was no joy in Mudville oops wrong subject (Leo/ADV SL) ;) (Ted Kingsbury) Well I pretty much agree with most of the comments here too much arcade (any is too much!!) too short at least compared to previous U's almost no character development did'nt like the combat that much (I'm a turn based tactics person ala Darklands for example) It was "kind of fun" when it wasn't extremely frustrating and I DID finish it (that was an ending??? ) but I SURE hope U9 is vastly different (more like 7, 7.5) enough from me GA (Gimlee) thanks But the other two things, I need a pack mule! The other thing, I remember when U6 came out, alot of comments on bulletin etc. Just food for thought. GA Anytime :) (Leo/ADV SL) I'd just like to make 3 quick comments. First of all, to me the speech pack was a complete rip-off. ORIGIN tells you that the speech is only added for a few characters, however they only tell you this _inside_ the box! (there's marketing for you) (W-GW) GS, WRONG!!! (Leo/ADV SL) Second, I can't imagine what the deal with this kicking option is. We sacrificed more storyline for a few extra frames of kicking? And lastly, the bugs are awful. I hope ORIGIN does something about this in the future. I had to reformat my whole HD because of U8. GF, what is wrong? Speech is from the titans, the Guardian, and Khumash-Gor. BRB, I need to check this. (GA in the mean time, DONE) (W-GW) Box said what characters had speech. (Leo/ADV SL) (Just checked the back of the speech pack box, no mention of how the speech is added to 6 characters only. ORIGIN is too vague on this (Justin Houk) (what does GF and GS mean?) Ok. Well, I'm with WGW in that I still love this game dispite drawbacks which I mentioned earlier. Before I say something, anyone NOT to the ancient temple yet? (Justin Houk) Well, I was just going to say that I thought that turning the Avatar into the Titan of Ether (I haven't done it yet) is a heluva lot of character development! (Leo/ADV SL) (Rick Ralsten) Thanks One thing I forgot to mention 1st time around I don't like some of the things that this game makes you do! You became the *Avatar* in U4! This is supposed to *mean* something! You uphold the virtues! This was always an appealing aspect of the Ultimas You were even willing to sacrifice yourelf to save Serpent Isle until Dupre gets in the was! :)But in Pagan, stealing (W-GW) I'm with Rick on that one!!! (Ted Kingsbury) Here, here, Rick!!! I hated the stealing, etc (Leo/ADV SL) Ditto, I agree. (W-GW) ARGH ..and baby killing! (Ted Kingsbury) more like brat killing, :) but I yes.. that too (Rick Ralsten) just wasn't cutting it! And you have to capture and (apparently) kill Stratos, who seems perfectly nice (Justin Houk) Deep sigh. (Rick Ralsten) she actually wants to help the people of Pagan, unlike the other Titans, who are jerks (Leo/ADV SL) (Hey, Stratos has this complex that she's everyone's mother, that's dangerous) (Justin Houk) Rick, I just met Stratos. Now I've gotta kill her? (Rick Ralsten) not to mention that (***SPOILER!!***) doing so kills nice old Stellos! Geez! I thought I was the Avatar! I didn't work all my virtues up in U4 just to break every code that I followed now that I'm on Pagan! This Avatar feels dirty and needs a bath. :( GA (W-GW) The end justifies the Means KILL THE GUARDIAN!!! (Brian Shapiro) Thanks (Brian Shapiro) First of all I want to (partially) defend the arcade. The arcade -mainly- is the -action- and (as my motto with U8 is) isn't there action in adventure? But there is too much. I mean - artificially- created dissapearing platforms and moving platforms reminds me of Mario Brothers (Justin Houk) Gotta go, guys. Have fun! (Rick Ralsten) bye justin (Brian Shapiro) a god to defeat the Guardian) (Brian Shapiro) (And speaking of the speech packs --- it said all over the advertisements they were for the Titans. And the CD-version isn't a rip-off ) (Leo/ADV SL) (the advertisements doesn't say it's for the Titans _only_) (Ted Kingsbury) SS try the arcade forum (Brian Shapiro) chasing dogs, and high usability of objects in Ultima 8 you can't even use a chair! (Rick Ralsten) (what we lost from U7 to U8 is ABOUT 70% OF THE GAME!! (sorry again)) (Brian Shapiro) I think virtually -every- object should be usable (Leo/ADV SL) (Beds and women included, just like in U7part 2 ) (Adrian Vogler) (yes, in U6 You could ride a horse or sail a ship, too) (Brian Shapiro) And the world size I thought even the Ultima 7 world size was small a few to a village? In real life (even though I do not suggest this many in a game) a village had about 200 people. And you could walk across Britannia in less than a Britannian day The new programmer crew screwed a few things up (a lot, OK) like fonts, portraits, plot, OK, everything (Ted Kingsbury) thanks just in case I forget (Senility :) ) to make next weeks con someone ask Richard whether DOOM and/or Mortal Kombat and their ilk had anything to do with design decisions (Brian Shapiro) (bye, see ya later, don't bother to wish me off -- just telling you of my absense) (Ted Kingsbury) Too bad Origin couldn't have hired John Cutter and given us a BAK II type U8 (Leo/ADV SL) (Gasp) No thanks. (Ted Kingsbury) They sure could have used some of the character devel and story line but based on seeing what they did with U8, it's probably best they didn't they would just have screwed it up I'm still waiting for some company to get a CRPG RIGHT!!!! (Leo/ADV SL) Nice comment. (Ted Kingsbury) hope springs eternal etc. etc GA (DAVID BAILEY) HELLO (W-GW) I don't (Ted Kingsbury) masochist!!!! (Leo/ADV SL) So you wouldn't mind seeing them again in U9? (I hope ORIGIN gets to see this) (Adrian Vogler) I don't like them (sol cutler) Actually i hated them at first, but then I switched graphics cards -- now the game runs faster than real life and its easy (W-GW) I wouldn't just not so many! (Leo/ADV SL) I definitely don't like them. GA and done (Bill Barnes [DE]) I don't know if it already came up before but it seems that u8 could really benifit from a nice auto-map feature!! (Leo/ADV SL) Yes, and a complete rehaul of the game engine. (W-GW) Hush (Adrian Vogler) Origin goes the other way- no auto-map, but a smaller world (Bill Barnes [DE]) mouse and keyboard movement would have been good too. (Leo/ADV SL) Agreed 100%. GA Mama! :) (Bill Barnes [DE]) If they do an UWIII I hope they get it right! (W-GW) GA (DAVID BAILEY) HELP (Leo/ADV SL) (DAVID, type /EXIT) (W-GW) GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR??? Gulp Uh Er No thanks! NO GS (Adrian Vogler) agreed (Leo/ADV SL) (A comment?) Ok...my turn I think all of us have been too rough on this game We all tried too hard to like it or to hate it. As a stand alone game it isn't bad No game will be able to live up to ULTIMA XXXXXXXXX How about we get some ideas for next week... that don't involve ontheotherhand ga all (W-GW) MaMa, I Agree whole heartedly! (Leo/ADV SL) I agree with Mama. The whole point though is that U8 is not a stand alone game. It's a sequel to a very successful series. On it's own it's a good game, as a sequel it's a disappointment. GA Besides, it's not even a real CRPG in the true sense of the word. Optional combat, no need for stats development, what _is_ there in this game? (W-GW) " You can NEVER go home again" (Ted Kingsbury) (and it says right on the box "A stand-alone game" no kidding!! grump (Ted Kingsbury) mama, I see your grump and raise you two harrumphs!! (Leo/ADV SL) You don't need to wear armor & weapons if you don't want to. (W-GW) the "Good Ol Days" always seem the best! (Leo/ADV SL) Maybe they seem the best because they _are_ better. (sol cutler) i think you miss a lot if you avoid combat half the fun is whacking things! (W-GW) Baloney tomorrow is! (Leo/ADV SL) I never had as many complaints as this with previous Ultimas, like 6, 7 and 7.5 What do you miss if you avoid combat? (sol cutler) besides you increase all stats -- and can carry more -- if you avoid combat, you don't increase strenth, and of course you get (Ted Kingsbury) Admittedly there's a big market out there for arcade type games (DOOM, Mario, Mortal K, etc..) Do you all think folks like us who (sol cutler) no sadistic pleasure (Adrian Vogler) You face death if You avoid platforms (tha's no fun) (W-GW) btw I like the no resurrection part also! (Ted Kingsbury) want a REAL CRPG are in too much of a minority to affect marketing/development decisions???? (Leo/ADV SL) Mama, not so. U7.5 departed from the usual, and did so very well IMO. (sol cutler) did you know the slayer can kill golems in two hits (Leo/ADV SL) Ted, exactly. CRPG fans are a minority. ORIGIN is trying to make more money. Mama, a whole new world, just like in U8. Yes, and the same old game was much better than the 'new' game I think. (Ted Kingsbury) Leo, I wonder what sales were like for U7, 7.5??? maybe not as good as they would like so they decided to change (Leo/ADV SL) Why are so many people complaining otherwise? (Adrian Vogler) (Bye everyone I'm trying to get some sleep now (it's 4:30 a.m overhere)) See You next week (Rick Ralsten) Leo, I heard that U7 sold fantastic numbers, so there must be a market for CRPGS! (Leo/ADV SL) Ted, from mesgs in GAMAPUB, I get the feeling U8 got many sales from previous Ultima's merits mostly. Mama, the great majority of Ultima fans are complaining. (Ted Kingsbury) Rick Hmmmm?? just wondering about why they changed (W-GW) GS, I'm not complaining and I'm still playing!!! (Leo/ADV SL) GF, you are in the minority, as you should know. Mama, if people are complaining because it's not U7, it's because they don't like the changes. Ted, exactly. (Ted Kingsbury) that was also one of the main reasons I was dissapointed (Leo/ADV SL) GF, what, by tapping into the arcade/action genre? Bah. (Rick Ralsten) Yeah, but I think most PC owners want CRPGS as opposed to arcade games. We play our Segas and Nintendos for arcade games! (W-GW) GS, Nope By pushing the Gaming Technology! (Ted Kingsbury) If they had called it "The Avatar's Summer Vacation on Pagan" I might not have had the same expectations (Brian Shapiro) (Even if the next Ultima is bad, I'll play it so I know all the plots leading to the next Ultima and hoping it is better) (Leo/ADV SL) Rick, of course. It doesn't change the fact that arcade games sell more even on the PC, as compared to CRPGs. GF, by pushing the gaming technology? How many are complaining about the slowness of U8? (Ted