I am a big fan of the Ultima series and therefore very interested in the upcoming selective multiplayer RPG Shroud of the Avatar. However, there are one or two things about the game I am not so keen on.
The Ultima series by designer Richard “Lord British” Garriott always stood out from other RPGs. The stories had moral backgrounds, and in the later titles, the simulation of a world was at the forefront. For example, in Ultima VII, it was possible to buy flour, mix it with water from a well to make dough, and bake this dough into bread in an oven. Even the NPCs all had not just interesting and complex daily routines but also their own personalities. Even the interaction with the world was unparalleled. You could move objects depending on their weight and simply drop all items anywhere. With Shroud of the Avatar, Richard Garriott wanted to return to those days while also providing a multiplayer experience.
It’s not going smoothly yet
Currently, Shroud of the Avatar is still in a pre-alpha phase. So much will still change and improve in the game. Therefore, my opinion is based on what can be seen of the game so far and what is planned. Here now is what I currently do not like:
A dull battle
Shroud of the Avatar uses a mix of a classic World of Warcraft combat system that can be enhanced with a random element in the form of cards. The WoW system feels extremely outdated by now. Additionally, the combat system is very passive. You watch, give commands, and wait for those commands to be executed. While this may have been new and interesting ten years ago, it apparently only draws in the absolute hardcore MMO freaks these days.
There is a way to attack actively using a timer, but this feels more like an appendage. That it can be done differently is shown by MMOs like TERA or Vindictus. The active action brings excitement and surprises to the game. An intensity one wishes for in a fight. It’s a shame that this possibility was not considered for Shroud of the Avatar.
An arena spell system
The spell system could hardly be further from that of the earlier Ultima games or Ultima Online. You learn spells and can improve them through a skill system. Although there are reagents that one can use for each spell to enhance its effects, this is not necessary. There are only cooldowns that must be waited out before a spell can be cast again. This makes the combat system – as has been noted multiple times in the official forum – feel more like a shooter.
You cast spell after spell without really needing to pay attention to whether you have the necessary prerequisites. A spell system in which spells could be cast based on the reagents you possess – as it was the case in Ultima – would have been much more tactical and interesting.
Grinding? Please no!
A typical MMO problem that the developers need to tackle for the single-player mode at least is grinding. You collect experience points, and as long as the “EXP pool” is full, you can improve your skills through use. Experience points are currently earned through crafting and fighting. But what about exploring unknown areas? Completing quests? Solving puzzles?
Since you only gain EXP through fighting and crafting, you end up doing this over and over again, leading to grinding. There is completely no incentive to do anything apart from crafting and fighting. Grinding also includes the respawn system, which crushes any feeling of being able to achieve something in the game right away. When you defeat a monster, and it reappears out of nowhere right in front of you, you really don’t need to fight it again because you can never truly defeat it anyway.
Backward step in the UI
The entire UI of the game appears not only overloaded but also as if aimed at hardcore MMO gamers while forgetting the single-player fans (to whom Shroud of the Avatar is also addressing). The Ultima series has always been known for offering innovations. Also in terms of UI.
Ultima VII, for instance, had no HUD at all, and the game was still excellent to play. Why they are now taking such a backward step and using an abundance of windows, bars, text, and numbers is incomprehensible. Here they could have tried something completely new and innovative… This also applies to the simulation of the world. So far, it is not possible to drop items anywhere or move items like barrels. That’s a pity because many Ultima fans were looking forward to that.
Visually poor
The graphics in the game can best be described as “dusty”. It would not have been necessary to provide high-end visuals. A unique style would have suited Shroud of the Avatar well. But the developers decided to purchase assets from the Unity Asset Store and partially modify them for their own needs. The result looks like someone cobbled together a game from a kit.
The same objects like houses, chairs, benches, barrels, rocks, and boats alternate with cloned NPCs and not particularly pretty plants, all while grass sways in the wind at the same rhythm. While they are working to continuously improve the appearance, if you place screenshots from the first versions of the game next to the current ones, there is no groundbreaking difference. Why not? It’s the same assets being used.
Additionally, there are missing shader effects that could give textures structure and depth or certain effects like wetness or reflections. Many buildings also appear too smooth, too symmetrical with sharp edges, which looks unnatural and “cheap”. Even in terms of light effects and shadows, other indie games with lower budgets offer better. Thus, visually, SotA will have a hard time attracting players who value at least somewhat current graphics – unless Portalarium packs in a substantial improvement.
What about the single-player mode?
The single-player offline mode is a bit of the game’s problem child. During the Kickstarter campaign, this single-player mode was prominently featured. At that time, it gave the impression that SotA was a single-player RPG that could also be played online with friends.
Now, however, it seems the opposite is true. SotA gives the impression of an MMORPG, where you can simply hide the players and play alone. The developers justify this by stating that they first have to build an MMORPG framework upon which the single-player mode can be established. However, this raises several questions: Are the fundamental structures of MMOs and single-player games the same? Is it really that simple to design an MMORPG and then hide the players and say: Now it’s a single-player RPG?
What about balancing? Respawning opponents? Repeatable quests, grinding, etc.? Comparing Fallout 4 with World of Warcraft, these are completely different games. If you were to go online in Fallout 4 and add other players, it would still not be an MMORPG, and the same goes for World of Warcraft. Because it wouldn’t be a single-player RPG if you simply hid all the other players. Here, the developers of Shroud of the Avatar have a lot of work to do on the game, and they also need to explain how they want to make the game feel like a real single-player RPG in offline mode.
Additionally, there are further issues, such as a dialogue system that resembles a chat rather than a conversation with an NPC and a housing system that destroys the entire atmosphere in the game because players misuse creativity. While this all sounds quite negative, it also shows that the developers have a lot of work ahead of them. Especially from a spiritual successor to Ultima, I would have expected more innovations, more courage to try something completely new. A kind of evolution of the genre – as the old Ultima titles always did. Perhaps the developers will take the criticism to heart and revisit some aspects. Next time, I will talk about what I like about Shroud of the Avatar!
