I just wanted to say thank you for all the fantastic videos you make. Genuinely some of the most engaging video essays I've seen with some of the most interesting and niche topics. God bless and keep up the great work! Please know that it is highly appreciated.
UPDATE: Ultima Underworld PSX now has an English translation! It's great to finally have this alternate take available in English. It's a polarizing port, but I found it to be significantly better then its reputation. www.romhacking.net/translations/7062/
The lowkey editing style of your videos is a nice comfort in comparison to other youtubers with a modern, sometimes over-stimulating style. This is like finding a classic video from 2010, or a TV special. Thank you and keep educating the public on the OBSCURE!
Don't usually comment much on YT videos, but just want to echo the sentiments from other posters here: your content is top drawer / deep end and it is MUCH appreciated. Keep doing what you do!
Great video! I didn't have a PC as a kid, so Ultima on the NES was my entry to it, absolutely loved that game. Had no idea that Ultima IV was on NES/Famicom, I'll have to check it out.
It's actually not bad. A little streamlined, no branching conversations, and random combat, but nice graphics and music and still captures the spirit of the original.
It's also funny to note that Sierra would go on to partner with Falcom, releasing their Sorcerian in the US, which was part of the Xanadu series. But I don't believe it sold very well, and Sierra didn't work with them again. So maybe Gariott/Origin dodged a bullet there.
Valid point. I can vouch for the Star Craft fallout - that's described in the book Software People, cited in the credits, but although Sierra features prominently in that book, Sorcerian does not. They did pretty good with Game Arts, that's something talked about elsewhere on the channel, with Thexder. There's a bunch of "what if's" there that are really interesting.
Falcom created the Ys series though. They're still around today, Origin isn't. There are a lot of very good games we missed out on because that deal fell through.
@@atomicskull6405 Having lived through those days, I can say pretty confidently that American buyers just weren't that interested in Japanese PC games until after the anime boom in the late 90s. I can think of multiple companies that tried to get into PC porting, and either failed entirely or moved to other ventures. And it seems counterintuitive given the popularity of Japanese console games in the 80s-90s, but for some reason, the market just wasn't there for PC ports. So I genuinely doubt most of those Falcom games would have come over, in any case. (Hell, I remember buying Knights Of Xentar - a thoroughly mediocre H-RPG - just because it was literally the only Dragon Quest-style JRPG on US PCs circa 1994 or so.)
Yeah, part of that might be because there was kind of a feeling among PC players at the time that console RPGs were simplified versions of PC CRPGs, and a sort of stereotype that came from that (I think that's one of the reasons for what @atomicskull6405 is describing). There's even an article by Roe R Adams III himself about RPGs in Japan that's like "Dragon Quest is good tho, and there's some interesting stuff coming out, everybody chill" that I'll link in the comments. There was definitely some tension there that retrospectively didn't need to be there, and probably prevented stuff from getting to US shores sooner. This is an absurd example but It is pretty funny to imagine something like Ys being localized under the Ultima banner though. That... would take a lot of changes.
I don’t know about that everyone, to me it seems like a huge missed opportunity. Think of it like this, Origin LOVED to make a big presentation for their games. Cloth Maps, Extensive Instructions, and Lore peppered all throughout in their eye catching packaging and manuals. All I’m saying is that maybe we’d be singing a different tune if the Dragon Slayer and Xanadu Series were handled differently in the West. Would it have saved Origin and kept them from being bought out? Probably not? But it’s an interesting what if. After all, Origin did say that “they create worlds”. Only make sense to show other worlds as well. XP
I think your channel is the most interesting new channel I've stumbled across in a long time. Your videos are very well made and even if the subject is very niche, I hope you will continue making videos. Thank you for making them!
Good stuff, I learned a lot of new things about Ultima series I didn't knew before. Also really like how each of your videos improves on editing and audio quality from previous one. Keep it up, this is some real hidden gem channel you have right here, that will most likely stop being so hidden in the future.
I'd never really gave much thought to the Ultima ports or the series presence in Japan. Perhaps I should have much earlier! This was both informative and entertaining; great work once again.
Awesome coverage FTB. No one ever talks about the FCI ports of Ultima. To me they are beautiful disasters. I especially have a soft spot for FCI/Pony port of Quest of the Avatar and Exodus has a small yet emotional OST. (quick edit: this is regarding Famicom/NES ports)
That's a fair assessment. I think IV's high levels of ambition help it tremendously. III is.. messy, but the talent behind the music does show through a lot.
@sparklesparklesparkle6318 it's funny because there is a list of voice actors in the game but not who they played. Ultima's casting is usually in-jokes to begin with, so Sir Kenneth is based off of composer Ken Arnold, but I didn't see his name in the credits. I think the actor might be Ken Demarest, who designed the dogfights in Wing Commander. Pretty much all the U6 VAs are Origin staff and usually attached to the characters that were based on them, so it's fun to spot voices. Warren Spector's in there too somewhere.
I actually have the soundtrack album CD for the NES Ultima: Exodus game; hearing all of the original versions of the tracks that were then down mixed for an 8-bit game is actually pretty amazing, the town theme was fully orchestrated with real instruments. I also like the songs sung by Noriko Hidaka.
Fascinating, I particularly loved the explanation on the turn of the series from the fourth episode. It's true that I remembered that the series had gone to Starcraft but it was still quite vague, hard work, congratulations!
Glad you enjoyed the video! The book in the credits, "Software People", was absolutely invaluable there in tracking down information on Star Craft, which is an interesting story on its own, including stuff that was so far off topic that it would've derailed the video, including Nakazawa's family's silk factory, how Alien Rain got to the U.S. , and some other unrelated stuff. The subcontractor maze is tough, yeah. Part of the intention of the video is to explain that out and shed light on it, since it's a bit of a labyrinth at the moment. The failures of V NES and VII SNES feel to me like a combination of a well-intentioned but fumbled business idea (developing internally to solve the subcontractor issue), technical limitations (just not enough memory for VII and making something like VI for the older V on a weaker system), and external strain (EA merger can't have helped, this is shown by things like Elizabeth and Abraham in VII being written before the EA merger started). There used to be a hell of an article about what happened with Origin, if I can find it (I'm fairly certain it would be on Wayback somewhere) I'll post it.
More about the bad blood between EA and Origin here (outside of the scope of this video, but a very interesting story in its own right) www.filfre.net/2019/09/origin-sells-out/
I'm really glad that your channel was recommended to me. You are doing great job to tale, i think very unknown on the west, stories about early japanese video game market and development. Who would have thought that Ultima series had quite stormy life in Japan.
I grew up with the NES Ultima ports in my house and a port of the original on the C64. They were so different and I didn't understand at the time why. Great video!
I was seriously impressed by that port, especially that hot button version switching, a feature I wish more games had. The English voice acting is... something, but it has its own charm for sure lol
@@f_t_b2238 yeah it’s cool being able to play it in English. I nearly spit out my drink when the blacksmith said “I make-a da swords” in an exaggerated accent.
