Review by: Nick Stewart
Published: June 23, 2000

With the advent of the Internet and the subsequent wide-open opportunity for multiplayer experiences, countless gamers have practically taken to living online. Initially, this was the realm of strategy and FPS fans, and even RPGs to a much lesser degree, with such lesser-known titles as Meridian 59. Then along came Origin with their much-beloved Ultima franchise, and everything changed. Ultima Online became the first true mainstream Massively Multiplayer Online RPG, and shook the genre to its very core with its persistent world where you could be anything from a humble carpenter to a battle-lusted warrior to a stealthy thief. Still, as is the case with all new phenomena, UO was not without its lion’s share of problems. Gameplay was hideously lag-ridden, with few quests to satisfy the adventure-hungry players. Eventually, time and popularity also took their toll, and Britannia grew overpopulated, with no room for anyone to place their hard-earned houses, shops and towers. Some time later, Origin released Ultima Online: The Second Age, which dealt with these problems to some degree, creating a whole other set of lands to explore and populate. Certain issues like excessive player-killing and a lack of a party system still remained, however, and thus many players jumped ship when Everquest and Asheron’s Call appeared on the scene. Now, Origin has released yet another incarnation of the UO series, Ultima Online: Renaissance, which seeks to satisfy existing customers while garnering the attentions of the novice.

The basic storyline for the Ultima Online universe reaches all the back to the very first Ultima ever created. Fans of that game may recall how the world, then known as Sosaria, was home to a young wizard by the name of Mondain. Lending credence to the “evil wizard” stereotype, his lust for power secretly led him to the famed Gem of Immortality, which he then secured for his own nefarious purposes. After magically binding his soul to the Gem, Mondain was linked with its power, extending his lifespan beyond that of regular mortals and allowing him to rule the land with his monstrous army. Eventually, the one known as the Stranger — and later as the Avatar — was plucked from the threads of time and space to combat this madman. After shattering the Gem that sustained Mondain’s existence, the world was saved and all was well … or so it seemed. In reality, the Gem looked into Mondain’s soul during the binding ritual and captured the image of the lands as it was at that point. In turn, that image was refracted to each of the Gem’s individual shards upon its destruction. From that point on, life in each shard would travel in a different direction, with each one leading into different futures, cultures, and possibilities. From a practical point of view, each shard would translate into a real-life server, where the varying player interactions and decisions would shape the look and economy.

As Ultima Online: Renaissance seeks to make major changes, the storyline twists have appropriately intensified. As the original single-player series went, Mondain’s apprentice, Minax, swore revenge on the cruel world that did in her master and sought to corrupt the land. This, too, was stopped by the Stranger, though not before Minax was able to escape into a dark facet of a different shard. From that Dark Facet, or Falucca as it is called, she gathers her undead, monstrous armies to assault Britannians on either Facet and all that it holds dear. This forced Lord British and his citizens to move to a different facet, Trammel, where the Virtues were sufficiently strong to block Minax’s efforts. Despite these changes, she is not completely powerless, and her malice can be felt regardless of one’s location. It is this balance between the Dark and Virtue facets that has triggered the many new differences within Britannia, and it is these changes that attempt to catch the MMORPG public’s eye.

In years past, Ultima Online players have faced many problems, including the aforementioned player-killing and housing issues. This was life on what is now known as Felucca, which is essentially an alternate dimension on the same shard, accessible via specialized moongate stones that can be found on monster corpses. In terms of assassination possibilities, little has changed for Feluccans. As a second dimension, Trammel, has opened up, players who desire change may in fact seek it. Trammel is the Virtue Facet, and is one where hostility between its inhabitants has reached a forcible balance. Anyone who travels across Trammel need not worry about death at the hands of another PC, as Player-versus-Player assaults have been virtually eliminated on said facet, leaving guild wars as the only viable way to fight another flesh-and-blood individual. The presentation of a second facet also opens up a considerable landmass — twice the land of the original to be exact, since Trammel was essentially a mirror image of Felucca during its creation. In other words, either facet presents you with Britannia, with either featuring different codes of conduct, economies, and so on. This also allows for twice the amount of housing, finally permitting miffed would-be players to dream about one day running their own shop or strolling about the grounds of their own villa, tower, or castle.