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Ultima Collecting -- I am in big trouble!


Albert

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Escape from Mt Drash?

Ultima Mars (something....)?

 

Martian Dreams is in the above photo. It and Savage Empire used the Ultima VI engine and both came between Ultima VI and Ultima VII in order of release. Escape from Mt. Drash, well, that sure would be nice but that's a pretty rare title only released for the Vic-20. The last copy sold on eBay in 2009 for $1,875. Supposedly only about 3,000 copies were made.

 

Hmm, I forgot that I also never played Savage Empire. I did play Martian Dreams when it came out and rather enjoyed it. Since it takes place on Mars, it's a nice change of scenery from Britannia. Savage Empire also takes place outside of Britannia.

 

..Al

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I'm also missing three of the four Manga books, and several of the clue books.

 

..Al

 

I think I have a few of the clue books but I can't recall which. I need to check into what I have. This thread is very influencing.... :P

 

Here's cluebook info (as well as Manga):

 

http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Ultima_Books

 

I have Arx Fatalis for the Xbox in the box and also for the PC as a download (which I know doesn't count). I haven't played it yet!

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I was gonna ask, what does the book say about Escape From Mount Drash? ;)

 

As one of the few people with a CIB copy of the game, I feel priviledged... and poorer to a degree hah hah... still... it DOES get noticed.

 

Let me know if you want to sell it or and/or trade it for a buttload of classic gaming items. :)

 

..Al

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Nice find. I went back and played Ultima 1-3 on the Apple IIe I got last year to experience it on the native machine - I played all of them back in the day. VIII was hard to play even with the jump fix. IX was a disaster - they sold themselves to 3DFX graphics chips so if you didnt have that it really wouldnt run. That was about the time 3DFX was falling out of favor - it had bugs galor and the world was really small - you could almost see across Sosaria - not like the expansive one envisioned with the 2D version.

 

The only thing about IX that bummed me was it was the last one - usually on the '3rd' installment LB strecthed things that were awesome on the next release (ie, IV and VII) - X could've been great in a real 3D world. Oh well :) - I enoyed all the 8bit versions back in the day

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The Ultima games are a mixed bag for me. I never played them BITD save for a bit here and there. Recently I got all 9 games (as well as the spin offs Martin Dreams and Savage Empire) from GOG.com. The first three games just are not that much fun anymore in this day and age. I haven't had much time to put into the middle triliogy (4, 5, 6) but they seem very fun. 7 seems better then the first three but not as good as the middle games, and 8 and 9 are middle of the road games.

 

The console ports I've played (on NES and SNES) and the PC original versions seem better in some respect, worse in others.

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The Ultima games are a mixed bag for me. I never played them BITD save for a bit here and there. Recently I got all 9 games (as well as the spin offs Martin Dreams and Savage Empire) from GOG.com. The first three games just are not that much fun anymore in this day and age. I haven't had much time to put into the middle triliogy (4, 5, 6) but they seem very fun. 7 seems better then the first three but not as good as the middle games, and 8 and 9 are middle of the road games.

 

The console ports I've played (on NES and SNES) and the PC original versions seem better in some respect, worse in others.

 

I've never played any console ports, and I plan on doing that at some point. There are also some Gameboy games. Of the first three, Ultima III is certainly the best. The first two can be beaten very quickly (and I haven't played Akalabeth yet, but I expect that to be even shorter than Ultima I). Of the second trilogy, I've only played IV and VI. In fact, VI is the first Ultima I played to completion, as it was new when I bought my first $3,000 Gateway PC. I then went back and started to play all the others, and then kept up with each new game after VI. Thus, I really enjoyed VI, but not sure if that's because it's the first Ultima I went all the way through. I look forward to playing Ultima V.

 

For the last trilogy, there's no question that Ultima VII + Serpent Isle are the best of those. And they are my favorites of all the Ultimas. I was so discouraged by Ultima VIII that I didn't get very far before walking out of the theater. And I could never even get IX to run on my system at the time. But I do look forward to playing both of those games to completion.

 

I had a blast playing both of the Ultima Underworld games. They were way ahead of their time with their 3D worlds. After Ultima VII, the two Underworld games would probably be next on my list. The Ultima Underworld games, along with System Shock, were part of my inspiration to pursue a job with Looking Glass Technologies.

 

..Al

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Only having an Apple IIe I only got to play I-V so I consider V to be the pinnacle of the Ultima series. I did go and play VI-IX later on, but I just didn't like them. Everyone seems to gush over VII but for some reason I never could get into it. Give me Ultima V any day. :)

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WOW! I wish I had a 30 inch monitor, I just have a 21. What did that bad boy cost you?

 

Looks great also.

 

For anyone who wants to try out the Ultima games, they have all the games very cheap and legaly supported on gog.com Can't suggest the site enough for classic PC gaming.

