Ultima VII Part I - Retrospective Review @ CRPG Addict

The CRPG Addict looks back at Ultima VII Part I: The Black Gate:

Summary:

The Avatar returns to Britannia in this seventh entry. He's been gone 200 years by the Britannian calendar, and while some things are the same (Lord British still rules; most of the old companions are still around), the world has advanced in technology to roughly Victorian-era levels. Lord British's rule has become apathetic: the Britannian Tax Council oppresses the populace; the caste system is stronger than ever; something is disrupting the use of magic and driving magic-users insane; and a philosophical/ religious organization with sinister undertones is converting the people away from the traditional virtues of the Avatar. The Avatar is thrust into this mess in the context of a serial murder investigation that takes him from one crime scene to another.

Ultima VII is a seminal entry in not only the Ultima series but games in general. It pioneered the open-world, sandbox environment, and it popularized the idea of the "unobtrusive interface," in which the entire screen is the game window, and interfaces for character sheets, inventory, and other game elements pop up as needed, pausing the action behind them. The game otherwise features most of the elements that people like about Ultima, including an engaging plot that moves the player across the map, finding clues in documents and NPC conversations in towns, castles, and dungeons. However, it falters in elements specific to RPGs, including character development and combat, and a somewhat inflexible narrative makes it difficult to fully appreciate the open-world design.

As a writer, I like to do the talking myself, but occasionally another writer says something so perfectly that I can't possibly improve upon it. This is the case with a portion of Jimmy Maher's excellent article on Ultima VII, published in February 2019. Maher argues that "classic games" that everyone remembers fondly come in basically two types. The first is those that do everything right, like Ultima Underworld. As for the second:

The other archetypal classic game is much rarer: the game whose designers have made a lot of really problematic choices, to the point that certain parts of it may be flat-out broken, but which nevertheless charms and delights due to some ineffable spirit that overshadows everything else. Ultima VII is the finest example of this type that I can think of. Its list of trouble spots is longer than that of many genuinely bad games, and yet its special qualities are so special that I can only recommend that you play it.

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I'm going off-topic but I did play a good Ultima IV Rebirth mod for NWN.

Link - https://neverwintervault.org/project…rth-nwnee-only

I liked his first ending

Another great review from CRPG Addict. As he alludes to his scoring system isn't ideal for a game like Ultima 7. Ground breaking at the time, it's a game that is more than the sum of it's parts. Britannia is like an old friend for veterans of the series that it is great to come back to every now and then.

I think he is definitely too harsh on the story of Serpent Isle - yes you have to put in a lot of effort and you have to fill in a lot of gaps as the story includes elements from even Ultima 3 and doesn't explain how the time line works. But for me as a hardcore Ultima fan who even read most of the ingame lore in Serpent Isle it wrapped up the story line quite nicely (apart from the climax…).

I love Ultima VI and especially VII part 1, and it makes me sad to think of the direction the series and its creator took. I give Garriott and the Utlima series (from IV on) a lot of credit for taking computer RPGs beyond their fighting heavy, tabletop roots and paving the way for both the simulationist aspects and the more character and narrative driven games that followed in their wake.

I have to agree with you. I bought the CD version of Ultima 8 when it first came out and I remember being so disappointed after about 5 hours of playing when I realised there was only one full size city and no party members would be joining me on my quest. Then came the super mario jumping (this was before the patch that made it easier) and I remember cursing Lord British's name multiple times.

I loved five (almost finished it on c64), six (got nowhere on c64 but finished it many years later on PC) and seven the most out of the series. Seven was the highpoint for me though. The richness of the world just blew my mind at the time. I remember catching out npc's up to no good (like the mayor visiting his mistress) and being so immersed in it I tried to make notes about every little detail i thought might be important.

U7P1 still easily the best RPG ever, in terms of its greatness and memorableness at the time of its release. EA bought Origin a few months after its release, and it was all downhill from there. Not even sure you can fully blame EA though - events of the last decade or two have definitively shown that Richard Garriott wasn't exactly who we thought he was, either.

Originally Posted by Stingray
Not even sure you can fully blame EA though - events of the last decade or two have definitively shown that Richard Garriott wasn't exactly who we thought he was, either.

I have to agree. While I still cherish the great games he delivered in his heyday I have very little interest in whatever he is working on now.

I think, as far as we know, he's not working on anything game-related now. Portalarium is dead since they sold off Shroud of the Avatar to Catnip Games, and I think Garriot has no real involvement with Catnip Games other than occasionally continuing to act as a figurehead via his Lord British persona. Catnip Games doesn't even have a website, but if you look at their Twitter posts, it seems they have about 10 employees total.

On a related note, Garriott sent a tweet recently about wanting to remaster the Ultima games (EA won't let him): https://twitter.com/RichardGarriott/…91713717821442
I wouldn't even trust him to get that right today. Wonder if EA feels the same way

Never played. Checked out this video and apart from the bad colors - all red?? - the real-time combat is a total mess.

Originally Posted by mercy
Never played. Checked out this video and apart from the bad colors - all red?? - the real-time combat is a total mess.

You really should…all these companies talking about making an immersive world should see how he did it. Use the exult engine to run it. Yes, the real time combat was a bit of a mess, but the game set the standard that never seemed to carry on. It's even playable today and it's atmosphere is great.

