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What is the importance of the Ultima Series, and Origin Systems (as a whole)?

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Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
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Minus the Underworld series, which I have knowledge of, I don't have my knowledge of the Ultima series. But I mean...Origin Systems apparently was responsible for kickstarting a lot of innovation in gaming, along with Looking Glass Studios in the Massachusetts area. So what is the significance of the series and studio, in general?

And yes, I admit it, a big reason I'm asking this is because Richard Garriot is from Houston/Austin, and it would be nice to see how those cities made an impact on video games.
 
The Last Laugh

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It is one of the icons of the genre and the granddaddy of most, along with Wizardry in my opinion.
 

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Utmost importance for the role playing genre.

The earlier Ultima games set the standard for RPGs to come, and games like Dragon Quest likely wouldn't exist / would be substantially different without Ultima existing.

Ultima VII is life-changingly good, and still remains unmatched in some parts. It is an amazing game and my personal favorite. All-time top 10 game for sure, the atmosphere is unmatched.

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imbarkus

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Ultima games were sort of the first open-world western RPG's. They dropped you into the world after character creation and really allowed you to explore to find the plot threads and activities. Said character creation was pretty deep and revolved around "virtues" your character could acquire or lose based on certain in-game decisions, roughing up an early morality system in RPGs as well. The series was also an early one to actively establish a base of world-lore and try to carry that on from title to title.

Basically the Ultima series was ground-breaking in bringing a lot of innovations to computer RPGs.
 

SkyOdin

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In addition to Ultima being a major influence on the formative RPG genre, Ultima Online was one of the first major MMOs.
 
Vincent Alexander

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SkyOdin said:
In addition to Ultima being a major influence on the formative RPG genre, Ultima Online was one of the first major MMOs.
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There are times when I feel like an old guy who can't learn to love new things, but anytime I try a new MMO, they just never stack up to Ultima Online. I have so many memories of Yew Felluca, hanging around at the gates. Reds coming by to bait us to their homes. Them running inside and taunting us. Name calling for 20 minutes. Maybe the red is brave enough to come out with his group.

Hell, there were nights I'd log into UO on the weekends to stand around a house with mates and shoot the shit.
 
RedSwirl

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Vincent Alexander said:
There are times when I feel like an old guy who can't learn to love new things, but anytime I try a new MMO, they just never stack up to Ultima Online. I have so many memories of Yew Felluca, hanging around at the gates. Reds coming by to bait us to their homes. Them running inside and taunting us. Name calling for 20 minutes. Maybe the red is brave enough to come out with his group.

Hell, there were nights I'd log into UO on the weekends to stand around a house with mates and shoot the shit.
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Word has it Yasumi Matsuno (Final Fantasy Tactics, FFXII, Vagrant Story) still plays Ultima Online.
 
jb1234

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Ultima VII was an astonishing game. Such a shame the series ended the way it did.
 

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Loved Ultima 4 and 5. Didn't play the others.

For me, the big open world (albeit in a top-down pixel style), the choice of who joins your party (and as simple as it may have been, you couldn't get them to join unless you found them and asked the right questions), freedom of weapons and armour to wear, the turn based combat, dungeons, it was just amazing.

On a side topic, the Amiga port of 4 on Android is now gone from the store, does anyone know how to properly play it again?

Edit: totally forgot I played and finished 9 as well. I remember getting my first Voodoo gfx card to run it decently too. Wasn't up with 3d open world games of that time but surely it was one of the very first in that style as well.
 
Cantaloup

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The other game series Origin is most known for is Wing Commander. Wing Commander III is one of the earliest games to include well known Hollywood actors in FMV.
 

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Looking Glass is the developer of the original System Shock. Along with Ultima Underworld, that series defined a lot of things we see the echoes of in games today, in terms of interactivity and defining a world through mechanics.

(I might be wrong but it might also be the first game to do the 451-for-door-code thing.)
 
Hella

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I've never really been familiar with Ultima outside of Ultima Online, but Ultima 7(?) directly inspired Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2. So its influence is still being felt in modern game development.
 
Vincent Alexander

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RedSwirl said:
Word has it Yasumi Matsuno (Final Fantasy Tactics, FFXII, Vagrant Story) still plays Ultima Online.
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That'd be pretty cool. I was playing on a free server Ultima Online Forever for a few years, and won't lie...it was a really fun community. I actually had to stop because I recognized how much time I was sinking into it. My friends still play.

Manmademan said:
The assassination of Lord British will never NOT be completely hilarious

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I'd never heard of this before. That is amazing.
 
OP
OP

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Funyarinpa said:
Looking Glass is the developer of the original System Shock. Along with Ultima Underworld, that series defined a lot of things we see the echoes of in games today, in terms of interactivity and defining a world through mechanics.

(I might be wrong but it might also be the first game to do the 451-for-door-code thing.)
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I knew that about System Shock, which I consider to be the greatest game of all time, but I didn't realize that Origin Systems was responsible for publishing it. That's another huge one for me.

