Ultima Collecting -- I am in big trouble!

[Arkhan]

I have been eying that Ultima Online guide.

 

Does anyone here still play UO?

 

Im playing it right now. Waiting to revive my pet dragon because some idiots don't know what they're doing and got me killed by pulling half a dungeon to a cave I was in, followed by dying.

 

So, everything attacked me.

 

-_-;

[Arkhan]

I have been eying that Ultima Online guide.

 

Does anyone here still play UO?

 

Im playing it right now. Waiting to revive my pet dragon because some idiots don't know what they're doing and got me killed by pulling half a dungeon to a cave I was in, followed by dying.

 

So, everything attacked me.

 

-_-;

 

Most of the free shards suck. Low player base, dodgy stability. People in charge of them sometimes are... not too bright?

 

There are a few good ones though.

[+Sauron]

I never really got into UO. I started playing back when it first came out, and the game was unplayable. The servers were down more often than not, and when they were up, the lag was unbearable. Tried again a number of years later, and by that time the servers always seemed like a wasteland. Very few people running around in the game, and the few that were, weren't actually people, but bots running their characters through repetitive tasks. I'd check out one of those private shards, but I'm so sick to death of MMOs I don't think I'd make it very far.

[Goochman]

This is going to stay out of reach from my collection for a while:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230908736394

 

..Al

 

Its that last $0.13 that put it over the top for me...............

[Asaki]

Does anyone here still play UO?

I just played it for the first time the other day.

 

But I just said that already.

[Arkhan]

I never really got into UO. I started playing back when it first came out, and the game was unplayable. The servers were down more often than not, and when they were up, the lag was unbearable. Tried again a number of years later, and by that time the servers always seemed like a wasteland. Very few people running around in the game, and the few that were, weren't actually people, but bots running their characters through repetitive tasks. I'd check out one of those private shards, but I'm so sick to death of MMOs I don't think I'd make it very far.

 

It was unplayable on AOL if you went to crowded areas. I remember basically living in Moonglow because Britain and Trinsic were so crowded that AOL would just stroke out and boot me from the game.

 

I've play UO off and on for years. Sometimes they release patches/publishes that make the game completely retarded and boring. They've since fixed alot of that (by passing the creative wheel on to a new driver, Mythic).

 

There are a few free servers that try to mimic how UO used to be (UO: T2A, UOGamers Hybrid) and some that try to stay currentish with a ton of goony customs (Excelsior, Pandora)...

 

they're all OK, but I honestly prefer playing the real deal. Going back to the glory days is fun for roughly 2 hours before you go "Man, I used to have all this crap maxed out. I really don't feel like doing it again". This sucks further when the free servers have to limit you somewhat to prevent macroing / cheating. Some have it where you can't sell arrows, or you can't sell in large stacks, or you can't go in X dungeon because you can do X things there that aren't right.

 

... or they disable treasure boxes. I mean why even play if there is no treasure box hunting!

 

Some servers turn on accelerated gains. That's neat for a few hours too before you realize everyone on the game is maxed out almost immediately, and the game quickly devolves into PVP.

 

 

What cracks me up the most is the custom things people put into shards. It's often unbalanced. It almost always has hilarious color usage (neon orange+pink+blue in various combinations), and it basically always kills the game completely and makes it un fun.

 

Sometimes they have teleports that take you ANYWHERE YOU WANT. Why even play!? "Oh I'll just click this and warp to the boss and kill him!"

 

It's a circle jerk.

 

I've often thought about reinstalling and resetting up MY free UO server I used to have. A friend and I ran it during highschool for fun. I had set it to Pre-AOS (the glory days), and ran around goofing off. It was mostly IRL friends playing with us, and it was alot of fun.

 

That's the best way to do the free server thing if you really don't feel like socializing with people. Set it up yourself and rule the world!

 

 

 

One thing I've often noticed on free shards is the community is skewed in a strange way. You get alot of kids because it's free. That wasn't how UO worked because it cost money.

 

So, you get immature PVP brats that run around and type like they're on AOL and act like they're on meth.

[Albert]

Just bumped into this auction:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 150995720589

 

..Al

[cimerians]

Just bumped into this auction:

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 150995720589

 

..Al

 

A joke right?

 

I get a kick out of some of these user reviews:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ultima-The-Black-Gate-Super-Nintendo/product-reviews/B000035Y5J/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[slab0meat]

How's Ultima IV coming along? Deal with that swamp-shrine much yet?

[Albert]

How's Ultima IV coming along? Deal with that swamp-shrine much yet?

