Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

[LarryTyphoid]

He was always the same baizuo, the good guy was Roe Adams III.

Another case of a big "personality" or "auteur" sucking up all the credit for team efforts, a common story in game development.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Hmmm.... this looks tasty:

XU4 also tries to maintain strict compatibility with the original for its savegame files. You can use a game saved in XU4 with the original and vice versa, at least in theory.

Status​

The game is fully playable and can display the original DOS EGA and upgraded VGA graphics.

Some thoughts for possible improvements:

• Ultima 5 style aiming in combat (i.e. allow angle shots)
• More sound effects
• Support for higher-resolution tile sets
• Allow the map view to display more of the world
• Menu-based interface, like Sega version
• Use GPU for all rendering.
• Formal modding system to extend the world or create entirely new adventures.

• Might I give a hearty HELL YEAHZ!!!

I would likw to see more videos on this though.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

Lordy? Really? That's in the game? Who was writing the script?

Dunno, but I don't remember seeing this dialogue when I was playing a female Avatar. I might have just overlooked it but it'd be pretty hilarious if Iolo just doesn't say anything if the PC is female.

Is combat just as bad as U7?

Serpent Isle's combat is identical to the Black Gate, yes. I'm going to have to play the original DOS versions sometimes afterwards, because a lot of my issues with the combat may be coming from Exult. Frankly, I do not recommend Exult to anyone playing U7 for the first time. It has some QoL features, but also a shitload of gross bugs that make the game feel even jankier than it probably was originally. I've heard from some people that the movement is more jittery, as well.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

12 hours into third Serpent Isle playthrough attempt, and the scripting broke in Fawn so I couldn't do the trial or get the rose of love, because I dared to go to Moonshade and do Silver Seed before I collected the three collectibles. I'm going to be very generous and say that it's Exult's fault. Never using Exult again. I should've known it'd be dogshit since Jaesun was shilling it so hard back in 2014 or so when it must've been even worse than it is now. The same people saying to play Exult are telling people to use shit like Underworld Explorer. Fuck remakes. Always play the originals. I've put like a week a half into this game and I've been fucked by corrupted saves and scripting bullshit. I'm just gonna read the Nakar LP.

 

[Comte_II]

I believe this is a exult problem. Because when I was in high school and originally played the game when it came out on a replay I did moonshade first then went back to the other towns and had no issues. Also you can do silver seed whenever you want. I did it once as soon as I got the amulet to travel there. I think exult just further breaks the game.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Have any of you booted up ultimatrix or the ultima launcher from Xenerkes with gog versions of ultima.
https://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?event=project&typeKeyword=tools

Thankfully reconstruction.voyd still exists as the other site links are dead and gone,

What about Haxima? Any of you tried that? There are other engines and construction sets that don't work now and barely worked then.

 

[Daemongar]

12 hours into third Serpent Isle playthrough attempt, and the scripting broke in Fawn so I couldn't do the trial or get the rose of love, because I dared to go to Moonshade and do Silver Seed before I collected the three collectibles. I'm going to be very generous and say that it's Exult's fault. Never using Exult again. I should've known it'd be dogshit since Jaesun was shilling it so hard back in 2014 or so when it must've been even worse than it is now. The same people saying to play Exult are telling people to use shit like Underworld Explorer. Fuck remakes. Always play the originals. I've put like a week a half into this game and I've been fucked by corrupted saves and scripting bullshit. I'm just gonna read the Nakar LP.

No, I don't think you are correct. I bypassed the Fawn Trial on my current playthrough, did moonshade and the silver seed and went back to Fawn- Using Exult - latest build. Trial kicked off fine. I can do this as I am playing the game right now. Not sure what point you are at:
* Did Iolo do his song?
* Did you get attacked by the sailor?
* Did you get an invite to see Lady Yelinda?
* Did you talk to Lady Yelinda?

No use slamming Exult. They are pretty responsive to reported bugs - post the problem with an attached savegame before the bug or whatever. This game is flag heavy - and Exult includes some pretty great tools to edit the game/teleport/set any flag - if any of that was done, that can really screw up the game.

You can also submit your corrupt save in Exult forums.

 

[Infinitron]

I should've known it'd be dogshit since Jaesun was shilling it so hard back in 2014 or so

Joined Sep 17, 2021

 

[Bruma Hobo]

You're not fooling anyone, AArmanFV.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

No, I don't think you are correct. I bypassed the Fawn Trial on my current playthrough, did moonshade and the silver seed and went back to Fawn- Using Exult - latest build. Trial kicked off fineNo, I don't think you are correct. I bypassed the Fawn Trial on my current playthrough, did moonshade and the silver seed and went back to Fawn- Using Exult - latest build. Trial kicked off fine.

Who knows what caused it, then? All I know is that it broke. I'm playing the game in DOSBox now, and although I can see many areas in which Exult improved the game, like inventory management and keyboard hotkeys, there are also problems that do not exist in the original game, such as getting stuck on stairs and other terrain. Combat also feels significantly smoother and faster in the original. Exult is a fine project, especially since it's free and still in-development, but I regret not having played the Black Gate in its original form now that I see how different the two versions are, and I think it's irresponsible to recommend new players to only use Exult as if it's a definitive replacement or upgrade.

