Interviews
Designer Jonathan LeCraft talks about UO’s Samurai Empire expansion
“I think my favorite aspect of Samurai Empire is how well it fits into our existing game.”
It may be one of the grandfathers of the genre, but Ultima Online shows no sign of slowing down with age.
In 1997, the original version of the massively multiplayer online title launched and quickly surpassed 100,000 subscribers. In the years since its release, UO has maintained a subscriber base around 250,000 and has had an expansion in every year of its existence.
This year, the UO legacy expands with Samurai Empire. New classes, new lands, new monsters a new guild system and, of course, new mythology fuels this expansion and gives the players more of what the fan base was looking for.
Jonathan LeCraft, lead designer for Ultima Online: Samurai Empire, talked with GameZone about the latest installment in the UO legacy.
Question: Samurai Empire seems to be taking the venerable UO franchise in a slightly different direction by injecting a few Eastern concepts into the fantasy realm. How will this coincide or work smoothly with the existing ideology of the realm?
Jonathan: The introduction of an Asian culture into UO was an idea taken from both our players and Ultima history. Our players, both current and potential, were very receptive to the idea of an Asian-themed expansion. It also worked in well with Ultima’s rich history. A continent known as “The Land of the Feudal Lords” was thought to be destroyed in Ultima I, now rediscovered with Samurai Empire and known as the Tokuno Islands.
Q: Will there be new professions or classes available and with them will there be new class quests? Will players be able to move their existing avatars over, or will they have to start new avatars to pursue the bushido training?
Jonathan: Both the Samurai and Ninja professions have been introduced with the new expansion, complete with quests to guide new players into the world. As far as existing characters go… professions are highly malleable in UO, allowing existing players to adapt to newly introduced skills without having to start from scratch. The Soulstones offered with the Samurai Empire pre-order promotion are especially useful for this, as a player can preserve an old skill in the Soulstone they may need to drop to pick up Bushido or Ninjitsu.
Q: What does this game open up as far as spells, skills or the player economy is concerned? Will the new areas provide the opportunity for player housing?
Jonathan: The new skills are Bushido for the Samurai, and Ninjitsu for the Ninja. We’ve added special abilities like Shadowjump, Mirror Image, Lightning Strike, and Evasion (to name a few) that use these new skills. In a nutshell, the Ninja is an assassin that uses trickery and stealth to quickly silence their enemies, whereas the Samurai is an honorable warrior who uses great accuracy and strength against many enemies at once. Also, some existing skills have been enhanced for the new professions. For example, you can now instantly go into stealth from hiding, whereas it used to require a 10 second delay.
Many new items have been introduced through all our crafting systems, including new furniture to decorate your house, weapons to cut down your enemies, armor to protect you in battle, and even Ninja smoke bombs (an egg filled with flour) crafted by cooks. Outside the crafting system, rare items like sword racks and paintings can be stolen from deep within our new dungeons.
A limited number of new housing locations will be available on the Tokuno Islands. Many of these locations are “premium” spots surrounded by landscaped gardens and fountains, with proximity to the city of Zento.
Q: Explain the new guild system.
Jonathan: The guild system now sports a completely new interface. You no longer need a house and guildstone to create a guild, just a sum of money and the desire to do so. Guilds can form alliances, and guild wars can now be conditional, letting the guild leaders specify how long the war lasts or how many kills will deem one side the winner. This means you can see the effectiveness of your war efforts against another guild.
Q: Are the new Ninja guilds player-based or are there NPCs who will guide players down the path toward the assassination and stealth aspects? What role will assassination have in the game?
Jonathan: While there are no NPC Ninja guilds, UO has always been home to countless themed guilds and organizations created by our players. No doubt assassination will play an important role in guild warfare as well as provide some intense PVP duels.
Q: With the oriental flavor, will new music be added to the game?
Jonathan: In addition to a host of new sounds for all our new monsters and special abilities, we’ve added themed music for the new lands – including the combat music!
Q: Will the mobs on the new land be drawn from oriental mythology?
Jonathan: Nearly all the new creatures introduced with Samurai Empire were inspired by oriental mythology and folklore. There’s also some completely new monsters as well, such as the Rune Beetle.
Q: What other new aspects of this expansion do you think will appeal to both the community and new gamers?
Jonathan: I think my favorite aspect of Samurai Empire is how well it fits into our existing game. I feel we’ve truly expanded gameplay, making UO even deeper and more immersive – something community and new players both crave.
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