Ultima VII
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ultima VII is the seventh of the cardinal parts of the Ultima series of computer role-playing games.
The game was released in two parts, Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992), and Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (1993). Aside of the direct continuation of the plot, the two parts are independent of each other. There are also respective expansion disks, Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue and Ultima VII Part Two: Silver Seed. The very latest releases of the game have included both parts and both of the expansion disks. The events of Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds take place between the two parts of Ultima VII. While that sidequest is referenced in Serpent Isle, it is not mandatory to play that game to follow the plot.
The games were both a critical and popular success, widely considered a high point in the series. In an interview with GameSpot, Richard Garriott stated that Ultima VII "was the most masterfully executed of the Ultima series." [1] He has also often stated that the game was, along with Ultima IV, his own favorite part overall.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay Overview
In Ultima VII, an emphasis is placed upon open-ended exploration. After the first hour of each part, the player is able to travel the length and breadth of the surrounding countryside. In The Black Gate, a player is largely free to explore the entire world from the very beginning, while Serpent Isle is more linear until the later stages of the game.
Ultima VII features less emphasis on behaving 'virtuously' than other installments in the Ultima series; The Avatar can steal and murder to his or her heart's content without 'breaking the game'. Not only can The Avatar learn a ressurrection spell, but he or she can also drag corpses to a healer, or Lord British, to have their lives restored. Ressurrected persons will have no memory of The Avatar's misdeeds, so if a player experiences a mutiny due to his or her wickedness, they may butcher their comrades, ressurrect them, and then bring them back in tow.
The character dialogue and narrative text in the Ultima VII collection is written in a somewhat medieval style. The gameworld inhabitants generally 'feel' like three-dimensional people, each with their own speaking style, interests, eating and sleeping habits, friends, enemies, and sometimes, perversions.
While the role-playing genre has, historically-speaking, been rife with linear story arcs, Ultima VII allows the player to travel about on a whim, interacting with Brittania's inhabitants as they see fit. There are no 'quests' per se, though the completion of certain goals (especially the main plotline) does of course hold a rigid order in who must be talked to first, what objects must be found when, and so on.
One element, unique to The Black Gate, is that 'un-virtuous' behaviour is mocked by the seemingly-omniscient Guardian. For example, after stealing a sword from the Trinsic smithy, the player might hear the voice of The Guardian, who would warn, "You had best not do that, Avatar".
[edit] Part One: The Black Gate
| Ultima VII: The Black Gate | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Origin Systems |
| Designer(s) | Richard Garriott |
| Engine | Ultima VII Engine |
| Release date(s) | 1992 |
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
| Rating(s) | Unrated* |
| Platform(s) | DOS |
| Media | 5.25" or 3.5" floppies; later releases on CD-ROM |
| Input | Keyboard and Mouse |
In Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992), two centuries have passed since the Gargoyle threat was solved and the Avatar is suddenly whisked into Britannia by a red moongate.
As the game starts, The Guardian, an evil creature, taunts the Avatar, telling him that the Avatar's adoptive world of Britannia "has entered into a new age of enlightenment", and that he will eventually rule Britannia. The Avatar arrives in Britannia via a red moongate, and is asked to solve a ritualistic murder that occurred the night before. He also learns that "The Fellowship", a new religious philosophy led by a man called Batlin, has been formed.
The Fellowship is perhaps inspired by Scientology, Christianity or other personal improvement groups and faiths; the game can be said to satirize such movements.
This game introduced a major change; turn-based gameplay was abandoned for real-time gameplay, and the whole screen was now devoted to the map with anything else being overlaid whenever the need arises. This way, larger, much more detailed, and no longer visibly tile-based graphics were possible. Also, the game was the first in the series that was entirely mouse-driven; in theory it could be played without ever touching the keyboard.
