CRPGAddict

[visions]

So travelling from one end of Ultima IV to another takes less than a day of in-game time?

My city is around 60 square miles, according to Google Maps it would take around 4 hours to go from one end to the other. Of course the shape of the area also matters but I'm guessing the general ballpark should be in similar magnitude, unless dealing with extremely weird shapes. IRL I've never walked that distance in my city but going from the city centre to the city limit has taken me around 3 hours in a calm tempo and with breaks in between. The distance from the city centre to either farthest city limit doesn't differ that much. So I guess in a calm tempo and with breaks in between, it would take 7 hours max.

 

[mediocrepoet]

So travelling from one end of Ultima IV to another takes less than a day of in-game time?

I found his claim to be a bit bizarre. If you walk through the forests, etc. you can watch the moon cycles change, indicating that trekking around isn't superfast.

On top of that, he seems to be assuming 1 square in a city = 1 square outside, which is just obviously wrong and shouldn't need explanation.

 

[Grauken]

On top of that, he seems to be assuming 1 square in a city = 1 square outside, which is just obviously wrong and shouldn't need explanation.

Yeah, that was true in later Ultimas starting with six, but all the earlier ones have clearly different size layers like many early cRPGs, and he should know since he played a lot of them

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

So travelling from one end of Ultima IV to another takes less than a day of in-game time?

I found his claim to be a bit bizarre. If you walk through the forests, etc. you can watch the moon cycles change, indicating that trekking around isn't superfast.

On top of that, he seems to be assuming 1 square in a city = 1 square outside, which is just obviously wrong and shouldn't need explanation.

Seriously? I've assumed that me multiplied each square outside by the number of squares you get during random encounters.
Also time is fucky in Ultima. In Ultima V it advances so fast going about a city is a race against time to talk to everyone you want before they go to sleep.

 

[mediocrepoet]

So travelling from one end of Ultima IV to another takes less than a day of in-game time?

I found his claim to be a bit bizarre. If you walk through the forests, etc. you can watch the moon cycles change, indicating that trekking around isn't superfast.

On top of that, he seems to be assuming 1 square in a city = 1 square outside, which is just obviously wrong and shouldn't need explanation.

Seriously? I've assumed that me multiplied each square outside by the number of squares you get during random encounters.
Also time is fucky in Ultima. In Ultima V it advances so fast going about a city is a race against time to talk to everyone you want before they go to sleep.

He might've, I was just assuming from how small he claims everything is like Britain to Paws being down the block or whatever. I didn't do any math or read the article other than the snippet above.

Either way, I always took time and space in the Ultimas to be a bit of an abstraction, especially in the overworld where a square can be a cave, hamlet, or city, or ship, or forest, and is entirely obscured by your party, etc. So his claim about resolving the issue and coming to the conclusion that the game world is ultra tiny struck me as just odd on several levels.

 

[Grauken]

... and coming to the conclusion that the game world is ultra tiny struck me as just odd on several levels.

Not that this really matters. As long as the world is fun to explore and has enough content, does it really matter if its just a small island archipelago or massive but empty continents

 

[Tweed]

Let's not forget just how ridiculously slow Ultima VII ran on most people's computers of the day, getting from Trinsic to Britain could actually take a long damn time.

 

[newtmonkey]

I played Ultima 7 on the family computer, which was a 386-16. The frame rate was measured in seconds-per-frame in towns, though it was nearly playable in outdoor areas.

 

[V_K]

I played Ultima 7 on the family computer, which was a 386-16. The frame rate was measured in seconds-per-frame in towns, though it was nearly playable in outdoor areas.

So that's how you make U7 turn-based...

 

[Darth Canoli]

So that's how you make U7 turn-based...

No, that's Real-Time with Pauses ...

 

[V_K]

So that's how you make U7 turn-based...

No, that's Real-Time with Pauses ...

I'm pretty sure at that speed you can clearly see the order in which actors move.

