Ultima VI - Video Retrospective

[skavenhorde]

The Spoonyone has posted his next retrospective in the Ultima series. This time he takes a look at Ultima 6. This one is a little more goofy than his previous Ultima retrospective. It probably has to do with how much he hated the inventory, the controls, the graphics and the racist Lord British. To say he is not of fan of Ultima 6 is putting it mildly. You can watch the video here.

Thanks to JemyM who pointed out that the video was up on the site.
More information.

 

[blatantninja]

How could you hate the graphics? They were pretty much cutting edge at the time!

What's the 'racist Lord British' thing about? (Can't watch video at work)

 

[skavenhorde]

He had a problem with Lord British not returning the Codex to the Gargoyles or compromise with the gargoyles. Seems like a petty complaint to me.

Also he had a problem with the interface especially the inventory. He couldn't figure out what some of the graphics were for the items until he clicked on them and for some reason had a problem with seeing rats (we're just sneaky like that)

Noah never figured out the trick to picking up the sack/container BEFORE you open the dang thing. Though it was a pain sometimes when you searched a dead body to have a ton of items pop up. IIRC the better items were always on top anyways so it didn't really matter. For example he shows in the video the avatar searching a troll and a ton of spears popped up and you had to move them to get to the good items. Still I could swear that Origins did make it logical and put the items that you would most likely want at the top of the pile so you wouldn't have to move a ton of spears to get to it.

I disagree with him with almost every complaint he had. I was just a kid when I played this game and didn't have a problem with the graphics, inventory or any of the other things he complains about.

Also he said the ending was too tidy. Whatever… the rest of the game was gold,imo.

Edit: I just bet he's going to lavish praises on U7. Everyone does. While it did feel like a living breathing world with a great storyline there was one main thing missing from it that I couldn't get over. The fact that my magic was useless. In U3-6 my mages could devastate the opponents or at the very least I could use them to some effect. In U7 the combat is too quick and the viewing area is too small for almost all of the better spells. That right there is what ruined that game for me and why I enjoyed U3 -U6 much much more.

 

[blatantninja]

Yeah, I hated that in U7 you couldn't have a mage join your party.

 

[JemyM]

Been F5'ing Spoony since the first one (which is the only Ultima I played), really interesting how the series turns rpg-fantasy clichées upside down.

 

[TheMadGamer]

I agree with his points about the game screen being hard to see (with the fog of war) and inventory management from today's perspective. U6 is one Ultima I don't revisit pretty much because of those two things.

However, failing to put some context to those game designs is disingenous.

HARD TO SEE
U6's graphics were cutting edge for an RPG in 1990 when the game was released. And while the scope of what you see at any one time given the size of the window from which you see all the action, it looked quite sizeable on-screen as typical resolutions of the time were 640x480 and 800x600. I think the fog of war issue isn't nearly as bad if you play U6 with a much lower resolution (as strange as that sounds).

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Inventory Management also needs some context as the video review really complains about all the items that need individual managing. Today's developers are all about streamlining - one of the biggest complaints by many people here at this site when it comes to RPGs. But back in the 80s and early 90s, Richard Garriot's approach was quite the opposite. In one of the books I have about the Ultima series, Richard brags how every single key on the keyboard has a purpose when playing Ultima 4. And back in those days, I couldn't be happier about that. Computer games back then were supposed to be complicated, with arcane, undocumented features and functions. It was a great departure from the simplistic offerings of videogame consoles of the time. So when it comes to inventory management, that was actually sort of fun, at least for me, back then. All those in-game objects that could each be manipulated separately, it really was a novelty. By today's standards, that is arguably not the best approach for inventory management, but back then, players like myself really liked that sort of thing.

MY TAKE
When I played and completed U6 back in 1990, it was the one and only time through U6… which joined the rest of my one-time-through family U8 and U9. The rest of the Ultimas I've played multiple times through. About a year ago I tried to play U6 and just didn't like the small game-world window and the 'fog of war' effect based on lighting and line of sight. However, I do remember really enjoying U6 when I did play it in 1990… I do have positive memories of that play-through and remember looking forward to playing that game every chance I had until I finished it.

 

[blatantninja]

I agree with his points about the game screen being hard to see (with the fog of war) and inventory management from today's perspective. U6 is one Ultima I don't revisit pretty much because of those two things.

However, failing to put some context to those game designs is disingenous.

HARD TO SEE
U6's graphics were cutting edge for an RPG in 1990 when the game was released. And while the scope of what you see at any one time given the size of the window from which you see all the action, it looked quite sizeable on-screen as typical resolutions of the time were 640x480 and 800x600. I think the fog of war issue isn't nearly as bad if you play U6 with a much lower resolution.

Actually, I think the resolutions were closer to 320x240! What fog of war? I don't remember there being one. Obviously you can only see a small spot of the world at a time, but I don't remember any fog of war.

 

[TheMadGamer]

Actually, I think the resolutions were closer to 320x240! What fog of war? I don't remember there being one. Obviously you can only see a small spot of the world at a time, but I don't remember any fog of war.

I agree that 320 x 240 was still around in 1990. I'm pretty sure my 386/33 had a graphics card kicking out 640 x 480. I may actually be wrong about 800 x 600 being available at the consumer level, I can't quite remember.

Regarding 'Fog of War:' Fog of war is really just the best term I can think of to convey the problem, but not very accurate.