Kingsbury) Segas??? Nintendos???? what's that???? (W-GW) GS, They are easier to make and they proliferate the Market! (Brian Shapiro) Thanx, mama. (MagicL1) does anyone know if U9 will have a larger world? pagan (W-GW) GS, WHY SLOW??!! (MagicL1) played too fast (Leo/ADV SL) GF, of course they are easier to make. They are more popular too, which is ORIGIN's *only* justification for the jumping sequences add ons. (Ted Kingsbury) Yeah good games are NOT made by bleeding edge graphics and hardware requirements!!!! (Rick Ralsten) Do they really, Leo? Why do PC owners want something easily available for Sega and Nintendo? (Leo/ADV SL) GF, pushing the computer technology envelope obviously doesn't make a good game. It's more than graphics. Ted, GMTA, exactly. (Brian Shapiro) -then- a larger world will FIT!! (W-GW) GS, Bottom Line Ultima 8 is a GOOD game IMHO!! (Leo/ADV SL) Rick, because the majority of computer owners do not play games. THeir kids do. (Rick Ralsten) yeah, W-GW, but with more story it could have been GREAT. (Leo/ADV SL) Mama, MYST doesn't push the technology like U8 does. MYST is very runnable on a 386. (Drabius /GNRrep) NOT true.actually i guess it is (Ted Kingsbury) W-GW I might go as far as to say it's not a bad game for what it is:) It's a bad game for what it SHOULD have been (MagicL1) mama - did you like myst? saw it at comdex beta for pc (Drabius /GNRrep) hello mother (Leo/ADV SL) Ted, I agree with your opinions too much. (Brian Shapiro) What time is the Lord British/Richard Garriot conference? (Leo/ADV SL) Same people too. (Rick Ralsten) Well Leo, if Origin wants to make arcade games, that's fine, as long as they keep producing Ultimas (REAL--read: long--Ultimas)! (W-GW) All, Is it possible that we are expecting Too Much? (Leo/ADV SL) along with a *real* CRPG Ultima. (Ted Kingsbury) W-GW yeah.. I guess when I saw Ultima VIII, I expected a CRPG stupid me.. (Rick Ralsten) that's what I thought Shadowcaster was for. (Leo/ADV SL) WGW, I think almost everyone complaining about U8 would have been happy with more of the same (U7) (Rick Ralsten) an arcde companion to the Ultimas and UU's (Leo/ADV SL) Okay Mama. (sol cutler) what does WGW mean? (Drabius /GNRrep) YO SALIER DE CASA (Brian Shapiro) causing easier death, getting lost, etc (W-GW) Sol, White-Gold Weilder (Leo/ADV SL) handling! (W-GW) AKA Thomas Covenant (Rick Ralsten) going in to U8 what I could expect (Ted Kingsbury) W-GW well I could go into item after item of MY personal definition but that would be kind of pointless I think we all know (sol cutler) how many people would say u8 runs faster than real life? (Leo/ADV SL) Real life watching grass grow. (Ted Kingsbury) Leo, Yeah Darklands!!!!! (Leo/ADV SL) Ted, we agree again. (sol cutler) i found a huge difference going from a windows accelerator card to a good dos performance card (Rick Ralsten) CRPG to me combines all of the following in roughly equal parts: combat, NPC interaction, exploring, dungeon crawling, quests, puzzle solving, and some more I've probably neglected (Ted Kingsbury) W-GW yeah there are as many "definitions" as there are people and none of them is all right or all wrong (Leo/ADV SL) Yes, like BAK. I don't even consider U8 a CRPG. (MagicL1) Roll Player Game - you need a world to move in to enjoy (W-GW) CRPG = I control me not my enviornment. (Leo/ADV SL) MagicL1, that's the definition of every game for the computer. GF, that's adventure games too then. And WarGames. (MagicL1) interaction with girls, people (Rick Ralsten) U8 is more like an action game with CRPG trappings, whereas previous Ultimas were CRPGs with (maybe) action/arcade trappings (MagicL1) work, learning to make bread or money. (Leo/ADV SL) Mama, right. So what's U8? Bye Bill. (W-GW) Huh? (Ted Kingsbury) mama, and when not boring, frustrating:) (W-GW) Dodging "Fire spitters" was anything but Boring! (Leo/ADV SL) But there's no big plot twists. Just look at U7.5, when almost *everyone* died! It was great. (Brian Shapiro) Leo -- c'mon now, you don't think u8 isn't still fun as ROLE- PLAYING goes? Not at alll????? (Leo/ADV SL) Brian, no. As far as roleplaying goes, definitely no. (W-GW) Come on GS! (Rick Ralsten) at least we can *save* when we make it to the next jumping block, unlike Nintendo! (Ted Kingsbury) W-GW after the first time saying "gee-whiz, look at that!", they were just a boring botherwhich I just ran by (Leo/ADV SL) Rick, (Brian Shapiro) Leo -- it still has SOME good qualities of previous Ultimas. (Leo/ADV SL) Brian, yes, some. Not enough to satisfy most Ultima fan ULTIMA 8: PAGAN CONFERENCE Wednesday, April 27, 1994 9:00 - 11:00 PM ET *HOT* Room 12 (mama) PLEASE COME TO ORDER! (Robin McShaffry) those guys are quick, let me tell you THE CONFERENCE IS NOW FORMAL (mama) Thank you ORIGIN! Welcome to GAMERS and thanks for joining us tonight. Everyone....welcome to a very special con we have THE Lord B and THE DESIGN TEAM for the evening! Thank you all for being here....and Origin...the screen is yours...GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thank you for inviting us! I would like to introduce the members of the PAGAN team here with us tonight... First my name is Mike McShaffry, the Director of PAGAN. (ORIGIN PAGAN) We also have John Watson who was the Creative Director -- story, game design. Tony Zurovec, Technical Director [programming]. Denis Loubet, Art Director; Mark Vittek, the key implementor of PAGAN! ..puzzles, dungeons, etc. and finally, Lord British -- Richard Garriot (ORIGIN PAGAN) It is a real pleasure to get the chance to talk first hand (sort of) with the people who play our games! It gives us a chance to talk about the stuff you had the most fun playing and the stuff we can do better next time! So with that done...Lets get to the questions! (mama) Brave men, and true! Ok...I am taking ? now and starting the list..Leo had his hand up first...GA Leo (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) Thanks Mama. ORIGIN, I would like to know if you plan to use a similar game engine in U9, specifically with the jump/climbs et al? GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) There were lots of good things and puzzles we could do when we implemented jumping... But...We need to make it better. It would be nice to be able to target where you jump accurately...And eliminate the totally Nintendo-like atmosphere that regular jumping created. GA (mama) Thank you! Due to thhe number of participants we will limit each person to 1 question. (John Overall) I enjoyed the u7 series. My question is why did you go from a team oriented game to a single player (the Avatar)? GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) One of the things we wanted to accomplish with PAGANis more action oriented play where you could crawl through windows, jump over chasms, navigate physical challenges. This was impossible if you had a party. It was too difficult to provide intelligence to the NPCs who would be able to follow you through the puzzles. In U9, were going to try to bring back some aspects of the party, but only in areas where it makes the game more fun by making it more interactive! GA (Gary T) I'd just like to ask Richard if he thinks this interface in Pagan is better than the ones used in U7, and U7.5 since they no longer use the voodoo memory mgr... it saves on problems now I think... GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) I think that the mouse driven user interface adds simplicity to the game. But I aggree with the necessity for having more hot keys to get to the more frequenty used features of the game. As far as the VooDoo Memory Manager goes, it was something we did to get U7 to run on the machines popular at that time. U8 uses a much better system that is easier to run on players machines and is even easier to develop the game on in the first place! GA (Gary T) I agree thanx. GA (mama) makes sense (Richard D. Lawson) I would just like to start by saying I loved this game, especially the single player mode, the fighting,and the ending, which makes me real anxious for u9 which we all know will be out by Christmas. My question is, will we ever find out what happens to Pagan? (ORIGIN PAGAN) Are you sure you want me to give away possible story lines of U9??? (mama) heheheheh (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks for your generous comments about PAGAN. I'm glad you enjoyed it! As for getting out by Christmas of this year, I'm sure you realize that the PAGAN team has just recovered from the effort of finishing Ultima 8! Ultima 9 is going to be a quantum leap over the technology of Ultima 8. thanks for the rest... It will certianly take about the same amount of time to do U9, but it will be certainly worth the wait...as it always is.... GA (Rick Ralsten) Thanks. First, let me say that I have been playing Ultimas since I was charmed and amazed by U4 back on my C-64.One of the best things about Ultimas was the rich, detailed world and intricate, lengthy storyline. I could look forward to easily over 100 hours with each new Ultima, an *excellent* value for the money. U9, on the other hand, is *way* too short! I finished in about 50 hours! Since I'm assuming U9 will be CD- only and space will not be a limitation, can we look forward to a return to the glory days of good, long,satisfying CRPGs that we have come to expect from Origin? GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) First let me thank you for playing Ultimas all these years! (Rick Ralsten) (you're welcome. It's been a blast) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Second, let me congratulate your accomplishmentin finishing PAGAN in 50 hours. While it is true that PAGAN was smaller in scope than U7, it was about 80% the size. Ultima 9 will be a CD only game, which implies all kinds of things... (Gary T) 630 megs to play with! (Dan) noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo (ORIGIN PAGAN) Longer game play... More graphics.... More sound effects.... Hour long intro and endgames! (ORIGIN PAGAN) ...well.... maybe not an hour (ORIGIN PAGAN) Anyway.... CD certianly gives us a lot of creative freedom that we as game developers have been screaming for for years! You can expect a game of truly epic proportions with Ultima 9..... GA (mama) Thanks Origin! Could every one please state your questions rather briefly so that we all get a chance to ask one... (Rick Ralsten) Thanks for your reply. That's what I wanted to hear! :) (Emmett Doerr) First, I'd like to say that I loved the game...you did a fantastic job in making it. I'd like to know..if you were planning on adding more digitized speech.. in Ultima 9, than there is with the speech pack in Ultima 8 i.e. - full speech for the Avatar and the other characters he talks to. GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks for the compliement Emmet! I'm glad you enjoyed our game. As for your question... Ultima 8 CD Enhanced is coming out late summer or early fall of this year and will include amoung other things full digital speech for all characters in the game. It is certainly our intention to continue with this in Ultima 9. We may even be able to get some really interesting people to do the voices....GA (mama) We will bite, ORIGIN...who? (Emmett Doerr) Great! