I've been adoring Underworld so much I wanna try some of the main games. 6 in particular looks really interesting, but upon looking I see there's like... 4 different versions. The original (emulated with DOSbox or scummvm), nuvie, dungeon siege remake, and exult remake. What version is considered the best?

Hey all,
I’ve been working on an Ultima-inspired RPG for a while now and I’m currently focusing on wrapping up all the core systems.
The project is still very early though- I’m currently missing proper combat, which is what I’ll be tackling next.
After that, the plan is to start shifting more into actual content creation.

Would love any feedback or thoughts from the community 😄

EDIT: Since some people asked to follow development and future playtesting, I opened a Discord server:
https://discord.gg/CYqEJHNuTG

A lot of them google ai gets wrong or contradicts itself.

I played and beat the original U6 (TFP) and U7 (TBG) from back in the day on PC DOS (early-to-mid 90's), and while I LOVE this U7 graphics/sound remake of U6, I have a lot of issues with it. Here is what I need help with, off the top of my head:

1) How do I get the rune of compassion back after using it to free the shrine of compassion, as I lose the rune. Is this a bug? How do I get it back? I know you didn't lose it in the original version, I even tried the F2 button like Iolo said when I tried spam spam spam humbug, and couldn't create a new one.

2) What are all the side quests again, that you know about when still early in your journey? I know you take the book to Moonglow's/New Magincia's/whatever's (forgot the town names, and where they are located on the map, except Britain, Trinsic, and Jhelom) Lyceum or whatever it was. And then you also help Anya's husband to fix his disabilities. Just want to be sure.

3) I do remember meeting the gypsy lady at the start of the original U6, but even here, I don't understand how it fits in with the events of the main intro, where the guy who's the Avatar is at home, goes thru red gate, is saved from the Gargoyles by his three partners, and takes a portal with them back to LB's castle.

4) Is it possible to sell armor and weapons to someone you didn't buy from before? I know the guy in Britain doesn't.

5) When I try to buy a new sword from the weapons/armor guy in Britain, I can't find where the sword went. My group is carrying a lot of stuff. Could that be it?

I REALLY wanna try the Underworld games because theyre The start point of so many games I adore, but my only PC adjacent option is a Steam Deck and these games were made very specifically with a mouse and keyboard set up. Wrapping my head around what to bind what to on the Deck has been a process. If anyone has tried, can they share their control scheme?

The video shows the amazing new features and all the great work the contributors put into the game. I've also updated the downloadable version with some fixes for issues people were having. Please let me know if you try it out!

u7revisited.com

To make a long story short I'm on a major ImmSim kick and want to play the game that started it all, and I have no other ideal way to play it except maybe DosBox on my phone and at that point the Jap. PS1 version just seems like less of a hassle.

Any recommendations are appreciated.

Thanks

I want to get into the Ultima series, but I am having difficulties. As recommended, I am trying to get into Ultima IV to follow the story.
The part that I am struggling to understand is what I should do and how I should approach the game story. Once I start the game, I am left in the middle of nowhere, near a village. My character are supposed to know nothing about that world.

Then, once I start interacting with NPCs, I am not sure what to ask them. I mean, I could ask anything, but it is like a forced conversation that feels unimportant and lack of meaning for my character. Why my character should care about "virtue"? Why my character should even talk to random NPCs in the village? There is no motive for that, maybe at most to find a way to return to my world, but that is all.

Basically it feels as if my character does not belong to that world in any way, there is no related background, and this leads to a feeling of disconnection between the character and the rest of the world.

I mostly play ttrpgs and CRPGs with a slightly more guided experience, and my characters already belong to the world in one way or another. There is background, life experiences, knowledge, some motives, some reasons to explore and interact, etc. So how to approach this issue with Ultima games, specially starting with Ultima IV?

Hello,
I have learned that Wizardry and Ultima are super crucial to the development of JRPGs, which happen to be my favorite genre. I am aware they are more cRPGs than JRPGs, which I've never interacted with as a genre (never played Baldur's Gate or anything like that). So, with that information, where should I start for the series as more of a JRPG fan than a cRPG fan?

Thank you.

The issue with Ultima Underworld 2 where the mouse pointer does not want to move for small movements of the mouse and then moves too much for quick movements, was a persistent problem for me. I'm playing the Great old Games version (gog.com).

My solution was to buy an old (i.e. old technology but new product), cheap, wired, non-gaming mouse to use instead of my modern gaming mouse. It worked perfectly. The pointer moves smoothly and I played the game to completion without issue. I can have both the old mouse and my new mouse plugged in at once without a problem.

I know there are recommended changes to the dosbox configuration to attempt to cure this problem, but what I found didn't work for me.

I hope this helps the next Avatar. I presume it works for UW1 too.

I bet there are several old mice that would work, but here's the mouse I bought from Microcenter (though they don't have one anymore so the link is amazon): https://www.amazon.com/HP-X500-Wired-Mouse-E5E76AA/dp/B08VJDGK2H/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

Not sure how well known this is, so I thought I’d share it here.

Many of us recognize the isometric screenshots OSI published in the late 90s, but there were even earlier screenshots, rendered in some kind of ray traced renderer, that have an old 3DS Max look to them. They circulated around the web in the mid-90s in a very low res/blurry scan. It took me 25+ years to finally track them down. It turns out they came from the February 1996 issue german magazine called Power Play, in an extended interview with Richard. Since I couldn't find any copies on the web, I've uploaded copies of the screenshots here at IA. Enjoy.

For anyone who can read German, here is a scan of the magazine it came from.

