[Balderduck]

Hello, these are not adventuregames of course but I suppose since a lot of us are into old games, you might guide me here:

My questions about ultima games are these:
1) are they playable today? (meaning are they easy to play in windows but also are they appealing despite their age)
2) Where should I start? Which one's the best? which one is the most easy to the modern eye?

[mimisdutch]

Ultima 7 (The Black Gate) is considered to be the best Ultima and probably it is.

Actually it is an amazing game and one of the finest and most balanced adventure / rpgs that has ever been developed.

You can play it through the Exult project which is an open source recreation of the original game or, as you will see at Exult's first page, you can buy it along with its sequel (Ultima VII Part 2 : The Serpent's Isle) from gog. However beware, it is somehow old school and kind of tricky as a game.

Personally though, I think that one of the most intriguing atmospheres and worlds that I have ever experienced in a game, belongs to Ultima VIII : Pagan.
I admit it is a game with a few glitches and many more bugs, badly programmed regarding its performance, especially the time it was published, but it is dark, it is mysterious, it is atmospheric, it has one of the best soundtracks you'll ever find in a game, its lore totally rocks, in other words you should definitely try it.

A personal favorite of mine. I think you can buy it from various sites like Amazon.

These two games are 2D, I think that they are completely appealing to the eye even now.

The last Ultima game (Ultima IX : Ascension), which was published in 1999, is 3D and it is a worthy successor (and conclusion) of the Ultima saga.

If you feel uncomfortable with the graphics of the previous two games, you should play this.

But whatever your choice will be, spend some time with that, give it a chance to entangle you in its magnificent world, I am sure it will.

Ultima games are certainly worth your time.

P.S. I didn't mention the previous Ultima games before Ultima 7, because of their graphics (I don't think that they would seem appealing to you) and their age. If I had to choose one of them, I would choose Ultima IV : Quest of the Avatar.

[Balderduck]

Thank you so much for the detailed answer!

I like 2d graphics very much, I mean most of my favourite games are 2d (like old lucasarts games) or pseudo-isometric (like baldur's gate) so I think I'll be OK with good 2D graphics!

I will definetely try these games out! And they're on GOG too! Perfect!

[Gabe]

Did u check here? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_IX:_Ascension

[Gonchi]

Originally Posted by mimisdutch

The last Ultima game (Ultima IX : Ascension), which was published in 1999, is 3D and it is a worthy successor (and conclusion) of the Ultima saga.

wat

[TiAgUh]

^ It's a trap!

Originally Posted by mimisdutch

Personally though, I think that one of the most intriguing atmospheres and worlds that I have ever experienced in a game, belongs to Ultima VIII : Pagan.

NONONONONONO! It was one of the worst things I've experienced back then so I'll imagine how much it would hurt nowadays. And it's not a matter of personal taste, the game is simply unplayable cause it was rushed like crazy -- there are even tons of quests with no conclusion whatsoever. And the lore is good? Do you hate the OP so much?

But the jumping... my god, the jumping.

[mimisdutch]

Yes it was kind of unplayable those days, I mentioned that in my post when talking about the bad performance. I liked it though and with a little bit of patience, I managed to conclude it. Things like jumping (which I admit it was a horrible experience) do not affect me after a while when I find that the setting and the atmosphere are intriguing enough to continue.

I can say that I have seen it running smoothly only in multicore machines 3 years ago, which is somehow sad because the game was published in 94. Probably, it was much more an ambitious project than Origin could handle back then in terms of performance.

As for the lore, I have the original package which includes a thorough manual for the world of Pagan, the four schools of magic which are based on the worship of the four titans of Pagan, you know stuff that add a little spice to the actual story. I found it an interesting arc from the original Ultima world, so I liked it.

Just a personal opinion as I mentioned, a quick search will reveal hundreds of positive and hundreds of negative reviews for the game, I just so happen to be at the positive side .

Balderduck, stay with the the Black Gate if you wish, that is for sure a Ultima game that cannot be disputed about its quality at all.

[Schneckchen ^.^]

http://spoonyexperiment.com/category/game-reviews/ultima-retrospective/

[Balderduck]

Thank you! I will start with Black Gate, soon as I finish Arcanum!