What I wouldn't give for a company to look at how they did the immersion and take it to a level todays PC's can handle….you see a bit of it in the elderscrolls games where people put out lanterns and work on some things…but not to that level.

Unfortunately, Richard garriett has really lost me after shroud of the avatar, I was so put off by their behavior in that.

It was one of those games that defined RPGs for me, in that time. It was amazing, compared to what was available in that time.

But it was hard to run on my computer. Had to fiddle with autoexec.bat and other system files for the extra EMS momory.

What amazed me, was that all NPCs were unique, had their daily lives/schedule (they go to work, to eat, to the tavern, to church, to sleep, to meet other NPCs, etc), night/day cycles, hunger/thirst system and I read all those texts in the huge manual, that helped the immersion. graphics were above average for the time, with a lot of elements on screen.

Combat was an uncontrollabe mess, didn't bother with it, as it was the last thing I was interested in this game (nowadays, most games depend on combat and loot loops to engage the players). I even liked the inventory system, messy as it was. All that made that small world more real, by immersing us in the mundane as well as the fantastic.

Also, murder mysteries are always a good bait to keep us going and wanting to find more.

I don't know if I would still like to play it nowadays. I didn't play Serpent Isle at the time and for some reason, I don't feel compelled to try it now.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
What amazed me, was that all NPCs were unique, had their daily lives/schedule (they go to work, to eat, to the tavern, to church, to sleep, to meet other NPCs, etc), night/day cycles, hunger/thirst system and I read all those texts in the huge manual, that helped the immersion. graphics were above average for the time, with a lot of elements on screen.

I'm still at a loss as to what makes such details amazing. It's all just simulation stuff. Nothing wrong with simulation stuff, but I fail to see how it makes an RPG better for anyone other than simulation fans.

I really, honestly, could barely care less what an NPC does in the time when I'm not around. Adventure games do that kind of thing a lot, but for those it usually relates to the puzzle complexity rather than immersion.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
Combat was an uncontrollabe mess, didn't bother with it, as it was the last thing I was interested in this game (nowadays, most games depend on combat and loot loops to engage the players).

I'm pretty sure combat and loot was an important factor prior to U7, durig the time of U7, and immediately after U7, and beyond. Hmm, how on earth did you get so involved in RPGs if you are so repelled by combat?

Originally Posted by Gwendo
I even liked the inventory system, messy as it was. All that made that small world more real, by immersing us in the mundane as well as the fantastic.

I think I'm getting the picture now, you're a masochist aren't you

Originally Posted by Gwendo
Also, murder mysteries are always a good bait to keep us going and wanting to find more.

Yes, that was interesting.

Originally Posted by Gwendo
I don't know if I would still like to play it nowadays. I didn't play Serpent Isle at the time and for some reason, I don't feel compelled to try it now.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I'm still at a loss as to what makes such details amazing. It's all just simulation stuff. Nothing wrong with simulation stuff, but I fail to see how it makes an RPG better for anyone other than simulation fans.

I really, honestly, could barely care less what an NPC does in the time when I'm not around. Adventure games do that kind of thing a lot, but for those it usually relates to the puzzle complexity rather than immersion.

Of course you do not need to care what they do when you are not around because you cannot see that anyway, but the entire point is that you can be around, if you want to see what a character does, you can follow that character, you can find out they have a mistress, or they are stealing or whatever. I think the main point of U7 was to make everyone a person, and an RPG is a lot about immersion. This is were modern RPG fails a lot in my opinion, they have huge cities with amazing graphics huge amount of empty shell people you can't even talk to, and a few quests NPC which looks different and might have a few extra animations and dialogues to play which would play out during a certain quests. Very boring I think.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
Of course you do not need to care what they do when you are not around because you cannot see that anyway, but the entire point is that you can be around, if you want to see what a character does, you can follow that character, you can find out they have a mistress, or they are stealing or whatever. I think the main point of U7 was to make everyone a person, and an RPG is a lot about immersion. This is were modern RPG fails a lot in my opinion, they have huge cities with amazing graphics huge amount of empty shell people you can't even talk to, and a few quests NPC which looks different and might have a few extra animations and dialogues to play which would play out during a certain quests. Very boring I think.

I've never played or wanted to play an RPG where I spend my time stalking NPCs instead of adventuring… I honestly struggle to cope with the mindset your promoting…

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I've never played or wanted to play an RPG where I spend my time stalking NPCs instead of adventuring… I honestly struggle to cope with the mindset your promoting…

Have you ever considered attending Opinions Anonymous? They may be able to help you cope with your struggles.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Have you ever considered attending Opinions Anonymous? They may be able to help you cope with your struggles.

Have you ever considered posting in any kind of format that isn't banal shitposting?

Originally Posted by lackblogger
Have you ever considered posting in any kind of format that isn't banal shitposting?

The irony.

I think this would be the proper continuation of this thread…

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I've never played or wanted to play an RPG where I spend my time stalking NPCs instead of adventuring… I honestly struggle to cope with the mindset your promoting…

You can't see the chance for emergent game play? The very first part of Ultima 7 has a murder investigation you have to solve….you can follow people around etc. It really adds to immersion and that's what it is for.

Sure, you won't get straight action kill, loot, kill, but you will get a believable world that makes it a lot more memorable.