It is a weird thing to fixate on. Really people should remember the NPC schedules, because really no game since U7 has managed to have anything like them. They just went back to NPC's standing in the same place for eternity, or maybe they walk back and forward a few times.

It is very much worth $6. But it is not flawless, mainly some user interface issues like the damn messy inventory system which sometimes makes it a pain to locate some item in your backpack, or trying to get your party to sit in a vehicle (some of them decide to sit in some chair outside the vehicle, LOL!).

Then again, I am unsure what you are expecting from the game. But generally the game is well liked, even with the UI issues.

If you want to play it in higher resolution and with a lot of issues fixed, you can try Exult, which is Windows port thingy of the game, it still requires the GOG versions to install though

I agree with what you say, it isn't that exciting anymore. Ultima Underworld also let you make pop corn by putting corn into fireplace, whee! :)

EDIT: I see Crosmando already covered most what I said below.

But another thing that might amaze (at least a bit) in Ultima 7 is how life-life the world around you seems. If you follow some NPC, you seem him/her going through his daily duties, doing different things, closing his shop at the end of the day etc.

It feels quite life-like and detailed, and it has been pointed out it is even far more believable than the "living city" around you in many GTA games, where it feels more fake and centered to you (e.g. if you turn around and then back, you see cars and/or people disappear and reappear magically, like it was a scene from the movie "The Truman Show" when Jim Carrey finds out the people around are only reacting to his movements). Ultima 7 does quite well hiding that.

It is also more life-like than in some newer (GOG) RPGs like Baldur's Gate 1-2 and such, where NPCs are mostly just standing in one place, or moving around aimlessly.

Or in divine divinity where inn-customers run around outside and can make chairs appear out of nowhere? Well i guess u7 is worth a try.

Sorry I haven't played DD yet (meaning to start that series for ages, same goes for countless other games...), but now you got my hopes up for it. :)

it is like skyrim. no it is not really like skyrim, it makes skyrim it's b*tch. dude the sidequests have mainquest quality. and its difficult! and the humour is amazing. AND the most important thing for me was. in the game there is a "SUPER-DRUG" No joke, thats what it is called. I found it but haven't tested its effect yet.

One more thing about Ultima 7 (I haven't yet tried the GOG version so I am unsure how the music is handled in it, ie. does it default to Adlib/Soundblaster music, or does it use some converted General MIDI music?): I urge you to try to get Roland MT-32 support to work with it. It has some of the best Roland sound tracks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMXagi-RofI&list=PLUa-WwS_7GQxmqhcNodHQZfnt4hsRoXNi

Getting MT-32 support to work may mean having to install Munt emulator and getting hold of the MT-32 or CM-32L ROM files, but one should try to make this game the best experience it can be.

I think Exult might actually have General MIDI replacement music, in which case Munt is probably not needed. But then I presume some of the extra effects of MT-32 are lost, like the powerful echo effects.

Note: You can get both Roland MT-32 music, and digital Sound Blaster effects (=speech), at the same time. So it isn't one of those games where selecting MT-32 for superior music meant having to do without digitized audio from Soundblaster, if the game had any (like Speedball 2 or 4D Sports: Boxing).

If you want to play Ultima VII i really recommend the Exult port:
http://exult.sourceforge.net

Exult is multiplatform and replaces the game's original engine, allowing it to run natively on modern operating systems, instead of being emulated through DOSBox. Since Exult is a new program written from scratch it has many usability improvements over the original game, like resolution options, more responsive interface or the option to pause the action during combat. I haven't yet gotten to Ultima VII myself (still at Ultima VI), but from what I've messed around in Exult it is in every way preferable to vanilla U7.

The way a game was originally meant to be played is not always the best way to play it, and this holds especially true for games from Origin. Speaking of which, there is also the lesser-know Ultima VI port Nuvie, it has the option for a new interface like Ultima VII, which is a massive improvement over the claustrophobic interface of the original game:
http://nuvie.sourceforge.net

Ultima 8 is unfinished, and you can really tell at quite a few points in the game. It's not very good at giving initial directions, and it does feel like it at times was supposed to give directions to a place that they never had the time to make. But that being said, once you know where to go and what to do, it's not bad. It has a boatload of flaws, but I did enjoy my playthrough of it.
Ultima 9 suffers from the same issue, plus the fact that it has continuity issues like almost no other game. View it as a game inspired by Ultima rather than an Ultima game, and you'll probably find quite a bit to like about it. It's not a stellar game, in large due to how unfinished it seem to be, but I thought it was nice enough for a playthrough.



