Ultima for Atari 800

[Haunted]

Hi! I've been messing around with the 1981 Apple II version of Ultima. It has some different game mechanics than the various remakes, but can be pretty buggy at times. The only system to get a port of the game, rather than a remake, was the good old Atari 800. I've read some different statements about this port: bloggingultima believes the A800 version fixed some or all of the bugs, while the Ultima wiki says it was a straight port with all the problems of the original. I was wondering, does anyone here have experience with the A800 Ultima and know the real deal?

[Goochman]

I don't know of the bugs - I played it years ago and finished it. They used a graphics char mode vs the normal artifact mode so it looked a bit goofy but played fine.

[Havok69]

Me too - I finished the game on an 800XL. I don't remember any bugs when I played. In fact, I finished up to Ultima IV on the Atari, and when I switched over to a PC, finished the rest there. Man was Ultima IX a disappointment!

[Haunted]

Thanks for the info, guys! Whoever put that bit in the wiki must not have known what he was talking about. It also neglected to mention the Apple IIGS version of Ultima I, anyway.

 

I haven't played Ultima IX... it doesn't exactly have the best reputation, and I guess that's scared me off.

 

Oh, and cool U3 avatar, Goochman.

[Goochman]

Thanks - I really enjoyed the Ultima series.

 

As for Ultima IX the biggest problem was the video card issues - it was supported by 3dfx so if you didnt have that card it was really buggy - however I did find it somewhat enjoyable. What made me a bit sad is it seemed on every 3rd release Origin tried to set the stage for the next triliogy - U3 was 'ok' but U4 was fantastic. U6 was 'ok' but U7 was excellent.

 

U9 had some good things that if continued could've been great moving Ultima in the FPS RPG realm.

 

Woulda coulda - not