Remind me to never try this premiere thing again -_- First time using the new uploader (the one youtube enforced instead of the old one) and thought "instant premiere" meant uploading like normal. Instead we got this confusing nonsense, sorry about that.
This video is what UA-cam is all about 🏆 and ultima 3 is best played in one hour chunks after you get home from 4th grade back in the 80s. Your endurance is epic !!!
My first rpg when I was about 10-11 years old. In hindsight, I was too young (it came with Carmen Sandiego) but still fun because lots of hours with my best friend. We just died and died until we found the town Yew, then got past the start. Then got into the grind, still not willing to try dungeons too much. I still remember getting sunk the first time, playing alone, found the temple that lets you increase strength. Ran to my friend's house to tell him. We finished the game by trial and error for the insert card order because we hadn't found the clue (or exotic armour). I never thought critically about this game like this review. It's all true but I have soft spot for it so it's my favourite ultima. So many hours it's burned into my memory. It took about 10 seconds just now to remember the word you have to yell, but it's still in my memory 30 years later.
Thank you! Really happy to hear that you like my videos so much ^_^ The next video will definitely be Space Quest 2, the one after will probably be U4. P.S. Good to see you again :)
I just finished to watch your videos. I must say your understanding of MDA framework and your benevolent approach of this old titles is freshening. I wish you (at least) 1000 subs and a better treatment from the youtube algorithm !
Thank you! It's just a general rule of mine to avoid spoilers if I can help it: I manly play old games (that I've never played before) and damn there are some endings I wouldn't want to ruin for people only now discovering them. But, if it comes down to it, I will go into spoilers for the sake of analysis if the game requires it (like with SQ2)
Another great review. This game at the start looks fun and anxiety inducing, especially for the combat that's essential for the gold to buy food. The game had some bits that were definitely ahead of their time but had so many things holding them back. The encounter rate raising as you level up and not being able to add more stats after level 25 was a bad move but was probably necessary due to the hardware limitations of the pcs at the time. Still! Future developers would continue to improve and refine what Ultima 3 laid out. Thank you, Georg! Glad to see you doing well and continuing to upload videos of these games that I haven't been able to play, and paved the way for future gameplay mechanics.
And thank you for watching! ^_^ Even though I gave this game a rather low score I can't help but like it overall, especially from the historical perspective: just seeing all those fundamental RPG mechanics at their point of origin is greatly fascinating.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews You're welcome, Georg! Always a pleasure watching your videos. :D Yeah! These old games are flawed but their historic preservation is what's needed for game developers and fans to see where these mechanics came from and to know that they can be improved upon. ^_^
Ultima III was my first Ultima game, and I played II and I soon after. I'll always have a soft spot for it, but the tedious grind is a huge problem. Having a party and the separate combat screen slows encounters to a crawl, and there are far too many as the game goes on. Ultima IV and V also have this type of combat system, and they can get horribly tedious too, but they have other things going on and they seem to progress at a more steady rate, so the slow, tedious combat is a little easier to tolerate. I agree that the final castle in Ultima III is good, and I remember being surprised when the floors attacked me close to the end. I also like how the boss "fight" at the end isn't just another fight against a powerful enemy - it was nice to see a new concept there. The first time I went down the whirlpool in a ship was exciting too. Unfortunately, there are too few of those moments of excitement and too many mind-numbing fights against endless hordes of uninteresting monsters. Ultima III was innovative and was an important step on the way to the peak games of the series, and it is the first one that has the cohesive atmosphere and style that would come to define the series, so it is a good game for people interested in the history of RPGs to experience.
Great overview. This was fun and funny (nice cameo by Timothy Leary!). Nice editing! Ultima 3 was my introduction to the series and still holds a special place in my heart! :-D I remember that trick of making backups of the player disk, because Quit and Save couldn't save you if you died. Fun times!
Ultima 3 (NES version) was my first RPG. It got me in to RPGs even though I really didn't have much of an idea of where I was going or what I was doing lol.
It does add to the mystery though :) I've had similar experience when I was a kid and it definitely made the games feel quite a bit "bigger" than they were.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Yeah, not enough "wander around like a dumbass" games anymore. I always liked those, though I know they would not be the most popular for most people.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Hmmmm, well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. UA-cam and its algorithm can be ... weird. Just do what you love. By the way, that's an awesome CRT screen!
I know right! I was actually so thrilled to have stumbled upon this CRT: one of my relatives had it in his garage for about 10-15 years. Weirdly enough, he seemed just as happy to be getting rid of it as I was to be acquiring it.
And, as always, Thank You :D Well, that's the plan with Ultima at the very least - it genuinely makes me excited to think about covering the whole series... but it's 11 games (excluding the Ultima Online). It might... well, take a while (^_^') There will definitely be other games covered in-between the Ultima ones - even after the Space Quest series (and may be during it too). I feel that a healthy dose of variety wouldn't hurt anyone :D Btw, how is that strategy game coming along?
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Hehee. Probably good not to rush all the Ultima games straight. Not even the great old Spoony did that. Strategy game was just a university project. I got made in a 8 week timeframe. Clunky and the AI is poor but works. Due lack of time we designed it more into a survival game where only you construct buildings and enemies come in waves but you have the Command & Conquer gameplay. However because of the strategy game project I got an internship to work on an online strategy game funnily enough :)
Was excited to see a new post in my subscription feed this morning, couldnt wait till I had time to sit down and watch. As someone who has only meaningfully played Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar on the NES, plus briefly dabbled 1-2 hours into one or two of the games on the SNES, these are really interesting look-backs. And i cant wait to see how a more in-depth look at Ultima 4 on PC compares to my memories of the game on the NES. I was VERY surprised to see the multiple-party mechanic in Ultima. This was a feature that I absolutely adored when it came to Wizardry 5 on the SNES. Losing your whole team was not the end of the game. It was not an excuse to save/load and pretend it didnt happen. It was the start of something new, a different band of adventurers who would likely dive deep and need to grind their abilities until they were able to rescue the original team and any important items they may have had with them, bring them back, and resurrect them. This change in gameplay upon a party loss felt rewarding, it let you re-experience earlier parts of the game again that you had not seen or been challenged by in awhile. It also meant treating your characters with respect because you couldnt just reload any time you pleased, and bring them back was costly, but doable since there was not an awful lot of stuff to buy within that game past the early parts. Hearing that a similar system like that existed in any other game rather surprised me, and I'd sure love to discover other games that used it as well. This was another interesting look-back at a game I'd have written off as being a bit too old for my tastes, but you did a great job outlining some of the things that it did well, and really made it sound rewarding in its own ways. The exploration, secrets, and puzzles in Ultima 4 on the NES were some of the most rewarding parts of the game for me. But we'll have to see if the mechanics match up to the fond memories I have of it when i was younger. It too had its share of grinding and flaws, and a weirdly inverse difficulty curve / battle grind as you leveled up, but there were a lot of great moments to be had, including a few which were probably partially unique to the NES like the save screen referring to the 'magic box.'
Damn... Guess I somewhat ruined this type of experience for myself by backing up my saves in a different folder (^_^') It does sound fascinating though, like a proper Rogue-like experience. The problem with Ultima 3 is that classes are not that fundamentally different from each other, so - considering that I actually had to restart the game about 5 times to finally get through the beginner's hell - it would probably get a bit tedious to remake the same party (essentially) again and again. In Wizardry 5 (from what I remember) there was a bit more distinction to classes, so it would actually makes sense there... Tell you what - if I ever make a review of Wizardry 5, I'll actually do that Rogue-style method of play :D It's always great to read your comments, man :D Genuinely thank you for being so supportive for all this time!
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews In the case of Ultima 3 based on what you described, combined with my experience from Ultima 4 combat (some similarities to the problems in Ultima 3) Its hard to say just how much you missed out on the multi-party part of the experience. Characters that are not significantly distinct to play would probably not make this an especially engaging system to use in this way, not in modern times anyway. It sounded Ultima 3 put ya through enough of a grind in already, though party-sharing might have lowered the excessive combat encounters while you proceeded through different parts of the game. To me it was just very interesting to see other instances of a party-system with persistent world that i'd not seen pretty much anywhere else! Anyway, you do really great work in these reviews, they're always amusing and informative retro-looks with a solid delivery and little snippets of humor sprinkled throughout like hidden gems to find. On more than one occasion you've helped me appreciate something that I had pretty much written off as a bad game, as something whose design or mechanic-intent I simply did not understand at the time. Upon realizing what they were trying to do, that context has often made all the difference in allowing me to appreciate them for what they were. In some ways I feel like this is why some people really love Developer commentary on their games, in their movies, about their books or scripts. That different perspective is meaningful. Feel like Seal might be putting you through the wringer with these last few games. Forcing you to endure these older experiences for few specific evolutions in gameplay so that you can really feel their impact when you find that one gem that takes everything to an entirely different level. Lets just hope that with Ultima 4 you're in for more of a treat, and that the two of you are still friends when this is all over and done with! :P
Now this is where Ultima takes some giant strides towards true greatness. It won't be there until IV, but the additions of the combat screen (and system in general) and the party of characters rather than a lone... avatar... really do a lot to make the game more engaging and complex. It is always shocking when looking at Ultima IV and V, what masterpieces they are, and then looking at I and II, and how far from that they started out. And it's interesting to see what parts of IV onward began in this game, and what parts were truly innovations of IV. I'd still say that IV does way more small things, adds so many details and smooths out so my wrinkles and brings truly revolutionary concepts into play which have rarely ever been attempted by future games... but this game does a lot of the scaffolding, creating a much more robust base game, from which IV was then able to refine and create a masterpiece from with a few genius flourishes and a ton of details. It's still weird to me that there's never been an effort to remake at least IV with simple but nice 3D graphics and some modern refinements. Maybe it's in copyright hell or something like that?
I 100% agree - without U3 we'd not have U4 - a truly timeless and (to this day) unique experience. It is weird that there's been... nothing done with the franchise for 2 decades now. But it's owned by EA, so... figures
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews EA actually did "Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar" in 2013. The question which remains is, was it so insignifcant you forgot, or was it so bad you wanted to forget?