Thanks! His Master's Voice (the dog picture) has a pretty interesting history on its own, the logo's over 120 years old now, but its interesting because no matter where in the world it shows up it immediately identifies the company as a descendant of Victor Talking Machine Company. RCA's another company that uses the dog for similar reasons. I wish there was more to talk about with Japan Ultima V, the ports are fairly straightforward. The console ports really should've been handed off to Newtopia there, V NES is *rough*. The graphic upgrade for the Japanese PC version mentioned in the video is most notable in the dungeons, but it doesn't have the crazy tech trickery that VI Towns has.
@@f_t_b2238 Ah, I had no idea of the rich history of what is apparently a very famous logo 😄. You learn something new every day, and sometimes it's not about very obscure Japanese adventure games.
DUDE! This was a great documentary and I learned so much about Ultima and Garriot that had just never come to me as someone who hasn't really dug into the series. Please keep making these!
Thanks for this! I've been prowling ebay for big boxed games since the pandemic, and kept seeing amazing Ultima merch from Japan. It's nice to get a feel of the history behind these products. I snagged a beautiful Ultima collection by Locus on my last trip to Japan, and it was cool to see the company mentioned in the video.
I just watched all your videos after discovering your channel thanks to the Basement Brothers. Your content is very good and consistently improving, just the right duration. Thank you for your hard work and please continue !
They've aged a bit, and were packaged with long manual/hintbook combos that had tons of information, but overall, VI and VII have held up very well, so those I'd recommend. I'm immensely fond of Famicom IV as well, if the manual can be tracked down, so those would be my recommendations. V probably has the best plot and pacing, but it's also kinda esoteric. A fan made remake exists in the Dungeon Siege engine called Project Lazarus that's quite good.
I was amazed by Ultima IV on the SMS, staggering levels of freedom for a kid who bought the system for arcade ports. There was a fantastic Ultima clone on the PC called Excelsior which is was still available from the developer last time I checked.
beyond stellar. I was, coincidentally, recently curious about the specific history of Ultima in Japan after getting into the Wizardy series. your video came out at the perfect time! edit: tangentially related but Sadistic Mika Band are good af
Another great video! Thanks for making these. :) They are very well researched. I just wanted to add that Pony Canyon released two different MSX2 releases of Ultima III: Exodus, one from May 1988 and the other one from November 1989 (dates coming from the packaging). The 1988 cartridge release is a port of the Famicom game and the 1989 floppy disk release is a port of the PC-88 game.
You can find photos of both MSX2 releases from Generation MSX database. Seems like many Ultima fansites only know about the cartridge MSX2 release and not the floppy disk one.
Just to double check- i talk about the Pony Canyon ports at 12:30, the cartridge first and the disk one in 1989 that was more faithful. Are the one you mention separate, like with Ultima Trilogy? I'm surprised the Pony Canyon port is a straight port of the StarCraft version. I would have figured some differences. It seems kinda rarer.
@@f_t_b2238 My comment was directed at 12:15 point, where you say "For computers, Pony Canyon would port the Famicom version of Exodus to the MSX...", as I'm aware that it's not widely known that there's two entirely different, separate releases of Ultima III: Exodus on the MSX2 -- the Famicom port on cartridge (1988) and the PC-88 port on floppy disk (1989).
@TheMSXChannel I'll add 2 to MSX in the subtitles, but it's just a pause in the narration. "For computers, Pony Canyon would port the Famicom version to the MSX and would later port a more faithful version of the Apple II original in 1989".is the full sentence, but I'll add "to the same system" to the subtitle to eliminate confusion.
@@f_t_b2238 Gotcha. Thank you. :) Oh yeah, speaking of subtitles, there's several typos in there. What's the best way to mention them? Can your "For business inquiries" e-mail address be used for this?
I feel like Windwalker, the sequel, is more famous there and people forget about the first one. I proooooooobbaly should have talked about that one due to the Broderbund connections :p The combat in Moebius is interesting and reminds me of Quest for Glory IV a bit.
Keep up the good work! I'm unfamiliar with Ultima in Japan , always sticking to the original PC for those, but I have played several of the Japanese Wizardry games including the Japan exclusive SFC port of Wizardy 1-3. I've always found it interesting how the early years of Western RPGs seemed to have a greater influence on the future of Eastern game design than they ever did back home. Early Japanese RPGs, in my experience at least, iterated heavily on that early computer RPG formula whereas Western developers would continually reinvent the wheel through increasingly different and more technologically advanced attempts to translate tabletop to computer game whole cloth (Ultima itself can be a very experimental series, drastically changing approaches between games and even ports of the same game). It's hard to find anything left from The Bard's Tale inside of a Bethesda RPG, but to this day Shin Megami Tensei feels like an iteration on mechanics laid out in Wizardry (SMT IV even shares Wizardry's presentation in its opening chapter).
Yep, this was originally going to be about Ultima AND Wizardry but Wizardry in Japan is so huge that it requires a separate video for sure. There's a lot of cross-pollenation though. A lot of the folks from Locus and Infinity worked on Wizardry Ports.
Sega did the Master System port. Differences are: You can fire projectiles at any angle instead of only right angles and diagonals. Redrawn graphics. Music (for an 8-bit). Menus instead of typing (of course). Doors open by walking into them (no open command needed). No 3D dungeons (like you said). You can mix multiples of a spell at once. Horses now outrun monsters.
Source was Mobygames on internal development, with SEGA listed as publisher only www.mobygames.com/game/84/ultima-iv-quest-of-the-avatar/ Also this article ultima.fandom.com/wiki/Console_Ports_of_Ultima_IV - if there was almost a court case against origin for development, that means Origin would have had involvement. Additionally, John Sauer at SEGA says they didn't fully do the port (although the Ultima codex cites the opposite or what he is saying )- he actually states "it was my baby and it was cancelled / it came out in Europe" www.smstributes.co.uk/view_article.asp?articleid=32 but i see that "Reprogrammed by SEGA" and get what you mean. Gamefaqs lists Kagawa, Oshida etc as developers which cannot be correct as they were FCI. I saw no staff roll at credits. Any source that describes the individuals doing conversion on the port? Will add in subs if so.
@@f_t_b2238 no, I just remember someone saying it was reprogrammed by Sega. MobyGames lists Origin as the Developer. Why has MobyGames removed their search bar?
Excellent video, as usual. Your narration style reminds me of those late 80s documentaries with hosts wearing gigantic thick-rimmed glasses, silly isn't it.
A lot of people keep saying that! l I think it's a side effect of being trained to do stuff in the mid - to - late 90s and being raised on Public Broadcasting programming. I'm definitely aiming for that kind of relaxed pacing, UA-cam can be a little jumpy for my tastes.
Huh, the Lord British from Gradius was a homage to Garriot? Never knew. Anyway.... even though I was probably busy being born in this era, this grainy footage from the eighties makes me feel quite comfortable and cozy as I grow ever older.
1:35 the anime pictures is called Salamander of the same game name and is the in universe precursor to Gradius. If any are looking for "Gradius anime" and not finding it.
