Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

[Kem0sabe]

Ultima 7 serpent Isle was my first rpg as a kid, and it's still my gold standard when comparing any new rpgs I play.

It's a testament to the developers how their game still outshines most of every other rpgs released these days in terms of game systems and features.

 

[Infinitron]

http://ultimacodex.com/2015/10/reme...-6s-intro-i-found-the-sketch-it-was-based-on/

Remember That Centaur Poster in Ultima 6’s Intro? I Found the Sketch It Was Based On.
BY WTF DRAGON · OCTOBER 2, 2015

Rustic Dragon posed an intriguing question in the Ultima Dragons Facebook group yesterday, concerning the image (from theUltima 6 introductory sequence) above…or, rather, the curious poster in the background thereof:

Has anyone else ever wondered about the unusual image hanging in your living room in the intro to U6?

To me, it looks like a pole-dancing zebra centaur with unicorn hair, jean jacket, and a saddle (or is that a whip?). Does anyone know the story behind this?

The discussion was initially pretty speculative, until former Origin Systems artist Manda offered up the following bit of information:

That is a print by Houston airbrush artist Keith Berdak.

What Manda didn’t mention is that Berdak was also an artist at Origin Systems; he has numerous art-related credits on several games in the Ultima and Wing Commander series (among others).

Armed with the name, I did a Google Images search…from which I learned that searching for Berdak’s work isn’t the wisest decision one could make at one’s workplace, even with Safe Search turned on. That being said, after paging past a few dozen results, I ended up at this blog post, which features scans of the program from SoonerCon 2 (which Berdak also did the cover artfor, it should be noted). And there, on about the 18th page of the program, was this sketch:

Hobbit Dragon then chimed in with some history about the inclusion of the Berdak piece in the intro:

I seem to recall a story regarding that picture.

I believe originally (in the demo) it was a Nagel painting, but before the game was released, Origin could not get legal rights so the picture had to be changed to what you see above.

And Eric Fry, of the Nuvie team, then pointed out that the Nagel print is still visible in a screenshot on the Ultima 6 box:

So there, apparently, is the history behind why the Avatar in Ultima 6 has a poster of what appears to be a pole-dancing centaur stripper in his living room: it was originally supposed to be Patrick Nagel’s Woman in Jacket (I think), but after Origin couldn’t secure the rights to the piece, they swapped it out for an adaptation of a 1986 sketch by one of their own in-house artists.

The First Age of Update: And it turns out that Berdak uploaded a coloured version of the image to his Facebook profile a while back:

So I guess the name of the piece is…Zebra, Too?

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Where is the Ultima Underworld poll option? That shit is still boss.

 

[Neanderthal]

Despite fact that V and VII are me favourites when I think of Ultima it's always that VI intro theme that flciks on in me noggin, great fucking soundtrack.

 

[Jaesun]

VIII had the vastly superior soundtrack.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

UW and U7 were revolutionary. They defined the first person 3D and isometric open world sandbox genres and in many ways they are still unparalleled. Incredible after nearly 25 years.

 

[Excidium II]

UW and U7 were revolutionary. They defined the first person 3D and isometric open world sandbox genres and in many ways they are still unparalleled. Incredible after nearly 25 years.

Was 7 really impressive after all the previous games? It looks more iterative than groundbreaking.

 

[Tripicus]

I don't think I can even objectively vote on this poll.

U6 came at such an opportune time. Family got its first PC, I was getting into AD&D, and the only Ultima I played prior was on the NES (Quest of the Avatar). Otherwise I never played an RPG of the sort beforehand. A large open world, where there was a great amount of exploration and interactivity, and freedom in what I was doing.

I was in the castle catacombs just because, and soon after I'm robbing a crypt under someones house. I didn't know what the hell I was doing and it was great.

The nostalgia is too strong for me.

 

[lurker3000]

Was 7 really impressive after all the previous games? It looks more iterative than groundbreaking.

