Good Old Games - Ultima I-III released

On GOG you can now get Ultima I-III for USD 5,99. As an additonal bonus, manuals, cluebooks, maps and spellbooks are included for each game. A quote about what's cool about it:

This pack includes: Ultima I, Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress and Ultima III: Exodus
Three epic adventures set in a vast, open world full of mysterious places, evil creatures, and deadly secrets. Find out for yourself how these retro graphics have caused so many sleepless nights
This is how the acclaimed cRPG series started, created by the legend of computer gaming - Richard Garriott a.k.a. Lord British

And here's a quote about the games - how it all began:

In the beginning of this adventure, hordes of nightmarish creatures stalk forth from the lair of Mondain the Wizard to devastate the tranquil kingdoms of Sosaria. Step into the burning world of Sosaria. Take up the weapons of time and sorcery in a battle to destroy Mondain

More information.

Minimum system requirements: Windows XP or Windows Vista, 1.8 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM (1 GB recommended), 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 7 (compatible with DirectX 9 recommended), 2GB HDD, Mouse, Keyboard.

Umm, no Windows 7? Or is that implied since it says Minimum?

Originally Posted by blatantninja
Umm, no Windows 7? Or is that implied since it says Minimum?

I'd assume these are provided with DOSBox, which runs on just about anything.

From the screenshots, it looks like Ultima 1 and 2 have had the graphics updated while Ultima 3 is still in CGA. I know a later EGA version of Ultima 1 was released, I still have that one, and that there was a graphic update available for the PC version of Ultima 2. I played both 2 & 3 on the Atari 8 bit.

It says under compatible with this:

Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)

So it seems that it'll probably also work under windows 7.

Also, when posting this news, I just realized that the three games only 15 MB. Today, a game in itself can easily be 15 GB and the demo for said game be 1,5 GB.

Those were the times.

Yesterday I played the demo of the Lost Vikings again - I had installed the full game the day before that but since I didn't have the handbook at hand ( ) , I couldn't finish the install process (copy protection).

The whole (full) game fits on a single disquette. Something around 1 MB.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Those were the times.

Yesterday I played the demo of the Lost Vikings again - I had installed the full game the day before that but since I didn't have the handbook at hand ( ) , I couldn't finish the install process (copy protection).

The whole (full) game fits on a single disquette. Something around 1 MB.

Loved that game! I could never beat it though. I could get to the very end then the final boss or whatever always got me.

Ultima III: Exodus was the first Ultima game I played, and is still the only one I've actually finished. I played the NES version, which had significantly better visuals than any of the other ports, as well as expanded dialogue.

I still have nightmares about those invisible traps in the dungeons…

Wow, the only one you ever finished? Sacrilege!

I never finished U3 on my C64 (or later PC). I think I was just too young to complete a game like that at the time. A few years later I got it for the NES though and finished it. It seems like a pretty good port.

Originally Posted by blatantninja
Loved that game! I could never beat it though. I could get to the very end then the final boss or whatever always got me.

Lucky you. I even could get past the first 10 or so levels !
I don't remember anymore what hindered me, though.

Originally Posted by blatantninja
Wow, the only one you ever finished? Sacrilege!

I know.. but U7 is definitely on my list for a full playthough, and probably U9 as well.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Ultima III: Exodus was the first Ultima game I played, and is still the only one I've actually finished. I played the NES version, which had significantly better visuals than any of the other ports, as well as expanded dialogue.

Better than the 16bit Amiga version? Oh check this out. 55 seconds in, shows fan-made improvements to the PC vers. Looks nice and sounds great. (can't find the amiga version on YT, yet)

Imo, yes. Here's a page at Moby Games that shows screens from every version.

There were at least 10 different versions of Ultima III. I find that pretty amazing..

Originally Posted by JDR13
I know.. but U7 is definitely on my list for a full playthough, and probably U9 as well.

Don't do it!

Originally Posted by JDR13
Imo, yes. Here's a page at Moby Games that shows screens from every version.

There were at least 10 different versions of Ultima III. I find that pretty amazing..

Anyone have any idea what MSX, PC-88, and PC-98 are?

The MSX was a home computer in the 80's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSX
I used to own one.
PC-88 and PC-98 are computers with a Z80 based chip made by NEC The numbers are based on the processor types (8801 and 9801). The latter one was a 16bit processor. They were very popular in Japan, but not so much outside of Japan.

Ahh thanks! Had never heard of any of those.

Oh god, those look too awful to seriously invest time in. Maybe back then they were great, but just like the Zork games I just cannot begin to picture myself sitting down and playing those much less paying for them. I'd at least need to play VI, that's about my overall threshold for the technology to consider it playable.

It does take a bit to get yourself back into them, but like I said, with modern technology, these games really don't last too long, so its not too much time to invest.

just curious - theoretically, how long would it take you to blast thru all 3 games?

I played U1 a few years back and finished it in about 4 hours. Probably could have done it faster, but I am one of those that must explore every single inch of the world and complete every quest! I image U2 and U3 are probably the same time frames.

U4 would probably take a bit longer. I player through it again in about 10 hours while stuck in an airport last year.

Looks like GOG has Ultima Underworld 1 & 2 as well. Is that new? I don't remember see them there before.