Yup, it's this : gradius.fandom.com/wiki/Salamander_(OVA) Didn't want to get too into the weeds with it as it was off topic other than "Hey, Lord British had a ship and a character named after him". Covers the first three games - kiiiiiiind of lol
Thanks for the video, great piece of work, the ultima series and its importance to the rpg/jrpg scene is so fascinating to me, from being the grandfather of skyrim to help shape, so many jrpgs
Fantastic video! It's always nice seeing more vids about Western-made games that reached Japan and how they were recieved there, especially so early on; I was aware of some of the ports (and the Ultima Mix album; one of those tie-in things that still fascinate me, alongside the similar tie-in single for the Japanese release of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee [which coincidentally also had Tsugutoshi Goto's involvement]) but had no idea about the tie-in manga and novels. Regarding Master System Ultima IV, it actually was supposed to see a Japanese release too, as it even supports the Japanese-only FM sound add-on, but like many other Master System games around that period it got quietly cancelled as Sega pretty much killed it off when the Mega Drive hit. Presumably it would've been overshadowed in sales by the NES version.
That's interesting. Straight up didn't know that was a planned thing. I think both ports have their strengths. The SMS one it's certainly *much* easier to navigate the dungeons, but the simpler reagents-and-spellbook gameplay of the NES version is a plus. There were couple of other novels, including satirical ones, sacrificed for time and flow. I'll post the link in a second, I have to grab it from my notes.
I'm not super well versed on the Ultima series, I think the most I remember of it was FCI's Famicom/NES port of Quest of the Avatar. The one memory I have that sticks out about the whole honor system is coming across a blind shopkeeper and whenever you purchase something you have to physically count out the correct amount to give to him. don't think I've ever seen that in any video game before or since! (though I haven't played a ton of modern takes on games like that so I could always be wrong.) also surprised to see stuff like the manga, but I suppose with Pony Canyon/FCI being the juggernaut that it is, shouldn't be surprised, haha.
Yep, it has a bunch of little touches, and there's even more in the pc versions under the hood. One bug I forgot to mention is that in the NES port, injured monsters don't run away. Sparing them increases virtue levels in the PC and Sega versions. It's actually strange to me that morality systems have gone simpler instead of more complex, mostly being binary KOTOR- type stuff. Ultima shows there's some more cleverness with mechanics to be had there, but I haven't encountered much like it.
Awesome video! Loved it and super interesting. Reminds me to finally give Ultima IV on the Master System a try. Got my hands on the rather rare companion books a while ago and need to track down a manual. Have your heard of Miracle Warriors? Another proto-RPG that seems to have been rather big in Japan and was brought over on the Master System.
Somehow sailed by me completely despite the Reiko Kodama art, ties to ASCII, and knowing of a fan translation to the sequel, Wings of Arugisu. Kogado I know from Power Dolls series (that's one the "maybe future videos). I'll let you know in comments if I come across anything not immediately available for that game, I haven't played it
Avatar for me as well. Took me a whole summer to complete it even with a hintbook. I did play Ultima VI on PC later though, and went backwards from that.
Looking up the synopses for Aya Nishitani's Ultima novels, and I'm really surprised these haven't been latched on to by the large Megami Tensei/SMT fanbase, because a lot of the concepts in them (high schoolers cursed to become demons as they get older, the spirit of an evil wizard housed in a super computer, the merging of the world of Britannia with the real world) all feel like they'd fit right in with the worlds and stories of not only the video games but the original MegaTen novels. I guess that sort of circular inspiration is a large part of why the Japanese side of the RPG genre is the way it is today, and it's nice to have a greater understanding of one of the elements of that cultural feedback loop that was the early days of an influential genre.
I think a lot of the reasons why some industry stalwarts get frustrated with the term "JRPG" is because of this shared history. It's a lot muddier than we really think of, from things like Hydlide being inspired by Ultima to Roe R Adams' interest in RPG development in Japan (he went on to form Animeigo), to early magazines having large import sections. Some of these elements Nishitani used are in the Ultima games themselves (aside from the younger protagonists) but he sorta repurposed them for his style. So they're a little unusual for Ultima which is a little less horror oriented (usually). Its an interesting topic, and one that will come up again as I do these videos, I'm sure.
Awesome video, very informative. I have just one request: could you share your sources? It would help me a bunch. I mean it! I'm an actual historian trying to get a scholarship studying early games/computing! It would really, really help me out! 😅
Just to start, though, a very large portion of the video was derived from three books : Through the Moongate by Andrea Cotato, The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers by John Sczepaniak, and Software People by Doug Carlston. Additional information was derived from Ultima's various wikis, and staff was traced through MobyGames and various forums. The internet links cited in the end include the article The Road To IV over at The Digital Antiquarian, and some Softalk and Softline magazines from the early 80s for profiles on Garriott. Let me know if there's something specific you need as well.
Thank you very much! I usually listen to videos on my phone while commuting/jogging, so it totally escaped me that you did put the sources in the... video part of the... video lol
That's something down the line, once I can figure out how to cover the *massive* amount of Wizardry spinoffs and titles in Japan. I counted 30, and I'm absolutely certain I'm missing more of them. But yeah - Ultima won't be the only software series covered in this manner :)
That's appreciated, but please take care of yourself. I'll try to put more flashing lights warnings and such on vids to prevent any exacerbation of head aches - I'm a facial pain sufferer myself
always thought it was funny how ultima in japan had original japanese songs that are very hard to find on here also the fact that theres so many japanese spinoffs
From looking at it l, I think that was Ponycanyon doing their thing and since a record producer was on staff for Exodus, he figured he might as well cross promote Noriko Hidaka. Hitomi no Knife is on Spotify now, which surprised me.
Bigger companies subcontracting developers to make games wasn't exactly anything special, even for the time. Take Enix as an example, and how they contracted developers for their games. This can't be counted as a negative or a disadvantage, as the results from the same practices were also massively popular.
I hear you, but these are the words of the developers themselves, so in Ultima's case, it sounds like they had a different and frustrating experience. That quote comes directly from Untold History of Japanese Game Developers, and there's more in there about that (as well as others that had more beneficial experiences).
Just re-checked. This is from the interview section with Toru Hidaka, who actually worked for Enix as well, so there's a bunch of information there. Starts on page 86 or so. So I think he's referring more to this specific circumstance of that practice giving him frustration, but also as stated in the video, Origin were not exactly forthcoming in some aspects, and Garriott's code is odd to begin with which can't have been easy to work with. Rest should be in the chapter and other sources listed at the end of the video.
I mean given the other actual anime being produced for stuff like Galaga (Garriot being pretty sure there was one doesn't help either) its a pretty solid "I want to believe" rumor, but unfortunately - Finnish fansite having a bit of fun there. Happy to eat crow on this if it magically reappears or some more info comes to light tho :)
At the time Xanadu was not its own series but part of Falcom's Dragon Slayer series. Xanadu was Dragon Slayer 2. Later on Xanadu would spin off from Dragon Slayer just like The Legend of Heroes.
