Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

[V_K]

BaK has a lot of features that make it very easy to navigate. You have the "stick to the roads" option and you can move in the automap mode. Never had any problem with BaK's UI, and I played it first in 2005 or something, in pirated version that didn't even include the manual.

 

[Excommunicator]

Yeah, I can't say I enjoy playing a game in automap mode. But maybe that's just me?

 

[V_K]

Well, it's not like BaK's gorgeous early 3D looks much better.

 

[Keldryn]

BaK was a great game, but yeah... Those graphics have not aged well.

 

[SquidLord]

I've never understood why people like any Ultima.
Shit story, shit combat, shit character building, BEST GAME EVER!
They are the Elder Scrolls of the 80/90's.

 

[octavius]

I've never understood why people like any Ultima.
Shit story, shit combat, shit character building, BEST GAME EVER!
They are the Elder Scrolls of the 80/90's.

I understand why you don't post much.

 

[SquidLord]

I've never understood why people like any Ultima.
Shit story, shit combat, shit character building, BEST GAME EVER!
They are the Elder Scrolls of the 80/90's.

I understand why you don't post much.

Because I have taste.

 

[octavius]

I've never understood why people like any Ultima.
Shit story, shit combat, shit character building, BEST GAME EVER!
They are the Elder Scrolls of the 80/90's.

I understand why you don't post much.

Because I have taste.

I bet you taste like calamari.

 

[SquidLord]

I've never understood why people like any Ultima.
Shit story, shit combat, shit character building, BEST GAME EVER!
They are the Elder Scrolls of the 80/90's.

I understand why you don't post much.

Because I have taste.

I bet you taste like calamari.

You can lick my tasteicle if you want to confirm.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Wow...we trolled him a bit, and he doubled his posting output over a 4-year period!

 

[SquidLord]

Wow...we trolled him a bit, and he doubled his posting output over a 4-year period!

Gotta get my post count up somehow.
Otherwise people here will never take me seriously when I point out the only difference between TES and Ultima is that Todd Howard didn't make himself king of his own world.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I see your point, though I have to admit that the philosophical aspects of the Ultima games tend to set them somewhat apart from virtually any other series out there.

 

[SquidLord]

I see your point, though I have to admit that the philosophical aspects of the Ultima games tend to set them somewhat apart from virtually any other series out there.

I think of it like CHIM just less stupid.
I have heard a few people say they learned morality from U4, so if it stopped some people from being sociopaths or something I guess I'd give it that.
It's a major parenting fail if your kid has to learn morality from a video game.

 

[octavius]

The Ultima games are too varied to generalize.
Apart from U5 all of them had poor combat, though.
And the only ones that are like the TES games, but more focused on quality than quantity, are the Underworld games.

 

[Keldryn]

I see your point, though I have to admit that the philosophical aspects of the Ultima games tend to set them somewhat apart from virtually any other series out there.

Not to mention the fact that Ultima was doing things that no CRPGs had done before throughout the 80s and early 90s while most of its contemporaries were just putting a fancier coat of paint on gameplay borrowed from Wizardry.

The Ultima series deserves its elevated status for that fact alone.

 

[SquidLord]

Ultima wasn't really varied until 6 which had an awful engine. Before that it was just iterating game play, even if they rewrote the engine every time, bad programmers like to redo everything all the time.

Underworld is superficially like TES because it has similar presentation. Main line Ultima is more like TES spiritually with a big larpy open world that has crawled up its own butt and terrible gameplay.

Wizardry has good gameplay that still holds up to this day, Ultima had to keep 'innovating' because it had never been any good, it's not surprising they would occasionally find gold in their piles of shit that could be used better by games that are actually good.

As for the Wizardry clones I've got to say that they are at least as different as any FPS is, some were executed well (Might and Magic) and others not (The Bard's Tale).

 

[Daemongar]

I see your point, though I have to admit that the philosophical aspects of the Ultima games tend to set them somewhat apart from virtually any other series out there.

I think the philosophy of the U4 games peaked in U4 but after that the system completely fell apart. U5 took U4 to it's conclusion, but the more I think about it, U4 was an aberration. The philosophy in it was outstanding, but after that, everything else is a letdown.

U6 was interesting in the story, and asked the Avatar to do some things in an avatar like manner, but kind of had the virtues as a backstory. They had the Gargish Virtues, but they felt like a rip-off of the original 8 (Feeling? really?) Ultima 7 really didn't have much at all to do with the virtues, but just that they were being replaced by a new religion. SI had the Ophidian Virtues or whatever, but again, would it fucking kill them to make honesty a virtue for serpent people? Why do they have to call it ethicallity or whatever? (Jesus, I'm a nerd.)

Ultima 8 and 9... didn't do anything for the series philosophy, neither did UW1&2, UO, or whatever. The virtues were reference points, but didn't have anything more to do with the story. U9 did a ham handed job of using the virtues to tie an otherwise unrelated game to the Ultima series, and that's about it. In it's defense, at least U8 doesn't even bother.

I think RG's whole philosophy on life is working for him, but he was a guy with a good idea 30 years ago and it defined the series we have today. His more recent philosophical musings really blow, however.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

You mean the point-and-click, drag and drop interface that is still in use today?

The one in use today came about in late 90s and is significantly better and easier to use than the one in Ultima VII. You can move by simply left/right-clicking a spot, instead of holding down the button like in u7. Characters also move too fast, even when you hold the cursor close to them, making you lose control. Then there is stuff like lack of quick-save, and in general, the ton of clicks you have to do to get anything done (to save, to feed your party, to manage inventory, etc).

Meanwhile Betrayal at Krondor is more recent and less intuitive, not to mention impossible to navigate with its small screen without a map

The whole world in U7 is mapped out in full detail in your cloth map and with a set perspective you should have no trouble navigating it. Noob

If you actually read what i posted, I was comparing their stories, not their navigation.

Not sure if ironic, but there is a map in BoK, and personally I found it a joy to play, unlike U6 and U7. All these games I tried the first time in recent years, so no nostalgia involved.

Same here. I think the Ultimas were more revolutionary, influential and important historically, but in terms of enjoying the games today, I found BaK fun, and UVII-BG not so much.

 

[Infinitron]

The people who think Ultima is bad because "crap combat, crap systems", etc, are missing the forest for the trees. Fact is, that big open world isn't "LARPy". Travelling it is a challenge. Figuring out where to go and how to get there is a challenge. It's a big puzzle to be solved.

 

[SquidLord]

LARPy is probably just me generalizing U7 to the rest of them.
I'll admit the exploration is enjoyable.
But everything else bogs them down to much when there are other games with good worlds to explore.

In summary Ultima is bad.

 

[Viata]

In summary Ultima is bad.

 

[SquidLord]

I agree that movie is far worse then Ultima.

 

[Viata]

I agree that movie is far worse then Ultima.

Are you not entertained?

 

[Daemongar]

The people who think Ultima is bad because "crap combat, crap systems", etc, are missing the forest for the trees. Fact is, that big open world isn't "LARPy". Travelling it is a challenge. Figuring out where to go and how to get there is a challenge. It's a big puzzle to be solved.

Think the focus on the combat aspect of U7 seems to be a recent development. Even reviews in '93 mention the combat, but for the most part, reviews kind of glossed over the combat system and focused on the game - almost all gave the game high marks in spite of the combat, which is exactly how I do. I don't believe I ever stopped to think about the combat system for more than 30 seconds. Just not that germane to a discussion on the game.

 

[Neanderthal]

Yeah but if you think about it this makes sense doesn't it, wi Ultima you had a shitload to do other than combat, nowadays combat is the only gameplay in most RPGs.