 

I still haven't had a chance to continue playing Ultima IV. Maybe this weekend!

 

..Al

[cimerians]

Maybe Albert or anyone with an IPAD can let us know how Ultima Forever is coming along. Doesnt really look like Ultima to me.....

 

http://ultimaforever.com/

[Albert]

Maybe Albert or anyone with an IPAD can let us know how Ultima Forever is coming along. Doesnt really look like Ultima to me.....

 

http://ultimaforever.com/

 

Oh no, it's coming out on iOS first! Well, that's disappointing.

 

Trailer released today:

 

 

Edit: I own an iPad and iPhone, but I'd much rather play on a PC!

 

..Al

[cimerians]

Oops I thought you had an iOS device...or maybe it was a MAC....

[Arkhan]

What kind of crap is that!?

[+Sauron]

I'm surprised it's not going to be a concurrent release, and even more that it'll primarily be for iOS. As much as I've enjoyed gaming on my iPad, I'm not sure that bodes well for the game.

[Goochman]

I like how they have "Lady British" - Im sure that is to replace "Lord British"

[Arkhan]

I like how they have "Lady British" - Im sure that is to replace "Lord British"

 

Im pretty sure thats because Richard Garriott still owns the rights to the name, as evidenced by him being removed from Ultima Online also.

 

Lord Blackthorn is the new king!

[Albert]

Lord Blackthorn is the new king!

 

Isn't Blackthorn the bad guy?

 

..Al

[Arkhan]

Well, you could argue it both ways. UO takes place sometime after Ultima 3 but before Ultima 4, as far as I can tell.

 

 

But then, they bring the abyss all up in. so its like wait maybe its after 6.

 

and then the fellowship music plays sometimes from 7, so I have no clue.

 

AND ITS GOT MUSIC FROM ULTIMA 9 OH GOD IM CONFUSED.

 

 

 

anyway, you should play Ultima V. It's awesome.

[Albert]

anyway, you should play Ultima V. It's awesome.

 

Oh, I will.

 

..Al

[Tempest]

Oh, I will.

 

..Al

Ultima V will explain the whole Blackthorn thing.

 

I should play through V again, it really is a great game and one of the best on the Apple II as it pushed the system to its limit.

[Arkhan]

The real-time light houses in Ultima V still make me happy in the pants-region.

[Tempest]

The real-time light houses in Ultima V still make me happy in the pants-region.

Ultima V was my first experience with a real-time game world (as primitive as it was). People would go about their daily lives and there was an actual day/night experience. This was some seriously amazing stuff back in 1988 and I don't think anything like that had been tried on a platform as 'primitive' as the Apple II. I can't believe they were able to do it.

 

My only complaint is that the world isn't truly persistent. You could still steal stuff and have the whole town mad at you, but come back a moment later and all was forgiven. I don't think something like that happened until Wasteland was released.

[cimerians]

I had a frustrating time with Ultima V because I immediately bought it when it was released on the C64 back in the late 80's and by that time the game had gotten a little too big for the C64. Disk swaps, food running out and the Shadowlords appearing in every damn town pissed me off. When I played it later on other systems it was much much better and I missed the music!

 

I finally finished that game on the PC and I agree one of the best Ultima's. For me 3-7 are the best.

 

Can anyone vouch for Ultima VI? It also made the list of top games of all time.....on those internet lists.......

[Arkhan]

I had a frustrating time with Ultima V because I immediately bought it when it was released on the C64 back in the late 80's and by that time the game had gotten a little too big for the C64. Disk swaps, food running out and the Shadowlords appearing in every damn town pissed me off. When I played it later on other systems it was much much better and I missed the music!

 

I finally finished that game on the PC and I agree one of the best Ultima's. For me 3-7 are the best.

 

Can anyone vouch for Ultima VI? It also made the list of top games of all time.....on those internet lists.......

 

Ultima VI is great. It's really an amazing feat, the whole smooth, seamless world and all.

 

There are a few quirks. The music is great, but the cues are ABRUPT. I mean, damn. You'll be walking around and all the sudden that loud MIDI brass stuff just pounds your ear drums.

 

I really liked the art in the game. It's very vibrant. The whole gargoyle story arc was excellent as well, and the combat still remains fairly tactical.

 

If you play it with a Roland MT-32, your eardrums will love you forever.

 

 

It also still has the investigation/exploration of the old games that sort of changed with Ultima VII. The clicky-word choice stuff kinda bummed me out in 7.