Hey! Great to see you again ^_^ ... and It's really awesome to hear that you're still looking forward to the next video... since it's almost done! It will definitely be done by the end of the month (unless something extraordinary, like a meteorite crashing into my apartment, happens) :D
I played this game so much I covered the whole world with gold chests. This not only removes most of the black, but also monsters can't walk on the chests.
Really enjoying these Ultima videos. I played all of them (including Akalabeth) in the 70s and 80s on the Apple ][, which is the computer that Richard Garriott programmed these games on (and the computer he intended for them to be played on.) To wit, I have to admit that looking at the CGA color palette simply doesn't do the game justice. It's much more beautiful when viewed on the Apple ][. The dungeons, for example, had red and blue walls which made it easier to understand directions as you rotated. Another benefit of playing Ultima III on the Apple Is that this was the very first computer role-playing game to have a musical score! The PC versions didn't get a soundtrack until Ultima VI (which is when Garriott finally switched to developing the Ultima series on PCs). The Apple sound card (called the Mockingboard) had brighter, crisper tones than the warbly ad-lib card for PCs did. Playing Ultimas III, IV and V without the accompanying Mockingboard soundtrack is a very different experience and I highly recommend you go back and play them using an Apple ][ emulator. You can also find the soundtracks on UA-cam.
Thank you! And Damn, didn't know that! It's actually a really nice score for the first one ever in a CRPG :) It definitely does look like the intended way to play (although the apple 2 emulator is a far bigger hassle to get running than dosbox the last time I checked). ...Although I have to admit that I sort of really like the silence that gets broken only by the pc speaker sounds. It ties into that "meditative trance" feeling I mentioned in the Ultima I video. There is something about the minimalist simplicity of those primitive graphics that feels very "unspecific", if you get what I mean. There is this lack of definition in story, visuals and even gameplay - the void - that should, presumably, be filled with the player's imagination, but me, personally, - I love the feeling of simply falling into that void and being there. There is a certain "universal" feeling there, that would be diminished if the music were to "instruct" me on how to feel at any given moment. Music-less Ultima IV (the remade version that is sold on GOG), for instance, is now one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time... and I'm not sure that it would be so if it had a musical score.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Dosbox is easier, you say? www.virtualapple.org/ultimaiiidisk.html One of the things you miss when you play these games 40 years later is a full appreciation of the context in which the game was presented. When a new Ultima was released, I always looked forward to seeing the gradual improvements and innovations. Yes, most of those planets in Ultima II are useless, but the feeling of freedom you got from having not just one but TEN open worlds to explore was mind blowing. Remember the first time you played GTA3 and realized you could drive anywhere? It's kind of like that. Remember at that time the whole CRPG genre was being defined. There were no conventions-- it was all being invented. In 2021 it's easy to take in-game music for granted, but in 1983 consider that you had to be lucky enough not just to have an Apple computer at home, but also the optional sound card which was expensive! With it, your computer was capable of doing things that were really rare and special at the time. Ultima and Ultima II were silent, meditative experiences not by choice, but by default! The technology to play music simply wasn't available (*see note below) And if you had played Ultima III as I did at first, silently without the Mockingboard, and then your father bought one and installed it-- suddenly your previously silent game was filled with music! Like uncovering a hidden treasure that was always there, just out of reach. I can't explain how special it was to be a 9 year old kid in 1983 hear your game play music for the first time, and that nostalgic memory lingers. The Ultima soundtracks were really the music of my childhood. Notably, my dad traded in our beloved Apple //e for a PC before Ultima V was released. I bought it for PC and although the game looked great in VGA, there was no soundtrack included on the PC version (even if you had a sound card). I simply couldn't play it without the music, and in fact never finished the game. I've been meaning to go back to it ever since. (On the positive side, the PC introduced me to Starlight, which was as groundbreaking for space exploration as Ultima was for open world CRPGs). *There were some really clever tricks to get the stock Apple speaker to do way more than what the "beep" of PC speakers could do (search UA-cam for the early Apple arcade game "Microwave", which likely was likely the very first game ever within a soundtrack, or the original Castle Wolfenstein which played digitized speech way back in 1981!!)
Man... Thank you for sharing this. It genuinely warmed my heart... your comment I mean. There are parts of it I can relate very strongly to :_) About the apple 2 - around five years ago I tried emulating Lode Runner and it took many hours to get it to work, as well as kept crushing even when it did, but hey, I guess emulation got a lot better since then :D Thank you for the link! ^_^
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I spoke too soon... it looks like with the death of Java, the Virtual Apple site no longer works. Sorry about that... However, the downloadable emulators are much better anyway (I use AppleWin) because you can record save states which makes some of the more dastardly games solvable. I'd be happy to help you configure one if you're having trouble. They might be a little cryptic if you never used a physical Apple ][ because the software emulates the mechanical function of the machine very closely. So for me it's very intuitive, but maybe not if you're unfamiliar.
Amazing as always! Found this video yesterday when I started thinking about your videos again! To my pleasant surprise there was a new video waiting! I tried watching it last night but I fell asleep cause I was too exhausted but I will watch it tonight when I come back from work! I loved the parts I got to watch at least, haha. I do not know if I already recommended "legend of Grimrock" or not, but if you do not know about that game it is easily one of the better games of recent years. There is a sequel as well.
Thank you! Oh, I can relate to falling asleep while watching something, in fact yesterday I'd slept for 13 hours straight while watching a let's play ^_^ I can't recall whether you've mentioned LoG or not... but it's definitely something I've wanted to play for a while now. It does look like a fantastic game. ... It's great to see you again, man :)
5:28, and you are in Grey, which town is a key to avoiding literally tens of thousands- maybe even hundreds of thousands- of turns of aggravation. I recommend a new party to head there immediately. There are only four units of eight guards in the town. Join gold to one party member. Get that party member to bribe each unit of guards, at 100 gold, to vanish. Then steal the treasure chests behind the counter in the shop, and attack everybody everywhere. The thief in the vault attacks you anyway, so imagine this as self-defense. Every enemy left in Grey is a single opponent, with as much treasure as any full enemy party of eight, so ganging up on them is the easiest and most profitable combat you can have. Use Appar Unem to disarm every treasure chest, no exceptions- your novices cannot afford to be hurt. It's irritating because the spell often fails, but starting a game over is worse. Make it a goal to purchase at least a dozen powders, forty torches, and a score of gems at the Guild. Buy food when necessary. Sell superfluous weapons and armour- thieves can steal them during combat, so they are best sold as soon as possible. Get your fighter-types ranged weapons. Save at least 400 Gold to bribe the Guards again. Go to Lord British to unlock Hit Point increases as soon as possible. Leave town, then re-enter, repeat your Bribing, fighting, treasure-gathering and Guild item purchasing until everybody has at least 200 experience points and you have the Guild equipment mentioned above. Go to the dungeon NE of Lord British's Castle, get everyone the Mark of Kings, which unlocks 550+ HP. Use the Moon Gates to get to the mountain-locked dungeon. Put your Thief-type in front of the party. Go down to Level 4. There are two fountains; one cures poison, the other maximizes HP. Drink from the Increase HP fountain to top everybody up. Using your rogue, disarm all traps on levels 4 and 5, even before grabbing a single treasure chest; get healed as soon as a party member falls below 200 HP. Climbing up and down the ladder in the middle of the floor, now grab all the treasure chests, retreating and healing as necessary. If powerful enemies attack you, use your Powders to negate time and defeat them. Powders are cheaper than paying for resurrection at a healer. Go back to the surface, get XP promotions, more food, then re-enter. Return and repeat until every party member has as close to 9999 Gold as possible. Rove the map, visit towns, talk to everybody to get clues, kill occasional foes, but leave their treasure for when you need it later. Keep your eyes peeled for that Pirate Ship! Capture it. Get the Exotics from the islands; get more than you need, in case of thieves. Equip all party members eith the armour, and your non-ranged heroes with the weapons. Take the "whirlpool plunge". In Ambrosia, focus on Strength and Dexterity the first time. Use your keys and gems to find and access the Shrines. Get the Cards at each Shrine; spend all that hard-earned gold. Go back to Sosaria. Hit the mountain dungeon again. Return to Ambrosia. Top off your party members. Always max out Strength; for Dexterity, top your rogues. 50 Dex is usually enough for everybody else. Max out your mages' Intelligence and Wisdom. Return to Sosaria. Clobber everybody- Guard units, for example, always consist of eight characters worth 15XP each, so that's 120 XP guaranteed; they are a good target now. Visit Lord British to max out your Hit Points. Get the other Marks in the dungeons; their bottom levels are no longer a death sentence for your now-powerful heroes. Go for Exodus; yell the Word of Passage at the Great Earth Snake. Equip Exotic weapons and armour for all. Hit the lawn and the bricks. Fight through the Castle to get to Exodus. Follow the proper order to vanquish the enemy! Victory in under 150,000 turns- consistently and easily. If I did it, years ago, so can anybody else.
Playing this was ridiculously hard after doing the gold box series first. I never managed to find the mark of the serpent so it just became an exercise in frustration.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews There are very few channels that do good reviews of old games. So as long as you keep making videos, you can count on me watching them :)
Hi again, Georg! Didn't watch the review, but have some questions already :D Do you know about mods for U2 and U3? I've found some mods that make EGA or even VGA graphic instead of default CGA and something about map from U1 for U3. Didn't know that's a "remake" of U1 on U3 engine or not, but it can be interesting for you somehow.
Hi! It's great to see you again =) I didn't know about those mods, but they sound neat - especially the map one: the map from U1 is bigger than the one in U3 (well, at least it has more dungeons) so making a mod of it for U3 (which has a more complex RPG and battle systems) does make sense. Btw, sorry about making U3 review before SQ2 - it's just that it was closer to the finish-line, so - having rather limited free time past few month, I've decided to finish it first. But hey SQ marathon is still on, and the next video will definetely be SQ2 :D
You complained about the excessive grind. There are different areas you can grind. Things you can do to grind from easy to hard. 1. Destroy town Yew (cleric town--no guards. 2. Dungeon east and north of castle level 3. 3. Death Gultch. 4. Town Moon (4 guards) 5. Montor east and west town.
