Lord of Ultima Impressions

In the event that you’ve been tempted to spend some time with EA’s Lord of Ultima, I recommend checking out this “Zombie Ultima” impressions piece that Jay Barnson penned at Tales of the Rampant Coyote.

In some monster shows featuring people getting turned into mindless zombies or bloodthirsty vampires, there’s usually a protagonist who has trouble accepting that this creature wearing the form of former friend or family member isn’t really their loved one. There’s a turning point in the movie where they finally come to realize that the person they once knew and trusted is gone, and that this monster only wears the form, or maybe also wields the memories as a weapon. Or, maybe, if a shadow of their old friend remains, it has only enough strength to become an ally to sacrifice itself to help the hero destroy the monster they had become.

For me, that moment came with the big updates. They decided to name the updates after the subtitles of the classic game series. (Serpent Isle.) (Ascension.) (Forge of Virtue.)

Yes. I’m not kidding, here. And while I knew better, there was this stupid little glimmer of hope that maybe, MAYBE these expansions would actually bring a little of Ultima’s history and flavor into this game. And maybe even a tiny bit of the old series’ gameplay? I mean, you send armies to these dungeons and against the boss monsters and stuff, maybe that could be expanded on, given a little bit more RPG flavor?

EA should have never used the Ultima title for anything other than a full-on RPG. And if they ever greenlit such a project, it would end up being a first-person, action-heavy title anyway. I’d rather the franchise stay dead.

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