New interview with Richard Garriott

[Trev_K]

Hi,

I'm going to interview Richard Garriott next week.

Do you have any interesting questions I should ask him? About the Ultimas, his space mission, his latest games, his new social games company or anything else.

It would be nice to get some suggestions!

Cheers,
Trev

[Nodling]

About the Ultimas...

Ultima 3
I've always wondered: Where exactly is Ambrosia? It can't be on the same planet as Sosaria, because Sosaria wraps around. So it must be under the ocean, inside the planet, on another planet, or in another dimension.

[Juan Pablo]

Hi my name is Juan Pablo I'm from Colombia, South America.

I've three questions for Richard Garriot?

1 ) On august 2009 Trevorch Chan released Seven Kingdoms, a very good strategy game ( www.7kfans.com ) under GPL license, have you ever thought release Ultima 7 or Ultima 8 as free software?


2 ) Are you interesed in develop new ultima series adventures using the old style (Similar as U7 or U8) ? It will be great to develop remakes or new sequels.

3 ) I wish to know what happened with ULTIMA8 sequel The lost Vale?

Thanks for answe my questions.

Kindly regards, Juan Pablo

[Dominus]

Juan,
RG doesn't own the Ultima IP anymore, so
1.) he couldn't even if he wanted to
2.) he couldn't even if he wanted to
3.) it was scraped even though it supposedly was finished. It's bound to surface at some point. Give it another ten years or so

Ultima IP is owned by EA, RG only owns his alter ego Lord British.
Try to come up with more original questions that will bring more than a one sentence answer

You will probably enjoy a visit to ultimaaiera.com which has interesting articles on Ultima, new findings about the old games and also cocers what RG is up to these days.

[Nodling]

ultimaaiera.com has early technical documents from ultima 7

[Kensu]

Could you ask him if it's true that the Guardian was originally supposed to be the seventh Zealean deity, instead of the anti-avatar as was shown in Ascension?

[artaxerxes]

My question is: where did he got his inspiration for the magic system in Ultima?
Each version of Ultima is slightly different that the other when it comes to magic. In one case, all you need is having runes and uttering the spell in a certain order (à la Ultima Underworld). In another, you need the spell in the spellbook and the reagent (Ultima 7). In another, just the reagent (Ultima 3, and 4 I think), etc.

Where does the magic words come from: An, Bet, Corp, Des, Ex, Flam, Grav, Hur, In, Jux, Kal, Lor, Mani, Nox, Por, Quas, Res, Sanct, Tym, Uus, Vas, Wis, Xen, Ylem, Zu? (typed from memory: either I need a life or I played Ultima too much!)

thx
Artaxerxes

[Yariel]

...
just a trivial question ...
Silver Serpent Venom at Ultima 7 Black Gate ...
there's even horn to call silver serpent ...
is Silver Serpent exist or not in this game ?

[Trev_K]

Thank you very much for all your ideas!

Perhaps you have also some more, how shall I put it, more "global", more "meaningful" or with a deeper sense?

Perhaps some criticism or different perspective on his work or his future work?

For example I can't believe he really ENJOYS making flat social games, coming from deep story driven games (15 years ago...)
I don't know how to ask him this properly...

[Dominus]

If you come up with a good way to ask him that, please do. I share your view. A poker game for social networks sounds rather bland to me...

[Exolon2]

1) Does he play any games these days?

2) Which of the Ultimas was his favourite? Does he still play them with e.g. Exult/Dosbox/Pentagram?

(maybe you have plans to touch on these anyway)

3) How does he feel about what happened to Origin after EA? Was it inevitable or...

4) Ultima 9? It looked beautiful but by god the combat was terrible (at some point, I hit a bandit over a hundred times with a staff without being hit back, until he suddenly died). The best part was trying the "ocean travel without a boat" trick. I'm not sure if there's a question here, just argh, a pity really

5) Does he keep in contact with the team?

Good luck with the interview! I'm very interested to hear it. Hope you'll post the link here.

