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Underworld Ascendant
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Synonamess Botch
Texas, y'all
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February 22, 2015 - 4:32 pm
Member Since: November 9, 2010
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant

I just found out about this.  It's another one of those "let's get the band back together" projects.  I've already participated in one: Wasteland 2, but I'm not sure about doing it again.  But how could it fail?  It's got Paul Neurath for crying out loud!  It's difficult to over-emphasize the impact this game had, both on my gaming preferences and my imagination.

Still, I'm hesitant.  Their pitch video didn't do a great job selling me on their vision.  It's all talk of dynamic faction relationships and player customization.  I guess what I'd really like to hear is something more about creating (or re-creating) the vastness and untold mysteries hidden in the Stygian Abyss, never having seen the light of a single, flickering torch.  That's what really grabbed me about the original: the chance to delve into the darkness of the Abyss, or Moria, or the unconscious, or whatever you'd like to call it.

It's got until 6 March, and has about 85% of it already.

Rule #2: Double-tap

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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February 24, 2015 - 8:55 pm
Member Since: April 10, 2009
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The Ultima Underworld series is one of those inexplicable gaps in my gaming career. I had just re-adopted PC gaming but for some reason missed them entirely - I think because I mistakenly associated the brand with the disastrous Ultima VIII.

In any case, the idea here sounds fantastic. Modern technology owes itself a redo of Ultima Underworld. Arx Fatalis did okay at it, but it didn't age well and can no longer be called "modern" anyway. With Paul Neurath at the helm, it seems like it has great potential, but what Botch says is true - how many times have we heard about dynamic factions and living worlds, only to discover scripted cutscenes and A/B/C moral choices? And as always, something technically ambitious usually needs an ambitious budget; $600K wouldn't cover Bioware's monthly burn, though if Wasteland 2's Kickstarter taught us anything, it's that scale and production values - if realistic - need not be tied to the absurd budgets of AAA.

Looks like they'll squeak by with their $600K ask. I've imposed a moratorium on backing things for a while, or else I'd have already bought in. But even if I'm not a backer, I look forward to seeing what Neurath & Co can do. 

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

lakerz1
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March 1, 2015 - 7:59 pm
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I have fond memories of my youth playing through the first Ultima Underworld game on PC.  I spent many hours puzzling through it and enjoying every minute.  Also played through the sequel, but that one fell a tad flat for me.  Just more of the same, and the magic wore off a bit.  I still completed it though.

I also am taking a Kickstarter break.  I've backed a decent amount of projects the past 12 months and also have way too many games on my 'to play' list.  Looks like they met their funding goal for this one though.

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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March 12, 2015 - 12:20 pm
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The Underworld Ascendant people recently did a chaotic but great Twitch session...

Skype + System Shock 2 + A bunch of people who worked on it/Liked it/Were available at the time = fascinating developer commentary.

Paul Neurath, Ken Levine, Steve Gaynor (who had nothing to do with SS2, but liked it), and a whole crowd of other industry fans and Looking Glass alums whose names I can't remember, generally doing a good job of not talking at once. Many of these people... ahhhh... do not get along any more, to put it lightly, so organizing this must have been an effort in itself. Totally worth your time if you're interested in the experience of developing System Shock 2, which of course was basically Ultima Underworld in space.

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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Synonamess Botch
Texas, y'all
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March 12, 2015 - 1:55 pm
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Sweet!  I saw some of their less recent Twitch streams but haven't been keeping up.  So do you have some insider baseball type info on ex-LG folks?  Brain dump please!  I wouldn't ask you to engage in idle gossip but you can't drop tidbits like that and not expect demands for elaboration!

Rule #2: Double-tap

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Steerpike
Subtropical Southeastern Michigan
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March 12, 2015 - 6:52 pm
Member Since: April 10, 2009
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I know a few of them pretty well, and others tangentially, and they've never made me privy to any of the really succulent stuff. These are decades-old relationships in many cases. Stuff festers. Take, for example, Ken Levine, who is

A) not the easiest person to get along with, and 

B) a relative noob compared to the decades of experience borne by many of those he worked with at Looking Glass, yet still

C) infuriatingly gifted in the art of making crucial, formative design decisions when all else has failed, and thus

D) wholly deserving of the acclaim he's received.

Neurath, Church, LoPiccolo, LeBlanc, Hart, and others were easily as beneficial to the medium; they're also far more pleasant. I doubt  they're bothered that Ken gets so much attention and admiration - he did earn it, after all. But spend years to reflecting on the karmic unfairness of what happened to Looking Glass and mix it up with Ken's personality, and it's a rough combination... made worse, ironically, by the fact that he was instrumental in shaping the studio's later body of work (remind me to tell you about Thief sometime).

Of course, Ken Levine is hardly the only issue. He's just a visible one. These people have known each other for thirty years, little things add up, y'know?

Life is the misery we endure between disappointments.

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