Ultima X: Odyssey Interview, Part 3

Among the elements that helped the Ultima series to attain its position of honor in the history of electronic gaming, the foremost may be its incorporation of a philosophy or system of ethics based on eight characteristics collectively known as the Virtues. These are derived from three principles. Truth is a quality that is inherent in all things, Love the kindness and beauty that lie within our hearts, and Courage the inner spirit and determination that drive us to act for the greater good. From Truth comes Honesty, Love leads to Compassion and Courage to Valor. Truth and Love combined create Justice, Love and Courage produce Sacrifice, and Truth and Love engender Justice. All three together result in Spirituality. Pride, which is caused by the absence of the principles, is not a virtue, but it's opposite is Humility, which is.

Officially announced in late August of this year, Origin's Ultima X: Odyssey holds the promise of a return to this core aspect of the hallowed single-player RPG series, but within a persistent state environment wherein gamers will have the chance to create their own epic legacies by embodying the Virtues and ascending to the status of Avatars. As for some other notable features, there will be six playable races ranging from Humans to Elves, Gargoyles, Orcs, Pixies and hamster-like Phoda. The game's adventure system will encompass both quests and missions, with some taking place inside private areas. Combat is said to be fast-paced and strategic, with an intriguing twist being "intelligent" weapons that can level up and improve. Recently, we were provided the chance to question Designer Amy Sage and Lead Designer Jon Hanna on various features and elements.

Amy Sage: On the surface, our magic system may seem familiar. You can play as a straight magic user, such as Sorcerer, Tinker or Mage, or you can pick a more specialized route and go for a Druid, Paladin or Necromancer, among others.

But like the rest of our game, we've focused our magic system design on removing a lot of the little complications and restrictions that are so common in these games, opting instead for a system that's simpler, easier to understand, and more fun.

First, we don't have different rules for spellcasters vs. melee fighters, which means you don't have to worry about spending endurance or stamina or some other stat for one kind of fighting move, and mana or power for other kinds of fighting moves. All of the special things you can do in the game, whether they're magic, melee or somewhere in between, are called "abilities," and they all use power, which is a stat derived from the player's level, as well as their Constitution and Intelligence. In other words, there's finally a decent reason for mages to invest in a stat other than Intelligence, and there's finally a reason for Warriors to choose any Intelligence at all. :)

Jonric: Are there any reagents, runes or components involved in casting? Is it possible to run out of power so you become temporarily unable to cast?

Amy Sage: All characters have a basic attack move that costs no power, including magic users, which means that you'll never run out of power and find yourself completely useless. There won't be any reagents to worry about - again, we've avoided creating a system that forces magic users to play one way, and fighters to play another. Melee moves don't cost reagents or ammo, so neither do magic moves - actually, many of our melee moves are so dramatic and wild-looking that you may not be able to tell the difference in some cases.

Jonric: You named several different classes and said there are others. How and at what point in time does the player choose one of them? And how will spells be acquired and learned?

Amy Sage: We don't rope players into any one class specifically, since for every Path, you can choose spells and abilities from any of the three Disciplines within that Path, mixing and matching for a unique effect. For example, if you choose the Path of the Arcane, which is our main magic-using Path, you can choose abilities from any or all of the Sorcerer, Tinker and Mage Disciplines. And best yet, you don't have to go in order - you only pick the abilities you want. Granted, you do have to invest a certain number of ability points into the lower level abilities before you can move on to the higher ones, but we don't have any specific pre-requisites for abilities.

You won't need to buy or find spells - you'll learn them just as any other class learns their abilities. As you gain combat experience, you'll gain ability points, which you can then spend either to learn new abilities or to enhance those you already know.