Ultima The Ultima Underworld I & II Thread

[WalterKinde]

I recall the game window seems too small for my liking and the dark places makes it easy to miss items, preventing me from ever finishing it. I didn't like it very much overall I was more inclined to explore u7 than to go around some mazes.

Unless someone does a total conversion or mod (many groups/persons started but never completed any) we are stuck with the small window size which at the time of the game was considered large.
As for the lighting, well if the torches are too dark, the spell daylight brightens up the area its the first undocumeted spell you find on the first level of the abyss, or if you want to cheat rename the shades.dat file located in the data directory to something else if the game is too dark.

 

[Saxon1974]

One other small complaint about this game. IT's too easy in combat. Im on level 5 and I have not died once. Granted I have played it before but it seems awful easy.

There are 2 hard fights in the game (in comparison to your level), and if you're in level 5 I believe you've passed both: The Beholder, and the Renegade Knight.

(There is a place near the end of the game where Mage-type characters might have a hard time...)

When I finished UW I played in "easy" combat setting , as I wanted to focus more in the game than frantic mouse-swinging.

Im playing on standard and Im almost finished with level 5 and I have only been defeated 1 time. I do spend time completely combing each level before moving on though....

 

[Darkflame]

Not taking the time to read through everyone's responses (the first few sounded kinda naive), let me just say this:

Everyone else is full of shit. UWI is an amazing RPG, UWII is alright but UWI does almost everything better. You may not like the game if you are too dependent on modern game features, but back in the day, with its story line, dialogue choices, game mechanics and the gloomy atmosphere of attrition that has yet to be replicated, UWI kicked so much ass. I spent years with that game, it was my introduction into the Ultima series and after playing through each Ultima I still think it is the most immersive.

Don't knock it til you get past Tyball's maze and into his hide-out on floor 7.

Also the game could be modded to have additional floors (up to 99), though I don't think anyone made maps for all of them.

 

[Binary]

Alright, tell me your reasoning for UW1 being better than UW2. I used to think that way too - but then I grew up

 

[Jasede]

You have NO idea how much I love UUW. I try to play it very slowly. A few hours every week. I want this to last.

I'm still in dungeon level 1. Can't believe that there's still so much to come; AND A WHOLE SEQUEL. Brings tears to my crusty eyes. Haven't had such RPG fun in ages.

I can't move in the sequel though. The mouse does move the cursors and click things, but it doesn't let me move. WASD do nothing either. What's wrong? I'm using Abandonia's.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

UW was also the build-up to one of the most amazing games in history. System Shock, that is.

“Although [the action] was at 2% fidelity, and the rendering at 1% fidelity, the characters and conversation were at 0.001% fidelity. The conversations are just horrible. They’re not about the player – they’re not player centric. They don’t really have any choice. Character interaction is where you most feel games are artificial at the moment. We’re shooting a guy with a gun in a FPS – there’s a limit to what he can say. We should be giving the player more control and more sense of investment and reality in the rest of the game in trying to do those other things. It’s frustrating.”

Of course, Shock avoided that entirely.

"Decision number 1: Delete our conversation system. We don’t like the fact our conversation system was less interactive and player driven, so we figured we’d guess rid of them. That’s the difference between Underworld and Shock. At the end, it was clear that Underworld was three separate games. It was a statistic game. It was an isolation exploration game. And it was a conversation-choice branching menu game. And the exploration game was by far the finest of those three – moving around in first person was the interesting part. We got rid of all the stats, and replaced them with the augmentations and the upgrades, which were all very discrete, as opposed to “Oh – my strength has gone up to seven”.

Doug Church on Underworld, how Shock came about and The Communist Zombie Game™ (I shit you not) that later into development turned into Thief. Gee, I miss Looking Glass, one of the few driving forces in an industry that's a just about a tad "me, too!" too much.

 

[someone else]

I consider UW2 to be da best game evar. Maybe I like UW2 more cos I play it before UW. Same reason why I like FO2 more than FO.

The bad thing about both games is the difficulty, it really depends on where you put your skills, dump everything into fighting and magic and the game is too easy. The rest of the skills are almost useless, esp in UW2 where spells & $ replace many skills. I recommend putting points into non-combat skills for balance.

Incidently the scariest thing I encountered in gaming is in UW2. Due to the small view, you cannot see the bottom half of the screen unless you look down. A snow leopard wandered from my side and was right infront of me without me seeing it. Snow leopards attack by leaping and tearing into your face, you can imagine my shock when it leap from the bottom of the screen.

