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With the recent announcement that Kingdom Reborn is going to have legacy art, that means all objects in Stygian Abyss areas will need to be created in the 2D style in addition to Kingdom Reborn. Then there is the ground tiles, which almost all should have 2D counterparts. All the wearables will be required to have 2D animations, unless you are not allowed to wear any items from Stygain Abyss in the old lands (unlikely). There can be rehued monsters as placeholders for new Stygian Abyss creatures as there always has bee in 2D.

The only thing keeping 2D out of the Stygain Abyss now are some mysterious enhancements and the developers saying it is impossible. I guess we'll have to wait and see.


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Depending on how much UO they decide to inject into KR this might actually be good news.

It's ironic how it's now KR holding 2D back, seeing as how they've broken the entire map in 2D just for KR.

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I could have sworn they said that only the objects that could be taken out of the abyss would have their 2D counterparts. Like gargoyles themselves, weapons, etc.

Personally I'm betting they just give us rehued place-holder art to put another nail in 2D's coffin... cheap ****s.

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BZZT! We were told that the "Legacy Art" option for KR will NOT change the terrain, buildings, mobiles (that's people/animals/monsters), or anything much, really ... except the object/item artwork in-world. You know the way we are all whining about edge definition or how our holiday plants look different? That's all it is; for house decor.


Nope! I also recall them mentioning something about some sort of polygonal 3D environment(s) and/or building(s) that would be impossible to translate to the 'tiles' system used in 2D.

...but who knows? They made 2D work with Ilshenar, but that was apples and this is oranges. KR is built on a 3D engine that also can push some mean sprites, and we just might begin to see some actual 3D with the Abyss...

P.S.: What is the correct pronounciation of "Stygian"?

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That is not correct. Draconi EA wrote in this thread:


Yep! This means all the architecture, weapons, clothing, objects - almost all the tile-art basically, will display on top of the KR terrain with KR rendered mobiles and the new UI.

I'm a huge proponent of KR, and this went a long way to sating my personal feelings of loss for the style of the 2D client (because hey, after 10 years you grow attached).

The minimum requirements for KR are here: KR FAQ



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Adding a "Legacy art" option to KR doesn't bring the 2D client a step closer to displaying the Stygian Abyss. If it was only a matter of buildings, items, monsters and characters they could have just patched into 2D the corresponding KR tilesets/item art/creatures, as was done for Ilshenar with LBR.
I always assumed that the major incompatibility between the Stygian Abyss and the 2D client would be that the map would not use the standard tile-based approach as the already existing lands. Maybe add some "true 3D" structures, or something like that?
But, that is just my assumption.
If it is correct, however, no amount of Legacy art will make it compatible with the 2D client.
I guess we'll have to wait and see.
If I'm wrong, I'll be happy to play along with 2D users in the Abyss...

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ROFLMAO.

This has got to be your best post to date. Do you happen to be a reporter for the National Enquirer, an attorney, or an attorney for the National Enquirer?

Anyway, thanks for the heads-up!:wink:wink


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JC, you're making quite a few assumptions there. I'll pull together some more details on this crazy scheme (at this point I only know that it exists, and is pretty) and try to get them out to y'all this week.

E. Jeremy Dalberg
UO Community Coordinator
EA Mythic

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Can you walk in the same location in both Kingdom Reborn and 2D? Of course you can. The same way both 3D and 2D were able to share a single space. Unless they invent some wacky new tiles, then 2D should be able to walk in the Stygian Abyss areas.

Nope! I also recall them mentioning something about some sort of polygonal 3D environment(s) and/or building(s) that would be impossible to translate to the 'tiles' system used in 2D.
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I don't recall any such thing. The only thing I recall is a developer mentioning how 2D was restricted to one object per tile. Kingdom Reborn is supposed to break this somehow, but we have not seen any examples yet. This topic is purely speculative fun for the moment until we learn more anyhow.


