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Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

What is your favorite Ultima game?


  • Total voters
    331

newtmonkey

Arcane
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
1,725
Location
Goblin Lair
The appealing thing about Ultima IV is the way in which you gather information and slowly piece the quest together. The game is at its best when you have figured out the general structure of the quest, and are slowly gathering information on where all the runes, stones, mantras, etc. are located. If you are just following a walkthrough to get through the game because it's an important part of CRPG history (not accusing anyone here of doing that), you completely lose out on that and I could definitely see it becoming tedious, like you are just following a checklist.

When I played through the game, I ended up saving the dungeons for last so the game did indeed feel quite different during the latter half, switching from a game focused on exploration and gathering information, to one focused on dungeon delving and combat.

LudensCogitet
I thought of another way to reduce the tedium of combat. If you aren't making use of the moongates, I'd recommend doing so to avoid a lot of the outdoors encounters. You'll get plenty of EXP and gold in the dungeons. Figuring out how they work can also be a fun little puzzle, though most of the information you need is in the manual and map.
 

Ysaye

Arbiter
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
771
Location
Australia
The only one I've ever tried is Ultima VII: The Black Gate, but I could never really get into it.

Been some years since I tried though so intend on doing so again later this year. Any advice how to get the most fun out of it?

Part of the problem will be that the trace of the main investigation line is convoluted and vague as a point and click adventure.

I would suggest doing the following things:
  • After getting out of Trinsic, maybe help out in Paws on the way north to Britain (Paws is where you return if you almost die) and maybe visiting Lord British to pick up a spellbook, go and make your way to pick up the bros in Shamino and Dupre; between them and Iolo they add a lot of dialogue to many situations that none of the other NPCs add.
  • Once you have done that go and do a bit of a world tour to see what is going on around all of the towns - there are lots of side quests that can earn you rewards in each but I would just note them for now;
  • When you are ready to get more into the main plot, consider doing the following to get some clues:
    • Visit Ruydom the wizard in the Cove, talk to him (as about the magic carpet) and also read his diary;
    • Investigate the goings on in Minoc and get the Gypsy Margarita to read your fortune; and
    • Maybe consider joining the dark si..I mean the fellowship so that you can infiltrate them (note upon completion the quests to become a member, you will need to read the manual to bypass the second copy protection).
  • The next bit is complicated but to kick it off speak to the head Monk (Taylor) in Empath Abbey about what Margarita mentions - try to achieve what Margarita alludes to and that will set you on a much clearer path.
  • Before going much further I would also suggest thinking about a way of dealing with travel; the best way is to find the magic carpet; this is also the only way to avoid becoming a Fellowship member and still finishing the game. You could also buy a ship but that is expensive. Also the Avatar technically owns the Virtue Stones which can be used to assist in moving around fairly easily as well; maybe borrow them back from the museum late at night....
 

ShaggyMoose

Savant
Joined
Aug 26, 2017
Messages
590
Location
Australia
Finding the magic carpet was the highlight of the game for me... I believe its found through Despise, which is possible reasonably early in the game, but you will need some party members and/or better gear.
 

almondblight

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
2,549
Started playing Ultima 4 for the first time several months ago. I love a lot of things about it, and I'd call it one of the best cRPGs of all time in concept. But I'm thinking about giving up. The combat is a complete slog, and I foresee many many hours of being interrupted during exploration and riddle solving so that I can listen to shrill PC speaker bleeps and slowly shuffle little sprites around.

Not sure what I want out of this post. Sympathy? Do others not find this part of the game tedious? I'd love some kind of magical solution to this problem so I can finish the game minus the agony.

I found not only the combat tedious, but also the exploration in general. It wasn't like Exile II or III where there's interesting stuff all over the place. It doesn't need to even be something important - randomly coming across an abandoned house, random mushroom farmers, an ancient burial spot, etc., goes a long way to making the world feel more lively and breaking up the monotony of empty wilderness. In Ultima IV exploration involved trudging through large tracks of barren wilderness, slogging through terrible combat, and hoping to eventually find a single point of interest.

