Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

[Mud']

They are very similar in terms of the usage of the DS engine; not perfect, but generally playable. I managed to finish U5 despite a great sense of fatigue by the final dungeon. Unfortunately, I abandoned U6 in the great library because the performance was atrocious and I could never find the NPC that was supposed to be in there.

What made you have that fatigue in the final dungeon?

Also anyone tried Ultima IV Rebirth? Is a module for Neverwinter Nights EE, is it worth a shot if i never played IV?

 

[Fluent]

Also anyone tried Ultima IV Rebirth? Is a module for Neverwinter Nights EE, is it worth a shot if i never played IV?

I haven't played it myself (sorry, it's on my list to someday try), but I watched a walkthrough video of it and it looks *very* good. If I were interested in this at the moment I would definitely give the module a go. Worst case u don't like it, but from what I've seen, I think most RPG fans who don't mind NWN's graphics and such will like/love it. Hope that helps, bud. Take care.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

What made you have that fatigue in the final dungeon?

It was practically featureless and full of insta-kill mongbats that were aggravating to fight; so much kiting...

 

[octavius]

What made you have that fatigue in the final dungeon?

It was practically featureless and full of insta-kill mongbats that were aggravating to fight; so much kiting...

Confusion was very effective against the mongbats.

 

[Tweed]

Still waiting on Ultima V redux, it looks like it has a lot of charm to it.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Been having a lot of fun with Ultima 4 recently. While I have played Ultima 7 before and tried playing Ultima 4 in the past this current attempt is the one I have put the most time into. Currently working on grinding out the virtues before hitting the dungeons which I am not looking forward to considering how the combat is what I like the least in this game. Large encounters take forever with a full party and not being able to hit diagonally is a pain. Going to map the dungeons by hand which will be a first for me.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Just finished Ultima 4. The Stygian Abyss despite being the hardest dungeon was quite hard, level 6 with the maze was probably my favorite of the levels. Overall I did enjoy the game but near constant combat in a game with slow combat quickly becomes frustrating and some of the "exploits" I found managed to ruin the difficulty a little. Didn't take long for me to find out that items reset when you leave an area so after finding the mystic swords I very quickly had more money than I knew what to do with. But yeah good game I'm going to take a break before trying Ultima 5, don't want to get burned out plus Solasta released in little over a week so that would be taking my time anyway.

 

[Cael]

Just finished Ultima 4. The Stygian Abyss despite being the hardest dungeon was quite hard, level 6 with the maze was probably my favorite of the levels. Overall I did enjoy the game but near constant combat in a game with slow combat quickly becomes frustrating and some of the "exploits" I found managed to ruin the difficulty a little. Didn't take long for me to find out that items reset when you leave an area so after finding the mystic swords I very quickly had more money than I knew what to do with. But yeah good game I'm going to take a break before trying Ultima 5, don't want to get burned out plus Solasta released in little over a week so that would be taking my time anyway.

Not that you will use the mystic swords anyway. Just about any ranged weapon is better.

 

[McPlusle]

Am I spoiled by newer ("newer" meaning late 90s/early 00s for the most part) RPGs or does Ultima 7 seem pretty light in terms of gameplay elements? Obviously it has a very detailed world where you can move stuff around a la Underworld/System Shock, but that seems to be its most impressive gameplay aspect. Even setting aside the automatic combat, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful choice in regards to how you develop your character. Am I just in the wrong mindset? It sort of feels like I should be approaching this more as a traditional adventure game rather than an RPG.

 

[Cael]

Am I spoiled by newer ("newer" meaning late 90s/early 00s for the most part) RPGs or does Ultima 7 seem pretty light in terms of gameplay elements? Obviously it has a very detailed world where you can move stuff around a la Underworld/System Shock, but that seems to be its most impressive gameplay aspect. Even setting aside the automatic combat, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful choice in regards to how you develop your character. Am I just in the wrong mindset? It sort of feels like I should be approaching this more as a traditional adventure game rather than an RPG.

Every level you get skill/training points that allow you to train up 5 different stats as you wish. How is that not meaningful?

Also, there is no other RP game in existence that allows you to bake bread or forge a sword...

 

[Tweed]

Just finished Ultima 4. The Stygian Abyss despite being the hardest dungeon was quite hard, level 6 with the maze was probably my favorite of the levels. Overall I did enjoy the game but near constant combat in a game with slow combat quickly becomes frustrating and some of the "exploits" I found managed to ruin the difficulty a little. Didn't take long for me to find out that items reset when you leave an area so after finding the mystic swords I very quickly had more money than I knew what to do with. But yeah good game I'm going to take a break before trying Ultima 5, don't want to get burned out plus Solasta released in little over a week so that would be taking my time anyway.

Sounds like you fell prey to the ancient blunder of assembling your party before you're level nine.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Am I spoiled by newer ("newer" meaning late 90s/early 00s for the most part) RPGs or does Ultima 7 seem pretty light in terms of gameplay elements? Obviously it has a very detailed world where you can move stuff around a la Underworld/System Shock, but that seems to be its most impressive gameplay aspect. Even setting aside the automatic combat, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful choice in regards to how you develop your character. Am I just in the wrong mindset?