Yup, thus the discussion of it as a standalone, because Garriott targeted Xanadu specifically and that's what was shown at the meeting. From what I could tell from the research, Garriott was thinking of a more general sharing of titles from Falcom and what would be Origon Systems, but the Xanadu issue derailed it completely. Dragon Slayer is its own massive knot, but that's not really something I can add additional coverage to - that would be bowloflentils' video on Falcom, which I'd recommend for more on those titles. Flow thing - its sort of like Drasle Family / Legacy of the Wizard being part of the same series - but I get where you're at.
@@f_t_b2238 I agree with Dragon Slayer being knot too big to untangle in this video. I just made the comment so that others could go down that path if they wanted. Thanks for the additional input.
I can't imagine how it would feel going to another hemisphere to discuss a business partnership, only to immediately find out the business has been plagiarizing your work and making a huge profit off of it.
To be fair, it's Loubet's, not Garriott's, and I think the intention was homage- Xanadu plays nothing like Ultima. That being said, Garriot's reaction is understandable - at that time he was very protective of his brand and seemed worried about what would happen to it since working for Sierra was not a good experience. I don't think anyone has asked him directly about the events. Devs on the other side, sure - it comes up in Untold History a couple times, with some varied opinions. There's an HG101 article about this practice that I'll link in the comments.
A whole generation of people who grew up on the NES/SNES, including on both sides of the pond, fail to understand how much JRPGs and Japanese dungeon crawlers owe to Ultima and Wizardry respectively. Freaking _Dragon Warrior/Quest,_ the granddaddy of JRPGs in most people's minds, effectively plagiarized Ultima for its content, right down to having the player start out in a castle on a shoreline with a small town situated right outside. And then _Final Fantasy_ was just as shameless. Both of these types of game were always way more popular in Japan but it all started with Ultima and Wizardry.
I think overall there's a lot more cross-pollination than people give credit for due to the narrative of the tensions because of the bubble (auto industry, real estate) causing an almost total lack of communication. The reality from the research seems quite different, with a lot of shared inspirations. Even Roe R. Adams here wrote some pretty good articles for magazines talking about Japanese RPGs and their influence. It's definitely something that keeps adding layers the more I look into it. The book Software People by Doug Carlston covers it extensively, also a good book if you're curious about Sierra as well - Ken and Roberta Williams feature in the book extensively. There were also Japanese magazines covering RPG gamebooks, some prominent members of that will be showing up in a future video.
2:55 - History kinda hinged on that goofy meeting with the plagiarism - like how did they not know? Or maybe it was a detail lost between the pixel artists and Falcom execs who're making the business deals. 7:38 - "there's no staff here who knows machine language" it's like some business people signing developers up for work they're not capable of doing. Feels like a nightmare. Subcontractor of a subcontractor and everyone takes a cut, so you only get the lowest most desperate bidder - Falcom would have done a better job than any one of these places when it came to port work. I'm thinking Nintendo people aren't inherently better than other studios, but that the rest of the industry has no institutional memory and are all just "Chop-Chop-Turn-It-Around-Push-It-Through" 12:52 - OHHHHH-KAY! I was wondering why the Master System Ultima IV is more or less the most faithful but also the least japanese port out of all the other japanese console - I still prefer the big headed designs being a Final Fantasy kid. Bit of a bummer we didn't get a Playstation port of ultima 7 or 8 or re-releases of the games post 5. Thing is - console emulators are very easy to use while personal computer versions tend to require a keyboard and mouse. Dosbox is a bit more involved to get things running or you need to look for reimplementations like Exult.
Well, as far as Falcom for the most part I'd agree but Ys III SNES of course has some issues despite being headed by someone with at least 3 masterpieces under his belt (same person who did Ugetsu Kitan) so it seems like even they could fall victim to the occasional port wonkiness. It's also worth noting that by his own admission Garriott really wasn't fond of porting things in general so I'm not sure what would have happened there. For more information on porting and attitudes towards Japan I'd recommend the Doug Carlston book "software people." It doesn't mention the Falcom incident but it talks a good bit about what happened with Mystery House and Sierra. I'll probably do a wide scope video about this later on but there's stuff in the queue to get through first. I would have loved a playstation port of U7 etc. Zork got one. But I think by that point Origin just didn't focus on it at all, with the underworld port being a bit of an anomaly - perhaps even a small miracle - due to that studio's output.
@@f_t_b2238 "'Recommend the Doug Carlston book "software people." Thanks for the rec! Less than a decade into microcomputers being mainstream (and barely a year after hits like The Print Shop) they're already talking about who's who. Ken William's memoir doesn't even mention the japanese or ports. And so many japanese text adventure game have the procedural line art that Mystery House has - so the story behind all of that might be interesting.
If only Richard hadn't gotten so butthurt about them reproducing the art from Ultima 1 in Xanadu. Oh well. History is full of smart people making bad decisions for dumb reasons.
I just wanted to say thank you for all the fantastic videos you make. Genuinely some of the most engaging video essays I've seen with some of the most interesting and niche topics. God bless and keep up the great work! Please know that it is highly appreciated.
UPDATE: Ultima Underworld PSX now has an English translation! It's great to finally have this alternate take available in English. It's a polarizing port, but I found it to be significantly better then its reputation.
www.romhacking.net/translations/7062/
Man what a coincidence. I've been on an Ultima binge recently and you just dropped this. It's like the stars aligned or something.
Man, your channel is so underrated, you make great content
Yeah, same here. Subbed!
The lowkey editing style of your videos is a nice comfort in comparison to other youtubers with a modern, sometimes over-stimulating style. This is like finding a classic video from 2010, or a TV special. Thank you and keep educating the public on the OBSCURE!
Don't usually comment much on YT videos, but just want to echo the sentiments from other posters here: your content is top drawer / deep end and it is MUCH appreciated. Keep doing what you do!
It's really good to still be hearing stuff about ultima. It was so foundational.
Excellent, excellent, excellent video! Great work!
Great video! I didn't have a PC as a kid, so Ultima on the NES was my entry to it, absolutely loved that game. Had no idea that Ultima IV was on NES/Famicom, I'll have to check it out.
It's actually not bad. A little streamlined, no branching conversations, and random combat, but nice graphics and music and still captures the spirit of the original.
Wanna read some quotes in my Asteka (by Falcom) video?
Sure! No problem at all. Please send the quotes to the email address for the channel and I'll reply back with recorded versions as soon as I'm able.
Thanks for the videos, I look forward to seeing new ones in my feed. Your format and topics are fascinating.
It's also funny to note that Sierra would go on to partner with Falcom, releasing their Sorcerian in the US, which was part of the Xanadu series. But I don't believe it sold very well, and Sierra didn't work with them again. So maybe Gariott/Origin dodged a bullet there.
Valid point. I can vouch for the Star Craft fallout - that's described in the book Software People, cited in the credits, but although Sierra features prominently in that book, Sorcerian does not.