The rest of the game was...OK. A lot of "talk to person X, who tells you to say something to person Y, who tells you to say something to person Z." A lot of people asking me to talk to [Person X] about [Topic Y], and then going around and talking to every NPC again because it was hard to remember which nondescript sprite was [Person X].

There's an annoying part at the beginning where someone said they'd join me and didn't. I spent a ton of time trying to solve the issue myself, before eventually giving up and looking up the answer online. Turns out that even though they say they're joining you, they won't actually join you if they're the same class as you are. Of course, the companion with the same class as you will be the one in your starting city, which means that for the vast majority of people the first NPC who says they'll join you won't join you.

There were some interesting things here and there, but ultimately the game felt rather lackluster.
 

KeighnMcDeath

RPG Codex Boomer
Joined
Nov 23, 2016
Messages
12,859
Isn't a lot of the joining mechanic in Ultima 4 based on what level you are? After watching speedruns on all platforms you can see some real issues if you don't actually roleplay a bit in the game.

I really don't think you can be too avatar-like in the first 4 games (well Akalabeth you only fight monsters but becoming a lizardman seems like you'd abandon the path). Btw? Wouldn't lord British go "WTF IS THIS LIZARD BEAST DOING IN MY CASTLE?!?"

Ultima I it is surely impossible to exit the castle with a princess without killing guards.

Ultima II has the same issue as guards carry the all important KEYS.

Ultima III I believe you could potentially avoid killing guards but it has been a long while playing it via only looking and talking to npcs, reading the manual, looking at the map, and utilizing dungeon clues. There might be NPCs next to aggressive characters. If you ever played the fantastic gameboy Ultima III there are monster NPCs you have to talk to or use a skill before it attacks you. Oh he made some clever shit in that game including secret doors you used the search command to open in towns and castles. But only the far harder part II.

Is bribing guards considered "avatar-like?" Maybe you can't be a saint.

For an old gen X player these early games hold quite a bit of nostalgia but, 0-2 are grindy as fuck. U3 is grindy but more enjoyable (combat gets boring after a while).

U4 can suffer the same grind but really has a certain feel I enjoy but can't explain. It does feel more open than ultima 3, like a breathe of fresh air rather than a pressure. Btw, it would have been cool if towns could have been destroyed by the big bad 3 in ultima 1-3 via a time limit.

Ultima 5 is the one I never finished from there on out. I was more into gold box games collected by then and hitting up Bardstale and Might & Magic. I'd buy them and test them out (BTW, U6 stinks on c64... just fucking yuck).
 

Ysaye

Arbiter
Joined
May 27, 2018
Messages
771
Location
Australia
Finding the magic carpet was the highlight of the game for me... I believe its found through Despise, which is possible reasonably early in the game, but you will need some party members and/or better gear.

Yes it is just outside of the Dungeon Despise (you don't have to go into the dungeon, just to the entrance) and is not too hard to get to from Britain, just

follow the path out West and then North hugging the mountains, and then stay on the west side of the river which then becomes the north side of the river (go over a bridge) and hug the Northern side until you get there. You probably will have to fight at least one armored bandit on exiting Britain, but if you have Dupre, Iolo and Shamino by that point if you follow the advice I suggested, then it shouldn't be too bad.

I would also suggest talking to Ruydom first, given it is his magic carpet and all.

I am flabbergasted. I never realized there WAS an alternative to joining...

OK, time to replay...

Yes the magic carpet allows you to land within the Meditation retreat, which you could only do alternatively by having the Fellowship medallion and membership. It doesn't shave much off the game but it does mean you don't have to feel filthy about joining the Fellowship.
 

Luzur

Good Sir
Joined
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Messages
41,385
Location
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The Ultimore Project – The Path of Recovery
theproblem.png



Gather close while thou art briefed on what changes hast transpired since last thou quested forth.

ultimaiiiartwork02.png

It’s been a week since I wrote my last article explaining what exactly Ultimore is, and what an incredibly week it has been! ‘Recovery’ is definitely the key word this week and I have for you a number of tales dear reader, from the mundane to the miraculous.
The Recovery of ‘A World Divided’
I have spent the last week traveling the wild lands of Sosaria, slaying foul creatures, exploring the murky depths of dungeons, and bravely going where few have tread before.

