If Ultima VII were made today...

[Wolfus]

I am very happy U7 wasn't made today...

 

[SCO]

I made a patch to exult.

It allows you to move stacks all at once, except if you press CTRL.

It's cool.

It wasn't applied. But it's in sourceforge.

 

[Infinitron]

Call of Britannia: Majestic Warfare

I believe this is the Avatar holding the M-60 machine gun from the end of Martian Dreams. Somebody created it for the use of modders wanting to create a remake in the Exult engine.

 

[Majestic47]

http://codex.ultimaaiera.com/wiki/The_Tale_of_Jaana_and_the_Goblin

That story was quite powerful - but I dunno why I kept thinking vile thoughts about Jaana...must've been the next-gen animu grafix on top.

 

[Wolfus]

I made a patch to exult.

It allows you to move stacks all at once, except if you press CTRL.

It's cool.

It wasn't applied. But it's in sourceforge.

Link pls...?

 

[jancobblepot]

 

[SCO]

Link pls...?

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/download ... id=3327534
It's a option you set in one of the menus.

http://codex.ultimaaiera.com/wiki/The_Tale_of_Jaana_and_the_Goblin

That story was quite powerful - but I dunno why I kept thinking vile thoughts about Jaana...must've been the next-gen animu grafix on top.

Considering she hooks up with the mayor of that polluted lake village in U7 she would seem to have really low standards.

Some of the other stories (links at the bottom) are nice too.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

The story of Jaana and the Goblin reminds me somewhat of the most recent Discworld novel, Snuff.

I won't spoil the book for people, but it concerns Goblins and their place in society.

Also, Jaana is no Vimes.

Thanks for linking to those stories, they're a good read.

 

[halflingbarbarian]

And my only reaction is to smile. History repeats itself, and we can't seem to learn from it.

My first cRPG was U7, and I liked it, and played it couple more times on Exult with the expansions as well. Now I like Skyrim, and many other games which are considered dumbed-down. Some of them are in fact so, but most of them are just reiterations of the same things in newer engines, thereby creating greater expectations (which they fail to meet). Note: I am talking about gameplay / mechanies / presentation here, not story - a good story can be gripping (PST) but it is quite futile to wait for a game hinged on good story nowadays.

Consider U7 and Skyrim, for e.g. What has U7 over Skyrim, in fact?

Spellcasting variety and system -> up for debate whether U7's is too messy/etc., depends on the player's conception of fantasy magic; but Skyrim's is definitely very underdeveloped.

Combat -> Skyrim wins.

Graphics/Ambience -> Skyrim wins.

Controls -> Both as fucked.

Writing (Not story) -> Undecided, both styles are simplistic and yet has character at times.

Establishing a perceived declining ( :D ) cycle here linking D&D, early cRPGs like U7, and then Skyrim requires much more qualification than just: shucks, I don't know why these newfags like these new games, must be like how I am so oldschool I liked U7 but there were still older-school guys who hated me for liking U7.

AKA: The undercurrent of misplaced elitism concerning age of games on the Codex sometimes screws up perspective. But then it's a very mixed bag and that is why I still try to read and post when new games crop up - there are still posters that are capable of constructive criticism.

 

[mondblut]

I am glad people are starting to see the light. Took them almost 20 years though.

Ultima 7 = grandfrather of Oblivion and all larping-driven, hiking for leisure, stats-not-included ARPGs, and the first massive decline to hit the CRPG scene since realtime was introduced for the first time.

 

[jancobblepot]

It's not about combat, so it's all about LARPing. Right.

 

[Wolfus]

I want to play both parts of Ultima 7 + both expansions under EXULT. Is it possible? Is there any "manual" how to do it?

 

[halflingbarbarian]

I want to play both parts of Ultima 7 + both expansions under EXULT. Is it possible? Is there any "manual" how to do it?

http://exult.sourceforge.net/docs.php#I ... th%20Exult

Most of the technical information you need to set it up is found on that page.

 

[Wolfus]

Thanks, I overlooked that section somehow

 

[SCO]

There's a bug now, wait until the next snapshot:
http://exult.sourceforge.net/forum/read ... 1&t=372171

I'm going to see if i can bother them to include the patch.

 

[Wolfus]

That would be great.

 

[Tel Prydain]

Seriously, I'm actually struck by how much Skyrim is like U7

Y'know, people said the same about Oblivion. Ofc they are similar on many levels - there's not exactly a lot of modern open-world RPGs to compare to Ultima.

I didn't click at all until Skyrim. I mean, TES and U7 have open worlds and crappy combat, but there was nothing there that linked to two in my mind.

