Ultima VII is surprisingly good, but...

[BehindTimes]

But...but the point of doing it at ebay is that you can.

I enjoyed Ultima 7, and think they put a lot of work into it, but the combat seriously did my head in with that game. It could have been beautiful...

All the added extras, etc, were quite nice. As was the atmosphere. U6 (or the spinoffs) or U5 will remain my favourite Ultima game. I cannot choose between them as both engines and games had different advantages over the other.

Myself, I'm more of an adventure game fan, so while I admit the combat is not up to par of other games, it really wasn't that much of a turn off for me. Besides, if I really wanted to play a game for combat, I'd just play one of the Wizardries. But I loved exploring the world, and U7 had so many little details that no other RPG can match.

A plot which doesn't involve becoming "the one" and saving the world? Check.
Quests which go beyond the scope of Fed Ex and Monster Hunt? Check.
Interactive World? Check.
NPC's that are more than just Elder Scrolls Quality, emm, I mean, Cookie Cutters? Check.
Little Details such as weather? Check.
Monsters who don't drop unrealistic loot? Check.
Enemies who you can strip clean? What I mean is that if they have The Sword of Ultimate Destruction, you can take that after you kill them, and not just a piece or two of Random Loot. Check.
An Armageddon Spell? Check. (What RPG is complete if you can't kill all life on the planet?)
The ability to steal? Check.
The ability to kill good NPCs? Check.

The above is my list for what I look for in a good RPG, and despite not being that much, and being pretty simple, very few RPGs seem to be able to fill out all of the above.

I did like Ultima 6. I'd say in terms of RPGs, it's in my top 10. I use to love Ultima V also, but probably played it too much that I got burnt out. Not saying that it's a bad game, just that I've moved on. In terms of the spinoffs, I never really got into the World's of Ultima. Just something about stereotypical medieval settings that I like.

It's ashame of how copyright laws are set up, that Ultima 6 & 7 will die off into obscurity, as they would be awesome games to be remade (as long as Bethesda DOES NOT TOUCH THEM). I'm not talking about a Lazarus style remake, which changed too much, nor am I talking about Exult, which still lacks certain things from Ultima 7, and keeps too traditional. That's a thing that bothers me about indie remakes & original games, is they're reliance on keeping with standards that are two decades old. I want Ultima 7 @ 1920x1200 or above. Besides, the above require you to own the original game, and while I'm sure most of us here do, this is to introduce a new generation to U7.

 

[BehindTimes]

In short, I'm more into games than into attempts at alternative worlds that some call games.

We all have our preferences. I just like this game more than you. Ultima VII has what I'm looking for. An alternative world where I can do what I want to do. Hence, it allows me to acheive my verison of Role Playing.

Some people want games where Role Playing is just clicking attack. (Not saying you do, but there are millions of people who love the above).

 

[Jaime Lannister]

It's ashame of how copyright laws are set up, that Ultima 6 & 7 will die off into obscurity, as they would be awesome games to be remade (as long as Bethesda DOES NOT TOUCH THEM). I'm not talking about a Lazarus style remake, which changed too much, nor am I talking about Exult, which still lacks certain things from Ultima 7, and keeps too traditional. That's a thing that bothers me about indie remakes & original games, is they're reliance on keeping with standards that are two decades old. I want Ultima 7 @ 1920x1200 or above. Besides, the above require you to own the original game, and while I'm sure most of us here do, this is to introduce a new generation to U7.

I'm not saying that Bethesda should go anywhere near the Ultima series, but Oblivion probably does have the best engine for an Ultima VII remake. And I actually liked Oblivion's combat, even if it didn't compare to Gothic II or Mount & Blade.

 

[BehindTimes]

I'm not saying that Bethesda should go anywhere near the Ultima series, but Oblivion probably does have the best engine for an Ultima VII remake. And I actually liked Oblivion's combat, even if it didn't compare to Gothic II or Mount & Blade.

I guess if I saw a remake, I'd want it to be 2D, or at least have 2D gameplay. I don't know, something about 3D games which just turns me off from them. Fortunately, 2D is starting to make a comeback.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

I only mentioned Oblivion due to the combat and the fact that you can see more than 10 feet in front of your face, unlike most 3d games.

And how is 2d starting to make a comeback? Even Age of Decadence is going to be made in 3d.

 

[Silellak]

In short, I'm more into games than into attempts at alternative worlds that some call games.

How is Ultima 7 not a game? You may not enjoy it, but it's certainly a game, as well as perhaps the best-realized CRPG version of an "alternate world".

It's ashame of how copyright laws are set up, that Ultima 6 & 7 will die off into obscurity, as they would be awesome games to be remade (as long as Bethesda DOES NOT TOUCH THEM). I'm not talking about a Lazarus style remake, which changed too much, nor am I talking about Exult, which still lacks certain things from Ultima 7, and keeps too traditional. That's a thing that bothers me about indie remakes & original games, is they're reliance on keeping with standards that are two decades old. I want Ultima 7 @ 1920x1200 or above. Besides, the above require you to own the original game, and while I'm sure most of us here do, this is to introduce a new generation to U7.