I streamed the more ‘exciting’ part of these adventures on my Twitch and intend to edit these streams down into a much more digestible Youtube video in the near future. I’ve mapped all but one town, two castles, and a handful of dungeons.

meshir.png

The destroyed city of Wypic Il Meshir
Whether through a corrupted disk image, an incompatibility with the version of Ultima III I’m using, or a flaw in the original map design I managed to hit another game halting snag whilst exploring the realm of Ambrosia beyond the whirlpool.

A pirate ship spawns in the North West of the map, designed to accost the player once they reach the coast, be captured, and then used to reach the Shrine of Intelligence where the Card of Moons resides. Without it adventurers cannot defeat Exodus.

Unfortunately said pirate ship can never reach the player. It will always get ‘stuck’ on the terrain, never reaching the player.

For a time I worried.

Salvation came in the form of the ‘Ultima III: Exodus Construction Set’ created and released by Dan Gartung in 1984. Images of this disk can be found online and with it (after spending some time learning how to use the software) I was able to pluck the problem ship from the waters and move it a short distance East where it would now be able to reach land and engage the heroes.

theproblem.png

The pirate ship ‘P’ would get stuck in the circled area on the Ambrosia map
This simple ‘fix’ indeed worked and I was able to continue my journey and claim the Card of Moons, while also improving my Wizards intelligence to 99 of course.

Elsewhere in Ambrosia a mountain pass was closed and an area unreachable. It appeared to me that it was originally intended to be accessible and that again either through bug, incompatibility, or design error it no longer was. Again I opened the Construction Kit and this time changed a single mountain tile to a grass tile, allowing access to the hidden valley.

It’s my intention to go through all the maps once I’ve completed the game and fix any ‘problems’ like this. To be fair they are very far and few between, but some will break the game. I will then upload a revised disk image with the fixes in place so that others do not need to edit maps themselves or resort to save game editors to bypass the problem.

The Recovery of ‘Egypt’
tobiashubnerprofile.jpg

I mentioned in my previous article that it was Tobias Hübner who was responsible for recovering and sharing the “Ultimore: Egypt” scenario in December of last year.

I caught up with him via Twitter for a little Q&A as I could only imagine how exciting it would have been to find the lost scenario.

When did you first play the Ultima games? Which one specifically? What platform (Apple/PC/C64)?

My first Ultima was Ultima Underworld, which I played on my i486 SX with 25 Mhz. A friend of mine had a physical copy of the game and I still remember how impressed I was by all the content in the box like the rune stones in a bag, the map and the beautiful hint book. But I think I didn’t make it past the second level, because I was 12 years old and couldn’t speak English.

20 years later, I came across an old Apple IIe, that was supposed to land in the trash. I love old technology, so I picked it up, and it worked just fine. I then started reading more about this computer and since then, I’m an Apple II enthusiast. Of course, one of the first things I was looking for this old machine, was games. I read, that the first five Ultimas were developed on an Apple II and I was curious if these games are still fun to play.

One thing came to another and I started collecting all Ultima games, which turned out to be quite difficult. It took me several years, until I got all from I to IX for a reasonable price.

When did you first hear about ‘Ultimore’?

As I said, I’m a collector of Ultima games and so I regularly go on eBay and look for a good deal. About a year ago, I was looking for the Ultima III hint book, which is very hard to find, and came across a copy of Ultima III with the hint book inside. It wasn’t even mentioned in the title, I guess the person selling this copy wasn’t aware that the hint book wasn’t a part of the original game. Then I saw a photograph of some loose disks, that were also in the package. This is quite common, because you had to make a backup copy of the Player Disk before you could play the game. But then I read the name “Ultimore” on one of the disks, Googled it and read, that these games were an unofficial add-on for Ultima III. I also read, that the “A World Divided” scenario was the only one, that anyone ever played in the past 30 years or so, all others were missing.

How did you acquire the disk with the two ‘Ultimore’ scenarios?

