Why can't I play/enjoy Ultima VII?

[undead dolphin hacker]

I guess! Was it your second PS:T replay, by the way? I find I can't replay the game a third time. It's just... empty now. I mean, I love it to bits, but there's nothing I want from it anymore. It served its purpose.

Second. It's not like Fallout where you can play a dumb as bricks guy and get totally different dialog, so really it's only good for two playthroughs, both times as Wizards really because there is nothing remarkable about Warrior or Thief.

 

[Binary]

-Planescape has the best setting(s) in a RPG ever (the sheer vareity beats out Wasteland/Fallout). Britannia is only interesting if you have some degree of nostalgia for it.

While I do not argue that Britannia is not original as a setting, calling one or other the "best" is highly subjective - especially when you're only comparing it against Wasteland/Fallout.

My opinion is there are quite a few more interesting settings used on cRPGs. Thunderscape, Darksun or above all Tamriel are a few examples.

And even though the implementation is poor, Drakkhen had a very interesting setting.

 

[SkeleTony]

I recently had to finally admit that I have not enjoyed ANY Ultima game after 2 or 3(back in the days of the Apple ][e) or whatever. Even the much-lauded U4 gets on my nerves for it's lack of real character creation and quasi-real time nature(I feel like I am being rushed if I stand still or something bad will happen if I stand still too long).

I caqn replay Helherron, Natuk, POWS and Nahlakh over and over but cannot stand the Ultimas for more than a few minutes.

 

[Hazelnut]

Hey, try U5 Lazarus. I enjoyed that for quite a while (with some helpful spoilers) and I'd never been to Brittania before. I didn't finish it, as I had a fair amount of dungeon crawling to do by that point that I wasn't in the mood for. Now I am in the mood for it, I appear to be playing RoA.

 

[Jasede]

Hazel (do you mind if I keep calling you that?), please keep us informed as you progress in RoA. Us RoA veterans like hearing players explose these fine games for the first time.

 

[Claw]

Yes, dear. Tell us about your exploises.

 

[Atrachasis]

Even the much-lauded U4 gets on my nerves for it's [...] quasi-real time nature(I feel like I am being rushed if I stand still or something bad will happen if I stand still too long).

U IV real-time? Now that's a novel complaint. I'm not exactly a twitch gamer, but even I found that I had easily enough time between two "time passes" to prepare myself a cup of tea. You were slowing it down, weren't you (Moslo or DOSBox)?

 

[Hazelnut]

Hazel (do you mind if I keep calling you that?), please keep us informed as you progress in RoA. Us RoA veterans like hearing players explose these fine games for the first time.

I shall explose, but in that other thread. And nah, I don't mind you calling me Hazel, I'm pretty secure in my masculinity.

 

[SkeleTony]

Even the much-lauded U4 gets on my nerves for it's [...] quasi-real time nature(I feel like I am being rushed if I stand still or something bad will happen if I stand still too long).

U IV real-time? Now that's a novel complaint. I'm not exactly a twitch gamer, but even I found that I had easily enough time between two "time passes" to prepare myself a cup of tea. You were slowing it down, weren't you (Moslo or DOSBox)?

It is not that I was literally being shoved around by time-constraints. it is just that I do not like real-time even if I am in no immanent danger. Just seeing that 'time passes' type message every few seconds bugs the shit out of me.

 

[Azrael the cat]

U2 and time-travel

I remember being amazed (and appalled) that they dropped U2's time-travel element like a hot potato for the rest of the series. U2 was the first Ultima game I played, and the time-doors was what made it for me:
- it explained why you could combine modern and ancient technology in one game;
- there was something really cool about starting off in middle ages, then getting a ship and levelling up, then going to modern times to steal a plane and fligh that around, then go to the future - where everything is messed up and there is only like one town left on the map - and use the rocket to explore space. And then being able to go back to the uber-past and have different landmasses as the continents hadn't shifted yet

Actually did any of the later ultimas have space travel? That was a reasonably big part of Ultima 2, in the mid-to-late game at least (once you've exploited ship-cheese to cannon your way to riches and high levels with no food cost, and then got yourself the power armour).

Time-travel, aeroplanes and space-travel - quite different to where the series went after that

 

[k_bits]

Re: U2 and time-travel

Actually did any of the later ultimas have space travel?

Martian dreams?

 

[Binary]

Re: U2 and time-travel

Actually did any of the later ultimas have space travel?

Martian dreams?

In Martian Dreams you are already on Mars, so there is no space travel in the game.

