I was never a big CRPG player, especially the early CRPG games. Ultima 6 was about the first time I tried a CRPG, although I'd played a little Wasteland. But I want to play Ultima 1 (part of the 1+2+3 series I bought) but find it puzzingly... simple? I've glanced at a couple walkthrus (don't want to spoil the fun) but I'm surprised that you...

1. Can't talk to people you meet?

Seems the "Transact" command is just that... to buy/sell from merchants or talk to a king... and nobody else, right? So for example, I have a quest from a king to "kill a gelatinous cube". Fine, where is it? I figured I would ask around, but... there's nobody to ask, right? Do you just wander the map aimlessly until you stumble on it? Seriously, I don't want to know where it is, I want to know HOW TO FIND IT on my own. If it's just the stumble method, fine... but if you can get clues somehow I'd like to know where the clues are, because I haven't seen any.

2. Can't use items other than weapons or armor?

I went to the castle where the Jester keeps taunting "I have the key!" I kept trying to talk to him, figuring he had the key to the prison so I could maybe let the prisoner out. But... I can't talk to the Jester! The only thing I could do was... kill him. Then it said I had his key, but... where is it? I can't find any inventory except the "Ztatus" command and it wasn't listed. Of course, the guards surrounded me and I was hopelessly trapped at this point, so I just had to quit. But assuming I could have taken the key to the prison door... would I have even been able to use it anyway? I don't see any commands for manipulating inventory, or "using" items on objects, so I guess you can't, right?

3. Can't gracefully quit the game?

The "Quit" command does a save, but you're still in the game. I've tried typical commands like alt-q, alt-x, ctl-q, etc. but it seems you literally have to kill DOSBOX to stop the game? I can understand how this might have been status quo in the late 70s on an Apple II (which this game was ported from, right?), but wasn't this version ported to the PC in like 1986? Just asking...

As I said, never played an RPG quite this "retro". :) So I'm not used to the tricks of the trade from this era. Come to think of it, I did play a couple SSI Gold Box AD&D games (the first Buck Rogers, was it Countdown to Doomsday? comes to mind) but it was much more "sophisticated" than this. I remember creating maps with grid paper with that one, and ended up with dozens of pages of handwritten notes (which I still have) from conversations with NPCs and such, but that was probably a slightly "newer" game.

So playing Ultima 1, since it seems there is so little "to do", would play really really fast, if only you knew where to look! I just don't want to miss out on some glaring obvious technique, like... "you should be pressing the Transact key on every mountain space" or something like that... you know, to find clues and such. Thanks.

Disk space was very limited back in 1980/1981. Perhaps you should read the manual to find out where to find a gelatinous cube? Memory was also very limited back in 1980/1981. When you kill a jester you "get the key" in the sense that you can unlock the prison door and let a princess out. Re-entering the castle will result in the princess being back behind bars and the jester resurrected. It's the same for a number of Ultima games. A much newer game. Ultima 1 came out in 1980/1981. Pool of Radiance (the first Gold Box game) came out in 1988. Countdown to Doomsday in 1990. These two are equivalent to Ultima V and VI in terms of technology. Nah. There's none of that. It's a pretty simple game and is completable in very little time. The only things of any note outside of settlements and dungeons are those sign posts that boost your stats or give you items.

Wow, thanks for all the tips! I loved U6 and 7 (and 9) so much that I wanted to start from the beginning. I think I will be able to make it now.

I tried to play Ultima 1 way back when it came free with a PC magazine disc. It's amazing to see what Garriot did with massive limitations, but I got bored with it after a while. If you decide you want to get the gist of it without playing through watch TheSpoonyOne's review of it. It pretty much spoils everything though.

The great thing about Ultima 1, 2 and 3 is that they don't overstay their welcome. All of them are quite short games, with Ultima 3 being the longest while also having the most interesting gameplay to make up for it. Unless you really can't stand to even load the games up they are well worth playing through.

I agree with many of the comments. Ultima 1-3 were very primitive, but I was first introduced to Ultima with Ultima 2.

If you just want to play through them, to say you did, look up some of the walkthroughs or hints available in many Ultima fan sites. You can finish 1 and 2 easily in a few hours of gameplay each if you know what to do.

Starting with 3, they do start to take longer, but they also get more fun, with more story.

