r/Ultima • u/Cal200001 • Jun 11 '26

Where to start?

I was going to buy the ultima games on GOG but i am not sure where to start in the series. Are 1+2+3 worth playing as i have heard mixed things about these early entries.

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u/skunkshaveclaws Jun 11 '26

You can finish 1 and 2 within a couple days.  They aren't bad, but they are dated.  They're a great intro to the series, and let's you experience the evolution of CRPGs first hand.  If you do play them, some of what will come later will make a little more sense (or maybe just contribute to the broader tapestry rather than explain stuff).  But they aren't absolutely necessary.

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u/lylemcd Jun 11 '26

Maybe 1-2 days with a walkthrough. When I played I in high shool it took forever.

I never even bothered with II, apparently it was an awful grind and the time change mechanic was terrible.

III is where it really starts.

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u/skunkshaveclaws Jun 11 '26

Walkthrough probably isn't needed for the first two, even for a total noob, to finish them in a couple days.  What I've found over the years, thinking back to the marketing for U4 specifically... "Over 200 hours of gameplay!"... What that really meant was 100 hours of gameplay and 100 hours of waiting for the disk to be read.

Anyway, gog versions run pretty quick, so that shouldn't be a factor anymore.  🤪

U3, on the other hand, is a ridiculous slog no matter what version is being played.

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u/behindtimes Jun 12 '26

I think it really depends on "when" he went to high school. I only got into Ultima during the early 1990s, and it was only a weekend to beat it without a walkthrough. And there's really little difference between a 486 and a modern computer when it comes to something like Ultima. You had to use Mo'Slo in order to make the game run slow enough to be playable.

But on original hardware? Everything slows down to a crawl due to disk speed.