I got my ass handed to me by that floor! It's actually one of the main reasons I liked the final castle so much - the invisible enemy (it's such a funny thing that they called it "the floor" instead of, like, "a ghost" or something, but I wouldn't have it any other way) adds such an unexpected twist to the battle system, forcing you to actually come up with a new strategy on the fly. The reason I didn't mention it was because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for potential players... But I did sneak in a reference to it at 25:19. If the game had more of those types of unique enemies - I'd be singing a different tune during the review.
Ultima III is my favorite Ultima. Then Ultima II. In the past V was my favorite, but it is not as replayable as II and III. My play style makes most use of the Thief first, then Druid. There is a great way to get gold and xp. First, get to level 2, then buy some torches. Then visit the dungeon to the east and north of the castle. Cast down level twice (to dungeon level 3). Search the corners and open the chest with the Theif. Cast up to get out. You'll get over 1,000 gold and xp from fighting.
Oh, man, my videos must have been a torture... we literally have the exact opposite taste in terms of our Ultima games preference (^_^') I can't remember the specifics, but sometime ago I'd discussed the grind with JemyM in this comment section and he wrote this: "I discovered that my Wizard+Cleric had enough combined MP (25+25) to effectively grind all my money in Dardin's Pit at the beginning of the game, right after my first 5 levels and buying a pile of torches. Two teleports down, get the center room chests and the corner room chests and drink at the fountain there for a full heal, then three teleports up to the surface, rest to full MP, save, and back down. Repeat over and over again." And I wrote that this was what I did as well. My guess is that the Dardin's Pit is the dungeon you're referring to? Forgive me if I'm mistaken. P.S when I talk about grind, the thing I'm referring to is grind for gold to go to Ambrosia
You seemed to like the games well enough, and I agree the ending of Ultima III was awesome. I probably like the games more because I played them when they came out.@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews
Btw, I highly recommend the Lost Sectors video on Ultima 3. In addition to being the most underrated gaming channel on youtube, they really loved the game, with Chris (one of the hosts) considering it his favorite (or one of them) Ultima game.
Only Ultima I played and finished was Complete Ultima 7 back in nineties. In my country Ultimas were not very popular mainly because of the language barrier. But I fell in love with the mythology after I read about the series in the game magazine. I loved 7 to death, I played it for every minute I could, printed the map, learned the runes, kept a journal... but was not able to get into any other ones. Too spoiled by the modern interface of 7...
Ultima 7 is, indeed, the Wizardry 7 of Ultima series... What is it with RPGs and number 7, btw? Final Fantasy 7, Might and Magic 7. Lucky number 7 indeed XD
And so, four months later, I am revisiting this series of reviews. Why? Not because this is one of my favorite channels (but past views were for this reason lol), but because I decided to play Ultima myself! In the first one, for some reason, I didn't get access to the time machine from the princess and I already watched the finale on UA-cam, and in the second ... Well, I definitely agreed with your review while I was playing. So I couldn't really get anywhere, because although it looks like a more "standard" role-playing game, but, nevertheless, a lot is broken and really thieves stealing the blue pendance even after you just knocked her out, this is masochism lol ... Would I have dared to do this crazy Ultima race if it hadn't been for your videos, even though all the parts were bought from me a long time ago in GOG? I think not! Thank you so much for that. Rarely do I get the feeling that I’m discussing a game live when I’m just watching the video. I am glad that you are responding to fresh comments and that everything is apparently fine with you! I even specially sorted them by date to make sure of this. :) P.S. Still waiting for Space Quest 2 review. Especially Cubix Rube part lol.
That's freaking awesome! If there is anything that I'd always hoped my videos could do is inspire people to play those classic games, so genuinely Thank You for that! Your comment - together with the JemyM comments (he's also on an Ultima marathon) - makes me feel like Ultima series is, indeed, "alive" - like it's not just a piece of history, but something happening "at the moment", if that makes any sense ^_^ I do highly recommend playing through Ultima 3 as fast as possible to get to Ultima 4 though. That game is... quite something, not going to lie :D Btw, I'm really sorry about the delay on SQ2 - I do remember that it's your favorite series and damn, I really wish I could have made the video sooner... If that's of any consolation, I have already written the script for the third SQ - so, even if it takes some time - it will, definitely, be made.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Yes, I understand about the "liveliness of games". I am glad that there are such enthusiasts who do not just retell, but make full-fledged reviews. I do this myself, but in a very narrow circle of acquaintances. Don't apologize for being "late" with Space Quest 2's review (or any other reviews). Considering the amount of material that you do for your videos and that this is all without the support of patreons and other donations for the UA-cam channel - any waiting time is normal I won't lie, I would like to see more videos, but I'd rather watch your videos rarely, enjoying your titanic work, than watch several new videos a month, but which reveal the topic very superficially. I am glad that Space Quest 2, which is considered to be "bad", did not discourage you from playing further and you have already appreciated the excellent third part!
@@alexanderlicht6458 From the bottom of my heart: Thank You. You can't imagine how much it means for me to hear this! The support of you and other people is... basically what keeps me going. This channel would literally be nothing without this neat little community - Thank You :) About SQ2 and SQ3 - I don't want to spoil anything, but let's say: I simply can't wait for you to see the videos on those games :D
Honestly, I can't recall any instance when the result _wasn't_ worth the wait. It's a rare feat for a youtuber nowadays :) Hope you had a great holiday!
@@onotolio He-he, thanks man ;) Hope yours were as good as mine... or even better! ^_^ The great thing about them holidays is that I get a lot of time off, during which I can make some decent progress on videos. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up the next review soon..ish :D
I don't agree with the break of the game at the higher levels. Once you max out levels 25, your combat is need to get gold. You can stock up on all the guild items, because they are expensive. You can get through the combats easier by buying more Powders to negate time, or gems and teleporting in dungeons you can get through them much faster--which is why up and down spells are very low casting cost--makes dungeon exploration easier.
You're probably right, maybe my problem was that I'd wanted to map out every dungeon by hand (on paper). For some reason I saw powders and gems as cheating (like using the flute in Mario 3). I did end up using them after a while. Though I used teleportation without such resignations - to get back to the level I was at to continue mapping it out. Yeah, in retrospect, I should have used powders way more often.
Cool. I found this video one day after beating Ultima III for the first time. All human party with classic fighter, thief, cleric and mage. I recommend not trying to be balanced, but dish out 25 in dexterity (for fighters) else they can't really hit the targets, and 25 for spellcasters, to max out their usefulness. Unfortunately if you play the game like I did you will be stuck with those attributes to the very end of the game. :P I discovered that my Wizard+Cleric had enough combined MP (25+25) to effectively grind all my money in Dardin's Pit at the beginning of the game, right after my first 5 levels and buying a pile of torches. Two teleports down, get the center room chests and the corner room chests and drink at the fountain there for a full heal, then three teleports up to the surface, rest to full MP, save, and back down. Repeat over and over again. Boring but fast and can be done right after buying your first torches, but some level ups for the hitpoints to survive traps is preferred, but I stayed around 3-600 hp. I actually forgot to level up by accident. And your video make me glad I did. After that I would probably consider not getting the "Mark of Kings" at all until you're Level 5 with all characters, then simply forget to level up at all until you are ready to go for the ending. What killed Ultima III for me was the need to go to that other continent for attribute points. You want to grind like 3-40000 gold before going there, and have to do that with your starting attributes. After my first visit to the other continent I had 75+75 MP making it much faster and much safer to continue the same grind. And once I had maxed out all my attributes it was very fast to get all the other marks. Only then, after doing all that, did I level up my characters right before beating the game... I actually liked the ending. Silly end boss but not unexpected after Ultima I and II.
