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Ultima 1 Remade & Reborn 153

sheetsda writes "A company called Peroxide Entertainment(a freeware company) is remaking Ultima 1 under the title Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn. They're using their own engine, 'featuring most of the goodies you'd expect of a modern commercial 3d engine in the market' and recycling the overall plot but adding details."
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Ultima 1 Remade & Reborn

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  • i loved this game to death, it's too bad they aren't using a decent well-tested engine though, but then, maybe it will be better than the ones currently in use (mostly from id)...
  • Do they have the rights to this?

    Or is U One Public Domain?
  • If you buy too much food it will roll over to 0 and you'll die.
  • by hubertf ( 124995 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2001 @09:08AM (#2319286) Homepage Journal
    I'd actually consider finding spare time for THAT.

    - Hubert
  • While I would enjoy playing the old Ultima 1 again (unfortunately, Windows 2000 doesn't allow for very good DOS compatability games, and won't run it) I'm worried about their claim of "adding more details". Unless they have Lord British himself working on this project (which, judging from what I could find on their homepage, they do not) then they're likely to get things wrong.

    They'll likely put in details that were never meant to be revealed in the original (mainly because no sequels were planned, so the story was completely self-contained). Also, if they put in any kind of false information or take any artistic liberties with the story, then they're risking alienating the die-hard fans of the Ultima series.

    It sounds like a good idea, but I'm concerned that adding in details would alter the original game too much and make for a less enjoyable experience. That having been said, sign me up; I can't wait to play the original all over again...

    • I guess I assume that when they said "adding detail" they meant adding graphic detail (rendering)...

      I could be wrong...
    • It's an interesting concept, although I think the time might be better spent developing original content rather than rehashing a classic. I liken it to someone rewriting Tolkien. It's been done and it's a good work, but it's just not the same.

      Artists take liberties with their works, and unfortunately Ultima may suffer that fate.

      I believe the most appealing things from the old games are the dated graphics and technology. To remember what used to be cutting edge and how much you enjoyed it back then is one of the best parts of the experience.

      Of course the thought of trying to get Space Quest I to run under Win2000 is enough to make me trust my memory instead of spending the time and aggravation in order to relive it
  • From about Ultima 4 on to maybe 7 or possibly 8. But before and after that, well.... spaceships?

    Definately worth picking up. I never could stick it out on the earlier ones.
    • That was the beauty of the game. Some of the stories seem to transcend time, especially Ultima II, in which time travel was an integral part of the game. It was a fantasy game, after all.
    • Personally I always enjoyed Ultima III, but maybe I'm biased - we played that on our old Atari 130XE (or was it the 800? Whatever) so much that when I went to school (elementary school, mind you) I could hear the music everywhere. It was a wonderful bonding experience with my brother, my dad and myself.

      I also enjoyed the fact that each game had a random map, so you had the cloth map to put labels on (we used right protect tabs, yes those paper things). The spell casting books were just awesome.

      And, of course, the fourth adventure was where they screwed up and killed off all races but humans. I don't remember for sure, but I also think that's where you stopped having a party that you completely controlled.

      Enough nostalgia for now, I suppose.
      • remember the first time you heard the music from when you went down the whirlpool? (which happened to be the same as when you met the time lord)

        or the wonderfully eerie dungeon crawl music?
        • I played it first on the C64, then the Atari ST .. The Atari used 3.5" drives, which held a lot more data and was a lot faster. But you're right, the music in U3 was fantastic, anyone know where you can download mp3's or midi files of this stuff?
        • Ahh, you are referring to Ambrosia!

          That aspect of the game (the whirlpool and the strange new exotic land filled with really hard mosters) was a really cool experience.

          Ultima 3 was a pure fantasy game. One day i'll get off my arse and get moving on my plan to create an Ultima3-like game [sourceforge.net]
          • not only was it full of nasty monsters, but where the nasty mosters were, you couldnt see what you were running into because it was in the deep forests.

            when i ran into those damn dragons i nearly pissed my pants.

            i also remember being able to steal massive amounts of crap from dawn because of the "AI" (and i use that term REALLY loosely) of the guards in Dawn.

            then i'd run out, rinse, repeat.

    • Ultima III was probably the second best game in the series...

      Played it extensively on my Commie 64... it was teh first game that i really got deeply involved in.

      8 was just plain horrible, and 7 was a pain in the ass with the "feed the whining party members" thing.