So of course, I bought the game on eBay. I live in Germany and the seller was from the US, so it took a few weeks until the game arrived. At that time, I was a beta tester for the “Nox Archaist” game. It’s an homage to Ultima, programmed to run on the original Apple II hardware. That’s why I got in contact with a lot of Apple II enthusiasts, who I asked about Ultimore and one of them actually knew more about it. He told me, that somebody once tried to contact the creator Joel Fenton in order to get all the games, but didn’t succeed.

ultimaiiiartwork03.png

What was your feelings and/or thought when you acquired/discovered the disk?

It was really exciting to put the disk in my Apple IIe and see that it actually worked. If you buy a 35-year old floppy disk, it’s not unusual if it doesn’t work anymore. After having played the game for some time, I wondered how I could make a backup to my computer. To cut a long story short, I had to buy a CFFA3000 expansion card in order to do that. Those, who are familiar with the Apple II, know, that it’s very hard to find and stupidly expensive. Luckily I had a friend in the US, who helped me out and sold me his card for a very low price. After that, I could make the images in a few seconds and upload them on the internet.

How extensively have you played ‘A World Divided’ and ‘Egypt’? What are your thoughts on these unofficial scenarios?

I must confess that I’ve never finished them. I was just wandering around the towns and dungeons, but never had the time to draw maps. I still haven’t finished all the Ultima games, so that is what I want to do first. But I definitely want to play them in the future.

Of the remaining three scenarios – ‘Pirate World’, ‘Spaceship Crash’, and ‘Rule of the Slave Lords’ what would you most like to see ‘found’ and play next?

I guess “Spaceship Crash” sounds the most interesting, maybe because I always loved the Science Fiction parts in Ultima I & II or the Kilrathi spaceship in Ultima VII.

The Recovery of Ultimore and Wizimore
joelfentonprofile.png

Of course I had to attempt to contact the original Ultimore designer Joel Fenton. At worst he would ignore me, but at best he might be inclined to agree with me that now is the time to share and preserve this slice of video game history.

I wrote him an email.

He replied.

Joel informed me that every few years somebody comes knocking on his door regarding the Ultimore/Wizimore games. He confirmed that he still has original Apple II floppies with all of the scenarios on them, and that he would like to have them converted to disk images, now being the time to do so.

He is willing to share copies of his scenarios.

This means that the three lost Ultimore and two lost Wizimore scenarios should be in the hands of gamers the world over in the near future. Ideally if we can get copies of these disks in the hands of Tobias he can convert them to images with his CFFA3000. Joel may have his own method. Either way a solution will no doubt be found.

Joel is also in possession of a number of original documents, hand-drawn maps, product catalogue’s and potentially more. Hopefully we can get these scanned and shared as well.

Joel went on to share a few anecdotes with me about his time making and selling the Ultimore and Wizimore games in the 80’s, however I think it best if we save the bulk of that for a much thorough and longer article. However Joel did have this particular tidbit that I think you may find amusing –

I did have brief communication with Richard Garriott while I was selling these discs in the mid-80s. As I recall, both Sir-Tech and Origin sent me checks to buy copies of the game. Robert Garriott was the one who sent me the request and signed the check. Lord British did write back to me in a friendly way, only chiding me about my use of the Serpent (as drawn by his mother Helen, I believe) in clip art in my documentation or catalog. I removed the Serpent artwork from my material per his request. I should have the letter somewhere. I’m sure he doesn’t remember it at all but I was quite impressed as a 17 or 18 year old kid.

JOEL FENTON (EMAIL)
I think it would be incredibly cool to have Joel and Richard in a Zoom chat sometime in the near future, don’t you? It appears that the moons have aligned in a favourable configuration of late so who knows what is possible!

So What Now?
The time of thy rest is now o’er. Thou wouldst not be here if thou hadst not heard the distant braying of the war horns, or felt in thy blood the cry of kinsmen in dire peril. Thou art Called, and from such a Calling none of the People may turn aside. It is thy duty and thy destiny.

Now, dear reader, we wait a little more. I will continue to play and map “A World Divided” I am nearing completion of this epic quest and feel I will likely complete it this week, hopefully on stream. Once that is done I intend to put together a ZIP file with the original disk image, the original game documentation, my modified disk image which includes map fixes, all of my maps in PNG format, a companion PDF discussing each location, plus the original Excel spreadsheet I made the maps in so you can modify them yourself.

