Ultima X: Odyssey Combat Interview, Part 2

Feb 11, 2004

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.

Jonric: We concluded the initial segment of this interview by looking at the game's style of combat, which is fast-paced with considerable player involvement. How did you arrive at this system?

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.

Jonric: Are there Any other consequences we should be aware of, such as the loss of equipped or inventory items, or experience points?

Jonathan Hanna: Another penalty for dying comes from the adventure system. If you die while adventuring in a private quest and nobody can resurrect, you will fail the quest if you release. You cannot return to a private area after doing so. Dead players can continue to follow the party as ghosts, but cannot help in the battles. This means the party will be at a disadvantage, making the quest more difficult to complete. If everyone in the party dies, then they all fail the quest.

Death in Ultima X does not involve losing items or experience points. We feel very strongly that death should have enough sting to make you want to avoid it, but at the same time, we don't feel taking away something the player has already earned adds to what is supposed to be an enjoyable experience.

Jonric: Since you brought up parties, how will grouping interface with combat? Are you trying to implement this aspect differently in Ultima X: Odyssey?

Jonathan Hanna: Group tactics will play a very important role in combat. This is mostly accomplished through our monster AI, which will require players to react on the fly during a battle instead of always using the same tactics over and over. Most massively multiplayer games rely heavily on crowd control spells, forcing players always to have a character who can cast them, and to use the same tactics in every fight. This is the biggest contributor to the feeling of a "grind" that so many MMOGs are infamous for. In Odyssey, a strategy that worked against one group of monsters may not work against another. Players will have the opportunity to create new strategies and then change their tactics during a fight based on how the monsters react.

Jonric: Are you doing anything to encourage players to group; e.g. will they receive bonuses? How will experience and loot be divided up?

Jonathan Hanna: Grouping will allow you to gain more experience over time simply by virtue of the fact that a group can kill more monsters over time. But, this bonus will not be so high as to make soloing a waste of time. We want to create a system whereby grouping is encouraged, but not required. Also, another interesting point of our grouping system is that it allows for vastly different levels within the party. Most MMOGs discourage and even penalize groups with characters of differing levels, but not so in our game. If you're significantly lower level than your friends, that shouldn't keep you from adventuring with them.

Experience is divided equally among the characters in the party, and the total amount is based on the highest party member's level related to the monster the party killed. Items are distributed based on the party's loot distribution setting (set by the party leader), which includes options like free for all, party leader distributes, or party order. Free for all allows anyone in the party to grab the loot. Party leader means that all loot access is restricted to the party leader, who then can give out the items. Both of these choices are recommended for players that know and trust each other well. The last option, party order, ensures that members get a fair amount of loot by automatically assigning looting rights to each based on their order in the party. This is the recommended loot distribution for parties that have just met, since it impartially distributes the loot.

Jonric: Why did you decide it should be viable for players to adventure on their own? And what design considerations went into making it so?

Jonathan Hanna: The ability to solo has been largely ignored by MMOG developers, and we think that is a huge mistake. While it's true that one of the biggest draws of these games is being able to play with lots of other people, even the most social player wants to go it alone once in a while. Sometimes, you don't feel like dealing with group dynamics or debating where to fight next. Other times, you may only have 30 minutes to play and don't want to spend time looking for a group. So in Ultima X, we account for solo play by making sure you can play the game by yourself in a number of ways.

First, the monsters will attack in groups based on your party size. So if you are alone, monsters won't attack in large groups. This means you can take on tough monsters without worrying about being overpowered. You can gain experience points and obtain loot at a good rate because you can focus your efforts on monsters appropriate to your level. Second, the adventure system likewise scales based on your party size and level. When you enter a private quest map, the adventure system spawns the monsters and creates the obstacles based on the character(s) that enter. So, if you enter the map by yourself, the adventure system will make sure the quest is scaled to be challenging, but not impossible. You can solo any quest in the game.

The biggest advantage to soloing is that you can do whatever you want whenever you want and unlike other games, continue to advance your character at a worthwhile rate.

Jonric: Are there other aspects or features related to this topic you wish to note for our readers, anything you'd like to tell them, or something you want to ask?

Jonathan Hanna: I think we covered a lot of Ultima X's features in this and other interviews so I'll use this question to invite players to post on the various message boards and tell us what you think of the game. We've already modified our PvP dueling system and part of the item system based on player feedback. Now's the time to express your opinions, so don't be shy!

Regarding said invitation, our Ultima X: Odyssey board is available for fans to discuss this and any other aspect of Origin's game, and our Ultima X: Odyssey Vault is a great place to follow it from a community-oriented perspective. Of course, we're also tracking it closely here, and we thank both Rich Hall and Jonathan Hanna for making us better aware of one of its most important elements, its combat system.