Comments on Blogging Ultima: 3!

I found U3 to be really really hard when I played ...

2009-01-29T07:43:00.000-08:00

I found U3 to be really really hard when I played it for the first time around 1989 (at that time, one waited for four to six weeks for a game to arrive - unbelievable).
Plus, I already knew U4, so interest was focused elsewhere quickly.

Hm, speaking of which, I need to find my U4 game, where my party is waiting to enter the abyss.

What I liked a lot about U3 was the fact that you could find weapons and armor (rarely) after finishing off some monsters. It made the game more realistic, though not if you slew a herd of horses and found a plate armor.

What I hated was the randomness of the game. One time, you enter the dungeon to get the mark for levelling and you meet nothing, then in the next game, you meet a bunch of balrogs on the first level. Brrrrrr.

So where is the next installment?

2008-09-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

So where is the next installment?

Hey, where'd you go!?

2008-08-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Hey, where'd you go!?

You're right natreg. I suppose PC-x86 was referri...

2008-08-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

You're right natreg. I suppose PC-x86 was referring to the fact that the PC-9801 used an 8086 CPU.

From screenshots it appears that the FM Towns Ultima IV has the Ultima V graphics, whereas the PC-9801 Ultima IV has similar ones to Ultima I-III on PC-9801. Based on this Ultima III on FM Towns might be different too and lack some of the problems I mentioned...though being able to flee in Castle Exodus still would make the endgame too easy imo - even in Ultima IV you have to worry about your Valor plus make your way across rooms for example.

Unfortunately right now the FM Towns versions appear to be going for the equivalent of $100's each:

Ultima Underworld FM Towns

Ultima V FM Towns

They are different.The pc x98 ones are indeed in j...

2008-08-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

They are different.

The pc x98 ones are indeed in japanese and have some music and all that

The fmtowns versions were bilingual, you can choose to play in english or japanese. Also the music is different from the PCx98 ones.

The looks and graphics I think are mostly identical.

Re: natregTo clarify, I should have said that in t...

2008-08-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Re: natreg

To clarify, I should have said that in the versions I've played, you need to be bilingual to play most of the (generally very good) Japanese ports of the early games. They have some words in English and some in Japanese (for example it will say "Attack->Hit!->Killed" in Japanese but "Gold+02 Exp+03" in English right under it). However as the keyboard commands are the same if you've played the English version you can probably guess well enough.

Luckily the PC-x86 Japanese versions can be purchased legally on the Japanese Ultima collection from EA. They even provide an emulator that will run these games under WinXP. I had thought these were identical to the FM Towns versions because FM Towns was a 386 based architecture however I'm probably wrong. Maybe someone can clarify this?

Well, I knew about Ultima III FM towns change abou...

2008-08-09T03:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I knew about Ultima III FM towns change about fleeing from battle. I didn't knew about all the other changes.

Those gameplay changes really change the experience. Lately I have started a blog like this one in spanish, and playing Akalabeth I notice that the save feature really makes the game too easy.

About Ultima I & II for the FM towns... they are in english as far as I know. You can play in either english or japanese to those games. The only thing that that is not translated it's the intro.

The only things that bother me about Ultima I remakes is that the dungeons doesn't have any traps, thus making the rope and spikes useless.

And I wonder if the FMtowns Ultima II version has that bug with the maps from other planets...

Re: natregThe FM towns versions of Ultima I and II...

2008-08-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

Re: natreg

The FM towns versions of Ultima I and II are very good...if you speak Japanese! Otherwise you'd better have memorized all those spell, weapon and armor numbers.

The FM Towns version of Ultima III sadly has some engine changes that make it a hassle to play. Some of the worst ones are:

1. You can flee battles (this is actually good for regular play, but it makes Castle Exodus so easy it's sad)

2. Monsters spawn very fast on Ambrosia, making the usual 4-shrine run a major hassle

3. (The worst one) Characters, instead of eating 1 food per so many steps, eat 1 food PER LEVEL per so many steps. Thus a level 25 character eats 25 food when a level 1 would have just eaten one. And it even continues increasing once your hit points stop increasing at level 25. This makes it almost impossible to even break even at higher levels, at some point you give up and just let your characters starve while gathering gold.

