Ultima 8: Pagan. The good, the bad, and the ugly

[Luzur]

Also, RG aka LB just got married incase you haven't heard.

he married a man, didnt he?!

 

[The King of Comedy]

Also, RG aka LB just got married incase you haven't heard.

he married a man, didnt he?!

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/ ... iot_1.html

Sorry bro, he is straight as an arrow. But you'll always have Tim Cain, right?

 

[Secretninja]

I liked the game, but I was told about the secret room with all of the weapons in it and got the flaming sword pretty early.

 

[SCO]

Is it a hoax that a Stratos resurrection focus was supposed to exist in game? (i know it isn't there).

Also truth spell is underused and underdeveloped (like everything else i guess).

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Ultima 8: Gold for free

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Ultima 8: Gold for free

On Origins.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Ultima 8: Gold for free

On Origins.

There are, at the very least, 52 codexers who have Origin accs.

 

[PhantasmaNL]

I remember taking an afternoon installing this, iirc i bought it on floppies. Also i think you could buy a speechpack later but of course that was cd rom only. I think i spent more time installing than playing. I really hated the jumping.

 

[Lord Azlan]

The Bad:

The trapped chests were a total pain in the ass, especially since not one chest in the game held anything which was really worth salvaging. And why were there 'Trap Detection' and 'Trap Destruction' scrolls? I mean, why bother wasting time and money detecting a trap, when you can just go straight ahead and destroy it with Trap Destruction, which is a far more abundant scroll?


/

Funny - all these years on and countless development in hardware, cash, resources, storytelling (I assume). And I read this line and thought of Wasteland 2.

As others have said it is free on Origin at the moment.

I played it at the time and found it okay. There were worse RPGs around at the time.

 

[Jools]

In hindsight, U8 wasn't that great, granted. BUT, and this is a big but (and I cannot lie....), U8 was the first RPG I ever played. EVER EVER! It's probably been the 5th game I ever played at all, too. Monkey Island, Indiana Jones 4, DooM, Tie Fighter, Ultima 8. There was no internet at the time, games came on a number of floppy disks, and I didn't really read any videogame magazine. I picked it up at the store because... well, because I liked the box art! It was so much more stylish than all the other boxes! Of course, the blurb on its back was enticing too.

It was really a great experience. Really, most games where: I was really broke so I could only play a few. Despite really loving U8 back then, and only seeing its fails in hindsight, there were a couple of things that drove me berserk even back then:

1.the fucking jumping puzzle over the lake. You know, jump one rock to the next, get to the other side. My pc was subpar for the game (386DX 33Mhz, 8MB Ram), 210MB HDD so the game ran ok but the scrolling around wasn't too smooth. Long story short, it took me some 50 times to get past that section. And I think I wanted to die, when I got to the next one.

2.Inventory management. WTF? It's like the game forced you to be a woman rummaging through her black-hole-like purse to find the car's keys... Holy fudge, the inventory was horrible. I get the attempt at simulating the "management" of an actual backpack/bag, containing other bags or pouches, etc., but it was so bloody horrible to manage.

But I really loved the graphics and the atmosphere, and yeah exploration was unrewarding in terms of, well, anything, but I couldn't get enough of that world, so I carefully explored every inch of it, and it gave me quite the thrills, shit as I were at combat (the combat system didn't help, either).

I also really loved the "interactivity" of the game, so many objects and items could be moved, taken, used... Oh boy, the possibilities! If only someone made a MacGyver mod! Let's combine this fork with the barrel...

Sadly, that's all I got. The game only retains a sentimental value to me, like that perfectly round rock I found once at the river. I tried playing it again, but it provided me with the same amount of excitement and entertaining as the rock does, these days.

