Are the Ultima games still playable today?

The first one

>>3471797
yes, providing you have the games, appropriate hardware, and are a part of the power grid.

>>3471810
You know that's not what I meant you cheeky fuck.

i feel like the older ones, like ultima 4 and 5, are funner than ultima 6 and 7.

They're more playable than ever thanks to the fans' effort.

Most of them should be, but I feel something like Pagan can't really be played anymore without being a masochist or if there's some quick save and load feature built into it, or fan patches for the "platforming"

Goddamn, how many times did I click a book in a public area wanting to read it and it accidentally moved which made the game think I was trying to steal it which lead to EXECUTION

>>3471887
There was an official patch that added quick save/load and made the platforming easier.
Even with all the upgrades it's still very bad with little value other than seeing how EA meddling ruined its latent potential.

>>3471797
The Ultima games are all VERY playable, and incredible fun. Shockingly fun, imo. Best advice I can give is, if you decided to start playing them READ THE FUCKING MANUALS! Jesus christ, you'd be surprised at the amount of people who just hop into retro / old school PC games (especially in depth RPGs like Ultima) and expect modern tutorials. Remember the early games come from an era before they had even thought of stories presented through pararaphs of text in printed book.

Anyway, Ultima 1 - 3 are skippable, but worth booting up and spending at least a night playing each. They play more or less exactly like Legend of Zelda and they're actually a lot of fun.

Ultima 4 is the first of the more hardcore games. It's surprisingly in depth, and if you've never played any classic legit well made RPGs before, you're in for a hell of time.

Ultima 5 has a fantastic story, better than U4, imo. This is my favorite main line Ultima game.

I never played Ultima 6. I've heard it's good, but the user interface is fucking awful, and the music is garbage. I did, however, play the two spin off games made on the same engine, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams. Those games are a LOT of fun, and I highly suggest both even if you don't end up liking the Ultima series.

The rest are pretty simple and can be sumed up as such: U7 is excellent, often considered the high point of the series, U7:Serpent Isle was great fun, U8 is bad, nearly unplayable without the patch, and U9 is crap.. but has some redeeming values (mostly of historical significance being an early 3d RPG).

Then there's the Ultima Underworld games, which were fucking revolutionary back int he day, pretty much the precursor to the Elder Scrolls games (and waaay better than Arena, arguably better than Daggerfall). Those are very much worth your time. The playing order (if doing a series playthrough) should be Ultima Underworld, Ultima 7, Ultima Underworld 2, and then Ultima 7: Serpent Isle

>>3472002
It's not tutorials they expect, that's not it at all.

It's interfaces that actually fucking work.

>>3472013
Which interface doesn't work? Aside from Pagan obviously.
Sometimes it's a bit rough on the edges but generally it works.

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Ultima Underworld holds up very well. Character progression might seem a little obtuse at first if you're not familiar with the Ultima series, and combat can be pretty dull but the sense of discovery and exploration is incredibly fun and immersive.

>>3472048
>Character progression might seem a little obtuse at first if you're not familiar with the Ultima series
The rest of the series doesn't really have anything like the stat system in the Underworld. The base stats of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence are the same but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Ultima 7 also used learning points but they work quite differently.
It's probably best not to think too much about it and avoid to min-max since that just breaks the game. The game is beatable without a perfect build.

>>3471836
This.

The original versions of 4-6 are still plenty good, but the NES versions of 3, 4 and 5 are the best way to play in my opinion. Master System 4 is solid as well.

>>3472151
>NES versions of 3, 4 and 5
This seems like a typo. Do you mean IBM?

I recommend playing Ultima 4 through 8. There's tons of patches to improve the experience of the games like XU4, Nuvie and Exult which make massive improvements to the engine, graphics and quality of life stuff.
Even though people hate on 8 and it's utterly garbage gameplay it still has a pretty cool setting and music to explore.
The other games are imo pretty forgettable.

>>3472204
The setting is barely in the game.