 

And Albert, glad to talk to another System Shock fan. ;) I love those two games, the only FPS's I'll play is if they have a story. And it's no wonder I really loved Bioshock also since some of the game guys worked on it.

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WOW! I wish I had a 30 inch monitor, I just have a 21. What did that bad boy cost you?

 

I bought it locally from someone on Craigslist, so I got a great deal compared to new. He had a crazy setup with three 30" monitors side-by-side, and then a 50+" HDTV mounted behind and above them. He was upgrading this particular display to a newer model. This monitor is built like a tank and weighs a ton, but it looks fantastic!

 

This is the current version:

 

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?cs=19&c=us&l=en&sku=224-9949

 

For anyone who wants to try out the Ultima games, they have all the games very cheap and legaly supported on gog.com Can't suggest the site enough for classic PC gaming.

 

I bought them all on GOG so I didn't have to deal with the hassle of hunting the games down and then spending time to get them running smoothly in DOSBox.

 

And Albert, glad to talk to another System Shock fan. ;) I love those two games, the only FPS's I'll play is if they have a story. And it's no wonder I really loved Bioshock also since some of the game guys worked on it.

 

I really need to play System Shock 1 and 2 again, it's been a long time (especially for System Shock). I wish they'd find some way to do another System Shock! I have NOT played through Bioshock 1 and 2 yet. :ponder:

 

..Al

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Cool supporting GOG like that. They had a sale on the Ultima series not that long ago. I recall that they bundled 1-3 and 4-6 together, not sure about the last 3, but all those games are fully patched. They were giving Martin Dreams and Savage Empire away free for a while also, I snagged them though not yet played them.

 

I think you'd really love Bioshock. It defentily has some System Shock aspects to it, along with a great story, fun gameplay, and really making you feel like you're in the game. Bioshock 2 wasn't as good, but the first one is defentily a classic and well worth playing.

 

Al, I'm also curious, since you're (clearly) playing Ultima 1 right now....when I tried the games recently, I found Ultima 1-3 so dated and stale and unforgiving and brutal compared to the later ones. What do you enjoy about them and how do you manage to go through them so easily as you hinted at eariler? Maybe if I had played it back BITD, but I was first exposed to games like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy as a kid and went the JRPG route for many years as opposed to western PC style RPG's. Only recently have I gotten back into those, with the Elder Scroll and Fallout 3/New Vegas games.

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Also, Ultima 1 is very unforgiving. When you die, you lose all your coins, your hit points and food are reduced to 99, and you lose all your weapons and upgraded armor.

 

..Al

 

thats why we used disk editors or coded character editors back in the day. :) Ultima III was my first and along with Ultima7, Underworld 2, and beta test of UO are my favorites.

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Also, Ultima 1 is very unforgiving. When you die, you lose all your coins, your hit points and food are reduced to 99, and you lose all your weapons and upgraded armor.

 

But it's also very forgiving, since it gives you all of your HP back every time you leave a dungeon.

 

I bought them all on GOG so I didn't have to deal with the hassle of hunting the games down and then spending time to get them running smoothly in DOSBox.

 

There's speed fixes for I-III (which also add EGA graphics to II and III). There's also a speed fix for IV, but I can't figure out how to get it to work without also having to install the VGA graphics.

 

Al, I'm also curious, since you're (clearly) playing Ultima 1 right now....when I tried the games recently, I found Ultima 1-3 so dated and stale and unforgiving and brutal compared to the later ones.

 

I liked I (EGA remake) and III, but didn't care for Alkabeth and II.

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Cool supporting GOG like that. They had a sale on the Ultima series not that long ago. I recall that they bundled 1-3 and 4-6 together, not sure about the last 3, but all those games are fully patched. They were giving Martin Dreams and Savage Empire away free for a while also, I snagged them though not yet played them.

 

They are still giving away Ultima IV, Martian Dreams and Save Empire. Ultima 1-3 and 4-6 are bundled together for $5.99 each, and the "Complete Ultima VII" (Ultima VII, Serpent Isle, Forge of Virtue and Silver Seed) is also $5.99.

 

I think you'd really love Bioshock. It defentily has some System Shock aspects to it, along with a great story, fun gameplay, and really making you feel like you're in the game. Bioshock 2 wasn't as good, but the first one is defentily a classic and well worth playing.

 

I started playing it on the 360 some time ago, got distracted and never went back to it. I now have both Bioshock 1 and 2 in Steam, and now that I've built a bad-ass gaming PC I really need to play them. Especially with Bioshock Infinite coming in March, although it's not really a sequel to the other two ames.