 

[AetherVagrant]

Bought this game back when I was running windows 95. I was so pissed I could never get it to run. I knew I was missing out on the greatest blessing to mankind I spent hours trying fuck with memory managers and deleting shit from my pc to free up that first 640. Years later I built a win98/Dos dual boot machine and finally got to revel in its glory.
thank goodness for U9

 

[RK47]

It was a huge departure from previous Ultimas.
I was looking forward to explore the new alien world of Pagan back then but after being frustrated by countless jumping puzzles and death by splashing into the water, I decided to try and have fun by wrecking havoc on the populace instead with explosive flasks...
Except...

Well, that wasn't even possible with that douchebag around.

 

[SCO]

It was a huge departure from previous Ultimas.
I was looking forward to explore the new alien world of Pagan back then but after being frustrated by countless jumping puzzles and death by splashing into the water, I decided to try and have fun by wrecking havoc on the populace instead with explosive flasks...
Except...

Well, that wasn't even possible with that douchebag around.

http://www.it-he.org/ultima8.htm

 

[AetherVagrant]

Doug the Eagle's was my favorite walkthrough for u7, and the Serpent Venom escapade was the height of teenage giggles.
When I eventually went back and got u8 working years later I started following DTE's walkthrough, eventually gave up on hating myself enough to finish the game, and just read his ultima articles instead.
http://www.it-he.org/ultima7.htm

 

[pippin]

I will never not be butthurt about LB saying Ultima 9 was a better game than 8.

 

[Diggfinger]

I've been a long time fan of the Ultima series. Like most fans, I used to think that that atrocity Ultima Ascension was the game which destroyed the series. But upon playing Ultima 8: Pagan, I've changed my mind.

So I do so boldly assert that the Ultima franchise peaked at U7: Serpent Isle, and took a massive turn for the worse come U8. Ultima 8 was what ensured that when U9 hit the stage and was a complete flop, nobody was really that surprised/

Wait whaat…so you are saying this game blows ass?!
But wait, Spoony said that the game was…oh, well…ok I see your point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpui9EKNTzE

 

[Kattze]

In hindsight, U8 wasn't that great, granted. BUT, and this is a big but (and I cannot lie....), U8 was the first RPG I ever played. EVER EVER! It's probably been the 5th game I ever played at all, too. Monkey Island, Indiana Jones 4, DooM, Tie Fighter, Ultima 8. There was no internet at the time, games came on a number of floppy disks, and I didn't really read any videogame magazine. I picked it up at the store because... well, because I liked the box art! It was so much more stylish than all the other boxes! Of course, the blurb on its back was enticing too.

It was really a great experience. Really, most games where: I was really broke so I could only play a few. Despite really loving U8 back then, and only seeing its fails in hindsight, there were a couple of things that drove me berserk even back then:

1.the fucking jumping puzzle over the lake. You know, jump one rock to the next, get to the other side. My pc was subpar for the game (386DX 33Mhz, 8MB Ram), 210MB HDD so the game ran ok but the scrolling around wasn't too smooth. Long story short, it took me some 50 times to get past that section. And I think I wanted to die, when I got to the next one.

2.Inventory management. WTF? It's like the game forced you to be a woman rummaging through her black-hole-like purse to find the car's keys... Holy fudge, the inventory was horrible. I get the attempt at simulating the "management" of an actual backpack/bag, containing other bags or pouches, etc., but it was so bloody horrible to manage.

But I really loved the graphics and the atmosphere, and yeah exploration was unrewarding in terms of, well, anything, but I couldn't get enough of that world, so I carefully explored every inch of it, and it gave me quite the thrills, shit as I were at combat (the combat system didn't help, either).

I also really loved the "interactivity" of the game, so many objects and items could be moved, taken, used... Oh boy, the possibilities! If only someone made a MacGyver mod! Let's combine this fork with the barrel...

Sadly, that's all I got. The game only retains a sentimental value to me, like that perfectly round rock I found once at the river. I tried playing it again, but it provided me with the same amount of excitement and entertaining as the rock does, these days.

I take it you never installed the patch? That 'fixed' the jumping; I never had any problem with jumping at all.

