Clients
The client is the program used to play Ultima Online on your computer. There are currently 2 clients active.
On a slightly more technical level, a "client" is a program on your computer that is used to access information on another computer, called a server. Your web browser acts as a client, acquiring information from the servers hosting web sites. In this case, the UO client accesses information on UO's servers, called shards.
2D Client
The original and most popular game client. It has very low minimum specs. Unlike many similar games, UO's client used an "isometric" perspective, which basically seems to mean overhead, with a tilted camera. This was about the same perspective used by many of the Ultima single-player games upon which UO was based.
Both of UO's more "updated" clients also used the isometric perspective.
Most other games similar to UO use a perspective that's closer to "first person."
3D Client
Introduced with the Third Dawn expansion, it was created with 3D technology but kept the isometric perspective.
The 3d client never caught on popularly, and is currently defunct.
Kingdom Reborn
This client is currently active. The graphical base is, more or less, 3d-ish. The user interface is very different from either the original 2d client or the Third Dawn client, and is closer to more modern online games.
EA has stated that the old 2d client could be phased out if 80% to 90% of the player base was consistently logging on using the Kingdom Reborn ("KR") client alone. However, there is no evidence that his is going to happen anytime soon.
Downloads
- Official EA Client Download - Direct download and fastest available
- Download.com Client Mirror - Next best available