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Well... who do you think would make a good voice for Lord British??? (Yong C.) How about Jonathann Frake? (Ted Kingsbury) Get James Earl Jones for the Guardian :) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Sean Connery? (John Overall) JAmes Earl Jones as a Titan (ORIGIN PAGAN) Patrick Stewart? (Gary T) Sean Connery (Yong C.) Patrick Stewart (ORIGIN PAGAN) Who knows? (herc/Assoc SysOp) Beavis? (ORIGIN PAGAN) GA TAP TAP TAP! (Robin McShaffry) Not Bill Johnson -- Oooh, Jonathon Frakes Order Please (Yong C.) How about william Shatner (Brian Shapiro) Well, you did Lord British in the Serpent Isle Intro, Richard. (ORIGIN PAGAN) We'll let the debate continue later I'm sure ORDER IN THE CON (Rick Ralsten) Bring back the Serpents from U7.5. Their voices were AWESOME!!!!! (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) Yeah, hou guguys, please don't speak out of turn (poor mama) (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) (poor mama) (mama) Ahhhh...blessed silence (Emmett Doerr) Thank you, Origin. (Stever) How do you open the double doors in the cave where the hammer of strength is on the Plateau? BTW The Ultima games are the best especially Pagan! PS Patrick Stewart would make a great voice! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Those doors are there to provide an entrance into the Lost Vale. You can't open them until the add-in module that will be available late this summer or early fall. Good job spotting those doors! GA (Rick Ralsten) (aha! I was right for once!) (Stever) Thanks thats what i wanted to hear! (Anessa) I just got U8. (Loved those quotes!) :) A question for Richard though. I loved the early Ultimas, you seemed toput alot of yourself in them. I thought it was great! I once read that you were SCA. I think?) Thanks Richard, perhaps we'll meet one day! GA (Bret Wier) Thanks, Do You Plan On Implimenting A Screen "Flip" So You Can Get Those Items That Fall Behind The Walls? GA GA Origin (ORIGIN PAGAN) Whew....We've been thinking about how to accomplish this in Ultima ever since U7. It seems to the team that the complications associated with flipping the screen direction around would result in confusing game play. Another option we would like to explore is possibly popping off the walls along with the roof! This is also really difficult technically....No rest for the weary! GA (Bret Wier) Ok, Good Idea, Thanx. (Kevin M. Burkett) It seems like there were a lot of bugs in U8. Will the Enhanced version be a little less buggy? Also, is more than one add-on planned? My vote is for Sean Connery by the way! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Ultimas are very complex, and it certainly is a challenging problem for us here at Origin to get the game as clean as we can in time to satisfy all of your appitites for the next Ultima! It is certainly true that 100,000 playtesters will find more bugs than our hard working staff of 20-30 playtesters here at Origin.... but we still try our hardest to make the games as clean as possible! We will incorporate as many fixes as we can to the enhanced version.... as far as more than one add-on...well....it's hard to say. The Lost Vale is the only one on the drawing board... GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) (we fixed over 8000 bugs!) (David B Jaromnak) Hello Origin! Congrats on the terrific graphics, animation, and special effects (Sounds) in Pagan, however I thought the game was a little rough around the edges, esp. the jumping (onto rocks). My question, since many Ultima players don't like the heavy arcade element, are you set on keeping Ultima a CRPG/Action Game? (will you return to pure CRPG or fine tune the action like the example you gave...being able to select exactly where to jump and land?) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Making the jumping better is certainly our goal for U9. As far as CRPG or CRPG/Action games are defined.... I like to think that Ultima is a game style in of itself. Ultima is a totally interactive world that sucks the player in to it.... so completely that you lose track of time and the real world around you. Whether or not jumping is a part of that, I always try to increase the reality with each succesive Ultima. Giving the Avatar the ability to jump, climb, and maybe in U9 (swim, crawl, swing, morph, who knows) serves to increase the reality of the game. GA (Steven Clayton) I was very impressed with the Avatar's movements. 1200 frames is a great accomplishment. What type of software was used to create the 3d graphics. (3d studio?) P.S> Fantastic GAME!!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks for the compliment! We used Autodesk 3D Studio to generate the Avatar's animation frames, but we used our own proprietary tools to add things like weapons, sound effects, and other special effect to the Avatar in the game. GA (Steven Clayton) Thanks (Eric Ashton) My Favorite part about the Ultima 7's was the large world. I was a little dissapointed when I found that the world in U8 was actually Smaller and the game shorter. My question is will U9 have a larger world and more puzzles that require thinking, as opposed to Jumping or running? (ORIGIN PAGAN) You can see where the effort was applied to PAGAN.... obviously in the art, music, and programming areas. Implementation (world building) had to be balanced with the larger concentration on the Avatar, NPCs, and monsters. On Ultima 9, we are planning on a development cycle that will let us pay more attention to the world building and make a more epic game with a complex storyline, while retaining all the great things we found in PAGAN. GA Thank you Origin (Eric Ashton) (I'll buy it as soon as it is realesd, thanx) ! (Ted Kingsbury) I note with some trepidation your interest/fascination with "action" and full "digital speech". Similarly your comments about "reality". These games aren't and never will be "virtual reality"...You mentioned that U9 would be a "quantum leap" above U8... well I hope you study the TV program of the same name... I feel its success is based NOT on glitzy technology, but on characters and story.. The same goes for some other popular TV programs such as all 3 Star Treks!!! I think that too many game companies are spending too many resources on the latest graphics, sounds, etc and no where nearly enough on character devel and story and interaction.. Is the swing to Action/arcade a marketing driven decision, your personal opinion, or some other reasons...??? thanks... sorry this was long.. GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) When I answered David's question, I think that the same can be applied to yours...It is all a question of how to apply the talents of the team to make the best Ultima we can. On Ultima 8, we concentrated our efforts based on our talent! On Ultima 9, we will be able to carry forward the lessons (good and not so good) we learned on PAGAN to the next Ultima. By the way, this is a grand tradition of Ultima design that we've kept alive ever since thier original creation. We always do our very best to create the best game. And then we sit back after it has shipped, and listen to the comments of our long time fans to help make the next one even better! GA (W-GW) Touche' (mama) Thank you Origin...for the GAMES too! (Ted Kingsbury) Thanks :) (Ramon Abasolo) First of all, I would like to say that I enjoy playing all ur games. My question is more on the hardware requirements I heard a rumor that the next Ultima will be for the Pentium. Any truth to this? ga (ORIGIN PAGAN) Not yet..... (ORIGIN PAGAN) Pentiums will be too slow! (Just KIDDING!!!!) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Our plan is to try to keep Ultimas within reach of the installed machine base, while pushing the limits of those machines to make the best game possible. Actually, the current plan is to make it run (and be FUN) on a mid-range 486(50+) which should be a pretty wide use machine by the time U9 is released! GA (Ramon Abasolo) Thanks. I was a little worried. (Ralph M) As a player of the whole Ultima series I must say that I have noticed a 'trend' towards a single-threaded storyline (ie. first find this, then get that, and talk to him next) to trigger certain events...In past games, you could figure out moongates in addition to hacking some dragons... Any hopes of returning 'back to original roots' with U9 storyline.... I miss that involved storyline, not to discredit any of the technology :) GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) A challenging problem indeed! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Let me illustrate....If a "story" were written that could be played in any order you would find that characters would be hard pressed to know that event A happened before event B, but another player might have played them in different orders, so our writers would be required to provide meaningful conversation and story to support both possibilities. In Ultimas, there may be hundreds of tasks that you are called to perform to complete the game. Older Ultimas were less complex and less interactive and it was easy to allow players to do this. I do aggree that a balance of good story and total interactivity be the hallmark of any Ultima.... and we will always strive to provide players with a maximum amount of freedom AND a really great storyline. It is very difficult to do, and as designers we get into very sticky situations with the story. It will not keep us from trying though! GA (Ralph M) Thank you...I did enjoy them ALL.. (Brian Shapiro) Ok, thank you. I will try to keep it as short as I can. I would like to start off saying that I have played since Ultima 5, and I think all of them are great achievements, and that Ultimas are the best games on the market. However, What I and lots of other old Ultima fans saw dissapear after Ultima 7 was the great ability to interact. Like baking bread, etc., and I would like to know if you plan this as a return in Ultima 9 as you will pay more attention to the plot. I also noticed a flaw with your artificial "gravity". I threw an empty vial from a potion against the wall and it bounced off. Shouldn't it break? I also would like to ask if any three-button mouse support will come minimally, and will there be any greater support with the Pro Audio Spectrum 16? (ORIGIN PAGAN) First: ABSOLUTELY! The amount of interactivity will certainly increase in Ultima 9! NPC activities will come back in force. