mrle01 on 6/7/2006 at 21:37
I've never played any of the Ultima games, so I was hoping you could help me.
Which games are good, but are also new, played from 1st or 3rd person perspective and can run in WinXP?
I enjoyed Arx Fatalis and Gothic series, so are any of the games like that?
I tried playing Ultima Underworld, but it didn't run good and although I did like the story and the setting, I didn't like the way it played.
And are there some remakes made in a more modern engines?
A friend of mine has Ultima 9, but has never played it. Is it any good?
Vigil on 6/7/2006 at 22:24
Underworld 1 and 2 are very good games, and really you owe it to yourself to try and get them to run smoothly - it is possible. If you have a decent PC then your best bet is to use <a href="http://dosbox.sourceforge.net">Dosbox</a> to run them.
Apart from those, Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Ultima VII part II: The Serpent Isle are generally regarded as the best of the Ultimas. They're rich, big, charming, beautiful games, and Black Gate in particular has in many ways never been matched for immersiveness.
Happily there is <a href="http://exult.sourceforge.net">a Windows-compatible port for them called Exult</a>. Well, actually it's a game engine to run the original files, so you will need to find copies of the games in order to play them.
As for the rest... while I've been an Ultima fan since I was 8 years old and love them dearly, in all honesty anything earlier than VII is now too old to get into these days. Ultima VIII is quite decent and very dark; but often also difficult, boring and very obtuse, and it's quite a departure from the style of the earlier games. Ultima IX by all accounts is utter rubbish and should be avoided like venereal disease.
As far as remakes go, I know there are quite a few in progress but the only one I know of that has been released is a <a href="http://www.u5lazarus.com/">remake of Ultima V for Dungeon Siege</a>. I haven't tried it, and have heard mixed reports; most of the complaints are basically down to Dungeon Siege's combat system.
Shadowcat on 7/7/2006 at 01:58
Quote Posted by mrle01
Which [Ultima] games are ... new
None of them. Ultima Online aside, there hasn't been a new Ultima game in many years (and you'd struggle to refer to UO any differently, really).
Quote:
played from 1st or 3rd person perspective
Yep, that trend a while back for making 2nd-person perspective games sure did suck :)
Quote:
I enjoyed Arx Fatalis ... are any of the games like that?
Arx was directly inspired by Ultima Underworld.
Quote:
... I didn't like the way it played
A shame. Not quite sure what you mean by that, incidentally. What was it about the gameplay that you disliked?
Chuck on 8/7/2006 at 23:00
Ultima IV and Ultima V are my favorites. Though they are way old and sometimes obtuse, they offer the best combat system. Everytime I try to tackle the much beloved Ultima VII, the damned mostly uncontrollable combat just turns me off. Ultima VI is cool, but the view window is too small. I actually enjoy the SNES version better.
Do a quick check at any sight (Amazon) that has user reviews to learn of the horrors of VIII and IX.
The Underworld games are cool, but unmapable control keys make it a pain for us lefties. (WASD only)
Chuck
Vigil on 8/7/2006 at 23:03
Aye, #5 had the best combat of any of them in my opinion (though 4 still has a special place in my heart for being my first ever Ultima). VII's combat was very much a matter of pressing the C key and then cleaning up the mess afterwards.
The Underworlds are pretty controllable with just the mouse actually - I played through them originally that way, and only learnt the keyboard mappings with System Shock.
Chuck on 8/7/2006 at 23:14
Yes Ultima IV is very dear to me too. It was the first computer game I ever purchased! I bought because I was into D&D, and it was the heaviest box in the store. I played it on an Atari 400. I'll always remember finishing the game and being told to call Lord British and tell him of my accomplishment. I called the number and a woman congratulated me, then asked the answer to the final Abyss question. A couple of weeks later I got a signed deed of accomplishment signed by the man himself.
And yes, Ultima V improved upon the formula quite a bit. Being able to angle your shots in combat; Mixing spells in large batches; taking control of an individual character, to name a few. I'm replaying V right now, as a matter of fact. It recently went back up at Abandonia and it works just fine with DBox.
Chuck
mrle01 on 9/7/2006 at 20:18
Thanks for your replays. Guess I'll start with Ultima VII (if I can find it) and work towards older ones. And I'll give Underworld another chance.
twisty on 10/7/2006 at 00:02
Make sure that you install (
http://exult.sourceforge.net/) Exult for U7 as it has a lot of enhancements and makes it easy to play this game on a modern system.
Matthew on 10/7/2006 at 11:14
Also, Lazarus has an associated project bringing Ultima VI to the same engine.
