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I can't blame EA, Origin in terms of game developers was old like a 100 year old man, sooner or later they had to die, EA was just life support
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smrtgi19: I can't blame EA, Origin in terms of game developers was old like a 100 year old man, sooner or later they had to die, EA was just life support
Yes, unfortunately, from what I have read, the Ultima and Might and Magic series didn't have good final games. (I am not counting Might and Magic X here because that game was made way after the previous entry and seems to be more of a retro throwback (with the grid based movement) than the natural evolution from the series.)

Fortunately, Wizardry had a much better fate: Wizardry 8 is actually really good, so at least that series had a good last game. (Not counting the Japanese Wizardry spin-offs, which have more in common with the early games than 6-8, and weren't made by the same people, anyway.)
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smrtgi19: I can't blame EA, Origin in terms of game developers was old like a 100 year old man, sooner or later they had to die, EA was just life support
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dtgreene: Yes, unfortunately, from what I have read, the Ultima and Might and Magic series didn't have good final games. (I am not counting Might and Magic X here because that game was made way after the previous entry and seems to be more of a retro throwback (with the grid based movement) than the natural evolution from the series.)

Fortunately, Wizardry had a much better fate: Wizardry 8 is actually really good, so at least that series had a good last game. (Not counting the Japanese Wizardry spin-offs, which have more in common with the early games than 6-8, and weren't made by the same people, anyway.)
Actually I havent been able to get wizardry 6-8 here to work on windows 7, aw well blessing in disquise. I cry and tear up when I play Ultima 9 and MaM 9 now and then to see these were their swan songs, and it can happen to anyone, but more often i see it with separate publisher/developers who are independent, not so with publisher owned developer or self publishing developer..
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smrtgi19: I can't blame EA, Origin in terms of game developers was old like a 100 year old man, sooner or later they had to die, EA was just life support
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dtgreene: Yes, unfortunately, from what I have read, the Ultima and Might and Magic series didn't have good final games. (I am not counting Might and Magic X here because that game was made way after the previous entry and seems to be more of a retro throwback (with the grid based movement) than the natural evolution from the series.)

Fortunately, Wizardry had a much better fate: Wizardry 8 is actually really good, so at least that series had a good last game. (Not counting the Japanese Wizardry spin-offs, which have more in common with the early games than 6-8, and weren't made by the same people, anyway.)
and really right before the last game, usually the developer attempted a MMO or multiplayer only title
Post edited November 14, 2015 by smrtgi19
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dtgreene: Yes, unfortunately, from what I have read, the Ultima and Might and Magic series didn't have good final games. (I am not counting Might and Magic X here because that game was made way after the previous entry and seems to be more of a retro throwback (with the grid based movement) than the natural evolution from the series.)

Fortunately, Wizardry had a much better fate: Wizardry 8 is actually really good, so at least that series had a good last game. (Not counting the Japanese Wizardry spin-offs, which have more in common with the early games than 6-8, and weren't made by the same people, anyway.)
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smrtgi19: Actually I havent been able to get wizardry 6-8 here to work on windows 7, aw well blessing in disquise. I cry and tear up when I play Ultima 9 and MaM 9 now and then to see these were their swan songs, and it can happen to anyone, but more often i see it with separate publisher/developers who are independent, not so with publisher owned developer or self publishing developer..
avatar
dtgreene: Yes, unfortunately, from what I have read, the Ultima and Might and Magic series didn't have good final games. (I am not counting Might and Magic X here because that game was made way after the previous entry and seems to be more of a retro throwback (with the grid based movement) than the natural evolution from the series.)