Even the NES version of Ultima III is more faithful to the original than the FM Towns version (in terms of gameplay rather than graphics).

Re: rob

I too have played the LairWare version of III - it is the best version. It can be adjusted all the way down to Apple ii graphics and gameplay, or adjusted up to the level of a modern 2D RPG you might play on the DS. My only complaints are that (1) the dungeon graphics don't change, they're always "modern" and (2) the character sprites are wrong if you select "NES" art. Otherwise it's perfect.

Actually, there is a rather cool mac port of Ultim...

2008-07-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Actually, there is a rather cool mac port of Ultima 3.

http://www.lairware.com/ultima3/

I believe you can run it on a PC with a mac emulator, but I have never tried.

This port does its best to stay true to the original game, but it has numerous enhancements. Most notably, there is the option for automatic combat. I love this. It allows me to just let combat play out and I can turn auto combat on/off at will when I want/need to direct whats going on.

It also supports alternative tile sets. You can make the game look like any of the old U3 versions, including mono apple ][ style, c64 style, and even the NES version.

If you are looking to play through ultima 3 and aren't completely invested in playing the actual old version, I highly recommend checking this version out.

1.´´On a total side note, it seems to me that if v...

2008-07-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

1.
´´On a total side note, it seems to me that if video games are to be considered as art I think we should abandon the criteria of "fun." There are plenty of works of literature and music and film which are decidedly unpleasant or disturbing to experience, but which are acclaimed.``

This is true in every respect, this insight is a precondition for treating computer games as pieces of art. Great to know that there are at least some people out there that understand both, the games and art.

2.
´´All that aside, the best feature by far of Ultima III is that it's chock full of memorable moments for a game of its age. One of the things I love about playing the early games is that the primitive graphics force a vagueness to the artwork, and the lack of memory prevents the text from explaining things you see except in the vaguest terms.``

On the first glance it may seem to be caused by insufficiently advanced technology, but it made the designers create games more thoroughly. They had to decide what was to be kept and what to throw away, so what stayed are, although few, those ´memorable moments`.

Thanks for reviewing UIII, your blog is outstandingly good written.

Philipp

Interesting reading. I personally never have never...

2008-07-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Interesting reading. I personally never have never played III; only IV and up (well I've played I as well but after IV and V so did not like it that much).

Anyone given the LainWare's Ultima III remake a try (http://www.lairware.com/ultima3/)? Just wondering how does commercial remake of old classic compare to classic itself.

Anyway, keep them coming and when you're done reviewing the original series do consider giving the remake's a try. Maybe by then Ultima 6 Project (just released it's 5th milestone) and Redemption are completed. ;)

I'm really enjoying this reviews. Keep them coming...

2008-07-23T04:35:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying this reviews. Keep them coming.

About Ultima III... I didn't like it much when I first played it. It was better than u1 and u2, but the combat system was slow in my opinion. Ultima IV really made it way better.
and Ultima V is just great.

About the best versions for the games...

I see it this way:

Akalabeth: Ultima collection version

Ultima I: FM towns version (has
music and better graphics)

Ultima II: FM towns version (also has music and better graphics).
Patched PC version with EGA graphics is also good.

Ultima III: Either PC version patched with music or FMtowns version (problem with this one, is that the music is different...)

Ultima IV: PC version with music patch

Ultima V: PC version with music patch

Ultima VI: FM towns version (has voices and conversation menus)

Regarding which version is the best to play, take ...

2008-07-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

Regarding which version is the best to play, take a look at my enhanced C64 ports:

http://www.paradroid.net/u3/
http://www.paradroid.net/u4/

Crisper graphics than the A2, the best music on any platform, no speed problems like the PC version, and fast load times with no disk swapping.