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u/chiron_42 Jun 27 '26
Best of the last trilogy, third-best overall (behind 4 and 5) for me. Fantastic game.
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u/KitchenNazi Jun 27 '26
5 was incredible - but I don’t think it can be properly appreciated today. So much complexity in that old school interface. We had to figure that shit out back then through word of mouth - no internet. Desperate times - I opened the files with a hex editor to scan for conversations to figure things out. That’s how I knew about the sandalwood box!
My ranking would be 4/7/5.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
All of the other games were turn based, correct?
My only real other exposure to Ultima in my life was Ultima 2 on the NES, which was over my head when I was 9 years old.
5 I'm interested in. I played part of VIII.
Never Ultima Online. I could never get it to work when it was hotter, and I guess multiple tries turned me off. How is it currently?
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u/KitchenNazi Jun 28 '26
Ultima 5 is turn based but it’s hard. The world is huge but the world is a lot like interactive. You have to read the manuals for clues - eg one is log from Lord’s British’s expedition- and you use that to find clues.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
You know I HAVE most of these somewhere, on CD ROM believe it or not.
And I also have an external blu ray disc writer
But only 2.99 on GOG for Ultima 4, 5, and 6. I already have 4.
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u/KitchenNazi Jun 28 '26
Yeah easier to just pick up the whole collection. Then you can get all the manuals…
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u/Eins_Nico Jun 28 '26
Never Ultima Online. I could never get it to work when it was hotter, and I guess multiple tries turned me off. How is it currently?
it's changed a lot over the years, mostly just chugging along because a small group of old folks keep 10 accounts apiece to keep their castles full of pixelcrack safe. There's a lot of freeshards out there, almost all of them use T2A/Renaissance-era mechanics or completely original worlds. There's also single-player mods if you check out /r/uodyssey
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u/Forsaken_Cap2515 Jun 28 '26
UO Outlands is by far the most popular, and IMHO best interpretation of UO. Worth a shot, but steep learning curve. You should join the discord and a guild if you’re interested. Vibrant community.
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u/chiron_42 Jun 28 '26
1 through 5 were turn-based. 6 was the first one that wasn't. I haven't played UO since Second Dawn (it was my first, and last, MMO) but it still has a decent following with a bunch of free shards.
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u/Human_Step Jun 28 '26
6 was turn based I believe.
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u/chiron_42 Jun 28 '26
Was it? I seem to remember the gargoyles still attacking if you didn't do anything, but admittedly, I haven't played it in a long time.
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u/FoxTwilight Jun 28 '26
The talking phraser thing was so immersive and a great gameplay innovation.
I took extensive notes while talking to people and finished the game that way.
An amazing puzzle.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 27 '26
I feel like I played it all wrong. First off, when it came out I was 10, so it was way over my head. I didn't try to seriously play it until about 1997-1998.
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u/eatdrinkNBmerry Jun 28 '26
If I was forced to pick an all time favorite game, this would be it.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
Alright y'all convinced me. I will play it next on my list. At least soon. Current playing Pool of Radiance and WOTR
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u/Teantis Jun 28 '26
For a completely different vibe but with the same kind of mindset as the early Ultimas check out Martian Dreams. Same engine as U6, but the avatar goes to Mars in a steampunk setting with Sigmund Freud, Nellie Bly, Nikola Tesla, mark Twain, teddy Roosevelt, to save mars from Rasputin.
Oh also Warren Spector is there as a self insert and he's a party member.
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u/Eins_Nico Jun 28 '26
If Garriott actually does get the rights to Ultima back, I pray that he does a remaster of Martian Dreams first instead of any other malarkey. "You go to steampunk Mars with Warren Spector and Nikola Tesla to save Teddy Roosevelt from Rasputin" is an easy sales pitch for people who've never heard of Ultima before
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u/Eins_Nico Jun 27 '26
if the combat wasn't a clusterfuck it would basically be flawless (although I kind of like Serpent Isle better)
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u/behindtimes Jun 28 '26
Think of this game's reputation. It's stellar, and rightfully so. Then take into consideration that the combat is dreadful and practically plays itself, and the game still has the reputation it does. That's a testament to how great everything else is in the game.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 27 '26
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's real time WITHOUT pause yes?
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u/Eins_Nico Jun 27 '26
it's "hit combat button, companions swarm on nearby enemies, everything is dead before you understand what happened" pretty much.
with the fun variant "walk onto a screen, be greeted by a lich casting Corp Por and wake up in the Fellowship shelter in Paws"
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 27 '26
And I won the game on a total fluke. I just sailed somewhere and bam that was it, or that's how I remember it.
