Ultima VIII - Interview @ Ultima Codex

The Ultima Codex has a new video interview with Mike McShaffry to talk about Ultima VIII, and they provide a transcript if you don't feel like watching the video.

Earlier this week, Mike McShaffry graciously took over an hour out of his busy schedule to chat with us about his work at Origin Systems, especially on Ultima 8. He answered a number of questions about the game, its development, and even fielded a few inquiries about the original (pre-UO) plot of Ultima 9.

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More information.

I preferred readint it.

What can I say? Ultima was my fav RPG series ever, and Ultima 8 butchered it. I can not forgive this. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's how I feel about it. These guys frigging killed Ultima. And Ultima 9 did not save it either.

You simply do no collaborate with EA. Period.

I just registered to reply, I loved PAGAN, I played it without knowing of the existence of all the other Ultimas that existed before, and the game had many revolutionary features that NO game has now, due laziness or lack of vision, like climbing on top of roofs, jumping walls, climbing ledges, a interesting magic and crafting systems, the ability to finish the game and solve all the quest on the order you wished, being able to move many of the static objects of the world, and so on, the game that is trying to get as close to PAGAN now a days is Divinity Original Sins and even that game, is not implementing jumping, climbing, and puling your self up to roofs, being able to interact with the world this way made the world a real character, this old game gave the players more freedom than all of the isometric rpgs games that came after it, as I'm yet to see a game that allows this kind of freedom to move around with modern graphics and mechanics.

I wasn't a big fan of U8. U7 parts 1 and 2 were the pinnacle of the series for me.

renderluz said:

I just registered to reply, I loved PAGAN, I played it without knowing of the existence of all the other Ultimas that existed before, and the game had many revolutionary features that NO game has now, due laziness or lack of vision, like climbing on top of roofs, jumping walls, climbing ledges, a interesting magic and crafting systems, the ability to finish the game and solve all the quest on the order you wished, being able to move many of the static objects of the world, and so on, the game that is trying to get as close to PAGAN now a days is Divinity Original Sins and even that game, is not implementing jumping, climbing, and puling your self up to roofs, being able to interact with the world this way made the world a real character, this old game gave the players more freedom than all of the isometric rpgs games that came after it, as I'm yet to see a game that allows this kind of freedom to move around with modern graphics and mechanics.

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Jumping? Is it a Mario game?

Unfortunately Yes!!

It's a shame no-one else has actually commented on the interview; as it is quite interesting, particularly for Ultima fans. Thanks for posting it.

I'm not going to pretend I like U8 half as much as U7 or U4 for that matter, because it does lack several classic elements which made those games great. (No party or ultima companions, not set in Britannia etc) I don't think the question of how high we rate U8 is especially interesting though in the broader picture, because Pagan is always going to come behind the likes of U7.

However, like renderluz, it was one of the first Ultima's that I played for a significant amount of time (a topic that arose in the video) and it helped instill an excitement and curiousity for the series. I can still recall hearing the warm ambient sound of the fire crackling at the game's beginning, the mystery of witnessing the beheading, exploring the catacombs for the first time or indeed just listening to the game's decidedly more grim soundtrack. Tinkering with the ritualistic magic system was also a lot of fun.

As a standalone game, it still has its charms and whilst I only completed it for the first time a couple of years ago, I don't think its reputation is as deserved or indeed as awful as the serving it tends to get. (The silly pejorative "super mario avatar" for example…)

Pessimeister said:

As a standalone game, it still has its charms and whilst I only completed it for the first time a couple of years ago, I don't think its reputation is as deserved or indeed as awful as the serving it tends to get. (The silly pejorative "super mario avatar" for example…)

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I agree that when someone jumps into a series at what is considered a 'low point' by long time fans of a series, such person may still find interest despite realizing such. In recent times, I witnessed this with the Arcania. As a stand alone game, Arcania wasn't arguably 'terrible.'

But for those who have followed a series, and invested more time with it compared to someone who is just getting acquainted with it, there is certainly nothing wrong with being critical of it or praising it when such is due.

I played Pagan and had a decent time with it. But in the first few hours of playing I could tell that it wasn't going to live up to U7. The game just didn't have the same direction and it was noticeable. But still, the game isn't horrible and if someone is an Ultima fan they shouldn't miss out on it.

TheMadGamer said:

In recent times, I witnessed this with the Arcania. As a stand alone game, Arcania wasn't arguably 'terrible.'

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Oooh, I'm not sure I can go that far with the argument. Even if I could somehow put aside my cherished emotions for the Gothic series, Arcania would still be pretty appalling for me, even as a standalone game. (Don't make me listen to that crone's voice acting again please!) However, if it was a starting point for other fans and inspired them to check out the real Gothic games, then all the power to it. Perspective is indeed an interesting factor here.

I strongly agree on your point regarding long time investment in a series and how much heavier the disappointment can affect fans when expectations aren't met. I'm a little lucky and perhaps more forgiving in a sense, since the Underworld's were my starting point - then came my little sojourn into U8 before I finally went all the way back to Akalabeth once the Ascension Dragon pack came out. I bought that pack with my first post-uni paycheck.

Pessimeister said:

Oooh, I'm not sure I can go that far with the argument. Even if I could somehow put aside my cherished emotions for the Gothic series, Arcania would still be pretty appalling for me, even as a standalone game.

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My first attempt with Arcania was met with some pretty heavy loathing on my part. It was disappointing to experience nearly every mechanic that made Gothic an interesting world to explore become belittled. And yes, while I personally don't care about voice acting at all, I do admit the witch voice acting was particularly terrible. I'm not sure I've heard worse before or since.

After some amount of time passed, I think about a year, I gave the game another shot. I played through it entirely. From the perspective of a Gothic fan, Arcania is terrible in my view. However, from the perspective of a stand-alone game, I would NOT call the game terrible simply because I've experienced worse which unfortunately does not speak to any strengths of Arcania but to the weaknesses of other games.

One side note however, the Arcania game engine I found to be quite competent and had it been used to a full 'Gothic' potential could have easily gotten the job done. They essentially put a Volkswagen Bug enclosure around a Ferrari engine.

Pessimeister said:

I strongly agree on your point regarding long time investment in a series and how much heavier the disappointment can affect fans when expectations aren't met. I'm a little lucky and perhaps more forgiving in a sense, since the Underworld's were my starting point - then came my little sojourn into U8 before I finally went all the way back to Akalabeth once the Ascension Dragon pack came out. I bought that pack with my first post-uni paycheck.

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One can also take the opposite. For example, going from U6, (which as far as I know most fans liked in general) to U7, the series seemed to be in an unstoppable ascent. With as much fan-praise as I remember people giving for U6, there was even more for U7 - with just a small vocal minority chastising U7.

Regardless, I'm glad you found your way to some better Ultima games because of playing U8. Here's to hoping that Divinity: OS will truly be a spiritual successor to the series.