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Hard to Use.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: January 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I never got into the ultima title so I thought this would be a great way to get into it. It advertised it was the complete first eight titles in one. However it was only the first three adventures and they are uncompatible with the newer computer systems despite the claim it would be. My computer locked up every time I tried to play it. Over all I found it very disappointing.

Here is a chance to run under Linux!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: August 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Great series. My all time favorite was Ultima 4. With Wintendo 3.1/95 as the requirement for the OS, I'm thinking of trying to make this work with WINE under Linux (maybe even use transgaming if that fails).

Then I can make it work with my MythTV Mythgames. My kids are in for a surprise :-)

Ultima is the best overall RPG series ever made.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: July 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Ultima 7 (both Black Gate and Serpent Isle) is definitely the best of the series, having the best story and the most interactive world. 4, 5, 6, and 8 are great also. You also get 1, 2, and 3 in this collection, but they're really not worth playing. If you love RPGs, and you've never played any of these games before, you're missing out!

There is an easy way to run Ultima VII

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you look up Exult on the internet, you will find a platform designed specifically to run Ultima VII and Serpent Isle.

I just found at sourceforge.net a way to run Ultima VIII but I haven't tried it yet. Can't wait!

I LOVE these games. They really are in depth and entertaining. I spent forever playing Ultima VI on my old 386 computer, never finishing it!!! Now I can finish it on my new Dell. =)

How can they get away with charging this much for this?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Now, don't get me wrong, I've always been an AVID fan of the Ultima games. In fact, Ultima 8 is what got me into game programming myself. However, at $89.90 for a used copy of this, that's downright highway robbery. I got A FREE copy of it with Ultima 9, which costs $20!

At any rate, only fans of the ultima series are likely to jump on this one. If you enjoy Ultima Online, I'd strongly recommend you go back to the origins and see where Ultima sprung up from. My particular favorite was the last in the series, Ultima 8.

Keep in mind that some of these games are over 20 years old, so don't be expecting graphics at ALL in some cases. More interestingly is reading the documentation files that come with the CD to see how Lord British (the founder of the series) started with Akalabeth, a game that only incredibly vaguely resembles Ultima, selling copies of it at his college on 5 1/2" floppies in sandwich bags!

-Javin

Can you spell... C.L.A.S.S.I.C.?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Man. I have played and re-played this set of wonderful programs so many times i can't begin to tally the wasted years of my life. O.k., they weren't wasted. These games are the shining diamonds of the beginning of what true gaming was. Dated, absolutely. Great? WITHOUT A DOUBT. Any RPG fan of today needs this in their collection. A good tweaker can figure out how to get all of these to run in windows , too! Don't go without the ATLAS, though! These games lead you through a lot of territory.

You can never go home again

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: May 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Let me first say I'm a hugh fan of the Ultima series. I played Ultima IV-VI on my C64 back in the day and eventually replayed VI on the SNES (which was far better).

Fast forward to now. Maybe my tastes have changed or games have but I couldn't sit more than five minutes and play any of these.

1. Ultima I-III - 4 color (I and III can be upgraded to 16 color through patches), top down view. These are for historical purposes only. Not even hard core Ultima fans would have fun playing them

2. Ultima IV-V (IV has a 256 VGA patch you can download, V is in the works) top down view - If you solved these a long time ago, you won't have much fun trying to solve them now. Maybe first time players would have more fun, as they should start the series with IV.

3. Ultima VI - (256 VGA color and isometric view) - the first 'modern' one. This is the last one with turn based combat and somehow feels smaller than the other ones.

4. Ultima VII pt1 and pt2 - (256 VGA color and isometric view) - The combat system gets annoying (no more turn based system) but feels HUGH compared to VI. VI pt2 is a continuation of the story.

5. Ultima VIII - (256 VGA color and isometric view) - An experiment that just didn't quite work. They tried to turn Ultima into a 'action adventure' which could have worked on a controller based console system, but is akward on the PC. Don't waste your time playing with this one.

In conclusion, newcomers might buy this to see how Ultima basically began our current RPG games and old school players will enjoy a trip down memory lane but both people will put this on their shelves after 5 minutes.

Great RPGs, but how do you run the programs?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Ultima Collection include what could possibly be the best RPG games of all time. UC includes all of the Ultima titles from Akalabeth (the game the Ultima series was based on) to Ultima VIII.

