Ultima

[+Sauron]

I've played through most (but not all) of the Ultimas, and still find that Ultima VII is my far and away favorite. It's one of the few games that have ever totally blown me away. Way back when it first came out, a friend of mine was the only person I knew with a computer fast enough to run it. He had a 386-SX 20 with 1 meg of RAM, and when he bought the game, found out he needed 4 megs of RAM and over 20 MB of HD space, both of which where ungodly amounts at that time. So what did he do? He went out and plunked down over $300 for RAM and a bigger HD. The game was unlike anything we had ever played before, and sadly unlike anything we've seen since. This, I believe, was the first game since Alternate Reality to create a "living" world, but on a much larger scale.

 

I have played most of the other Ultimas, and have enjoyed almost all of them, with the two glaring exceptions being XIII and IX. I even enjoyed the Worlds of Ultima games, which surprisingly to me a lot of people can't stand. Yes, I'm another person who pines for the old days of Origin. It's a shame that EA destroyed what they once were.

[cimerians]

This is the best page that I like to visit for Ultima. Check out the second link and download updates (mainly graphical updates) for all the Ultima games.

 

Website:

http://reconstruction.voyd.net/

 

 

Ultima better graphics etc:

http://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?p...t&type=upgrades

 

 

Ultima III and IV are really good enhancements but I've had trouble with the music since I'm running Windows XP.

[dougy76]

I just finished Ultima Exodus (III) on the NES this weekend. It was an OK game. How does this version compare to the versions on the computers in the 80's? I never played any of the Ultimas on the computer.

 

I was able to figure out the entire game except for the gold pick. I could never figure out where to find it and had to cheat and look on the Internet.

 

This game had probably one of the worst endings for any NES game I ever played. I thought that I would at least get to go head-to-head against Exodus, but all you do is lay a bunch of cards on an altar, run out of the castle, and then watch the credits go on the screen.

 

Finding the Marks in the dungeons and the Shrines in Ambrosia is pretty cool and also going in and out of the moon gates was cool.

[Ze_ro]

Oh yeah!  I forgot about the wonderful jumping puzzles!  At least they fixed that in the patch.  At least from what I heard

 

Yeah, they did. They changed it so that you could target your jumps with the mouse. That pretty much made all the jumping puzzles a piece of cake. Even with that though, the game still pretty much blew in comparison to Ultima VII.

 

Now that I think about it, there were a few things about VII that really annoyed me... the scrolling was nasty and choppy, which made things a little hard to follow... and inventory management was really annoying. I didn't like the whole container system, where things would hide underneath other things. The Black Gate also lacked a key ring, so you'd have to sift through your keys over and over again... snooze...

 

Ultima IX is Ascension.  

 

Whoops! I meant Ultima IX and Ultima Online. I have a general dislike of online games, and MMORPGS sound lame and unexciting to me anyways, so it's unlikely that I'll ever try UO. It's a neat idea though, and extends the series somewhat.

 

I wonder if there are any MP3s of this music on the net somewhere?

 

I don't know if MP3's of the music exist... but I know that my brother used to have sid files of them (.sid files are straight from the C64), which is how we stumbled upon the C128 music in the first place, since they were quite different from the Amiga music, and we couldn't figure out what version they were from.

 

Oh, and I almost completely forgot about the Ultima Underworld games! I played Underworld 1 quite a bit, and had a lot of fun with it (although I never got terribly far in it). Underworld 2 was kind of boring, and running through a castle was much less interesting somehow.

 

By the way, I don't know if anyone has mentioned these already, but if you're a fan of Ultima VII, then you really should check out Exult. It's a re-write of the Ultima VII engine so that you don't need that nasty memory manager that it used to require. It also runs within Windows, as well as Linux and other OS's (You still need the data files from the original though). There is also The System Shock Hack Project, which attempts to re-write the engine for the Ultima Underworld games (Which was also used for System Shock, hence the name). Unfortunately, TSSHP is fairly unfinished... so you might have more luck with Underworld Adventures, although it's targetting more towards Linux, so you Windows people might have some trouble getting it to work. I haven't tried any of these programs myself, although I've heard very good things about Exult...

 

--Zero

[AtariDude]

I don't know if there are MP3s of the commodore 64 version but there are sites on the internet that have Ultima music files. I know that I had some listed on the Ultima section of my web page that had music but since I have not checked the links in ages, some of them might not be operational anymore.

[Gabriel]

I just finished Ultima Exodus (III) on the NES this weekend. It was an OK game. How does this version compare to the versions on the computers in the 80's?

 

It compares fairly well. It's a bit easier than the computer version because of the way it balances out enemies in the earlier portion of the game.

 

The ending of the computer version is just as sucktacular.

