alyssa01's Full Review: Ultima Online Renaissance for Windows
Overview: "ea.com", the company formerly known as Origin Systems Interactive, has released a copy of Ultima Online in a new box, hoping to cajole new clients into the game. A blaringly white box cover with a rather busty Enchantress Emily beckon new blood to this overpriced hoax of a game.
GamePlay Mechanics: Ultima Online requires a character setup at the beginning of the game. You do not get many customization options... you can choose male/female, and the color of your skin and hair. These colors are all rather boring in that they are all "natural." Personally, my favorite color is blue, and if I can't have blue hair in game, I'll know the reason why! You choose three skills, as well, from a list that contains such useful everyday skills like "herding." That's right, herding. Animal herding. As in, grabbing a crook and moving some sheep. I don't know why.
Once in the game, you are dropped into a city that is going to be hostile. Not to run a subject into the ground (please feel free to read my review of Ultima Online) but the world is not going to be nice to you. Much like real life, your questions about why you are there aren't going to be answered. Many hours are required before the game will become fun and easy. Problems abound, with bugs, cheats, dupes, and hacks, as well as people taking advantage of the anonymity of online games to be complete jerks (called twinks in online-speak).
You can be a fighter (swords, fencing weapons, or maces), a mage (all schools of magic are one), a thief(pillage, pillage, pillage... loot, loot, loot), or a tradesman. The tradesman class is one I highly recommend, since you will mostly be safe from monsters, and you can make money easily. Of course, there's still the issue of player killers...
So, what's new? Ultima Online: Renaissance brought the inception of a new world. Granted, it's just the old world redone again, but in the new world, no one can target you with any threatening acts. Many of the jerks in the game are annoyed that their targets have all gone to greener pastures, but the world has divided and divided it shall stay. You start the game in the new world, where there is nothing that another player can do to you (short of verbal abuse, which you can report). Travel between the two halves is possible with the use of something called "moonstones." These are small (duh) stones that you find on just about any monster that, when double-clicked, open a very pretty gate for you and your friends into the other half of the world. Rather than being two-way, these stones, and hence the gates, are world-specific. When on one side, you need a stone specifically designed for the other side.
A great new idea that Renaissance implemented was a party system, where you can chat together and share karma and fame (experience) from kills. This is a nice addition to the UO world.
Caveat! This is Ultima Online. Do not be fooled! There are no new items in this box that will enable you to perform better in the game if you already own it, and nothing in there will enable you to survive longer if this is your first UO purchase. ea.com, fearing a massive withdrawl from their game by the unexplained siren's call of EverQuest, decided to release a new box, promising new lands to explore. These new lands weren't even patched into the game when the box hit shelves.
Oopsie!
An error like this has cost and will continue to cost ea.com and the UO world in general hundreds of subscribers. The so-called new lands, which at first were kept in secret from even the most loyal of players, are simply a second copy of the first lands, sans player-owned structures such as houses. For many months ea.com (then known as Origin System Interactive) lead its current players on with tantalizing promises of new lands... and (late) they were delivered, but all of the features promised with UO:R have not yet been implemented. Don't believe everything that you hear!
The bestselling role-playing series of all time forges a new age of online gaming again with Ultima Online: Renaissance . Interact with thousands of p...More at eBay
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