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Second: We made the glass on the potion bottles too thick and they wouldn't break. (hee hee) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Third: We do not have any plans to support three button mice at this time...GA (Phil Albers) I'm concerned about the decline in the Avatar's principles. I spent 2 days trying to solve Bane and Vordion without...breaking my oath. Will we find in U10 that we are a new character out to defeat the Dark Avatar? (ORIGIN PAGAN) Hmmmm... Upon reflection it seems that you are right about the decline in the Avatar's pureness. Maybe this will be addressed in Ultima 9...... GA (Lennie) I love all the ultima's ,I'm still stuck in Ultima'7.Can you tell me how to get into the Skullcrusher Mountains, so I can contiue to enjoy ultima 7, and go on to Ultima 8-9? I have aquired the password from the gwani,but can't get past the gold barred door to Skullcrusher and vasculio. If you could shed some light on this it would be very helpful. I can't wait to get to Ultima 8. I usually only buy origin products because I know I'm getting my moneys worth. Thanks for such games as the Ultima series. :-) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Make sure you have no Gwani cloaks, then use the dog whistle to track Batlin. (Lennie) did already (ORIGIN PAGAN) Go back to Yenani and she will give you the password to get in.... (Lennie) have the password (ORIGIN PAGAN) Put the appproiate rune stones on the correct altars..GA (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) Thanks Mama. I just have a few comments I'd like to make...First of all, I am disappointed at the length of U8, as others have said... There's too much running around, and the clues to locations are far too vague. (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) leo crashed ORDER PLEASE! (Ted Kingsbury) ok, mama... I'd like to order a coke and fries... :) (mama) ga Wendy (Wendy Shaffer) Well, as yet another long-time Ultima'er (from 2, although that isn't Alkalabeth, I guess... I have three complaints that were already address... but one separate one, and one real compliment... the compliment, aside from the great graphics, superb sound, etc... is the really wonderful balance, variety, and design of puzzless... except for the arcade segements that slowed everything to a crawl... so they loomed very large in frustration value...there were lots of things to do, varied challenges, and you actually... got to think for yourself! -- which wasn't the case in, say,... Ultima 7 [get Chuckles' answer and then follow directions to finish the game]... but the flip side is that all those puzzless... didn't seem to _accomplish_ much... we don't see, on camera, the Avatar becoming really powerful...even though we're told he is, he doesn't "walk on water" by game's end...and we don't have any on-camera character development... and at the end of the game, the Titan's defeat is a joke... and there's no real reward scene showing post-Titan pagan... or any real information...so my question! is...in Ultima 9, aside from length and arcade corrections... will there also be more accomplishment ON- SCREEN...? GA (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks for your kind words, Wendy. I also appreciate your comments about PAGAN. I believe that our ability to go to CD will allow more intense scenes for the Avatar to participate in and help us as game designers communicate difficult concepts like "becoming powerful." I would definately say that U9 holds many pleasent surprizes for long time Ultima players like yourself(and me too). GA Welcome back, Leo... (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) Thanks Mama. I'd just like to make a few comments...First of all, I have to say that I'm disappointed in U8. I've also played every single Ultima, and I feel U8 is a serious step back from previous Ultimas. It seems a trend that late Ultimas are getting shorter and shorter. I really hope U9 will have much more gametime than U8 did. Without counting the time wasted jumping, trying to cast spells, etc., the game must have taken me no more than 30 hours to finish. Directions are far too vague, which to me just seems an attempt to prolong gametime. Not a good one either. The endgame was also a little on the disappointing side. It couldn't have lasted more than 30 seconds. I hope you realize that it takes more than glitz and sound to make a good CRPG...Secondly, I was very disappointed with the sorcery spells part. A great idea, but an awful implementation. I hope Ultimas will have much less pixel-conscious puzzles such as this one. Lastly, I really do hope you'll fix more bugs. I had to too reformat my whole HD because of U8. GA (mama) Thank you Leo (Whew, that's it) Origin has 15 minutes left. We have 4 questioners remaining, and a final comment. The ? que is closed. Jeffrey is next... (mama) Origin...Do you care to respond to Leo? (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) Er, don't I get to hear ORIGIN's comments? (mama) hehehehe GA Origin (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) Thanks. :) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thank you for your comments Leo. I hope that you will continue playing.... CD really will help us to make the games more in tune with what you enjoy. GA (Jeffrey Horn) U7 was reading the HD constantly even w/VLB and 4MB of caching controller. How do you deal w/today's...and future's... CD- ROM data..transfer rate? Thanks in advance. I've played them all, too. ga (ORIGIN PAGAN) The CD both solves and creates problems, Jeffrey. The solution involves caching data from the CD in an intelligent manner and not using it for frequently accessed data where time is of the essance. We'll probably use some double caching strategy where the hard drive is used in conjuction with the CD. Always use the right tool for the right job! Anyway... Tony Zurovec's job...Technical Director on U9 is certainly going to be a challenge! GA (Jeffrey Horn) Another Voo Doo kind of thing? heh heh. ga (ORIGIN PAGAN) Yikes! (mama) calm down (Darren Griffis) I've also played every Ultima. In fact I played them as they came out...yeah So I'm an old hacker.... Anyway just to comment on the becoming bad thing, I never felt that I was becoming good in the first place. I always felt that my "Avatar" was doing what needed to be done... I always enjoyed doing anything needed to solve the problem. How many of us havent stolen something in any of the Ultimas? So becoming bad I think is a good idea...besides I would kinda like to pay old Lord British back for summoning me to help out so much...(heh heh) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Hey! (mama) Don't worry LB, we will cover ya! (Darren Griffis) Keep up the good work.. thats all.. thanks. ga (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thank you for your comments Darren. Keep playing! (mama) Ok..Origin...Thank you so much for this evening! (Russell Kremer) Are we ever gonna get various sexes and races of Avatars to choose from again? Or, at least the handy li'l puch on the belt to put things in? ORDER PLEASE (W-GW) From U1 to U8 ... They've all been GREAT!!! Kevin, keep up the GREAT ART!! O R D E R !!!! (mama) ah....better! Thanks again, gang, and please give us your closing remarks, Origin..ga (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks again for sharing your comments with the whole PAGAN team. The industry has been waiting for CD to come of age and allow us to concentrate our efforts without worrying about the severe limitations of floppy disk space. I hope that all of you long time Ultima fans and new player alike will continue playing our games, just because if we can do really neat stuff in only 14Mb the amount of space we have to ship compressed on floppy diskettes -- just you wait until we have 500 Mb and more to play with! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks again all! (mama) And Thank YOU! (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) Thanks (David B Jaromnak) Can't wait...the games should be awesome! (Brian Shapiro) Hail Lord British!!!!! (Bret Wier) Thank You ORIGIN!!! (herc/Assoc SysOp) Thank you for being here, Origin. (David B Jaromnak) Clap Clap (Gene Houk) Kal Lor! (Brian Shapiro) whooo!!!!!! (McGee) Good Luck Shamino (herc/Assoc SysOp) AND A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO LORD BRITISH, FOR CONTINUING A LONG GAMERS' FORUM TRADITION. (ORIGIN PAGAN) - Let's ask a PAGAN question! (Darren Griffis) Hear Hear!!! TAP TAP TAP TAP ORDER IN THE CON PRIZE TIME PRIZE TIME (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) Oh oh!! Me me me!! (mama) Origin would like to present a prize! (ORIGIN PAGAN) This is Mr.Mike now..... Your gonna kill me????? ORDER PLEASE (ORIGIN PAGAN) Yes.... (Robin McShaffry) nope, sorry, I get that privilege ORDER GA ORIGIN (Robin McShaffry) the privilege to kill mIke (ORIGIN PAGAN) The prize I'd like to offer is one Ultima 8 cluebook and one audio CD of the latest Origin music..... (Robin McShaffry) hey, cool (Thomas P. White) Great music it is! (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) I want an all expenses paid trip to Austin (ORIGIN PAGAN) Here it is..... (Darren Griffis) I want a job!