Whats your favorite Ultima, or your favorite Ultimas and why?
I genuinely want to know
especially the "why"

Definately Ultima VII, The Black Gate and Serpent Isle plus their Add-ons

Why? That's easy: Fantastic storylines, open-world, companions (Shamino, Dupre, Iolo... ), The AVATAR of course, atmosphere, music, do almost anything you want (baking bread, etc.),......[endless List]

A remaster would be the "ultima"te game

Alright, difficult one. Let me try to explain...

My favourite Ultima is Ultima VI - The False Prophet.
Why? Because...
1. the technological leap from U5 to U6 was insane at the time. The game world was just so detailed and beautiful, and the music!
2. I loved the story. I still think it's the best of all Ultimas (yes, I know I'm probably in for a beating now ). Not your typical hero-against-the-ultimate-evil, but focus rather on fighting against prejudice and racism (including your own). Up to that point, it was always a fact that demon-like creatures had to be the bad guys.
3. The karma system: you could get stuck at the end of the game for not acting like you should have as the Avatar. That was harsh punishment, but just right IMHO (yes, I learned that the hard way back then, good thing there was SSSH to help me out ).
4. It was released at a certain time in my life, when I wasn't a little kid anymore, started to grow up, and for maybe the first time, was fully able to understand (1) the more subtle nuances of storytelling in a video game, and (2) the English language .

Now, that said, while U6 is my favourite Ultima, I think the best Ultima is actually Ultima VII - Serpent Isle.
Why? Because...
1. Graphics and sound were again way better than in U6, and nicely improved over U7 BG as well
2. The sheer scale of the worldbuilding and all the detail was mindboggling
3. Npc chatter was much more polished, and the interaction with the world was overall improved
4. I found the task of finding your friend Gwenno much more appealing than hunting down Electronic & Arts. I still prefer that personal touch in games nowadays, like in Witcher 3 (Geralt looking for his daughter, not Geralt being the Chosen One to rid the world of an Evil Overlord).
5. Speaking of personal relations: Dupre's sacrifice was one of the most intense moments in gaming history for me. I mean, I had known the old man for years, and he had always been my favourite companion out of the three, so this really saddened me.
6. It had its flaws (combat & inventory management), but all in all, the game mechanics worked great for an isometric rpg, and still hold up today. Plus it had some quality of life improvements, like the better paperdoll inventory, or bigger and more detailed character portrais on dialogue, for example.
7. The Silver Seed addon was really cool.

Have to go with VII - Black Gate

As for why.. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons. I actually feel like SI was a little better but I mainly just remember this is the game responsible for a 36 hour gaming session. Thinking back on that I've always wanted to get into game development and have since dabbled in most aspects (except Foley) at one point or other but I digress. If I had to think of a single reason I think I'd have to say story. All the great features tied into the experience of course, but I was in hot pursuit trying to catch the bad guy who was keeping 1 step ahead. It kept me hooked on the 'what's next'.. just a little more..

I liked SI's features more than BG but the story didn't quite have the same sense of urgency. Perhaps because you were several months behind the bad guy instead of a day or two.

That said.. world interaction and lots of goodies to horde. I don't know where everyone else kept their treasure hordes but you should see the Serpent's Way in my game. Piles of gold bars, chests, barrels and crates full of weapons and armors etc..

Though one of my favorite bits was actually crafting the blackrock sword. The sense of earning something by building it yourself. One of the things I always worked on in both games was building a place for myself and my stash. I'd use a cheat to clean up and repair the White Dragon castle and most NPCs in there and give them schedules.

I suppose I'd also have to say immersion in general. From the inventory management to needing warm clothes when travelling north in SI and the cries of 'I must have food!' followed by 'Ah! Very tasty!" and 'I'll soon be plump!'

Then again, I'm the kind of guy who uses Frostfall and other survival mods in Skyrim. It's things that pull you into the world and make it believable so you can be in the world rather than just sitting at your computer playing just another game.

The Avatar HS wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:26 am

Definately Ultima VII, The Black Gate and Serpent Isle plus their Add-ons

Why? That's easy: Fantastic storylines, open-world, companions (Shamino, Dupre, Iolo... ), The AVATAR of course, atmosphere, music, do almost anything you want (baking bread, etc.),......[endless List]

A remaster would be the "ultima"te game

Yaaassss. Ultima 7 was amazing! I got so thoroughly engrossed in the "Exult" engine that modernizes it, that I made myself a mansion in-game! I wish phpbb had proper spoiler tags but eh.

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The southern half of the first floor.


The upper floor.


The upper floor, overlooking the first floor.


I like my Dragon. They really like milk, and have no idea how to eat or drink properly.

I don't know why there's a room filled with babies. I started to run out of things to put in rooms so had to make an excuse to do random stuff.

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If you want a whole new "game" ("Quest?") to play within Ultima 7, look no further than Glimmerscape. Download it from their downloads page.

For me, it was Ultima IV. I played the Ultima-Series when it was new on my Commodore 64. It was amazing to me to learn that it's important to be good and not just trying to kill things deemed evil. And Ultima V was the perfect sequel to that, showing what might happen if you force people to be "good". Ultima VI was the conclusion to all that, so IV to VI was my perfect Ultima experience.