Ultima The Ultima Underworld I & II Thread

Dependency is not a function of quality measurement. UU1 having no connection to Ultima series (like, is it even Ultima?) raises more questions than makes it a better game.

 

Don't think of Underworld 1 as an Ultima game. It wasn't supposed to be before it became part of Looking Glass's deal with Origin.

 

Oh but it is. For all the gameplay innovations, the setting of the Ultima series is retarded as fuck. UW1 is much better off for having only superficial connection to it (though hurt by shoving that connection in).

 

UU2 is okay, but I would say quite a bit inferior to 1. Level design is overall weaker, there’s about 10x more plot exposition/stupid LB nonsense, and the segmentation of the worlds works counter to the original’s design goals and atmosphere. UI improvements are really nice though and make it hard to go back to 1.
All in all if UU1 is a 10/10 (which it is) I’d say 2 is a 7.5. 8 if I’m feeling generous.

 

The worst thing about UU2 is the stupid game breaking bug that is only in the game because fucking spector wants to take a dump with his sjw shit all over the game.

 

I replayed UU1 and UU2 a few years ago and really enjoyed both but UU1 is the superior game. UU2 has some nice moments I really like how the garden turns to crap in the castle without sunlight and how all the food in the castle starts going bad the more time you play. I really liked the sewers in UU2 and the Tomb world the most but overall it is much weaker the UU1.

 

I find the diverse worlds that are available in UU2 no less exciting than coherent open to explore world of UU1. Thing is, these games are the opposite of each other, yet still both are great.

 

I remember playing UU2, and l went through the

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mage school before I could interact with the pentagram, and I didn't have the means to teleport back (I think a rock was needed).

When I later in the game realised that I had to go through that section again I just quit the game. Beyond that I found the game good, but inferior to UU1.

 

Understandable, having to trek through the Mage School Trials a second-time is a major turn-off, even if some of the trials have been previously dealt with.

That is also one of the reasons why UUW2 is (IMO) inferior to UUW1. The Stygian Abyss is only linear in one manner: Each floor comes after the other, except for needing to ascend and descend them one at a time (which I believe to be an engine restriction) players are free to tackle each floor as they see fit - though obviously it's best to start at the top and work your way down. Imagine how better the flow of UUW1 would have been if the Grand Staircase in the north hadn't collapsed. By comparison The Labyrinth of Worlds is very linear. First there's only Castle Britannia and the sewers, but then the nexus point is reached... but only one world can be accessed there. Only after having 'cleared' that do the next two open up. They then need to be 'cleared' up to a point so that the next three open up, and then that again for the final two. Players can't just fast-track over to the eighth world to see the sights there, they have to slog through the others first.

I like the variety offered by the eight worlds of UUW2, but they clearly differ in qualities. UUW1's level of quality is consistently high throughout (except perhaps for that silly Pac-Man maze) but UUW2 is all over the place.

I feel very similar about UUW1 and UUW2 as I do about Thief 1 and Thief 2 and EotB1 and EotB2: The sequel has the better engine and plays smoother, but the original is the better game.

 

For those that don't know about the bug in UU2, spoilered below:

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At some stage, the castle servants go on a strike because of "working conditions". Note that this is a medieval game with a medieval king (despite being a pretty benevolent and hapless one) who is not only having a bit on the side with the serving girl (who is cheating on him) but actually has a will naming her soon-to-be kid as his heir. The nanny goes on a rant about the worker class, etc. All the usual leftard union stuff.

If you don't resolve it, you will come back to a castle where no one is able to work because they are hungry. Your closest companions, which includes Iolo and Dupre, who have been wandering the wilderness with you for months on end, are incapable of cooking at all without the servants. Yeah, the Avatar has an assload of servants trailing behind him when he goes on a quest to save Britannia the last 3 times. Thing is, since they can't work, you can't get any training, which by that time, shouldn't really be a problem. The problem is one of the characters (Nystul, IIRC) can't do his thing, which is vital to the main quest. You can't complete the game without him doing something and he won't because of the strike.

The bug? The conversation to resolve the strike (in the servant's favour, of course, because fucking spector) disappears after a while (IIRC it is when you go back through the gem and complete the next segment). So unless you have a save from before the strike, you are fucked. Restart the game.

The thing is: the whole scenario is completely pointless and doesn't add to the game at all. It is just fucking spector waving his cock around, just like he did in U7:2 when his expy goes on what is essentially a pro-communism rant. This is something that fucking spector does in real life, not just in games he's touched. There is no mistaking his hand in the whole thing.

 

I was so innocent back when I played UU2, when the most offensive thing I saw in the game was Charles' p. banal haircut.

 

I see what you did there.

 

I can't say with 100% certainty that you're wrong, but the odds are still high.

Yes, that segment is in the game and it's almost completely pointless. Why it's there I have no idea and I don't really care either, save for Britannia constantly having been a springboard for modern ideas being introduced to allow players to see the reactions of the common folk (see: Discworld)

It's how the bug manifests that I disagree with. For me personally and everyone who has mentioned this bug, the problem was that everyone told the Avatar to go take up the worker's strike with Lord British, and when done he would take time to ponder the matter and reach a conclusion where he declares in the worker's favor. This would take some time in-game, enough so that the Avatar might as well run off and visit another world. The bug was that LB would get stuck in his "ponder the matter"-stage forever, so that while everyone in the castle would behave as normal, the plot wouldn't advance to the endgame. Turns out that resolving this matter is one of the plot triggers for Mors Gotha to appear in Killorn Keep... and she has a plot-vital item needed to beat the game. No Gotha = No Win.

 

That's completely in line with Ultima 7 though, where they'll keep whining incessantly for you to feed them.