>>3472160
https://youtu.be/PnfIB2C6ImI

>>3471901
What did EA do to it?

I remember playing the Crusader games which used the same engine, if I recall. Those were servicable.

>>3472312
Exodus isn't really the issue. Quest for the Avatar on the NES is extremely questionable due to all the simplifications and I can't see even the most hardcore Nintendo fans defend Warriors of Destiny.

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>>3472326
They pushed for a release when the game simply wasn't ready and the forced the addition of platforming and other stupid shit. The story is incomplete, the interface/controls poor and the platforming is the only notable gameplay.
In the original version the platforms even moved and you have a fixed jumping distance which required careful maneuvering on them. Falling into water mean instant death and saving/loading was a complicated matter.

Crusader or Diablo is what the game could have been with a few more months/years in development.
The game was designed to accommodate an addon which could at least have fixed some aspects such as the broken story. The addon was actually finished but EA decided to scrap it due to underwhelming sales of previous addons.

U7 is incredible and has a modern fan-made engine that makes it work great on modern computers (it originally used a bizarre proprietary software RAM component called Voodoo). Because of the way the game was programmed to eek out every bit of performance from period computers, the game without the fan engine runs hilariously fast - you actually starve to death in seconds.

Do these games have gameplay or it's usual westshit with saving anywhere you want and no boss fights?

>>3473594
>usual
Ultima is the mother of all computer and console RPGs. Half of what you see in other games is taken from there.
Gameplay turned more to adventures over the years with lessening emphasis on dungeons. Underworld 1 and 2 and Ultima 9 are 3D action RPGs.

Saving became more lenient. In the first three you could only save in the overworld, 4 and 5 allowed saving in 3D dungeons and towns and from 6 onward you could save everywhere (because they removed distinction between overworld, town or dungeons).
There are bosses or boss like encounters in some but not all.

What are the "definitive" versions of each of the Ultima games?

>>3474341
1 - FM Towns
2 - FM Towns
3 - debatable, possibly IBM with patches
4 - xu4 or SMS
5 - IBM with patches, character imported from 4
6 - nuvie with FM Towns audio, character imported from 5
Savage Empire, Martian Dreams - IBM until they're covered by nuvie
Underworld - IBM
7 exult with Keyring mod
Underworld 2 - IBM
Serpent Isle - exult with SI fixes mod
8 - Pentagram
9 - IBM with newest patch, currently 1.19h

>>3473594
>Bossfights
Ultima IVs whole thing is that there's no big bad.
What happens in a fantasy realm when all the baddies have been defeated. Saving wherever you want somehow means there's no gameplay?
Most JRPGs definitely have less gameplay than WRPGs.

>>3473594
Are these posts bait or are weebs actually this delusional? Try playing wizardry you fucking scrub.

No they shut off if you try to play them

>>3474604
>Are these posts bait or are weebs actually this delusional?
Both I would imagine

>>3472359
Ultima VIII by itself is not a bad game, just that it can't compare with the other Ultima games.

Ultima IX on the other hand is an awful half-finished mess, which doesn't even try to fit with the other games. The game engine is good, and exploring the world, in the limited fashion it allows, is fun. But I think I never found so painful playing a game, it goes against all the things the previous games offered.

>>3473647
>Ultima is the mother of all computer and console RPGs

Well, that some half truth. Ultima and Wizardry are the parents of all computer and console RPGs, including JRPGs, even things like the Shin Megami Tensei games take directly from them.

I would add the Dungeon Master games too, but the genre they created is nearly dead today.

>>3474717
I can't really see many parts of VIII that aren't bad. It has nice animation and the overall graphics are alright but otherwise it's horrible.
Even the basic premise was already cut down from visiting the Guardian's homeworld to another enslaved world. Something that UW2 had already done several times.