Since then I always tilt the view down.

 

[Zakhal]

UW was also the build-up to one of the most amazing games in history. System Shock, that is.

System shock 2 (which is abandonware currently btw) is definetly one of the best horror scifi rpgs I have ever seen. And whats best about it is you can play it through in co-operation mode with other players. You can play it in lan or use VPN to play through internet.

Too bad system shock 2 sold poorly (even though it scored high and awarded) so they never made sequels for it either. They made other games too like thief but that game was kind of disappointment after underworld and system shock.

You might wanna check the whole list of looking glass game so that you dont miss anything:

* Ultima Underworld (1991)
* Car and Driver (1992)
* Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1992)
* System Shock (1994)
* Flight Unlimited (1995)
* Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri (1996)
* Flight Unlimited II (1997)
* Thief: The Dark Project (1998)
* Thief Gold (1999)
* Command and Conquer, Nintendo 64-konsolille (1999)
* System Shock 2 (1999)
* Fligth Unlimited III (1999)
* Thief II: The Metal Age (2000)

Another good game that I would raise above the rest is Terra Nova: Strike force centauri. I played it through twice.

 

[Claw]

Alright, tell me your reasoning for UW1 being better than UW2. I used to think that way too - but then I grew up

Hey, an oxymoron !

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

They made other games too like thief but that game was kind of disappointment after underworld and system shock.

Words cannot even begin to express how shocked I am - but hey, for that we are given these fine smileys, no?

:shock:

 

[Wyrmlord]

I savour every moment of this game. I just want more of it, and it keeps giving more. Even after you find the entrance to the second level, you still to see more of the first level. I personally want everything in the game to last and to keep on giving.

I don't think I've had so much fun in exploring a game's world. I just love meticulously observing every detail of it, and discovering all sorts of things. I love collecting all those runes which can be used to cast spells. I love seeing all the in-game text and writings that shed light on what is happening. I like trying to survive on the various food and herbs lying around. The best thing is when you notice a slight cut on a wall, and you find out that it's a secret door.

The interface is a little funky but once you understand it, you wouldn't want it to be any different. It really does the job.

 

[Squeek]

I loved this game too and for all those same reasons. There was just so much to discover and enjoy. And the prison setting was a great concept (one borrowed by Piranha Bytes for Gothic).

To this day I remember a point where I noticed a particularly cool place that I thought would be an awesome spot for hidden treasure and then having to work hard to check it out. I found a really cool sword, and I damned-near kissed my monitor!

ComputerGamingWorld magazine ranked Ultima Underworld the best PC game of all time for quite a while. It turned out to have had a huge impact on this genre while also having inspired another (FPS). Its FPS-ishness was new and cool at the time and totally worth the things it compromised.

 

[fastpunk]

Yeah, the interface is a bit weird at first, but there's W,A and D for forward, left and right movement, otherwise it would be a pain. Moving backward is bound to X if I remember right. Anyway, the game is great. I always admired it for how ridiculously big and complex the dungeon levels were. Hey, if you never played System Shock, you should give that one a try. At its core, SS is pretty similar to Underworld so you might enjoy that one too.

 

[Saxon1974]

Yep, this game is fantastic, definitely should be in any top 10 list for RPG's.

That being said, I have never finished it, for some reason I get to level 5 or 6 and get distracted and start playing something else.

 

[made]

They just don't make em like that anymore.

 

[Lord Rocket]

I'll also post in this thread, since, yeah, brilliant game.

Never did finish it though.

 

[Mareus]

Ultima Underworld is one of the most innovative games I have ever seen. I mean people go around and praise Doom for it's 3D enviorment, but they completely forget UU came out before Doom, and it not only featured beautiful graphics for it's time, but it also managed to fit in all the RPG elements from the Ultima series. I laugh at what developers call innovation today.

 

[Fenril]

It was indeed great at the time, dont know if I would have the same appreciation for it if I picked it up today, but it was very good.

I have more fond memories of Ultima Underworld 2, so if you liked 1 definately give 2 a try, its easily available on abandonia, the graphics are a bit sharper and there is a greater field of view, the game is quite longer I believe and its packed full of interesting stuff once you get into the dimension hopping aspect.

 

[Silellak]

There is not nearly enough negativity in this thread. Someone call skyway.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Ultima Underworld is one of the most innovative games I have ever seen. I mean people go around and praise Doom for it's 3D enviorment, but they completely forget UU came out before Doom, and it not only featured beautiful graphics for it's time, but it also managed to fit in all the RPG elements from the Ultima series. I laugh at what developers call innovation today.

