Captain Jack Prefers U9 to UO _ with poll

In going backwards in time, Captain Jack is now ready to disclose his findings in playing through the older Ultima games!

Here in the Shroud of the Avatar forum where Ultima Online is revered, Ultima 9 is hated, and the rest of the Ultima series games get little mention, Captain Jack firstly discloses that his fav Single Player Ultima is Ultima 8.

In starting new, Captain Jack must not have experienced the hatred of the later Ultima series game that everyone else does seem to suffer from. Here are the games ranked as to Captain Jack's enjoyment of them. Best at the top. Thank you GOG.com

1. Ultima 8
2. Ultima 9
3. Ultima 6
4. Ultima 5
5. Ultima 7
6. Ultima 3
7. Ultima 4
8. Ultima Online
9. Ultima 2
10. Ultima 1

This was a very large surprise to Captain Jack, because he is pretty much into PvP when it comes to games. All said and done though Ultima 8 was very cool, you are basically a Herculean demi-god taking down Titans. That was fun. So too the other Ultima games were interesting each in their own way.

Ultima Online, why didn't Captain Jack like it? Well, everybody here is PvP this, UO PvP that, UO best PvP ever, SotA should be UO2, you've seen all the chit chat about PvP. You know what Captain Jack is talking about. The simple fact was that PvP in Ultima Online was not fun. It was weird and the "classes" were a mess. Captain Jack tried both the official UO server game and tried hooking up to older versions of it through pirate servers as Captain Jack has heard a lot of people say that UO currently is not what it was either. It is hard at times to determine exactly which UO you all are talking about since it has gone though so much.

In both cases, Captain Jack didn't enjoy UO's PvP one bit. There was totally no skill involved, very reliant on macroing which Captain Jack has yet to produce any decent Win macros in UO PvP, and just pretty boring in general. Maybe it was over-hyped?

Without PvP, what is Ultima Online other than a host for shell NPCs and poor AI environment mobs? PvP wasn't fun or good, and that is why Captain Jack has had to rank Ultima Online so lowly on his scale of Ultima Games.

Captain Jack has found out the long way around what is going to happen to a game based around PvP in which the PvP system isn't fun or turns out not to be fun after a while... Long story short and a conclusion in which Captain Jack didn't expect to cometo, if SotA doesn't become something more than bad PvP soon, we're in trouble.

 

I voted UO, but only if you mean after the Trammel - Felucca split. In light of this I think your poll is a bit flawed. Pre- and post-Trammel UO are 2 different games.
Second would be U7.

 

If its any consolation I tried UO and had no interest in it either.

I love U4, U5, U6, U7 BG, U7 SI, U8.

Storywise my favorites are:
1. U8
2. U5
3. U7 SI
3. U6
4. U4
5. U7 BG

I absolutely loved the combat in U4, U5 and U6.

U4 I first played on Sega Master system. What a summer day it turned out to be.

U5 taught me how to touch type. This game was really a gift of the gods. It really came through and gave me so much to discover and imagine. I had written notes out, plans, etc. Loved that!

U6. RG mentions U7's interactive world a lot, but U6's was just as interactive, just as vibrant and brilliant. Its sad this Ultima is so often overlooked. It is astonishing. I miss those days.

U7, I completed very easily but didn't really have much interest in until Serpent Isle. I hated Serpent Isle at first, but soon became enamored with it.

U8's concepts were phenomenal yet sadly underutilized. Definitely a favorite.

U9 was very, very ambitious. It was the best looking game in 1999. It had huge floors that moved and twisted about when you triggered a switch, lava beds that could be drained, a ship you could sail the ocean in and dock, a fully interactive, fully explorable 3D world, you could drop anything, anywhere etc. Sadly, it was too buggy and the dialogue and Lore was... deficient. U9 should have started with the Avatar being the Titan of Ether etc. It is such a shame the dev's ditched the original top-down view as they thought it was dated. Bad decision.

UW1 & 2. Enjoyed every moment of scouring the Abyss for scraps.

As you can tell I could talk about these games all night...

And Jack, very glad you enjoyed U8.

 

My personal list:

Ultima 7 - The Black Gate
Ultima 7 - Serpent Isle
Ultima Underworld 2
Ultima 6
Ultima 5
Ultima Underworld
Ultima 4
Ultima 8
Ultima 9
Ultima 1-3
Ultima Online

I agree the turn base combat in the older Ultimas was great! I'm enjoying the turn based combat of Divinity Original Sin and Wasteland 2 right now.

I was so disappointed by Ultima 9... I wish they would have stayed with the original (isometric) concept and a party of companions...

 

Captain Jack was sure to include the fact that he didn't enjoy UO combat from any of the various UO time periods. Captain Jack was able to experience both by using official EA servers and also illegal pirate, arrrrrrr, servers.

 

Early UO PvP combat had a lot of choices and tactics.

You didn't need x10 GM skills to be competitive.

You needed a combination of up-close and ranged combat skills.
Do you like slash, poke, or bash weapon? How bout a shield? Want a 1h or 2h weapon?
Like magic? Want to heal yourself? Do you fancy potions?
Do you need a bandage?

Mixing all of the above made for fun combat. No need of combat combos, special attacks, or wack-a-mole skill bar with cool down timers.

You used the environment, hiding under a tree, using a house or wall to block someone's line of sight, ran through a group of aggressive monsters to help you evade or attack your opponent.