In order to run these games, you literally have to be a computer expert. You have to run these games from the DOS prompt. Before you get to play any of these games, you have to fix a lot of settings which an average computer user would have no idea how to set them up, or even what they mean (I'm still trying to find out what an "IRQ" is.) Also, many of the new computers do not have a PC Speaker, which all of the games require to play any sound effects and music.

By the way, do not expect Ultima I: Exodus to look anything like its NES counterpart. In Ultima I through IV, graphics are very poorly defined; everything consists of plain colored squares.

If you can actually manage to setup and execute the programs smoothly, then have at this game. Otherwise, I would recommend playing the NES and SNES Ultima titles.

Ultima VII Reborn - (No) Thanks to EA's Shovelware

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 15, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Of the included games, the worthwhile one is Ultima VII; the others are too dated or broken, and Ultima 8 is just pointless. Thankfully, Ultima VII has now been ported to most major platforms, so you should be able to run it on any computer with minimal hassle. Maybe I'll try to play the older ones someday, but I'm in no rush.

This was certainly not true when it came out. Written for DOS, it required editing the autoexec.bat and config.sys by hand. Designed to run on a 386/33, the game engine included in the box will requires the included 'MoSlo' program, which only lets the game issue a command to the CPU one out of N cycles. However, the Exult game engine, an open-source Ultima 7 interpreter, is freely available. If you google for "exult ultima", it should be the first hit. It has much higher system requirements than the original (about 10x), but given that most people have computers 100x faster than in 1994, this is no problem. And it even runs in different systems, like Macs or handhelds.

This package is a bunch of shovelware. Ultima VII, even with its dated graphics and Midi sound, is still fun. This is certainly a niche product; it is only recommended for computer role playing games fans who are feeling nostalgic for the early 90's, back when Origin still created worlds.

Worth buying just for Ultima 7 alone

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: August 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'll say it right out-- this package is a bargain and worth every cent just for Ultima VII alone. But more on that later-- first, a run-through of the games contained on this compilation:

Akalabeth (ultima prequel), U1, U2, U3 (Exodus):
Revolutionary in their time, but now you'll probably just want to check them out to see what games were like back then. The casual gamer will be turned-off immediately by the those horrid 3 color graphics, (which just happen to be the ugliest 3 colors you've ever laid your eyes on) and even only the most nostalgic of hardcore ultima fans will be able to play through them. But as i said, still worth a look.

U4, U5:
Slight improvement in graphics, and leaps & bounds in the story department. If you're a casual gamer-- these will be hard to get into, but you will be rewarded by an awesome story and true interaction. Ultima fans will of course have a great time with these.

U6:
Often bashed for its poor interface, (and sometime i'm inclined to agree), the game still contains a great story and for once, a musical score.

U7 (parts 1 and 2):
Now here's the gem: I personally think it's the -greatest- game of all time. of all the games i play, this is the only one i can keep replaying over and over. to tell the truth, i wasn't always into ultima or crpgs for that matter. I used to play final fantasy "rpgs" (really, they're actually horrid linear interactive anime movies that have no role-playing elements, boring fights, and cliched soap-opera stories), but then a friend let me borrow an old disk version of Ultima 7- the black gate, and i've been hooked ever since. Not only does this game contain a truly great story and has good graphics (they may be a little old but still hold up well), but contains a -completely- interactive game world. If you see it, you can use it or manipulate it in some way. Have long conversations with npcs, forge your own sword, explore dungeons, and even bake bread. Add some good music and an innovative point-and-click mouse-driven interface, and you have a masterpiece.

U8:
Casual gamers will find this game the easiest to get into; after all it contains psuedo-3d graphics and is the most modern one. Personally i thought u7 was better in terms of story and game world, although u8 had its high points. That and the action elements seemed a little out of place. However, not a bad rpg, but not a great one eithier.

Those are the games contained on the collection; now the pros and cons of the collection as whole:
PROS--
1) It's a great bargain
2) Contains an atlas with all original maps, a reference guide, and all the original manuals on the cd
3) has "Moslo" a program that slows down your cpu to make the games playable on modern pc's
4) The games (especially u7) are worth it
5) Has cool interviews with ultima's creator, richard garriott

CONS--
1) Missing some of the other great ultima games (worlds of ultima, ultima underworld)
2) Can be a little tough to get ultima 7 and 8 working in windows, (due to its odd dos-run memory manager). But, that problem can be easily solved by ... getting the ultima 7 and 8 windows patches.

Overall, it's a must-buy for ultima fans, and if you like rpgs, i reccomend this for not only ultima 7 but the other great rpgs contained within.

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