They did pretty good with Game Arts, that's something talked about elsewhere on the channel, with Thexder.
There's a bunch of "what if's" there that are really interesting.
Falcom created the Ys series though. They're still around today, Origin isn't. There are a lot of very good games we missed out on because that deal fell through.
@@atomicskull6405 Having lived through those days, I can say pretty confidently that American buyers just weren't that interested in Japanese PC games until after the anime boom in the late 90s. I can think of multiple companies that tried to get into PC porting, and either failed entirely or moved to other ventures. And it seems counterintuitive given the popularity of Japanese console games in the 80s-90s, but for some reason, the market just wasn't there for PC ports. So I genuinely doubt most of those Falcom games would have come over, in any case.
(Hell, I remember buying Knights Of Xentar - a thoroughly mediocre H-RPG - just because it was literally the only Dragon Quest-style JRPG on US PCs circa 1994 or so.)
Yeah, part of that might be because there was kind of a feeling among PC players at the time that console RPGs were simplified versions of PC CRPGs, and a sort of stereotype that came from that (I think that's one of the reasons for what @atomicskull6405 is describing). There's even an article by Roe R Adams III himself about RPGs in Japan that's like "Dragon Quest is good tho, and there's some interesting stuff coming out, everybody chill" that I'll link in the comments. There was definitely some tension there that retrospectively didn't need to be there, and probably prevented stuff from getting to US shores sooner.
This is an absurd example but It is pretty funny to imagine something like Ys being localized under the Ultima banner though. That... would take a lot of changes.
I don’t know about that everyone, to me it seems like a huge missed opportunity. Think of it like this, Origin LOVED to make a big presentation for their games. Cloth Maps, Extensive Instructions, and Lore peppered all throughout in their eye catching packaging and manuals.
All I’m saying is that maybe we’d be singing a different tune if the Dragon Slayer and Xanadu Series were handled differently in the West. Would it have saved Origin and kept them from being bought out?
Probably not? But it’s an interesting what if.
After all, Origin did say that “they create worlds”. Only make sense to show other worlds as well. XP
I think your channel is the most interesting new channel I've stumbled across in a long time. Your videos are very well made and even if the subject is very niche, I hope you will continue making videos. Thank you for making them!
Good stuff, I learned a lot of new things about Ultima series I didn't knew before. Also really like how each of your videos improves on editing and audio quality from previous one. Keep it up, this is some real hidden gem channel you have right here, that will most likely stop being so hidden in the future.
I'd never really gave much thought to the Ultima ports or the series presence in Japan. Perhaps I should have much earlier! This was both informative and entertaining; great work once again.
Awesome coverage FTB. No one ever talks about the FCI ports of Ultima. To me they are beautiful disasters. I especially have a soft spot for FCI/Pony port of Quest of the Avatar and Exodus has a small yet emotional OST. (quick edit: this is regarding Famicom/NES ports)
That's a fair assessment. I think IV's high levels of ambition help it tremendously. III is.. messy, but the talent behind the music does show through a lot.
@sparklesparklesparkle6318 it's funny because there is a list of voice actors in the game but not who they played. Ultima's casting is usually in-jokes to begin with, so Sir Kenneth is based off of composer Ken Arnold, but I didn't see his name in the credits. I think the actor might be Ken Demarest, who designed the dogfights in Wing Commander.
Pretty much all the U6 VAs are Origin staff and usually attached to the characters that were based on them, so it's fun to spot voices. Warren Spector's in there too somewhere.
@@f_t_b2238 And Garriott as Lord British as well lol
I actually have the soundtrack album CD for the NES Ultima: Exodus game; hearing all of the original versions of the tracks that were then down mixed for an 8-bit game is actually pretty amazing, the town theme was fully orchestrated with real instruments. I also like the songs sung by Noriko Hidaka.
I really appreciate the story that you weave with these videos! Great job! I always look forward to your videos.
Fascinating, I particularly loved the explanation on the turn of the series from the fourth episode. It's true that I remembered that the series had gone to Starcraft but it was still quite vague, hard work, congratulations!
Glad you enjoyed the video!
The book in the credits, "Software People", was absolutely invaluable there in tracking down information on Star Craft, which is an interesting story on its own, including stuff that was so far off topic that it would've derailed the video, including Nakazawa's family's silk factory, how Alien Rain got to the U.S. , and some other unrelated stuff.
The subcontractor maze is tough, yeah. Part of the intention of the video is to explain that out and shed light on it, since it's a bit of a labyrinth at the moment.
The failures of V NES and VII SNES feel to me like a combination of a well-intentioned but fumbled business idea (developing internally to solve the subcontractor issue), technical limitations (just not enough memory for VII and making something like VI for the older V on a weaker system), and external strain (EA merger can't have helped, this is shown by things like Elizabeth and Abraham in VII being written before the EA merger started).
There used to be a hell of an article about what happened with Origin, if I can find it (I'm fairly certain it would be on Wayback somewhere) I'll post it.
More about the bad blood between EA and Origin here (outside of the scope of this video, but a very interesting story in its own right)
www.filfre.net/2019/09/origin-sells-out/
@@f_t_b2238 Thanks for the link :)
I'm really glad that your channel was recommended to me. You are doing great job to tale, i think very unknown on the west, stories about early japanese video game market and development. Who would have thought that Ultima series had quite stormy life in Japan.
I grew up with the NES Ultima ports in my house and a port of the original on the C64. They were so different and I didn't understand at the time why.
Great video!
I’m currently playing through Ultima VI on the FM Towns, so this is right up my alley.
I was seriously impressed by that port, especially that hot button version switching, a feature I wish more games had. The English voice acting is... something, but it has its own charm for sure lol
@@f_t_b2238 yeah it’s cool being able to play it in English. I nearly spit out my drink when the blacksmith said “I make-a da swords” in an exaggerated accent.
Just finished replaying U5 and 6 so this is a real treat. Thanks for the Victor Entertainment logo btw, great reaction image.
Thanks! His Master's Voice (the dog picture) has a pretty interesting history on its own, the logo's over 120 years old now, but its interesting because no matter where in the world it shows up it immediately identifies the company as a descendant of Victor Talking Machine Company. RCA's another company that uses the dog for similar reasons.
I wish there was more to talk about with Japan Ultima V, the ports are fairly straightforward. The console ports really should've been handed off to Newtopia there, V NES is *rough*. The graphic upgrade for the Japanese PC version mentioned in the video is most notable in the dungeons, but it doesn't have the crazy tech trickery that VI Towns has.
@@f_t_b2238 Ah, I had no idea of the rich history of what is apparently a very famous logo 😄. You learn something new every day, and sometimes it's not about very obscure Japanese adventure games.
It is wonderful that you are doing this. Thank you so much.
Your videos are exactly the kind of content I've been waiting for.
great video. not too long, not too short - something most youtubers completely miss 🙂
Thanks, that's something I'm trying to watch out for.
DUDE! This was a great documentary and I learned so much about Ultima and Garriot that had just never come to me as someone who hasn't really dug into the series. Please keep making these!