And people wonder why I love Austin, Texas so much, LOL. Given how much of an influence BioShock is on me, that only makes me adore it even more.
 
Reddaye

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Spark said:
I'm surprised we didn't get a new Ultima game during the crpg revival era.
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EA own the rights to Ultima, so we weren't going to get an official Kickstarter. They did make some kind of mobile game that I believe BioWare developed. A "remake" of Ultima 4 perhaps? I forget the details because it was just mobile schlock with the Ultima name tagged onto it from what I remember.
 
OP
OP

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Man God said:
Ultima was arguably the most important series in PC gaming until DOOM.
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Dallas is also huge for gaming, I forgot about that. Carmack is from the Dallas area, I think.

And they say Texas has nothing to offer.

EDIT: Ha, didn't know it was founded in Louisiana!
 
mujun

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Ultima 4 is the game that sparked my love of open world games. It blew my mind as a young teen when I first played it. I couldn't get enough of RPGs after that. Pools of Radiance, Deathlord, Phantasie, etc.
 
Alive2007

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Ultima Underworlds impact alone cant be overstated,the first immersive sim, the God father to some of the most influential games like System Shock, Thief,Deus Ex and the spirit of those games lead to the Dishonored series and Prey (2017) PLAY PREY!!!

The founder of Arkane Studios Raphaël Colantonio told me on Twitter that Ultima Underworld is his favorite video game which is very clear because Arx Fatalis is an honest love letter to Ultima Underworld

check this out op!
for those who don't know Warren Spector created Deus Ex and produced Ultima Underworld and in this 3 hour video he talks with the creator of Ultima and founder of Origin Systems about his life and career
I also recommend checking out the Harvey Smith one! his story is interesting, he started as a QA tester at Origin Systems and went on to be the lead designer on Deus Ex and creative director of the Dishonored games
 
jman2050

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Ultima pretty much invented the modern RPG. Almost every RPG released today, Japanese, Western, or otherwise, is a direct evolution of the Ultima series.
 
Man God

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jman2050 said:
Ultima pretty much invented the modern RPG. Almost every RPG released today, Japanese, Western, or otherwise, is a direct evolution of the Ultima series.
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Which owes itself to the main frame dungeon crawlers, which owe themselves to D&D, which owes itself to Chainmail, which owes itself to the revival of medieval war sims, which owes itself to Tolkien, which owes itself to various Norse and Celtic mythologies...
 
Alive2007

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oh excuse me, I must be too high, I cant believe I skipped over that first part of the OP. my apologies

I still recommend checking out that lecture, that's what I was originally coming to post and got excited about underworld
 
jotun?

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The Last Laugh said:
This was a great write up that someone shared in an RPG thread way back

Ultima-Most Important Game Series Ever
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And Ultima Online, the game the name has been the most famous for in the past 15 years, was the first massively multiplayer game.
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Ultima Online has a firm spot in my top 10 games ever, but I don't like this line. It may have been the first game to be CALLED "massively multiplayer", but it's certainly not the earliest game that fits the definition
 
Man God

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I think it's the first graphical MMO. I know some MUDs beat it to the punch. It's an extremely important piece of gaming history. As is Ultima 4, Ultima 6, Ultima Underworld. Foundational works up there with DOOM, Pac-Man, Tetris, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros.
 
RedSwirl

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Alive2007 said:
Ultima Underworlds impact alone cant be overstated,the first immersive sim, the God father to some of the most influential games like System Shock, Thief,Deus Ex and the spirit of those games lead to the Dishonored series and Prey (2017) PLAY PREY!!!
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Not to mention it influenced Elder Scrolls and probably Souls too.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 23850

Oct 28, 2017
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Alive2007 said:
Ultima Underworlds impact alone cant be overstated,the first immersive sim, the God father to some of the most influential games like System Shock, Thief,Deus Ex and the spirit of those games lead to the Dishonored series and Prey (2017) PLAY PREY!!!

The founder of Arkane Studios Raphaël Colantonio told me on Twitter that Ultima Underworld is his favorite video game which is very clear because Arx Fatalis is an honest love letter to Ultima Underworld

check this out op!
for those who don't know Warren Spector created Deus Ex and produced Ultima Underworld and in this 3 hour video he talks with the creator of Ultima and founder of Origin Systems about his life and career
I also recommend checking out the Harvey Smith one! his story is interesting, he started as a QA tester at Origin Systems and went on to be the lead designer on Deus Ex and creative director of the Dishonored games
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I need to play Prey sometime, thanks for reminding me! Deus Ex was made in Austin, too!


Choice quote:

It was an offer Spector couldn't refuse. But he had a condition. He would join Ion Storm as the fifth partner, but he refused to work in Dallas. In fact, he refused to work anywhere but Austin. "In Texas there's four major cities. There's Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, and the only one I would ever consider living in is Austin," Spector says. "When [Romero] came down that day to try to convince me, part of the deal was, I'm not moving, I'm not going to work in Dallas, and he was okay with that."
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LOL.


