Ultima X: Odyssey Combat Interview, Part 2

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 last 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 reportedly fast-paced and strategic, with an intriguing twist being "intelligent" weapons that can level up and improve. Our mammoth four-part interview last year only whetted our appetite to know more, with this topic at the top of our list. Includes six exclusive screenshots.

Rick Hall: Coming up with this particular system was quite a process of evolution. If you'd seen our original design ideas, you might not even recognize the combat system in its present form. We began with a prototype, built it, and then actually tried playing it. We found some ideas that worked well, and some others we felt we had to discard for various reasons.

Over the course of time, we built, rebuilt, modified and refined nearly every aspect of the combat system. We've held focus group and internal tests, taken player feedback based on our descriptions, and a myriad of other steps to try to ensure that we achieve our stated goal of solid interactivity in combat. It's a long, slow process, but the end result is something that gives a player a lot of choices and flexibility in a fight.

Jonric: What are the major factors affecting the ultimate resolution of a battle? What will the balance be between character's and player's knowledge and ability?

Rick Hall: Of course, the levels of the opponents are always an important factor in any fight. In Odyssey, that will probably account for about 85%. In other words, if you're really good at combat, you might be able to take on opponents that are up to 15% higher level than you are. But in order to take on a target that is higher level, it helps to have knowledge of its capabilities and tendencies in combat. Each type of creature will have a general way it approaches combat, and if you observe carefully, you'll find things that can be exploited. Judicious use of your special abilities, having superior equipment, maneuvering, and even knowing when it's better to retreat will all help you control the outcome of combat more effectively.

As always, everything was filtered through our desire to produce something that is first and foremost... fun. We wanted to have a system where you're rewarded not only for putting in the hard work to level your character up, but also for experimenting, observing and evolving your own style. In fact, one way of looking at it is to say that any combat system that allows each player to develop his own "style" is probably on the right track.

Jonric: Since combat has winners and losers, what will happen when your character is killed? What kinds of penalties will apply, how severe will they be, and can they be mitigated?

Jonathan Hanna: Before we discuss death, we have to first explain the unconscious state and stabilization. When a character is reduced to zero hit points, he will fall to the ground unconscious. He is not dead yet. Another character can attempt to stabilize the fallen character using a special Virtue ability. If successful, the fallen character returns to consciousness with one hit point and one power, but is otherwise unharmed. There are no further penalties. Stabilizing a character may attract the attention of a monster, however, so making the attempt is not without its risks.

If your character is not stabilized within a set amount of time (currently 20 seconds) he will die, giving you two options. You can be resurrected back to life, or you can release to a moongate, which acts like a bind point. Both carry a temporary stat loss and ability loss penalty. This is greater for releasing and lasts up to 10 minutes. However, you can also spend gold at the moongate to remove the temporary stat loss immediately. The cost to do so will increase as your character levels.