Yes, that was interesting!
I still remember hunting to get Diablo's 2 patches (1.16 was it) from someone with internet access! That patch was bigger that one some companies name "DLC" today.
I recall that expansions usually included double digit of content when compared to main game. DLCs nowadays may include two weapon skins and enough digital currency for single loot box and call it content. Times change.
I remember when Bethesda first introduced horse armor as paid DLC, they were universally criticized and panned. Now cosmetic paid DLC is almost assumed. It's a really unfortunate change.
The CD release came with the speech pack, so if that's the one you had, you would not have had to worry about this "expansion". And if you've played through the game, you know how few characters actually speak (it's been ages since I played it, but I think it was just the Titans, and some quips form the Guardian. The intro still had speech in the floppy version).
It's been so long ago, I honestly don't remember which version I had. I do remember the speech from the intro, but I don't think I got far enough in the game to meet any of the Titans, let alone the Guardian. I remember finding it a rather difficult game - the magic system had me kind of stumped, and the controls were awkward at best. I think I overthrew the leader of the main city, and that's about as far as I got.
You really did not miss out on much. I've beaten it, and the early bits are really the best, once you start going after the titans, you'll just spend a lot of time in nigh identical looking caves, avoiding enemies (while you do gain power by fighting, you don't actually need to fight most of the time, and the game is easier if you just do your best to avoid combat altogether, which can easily be done, as the enemies are slow). the controls are bad, and the magic system is a bit unintuitive, and the platforming is atrocious. Unpatched it makes the game incredibly hard, for all the wrong reasons, and patched a large portion of the game becomes trivial, but still takes a lot of time (and you're still prone to getting killed by bugs). And many late-game parts feel unfinished (which they most likely are, as the game was rushed to the market).
Oh, I'm pretty sure I played the un-patched version then, because I remember reading about how the patch made the early jumping sequences easier and let you use a teleporter to skip the jumping sequences after going through them once and being very jealous. Those jumping sequences were so bad... I died so many times just trying to line up a jump from rock to rock, ugh.
And an expansion was more or less completed, but never released, for Ultima 8, which would have doubled down on the action-sequences, with more elaborate platforming and such. But due to the commercial failure of Ultima 8, it was never released. Richard Garriott (the creator of the Ultima series) apparently liked the platforming idea, and wanted to expand upon it.
To make matters a bit worse, the expansion was always planned to be released, and the area leading to the expansion area is even in-game (so anyone complaining about how DLC is planned from the start should take a look at Ultima 8, it really did all these bad things we blame DLC for, in 1994!)
What? The real-time action combat and jumping sequences were awful! The jumping sequences were the worst part of the game. It was an example of how not to do jumping puzzles with mouse-based movement.
I hadn't played any previous Ultima games, so I didn't know how much of a departure it was from those that came before. Learning about the afterwards, it was clear that the graphics were a pretty big step up but everything else was a huge step backwards, and that the core of the Ultima series - the moral framework upon which all the previous games were based - was inexplicably lost in U8.
Sadly the engine had really wonky physics, which did not lend itself well to those jumping puzzles. The Crusader series uses the same engine and suffers from the physics as well, although luckily you don't need to jump in those games.
The virtues are not entirely ignored in Ultima 8. 5-8 kind of deals with ways to subvert or challenge the virtues. In 4 they're established, in 5 they're taken to their logical extremes, in 6 you meet a group that have an alternative interpretation, in 7 you face a rivaling set of values which end up doing a lot of good for the land (sadly this is undermined by how the game begins with you being told that they're actually controlled by the bad guys....), and in 8 you need to act in a way that is not in line with the virtues in order to survive and save Britannia (although this is ruined by how rushed the game ended up being, so you really don't get to explore the ideas).
5 & 7 are still worth playing to this day, even if they have their own flaws, but the rest of the series can safely be skipped.
Well, as I understood it, the Ultima games in general dealt with morality and acting in a moral and just way, while 8 had you turn the world upside down for your own personal goals.
I tried 4 a long time, and the text interface was way too dated for me to put up with. I did want to play 7 at some point, since I've heard that's the height of the series. Why do you recommend 5 and not 6?
"In my days, they were called expansion packs and actually included real content! Hopefully this one delivers too."
I missed those days^^ Thx for chance!
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I bought this on release (full price obv.), and do not regret it.
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Own this and can enter, pls check the winner.
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Can confirm. Please check the winner.
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Thanks for notifying!
