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Post by paulofthewest on Jun 27, 2020 15:11:01 GMT -5
I did play the AGD remake only briefly so I don't believe I could form a full opinion. I know they work very hard on it especially the battle system. I played the EGA version which is basically the same engine from 1 with minor improvements.
Ya, the first Ultima is a little weird but a classic. Although, all the Ultima games I've played are kinda weird...
In Dragon Warrior II I made it to the Rhone outpost before Horgan's castle. I went ahead and looked at a guide because I was just dying all the time. Apparently they recommend level 30, and I'm 18. I guess it is time to start the grind!
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Post by Sarge on Jun 27, 2020 15:36:56 GMT -5
Yep, definitely takes some time to make the assault on the castle. One bit of advice: there are a few mini-bosses along the way through the castle. As long as you don't power down, they will stay beaten.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 27, 2020 19:13:41 GMT -5
Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness has been finished.
So there are cities and dungeons scattered all around the world, but honestly, it doesn't really matter which one you delve into. The main goal is to defeat the bounty monsters that four kings assign to you in your travels. They can all be found in any dungeon, on different levels. So you might beat up a gelatinous cube on level 3/4, or a Lich on floor 7/8, or a Galron on 9/10. Finishing these quests nets you gems, whose purpose... well, I'll get to that. Some of those enemies suck, because gelatinous cubes can destroy your armor, and I'm pretty sure it's the Lich that reduces your INT stat. There's also a Gremlin that takes half your food, and that sucks.
You might have noticed at some point that your transportation options keep expanding. I grabbed an aircar as soon as I could, since it lets you cross oceans and shoot lasers at enemies, as well as fly over plains. Yeah, lasers. It gets better. There's a signpost where you basically keep getting upgraded equipment, from a Light Sword all the way up to a Phazor and Blaster. Yep. The Blaster is what you want - you can attack at a distance in dungeons. Anyway, you also get... a shuttle. And you take off into space and dock with a space station. Then you get to take one of two ships (more fuel, less shields and vice versa, always take the "less fuel" one), and start jetting around in space via hyperspace jumping. Yep. Your goal is those "H" marks on the star chart. Wait, those aren't "H"s, those are Tie Fighters. Yep. Kill 20 of those, and you become a Space Ace.
At this point, you get to land (carefully, and don't use anything but the shuttle, 'cause the others don't have heat shields and you'll burn up on re-entry) and follow up on saving a princess. I think any princess will do. They've been jailed in any one of four castles, one per continent. Need a key? There's a jester that's been yelling about having a key since the time you started the game (and sometimes he'll even steal stuff from you). Kill him. Yes, kill him, and you'll get a key... that might work. If it doesn't, try it again. Short memories on these fellas. Also, the guards totally start swarming you at this point.
Anyway, if you're a Space Ace, the princess will help you by revealing the location of a time machine (which needs those gems), through which you'll travel 1000 years into the past to confront Mondain before he's invincible. He's still quite powerful, though, so stay away! Use that Blaster! There are certain spots where it appears that nothing you do can damage him, so maneuver around and fire from somewhere else. You also need to make sure you've got plenty of HP for when you grab and destroy the Gem, because it will hit you hard (it hit me for over 6000 damage). He might even turn into a bat to try to flee, and it's all about getting him in position to destroy him, which I finally did. Yay! You've won!
I mean, this is all bonkers stuff. It's very much the product of a time where anything went, and so much of the genre wasn't codified. Clearly Ultima had a lot to do with that. Even so, it's such a strange and anachronistic game that I'm not sure I'd really recommend it outside of learning your history and seeing where many influences came from. I mean, this is a game rooted in the year 1981. It's crazy impressive in that context. But now... while I got into a groove, I think it's much too simple, much like Dragon Quest, to give a really high score. So... I'm rolling with a meh/10. It's not bad, it's not good, it just is. In many areas of life, you can either be the first, or the best, and Ultima definitely benefits from being one of the first.
Time to complete: 5h14m
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Post by toei on Jun 28, 2020 0:03:30 GMT -5
Sarge I didn't know it was possible to make a game up as you program it, but that's honestly what Ultima 1 sounds like.
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Post by Ex on Jun 28, 2020 0:27:38 GMT -5
Sarge Big credit to you for finishing such an oldschool WRPG. I'm assuming you did the DOS version. I agree with toei the game sounds completely made up as the developers went along. Complete insanity. However it did launch a franchise that sold well enough to get Richard Garriott into space, so that's something. I've read before that the Ultima series didn't get good until Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. I've randomly tried a few Ultima games and they didn't stick for me. I don't like the harsh isometric perspective, and most later Ultimas require the player to be a super ethically "good guy" to win. All the same many classic WRPG lovers consider Ultima VII to be top 5 WRPGs of all time material. So if you get that far, you may be in for some really good gaming.
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Post by paulofthewest on Jun 28, 2020 8:48:04 GMT -5
Sarge Congrats! Ya, that is what I remember from I as well. Although I liked the craziness. I read somewhere that the the first three Ultimas don't have an overarching plot like the rest. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the article...
