Re: TIL: Ultima 6 NuVIe

On Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:10:14 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:

Zaghadka  <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote:

I never got more than halfway through Serpent Isle, though the system was
more polished. I simply got bored.

>
I finished Serpent Isle, but never finished Ultima VII despite two
attempts because of the same bug.  If you fly over the mountains where the
final battle happens you can trigger it early, causing you to be permantly
locked out of the room where it happens.  The second playthrough I knew
about the bug and tried to avoid it, but still managed to accidentally
trigger it

Heh. That one hit me too; I then proceeded to wander around Britannia
for weeks trying to figure out what I needed to do to get that damn
door open. I assumed I'd just missed some quest trigger; it never
occurred to me it was a bug.

Fortunately, I already had access to the Internet (and Usenet!) so
eventually a solution was found (in my case, I think I just hack-moved
the door ;-) and I was able to finish the game without restarting.

Equally annoying was the "key bug", where the game might occasionally
delete various keys from your inventory.




On the whole, I enjoyed "Ultima VII" more than any of the others (it
was a close race with "Ultima V" though). Visually, it was a treat
(wandering through the woods near Yew was just so gorgeous!). The
full-screen menu-less interface felt extremely modern. The world
simulation was extremely impressive; in an era when almost every CRPG
was a static backdrop, Ultima 7 presented a world where all the NPCs
had their own realistic schedules, animals roamed the wilderness, and
there was even rudimentary crafting.

   [I still maintain that the industry's fascination with
   crafting mechanics dates back to Ultima 7. For the longest
   time, a test of the strength of a CRPGs world-simulation
   was based on whether or not you could 'bake bread' -one of
   the more complicated forms of crafting in Ultima 7- and
   CRPG developers strove to add this added level of depth to
   their games. Ultima wasn't the first game to use crafting,
   but it was the high-water mark that set the standard, and
   if you wanted your game to be considered as good as that
   1992 classic, you had to have some degree of crafting.
   When RPG mechanics started migrating into other genres,
   crafting got ported over as well. But it all dates back
   to Ultima 7. IMHO.]
 
As important, the world felt vibrant and real, and the characters were
likable. They weren't just static quest-givers; they were /people/.
More so than any other game, playing "Ultima 7" felt like you were
entering a new world. It was, as far as I'm concerned, the high water
mark of the series in that regard. The earlier games were just to
primitive to match it, and Ultima 8 and 9 lacked that sense of
verisimilitude. (Serpent Isle had the same tech, but focused more on
creating a narrative rather than breathing life into its world; it's
linearity never allowed it the same breadth and freedom of its
forebear).

As a game, "Ultima 7" struggled. Its quest was the same fetch-quests
as you'd run multiple times in previous Ultimas (U6 was perhaps the
worst but U7 had the potential to be so much more), its combat was
pointless, and that inventory system; argh! Arguably, its story was
disappointing too, especially if you expected a stand-alone adventure

   [Personally, I liked U7s story, because it pre-release hype
   had made it clear that it was the start of a new trilogy. Thus,
   I didn't really expect to face off with the big-bad in the
   first game. But I can imagine a lot of people feeling disappointed
   that the end-battle was against his goons instead. It didn't
   help  that the sequels didn't live up to the promise of U7
   either. But I loved how U7 was setting the stage for what
   promised -in 1992- to be a truly epic adventure spanning
   three games.]


In fairness, very little of what U7 did was /new/; it was the
culmination and evolution of all the earlier Ultima games. But to me,
it took all the lessons of the earlier titles, improved on them, and
then shoved them together into a very pretty package. Was it perfect?
No; but -for me at least- it was the best of the series.

YMMV.