Not in this aspect IMO. There are no real classes as such and everyone can use any gear. Some stats might increase your melee vs. ranged vs. magic damage somewhat but its all a wash in the end with the cluster-fuck automated combat. There are no skill-based checks that I can think of.

It sort of feels like I should be approaching this more as a traditional adventure game rather than an RPG.

Technically not the case. However, although you can certainly RP as an evil jackass, like all the Ultima games its not encouraged.

 

[Cael]

Just finished Ultima 4. The Stygian Abyss despite being the hardest dungeon was quite hard, level 6 with the maze was probably my favorite of the levels. Overall I did enjoy the game but near constant combat in a game with slow combat quickly becomes frustrating and some of the "exploits" I found managed to ruin the difficulty a little. Didn't take long for me to find out that items reset when you leave an area so after finding the mystic swords I very quickly had more money than I knew what to do with. But yeah good game I'm going to take a break before trying Ultima 5, don't want to get burned out plus Solasta released in little over a week so that would be taking my time anyway.

Sounds like you fell prey to the ancient blunder of assembling your party before you're level nine.

I don't know. I usually play Druid or Mage, and my first companion is always Katrina, then Geoffrey. The reason for that is that they have the worst mid-end game weapons of the lot (sling and crossbow respectively), and so are the highest to level up later. Bard, Mage and Druid are last because they get the best mid-end game weapon (the magic wand), end up being killing machines.

 

[Cael]

Am I spoiled by newer ("newer" meaning late 90s/early 00s for the most part) RPGs or does Ultima 7 seem pretty light in terms of gameplay elements? Obviously it has a very detailed world where you can move stuff around a la Underworld/System Shock, but that seems to be its most impressive gameplay aspect. Even setting aside the automatic combat, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful choice in regards to how you develop your character. Am I just in the wrong mindset?

Not in this aspect IMO. There are no real classes as such and everyone can use any gear. Some stats might increase your melee vs. ranged vs. magic damage somewhat but its all a wash in the end with the cluster-fuck automated combat. There are no skill-based checks that I can think of.

It sort of feels like I should be approaching this more as a traditional adventure game rather than an RPG.

Technically not the case. However, although you can certainly RP as an evil jackass, like all the Ultima games its not encouraged.

Some of your companions outright leave you if you so much as steal...

 

[ShaggyMoose]

One of my favourite "features" in Ultima VII; moving objects around has Iolo whining like a little bitch, take them and put them in your backpack and he doesn't even blink.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Am I spoiled by newer ("newer" meaning late 90s/early 00s for the most part) RPGs or does Ultima 7 seem pretty light in terms of gameplay elements? Obviously it has a very detailed world where you can move stuff around a la Underworld/System Shock, but that seems to be its most impressive gameplay aspect. Even setting aside the automatic combat, there doesn't seem to be any meaningful choice in regards to how you develop your character. Am I just in the wrong mindset? It sort of feels like I should be approaching this more as a traditional adventure game rather than an RPG.

Try playing a good Ultima game, the actual classics are Ultima IV, V and Underworld, while III and VI are also good if you can stand their quirks and awful GUIs. Ultima VII and VIII barely qualify as RPGs.

 

[Doktor Best]

So i came across this channel that tells morbid stories about freak accidents and the first one of this video is interesting. Apparently there was a schizophrenic hardcore Ultima fan who broke into Garriots house to sleep in his bed. A few years later he became famous by sneaking into Sea World Florida and jumping into the pool of Orca Tilikum in order to play with him. And the Orca played with him quite a bit.

Here is Garriots tweet where he confirms the story

 

[OndrejSc]

Critical miss.

 

[Doktor Best]

Critical miss.

Yeah he shouldn't have skimped on his animal language skills.

 

[OndrejSc]

Critical miss.

Yeah he shouldn't have skimped on his animal language skills.

That is true, but I was thinking more of Gariott.

 

[AdolfSatan]

I was going to start a replay of Ultima IV when I realized two things:
1. I remember a lot of stuff yet and wanna wait until I've forgotten some more
2. I don't have the patience to deal with oldskool UIs

So, can anyone recommend a modern clone that will solve my second predicament? I recall being slightly annoyed by the UI in Lurking. How do Nox or RoA hold in that aspect?
ofc I've already got Skald on my list

 

[Butter]

RoA's UI is magnificent.

 

[Melan]

Nox Archaist's UI is somewhat better than Ultima's, and it is a good, functional new Ultima-like. Still the same scheme, but greatly simplified and streamlined.

 

[AdolfSatan]

I began a playthrough of RoA yesterday. Butter is right, the UI is very well done; there are some minor quirks, but it's super slick nonetheless.

Exploration's fantastic, but I'm worried about what may may be an excess of trash mobs. Does it get better later on?

 

[Butter]

Combat density is a little high in dungeons, but I think on the overworld it's generally okay.