Ultima - The Savage Empire & Martian Dreams Free on GoG!

Today GoG offers the complete Worlds of Ultima series for free! Both The Savage Empire and Martian Dreams are included.
If you don't have an account yet, you can register through the banner at the top.
In related news, GoG starts their Battle of the Games summer promo today. You can vote. The winning game will be sold at 60% rebate, the loser at 40% rebate. Today's battle: Myst vs. The 7th Guest. A new battle will happen every day until July 5th.
More information.

Awesome! About time. I really loved those games.

Didn't play them, but I won't object on presents…

Got em!
Thankye GOG!

Nice games - thank u GoG!

about as Ultima as as a loaf of toast

I remember an interview with Garriot promoting these up before their release and saying how one guy and a computer really can't make a video game anymore. This is still not actually true, but it was the first time I heard the statement.

I'll have to check it out. Not needing DosBoX will be a big plus, but that top down overhead look shows you why Isometric is so much easier the eyes.

great games, thank you!

I don't know if I'll ever get around to playing them, but it's a nice gift.

Doesn't look like these game have aged gracefully though. How good is the writing? Martian Dreams looks interesting.

What a pleasant surprise to begin the week with!

I also really like how the manuals are made to fit well with each game's theme. Savage Empire's is like an old vintage pulp magazine, and Martian Dreams' as Victorian-era texts. Back from the day when manuals were part of the creative production and not just a bare-bones afterthought.

So are these games any good? It looks like I missed them when they first came out. Savage Empire doesn't look especially exciting from it's wikipedia entry, but Martian Dreams seems like it could have potential.

The latest version of NUVIE has a whole new interface, so the aging is helped a bit. u6 has some improved tilesets floating out there, but I've never seen them done for these two. I know Nuvie works with U6, but not sure if it has been tested with SE or MD. The old version of NUVIE basically worked with them though.

These were two of my favorite Ultima games. SE certainly had some issues that people legitimately complained about, but I still thought it was a great game.

I thought SE had an interesting story and I liked the part about trying to make peace between the tribes. MD took me a bit to get into just because it was so different than anything I had played before (and never really read that kind of fiction), but in the end I really liked it. There's just something about having the Avatar wield a shotgun!

Wow !

Whoa, thanks for letting us know!

… gotta love CDPR.

I actually preferred SE to U6, since it had such a fresh setting and it was really the game that introduced crafting of almost everything in a computer game.

…and yet I can still get absolutely mad about that one incomplete side-quest! Somebody really ought to fix that sometime!

I hope they did a better job with these than they did Underworld I and II.

And thanks, GOG, for adding to my backlog. I'll have to isolate myself from the world to catch up, and then I'll turn into a pyschopathetic killer. GOG you should be ashamed of yourself.

I remember Martian Dreams as great, though no idea how well (or badly) it has aged. The Victorian/Martian steampunk setting is simply brilliant.

To Whom It May Concern:
These games are Ulima-lite stuff. I really mean: lite.
Savage Empire has a very simple magic system, the puzzles are interesting (lots of item combine thingies), but the story is wonderfully retro: if you absolutely love 40's/50's pulp serials, you'll be in heaven (google eyed MONSTER from outer space! evil SCIENTIST does experiments! amazing BOOBS but nothing else!). The fights are more adventure-like: there are a lot of monsters that can be killed only with specific weapons.
Martian Dreams is more interesting: the story is steampunk with historical figures. Magic is absent, combat is just as bad as in U6. The game starts really bad though: lots of weird items (critical for progression), tough fights, and confusing plot. But once things click… well it became a cult favorite for a reason

Anyway, go get it. It's free and it is my Holy Mission for Today's Youth (tm) to show that there are other wonderful retro RPGs beyond Baldur's Gate.

These were great games… Savage Empire is good, but quite short for an Ultima game.
While not as colorful, Martian Dreams is a deeper and more memorable rpg. Both were based on the U6 engine. Look for Warren Spector in both. Well worth the download!

Originally Posted by Gorath
If you don't have an account yet, you can register through the banner at the top.

Slightly OT, but do you have to go through the banner every time you buy to get the referrer info enabled*, or is there a way to make it permanent for an existing account?

*Especially since I'm not even sure that would work for me since I have referrers turned off in my browser.

I've played and enjoyed both games back in the days - SE to completion, MD about 2/3 through or so. Since I've always been a bit of an Ultima nerd (having a quite nice collection of vintage Ultima games etc…) I recently tried getting back to MD and hopefully finish the game this time.

But honestly, you *really* have to make an effort to enjoy these games today! And I say this as a person who loves Ultima and regularly plays all sorts of retro games. The main problem is the interface, which just sucks

All that being said - super nice of GOG to give us these games for free! I've been having trouble finding copies online that I trust are working and complete (my originals are on floppies)

I have never played an Ultima game, so I am starting with these I just started Save Empire, and I have to say that I am spoiled by auto maps and quest journals But I am determined to play it to completion!