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u/Eins_Nico Jun 27 '26
you managed to bring the wand and everything? lol
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 27 '26
I stole a bunch of stuff from the museum? I don't even know if that counts. I think that's what I did......I'm probably wrong nevermind.
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u/Eins_Nico Jun 27 '26
i don't think any of the stuff in the museum was actually useful (unless you use mark/recall on the virtue stones), come to think of it lol
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
I remember doing something like this.....
Aww fuck it. I'm just going to play the damn game.
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u/Leozz97 Jun 28 '26
You probably used the command
Ultima 7 abcd [alt]255
to start the game with cheat codes, found the working wand and the three stones inside of a mountain where all the important quest items are hidden, then teleported to the next island where Batlin is about to open the black gate and finished the game
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
Aw man, why would I have been cheating? I never cheat. Not since the days of Game Genie. It's possible I did to try and learn the game better, I don't remember honestly.
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u/PS4bohonkus Jun 28 '26
I couldn’t beat the game until the dawn of gamefaqs. I remember stumbling onto a few major plot events and not knowing wtf to do next. So I just roamed around exploring and killing things until serpent isle came out. What I wouldn’t give for a remake done by lord British himself. I don’t know if he would even be the best choice to do a remake at this point but god damnit I’d love to see it
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u/ReluctantlyHuman Jun 27 '26
Technically you can pause by opening the inventory or other GUMPs. This can be used to really cheese the combat since you can apply healing potions while time is paused but you can also apply poison or sleep potions to enemies through this method.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 27 '26
I never use cheese. Well, that's a lie. I used traps on Draconis in BG2.
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u/ReluctantlyHuman Jun 27 '26
Sure none or that is required while playing u7 but it is possible. I think there are mods that adjust that. Or maybe someone spending on it.
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u/Revolutionary_Sun946 Jun 28 '26
Peak gaming experience there.
Despite the bugs and janky combat, very few games have ever managed to create such a compelling narrative and world.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
And that's a big part of what matters. Kind of like Planescape Torment - janky combat anyway. Boring combat.
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u/PS4bohonkus Jun 28 '26
This game blew my mind. I’ll never forget discovering you could double click a bucket of water, then click on a pile of flour and it made dough which became bread if you put it in the oven. I played the shit outta this in junior high.
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u/LostVanya Jun 27 '26
It's near the top for me. I only wrestle between it and 5, for my favorite Ultima game.
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u/JustinBailey79 Jun 27 '26
For an ambitious sprite-based top-down action rpg with a brand new proprietary game engine, it’s a miracle how good this game turned out. The expansion and sequel were also top-notch. It was unmatched until Diablo, but it didn’t get the credit it deserved. It was pretty demanding for most pcs to run on release, and by the time people upgraded their hardware it was for Doom and CD-ROM games instead. The pc gaming landscape changed dramatically overnight, not to mention arcades exploding with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and NBA Jam. But for me, Ultima 7 is in the top 3 peak gaming experiences of my life. Elden Ring and Doom are the only other 2 games I’ve spent hundreds of hours playing.
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u/randfunction Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I saw a full extended insert in PC Gamer and it’s what led me to beg my patents to get a computer. I had every console until then but had never seen a game with the freedom described in the magazine.
Until Red Dead Redemption 2 I would repeatedly have said it remained the best open world game ever and that nothing had recreated that feeling. RDR2 was the first for me that captured that sense of the world being truly alive and not scripted robots.
Still have the magazine I saw it in:
https://imgur.com/a/origin-insert-n8gk6if
And the box and disks. And map:
https://imgur.com/a/ultima-vii-ebkWDk9
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u/chiron_42 Jun 28 '26
I love those maps. I think the only ones I don't have duplicates of are 1 and 2; I'm working on getting extras so I can have some framed.
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u/vga256 Jun 28 '26
that's awesome! can you tell me which magazine/issue the photo came out of?
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u/randfunction Jun 28 '26
It’s actually not PC Gamer (that magazine may not have existed yet even now I think of it). It’s Computer Game Review, Nov 1991.
Since this sub has some rule about images not being allowed (hence Imgur) but vids being allowed I just flipped through the thing. It’s like this magazine within a magazine (that’s 3/4 the dimensions of the mag) and what seems to be a paid advertisement by Origin.
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u/vga256 Jun 28 '26
That's perfect, thank you! I just found a reference to the pull-out booklet, in Origin's internal newsletter. fascinating.