[Gabriel]

Does anyone know how hideously rare the Ultima IV cart is for the Sega Master System?

 

I've often thought about securing a SMS for myself, but the only games I'm really interested in are Ultima IV and Phantasy Star.

[Ze_ro]

Does anyone know how hideously rare the Ultima IV cart is for the Sega Master System?

 

> Command-Search

Nothing Here!

> Command-Search

Slow Progress!

> Command-Search

You find...

The Rune of Rarity!

 

--Zero

[MegaManFan]

Does anyone know how hideously rare the Ultima IV cart is for the Sega Master System?

 

It's not on my list of 114 US released SMS games, if that tells you anything. You may find one cheap from an Australian or UK seller if you're lucky and don't mind paying shipping charges.

[cimerians]

although I've heard very good things about Exult...

 

Exult ran perfect on Windows 98.

 

I had a blast playing Ultima VII in Windows using Exult. (Although I did not enjoy VII as much as the first five Ultima's)

 

On XP it still works but on my system the sound is a bit goofy, perhaps because I have an older SB awe64.

 

I haven't found MP3's of the music. I do have the sid files for the older games. and for the record, I have finished every Ultima except 6 and 8.

 

Yes I struggled through the buggy Ultima 9 all the way to the end.

[Albert]

Now that I think about it, there were a few things about VII that really annoyed me... the scrolling was nasty and choppy, which made things a little hard to follow... and inventory management was really annoying. I didn't like the whole container system, where things would hide underneath other things. The Black Gate also lacked a key ring, so you'd have to sift through your keys over and over again... snooze...

 

Yeah, the keys were a pain in the neck. They finally fixed this with the "Silver Seed" add-on for Serpent Isle. I played Ultima VII on a 386-33DX and while it was pretty slow sometimes, it was bearable. I actually liked the container system, but I didn't like having to move inventory around to find hidden items. For the time the overall interface was pretty revolutionary--I don't know of any other games at the time that used the entire screen for the *game*, only popping up user-interface elements when needed. Certainly there are others, but it was a big deal when Ultima VII came out, and a large departure from earlier games in the series.

 

Whoops! I meant Ultima IX and Ultima Online. I have a general dislike of online games, and MMORPGS sound lame and unexciting to me anyways, so it's unlikely that I'll ever try UO. It's a neat idea though, and extends the series somewhat.

 

I played with UO a bit early on, but I really don't have (or want to spend) the time to sink into an MMORPG, whether it be UO, Evercrack, or something else. Not to mention the monthly fees. I already have enough monthly fees and plenty of ways to keep myself entertained without the huge sink something like Ultima Online would be.

 

Now, if Freelancer would ever come out, I may reconsider my position. Star Wars Galaxies is another danger..

 

I don't know if MP3's of the music exist... but I know that my brother used to have sid files of them (.sid files are straight from the C64), which is how we stumbled upon the C128 music in the first place, since they were quite different from the Amiga music, and we couldn't figure out what version they were from.

 

Even SID files would be fine, since they can be played easily enough on PCs these days. I'd also love to hear some of the old Apple Mockingboard tunes from the early Ultimas. I remember being floored when a friend of mine demonstrated the music in either Ultima III or IV on his Apple IIe. I doubt it was as good as the C64, but it was pretty impressive at the time.

 

Oh, and I almost completely forgot about the Ultima Underworld games! I played Underworld 1 quite a bit, and had a lot of fun with it (although I never got terribly far in it). Underworld 2 was kind of boring, and running through a castle was much less interesting somehow.

 

Yes, the Underworld games are among my favorite PC games ever, still to this day. That and System Shock. I eventually would go to work for Looking Glass myself, and would have been a member of the Dark Project (which turned into Thief), but that didn't happen due to Voyager getting canceled (long story!) so I moved to Austin to work on Junction Point, which, ironically, was to be an MMORPG (using the Dark engine), and a month after I moved Looking Glass nuked the Austin office.

 

By the way, I don't know if anyone has mentioned these already, but if you're a fan of Ultima VII, then you really should check out Exult. It's a re-write of the Ultima VII engine so that you don't need that nasty memory manager that it used to require.

 

Yes, Ive seen Exult and I'm grateful that someone has gone through the effort to get Ultima VII to run under Windows and OS X. The Voodoo memory manager was an interesting experiment, but not engineered to be compatible with ANYTHING but DOS. I also seem to remember that Ultima VII wasn't speed limited, which causes big problems if you actually did succeed in getting it to run on modern hardware.