 

[coldcrow]

How the fuck do you get stuck when you have Hackmover at your disposal. Also I almost never got stuck on terrain in Exult, not sure what's up (I think I can hazily recall one instance).
Seriously, you are just a friggin' edgelord troll. The only thing that Exult lacks is 1:1 NPC schedule conversion. I mean you can even increase combat difficulty to really hard and make it RTwP.

 

[Daemongar]

How the fuck do you get stuck when you have Hackmover at your disposal. Also I almost never got stuck on terrain in Exult, not sure what's up (I think I can hazily recall one instance).
Seriously, you are just a friggin' edgelord troll. The only thing that Exult lacks is 1:1 NPC schedule conversion. I mean you can even increase combat difficulty to really hard and make it RTwP.

Yah - let's see, Exult includes:

* Native support for Linux, Windows 10, whatever without a lot of effort
* Paperdolls, bugfixes, and a keyring in U7, as well as status bars for all party members with health/mana
* Hackmover and F3 teleport to any location
* Improved inventory, options menu, save system
* Menu support for different resolutions, scalers, fonts, etc.
* OGG and enhanced audio options by default

I'm not really sure it's responsible to tell folks to fire up U7 in Dosbox - you could say "Buy the game from GoG" as they did all the memory management for the player. Telling someone to download dosbox and run U7 on it is insane.

It is irresponsible to say "My game is corrupt and I can't do x, it's Exult that's causing the problem..." Take the high road: go to exult.sf.net and post your problem and talk it out. I'm not a shill, but I've played the hell out of the DOS and Exult versions and while there are differences, the Exult version does add some quality of life features that are hard to put away.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

RTwP? Oh? Nice!
Was there any modding to create your own maps, areas, quests, content in addition to the original game? I'd ask the same question of Nuvie. I notice U6 & SE has a conversion in Exult. Hmmmm....

 

[Drunken Irishman]

I don't get how you can do things in the wrong order in this game. There shouldn't be a wrong order. The game is designed in the way that you are locked out from Gorlab Swamp, until you have the necessary three artifacts of Truth, Love and Courage. You should be able to do the three towns in any order. I don't remember having problems with it. It only matters that you get the necessary quest items in the end. And only then you progress to the other half of the game.

Original game has it's own problems, Exult at least allows you to save the little girl.

 

[Cael]

You only get that if you try to sequence break. I don't recall that kind of thing ever being a problem when you are actually trying to follow the clues given to you instead of trying to shortcut it with prior knowledge..

Note that I'm currently on my first playthrough of SI, and any sequence breaking is unintentional. But even then, the previous Ultima games let you utilize prior knowledge all the time, and that was one of my favorite parts. I loved being able to carry over your knowledge of the mantras from 4 into 5 and 6. Those games even reward you for it. Characters will act impressed if you already know the mantras - there's a part in U6 where you can give someone a mantra for some gold. In Serpent Isle, you're going to read Erstam's memoirs before you even start playing. So before I even began, I knew that Erstam had the serpent's jaw. Yet I'm incapable of asking him about it - I have to ask him about teleportation, then ask his servant about teleportation, before I have the option of bringing up the jaw to Erstam. So why'd I even read the damn manual if me and my character aren't working with the same knowledge? Is this guy really my "avatar" if he doesn't know shit that I do?

U7 onwards don't allow you to do that anymore. Just starting the game, even if you know the password out of Trinsic, you still have to run around town first to get it.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

U7 onwards don't allow you to do that anymore. Just starting the game, even if you know the password out of Trinsic, you still have to run around town first to get it.

That's terrible as well, but at least it's information gathered from the game itself, and not information any player is going to have starting the game, unlike shit you read in the manual. Regardless, I wonder if the removal of text-insert dialogue was made to support an entirely mouse-driven interface. If that's the case, then it's a great tragedy, because the mouse controls are the worst part of the game.

It is irresponsible to say "My game is corrupt and I can't do x, it's Exult that's causing the problem..."

It's either that Exult is shit or Ultima 7 is shit. Or both! But if I have problems with the game, then I'd rather pin the blame properly on Origin rather than the Exult devs, which is why I am now playing the DOS version.

 

[Daemongar]

No, I don't think you are correct. I bypassed the Fawn Trial on my current playthrough, did moonshade and the silver seed and went back to Fawn- Using Exult - latest build. Trial kicked off fineNo, I don't think you are correct. I bypassed the Fawn Trial on my current playthrough, did moonshade and the silver seed and went back to Fawn- Using Exult - latest build. Trial kicked off fine.

Who knows what caused it, then? All I know is that it broke. I'm playing the game in DOSBox now, and although I can see many areas in which Exult improved the game, like inventory management and keyboard hotkeys, there are also problems that do not exist in the original game, such as getting stuck on stairs and other terrain. Combat also feels significantly smoother and faster in the original. Exult is a fine project, especially since it's free and still in-development, but I regret not having played the Black Gate in its original form now that I see how different the two versions are, and I think it's irresponsible to recommend new players to only use Exult as if it's a definitive replacement or upgrade.

