Ultima III & IV for the NES

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I bought Ultima 3 and 4 for the NES. Got them very cheap.

Does anyone know how these version compare to the versions on the other platforms?
 
U3 on the NES was great, it was the first true RPG I ever finished. The graphics are a big improvement over the PC version, and I believe there is also more dialogue. Some of the dungeons were brutally hard, but the overall atmosphere was great. I never played U IV.
 
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That settles it! Thanks JDR. I'm beginning (yeah I know.. haven't played one before… and yeah I am ashamed) my journey into the world of ultima with U3 for the NES.

Wish me luck.
 
I would advise looking up a good walkthough on the net, you'll probably need it at some time or another. Also, keep in mind that XP is not shared, so try to keep your kills even among party members.
 
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JDR13 said:
U3 on the NES was great, it was the first true RPG I ever finished. The graphics are a big improvement over the PC version, and I believe there is also more dialogue. Some of the dungeons were brutally hard, but the overall atmosphere was great. I never played U IV.
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Isn't Ultima 3 on NES like ten times slower to play than on the PC? Plus the graphics might be better (in some ways), but it's has more of a JRPG vibe to it. I've never played it on the NES, but I've seen the screenshots for it. It left an unsettling feeling in my stomach after seeing these.

However, I'm old and stuck in my ways. I just don't think that mixing Legend of Zelda with U3 was such a good thing. ;)

And JDR do yourself a favor and play Ultima 4. It is the best of the best from the 'olden' days. They even upgraded the graphics. It's nothing compared to what we have now, but the graphics are better than the original. Here.

It's harder to go back to this game, but still everyone should at least try it for a little bit. :)
 
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skavenhorde said:
Isn't Ultima 3 on NES like ten times slower to play than on the PC? Plus the graphics might be better (in some ways), but it's has more of a JRPG vibe to it. I've never played it on the NES, but I've seen the screenshots for it. It left an unsettling feeling in my stomach after seeing these.

However, I'm old and stuck in my ways. I just don't think that mixing Legend of Zelda with U3 was such a good thing. ;)
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You should probably not make comments on a game you obviously haven't played. ;)

It has nothing like a Legend of Zelda feel to it, or any type of JRPG vibe for that matter. That's why you shouldn't judge a game from looking at a few pics at MobyGames :). It was a surprisingly good RPG for being on the NES system.
 
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Cool, glad to know I was wrong. I'll still never play it. The graphics are very ugly when compared to the pristine C64 or even DOS graphics :D

Nostalgia forces me to choose these over the NES any day of the week. They changed the whole feel of the game too much. At least as far as the graphics are concerned. Just like nostalgia forces you to deny that the C64 and DOS kicked NES's butt. ;)
 
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No, it definitely has the added early JRPG flare to it which was not hard because U3 inspired nearly every CRPG after it for a long time, including and especially the JRPGs.

The difference is its not linear. Some would disagree seeing that it has a single plot, but the difference is you can move in that path in any of the eight dungeons you choose.

The music is completely different. U3's incredible Wanderer is absent from the NES version.

Two other versions of U3 are noteworthy. Try and hunt down the fan made version for the Gameboy. AFAIK no one put it on a cartridge so you'll need to play it on an emulator. It includes a second island after you complete Sosaria.

The other version is the fan made build for Mac which is the highest quality graphics version ever made.

There was also a graphics and sound patch that improved the quality for the PC version.

I had started a version for NWN that included a "blow up style" overland map, solo travel but party combat but I just got bogged down with the work.
 
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Lucky Day said:
The music is completely different. U3's incredible Wanderer is absent from the NES version.
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That's "incredible"? ;)


Lucky Day said:
The other version is the fan made build for Mac which is the highest quality graphics version ever made.
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You must be referring to the LairWare version. The dungeons look fantastic, but the overworld maps ironically look a lot like the NES version.
 
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Are those hearts at the top of the screen supposed to be your health just like Zelda? What's up with the ankhs? Please tell me that's not magic power.

Other than that a few other things, the art seems to be very similar to U7. It just looks like they plastered a Zelda screen over the U7 game.
 
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JDR13 said:
Nostalgia shouldn't force you to prefer inferior visuals. :)
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The inferior visuals of a lot of 80s/90s computer games is one of the things that invokes nostalgia for me... the lack of hardware being able to produce the kind of visuals we see today allowed developers to focus longer on core gameplay features.
 
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Lucky Day said:
Well, it sounds a lot better on an Apple ][ Mockingboard than the 3 bit C64 audio :D
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Don't knock the C64 audio. It rocked compared to the beeps and boops of the competition ;)
 
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