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Robin McShaffry is automatically disqualified (ORIGIN PAGAN) THE QUESTION: In Pagan, how many obsidian coins does it take to buy the....DEVASTATION SPELL! (ORIGIN PAGAN) First come gets it..... (Wendy Shaffer) 500 (Ralph M) 1000 (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) 1000 (Phil Albers) 1000 (Thomas P. White) 1000 (ORIGIN PAGAN) Ralph! (Russell Kremer) 750 (Wendy Shaffer) Darn, it is 1000, isn't it (Roy G. Carney) 200 (Bret Wier) 2500 (Thomas P. White) 100 (David B Jaromnak) 300 (Bret Wier) 2000 RALPH IS THE WINNER! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Please send Wayne your address....and congratulations! (Robin McShaffry) Anybody named Morgana is welcome in Austin, and you can even stay at our house. (Ralph M) Thank you :)) (ORIGIN PAGAN) How about another???? OH YES! SETTLE DOWN GANG (Phil Albers) Did you notice, only 666 obsidian coins allowed in a pile. Money is truly the root of all evel!!! PLEASE (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, will U9 be first-person perspective or still isometric view as in u8? (ORIGIN PAGAN) good spot on the money thing....Doesn't anyone want a prize? (Bret Wier) I do (Ben Sawyer) that deserves a prize (ORIGIN PAGAN) The next prize will be a copy of the Lost Vale when it comes out later this summer..or early fall. (Thomas P. White) Cool! (ORIGIN PAGAN) And the question is...... (ORIGIN PAGAN) What are the contents of the chest located in the catacombs that is opened with the key from the Keymaster???? (Leo Drago/Ass't Sys) Whoa, are you serious? (Wendy Shaffer) oil flasks (Phil Albers) nothing (Ted Kingsbury) nothing (Jeffrey Horn) dynamite (Robin McShaffry) a bomb! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Phil wins! (Roy G. Carney) nothing (Brent Williams, KY) ...a partridge in a pear tree... P (Russell Kremer) discs and fire gems (Thomas P. White) nothing is right PHIL ALBERS IS THE WINNER! (Ted Kingsbury) too fast for me PHil (Jeffrey Horn) wins nothing? (ORIGIN PAGAN) Please send your address to Wayne..... ER Ok mama. Free form is OK with me.......... (mama) aw RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! ATTENDEES AT THE PAGAN CON Wednesday, April 27, 1994 9:00 - 11:00 PM ET *HOT* Room 12 User User ID Nod Area Name ---- ------------- --- -------- ------------------- 1 74710,2036 HER Rm 12 Morgana/Ass't SysOp 2 71564,1330 SA Rm 12 Eric Ashton 2 73060,2306 HOG Rm 12 Don R 5 71201,2200 NTV Rm 12 Wendy Shaffer 7 74147,747 BFB Rm 12 Lennie 8 74361,1122 YOR Rm 12 Jeffrey Horn 8 73753,212 NPS Rm 12 Michael O'Brien 9 74323,2624 YCG Rm 12 ACE 10 72074,3445 LBD Rm 12 Russell Kremer 11 71064,2210 AUS Rm 12 Robin McShaffry 12 73061,1402 SPS Rm 12 Lassimer 13 71044,412 TTE Rm 12 Geoff M. Keighley 14 71302,3657 FTY Rm 12 W-GW 15 76004,2612 AUN Rm 12 Origin PS 16 73522,1470 NNI Rm 12 Ben Sawyer 16 74043,2126 ONR Rm 12 Anessa 17 76427,315 CBG Rm 12 John Overall 18 71125,570 DUV Rm 12 Ramon Abasolo 19 73404,2474 AYO Rm 12 Renegade 19 74271,2466 TOR Rm 12 Yong C. 20 74401,736 NLQ Rm 12 John s. Gambale 21 76360,2136 BAQ Rm 12 Peter 21 74271,2666 CUV Rm 12 Roy G. Carney 23 72603,1767 RAD Rm 12 Steven Clayton 24 70254,3075 RPA Rm 12 David B Jaromnak 25 100112,3206 FKE Rm 12 Adrian Vogler 25 71564,1330 SA Rm 12 Eric Ashton 25 73653,1474 DJB Rm 12 DAVE 26 70760,2061 BTI Rm 12 Leo Drago/Ass't Sys 26 74261,1750 TSM Rm 12 JMarshall 27 74063,216 MIK Rm 12 Richard D. Lawson 27 72074,3445 LBD Rm 12 Russell Kremer 28 100277,206 FKA Rm 12 Cyborg 29 75310,1150 TYL Rm 12 Ralph M 30 100112,3206 FKB Rm 12 Adrian Vogler 30 73562,2445 WIE Rm 12 Starmane 30 73653,1474 AJN Rm 12 DAVE 31 70673,1412 AEO Rm 12 Darren Griffis 31 72254,1623 SBV Rm 12 Steph 34 71333,136 AUO Rm 12 ORIGIN PAGAN 35 73324,1051 BTK Rm 12 John Goliash 38 74312,646 SON Rm 12 Gee 39 76526,2647 PGB Rm 12 mama 40 70713,3544 HOF Rm 12 Chad Gibbons 41 71630,712 SPR Rm 12 Duke 42 73654,3611 RIK Rm 12 Rick Ralsten 43 73741,2756 DTM Rm 12 Thomas Rauzi 46 74361,1122 YOR Rm 12 Jeffrey Horn 46 70564,123 WTB Rm 12 chuck 47 72722,147 CVK Rm 12 Bret Wier 49 71201,2553 MID Rm 12 Gene Houk 52 73633,2460 SRC Rm 12 Chris Nesbit 52 71574,2333 PIU Rm 12 Jeff Mueller 53 71064,1173 LRB Rm 12 Gimlee 54 70127,3431 GRT Rm 12 phoenix 55 74067,1273 WJC Rm 12 Kevin M. Burkett 55 74271,2666 CUV Rm 12 Roy G. Carney 57 73133,2603 ML Rm 12 Emmett Doerr 58 100340,1547 MRB Rm 12 Taz & the Imp Lord 59 74271,2466 TOR Rm 12 Yong C. 62 71333,136 AUT Rm 12 MelfromHell 63 72622,643 NDK Rm 12 Cassandra 63 71064,1173 LRB Rm 12 Gimlee 64 76640,2012 FRD Rm 12 Rob Small 65 75300,3472 SCE Rm 12 herc/Assoc SysOp 66 74710,2036 HEP Rm 12 Morgana/Ass't SysOp 68 75260,1240 LK Rm 12 Brent Williams, KY 68 72323,3456 NZM Rm 12 Robert Sacks 69 72620,1141 RIJ Rm 12 DAVID WOLVERTON 70 72727,3453 WC Rm 12 McGee 70 73672,3520 LVQ Rm 12 Danny & Celeste 74 71673,3110 CI Rm 12 Phil Albers 76 70714,2272 AUG Rm 12 Ted Kingsbury 77 75200,1467 WA Rm 12 Thomas P. White 78 71125,570 CSV Rm 12 Ramon Abasolo 79 74401,401 NBQ Rm 12 Stever 79 73757,1014 MCM Rm 12 DARIN K. INDA 80 72607,1365 FJL Rm 12 Gary T 83 73511,2624 TAO Rm 12 Dan 84 73531,551 VNB Rm 12 Brian Shapiro The ULTIMA 8: PAGAN conference continued in an informal mode... (Thomas P. White) One more prize! (herc/Assoc SysOp) Phil won with nothing? (Wendy Shaffer) Er, Mike, about U9 perspective? Would you (ORIGIN PAGAN) I'll stick around I'm still Mr.Mike until get me.. Perspective (Robin McShaffry) HAHAHAH You're there forever!!! (Rick Ralsten) ORIGIN, *please* tell me that Ultima will keep (herc/Assoc SysOp) Mr. Mike, the quotes in U8 didn't seem as (Gene Houk) I missed the beginning. Is U9 going to be (Ben Sawyer) Are there any plans for a "Multima" <--- On (ORIGIN PAGAN) U9 will certainly have the same isometric (Darren Griffis) Actually I miss my old keyboard movement dont like this mouse thing (ORIGIN PAGAN) It sure looked better than older Ultimas. (Jeffrey Horn) yes, gene (Rick Ralsten) Yes, Justin. CD only! (Wendy Shaffer) Thanks, Mike! (Robin McShaffry) That's because some guy that likes cheese (ORIGIN PAGAN) (the old one made me kinda queasy) (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, when you get a breath, what visual (W-GW) Any news on ULTIMA UNDERWORLD 3 ??? (herc/Assoc SysOp) Robin, I like cheesy humor. Don't you? (ORIGIN PAGAN) U9 will be playable from the CD (probably take some (Wendy Shaffer) [mike cont] will there be between U8 and u9 (ORIGIN PAGAN) space on the hard drive..) (Thomas P. White) How come there are no, shall we say, U8 as with the bar maid in ultima 7 on the (Ted Kingsbury) Mr Mike on U9-CD regardless of how many (Robin McShaffry) Yeah, but did you find the cheese book in hallway? (Wendy Shaffer) W-GW, no UW3 planned yet. That's a Looking (Bret Wier) Will Future Ultima's Require Sound Cards? (Wendy Shaffer) [WGW cont] they're still doing System Shock. (herc/Assoc SysOp) Robin, nope. Not there yet. I'm slowing (Robin McShaffry) Thomas, you wild man. (Rick Ralsten) I *like* the new perspective--just don't go 3- (Wendy Shaffer) [WGW cont] Frankly, I bet Origin does no UW3 (ORIGIN PAGAN) We've been thinking about using different art generate the graphics. I can't really say it tho. It will blow your mind when you see (Russell Kremer) Mr. Mike - What happened to the Cheerleaders (ORIGIN PAGAN) GA (Jeffrey Horn) REQUIRE? You mean you don't have one? (Wendy Shaffer) [WGW cont] and Bounty Hunter as the testbed. (Phil Albers) Where are the Cheerleaders (or Chipendales for MaMa) in U8? (Robin McShaffry) Hehehe - but you've found the cheesy book (Thomas P. White) Can't help myself, but it was rather a (Bret Wier) No I dont Currently Have one!! (herc/Assoc SysOp) Robin, yes, found that one. chip (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, you mean the fully rendered graphics, a (Jeffrey Horn) sorry. (W-GW) Wendy, I Want My UW3!!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Cheerleaders were created by Stephen (Robin McShaffry) Herc, that guy compiled the quotes (Don) Wow! Lotsa folks! (W-GW) Wendy, (Robin McShaffry) Stephen Powers is a god. (ORIGIN PAGAN) He's still here at Origin helping us to create wouldn't doubt if you saw them again! (Wendy Shaffer) W-GW, if you like scifi Bounty Hunter'll (herc/Assoc SysOp) Robin, I laughed out loud at many of those (Don) Why, thank you, mama! (Bret Wier) I'm All worn out (financially) After Getting the 486/dx2/66 (ORIGIN PAGAN) Shhhh Wendy. You'll give all the good stuff (Darren Griffis) what happened to the gift shop in u8? (Jeffrey Horn) Any hints about U10interface and plot? (Ben Sawyer) What about a multi-player ultima? (Darren Griffis) is it still there hiding? (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy is this a sci-fi CRPG you're talking (Stever) Origin, is there any secret passwords for u8 like for u7 there was SERPENT PASS? (W-GW) Wendy, I'm not so sure! (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, that's your punishment for getting in a (ORIGIN PAGAN) Ohhhh. The gift shop was originally put in (Thomas P. White) How many add-ons are planed for Ultima 8? (ORIGIN PAGAN) purposes. We nuked it to make enough disk (Gene Houk) Thomas, just one so far. (Robin McShaffry) In U7, the girl that "did" everyone on U7 my best friend, and then she "did" Herman (ORIGIN PAGAN) ship on.. (look on the last disk. YIKES) (Robin McShaffry) She "did" their toenails with polish! (Ralph M) Origin-Who's doing the drawings in the manuals?? (Darren Griffis) by the way thanks for giving us the cheat rather leaving it in.. thats traditional.. without it (ORIGIN PAGAN) OK YOU CHEATERS Sure there are passwords (Stever) what is the cheat system (ORIGIN PAGAN) U8. But I'm not giving them out! You go figure GA (Bret Wier) Spam Spam Spam Humbug???? (W-GW) Mike, Does LB still say to H*** with the Budget?? (ORIGIN PAGAN) At the risk of your games, of course.. (Gene Houk) Awww! Get me all worked up then let me down!!! (Stever) haha i remeber that one (herc/Assoc SysOp) Humbug Humbug Humbug Spam? (Darren Griffis) I like how you have to finish the game first (Jeffrey Horn) U10..interfaceplot? (ORIGIN PAGAN) LB loves saying to Hell with the budget. (Robin McShaffry) W-GW, actually, it was F*** the budget! (ORIGIN PAGAN) believe he used a slightly different phrase (Ted Kingsbury) herc, how about a little rat with that Spam?? (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, have you guys started playing with (herc/Assoc SysOp) I wonder how the budget felt. (Thomas P. White) I read an article that said that Richard believe, did the first drawing in the (W-GW) Mike, Oh I know he did!