      • I found both Ultima III and Ultima IV [pomakis.com] very enthralling. Like most of the people reading this, I blew many many hours playing these games on the Commodore 64, eventually completing both.

        I found that the later games, however, didn't have the same attraction. Perhaps it was just because I was growing up (*gasp!*), but I think it was more that the first few games left more to the imagination, whereas the later games tried to compensate for imagination by adding more graphic realism. Don't get me wrong, I think adding more graphic realism is a noble goal. But it doesn't actually improve game play. Ultima III fit on one 180kb disk, but the world of Sosaria within was very rich. The secret to achieving this was to let the mind fill in the details as to how things actually looked and sounded, etc.

        (Although I'm sure at the time the designers were just thinking "shit, this is the best we can do in 64K of memory, oh well!".)

  • Does that mean I can re-write "Horace Goes Skiing" using some neato current day 3D engine?

    That'd be cool. 8-bit games transferred into 3D FPS types..

    Not many people can argue that 8/16-bit days were the best for gaming ;)
    • Bundle it up with revamped versions of Horace in the Caves and Horace and the Spiders and you've got my money.
    • Classics are good because they are classics. If Galaga or Centipede were new games, they would be dismissed as mindless twitch, no matter how fancy the engine was.
      • all I want for xmas is a side scrolling space shoot-em-up. Or an omnidirectional multi-fire shootem-up. Or pretty much any shootem-up. As long as they are fast, have LOADS of powerups, a LOUD soundtrack, and endless streams of baddies in formation punctuated by over-rendered bosses.

        I would pay through the NOSE for that [mental image you DIDN'T need].

        I miss my amiga sometimes. It liked to run 3-d games as much as I like to play them: not at all.
        • If an omnidirectional multi-fire shootem-up is your bag I do hope you own the wonder that is Bangai-O for the Dreamcast. Treasure are keeping the insane shooter alive almost single-handedly these days.

          If its PC-based scrolly shooting you need, get after Star Monkey [smallrockets.com] from Small Rockets. Fancy 3d lighting effects from your graphics card, but its still a vertical scroller.
  • Hrm... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Bob McCown ( 8411 )
    I wonder if Im going to have to swap floppies like I used to on my C64....
    • You were obviousely one of the priveleged users to own a blisteringly-fast Commodore 1541 floppy drive...
      • i had a 1571, beeyotch...

        of course i also had a 128 which had twice the RAM of the 64...
        • I seem to remember I owned one of the Evesham Micro slimline drives - I think it was ex-x86 equipment somehow taped and stuck together to work on a C-64/128.. I believe they said "yes sir, we can assure you 80% compatibility with this drive..." - that was only after i'd sent it back 2-3 times as it didn't work with the software (GeOS) that they supplied with it.. nice sense..
      • I actually had 2 1541 drives, which I needed to run a fairly busy BBS (at 300 baud, no less). Man, I miss those days!!
        • 2-1541's (With JiffyDOS), 2-1541 Clones (With JiffyDOS), and a 1581 (The ol' 3.5"ers). I've been online since 300 baud was new for the C=64! That had to have been the most fun I've ever had in technology! Especially with Butterfield's reference books! ML RULES! Ok.. ok.. it's just assembly, but to us, it was VERY fun! Even figuring out how to build a reset switch off of 2 pins on the expansion card bus. (Or was it the Cartridge slot bus? I can't remember any more).

          Ahhh.. those were the days! I ran boards up through the 2400 days, then retired for about 4 years and sold out when I bought my first 486DX-50.
    • I still have my C64, and she still runs well.

      It's just that [TV Game] adaptor on the back of the TV that annoys me so much.

      load *.*,8,1

  • I heard first about this project at 3dfiles.com (R.I.P.) and was tested the very early alpha. I was great and it's getting better and better with every version.

    I never had problems reaching their site... until today...
  • DAMN I'm gonna miss the music!
  • Umm, there wasn't a real plot in Ultima I. You didn't really see games developing plots for some years after that.
    • Umm, there wasn't a real plot in Ultima I

      It didn't have much for character development, but it did have an ultimate goal (kill the big foozle, mondain) with various large steps toward it, including having to go back in time and destroy his gem of immortality. This is more plot than akalabeth had, for example.

      U4 was where Ultima peaked in terms of concept, it was unfortunately downhill from there.
  • Ultima I was extraordinary, and I loved playing it. I'm looking forward to seeing the remake.

    But...

