On 8 September 2009, Ultima Online's latest expansion, Ultima Online: The Stygian Abyss (SA), was released. This is the first expansion for the grandfather of MMORPGs since Ultima Online: Mondain's Legacy (ML), released on 30 August 2005. Like ML, SA was a download release only.Readers will recall that I reviewed Ultima Online overall here.

SA includes both new content, and a new game client (known as the enhanced client). The older client (known as the classic client) is still supported, and all of the new content is accessible using it. My experience with the new client has been limited, so I'm really not qualified to review it.  The response to this expansion from UO's fans, who are often considered insane even relative to other MMO players, has been mixed to positive.

From my perspective though? I'm having a boatload of fun, and I'm seeing people around, at all hours of the day or night.  And I'm not just seeing them in the new maps, doing the new things.  I've also seen a revival of activity in the older maps doing things that have long-been in the game.  An ingenious mechanism in SA, a new skill called Imbuing (covered later), seems to have been designed to make old content attractive, as well as new content.

SA introduces a lot of new content into the game. There are three new skills. (Readers of my earlier general UO review will recall that UO is a skills-based rather than class-based game. Because character professions or “classes,” to use common gamer jargon, are compiled from combinations of skills, the introduction of 3 new skills effectively creates multiple new classes.)  One of these new skills, Imbuing, is a kind of crafting skill, allowing characters to specify which magical properties an item will have with important tradeoffs.  Imbuing requires that magical properties be “unraveled” from other items, thus providing an incentive for players to hunt in any location in the game that can have reasonable quality loot, including pre-existing areas.

The second new skill is called Mysticism.  It is a magic skill, with 16 spells (some of which are quite powerful) and requires many spell components which have long-been in the game.  The third is called Throwing, a mid-range combat skill.  The skill is also useful at close ranges if used in combination with one of the older skills, Swordsmanship.  Of the three new skills, Throwing is by far the least popular.  So far there doesn't seem to be much players can do with Throwing that we couldn't do with combat skills already in the game.  The 3 new skills are all related to another important aspect of UO: The playable Gargoyle race, only the third playable race in UO history.  NPC Gargoyles have a long history in the Ultima mythology and in UO.  Playable Gargoyles have natural advantages with the 3 new skills, and can fly, which is pretty neat.  (Flying is how Gargoyles can move at the same speed as a Human or Elf character riding a horse, llama, or other mount.)

The heart and soul of any expansion to this game, however, is, always has been new maps, new dungeons, and the like.  SA is no exception.

EA has added 4 distinct new areas to UO. One is a very small land mass added to a large island in the main map (Britannia).  That land mass exists almost solely as a means to get into the second new area, a fairly large dungeon known as the Underworld.  The Underworld is really pretty complex and worth exploring in its own right.  There are many new creatures, there are puzzles that give out meaningful rewards, and there are many quests.

The Underworld, however, is ultimately just an antechamber to the expansion's titular dungeon, the Stygian Abyss.  This dungeon, basically an upper layer of the Hell of the Ultima mythology, has been present in the Ultima universe for some times now, going back to Ultima IV: The Quest of the Avatar.  The Abyss was the subject of its own game in the offshoot Ultima Underworld game series, and it's that game that provides the most direct inspiration for the Abyss in UO.  UO's Abyss copies the map, in outline, from that earlier game, and includes one of the earlier game's most formidable creatures: The Slasher of Veils.

Other bosses include the Stygian Dragon.

Aside from the bosses, just about every creature in the Abyss is capable of having as loot various components necessary for the Imbuing skill. Acquiring and then selling these components can be a steady source of income for characters who are intrepid, persistent, and are capable of consistently hunting for the same items enough times to build up a customer base.

There is also content in the Abyss for PvP-oriented players.  Two new monster spawns have been added in special, large areas of the Abyss that feature the rules set from “Felucca,” UO's PvP map.  Regrettably, if predictably, the PvP-oriented players have mostly either ignored or disparaged this new content.

The Abyss leads eventually to Ter Mur, an overland map, the home of the Gargoyle race.  There are many quests to be found in this land, and many dangers to be found as well.  Ter Mur, seemingly peaceful by nature, is being rocked by an explosion of monster spawn and a unique invasion called the Void Plague, featuring demonic entities that begin life as small, easy-to-kill, slimy entities, and evolve through various stages.  The Void Plague creatures as well as many other creatures in Ter Mur, give out unique and valuable loot.

About the only playstyle not well supported by this expansion, ironically, is mine.  I mostly make money in-game by selling powerful items referred to as Artifacts.  And the Artifacts in this expansion are mostly not that good, and mostly are usable only by Gargoyles, thus greatly limiting their potential buyers.  The only decent Artifacts for general audiences appear to be available exclusively from the PvP-areas and, while I am not afraid of PvP, I never have much backup in those areas and thus tend to avoid them. Mortal enemies for some reason have a habit of ignoring one another to attack me.  I know, shocking.  Additional content continues to be provided by “contract employees” of EA called Event Moderators, and some of these events are social or role-playing oriented rather than combat oriented.  Here is a screencap of my character giving a speech at the coronation of the new Queen.

Reactions to this expansion by UO's always-insane player base have, as stated above, been mixed to positive. My own personal reaction? All positive.  I predict this game will be around for a long time to come.  Barring, of course, a fit of irrationality by Electronic Arts. And that would never happen.  Would it?