Ultima Series order question?

[Clownzilla]

Well, I was considering starting to play through the Ultima series because the games always seemed interesting to me when I was younger. I remember renting one of the Ultima games and loving the way they were set up. I know this is a sin in the gaming world, but I liked Ultima MUCH more than Final Fantasy. Anyway, I was going back, trying to find some of the games and I ran into some confusion. Many of these games don't have numbers in them (to show what part they are), and some of them don't have ANYTHING to do with the series (Like the PC one where you are shot into space). Can anybody tell me what the order of the games are (story line wise) and if any of the games stories flow from NES, SNES, and PC. Some of the PC ones seemed very different from the ones on NES and SNES. Any help would be appreciated.

[mezrabad]

Okay, on the computer platforms:

Aklabeth
Ultima
Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress
Ultima III: Exodus
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
Ultima IV: The False Prophet
Worlds of Ultima: Savage World (land?)
Worlds of Ultima 2: Martian Dreams
Ultima Underworld
Ultima VII: The Black Gate
Ultima VII Add-On: Forge of Virtue
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds
Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent's Isle
Ultima VII Part 2 Add-on: The Silver Seed
Ultima VIII: Pagan
Ultima IX: Ascension

Vic-20 had one called Escape from Mt. Drash which falls no where in the continuity of the above.

Ultima Underworld doesn't really fall in the continuity either but events in it and the Worlds of Ultimas fall somewhere between Ultima VI and Ultima VII.

The early Ultimas (I through V, I think) came out on a few different platforms. Some had music. The PC versions have been updated and if you look for a website called "Ultima: The Reconstruction" you can find the patches for these to make the original non-musical PC versions more musical, should you so choose.

As far as consoles go, I don't know much about that. Titles like "Runes of Virtue" on the GB aren't in the continuity as far as I know. Titles like Exodus, Quest of the Avatar and Warriors of Destiny (NES) are in the continuity, as are False Prophet and Black Gate on SNES. I do NOT recommend the SNES version of Black Gate (Ultima VII).

To play the Black Gate on a modern PC you will want to find Exult, which is a program that takes all of the data files of the Ultima VII and makes them useable on a modern PC.

Good Luck.

By the way, Ultima was my "gateway game" into alternate realities. Yes, I'd played Lemmings, SimCity and Civilization, but one weekend I brought home the second Ultima Trilogy (IV, V VI) and there was no looking back for me. I was an RPG fan from then on. I also enjoy the Final Fantasy games and feel that comparing the two is close to an Apple/Orange comparison. I will say that Final Fantasy has consistantly improved (despite the CG cutscene extravaganzas) where Ultima, after a certain point, merely got "prettier" and "more accessible". I still haven't finished Ultima IX, but it looms large on my list of games to play before I die.

[Clownzilla]

WOW THANKS!!!! You sure know your Ultima!!!!

[Terminusvitae]

I've heard the nasty rumor that one of the Ultima console games is programmed faultily and cannot be completed. Is this true?

I apologize for hi-jacking the thread.

[diskoboy]

I know this is a sin in the gaming world, but I liked Ultima MUCH more than Final Fantasy.

How, exactly, is this a sin?

I'd take Ultima over FF, any day, myself...

[mezrabad]

I've heard the nasty rumor that one of the Ultima console games is programmed faultily and cannot be completed. Is this true?

I apologize for hi-jacking the thread.

I don't know about the console games, but Ultima VII: The Black Gate as released had a game killer bug in it that would prevent the opening of a porticullis on the final island.

In a job interview I had a Origin back in 1994 I spoke with Bill Armentrout (I didn't get the job by the way...it was for an add-on disk for Bioforge which got stomped flat.) who said that initially, instead of a magic carpet to fly around the world, there was to be a flying baby dragon. This would allow the player mobility but keep them confined to an island (the dragon would supposedly have been afraid of flying over water, a fear it would master as the game progressed). However, this didn't work very well for whatever reason and they changed it to a multiseated flying carpet. They forgot, however, that one of the "eggs" (an object buried in places around the world that would be triggered by the approach of the player) on Avatar island, if triggered at the wrong point in the game by the player flying over the island would render the porticullis inoperable and the player would, effectively, be screwed with no recourse but to restore a waaaaay earlier save or start over. This, of course, was pre-easy access to the internet, so a patch wasn't exactly falling out of the sky for this one. One was released, however which fixed it. Armentrout apologized personally for the release of the bug. They'd known about it before it was released but too late in the process to fix it.

Sorry, I've told that story before, no doubt, but thought I'd tell it again. If you are playing an original boxed Ultima VII, browse around a bit on the internet to find the patch. As I understand it, The Complete Ultima VII (which contains UVII, UVII:FoV, UVII:SI, UVII:SI,P2) comes patched as does the Ultima VII found on the Ultimas 1-8 cd sold by itself and found in the Ultima IX Dragon Edition.

