[Half-OT]Ask RICHARD GARRIOTT himself!

Trevor_Clim · Post by **Trevor_Clim** » Sat May 10, 2003 3:29 am

Hi guys

European's biggest PC-Game-Magazine, the german GAMESTAR ( www.gamestar.de ) has started an gamers-question-event!

You can ask Richard Garriott via Email (via Gamestar) any Question you want, besides technical problems with his games or walkthrough-questions!

Here ist the link:
http://www.gamestar.de/news/vermischtes/12527/

If you are not German or are not able to write in German, post your questions here, i will translate them into German and send them to Gamestar. All questions will be readed by the editor.

Interesting, exciting questions will be forwarded to Richard Garriott.

Garriott's answers will pe released on Gamestar.de or in the magazine.
When they are released i will post the answers, translated in english, here.

So if you CAN write in german, send your questions directly to:

Email: brief@gamestar.de
Subject: RichardGarriott

(dont change the SUBJECT!!!)

if you CAN'T write in german, post your questions here in english, i will translate them and send them.

I think its interesting which questions are sended, so please post all questions, the german-writers too, here!

Armchair_Avatar · Post by **Armchair_Avatar** » Sat May 10, 2003 6:42 am

I'd like to know if RG is aware of Exult and the other Ultima remake projects, and what he thinks about them.

E_Jim · Post by **E_Jim** » Sat May 10, 2003 7:03 am

Read the "letters" section in the EXULT homepage and you'll see right away what good old LB thinks about EXULT.

Achile Dragon · Post by **Achile Dragon** » Sat May 10, 2003 8:01 am

I know he give the blessing for ultima Lazarus recently

see this link:

http://dynamic4.gamespy.com/~ultima5/ph ... .php?t=609

Achile

Kennedy · Post by **Kennedy** » Sun May 11, 2003 7:59 am

I would like to know if there is any possibilty of obtaining any of the files or notes associated with "The Lost Vale" expansion for Ultima 8.

RazorBlade · Post by **RazorBlade** » Sun May 11, 2003 8:10 am

I guess not by him, he doesn't own anything Ultima afaik. There is someone who is said to have a gold-build of LV, but I doubt it will see the daylight anytime soon.

BTW, now they offer to ask Warren Spector; I really look forward to their yearly game-designer conference @ E3 on DVD, nothing beats that one.

Dino (can't log in) · Post by **Dino (can't log in)** » Sun May 11, 2003 8:53 am

These are the most important things I need to know.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Ultima 7
----------

Who are the people on whom some characters were based because of a certain Ultima 6 contest?

Ultima 8
----------

I'd like to know the plot of the lost vale, the name of the woman in the screenshots, and the locations of each screenshot.

What does the Key of the Necromancer do?

What does the blue vial in the cave behind the waterfall at Fisherman's Reef do?

Is the locked double-doors at the Bonecrusher cave the entrance to the Plateau as is believed?

Can the king of Ultima mention the easter eggs present in Ultima 8?

Ultima 9
----------

How the heck did Pyros appear in Ultima 9 after his defeat in Ultima 8?

Trevor_Clim · Post by **Trevor_Clim** » Sun May 11, 2003 10:06 am

Ehm, i think they want to know more general questions about games, etc.
his games, ... more GENERAL

MV · Post by MV » Sun May 11, 2003 3:38 pm

How about what is he doing now, and is he working on anything that will be the "next ultima"?

Moorkh · Post by **Moorkh** » Tue May 13, 2003 2:05 am

I'd like to know

- if we're ever going to see him do another (mainly) single player game
- if Destination Software will ever do anything besides MMORPGs
- if RG has ever considered buying some of the rights to Ultima back from EA, seeing them not using the franchise for anything creative.

I guess, however, that chances are rather small of those questions actually ever reaching RG's ear, much less their answers reaching us...

Post by **drcode** » Tue May 13, 2003 7:26 am

From previous interviews I've read, I'd guess that the answers to your first two questions are 'no'.

RazorBlade · Post by **RazorBlade** » Tue May 13, 2003 7:59 am

I think the third one is also a 'no' since he has no interest in doing the same anymore as he said in an interview, too.

Bumblebee · Post by **Bumblebee** » Tue May 13, 2003 8:52 am

As for your question 3...
Haven't you heard about the rumors of Ultima-X?
Electronics Arts is apparently working on a new MMORPG with the name Ultima-X!

Post by **Dominus** » Tue May 13, 2003 9:28 am

yeah, UO is getting old and after they canceled UO2 they need another cash cow...
I doubt it will get very far.

But then I'm always amazed at the success of MMORPGs. True I played UO for about three months but then I didn't see much point in just further advancing my character...
I rather spend useless time with friends drinking real bear than in front of the PC (not to mention that my gf would kill me if I'd spent even more time online)
Oops, no ranting and staing on topic in this thread...
Sorry

RazorBlade · Post by **RazorBlade** » Tue May 13, 2003 10:43 am

@Bumblebee

Yes, I heard about that. But 1. I fear this won't be a single player game and 2nd RG will be in no way involved since he doesn't work for EA(well, for me Origin is dead) any more.

