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[Jotaro]

To those who played this game, how did you liked it?

I remember, I would play it for days (I had nothing else), and I really liked the game at it's core, but there were some really nagging issues. Do you remember how the weapon system worked? I think I remember buying equipment for my Paladin (I think) but it would be actually worse. Was it just random, or was it just too hard to understand the weapons system?

I really liked how the Ultima series was put as a console RPG, but it was too random at times. I remember enemies all of a sudden getting super-powerful for all future fights(I don't remember what triggered that). The classes were cool, but the game was really confusing. Was the translation bad? I really do not remember this. I remember wandering aimlessly around the world map, trying to get to those virtues, and no matter how hard I tried I never could achieve anything and I did not have a clue about what to do to win over the game.

I trekked in the dungeons searching for artifacts (one for each virtue if I recall correctly), but I never quite found anything. Other than that, it was a good game, wasn't it? I had only this to play for literally months, and it was long and kept me occupied. I saw the ending, I remember I think it was pretty much nothing or sucked really bad. But I played it for hours and hours on end.

 

[Unison]

I remember, I would play it for days (I had nothing else), and I really liked the game at it's core, but there were some really nagging issues. Do you remember how the weapon system worked? I think I remember buying equipment for my Paladin (I think) but it would be actually worse. Was it just random, or was it just too hard to understand the weapons system?

I haven't played in years, but I think each class has an innate weapon that it excels with (e.g. the priest likes the flail; the shepherd likes the sling).

I really liked how the Ultima series was put as a console RPG, but it was too random at times. I remember enemies all of a sudden getting super-powerful for all future fights(I don't remember what triggered that).

I don't remember this happening, but maybe something w/ the shrines or your virtues caused this?

The classes were cool, but the game was really confusing. Was the translation bad? I really do not remember this. I remember wandering aimlessly around the world map, trying to get to those virtues, and no matter how hard I tried I never could achieve anything and I did not have a clue about what to do to win over the game.

I had a Nintendo Power issue that laid out a lot of it & the game came w/ a map & manual that described stuff, I think. It was kinda hard by NES standards, but par for the course for the PC RPGs of the era.

I trekked in the dungeons searching for artifacts (one for each virtue if I recall correctly), but I never quite found anything.

You have to do something in the shrines after you achieve a certain amount of that shrine's virtue, I think. I forget the specifics really. The shrines were quasi-3d if i remember correctly.

Other than that, it was a good game, wasn't it? I had only this to play for literally months, and it was long and kept me occupied. I saw the ending, I remember I think it was pretty much nothing or sucked really bad. But I played it for hours and hours on end.

I remember liking it a lot. It seemed endlessly cool to me that you could engage any enemy, including the king, in battle. PC games had lots of this stuff, but it was rare on consoles at the time.

 

[Jotaro]

I remember liking it a lot. It seemed endlessly cool to me that you could engage any enemy, including the king, in battle. PC games had lots of this stuff, but it was rare on consoles at the time.

Aha, it was fun, I liked to get up and fight Lord British or any other king for just because I felt like it and to try it out. British was pretty tough for a king with a crown and a scepter, wasn't he? :lol

 

[explodet]

I believe Lord British is invincible in all the Ultima games - except that one time he got assassinated making a speech on Ultima Online during a beta test. :lol

 

[Unison]

I would sell my nonexistent first-born for a new Single-player Ultima game! :-/ God, I loved that series... Even Ultima VIII.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Lord British getting killed is awesome. lol


Anyways, I owned both a PC/C-64 and NES at the time. I thought that for a console game, it was OK. The graphics were pretty shabby, and the choices you had were pretty limited ... but for what was out there at the time (on NES), it gave you a pretty good experience. What I really enjoyed was the difficulty level of the game. NES was going through a period of really EASY games at that point (alot of the later NES games could be finished in one weekend of play) .. so I enjoyed that.

 

[Crazymoogle]

My favorite Ultima. Sure, it's probably quite a bit different from the PC ones, but it always struck me as this good hybrid of american and japanese RPG concepts for the time. I always loved the secret "notch" walls and how you could earn the Air Balloon so quickly if you had the key.

Generally I would play the game too much like FF1 and then decide to get "royally" schooled by fighting Lord British, but there always seemed to be some interesting part about the game just around the corner.

 

[Unison]

Anyone play any of those Ultima fan remakes? Are any finished? Any good?

 

[Jotaro]

Lord British getting killed is awesome. lol

When that happened in a more pragmatical way it wasn't funny anymore tough.

Crap I still have the PC Gamer issues with the article with this, it was not a beta test, the MMORPG was up and running if I recall correctly, and he was killed because they made some configuration error as for Garriot (who really played Lord British), that made him vulnerable to some specific attack, and voilà!, a nameless peon kills Lord British. :lol

 

[Razoric]

I believe Lord British is invincible in all the Ultima games - except that one time he got assassinated making a speech on Ultima Online during a beta test. :lol

Ahh yes I remember that... the good old MMORPG days. Before the EQ formula took over.

 

[AstroLad]

Ahh yes I remember that... the good old MMORPG days. Before the EQ formula took over.

:lol

 

[Unison]

"Do you think such a paltry spell can harm one such as Lord Blackthorn?" :lol

 

[Razoric]

:lol :lol :lol

Here's me back in Feb of '98 in a bit of a skirmish:

fun fun!

oh and another goodie:

:lol

 

[AstroLad]

"Do you think such a paltry spell can harm one such as Lord Blackthorn?" :lol

"Can we stop stealing folks, please?"

