Ultima, The Bard’s Tale, and Might & Magic – Where are the Real Sequels?

By
Lawrence
 – October 11, 2010Posted in: Role Playing Games, RPG Feature Stories
Classic RPG boxes

Gone ... and soon forgotten?

When it comes to bleeding a franchise dry, no sector of the entertainment industry is as efficient and mercenary as the video game industry.  The moment a game enjoys even a modicum of success, it is guaranteed to spawn endless sequels, delivered annually if possible, until the interest of the last possible buyer has been exhausted.

Except classic western RPGs.

We can count on new Mario, Tomb Raider, and Call of Duty games.  These and other games will continue to receive sequels far into the future.  Meanwhile, most of the classic RPG series of the past have vanished, remembered only by gamers old enough to have played them on an Apple IIc or a 386.

There was a day when the shelves of my local Egghead Software proudly displayed big, colorful boxes, heavy with thick manuals and cloth maps.  The titles on these boxes – Wizardry, Ultima, Might & Magic – marked these games as new installments in storied RPG series that many (or at least, I) believed would continue for as long as gamers played RPGs on computers.

Obviously, I was wrong.

Where are the sequels?  Nowhere to be seen.  Even more troubling is what we are getting instead.  Not content to merely kill these brands, the owners of the rights in three of the most respected series in all of computer RPG history – Ultima, The Bard’s Tale, and Might & Magic – now feel the need to dance on their graves as well.

I’m talking about Lord of Ultima, The Bard’s Tale (2004), and Might & Magic Clash of Heroes.

Lord of Ultima

Seeing the Ultima logo in the corner of this RTS just makes me sad....

Lord of Ultima, a free, browser-based real-time-strategy game from Electronic Arts, is like a giant middle finger raised to anyone who loves the Ultima series and longs to continue the adventures of the Avatar.  Lord of Ultima?  There isn’t even a place called Ultima.  It’s called Britannia.  And its only lord is Lord British (well, and Lord Blackthorn, briefly).  Is Lord of Ultima any good as a real-time-strategy game?  I doubt it, but I’ll never find out, because if I want to play a real-time-strategy game, I’ll play Starcraft 2.  I play an Ultima game to go on adventures, not to “build a Woodcutter’s hut.”

The Bard's Tale (2004)

Sure doesn't look much like The Bard's Tale from this angle.

Recent treatment of The Bard’s Tale series is only slightly less shameful.  Somehow, in negotiations with EA, inXile (a studio with ties to the original Bard’s Tale trilogy) managed to secure the limited right to use the title “The Bard’s Tale,” and the right to include the original trilogy in the box with the PC version, but did not obtain any rights to use any of the content of the original games.  In other words, the characters, places, and lore from the original games had to be discarded.  That’s as if Michael Bay acquired the right to make a movie called Transformers but no right to include giant robots that transform into cars.  InXile should have given up its ambition to create a Bard’s Tale sequel at this point.  But it didn’t.

The Bard’s Tale that inXile delivered is inexcusably different from the original games, not just because the lore is different, but because the entire game is different.  Basically a re-skinned Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance (which was a competent console Diablo clone on Playstation 2 and Xbox that also abused a famous CRPG name), the game is a single-character action RPG that features minimal character creation, no inventory, and – in stark contrast to the first-person view for which the original series is well-known –a top-down perspective (not isometric – here, you literally look down at the tops of people’s heads).  All of inXile’s resources apparently went into making the game as funny as possible.  I will admit that the game is pretty funny – but it’s certainly no sequel to (or even legitimate spin-off of) the real Bard’s Tale trilogy.

Might & Magic Clash of Heroes

Looks more like Space Invaders than a classic RPG....

Finally, we have Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.  Ubisoft’s actions are arguably even less forgivable than those of EA and inXile, because while the Ultima and Bard’s Tale brands are of questionable commercial value today, the Might & Magic brand remains viable due to the continued success of the strategy series offshoot Heroes of Might & Magic (renamed Might & Magic Heroes for the upcoming sixth installment).  Ubisoft has no excuse – they could launch a new Might & Magic RPG this year with all of the advantages of brand recognition and franchise loyalty.

But they don’t.  The closest we get is Might & Magic Clash of Heroes on the Nintendo DS (and coming soon in HD form on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network).  When I originally saw this game, I got pretty excited.  I was willing to overlook the anime-style box art, especially given the text on the back of the box, which claims that the game “features role-playing gameplay, a deep storyline, and an innovative battle system that redefines turn-based combat.”  Sounds just like the Might & Magic RPGs I remember!

Only it’s a puzzle game.

That’s right.  Clash of Heroes is actually a role-playing puzzle game in the vein of Puzzle Quest and its sequel.  Now, I couldn’t sleep at night if I didn’t tell you that Clash of Heroes is actually an incredibly fun and addictive game.  In fact, it is such a good game that it pains me to criticize it here.  But no amount of fun changes the fact that the “deep storyline” and “innovative … turn-based combat” advertised on the box are actually a shallow, JRPG-style story with zero original Might & Magic lore, and a match-three-colors puzzle game, respectively.  The game is well worth your time, but it is not a Might & Magic RPG.  Ubisoft should not market it as one.

Will this trend continue?  And if so, what’s next?  Planescape Pinball?  Wizardry Watersports?  It’s bad enough that the major publishers seem willing to sit on the intellectual property rights to the forefathers of the genre until no one remembers they ever existed.  But to pump out low-rent games (or, in the case of Clash of Heroes, excellent games) that bear no relation to their titles?  The classics of our genre deserve better.  We deserve better.  So, publishers, please hurry up and give us Ultima 10, Might & Magic 10, and The Bard’s Tale 4  – and throw in Wizardry 9 while you’re at it.

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