U6 didn't have 'fog of war' in the traditional RTS sense. But there was this sort of 'fog of war' effect based on light levels and line of sight. Given that the window of the game world is small, the fog of war issue further limits what you can see. Hence the big gripe about this in the video review.

 

[blatantninja]

Ahh, yes, I remember the light levels thing in the dungeons.

 

[elikal]

Good riddance, what could be more pathetic than nit picking over 20+ year old games! Pathetic how someone wants to make himself important by bashing Ultima games.

I loved Ultima 6, and yes like any game it wasn't perfect, and seen by todays standarts some things are complicated. But who cares? What a jerk.

 

[skavenhorde]

elikal, Check out his other Ultima retrospectives. I've pretty much agreed with him up until U6 then he gets too picky for me. I love U6 even now. I don't care if it's nostalgia or the fact that I really don't mind the things he complains about.

Well there is one point I do agree with and that is the screen size. Back then I did not mind so much. It was a pain sometimes, but it was awesome. I remember drooling over the pictures in RUN magazine. However, I really wouldn't mind a bigger screen so I'm waiting for a U6 exult

There is the U6 Project, but I also would like to play the original with a little bit bigger action screen. It doesn't have to be huge. I think 800x600 would be a great resolution for U6.

 

[TheMadGamer]

I loved Ultima 6, and yes like any game it wasn't perfect, and seen by todays standarts some things are complicated. But who cares? What a jerk.

You have the guy all wrong. He's reviewing the Ultima series because all in all he really enjoyed the series. He just didn't like U6 all that much for the reasons he gave. He probably won't review U8 and U9 with much love either.

You should check out his U0-U5 reviews they're a good watch.

 

[Sergorn]

I agree that 320 x 240 was still around in 1990. I'm pretty sure my 386/33 had a graphics card kicking out 640 x 480. I may actually be wrong about 800 x 600 being available at the consumer level, I can't quite remember.

What? No... VGA (either 320x200 or 320x240) was still the norm in 1990. SVGA existed but I don't even think there were games using it back then - I think Myst was one of the first SVGA games and it was released in 1993. When Wing Commander III was released in late 1994, SVGA was only begining to become "mainstream" and even then a lot of people where stuck to playing it in VGA...

-Sergorn

 

[skavenhorde]

Well put, Sergorn.

In 1990 you had games like The Bards Tale 3, Buck Rogers: Countdown, Champions of Krynn, and Quest for Glory 2. Back then Ultima 6 was very cutting edge. I was amazed just a few years earlier when you could actually see your reflection in the mirror in Ultima 5

 

[Sergorn]

Yeah as I recall many games in 1990 were still released in EGA. I didn't even had a PC back then, we were still with an Atari ST and Amiga then heh.

I'm pretty sure some of Origin's game like Ultima VI, Wing Commander as well as Sierra's King Quest V were amongst the first games to show what VGA was trully capable of and pretty much signed the death of 16 Bits computers.

-Sergorn

 

[blatantninja]

As much as Ultima VI pushed the envelope, it was Ultima VII that really knocked it out of the park (at least graphics wise). U6 still had a lot of rements of the style of the previous ones, but U7 was a whole different world.

 

[TheMadGamer]

What? No… VGA (either 320x200 or 320x240) was still the norm in 1990. SVGA existed but I don't even think there were games using it back then - I think Myst was one of the first SVGA games and it was released in 1993. When Wing Commander III was released in late 1994, SVGA was only begining to become "mainstream" and even then a lot of people where stuck to playing it in VGA…

-Sergorn

I'm sure you're correct, though I'm pretty sure I still had a video card that was kicking out 640x480 even if U6 played at a lesser resolution.

Back in those days I was always on the bleeding edge. Same thing when CD ROMS were 'the thing.' I remember hunting down an obscure CD ROM Drive (caddy and all) from a small music store a good 6 to 8 months before you could buy them at computer stores. I even remember being directed by the manufacturer to a hotel to pick up a driver that would enable the CD ROM drive to work with DOS. The company was using a hotel meeting room as a make-shif warehouse... it was bizzare.

Once I hunted down and captured the CD ROM drive (and it was like $600) there was really nothing to use it for except playing music CDs. I actually bought Mixed Up Mother Goose from Sierra On-Line as it was the very first CD ROM game I came across… it was a kids' game but I just had to have something, anything, that utilized the CD ROM drive other than music CDs. Good times.

No wonder I was always broke back then.

 

[TheMadGamer]

As much as Ultima VI pushed the envelope, it was Ultima VII that really knocked it out of the park (at least graphics wise). U6 still had a lot of rements of the style of the previous ones, but U7 was a whole different world.

U7 is my all time favorite game ever. Like another poster pointed out, it was in fact weak in combat. But everything else about that game was great... it had a great 'sandbox' feel, you could interact with the environment in meaningful ways, and it just had a great sense of adventure and mystery about it. Truely a one of its kind game.

 

[blatantninja]

U7 is my all time favorite game ever. Like another poster pointed out, it was in fact weak in combat. But everything else about that game was great… it had a great 'sandbox' feel, you could interact with the environment in meaningful ways, and it just had a great sense of adventure and mystery about it. Truely a one of its kind game.

Yeah, if I had been working on an RPG for another company when U7 came out, I probably would have soiled myself.

 

[JemyM]

Been out for a week now... Spoony's review of Ultima VII The Black Gate.

http://spoonyexperiment.com/2011/02/01/ultima-7-the-black-gate-review