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) We've been playing with lots of VR gear. It's all still REALLY expensive and won't be available to the mass market for many (Ben Sawyer) -------->ORIGIN - Are there any plans for modem on-line "Multima" Network<------- (herc/Assoc SysOp) Ted, what was its name? Sherry, that's the (Jeffrey Horn) U10VR gearheard it here! (Robin McShaffry) AAGH Sherry the mouse - but can you recite Mike can, I think. (Bret Wier) SO WHAT ARE THE PASSWORDS???? (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, is u9 on a 486/50 really a realistic (ORIGIN PAGAN) Gosh we've been wanting to do modem/network for a long time! It's just lacking a real afford to allocate resources to do one.. (herc/Assoc SysOp) Robin, I'm a dedicated Ultima fan, but I (Ted Kingsbury) herc Oh, yeah :) just a little rat (Ralph M) Love the trinkets in the box!! Especially the if only it would work In Vas Ort Corp (Rick Ralsten) Which story? Hubert the Lion or whatever? (ORIGIN PAGAN) Wendy. 486 machines are going to be widely time time U9 comes out. If we don't run well (Robin McShaffry) herc, Hubert the Lion was haughty and vain proud of his beautiful mane. (herc/Assoc SysOp) Wendy, don't worry about me. I have a (ORIGIN PAGAN) would be a real mistake, don't you think??? (Ben Sawyer) Well Maybe in the future then real interactivity up they would double their revenues as soon as (herc/Assoc SysOp) Er, 486/50. (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) ! (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, Origin's survived bigger "mistakes" (Bret Wier) SO How Long Are We Talking Here Before The U9 (W-GW) Herc, I'll have a DX4 by September!! (Jeffrey Horn) 486 flood gates will open. intel can no (McGee) .'y/EXIT (herc/Assoc SysOp) Thanks Robin. (Thomas P. White) What are the passwords for? Hand how about things I keep seeing around, what is the mode?.Origin? Can they creat bugs? (herc/Assoc SysOp) W-GW, hah. By September Morgana might even (Wendy Shaffer) Thomas, yet Cheat mode can mess up your game (Morgana/Ass't SysOp) er, yeah (ORIGIN PAGAN) Bret. U9 will have a similar development (Wendy Shaffer) [Thomas cont] Finish the game legally first (ORIGIN Marketing) Hello everyone (Rick Ralsten) Mike, people are clamoring here for a UW3 but (W-GW) Herc, If she comes to Boston she will!!! (herc/Assoc SysOp) Hey, who let the marketing guy in here? (ORIGIN Marketing) To tell the truth, I am NOT Origin (herc/Assoc SysOp) Oh Ok. You can stay then. (Rick Ralsten) of trying to merge Underworld and 'regular' (ORIGIN PAGAN) we had for U8. Look for it no earlier than a later than two years! (ORIGIN Marketing) And I am most certainally NOT a guy (ORIGIN PAGAN) Rick. (Robin McShaffry) Is that MEL? (ORIGIN Marketing) i am THE ONE AND ONLY BOSS OF MR. MIKE (herc/Assoc SysOp) You most certainly can stay then. (Wendy Shaffer) Not MEL FROM HELL? :) (ORIGIN Marketing) Oh, how did you guess? (Robin McShaffry) HAHAHAHA - except for me. (W-GW) HAHAHAHAHAH (Gene Houk) Argh! Mel from Hell!!! (Ted Kingsbury) Hey, it's the pseudo ORIGIN Marketing BABE!!! (Wendy Shaffer) Because you sounded just like your quotes? :) (Gene Houk) :-) (ORIGIN PAGAN) UW3 is currently not in the plan, but that change. (Thomas P. White) Who is Mel From Hell? (MelfromHell) Who dares ask such a question? (Darren Griffis) (groan) (Robin McShaffry) She's just, um, well, MEL FROM HELL! Run (ORIGIN PAGAN) Yes. Mel from HELL is here!!!! (my boss) (W-GW) As Long as there is a ULTIMA XX I don't care! (MelfromHell) And let me tell you, he's a PAIN! (Jeffrey Horn) Thanks ORIGIN. I sense diminishing returns in (Wendy Shaffer) By the way, I've wanted to know, what do you [mel cont] Aside from inspire fear and (Ted Kingsbury) Notice she didn't say a pain WHERE!!! :) n 65 (ORIGIN PAGAN) Lesse U21 should ship sometime in 2016. (MelfromHell) I aspire to concoct the most outrageous quotes (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thanks Jeffrey (Darren Griffis) so that means.. around.. 2200 Fall? 65 but (MelfromHell) and push Mr. Mike around as much as possible. (W-GW) I'll stop smoking today!! (Rick Ralsten) Yeah, W-GW!! But I'm just not a big fan of 3- (martin miles) [C/exit (ORIGIN PAGAN) Not very funny Darren! (Ben Sawyer) I can't wait for my kids to ask me what is what 30 years ago!!!?!!??!?!! (Wendy Shaffer) Mike&Mel, what are you guys working on now? (David B Jaromnak) concoct, you mean they aren't genuine? (Thomas P. White) Hay, Mel, did you creat the quotes in (Roy G. Carney) I will be retired by then and can play (W-GW) Rick, I concur! That's what makes both series so (Rick Ralsten) System Shock? WC3? WC Armada? han the con % (Ben Sawyer) By then the game will require full time real (Bret Wier) DO EITHER OF YOU KNOW IF THERE WILL BE A WING (Wendy Shaffer) Rick, System Shock is over in Looking Glass. (Rick Ralsten) (did we miss anything? ) (MelfromHell) I doI don't really concoct quotes, I am a (Wendy Shaffer) Bret, Fall or Christmas. I bet Christmas (ORIGIN PAGAN) I'm working on Ultima 9, of course will And I must say it already looks really (Ted Kingsbury) Technicals. aren't they those jeeps with (Rick Ralsten) How much is done (%)? (MelfromHell) I am split..or at least I find myself that way (Darren Griffis) I'm got my cd already warming up for u9 (Rick Ralsten) U9 that is (Thomas P. White) Will Ultima 9 run longer that Ultima 8, (Ted Kingsbury) That sounds like something MelfromHEll would (Darren Griffis) yup (MelfromHell) I f (Bret Wier) CAN We Have Some Advance Plot Line PLEASE???!!? (Robin McShaffry) No, Bret, No nonono (ORIGIN PAGAN) I believe it will..and as far as the (MelfromHell) I find myself pulled between two project (Darren Griffis) and spoil the fun? (Ted Kingsbury) mama, I thought THOSE (technicows) were in the Gateway 2000 ads OH! (ORIGIN PAGAN) It really is pretty early.. but NAHHHHH!!!! (Robin McShaffry) Ouch, ted (David B Jaromnak) moo (Wendy Shaffer) Mel, U9 and which other one? (ORIGIN PAGAN) Moo??? (Rick Ralsten) U9: In this corner, the Avatar. In this (MelfromHell) The other one is a BIG SECRET! (Rick Ralsten) what else do we need to know (ORIGIN PAGAN) Not bad Rick. need a job??? (Darren Griffis) awww! I hate secrets (MelfromHell) So big, that If I told you, I'd have to kill (Bret Wier) I have a GATEWAY 2000 And got a DIVIDE OVERFLOW (David B Jaromnak) How long will it be until you can finally (Phil Albers) In U9 the Avatar defeats the Guardian, (Darren Griffis) I need a job let me know when you have an (Wendy Shaffer) Mel, is it a this-year big secret, a 1Q95, (ORIGIN PAGAN) Darth Avatar???? (MelfromHell) That's too much of a secret for me to tell you. (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, if you tell me you haven't noticed the (Rick Ralsten) Sure, but I don't wanna move to Texas. Too hot (& flat) (Robin McShaffry) Trust your feelings, luke (Ted Kingsbury) Yeah Phil. and those bratty kids north of (Russell Kremer) Dart avatar? Is that Iolo's fathter? (Wendy Shaffer) [mike cont] and Ultima 7-9, I'll giggle, so (David B Jaromnak) Jame Earl Jones as the voice of the (ORIGIN PAGAN) Y'all quit buggin Mel about her secret (Bret Wier) Then Luke British Comes And Learns He's His (Robin McShaffry) Oh, Rick, you don't know what you are (ORIGIN PAGAN) FLAT!!! Ever hear of the Davis Mountains (Wendy Shaffer) Mel, that's mean. Wanh! :) But I forgive you, (W-GW) Anyone who played U4 wouldn't want a "Dark Avatar"!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) How about the Chisos Mountains???? (David B Jaromnak) I heard Texas isn't flat (Darren Griffis) I would (MelfromHell) Feel free to beat Mr. Mike as you find (Robin McShaffry) Come on down Wendy, we always need more (Darren Griffis) I miss the old cannon in ultima 3 (Robin McShaffry) dogpile Mr.Mike. (Phil Albers) Did you notice that the ending to U8 bears an (Rick Ralsten) My mom used to live in the Killeen area. Flat (ORIGIN PAGAN) (I hiked up the bastards during my vacation.) (ORIGIN PAGAN) WAIT (MelfromHell) I am the only female Tech. designer at Origin. (Ben Sawyer) You guys actually have time to vacation? (MelfromHell) So, I've gotta be mean sometimes. (Robin McShaffry) Killeen sucks the life out of you. Come to (ORIGIN PAGAN) Killeens not that flat. Not very exciting VACATIONS!!!! Whoop! (MelfromHell) HmmmMr. Mike opened his big mouth again? yup (W-GW) Come to DALLAS and see all the HAIL! ba (ORIGIN PAGAN) Phil.. really.. (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, vactaions, you know, like sleep, another (MelfromHell) mmmMMMMMike?!!!! (Rick Ralsten) Okay, I'll plan my next vacation there (I'm my (ORIGIN PAGAN) Wendy, you are not far from reality there. (MelfromHell) You should really plan on going to Big Bend. (Robin McShaffry) Is it hailing in Dallas? Just hot & cloudy (ORIGIN PAGAN) Ask Wayne about the Origin tour. (Wendy Shaffer) Mel&Mike, you guys still do mostly C++, or? (Ben Sawyer) Mike it sounds like you might be putting (MelfromHell) I mostly tell Mike what to do. (Robin McShaffry) Nah, Mel (ORIGIN PAGAN) Nah. Ultima 9 is too cool to stay on (Robin McShaffry) s a cupcake (ORIGIN PAGAN) Wendy. we do lots of our programming (W-GW) Robin, Not now but I got an Ice Baseball in the (Ted Kingsbury) Mel frustrating telling Mike what to do, (Robin McShaffry) Er, Mel's a cupcake (ORIGIN PAGAN) in C++ (Borland 3.1) and we even create our (MelfromHell) Robin! Gosh, you had to go out and spill the (ORIGIN PAGAN) own languages (like UNK) to supplement (Rick Ralsten) So, did LB have a 'U8 completion race' like he (MelfromHell) Mike and (ORIGIN PAGAN) C++ and assembler. (Ben Sawyer) How is the role of EA as corporate parent (Ted Kingsbury) Robin a Hostess Twinkie?? :) (Rick Ralsten) If I remember correctly, U5 was the first one (MelfromHell) obin: are you going to help me move this (ORIGIN PAGAN) EA Corporate Discussion! (Darren Griffis) how many of your own languages do you use? (Ben Sawyer) were you forced into doing Wing Com. for the 3d (overpriced) (MelfromHell) AS many as I can think up. (ORIGIN PAGAN) EA has been very hands off as far as the day (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, are you guys getting more code (Robin McShaffry) Mel, I'll not expond on the creamy center for the alternative lifestyles board. (Wendy Shaffer) [mike cont] or is that still on the list of (ORIGIN PAGAN) creation of