But Doom's 3D environments are superior. Ultima Underworld is also great, but Doom goes much beyond.

Walls in Doom aren't at right angles to the ground. And one area will be stacked onto another, which is not there in UU. Secret areas in Doom are much harder to find. While in UU, it's just a secret door in the wall, Doom does secret areas in ways one can't even imagine.

 

[ecliptic]

Walls in Doom aren't at right angles to the ground. And one area will be stacked onto another, which is not there in UU. Secret areas in Doom are much harder to find. While in UU, it's just a secret door in the wall, Doom does secret areas in ways one can't even imagine.

What are you smoking, man? I'm not sure what version of doom you're recalling, unless you're thinking of one of the engine rewrites, like zDoom. Walls were only at right angles to the ground in Doom, there were no slopes. There were in UW1. Areas can't be stacked on top of one another in either game, they were both 2.5d. However, UW1 wins again by offering bridges which can both be gone over and under. UW1 the player can levitate and fly. There was real-time lighting with dynamic lightsources, though primitive by today's reckoning. There were also basic polygonal objects in the maps in addition to the sprite based characters and objects. That's to say nothing of the much deeper gamepaly experience, even though they're both wildly different games.

And while I was listing ways in which I felt UW1 beats Doom in terms of technical achievements, what makes this more insane is the fact that UW1 was released 2-3 months before Wolfenstein came out!

Looking glass were pretty fucking phenomenal.

 

[mondblut]

Areas can't be stacked on top of one another in either game, they were both 2.5d. However, UW1 wins again by offering bridges which can both be gone over and under.

This alone makes UW1 capable of true 3d. They probably avoided using it elsewhere than with the bridges in order not to confuse the players and mess up the automap.

 

[Lord Rocket]

Er, I somehow doubt that UW was proper, true 3d. If the only criterion for that is being able to walk over and under stuff then - guess what - Doom does count, since you can use a .DEH patch and some sneaky editing to fake 3d bridges. At the very least, you'll note that the bridges tend to be a uniform size and length, which would indicate that they're actually objects rather than true parts of the map.
Oh, as for the 'technical achievement' thing, don't forget that the whole big thing with Doom was just how fast it was, rather than the flash features. The minimum specs were pretty damn similar for both games (and look at Wolf3d's too, there is something of a difference there).

They probably avoided using it elsewhere than with the bridges in order not to confuse the players and mess up the automap.

Don't be ridiculous.

 

[Mareus]

Walls in Doom aren't at right angles to the ground. And one area will be stacked onto another, which is not there in UU. Secret areas in Doom are much harder to find. While in UU, it's just a secret door in the wall, Doom does secret areas in ways one can't even imagine.

What are you smoking, man? I'm not sure what version of doom you're recalling, unless you're thinking of one of the engine rewrites, like zDoom. Walls were only at right angles to the ground in Doom, there were no slopes. There were in UW1. Areas can't be stacked on top of one another in either game, they were both 2.5d. However, UW1 wins again by offering bridges which can both be gone over and under. UW1 the player can levitate and fly. There was real-time lighting with dynamic lightsources, though primitive by today's reckoning. There were also basic polygonal objects in the maps in addition to the sprite based characters and objects. That's to say nothing of the much deeper gamepaly experience, even though they're both wildly different games.

And while I was listing ways in which I felt UW1 beats Doom in terms of technical achievements, what makes this more insane is the fact that UW1 was released 2-3 months before Wolfenstein came out!

Looking glass were pretty fucking phenomenal.

Not only that, but most importantly it managed to blend in other RPG elements as well, while Doom was just about running around and shooting at everything that moves.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Doom was just about running around and shooting at everything that moves.

Nah, not really. It's a bit more than that. Doom is a game in which your environment is a puzzle. You often see places through windows that you can't reach and it leaves you wondering how you can reach them. It often happened that a place would open up briefly if you stood at a particular point and you had to rush right then and there to get in, and you would find a secret area. These areas contained powerful items, and even had optional exits to OTHER levels.

If you travelled through the sea of toxic chemicals, you often found some more useful places, under the consideration that you risk alot of damage to yourself. If there ever was a hazmat suit somewhere, it was best to grab it and go into those areas.

That was the appeal of the game: the hunt for resources to survive, and the exploration of those levels. The shooting was incidental to it.