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     Date: 02-23-96    Time: 11:53p     Number: 13886  
     From: Jeremy Richard                Refer:         
       To: James Abraham              Board ID: FIX             Reply: 
  Subject: Ultima 9 rumors                 199: fido.en.gami   Status: Public 
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 GB>I just talked to the leading PCGames-shop in Copenhagen.
 GB>Bjoern (the boss) has been talking to EA, who has told him,
 GB>that U9 is due out this summer.

 GB>Can anyone confirm that?
 GB>Greetings from Georg Borchorst

 JA> Not confirmed...Origins date is supposedly winter of 96...knowing
 JA> origin that probably means summer of 97!
 JA> James

     I MUD with a guy who claims he is from Origin. Said that he's one
of the guys who does music for them. He tells me Ultima 9 is not gonna
be out until winter of 97 right before christmas. Earlier release dates
are just to psyche up the fans to accumulate intrest. :)

    Origin is supposedly a bit psyched out by the fact that Ultima 8 didn't
go over too well. They like the quasi arcade type technology and want to
fool around with it. They are also waiting a year or so before the next
release so they won't glut the market.... time to build up some intrest
/ anticipation and give the designers a break from the RPG format. The
new ultima is gonna be in a RPG format. A combination of the U6 engine and
the U8 engine. They also are a bit POed with people "whining about hardware
requirements". They like to work with 'state of the art' so they are gonna
make the game for high-end pentiums. They figure by the time it's done
next year that should be the standard.... 

   This could be some guy BSing me. I dunno since I don't have his real
name but it sounds fairly accurate to what is going on. This guy also mentioned
that there is gonna be a "historical" game set it Brittania using an Ultima
Underworld style engine (except better). This is being worked on now. In it
you are supposed to be Seggalion attempting to return home. Seggalion is the
dude you rescue to save the kingdom in an oooooold Origin game called "Knights
of Legend", in Ultima 6 you find Seggalion in serpents hold and he can join
you. He tells you that he was whisked away through a portal while fighting
an evil wizard in his home world. The new game is supposed to be about what
happened after he parted company with the Avatar and how he quested through
Brittania to find his way home, he eventually does and kills the evil wizard
that he was in battle with when he left (as the climax of the game). This guy
said that this game is going to be like a cross between Ultima Underworld and
Stonekeep with a little bit of "Legends of Valour" thrown in (ie no pixelation
near walls with very smooth doom like movement and quasi-arcade combat, and
the abillity to recruit people who assist you much like in Stonekeep). When
I talked to this dude about this I suggested that they make it so you can
create your own character(s). I vastly prefer my own characters to pre-genned
ones (my sole complaint against Ultima). I dunno if they'll ever listen to
such feedback from me though. The working title is supposed to be "Legends
of Brittania: Seggalion's Quest". Probably BS, but possible. 

                      >>>----Therumancer--->

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