Ultima Online: Age of Shadows
Encyclopedia
Ultima Online: Age of Shadows is the fifth expansion pack
for the popular MMORPG
Ultima Online
. It was released on February 11, 2003 and was the last title by developer Origin Systems
.
The main purpose of Malas was to provide more land for player housing. Players had complained that limited open land was causing an unreasonable amount of price inflation in the community, and restricting younger players from owning houses until they had played for many months. The greatly increased land that Malas provided helped to lower the cost of housing, and gave more players the opportunity to own a home.
s, and orange katana
s, which caused upset with traditional players who claimed that the unrealistically colored weapons detracted from the authenticity of Ultima Online (see: Criticism).
consists mainly of the new Chivalry
skill. If used in conjunction with a "Book of Chivalry," a Paladin using the skill can perform powerful techniques, such as curing poison in battle, or teleporting to a new location. These types of magical abilities were previously restricted to mage
s. In order to perform Chivalry techniques, a Paladin must tithe
gold to a shrine in exchange for "tithing points."
Paladin (Chivalry) techniques:
spells. Necromancy requires a separate group of reagents: Bat Wing, Grave Dust, Daemon Blood, Nox Crystal, and Pig Iron.
Necromancer (Necromancy) spells:
, the expansion received an average score of 71% based on 12 reviews. On Metacritic
, it received an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 6 reviews — indicating "mixed or average reviews."
Expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...
for the popular MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
Ultima Online
Ultima Online
Ultima Online is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game , released on September 24, 1997, by Origin Systems. It was instrumental to the development of the genre, and is still running today...
. It was released on February 11, 2003 and was the last title by developer Origin Systems
Origin Systems
Origin Systems, Inc. was a computer game developer based in Austin, Texas that was active from 1983 to 2004...
.
Malas
Age of Shadows introduced a new landmass to the game called Malas. Malas was designed to appear as a broken continent, with various islands and pieces of land separated from each other and connected only with bridges. The pieces of land were surrounded by stars, suggesting that Malas floats somewhere in space above the rest of the Ultima Online worlds.The main purpose of Malas was to provide more land for player housing. Players had complained that limited open land was causing an unreasonable amount of price inflation in the community, and restricting younger players from owning houses until they had played for many months. The greatly increased land that Malas provided helped to lower the cost of housing, and gave more players the opportunity to own a home.
Item system
New item attributes and properties were added with the expansion. The new attributes allowed for hundreds of combinations of items, a drastic change from the limited possibilities before. Four elemental properties were part of the change: fire, cold, energy, and poison. If the elemental properties were high enough, items changed color to reflect elemental power. This change produced a variety of items such as blue broadswordBroadsword
Broadsword may refer to:*Broadsword , a military sword used by heavy cavalry during the 17th to early 19th centuriesIn more modern times, it has also been used to refer to:...
s, and orange katana
Katana
A Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. There are several types of Japanese swords, according to size, field of application and method of manufacture.-Description:...
s, which caused upset with traditional players who claimed that the unrealistically colored weapons detracted from the authenticity of Ultima Online (see: Criticism).
Paladin
The new Paladin character classCharacter class
In role-playing games, a common method of arbitrating the capabilities of different game characters is to assign each one to a character class. A character class aggregates several abilities and aptitudes, and may also sometimes detail aspects of background and social standing or impose behaviour...
consists mainly of the new Chivalry
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
skill. If used in conjunction with a "Book of Chivalry," a Paladin using the skill can perform powerful techniques, such as curing poison in battle, or teleporting to a new location. These types of magical abilities were previously restricted to mage
Wizard (character class)
The Wizard is a type of magical character class in certain role-playing games and computer role-playing games. Wizards are considered to be spellcasters who wield powerful spells, but are often physically weak as a trade-off. Wizards are commonly confused with similar offensive spellcasting...
s. In order to perform Chivalry techniques, a Paladin must tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
gold to a shrine in exchange for "tithing points."
Paladin (Chivalry) techniques:
- Close Wounds
- Holy Light
- Consecrate Weapon
- Enemy of One
- Dispel Evil
- Remove Curse
- Divine Fury
- Sacred Journey
- Noble Sacrifice
Necromancer
The new Necromancer character class was introduced along with 16 NecromancyNecromancy
Necromancy is a claimed form of magic that involves communication with the deceased, either by summoning their spirit in the form of an apparition or raising them bodily, for the purpose of divination, imparting the ability to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge...
spells. Necromancy requires a separate group of reagents: Bat Wing, Grave Dust, Daemon Blood, Nox Crystal, and Pig Iron.
Necromancer (Necromancy) spells:
- Poison Strike
- Pain Spike
- Curse Weapon
- Blood Oath
- Evil Omen
- Mind Rot
- Strangle
- Corpse Skin
- Wraith Form
- Lich Form
- Vampiric Embrace
- Horrific Beast
- Summon Familiar
- Animate Dead
- Vengeful Spirit
Reception
On the review aggregator Game RankingsGame Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, the expansion received an average score of 71% based on 12 reviews. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, it received an average score of 74 out of 100, based on 6 reviews — indicating "mixed or average reviews."