our games it is actually true (Bill Goldman) [ (MelfromHell) Do you mean Expound? (Bill Goldman) m (ORIGIN PAGAN) is affecting EA corporate more than they (MelfromHell) Is that akin to Impound? (Ted Kingsbury) Now now Robin.. :) control your (ORIGIN PAGAN) For example Robert Garriot (one time president of (Robin McShaffry) yeah (Ben Sawyer) Alright!!!!! bash those EA guys back to San (Phil Albers) Ben, in U10 you return to Britania and find (MelfromHell) Robin, you didn't answer my question. LB is playing with his pocket change (ORIGIN PAGAN) Origin) has taken the lead of the Sims and of EA, of which Origin is the obvious lead. Robin. (Rick Ralsten) So EA didn't 'force' arcade aspects into U8 to (Robin McShaffry) i'm gonna impound you! (Ben Sawyer) Trip Hawkins is the Gaurdian (Ted Kingsbury) Mel, as long as he's playing with his pocket (Phil Albers) you spend U10,U11,U12 winning Lord Britishes (MelfromHell) Oh, really? What I wanna know is if you're (ORIGIN PAGAN) Not at all old time Ultima players wanted (Robin McShaffry) Mike, I'm putting my shoes on now and guys another time! (ORIGIN PAGAN) oriented game with a cooler Avatar! (Darren Griffis) bye (Bret Wier) Bye (Thomas P. White) EA has the worst shipping problems I have ordered Ultima 8 for overnight delivery and FOR THREE WEEKS, that was one long nigt. Origin should look into that! (Roy G. Carney) Would Lord British like the proxy for my 100 (Ben Sawyer) Well actually on a serious note its good to see two way street and the benifits are mutual. (Russell Kremer) A cool avatar does NOT wear a bucket on his (ORIGIN PAGAN) Actually, Origin is using the same shipping (MelfromHell) Yeah, but Mr. Mike sure does! (Ted Kingsbury) Mr. Mike just WHAT old time ultima (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, what kind of interface improvements are (W-GW) Origin, Keep pushing the Technical Envelope! (Bret Wier) The Avatar Looks Cool For U9 Though and thanks (ORIGIN PAGAN) have always used. Your delay was probably (Wendy Shaffer) [mike cont] eg, ccontrolled jumps, a path- (MelfromHell) Just kidding.:) (Darren Griffis) I'm an old time player. (Rick Ralsten) Will the NPC character portraits return in (Ben Sawyer) Has Origin been approached for licensing deals Ultima or Wing Commander? (ORIGIN PAGAN) the extreme number of products we shipped in (MelfromHell) as often as possible (Wendy Shaffer) Ben, already happened (both). (ORIGIN PAGAN) PORTRAITS GOOD. (Wendy Shaffer) Ben contr, books anyway. (MelfromHell) A (Ben Sawyer) Um did I miss the cartoon? (Bret Wier) Bye (Rick Ralsten) Ben, there are already Ultima and WC books! (Ted Kingsbury) night, mama... :) (W-GW) Nite Nite MaMa (MelfromHell) Bye mama... (Darren Griffis) I'd like to make my own potions in one of the ultimas... (ORIGIN PAGAN) Bye mama. Thanks... (Ben Sawyer) like fictional books not how to solve. (Darren Griffis) Maybe find a chemistry lab? (ORIGIN PAGAN) POTIONS GOOD... (Roy G. Carney) I have been playing for well over ten years. (MelfromHell) Don't you know that making your own potions is illegal? (Thomas P. White) No big deal on the wait, It made me enjow Ultima 8 even more. (Wendy Shaffer) Ben, yes. (Rick Ralsten) So that was a yes on NPC portraits? (Phil Albers) bye (ORIGIN PAGAN) PORTRAITS GOOD..... unk (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy... if you missed my question before... is this Sci-fi game you mentioned also a CRPG??? ... just wondering.. (MelfromHell) Mike is drooling right now... (ORIGIN PAGAN) Drool (Ted Kingsbury) bye Phil (Darren Griffis) hmmm.. Thinking up other ideas.... (Rick Ralsten) Watch out Mike, you'll mess up the keyboard ! (Ted Kingsbury) Is Mike drooling again??? :) (Wendy Shaffer) Ted, Dunno, maybe Mel's secret is this? :) But I think it more or less is a cross between WC and more RPGish play. (W-GW) Nite All ... ORIGIN, Thanks for the Ultimas and for all the Fun!! (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy... ok.. thanks... will keep an eye out for it.. :) (Rick Ralsten) Bye W-GW! (Darren Griffis) I thought the painting idea in ultima7 (or 7.5) was fun... (MelfromHell) Bye!\ (Ted Kingsbury) nite W-GW... (W-GW) Take Care!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Hey I'm not really drooling.... (Wendy Shaffer) Mel, when Mike says "good", does that mean "yes, we're working on that", or does that mean nothing much at all. (Bret Wier) Bye W-GW (Thomas P. White) I have to head out, I wish the Ultima Design and Technical team best luck on Ultima 9....KEEP US POSTED on the release dates in the Game Publishers Forum...OK? (ORIGIN PAGAN) I personnally like portraits.... (MelfromHell) Well, you can take it any way you wanna... (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, I quote the New Yorker: On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog. (ORIGIN PAGAN) I would like to see them back.... (Michael O'Brien) It seems like Ultimas are becoming more linear is this a trend that will continue? ... (MelfromHell) but when I tell him that (ORIGIN PAGAN) Dg??? (Wendy Shaffer) [mike cont] and on compuserve, whether you're drooling... (Russell Kremer) Painting, and baking bread, and hauling mutton and everything that makes an Ultima fun! (MelfromHell) Do dogs type? (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, that's the cartoon. Not me :) (Michael O'Brien) I notice on page 131 of "Official Book of Ultima" some of Ultima success is attributed to nonlinearity (MelfromHell) Speaking of dogs, LB wants to get a dog and a dogputer to teach it tricks. (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, but hey, if I were a dog, that'd make me a real ... wouldn't it? (MelfromHell) really.... (Rick Ralsten) I missed Smith the Horse in U8. No solution to the previous Ultima! :( (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... well they do paws a lot ... (Darren Griffis) groan (MelfromHell) hah.. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Nah Wendy... just another fanatic Ultima player like myself! (MelfromHell) My horse turned into a dragon in Serpent Isle.. That was bad, Ted. (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, you were saying about Portraits? Hard/Likely/? (ORIGIN PAGAN) (Ted, you need to die for that pun) (Russell Kremer) Will we be able to sit down in U9? (ORIGIN PAGAN) SITTING GOOD! (MelfromHell) What, you're not able to sit now? (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... yeah, I know... :) Thanks.. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Yes, we are going to try to put portraits back into the (MelfromHell) You bet.. (ORIGIN PAGAN) game..... (Darren Griffis) I liked the old dream sequences too... (Rick Ralsten) Will we be able to bake bread in U9?? (Russell Kremer) If i could sit, you wouldn't have that quote! (MelfromHell) Are you able to bake bread now? (Darren Griffis) not this black out and in thing... all the time (David B Jaromnak) What's with the baking bread (Ted Kingsbury) Mike... speaking of dying... I was reaching for my magic armor... and remembered a question...??? whats the diff in the silver and (ORIGIN PAGAN) Rick..... is baking bread really fun? I like whacking monsters. (MelfromHell) Look, guys, if you can't bake bread now, who's to say that a silly game will teach you how to do it? (Ted Kingsbury) gold armor??? (Wendy Shaffer) "If an NPC sits and the player isn't looking, does the chair break?" (Bret Wier) Id Rather Have Story LIne then Bread (ORIGIN PAGAN) STORY GOOD! BAKING BAD.... (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy... careful you'll burn out your brain thinking that much... :) (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, so they've got lots of storyline workers on U9, I take it? Yeay... (Bret Wier) Long Story (Darren Griffis) A few sneaking teenagers in a town would be typical too... where are those rowdy teens?? (MelfromHell) Mr. Mike's baking BAD.. (Wendy Shaffer) Ted, I've finished U8, what else can I do? (ORIGIN PAGAN) I can bake???? (MelfromHell) No. (Ted Kingsbury) Mike... you sound an awful like one of those golems... :) UGH!!! (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, IC's. User User ID Nod Area Name ---- ------------- --- -------- ------------------- 5 71201,2200 NTV Rm 12 Wendy Shaffer 8 73753,212 NPS Rm 12 Michael O'Brien 16 73522,1470 NNI Rm 12 Ben Sawyer 24 70254,3075 RPA Rm 12 David B Jaromnak 27 72074,3445 LBD Rm 12 Russell Kremer 31 70673,1412 AEO Rm 12 Darren Griffis 34 71333,136 AUO Rm 12 ORIGIN PAGAN 42 73654,3611 RIK Rm 12 Rick Ralsten 47 72722,147 CVK Rm 12 Bret Wier 55 74271,2666 CUV Rm 12 Roy G. Carney 62 71333,136 AUT Rm 12 MelfromHell 68 75260,1240 LKW Rm 12 Brent Williams, KY 76 70714,2272 AUG Rm 12 Ted Kingsbury (MelfromHell) That's why I said it was bad.. (Rick Ralsten) Me too! Everyone seems obsessed with the bread-baking though. It's what everyone mentions with regards to 'interactivity' in U7... (Darren Griffis) How about a night scene with teens tipping cows? (MelfromHell) He smells like a golem, too. (ORIGIN PAGAN) UGH.. GOOB. and i do not smell like a golem... Smelanie.... (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy... are you talking about games??? :)... (I might have some OTHER suggestions)... (MelfromHell) Sure, you do, You put your nose to the ground and sniff your way home.. (Bret Wier) Why Did you have the golems grunt? (MelfromHell) 'Cause Mr. Mike does. (David B Jaromnak) ohh, its gettin nasty (ORIGIN PAGAN) I was really easy to do, and really funny.... (Rick Ralsten) BTW, I looked all around Lock Lake in U7 and *never* found the key to the shack with the Hoe of Destruction... (MelfromHell) And, as you folks now know, he's a GOLEM! (MelfromHell) Just kidding, Mr. Mike... :) (Darren Griffis) rick, its in a fish (ORIGIN PAGAN) (god I hate Mel when she's like this) (Wendy Shaffer) Ted, doing that and typing at the same time is not polite to the other person. (David B Jaromnak) smae here, where is that key! (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... does he open doors for you without your telling him to??? :) (Darren Griffis) I miss lock picks too! (MelfromHell) Well, yes. He does. (MelfromHell) There, is that better, Mike? (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy :) :)...