Ultima Online

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

History

This game world was based in many areas of the virtual worlds of the created since 1980 running of Richard Garriott single-player Ultima series. The game world exists in its basic features since 1997 and became like little by means of game enhancements to new land masses, character classes greatly expanded and enhanced. Within the game world with thousands of other players can also embody characters from different backgrounds ( from beggar to Drachenbändiger ) and interact in complex ways with each other.

To do this for a large number of players at the same time possible, were taken the world by and by numerous official game server up and running. The best game access for European players generally offer the game servers Drachenfels ( mostly German ) and Europe ( mainly English speaking) with server location in London, UK.

Game idea

Some characters with appropriate skills create items that other characters or non-player characters ( NPCs ) can be purchased for gold. This created a kind of circulation economic system. Gold can also be earned in the so-called dungeons that make up the adventure aspect of the game. The characters can fight there, especially monster. However, there are numerous ways to stage fights with other characters, the so-called Player vs. Player ( PvP). What Ultima Online distinguished above all other online role-playing games, is a moral element, the incorporation of a system of virtues ( virtues ), which play a role in the game: Spirituality, bravery, sacrifice, compassion, justice, honesty, honor and humility.

Also, an important element is the almost unique learning-by -doing principle. Up to 700 skill points are distributed on the skills. Who many animals tames eg, learning Taming ( Tame ) to do so. Unlike in most other RPGs also skills such as magic is not learned, for example, from one level to the other suddenly to 100 % and always work, but with increasing Magery skill ( magic ability) the probability increases spell successfully to speak.

There is also the possibility of any ability to learn and to unlearn any. There are also many different skills, so that the character is always in process and never, as is often the case in other games, ' ready ' (eg at the highest level ) is. There is always the question of whether the other skill would be better, because each skill has its advantages.

Online server

For longer-term game participation for an audition time must be purchased (from one month to one year) in advance, the more playing time. Payment can be made by means of standard credit or debit card, Game Time Code, PayPal or Money Order as well as various alternative subscription forms.

In addition to more than 20 worldwide official servers in different geographic regions, there are still a number freeshards, where usually not small changes in the configurations were carried out. The first German opened in 1998 and is still online. On some freeshards new monsters have been introduced to other changes are made ​​in the skills, others devote themselves particularly strongly to the classic role-playing game or are specially meant for player vs. Player ( PvP) interested players. This freeshards were only with the appearance of so-called server emulators available that mimic the official server software and using the Ultima Online client - without access to official and paid OSI ( Origin Systems Incorporated) servers - allow.

For some time the number of freeshards growing strongly. This is massively driven by the development of several new server emulators whose configuration is much simpler. Thus it can be expected in the near future with numerous other new freeshards.