Meanwhile I’ll continue to correspond with Joel and Tobias in regards to recovering the remaining lost scenarios, and of course any documentation, maps, and images that Joel kind find.

I intend to touch base with FractalMindMike and see if he or his friends have had any luck reverse engineering the disk images. Failing that if they or someone else is able to create a ‘Construction Kit’ for the PC version of Ultima III then I/they/you/someone/anyone could take the images of the maps from the Apple II versions of the game and recreate them for the PC. I still believe the PC version would be the best way to distribute Ultimore and Wizimore simply because you can buy the games still on GOG. Well, Ultima at least.

Tobias also suggested spreading the word a littler further and louder, I believe he may reach out to ‘Retro Gamer’ magazine. He is absolutely right of course, my tiny little blog isn’t going to get the word out there in any meaningful way. It’s amazing just how many ardent Ultima fans don’t know of Ultimore, myself included until only recently.

Thy task before thee is not easy – Spread the word of Ultimore (and Wizimore) far and wide!

ultimaiiiartwork01.png

https://daemonmaster.wordpress.com/...yyadLRL8MbfSdK4MIFJ-9MdqapSxhsYCkWEM-vym0G4rE
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Bruma Hobo

Lurker
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Messages
2,409
The appealing thing about Ultima IV is the way in which you gather information and slowly piece the quest together. The game is at its best when you have figured out the general structure of the quest, and are slowly gathering information on where all the runes, stones, mantras, etc. are located. If you are just following a walkthrough to get through the game because it's an important part of CRPG history (not accusing anyone here of doing that), you completely lose out on that and I could definitely see it becoming tedious, like you are just following a checklist.

When I played through the game, I ended up saving the dungeons for last so the game did indeed feel quite different during the latter half, switching from a game focused on exploration and gathering information, to one focused on dungeon delving and combat.

LudensCogitet
I thought of another way to reduce the tedium of combat. If you aren't making use of the moongates, I'd recommend doing so to avoid a lot of the outdoors encounters. You'll get plenty of EXP and gold in the dungeons. Figuring out how they work can also be a fun little puzzle, though most of the information you need is in the manual and map.
Exactly, that's what makes the early Ultima games so appealing. To recognize and learn how to use the game's verbs is what makes gameplay so rewarding, and because each player will master the game at his own pace and order, each adventure feels more personal and unique, which is great RPG design.

Not many RPGs have been able to successfully replicate what the first 5 Ultima games did so well three decades ago, and even spiritual successors like Deus Ex failed in this regard due to excessive linearity and too obvious verbs. People like Sid Meier understood this well though.

Still, combat in Ultima IV is particularly atrocious, and I don't think some little help would spoil his experience, so here's a little tip:
Just learn how to use horses and the blink spell in the wilderness and you will never face a random encounter again.
Finally, I seem to recall there being some irritating rules regarding letting enemies flee to manage virtue levels that just contributed to the overall tedium.
That's a pretty widespread myth, in reality you don't have to worry about retreating enemies, just kill everything in sight as long as it's evi, and run away from non-evil creatures, that won't hit your valor.
 

LudensCogitet

Learned
Joined
Nov 4, 2019
Messages
210
just kill everything in sight as long as it's evi, and run away from non-evil creatures, that won't hit your valor.
Thank you. Seahorses in T-junction rooms in dungeons were bothering me. Like... Do I have to get them to flee? Will fleeing reduce my valor?
 

Bruma Hobo

Lurker
Joined
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Messages
2,409
Thank you. Seahorses in T-junction rooms in dungeons were bothering me. Like... Do I have to get them to flee? Will fleeing reduce my valor?
Just kill them all, enemies in dungeon rooms are always evil. Fleeing won't affect your karma either.
 