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Yes, that was interesting!
I still remember hunting to get Diablo's 2 patches (1.16 was it) from someone with internet access! That patch was bigger that one some companies name "DLC" today.
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I recall that expansions usually included double digit of content when compared to main game. DLCs nowadays may include two weapon skins and enough digital currency for single loot box and call it content. Times change.
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I remember when Bethesda first introduced horse armor as paid DLC, they were universally criticized and panned. Now cosmetic paid DLC is almost assumed. It's a really unfortunate change.
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Not all expansions were all that good though :P This one for an example...
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I actually bought and played Ultima 8, and I had no idea that was even a thing.
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The CD release came with the speech pack, so if that's the one you had, you would not have had to worry about this "expansion". And if you've played through the game, you know how few characters actually speak (it's been ages since I played it, but I think it was just the Titans, and some quips form the Guardian. The intro still had speech in the floppy version).
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It's been so long ago, I honestly don't remember which version I had. I do remember the speech from the intro, but I don't think I got far enough in the game to meet any of the Titans, let alone the Guardian. I remember finding it a rather difficult game - the magic system had me kind of stumped, and the controls were awkward at best. I think I overthrew the leader of the main city, and that's about as far as I got.
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You really did not miss out on much. I've beaten it, and the early bits are really the best, once you start going after the titans, you'll just spend a lot of time in nigh identical looking caves, avoiding enemies (while you do gain power by fighting, you don't actually need to fight most of the time, and the game is easier if you just do your best to avoid combat altogether, which can easily be done, as the enemies are slow). the controls are bad, and the magic system is a bit unintuitive, and the platforming is atrocious. Unpatched it makes the game incredibly hard, for all the wrong reasons, and patched a large portion of the game becomes trivial, but still takes a lot of time (and you're still prone to getting killed by bugs). And many late-game parts feel unfinished (which they most likely are, as the game was rushed to the market).
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Oh, I'm pretty sure I played the un-patched version then, because I remember reading about how the patch made the early jumping sequences easier and let you use a teleporter to skip the jumping sequences after going through them once and being very jealous. Those jumping sequences were so bad... I died so many times just trying to line up a jump from rock to rock, ugh.
Comment has been collapsed.
And an expansion was more or less completed, but never released, for Ultima 8, which would have doubled down on the action-sequences, with more elaborate platforming and such. But due to the commercial failure of Ultima 8, it was never released. Richard Garriott (the creator of the Ultima series) apparently liked the platforming idea, and wanted to expand upon it.
To make matters a bit worse, the expansion was always planned to be released, and the area leading to the expansion area is even in-game (so anyone complaining about how DLC is planned from the start should take a look at Ultima 8, it really did all these bad things we blame DLC for, in 1994!)
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What? The real-time action combat and jumping sequences were awful! The jumping sequences were the worst part of the game. It was an example of how not to do jumping puzzles with mouse-based movement.
I hadn't played any previous Ultima games, so I didn't know how much of a departure it was from those that came before. Learning about the afterwards, it was clear that the graphics were a pretty big step up but everything else was a huge step backwards, and that the core of the Ultima series - the moral framework upon which all the previous games were based - was inexplicably lost in U8.
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Sadly the engine had really wonky physics, which did not lend itself well to those jumping puzzles. The Crusader series uses the same engine and suffers from the physics as well, although luckily you don't need to jump in those games.
The virtues are not entirely ignored in Ultima 8. 5-8 kind of deals with ways to subvert or challenge the virtues. In 4 they're established, in 5 they're taken to their logical extremes, in 6 you meet a group that have an alternative interpretation, in 7 you face a rivaling set of values which end up doing a lot of good for the land (sadly this is undermined by how the game begins with you being told that they're actually controlled by the bad guys....), and in 8 you need to act in a way that is not in line with the virtues in order to survive and save Britannia (although this is ruined by how rushed the game ended up being, so you really don't get to explore the ideas).
5 & 7 are still worth playing to this day, even if they have their own flaws, but the rest of the series can safely be skipped.
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Well, as I understood it, the Ultima games in general dealt with morality and acting in a moral and just way, while 8 had you turn the world upside down for your own personal goals.
I tried 4 a long time, and the text interface was way too dated for me to put up with. I did want to play 7 at some point, since I've heard that's the height of the series. Why do you recommend 5 and not 6?
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Thank you for the awesomeness!
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Im still hoping for third game, thx
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tnx) gl hf all)
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