Expansion Overview

• Ultima Online (Fall 1997) First published in Germany.
• The Second Age (October 1, 1998) Also known as T2A, this expansion included a new land mass called Lost Lands, followed by the in-game chat system and new monsters.
• Renaissance (April 3, 2000) The game world size was doubled, since there were now two facets. The worlds were Felucca and Trammel, after the two moons in Ultima's Britannia world, named. In Trammel, however, the Player Killing is not allowed to continue Felucca. Felucca missed a "bad " look. Although the expansion added many interesting aspects to the fight control system, many players felt the first hours of this extension as the beginning of the end of UO, since much of what UO into something special made ​​(Free PvP ( Player versus Player), Player Killing, looting ), was impossible by the trammel land mass and most of the players went by and by there. Renaissance is still the most stable version for meistgenutze freeshards, but running him gradually Age of Shadows from the rank.
• Third Dawn (7 March 2001) was the most prominent change in the optional 3D client, but which until recently could not keep up with other MMORPGs such as Dark Age of Camelot and was discontinued therefore, not least because a majority of players still the 2D client preferred. Simultaneously with the 3D client, a new land mass was added - Ilshenar. This part of the game world was to reach up to the appearance of Lord Blackthorn's Revenge with the 3D client. The support for this client has been set back by now. It can be from version number 6.0 no longer intends to start.
• Lord Blackthorn's Revenge (19 April 2002) Lord Blackthorn's Revenge brought new monsters, based on Todd McFarlane (known for Spawn ) creatures for a new, dark game world. Furthermore, the game 's AI, in-game help and the character creation has been improved.
• Age of Shadows ( 7 March 2003) With this expansion there was the long-awaited new land mass to build the house - Malas. There were two new skills ( Chivalry - Chivalry and Necromancy - Necromancy / necromancy ) as well as the opportunity to design his house individually.
• Samurai Empire (November 2 2004) This extension was added in a new Far Eastern feel. New land mass, new enemies, new weapons, new items and clothing, two new skills ( Samurai and Ninja ).
• Mondain 's Legacy (August 30, 2005) A new playable race: elf, elves, a new city, new enemies, new dungeons, lots of new craft items and options, new wood, artifacts and much more manufacturable have been introduced with this extension, which so far has only download via a code on the market. It was also with this extension, a variety of quests have been added, at which the player must accomplish specific tasks and then receives for various rewards.
• The Eighth Age (18 October 2005) A collection of all the content previously available. The Eighth Age appeared for the eighth anniversary of the official server, received in addition to eight different items that possibility to transfer a character from one shard to another.
• Kingdom Reborn (28 July 2007) With this expansion, a new 3D client was developed, which is to replace the previous 3D client and later, at sufficiently large acceptance by the players, is to replace the 2D client completely. In this case, inter alia, all the graphics, and the entire UI redesigned. UOKR will only be a Grafik-/Clientupgrade, in which there will be no new content. The client is adapted to the more or less standardized clients newer MMOGs, so Hotbars, no free-moving icons, etc. UOKR is delivered free of charge and can be obtained via the Internet. It is offered to also find a guide to Download / View.
• Stygian Abyss (8 September 2009). Stygian Abyss includes a new dungeon - the eponymous Stygian Abyss - which will be the largest to date dungeon in UO universe, a new land mass ( Ter Mur), and a new playable race - the gargoyles. Even female Gargoyles in UO universe are first introduced. In addition, there will be 2 new skills ( Imbueing and Mysticism ) and much new content - new quests, new manufacturable items, new artifacts and more. In addition, the Kingdom Reborn client is replaced by the Enhanced Client, which is based on the KR core.

Sequels

There have been two attempts to establish successor.

• The first attempt, which was announced in 1999 was initially the name Ultima Online 2 and was later Ultima Worlds Online: Origin ( UWO: O) renamed. The initial idea was a world in which the past, the present and the future collided in a world caused by a mistake of Lord British, as he wanted to bring together the fragments of the gem of immortality again. Todd McFarlane was hired as a designer for some monsters. 2001 UO 2 was set as Electronic Arts feared to make what was still a smaller market of MMORPGs competing with itself, and thus harming the original UO. Some of the monsters and graphics that were created for UWO came later with the add-on Lord Blackthorn's Revenge used.
• The second attempt was called Ultima X: Odyssey and should be in a world called Alucinor, after the events of Ultima IX: Ascension play. Although in 2004 a working beta version existed, EA presented a further development in order to focus on the existing UO.

Free clients

For Ultima Online there are a number of free clients that offer additional opportunities in graphic or operation. In addition, these clients allow gambling on the so-called freeshards.

• Palanthir was developed by the Freeshard UO Middle Earth client in 2D. Whether this client is still being developed, is currently uncertain, as UO Middle Earth with respect to the "Lord of the Rings" universe had to cease operations due to trademark laws, claims, however, is planning a further Freeshard to make the client for their shard available.

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

• Iris2 ( 3D/2D-Client ) is an open source client for playing Ultima Online freeshards. Iris2 represents the world of Ultima Online in full 3D dar. Iris2 was reprogrammed from the ground up and uses the current Ogre3D engine. The entire game logic is written in Lua, and the sound runs over FMod. Furthermore Iris2 also includes a 2D renderer that represents the game world as the normal Ultima Online client. The change between 3D and 2D can be done directly while playing. The client is available for Windows and Linux.