Thank you for your hard work, the quality of your content and its admirable delivery.
Bro I love your videos and watch the hell out of them. Relaxing, informative, and the topics are really exciting.
I love every single one of your videos friend. Please never stop, they really make my day.
Thanks for this! I've been prowling ebay for big boxed games since the pandemic, and kept seeing amazing Ultima merch from Japan. It's nice to get a feel of the history behind these products. I snagged a beautiful Ultima collection by Locus on my last trip to Japan, and it was cool to see the company mentioned in the video.
This is really good content
Actual in-depth research and legit presentation
Keep up the good work!
I just watched all your videos after discovering your channel thanks to the Basement Brothers.
Your content is very good and consistently improving, just the right duration.
Thank you for your hard work and please continue !
Wonderful video. So glad I stumbled onto your channel.
Great video. Always toyed with playing Ultima, but maybe I'll just stick to watching videos about it
They've aged a bit, and were packaged with long manual/hintbook combos that had tons of information, but overall, VI and VII have held up very well, so those I'd recommend. I'm immensely fond of Famicom IV as well, if the manual can be tracked down, so those would be my recommendations.
V probably has the best plot and pacing, but it's also kinda esoteric. A fan made remake exists in the Dungeon Siege engine called Project Lazarus that's quite good.
Excellent video. I wanted to know more about Japan's love for Ultima
Thank you for this comprehensive look!
Superb documentary.
This is a good presentation, thank you sir.
I was amazed by Ultima IV on the SMS, staggering levels of freedom for a kid who bought the system for arcade ports.
There was a fantastic Ultima clone on the PC called Excelsior which is was still available from the developer last time I checked.
Another quality video.
beyond stellar. I was, coincidentally, recently curious about the specific history of Ultima in Japan after getting into the Wizardy series. your video came out at the perfect time!
edit: tangentially related but Sadistic Mika Band are good af
Another great video! Thanks for making these. :) They are very well researched. I just wanted to add that Pony Canyon released two different MSX2 releases of Ultima III: Exodus, one from May 1988 and the other one from November 1989 (dates coming from the packaging). The 1988 cartridge release is a port of the Famicom game and the 1989 floppy disk release is a port of the PC-88 game.
You can find photos of both MSX2 releases from Generation MSX database. Seems like many Ultima fansites only know about the cartridge MSX2 release and not the floppy disk one.
Just to double check- i talk about the Pony Canyon ports at 12:30, the cartridge first and the disk one in 1989 that was more faithful. Are the one you mention separate, like with Ultima Trilogy?
I'm surprised the Pony Canyon port is a straight port of the StarCraft version. I would have figured some differences. It seems kinda rarer.
@@f_t_b2238 My comment was directed at 12:15 point, where you say "For computers, Pony Canyon would port the Famicom version of Exodus to the MSX...", as I'm aware that it's not widely known that there's two entirely different, separate releases of Ultima III: Exodus on the MSX2 -- the Famicom port on cartridge (1988) and the PC-88 port on floppy disk (1989).
@TheMSXChannel I'll add 2 to MSX in the subtitles, but it's just a pause in the narration. "For computers, Pony Canyon would port the Famicom version to the MSX and would later port a more faithful version of the Apple II original in 1989".is the full sentence, but I'll add "to the same system" to the subtitle to eliminate confusion.
@@f_t_b2238 Gotcha. Thank you. :) Oh yeah, speaking of subtitles, there's several typos in there. What's the best way to mention them? Can your "For business inquiries" e-mail address be used for this?
FANTASTIC video, as always!
this was excellent. great work!
Nicely done, thanks.
allways interesting to see it go the other way
Yep! It's not the next video planned but I will be doing more like that in the future :)
Great video. Cool stuff. Sending general appreciation your way.
This is another interesting video!
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One minute into this video and I'm already learning about Moebius! I had no idea that Origin made a game right after Ultima IV.
I feel like Windwalker, the sequel, is more famous there and people forget about the first one. I proooooooobbaly should have talked about that one due to the Broderbund connections :p
The combat in Moebius is interesting and reminds me of Quest for Glory IV a bit.
Keep up the good work! I'm unfamiliar with Ultima in Japan , always sticking to the original PC for those, but I have played several of the Japanese Wizardry games including the Japan exclusive SFC port of Wizardy 1-3. I've always found it interesting how the early years of Western RPGs seemed to have a greater influence on the future of Eastern game design than they ever did back home. Early Japanese RPGs, in my experience at least, iterated heavily on that early computer RPG formula whereas Western developers would continually reinvent the wheel through increasingly different and more technologically advanced attempts to translate tabletop to computer game whole cloth (Ultima itself can be a very experimental series, drastically changing approaches between games and even ports of the same game). It's hard to find anything left from The Bard's Tale inside of a Bethesda RPG, but to this day Shin Megami Tensei feels like an iteration on mechanics laid out in Wizardry (SMT IV even shares Wizardry's presentation in its opening chapter).
Yep, this was originally going to be about Ultima AND Wizardry but Wizardry in Japan is so huge that it requires a separate video for sure. There's a lot of cross-pollenation though. A lot of the folks from Locus and Infinity worked on Wizardry Ports.
Sega did the Master System port.
Differences are: You can fire projectiles at any angle instead of only right angles and diagonals. Redrawn graphics. Music (for an 8-bit). Menus instead of typing (of course). Doors open by walking into them (no open command needed). No 3D dungeons (like you said). You can mix multiples of a spell at once. Horses now outrun monsters.
Source was Mobygames on internal development, with SEGA listed as publisher only
www.mobygames.com/game/84/ultima-iv-quest-of-the-avatar/
Also this article
ultima.fandom.com/wiki/Console_Ports_of_Ultima_IV - if there was almost a court case against origin for development, that means Origin would have had involvement.
Additionally, John Sauer at SEGA says they didn't fully do the port (although the Ultima codex cites the opposite or what he is saying )- he actually states "it was my baby and it was cancelled / it came out in Europe"
www.smstributes.co.uk/view_article.asp?articleid=32
but i see that "Reprogrammed by SEGA" and get what you mean.
Gamefaqs lists Kagawa, Oshida etc as developers which cannot be correct as they were FCI. I saw no staff roll at credits.
Any source that describes the individuals doing conversion on the port? Will add in subs if so.
@@f_t_b2238 no, I just remember someone saying it was reprogrammed by Sega. MobyGames lists Origin as the Developer.
Why has MobyGames removed their search bar?
Wow, this channel is amazing.
Excellent video, as usual.
Your narration style reminds me of those late 80s documentaries with hosts wearing gigantic thick-rimmed glasses, silly isn't it.
A lot of people keep saying that! l I think it's a side effect of being trained to do stuff in the mid - to - late 90s and being raised on Public Broadcasting programming. I'm definitely aiming for that kind of relaxed pacing, UA-cam can be a little jumpy for my tastes.
Huh, the Lord British from Gradius was a homage to Garriot? Never knew. Anyway.... even though I was probably busy being born in this era, this grainy footage from the eighties makes me feel quite comfortable and cozy as I grow ever older.
