Hey, Richard. Hey, Starr.

I've been on a crazy, CRAZY nostalgia trip and I've been replaying.. Ultima 1 - 8 and the Underworld series. I even made a few characters on UO's The Second Age shard.

I'm sure you guys here this a lot, but as a matter of course, I feel the need to relay this again-


Thank you both so much for making my childhood as special as it was. Ultima will always, always, always hold one of the most special places in my cold, lifeless, soot-beating black heart.

Thank you both for everything you've done for nerds of all ilk and nerd culture. I'll never be able to express quite how strong of an emotional connection I have with your games, how omnipresent your games were since I became conscious & self aware, or how warm and fuzzy I feel every time I hear the MIDI version of stones.

Now that we have that out of the way, Richard.. it's 2015. Do you really need to be wearing doublets and leather trousers? Come on, man. Humility is a virtue. (<3.)

 

What a great message, and I agree so much! I don't even want to think about how many days and weeks and months I spent with Ultima-games and UO ever since the late 80s.
I especially remember U6, playing that on a C64, and the reading head of my 1541 II disk drive was broken... I had to keep the top of the drive open, and physically hold that reading head (keep it pushed to one side) for it to properly read off the disk. And U6 loaded a LOT, so I spent weeks (especially spring break) with one hand on the keyboard and the other buried in the guts of my 1541, all because I loved playing the game so much!
So from me... a huge thanks to Richard and Starr as well!

 

Agreed. My first introduction to a living, breathing virtual world was U5...and I was hooked. Not only into the Ultima games, but that other amazing series Origin kept pumping out: Wing Commander.

Hundreds of hours of fun and enjoyment during an era where a whole new hobby (computer games) was created.

I remember wanting to learn even more about the whole series and bought a book authored by Shay Adams ( of the quest busters magazine, remember that?) back then that went into the Ultima series, it's history, and RG.

Good times

 

I have that same book, and a few years ago, I scanned it and converted it into mobi-format so I could read it on my Kindle. I actually re-read it 2 or 3 weeks ago, after buying and installing SotA, as I felt a lot of Ultima-nostalgia, and figured it'd be a nice way to get back into the "Ultima/Garriott"-spirit. Fun read for sure! Friend of mine tried to buy one a while ago, but they were insanely expensive at his country's Amazon.

 

I´ve been ... 14? ... playing U4 on an original 1982´s IBM XT. My first immersive game ever. I had the monitor behind my bed, the keyboard beneath my blanket and was sooo tired the next mornings, going to school. For months
Always having had the dictionary at hand, some of my first english words were like... humility, compassion, honor, sacrifice...

Thanks for the english lessons, Lord British. You made me learn english, something school didn´t - I owe a very big thank you.

 

This is an interesting thread, how many of us had our lives shaped by ultima at an early age. I certainly was started with ultima 3 and ultima 4.... Funny thing is I remember sticking another floppy in when it went to load a scene and it allowed me to get a hot air balloon....anyone else try this?

The first one I beat was ultima 5.... To date one of my favorites.

Ahh the memories.

 

"Thank you both for everything you've done for nerds of all ilk and nerd culture."

Pfff nerds don't call nerds themselves.

I hate you Big Bang Theory : you made nerdiness so cool i even almost had success with a couple of girls in the last few years. Then i spoke my way out of it...

To stay on the topic, yeah my brain was manipulated too by ultimas and then UO, who know what i might be if all the time and dedication i put into games all those years i'd put into something else.

Maybe a supervillain.

 

Thanks, Lord British.
My goal is to meet you in the game sometime, just to say hi and get a screenshot with you. I already got one of Darkstarr.