blackshirt5 said:
OK, I'm gonna ask as it looks pretty cool(the conversion, and the games always looked cool too when I was a kid) and I might desire to run an Ultima game in the future, but what was the plot of the Ultima games? Searching for enlightenment?
Depends on which Ultima you're talking about.
Ultima 1-3 were your basic, kill-the-foozle-and-save-the-world games. There wasn't much plotline to speak of, but a lot of fighting, which was typical for the CRPGs of the time (and even now). What made the Ultimas stand out even then was that there were lots of people you were supposed to talk to, rather than kill.
Ultima 4 was the quest for enlightenment. Still lots of fighting, but the plot itself was tangential to the violence. You achieved avatarhood by doing good-guy stuff, and at the end you went into a great dungeon and retrieved the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.
Ultima 5 was a rebellion-vs-evil-empire game. Lord British had disappeared, and a tyrant had seized the throne with the aid of some demonic overlords. You had to find LB, and put an end to the usurper's rule. U5 and U4 are the best of the Ultimas, in my book. Not as slick as the later games, perhaps, but definitely the ones with the most engaging themes.
Ultima 6 was about racial conflict between humans and a newly-discovered race of gargoyles. You start off fighting against the gargoyles, but you eventually help forge a peace between the two races. This was the game where the Ultima ethos of world-simulation ("creating worlds" for those who like it, "baking bread" for those who don't) really started to make its mark.
Ultima 7 introduced a new ubervillain, the Guardian, who was slowly subverting Britannian society. It started off as a murder mystery, and ended with you destroying his cult.
Ultima 8 was a weird platform game where you go to the Guardian's home world and jump around and stuff.
Ultima 9 never happened. It's just a figment of your imagination.