Dardin's Pit is definetely the best place to grind - I'd done my grind there as well. Now about holding out on the mark of kings. It actually does make sense to stick with 5th level... if the frequency of encounters was *literally* tied to the level. The problem is that I'm not 100% sure that enc.freq. is tied to the level and not just to a "timer" - it might very well be that freq. is increased based on how many turns have passed within gameplay. The reason I did not elaborate on that in the video is because: 1) It's actually rather confusing, so I did not want to, sort-of, pollute the progression of analysis with rather unnecessary information, since... 2) ...If you play as intended you'll be leveling up as the "timer" keeps ticking, so it's essentially not going to matter what the freq. is actually tied to since both increase in parallel... unless the player does what you did, since not getting the mark of king de-synchronizes level-timer parallel. The mark of kings is the easiest to find in the game (probably intentionally), so - even though it's very possible - it did not occur to me that someone might accidentally miss it. I'd say the most effective way to play Ultima 3 is similar to yours, but there's not really any point for holding out on the level-up grind. Beating 2 dungeons (which you need to beat to get all the marks) is not enough to get most experience for the 25th level, so if you level up while grinding money you'll get enough to "cover" the missing exp. So If you get mark of kings early, you can avoid exp grind later. The entire other continent thing and it's discovery through exploration is actually one of my favorite parts of the game, which is why I didn't want to ruin it in the video and left it unmentioned :D When I'd played the game for the first time I'd not known its purpose until I'd gotten there, so I've had very little cash on me for attributes. Then I'd basically grinded about 10000 gold, got the most essential upgrades from the continent and went for a dungeon, so - instead of completing the attribute grind in one go - I switched between grind and dungeon explorations for the sake of gameplay variety, but again - your approach is perfectly viable as well. It's actually a good aspect of the game that you can approach the money and exp grind (as well as dungeon exploration) separately, imo :)
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I enjoy the analysis you did of Ultima I-III, the way the game wraps up in how you learn and how its different mechanics interact to influence the way you progress in the games. I estimate that trying a similar analysis of Ultima IV in the same depth will produce a video like five hours long... I actually got most of my levels between 5-25 just from grinding money at Dardin's Pit, because you did run into monsters every once in awhile. My fighter/thief was way ahead because they did most of the killing. But once I had my first trip to Ambrosia and my Cleric/Mage both had 75 mp, I used one of the spellcasters to zap down in the dungeon and the other to cast "kill-all" spells, leading to them building up xp too. Also, since I did a lot of 'pass time resting' at the entrance of Dardin's Pit there was a lot of monster-groups spawning right outside the entrance that couldn't reach me until I took a few steps up. I used those groups to grind up even more xp. The monsters that give 20xp make a fast difference to the xp counter. Eventually I had to collect the other marks which gave me more xp. What I forgot is that you actually need to talk with Lord British to get your hitpoints. At some point I was lead to believe that since the level numbers go up I didn't need to visit Lord British anymore. So once I was about to go to the Castle of Fire I talked with him and got most of my characters up from 500-2500 hp :P... But overall I considered the progression to be very weird in III. In most rpg's you improve gradually from doing things. So every step feels like a step towards making progress, and you gain levels, attributes, hitpoints and mana while you pursue your quest goals. In Ultima III you grind a lot but do not see your progress before you talk with Lord British. Then your progress halts again until you get the Mark of Kings (easy to get though). Then your progress halts completely until you a) grind a ton of gold and b) find out about Ambrosia and manage to get there. Then your progress halts again until you manage to grind even more gold to go back to Ambrosia... That said, I did the last 40k gold in one sitting, actually grinding up 30k then selling the junk for the last 10k... One deviation is that I played the "Upgrade" version (using the copy provided by the eXoDOS 4 dos-game collection). It looks like you played the original game. The "Upgrade" version is a patched version with VGA graphics and MT32 music. Now when talking with you about this I went back to check what the upgrade actually 'patches', and it actually include gameplay balance fixes related to monster generation and food consumption rates. I am not sure those were enabled during my playthrough though. Now after starting Ultima 4 I would probably recommend a new player to either skip the first trilogy or run them heavily with walkthroughs and every speed-saving cheat/exploit/tip possible because the 4th game have been a much greater leap from 1-3 than I had expected. That said, if you actually did do the heavy grind and work to get through the first trilogy then Ultima IV is an even greater reward. :)
Yeah, you're absolutely on point about the progression being weird here. It's not as jarring as it was in U1 and U2, specifically the first 5-8 hours, when you don't know anything, feel somewhat gradual and more like the RPGs from the 90s than anything from the previous games, but it's true that the "switch" from weak to strong party is still binary - figuring out the money grind and discovering ambrosia is all you need to instantly get powered up like crazy. In all honesty this bizarre progression is actually what I liked the most about the original trilogy :D Like, after developing specific expectations from the later RPGs, those weird, somewhat archaic systems retroactively become novel and therefore interesting. It feels genuinely unlike any "normal" RPG, especially the original Ultima, so, to me, it becomes somewhat more engaging because of it, since I can't rely on my prior RPG experiences, but rather have to "crack" the system of Ultima 1 and learn it from the grounds up. It's sort of like learning to play a video game again and, as was written in the "Theory of fun for Game Design", learning mechanics is actually what lies at the core of fun in gameplay... I might also be a bit weird myself to be honest, since, for example, I genuinely love the controls of the original System Shock for that exact reason :P
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews That is kinda what I got from Ultima 1-3 in the end. What motivated me and rewarded me in the end was a peculiar "this is how it was back then" feeling, and a wow, this is just so bizarre. Since you mentioned "Theory of Fun", I would also check out brainhex that go one step further, establishing seven "gamer traits" with different motivations to play a game. I am primarily about puzzlesolving and discovery. When you mention the 'bizarre' nature of these old ones... I participated in a project to make DOS-games playable on TV through emulation and a joypad in your hands. This meant I had to first learn each individual games keyboard-input-scheme, then streamline the controls to common modern conventions. Like if the game had a key for "jump" that key would be assigned to the first button on the controller, and if it had movement it had to be assigned to the stick. For that project I had to understand over a thousand games and as group we are now through 4000 DOS (and Windows 3.11) games. Naturally, Ultima are among the "impossible" games to map, due to using more buttons than the joypad can handle. But it was a lot of fun to map games from 1981-1984 because they *never* follow conventions and many of those games are truly bizarre.
Dude, that's amazing! What is this project called? About brainhex's paper - I haven't read it, but it does sound interesting. There is actually a number of those gamer archetype classifications around, but hey - I'll check this one out!
It's Pathologic. The native language of my win7 is english, which I've not bothered to change since installation, yet the game (which I installed off of the actual disk) was in russian, so the title of the shortcut got butchered after the installation. The game itself runs perfectly fine though :\
Oh, that explains it. At first I thought it was Blood, but it wouldn't add up with the first word bieng only 3 characters long. And another question: was the footage of SMT:SJ yours? Have you played it? What are your thoughts on it?
Yes, it was indeed mine :) I'm actually in the middle of my first playthrough of SJ (I'm taking it rather slow tbh), so it was a lucky coincidence that there arose a need for a mudo footage when I had an SMT game file on hand XD I actually quite like it so far: it feels like a more faithful gameplay continuation of the original SMT than Nocturne in a way. Specifically I like how talking to demons is once again an actual dialogue - each demon has a unique personality that you have to appease to get them to join you. It's too early to judge the story for me, but I kind of like this sci-fi/military theme going on - felt appropriate to shoot for the law ending on that one :D
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I still can't help but be fascinated by the whole western and eastern RPG history. It's like two species having a common ancestor, but evolving in completely different ways, with only a few vestigial features reminding of their kinship.
@moonshine I know, I know ^_^ I just found the idea of a genetically-spliced mutant game weirdly entertaining =D Make no mistake: I'm 100% on-board with you in terms of appreciating the fascinating history of J and WRPGs appearing from a singular source. There are bits and pieces of writings on that same subject that I hope one day to implement into a fitting review.
The DOS version has THE WORST graphics. Just awful. Not to mention the music (or lack thereof). I know you're done with this already, but perhaps take a look at it on the C64, Apple ][e, and Atari 800 systems. A comparison. Way WAY WAY better!! With the Apple ][e version, make sure you enable Mockingboard support in your emulator or you'll ultra-crap audio. (The Apple version is arguably the "purest" one as it's what Garriot used to write it) Also, that annoying movement delay you mention isn't there in those other versions. I haven't looked on your channel yet, but I wonder if you've done the Wizardry series. BRUTAL games!
Thank you for such a knowledgeable take on the versions of the game! It has indeed come to my attention since the release of this video that the Apple 2 version is the definitive version of this game. That's one drawback of doing a blind playthrough: without research (and being exposed to other opinions and spoilers which will tamper with your own) you might very well stumble into a lesser version of the game. But still - my critique was focused first and foremost on the gameplay system, which I believe is the same across all versions :) Also Thank you for watching my videos! It truly means the world to me!
Remind me to never try this premiere thing again -_- First time using the new uploader (the one youtube enforced instead of the old one) and thought "instant premiere" meant uploading like normal. Instead we got this confusing nonsense, sorry about that.
This video is what UA-cam is all about 🏆 and ultima 3 is best played in one hour chunks after you get home from 4th grade back in the 80s. Your endurance is epic !!!
My first rpg when I was about 10-11 years old. In hindsight, I was too young (it came with Carmen Sandiego) but still fun because lots of hours with my best friend. We just died and died until we found the town Yew, then got past the start. Then got into the grind, still not willing to try dungeons too much. I still remember getting sunk the first time, playing alone, found the temple that lets you increase strength. Ran to my friend's house to tell him. We finished the game by trial and error for the insert card order because we hadn't found the clue (or exotic armour). I never thought critically about this game like this review. It's all true but I have soft spot for it so it's my favourite ultima. So many hours it's burned into my memory. It took about 10 seconds just now to remember the word you have to yell, but it's still in my memory 30 years later.
It always brings a smile to my face to hear such stories about childhood favorite games :_) Thank you for sharing it!
Your Ultima videos are my favorite Ultima videos on yt
Thank you so much! : )
I found your channel and immediately enjoyed it, I love how in depth you go while keeping it interesting the entire way through
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! ^_^
Ditto
Love love love your in depth reviews! Really excited for U4 and whatever else you have in store.
Thank you! Really happy to hear that you like my videos so much ^_^ The next video will definitely be Space Quest 2, the one after will probably be U4.
P.S. Good to see you again :)
I just finished to watch your videos. I must say your understanding of MDA framework and your benevolent approach of this old titles is freshening. I wish you (at least) 1000 subs and a better treatment from the youtube algorithm !
Man... a massive Thank You for you kind words and for having watched my videos! It is absolutely incredible!
Your channel is one of the best. Really enjoys every episode.
Thank you, my friend :) And Thank You for being subscribed for 4 years straight. That's... simply unbelievable, man.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I guess you only had the Wiz 7 videos when I discovered your channel. Quality from the beginning :D
What a great deep dive, but I don't think we need to worry about spoilers for games this old. Loved it.
Thank you! It's just a general rule of mine to avoid spoilers if I can help it: I manly play old games (that I've never played before) and damn there are some endings I wouldn't want to ruin for people only now discovering them. But, if it comes down to it, I will go into spoilers for the sake of analysis if the game requires it (like with SQ2)
Another great review.
This game at the start looks fun and anxiety inducing, especially for the combat that's essential for the gold to buy food. The game had some bits that were definitely ahead of their time but had so many things holding them back.
The encounter rate raising as you level up and not being able to add more stats after level 25 was a bad move but was probably necessary due to the hardware limitations of the pcs at the time. Still! Future developers would continue to improve and refine what Ultima 3 laid out.
Thank you, Georg! Glad to see you doing well and continuing to upload videos of these games that I haven't been able to play, and paved the way for future gameplay mechanics.