 

Al, I'm also curious, since you're (clearly) playing Ultima 1 right now....when I tried the games recently, I found Ultima 1-3 so dated and stale and unforgiving and brutal compared to the later ones. What do you enjoy about them and how do you manage to go through them so easily as you hinted at eariler? Maybe if I had played it back BITD, but I was first exposed to games like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy as a kid and went the JRPG route for many years as opposed to western PC style RPG's. Only recently have I gotten back into those, with the Elder Scroll and Fallout 3/New Vegas games.

 

Now that I've gotten back into Ultima I, it's a bit more complex than I recalled! I know I flew through it (and Ultima II) in a day or two at most, but those were probably morning to night days. I was pretty adept at games of this nature back then--not sure I can go through the with the same speed these days. I also didn't have the internet to distract me. :D

 

The maps in Ultima I are fairly small, and the towns and castles are pretty simple since they are only one screen. The last time I played I took meticulous notes and I always mapped the dungeons. Although the dungeons in Ultima I are randomized based on your character's name. I didn't play Ultima I very long last night and quickly realized that if I don't want to stumble around in the game I need to start taking notes again, and I need print out the world maps (there are four in I) so I can make notes on them. I probably won't map the dungeons this time, but instead will buy a ton of Ladder Up and Ladder Down spells. :)

 

..Al

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But it's also very forgiving, since it gives you all of your HP back every time you leave a dungeon.

 

True, you get hit points based on the creatures you kill in the dungeons. You can very quickly build up your hit points by diving in and out of dungeons. However, as you get to lower dungeon levels you can also get your ass handed to you in a heartbeat. I've made that mistake a few times already!

 

There's speed fixes for I-III (which also add EGA graphics to II and III). There's also a speed fix for IV, but I can't figure out how to get it to work without also having to install the VGA graphics.

 

The EGA version of Ultima I looks nice. I'll definitely install the patches for Ultima II and III. Here they are:

 

http://exodus.voyd.net/ultima2.html

http://exodus.voyd.net/ultima3.html

 

Someone made an Ultima patcher for the GOG games, since apparently using the above patches is difficult with these:

 

http://www.pixsoriginadventures.co.uk/ultima-patcher-1-5/

 

Heck, this was updated only a few days ago! :D Looks like this patches pretty much every Ultima, although it's not clear exactly what patches are applied. Hmmmm, looks like it also patches Ultima I. It looks like there's only a single patch available for Ultima I that fixes a potential graphics glitch. The other games have more extensive patches.

 

Putting these links here so I can easily find them when I start playing the later Ultimas..

 

I liked I (EGA remake) and III, but didn't care for Alkabeth and II.

 

Ultima I and II are definitely oddballs, with the space travel, and Ultima II especially since the map is obviously based on Earth. I fully expect to still enjoy Ultima II, though. The games get better starting with Ultima III.

 

..Al

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You guys are making me want to buy all those Ultimas (except for maybe IX) from GOG. I already got the free ones. I suppose it's probably the best/easiest way to play them at this point, especially on a Mac. I tried to get Ultima I working on the C64 last night to no avail. Keeps hanging on the Origin screen.

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I've spent several hours today playing Ultima I. I'm pretty far along in the game at this point. Once you get going, it's pretty straightforward, and it's very easy to max your character's attributes (just takes time). I won't give any spoilers away, except to say I have my shuttle ready and am about to go into space. Here's a screenshot (the shuttle is parked somewhere else):

 

ultima_1_playthru.png

 

I'm playing the game fullscreen, but dropped into a window to take an easy screenshot.

 

I should finish this in a few hours. :)

 

..Al

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Albert: there were two console ports of IV. One was for the NES (and from what I've heard has more of a JRPG feel), and another for the Master System/Mark III (which is far more like the computer version, and supports the FM expansion). Definitely worth checking out, as well as the Ultima games for the SNES.

 

Now on the ports of III, there were three done by FCI/PonyCanyon for the Famicom, NES, and MSX2. There have been slight gameplay changes (will PM if desired to avoid plot spoilers), and there's no more free choice of gender in character generation. Classes are auto-assigned a gender (male are Fighter, Ranger, Alchemist, Wizard, Thief, and Barbarian; female are Lark, Cleric, and Paladin).

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Albert: there were two console ports of IV. One was for the NES (and from what I've heard has more of a JRPG feel), and another for the Master System/Mark III (which is far more like the computer version, and supports the FM expansion). Definitely worth checking out, as well as the Ultima games for the SNES.

 

I have both of those, but haven't yet played any console Ultima ports.

 

Now on the ports of III, there were three done by FCI/PonyCanyon for the Famicom, NES, and MSX2. There have been slight gameplay changes (will PM if desired to avoid plot spoilers), and there's no more free choice of gender in character generation. Classes are auto-assigned a gender (male are Fighter, Ranger, Alchemist, Wizard, Thief, and Barbarian; female are Lark, Cleric, and Paladin).

 

I have the Famicom and NES versions, but not the MSX2 version. Interesting about classes being auto-assigned a gender.

 

..Al

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