Man God said:
I think it's the first graphical MMO. I know some MUDs beat it to the punch. It's an extremely important piece of gaming history. As is Ultima 4, Ultima 6, Ultima Underworld. Foundational works up there with DOOM, Pac-Man, Tetris, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros.
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No faint praises!
 
Man God

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Elder Scrolls Arena is a UU clone. Only not as good. Game was ahead of its time on environmental storytelling and more complex than you'd think, and basically made in parallel with Wolf 3D. DOOM was the mega hit of the mid 90's and changed the path of pc gaming forever but UU before it had just as much influence only much later on.

MMOs and Elder Scrolls are direct descendants of Ultima games. Same thing with virtually every open world title and U6/U7. U7 is from 1992 and it took...hmm, about 20 years for most games to get on its level of scale and interactibility. Even games I adore for their vision and scope like Daggerfall aren't really on U7's level.

U4 gets a lot of praise for it's morality system but in all honesty it's a bit half baked, you can cheese the fuck out of it. I remember it more for being more open ended and mysterious than most RPGs. The better morality tales are actually U5 and U6, and eventually the second part of U7.
 
Lakeside

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The games were just incredible im terms of world building and nothing was given to you. I think I started with 3, and played through all of 7. The Savage Empire and Martian spinoffs were amazing, and I'm sure many here played Underworld 1/2.

I think Ultima 8 was the first game to crush my soul.

I get all the feels from this because I was very young, but into this stuff. The nearest place to buy computer games was ~2 hour drive and we weren't going unless my parents needed something. I would save money but it had to be something that would really last. I could buy an Ultima game and not come up for air for months.
 
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BringBackSonics

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Ultima series definitely launches my love of rpg games.

Ultima online took me 2 days to download (I tied up my phone line for hours) using 56.6k

This video about MMO players killed online's virtual ecosystem was amazing

 
scrapple

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Ultima Online started the MMORPG craze as well. Ultima 3 is still my fav game of all time.
 
The Last Laugh

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jotun? said:
Ultima Online has a firm spot in my top 10 games ever, but I don't like this line. It may have been the first game to be CALLED "massively multiplayer", but it's certainly not the earliest game that fits the definition
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As someone who cut his teeth on local BBS to play MUDS, as well as dabbling in things like Kesmai and even Neverwinter Nights on AOL, Meridian took it even higher but Ultima Online was an entirely different experience and level.
 
mddover

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Several years back I played Ultima 4 and Dragon Quest 2 pretty much back to back. I just remember being struck by how much DQ2 reminded me of Ultima. Not the morality system or combat of course, but the clue-gathering aspects of the games - actually needing to talk to NPCs to gather info (and then writing what you find out down in a physical notebook) in order to piece together where to go next or where hidden items might be. It was a rewarding experience playing them so close together and reinforced to me the connection between western and Japanese RPGs.
 
Cabal

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Ultima 6 and later 7 were probably the first games I fell deep into. I had played a large number of games on both PCs and consoles, but none of them came close to what these two games did as far as immersion. Honestly, it makes me a little sad now, because buying a game is a digital code or a disc, but nothing like opening that Black Gate box and finding a truly arcane manual, cloth map, just complete immersive experience. There just weren't any games like it at the time.

Modern games like Skyrim and The Witcher 3 have it beat now as modern technology eclipsed the rather archaic systems of U7, but I will say few stories match the various adventures of the Avatar and I doubt very seriously we would have games like, Skyrim, The Witcher 3 or even WOW without the Ultima series. It was pivotal to game development.
 
Man God

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mddover said:
Several years back I played Ultima 4 and Dragon Quest 2 pretty much back to back. I just remember being struck by how much DQ2 reminded me of Ultima. Not the morality system or combat of course, but the clue-gathering aspects of the games - actually needing to talk to NPCs to gather info (and then writing what you find out down in a physical notebook) in order to piece together where to go next or where hidden items might be. It was a rewarding experience playing them so close together and reinforced to me the connection between western and Japanese RPGs.
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YEP. They don't tell you shit in either of those games. Very good comparison!
 
DiipuSurotu

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Square liked Ultima so much they named the strongest Black Magic spell after it in the Final Fantasy series
 
Artdayne

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They had a big influence on the Gothic series, which raised the bar for open world design, and that bar has not been raised since.
 
Tizoc

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Pardon the odd question but sre there any remakes of the older games through modding or recreations with qol improvements and options?
 
Perry Simm

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Simple, it's the most important and influential video game series of all time. Not only Dragon Quest and therefore the whole JRPG genre, but also games like Skyrim and Deus Ex can be directly traced back to Ultima. Ultima V for example had a convincing living world with day/night-cycles, detailed NPC schedules, phases of the moon, and tons of interactive objects, as well as a bold, morally complex storyline - in 1988!
 
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