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Post by Xeogred on Jun 28, 2020 18:56:51 GMT -5
That's amazing. Ultima and Wizardry have always interested me... somewhat. Just hard to tell what entries I'd like, as someone that mostly has 8bit+ DNA in me. It does sound like there never would have been Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy without these two.
(I played and loved Ultima Underworld though, but that's one of the blueprints for the immersive sim genre and different).
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Post by Sarge on Jun 28, 2020 19:31:18 GMT -5
I think it probably would have still happened, but who knows what evolutionary path it would have followed? paulofthewest: Apparently the second game is a lot worse - you grind and grind and grind for gold, which is used for pretty much everything. Ultima III: Exodus is apparently when the series really becomes "Ultima", even if it's the next game that codifies the whole Avatar and virtues bit. Some day I might hit it up, although I'm not sure if I'd want to roll PC or NES in that case. I know I'd rather play the NES version of Ultima IV, though - I've always been pretty obsessed with it, despite not putting in much time.
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Post by Ex on Jun 29, 2020 8:32:43 GMT -5
Well I finally played some more PSO last night. The first I'd played a video game since last Tuesday actually, when I finished PSO's third area and boss (Mines). Last night I spent an hour navigating through the first area of the Ruins section. The Ruins section is the final part of the original game (Episode 1). The Ruins are... functionally the same as what has come before. At this point I've got 14 hours in PSO, and I've decided to throw in the towel. Not because PSO is too difficult. No, PSO is not a difficult game at all. Any resistance is overcome by simply grinding and leveling and gathering ever-marginally better loot drops. Skill is hardly required to beat this game. The reason I'm quitting PSO, is because it's just a mindless boring slog. Now when I say PSO is a mindless boring slog, keep in mind I'm talking about the offline single player portion. I cannot speak towards the online multiplayer experience. I understand how in the year 2000, PSO was a big deal, insofar as being an online multiplayer action-JRPG. But this game's single player is every bit as monotonous, tedious, and uninteresting as I suspected it would be. And I don't think in 2000, I'd have thought any different of the offline single player mode, then I do in 2020. There's barely a plot at all, no interesting NPCs, no way to hire AI controlled teammates, level design is utterly bland, combat is rote and repetitive. There are no towns, you just have a simple hub with a few shops. For all the gear you acquire, your character's appearance doesn't even change to reflect it. The save and continue system is absolutely sadistic, making progression terribly inconvenient. Worst of all, for being a "Phantasy Star" game, PSO hardly invokes its predecessors in any meaningful way whatsoever. This game could have been called Space Dungeon 2000 and no one would have thought the wiser. There's simply nothing compelling me personally to want to continue playing PSO. Since the start of this experience, I've been forcing myself to play this game, mostly as a scholarly endeavor. However, I promised myself I would stop beating games that I had to force myself to play. I'm keeping that promise, so we're done here. I understand why PSO was a big deal in its time. I've seen its influence in online multiplayer action-JRPGs that came afterwards. (I even think Metroid Prime cribbed some environment aesthetic ideas from PSO's "Mines" area.) But on an actual "fun factor" level... PSO is one creaky boring dinosaur that can languish in the past. Ex's time invested: 14 hours Ex's rating (for the single player offline mode): 4/10- That's gonna wrap this theme up for me personally. Between MGS4 and PSO, I invested about 37 hours into this particular Club Retro. MGS4 mostly lived up to its pedigree. PSO absolutely did not. I honestly don't see what dunpeal2064 or bonesnapdeez ever saw in this game's single player. I'll be happy to sell PSO on eBay soon. That said, I still plan to check out some of PSO's sequels eventually. Maybe the sequels fixed my complaints for single player offline.
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Post by Sarge on Jun 29, 2020 13:52:19 GMT -5
I think it would have been different if it were a shorter game. I'm willing to power through those, just because the time investment isn't so stout. But I long ago started giving up on a ton of second-rate JRPGs that I'm still marginally interested in "because RPG", but recognize they're not worth my time. I feel like in most cases, the JRPG has gotten worse - the halcyon days for them are done and dusted. Given how close it is to the end of the month, I might be done as well. Not many games, but a lot of time invested. 89) Super Punch-Out!! (SNES) (9.0) (5/31) (4.5 hours) (*) 93) Deus Ex (PC) (8.0) (6/21) (43.25 hours) (*) 94) Quest for Glory (PC) (7.5) (6/24) (7.33 hours) (*) 95) Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness (PC) (5.0) (6/27) (5.25 hours) (*) That's a lot of WRPG-ing. With distance from Deus Ex, I think my score might increase over time - I'm already thinking more fondly of it than that 8/10 indicates. I might even curve Ultima I up a bit; it might be weird and kinda simple, but it's also surprisingly easy to fall into a groove. Definitely a case where the oddness helps its case, and I appreciate how effortless the grinding actually tends to be once you figure out how to do it. Also, once again, big thanks to Ex for pushing me to finish Super Punch-Out!! That needed to happen a long time ago.
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