    Are there so few new ideas in the world that we have to pick up the old ones? This reminds me of the horrific trend in the music scene of doing teeny-bopper remixes of 80's and early 90's tunes.
  • by kramer ( 19951 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2001 @09:24AM (#2319329) Homepage
    Fans of the ultima series might want to check out Exult [sourceforge.net] which will allow you to play Ultima 7, Ultima 7 II, and their add ons without using a speed limiter in DOS.

    It's still development, but you can apparently paly Ultima 7, and it's expansion "Forge of Virtue" in their entirety, and most of Ultima 7 II is playable.

    It does require you to have the actual game, so it's not a complete game itself, just a re-written engine.
    • Exult absolutely rules. One of these days, I'm going to take a week's vacation and send my son to his mom's house and play U7 straight through because it's such an awesome game and because I know the machine's not gonna lock up on me after four or five hours of gameplay. I'm not a gamer, but I love U7. Go figure. -l
  • Ultima II is a game that most people seem to forget. It, like Ultima 1 is a GCA-graphics (read: 3 colour + black) game BUT unlike Ultima II, Ultima 1 was remade in the early 1990s for EGA so thus has the same graphics quality as Ultima III, leaving Ultima II to look the old, unexciting game of the lot. What's more, the current distributor (austensibly EA, though at one time it was Sierra "Online") can't even be bothered to fix an install bug in which the original version contained 2 floppy discs where some of the files had the same name. When this game is distributed now, those 2 discs are copied onto 1 CD and the files (map files) with the same name on disc 2 are erased. Thus, game play is incorrect for acts of the game because the maps are wrong.

    Ultima II was an epic tale in which one visited Earth in the past, future and present as well as the planets of her solar system. The black sheep of the Umtima series, it has been much forgotten most likely because of its CGA Graphics.

    In conclusion, much as a NEW NEW Ultima I would be nice, could we at LEAST have an EGA version of Ultima II FIRST?? I mean, a game series is only as strong as its weekest link...

    Devo Andare,

    Jeffrey.
    • I feel the same way. Ultima II rocked! I used to play on my old Atari 800. The game had a cool cloth map. I loved robbing the towns, finding the invincible guards, creating boats from thin air, flying the planes.

      I wonder why no one else feels the same.

      You can still play it with an emulator though.
  • Exult [sourceforge.net] is an awesome reimplementation of the Ultima7 engine. They use the original graphics, so you need the original game, but it's GPL'd and SDL'd so you can play Ultima7, eh Exult under Windows, MacOS, BeOS and Linux :) Michael
  • by weslocke ( 240386 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2001 @09:26AM (#2319338)
    Over at the Fans for Ultima [fansforultima.com] website they have quite a bit of information about the various Ultima remakes & patches in the works.

    This is yanked from that page... some info on other remakes:

    Monday, September 3, 2001: Remake Mania

    Hello people,
    This is my first news update for FfU. Maigo and I decided to share the work, so that the site sees changes more often. This one is just a news update, the subsections will be updated soon. We're glad you've stayed tuned over the past months.

    A lot has happened in the fan community, with several new and interesting projects announced. Most of them try to recapture the magic of the earlier games with newer technology, so this is both for nostalgic fans and for those who never played the older Ultimas because of their dated graphics. So here are the new projects, in "chronological" order:

    Ultima IV: The Dawn of Virtue [www.hut.fi]: The Dawn of Virtue: Using a self-written engine similar to Bioware's Infinity engine (which powered games like "Baldur's Gate" and "Planescape: Torment"), project leader Jaako Peltonen plans to redo "Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar", released 1985. The website provides several concept renderings and drawings.

    Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 [twistsoft.co.uk]: Twister Software is currently working on a complete remake of the two Ultima Underworlds with a new 3D Engine. Surprising is the announcement of a multiplayer mode; up to 8 heroes will be able to explore the Abyss or shatter the Blackrock dome.

    Ultima VII: The Black Gate and The Serpent Isle [azmodean.com] : Like Ultima V: Lazarus, this project is going to use the Dungeon Siege engine. Interesting are the "Expected Outcome Pictures", Dungeon Siege promotional shots showing what some Ultima locations could look like.

    Ultima IX: Redemption [home.net]: Another project using the Dungeon Siege engine. As a response to the plotwise disappointing Ultima IX: Ascension (Dialogue/Plot patch downloadable here), Ultima IX Redemption is not a remake, but a completely new attempt at finishing the trilogy of trilogies. Avatus, the project leader, promises a rich and compelling storyline with several endings, depending on your decisions.