In my opinion, the Ultimas that are most worthy of a playthrough are Ultima 7 (part 1 & 2) and Ultima Underworld 2.

The Gothic series is a notable exception, however - Piranha Bytes put a lot of effort into that particular aspect of their games, and it showed.
I have high hopes for Original Sin, I'd be wonderful if Larian managed to match Ultima VII's impressive attention to detail when it comes to NPC schedules.

Speaking of Exult, last time I checked, it featured a few game-breaking bugs, is that still the case?

That explains it. I don't know the design politics behind the games, but I'd rather that developers spent more time on better dialogues, more balanced character system and deeper quests rather than gimmicks that simulate immersion, but are essentially useless. So when someone types "Buy Ultima VII, you can bake bread in it!", I say yeah, maybe baking bread will keep me entertained for five minutes and then I'll get bored with it, so I'd rather hear more about the rest of the game.

Just to add to my earlier sound setup thing (how to get the best possible audio in Ultima 7), since I just tested it. I guess this is all known already, but just to mention also in this thread.

Fortunately the GOG version of Ultima 7 offers a nice "Settings" icon, which lets you set up the in-game sound support. The best quality comes from selecting:

- "Roland MT-32 or LAPC-1" for music & sound effects.
- "Sound Blaster Pro" for digitized speech (with default values: 220 / 7 / 1)

But in order for the Roland music to work, you need to install also a Roland MT-32 emulator to your PC, ie. Munt + BASSMIDI (two different programs, Munt installs the actual MT-32 emulation driver, and BASSMIDI lets you select and de-select it easily whenever you want; there are optional programs or ways to using BASSMIDI, in case you don't want to use it for some reason).

I use CM-32L ROMs with Munt, not sure if MT-32 ROMs would be preferable for this game, but to me it would appear this particular game sounds more correct with CM-32L? Not sure though, mostly they sound the same anyway, save for maybe the ending (outro) music.

Having done that, Ultima 7 sounds pretty much perfect, ie. as it is supposed to.

EDIT: One more finding: doing what I did above, at least for me the digitized speech appears far too loud compared to the Roland background music, and for some reason the BASSMIDI volume setting doesn't seem to change the Roland music volume (to higher). To fix this by lowering the Soundblaster DAC audio, do e.g. this:

1. Edit dosboxULTIMA7_single.conf files in both your Ultima 7 and Serpent Isle directories with Notepad. By default they are in:
C:\GOG Games\Ultima VII - Complete\ULTIMA7\dosboxULTIMA7_single.conf
C:\GOG Games\Ultima VII - Complete\SERPENT\dosboxSERPENT_single.conf

2. Put the following line before the "ultima7.com" or "serpent.com" lines: mixer master 20:20
That will lower the audio volume inside DOSBox for everything else, except the MIDI (Roland) music.

So dosboxULTIMA7_single.conf should look like:

[autoexec]
@echo off
mount C "..\ULTIMA7"
cls
c:
mixer master 20:20
ultima7.com

exit

And dosboxSERPENT_single.conf should look like:

[autoexec]
@echo off
mount C "..\SERPENT"
cls
c:
mixer master 20:20
serpent.com

exit

3. Save the file(s) and start the game. Now Guardian's voice shouldn't split your ears anymore, but you can still hear him loud and clear over the Roland music. You can also try other values for the mixer setting to find one that pleases you.

I'm going to test also Exult next, just to see how good it sounds (without Munt Roland emulation; I recall Exult uses General MIDI music translations of the Ultima 7 music? Originally Ultima 7 didn't support General MIDI music, only Roland MT-32/LAPC-1/CM-32L MIDI music (and of course Adlib/Soundblaster OPL-2 FM music).

One interesting thing with the GOG Ultima 7: it was stretched to fill my whole 16:10 widescreen, while I think the original game was running in 4:3. I presume there is no widescreen mod included with the GOG version, so the image is just stretched horizontally? It looks fine, but I personally prefer playing my 4:3 games as they are supposed to, unstretched. Have to fiddle a bit with the U7 screen mode settings I guess...

My only complaint with this game is nothing special but I find the combat really lousy I mean what were they thinking could they not do something like A Link to the Past or heck even Fallout 1? Was it that hard to make RPG combat back then?