I don't want to spoil it for you, but you will do something you probably thought you'd never do in an Ultima game if you get far enough in Ultima 1.

This is exactly what I wanted to do. I consider myself an Ultima fan and have recently acquired every game of the series in their original boxes, although Ultima I is the Origin remake from 1986 and Ultima II Sierra's "gray box" re-release.

I was introduced to Ultima games with Ultima V on the Commodore 64 around 1989. Never finished it, as English isn't my native language and the game contained a bit too much text for a 8-year old. Since then I have tested almost every Ultima game a bit (except the Worlds of Ultima spinoffs, which I luckily now have too) but sadly finished only Ultima VII ja Underworld I.

So now it feels like a good time to start playing the series from the beginning and hopefully to the end, seriously trying to beat every game this time. First I tried Akalabeth (on the iOS) but it's a bit too dated, with no real plot and just endless grinding so after a while I decided to skip it. I started the GOG-version of Ultima I which seems like the 1986 Origin remake. For added immersion and depth it's nice to have the original manuals, maps and coins that came with the game, as GOG's Ultima I does not contain them all (why?).

I was surprised how much fun to play Ultima I actually is. Well, the story is quite simple but somewhat fun and surprising mix of fantasy and sci-fi. My character, a thief, got started quite well as he stole a pistol (!) and a vacuum suit (!!!) from the local merchants, now it's much easier to grind gold from the dungeons. It's nice to see the core elements of the Ultima games here, although still unrefined (every bard is called Iolo and Shamino is one of the eight kings, for example). I'm not finished yet but hope to be soon and then on to Ultima II which could be even more strange with all the time-travelling and such...

Let's hope GOG gets the Worlds of Ultima games too.

I'm referring to the part with more action.
SPOILERS


The battle to become a space ace. It's funny because Origin's other big series was Wing Commander and this was the beginning of it in a way. Since there's a Kilrathi fighter in U7, it's possible you were fighting them way back then. However, that would mean Sosaria is another planet in the distant future!



END SPOILERS

Yep, that is what I thought! and you are correct, the space portion is interesting in a fantasy RPG, but not surprising considering Richard Garriott is the son of an Astronaut (and now one himself in a way)!

Ultima 2 has similar elements, and even airplanes... no real spoilers on that one though.. you can buy a plane or a rocket in Ultima 2 in certain towns.

Interesting old games! I love them!

AFAIK, it isn't possible to buy planes or spacecraft in II; you have to steal them. This also involves fighting an entire townful of guards before you can even get to the anachronism in question.

Obviously, the moral niceties didn't play a very large role in Ultima's early days...

Ahh yes, you are correct! I forgot that you really can't play nice in Ultima II... I remember now, as I am replaying II!

In the middle of playing Ultima VII I decided I love it so much I need to check the previous versions out. I decided to start from Ultima 4 but couldn't bear the ancient graphics etc. after a while (even though the combat was better than in Ultima VII...) so I tried the Ultima V: Lazarus project (remake). Quite impressive, but I got bored very fast (as for now at least) and got back to Ultima VII. I also... bought the original Ultima Underwold off ebay, even though it was expensive. But I tried it and loved the atmosphere. Didn't think that I'll ever play a game like Dungeon Master/Eye of the Beholder - I never got to play any of those games as a kid so the nostalgia factor wouldn't work now. However, Ultima Underworld is still a great experience. I'm going to finish Ultima VII and start playing Underworld once the boxed version of the game is here. Looking forward to grab a pencil and make some notes, feels like childhood again.

Man, I love the Ultima universe so much... wish they could make a remake of Ultima VII with updated graphics, animation etc. And yes, I know about Exult ;)

I hear that! UU1 is so great. I recently got into it (only on the 2nd level down) and had forgotten just how much they managed to put into this graphics engine. I played it in "the day" but I had forgotten how innovative it was at the time. Forward momentum when you're running and jumping, the way the light from your torch dissipates in the distance, the ambient sound fx, the automap WITH the ability to add your own notes, the rune spell casting... I still think the combat is a little wonky, and hard to get in a hit by flailing your arms sometimes. But it's all worth it for me.

I think Ultima was about 10 years ahead of its time. Had Garriott been 10 years younger, and gotten into computing 10 years later, imagine what the games would have been like today?