 

There is also The System Shock Hack Project, which attempts to re-write the engine for the Ultima Underworld games (Which was also used for System Shock, hence the name). Unfortunately, TSSHP is fairly unfinished... so you might have more luck with Underworld Adventures, although it's targetting more towards Linux, so you Windows people might have some trouble getting it to work. I haven't tried any of these programs myself, although I've heard very good things about Exult...

 

Yes, this is also quite interesting. I've had good luck running System Shock in recent times, and maybe someday I'll actually go through and play the high-resolution version with speech. The only time I've played through System Shck (which probably holds the top place for my all-time favorite PC game) was at 320x200 resolution, from the floppy-based version. I also rather enjoyed System Shock II, but that's a relatively modern title.

 

I actually do have MP3s of all the System Shock music.. Let me drag one out..

 

System Shock Title Music

 

Enjoy!

 

..Al

[dougy76]

I've often thought about securing a SMS for myself, but the only games I'm really interested in are Ultima IV and Phantasy Star.

 

I'd pick up an SMS just so you can play Phantasy Star. It's an amazing RPG, one of my all-time favorites.

[Ze_ro]

I played Ultima VII on a 386-33DX and while it was pretty slow sometimes, it was bearable.

 

I almost forgot about this, but the first time I played Ultima VII was on my dad's old 386 SX25... man that was tough to get working! We could just barely get The Black Gate to run (It was slow, but yes, bearable). Serpent Isle was so tight that we had to sacrifice a mouse driver to get it to run. For anyone who was wondering, playing Ultima VII without a mouse is NOT fun! In fact, I think we got only a little way through the game and pretty much found out that some things were actually impossible without a mouse...

 

I actually liked the container system, but I didn't like having to move inventory around to find hidden items.

 

You people are going to hate me for this... but I actually quite liked the inventory system for Ultima 6. It worked great, and I never had any problems finding things. The only suggestion I have to make it better would be to allow you to "name" bags, so that you would know which held keys, which held reagents, etc...

 

In fact, I quite liked Ultima 6... aside from a somewhat lame storyline, I thought the game was really quite fun.

 

 

I don't know of any other games at the time that used the entire screen for the *game*, only popping up user-interface elements when needed.

 

Yes, that was quite nice... Almost every other game had statistics or inventory windows blocking half the screen. In Exult, I believe you can even increase the resolution so that you can see farther! Although that's kind of cheating I guess.

 

Even SID files would be fine, since they can be played easily enough on PCs these days.

 

Actually, I managed to find all the C128 U5 tunes over here in MIDI format. Strangely, I don't have a working MIDI player on my computer at the moment (I was surprised to say the least...), so I can't verify anything about these files... hope someone likes them.

 

Yes, the Underworld games are among my favorite PC games ever, still to this day.

 

If I recally correctly, these games even pre-dated Doom, and had a surprisingly advanced 3D engine that allowed stuff like looking up and down (which didn't come into FPS games until Duke Nukem 3D). However, the 3D window was fairly small, and there were LOTS of weird artifacts where walls would bend if you looked at them the wrong way... still pretty damn impressive for it's time though.

 

I also seem to remember that Ultima VII wasn't speed limited, which causes big problems if you actually did succeed in getting it to run on modern hardware.

 

Yes, that was a big problem with a lot of the early Ultima's actually... I used to have to use a program called Moslo just to keep my computer from crashing when I ran Ultima 2 (And that was back with a 100 MHz machine... the game would just dump me back to Dos with some fatal exception unless I slowed things down).

 

By the way, I happen to have a CD with Ultima's 1-6 as well as Akalabeth (Something Lord British did before Ultima 1). It's a great CD, and I was quite glad to find it. Anyone else got this one? (To round out the collection, I also have a "complete" Ultima 7 CD as well as a "complete" Underworld CD... all legal too!)

 

--Zero

[cimerians]

By the way, I happen to have a CD with Ultima's 1-6 as well as Akalabeth (Something Lord British did before Ultima 1). It's a great CD, and I was quite glad to find it. Anyone else got this one? (To round out the collection, I also have a "complete" Ultima 7 CD as well as a "complete" Underworld CD... all legal too!)

 

 

I have those as well.

 

The Ultima collection CD is really good since all the hintbooks, manuals, box art and reference cards are scanned and included on the CD.

[moycon]

I have the Ultima collection as well.

I can never seem to get into the games tho.

I played an NES version years ago and got board with it.

The PC ones seemed very boring as well...(The early ones)

I eventually found one that looked OK ...I think Ultima VI. It seems to me it didn't hold my interest very long though.

Maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance????