 

[Grauken]

the addict makes mincemeat out of Ultima 7p1, nice

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2020/08/ultima-vii-black-gate-summary-and-rating.html

 

[V_K]

Yeah, as I've posted there, I'm very surprised that in the battle of the 7s he came so strongly on Wizardry's side (60 vs. 51). I was really expecting it to be the other way around.

 

[felipepepe]

I've always admired the ideas behind Ultima VII, but never enjoyed how they are executed... I guess it's kinda like Arcanum, where the vision it presents is so amazing and unique that you buy the dream and don't really complain much about the execution. Especially at the time.

Or maybe Ultima VII is just the Skyrim of the Ultima series :3

Reading his notes, now I'm thinking that Dark Sun: Shattered Lands might soon end up being one of his highest rating games, much above Ultima VII, despite not having even a fraction of the fan base.

 

[Grauken]

Depends on how much bugs he encounters, I mean the sequel is notorious for it but Shattered Lands had its fair share of them and they can really hurt the overall experience.

 

[Cat Dude]

Is he a hardcore 40 years old video game nerd like most people here?

 

[Viata]

Is he a hardcore 40 years old video game nerd like most people here?

And like most people here, he loves Skyrim.

 

[Grauken]

Is he a hardcore 40 years old video game nerd like most people here?

We are really here to discuss politics, games are for young kids with no life and perspective

 

[Sweeper]

Fuck life.
Shit's got horrible encounter design.

 

[MRY]

Reading his notes, now I'm thinking that Dark Sun: Shattered Lands might soon end up being one of his highest rating games, much above Ultima VII, despite not having even a fraction of the fan base.

It's my favorite pre-Fallout RPG. People often note that it anticipates Fallout (and Infinity Engine) in many ways, which is definitely true. But I would also say -- somewhat absurdly -- that it anticipates God of War and other modern games in which developers figured out how to keep telling the player, "You are awesome!" It starts with the Brom cover, continues through character creation (character stats that go up to 20, to character races that get four attacks or whatever, everyone gets psionics), the intro is totally metal, the sound effects and combat animations reinforce the "oomph" of your attacks (giant blood splatter showing damage), and then the game is just a series of cool things that you get to do. You're not doing lame, "Carry a parrot in your inventory so that he tells you where pirate's treasure is" nonsense. The culminating insanity is when you get to make genie wishes. Marry the genius of that design with cooler art and a better angle of projection than Ultima's, and any sane person should prefer it.

 

[Desiderius]

Reading his notes, now I'm thinking that Dark Sun: Shattered Lands might soon end up being one of his highest rating games, much above Ultima VII, despite not having even a fraction of the fan base.

It's my favorite pre-Fallout RPG. People often note that it anticipates Fallout (and Infinity Engine) in many ways, which is definitely true. But I would also say -- somewhat absurdly -- that it anticipates God of War and other modern games in which developers figured out how to keep telling the player, "You are awesome!" It starts with the Brom cover, continues through character creation (character stats that go up to 20, to character races that get four attacks or whatever, everyone gets psionics), the intro is totally metal, the sound effects and combat animations reinforce the "oomph" of your attacks (giant blood splatter showing damage), and then the game is just a series of cool things that you get to do. You're not doing lame, "Carry a parrot in your inventory so that he tells you where pirate's treasure is" nonsense. The culminating insanity is when you get to make genie wishes. Marry the genius of that design with cooler art and a better angle of projection than Ultima's, and any sane person should prefer it.

You've forgotten the UI which totally blew me away at the time. Had never been any thing close to like it.

 

[MRY]

Yep. Especially when you compare it to the godawful Ultima 7 UI.

 

[Mortmal]

the addict makes mincemeat out of Ultima 7p1, nice

http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2020/08/ultima-vii-black-gate-summary-and-rating.html

A completely pointless exercise given U7 is still superior to 99.99% of steam "rpg" releases of the last decade.

 

[Mortmal]

Seriously Grauken fuck you , filthy degenerate.

 

[Grauken]

Seriously Grauken fuck you , filthy degenerate.

The only one who is a filthy degenerate is one who likes a game where combat and character progression have been sidelined