    A similar attempt is Ultima IX: Eriadain [multimania.com], which will make use of the upcoming Neverwinter Nights engine.

    Ultima IV: Elijah [geocities.com]: Elijah rocks. Plain and simple.

    This means that teams are working on remakes for every Ultima except 2, 3, 8 and the Worlds of Ultima series. That's a lot. It's great to see that the community is that active. If even half of these projects get finished, we'll have a lot to play in the future.

    All the announcements have inspired Evil_Freak Dragon to write a pretty hilarious story featuring all the major projects. "Lazarus' Redemption Prophecy: A Legend is Reborn with the Dawn of Elijah's Great Balls of Fire" features some insider humor, but it might still be a great read even if you aren't involved in any of the projects.
    -Grandor Dragon
    • Thanks :) I have always wondered if there was any place keeping track of all these remakes. I keep meaning to start reading the Ultima Dragon's newsgroup again. It is great to see these being remade and to live again. The best thing about the older Ultima's is that they were made back when you had to rely more on story than good graphics.

      IMO the absolute best story wise was Ultima V. I loved Ultima V to death and spent years playing it over and over. The whole intrigue of the resistance and the oppression and thwarting Blackthorn and the Shadowlords was just so thrilling!

      That and I loved the fact you could murder people in their beds, steal torches, smash mirrors and push the cannons around and shoot people with them. *evil grin*
  • Some memories are better left alone. I played the first 3 Ultimas on a C64, and was enthralled. A couple of classmates (high school) and I went as far as to write a basic, in BASIC, 2D engine for displaying Ultima-like graphics and dealing with movement, collisions, etc. It seriously helped propel some of us into computers.

    HOWEVER, thinking back on what was fond memories of hours, no WEEKS, lost to playing these games it is better left alone.

    You can never go back. I fear all this project will do is demonstrate the reality isn't a match for my memory of the past.
    • You can never go back. I fear all this project will do is demonstrate the reality isn't a match for my memory of the past.

      Amen. On the Apple II I *loved* the game Wizardry. That game was so far ahead of its time. However, I'm (just) smart enough to realize that no manner of updating the engine/graphics/etc is going to bring this game up-to-snuff with modern games designed from the ground up with today's technology, unless the whole game is reworked. And if the latter, what's the point ? To me, this is just like the colorization of all those old movie classics that Ted Turner was - rightly - so roundly criticized for - it just tarnishes what was once golden.
    • Funny, that's exactly what happened to me: played Ultima on my old '64 when I was 13, this got me into programming BASIC (argh, blae, yuck) to render Ultima maps for printing, then I reprogrammed the 2D view of U3 (which only showed parts of the landscape not obstructed by mountains), learned to optimize this via lookup tables and finally made the big leap and started programming in assembler to speed everything up.

      Now I'm sitting here on my butt, earning money by software development.

      So I can truly say that Ultima influenced my life.

      Kudos to Richard Garriott [gamespydaily.com] aka Lord British!

  • I noticed the site is getting slow so I decided to mirror the Technology Demo. It's 3.9MB and available here:
    http://shakti.tky.hut.fi/slashdot/u1_tech.zip [tky.hut.fi]
  • This just seems to be a marketing scheme to pimp their new 3d-engine... I don't see how it is of much intrest to anybody here... there is not even a linux port.. or even a mention of one on there website. We could probably wine the older version and be better off. oh well...

    • It might be possible to port the whole thing to linux using the CrystalSpace 3d engine if they don't build everything too windows specific. If they GPL the thing, why not?
  • As I read about this same story in this month's issue of PC Gamer I thought the coolest part was that Peroxide got permission to re-create Ultima I by simply calling up Richard Garriot and asking his permission. The only stipulation he placed on it was that Peroxide couldn't sell it.

    I'd love to see some of those classic games make come backs with updated technology. Many of the early computer games (especially RPGs) had to have depth and imagination to make up for the lack of presentation.

    *sigh* Still waiting for a decent remake of Pirates.

