Venture into Brittania with Ultima VII

[Greg Tito]

Venture into Brittania with Ultima VII

Richard Gariott's RPG masterpiece can be had for the price of a sandwich.

Ask any computer RPG fan over the age of 40 which series got him or her into the genre, and Ultima will be at the top of the list. Richard Garriott - Lord British himself - created a living world in Britannia that enchanted gamers with the breadth of play available. Each Ultima improved on the last, with better graphics, sound and origianl open-world storytelling, but perhaps the crowning achievement was Ultima VII released in 1992. After years of being out of print and unplayable on most PCs without serious hacking, the complete edition of Ultima VII with every expansion is now available for download on GOG.com for a cool $5.99 [http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ultima_7_complete].

Garriott himself called VII "the most masterfully executed of the Ultima series" and it is the inspiration for other open-world RPGs like Baldur's Gate and even Skyrim.

The package on GOG.com includes Ultima VII: The Black Gate, Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue, the direct sequel Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle and its own expansion Ultima 7 Part Two: The Silver Seed. All that for the price of a Philly cheesesteak? Yeah, if I wasn't neck-deep in Skyrim, I'd bite me off a piece of this RPG sandwich.

Head over to GOG.com to check it out. [http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ultima_7_complete]

While it's great that Good Old Games is verging into offering more modern games DRM-free [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114265-Good-Old-Games-Goes-New], I hope that the Polish company continues to resurrect older games. How about some X-Wing, GOG?

Source: GOG.com [http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ultima_7_complete]

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[vxicepickxv]

What do you mean over 40? I started when I was pretty young. I'm only 30 and the Ultima series is still the answer.

 

[NeonWraith]

I don't know if it's just me, but I can't quite forgive Garriott for 1) Being completely insane and 2) Tabula freaking Rasa

 

[MadTinkerer]

Yeah, but U7 was made at the pinnacle of his career, quite a bit before he jumped the shark.

 

[imperialreign]

What do you mean over 40? I started when I was pretty young. I'm only 30 and the Ultima series is still the answer.

Same here . . . I still fondly remember playing the Ultima series on C64; Age of Darkness, Revenge of the Enchantress, Exodus, Quest of the Avatar, Warriors of Destiny and False Prophet were so worn out, I had to routinely keep back-up copies around . . .

. . . and thankfully that was back during the age where you didn't have to catch a bunch of flak or break any drm to back-up your games; simply pop a 5.25" disk in and xcopy in DOS.

I'll defi have to check this out . . . it's been ages since I've played any of the series.

 

[Voltano]

Hrm...Might be interesting. But Skyrim and Geneforge Saga is already on my main gaming list. :-/

Now if GOG got System Shock 2...

 

[Snake Plissken]

Maybe some Lords of Magic GOG?

If I remember correctly, it's already on GOG. That was one of the first things I checked for when I first heard of GOG.

 

[Mako SOLDIER]

I'd be more interested if Ultima 8 was available. I know a lot of people hated it, but it's on my all time favourite games list.

 

[deth2munkies]

Screw X-Wing, give us TIE Fighter back (or the rare X-Wing vs TIE Fighter). I'd have to buy a joystick but it'd be worth it for those games.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Screw X-Wing, give us TIE Fighter back (or the rare X-Wing vs TIE Fighter). I'd have to buy a joystick but it'd be worth it for those games.

I still have my discs for xwing &/vs tie... but my flight stick broke a long time ago in a galaxy far away. Those game need to be rebooted.

I might pick this up while I wait for Skyrim to be patched. I have fond memories of playing Ultima games as a child. Modern RPGs and even open world games like gta, owe a lot to Ultima.

I just wish they made 2 changes. Make it playable on my phone: I know it can be done: my phone is more powerful than all but my most recent computer. And I think they should have some crazy lord in a bitchin castle that pulls an uzi on you if you disturb him. I love that story.

 

[Rad Party God]

Meh, I never liked the isometric view of the latter Ultima games, I dunno, it just looks silly to me.

I don't doubt it's a great game, but I won't be playing it anytime soon.

 

[Tiamat666]

Ultima VII is a masterpiece. It's my favorite game of all.

 

[Quellist]

I don't know if it's just me, but I can't quite forgive Garriott for 1) Being completely insane and 2) Tabula freaking Rasa

I concur but also add 3) the tragic mistake that was Ultima VIII and (saving the worst for last) 4) Ultima IX whose faults i'll refrain from listing i'd be here all evening.

 

[aeric90]

I'm 33 years old and I clearly remember spending a couple of days configuring my autoexec.bat and config.sys to free up enough memory to get Ultima VII to play with sound on my computer.

 

[craddoke]

Skyrim on the Xbox and Ultima VII on the PC - I believe I may have died and gone to CRPG heaven.

 

[Rack]

I remember playing Ultima 4 on my Master system and drooling over how incredible Vii looked. I remember when I finally got hold of a PC VII was hard to get hold of and I ended up getting 8 snd 9. Then I remember getting Baldurs Gate. After that Ultima wasn't such a big deal any more.

Sorry GoG but my list has Skyrim, Cthulu Saves the World and Dungeons of Dredmore ahead of Ultima 7.

 

[Antari]

I'll grab it just to support GOG bringing it back. Not that I need to. I still have all my origional disks and a rerelease version on dvd. But Ultima7 is the true Origin, from Origin Systems. EA can never take that away, no matter how much money they have.

 

[robert01]

Is this version confirmed to work with Windows. The only program I know that made it work outside of a non native dos environment was Exult