The development of iris1 was discontinued in 2006.

• Ultima XNA is the latest open-source 2D client development. It is written in C #. The aim of the client is to support all functions of the original client, and to be as flexible and extensible. Among others, there is also a plugin functionality, with the example Freeshards own plugins can insert, as well as give an opportunity to create Gumps via XML. The project is currently in milestone 0.3.

Freeshards

For Ultima Online there was from the beginning "free server " (so-called freeshards ) operate independently of the publisher and are free. However, playing on these servers is a violation of the Terms of UO. To date, however, no case is known where by Electronic Arts was subject to legal action against such Freeshard.

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

From the Freeshard era has contributed to the today Sphere server called emulator, which previously the name Gray World followed by TUS ( The Ultimate Server). This was for a long time as the most popular emulator. The most widely used version was Sphere 55i.

Nowadays, there are a number of other, partly open source, emulators. Among RunUO (. Windows / Microsoft NET, C #, open source), SunUO (Linux / Mono NET, C #, open source. ), Wolfpack (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, C ​​ , open source) and POL - penultima Online (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, a closed source ).

Freeshards be roughly sorted into two divisions.

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

In almost all servers also exists the possibility of PvP (Player vs. Player).

Tools

There are a number of tools to Ultima Online. These are some of OSI ( Origin Systems Inc., manufacturer) approved. Some tools, however, are enjoying high popularity without being officially admitted. Of the following six popular wizard only UO Assist and UO Auto- Map are allowed on the servers of Origin Systems Interactive.

Officially licensed

• UO Assist is a paid 3rd party tool that only works on OSI servers. Some earlier versions could be modified so that they were also available on Sphere.
• UO Auto- Map is a program which forms part of a world map with additional information. Through interaction with the client, it may pursue the player in the world the position. UO Auto- Map is no longer being developed.

Other

• Razor is a free UOAssist clone with many new functions. Once the program for RunUO was written but is now even on OSI servers quite popular. It requires the. NET Framework.
• UOLoop is a tool that the player through automation of the macros created in the game makes some operations that would otherwise be handled by tiresome clicking. Some shards but prohibit the use of this tool, as it is used by gamers to Increase Power of Skills despite the absence in the game. Especially in the RP- Shardszene you meet these prohibitions, as it definitely is there a violation of the Shardregeln and a disregard for the RPs to bring his character without the presence in the game. There are also intermediate solutions that approve the program, but the players are committed to the presence of what can control the GMs at any time.
• EasyUO is a program with which you can automate many processes in the Ultima Online world completely. This is often considered cheating. Therefore, it is prohibited at all official servers and many freeshards.
• Injection is a complex open-source 3rd party tool that runs on pole, UOX, Sphere and earlier versions of RunUO. There are relatively many modifications, since it is open source. Some revisions as, inter alia, the pG | dE injection have integrated Cheat / Hack- functions - but are already outdated. Injection is prohibited on almost all shards.

Server emulators

• Sphere is an emulator to simulate its own shard. On Sphere long time ran all freeshards the scene. There are versions for Windows and Linux. The precursor of Sphere were TUS and Gray World. Sphere uses a proprietary scripting language.
• RunUO is written for the Microsoft. NET Framework emulator. Unlike Sphere are program and "Scripts " written entirely in C # and open source. The version 1.0 is capable of running on both Windows as well as Linux ( with minor changes ). In summer 2006, the first release candidate for version 2.0 NET appeared, based on. 2.0. The developers of RunUO have announced that they will not support the current expansion Kingdom Reborn.
• SunUO a fork is based on RunUO 1.0. SunUO runs natively on both Linux and Windows. The performance is between 1.0 and RunUO RunUO 2.0.
• POL - also known as penultima online. As a scripting language that specially developed language eScript is used.
• Wolfpack is also an open source emulator. It runs under Windows, Linux and BSD. As a scripting language Python is used.
• Lonewolf is a derivative of Wolf Pack 12.6
• Steam Engine is a Czech emulator that is written in C #.