    • amen on the pirates.

      wasnt there a Pirates Gold that came out recently, but still blew the moose?
    • The great thing about Pirates! is that it runs at proper speed on modern machines. All you need to find is one of the versions with the ASM hack so it runs as an executable. Pirates! Gold, on the other hand, required VESA, which blows blows blows. Quick tip: Find one relative, then find the lost inca gold. Then, find the next relative. New map, new inca treasure! Repeat for all relatives. Boom, baby!
  • by consumer ( 9588 ) on Wednesday September 19, 2001 @09:36AM (#2319386)
    Ultima I was a great game, and I ground my Apple II+ floppy drives to dust playing it. I fondly remember outrageous playability bugs like stealing in town and then killing absolutely everyone in it with the sci-fi weapons that become available at one point. I also remember the cool downview graphics that looked like they were done with nothing fancier than a custom font. Remaking this game in 3D would rob of it of its charm.
    • Richard Garriott wrote the "kill everyone in town" bit into the game on purpose. His idea was that by the time you could do that, you could win the game anyway if you really wanted to. It was like the "drop a coin in a corner of the town, get a dagger" routine that let you build up cash a little at a time if you needed the money that bad. Completely intentional. I was there (and can be seen in the game as Chad the Mad).
  • What we really need is an up-to-date remake with a modern 3-d rendering engine of the classic Apple game 'Lemonade'.
  • Nothing new here. Lots of remakes of most of the popular ultimas (1, 4, 6) are being done. Look around [tripod.co.uk] and you'll find them all over the place. Some look pretty promising. Most are done with the Vampire or Neverwind nights engines.
  • See Blitz 3D [blitzbasic.com]... for evidence of its capabilities, see Skidmarks Construction Kit [acid.co.nz]
  • If they make all of those changes, how can it still be considered Ultima?
  • There are also major remakes in progress for U5, U6, and U9.

    U9 has several actually.. One is just a dialog patch, which keeps the same game but redoes all the dialog to change the plot of the game. There are also plans to completely recode the game from scratch with a plot and features that are typical to ultima games (a party for instance).

    As for rights, I don't think any of these games have permission. Most of them have tried and have gotten no response. They are pursuing with the hope that the non-commercial intent will fall under the radar. If they DO respond negatively, the engine and new media can be utilized for other games unrelated to the Ultima series.

    As for alienating ultima fans, the series is closed. There won't be any more Ultima games as far as the Avatar in Britannia is concerned. Details can be safely invented at this stage, as long as they don't interfere with stock storylines, as there won't be any more to interfere with it later. And the long term plot tends to contradict itself on several occasions anyways, so its not a major crisis anyways.

    The point of remaking these older games is to provide a way to more modern gamers to experience the enchanting wonder of the Ultima games. This way the series will be kept alive even if no new titles are released under the name.

    -Restil
  • Why should people even use the grey matter that is found between their ears when they can just ride the coat-tails of another person's success to the top? It is the same in the music industry, find an old hit, add a beat to it, butcher the lyrics, cut print, watch money roll in.

    Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to codeing my new game, Nibbles 2002.
  • I am playing U4 straight through right now using the ccs64 [ccs64.com] emulator and the rom [lemon64.com]. The game is very playable this way (unlike the Ultima Classics EA disc with moslo bs). You get all the music, and the rare pleasure of the Commodore 64 interface as well.

    Rocking good fun!

    Also -- for a bit of well crafted flash reminiscence -- check Lazarus [purdue.edu]

    rcmiv

    • I am playing U4 straight through right now using the ccs64 emulator and the rom.
      (Kids...) Calling 5,25" floppy images "ROMz" is just plain silly...

      ...then again, I've ocassionally talked of "burning d64z to floppies" myself so maybe I should just shut up... =)

      (Personally, I almost completed the PC version of U4, but the floppy I had copied the game from wore out and I didn't have a copy of the files. Damn...)

  • Very impressive remaking of an old classic, looks promising.

    I think there would be a huge double edged market for old titles remade to fit with todays tech.

    Imagine bards tale, phantasm, saboteur with new engines e.t.c, the developers would get both us set of old geeks wanting to play (I can still remember my way around the town in bards tale 1, but not it's name! That was AGES ago.) and new people who think its a crash hot title.

    I reckon there would be a lot more interest in the RPG side of things than in the remakes of space invaders (virgin?) and Frogger (activision) we have seen recently.

    If anyone is else is planning or doing something like this for another rpg system i.e bards tale, moonstone knights then let me know and I will help out.

    Syrf1@yahoo.com
  • I know it's been lauded over and over as a revolution in role playing on the computer, but I always thought it was boring and ugly. It was almost as bad as the first Dragon Warrior for walking around for hours and killing things without advancing the plot at all.