Out of curiosity, what is Exult lacking from the original Ultima 7?

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

But...but the point of doing it at ebay is that you can.

I enjoyed Ultima 7, and think they put a lot of work into it, but the combat seriously did my head in with that game. It could have been beautiful...

All the added extras, etc, were quite nice. As was the atmosphere. U6 (or the spinoffs) or U5 will remain my favourite Ultima game. I cannot choose between them as both engines and games had different advantages over the other.

Myself, I'm more of an adventure game fan, so while I admit the combat is not up to par of other games, it really wasn't that much of a turn off for me. Besides, if I really wanted to play a game for combat, I'd just play one of the Wizardries. But I loved exploring the world, and U7 had so many little details that no other RPG can match.

A plot which doesn't involve becoming "the one" and saving the world? Check.
Quests which go beyond the scope of Fed Ex and Monster Hunt? Check.
Interactive World? Check.
NPC's that are more than just Elder Scrolls Quality, emm, I mean, Cookie Cutters? Check.
Little Details such as weather? Check.
Monsters who don't drop unrealistic loot? Check.
Enemies who you can strip clean? What I mean is that if they have The Sword of Ultimate Destruction, you can take that after you kill them, and not just a piece or two of Random Loot. Check.
An Armageddon Spell? Check. (What RPG is complete if you can't kill all life on the planet?)
The ability to steal? Check.
The ability to kill good NPCs? Check.

The above is my list for what I look for in a good RPG, and despite not being that much, and being pretty simple, very few RPGs seem to be able to fill out all of the above.

I did like Ultima 6. I'd say in terms of RPGs, it's in my top 10. I use to love Ultima V also, but probably played it too much that I got burnt out. Not saying that it's a bad game, just that I've moved on. In terms of the spinoffs, I never really got into the World's of Ultima. Just something about stereotypical medieval settings that I like.

It's ashame of how copyright laws are set up, that Ultima 6 & 7 will die off into obscurity, as they would be awesome games to be remade (as long as Bethesda DOES NOT TOUCH THEM). I'm not talking about a Lazarus style remake, which changed too much, nor am I talking about Exult, which still lacks certain things from Ultima 7, and keeps too traditional. That's a thing that bothers me about indie remakes & original games, is they're reliance on keeping with standards that are two decades old. I want Ultima 7 @ 1920x1200 or above. Besides, the above require you to own the original game, and while I'm sure most of us here do, this is to introduce a new generation to U7.

I have often thought of different games that I would like remade and enhanced...then I always wake up and realise that, no, I do not want that done at this moment in the gaming industry.

The industry is not set up for these kinds of games. Stupidly so, as they would sell by the tonne if done well, but they won't be. Publishers are too narrow minded and worried about a dollar, so they will stick to what sells with little to no deviation. Hopefully one of the smaller, indy teams will make their own world and surprise us all. Until then, the industry holds little interest to me at this point in time.

 

[Kavax]

Playing Ultima 7 for the first time is beautiful, isn't it? I remember that the first time I played I decided not to follow the main plot. I got a lot of money by robbing the Britannian Bank, bought a ship, and spent time by exploring random areas from the map, occasionally robbing shops in towns.

 

[Andhaira]

Its an experiance that you will always rememebr. The pinnacle of old school rpgs. (even though statwise its not that hardcore...in everything else it is)

You can make your own stories in the game.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

About a remake, an altered diablo 3 engine would do great.

After ultima VII, came Ultima VIII with an isometric view almost like diablo I. In fact, ultima VIII had a lot in common with diablo, but more storydriven, but similar gameplay mechanics.

Although ultima VIII had its flaws, and was stripped down of all the things ultima 7, Looks like that given time, Ultima 8 could had have all features of U7.

Appling this to diablo 3 engine, and looking what team lazarus was able to do with the dungeon siege engine (with was diablo-style), I think that would be the best option.

But ultima 7 is one of the few ultima games that wasn't seriously a candidate for fan remakes in the series. And it was the model for the remakes of the other ultimas. Exult is not a remake, is more a engine.

This is probably because the game is close to perfection, and to achieve that in a remake would be an herculean task.

One thing about ultima 7 that was great too is the fact that the game was made with serpent isle, ultima 8 and ultima 9 in mind. You can play the game and see references to future games. Even ultima underworld 2 is very connected.

A pity things went downward after that.

 

[Andhaira]

U8 was not bad at all. I mean, you could climb walls and run/jump over rooftops. IMNO they should have used that engine for a Theif type game and added shadows/light/concelament.Instead they went for the retarded crusader games.

The magic system in U8 was also very...'interactive' :D I wonder howmany religious parents got a freakin' shock when they saw their little kid doing shit on a pentagram

But yes, with the addition of turnbased combat Ultima 7 I and II would have been perfect games.
Another great thing about the ultima's was that there were no fantasy cliches of elves, dwarves, etc.Instead you had headless, gargoyles, demons,etc.

 

[donjn]

You are playing Ultima VII at 320x200?