And thank you for watching! ^_^ Even though I gave this game a rather low score I can't help but like it overall, especially from the historical perspective: just seeing all those fundamental RPG mechanics at their point of origin is greatly fascinating.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews You're welcome, Georg! Always a pleasure watching your videos. :D
Yeah! These old games are flawed but their historic preservation is what's needed for game developers and fans to see where these mechanics came from and to know that they can be improved upon. ^_^
Ultima III was my first Ultima game, and I played II and I soon after. I'll always have a soft spot for it, but the tedious grind is a huge problem. Having a party and the separate combat screen slows encounters to a crawl, and there are far too many as the game goes on. Ultima IV and V also have this type of combat system, and they can get horribly tedious too, but they have other things going on and they seem to progress at a more steady rate, so the slow, tedious combat is a little easier to tolerate. I agree that the final castle in Ultima III is good, and I remember being surprised when the floors attacked me close to the end. I also like how the boss "fight" at the end isn't just another fight against a powerful enemy - it was nice to see a new concept there. The first time I went down the whirlpool in a ship was exciting too. Unfortunately, there are too few of those moments of excitement and too many mind-numbing fights against endless hordes of uninteresting monsters. Ultima III was innovative and was an important step on the way to the peak games of the series, and it is the first one that has the cohesive atmosphere and style that would come to define the series, so it is a good game for people interested in the history of RPGs to experience.
Glad I'm not the only one who liked that final castle! Thank you for your comment! :)
Great analysis sir! Thanks for this, I really enjoyed it!
Thanks for watching! Man, I really like your stuff as well!
Great overview. This was fun and funny (nice cameo by Timothy Leary!). Nice editing! Ultima 3 was my introduction to the series and still holds a special place in my heart! :-D I remember that trick of making backups of the player disk, because Quit and Save couldn't save you if you died. Fun times!
Thank you! Glad you liked that Tim Leary reference :D
Ultima 3 (NES version) was my first RPG. It got me in to RPGs even though I really didn't have much of an idea of where I was going or what I was doing lol.
It does add to the mystery though :) I've had similar experience when I was a kid and it definitely made the games feel quite a bit "bigger" than they were.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Yeah, not enough "wander around like a dumbass" games anymore. I always liked those, though I know they would not be the most popular for most people.
@@DrewPicklesTheDark Heard of the SaGa series? I`m atrociously late i know.
Stumbled across this via Reddit and I'm delighted. I love old RPGs and you seem to have put in a lot of effort here. Good stuff!
Thank you, kind sir! Great to have you!
Yeah, its got 0 votes, but, I don't know, I'm liking the review so far!
The first Ultima review got a lot of upvotes, though... But anyway, I'm just happy to have someone watching my videos. Thanks, man!
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Hmmmm, well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. UA-cam and its algorithm can be ... weird. Just do what you love. By the way, that's an awesome CRT screen!
I know right! I was actually so thrilled to have stumbled upon this CRT: one of my relatives had it in his garage for about 10-15 years. Weirdly enough, he seemed just as happy to be getting rid of it as I was to be acquiring it.
Yay, you’re back!
I feel like my entire channel's motto should be "I'm back!" XD
Great to see you againg, man ;)
Great as always. Are we getting a full Ultima retrospective at this point?
And, as always, Thank You :D
Well, that's the plan with Ultima at the very least - it genuinely makes me excited to think about covering the whole series... but it's 11 games (excluding the Ultima Online). It might... well, take a while (^_^') There will definitely be other games covered in-between the Ultima ones - even after the Space Quest series (and may be during it too). I feel that a healthy dose of variety wouldn't hurt anyone :D
Btw, how is that strategy game coming along?
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Hehee. Probably good not to rush all the Ultima games straight. Not even the great old Spoony did that.
Strategy game was just a university project. I got made in a 8 week timeframe. Clunky and the AI is poor but works. Due lack of time we designed it more into a survival game where only you construct buildings and enemies come in waves but you have the Command & Conquer gameplay.
However because of the strategy game project I got an internship to work on an online strategy game funnily enough :)
That's awesome! What's the game called?... or is it a secret? :D
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews It is still in super early stage so I prefer not to tell now even though my NDA doesn't prevent it :)
It's perfectly understandable ^_^ Better be on the safe side :D But in any case - I hope it goes well!
Was excited to see a new post in my subscription feed this morning, couldnt wait till I had time to sit down and watch. As someone who has only meaningfully played Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar on the NES, plus briefly dabbled 1-2 hours into one or two of the games on the SNES, these are really interesting look-backs. And i cant wait to see how a more in-depth look at Ultima 4 on PC compares to my memories of the game on the NES.
I was VERY surprised to see the multiple-party mechanic in Ultima. This was a feature that I absolutely adored when it came to Wizardry 5 on the SNES. Losing your whole team was not the end of the game. It was not an excuse to save/load and pretend it didnt happen. It was the start of something new, a different band of adventurers who would likely dive deep and need to grind their abilities until they were able to rescue the original team and any important items they may have had with them, bring them back, and resurrect them.
This change in gameplay upon a party loss felt rewarding, it let you re-experience earlier parts of the game again that you had not seen or been challenged by in awhile. It also meant treating your characters with respect because you couldnt just reload any time you pleased, and bring them back was costly, but doable since there was not an awful lot of stuff to buy within that game past the early parts. Hearing that a similar system like that existed in any other game rather surprised me, and I'd sure love to discover other games that used it as well.
This was another interesting look-back at a game I'd have written off as being a bit too old for my tastes, but you did a great job outlining some of the things that it did well, and really made it sound rewarding in its own ways. The exploration, secrets, and puzzles in Ultima 4 on the NES were some of the most rewarding parts of the game for me. But we'll have to see if the mechanics match up to the fond memories I have of it when i was younger. It too had its share of grinding and flaws, and a weirdly inverse difficulty curve / battle grind as you leveled up, but there were a lot of great moments to be had, including a few which were probably partially unique to the NES like the save screen referring to the 'magic box.'
Damn... Guess I somewhat ruined this type of experience for myself by backing up my saves in a different folder (^_^') It does sound fascinating though, like a proper Rogue-like experience. The problem with Ultima 3 is that classes are not that fundamentally different from each other, so - considering that I actually had to restart the game about 5 times to finally get through the beginner's hell - it would probably get a bit tedious to remake the same party (essentially) again and again. In Wizardry 5 (from what I remember) there was a bit more distinction to classes, so it would actually makes sense there... Tell you what - if I ever make a review of Wizardry 5, I'll actually do that Rogue-style method of play :D
It's always great to read your comments, man :D Genuinely thank you for being so supportive for all this time!
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews In the case of Ultima 3 based on what you described, combined with my experience from Ultima 4 combat (some similarities to the problems in Ultima 3) Its hard to say just how much you missed out on the multi-party part of the experience. Characters that are not significantly distinct to play would probably not make this an especially engaging system to use in this way, not in modern times anyway. It sounded Ultima 3 put ya through enough of a grind in already, though party-sharing might have lowered the excessive combat encounters while you proceeded through different parts of the game. To me it was just very interesting to see other instances of a party-system with persistent world that i'd not seen pretty much anywhere else!
Anyway, you do really great work in these reviews, they're always amusing and informative retro-looks with a solid delivery and little snippets of humor sprinkled throughout like hidden gems to find. On more than one occasion you've helped me appreciate something that I had pretty much written off as a bad game, as something whose design or mechanic-intent I simply did not understand at the time. Upon realizing what they were trying to do, that context has often made all the difference in allowing me to appreciate them for what they were. In some ways I feel like this is why some people really love Developer commentary on their games, in their movies, about their books or scripts. That different perspective is meaningful.
Feel like Seal might be putting you through the wringer with these last few games. Forcing you to endure these older experiences for few specific evolutions in gameplay so that you can really feel their impact when you find that one gem that takes everything to an entirely different level. Lets just hope that with Ultima 4 you're in for more of a treat, and that the two of you are still friends when this is all over and done with! :P
Ha-ha! That silly bastard and me are probably going to be at each others throats by the end of the year! ^_^
Now this is where Ultima takes some giant strides towards true greatness. It won't be there until IV, but the additions of the combat screen (and system in general) and the party of characters rather than a lone... avatar... really do a lot to make the game more engaging and complex. It is always shocking when looking at Ultima IV and V, what masterpieces they are, and then looking at I and II, and how far from that they started out. And it's interesting to see what parts of IV onward began in this game, and what parts were truly innovations of IV. I'd still say that IV does way more small things, adds so many details and smooths out so my wrinkles and brings truly revolutionary concepts into play which have rarely ever been attempted by future games... but this game does a lot of the scaffolding, creating a much more robust base game, from which IV was then able to refine and create a masterpiece from with a few genius flourishes and a ton of details. It's still weird to me that there's never been an effort to remake at least IV with simple but nice 3D graphics and some modern refinements. Maybe it's in copyright hell or something like that?
I 100% agree - without U3 we'd not have U4 - a truly timeless and (to this day) unique experience. It is weird that there's been... nothing done with the franchise for 2 decades now. But it's owned by EA, so... figures
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews EA actually did "Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar" in 2013.
The question which remains is, was it so insignifcant you forgot, or was it so bad you wanted to forget?
@@kriever More like didn't know about it in the first place (^_^') Maybe Seal was trying to protect me by withholding info about this game
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I'm so sorry for what I have done to you.
Look... I'm gonna be honest. I hit the like button the moment I saw that adorable lil fluffball.
Ha-ha, thank you! ^_^
Hey do you have an idea about when the next video is coming out? I'm really looking forward to it!
Hey! Great to see you again ^_^ ... and It's really awesome to hear that you're still looking forward to the next video... since it's almost done! It will definitely be done by the end of the month (unless something extraordinary, like a meteorite crashing into my apartment, happens) :D
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Yesss can't wait! Thanks for the update 👍
No prob ^_^ It genuinely makes me happy to still see you in the comments after all those years, man :)
Yes! Thank you for uploading!
And Thank You for watching! =D
Also a giant Thank you for being subscribed for three years straight! That truly means a lot, man - thank you : )
good job george
Thanks!
