Your favorite Ultima

[Angelspit]

A question for the old-timer games mostly. The Ultima series is my all-time favorite, even more than Heroes. I had a nearly-unhealthy addiction to those games back in my college days, playing from IV to VIII in a few months only. What is your favorite game of the series?

Note: I didn't include the two spin-offs (Martian Dreams and that other game that I can't remember right now), Ultima Online and the Underworlds because I had too many poll options already. Feel free to tell us if you have played and enjoyed them.

[Corribus]

Ah, Ultima - games that are close to my heart. So sad the series ended on such a sour note.

I voted VII part II (although I don't really distinquish between the quality of parts I and II - they really are two parts of a single game..). The game just blew me away - if only it wasn't for the strange memory manager program that makes it nearly impossible to run on modern systems, (hell it was hard to run on old systems, too), I'd still be playing them. Runner up would be U6. I really wanted to like U8 - but it was just too much acrobatics...

I think the other game was called Savage Empires or something, wasn't it? I did play Ultima Underworld, and it was quite revolutionary for the time. I believe it was the first first-person "shooter" RPG. But I never liked the Underworlds as much as the original games.

[Vlad976]

Vote Ultima 7(both parts), and both Underworlds.
Haven't played UO or Ultima 8.
The Guardian was my favorite villain.

[Corribus]

Vote Ultima 7(both parts), and both Underworlds.
Haven't played UO or Ultima 8.

If you liked Ultima7, you really should play Ultima8. There is actually a very good game hiding underneith all the mario brothers gameplay. I said I was disappointed with it, and I was, but I think it was often treated a little too harshly by critics. It was still an Ultima, a series of RPGs which, with the exception of U9, are superior than a majority of all the other cRPGs that were ever made.

[Angelspit]

Actually, I liked 9 better than 8. Compared to any of the other Ultima games, the world of Pagan feels very empty. You might spend hours without meeting any NPC. It helps create an atmosphere of loneliness and despair, which fits the storyline quite well, but it makes the game a bit repetitive and boring. The magic system was quite cool though. I just loved to perform those rituals, especially those to summon those elementals (Pyro and the others).

I didn't spend a lot of time in the first Underworld game, as the graphics engine made me a little dizzy: claustrophobic people should not try this game. I like the UW2 engine better, but some of the late-game levels will drive you crazy. I think I had to rely on cheats during the endgame.

[Corribus]

I never gave U9 much of a chance, actually. I'm not sure why... only played it a few hours before moving on to something else.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I voted Ultima6, the last of the turn based combat in the series. While I did quite enjoy Ultima7 I was always frustrated when Iolo would shoot the other party members in the back with his trusty crossbow. You would think that he, the Avatar, Shamanio, and Dupre had learned a little teamwork in all their adverturing. In other words the AI definately needed some work with the computer controled party members.

I very much enjoyed Ultima Underworld 1&2 also. I did play the Martian adventure as well as the Savage Frontier (I think that's what it was called) also. While I enjoyed them, the Avatar seemed kind of out of place in them.

GW

[Corribus]

I voted Ultima6, the last of the turn based combat in the series. While I did quite enjoy Ultima7 I was always frustrated when Iolo would shoot the other party members in the back with his trusty crossbow. You would think that he, the Avatar, Shamanio, and Dupre had learned a little teamwork in all their adverturing. In other words the AI definately needed some work with the computer controled party members.

True, but combat was such a minor part of U7 that I didn't really mind.

[Caradoc]

Ultima IV changed my life. I had enjoyed II and III, but IV was the first game where I was totally immersed. I knew every character in every town as if they were old friends. I felt a real sense of responsibility as the Avatar.

I also learned a lesson that has made me a better person. This is the doom of the residents of Magincia -- a lesson that humility rather than pride is the true virtue. Of all the misery and misfortune I have brought on myself throughout my life, most all of it is due to pride. And of life's true rewards, most have come through humility.

It is their ethical content that sets the Ultima games apart from and above all others.

[Corribus]

So true - that game was different from every RPG that had been made up until that point, and in fact different from every RPG that has been made since.

[Angelspit]

I still think about the Ultima virtue system once in a while when I need to make a difficult decision. "What would the Avatar do?" is a question I asked myself more than once. I also think Ultima IV made me a better person.

[Llefser]

Ultima IV was simply amazing. I only ever played Ultima III and Ultima IV, so perhaps it is not fair of me to vote, but it was one of the best games I have ever played.

[Talin_Trollbane]

i voted U5, cuz it was the first game i ever really loved in Ultima, played both underworlds too, and loved them as much as this one.

Ultima 6-7 was amazing too, but i still reinstall u5 when im in the retro mood.