I try to get as much contemporary footage as I can. VHS filters don't work for me lol, they always look wrong
1:35 the anime pictures is called Salamander of the same game name and is the in universe precursor to Gradius. If any are looking for "Gradius anime" and not finding it.
Yup, it's this : gradius.fandom.com/wiki/Salamander_(OVA)
Didn't want to get too into the weeds with it as it was off topic other than "Hey, Lord British had a ship and a character named after him". Covers the first three games - kiiiiiiind of lol
Thanks for the video, great piece of work, the ultima series and its importance to the rpg/jrpg scene is so fascinating to me, from being the grandfather of skyrim to help shape, so many jrpgs
Fantastic video! It's always nice seeing more vids about Western-made games that reached Japan and how they were recieved there, especially so early on; I was aware of some of the ports (and the Ultima Mix album; one of those tie-in things that still fascinate me, alongside the similar tie-in single for the Japanese release of Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee [which coincidentally also had Tsugutoshi Goto's involvement]) but had no idea about the tie-in manga and novels.
Regarding Master System Ultima IV, it actually was supposed to see a Japanese release too, as it even supports the Japanese-only FM sound add-on, but like many other Master System games around that period it got quietly cancelled as Sega pretty much killed it off when the Mega Drive hit. Presumably it would've been overshadowed in sales by the NES version.
That's interesting. Straight up didn't know that was a planned thing.
I think both ports have their strengths. The SMS one it's certainly *much* easier to navigate the dungeons, but the simpler reagents-and-spellbook gameplay of the NES version is a plus.
There were couple of other novels, including satirical ones, sacrificed for time and flow. I'll post the link in a second, I have to grab it from my notes.
Here you go
wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Japanese_Ultima_novels
I'm not super well versed on the Ultima series, I think the most I remember of it was FCI's Famicom/NES port of Quest of the Avatar. The one memory I have that sticks out about the whole honor system is coming across a blind shopkeeper and whenever you purchase something you have to physically count out the correct amount to give to him. don't think I've ever seen that in any video game before or since! (though I haven't played a ton of modern takes on games like that so I could always be wrong.) also surprised to see stuff like the manga, but I suppose with Pony Canyon/FCI being the juggernaut that it is, shouldn't be surprised, haha.
Yep, it has a bunch of little touches, and there's even more in the pc versions under the hood. One bug I forgot to mention is that in the NES port, injured monsters don't run away. Sparing them increases virtue levels in the PC and Sega versions. It's actually strange to me that morality systems have gone simpler instead of more complex, mostly being binary KOTOR- type stuff. Ultima shows there's some more cleverness with mechanics to be had there, but I haven't encountered much like it.
Awesome video! Loved it and super interesting. Reminds me to finally give Ultima IV on the Master System a try. Got my hands on the rather rare companion books a while ago and need to track down a manual.
Have your heard of Miracle Warriors? Another proto-RPG that seems to have been rather big in Japan and was brought over on the Master System.
Not off the top of my head, but I may know it by a different name.
@@f_t_b2238 it was known as Haja no Fūin in Japan
Somehow sailed by me completely despite the Reiko Kodama art, ties to ASCII, and knowing of a fan translation to the sequel, Wings of Arugisu.
Kogado I know from Power Dolls series (that's one the "maybe future videos). I'll let you know in comments if I come across anything not immediately available for that game, I haven't played it
Great topic!! Love it!!
Ultima in Japan reminds me of how wizardry ended up being massively popular in Japan
Crazy pony canyon exodus is the only ultima i knew as a kid. This video is great.
Avatar for me as well. Took me a whole summer to complete it even with a hintbook. I did play Ultima VI on PC later though, and went backwards from that.
another great video, thanks!
Looking up the synopses for Aya Nishitani's Ultima novels, and I'm really surprised these haven't been latched on to by the large Megami Tensei/SMT fanbase, because a lot of the concepts in them (high schoolers cursed to become demons as they get older, the spirit of an evil wizard housed in a super computer, the merging of the world of Britannia with the real world) all feel like they'd fit right in with the worlds and stories of not only the video games but the original MegaTen novels. I guess that sort of circular inspiration is a large part of why the Japanese side of the RPG genre is the way it is today, and it's nice to have a greater understanding of one of the elements of that cultural feedback loop that was the early days of an influential genre.
I think a lot of the reasons why some industry stalwarts get frustrated with the term "JRPG" is because of this shared history. It's a lot muddier than we really think of, from things like Hydlide being inspired by Ultima to Roe R Adams' interest in RPG development in Japan (he went on to form Animeigo), to early magazines having large import sections.
Some of these elements Nishitani used are in the Ultima games themselves (aside from the younger protagonists) but he sorta repurposed them for his style. So they're a little unusual for Ultima which is a little less horror oriented (usually).
Its an interesting topic, and one that will come up again as I do these videos, I'm sure.
Awesome video, very informative. I have just one request: could you share your sources? It would help me a bunch.
I mean it! I'm an actual historian trying to get a scholarship studying early games/computing! It would really, really help me out! 😅
Sources are in the credits at the very end of the video :)
Just to start, though, a very large portion of the video was derived from three books : Through the Moongate by Andrea Cotato, The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers by John Sczepaniak, and Software People by Doug Carlston. Additional information was derived from Ultima's various wikis, and staff was traced through MobyGames and various forums.
The internet links cited in the end include the article The Road To IV over at The Digital Antiquarian, and some Softalk and Softline magazines from the early 80s for profiles on Garriott.
Let me know if there's something specific you need as well.
Thank you very much! I usually listen to videos on my phone while commuting/jogging, so it totally escaped me that you did put the sources in the... video part of the... video lol
oo oo do Wizardy! What a bridge from west to east it is
That's something down the line, once I can figure out how to cover the *massive* amount of Wizardry spinoffs and titles in Japan. I counted 30, and I'm absolutely certain I'm missing more of them.
But yeah - Ultima won't be the only software series covered in this manner :)
Sorry, it's late, my head hurts like hell, but I can still give you some engagement and send this video to my buddies
That's appreciated, but please take care of yourself. I'll try to put more flashing lights warnings and such on vids to prevent any exacerbation of head aches - I'm a facial pain sufferer myself
Excellent
always thought it was funny how ultima in japan had original japanese songs that are very hard to find on here
also the fact that theres so many japanese spinoffs
From looking at it l, I think that was Ponycanyon doing their thing and since a record producer was on staff for Exodus, he figured he might as well cross promote Noriko Hidaka.
Hitomi no Knife is on Spotify now, which surprised me.
@@f_t_b2238yeah that’s how I found out about it. Saw “ultima mix” on Apple Music and was pretty confused especially since it’s not even all on UA-cam
Bigger companies subcontracting developers to make games wasn't exactly anything special, even for the time. Take Enix as an example, and how they contracted developers for their games. This can't be counted as a negative or a disadvantage, as the results from the same practices were also massively popular.
