Hi all, first time posting, nice to meet y'all.

I've been gaming for over a decade but i must admit i haven't played any of the Ultima games. i know it's critically acclaimed, a pioneer in sandbox rpg and all that. Ultima VII seems to be especially well-loved. i feel like trying.

but my question is - sans all the nostalgic factors, is it enjoyable in modern context? i'm not a sucker of graphic, but at least i'd like to see interesting characters, solid and deep rpg gameplay, and a reasonably well-written story.

Your opinions are appreciated. thanks.

I never played it back in the days, but tried it recently. But I just couldn't stomach the top down view, small view area and blurry graphics. Using Exult helped, but not enough. Also, the combat is supposed to be real time clusterfuck, and there is too much emphasis on interacting with all kinds of mundane items. So if making clothes or bread is your idea of fun in a CRPG Ultima 7 is a must.

I had no problems playing Ultima V for the first time a couple of years back. I think it has aged much better; view area is much larger and the graphics are crisper.

I couldn't into Ultima 6 either, but for Ultima 6 I played the brilliant Dungeon Siege remake Ultima 6 Project instead.

I must have tried over 50 old (pre 1994) cRPGs the past 2-3 years, and U6 and U7 were among the very few of the games considered classics that I just couldn't get into due to the interface.

Character interactivity in Ultima 7 may seem sparse compared to something like Dragon Age, but it's still ahead of a lot of other modern games; the main villain is certainly memorable, and the writing quality is good overall. The RPG elements are there, both in character elements and world interaction.

Whether you find the interface and perspective to be manageable is pretty much an individual issue though. I've never had any problem with it (and in fact I find it easier to use than the console controller-based interfaces that get slapped on many PC games nowadays), but others experience the opposite.

Ultima 7 is sufficiently deep that I think you'd be satisfied.

"interesting characters, solid and deep rpg gameplay, and a reasonably well-written story. "

It definitely hits all these marks. The only issue I had was the combat, as PetrusOctavianus stated, is a hot mess. Your ability to control directly the members of your party is hobbled. It's manageable but the game is not great as a combat simulator. The Ultima Underworld games are much better in this respect.

Also, I personally didn't have any trouble whatsoever with the interface as PetrusOctavianus also stated. Especially with Exult. It becomes intuitive within a weekend.

For interesting characters, this game definitely has them. Each character has his/her own life and schedule. They even have personalities if you watch them enough. For example, some go into the pub for dinner and yell at the barmaids, some just quietly eat, and many gossip about other people in the town. At least one will even pay you to find out some juicy gossip about people in town.

Gameplay- As others have said, the combat is far from perfect, but it is realistic in that, as with a real party of people, you can only control yourself and advise others who act on their own. Some of them do foolish things like accidentally shooting party members, but that could happen in the heat of combat.

A well-written story- This story is very well written and it keeps you guessing. It is a thriller with horror elements and it will lead you down the wrong path often, but let you find the right path in the process. Be careful who you trust. Be careful what you say lest you find yourself being forced to murder innocent citizens over a slip of the tongue.

It is a solid role-playing game in that you will feel that you are the Avatar, and you will care about the people of Britannia and, who knows...maybe even fall in love? It's not a dice-rolling stats type of game, but it really does put you in the role.

My advice,

give it a try, but for true flavor you may want to try Ultima IV first as that will give you a free taste of a numbered Ultima.

I have tried replaying U7 several times over the past 8 years. I always struggle trying to decide if my favorite game is BG2 or U7. I will say this. Going from something like BG2 or even playing one of the Dungeon Siege Ultima remakes back to U7 never works for me. Its just too primative compared and I find it really hard to get into it. The issues with combat (something I rarely care about) grind me and the interface annoys me. Things I took for granted in more modern games just aren't there.

But I really wanted to play U7 again (and U6 for that matter, but I had the same issues). So how to fix it? One day I was bored and realized I'd never actually played Ultima I (well I played it once, but not very far). Its so archaic, that my expectations for interface and such were nil. And because it runs so fast (loading and such), I was able to finish it in a few hours. Then I went to U2, then U3. I finished the three of them in a day, and each time I enjoyed the small changes that made them better. U4 and U5 each took a bit longer, but again, I really enjoye the enhancements from each version because I was used to the last version.

So I finally got to U6, loved it! Got to U7, and unlike when I tried to play it after playing BG2, I was sort of blown away again about how awesome it was compared to U6 and the others. Had a great time playing through it.

So if you have enough time to do it, I recommend starting at least with U4 and working your way up. It really won't take that long on a modern computer and you'll prime yourself to enjoy U7.