I played this game so much I covered the whole world with gold chests. This not only removes most of the black, but also monsters can't walk on the chests.
Ha-ha! That's one way to deal with random encounters :D Reminds me of a guy that covered the whole ocean with duplicating ship glitch in Ultima 2
Really enjoying these Ultima videos.
I played all of them (including Akalabeth) in the 70s and 80s on the Apple ][, which is the computer that Richard Garriott programmed these games on (and the computer he intended for them to be played on.)
To wit, I have to admit that looking at the CGA color palette simply doesn't do the game justice. It's much more beautiful when viewed on the Apple ][. The dungeons, for example, had red and blue walls which made it easier to understand directions as you rotated.
Another benefit of playing Ultima III on the Apple Is that this was the very first computer role-playing game to have a musical score! The PC versions didn't get a soundtrack until Ultima VI (which is when Garriott finally switched to developing the Ultima series on PCs). The Apple sound card (called the Mockingboard) had brighter, crisper tones than the warbly ad-lib card for PCs did.
Playing Ultimas III, IV and V without the accompanying Mockingboard soundtrack is a very different experience and I highly recommend you go back and play them using an Apple ][ emulator.
You can also find the soundtracks on UA-cam.
Thank you! And Damn, didn't know that! It's actually a really nice score for the first one ever in a CRPG :) It definitely does look like the intended way to play (although the apple 2 emulator is a far bigger hassle to get running than dosbox the last time I checked).
...Although I have to admit that I sort of really like the silence that gets broken only by the pc speaker sounds. It ties into that "meditative trance" feeling I mentioned in the Ultima I video. There is something about the minimalist simplicity of those primitive graphics that feels very "unspecific", if you get what I mean. There is this lack of definition in story, visuals and even gameplay - the void - that should, presumably, be filled with the player's imagination, but me, personally, - I love the feeling of simply falling into that void and being there. There is a certain "universal" feeling there, that would be diminished if the music were to "instruct" me on how to feel at any given moment. Music-less Ultima IV (the remade version that is sold on GOG), for instance, is now one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time... and I'm not sure that it would be so if it had a musical score.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Dosbox is easier, you say? www.virtualapple.org/ultimaiiidisk.html
One of the things you miss when you play these games 40 years later is a full appreciation of the context in which the game was presented.
When a new Ultima was released, I always looked forward to seeing the gradual improvements and innovations. Yes, most of those planets in Ultima II are useless, but the feeling of freedom you got from having not just one but TEN open worlds to explore was mind blowing. Remember the first time you played GTA3 and realized you could drive anywhere? It's kind of like that.
Remember at that time the whole CRPG genre was being defined. There were no conventions-- it was all being invented.
In 2021 it's easy to take in-game music for granted, but in 1983 consider that you had to be lucky enough not just to have an Apple computer at home, but also the optional sound card which was expensive! With it, your computer was capable of doing things that were really rare and special at the time.
Ultima and Ultima II were silent, meditative experiences not by choice, but by default! The technology to play music simply wasn't available (*see note below)
And if you had played Ultima III as I did at first, silently without the Mockingboard, and then your father bought one and installed it-- suddenly your previously silent game was filled with music! Like uncovering a hidden treasure that was always there, just out of reach. I can't explain how special it was to be a 9 year old kid in 1983 hear your game play music for the first time, and that nostalgic memory lingers. The Ultima soundtracks were really the music of my childhood.
Notably, my dad traded in our beloved Apple //e for a PC before Ultima V was released. I bought it for PC and although the game looked great in VGA, there was no soundtrack included on the PC version (even if you had a sound card). I simply couldn't play it without the music, and in fact never finished the game. I've been meaning to go back to it ever since. (On the positive side, the PC introduced me to Starlight, which was as groundbreaking for space exploration as Ultima was for open world CRPGs).
*There were some really clever tricks to get the stock Apple speaker to do way more than what the "beep" of PC speakers could do (search UA-cam for the early Apple arcade game "Microwave", which likely was likely the very first game ever within a soundtrack, or the original Castle Wolfenstein which played digitized speech way back in 1981!!)
Man... Thank you for sharing this. It genuinely warmed my heart... your comment I mean. There are parts of it I can relate very strongly to :_)
About the apple 2 - around five years ago I tried emulating Lode Runner and it took many hours to get it to work, as well as kept crushing even when it did, but hey, I guess emulation got a lot better since then :D Thank you for the link! ^_^
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I spoke too soon... it looks like with the death of Java, the Virtual Apple site no longer works. Sorry about that...
However, the downloadable emulators are much better anyway (I use AppleWin) because you can record save states which makes some of the more dastardly games solvable. I'd be happy to help you configure one if you're having trouble. They might be a little cryptic if you never used a physical Apple ][ because the software emulates the mechanical function of the machine very closely. So for me it's very intuitive, but maybe not if you're unfamiliar.
FYI, there are simple DOS sound & graphic upgrades for Ultima III & IV. Personally, I can't stand CGA & the upgrades make it look like Ultima V.
Amazing as always! Found this video yesterday when I started thinking about your videos again! To my pleasant surprise there was a new video waiting! I tried watching it last night but I fell asleep cause I was too exhausted but I will watch it tonight when I come back from work! I loved the parts I got to watch at least, haha.
I do not know if I already recommended "legend of Grimrock" or not, but if you do not know about that game it is easily one of the better games of recent years. There is a sequel as well.
Thank you! Oh, I can relate to falling asleep while watching something, in fact yesterday I'd slept for 13 hours straight while watching a let's play ^_^
I can't recall whether you've mentioned LoG or not... but it's definitely something I've wanted to play for a while now. It does look like a fantastic game.
... It's great to see you again, man :)
5:28, and you are in Grey, which town is a key to avoiding literally tens of thousands- maybe even hundreds of thousands- of turns of aggravation. I recommend a new party to head there immediately.
There are only four units of eight guards in the town. Join gold to one party member. Get that party member to bribe each unit of guards, at 100 gold, to vanish. Then steal the treasure chests behind the counter in the shop, and attack everybody everywhere. The thief in the vault attacks you anyway, so imagine this as self-defense. Every enemy left in Grey is a single opponent, with as much treasure as any full enemy party of eight, so ganging up on them is the easiest and most profitable combat you can have.
Use Appar Unem to disarm every treasure chest, no exceptions- your novices cannot afford to be hurt. It's irritating because the spell often fails, but starting a game over is worse.
Make it a goal to purchase at least a dozen powders, forty torches, and a score of gems at the Guild. Buy food when necessary. Sell superfluous weapons and armour- thieves can steal them during combat, so they are best sold as soon as possible. Get your fighter-types ranged weapons. Save at least 400 Gold to bribe the Guards again. Go to Lord British to unlock Hit Point increases as soon as possible.
Leave town, then re-enter, repeat your Bribing, fighting, treasure-gathering and Guild item purchasing until everybody has at least 200 experience points and you have the Guild equipment mentioned above.
Go to the dungeon NE of Lord British's Castle, get everyone the Mark of Kings, which unlocks 550+ HP.
Use the Moon Gates to get to the mountain-locked dungeon. Put your Thief-type in front of the party. Go down to Level 4. There are two fountains; one cures poison, the other maximizes HP. Drink from the Increase HP fountain to top everybody up. Using your rogue, disarm all traps on levels 4 and 5, even before grabbing a single treasure chest; get healed as soon as a party member falls below 200 HP. Climbing up and down the ladder in the middle of the floor, now grab all the treasure chests, retreating and healing as necessary. If powerful enemies attack you, use your Powders to negate time and defeat them. Powders are cheaper than paying for resurrection at a healer.
Go back to the surface, get XP promotions, more food, then re-enter. Return and repeat until every party member has as close to 9999 Gold as possible.
Rove the map, visit towns, talk to everybody to get clues, kill occasional foes, but leave their treasure for when you need it later. Keep your eyes peeled for that Pirate Ship!
Capture it. Get the Exotics from the islands; get more than you need, in case of thieves. Equip all party members eith the armour, and your non-ranged heroes with the weapons. Take the "whirlpool plunge".
In Ambrosia, focus on Strength and Dexterity the first time. Use your keys and gems to find and access the Shrines. Get the Cards at each Shrine; spend all that hard-earned gold.
Go back to Sosaria. Hit the mountain dungeon again. Return to Ambrosia. Top off your party members. Always max out Strength; for Dexterity, top your rogues. 50 Dex is usually enough for everybody else. Max out your mages' Intelligence and Wisdom.
Return to Sosaria. Clobber everybody- Guard units, for example, always consist of eight characters worth 15XP each, so that's 120 XP guaranteed; they are a good target now. Visit Lord British to max out your Hit Points. Get the other Marks in the dungeons; their bottom levels are no longer a death sentence for your now-powerful heroes.
Go for Exodus; yell the Word of Passage at the Great Earth Snake. Equip Exotic weapons and armour for all. Hit the lawn and the bricks. Fight through the Castle to get to Exodus. Follow the proper order to vanquish the enemy!
Victory in under 150,000 turns- consistently and easily.
If I did it, years ago, so can anybody else.
I would love to see you doing these reviews of SSI's Dungeons & Dragons games too
Oh yes, those Gold Box RPGs would make for a good marathon! It's definitely something I've been thinking about.
Playing this was ridiculously hard after doing the gold box series first. I never managed to find the mark of the serpent so it just became an exercise in frustration.
Ouch... Yeah, you got unlucky there. No other way to put it.
Very solid video, as always :) I love your reviews. Keep em coming.
And, once again, a giant Thank You for watching! ^_^ It's always great to see you :)
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews There are very few channels that do good reviews of old games. So as long as you keep making videos, you can count on me watching them :)
Hi again, Georg!
Didn't watch the review, but have some questions already :D
Do you know about mods for U2 and U3? I've found some mods that make EGA or even VGA graphic instead of default CGA and something about map from U1 for U3. Didn't know that's a "remake" of U1 on U3 engine or not, but it can be interesting for you somehow.