It was more like rock, paper, scissors. Or bow vs magic, sword/shield vs polearm, magic vs plate, etc. (granted the penalties of wearing plate and casting spells came later)

But what I loved most about Ultima Online over Ultima series, was getting to adventure with my friends, write our own stories and build our own kingdoms within the land.

 

I voted Ultima series. For me, my favorites would be in the following order ( I will include the underworld games here ).

U7 serpent Isle
Ultima Underworld 1
U5
U7 Black Gate
U4
Ultima Underworld 2
U6
U8
U9
Ultima Online
U3
U1
U2

I still consider U7 Serpent Isle the best in the series because of the amount of work that went into the dialogue. I easily connected with the characters in the game
Underworld 1 also had a well written story to it, plus it was the first 3d game I played back in 1992. The entire mood of the game ( lighting and music ) always made
me feel like danger was lurking everywhere.

 

Ah I was wondering where you went Captain Jack, you would have been needed to arbitrate a few threads that got a little bit too heated

Funny you're back now doing something completely different, comparing apples and oranges, then asking us to forget we're asked to compare each individual parts of the orange (peel, flesh, enveloppe, seed) to each individual parts of what can be made from an apple (cupcake, pie, custard, jam, cider).

I have a smile stuck on my face now, sorry I can't vote Captain Jack

I'm also sorry you missed the best of UO, it sure was easy to miss, especially if you weren't lucky with the timing and evolution... theres a reason why people prefer old rules and environement setups...

 

I find particularly funny that you would use that as political leverage as to what some very few voices have asked about how SotA should have UO like pvp this and that, as you say...

Cause they're not getting it, it was always out of the question... its so highly entertaining that you would have remembered all those "chit chats" while they were actually the minority and never given any weight officially.

Ahh maybe I should stop before we tackle again the human condition, right.... we all have to keep our denial mechanism intact.

 

I really really loved U7 black gate. I never even played it properly to be honest...I just ran around and killed everyone like a criminal maniac. The freedom to do what you want in those games and to have your actions have REAL consequences (killing off plot lines) was impressive for the time.

I mean come on...you could kill CHILDREN! D:

In the night, I laid all the corpses on the street, amusing myself at everyone's horror.

Ultima Online was another great love, but I loved it in a wild west kind of way. It was a short period of time, but there was more then enough to enjoy for a lifetime. Once all the changes came, the west was settled and most of us moved on. A shame it had to change so much instead of just releasing a UO2 proper with fixes. Once all the changes came, the west was settled and most of us moved on.

 

I voted for UO, as the only Ultima single player game I ever tried was U9 and could never bring myself to get into the game even half way. My sense is that it was so pretentious I just couldn't tolerate it. When I've watched video clips of the other single player games in the series, I simply and utterly cringe. It's another age.

 

Captain,

Did you play,

Ultima Underworld
Ultima Underworld II
Martian Dreams
Savage Empire
Runes of Virtue
Runes of Virtue II
The Origin FX Screensaver
Hubert's Hair Raising Adventure
The Legend of Captain Jack

?

 

Ultima 7, Part 1 & 2 - Sigh, they were, and are still to this day, the best games I have ever played. I spent most of my teenage years playing that game that I know the layout of the U7 Britannia map like the back of my hand.
Ultima 8 - Again, many hours spent on this game (mainly jumping (and drowning) around on those ridiculous moving rocks))
Ultima 6 - Not so many hours spent on this one, as I didn't have a map and could never find my way out of the underworld. Replayed it recently, awesome game
Ultima Underworld 1 & 2 - Takes 4th spot for nostalgic reasons
Ultima 9 - Ugh!!! You've heard it before..........
Ultima Online - Started having fun building my character and gaining skills, but after that.... wondered around..... joined a guild.... few champ spawns..... attempt at PVP....... bored
Ultima 5 - Hard to get into after starting the series at U7
Ultima 4 - Even harder to get into after U7
Ultima 3,2,1 - A lot harder to get into after U7

 

Not a fair question if you've never played the Ultima Series.

 

Great poll!

 

Captain Jack has a preference. Sweet.

Given selective multiplayer, you can have the game experience in SotA that matches your preferences. People who have different preferences would like the same opportunity.

 

A hard list to make!

Ultima 7
Ultima 7.5
Ultima 6
Ultima Underworld
Ultima Underworld 2
Savage Empire
Martian Dreams
Ultima 8
Ultima 1-3
Ultima 5
Ultima 9
Ultima 4
Ultima Online

U6 and U7 are some the most solid and rewarding experiences I have had with RPGs; especially related to the stories. Although I did not mind the story and gameplay in U9, it was not complete and too buggy to be higher on the list. It was a chore and complete effort of dedication to play, and I had to play through most of it several times due to plot bugs and corrupted saves. My oldest son also struggled through it several times later on after the patches, but not sure he ever was able to complete it due to the same problems.

U4 is near the bottom because in U1-3 I was a bad egg and killed and stole everything I could. U4 killed what had become a tradition to me in Ultima. I played through it and came to enjoy the grand affect it had on the series, but it really jarred me and left a bad taste in my mouth at the time I never got over.

Ultima Online I only played through the Alpha and Beta. At the end of the beta, I did not like the environment if offered and without a good enough connection to play from home I never subscribed. As such, it would not be honest to put it before any other Ultima in my list since most of which I bought several times over.

The rest could probably be shuffled around based on my mood.

 

UO III light my fire and Ultima Online turned it into an inferno, the titles in between maintained the torch until it was time for an online bonfire!

 

In response to the thread title

 

Can't say that I have! Although I'm working on The Legend of Captain Jack as I type this!