I think the thing that did it was the duel plots. In U7 you have the Murders and the Fellowship, and they start out only being superficially linked until they come together. Much the same as the Civil War and the Dragons in Skyrim.
Once that clicked, all the other similarities clicked. Now I can't seem to find too many significant differences... other than Skyrim's stupid invincible NCPs.... and http://it-he.org/ultima7.htm

But the devil's in the detail, and it's those details that make Ultima's main strengths - exploration and NPC interaction - still genuinely fun today, while in Bethesda's latest offering I find them... lacking, to put it mildly.

Exploration in Oblivion was awful. Actually enjoying it Skyrim... for now, at least.

And, honestly, the NPC interaction in U7 was great for it's time, but now:

Really?[/img]

 

[Wunderpurps]

It really is incredible how subtle a foe the Fellowship was, by any standard. They were almost always more of a malign social influence than actual instigators of evil.
Well, except for that bit in the final dungeon where you find an underground Fellowship Hall and get mob-attacked by the entire congegration. I think that was put in as a joke.

I think there's been a sort of "militarization" of roleplaying game themes. It seems you're always up against a force that has its own private army, or mercenary force, or something like that. And they all have a distinctive Badass Dark Uniform, and are divided into subtypes (like the one I described in OP).

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think RPGs used to be like that. It was more about wandering the countryside and fighting monsters. Human foes generally consisted of various relatively non-descript guards.
I think Call of Duty and similar games may be an influence here.

That's just what they were a wacky scientology stand in. Killing off everyone who joined would be pretty retarded as it's just the leaders doing anything.

But that was sort of the point of why ultima has historical value, everything before then would have had the bad guy be cut and dried and usually introduction would be along the lines of "go kill foozle". Which I really don't mind since a few classics aside the "character driven plot exposition" in games makes me want to jab nails into my eyes.

 

[Tel Prydain]

Actually, here's one thing that U7 has that won't be in Skyrim....

 

[MMXI]

I treat the Ultima games as adventure games with RPG elements sprinkled on top. As I like adventure games I like the Ultima series. As RPGs they are rather terrible with their small number of stats and lack of available play-styles/roles. Skyrim, on the other hand, sucks as an adventure game and as an RPG.

 

[made]

Now I can't seem to find too many significant differences...

I can think of a couple.

U7 had hand-placed loot. A magically locked chest in a secret treasure room would contain something special and rewarding as expected. Skyrim has randomized, value-scaled chests. I'd routinely break all my lockpicks to open a master lock only to find a couple gold coins and rags. Later a simple fetch quest for a peasant would miraculously reward 1000gp.

Dungeons in U7 were perhaps not as extensive as in previous titles, but at least they were hand-crafted and unique. They also had various traps, secret doors, teleporters etc. Skyrim's dungeons might as well be based on some algorithm that twists and bends a tube in various directions. When you enter a dungeon you know exactly what to expect: a single corridor with the occasional side-room here and there and a shortcut at the end that takes you back to the entrance. Coupled with the scaled loot this kills any sense of exploration. There is no way to get lost because there is ever only one way to go. The most elaborate puzzles in Skyrim amount to unlocking doors with rune combinations you find on walls in the very room the door is in.

As far as NPC interaction goes, Ultima's keyword dialogue may seem simplistic but it works well enough as a source of background information and clues. My journal from my last exult playthrough is full of ambiguous entries and hints, leaving it to me to piece them together. Skyrim has no need for a journal. Skyrim's NPCs don't give clues, they hand out tasks. Usually of the "go to dungeon, fetch item" variety, and I'm not even talking about the randomized kill/fetch quests. They also don't give directions, they upload the goal straight to your GPS. I found exactly one quest that didn't play out like that (demon in mage college) and required a modicum of thought, whether due to a bug or design I do not know. I was pleasantly surprised. I do appreciate that inn keepers give rumors of the "investigate bard college" sort, but that's just another reminder of wasted potential.

So much for my take on "Ultima vs Skyrim - which is better and why".

 

[villain of the story]

Yesterday, I found Elven armor in a chest. I already had a steel plate armour at that point but the nice thing about Elven armor is that it's expensive and it's light armour. And it was the first time I stumbled on the piece in the game.

Then I quit the cave and it turned out my game somehow got bugged FUBAR. I could no longer ride the horse and wackier things would soon follow suit. I had to roll back to the save from before entering the cave. When I got to the chest again, it gave just a 50 gold + some potion. A fucking potion. Compared to elven armour.

 

[Tramboi]

We would be waiting for the baker DLC to unlock making bread.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Wait, Avatar's new concept artwork was made by Daisuke Ishiwatari?

 

[Infinitron]

We would be waiting for the baker DLC to unlock making bread.

Achievement Unlocked: Let's Get Baked!