Hi! It's great to see you again =) I didn't know about those mods, but they sound neat - especially the map one: the map from U1 is bigger than the one in U3 (well, at least it has more dungeons) so making a mod of it for U3 (which has a more complex RPG and battle systems) does make sense.
Btw, sorry about making U3 review before SQ2 - it's just that it was closer to the finish-line, so - having rather limited free time past few month, I've decided to finish it first. But hey SQ marathon is still on, and the next video will definetely be SQ2 :D
You complained about the excessive grind. There are different areas you can grind. Things you can do to grind from easy to hard. 1. Destroy town Yew (cleric town--no guards. 2. Dungeon east and north of castle level 3. 3. Death Gultch. 4. Town Moon (4 guards) 5. Montor east and west town.
Exodus is my favorite of the Ultimas for the Apple IIe.
Oh man, I'd absolutely love to play it on an actual Apple 2 one day. Thank you for the comment!
If you enjoyed Castle Exodus I think you'll find something very enjoyable in the future.
... It's related to U7, isn't it?
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews There is nothing enjoyable in Ultima 8 and 9 soooo. Yes.
You forgot to mention the most terrifying enemy in Exodus: The Floor!
I got my ass handed to me by that floor! It's actually one of the main reasons I liked the final castle so much - the invisible enemy (it's such a funny thing that they called it "the floor" instead of, like, "a ghost" or something, but I wouldn't have it any other way) adds such an unexpected twist to the battle system, forcing you to actually come up with a new strategy on the fly. The reason I didn't mention it was because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for potential players... But I did sneak in a reference to it at 25:19. If the game had more of those types of unique enemies - I'd be singing a different tune during the review.
Ultima III is my favorite Ultima. Then Ultima II. In the past V was my favorite, but it is not as replayable as II and III. My play style makes most use of the Thief first, then Druid. There is a great way to get gold and xp. First, get to level 2, then buy some torches. Then visit the dungeon to the east and north of the castle. Cast down level twice (to dungeon level 3). Search the corners and open the chest with the Theif. Cast up to get out. You'll get over 1,000 gold and xp from fighting.
Oh, man, my videos must have been a torture... we literally have the exact opposite taste in terms of our Ultima games preference (^_^') I can't remember the specifics, but sometime ago I'd discussed the grind with JemyM in this comment section and he wrote this: "I discovered that my Wizard+Cleric had enough combined MP (25+25) to effectively grind all my money in Dardin's Pit at the beginning of the game, right after my first 5 levels and buying a pile of torches. Two teleports down, get the center room chests and the corner room chests and drink at the fountain there for a full heal, then three teleports up to the surface, rest to full MP, save, and back down. Repeat over and over again." And I wrote that this was what I did as well. My guess is that the Dardin's Pit is the dungeon you're referring to? Forgive me if I'm mistaken.
P.S when I talk about grind, the thing I'm referring to is grind for gold to go to Ambrosia
You seemed to like the games well enough, and I agree the ending of Ultima III was awesome. I probably like the games more because I played them when they came out.@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews
Btw, I highly recommend the Lost Sectors video on Ultima 3. In addition to being the most underrated gaming channel on youtube, they really loved the game, with Chris (one of the hosts) considering it his favorite (or one of them) Ultima game.
Thanks a lot. I'll check it out.@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews
Oh yeah, this is ganna be good...
^_^ Hey, glad to see you again!
Only Ultima I played and finished was Complete Ultima 7 back in nineties. In my country Ultimas were not very popular mainly because of the language barrier. But I fell in love with the mythology after I read about the series in the game magazine.
I loved 7 to death, I played it for every minute I could, printed the map, learned the runes, kept a journal... but was not able to get into any other ones. Too spoiled by the modern interface of 7...
Ultima 7 is, indeed, the Wizardry 7 of Ultima series... What is it with RPGs and number 7, btw? Final Fantasy 7, Might and Magic 7. Lucky number 7 indeed XD
I'm playing this now and I hate the 'beginner's hell', wonder if IV will be more of the same
Definitely not. Ultima IV is rather chill (especially in comparison to this one) when it comes to difficulty.
You deserve more subs
Thank you! :D
This channel is a hidden gem(tm) of youtube.
And so, four months later, I am revisiting this series of reviews. Why? Not because this is one of my favorite channels (but past views were for this reason lol), but because I decided to play Ultima myself! In the first one, for some reason, I didn't get access to the time machine from the princess and I already watched the finale on UA-cam, and in the second ... Well, I definitely agreed with your review while I was playing. So I couldn't really get anywhere, because although it looks like a more "standard" role-playing game, but, nevertheless, a lot is broken and really thieves stealing the blue pendance even after you just knocked her out, this is masochism lol ...
Would I have dared to do this crazy Ultima race if it hadn't been for your videos, even though all the parts were bought from me a long time ago in GOG? I think not! Thank you so much for that. Rarely do I get the feeling that I’m discussing a game live when I’m just watching the video.
I am glad that you are responding to fresh comments and that everything is apparently fine with you! I even specially sorted them by date to make sure of this. :)
P.S. Still waiting for Space Quest 2 review. Especially Cubix Rube part lol.
That's freaking awesome! If there is anything that I'd always hoped my videos could do is inspire people to play those classic games, so genuinely Thank You for that! Your comment - together with the JemyM comments (he's also on an Ultima marathon) - makes me feel like Ultima series is, indeed, "alive" - like it's not just a piece of history, but something happening "at the moment", if that makes any sense ^_^ I do highly recommend playing through Ultima 3 as fast as possible to get to Ultima 4 though. That game is... quite something, not going to lie :D
Btw, I'm really sorry about the delay on SQ2 - I do remember that it's your favorite series and damn, I really wish I could have made the video sooner... If that's of any consolation, I have already written the script for the third SQ - so, even if it takes some time - it will, definitely, be made.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Yes, I understand about the "liveliness of games". I am glad that there are such enthusiasts who do not just retell, but make full-fledged reviews. I do this myself, but in a very narrow circle of acquaintances.
Don't apologize for being "late" with Space Quest 2's review (or any other reviews). Considering the amount of material that you do for your videos and that this is all without the support of patreons and other donations for the UA-cam channel - any waiting time is normal
I won't lie, I would like to see more videos, but I'd rather watch your videos rarely, enjoying your titanic work, than watch several new videos a month, but which reveal the topic very superficially.
I am glad that Space Quest 2, which is considered to be "bad", did not discourage you from playing further and you have already appreciated the excellent third part!
@@alexanderlicht6458 From the bottom of my heart: Thank You. You can't imagine how much it means for me to hear this! The support of you and other people is... basically what keeps me going. This channel would literally be nothing without this neat little community - Thank You :)
About SQ2 and SQ3 - I don't want to spoil anything, but let's say: I simply can't wait for you to see the videos on those games :D
Honestly, I can't recall any instance when the result _wasn't_ worth the wait. It's a rare feat for a youtuber nowadays :) Hope you had a great holiday!
@@onotolio He-he, thanks man ;) Hope yours were as good as mine... or even better! ^_^ The great thing about them holidays is that I get a lot of time off, during which I can make some decent progress on videos. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up the next review soon..ish :D
I don't agree with the break of the game at the higher levels. Once you max out levels 25, your combat is need to get gold. You can stock up on all the guild items, because they are expensive. You can get through the combats easier by buying more Powders to negate time, or gems and teleporting in dungeons you can get through them much faster--which is why up and down spells are very low casting cost--makes dungeon exploration easier.
You're probably right, maybe my problem was that I'd wanted to map out every dungeon by hand (on paper). For some reason I saw powders and gems as cheating (like using the flute in Mario 3). I did end up using them after a while. Though I used teleportation without such resignations - to get back to the level I was at to continue mapping it out.
Yeah, in retrospect, I should have used powders way more often.
Fuck! I blinked and missed three of your videos!
Ha-ha XD There are worse things to miss! Great to see you again :)
Cool. I found this video one day after beating Ultima III for the first time. All human party with classic fighter, thief, cleric and mage. I recommend not trying to be balanced, but dish out 25 in dexterity (for fighters) else they can't really hit the targets, and 25 for spellcasters, to max out their usefulness. Unfortunately if you play the game like I did you will be stuck with those attributes to the very end of the game. :P
I discovered that my Wizard+Cleric had enough combined MP (25+25) to effectively grind all my money in Dardin's Pit at the beginning of the game, right after my first 5 levels and buying a pile of torches. Two teleports down, get the center room chests and the corner room chests and drink at the fountain there for a full heal, then three teleports up to the surface, rest to full MP, save, and back down. Repeat over and over again. Boring but fast and can be done right after buying your first torches, but some level ups for the hitpoints to survive traps is preferred, but I stayed around 3-600 hp. I actually forgot to level up by accident. And your video make me glad I did. After that I would probably consider not getting the "Mark of Kings" at all until you're Level 5 with all characters, then simply forget to level up at all until you are ready to go for the ending.
What killed Ultima III for me was the need to go to that other continent for attribute points. You want to grind like 3-40000 gold before going there, and have to do that with your starting attributes. After my first visit to the other continent I had 75+75 MP making it much faster and much safer to continue the same grind. And once I had maxed out all my attributes it was very fast to get all the other marks. Only then, after doing all that, did I level up my characters right before beating the game...
I actually liked the ending. Silly end boss but not unexpected after Ultima I and II.
Dardin's Pit is definetely the best place to grind - I'd done my grind there as well.
Now about holding out on the mark of kings. It actually does make sense to stick with 5th level... if the frequency of encounters was *literally* tied to the level. The problem is that I'm not 100% sure that enc.freq. is tied to the level and not just to a "timer" - it might very well be that freq. is increased based on how many turns have passed within gameplay. The reason I did not elaborate on that in the video is because:
1) It's actually rather confusing, so I did not want to, sort-of, pollute the progression of analysis with rather unnecessary information, since...