*dies*

 

[BobbyRobby]

Its been ages since I played U:QFTA. It was an awesome game, much better than Exodus. I bet I could actually navigate the 3D dungeons now.

Was the SNES Ultima any good?

 

[Jotaro]

Its been ages since I played U:QFTA. It was an awesome game, much better than Exodus. I bet I could actually navigate the 3D dungeons now.

Was the SNES Ultima any good?

I barely watched my brother play, from the glimpse I had seen I think it totally sucked.

 

[Father_Brain]

Speaking of Ultima on Nintendo systems, a port/remake of Ultima I for Game Boy Color was apparently in development at one point and appeared on release lists, but was cancelled before ever being officially announced.

 

[Red Scarlet]

I played the Amiga version first, so that's my favorite version of 4 still. IIRC someone managed to kill Lord British in some version (probably Apple) of Ultima 3.

4 will probably always be my favorite though, then 5, then 3.

 

[TheDuce22]

Someone needs to remake oldschool ultima online in 3d (keep the same perspective). It would be the best mmog on the market, even today.

 

[Razoric]

Someone needs to remake oldschool ultima online in 3d (keep the same perspective). It would be the best mmog on the market, even today.

no way in hell it would fly now... mmorpg kiddies are so used to getting their way they would bitch on their little forums until something changed. PKing is a thing of the past im afraid.

 

[Duck of Death]

Someone needs to remake oldschool ultima online in 3d (keep the same perspective). It would be the best mmog on the market, even today.

There was a free shard dedicated to old school Ultima Online. I made a thread about it once. It was great.

Too bad the creator took it down.

 

[Mejilan]

There were actually a couple of legitimate ways to kill Lord British in U7. The Ultima games on the NES were actually pretty nice for their day, though I've since come to appreciate the PC versions more. U7 on the SNES, however, was atrocious.

 

[FortNinety]

:lol

Dear God let there be video of this.

 

[AstroLad]

Dear God let there be video of this.

Sadly AFAIK there is not. If it happened today, you can rest assured we'd have a hundred on the web within seconds.

Since we're ranking Ultimas:

1.

(2nd Favorite Game of All Time)

2.

(3/4th Favorite Game of All Time)

 

[john tv]

I finished Ultima IV on the NES during a lull when I was waiting for the latest Dragon Warrior to come out. Enjoyed it quite a bit, actually, though I never played the PC version.

 

[neopokekun]

Speaking of Ultima on Nintendo systems, a port/remake of Ultima I for Game Boy Color was apparently in development at one point and appeared on release lists, but was cancelled before ever being officially announced.

If you want a portable Ultima, this guy ported Ultima III to the Gameboy Color and even added a second quest.

 

[Red Scarlet]

Whoa, that's cool..thanks.

 

[gblues]

I remember the combat system being ultra-tedious, and the reagent spell system to make magic completely useless.

Nathan

 

[doncale]

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar was made for the Sega Master System, too.

Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
for the Sega Master System

* Platform: Sega Master System.
* Publisher: Sega, © 1990.
* Characteristics: UPC 974365-635718. Cartridge.
* Included: Paper Ultima IV map/tables; History of Britannia booklet; Book of Mystic Wisdom booklet; Sega instruction manual (32pp.).


This item has quite a history behind it. As the story goes, Nintendo was very unhappy with Origin for developing this game, as at that time Origin had already signed an agreement with Nintendo. Finally, it came to the point that a CEO of an unnamed "large software company" had a round of golf with some of the management at Nintendo and told them, basically, to get over it. Nintendo relented, and Origin eventually released the Sega version of Ultima IV, but it was the only game they ever developed for Sega. This game was released in English, French, and German (the UPC above, the only one I have, is for the German version). Some English versions of the game came with two sets of manuals: a pink set, written in French, and a blue set written in English. The game seems to have been released in very small quantities in the US, because it took an exceedingly long time to find someone who had bought it here. Whether that was because of Origin's difficulties with Nintendo, who can say.

Year of Release: 1990
Publisher: Origin Systems Inc./SEGA
Contents: Sega Game Manual, The Book of Mystic Wisdom, The History of Britannia, Paper Map (42x30 cm / 16x12"), Cartridge
Availability:


Ultima IV for the Mastersystem is the first (and so far the only) Ultima that was ported to a Sega game console. It seems that most (if not all) of these cartridges were produced for the European market, they contain a multi-lingual (English, French and German) manual, both books from the original version as well as a folded paper map. The books were of different color for each of the 3 editions (blue for UK version), fully translated and did not fit inside the gamebox - thus most of them have been lost meanwhile.

http://www.surfing.net/ultima/ucg/u4_apple.html - this page has seemingly all the releases of every Ultima game. Ultima IV was released on at least 15 platforms:
Apple II, Commodore Amiga, Atari 800, Atari ST, Commodore C64, Fujitsu FM Towns, Fujitsu FM-7, IBM PC, MSX 2, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, NEC PC-8801, NEC PC-98, Sharp X68000, X1 Sharp

I was all SET for Ultima IV on SMS. I was so disappointed when it (apparently) never came out in the U.S. 1

 

[Red Scarlet]

I found the rom for the SMS version years ago..but I never really played it much.