Review Forgotten Gems: A look back at Ultima V

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny

<p>For those of you who don't know BLOBERT, he's a pretty cool BRO isn't afraid of anything. He also writes in ALL CAPS a lot. He also likes RPGs and in our ongoing serious of Forgotten Gems, <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=212">takes a look back at Ultima V</a>:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=212"><img style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://www.rpgcodex.net/images/screenshots/ultima_v/53368424.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>It only gets better from there.</p>

 

[GarfunkeL]

Good job BLOBERT!

 

[commie]

My head is about to fucking explode! I feel like I've entered a parallel dimension where everything is backwards! BLOBERT's change is just, just........AAARGHHHH!!!!!!!

Though one can only have


for the BRO!


What graphics pack is this? I never saw UV look this good.

 

[SimpleComplexity]

This gives me an idea: What would a prestigious magazine be without having a witty picture to every single newspost?

 

[Crooked Bee]

Oh wow. Brings back memories.

:brofist:

 

[Darth Roxor]

DU, I think you forgot to (or more like, didn't on purpose) thumbnail the screens. The first one with the AvBROtar are okay 'full size', but I think the other ones should be pop-ups

Recent articles discussed on the codex have talked about the difficulty of getting into these older games RETARD POPAMOLE DOGFUCKER, and I do understand.

 

[Konjad]

The review is not written with caps lock therefore it cannot be blobert's review!

 

[Zed]

BRO VERY GOOD REVIEW OR PREVIEW OR INTERVIEW WHATEVER BRO THUMBS UP

 

[Stainless Veteran]

BRO, YUO TRUE BRO!

 

[zeitgeist]

Why is there some horrible smoothing filter on all the screenshots?

 

[Derper]

 

[Vault Dweller]

Pretty good review. Moar!

 

[MicoSelva]

Nice review. SpoonyOne's was funnier, but this one is more informative.

 

[made]

Why is there some horrible smoothing filter on all the screenshots?

Dosbox scaler. Doesn't look too bad in this case.

Nice review but kinda shortish imo. Could use some more detailed explanation here and there.
Like, you mention the interface is difficult to learn. Why is that? Do I have to memorize hotkeys to do shit like opening doors and casting spells LOL?
Or the paragraph with the difficulty gradient and that heading somewhere too dangerous will get your party wiped out - sounds to me like exploration is very limited initially until you level up some?

All in all gj though.

 

[Jaesun]

Why is there some horrible smoothing filter on all the screenshots?

Dosbox scaler. Doesn't look too bad in this case.

Nice review but kinda shortish imo. Could use some more detailed explanation here and there.
Like, you mention the interface is difficult to learn. Why is that? Do I have to memorize hotkeys to do shit like opening doors and casting spells LOL?
Or the paragraph with the difficulty gradient and that heading somewhere too dangerous will get your party wiped out - sounds to me like exploration is very limited initially until you level up some?

All in all gj though.

I provided the screen-shots for this (and A big Thank you! To racofer for the photo-shopped images of the AvBROtar). And yeah, I had the scaling turned on for this in DOSBox.

 

[Pegultagol]

What no all CAPS?

I am disappoint.

 

[snoek]

loved the second screenshot, good job

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Fucking scalers.

 

[Morkar Left]

Cool story BRO...

No, really!



And racofer is getting useful again. Nice images!

I provided the screen-shots for this (and A big Thank you! To racofer for the photo-shopped images of the AvBROtar). And yeah, I had the scaling turned on for this in DOSBox.

There goes my conspiracy theory about Blobert = Jaesun

 

[Elzair]

Banal. Shit. Boring.

Not the game; the review!

 

[MisterStone]

UV is definitely the best top down old school RPG I know of (and one of the best in any class). Basically you take UIV, make the combat 10x better (there are tactical considerations such as Halberds that attack two squares away, so you can attack over your party member BRO or terrain obstacles) and more interactive (there are actual uses for a lot of the things you can mess with on the map, for instance you can pick the lock on stocks and free a BRO if you want; also messing w/stuff in dungeon rooms can open up secrets). Definitely the masterpiece of this generation of games! I don't think I can find a single flaw with it, except maybe that it could have probably been more awesome if it had not been devved for the Apple II (although then I would not have been able to play it at age 12, which would have killed me).

 

[Jack]

This is serious
I take my hat off to BLOBERT.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I've been pondering this for a while, and this pretty cool retrospective gives me an opportunity to ask; this game looks brilliant, and I'm wondering, why do people recommend Lazarus over it? I'm sure it's a great mod, but UV seems perfectly playable, and more importantly... isn't on the fucking Dungeon Siege engine. What's the advantage?

 

[bhlaab]

SHOULDVE WRITTEN IT IN CHARACTER BRO

 

[zeitgeist]

I've been pondering this for a while, and this pretty cool retrospective gives me an opportunity to ask; this game looks brilliant, and I'm wondering, why do people recommend Lazarus over it? I'm sure it's a great mod, but UV seems perfectly playable, and more importantly... isn't on the fucking Dungeon Siege engine. What's the advantage?

Good question, would love to hear what someone who played both extensively has to say about the differences, since I only briefly tried Lazarus a long time ago when it wasn't fully finished yet.

The original game featured a tile-based 2D world to explore, whereas the world of Britannia in Lazarus was entirely re-constructed in 3D. Several spells from the original could not be supported by the new game engine; Among them were "Des Por", which caused the party to move to the next lower level of a dungeon, and "Uus Por", which caused movement to the next higher level. The "In Por" (Blink) spell was removed from the final patch due to a bug referred to as "Blink Blindness", although a patch to reactivate the spell is featured on the website as an unsupported download. Many objects from the original Ultima V which could be moved, such as chests, barrels, and mirrors, are immovable in Lazarus. Naval combat is also different, as the few NPC ships are immobile, and cannons are absent. Other features from the original game that had to be removed because of engine limitations include whirpools, the magic carpet, digging up moonstones and usable skiffs.[citation needed]

The developers re-wrote much of the dialog in the game, adding many more quests and choices than were available in the original game. Much of the dialog was enhanced to discuss the philosophy of the virtues system in more detail and giving greater depth to the personalities encountered.

All in all, the list of features they removed seems to heavily outweigh the list of things they added.

 

[bhlaab]

I've been pondering this for a while, and this pretty cool retrospective gives me an opportunity to ask; this game looks brilliant, and I'm wondering, why do people recommend Lazarus over it? I'm sure it's a great mod, but UV seems perfectly playable, and more importantly... isn't on the fucking Dungeon Siege engine. What's the advantage?

If you think UV is playable go for it. What Lazarus adds is mostly a little bit more hand-holding (in a good way, I feel)

Like at the very beginning of Lazarus Iolo will say like "Well we can go east to Whatevertown, or north to SomePlace, or take the dangerous path south straight to OtherPlace"

And at the beginning of Ultima 5 the game just goes YOU ARE IN A PLACE. WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?