The gameworld is known for its interactivity: almost everything can be taken, moved or interacted with in some fashion. It is possible, for instance, to bake bread, to forge weapons, to milk cows, to play musical instruments, and even to change a baby's swaddling. The Avatar and his companions will complain of hunger pains and severe thirst, and will even die if these matters are not attended to properly. If they come across a disgusting or gruesome scene, they may groan, vomit, urinate, and the like.
The game is also highly alinear; although there is a linear storyline, this is countered by the ability to explore the map in any order when coupled with the many sub-quests, including one that parodies Star Trek: the Next Generation[3]
In Ultima VII, the virtue system was not enforced as strictly as it was in Ultima IV. Instead, the game simulated a society that sticks to some of the virtues: the NPCs — either the party members or the people of Britannia — reacted to killings of innocents and stealing whenever they became aware of it. Also the combat system was changed due to the change to real-time gameplay. The new AI system allowed the player to choose general tactics for party members. The AI was not perfect, but it saved the player the need to micromanage up to eight different characters in battle.
Parts of the Ultima VII storyline are inspired by game creator Origin Systems' conflicts with competitor (and later, their new owner) Electronic Arts. The main antagonist of the story, The Guardian, is presented as a 'destroyer of worlds'. Origin Systems' corporate slogan was 'We Create Worlds' and it can be implied that The Guardian represented Electronic Arts' attempts at destroying the competition. The three evil 'Generators' created by The Guardian in the game took the physical shapes of the contemporary Electronic Arts Logo: a cube, a sphere, and a tetrahedron. Elizabeth and Abraham, two apparently benevolent characters who later turn out to be murderers, have the initials "E" and "A". The EA logo is again mocked in Ultima VIII as an animated cube-sphere-tetrahedron object.
The Black Gate was released in English, German, French and Spanish.
[edit] List of notable characters
Some of the notable non-player characters include
- Batlin, Elizabeth and Abraham - founders of The Fellowship.
- Spark, made an orphan by the murderers, who joins Avatar.
- Alagner, the wisest man in Britannia
- Alchemist Caine, mayor Forsythe, healer Mordra, lady Rowena, blacksmith Trent, and Horance the Liche - ghostly inhabitants of Skara Brae.
- Hook, a pirate who works as an assassin, and Forskis, a gargoyle who works for him.
[edit] Rating
The game pre-dates the ESRB, and as such, was not rated by them. The game credits do include the warning "Voluntarily rated MP-13 (For Mature Players)", but this is not necessarily intended to be a serious rating, as it is more likely a parody of MPAA film ratings. The game credits have been made to look as movie-like as possible, with all of the standard disclaimers and elements found in movie end credits. The credits, notoriously, also included the mention that a soundtrack CD is available from Origin, while it actually wasn't until 1993 (as Origin Soundtrack Series volume 2[4]); Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle credits actually said "Soundtrack CD NOT available from Origin, so don't ask!"
When it was later released on CD as the Complete Ultima VII it was rated T for Teen by the ESRB for "Animated Blood and Gore, Animated Violence".
[edit] Forge of Virtue expansion
Forge of Virtue was an expansion pack that adds a quest to Ultima VII in which the Avatar must pass a series of tests to revalidate himself in the three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage, and destroy the last remnants of Exodus.
The player is rewarded with a powerful weapon, The Black Sword. The Avatar also gains maximum strength, intelligence, and dexterity in the course of the tests, and Lord British grants the player double strength on top of that.
In later releases of Ultima VII this add-on was always included.
[edit] Part Two: Serpent Isle
| Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Origin Systems |
| Designer(s) | Warren Spector, Richard Garriott |
| Engine | Ultima VII Engine |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
| Rating(s) | Unrated |
| Platform(s) | DOS |
| Media | 5.25" and 3.5" floppies; later releases on CD-ROM |
| Input | Keyboard and Mouse |
Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle was released in 1993. While the Avatar destroys the Black Moongate that the Guardian was coming through, Batlin flees to Serpent Isle. The Warriors of Destiny pursue the rogue fanatic and find a strange land that has many very different customs than Britannia: a large, icy island, only lately recolonized by men, with many remains of an ancient culture where serpents played a central role.