LudensCogitet

Learned
Joined
Nov 4, 2019
Messages
210
Thank you. Seahorses in T-junction rooms in dungeons were bothering me. Like... Do I have to get them to flee? Will fleeing reduce my valor?
Just kill them all, enemies in dungeon rooms are always evil. Fleeing won't affect your karma either.
In the manual, seahorses are specifically called non-evil. Does this not apply in dungeons? That would be very convenient, considering how the "rooms" in the dungeons work.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
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Aug 15, 2012
Messages
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California
That's a pretty widespread myth, in reality you don't have to worry about retreating enemies, just kill everything in sight as long as it's evi, and run away from non-evil creatures, that won't hit your valor.
I was probably misinformed when I was playing it; still, even this seems pretty annoying. Someone or something trying to murder you for no good reason while you're trying to redeem the world doesn't strike me as good (or even non-evil), and the idea that I am obliged to run away and let them continue their murderous depredations irks me. (Ogre Battle had a similar and similarly annoying rule that it was "evil" to defeat a lower-level foe.) Abstractly, I like the idea of in-game morality imposing some kind of meaningful impediment, but when the impediment is just a hassle, I'm not wild about it.
 

Bruma Hobo

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Messages
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In the manual, seahorses are specifically called non-evil. Does this not apply in dungeons? That would be very convenient, considering how the "rooms" in the dungeons work.
Yeah, I could be wrong but I thnk only random encounters can affect the virtue scores. That might be related to how the player's data was stored in the original Apple II version.

I was probably misinformed when I was playing it; still, even this seems pretty annoying. Someone or something trying to murder you for no good reason while you're trying to redeem the world doesn't strike me as good (or even non-evil), and the idea that I am obliged to run away and let them continue their murderous depredations irks me. (Ogre Battle had a similar and similarly annoying rule that it was "evil" to defeat a lower-level foe.) Abstractly, I like the idea of in-game morality imposing some kind of meaningful impediment, but when the impediment is just a hassle, I'm not wild about it.
Well, it is silly not being able to kill wild beasts in self-defense, but it's also kind of justified since the game's not about being just any do-gooder, but the avatar of virtue. And besides, it's way faster to run away from the enemy than to fight them all, and in a game with such a terrible combat system, that's a good thing.
 

Denim Destroyer

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An issue I found with the "fleeing combat to increase virtue" is how there is no way to flee combat while on a boat. Having to wait for seahorses to flee was my least favorite thing about Ultima 4 sailing.
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
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Well, it is silly not being able to kill wild beasts in self-defense, but it's also kind of justified since the game's not about being just any do-gooder, but the avatar of virtue. And besides, it's way faster to run away from the enemy than to fight them all, and in a game with such a terrible combat system, that's a good thing.
It's not per se that it's not thematic, it's that it's not fun. It's the same problem as Ogre Battle: it's fun as a player to be able to decide who you beat up, and it's annoying to be forced to run away from hostiles who you could trounce. Again, I see a certain cleverness in making morality annoying, but for the most part, Ultima IV's morality system just precludes shortcuts (robbing people); in this instance, it does something somewhat different. You may be right that fleeing is more efficient... again, I'm just describing my vague recollection from playing the game, which was (a) it ran out of steam and (b) this facet of the morality was annoying. I also agree that the clue-gathering is really cool, as is the scope of the world and the concept of the moongates. But I guess I might chalk this up to one of those games that's really interesting to read about/talk about but stopped being much fun to play.
 

DaveO

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You could finish the first three Ultima games pretty quickly. For me, Ultima 6 offered the best Ultima experience although both Underworld games offer the next best options.
 

NerevarineKing

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Jan 6, 2021
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I recently beat Ultima 1-3 for the first time and it was a fun experience overall. Ultima 1 was an ok hack n slash with an impressively large world to explore for the time. Paying Lord British to get HP seemed like a rip-off considering you could get them by just killing enemies in a dungeon. Also, finding places to increase your stats was a good reward for exploration. The sci-fi stuff was pretty charming even if they made zero sense. Ultima 2 felt like a huge step down, requiring you to increase HP and stats with gold alongside having to buy food/gear. I eventually just started stealing food and gear so I could make any sort of progress. The game is almost entirely grinding enemies for hours until you have everything you need. Also the game is just too goofy for me to enjoy and the sci-fi stuff was even dumber than U1. U3 actually feels like a proper RPG with a full party and tactical combat. I felt like it was really hard to make gold in this game unless you used a cheesy farming strategy. This game was almost as grindy as U2, but there was just so much more going for it. it was fun exploring all the towns and collecting information and eventually tackling the dungeons. I have played U4 and 7, but I never finished 4 and it's been several years since then so I'll probably replay it at some point.
 

