Kohdi wrote:
I agree with Yali here; while the story and specific gameplay of something like Revival wouldn't transfer very well to Uru, its persistent world, focusing on the actions of the players as a storytelling mechanic, and high degree of flexibility in character abilities is exactly what I'd like to see in the cavern. Imagine a revival (oops) of the 18+1 guilds in which players can actively survey the fallen city, repair and activate its mining machines, or research combinations of chemicals and reactions to create a link-worthy ink or paper! A guild of player Maintainers who keep the peace and inspect new ages, a guild of Writers who use in-game tools or an out-of-game editor to link (or, properly, create) to new ages, a guild of Bookmakers and Inkmakers to supply the materials developed by the Chemists or found by the Surveyors! The excitement over the first successful player-made Descriptive Book is palpable even now. Such applications of this modern trend of pattern-breaking mmorpgs are endless and thrilling in a setting such as D'ni. My dream, since day one, is to see the cavern as a living city again, to buy my own little apartment with a view of the lake, and to interact with and influence the events around me. Ignore the combat and odd stigma of letting any foreign ideas taint the purity of Uru, and instead imagine what could be done with the tools available today, which are lightyears ahead of those from 2004. I want to walk through the desert, rest within the Cleft, and follow Aitrus' map through the tunnels. I want to row a small boat across the faintly glowing waters of the lake. And most of all, I want to see the City of 10,000 Worlds live again.
Yes! This is exactly what I envisioned. As the city is further restored, lights and decor like in the Tokotah concept piece would come back to the city in glorious elegance.
Like a kind of alternate reality, players would take on tasks through interconnected systems like the gears of a watch analogy the Revival devs use. Like in my 12 year old vision of Mudpie, Greeters could get a large hall where they would hand out KIs and introduce people to the city, as well as work with Maintainers in maintaining the lattice and GZ while providing KI upgrades.
Unreal 4 is simply phenomenal. After seeing Blake Bjerke's Katha Island environment I'm drooling at the thought of D'ni in unreal 4.

Cyan's patented art direction is always head and shoulders above the norm in fantasy gaming, always opting for the most original designs. No elves or spikey swords, the Myst aeshetic is so varied and refined. Its just dying to be used in Unreal Engine. I think Uru's premise is so original that given the right technology and game design it could outdo the competition simply based on quality of lore and setting IMO.