2) ...If you play as intended you'll be leveling up as the "timer" keeps ticking, so it's essentially not going to matter what the freq. is actually tied to since both increase in parallel... unless the player does what you did, since not getting the mark of king de-synchronizes level-timer parallel. The mark of kings is the easiest to find in the game (probably intentionally), so - even though it's very possible - it did not occur to me that someone might accidentally miss it.
I'd say the most effective way to play Ultima 3 is similar to yours, but there's not really any point for holding out on the level-up grind. Beating 2 dungeons (which you need to beat to get all the marks) is not enough to get most experience for the 25th level, so if you level up while grinding money you'll get enough to "cover" the missing exp. So If you get mark of kings early, you can avoid exp grind later.
The entire other continent thing and it's discovery through exploration is actually one of my favorite parts of the game, which is why I didn't want to ruin it in the video and left it unmentioned :D When I'd played the game for the first time I'd not known its purpose until I'd gotten there, so I've had very little cash on me for attributes. Then I'd basically grinded about 10000 gold, got the most essential upgrades from the continent and went for a dungeon, so - instead of completing the attribute grind in one go - I switched between grind and dungeon explorations for the sake of gameplay variety, but again - your approach is perfectly viable as well. It's actually a good aspect of the game that you can approach the money and exp grind (as well as dungeon exploration) separately, imo :)
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I enjoy the analysis you did of Ultima I-III, the way the game wraps up in how you learn and how its different mechanics interact to influence the way you progress in the games. I estimate that trying a similar analysis of Ultima IV in the same depth will produce a video like five hours long...
I actually got most of my levels between 5-25 just from grinding money at Dardin's Pit, because you did run into monsters every once in awhile. My fighter/thief was way ahead because they did most of the killing. But once I had my first trip to Ambrosia and my Cleric/Mage both had 75 mp, I used one of the spellcasters to zap down in the dungeon and the other to cast "kill-all" spells, leading to them building up xp too.
Also, since I did a lot of 'pass time resting' at the entrance of Dardin's Pit there was a lot of monster-groups spawning right outside the entrance that couldn't reach me until I took a few steps up. I used those groups to grind up even more xp. The monsters that give 20xp make a fast difference to the xp counter. Eventually I had to collect the other marks which gave me more xp.
What I forgot is that you actually need to talk with Lord British to get your hitpoints. At some point I was lead to believe that since the level numbers go up I didn't need to visit Lord British anymore. So once I was about to go to the Castle of Fire I talked with him and got most of my characters up from 500-2500 hp :P...
But overall I considered the progression to be very weird in III. In most rpg's you improve gradually from doing things. So every step feels like a step towards making progress, and you gain levels, attributes, hitpoints and mana while you pursue your quest goals. In Ultima III you grind a lot but do not see your progress before you talk with Lord British. Then your progress halts again until you get the Mark of Kings (easy to get though). Then your progress halts completely until you a) grind a ton of gold and b) find out about Ambrosia and manage to get there. Then your progress halts again until you manage to grind even more gold to go back to Ambrosia...
That said, I did the last 40k gold in one sitting, actually grinding up 30k then selling the junk for the last 10k...
One deviation is that I played the "Upgrade" version (using the copy provided by the eXoDOS 4 dos-game collection). It looks like you played the original game. The "Upgrade" version is a patched version with VGA graphics and MT32 music. Now when talking with you about this I went back to check what the upgrade actually 'patches', and it actually include gameplay balance fixes related to monster generation and food consumption rates. I am not sure those were enabled during my playthrough though.
Now after starting Ultima 4 I would probably recommend a new player to either skip the first trilogy or run them heavily with walkthroughs and every speed-saving cheat/exploit/tip possible because the 4th game have been a much greater leap from 1-3 than I had expected. That said, if you actually did do the heavy grind and work to get through the first trilogy then Ultima IV is an even greater reward. :)
Yeah, you're absolutely on point about the progression being weird here. It's not as jarring as it was in U1 and U2, specifically the first 5-8 hours, when you don't know anything, feel somewhat gradual and more like the RPGs from the 90s than anything from the previous games, but it's true that the "switch" from weak to strong party is still binary - figuring out the money grind and discovering ambrosia is all you need to instantly get powered up like crazy.
In all honesty this bizarre progression is actually what I liked the most about the original trilogy :D Like, after developing specific expectations from the later RPGs, those weird, somewhat archaic systems retroactively become novel and therefore interesting. It feels genuinely unlike any "normal" RPG, especially the original Ultima, so, to me, it becomes somewhat more engaging because of it, since I can't rely on my prior RPG experiences, but rather have to "crack" the system of Ultima 1 and learn it from the grounds up. It's sort of like learning to play a video game again and, as was written in the "Theory of fun for Game Design", learning mechanics is actually what lies at the core of fun in gameplay... I might also be a bit weird myself to be honest, since, for example, I genuinely love the controls of the original System Shock for that exact reason :P
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews That is kinda what I got from Ultima 1-3 in the end. What motivated me and rewarded me in the end was a peculiar "this is how it was back then" feeling, and a wow, this is just so bizarre. Since you mentioned "Theory of Fun", I would also check out brainhex that go one step further, establishing seven "gamer traits" with different motivations to play a game. I am primarily about puzzlesolving and discovery.
When you mention the 'bizarre' nature of these old ones... I participated in a project to make DOS-games playable on TV through emulation and a joypad in your hands. This meant I had to first learn each individual games keyboard-input-scheme, then streamline the controls to common modern conventions. Like if the game had a key for "jump" that key would be assigned to the first button on the controller, and if it had movement it had to be assigned to the stick. For that project I had to understand over a thousand games and as group we are now through 4000 DOS (and Windows 3.11) games. Naturally, Ultima are among the "impossible" games to map, due to using more buttons than the joypad can handle. But it was a lot of fun to map games from 1981-1984 because they *never* follow conventions and many of those games are truly bizarre.
Dude, that's amazing! What is this project called?
About brainhex's paper - I haven't read it, but it does sound interesting. There is actually a number of those gamer archetype classifications around, but hey - I'll check this one out!
God I really tried playing this game but the interface is so time consuming. This game needs a remake or remaster.
It'd be very interesting to see a remake of this.
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews Richard Gariot wanted remakes but EA said, "NO!" they screamed it right in his face.
@@mrfivegold uhhh... goddamit EA!.
@@kevinr278 the soundtrack sucks though. Exodus castle sounds generic compared to the original.
@@kevinr278 this guy is making a 2.5 remake of Ultima 5. ua-cam.com/video/nCze49u-8cU/v-deo.html
Ugh.. finally X-D
Tell me about it! I'd hoped the five videos would be up in the first, like, half of this year... But yeah, life got its way as usual -_-
And I just love how you show off the contents of your desktop folder ^_^ What's that bloody hand icon?
It's Pathologic. The native language of my win7 is english, which I've not bothered to change since installation, yet the game (which I installed off of the actual disk) was in russian, so the title of the shortcut got butchered after the installation. The game itself runs perfectly fine though :\
Oh, that explains it. At first I thought it was Blood, but it wouldn't add up with the first word bieng only 3 characters long. And another question: was the footage of SMT:SJ yours? Have you played it? What are your thoughts on it?
Yes, it was indeed mine :) I'm actually in the middle of my first playthrough of SJ (I'm taking it rather slow tbh), so it was a lucky coincidence that there arose a need for a mudo footage when I had an SMT game file on hand XD I actually quite like it so far: it feels like a more faithful gameplay continuation of the original SMT than Nocturne in a way. Specifically I like how talking to demons is once again an actual dialogue - each demon has a unique personality that you have to appease to get them to join you. It's too early to judge the story for me, but I kind of like this sci-fi/military theme going on - felt appropriate to shoot for the law ending on that one :D
Best!
Thank you! And thank you for being a subscriber for years - I really appreciate that ^_^
*_There would be no Ultima IV...,_*
*_...had there not been an Ultima III..._*
Very true!
내가 100번째 댓글이지롱! 한국에서도 이 게임 했던 사람들이 지금 한국 온라인 게임을 만들고 있음
Hooray for 100! It's inspiring to hear about people that became so inspired by video games that they go into development themselves! Awesome stuff!
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews I still can't help but be fascinated by the whole western and eastern RPG history. It's like two species having a common ancestor, but evolving in completely different ways, with only a few vestigial features reminding of their kinship.
@@onotolio Exactly right :D What would Anachronox be then if we were to proceed with this Dr. Monroe style analogy XD
@@GeorgGreat_GameReviews A hybrid, I guess. I don't think it's a case of homoplasy, since AFAIK devs were inspired by Chrono Trigger and such :)
@moonshine I know, I know ^_^ I just found the idea of a genetically-spliced mutant game weirdly entertaining =D Make no mistake: I'm 100% on-board with you in terms of appreciating the fascinating history of J and WRPGs appearing from a singular source. There are bits and pieces of writings on that same subject that I hope one day to implement into a fitting review.
The DOS version has THE WORST graphics. Just awful. Not to mention the music (or lack thereof).
I know you're done with this already, but perhaps take a look at it on the C64, Apple ][e, and Atari 800 systems. A comparison. Way WAY WAY better!! With the Apple ][e version, make sure you enable Mockingboard support in your emulator or you'll ultra-crap audio. (The Apple version is arguably the "purest" one as it's what Garriot used to write it)
Also, that annoying movement delay you mention isn't there in those other versions.
I haven't looked on your channel yet, but I wonder if you've done the Wizardry series. BRUTAL games!
Thank you for such a knowledgeable take on the versions of the game! It has indeed come to my attention since the release of this video that the Apple 2 version is the definitive version of this game. That's one drawback of doing a blind playthrough: without research (and being exposed to other opinions and spoilers which will tamper with your own) you might very well stumble into a lesser version of the game. But still - my critique was focused first and foremost on the gameplay system, which I believe is the same across all versions :)
Also Thank you for watching my videos! It truly means the world to me!
2:24 Wow, just putting the transphobia on full display .
To clarify: it was just meant to be a gag (in the vain of ssethtzeentach), I'm actually a supporter of lgbtq+