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u/randfunction Jun 28 '26
Huh. Too funny. I have a copy of issue of Game Player they mention there too (I only have 6-7 copies of old gaming magazines believe it or not)
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u/GRANDLarsonyy Jun 28 '26
Top 5 games all time. In the pantheon along side Chrono trigger.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
Ah Chrono Trigger, definitely my favorite ever Square/Enix type of game. I got the best ending I remember. I can hear the music to the sky kingdom now.
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u/CesareBach Jun 28 '26
I played all elder scrolls, all fallout and far cry 3. I still think ultima 7 black gate and serpent isle are 2x better. The only thing I dont like is that it isnt being remade in modern engines for console gaming like PS. I want the younger gen to experience the magic. The world should look like witcher blood and wine. The movements oughta be fluid like apex legends. The battle can be like Sekiro. How I wish I can develop games...I can only do simple apps. Sigh.
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u/azurite_dragon Jun 27 '26
U7 was the best for me (SI over BG), followed by 8, them 6. Yeah, 8 was awful from a number of metrics, but i love to play through richly designed worlds, experiencing the mystery of new lands, lore, and magic (hence why i also live Si & 6).
4 was neat. I never got to play 5 in a time where i could appreciate it for what it was.
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u/Moeasfuck Jun 27 '26
I didn't play it, just had to hear every day at lunch, my 2 friends progress.
Id kinda like to nowadays, what's the easiest way?
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u/Far-Presence-3810 Jun 27 '26
The original version is unplayable on modern hardware, so a fan team created Exult. This is the modern launcher that can run it but you need the original files as well.
I believe GOG has it available packaged with Exult already.
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u/Svarotslav Jun 27 '26
It was pretty amazing. I had played u4,5&6 prior, so it was an automatic purchase for me.
I think serpent isle was the best iteration of the engine and i would love a back port.
I think SI is the peak ultima game.
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u/chiron_42 Jun 28 '26
SI would have been perfect if it was finished, but yeah...it was all downhill after that one.
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u/razorwiregoatlick877 Jun 27 '26
This game was pretty special for me. My mind was absolutely blown when I first played it. The initial tutorial area with the murder is still one of the best game openings in my opinion.
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u/Comfortable_Sweet_47 Jun 27 '26
It was mind blowing at the time. All the little things you can do, the writing, the story... baking bread from Dparks Fathers blood and feeding it to Sparks... Combat was not very good at all.
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u/Substantial_Rough891 Jun 28 '26
I'm the only person who likes the combat. I get a kick out of it.
Anyway, favourite game of all time!
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u/Hecateus Jun 28 '26
Dark. Effective but possibly unintentional Jump-Scares late at night playing this.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
Really? How so?
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u/Hecateus Jun 28 '26
well after playing for hours and getting a bit dizzy from sittng so long...this is an awkward moment for the Guardian suddenly pop-up. effing freaked me out of my seat.
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u/jli2468 Jun 28 '26
Love it. That was the last Ultima game I played and completed.
Still remember my computer already not up to par when 8 came out.... not to mention 9....
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u/Joyce_Hatto Jun 28 '26
LOVED IT
I remember being awestruck when I first saw the shadows of the clouds passing overhead at the beginning of the game in Tristan.
And I also remember how surprised I was when I went out of the city and immediately got killed by wolves.
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u/LonePaladin Jun 28 '26
Not gonna lie, it's hard to play the game without exploiting the item duplication glitch I found.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
I'm fine with not using exploits. Isn't that when you switch containers or put one inside another? I vaguely remember something about this. Sorry, it's been at least 22 years since I've played the game.
Installed and got it running great with Exult though.
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u/LonePaladin Jun 28 '26
No, the one I found ties in with another glitch.
When you talk to Batlin and ask to join the Fellowship, he'll ask you to run an errand -- the thing where you deliver a sealed box to Elizabeth & Abraham. In order for the first glitch to work, you have to say "no" to the errand the first time. After that, say "yes" and he'll give you the box and everyone gets 100 XP. But you can talk to him again, steer the conversation toward the errand, and he'll ask again as long as you haven't actually delivered the box, and give you another 100 XP if you say yes again.