Actually it is one of the biggest hurdles. Placeholders work well for mobiles but not for actual items. Now all Stygain Abyss items will have 2D style artwork which can conveniently fit into the 2D client if needed.


Thanks.

Fireworks is a great example. They did up some big display (which I never saw, did anyone even take pictures in Kingdom Reborn?) for the 4th of July that was KR exclusive. Particle effects are one of 2D's greatest shortfalls, but that doesn't mean they should just leave 2D out. A couple sparkles are better than none.

I am almost certain that the game world would look a LOT nicer if it didn't have to be compatible with both clients. KR isn't limited to a tile-based system and I don't think new content should be either. Let's move into the modern age!

The look of Kingdom Reborn has absolutely nothing to do with 2D
In fact, they made server changes just for KR which has butchered the 2D client in a few places such as roads. They are now fully admitting that the look is flawed by implementing the legacy art option, a cop out for redoing hundreds upon hundreds of items which look like crap. Some items look amazing, but those are few and far between. Just look at the Order and Chaos shields for a prime example:.

2D Client / Kingdom Reborn



The Order Shield is all fuzzy, not defined at all, and the symbol looks like someone smeared white paint all over. The Chaos Shield's symbol has actually been modified to a simple cross. It reminds me to the X-men.


There are several problems here:

1) The developers now have to manage two sets of art. Wasn't going single client supposed to cut development time in half? If 2D ever goes away (a very big if) they still have to make 2D art.
2) By introducing legacy art they are basically saying "We know the stuff we made isn't good enough, so here you can have it back." Thats really great. Why even make all that new art in the first place.
3) Now they have an excuse not to work so hard on fixing art issues. Which they actually haven't for months now.

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Look I don't have a problem with 2d sticking around. Play it all you want. But the promise was made that SA was going to be KR only, and that would allow it to take advantage of the new client features.

With those new features they are able to update the game faster, and give faster content.

IF they allow 2d access to SA then they might as well kill off the game. The shards are already shrinking due to the fact of crappy non existent content.

Kill KR, and UO dies a slow painful death.

Until there is a unified client, this game is going nowhere but down. The devs know it, and you know it.

They tried with 3d and screwed that up. If they screw this up as well, it won't be an expansion pack, it will be a lights out on the whole ball of wax.

Personally I wish they would not allow UO assist to work anymore, and we will see how fast people switch.



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Well, your assuming that they would actually do content publishes. That's an assumption and a mistake on your part I think. Even if they had a faster way to make content publishes, if they don't create any content to publish, it doesn't matter how fast they 'can' get it out. UO hasn't had any quality content additions in a long, long time now. KR won't change this.

They had the option to unify on a client, the 2D one. They choose not to, so to go on about unification and being Pro-KR is kinda contradictory. I'd have rather they spent the time coming up with bug fixes, new content for the 2D Client instead of wasting all their time working on the KR Client.

3D went the way it did because it was hardly used. If the same happens to KR, yea it's a mistake on their part, but the mistake has already been made. They don't listen to what their players want, why should it be a suprise that what they do attempt fails? *shrugs*

If they ceased UOAssist from working, I imagine they would probably loose more customers than they get to switch. Does that make good business sense? Nuh uh. Especially with a client that is so problematic for many.

As far as "Kill KR, and UO dies a slow painful death." that's just an idiotic assumption that has absolutely zero credability or worth.


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Wow, how did we all miss this? He says they will make Stygian Abyss 2D compatable if not enough people start using Kingdom Reborn.



Could legacy art be the first step in making that happen? You have to wonder.

Well it worked. Finally going to get to see what all the Kingdom Reborn hubub is about.

I'm wondering whether it'll be a repeat of UOTD/LBR, in which Ilshenar was "3D only" but then made accessible to the 2D users with the next expansion.

We could have a new title for UO.

Ultima Online - The Game With The Most Expansion Packs

Not really. Taking a quick look at the Wikipedia, Everquest appears to have 14 expansions. UO only has 7.