Albert Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Speaking of Amazon sellers. Just received a book, shipped in a thin plastic envelope. However, the book was then wrapped in a layer of thin foam, and inside of that the book was wrapped in some sort of saran wrap. It took me three minutes to get the book completely unwrapped. The postage was $2.66 (for Media Mail, of course) and I paid $3.99 for it. I wonder what Amazon's take is? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Ah, yes, of course, makers of the System Shock games. No wonder I got confused. I thought Origin had published those. Origin did have a close relationship with Looking Glass and published several of their games--System Shock, Ultima Underworld, and Ultima Underworld II. System Shock 2 was published by Electronic Arts, who had swallowed Origin by that point. I'd love to see a System Shock sequel, but it looks like the rights are a bit in limbo at the moment: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/713030/the-lost-history-of-system-shock/ I've been trying to decide where to start with the Ultima games, and it sounds like based on what you and the others are saying my best bet is probaly U4. I'm a bit of a completionist, so I'd feel odd starting a series with a later game. The first two are pretty quick, but I know Ultima III is going to take me a while to play. Ultima IV is where the series really finds its way. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Went through a few more boxes of software. Found these! 13 original EA Flat boxes! All Atari 8-bit releases. ..Al I lucked out on those. I found a guy who used to own a computer store here in Michigan years and years ago and helped him clear out his barn. Most of the stuff he had in there had deteriorated into pure crap, but in some scungy box we found most of the EA game boxes. There were no games in them, just the boxes, but they were in mint condition. I'm pretty sure they were Atari releases because MULE and Worms were in there which were not released for the Apple. The only ones missing were Racing Destruction Set, Mail Order Monsters, and Great American Cross Country Race. Speaking of which, you're missing Worms? there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Speaking of which, you're missing Worms? there. I'm missing more than that! http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/204028-ea-flats/ If I ever get bored of the Ultima collecting, I may try to complete this collection. All of mine seem to be complete and the boxes are overall in good condition. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Well I'll be damned. I'm missing more than I thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+orpheuswaking Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I'm missing more than that! http://www.atariage....04028-ea-flats/ If I ever get bored of the Ultima collecting, I may try to complete this collection. All of mine seem to be complete and the boxes are overall in good condition. ..Al I love my EA flats... I'm still missing a couple myself... Worms especially Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 That is one huge advantage of playing the games on a modern PC. For all intents and purposes, there are NO load times. EA became dead to me when they destroyed Origin, which was here in town. I had always envisioned working for them someday, although that dream soured a bit after I worked with a bunch of people who left Origin to escape what EA had done to the company. At least I did get to visit their offices. ..Al That's sad to hear. I'm no big fan of EA since they started swallowing up companies and spitting them back out. Oh and I noticed "Age Of Adventure" shows as missing at Atarimania. Although my guess would be they have an image just have not added it. Hey Soul Blazer.. when it comes to the overall "theme" that the Ultima series took.. then IV is probably the way to go. Although III is alot of fun.. it's quite a big change in philosophy between III and IV. In fact back in the day what he did with IV was rather daring for an RPG style game. Oh and Looking Glass made some great games! I still need to play the System Shock and Thief games. Only managed to play them a little back when they came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 I still need to play the System Shock and Thief games. If you play Thief in the order of 3, 1, 2, you will be less unhappy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Something tells me I should not have read this thread. I see a lot of wasted time in the near future! :-) Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Al Origin was too ambitious with Ultima IX: Ascension, and quite a bit of story was cut from the game. I have an early design document somewhere (it's printed and massive, I got it from one of the team members) and it's really a shame that the game was gutted so much. Do you have any of this document online? This is the kind of material I was interested in when I purchased "The Ultima Collectors Guide" last year. I'll bet its a great read. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Do you have any of this document online? This is the kind of material I was interested in when I purchased "The Ultima Collectors Guide" last year. I'll bet its a great read. I have not, but Bob White (who was one of the Ultima IX team members, and also one of the designers on our Deus Ex team) has published the original plot for Ascension: http://www.ultimaaiera.com/blog/ultima-9-the-bob-white-plot/ http://hacki.bootstrike.com/english/articles_orig_plot.htm I have purposely not read the treatment I have, as I wanted to play the game first. I'll see if I can dig up my copy--it may be the same as what's published on the first link, but it may be different. Fortunately the above copy is dated, so that will be a quick indicator if it's the same. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 18, 2013 Author Share Posted January 18, 2013 Here's the next Ultima on its way to me. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Here's the next Ultima on its way to me. ..Al I think you have a problem, Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 I think you have a problem, Al. It's the only Playstation release of an Ultima game, so I had to jump on it. There are quite a few unique Japanese Ultima items. I have the more common items (like the Famicom and Super Famicom games), but others are going to take more work. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Wow.. never realized that game came out for th PS. Too bad it is in another language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Wow.. never realized that game came out for th PS. Too bad it is in another language. You don't know Japanese? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 No... but I know Kung Fu.. I once stepped in it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 The Saturn got the entire Wizardry series (well not the last ones). That's another ancient RPG franchise that made it to other shores. Of course I think it was more popular in Japan than the US which isn't true for the Ultima series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Found this neat little flow chart while doing a search to see if there are any translations of ultima underworld for the ps1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 That's a very interesting chart, thanks for posting it! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Jesus Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 And Arx Fatalis has a spiritual successor called Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. ...and after that, the developer made the new Dishonored game. Check it out if you like Thief, Arx Fatalis & Deus Ex mixed altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 I just opened a package from an eBay seller containing a game I bought. As soon as I opened the box I was attacked with a strong smell of cigarettes. Disgusting how cigarette smoke attaches itself to everything. I almost want to give the user a negative feedback for this alone. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeshed Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I just opened a package from an eBay seller containing a game I bought. As soon as I opened the box I was attacked with a strong smell of cigarettes. Disgusting how cigarette smoke attaches itself to everything. I almost want to give the user a negative feedback for this alone. I would, I feel the same way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 I started exploring the dungeons in Ultima III and I suck at mapping. I used to be fantastic at this. I had to go out and buy some mechanical pencils as I was using a pen and making so many mistakes. Arrgh! ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 After apparently mapping every dungeon I'd been in so far incorrectly, I had to finally look at a dungeon map online to see what was going on. Apparently all the walls are one square thick, so when you go through a door, you are moving two spaces! I was just about to start pulling my hair out! Should be a bit easier now! ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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