Ultima Which ultima to play?

[Infinitron]

Thanks for the input bros,
I have already started u7 and I think I will complete it and then move onto u4-6 and uu1-2

WTF is with the shit in u9... I refuse to believe the asshole Richard G is responsible for u7. The old fart must be a greedy credit stealing whore like Peter Molyneux

? You do know EA bought Richard out after U7 right?

It's not really EA's fault that U8 and U9 were shit. Just like many other RPG developers, such as SSI, Sir-Tech and even Interplay to an extent (before the formation of Black Isle), Origin lost its way in the mid-90s. It was an industry wide failure.

 

[Burning Bridges]

EA bought Origin in 1992, and they made some good titles afterwards (for example Ultima Underworld 1+2).

What happened with Lord British, who knows, I used to think he was very creative until he became too rich.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I am aware of EA and Origin history.
And I still think LordBritish was shit to begin with and stealing other's credit in the earlier ultimas.

Also, LOL SHIT OF THE RETARD...wtf is that supposed to be? MMO/SP? True EA raped a lot of IPs, but cant blame the latest shit from Garrot on EA

Another possibility is that after he became rich, he had too much drugs and went batshit crazy

 

[St. Toxic]

LB ain't all bad. He got all the old and sick people carted off to Paws.

 

[Infinitron]

I am aware of EA and Origin history.
And I still think LordBritish was shit to begin with and stealing other's credit in the earlier ultimas.

Also, LOL SHIT OF THE RETARD...wtf is that supposed to be? MMO/SP? True EA raped a lot of IPs, but cant blame the latest shit from Garrot on EA

Another possibility is that after he became rich, he had too much drugs and went batshit crazy

Well, he can't really be stealing credit for games that he did most of the work on (probably everything up to Ultima V).

It's true that starting from U6 he had more of a producer role.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I am aware of EA and Origin history.
And I still think LordBritish was shit to begin with and stealing other's credit in the earlier ultimas.

Also, LOL SHIT OF THE RETARD...wtf is that supposed to be? MMO/SP? True EA raped a lot of IPs, but cant blame the latest shit from Garrot on EA

Another possibility is that after he became rich, he had too much drugs and went batshit crazy

Well, he can't really be stealing credit for games that he did most of the work on (probably everything up to Ultima V).

It's true that starting from U6 he had more of a producer role.

Hmm then i guess he got rich took drugs went to space got a hot wife and lost his talent

 

[taxalot]

Short story is : Ultima IX was a game that lacked direction and focus. They tried a lot of different things until EA stopped the party and said it was finally time to come out with a game. Garriott got back into the designer role just in time to try to salvage it and get a finished product out of the door.

Nowadays, I do not have that much of a harsh judgement in that game. When it came out, it was a major disappointment in all things Ultima : Storywise and gameplaywise. But taken for its own value ? You possibly have the best clone of Zelda Ocarina of Time that ever came out on the PC. The world is actually fun to explore even though irrealistic. If you ignore the lame writing, and consistency, the virtues story is actually quite decent and pretty much original if you consider the games that came out after this one. It is a very long game, and while I facepalmed quite often, I remember completing it and having a lot of fun with it. Still, it made the Ultima fan inside of me cry a lot.

All things considered, it is hard to judge Garriot's responsability considering we do not know in which state the game was when he got it back, and how much time he had to get a result.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

You have some fair points and maybe I am just about Shit of the Retard.

Having massive fun with U7 now though.

 

[Revenant]

Question: which Ultima to play?

Answer:

I, if you're an atarifag;
II, if you're a grindfag;
III, if you're a D&Dfag;
IV, if you're a lorefag;
V, if you're a combatfag;
VI, if you're a storyfag;
VII, if you're an explorationfag;
VIII, if you're an atmospherefag;
IX, if you're a shitfag.

 

[Melan]

Savage Empire is pretty enjoyable as an U6 branch. It had some of the best puzzles in the series - challenging but intuitive stuff, which also expanded the reagent mixing system into jury-rigging your own equipment from basic items, like mixing up gunpowder and loading it into clay pots to make grenades, that sort of stuff. It also rates very high on exploration.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Question: which Ultima to play?

Answer:

I, if you're an atarifag;
II, if you're a grindfag;
III, if you're a D&Dfag;
IV, if you're a lorefag;
V, if you're a combatfag;
VI, if you're a storyfag;
VII, if you're an explorationfag;
VIII, if you're an atmospherefag;
IX, if you're a shitfag.

5 to 7 it is then.

Savage Empire is pretty enjoyable as an U6 branch. It had some of the best puzzles in the series - challenging but intuitive stuff, which also expanded the reagent mixing system into jury-rigging your own equipment from basic items, like mixing up gunpowder and loading it into clay pots to make grenades, that sort of stuff. It also rates very high on exploration.

Hmm, it sounds good enough for a playthru.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Ultima 5 references a lot from Ultima 4... well they all reference from previous games, but the use of virtues from Ultima 4 becomes the centerpiece of the plot in Ultima 5. Just saying...

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

I am playing u7 first though. Primarily I am exploration, story and combat fag. Not into lore unless it is wierd alienish stuff like planescape, ravenloft, SMT and hopefully numenera

 

[Alchemist]

Revenant's post is reductionist to a ridiculous degree - not sound advice.

I disagree with the assessment of Ultima IV only being good for lore. If you skip it you are really missing out on the beginning of the avatar story, and some really innovative gameplay (some of it still unmatched even today).

 

[Cursed Platypus]

EA bought Origin in 1992, and they made some good titles afterwards (for example Ultima Underworld 1+2).

What happened with Lord British, who knows, I used to think he was very creative until he became too rich.

He wanted to go in space.

He would do anything to get the money.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

Hmm lemme finish ultima7 which by itself will take quite a bit of time with DC, KOTOR2 and gothic 2

It sounds like I should play u4 if only to enjoy 5 and 6 fully.

 

[flabbyjack]

Try Ultima Online. it's da best

 

[Aeschylus]

Hmm lemme finish ultima7 which by itself will take quite a bit of time with DC, KOTOR2 and gothic 2

It sounds like I should play u4 if only to enjoy 5 and 6 fully.

U4 was a good game, aside from a couple annoying design things (fucking poison). I'd say it still holds up well. And besides, it's free.

 

[octavius]

Hmm lemme finish ultima7 which by itself will take quite a bit of time with DC, KOTOR2 and gothic 2

It sounds like I should play u4 if only to enjoy 5 and 6 fully.

U4 was a good game, aside from a couple annoying design things (fucking poison). I'd say it still holds up well. And besides, it's free.

The boring combat, combined with lots of random encounters gets old, though. Ultima 5 fixed that and is like a refined version of U4, IMO.