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General discussion (archive)Release: Ultima 8(115 posts)(115 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted April 19, 2012
Alone in the strange world of Pagan, the Avatar has to bring the battle to the Guradian.

Ultima™ 8 Gold Edition, the last 2D cRPG in the famous Ultima series, is available now for only $5.99.

Ultima 8 featured “a closer blend of fantasy and reality than ever before--real-world physics and game play” (that’s from the game box!) including platform running at several speeds, jumping unto stepping stones and transverse cliffs, walking on ledges etc. Also, Avatar is left alone, without any RPG companions, and that makes the game extremely difficult, while most of the enemies are both extremely hard to kill and extremely deadly. The graphics are flat-out gorgeous in their retro glory, and the well-detailed fluid animations hold up greatly even today after 18 years from release. The combat is a real change from the usual Ultima fare, with great fluidity, and tons of actiony goodness that make this game a great entry title into the series for fans of more action-centric RPGs.

Great graphics, sound, storyline, and special effects are what’s good about Ultima 8, and what’s best is that it’s available right now only on GOG.com for $5.99.
Posted April 19, 2012
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AFnord: Ah Ultima 8. Had it been called anything else, it would probably (in its patched stated) have been considered a pretty decent game. But Ultima 7 it aint. Same with Ultima 9, had it (in its patched state) not been called Ultima, I'm sure it would have garnered a lot less hate.

I actually liked Ultima 8. Not nearly as much as Ultima 7, but still, it is a fun game.
While I understand a name conveying expectations it is still sad to me that what's written on the box is more important than how fun a game is.
Posted April 19, 2012
This extreme lack of of love for Pagan from GOG reviewers is undestandable but silly. I think I'll write a review of my own.
Posted April 19, 2012
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Merchito: ...all the criticism makes me wonder... Is it worth buying it? What about the GOG version, really?
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RafaelLopez: It is an instabuy to me more because it's Ultima than because it's fun. That said, it is a lot a fun. Back in the days when it was released, I had all the problems everyone talks about. I hated not being in Britannia in an Ultima game. I hated the interface and bugs. I preferred the Ultima VII combat system, hated the new mouse-mashing combat. It still kept me hooked for months and I still went back to it every now and then.

People sometimes rate Fallout III 1/5 stars (not here on GOG of course). Why? Is it really 1/5? I mean, compared to, I don't know, ANY OTHER RPG, is it worse? No, of course not. They rate it 1/5 because Fallout II came before.

It's the same thing with Pagan.

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Merchito: I wish people's reviews of this game were based on the GOG version and not on what they experienced back in 1994.
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RafaelLopez: This. No matter how bad it was back in the days, the patched version doesn't deserve a single "unplayable" or "horrible" review. Or 1/5 ratings for that matter. It is inferior compared to Ultima VII because Ultima VII was arguably the best CRPG released yet and in many aspects it still is. Rating it 1 star is like saying this is worse than any other game on the site. People are writing very unbalanced reviews for Pagan here, considering their passion for the series instead of the standalone game.
Thanks, I value very much your opinion.
Post edited April 19, 2012 by Merchito
Posted April 19, 2012
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StingingVelvet: While I understand a name conveying expectations it is still sad to me that what's written on the box is more important than how fun a game is.
People bought the game, expecting one thing, and got something entirely different, I can understand why people got annoyed. The same thing happened with Dragon Age 2. DA2 is not a horrible game (though I would not call it great), but it is not like Dragon Age. It would have been better to market the game as a side-game rather than a game in the main series.
Then again, the Ultima series has always been a bit strange in this regard. Has any series changed so much between each individual game as this one? Even the Zelda series, which is known for re-inventing itself very often, does not come close to Ultima.
Posted April 19, 2012
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StingingVelvet: While I understand a name conveying expectations it is still sad to me that what's written on the box is more important than how fun a game is.
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AFnord: People bought the game, expecting one thing, and got something entirely different, I can understand why people got annoyed. The same thing happened with Dragon Age 2. DA2 is not a horrible game (though I would not call it great), but it is not like Dragon Age. It would have been better to market the game as a side-game rather than a game in the main series.
Then again, the Ultima series has always been a bit strange in this regard. Has any series changed so much between each individual game as this one? Even the Zelda series, which is known for re-inventing itself very often, does not come close to Ultima.
I do have expectations based on a name, but I also think it's important to step back and realize when a good game is a good game regardless of how similar it is to what you expected.
Posted April 19, 2012
Some people doesn't seem to like Ultima 8 that much...
i've never played any ultima but thought about getting 7 or 8 from here which one would you recommend and whats the big deal beetween those two?
7 > 8 ?
Posted April 19, 2012
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unacomn: It would be awesome if someone at EA dug up the expansion as well. It wasn't released, but it was finished.
I researched a bit and found this quote from Sheri Graner Ray, one of the two women, who designed the Lost Vale expansion:

"I do not believe ANY archive of it [the expansion] exists at all because at the time Origin had no real official 'back up' policy. Nor did they have any process or procedure for saving anything that wasn’t critical. So.. nothing was saved from those days."
(http://sherigranerray.com/?p=10)

Today, I've read the news that the maker of Prince of Persia has found the original source code and released it to the world. It seems that we don't have this luck with the Ultima VIII expansion. It may be lost forever.
Posted April 19, 2012
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AFnord: Ah Ultima 8. Had it been called anything else, it would probably (in its patched stated) have been considered a pretty decent game. But Ultima 7 it aint. Same with Ultima 9, had it (in its patched state) not been called Ultima, I'm sure it would have garnered a lot less hate.
My take on these two is thus: U8 was a solid enjoyable game, buggy when released, but it was a bad Ultima.

U9 was good Ultima, but a bad game. All of the bugs and technical problems holding it down, for which I blame Electronic Arts (their killing Ultima and Wing Commander is what earned them my undying hatred, damn Bioware for selling out and turning me into a hypocrite!)
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Sebek: Some people doesn't seem to like Ultima 8 that much...
i've never played any ultima but thought about getting 7 or 8 from here which one would you recommend and whats the big deal beetween those two?
7 > 8 ?
7, without reservation, it is by far a better game.

My top five CRPGs of all time are Ultimas 6, 7, 7 pt2, and Underworld 2, and Baldur's Gate 2 (including Throne of Bhaal). The first four in no particular order but BG2 coming last.

The Ultima games have a level of world building that most modern games utterly fail to even approach.
Post edited April 19, 2012 by welverin
Posted April 19, 2012
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haydenaurion: I'm probably gonna catch some hate for this, but....
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cuppsy: Not gonna fault you for not liking Ultima VIII... but to see GOG sticking to their promise to keep bringing us fuddy-duddies older games is awesome, whether you're into each individual game or not. :)
Agreed, i'm glad GOG is still releasing plenty of the old stuff too. :)
I kind of liked Final Fantasy 8 and it was considered by some fans to be a bit of an "odd duck" in the series with some annoyances of its own, so I can certainly understand some or even many liking Ultima 8.
Posted April 19, 2012
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dirtyharry50: I was just noticing the minimum system requirements specify Windows XP or Windows Vista but there is no mention of Windows 7? Was this an oversight perhaps? I hope so.
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SimonG: It is minimum system requirements, Windows 7 is supported.
You do not know that. It does not say so, therefore the question.
Posted April 19, 2012
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SimonG: It is minimum system requirements, Windows 7 is supported.
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dirtyharry50: You do not know that. It does not say so, therefore the question.
The game runs in DOSBox (like all DOS games on GOG), so there should be no compatibility issues.
Posted April 19, 2012
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dirtyharry50: You do not know that. It does not say so, therefore the question.
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spindown: The game runs in DOSBox (like all DOS games on GOG), so there should be no compatibility issues.
That sounds good. I figured it probably must be fine but found it odd they didn't specify Windows 7 being supported as well on a new release and so I wondered if failing to note that was an oversight.
Posted April 19, 2012
I would like to know what sort of coding trickery the GOG team had to use to get that game to work considering it had that oddball Voodoo Memory Manager that was an in-house product of Origin/EA.
Posted April 19, 2012
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GOG.com: Alone in the strange world of Pagan, the Avatar has to bring the battle to the Guradian.
There's a typo in this news post. It says "Guradian".
Posted April 19, 2012
Must.....resist.....Spoony.....One......reference
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Release: Ultima 8(115 posts)(115 posts)
(115 posts)