Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

[Infinitron]

More stuff from Arthurian Legends, Warren Spector's cancelled RPG using the Ultima VII engine: http://ultimacodex.com/2017/04/even-more-arthurian-legends-plot-documents/

Even More Arthurian Legends Plot Documents!
BY WTF DRAGON · PUBLISHED APRIL 18, 2017 · UPDATED APRIL 18, 2017

This isn’t directly Ultima 7-related, but when one is short on content to celebrate something like a game’s 25th anniversary, one posts what one has. And arguably, Arthurian Legends was slated to be built using the Ultima 7 engine, so it’s not like we can say these documents are entirely unrelated to The Black Gate. So, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of that game, the Ultima Codex is pleased to present a number of additional plot documents for Arthurian Legends!

You’ll all likely recall the Arthurian Legends – Plot Plan document was released a few months ago; this was a basic outline of the game’s introductory sequence, and was prepared by Brian Martin and Sheri Hobbs.

New documents, released today, include:

• Arthurian Legends – Expanded Plot Objectives – A skeletal document that outlines how documentation and design for quests should be formatted. This was prepared by Prem Krishnan.
• Arthurian Legends – Cannibal Giant – A planned quest in Arthurian Legends, “…one of the healing abbey quests.” The plan was that, “when this quest [was] solved, the PC [could] receive healing at the abbey for a small donation instead of the quest.” The premise of this quest was “that a giant [was] abducting local village children and eating them. The PC [would have to] rescue what children are left and defeat the giant.” This was also prepared by Prem Krishnan.
• Arthurian Legends – Sir Brewnor’s Tale – A short quest, planned for Arthurian Legends, that would have given the player the choice to take sides in a random encounter. This was prepared by Sheri Hobbs.
• Arthurian Legends – Sir Gareth’s Tale – This document “details the PC’s encounters with Sir Gareth and the Lady Lynet. It also provides some of Sir Gareth’s background for use in fleshing out other quests and conversations (particularly with any of Camelot’s kitchen staff).” This is probably the most interesting of the documents in the archive, because it gives a number of details about areas that would have been included in Arthurian Legends. This was also prepared by Prem Krishnan.
• Arthurian Legends – The Ghost of Gorlois – A short quest, planned for Arthurian Legends, that would have seen the player dealing with ghosts haunting an abbey in the game. This was also prepared by Prem Krishnan.

As always, download and enjoy these documents; pore over them and look for all the interesting little details that are contained therein. The Ultima Codex is grateful to Joe Garrity and the Origin Museum for unearthing these files, and to Sheri Graner Ray for handing over the diskettes on which they were found.

 

[Eggs is eggs]

A U7 spin off could've been good but I didn't think the U6 spinoffs were good because the Origin B-teams just didn't make good games. I don't know if they only sent the good people to the A-team or didn't put enough time/effort/whatever in the non-Ultima games but except for Ultima and later Wing Commander, Origin didn't really make many (any?) other good games.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Origin didn't really make many (any?) other good games.

IDK I liked Savage Empire but then I loved U6. Also the box art made me happy.

 

[Comte]

I loved Martian Dreams I still haven't gotten to Savage Empire.

 

[Junmarko]

IDK I liked Savage Empire but then I loved U6. Also the box art made me happy.

 

[Junmarko]

Warren Spector's cancelled RPG using the Ultima VII engine:

Of all the Kickstarters...

We want to make an "Ultima VII-like/Spiritual Successor" - will you back us if we start a crowdfunding campaign? - Spector, Garriott, Benson and Co...

...why hasn't this happened yet?

 

[oldmanpaco]

IDK I liked Savage Empire but then I loved U6. Also the box art made me happy.

The Codex ruins everything...

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Infinitron]

http://ultimacodex.com/2017/05/someone-is-remaking-ultima-7-using-unity/

Someone Is Remaking Ultima 7 Using Unity
BY WTF DRAGON · PUBLISHED MAY 12, 2017 · UPDATED MAY 12, 2017

Well, here’s an exciting thing.

Outer__Gamer has embarked upon the ambitious task of re-creating Ultima 7: The Black Gate using the Unity engine. Although it is a spare time project (aren’t they all?), since about March of 2017, he has implemented the complete map of Britannia (well, the terrain, at least), a combat system, placed some of the buildings, and has set up the introductory sequence…which, based on this video, takes a few cues from Ultima 9 (and I mean that in a good way). At the time this project entry was posted, work was also being done on the Isle of the Avatar. The working title of the project is El Portal Negro.

This remake appears to be implementing Ultima 7 as a first-person game, which (I think) works rather well based on the video linked above. At present, it appears that the remake is in Spanish, though I would imagine Outer__Gamer may be open to translating it to other tongues at some point.

There is no project website to link to at this time, and Outer__Gamer won’t be releasing any downloads for a while. However, you can follow his progress on Twitter; he posts new images and videos there periodically as he finds time to make progress on this remake.

Naturally, I’ve set up a project entry for El Portal Negro as well. You can find a handful of additional screenshots there.

The First Age of Update: Serendipitous Dragon points out that there is actually a project website, which Outer__Gamer must have just set up.

