Wrapping up U7, about U8 & U9

What more can I say about Ultima 7? It really was so good. After playing it I can really understand why so many hardcore Ultima fans hated Ultima 8 and 9 for ruining the franchise.

I can understand them, but I still have to disagree.

The fact is that U7 released at the last possible moment a game like that could come out and still be considered a good game. Just try putting out an RPG these days where the combat is completely hands off (and you are, to an extent, forced to partake in it to boost your stats before the final encounter), and full of abstract puzzles and gameplay. Lets look at each of these charges one by one.

First you have the hands off combat. What more is there to say about it? The extent of the depth of the combat gameplay is deciding to take Jaana off of the Firedoom Staff because she keeps killing you on accident. You can't get away with that now, and you couldn't get away with it for much longer after U7.

Another problem is that the game is chalk full of abstract puzzles. Honestly, how the heck would I know to use Rudyum's Wand on the Black Gate without a walkthrough? Because of the open nature of the game you might have bumped into Rudyum and nicked his wand 10 minutes into the game. Now you find yourself, 20 hours later, looking at the Black Gate and saying "I do what now?" Aside from that, trial and error teleportation puzzles are rarely fun.

When playing U8 and U9 you can almost literally feel the developers trying to address these issues. The combat of U8 might be a bit clumsy, but at least you can actually swing my sword! And you can kick and parry, to boot! Sadly, they never bother to actually give you a reason to do so, but you can still tell that they were really trying to add on to this end of the gameplay department to bring the Ultima series into the world of modern game design. The much maligned jumping and climbing as well is, in my opinion, in the game to add a needed dosage of interaction.

I guess what I mean to say about this whole topic is that while I agree that Ultimas 8 and 9 aren't the classic games that U4-7 are, they are still fairly decent. More importantly, if a lot of the die hards had their way and U9 was just Ultima 7 in 3D it wouldn't have helped. That game would have been slaughtered in reviews, perhaps even more so than U9 did as it was.

Ultima 7 Day 4-5

Well, I beat it. Yeah, I really started to just plow through it near the end. I didn't do it so much because I was getting bored, I really wasn't, but just because I don't have the time to give the playing my usual going-over. Still, the game was super fun.

One thing that struck me in my playing was that the back half of the game was a lot more puzzle heavy. Real puzzles, tough puzzles. In the first part of the game the NPCs all but tell you exactly what to do, but in the back half you have these obtuse invisible wall/appearing/disappearing bridge puzzles that are fun but tough.

The Isle of the Avatar part of the game was a little frustrating at times, though. They continually threw these liches at me that could kill my Avatar in one hit, so I had to know when they were coming and slip on a ring of invisibility for safety. My guess is that I was supposed to be of a higher level at this point in the game, but the ring trick worked and I was inclined to just say screw it and abuse the magical jewelry.

I have one more Ultima 7 (PC) blog left, where I will put some closing thoughts on the overall game design. Stay tuned.

Ultima 7 Day 3

I just finished Skara Brae, a piece of gameplay that many hold to be the best part of Ultima 7. I haven't beaten the game so I can't yet say if I agree or not, but I will say that Skara Brae definitely typifies the gameplay of Ultima 7. Skara Brae shows all of the negatives of Ultima 7 by forcing you into a lot of boring combat, having really easy quests that involve no more than following exactly what the NPCs tell you to do, and being incredibly buggy (I had to revert back to an earlier save no less than THREE times before I finished because certain scripts weren't firing). Yet at once Skara Brae also shows the positives of Ultima 7 by having such an intriguing story that you don't end up caring about all of the negatives.

Anywho, I've gone through some more gameplay without anything worth noting. The Storeroom was a kind of neat puzzle, although the crate stacking was ugly and a pain. At this moment the Guardian's plans are becoming a bit more clear thanks to some friendly Wisps and the Time Lord. Now I have to go somewhere and do more random stuff for random people before said random people will aid me in saving their own stupid world. Go figure.

Ultima 7 Day 2

Okay, so my party is complete. I have Spark, Shamino, Dupre, Sentri ('cuz he can train us for free), and Jaana (heals for free). I bumped into Tseramid by chance at the Bee Cave but turned him down because I don't feel like rounding up another set of armor.

I have to say, this game is a lot better than I expected or remember it being. Sure, the combat is pretty boring, but the rest of the RPG elements of the game more than make up for it. This is stunning for me. Normally I am a "gameplay is king" kind of guy, and if you show me a game where something other than pure gameplay is the centerpiece I probably won't be able to get into it. This is my problem with MMORPGs, as they tend to focus on the social aspect while the rest of the game is uninspired. But Ultima 7 rises above. I think it is because unlike MMORPGs, the lousy combat in Ultima 7 is not a center point. It is like the developers acknowledge the lack of depth to the combat, so they don't throw it at the player needlessly and they fill the majority of your game time up with what the game does best: crafting a great story and creating a living fantasy world. In MMORPGs, however, they shove the boring combat in your face every step of the way.

Regarding where I am in the game now: I am off to meet some wisps so they can clue me in onto the whereabouts of the Time Lord. Inventory space and management is the biggest problem I am up against in the game so far. I have TWO characters who carry nothing (aside from their equipment) but gold and Iolo carries nothing but food, yet I STILL am having space issues. Quite annoying. I can't imagine playing this with any smaller a party.

Do you get anything for solving the side quests in the game? I generally help the townsfolk solve any quests/mysteries in every town I stop off at, yet I don't think they have ever given me anything for it. The stories are fun enough that I will continue helping the folks out anyway.

Ultima 7 Day 1

Ah, Ultima 7. You will never find such a deep and alive game world. In my short time in game I've managed to both change diapers and wake up a sleeping thief of a child by throwing a bucket of blood on him. If that kid had issues enough to make him a thief before this incident, he is likely to become a serial killer now.

My party consists of Iolo, Spark, and I just netted Shamino. Lord British just brought me up to speed on the recent goings on in Britania. Nearly every NPC in the game so far goes on and on about The Fellowship. It all sounds like Scientology to me. I'm going to talk to Batlin in a bit and see just what this cult is up to. Then probably steal from him, or at least order Iolo to. Then on to Cove. Woot.

On a side note: I'm playing using Exult, mainly because I want the graphical and gui enhancements (k for key!). However, the game has already crashed on me once. Hopefully that was just an anomaly.