Good God man, why aren't you playing Ultima VII on Exult? You can play at much higher resolutions with AA, etc. It's sweet.

 

[BLOBERT]

Growing up, the Ultima series defined what a CRPG was to me. Hell, it still defines it, to a large extent. From Ultima 5-7, the worlds built were just amazing compared to any game then, and in many ways, to games now.

When I first played Morrowwind, the level of interactivity in the world reminded of the Ultima games.

 

[Serus]

The interface and combat are terrible in U7. I never finished any Ultima game but i enjoyed U5 the most (maybe because i was 12 and it was my first RPG game, like first kiss it is something you never forget :wink: ).
Like someone already said: Ultima 7 with trun based combat (or real time but slower with better control) = great game. It is a very good game but i can't force myself to play it because of the combat.

 

[Silellak]

The interface and combat are terrible in U7. I never finished any Ultima game but i enjoyed U5 the most (maybe because i was 12 and it was my first RPG game, like first kiss it is something you never forget :wink: ).
Like someone already said: Ultima 7 with trun based combat (or real time but slower with better control) = great game. It is a very good game but i can't force myself to play it because of the combat.

Well, I believe Exult adds RTwP combat to the Ultima 7 engine. I imagine the combat still sucks, but maybe it sucks slightly less? I have't played all that much with Exult, as fabulous as it is.

This is what I found from the release notes of Exult 1.2:

Improved combat with pausing, hit display, and targeting.

 

[mondblut]

You are playing Ultima VII at 320x200?

Good God man, why aren't you playing Ultima VII on Exult? You can play at much higher resolutions with AA, etc.

It supposedly breaks some events which are supposed to be triggered on sight. Using higher resolution makes them fire when you aren't where you're supposed to be.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

Combat in ultima 7 wasn't good at all, but it was hardly something of a gamebreaker.

I never really had a problem with combat. I aways felt like an spectator watching a fight. You would press the C key on the keyboard, and your characters would automaticaly fight the enemies. If you were superior, you would win.

And if I remember correctly, you could pause the game and exchange items btween NPCs while in combat.

What I feel about the combat it's because it looks like as if the game play the fight without influence of the player.

 

[Kavax]

Combat in ultima 7 wasn't good at all, but it was hardly something of a gamebreaker.

I never really had a problem with combat. I aways felt like an spectator watching a fight. You would press the C key on the keyboard, and your characters would automaticaly fight the enemies. If you were superior, you would win.

And if I remember correctly, you could pause the game and exchange items btween NPCs while in combat.

What I feel about the combat it's because it looks like as if the game play the fight without influence of the player.

You can manually control the Avatar.

 

[nomask7]

You are playing Ultima VII at 320x200?

Good God man, why aren't you playing Ultima VII on Exult? You can play at much higher resolutions with AA, etc. It's sweet.

Actually, I'm playing it wth Exult. I intended to play it with DOSbox, but it didn't run well (there was a slow-down every five seconds or so), and I had no idea how fast it was supposed to run anyway. Also, after trying Exult, the NPCs in the original seemed to move too fast in relation to my party. If I slowed the game down so that the NPCs didn't run everywhere, I couldn't run anywhere either.

But, as I said in a previous post, using a higher resolution would feel like cheating, although I actually changed it and settled for a bit higher one after having said that, as well as changed the scaling to interlaced (memories of old TV RPGs). Trying to picture my surroundings was too annoying in that claustrophobic resolution, and 320x200 is actually a widescreen resolution anyway, so I'm guessing it's not truly authentic.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

You can manually control the Avatar.

Oh yes. But if you didn't want to control, he would attack the nearest enemy automatically, am I correct?

 

[TheWesDude]

you would set that up in the combat options...

there was manual, attack strongest, attack weakest, attack closest options you could set up... also guard protected char...

so you could control it, or you could let the computer automate the entire combat...


and the whole thing, i think it got it very right.

RPGs are about you controlling the direction your charecter goes, but the charecter determines the success...

this is why the ultimas are such great idealogical RPGs, they realize its the charecter and all the player does is direct the action, not the success.

great fucking series, anyone who does not agree is either a fucking idiot and should die in a fire, or else... well you are just a fucking idiot and may you die by being dragged over shredded glass while sucking on an erect donkey dick while being coated with tar and lit on fire.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

and be forced to play ultima 9.

 

[Tigranes]

You don't know the pain of being introduced to the series through Ultima 9.

Is there any way for a non-US person to get a hold of 7?

 

[nomask7]

great fucking series, anyone who does not agree is either a fucking idiot and should die in a fire, or else... well you are just a fucking idiot and may you die by being dragged over shredded glass while sucking on an erect donkey dick while being coated with tar and lit on fire.

Doesn't make it any more appealing.

 

[nomask7]

You don't know the pain of being introduced to the series through Ultima 9.

Is there any way for a non-US person to get a hold of 7?

It's abandon-ware, so try Abandonia:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/search_abandonia/Ultima+7

You need either Exult or DOSbox to get it work at all. I had better luck with the former:

http://exult.sourceforge.net/