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Fans of the massively multiplayer online game genre know that Ultima Online paved the way for Mabinogi Gold so many other titles. But twelve years later, should we still care?
Though it's still touted as the first MMO to reach 100,000 subscribers, a lot has changed since 1997. The game's on its second engine, and its eighth expansion Stygian Abyss -- with a new playable race as well as new skills and play areas -- launches today.
So while longtime fans of the franchise will no doubt be checking out what's new, we wondered if UO had anything to offer those who've never logged on.
"Do we think we'll attract new players? Yes," says producer Calvin Crowner in an e-mail interview with massively. "I think we will, simply because the average gamer out there is looking for a new play experience.
Probably the first hurdle for Stygian Abyss was getting all of the art initially developed for the expansion ported over to the classic client. Initially, Stygian Abyss was only going to be supported with the [2007's] Kingdom Reborn engine.
But we decided to change that and have it support the classic client as well. So we had to update the art pipeline -- no mean feat -- and migrate many of those art assets to the classic client.