Planning on going into the Ultima series for the very first time and I have no idea where I'm starting. I've been a little spoilt by Infinity Engine games and I only knew how to get into those via experience with ADnD, so I don't know where to begin.

How much reading will I have to do in advance? I understand the controls are a little archaic but what should I know? Will I need to be intimately familiar with the manual and maps and more? Are there any mods, remakes, updates or alternate versions I should know about for parts of the series?

Any advice and help is greatly appreciated - I'm on hiatus from running through the Baldur's Gate Trilogy until I can find out how to fix a glitch I've run into too late in the game to reinstall it and I thought I'd explore Ultima in the meantime, since it's long overdue for me to try it.

Here are my thoughts:

First, the earliest games of the series are really primitive. Ultima 1 and 2, for example, don't even have a Maximum HP stat.

Second, when starting a new game for Ultima 4-6 (maybe 9 as well?), avoid choosing the Humility choice at character creation unless you want to make the game harder.

Third, one thing I have noticed is that each game in the series (starting from at least the 4th game) has one significant annoyance that the predecessor did not have. Essentially, later games typically require micromanagement of things that weren't necessary in earlier games in the series.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on the games in the series and their accessability:

Ultima 1: The reference card is all you really need. One useful tip: The first thing you should do after buying equipment is go into the nearest dungeon. In a dungeon, your food drops more slowly (0 food = instant game over), and when you leave, you gain hit points based on the number of enemies you killed.

Ultima 2: I haven't played this much, but it is generally considered the worst in the series.

Ultima 3: You will want to know which classes have what traits and which stat to raise for MP. You will need to look at the manual or experiment to see which spell does which, but unlike later games in the series, the only thing you need to cast a spell is MP, which regenerates. One thing of note: A Druid needs only one mental stat to get maximum MP, but the other one will help her regenerate MP faster.

Ultima 4: Here you start having to mix reagents to cast spells. The reference card is essential to know what to mix for each spell, as well as what the controls are. The manual isn't necessary, though it is the only place where there is any clue about the Undead spell (whose formula you are meant to figure out on your own). The other thing is that adhering to the 8 virtues is important, unlike in earlier games in the series.

Ultima 5: Again, the reference card is needed for mixing spells. Note that in this game (as well as in 6 and 7), you can't cast spells higher than your level. Some text is written in runes, and (unlike later in the game) some of it is actually important (like the coordinates that the Sextant gives).

Ultima 6: The keyboard controls have been simplified, so once you get used to them the reference card isn't as important. Also, while you still need reagents, you no longer need to mix them manually, and when you go to cast a spell, the game tells you the number of casts remaining with your reagent inventory. One tip: I recommend turning off the ally AI (you can in this game, unlike in 7), and note that the game starts in combat mode.

Ultima 7: This game is highly praised by many, but it has some annoying issues. The combat is really terrible (the series switched to real time combat, and the switch did not go well), and inventory management is a pain. It doesn't help that you need to manually feed hungry characters from your inventory (Serpent Isle added a key you can press to feed characters without having to hunt through your inventory), which is a real pain. Spellcasting is like in Ultima 6.

I haven't played past that, mainly because they took away the option to play as a female character in 8 and 9, and the Ultima Collection I have did not contain 9 (I think it was actually released before 9).

Ultima 2 is a very rough start. It's recommended to just steal loads of food from a town and then get a ship as soon as possible, using the ship's cannons to dispatch enemies instead of tackling them yourself.

Ultima 7 is a little like BG in that you tell your party to fight and they do their own thing until you intervene. You can pause by opening inventory or status screens, and change their tactics if desired, though you don't have direct control of allies. Inventory management is only as difficult as you make it. You can help yourself out by not picking up clutter and sorting items by party member. The included reference material is needed to pass the copy protection.

Ultima 8's combat is the worst by far. It's like Diablo 1, minus the fun bits. I think there's only a single enemy you're actually required to fight to finish the game though. Spellcasting is varied, from using simple talismans to full blown magical rituals that must be done in advance and can backfire spectacularly if not performed correctly.