(evil leer) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Thank you. (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... Ah then that's ok... a gentleman golem... :) (MelfromHell) The only one in existence... (ORIGIN PAGAN) A rare breed for sure.... (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, are there going to be cut scenes (away from isometric view) in U9? Pans, etc.? (Darren Griffis) Keep the fishing pole... (ORIGIN PAGAN) Shoof! (MelfromHell) Pots, pans, cups, plates...the whole thing... (ORIGIN PAGAN) We've been talking about how to do the scenes (MelfromHell) Sorry, but it's late.. (ORIGIN PAGAN) in U9. (Ted Kingsbury) Wendy.. well to tell the truth.. I'm trying something called Disciples of Steel... see fairly recent msgs on GAMERS for good info (Ben Sawyer) Are there plans to delve more in to the history of ultima I mean there are many things referred in the past history that might be fun to explore for instance the war that caused the bloody plains? (ORIGIN PAGAN) I personally like the same perspective throughout.... What do y'all think??? (Darren Griffis) I liked it. (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... sound real domestic :)... (Darren Griffis) Miss my keyboard controls though... (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, it would have been cool, for example, to sweep around Pyros in the summoning scene... (MelfromHell) Sorry, but I can't help but crack jokes at this time of night.. (Bret Wier) What Was Up With That Ship That Sunk With Gold??? (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, or to see a painted picture of the whole island doing something cool at the end... (ORIGIN PAGAN) The only problem with panning like that (Darren Griffis) yeah Can you actually find the ship? (ORIGIN PAGAN) is the "seams" of the scene.... (Wendy Shaffer) Bret, wait for an exapansion module. (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... watch those crack jokes... they'll get you 2 to 5... :) (ORIGIN PAGAN) How do you flawlessly integrate the panning without looking dorky.... (Roy G. Carney) I was more intrigued with the interactive scenes with Lucilla and Frigidazzi then the bread baking. (MelfromHell) Hey, I've been a prisoner of Origin for YEARS!! (Bret Wier) Dollars Of The salary?? (Rick Ralsten) I've always wondered about this one...What happens in the Frigidazzi scenes in SI if you play a female Avatar? (Darren Griffis) I enjoyed the jail break in U5 (Wendy Shaffer) Rick, same thing, but you get an "I'm not that kind of girl" option... (Roy G. Carney) She swings. (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... sort of like a sequel to "Prisoner of Zenda"... :) (Russell Kremer) She tempts you to a Lesbian affair (ORIGIN PAGAN) Just try it, Rick.... (Rick Ralsten) I would, but it's gone off my HD a long time ago... (ORIGIN PAGAN) Mine too.... (MelfromHell) %~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~W|`E gjjfjfjfkdkdk what's (ORIGIN PAGAN) Mel?? (Ben Sawyer) How about some time travel in future ultimas that take you back to past times in Brittannia? (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, could you do a Japanmie "rays of color = fast motion" for the seams? (MelfromHell) Sorry, I've been haing problems with this computer.. (Bret Wier) DOES u8 have a Problem With Double Space (Ted Kingsbury) MIke... quick get a spoon so she won't swallow her tongue!!! (Darren Griffis) Do we go to yet a new world in u9 or back to britannia? (Russell Kremer) Probably all that drooling, Mel (ORIGIN PAGAN) Wendy.... could you elaborate??? (Wendy Shaffer) Darren, u9 is Guardian's world. (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, in Anime when something is moving quickly, (ORIGIN PAGAN) (no Bret, no problems....) (MelfromHell) Yeah, Mike does have a long tongue. :) (ORIGIN PAGAN) (slow tho) (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] there are fastlines of color in the background, that symbolize "moving quickly" (Bret Wier) Why Do I Keep Getting A Divide Overflow Error???!!!?? (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] and draw the eye to the foreground figure, (ORIGIN PAGAN) (god i'm glad Robin's not on the board now) (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] so that you don't notice the seams so much. (MelfromHell) Oh, Robin and I are great friends... (David B Jaromnak) Who's Robin (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] The analogy here, (Michael O'Brien) Someone posted that u9 was expected this Christmas is that for real? (Russell Kremer) Is U0 set on the Guardian's world? Or is that just a vicious rumor? (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] would be to blur the edges, (ORIGIN PAGAN) (wendy) I understand....but really hard for us to do. (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] a la "dream-sequence"... or something. (MelfromHell) And she gives me her permission to harass Mike as much as possible. (ORIGIN PAGAN) (bret... one of our QA dudes here suggests an XMS boot disk) (Rick Ralsten) Bye all. Thanks for hanging around and answering all our questions, Mel, Mike, etc. ORIGIN *still* makes the best games! (Roy G. Carney) I am glad that was not Britannia or Earth I arrived at in the end game! I look forward to kicking the Guardian's butt. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Robin is my wife!!!!! (Robin McShaffry) (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, well, that's why you're at Origin, right, to do the impossible? With too many Mips? (Bret Wier) Thanks (ORIGIN PAGAN) THanks Rick!!! (MelfromHell) Alas, Ladies, the Studly Mr. Mike IS married... (Ben Sawyer) Mike what program do you use for Art Work (David B Jaromnak) ohh, now I understand (ORIGIN PAGAN) (wendy.... YIKES!) Yes we try to do the impossible.... just not the reallly really really really really impossible. (Wendy Shaffer) Like get it out on time? Or on budget? :) :) :) (MelfromHell) Ohh..Robin just walked in! Turn off your monitors!!!! AIEEEEEE! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Ben... we use 3d studio on the PC and other software on Silicon Graphics workstations.... (Darren Griffis) I'm outta here too.. Origin, It's been real.. Keep it up and look for my resume! Looking forward to U9!!! Later. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Wendy are you a programmer???? (Wendy Shaffer) Mike, what do folks there think of PowerPC etc.? Will that be viable anytime soon? (ORIGIN PAGAN) (bye Darren...thanks.) (Wendy Shaffer) [mike] Yes, a modest amount, for my science work. :) (Ted Kingsbury) Mike... which SGI?? used the new Indigo??.. (MelfromHell) Yep. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Yes we use the Indigo... whoop!!! (David B Jaromnak) Goodnight everyone. Thanks origin. (Ted Kingsbury) Looks like a neat box..:).. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Wish we could make games specifically for SGIs!!!!! (MelfromHell) Goodnight David.. (ORIGIN PAGAN) Bye David.... thanks ! (Russell Kremer) But you don't use OS/2 ... (had to say it!) (Bret Wier) Good Bye Everybody Its Been Fun And Here's To a Speedy RElease of U9!!!! (Ted Kingsbury) Been playing with my new 8100/AV but it's pretty dead with no native mode software yet... (ORIGIN PAGAN) OS2 !!!! Blech.... (ORIGIN PAGAN) Bye Bret..... (Brent Williams, KY) 'Night all! Thanks ORIGIN for some great games. Been at them since U1 and they're still the best...Here's to U9! (ORIGIN PAGAN) Call OSI CS if you keep having problems.... they'll help you out... (Russell Kremer) (I was paid to say that) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Your welcome Brent!!!! (Roy G. Carney) Is anyone here, attending the May 12 EA stockholders meeting? (MelfromHell) Robin is here to take Mr. Mike away... (ORIGIN PAGAN) I think I've had enough.... y'all...... (Wendy Shaffer) Bye, Mike! (Ted Kingsbury) Thanks.. and good night :) (ORIGIN PAGAN) Keep playing everyone.... see you in the credits (Russell Kremer) G'nite ... and thanks!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) section on Ultima 9...... (MelfromHell) And I'm going to make sure he leaves! (ESH) `P` (Ben Sawyer) well thanks alot I appreciate all of the answers and good humor!!! Keep up the good work!!! (ORIGIN PAGAN) If you have any questions at all, Wayne tells me that (Russell Kremer) Night Mel (ORIGIN PAGAN) he'll forward your mail to me. I'll be happy to (ESH) t/end (Wendy Shaffer) Mel, can you tell me whether the other project is one of B/Hunter or Werewolf or Bioforge? (ORIGIN PAGAN) answer it!!!!!! (MelfromHell) Good night! I'll be sure to (Ted Kingsbury) MelfromHell... MFM... Hmmmm ??? :) :) night (ORIGIN PAGAN) Adios! (MelfromHell) No. (Roy G. Carney) Good night and thank you (Wendy Shaffer) Hmmm. (MelfromHell) None of the above, to be exact. Bye, Mike. (Wendy Shaffer) Oh boy, that makes it even more interesting... :) (Michael O'Brien) Mel are there any plans for an "Ultima Construction Set"? (Ted Kingsbury) Mike... is there a patch for u8 due any time soon??? (MelfromHell) Just wait and see. All I can say is that's it's pretty exciting. (MelfromHell) Well, I am actually waiting to see a Posable Lord British doll... and action figures.. (Wendy Shaffer) Oh, here's a question: are there any strategy games (as opposed to rpg/action/action-sim) in the works at Origin? (Russell Kremer) Thanks a lot Origin for all the wasted hours of my life. Somehow, you made them worthwhile! (Ted Kingsbury) Mel.. since Mike was whisked away... do you know if there is going to be a patch for U8?? (Michael O'Brien) heheh... actually it would be cool though to release one of the scenario editors... I'd buy it (MelfromHell) You'll need to talk to Wayne for answers to both of those questions.. (Ted Kingsbury) Mel... would Wayne know about the patch?? (MelfromHell) Well, I am going to have to call it a night.. (Russell Kremer) Good night (MelfromHell) Yes, Wayne would be able to help you with that patch. (Ted Kingsbury) Thanks, Mel... :) keep Mr. M in line :) :) (Wendy Shaffer) Thanks very much for coming by, see you on the other side of both projects... :) (Michael O'Brien) Good night (MelfromHell) You bet. (Roy G. Carney) Good night (Ben Sawyer) So Long MelfromHell! (MelfromHell) I'm sure I'll see you guys with U9, and the SECRET project... (MelfromHell) g'nite. I'm going to go push LB out the door... (Wendy Shaffer) (Wow, I met Mel from Hell, my Ultima Moment is complete) Has LB been reading all this? :) (Roy G. Carney) What do we play in the meantime? (Ted Kingsbury) Night all... :)...