This is the first game in the series to take place outside Britannia as it has been known since Ultima IV. It is also more linear than the earlier parts — unlike the earlier games where the order in which sub-quests were completed was of little concern; the new approach makes it possible to give the game a more carefully plotted storyline, while at the same time somewhat limiting the players choice.
Since most of the game's code was recycled from The Black Gate, it was decided not to call it Ultima VIII; Richard Garriott had stated in interviews around 1988 that no two Ultimas shared the same source code, unlike the then-competing The Bard's Tale series, and he probably felt bound by this statement.
The original plot of the game was significantly different from the released game, mostly attributed to the fact that Electronic Arts put schedule pressures on Origin and some parts had to be cut to meet the deadline. Most of the major changes occur on the latter half of the game. Some major plot holes were also introduced due to the pushed-ahead release schedule. In cutting material to meet EA's deadline, many bugs were introduced, and many features of the game were incomplete or unused. Many 'dead ends' were also created in the complete, working portion of the game. Due to Serpent Isle's more linear approach, these 'dead ends' often forced the player to go back to a long-ago saved point or simply start over. To the disappointment of many fans, Serpent Isle marks the beginning of larger influence of Electronic Arts on the series.
[edit] The Silver Seed expansion
The Silver Seed expansion adds the Silver Seed story arc to the game, in which the party visits a subterranean keep in the ancient civilization of Serpent Isle (centuries in the past, during the war between the two sects of Ophidians). Powerful magic items, including a keyring, a ring of unlimited reagents, and an enchanted belt can be found in this area and in nearby dungeons. In later releases of the game, the expansion pack was included, and released as 'The Complete Ultima VII'.
[edit] Technical issues
Both parts of Ultima VII used a non-standard DOS memory management extension, called Voodoo Memory Manager. This was not a typical DOS extender; while DOS extenders typically provide protected mode features, Voodoo provided unreal mode features (flat memory model for real mode). This setup often needed different memory settings than majority of other games.
Later, when DOS started to fall into disuse, Voodoo started to become somewhat of a stress test for DOS compatibility. Notably, Windows 95 and later have problems running the game. Modern Windows releases are completely incompatible with the game in its original form.
Some fans of the game have worked on improving the situation. Currently, there are several ways of playing the game:
- Under Windows 9x, the game can be run in DOS mode with minimal startup options, or under Windows itself with user-developed patches.
- Under Windows NT, the game can be run with user-developed patches.
- The game is playable in DOS emulators such as DOSBox.
- Exult is a free and almost complete reimplementation of the original Ultima VII game engine under which the game can be played on modern computers and various operating systems. There are some features of the original game still to be implemented (for example, the way NPC's interact with the game world is not fully recreated) and the features added by the Exult team produce a game experience that isn't completely 'authentic'. However, it is hoped that Exult will become the preferred method of playing Ultima VII on modern computers.
[edit] Releases of the games
The various parts of Ultima VII have been published in at least the following forms:
- Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) The original release, available on 5.25" and 3.5" floppies.
- Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue (1992) The original release, available on 5.25" and 3.5" floppies.
- Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (1993) The original release, available on 5.25" and 3.5" floppies.
- Ultima VII Part Two: The Silver Seed (1993) The original release, available on 5.25" and 3.5" floppies.
- Ultima VII: Complete Edition (1993) Has both games and both expansion disks, available on 3.5" floppies only.
- The Complete Ultima VII (1994) Has both games and both expansion disks, on CD-ROM.
- Electronic Arts CD-ROM Classics: The Complete Ultima VII (1994) Budget release that has both games and both expansion disks, on CD-ROM. Aside of a brief installation and quick-start guide, no printed documentation or trinkets; all documentation is on CD-ROM in PDF format.
- Ultima: The Black Gate (1994) The original SNES version.
- Electronic Arts CD-ROM Classics: The Complete Ultima VII: Gold Edition (1996) Same as the 1994 release, but with gold-edged box.