One cool feature that sadly didn't continue is the ability to import your character from Ultima 4 into 5 and 6, giving you a much quicker start on things.

Check the pinned topic at the top of the forum for info on various patches and mods, though most of the games are playable without such things.

Cheers! Looks like I'll read over the manuals but probably print out the reference cards to make things a little easier to start out. Are there any fan or community contributions to the game I should be aware of? =)

Здорова пацаны, я русский геймер. Давно хотел поиграть в Ультиму. Скажите, с какой части есть смысл начать играть что бы уловить весь сюжет, ведь Ричард Гарриот писал сюжет для ранних частей уже задолго после их выхода.

Ultima 7 is full of bugs. Bugs that make mission critical items go missing, so save often. and as said before,the combat system is horrid, best to play it with the Exult engine so you can at least reduce the difficulty of combat.

Ultima 8 is Mario X Ultima , except the mario parts are not fun. also stupid laws and bad writing means you would probably get zapped into little pieces by some asshole fantasy version of judge dredd.

Underworld 1 &2 : in UW1, items can disappear if you throw them at a wall or in a corner, so like with U7, save often. also there's an inventory bug that makes everything disappear, and i mean EVERYTHING you have in your inventory.

and then there's the armageddon spell. don't cast it, it's not interesting or funny unlike other versions of the spell in other ultima games.

in both games, STR and INT are the most important base attributes. really, DEX is fairly useless. meaning the best classes are Druid and Paladin. every other class just makes the game harder for no good reason. don't try to hit or kill any NPC who isn't hostile. attacking certain NPCs or making them angry enough to ignore you, would break the game. Exploration > Combat.

you'll probably want the dialog patch for U9.
http://reconstruction.voyd.net/index.php?event=project&typeKeyword=upgrades

and exult is PROBABLY the best way to play U7 on a modern machine?
http://exult.sourceforge.net/index.php

or read through the sticky.
https://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/ultima_series_ressource_collection/page1

There's patches you can get to improve some of the earlier Ultimas, graphics patches for Ultima 2, 3, and a music patch for 5. The site for the upgrade patches for 2 and 3 has voyd in it.

Also for Ultima 4 I recommend XU4, I used that because I had trouble installing the patch on modern windows

As the above poster mentioned, Exult works very well for Ultima 7 Part 1 and 2.

You'll have to Google, for some reason it gave me the message "You cannot post any links at this moment".

As for Ultima 2, I steal food from the town in the UK with Lord British's castle in the present time period. Get the man to go to the take out window on the right and keep stealing from him, leave when the guards come after you and re-enter and repeat. It's easy to get up to 9999 that way.

As for gold/items, this is how I create my chararacter: Statistics: 25, 25, 10, 10, 10, 10 Male Elf Thief. Then I enter town Linda west of the start and buy a lightsword. Then go south on the peninsula to Le Jester. When you enter, there's a thief. What you have to do is wait for the guard's far away, and kill the thief. Then quickly leave town and repeat over and over. You'll miss a lot, but eventually you'll get him. After you raise your dexterity you'll be able to hit him faster. A trick I came up with, it takes patience but it gives you as much money as the monsters, plus the thief has tons of items.

Thank you for the assistance, everyone! I'll be keeping this page bookmarked as I go through the series. Going to crack my knuckles and start with Akalabeth soon, at least for context.

That's not even true, and the biggest problem with the combat is that it's already too easy.

That's cool if you want to go in order. On the other hand, it is often recommended to start with Ultima IV. The first three games are fun in their way, and you can still enjoy them as long as you're prepared for how archaic their design and controls are. On the other hand, the stories they tell are sort of a prelude to the really big Ultima story that starts in IV, and you can learn everything you need to know about that prelude simply by talking to people in IV.

What exactly are you talking about here? As for ranged weapons, you have to set their tactics to flank the enemy, or leave them normal and make the melee fighters flank. When you have a really large group it's easier to roll with all melee anyway.

yes, i'm an illiterate idiot who didn't play the game for hours. good bye.

If you say so.