@Dominus

Morgs can be fun. I guess my gf would kill me too, but since we will play SWGalaxies together, she will more probably give me an online dance for some mind healing..

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » Tue May 13, 2003 1:11 pm

My two cents:

- RG started the production of "X" (which used to be know like Ultima-X)... is it the same Ultima-X which is going to be released by EA (or at least the same basic idea/plot)?

- Is "Tabula Rasa" the original "X"?

- What's going to happend with Lineage: the Blood Pledge? I heard that they're going to rename it to Lineage: The Age of Lord British... is it going to be Ultima related (or at least is it going to have some cameos/easter eggs)?

- Is Lineage 2 going to be related to Lord British too?

- Is Lineage or Lineage 2 going to be the spiritual sucesor of Ultima?

- What does he thinks of EA now?

- What was his implication in UO and UO2? Can we think that their plot is Ultima cannon?

- What does he thinks of EA's "Ultima Generation" the collectible card game released only in japan?

- Was originally the Guardian the 7th Zealan god? Which was his original name? (It seems that he said that in a Con)

- Is Pagan one of the 4 original continents of Sosaria in Ultima 1, is the past or the future of Britannia or is a completly different world? (I always thought that Pagan was the Lands of the Dark Unknow since both have a "greek" style)

- Was Pagan related to the Isle of Fire of Ultima 3 and 7?

- Were the Hi-Tech elements of Ultima 1 originated in ancient Sosaria or were they only a kind of crossover with the Wing Commander Kilrathi Tech?

- Who the hell was Zog really? (Was him the Avatar in a strange circular Sosarian story?)

- Are the Meer and Juka civilization from UO2 really the past and future of Britannia as RG saw them?

Hope you like my questions

Moorkh · Post by **Moorkh** » Tue May 13, 2003 9:09 pm

@bumblebee:
That's why I wrote 'EA not doing anything creative...'

About the other questions - RG has changed his mind from time to time. Now that the MMORPG craze is starting to slow to a crawl, I wouldn't be surprised to see him take another look at single player...

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » Wed May 14, 2003 3:05 am

Excuse me for the Off-Topic:

@Moorkh:
It seems that RG's Tabula Rasa is going to be a new kind of MMORPG. It's going to be a multimassive but you can play its quests like a single player or like multiplayer (choosing a friends) after that you can come back to the multimassive part of the game...

IMHO this is going to be the future of all computer games, because it's the way of the game companies for finishing (or highly reducing) software piracy... If people needs to pay for playing a game, what's the matter if the game itself is beeing freely distributed? Take a look to Lineage, you can download the game for free and have a 30 days trial before you have the need of paying for playing (and it's just a small monthly fee...).

If companies start developing games like RG wants to do, I mean MMORPG or even single player games which need to conect a Server only in possesion of the developers, then probably the future of the games will be MMORPGs, MMO Action Games or even MMO Platform games...

Just my thoughts...

RazorBlade · Post by **RazorBlade** » Wed May 14, 2003 4:53 am

@Covenant

The downside of this, if I may take your thoughts further, for the companies is that player will only pay for really good games; also they will only pay for games which last much longer than 1 month.
Atm games like Splinter Cell, which last UT2kx is coming to a store near you every 12 months.

Also, afaik, WoWarcraft has a similar concept to TR and I guess it will be far more successful than Tabula Rasa, not just because Blizzard makes it. And they will charge you for the game, the monthly fee and all those expansion which a morg lives off.

Also if you release a single player game which needs you to go online to play, you lose many potential customers, a publisher would never do this.

The best way to publish a single player game atm is to support it either with add-ons and content or by supporting the community in modifying it or both. The only other way I can see is to do heavy advertise prior to release so everyone 'knows' it's great(like Splinter Cell.)

That should have happened with System Shock 2... ;(

Just my 2 €-cents.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » Sun May 18, 2003 7:24 am

@RazorBlade:

Well, I'm not telling that it's going to happen today... I just said that I could be the future of the market if the imrovement of Inet continue as is expected.

Post by **drcode** » Mon May 19, 2003 9:38 am

I'd guess there are lots of us that just have no interest in online games no matter how good they get.

Moorkh · Post by **Moorkh** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 9:34 am

Hmmm.... even though this interview comes from a different source, it answers one of mine and maybe some of you others' questions. Lucky me

http://www.rpgdot.com/index.php?hsaction=10053&ID=601

Post by **drcode** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 6:56 am

Thanks. If they can pull it out, it could be a great game for sinle-player fans.

Covenant · Post by **Covenant** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:24 pm

Hey! what about the interview? I haven't heard about this for weeks!

Trevor_Clim · Post by **Trevor_Clim** » Thu Jun 12, 2003 10:18 pm

Hey! what about the interview? I haven't heard about this for weeks!

i send the questions to gamestar, i didnt hear anything yet about their whole interview-row (Garriott, Spector, Molyneux, etc.) perhaps they cover them next month in the magazine...

iam not sure if they took our questions, i think they are too game-specific to his old Ultimas, i dont know...

if anything happens, i will tell you here for sure!