It was a huge departure from previous Ultimas.
I was looking forward to explore the new alien world of Pagan back then but after being frustrated by countless jumping puzzles and death by splashing into the water, I decided to try and have fun by wrecking havoc on the populace instead with explosive flasks...
Except...

Well, that wasn't even possible with that douchebag around.

http://www.it-he.org/ultima8.htm

Actually once you get powerful enough, especially when you master Pyromancy you can kill him. In fact if I recall you do have to kill him...its been around 2 decades so I don't really remember. I think you can mess with him even after learning necromancy, and using your incredibly powerful (but slow) golem.

U8 was a great game, taken on it's own and not compared to U7, which no game can compare to even today. The engine especially; I loved climbing atop and running on rooftops at night in the town, larping a thief. I recall thinking this engine would make for a great thief/assassin like rpg. Instead they used it for Crusader, which also was quite good.

I remember taking an afternoon installing this, iirc i bought it on floppies. Also i think you could buy a speechpack later but of course that was cd rom only. I think i spent more time installing than playing. I really hated the jumping.

Speechpack also came on floppies.

 

[RK47]

I loved climbing atop and running on rooftops at night in the town, larping a thief

 

[Jools]

I take it you never installed the patch? That 'fixed' the jumping; I never had any problem with jumping at all.

Nope. Never even heard of it. :D Time to play U8 again, I guess?

 

[Minttunator]

Nope. Never even heard of it. :D Time to play U8 again, I guess?

Yeah, the patch introduced targeted jumping - so as long as the target is in range, the Avatar will land whereever the mouse cursor is. Makes it a lot less tedious but also completely trivializes all the sections that involve jumping (and there are a lot of those in the game, as you know). Still, I think it's the lesser of two evils in this case.

 

[Jools]

Nope. Never even heard of it. :D Time to play U8 again, I guess?

Yeah, the patch introduced targeted jumping - so as long as the target is in range, the Avatar will land whereever the mouse cursor is. Makes it a lot less tedious but also completely trivializes all the sections that involve jumping (and there are a lot of those in the game, as you know). Still, I think it's the lesser of two evils in this case.

Well, IMHO, the jumping puzzles were entirely out of place to begin with, you know, the game NOT being a platformer... Thus, I wholeheartedly welcome the patch and this improvement.

 

[Ladonna]

I admit I didn't finish U8, but some three quarters through I just couldn't be bothered anymore. I found the game utterly tedious and so far of a step back from U7 and Serpent Isle I couldn't believe what I was playing. I have never had any inclination to get the box out and try it again.

And to think I finished Ultima IX with the dialogue and content patch...

 

[Aildrik]

I think one of the hugest letdowns for me was the awful transition from Ultima 8 to Ultima 9; it was essentially as if U8 never happened which was a huge slap in the face to anyone who played through it. All that effort to become the 'Titan of Ether'; you finally make it back to Britannia to see the huge Guardian monument.... and U9 has you starting in your house. Huge WTF moment. I even played through U8 without the benefit of the jumping patch

I remember seeing the initial development version of Ultima 9:
http://www.unseen64.net/2010/09/29/ultima-ix-9-pc-beta/

I think this engine, had they polished it up a bit, would have made a much better Ultima game. Very sad that they decided to go with the monstrosity that was actually unleashed on the public

Speaking of the Ultima9 story, I thought Origin missed a huge opportunity to expand upon the game world. I thought the entire concept of other worlds visited/conquered by the Guardian was really fertile ground for story development. I would have loved to see the Avatar visit places that tied in with companions from older Ultima games (didn't some of the companions from U4/5/6 come from other unnamed worlds??). It would have been awesome to ultimately defeat the Guardian by having to trek around and collect artifacts or elicit help from people from these other worlds, but eh.... can always dream about what could have been I guess.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Lady Mordea > Lord British

(I somehow liked U8, despite its flaws – after the patch. I'd even replay it if Lost Vale somehow'd resurface.)

 

[pippin]

those original u9 screenshots still hurt to this day