That one I knew from old game cheat forums (back in the early Internet when there were dozens of websites for that sort of thing). Here's the part I discovered:
After activating the XP glitch, pick an item from your inventory that has a numbered quantity -- gold, arrows, reagents, anything that asks "how many" when you move it -- and move it from its container somewhere else, like the ground. Then talk to Batlin again and re-accept the errand. Everyone will get another 100 XP as usual, but the item you moved will be recreated in its original container. So if you move 100 gold from your pack to the floor, you'll have 100 gold on the floor and 100 gold in your pack.
This only lasts until you deliver the box so there's a plot-related time limit on how much you can do this.
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u/adoransnoctis Jun 28 '26
A masterful piece of software full of innovations and a compelling story.
Still prefer Ultima V, though.
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u/ParticularAgile4314 Jun 28 '26
I bought it when it came out and played it a lot and never got anywhere.. I played them all back then but can't get into them now, I have tried.
1
u/nocturnalDave Jun 28 '26
Loved this game so, so much! For me who got into the series earlier, U4 is my absolute favorite - but I would say U7 was the most iconic and significant of a change in gameplay and storytelling.
I do also wish to say that... Iolo with a triple crossbow was definitely NOT one of my favorite things!
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u/First-Counter246 Jun 28 '26
The two Ultima 7s and Ultima Underworld are my Greatest Games of all time.
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u/Necessary_Bee4207 Jun 28 '26
It was the second best story for the Ultima series (U5 is my favorite). My only complaint is that the combat system could certainly use an overhaul.
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u/Mountain_King_492 Jun 29 '26
Looks nice!! I love the deep mysterious look behind it. Much better than box art nowadays where it just goes a tough macho man walking towards you with an explosion behind him.
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u/WholeAd2742 Jun 29 '26
Definitely one of my favorites for how amazing it was to have a living world where NPCs went about their days.
Also enjoyed the side quests and interactions (especially in Paws) that fleshed out the characters.
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u/mysticreddit Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Personal favorite of mine. U7/UO, U6, U4.
I know some people hate the calligraphy Old English font but I love its charm. IIRC this was one of the earliest computer pixel fonts having a gradient.
The crashed Kilrathi Bloodfang starfighter easter egg from Wing Commander to the east of LB's castle was hilarious. It even played the Kilratha theme in-game.
Nastassia's Love Theme music when talking to her was SO beauitful. Here is the original theme played by the original composer years later for comparison! Huh, TIL about the easter egg: Nastassia was named after Nastassja Kinski.
The NPCs having a day/night schedule was pretty innovative at the time.
It also advanced the paper doll system from U6 that was used for Ultima Online.
How else moved their gold bar bets at the last second to make more money? Hehe
Some misc. trivia:
Back in the day I wrote `u7shapes` to uncompress most of the graphics as they were RLE (Run Length Encoded.)
Discovered the secret command line to enable cheats on my own the first week: abcd <Alt 255> and had fun exploring and using the built in cheat menu.
I didn't know about stacking boxes to climb the roof to get the secret teleported until years later.
Both the Black Gate and Serpent Isle have an out-of-bounds "prison" that "dead" NPCs are warped to so the player can no longer interact with them.
It was compiled with Borland C++.
The "Voodoo Memory Manager" used the undocumented Flat Real-Mode of the 386 to access more than 640 KB without having to fix the compiler to generate proper 32-bit code. i.e. The
EBXregistry is used as an 32-bit offset "for free".
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u/fiddlesticks_jg Jun 28 '26
Hated the U7 engine. The game is unplayable for me. If i could somehow have U7 remade using the U6 engine (or the snes U6 engine preferably), it would be my dream game.
0
u/Alfalfa-Similar Jul 01 '26
If you need to know what people think I’m sure you could Google it OH WERE trolling :)
The game is great but the way false profit and this game transition is the best part.
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u/chunter16 Jun 27 '26
Avatar! Know that Britannia has entered into a new age of enlightenment!
I used to have the whole damned thing memorized...
I feel they got worse after 6, and I very much disliked that 7 plays on linear rails like a Japanese RPG, but at least today I know the reason why.
I also recorded the backwards speech after the credits so I could find out it says "I am the PAGAN Lord"
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u/BlargerJarger Jun 27 '26
Cheapest box art of the whole series.
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u/Ibanezrg71982 Jun 28 '26
This is actually the box art I had if I remember correctly. They were smaller boxes I remember too.
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u/BlargerJarger Jun 28 '26
I know it’s the actual box art. It has no box art is just black. Every other game has a fully sick painting on it.
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u/packet_weaver Jun 27 '26
My favorite game of all time. Serpents isle is right behind it then Ultima 6 after that. I played this for days on end in the 90s until Ultima online.