[Dominus]

@Oisin, 5. what team?

[we]

Would he remake Ultima 9 with his original vision, which many fans want?

[Trev_K]

Okay, allright!

Do you know some of his recent interviews?

[Armchair Avatar]

Where does the magic words come from: An, Bet, Corp, Des, Ex, Flam, Grav, Hur, In, Jux, Kal, Lor, Mani, Nox, Por, Quas, Res, Sanct, Tym, Uus, Vas, Wis, Xen, Ylem, Zu? (typed from memory: either I need a life or I played Ultima too much!)

In the "Book of Ultima", it says that the spell syllables are just English words. They've been shortened or their spelling changed a little.

flame -> flam
gravity -> grav
noxious -> nox
vast -> vas
etc.

[Armchair Avatar]

My question is: where did he got his inspiration for the magic system in Ultima?
Each version of Ultima is slightly different that the other when it comes to magic. In one case, all you need is having runes and uttering the spell in a certain order (à la Ultima Underworld). In another, you need the spell in the spellbook and the reagent (Ultima 7). In another, just the reagent (Ultima 3, and 4 I think), etc.

I've always wondered why the magic systems in Ultima 5 and Dungeon Master are so similar. Pure coincidence, or did somebody copy someone else's ideas?

[Kensu]

They're actually shortened Latin words (the same is true of the Words of Power)

[Kensu]

Admendment to the above: in some cases they are: an, in, ex, flam, por and others are obvious. I don't get lor though, since the Latin word for light is "lux". I also think the latin word for Time is Temps....

[deplicator]

Since my introduction to video games in the late 80’s, I’ve been an avid fan of Mr. Garriott. Despite that I believe the hard questions should be asked. Here are some I've been curious about in the most tactful manner I can produce.

1. Any regrets giving up the Ultima, Wing Commander, or other Origin intellectual properties?

2. You have remarked popular games like World of Warcraft limit player options, specifically how all characters are forced to be combat oriented; what are your thoughts on balancing realism vs fun in modern role playing games?

3. Your recent games have lacked a depth players have come to expect from earlier works; what are your plans for games that bring back that same level of player experience?

4. What are the odds you will create a medieval fantasy role playing game again, even if it is not an Ultima?

5. Can you give us any details about how Lord British's New Britannia will create a unique experience over _all_ the other browser based strategy games?

[Dominus]

Good questions and really hard ones. I'd like to see the answers to those

[Exolon2]

Agreed, very interesting.

Earlier, I was referring to the U7/SI team. I'm not sure if they were mostly the same team responsible for the other games and UW etc, but I'm sure there was some overlap?

[A good fan]

Mr. Garriott, would you be interested in working with fans on a new Ultima? There are many fans willing to do FREE work.

Mr. Garriott, there are several fans who would like cut content and unused ideas from Ultima. Would it be possible to see any of those?


Those are the most useful questions the fandom could use.

[Dominus]

*sigh*
again... RG CANNOT make another Ultima, nor would he be able to release any cut content. He doesn't own the Ultima IP anymore.
Also he doesn't seem to be interested in doing the same old again and again. See his GDC speech from the other day http://www.ultimaaiera.com/blog/richard ... -of-games/ (I guess the chance for this interview is also on the GDC).

Also more cut content can be found on Aiera...

[Ge]

I have one question that has been bugging me for years: What does "LCB" (the name of Lord Brit's Castle in Ultima III) means? Is it a typo of LBC (short for "Lord British' Castle")?

[monotremata]

Lord Cantabrigian British.

[Trev_K]

Hi guys,
Thank you so much for all these questions!
Unfortunately the interview was before I had a look at deplicator's really good questions.
The interview was a bit short and I couldn't ask him all these old ultima-specific questions.

But to be honest, all in all I have no big news than everybody else got out of him these days (Portalarium new games, becoming more and more complex, he wants to make social complex with deep stories, bla bla bla)

A little bit like Molyneux

Let's see when I got the time to transcribe the interview.