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 3:50 pm

If I had to ask one question, it would be:

Why did you sell yourself to EA?

SB-X · Post by **SB-X** » Mon Jun 16, 2003 7:33 pm

He's answered that in previous interviews.

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:08 pm

Then what is the answer?
Money

That answer sucks. I want more than money. I want an explanation.

Post by **Dominus** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 3:19 am

That's all the answer there is. If your company is going down the drain and you have to choose between selling to a big corporation or laying everyone off and bury your company what would you choose?
He did what he thought was right at the moment and got a big deal out of it as well. If he knew that eventually Origin would be dead I'm not sure if he would do it again.
THAT is an interesting question...

Dino (can't log in) · Post by **Dino (can't log in)** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 4:34 am

Origin was going down the drain? When a masterpiece like U7 was in production? I didn't know this.

Skutarth · Post by **Skutarth** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 8:32 am

You have to remember. There are not many Ultima (excluding online) fans out there. But then again, this may be because of them not making more though. That should be asked, Dominus. 'Tis a hard question to ponder, while Garriot would still do some soul-searching, I'm sure.

Post by **Dominus** » Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:32 am

Dino, I don't know the details but I'm pretty sure I read it someplace, maybe in one of the interviews. Just remember even when you do a masterpice like U7 you have to pay your bills and you have to sell enough for it to make enough money to do the next one. And I guess from Wing Commander 3 upwards that the WC line wasn't exactly cheap (all the movie scenes in WC 3 and 4...).

Post by **drcode** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:01 am

Yes, I've heard that one of the main reasons Origin needed more money was so that they could do Wing-Commander 3 with well-known actors. One of the U7 programmers who wrote us pointed that out.

WC3 and WC4 were great games, but I heard they either barely broke even or lost money because their costs were so great.

Erik Areschoug · Post by **Erik Areschoug** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:11 am

Hello Richard!
I have played Ultima for almost my entire life!
It's one of the best games ever made,and those games are few!
My question is this: Are you going to quit making Ultima games??
I have always liked those npc's and Avatar,Shamino characters and the Pagan realm.
I really hope that you are going to make a new Ultima!
Those games are so imaginative and great,all those forests and quotes,events!

And i also wonder:are you going to focus on MMORPG's only?
Or are u going to get back to the your ordinary and great,epic game designing?
I would REALLY like to get some answers from you Richard Garriott ''Lord British''.

Your games has had a huge impact on me!
I dont know what the future holds but,im going to design computer games myself someday!
Take care Richard!
Best regards
Erik Areschoug

RazorBlade · Post by **RazorBlade** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:03 am

Thou hast discovered the old art of necroing posts!

Whatever happened to those questions anyway, I read each GS and never saw those. Was that canceled because the GS crew was playing too much WoW?

Gradilla Dragon · Post by **Gradilla Dragon** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:15 am

This post is more than a year old. I suppose the time to post questions has already ended. Always check the post dates.

Bomb Bloke · Post by **Bomb Bloke** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 6:46 pm

Good question concerning the outcome, though. Anyone know what/if questions were asked?

RazorBlade · Post by **RazorBlade** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 6:02 am

I assume they either didn't get to meet him or forgot about it alltogether, IIRC there was that yearly designer summit with the GS crew, I'm pretty sure it was the first where RG was missing. Most of it is useless talking anyway, those expert prognoses are really non-sense and just reflect the generell opinion of the mainstream, at least thats the way I felt about those interviews. Yes they design games, some even can make a living of it or buy Ferraris, but that doesn't mean they have a clue about how the whole market develops over the next years, I'd rather ask the PR guys from M$ about that.

I could be wrong, I'd have to find that issue to check it though. Anyway, if those questions were answered, definitley not in the magazine, if at all then online.

Post by **Dominus** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 6:28 am

I have written an email asking for inforamation on this to GameStar. Maybe they'll answer.

lonewolf40kursk · Post by **lonewolf40kursk** » Mon Nov 08, 2004 9:29 am

I'm back again... and hope it's not too late for a change.

Guys... after reading your multiple emails, and mind the date on those, it's as if you people are waiting for things that will make its way to stores after a decade.

Think about this, if LB is me... or you, would he ever let himself to be pesterred by Ultima fans after a long years of vacation? I don't mean to be rude, (or actually ever thinking of doing so) but I guess he has his own problems at hand... but it also disappoints me of not being able to hear from him after several years. I wonder... how is he these days? That's the first question I will certainly ask him, if by chance I meet him 'mano o mano'.

Anyway, I'm just cracking up some sick jokes. Hope he'll be able to hear you guys' questions and request one day. Oh, another thing... did I ever mention he's good looking too? (Giggles)

XxVenomxX · Post by **XxVenomxX** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:41 pm

What was that url? I missed it.

(Edit by Dominus: This message is out of context because I deleted a spam message that had the url five times in the text

)

ultimaIX · Post by **ultimaIX** » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:41 am

i dunno about any questions, but i'd love to say a simple "thanks" for creating such a great series of games. i can't think of any other series that's influenced my life more, and i'd love to tip my hat to the guy who started it all.

-ultimaIX