Sup /vr/. I'm going to play every single Ultima game (including the Ultima Underworld, Savage Empire, and Martian Dreams) in order.
1. Has anyone here done this? Any advice before I start out?
2. What's the in-universe chronological placement of the two Worlds of Ultima games?
I bet you don't finish one game.
>>3285167
Why? I've played 4 and 6 all the way through before.
In-universe chronological order is simply release order for everything up to 9, spinoffs included. As for advice, the main one is that really 1-3 aren't worth playing.
>>3285174
>really 1-3 aren't worth playing
You don't think it'll be worth it to (a.) say I've played them all and (b.) see the first ever meetings with characters like Iolo and Lord British?
>>3285182
To give you an example, Iolo has like one nonsensical line in 1-3 combined. Like just about everyone else it's not until 4 that he starts even becoming a character, so the first ever meeting is kinda shitty.
You playing akalabeth too?
>>3285228
How to play Ultima 3:
Create two parties. One is your Ship party, the other will be your main party. Start off with your ship party. Go around and fight and level until you are level 5 or so, so pirate ships start appearing. Go steal pirate ship. Now RUN back to home, and exchange your team for your main team. Level up to about level 3. Now, DO NOT LEVEL UP UNTIL THE END OF THE GAME. The enemies you encounter are based on your level, so the higher your level the harder the game is.
This is how you are supposed to play Ultima 3. Do you REALLY want to play this?
>>3285258
I just said I'll probably screw around with the first few until I get bored, then jump into 4. Which is basically what you were suggesting except with (I suppose) the faint possibility I'll like one of the earlier ones and start actually playing it.
>>3285157
How do you even play Ultima games? I've tried to give IV a chance once and I could not figure out what the hell was going on. Didn't understand how to interact with anything. Suddenly I was in combat and I managed to win somehow.
I wish I were a PC gamer back in the day
>>3285391
read the manual
though its really not worth playing anymore
I've played them in order from 1 to 9.
Get the fan patcher for the IBM versions. Get the remade engines for 4 and 6 and consider them for 7 and 8.
Don't force yourself to complete a game like 2 or 8 for completeness sake.
Savage Empire and Martian Dreams take place between 6 and 7 but they have no real connection to the rest and take place in their own universe.
I somewhat recommend playing SE before False Prophet because False Prophet is a bit overwhelming but nuvie doesn't fully support it yet.
>>3285536
>Savage Empire
>no real connection to the restIolois in it.He washed up on the shore without his memory.
>>3285695
A lot of characters have cameos in SE and a bunch appear in MD. But there's no practical explanation why they'd appear.
Both games are basically "what if" kind dream scenarios.
>>3285450
It's worth playing if you're interested in the roots of the genre.
But, it's not worth playing if you're looking for fun games. Literally everything Ultima did that was revolutionary back then, has been done better in other games.
Play the FM Towns version of 1-3 if you must play them
>>3286448
i wonder what made them decide to make improved FM Towns ports and not give them to us
Makes sure you have Serpent's Isle and Black Forge expansions for 7. U7+7.5 is my fondest gaming memory of all time.
Also, the code to enable the debug mode is Serpent Manimal like
"U7SE.exe -serpent manimal"
>>3286453
FM Towns got a lot of semi-remastered ports of old PC RPGs. Ultima, Wizardry, and Might and Magic if I recall correctly. It was a popular platform for japanese RPG gamers, so it got a lot of love.
>>3285167
/vr/ has lots of people who project lately.
>>3286448
I don't know about 3. They changed the music and you've got the VGA patch as an alternative.
>>3286529
The expansions are just excuses to give you overpowered equipment/stats. It's probably difficult to get them without the expansions though.
What you really should get is the SI Fixes mod for Exult because it actually improves the game by fixing broken code.
>>3286437
How many games did the virtue thing of 4?
>>3285157
I played them all as they came out except 9.
I'll agree that 0 and 1 aren't great but I consider 2 and 3 worth playing.
>>3286835
You played Ultima 1 back in 1981?
>>3286846
Yes
>>3286818
>How many games did the virtue thing of 4?
The Virtues appear and often have in-game effects depending on the actions you take, but they're not typically the key part of the plot of the later games. Heck, I think 8 and 9 let you do all kinds of bad stuff, though your party members might leave, or even attack you if you do enough bad actions. And they won't return until you perform actions to redeem yourself.