Half-finished doesn't properly describe IX. It got a rushed release but not in the likes of SI or VIII. It had years of development invested in it and they ended up taking various complete bits and shoestringed them together.
The game didn't need much more time, it better/more consistent producer and director. Someone who realized what the engine was truly capable of instead of castrating it.
>which doesn't even try to fit with the other games.
It tried harder to fit the predecessors in than most other games of the series. But that kind of causes things to stick out in a bad way when they aren't exactly as expected.

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>>3474598
>Ultima IVs whole thing is that there's no big bad.
So that means it's supposed to be unexciting to play?

>Saving wherever you want somehow means there's no gameplay?
Unless you count rinsing and repeating every single step until you 'win', yes.

>Most JRPGs definitely have less gameplay than WRPGs.
Absolutely hilarious. How video games can have less gameplay than some medieval dad jokes telling sims with game system so bad that they just let players to save anytime?

>>3474604
>weeb
Kill yourself nerd, I'm not an American.

>>3474792
>So that means it's supposed to be unexciting to play?

Because all you do in a game is only fun if there is a big bad guy to kill at the end?

Anyway, the Ultima games had their roots in the old pen and paper RPGs, meaning they tried to be sandbox simulationist games. They aren't your action-oriented kill-all-that-moves games.

Also, that means they had a lot of work behind, and you can easily notice it when playing. Something that you rarely see nowadays.

>kids today judge U8 on the patched version
>they didn't even play the original laughably broken Super Mario Ultima.
"I sacrificed everything to appease stockholders, which was a mistake. We probably shipped it three months unfinished." - Richard Garriott

9 was shit too, but don't think that 8 was anywhere near good.

>>3474792
Dungeon Master belongs to the first descendant generation of games from about 85-90 that diversified genre but adding certain elements of concentrating on others.

"Rogue-likes" would be the notable exception. They were the initial attempts to digitalize DnD and still survive as a niche. Ultima itself has its roots there with Akalabeth.

Why do so many literal children post on /vr/?
/v/ has better Ultima threads than this

>>3474839
>I refuse to apply patches to games, because that would make them actually playable
>Ultima 8 is shit
>Ultima 9 is shit
>Daikatana is the worst videogame ever

I played the gog release of Ultima 1 a while ago. I played around with it for a little while but I think it's a bit too rough around the edges for me to really enjoy.

I don't have the time to do a full series playthrough of Ultima. Which game is most commonly considered the best and can it be jumped into without playing the others? Reading this thread, seven seems pretty popular.

>>3474880
Underworld and the trilogy of 4-5-6
7 is really lacking a lot without the context.

>>3474880
I'd recommend starting with 4.

>>3474889
>>3474892
Alright, thanks.

Underworld before or after 7?

>>3475008
Before. The second one after.

>>3475031
Just to make it more clear
UU1>7>UU2>7 II
Play order not quality obviously

>ultima thread
>nobody posts that richard garriot was doing a AMA on reddit 7 hours ago

fucking fags

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/515nvs/im_richard_garriott_aka_lord_british_creator_of/

>>3475008
Underworld 1 is pretty independent. It only was turned into an Ultima title during development and doesn't have strong connections to the rest of the series.

>>3475713
>implying people on /vr/ visit that site

fucking fag

>>3475815
he only got 300 upvotes and shitty questions thanks to your faggots loyal to a hawaiin doodle posting website

>>3475902
Reddit is garbage, site layout and community, why the fuck would ANYONE WANT to use it in the first place? And then you get mad about people not following along with something they don't pay attention to in the first place, get real anon.

Why can't I play Ultima 7 on Windows? Why would they fuck over a great game like this?

>>3474792
>Kill yourself nerd, I'm not an American.
What you are however is a cheeky butthurt boy.
>game system so bad that they just let players to save anytime?
So you lack self control to play such games, gotcha.

>>3476504
>Why would they fuck over a great game like this?
EA is the publisher.

>>3474726
>I would add the Dungeon Master games too, but the genre they created is nearly dead today.
The Elder Scrolls.

