Ultima 7 was my first and amazing, I enjoyed 8 for what it was, but Ultima 9 was terrible. Ultima Online’s brutal sandbox in the early days is still my favorite MMO memory. The community was amazing and you had to engage with it to learn, survive and thrive. Nothing like it has ever been released since and won’t again. Modern gaming demands more handholding now.
I played them all. Here is some info, of what I think:
Akalabesh (Ultima 0) is okay, dungeon crawler, not much story
U1 is okay, has some ideas and lays the groundwork
U2 is better, but batshit crazy with time mashines and space travel
U3 is great, but weird. The boss is a punch card computer!
U4 is where is starts to be real. The Codex, the Ahnk, the Avatar, the Mantras, it all started here. The virtues are basically telling you how to play and what is okay and what not. Like don't kill retreating enemies. Which was... crazy back in the day.
U5 Is the best. It takes ALL you learned in U4 and tilts it on his head. It shows how religion can be used for evil if the wrong people are deciding how to take the core information is to be read.
U6 is good, but it is weird, storywise. The fucking gargoyles are so right!
U7 BG is peak RPG. The quests are so big, the story so deep.
-U7 SI is in my mind even better than U7BG. The serpent followers show they are right and the backstory told is so deep and so lovely. it even has a reason, why you start without weapons and armor and all that.
U8 is okay. Unfinished, but okay. At least if you played the patched version. But at release? Jumping puzzles for a game that has BAD jumping controls? Fuck you EA!
U9 is utter garbage. WHATS A PALADIN? The tapestry, the way Lord British behaves, the way the avatar behaves, the guardian is a joke... it erases the death of one of your followers from U7 WHICH WAS PERFECTLY FITTING! It sucks so so hard.
Other Ultima Games:
Ultima Underworld: Best Dungeon Crawler there is
UU2: Shite. Sadly.
The Mars Game: Crazy, but fun
The Jungle Game: Fun but not realy Ultima
Ultima Online: The best MMO ever. So much freedom you never had ever again.
Ultima GB and SNES. The GB was okay, action RPG, not real Ultima. The SNES game was shit. Runes of Virtue they are called.
Never played Escape From Mount Drash, but I heard it was okay, nothing special
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u/Confron7a7ion7 Jul 29 '26
I will never forgive EA for killing Westwood studios.