Is Ultima VII the most influential CRPG of all-time??
jjstraka34
Member Posts: 9,850
I've recently been starting to replay this for the first time since childhood in the Exult engine. First let me say that this particular project is almost like getting an enhanced version of the game, it's a substantial piece of work that I'm very grateful exists.
Getting that out of the way, I've always viewed the birth of modern CRPG convention as taking place with the release of both Fallout and BG1. And by modern I mean a turn away from text commands, tile based dungeon crawling that required extensive mapping, and for the most part faceless adventurers. As it turns out, Ultima VII was turning things on it's head half a decade earlier.
For starters, this is the first game I can think of that really committed itself to drag and drop inventory management on a massive scale (obviously along with it's sister games the Underworld series). It's crude and kind of horrible if you don't designate certain people with certain tasks, but it's a massive leap when compared to entering commands and using the arrow keys to move a potion on your fighter to your mage.
Second, even to this day, Ultima VII has to be unmatched in actually attempting to simulate a living, breathing world. Even in games like BG, or the Elder Scrolls, games that deal on a massive scale, there are still generic NPCs with names like "noble" or "peasant" who are essentially copied and pasted to fill out the world. 90% of the people you come across in Ultima VII are unique individuals. Almost all of them have a story to tell. But it depends on who you have talked to previously, OR (and this is also done far better here than any other game I've played) what time of day it is. The day/night cycle in this game makes complete sense, (and I also love the fact that you don't know what time it is until you get your pocketwatch back). This isn't just shops not being open at night. Certain religious ceremonies only take place in the early evening. At night, people are at home asleep in their beds. In the morning, they get up and go to work.
Which brings me to my last point, in that even though this is a very cartoonish game in art style, the subject matter is some of the most thought-inducing outside of Planescape: Torment or an Obsidian game. Questions of adultery, the morality of stealing to feed your family, a religion that is essentially Calvinism, ritualistic murder, racism....and that is before you get past the opening salvo.
Granted, the combat system is complete crap, but even in that respect, it is (from what I can tell) the first game of it's kind to use any kind of automatic UI script for you and companions (horrible as it may be). And the companions themselves. A staple of everything that came after it, and not as fleshed out here, but an obvious inspiration to most titles that came down the road.
This isn't anywhere near a perfect game, but it is quite an achievement in terms of scope, ambition, and while the systems that became commonplace in the genre years later are clearly in a very rudimentary and annoying phase here, the actual world created is probably the most realistic that has ever been created for a game, even to this day. It's amazing to look back on this title in hindsight and see just how groundbreaking it really was in it's niche.
Getting that out of the way, I've always viewed the birth of modern CRPG convention as taking place with the release of both Fallout and BG1. And by modern I mean a turn away from text commands, tile based dungeon crawling that required extensive mapping, and for the most part faceless adventurers. As it turns out, Ultima VII was turning things on it's head half a decade earlier.
For starters, this is the first game I can think of that really committed itself to drag and drop inventory management on a massive scale (obviously along with it's sister games the Underworld series). It's crude and kind of horrible if you don't designate certain people with certain tasks, but it's a massive leap when compared to entering commands and using the arrow keys to move a potion on your fighter to your mage.
Second, even to this day, Ultima VII has to be unmatched in actually attempting to simulate a living, breathing world. Even in games like BG, or the Elder Scrolls, games that deal on a massive scale, there are still generic NPCs with names like "noble" or "peasant" who are essentially copied and pasted to fill out the world. 90% of the people you come across in Ultima VII are unique individuals. Almost all of them have a story to tell. But it depends on who you have talked to previously, OR (and this is also done far better here than any other game I've played) what time of day it is. The day/night cycle in this game makes complete sense, (and I also love the fact that you don't know what time it is until you get your pocketwatch back). This isn't just shops not being open at night. Certain religious ceremonies only take place in the early evening. At night, people are at home asleep in their beds. In the morning, they get up and go to work.
Which brings me to my last point, in that even though this is a very cartoonish game in art style, the subject matter is some of the most thought-inducing outside of Planescape: Torment or an Obsidian game. Questions of adultery, the morality of stealing to feed your family, a religion that is essentially Calvinism, ritualistic murder, racism....and that is before you get past the opening salvo.
Granted, the combat system is complete crap, but even in that respect, it is (from what I can tell) the first game of it's kind to use any kind of automatic UI script for you and companions (horrible as it may be). And the companions themselves. A staple of everything that came after it, and not as fleshed out here, but an obvious inspiration to most titles that came down the road.
This isn't anywhere near a perfect game, but it is quite an achievement in terms of scope, ambition, and while the systems that became commonplace in the genre years later are clearly in a very rudimentary and annoying phase here, the actual world created is probably the most realistic that has ever been created for a game, even to this day. It's amazing to look back on this title in hindsight and see just how groundbreaking it really was in it's niche.
5
Comments
Can not control much of combat was discouraging though.
Yes I agree with you.
In fact, in a genre that has plenty of gameplay and control problems, Ultima 8 easily has some of the worst controls I've ever seen in any game ever. The entire game from top to bottom is a complete and utter joke.
I actually just looked at Ultima VII's GOG page, and in the description where they advertise the game's selling points, it highlights the game's "fluid and responsive combat mechanics". Someone in the office must have lost a bet and been forced to write that.
https://www.humblebundle.com/
Just pay more than $5 to get it. Seems like a bargain to me.
I would list Ultima VII in the Top 5. I would list Baldur's Gate up there as well, and Fallout 1. In terms of Influence, I think these latter two actually brought more customers in, but I don't have any facts to back that up. I just know that if you poll gamers, most will have heard of Ultima VII but more will have played BG, at least that is my sense.
BTW- there was a (successful) kickstarter for Ultima Underworld's spiritual successor recently https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/
Actually a well-ran campaign. I backed them up.
I finished Ultima Underworld for the first time last year. Such a great game if you get past the outdated graphics and game engine. I've been thinking about playing some other games in the Ultima series too (I've only played Underworld so far) so maybe I should give Ultima VII a try.
Noah Antwiler's retrospective and even his Britannia Burns stuff interviews with Richard Garriott were fascinating to watch.
Thanks!