>>3476504
look up exult you nerd

>>3471797
6 and 7 yes, very much. 4 and 5 to a degree. The fluff is quite corny and combat is not so good, but the games are still interesting and enjoyable.

And of course, there is the amazing Underworld series, which is not only playable, but a landmark in video game history.

>>3476504
Umm Dosbox? Exult?

>>3476532
Black Gate was the last Ultima game published independently by Origin. Underworld 2 was the first published by EA.

Not sure if he was complaining about Voodoo Memory or DOS software not running on newer Windows.

>>3471797
The originals? Not really. You'll be bored out of your mind.

>>3475902
If LB did a Q&A here people would just insult him for his treatment of Questron or Xanadu or how he dares to ask for millions to develop a game after flying into space.

>>3476535
>The Elder Scrolls.
Well, not. That takes nothing from Dungeon Master, actually it comes from a more simulationist approach to RPGs, and has its roots in the Ultima games.

>>3476676
>how he dares to ask for millions to develop a game after flying into space.

What does it have to do with anything? And didn't you think that maybe his father being an astronaut had something to do with the travel?

>>3476778
Somebody paying an estimated $30 million to spend two weeks on the ISS shouldn't have to beg for money to develop the game he always wanted to make.

>>3476812
agreed, but you must also consider that with kickstarter type programs, you usually just pay for the game. you're not giving him free money, your pre-ordering that shit because you want to someday play it.

So it's not really begging for money IMO.

>>3476812
Being as it was a publicity stunt, I suspect NCSoft paid at least part of it.

>>3476838
And nobody will expend his own personal fortune into a new project, unless they have some serious backing behind.

>>3476838
As a business that occasionally uses Kickstarter it's not about asking for money so I don't have to spend it, it's about testing the water for a future new product.

Like if I'm going to make a new product and I need to prove to an investor that there is interest, I'll run a Kickstarter to get preorders and advertise to investors.

>>3476868
>>3476874
Yeah.

>>3476769
It's a direct descendant of the Ultima Underworld games, which were in turn inspired by Dungeon Master. Also the "level skills by using them" is a DM original concept.

>>3477135
>Also the "level skills by using them" is a DM original concept.
I don't think so. It's a pretty obvious thing and easier to do on a computer than on pen and paper.

I started playing Underworld recently. I'm on the second level and killed the monster in the mines and got that crazy old fart his blueprints using the flying potion.

This is my first contact with the series I'm ashamed to admit. But I have to say this game is very fun still. And since I started using MT-32 emulation it sounds nice too. What a difference to the SoundBlaster Pro.

>>3476920
>>3476874
Another thing too is that, and don't quote me on this I'm in the candle making business and not video games, with Kickstarter even though it's more often than not an advertising platform for businesses it does actually allow us to make the product we want and not the one investors want.

The guys behind Toejam and Earl are a good example. They tried twice to make a sequel for TJ&E in the same style as the first one but Sega basically told them to make radical changes to the games and we were left with a pretty good platformer thankfully, but TJ&E:3 was bogus.

>>3471797
i've heard that intentionally breaking an unpatched ultima 9 is some of the most fun you can have with a videogame, but i haven't tried it myself. It could be interesting as a video game equivalent to plan 9 from outer space or something

Let's say i want U5 plot just to folow, but not gameplay. Can i play that fan remake for Dungeon siege (Lazarus, i believe) just for that?

>>3477818
They added a lot of their own plot and characters so it really won't be the same.

>>3472002
3 doesn't belong with 1 and 2. It's far more coherent.

>>3479032
Agreed. 3 is actually not bad.

>>3479032
1 does not belong with 2.

>>3477818
The Dungeon Seige remakes of Ultima 5&6 are worth playing for the music alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuwK6kT-AMM

>>3472151
>NES versions of 3, 4 and 5
What the fuck... This sounds like that shitty NES version of Maniac Mansion.

>>3471797
I can't talk about the main Ultima games, but I played Underworld 1/2 a few months ago for the first time and absolutely loved it. Good game design doesn't age.