Fortunately, Wizardry had a much better fate: Wizardry 8 is actually really good, so at least that series had a good last game. (Not counting the Japanese Wizardry spin-offs, which have more in common with the early games than 6-8, and weren't made by the same people, anyway.)
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smrtgi19: and really right before the last game, usually the developer attempted a MMO or multiplayer only title
Which Origin actually did (Ultima Online).
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smrtgi19: Actually I havent been able to get wizardry 6-8 here to work on windows 7, aw well blessing in disquise. I cry and tear up when I play Ultima 9 and MaM 9 now and then to see these were their swan songs, and it can happen to anyone, but more often i see it with separate publisher/developers who are independent, not so with publisher owned developer or self publishing developer..

and really right before the last game, usually the developer attempted a MMO or multiplayer only title
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RafaelLVX: Which Origin actually did (Ultima Online).
and Legends of Might and Magic
What a nonsense. Origin was awesome. It was EA's fault for rushing U7: Serpent Isle and every game after that.
If they had the time, Origin could have improved on Serpent Isle (although it's already a damn good game) and made a proper sequel out of Ultima 8 and 9.

Even if Origin was a "100 year old man", it sure was EA stabbing this old man right in the heart.
To top the insult off EA named their sucky Steam-wannabe download platform Origin.
EA was and still is a damnable monstrousity.
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Gotcha: What a nonsense. Origin was awesome. It was EA's fault for rushing U7: Serpent Isle and every game after that.
If they had the time, Origin could have improved on Serpent Isle (although it's already a damn good game) and made a proper sequel out of Ultima 8 and 9.

Even if Origin was a "100 year old man", it sure was EA stabbing this old man right in the heart.
To top the insult off EA named their sucky Steam-wannabe download platform Origin.
EA was and still is a damnable monstrousity.
Even worse, "Origin" sells each individual game in the series for 5 dollars, in which on here you can buy three games in separate bundles for 6 dollars, and this site doesn't require to be online while you play.

So in other words not counting tax.

GOG: The first 6 games are $12
Origin: The first 6 games are $30

Screw you EA
Post edited January 09, 2016 by Dartpaw86
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Gotcha: What a nonsense. Origin was awesome. It was EA's fault for rushing U7: Serpent Isle and every game after that.
If they had the time, Origin could have improved on Serpent Isle (although it's already a damn good game) and made a proper sequel out of Ultima 8 and 9.

Even if Origin was a "100 year old man", it sure was EA stabbing this old man right in the heart.
To top the insult off EA named their sucky Steam-wannabe download platform Origin.
EA was and still is a damnable monstrousity.
Gotcha speaks the truth. It was EA's fault, not Origin.

Serpent's Isle was a very linear game... which is very much the opposite of what Ultima is supposed to be. Why was it linear? Because they didn't have time to make it the involved open-world game they wanted it to be.

Richard Garriot mentioned some of the great ideas he had for Ultima 8, but they were so rushed it didn't even become a fraction of what he envisioned it would be. You can tell it was rushed if you play it. Zombies, zombies, zombies. Have you ever seen an Ultima game with less variety of enemies? Tired of killing zombies? Too bad... here's more zombies.

Ultima 9 was also rushed... but you can tell that there would have been a good product there if it was given the love and attention Origin wanted to give it. The devs at Origin released an "unofficial" patch to fix a lot of the bugs. Why was it unofficial if it came from Origin? Because EA told them not to work on it anymore. So anything that came from Origin afterwards was not approved by EA and was therefore considered "unofficial". That right there should tell you how both Origin and EA felt about the Ultima games and the fans.

The problem is that Origin was trying to do large scale projects, but EA was giving them a deadlines that can only be met with a project a fraction of its size. EA was accustomed to releasing games "seasonally" because they were focused on sports games. They were too stupid to realize that you don't handle other types of games the same way.
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Syragar: You can tell it was rushed if you play it. Zombies, zombies, zombies. Have you ever seen an Ultima game with less variety of enemies? Tired of killing zombies? Too bad... here's more zombies.
Rather sad, yet fitting, as 8 was the turning point that made it a Zombie Franchise.
Post edited January 13, 2016 by Dartpaw86
Can't blame EA? Were you actually present during the 90's when EA went through it's psychotic re-branding phase and essentially ruined Origin, Maxis, Bullfrog and Westwood studios? Just to name a few...

Trip Hawkins, a big EA player, many years later lamented the negative impact their business practice had on creative development.

Don't kid yourself, EA did some mean work. And we're still seeing the impact to this day.