Ultima VII, a good place to start?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Bohica, Apr 19, 2014.

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  1. Bohica

    Bohica Avatar

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    I started with Ultima Online and have never heard of the previous Ultimas until lately. I am considering playing 1 or 2 of the older games and looking for a bit of advice. I downloaded the free Ultima 4 but the game play and con trolls are a little too confusing for my taste. Would anyone recommend I start at Ultima 7? It seems a tad bit more modern then 4 so that is why i ask.
     
  2. Belrindor

    Belrindor Avatar

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    7, and Serpent Isle are a great place to start if you've not played any of them. You can always go back and play earlier ones if you like them.

    My favorite is Ultima 6. It has turn based combat and such. But if you've only ever played 'modern' games, then perhaps Ultima 9 might be more your flavor. It's 3-D and quite a fun game.
     
  3. enderandrew

    enderandrew Legend of the Hearth

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    The first 3 are exceedingly dated, and not necessarily great fun unless you're really nostalgic for old games.

    Ultima VII is probably the best in the series, and can be played on a modern computer with Exult.

    Ultima IV, V, and VI all had semi-modern fan-made remakes you can try.
     
  4. Margard

    Margard Avatar

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    Yeah U7 is a good start - inventory is a bit tedious but its a great game ... this game leads you in a general direction which overall helps you navigate the world ... get it from GOG

    Surprisingly - the Underworld games are also fairly accessible by today standards but takes a little more time getting used to ... its a survival dungeon crawler (first person view)

    - Ultima 6 interface is also very playable as well - its also uses a similar "conversation system" that they will use here in SoTA
     
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  5. Holt

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    I grew up on u5 and can't recommend it highly enough. It is a big step, just as u4 was, in gaming history, and I found that it still has exceeding subtlety and charm. There are helpful walk through guides and the Lazarus remake was superb!!
     
  6. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    Honestly, U5 -- the original DOS version -- is just as playable as U6 and U7, if you don't really need fancy graphics and don't mind using your keyboard instead of a mouse. U4, too, although, even though its what really changed the direction of the series, I find a much less interesting game to play.
     
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  7. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Lazarus is awesome! All I can say about that remake. I was really surprised at how well done it is. It really has that Ultima feel.

    UVII is pure classic. Will always be my personal favorite. Exult rocks.. but if you're going to play VII you have to follow that up with VII Part II (Serpent Isle). When I first got VII I was so wrapped up in it I played for 36 hours straight.. minus 1 hour break for ST:TNG plus food and shower. :)

    Not everyone has a taste for that really old school I-V. VI has a rather unique interface out of the lot. Thinking about it I'm suddenly tempted to go back and play a bit of Savage Empire.
     
  8. Margard

    Margard Avatar

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    Savage Empire :) I think its free on GOG
     
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  9. OrionSnake

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    Yes, U7 is a great place to start. The game manual summarize what has taken place in the previous Ultimas so you may want to give it a quick read to get yourself familiarize with the history. It's a big game because it consisted of 2 games: Blackgate and its expansion Forge of Virture, Serpent Isle and its expansion Silver Seed.

    Hope you enjoy it. As enderandrew mentioned, use Exult to play it.
     
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  10. OrionSnake

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    Jus to clarify, Lazarus is remake of Ultima 5 and Ultima 6 project is remake of Ultima 6. Both games needs the most recent Dungeon Siege to play.
     
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  11. redfish

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    Forge of Virtue was good, but it kind of ruins the rest of the game if you play through that plot first, imo. Gives your character a lot of power.
     
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  12. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Lazarus needs Dungeon Siege I.
     
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  13. OrionSnake

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    Martian Dream is free on GOG as well :)
     
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  14. rune_74

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    Yes, go with ultima 7 you can get it for cheap on GOG.com.

    Exult you can get by doing a google search...simply excellant.
     
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  15. Numa

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    I just bought the Ultima I-VII series from GOG for $7+ total - not a bad deal. Should keep me busy for the rest of the year :)
     
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  16. rune_74

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    Yes, go with ultima 7 you can get it for cheap on GOG.com.

    Exult you can get by doing a google search...simply excellant.
     
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  17. UnseenDragon

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    V is probably my favorite story and structure-wise, but if you found IV to be dated and difficult to control, V follows many of the same commands (though it does have some improvements). 6 is the first to use VGA (256-color) but the interface is a love/hate thing. VII certainly controls more like a modern game (since many took their inspiration from UVII) but you of course lose out on a ton of lore/backstory w/o IV-VI. However, since VII was the start of a new trilogy, you'd probably be okay starting on it with just some backstory reading.
     
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  18. redfish

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    If you're really willing to play them all, and aren't just sticking your toe in, I wouldn't necessarily advise against starting at the beginning. Then you get to see how the series progressed from one game to another. No reason to start at U7.

    If, beyond that, you're trying to decide which are worth playing, you can dip your toe in to each and decide for yourself which is worth playing through. U1 is a pretty simple game with almost no dialogue. U4 is the first game that feels like Ultima. U5 is the first modern Ultima game with an organic world, NPC schedules, a complex plot, etc. U6 is the first single-scale Ultima, the first you can use with a mouse, and the first where you can pick up common objects. U7 is the first which has a lot of object interactivity (you can actually use the common objects) and the first that happens in real-time (U6 is turn-based). But you can start with U1 and then just spend a little bit around in it before you decide to move on, if you don't want to complete it, then progress to the next, etc.
     
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  19. Razimus

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    I'd recommend playing with DosBox it's a Dos emulator, but I guess it's on gog & steam, well there's always the exult way but it's too easy to cheat w/exult and if you put yourself on godmode and hack mode moving doors instead of finding the keys you'll seriously ruin the enjoyment of the entire game, so I really just recommend not cheating at all, if you don't have time for it use a text based walk-through. The funnest experiences I had in U7 involved having zero booklets except the thin ones that came with the games and having no internet and figuring the game out, it took weeks, months to be honest, I didn't play too many hours a day but w/ a walkthrough and playing many hours you can beat it fairly quick, I enjoyed taking my time though.

    The difference between UO and Ultima VII is immense, UO is walk around build stuff, sell stuff, kill stuff, Ultima VII you talk to NPCs go on amazingly rich quests, quest after quest after quest, the storyline to me is so good it could be adapted into an amazing movie, that's the main difference between UO and U7 for me, one lacks any story and is a 'do what you want' type of game (sandbox), U7 is a story driven game but it has sandbox elements because you can do the quests in the order you want, you can refuse to do quests if you want but if you want to get into certain areas you figure out pretty quick which quests you need to figure out, the quests are amazing, many involve using your brain a style of quest lacking in most games today.

    Good luck! I heard in an interview RG said SOTA will be inspired by his favorite Ultimas including Ultima IV and Ultima VII so it does always help to have knowledge of the kingdoms of old.
     
  20. rune_74

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    I use exult....and don't cheat. It's your option to cheat. It however controls much better on newer systems with exult.
     
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