MMORPG

Ultima Worlds Online: Origin [PC – Cancelled]

Ultima Worlds Online: Origin – originally titled Ultima Online 2 – was to be the first sequel to the popular 1997 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Ultima Online. Origin Systems revealed that they were developing Ultima Online 2 in September 1999 for release within a year or two, but development was cancelled in March 2001.

The game was to be set in Sosaria but in an alternate timeline where a cataclysm has collided the past, present and future of Sosaria into a single world, thus bringing Industrial Revolution and steampunk elements to the medieval fantasy world. Players would be able to choose from three playable races. Ultima Online 2, billed as a “2nd generation MMORPG”, was to improve upon Ultima Online and previous MMORPGs. The most noticeable advancement was the competitive 3D engine that replaced Ultima Online’s aging isometric view. The design also changed several aspects that players voiced dislike for in the first one. In Ultima Online 2, player vs. player combat was to be disabled by default (except in special areas, such as arenas). The title also would have emphasized grouping, including groups of 20-30 players, and reduced the ability of single players to become all-around grand-masters (i.e., prevent the notorious “tank-mage” characters that appeared in Ultima Online).

In March 2001, Electronic Arts, the parent company of Origin, announced that development on Ultima Worlds Online: Origin would cease in order to provide additional support for Ultima Online. Shortly after, EA announced it had laid off 200 employees including some at Origin Systems. EA feared that it would compete for subscribers with Ultima Online, which was still profitable and not showing signs of slowing down. About one-third of the team that worked on Ultima Online 2 joined Destination Games to work on Richard Garriott‘s MMORPG, Tabula Rasa.

Just a few years later, history repeated itself when EA cancelled Ultima X: Odyssey in 2004.

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World of Warcraft [PC – Beta]

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Early in the development of World of Warcraft, when battlegrounds were made, there was a battleground called Azshara Crater. Azshara Crater would’ve been in – you guessed right – Azshara. It was intented to work in a similar fashion to Alterac Valley. A funny detail is that the entrances was already made when the battleground got cancelled, and is still in the final game. The entrance for the Alliance is south of the Forlorn Ridge and the entrance for Horde is north of Forlorn Ridge. Go check it out if you’re bored.

Even if the battleground wasn’t implented in the game, it’s still in the games files.  

True Fantasy Live Online [XBOX – Cancelled]

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TFLO was an MMORPG in development by Level-5 for Microsoft’s Xbox video game console. After a long and troubled development cycle that lasted close to two years, the game was cancelled on June 2nd, 2004. The game was to take place in a massive fantasy setting where up to 3,000 users, each with their own fully customizable character, could adventure around with each other fighting monsters and collecting various items. Often cited as one of the most disappointing project cancellations of recent years, True Fantasy Live Online was highly anticipated almost right from the moment it was announced in 2002, and was touted as one of the premier titles for the Xbox and its Xbox Live online service in Japan.

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Yet despite being “fully playable” and near completion according to Microsoft around the time of its cancellation, the title’s development was littered with complications from the very beginning. One such problem was Level-5’s inexperience with online network coding, and their inability to properly implement voice chat compatibility into the game. It was a feature never before implemented on such a large scale in an MMORPG, however Microsoft was very adamant on its inclusion, as it was a key feature to their Xbox Live service.

Relations between the two companies soon began to spiral out of control as Level-5 struggled to meet the demands required by Microsoft, who in turn grew frustrated at the lack of progress being made on the game. There were also significant disagreements on the direction of the title, with Level-5 aiming to make a more casual based MMORPG, similar to World of Warcraft, and Microsoft demanding a more long-term, Everquest-like title that would draw players in for months to come. After an extremely short and rather underwhelming showing at the Tokyo Game Show in 2003, True Fantasy Live Online was quietly delayed from its initial Fall 2003 release into 2004. From then, little was seen or heard about from the title, and after a surprising absence during the year’s E3 convention, it was officially cancelled by Microsoft on June 2nd.

In the months following, Level-5 President and CEO Akihiro Hino stated in a Japanese interview that the poor relations between his company and Microsoft, partially due to the latter’s inexperience in dealing with Japanese developers, was one of the major reasons behind True Fantasy Live Online’s cancellation. He also heavily implied that the two companies did not part amicably, and it stands to reason that the two companies most likely will never work together again.

[info from Wikipedia] 

Shining Lore [XBOX/PC – Cancelled]

Shining Lore is to the very majority of people a cancelled MMORPG originally to be released early 2003, before it fell into development limbo. However, what most people are unaware of is that Shining Lore Online, as it was to be called, was originally a dating RPG called, simply, Shining Lore. This was, obviously, a -very- different game from Shining Lore Online, which shared some elements, but in many ways it was very different. (A dark plot instead of a lighthearted one, for example.) (Supposed to be released in 1999 or 2000) Many of the characters you were to meet in Shining Lore Online were based on designs of the girls you could date in Shining Lore, although obviously, some of them had seen slight redesigns, or in some cases even sex changes […]

The original game sound track was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare of Lunar and Grandia fame, so it’s really quite good. You can download it from here!

For more infos: Shining Lore Project  Analisys

Thanks to Saga Darvulia for all these informations!

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Final Fantasy XI (11) [PS2/PC – Concept / Beta]

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ENG: This entry in the archive doesn’t have a description yet. If you want to add some info about the beta / cancelled stuff that you see in these images, just write a comment or send us an email! We’ll add your info in this page and your name in the contributors list. Thanks a lot for your help! :)

ITA: Questa pagina dell’archivio non ha ancora una descrizione. Se vuoi aggiungere delle informazioni riguardo le differenze della beta o la descrizione di un gioco cancellato, lasciaci un commento o mandaci una email! Inseriremo le tue informazioni nella pagina ed il tuo nome nella lista dei collaboratori. Grazie per il tuo aiuto! :)

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Final Fantasy XI Trailer

Final Fantasy XI Teaser