Richard Garriott really paid attention to such details when he came up with these games.
>>3285167
I highly doubt OP would have issues with the first one. Game is incredibly short and plays very similar to JRPGs from 15+ years ago.
>>3286437
What games
>>3286985
>party members
>8 & 9
it still hurts
>>3286448
>H-here I go...!
>>3285174
3 is decent and has pretty interesting systems, but then i'm a sucker for party creation so my opinion of it might be a bit skewed.
>>3286448
This looks sick.
>>3287249
>Grid-based tactical combat
Shining Force, Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, etc. etc.
>Open world with many towns
Practically every RPG made since the mid 80's
>Virtue/reputation
Baldur's Gate, Elder Scrolls, Fallout
>First-person dungeons
Phantasy Star, Shin Megami Tensei, Etrian Odyssey
>>3290393
>Virtue/reputation
>Baldur's Gate, Elder Scrolls, Fallout
Not as complex as the virtue system in Ultima 4.
I don't see first person dungeons as a revolutionary contribution from Ultima.
>>3290858
>the virtue system
>complex
I really wish people would stop sucking Garriott's dick for Ultima 4. The virtues are basically just a bunch of rules you have to follow, that affect nothing other than your ability to enter the final dungeon. That's it. They don't change the way NPC's treat you, they don't change the way your party members treat you. They don't even affect your ability to recruit new party members, wtf?
The virtue system is incredibly simplistic and linear. Even though there are eight of them, quantity != quality.
>>3292529
It wouldn't be hard to make them more meaningful but it still wasn't done better.
>>3290393
>First-person dungeons
>listing weebshit instead of Wizardry
>>3294275
well megami tensei 1 is literally wizardry with demons so there's that
Not OP, but I have an Ultima question so I'll ask here instead of making a new thread: Can I just skip to Ultima Underworld?
Don't get me wrong, I will slog through every single game if it's even slightly important to the plot, but I just finished replaying System Shock 1 so I was more in a first-person dungeon-crawley mood rather than a top-down RPG mood.
And if the games are like FF or Zelda, where you can just dive into any game and be fine, then I'll have no problems skipping to the one I want
>>3294385
System Shock was pretty much Ultima Underworld with all the flaws ironed out.
Good luck.
>>3294394
but my question is if the main games are important to the plot of the Underworld games, or if I can just skip them
>>3294401
not very important for underworld 1, as that game was turned into an ultima game at the very last minute
>>3292821
>still wasn't done better.
Yes it was. In Elder Scrolls and Fallout, your reputation is your lifeline. It affects the way NPC's treat you, it impacts which questlines you are able to follow.
In a proper RPG, your reputation fundamentally changes the way the world reacts to you, and the ways you must navigate the world. In games with multiple endings (oops, there's something you won't see in Ultima) it will invariably affect which endings you are able to get.
In Ultima it's just a bunch of rules you have to follow to beat the game.
>Don't steal!
>Don't kill people!
>Don't run from evil creatures!
Playing a video game shouldn't make me feel like I'm in Sunday school.
>>3294743
That's the later games where they forgot about the virtues and gave you a standard karma system.
Taking things like sacrifice, valor or spirituality into account was something that makes Ultima 4 stand out.
Reputation is not the same as virtues or karma.
>multiple endings (oops, there's something you won't see in Ultima)
Martian Dreams has multiple endings.
>>3294941
>sacrifice
>die or donate blood constantly
F U N
U
N
>>3295113
The mechanism for the blood donation could have been more thought through but it's not a bad idea in general.
What's wrong with sacrificing yourself?
>>3297767
nothing wrong with doing it
what's wrong is having to do it 100 times
>>3285258
>he needs to powergame in a simplistic game like Ultima 3
The real challenge is the bullshit mark hunting, not the pushover fights
>>3297767
>literally have to kill yourself to be virtuous
So that's why everybody is a cunt
>>3294329
Not even close! Its much more about managing to keep enough fusion fodder to retain a useful party and in general the dungeon is a bit more "logical" in some ways (especially early on) but way more brutal later in the game
Don't forget Runes of Virtue!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNR0d-NsDbE