In addition, it has been published as part of collections:
- Origin Top Ten Pack Includes Ultima VII: The Black Gate. (pre EA buyout)
- Ultima Collection (1996) Contains all cardinal Ultima games between Ultima I and Ultima VIII, and also Akalabeth.
[edit] Super Nintendo version
FCI / Pony Canyon published the SNES version of Ultima VII, simply titled Ultima: The Black Gate, which was created by a small team inside Origin Systems.
This version was largely different from original since the PC version of the game was a then-huge twenty megabytes, yet this translation could use only one megabyte of memory for all of the game data and program. The maps and many usable items and plotlines had to be redesigned from scratch, and the game program had to be rewritten entirely in assembly language.
The game was largely real-time action, similar to The Legend of Zelda series. The 'party' system was scrapped; instead, the Avatar journeyed alone. Also, the story was largely changed due to Nintendo of America's censorship policies: instead of murders, the Avatar is asked to investigate kidnappings.
This version is universally considered inferior to the PC version.
[edit] PSP version
In August 2006, GameSpot reported that Electronic Arts would be porting Ultima: The Black Gate (the SNES version of Ultima VII) to the PlayStation Portable as part of a 14-game compilation, EA Replay. It is slated for release in the United States on November 7, 2006. [1]
[edit] Fan projects and remakes
Exult is at the forefront of fan projects today, in that it enables a near-authentic recreation of Ultima VII to be played on modern machines and across different operating systems.
Exult's array of tools have enabled fans to take the game apart and modify it, to an extent. This enabled various fan translation projects: Serpent Isle has been completely translated to French, Spanish and Korean, while translation of Black Gate and its expansion Forge of Virtue is underway. Some Italian fans are working on the Italian translation of both games (including the expansions). The Russian translation of Black Gate has been completed. Exult contributors are working on several side-projects, which include attempts to make the Serpent Isle paper doll graphics available in Black Gate, and to fix some of the bugs and design flaws found in Serpent Isle, which were originally left in due to the rushed release.
There have been a few projects to make Ultima VII fan remakes in other game engines, but so far the majority of these projects have not been successful.
[edit] References
- ^ Garriott, Richard. Tabula Rasa: Questions and Answers. NCSoft. Retrieved on 2006-11-05.
- ^ Garriott, Richard. Tabula Rasa Team Bios: Richard Garriott. NCSoft. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
- ^ The Trivial ULTIMA, Old Trivia Answers, Retrieved 29 October 2006.
- ^ Underworld Dragon. Audio. Collectible Ultima. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
[edit] External links
- Exult A project to recreate Ultima 7 for modern operating systems
- Ultima Babylon An Italian fansite dedicated to Ultima VII. Home of the Ultima VII Italian translation.
- Bootstrike's U7 pages
- The Collectible Ultima: Ultima VII, information on various releases of the game and included material
- A Fistful of Ultima VII and Cosmic Balancing Act - Doug the Eagle Dragon's anti-walkthroughs and humorous findings.
- The Black Gate wiki guide at StrategyWiki
- Serpent Isle wiki guide at StrategyWiki
- The Fellowship and The Church of Scientology Compared
- Running Ultima VII/Serpent Gate in Windows.
- Serpent Isle in French
- Spanish Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue translation can be found from this site; so far only a weblog with progress reports and betas, no static page as such.
- The Conquest of Origin Background information on the Origin Systems / Electronic Arts conflict and takeover.
- U7-Wizard Map and scenery editor for Ultima VII
- Dr. Cat's Lair Ultima VII in Russian
| The Ultima series |
| I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - VIII - IX |
| Akalabeth (Ultima 0) |
| Worlds of Ultima : The Savage Empire - Martian Dreams |
| Ultima Underworld : The Stygian Abyss - Labyrinth of Worlds |
| Ultima Online |
| Ultima Worlds Online: Origin - Ultima X: Odyssey - Arthurian Legends |
| Ultima articles - Ultima characters |
