IGN's State of the PC RPG
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The year after Diablo was released, the world was introduced to another revolution, this one also courtesy of the Ultima brand. The new title was Ultima Online, a massively multiplayer game that took place in a persistent world. While the introduction of a persistent state world where players could form parties and adventure together was a substantial leap beyond the concepts first explored in Diablo, it was Electronic Arts' decision to charge ten dollars a month for it that was the real innovation here and the spark that would set off a blaze of imitators.
Still, it would be a while before other publishers and developers saw the potential in the continuous revenue offered by Ultima's monthly subscription model. In the interim, most developers continued developing more traditional single player games. 1997's Fallout broke free of the conventional medieval settings with a game that offered up an unprecedented amount of character depth. Characters could develop along a variety of lines and journey through the story according to their own choices rather than following the path the designers intended. Both the unique setting and detailed character systems would be resurrected years later in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.
The D&D license got a substantial shot in the arm with 1998's Baldur's Gate, a traditional, party-based adventure set firmly in the lands and rule systems of Dungeons & Dragons. The depth of story telling won over many players. So did the tactical combat model that proved turn-based, rules-driven combat could be every bit as engaging and exciting as the click-fests found in Diablo.