Maybe you had to be there when it came out. Looking back now 6 and 7 can (maybe) sort of blur together from a tech standpoint but when it was released it felt like something brand new. Not quit the jump from 5 to 6 but still pretty amazing.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Was 7 really impressive after all the previous games? It looks more iterative than groundbreaking.

It was iterative in some senses but it was also the pinnacle of the series and introduced scale and discovery in ways previously unseen. It was pretty stagggering at the time and stands up today.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

VIII had the vastly superior soundtrack.

I never played VIII but I had your uploads of the soundtrack on pretty often while playing Ultima 5 and it was pretty spooky stuff. Good job with that channel, btw

From what I have heard I'll agree with Neanderthal though and say Ultima 6 has indeed the best soundtrack. The more annoying it is that it just stops everytime I start a conversation..

 

[Jaesun]

I never played VIII but I had your uploads of the soundtrack on pretty often while playing Ultima 5 and it was pretty spooky stuff. Good job with that channel, btw

From what I have heard I'll agree with Neanderthal though and say Ultima 6 has indeed the best soundtrack. The more annoying it is that it just stops everytime I start a conversation..

At the time of Ultima VI, it still was that "primitive MIDI age" but what they did do music wise (and for the MT-32) was not too bad. And that reminded me, I DID make a few recordings of some of the Ultima VI songs with one of my MT-32's, so I made a playlist here, if anyone wants to listen to them.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

VIII had the vastly superior soundtrack.

I agree, no parrots required. I remember just pausing the game and listening to the music - a far more pleasant experience than actually playing the game. For years afterwards I had both the original ripped extended-MIDI files on my computer, along with the disappointing MIDIfied versions. Then I lost the DOS-based tool to play the X-midi versions and languished for years in sub-optimal MIDI hell, until I found Jaesun!

 

[Unkillable Cat]

So, I decided to try to play Ultima 7 for the first time in many MANY years.

First I used the GOG installer to get the data files, then I installed Exult (latest snapshot + audio pack) to make sure I had the "complete" version.

Sadly to say, neither version gets it right.

Exult has tons of options, yet can't get me full-screen on a 1680x1050 monitor. What's worse, the audio options don't work properly. I can get fantastic audio that's inconsistent with the intro, but it lacks that build-up that comes at the end with the moongate. WHY CAN'T I SKIP THE MIDI/MT-32 OPTIONS AND GO STRAIGHT TO SOUND BLASTER/ADLIB?

On a whim, I tried the GOG version sans Exult. There the framerate is out of control (check the butterfly) but at least the sound is more consistent with the game as I remember it, and it has the build-up sound at the end of the intro. There are no scalers available, however. Also, no full-screen option.

The worst part was actually starting the game. The earthquake that comes at the start came out completely messed-up, only the bottom-part of the screen actually shook at all.

I'm probably missing something simple here, but then again I can't help but express my disappointment. The Ultima fanbase is very strong, yet they seem unable to get U7 working properly despite all efforts. :/ I know I have to bite the bullet on a couple of issues, but GETTING THE INTRO RIGHT counts a big one in my books.

 

[Infinitron]

The worst part was actually starting the game. The earthquake that comes at the start came out completely messed-up, only the bottom-part of the screen actually shook at all.

I'm probably missing something simple here, but then again I can't help but express my disappointment. The Ultima fanbase is very strong, yet they seem unable to get U7 working properly despite all efforts. :/ I know I have to bite the bullet on a couple of issues, but GETTING THE INTRO RIGHT counts a big one in my books.

Tried this? http://ultima7.ultimacodex.com/ultima-7-earthquake-fix/

 

[Jaesun]

Yeah Exult still needs a bit of polishing, but the main game however is fully playable and complete (both Black Gate and Serpent Isle). And yeah I just checked, that intro is horribly fucking broken (I know why this is though, IIRC). Also that supposedly recorded music on a real MT-32, is slightly suspicious, but it is still better than nothing.