Also Ultima 7 had a spaceship, but nospace travel. Ultima Underworld 2 had one very sci-fi alien world, but not really space travel

 

[Mayday]

Ugh, the Kilrathi ship in U7 was really stupid.

 

[avatar_58]

Ugh, the Kilrathi ship in U7 was really stupid.

I found it hilarious. Especially the guy who explains that he ate the lion man inside. He also has an ultimate Hoe weapon in his shed. Ultima VII doesn't take itself that seriously, and thats why it's fun. Theres a friggen computer in Serpent Isle.

 

[Jasede]

...which you can only find by finding a key that shows exactly one pixel in a spot where you would never, ever look.

 

[Mayday]

What? The key to Stokes' tower? The ghost put it right under my feet, clearly visible. (in the original SI, not Exult).

 

[Jasede]

Eh? What ghost? My memory must be failing. I only remember that the key was terribly far away. I think when I was thinking of the 1 pixel key I meant the one in the swamp in Ultima 7-1. Hm.

Speaking of 1 pixel keys, there were way too many of those. I prefered U8 were keys hid under flowerpots. I just casted explosion spells to check everything. Man, I loved U8, no matter how terrible it is.

 

[avatar_58]

...which you can only find by finding a key that shows exactly one pixel in a spot where you would never, ever look.

EDIT - Oops, you meant the shed. Yeah that key is in the swamp hidden. Doesn't it require you to check fish inside of a bunch of dead bodies first?

Speaking of 1 pixel keys, there were way too many of those. I prefered U8 were keys hid under flowerpots. I just casted explosion spells to check everything. Man, I loved U8, no matter how terrible it is.

Theres something about U8 that is fun. Like - it's so bad it's good. I enjoy it.

 

[Jasede]

Not only that. Sure, the gameplay - what makes a game - is terrible. But if you do look past that - and you shouldn't - you're rewarded with a great atmosphere and the best systems of spellcasting I ever had the honour of using.

 

[Andhaira]

Yeah U8 was great. It WAs a great game, just that after U7 it was a let down as an ultima. The clickfest combat and single player was what really got ppls goats. However, the physics of the game were quite advanced (the fore mentioned explosions). Conflagaration was a VERY satisfying spell to cast.

I've said it before, they could have made a killer hit hadthey used that engine to makeasingle player Theif/Assassin type game, due to the way you could climb rooftops, run etc. All they needed to add was a good stealth system and voila!

Instead they used the engine for the crusder games. Ugh!

Oh and U7's spellcasting/reagent based system was better. U8's depended too much on items and relics (to cast the air spells you needed a ton of inventory space for those stupid relics)

 

[Binary]

...which you can only find by finding a key that shows exactly one pixel in a spot where you would never, ever look.

EDIT - Oops, you meant the shed. Yeah that key is in the swamp hidden. Doesn't it require you to check fish inside of a bunch of dead bodies first?

You're correct. It's iirc inside a fish, which is inside a cat, which is inside a deer (?!). Sure you have to click through many corpses, but the reward is worth it with almost 0 risk (even though it is a bit silly to wander around with a friggin HOE)

Also close by is the Magebane sword.

Speaking of 1 pixel keys, there were way too many of those. I prefered U8 were keys hid under flowerpots. I just casted explosion spells to check everything. Man, I loved U8, no matter how terrible it is.

Theres something about U8 that is fun. Like - it's so bad it's good. I enjoy it.

First, I don't remember that many "1 pixel keys". In serpent's hold you have an important key beneath 6 jackets. There is one "1-pixel" ring in Spektram and I think that's it

About U8, more than the dumb "jump now or die" puzzles, I think the whole atmosphere was terrible. 75% of the game is spent in dungeons that look all alike. The characters have no portraits. Exploration was limited. And yes, the jumping puzzles were horrible.

Sure I dig all the climbing to the roof etc, and that's about the only positive thing I can say about the game as an Ultima.

 

[Jasede]

Maybe I don't mean atmosphere, but rather, the world. I can't describe it very well, but there's something compelling about a dark, unfriendly world without light and with mushrooms that I just can't express very well.

Luckily, the patch removes the jumping puzzles. I played it without the patch as a kid though. It was awful because reloading took 5 minutes on my old 486 DX and I had to reload many, many times to get to Lithos...

 

[Binary]

Ugh, the Kilrathi ship in U7 was really stupid.

I found it hilarious. Especially the guy who explains that he ate the lion man inside.

:D I found it even more hillarious when the farmer tells the Avatar that the lion man mentioned the word Kilrathi "Who is Rathi and why must I kill him?"