 

[octavius]

El Portal Negro: Britannia is swarmed with negroes who take the wives and girlfriends from all the cucks. Only The Codexer Avatar can save Britannia.

 

[decaf]

How do I get the best Ultima 4 experience? Just get the GOG version?

 

[:Flash:]

Unfortunately there is no optimal way to play Ultima IV. The dos version either has no music or it has both music and VGA patch installed.
The Ultima II, III and V updates are much better (made by another guy), having music and graphic mode separately customizable. I really wish this dude also made an Ultima IV patch. I asked him about it 15 years ago, but while he's still working on his other patches, he never did IV.

The Ultima IV remastered version for the C64 might be another nice option, if you don't plan to import the character into V.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Someone Is Remaking Ultima 7 Using Unity

And they are turning it into Skyrim-like trash on top of that.
There is not enough to express, just

that shit out and drop more

just to be sure.

 

[Junmarko]

How do I get the best Ultima 4 experience? Just get the GOG version?

Never tried it myself, but I've heard a few people say the Sega Master System port was one of the best. Nice visual alteration, while leaving everything else in-tact (afaik).

 

[pippin]

I still miss the old art and (lack of proper) sounds, though. That's why I don't think I'll ever play the japanese ports too. It's just too different.

 

[McPlusle]

Are sourceports an optimal way to play these games or should I stick to DOSBox? I have XU4 for 4, Nuvie for 6, and Exult for 7, but I can't seem to find one for 5, and Pentagram is apparently incomplete.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

How do I get the best Ultima 4 experience? Just get the GOG version?

Never tried it myself, but I've heard a few people say the Sega Master System port was one of the best. Nice visual alteration, while leaving everything else in-tact (afaik).

It's an excellent and very faithful port, but unfortunately for obvious reasons it's not possible to type keywords during dialog, which in my opinion is a huge loss. Also, dungeons are shown in top-down view making them easier to navigate (not necessarily a bad thing).

As Flash already said, there is no definitive version of Ultima IV, I even find XU4 to be quite buggy. The original Apple II version is decent enough and has the best soundtrack, but if music is not that important to you play the unpatched GOG version.

 

[Malignant Manor]

Are sourceports an optimal way to play these games or should I stick to DOSBox? I have XU4 for 4, Nuvie for 6, and Exult for 7, but I can't seem to find one for 5, and Pentagram is apparently incomplete.

Definitely use Nuvie (snapshot download) when playing U6.

 

[Sceptic]

Are sourceports an optimal way to play these games or should I stick to DOSBox? I have XU4 for 4, Nuvie for 6, and Exult for 7, but I can't seem to find one for 5, and Pentagram is apparently incomplete.

DOS version of U1 (which actually uses U4 engine) is fine. U2 and U3 don't play that great with DOSBox (and U2 has some missing planet maps in most versions available nowadays) but there's a DOS patch floating around that fixes their timers and makes them run MUCH more smoothly, and also adds the Mockingboard music to U3. U5 has a similar patch too. The ports are probably best for U4, U6 and U7. U8 probably runs natively as well as you could get it, and I don't think there's any way to get U9 to run that well.

 

[pippin]

You guys might want to use the Ultima Patcher for the series? It has patches for most of the games.. the dos ones at least

 

[Junmarko]

 

[oldmanpaco]

That looks terrible. Like a shot right at my childhood heart.

 

[LESS T_T]

Was casually reading a news that Australia's Victoria State Government decided to giving funds to small game studios, and saw this at the list:

Odd Gods (Inn Between Worlds) - a tactical time travel role-playing game

Intrigued, and dug a bit. While there's not much info right now, turns out the studio's director (Gil Maclean) was one of writers of U5 Lazarus.

Inn Between Worlds is a new studio being formed by veterans of developers such as Electronic Arts, Irrational Games, Capcom, and many more. We have dozens of shipped titles under our collective belts, and we’re hoping to find others excited to help shape this ambitious new studio from the ground up!

We’re currently looking to fill multiple short-term contract roles to work on a pre-production demo for the game “Odd Gods,” a humorous, low-fantasy tactical RPG that’s being produced with the assistance of Film Victoria.

Will keep an eye on it.

 

[Viata]

Someone Is Remaking Ultima 7 Using Unity

What a combination of poor choices. If only it was a remake of Ultima 7 but with a great combat system.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Ultima VII never needed good combat, the game was a crappy RPG for other reasons, like character attributes and customization options becoming completely irrelevant (an unfortunate trend started by Ultima III and IV), removing player input during dialogue, dumbing down its reputation system even further, its sudden linear approach to the main plot, the loss of simulationistic and immersive fluff like wind, moon cycles and destructible ships, and so on.

A hypothetical Ultima VII with nice turn-based combat could please combatfags, but Ultima never tried to be Pool of Radiance (nor Divinity: Original Sin), it tried to be an immersive experience with lots of exploration first, and a tactical challenge second. This is why the same kind of actiony real-time combat could have been great for the series if executed properly, Ultima Underworld for example never suffered for its lack of good combat, but unfortunately the main Ultima team was never good at that kind of stuff.