If you are going to play it in DOSBox, I think you know what bugs to avoid, to not completely break the game.

The game runs great for me in DOSBox, but I may just have a better CPU/video card than you.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I'll look into getting U7 to work another time...but no, I can't say I remember anymore what bugs I need to avoid, short of the ones Doug the Eagle mentions in his U7 dissection.

 

[Infinitron]

I'll look into getting U7 to work another time...but no, I can't say I remember anymore what bugs I need to avoid, short of the ones Doug the Eagle mentions in his U7 dissection.

"Don't fly over mountains with the magic carpet because you might trigger something in a dungeon" is the main thing, I think. Of course, I recommend not using the magic carpet at all.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Oh yeah. That one. I actually used the Magic Carpet exclusively in most of my playthroughts. You can place chests on it and they fly with it (well...most of the time).

In Serpent Isle I used the Serpent Highway to store all my stuff. I'm surprised placing dozens of chests filled with all in the same place doesn't make the engine cry.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh yeah. That one. I actually used the Magic Carpet exclusively in most of my playthroughts. You can place chests on it and they fly with it (well...most of the time).

In Serpent Isle I used the Serpent Highway to store all my stuff. I'm surprised placing dozens of chests filled with all in the same place doesn't make the engine cry.

It should, eventually: http://www.it-he.org/ultima7.htm#gambling (scroll down)

 

[Jaesun]

Last time I played in DOSBox, I just followed the roads, or the shore and water with the carpet, and you will be fine, but do not ever under any circumstance fly over the Isle of the Avatar, or say by bye to the game (you will never ever be able to finish the game, even if you reload).

As for the notorious Minoc bug, I *believe* I have actually found out why that breaks, and how to avoid it:

At the entrance of the sawmill, there is a trigger/egg that if any person but the Avatar walks over it for the first time, the scene in there will break (you wont see the scene with the dead bodies).

Basically save your game before you get close to Minoc. Then RUN to the sawmill entrance (because what will happen is the people near the entrance will randomly walk around and what will happen is one of them will walk over that entrance egg and then break the trigger and the scene). If any of them walk over the entrance, you will have to reload your game and try again. YOU must be the first person to trigger that egg.

I tried this several times and I am quite certain that is what happens to cause that bug.

 

[Keldryn]

Interesting, I never once encountered that bug in Minoc when I played U7 on my 386 or 486. But in later years (Pentium II and up), it hit me every time I played it. Maybe it's a bug that was unlikely to show up with the clock speeds of 1992?

 

[Jaesun]

Interesting, I never once encountered that bug in Minoc when I played U7 on my 386 or 486. But in later years (Pentium II and up), it hit me every time I played it. Maybe it's a bug that was unlikely to show up with the clock speeds of 1992?

I think with the faster processors, the people move around more/faster and they have a likelier chance of walking over the sawmill entrance before the Avatar does. Playing with an actual computer and playing it with M$ DOS that has a 386/486 I would be willing to bet, they move around much more slowly.

EDIT: And I am also willing to bet the egg has flag options, such as only the Avatar can trigger, but that egg is set to anyone can trigger by accident.

 

[Keldryn]

Playing with an actual computer and playing it with M$ DOS that has a 386/486 I would be willing to bet, they move around much more slowly.

They move around MUCH more slowly all right. I don't remember ever having trouble double-clicking on an NPC to initiate a conversation because he was moving too fast. Even on a 486; the biggest difference I remember moving from a 386/33 to a 486/33 was that the scrolling was way less chunky (a disk cache helped a lot here too).

 

[Jaesun]

They move around MUCH more slowly all right. I don't remember ever having trouble double-clicking on an NPC to initiate a conversation because he was moving too fast. Even on a 486; the biggest difference I remember moving from a 386/33 to a 486/33 was that the scrolling was way less chunky (a disk cache helped a lot here too).

Yeah, I WISH DOSBox could actually emulate exactly a 386/486 (especially speed), because yeah, those people move WAY too fast.