I hear you, but these are the words of the developers themselves, so in Ultima's case, it sounds like they had a different and frustrating experience. That quote comes directly from Untold History of Japanese Game Developers, and there's more in there about that (as well as others that had more beneficial experiences).
Just re-checked. This is from the interview section with Toru Hidaka, who actually worked for Enix as well, so there's a bunch of information there. Starts on page 86 or so.
So I think he's referring more to this specific circumstance of that practice giving him frustration, but also as stated in the video, Origin were not exactly forthcoming in some aspects, and Garriott's code is odd to begin with which can't have been easy to work with.
Rest should be in the chapter and other sources listed at the end of the video.
Ultima as an anime...that feels oddly appropriate for some reason
I mean given the other actual anime being produced for stuff like Galaga (Garriot being pretty sure there was one doesn't help either) its a pretty solid "I want to believe" rumor, but unfortunately - Finnish fansite having a bit of fun there.
Happy to eat crow on this if it magically reappears or some more info comes to light tho :)
23:21 Electronic Arts Victor wasn't really a merger and was more of an ill-fated joint-venture
Fair point, I'll * the vocabulary correction in the subtitles
EDIT: done.
At the time Xanadu was not its own series but part of Falcom's Dragon Slayer series. Xanadu was Dragon Slayer 2. Later on Xanadu would spin off from Dragon Slayer just like The Legend of Heroes.
Yup, thus the discussion of it as a standalone, because Garriott targeted Xanadu specifically and that's what was shown at the meeting. From what I could tell from the research, Garriott was thinking of a more general sharing of titles from Falcom and what would be Origon Systems, but the Xanadu issue derailed it completely.
Dragon Slayer is its own massive knot, but that's not really something I can add additional coverage to - that would be bowloflentils' video on Falcom, which I'd recommend for more on those titles.
Flow thing - its sort of like Drasle Family / Legacy of the Wizard being part of the same series - but I get where you're at.
@@f_t_b2238 I agree with Dragon Slayer being knot too big to untangle in this video. I just made the comment so that others could go down that path if they wanted. Thanks for the additional input.
No worries - let me link that video in the comments here. One sec
BowlOfLentils excellent' Falcom video -
ua-cam.com/video/JIcbJn-RylQ/v-deo.html
As much of a weeb as I am, I never knew Ultima was anything in Japan
Lenin the bard?! 😂
Regional accent got on the way there lol...
Lennon the Bard, presumably named after John Lennon.
I can't imagine how it would feel going to another hemisphere to discuss a business partnership, only to immediately find out the business has been plagiarizing your work and making a huge profit off of it.
To be fair, it's Loubet's, not Garriott's, and I think the intention was homage- Xanadu plays nothing like Ultima. That being said, Garriot's reaction is understandable - at that time he was very protective of his brand and seemed worried about what would happen to it since working for Sierra was not a good experience.
I don't think anyone has asked him directly about the events. Devs on the other side, sure - it comes up in Untold History a couple times, with some varied opinions.
There's an HG101 article about this practice that I'll link in the comments.
www.hardcoregaming101.net/tracing/tracing.htm
The Ultima stuff is pretty deep in.
A whole generation of people who grew up on the NES/SNES, including on both sides of the pond, fail to understand how much JRPGs and Japanese dungeon crawlers owe to Ultima and Wizardry respectively. Freaking _Dragon Warrior/Quest,_ the granddaddy of JRPGs in most people's minds, effectively plagiarized Ultima for its content, right down to having the player start out in a castle on a shoreline with a small town situated right outside. And then _Final Fantasy_ was just as shameless. Both of these types of game were always way more popular in Japan but it all started with Ultima and Wizardry.
I think overall there's a lot more cross-pollination than people give credit for due to the narrative of the tensions because of the bubble (auto industry, real estate) causing an almost total lack of communication. The reality from the research seems quite different, with a lot of shared inspirations. Even Roe R. Adams here wrote some pretty good articles for magazines talking about Japanese RPGs and their influence.
It's definitely something that keeps adding layers the more I look into it. The book Software People by Doug Carlston covers it extensively, also a good book if you're curious about Sierra as well - Ken and Roberta Williams feature in the book extensively.
There were also Japanese magazines covering RPG gamebooks, some prominent members of that will be showing up in a future video.
2:55 - History kinda hinged on that goofy meeting with the plagiarism - like how did they not know? Or maybe it was a detail lost between the pixel artists and Falcom execs who're making the business deals.
7:38 - "there's no staff here who knows machine language" it's like some business people signing developers up for work they're not capable of doing. Feels like a nightmare.
Subcontractor of a subcontractor and everyone takes a cut, so you only get the lowest most desperate bidder - Falcom would have done a better job than any one of these places when it came to port work. I'm thinking Nintendo people aren't inherently better than other studios, but that the rest of the industry has no institutional memory and are all just "Chop-Chop-Turn-It-Around-Push-It-Through"
12:52 - OHHHHH-KAY! I was wondering why the Master System Ultima IV is more or less the most faithful but also the least japanese port out of all the other japanese console - I still prefer the big headed designs being a Final Fantasy kid.
Bit of a bummer we didn't get a Playstation port of ultima 7 or 8 or re-releases of the games post 5. Thing is - console emulators are very easy to use while personal computer versions tend to require a keyboard and mouse. Dosbox is a bit more involved to get things running or you need to look for reimplementations like Exult.
Well, as far as Falcom for the most part I'd agree but Ys III SNES of course has some issues despite being headed by someone with at least 3 masterpieces under his belt (same person who did Ugetsu Kitan) so it seems like even they could fall victim to the occasional port wonkiness.
It's also worth noting that by his own admission Garriott really wasn't fond of porting things in general so I'm not sure what would have happened there.
For more information on porting and attitudes towards Japan I'd recommend the Doug Carlston book "software people." It doesn't mention the Falcom incident but it talks a good bit about what happened with Mystery House and Sierra.
I'll probably do a wide scope video about this later on but there's stuff in the queue to get through first.
I would have loved a playstation port of U7 etc. Zork got one. But I think by that point Origin just didn't focus on it at all, with the underworld port being a bit of an anomaly - perhaps even a small miracle - due to that studio's output.
@@f_t_b2238 "'Recommend the Doug Carlston book "software people."
Thanks for the rec! Less than a decade into microcomputers being mainstream (and barely a year after hits like The Print Shop) they're already talking about who's who. Ken William's memoir doesn't even mention the japanese or ports. And so many japanese text adventure game have the procedural line art that Mystery House has - so the story behind all of that might be interesting.
It's a good book that goes into Carlston's thoughts of the why of that. There's a LOT of early Sierra in there.
If only Richard hadn't gotten so butthurt about them reproducing the art from Ultima 1 in Xanadu. Oh well. History is full of smart people making bad decisions for dumb reasons.
Tf? I think I got unsubscribed from your channel
Whoops! That's an odd bug, that might have been due to having clean up some files on my side. Unintentional on my part @_@
I've never subbed to a channel with so few videos before. Keep it up, you make great content.