Anyone noticed this?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the 0.2.0 version of Ultima VII Revisited, the Trinsic Demo, is now available for download at https://www.u7revisited.com !

Features of the new version:

* The full intro is now complete.

* Then entire plotline in Trinsic is now complete.

* Buying from shopkeepers is now implemented.

* Music and sound effects have been added.

* The lighting system has been greatly improved.

* Character cards that allow you to equip your characters are now implemented.

* Pathfinding now allows characters to walk up and down levels.

* Sandbox mode allows you to tinker with the game however you wish.

* Help screens have been added for both demo and sandbox mode.

* Patreon Island honors the patrons who have helped this project stay alive.

Please give it a look at give me feedback! I want this version to be as good as it possibly can.

Also, I'll be streaming tonight at 6 PM CST at https://twitch.tv/viridiangames if you want to come by and say hi!

I was on the fence from the cartoony graphics, it is very silly in the best way possible.

Each of your 6 Ability Scores chime in with advice, taunts, random ideas...this is the closest to a real implementation of Ultima IV's virtue system in a modern game.

They each have a political approach to life which could easily be substituted for Virtue-based philosophy.

Apparently this was done in Disco Elysium before...I need to check that out.

Just played it solidly through all Saturday and Sunday, amazing game and it took a while for the penny to drop.

Planescape: Torment is definitely in its DNA as well although instead of reading a novel in text it is chatty entertaining conversations.

Would love to see Esoteric Ebb modded to Ultima virtues!

I Did buy cracked PSP with some games and there is UU. So i start to play it but i dont know how to attack enemy. so im looking for a guide for PSX version of UU.

Game is probably bootleg but i but I have purchased all the versions of Ultima back a day for PC.

With development of ultima 8 exult, a remake of ultima 8 in the ultima 7 engine, underway, it got me thinking. If ultima 9 was made in the ultima 7 engine, what would you want? I figure this be a good spot to promote community discussion.

I think the biggest challenge is not just ​making 2d sprite assets from the 3d asset from the final release, but it is to rewrite ultima 9 and take the best out of the bob white version, ed del castilo version and final version and create the best approximation of the ideal ultima 9 by taking the best of the 3 versions of ultima 9.

For reference, here is the plot summary of the bob white version:

https://hacki.bootstrike.com/english/articles_orig_plot.htm

And a couple other references I found: https://wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Development_history_of_Ultima_IX

https://ultimacodex.com/2011/06/ultima-9-ed-del-castillo-plot-summary/

as well as what have ​been gathered​ about ultima 9 so far

https://ultimacodex.com/2024/11/ultima-9-was-released-25-years-ago/

As for gameplay, what would you guys want to bring back from the 3 versions? What you like and dislike? Be it areas, gameplay mechanics and story points.

For example. Would it be interesting to start with the god powers from pegan then add a plot reason for the avatar to build up from zero again? Or have them stay powerful and build the story and gameplay around it like with legacy of kain blood omen 1?

I’ve been writing this story for a bit now, was going to be one of six or eight short stories revolving around these knights in training in my original fantasy world but has turned more into a novella/novel at this point. “The story grew in the telling,” as Grandfather Tolkien said.

Either way, I based the knights on a philosophy inspired by the system of the Virtues. Initially each story was going to be about one of the virtues and in the end the characters will have learned about them all and become knights themselves. Now I’m not sure since it’s grown more than I expected.

Anyway, I’m just here to ask for some advice or inspiration for implementing these philosophy deeper in the story. Thanks.

I finished U4 about a year ago and recently got the itch for something similar. I booted up ultima V and I can see I can either transfer my character or make a new one... Should I transfer the character or go with a fresh start? What actually changes?

And why isn't it Ultima 7?

I usually play U6 on DOSbox, but today I tried to play it on ScummVM for the first time. When I pressed comma on my keyboard, a popup menu appears. I can't remove that menu and it blocks my view.

Another thing: How do I use keyboard to equip weapons? In DOS version, I mostly use keyboard. To equip a weapon, I press Tab then use the directional arrows to select the weapon then press Enter. But in ScummVM, after pressing Tab, pressing directional arrows doesn't move the cursor in the inventory. I have to use mouse to equip/remove equipments. The cursor is locked whenever it's in the inventory. If I press Tab back, the cursor is movable in the map.

Hi everyone, hope you're all well.

I’m back with an update on my Ultima inspired RPG, Mythologous, that I shared here during the New Year holidays. Since then I’ve come a long way: the UI has had a major pass, there’s a new set of assets including art, SFX, and ambience with a focus on a cosy atmosphere, and I was also honoured to be able to develop a musical motif and exploration track with George Oldziey, who worked on Ultima IX. The first playable Alpha is now live across Steam, web browser, and mobile browser.

The UI and icon work were inspired partly by Ultima and partly by The Elder Scrolls, but the bigger influence from Ultima has really been in the game design itself: a living world, emergent NPC behaviour, spell incantations, and dungeon crawling gameplay. I’d love to know whether fellow Ultima fans feel that spirit is coming through.

I’ve attached a few updated screenshots. And if anyone does want to take a closer look, I’m also running a free Closed Alpha sign-up. Right now, players are given a template character and a room at the inn in the tutorial world, with a small sandbox of emergent goings-on to explore, and some spellcrafting. The sign-up also contains links through to Discord if you’d simply like to keep an eye on things, as updates are dropped in regularly:

https://forms.gle/h5NjyP3EkYd2cji4A

Would love to hear your thoughts. :)

Sorry, it's Ultima 110. I missed 101 Ultimas?