[Elektro]

I had a special connection to Ultima when I was a kid, cause my dad worked for Origin Systems for at least a couple years. He used to bring home alot of games for me to play when he worked there, around the time Ultima VI came out to after Ultima VII, if I remember correctly. I especially loved one of the Ultima VI offshoots, Martian Dreams. I loved the concept, and I played it for a long time, until a bug in the game kept crashing the computer, and I gave up after that. It had to be one of the cooler places one's dad could work. Richard Garriot (aka Lord Britannia) had the coolest mansion any kid could ever imagine, filled with secret passages, and indoor pool, an observatory on top..... and man, his 4th of July birthday parties were the best. I have alot of great memories, actually....those were good days.

[Elektro]

Oh, I forgot why I was gonna post here. When I had a gameboy, my dad used to check out games for it from Origin's testing library, and I got to borrow a lab loaner of one of the origin games that they developed for it. It was huge, so it could support the game ROM and the batteries...it came out from the top of the gameboy at least three inches, and had to be two inches wide both ways. Fun game. Wonder if it's somebody's pride and joy in their collection now.....

[Nukey Shay]

Richard is known as Lord British...as well as Shamino. The other recurring characters are based on some of his friends and associates. While working on Ultima VI, he was smacked on the crown by his building's address plate that fell from the doorway. This was also the time that the old keyboard interface was abandoned. Coincidence?

[AtariDude]

The Ultima series were one of a kind and sadly, no developer today would go through the trouble of making a game as good as the original Ultima series were. The cloth maps, the little stone in the Ultima VI package were a few niceties that made the game that much more special.

 

I understand that there are people making Ultima like games of which Exult is just one of them. I hope that they do justice to the series.

[Ze_ro]

he was smacked on the crown by his building's address plate that fell from the doorway.

 

Hmm... anyone else remember that one of the ways to kill Lord British in (I think) Ultima VII was to drop a stuffed head onto him while he stood under it?

 

there are people making Ultima like games of which Exult is just one of them. I hope that they do justice to the series.

 

Exult isn't a new game... it's a re-write of the Ultima VII engine. I suppose it could be used to write new games in the same style, but Exult on it's own is definitely NOT a new game...

 

--Zero

[Nukey Shay]

Dunno about VII...I thought that Origin went to great lengths to insure that Lord British cannot be killed (ever since being blasted by a ship's cannon in Ultima III). Of course, in Ultima IV you could just use the skull of Mondain. By maxing all the characters out in the Nes version, you can carefully attack and kill him normally (though he reappears once you leave the battle screen). He's only worth 3hp.

[Ze_ro]

They try to make it impossible, but everyone makes mistakes, and programmers often have a sense of humour. There are a few ways to kill Lord British in some of the Ultima games. However, it's worth pointing out that if you kill him, you often ruin your chances of winning the game.

 

Here's how to kill LB in Ultima IX, although that's obviously something the programmers intentionally left in...

 

In Ultima VI, you can kill him with a glass sword while he sleeps (this one is definitely a bug)

 

Apparently, in Ultima VII, you can kill him by using the Blackrock Sword's "death" power, dropping a plaque on him in the garden (I thought it was an animal head, but I guess I was wrong), or by cannonfire.

 

In Ultima II and Serpent Isle, he can be killed by normal means supposedly (although LB doesn't "really" appear in SI...)

 

(Shamelessly stolen from the Lord British FAQ...)

 

--Zero

 

Edit - If I remember correctly (And I might not), Mondain's Skull didn't kill LB in Ultima IV... in fact, everyone ELSE died, and LB came after you and attacked.

[MegaManFan]

Here's how to kill LB in Ultima IX, although that's obviously something the programmers intentionally left in...

 

That, is just, DEMENTED. I know I have a warped sense of humor at times, but quite honestly reading that made me wish I had a copy of Ultima IX just so I could try it! I'd be that OMG I just killed Lord British! In real life though, I hope the man never has anything more than penicillin in his loaf.

[tyranthraxus]

Yeah the Ultimas were a classy series. True they weren't always great

but a lot of heart went into them. The cloth maps and the little metal

tokens of various sorts and the nice manuals really helped enchance

the product.

 

I have played about half of the series but have finished none. Part of that

is do to the fact all the later games were such hardware hogs that my

computer always was too slow.

 

So considering how difficult it is to get most of these running on a modern

computer. How do the console ports stack up? So far it sounds like

the NES UIII is faithful how about the classic IV or the SNES versions?

Do the games run well on the various Apple, C64 and Atari 800 emulators?

[cimerians]

Maybe someone else can talk a little more about the Nintendo versions. Here are the ones I played for the consoles:

 

NES

U3 - Did not like it as much as the computer version but pretty faithful

U4 - I enjoyed this one a bit but I never finished it so I don't know how accurate it is to the computer version

 

SNES

U7 - This was utter garbage but pretty faithful to the PC version beleive it or not. Still it was missing a lot of stuff and the controls were just plain bad.