As far as console editions go. Dunno. After having an Atari VCS in the early 80s I never owned a videogame console until 2001. (PSX bought specifically to play FFVII after having finished FFI-VI on emulators. YES emulators! If it weren't for emulators and Final Fantasy, I'd never have started playing console games again, so with any Ultima vs. Final Fantasy debates they are literally at a dead heat in my heart. Ultima sucked me into Computer RPGs and Final Fantasy sucked me into console RPGs. So, there ya are.)

[Terminusvitae]

Ahhh, okay. I was worried that the bugged game was Ultima V for the NES, which I have wanted to purchase for some time. Thank you for your help! I found your explanation interesting, as well.

Certainly, the people here seem far more literate than those of other forums I frequent.

[Jorpho]

Most everything you need to know:
http://www.ultimacollectors.info/

Apparently there is some question as to whether the player character in Ultima I-III is the same as the Avatar in the later games, but it is spelled out pretty clearly in one of the manuals somewhere that this is not the case.

I wasn't aware that the Worlds of Ultima games were in the same continuity at all...

[mezrabad]

Most everything you need to know:
http://www.ultimacollectors.info/

Apparently there is some question as to whether the player character in Ultima I-III is the same as the Avatar in the later games, but it is spelled out pretty clearly in one of the manuals somewhere that this is not the case.

I wasn't aware that the Worlds of Ultima games were in the same continuity at all...

The Worlds of Ultima games do stand apart from the Britannia continuity but I've always considered them to fit into the "Avatar" continuity. In other words, if one wants to play them in order, one plays them after Ultima VI but before Ultima VII, simply bause the Avatar's story kinda becomes complicated after that. Ultima Underworld should also be played before Ultima VII, but probably after the Worlds of Ultima games. Maybe I'm using the term "continuity" incorrectly?

Damn I miss Origin . . .

[Griking]

How, exactly, is this a sin?

I'd take Ultima over FF, any day, myself...

Seconded. The Ultima series is probably my favorite RPG series of all time.

BTW, HERE'S a cool blog site where the author plays every Ultima game and writes about it. Its definately a fun read if you've played the games before.

Most everything you need to know:
http://www.ultimacollectors.info/

Nice site, thanks for the link.

[Mangar]

This one is also of interest, especially for collecting purposes.

http://www.notableultima.com

BTW: Loving Ultima over FF is hardly a sin. I love Ultima and many RPG's, yet despise the FF series.

[James8BitStar]

People who know Ultima? (and think its better than FF?)

This forum has just went up 100% on my respect scale.

As it happens, at the moment I'm working on an Ultima article for Hardcore Gaming 101 (a website that has a lot of video game articles). Kind of at an impasse though because I don't own all the games.

I've got a question: How different are the SNES and GB versions of Ultima: Runes of Virtue II?

[Clownzilla]

Lol, well I stand corrected to liking the FF series less as being a sin. The only RPG players I knew growing up were Square Soft junkies. I guess I was not cultured enough in other RPG series' and brainwashed into think Squaresoft is God! Don't get me wrong, I like certain Squaresoft games, but I just like the Ultima games better.

[James8BitStar]

Lol, well I stand corrected to liking the FF series less as being a sin. The only RPG players I knew growing up were Square Soft junkies. I guess I was not cultured enough in other RPG series' and brainwashed into think Squaresoft is God! Don't get me wrong, I like certain Squaresoft games, but I just like the Ultima games better.

To be completely honest, if it weren't for Squaresoft, I wouldn't even be playing RPGs now, and would never have discovered Ultima. So while I find a lot of Square's games to be overrated, I've got to appreciate them at least for that.

But yeah, the FF games don't really compare to Ultima. Granted, some people would say that you can't compare PC RPGs to Console RPGs anyway--"Apples and Oranges" they say--but I say "What's so wrong with saying you like the apple better than the orange?"

[calthaer]

Ultima VII lets you harvest grain, make flour, and then bake bread with it. And it has a flying carpet. Carpet > airship.

Really, I think I can stop talking right there.

[James8BitStar]

The flying carpet has been in Ultima since U5.

Though U4 had a hot-air balloon, and U1 had a hovercar (with a functional, built-in laser)!

[FantasiaWHT]

Does UO fit in the continuity at all?

[James8BitStar]

Does UO fit in the continuity at all?

Basically no.

From what I gather, UO makes cute references from time to time but its essentially an alternate universe.

[Chaz From Phantasy Star 2]

Aren't Ultimate I and II essentially the same

[James8BitStar]

Aren't Ultimate I and II essentially the same

I've never heard of a game called "Ultimate." ^__^

Anyway... Ultima I and II are "essentially the same" in about the same way that Zelda 1 and 3 are "essentially the same"--generally similar play mechanics but there are more than enough noticeable differences. And of course, the setting and story are totally different.