Ultima VIII - Next Free Game on Origin

Couchpotato

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Ultima VIII GOLD is the next free game on the Origin "On the House" promotion. I have personally never played the game, but some of you might be interested.
Free?! What's the catch?
There's no catch. Grab full games, expansions and more at absolutely no cost. Just make sure to act fast because On the House specials can appear and disappear at any time.

You mean a trial or demo, right?

Nope. You’re getting a full version of the real game — for free!

How long will I own the game?

Once you’ve claimed your game, it’s yours to keep!

Why is Origin doing this?

Our goal is to provide a great gaming experience and a way to discover awesome new games. Having a game in your library, for free, is a fantastic way to see what Origin is all about.
Edit: The free game seems to be region locked in some areas.

More information.
 
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I umm don't want Origin. And I've already got these on GoG EA. I appreciate the effort, but sorry man.
 
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No offense taken Bedwyr as many members hate EA's Origin for various reasons. I remember when everyone hated Steam, and now look at how things changed.

Anyway I prefer using GOG and Steam myself nowadays.:)
 
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One of the first games I bought for PC.

I remember it well, and I loved the game. I also remember people hating on it in magazines and on Usenet. Apparently, it wasn't Ultima enough - but I never played them much on my Amiga, which is what I came from.

I found it to be one of the most immersive and cinematic experiences of my gaming life, back in the day.

I will never forget that execution scene near the beginning of the game, with the wife crying as her husband is decapitated. Made an impression :)
 
Strange, the link did not go to U8.
 
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I found it to be one of the most immersive and cinematic experiences of my gaming life, back in the day.

I will never forget that execution scene near the beginning of the game, with the wife crying as her husband is decapitated. Made an impression :)

Haha, the words "cinematic" and "decapitated" triggered memories of one of the most immersive and cinematic games of my gaming life, back in the day, Ecstatica, also a 1994 game. :D
 
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Quick and dead… Link 404's, no longer available.

Now they have some Caribbean adventure game for free.

Edit - sorry, nevermind then, seems to be a region thing.


-kaos
 
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Well both links still work for me. o_O

Seems the game might be region locked for US members only.
 
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I love and hate that game at the same time…. the immersion is fantastic.. but having played Ultima VII before that game it was also kind of a dissapointment, it is not easy to be the sequel to the best game ever made.

On top of that it had too many jumping bugs and other such a bugs.

The attention to detail were fantastic though "You dare to mess with my food?", followed by instant death by lightning is something I'll not forget.

Now I've gotten crusaders, DA:O and this free from EA…. I am still not buying their games but this is helping their reputation a little bit…. to give great classic for free.
 
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I was disappointed with U8. Not that it was a horrible game, it was just a bad Ultima... particularly bad coming off the heels of the fantastic U7 and U7 part 2.
 
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Having never played previous Ultimas either U8 quickly became a favorite of mine. First game in memory with NPC schedules. I got it free with a video card but would've paid for it.
 
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Even though U8 is not available in my region it worked for me when using a browser. When going through the Origin client I could not find U8 and only had that crappy puzzle game "on the house". When I used a browser with "https://www.origin.com/en-us/store/free-games/on-the-house" it looked like it didn't work and told me to download the client but when I checked my library it was actually there. Other users are also reporting that this is happening to them on epicbundle.com.
 
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Nostalgic, while I didn't spend nearly as much time with this game as I did with Ultima VII, I still had quite some fun with it.

I can't claim that I remember it clearly anymore, except being impressed by the graphics, frustrated with some "platformer-like" jumping sequence and fascinated with the world and the magic-system.
 
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Haven't played it before, but immediately grabbed it when I got the email from EA. :) Love these freebies!
 
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Ultima VIII was a disappointment back in the day but compare its feature list to games today
~ npc schedules
~ day and night cycle
~ runic magic system where you have to prepare the spells
~ interesting exploration and world design
~ decent writing and in-game fiction
~ rob people and they will care and notice
~ plenty of choice and consequence

And this game was considered disappointing! Still is for me personally but looking at the feature list makes you think maybe pc gamer standards have dropped by a lot.

Divinity OS is a very good new rpg in this category but even this game lacks day/night cycles and npc schedules. DOS has it beat because of party gameplay and fun combat but only just. Both have similar levels of reactivity, the writing is worse in DOS and the gameplay suffers towards the end of the game.

To think that this game could of been a lot worse without early access and kickstarter. Thank goodness there is still some hope for quality rpgs out there.
 
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Dunno about region locks but I managed to add it yesterday through Origin client.
So it's not US only.

From U8 I remember only idiotic system of leveling skills up by waving sword on rooftops and similar whatnot plus CTD bugs.
So Silver, day and night cycle couldn't save that game and TBH to me that's the least relevant part in any game as in RPG it usually leads to time_of_day quest/mobgrind design crime.
 
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Works in Germany.

The only thing I remember about U8 is that it earned the nickname Super Avatar Brothers.
 
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