Can you post your save game - here or elsewhere? I'm starting to wonder if one exists...

 

[Bruma Hobo]

I also had many small problems with Exult last time I played Ultima VII, so I believe him. Dosbox was definitely more stable back when Jaesun was shilling Exult really hard.

 

[Daemongar]

I also had many small problems with Exult last time I played Ultima VII, so I believe him. Dosbox was definitely more stable back when Jaesun was shilling Exult really hard.

Oh yah - Exult has issues - there are some strange pathfinding issues as well - people coming to talk to me seem to walk to where I was 2 seconds ago and creatures in dungeons seem to have better pathfinding than the original. There are quite a few other issues - but there is a funny thing with U7:SI - there are a lot of flags.

For a linear game, it is deceptively difficult to navigate. When an event doesn't fire off, it probably isn't DOS or Exult - it's most likely a conversation that hasn't happened, an egg that wasn't tripped, or etc. In my recent playthrough, I got caught not speaking to someone to fire off the bloodmoss quest, which prevents you from getting a spellbook. So, a lot of actions bound to one conversation.

 

[coldcrow]

Exult has some shortcomings, as Daemongar said, pathfinding is the worst, which can even lead to slowdowns and crashes in extreme cases. But the upsides make it preferable to the original Dosbox version.

For anyone interested in weird playthroughs, I recommend: http://it-he.org/front.php
The SI playthrough is a must-read, and shows how deceptively robust the game actually is. You can basically make it spit out error messages and still be able to complete it without doing a major chunk of plot.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I can't take Lord British seriously as a character when his portrait is just Richard Garriott's Facebook profile picture

I try to ignore the fact that LB is a Garriott self-insert as much as I can.

 

[Cael]

U7 onwards don't allow you to do that anymore. Just starting the game, even if you know the password out of Trinsic, you still have to run around town first to get it.

That's terrible as well, but at least it's information gathered from the game itself, and not information any player is going to have starting the game, unlike shit you read in the manual. Regardless, I wonder if the removal of text-insert dialogue was made to support an entirely mouse-driven interface. If that's the case, then it's a great tragedy, because the mouse controls are the worst part of the game.

That is exactly the reason, I'm afraid.

 

[Daemongar]

U7 onwards don't allow you to do that anymore. Just starting the game, even if you know the password out of Trinsic, you still have to run around town first to get it.

That's terrible as well, but at least it's information gathered from the game itself, and not information any player is going to have starting the game, unlike shit you read in the manual. Regardless, I wonder if the removal of text-insert dialogue was made to support an entirely mouse-driven interface. If that's the case, then it's a great tragedy, because the mouse controls are the worst part of the game.

That is exactly the reason, I'm afraid.

That's unfortunate as going back to LarryTyphoid's point - there are points where you do not get dialog options for key events. A text parser to cut to the chase (like Fallout's, only useful) would be a great addition. There is already WAY too much text clicking on useless info in SI - I can see how they can't include *everything* but it would be nice if instead of having to click on goblins or Pomdragin with everyone in Monitor, you could just type that in if inclined - kind of like stone, rune, or mantra in U4 - maybe it will pay off, maybe it won't - but it won't hurt to try with everyone.

 

[Cael]

U7 onwards don't allow you to do that anymore. Just starting the game, even if you know the password out of Trinsic, you still have to run around town first to get it.

That's terrible as well, but at least it's information gathered from the game itself, and not information any player is going to have starting the game, unlike shit you read in the manual. Regardless, I wonder if the removal of text-insert dialogue was made to support an entirely mouse-driven interface. If that's the case, then it's a great tragedy, because the mouse controls are the worst part of the game.

That is exactly the reason, I'm afraid.

That's unfortunate as going back to LarryTyphoid's point - there are points where you do not get dialog options for key events. A text parser to cut to the chase (like Fallout's, only useful) would be a great addition. There is already WAY too much text clicking on useless info in SI - I can see how they can't include *everything* but it would be nice if instead of having to click on goblins or Pomdragin with everyone in Monitor, you could just type that in if inclined - kind of like stone, rune, or mantra in U4 - maybe it will pay off, maybe it won't - but it won't hurt to try with everyone.

Maybe, maybe not. Could be the dev was trying to prevent people from shortcutting the process and actually want you to play the game instead of doing speed runs with no in-universe knowledge (but lots of metagame knowledge). The game is already absurdly easy to break as it is with what metagame knowledge you can act on (carpet, magic weapons/armour, etc.). Technically, you can bypass all of the keywords by just using the teleportation cheat as it is. Just use that instead if you want to cheat in the game.

 

[Butter]

Maybe, maybe not. Could be the dev was trying to prevent people from shortcutting the process and actually want you to play the game instead of doing speed runs with no in-universe knowledge (but lots of metagame knowledge).

Which is declined as fuck. Why should the developer care how people approach the game on repeat playthroughs?