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

The guys over at The Final Dungeon have editorialized about EA, inXile, and Ubisoft’s failures to produce a true sequel to three beloved “old school” RPG franchises: Ultima, The Bard’s Tale, and Might & Magic (respectively). They point to the companies’ most recent entries as proof that they’re clearly not trying to win points with us long-time fans:

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, 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.)

I feel your pain, sir. I feel your pain.