    It's neat that it's getting a facelift but if it's still all about roll playing and not role playing I think I'll pass.
  • If you want to play Ultima I, I think you should run one of the original Ultimas in one of the apailable emulators.

    Or, even better, run Akalabeth.

    This was all "hot" stuff for Apple II emulators circa 1996; see these google archives [google.com] for details.

  • This is a fantastic idea.

    Examples in other industries have shown that playing on people's nostalgia can be very profitable indeed.

    Take, for example, the success Fender had in bringing its line of "re-issue" guitars. Let's face it, sometimes the things of the past were made with greater care, quality, and creativity than their modern counterparts, and recapturing that lost craftsmanship is a fine idea, especially if you enjoy lining your pockets with cash.

    I wish this idea would reach the automobile industry, I could really go for a revamped late 60's Mustang!
    • Nice sentiment... and it's something I'd love to see myself. However, let's look at Hollywood as an example. They remake movies from old movies or TV shows all the time, knowing they are working with a proven idea, and also they can cash in on the nostalgia factor. The problem is that with few exceptions, these remakes suck!

      I wouldn't have any high expectations for a remake of something classic like the old Ultima games (for the record I played 2, 3, and 4, and recently picked up the reissued bundle of the whole series). However, I would be ticked to be proved wrong. Some remakes are good.

  • When are they going to do their interpretation of nethack? I want to see my ascii characters in full 3d rendered action!
  • Will you still be able to add new party members and steal their gold?
  • Dungeon master was remade in java

    http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~alandale/dmjava/

    The version supplied is a new advanture... it's really cool, but what's best is you can play the original dungeon master I levels as well. Grab the levels at http://bigcalm.freeservers.com

  • Isn't 'Ultima' a trademark from Origin/EA?

    Are they forgoing it? Do these companiese have to pay them to be call their products like that, or are they just waiting to sue them afterward and capture all the profit, if they're succesful?
  • in the Beer sense? How about speech (ie opensource?)?
  • Hello,
    Answering to some of the concerns posted here:

    "too bad they aren't using a decent well-tested engine though"

    -If you are stating this from playing our Tech Demo 1.0, this demo uses a build of the engine that is long outdated. A tech demo 2 will be released in the upcoming months featuring a much more powerful and polished engine, with some of gameplay code already avaible.

    "I'm worried about their claim of "adding more details"."

    "If they make all of those changes, how can it still be considered Ultima?"

    - This has certainly been a concern that has been talked over in our message boards, and more than frequently end up in purists vs revisionists discussions.

    My views are that this is common for any kind of franchise and remake projects, which require revisions of the original subject. This is another time, the technology has evolved drasticly, and people have today different expectations about what a game should offer. Creating new content and revising the old is unavoidable in the Industry.

    We certainly take artistic liberties, but we try to keep our changes within the context and make this game feel like an Ultima when being played. While we unfortunately do not have Richard Garriot working with us, we have die hard Ultima fans who know the storyline extensively, countless Internet databases, and our own belief that we can make a compelling and involving storyline from the overly simplistic aspects of the original.
    Please feel free to visit our boards to discuss this subject.

    "Are there so few new ideas in the world that we have to pick up the old ones?"

    "This just seems to be a marketing scheme to pimp their new 3d-engine"

    Actually this is something that has little to do with lack of ideas, much less money-making. This project is being made by Ultima fans who would like to celebrate the series and make a tribute to the fan community by remaking the original game and bringing up once again the experience of visiting Sosaria.
    We have each several ideas for different kind of games and original plots, but liking Ultima so much, we have all been brought together to work on our own version of the first Ultima, pretty much in the same manner many of the other fans would make their own if given the chance to.

    "You can never go back. I fear all this project will do is demonstrate the reality isn't a match for my memory of the past. "

    I cannot agree more.
    Certainly all of us have good memories of playing Ultima for hours at some point of our lives. We are not attempting to replace these memories. You can naturally play the original U1 today and it wont be the same experience. We are trying to make though a whole new experience, but that still relates to the previous trips to Britannia, in context and looks.
    To those who would not like to let go the original U1 and what they feel at playing it, they can always stick to the original, and there's something quite cool about it. Without a doubt, we cannot please every fan, though we attempt to hear all.

    With your input, I'm pretty sure we can make a better game. Please feel welcome to visit our boards and post your views there. You'll certainly be heard.

    -Ralph Damiani
    Artist/PR Peroxide DK.

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