Humbaba

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Playing through Underworld 1 right now. It's alright, it has that Ultima brand immersive quality to it and it is definitely very impressive for a game that old. However, aside from "historical" interests there is little reason to play the game these days as it has since been long surpassed by modern titles in all aspects, except immersion. Apparently Arx Fatalis is similar in that regard, though I haven't played that game yet.



This is the only good Ultima series video essay



RIP in Piece Spooner
 

Inconceivable

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The only one I've ever tried is Ultima VII: The Black Gate, but I could never really get into it.

Been some years since I tried though so intend on doing so again later this year. Any advice how to get the most fun out of it?

The magic of Ultima VII is that it contains one of the best, probably the best, simulations of a living, breathing world. It was way ahead of its time back then, with many features that modern RPG's still have never had, or only with mods. You will be hard pressed to name me another game that has all of the following:
- Seamless, huge open world without loading times
- Weather effects like rain, storms and lightning
- Buy a cart and travel the roads with your party of up to 8
- Or buy a ship and sail the seas to explore various islands
- Too much stuff? Get some crates and put them on your cart or ship
- Find and fight a pirate ship in the ocean
- Survival mechanic, need to feed yourself and the party
- (In Ultima VII part 2 Serpent Isle) Cold and hot temperature effects need to dress up warm to explore the north
- Deer and other animals to hunt in the forests for food
- A world filled with life, birds, many different animals, even flies
- (In Ultima VII part 2 Serpent Isle) Go fishing with a fishing rod. 30 Years before Skyrim, the Fishing Edition
- Open every drawer, move any item, interact with many of them
- Use a bucket on a well to get water
- Use bucket with water on flour to get dough
- Put dough in an oven to bake bread
- Weave wool into cloth
- Use scissors on cloth to cut a bandage
- Use diapers on babies to get dirty diapers
- Use dirty diapers on NPCs...

And the NPC's really make all the difference, in which other game do NPC's:
- Every NPC has their schedule which they follow along in their daily lives
- They get up in the morning from their beds, open windows, put out the lights
- Go to work, the baker bakes bread
- The tailor weaves cloth and cuts clothing
- The magician creates potions or reads in a book
- The farmers work the fields
- The politicians sit at their desks and do absolutely nothing. The realism!
- The smith works at his smithy, hammering away at the metal
- Miners hack at chunks of ore in mines in search for gold and gems, which sometimes they find
- The church of scientology preaches at their masses
- People go to the pup in the evenings
- The waitress puts plates on the table
- People order food
- The waitress puts food on the plate
- The people eat their food and order more
- At evening people turn on the lights and close the windows
- People go back into their beds to sleep, unless its a wife-cheating mayor
- Paladins fight bandits or headless at the gates of the city
- A few thieves will steal stuff from your inventory. Watch out

Then the world building is great. There are large fields and farms, people in this land actually have some sustenance. There are dangerous dungeons to explore in the mountains and treasures to find.
Ultima VII is the only game which makes you believe your PC is running a little, miniature, medieval fantasy world, and for me as a kid, this was the Ultima(te) RPG experience. I would ignore the story and play a hunter in the forest, or a trader buying food in one of the farms for cheap, to sell it in the castle for profit. I would play games where I was a pirate captain and would raid the cities. Or simply be an explorer and adventurer. It was like playing an open-world RPG like Skyrim, but better.
And the controls are easy and intuitive. Everything can be controlled with the mouse. Want to cast a spell? Double click your spell book to open it, open the correct page in the book, then double click the spell.
But there are some handy shortcut keys to make things easier.

30 years on, there is still no other game that has this level of detail in how the world and the NPC's in it behave. Your enjoyment of Ultima VII will probably depend on how much you value this little world-simulation that is going on inside of it.
 

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