Hello everyone!

I felt the urge to make a brief statement as to why I am here and my feelings about a pre-alpha shard.

I'm here because I am an Ultima fan, my first encounters with Ultima was U7: The Black Gate. Amazing game to say the least. I began playing UO:SA 1998 as a kid, was big into RP Orcs & Yew Militia, played until my early teens and then transferred over to Private Servers due to all the new crap that ruined the game.
I was always interested in UO lore, as well as IRL history and information about the games development in its early years with Richard.
That interest in UO history led me to this website and server.

My feelings about what Draconis is doing here are in no way short of the truth.
EnigmaUO is making UO history. There is no other and will not be any other Pre-Alpha servers, the 2 or 3 known pre-alpha attempts have all vanished before seeing the light of day, well mostly. But also It takes a ton of time to recreate the world, also doing your homework to make sure everything is accurate. It takes years no joke.

Now I think he's making history here just like some of the other Private Servers have, for example:

If you go to wikipedia ( yes I know wikipedia isn't exactly official, but tbh anything official doesn't give a crap about fine details of gaming history! )
search for Ultima Online it will give you the history of the game, a ton of information about all the expansions and etc. Continue down the list and it tells you about shard emulation, and that lists UOX, RunUO, then listing the servers they host and information about the people who did it, the history and so on, they made UO history for what they created. And I see First Dawn doing the same. Yes its not an emulator, but it is a 1 of a kind server.

To true UO fans a pre-alpha server is a big deal!!
Heh I could be wrong and you all may think I'm over reacting or just a nerd but I'm pretty sure I'm correct.

EnigmaUO: First Dawn - Ultima History in the Making.
Once the server becomes public, or whatever direction they are going to take, Draconis and the team will be remembered in the UO community.

So all that being said, thanks for your time and I hope to play soon and meet all of you!

Welcome Denaro, glad to see another UO veteran still holding on.

I myself was introduced to Ultima through its offline series. Pagan in particular was my favorite. Moved onto Ultima Online shortly after. The first impressions, memories and friends i made while actively playing OSI from the beginning has given me a few things to take with me. First is the laughter and joy from all my adventures, second is the heartbreak of the negative direction the game took, third is urge to replicate and re-experience the aura of this fine game i greatly miss.

My biggest issue was facing player incentive to come play here. What would make playing on EnigmaUO different from anywhere else? And i mean environmentally, graphically and most of all the player's experience. There are many shards that have hundreds of custom mobiles, systems and styles. Deep down though, they all offer similar experiences. Thus providing the players with what they have been playing already again. Ultima Online had two roads, one is what we remember since 1997. The other is the quiet and unexplored Shattered Legacy "pre-alpha". I want to try and provide players a truly unique experience and help mold and shape this unexplored path.

There are however a couple of things to realize when looking into EnigmaUO. The goal here is not a 100% accurate emulation. Many reasons declare this, mainly are things such as the lack of full customization ability and lack of information with the modern client. However, any original pre-alpha participant or new comer could not deny that they truly get a "old-school" experience here. A different Ultima Online.

Can history be made here? Already have. Its only how we will be remembered.

I look forward to having you test with us.

"Are you still with us, come this way."
- EnigmaUO

Thanks Draconis!

I agree with why you do not want a 100% replica, honestly pre-alpha was meant for testing and nothing really long term, thats why the map is so small. But mixing it with newer client is a great idea to make it more of an experience and long term keeping people coming back.

I do have a question although, I filled out an application to test, the main page said if approved I would be given a link to download the client for enigma or something like that. Is this correct or do I have to wait until there is an opening?

I apologize if I sound ignorant for asking, I'm just eager to log in!

I sent you a pm shortly after my reply here. I'm sure by now you have gotten it. If not check your private messages on the top of the page to the left next to the "Logout" link.

I got Ultima Online for Christmas '97 instead of Quake 2.


Imagine how different my life would have been!

Bicchus Dicchus

lol i know right? i was like 10 years old creepin around yahoo chat harassing people before i started on uo.

hi its karma and by the time ur reading this the game asks you if you wanna play as a ghost or ressurect at the temple

Was anyone here *in* the pre-alpha back in the day? I had the honor of participating and many of the friends I made during the PA phase I still have to this day.

I went on to create Auric's Ultima Moongates, and while it's merely a reference now, the site is still going strong 15 years later.

I confess, that while I know now that this is a recreation of the PA, it's amazing how well I remember the exact layout of the original, as I notice differences in buildings and in the location of items (such as chests). So far, those involved with this project have done a wonderful job. Keep it up.

Cheers,

Auric

I participated late, in a matter of days. I remember going to a friends hows down the street to play on his account. At the time i didn't have the computer to run it. I remember the fireball wands being confiscated at the time and spending a couple hours while i was being shown how to get outside the boundaries.

The map and server will have many additions that the original pre-alpha didn't have. We're more leaned towards taking the direction of where the pre-alpha base could have gone and keep its uniqueness. Clearly the official UO release and pre-alpha where on two different paths.

As for from chests and town decoration, due to the lack of screenshots to calirfy its rather difficult to get it correct.

As for buildings and map placement I thought besides some coastal and path transitions it is very accurate.

Your site has been in my bookmarks for years! I absolutely love it. Great job and thank you for keeping such a great piece of UO history and information alive.

Id love to get in-game with you sometime and go over some things you remember about the map and other workings. And here some stories about your pre-alpha experiences.

PS: Tell your friends!

I'd be happy to tell my friends, in fact I can tell several of the key Pre-Alpha crew.

The mace you are referring to was called the 'Fire Wand'.