Ultima™ 7 The Complete Edition

The game plays like the original. That said, the original had General Midi soundtrack for those lucky enough to own and Roland soundcard. It even allowed the effects of the SoundBlaster & General midi combined. The GOG version seems to support only the Adlib music, which is a shame as the General Midi soundtrack was epic.

There are only the slightest things that weaken this game. The combat was always somewhat limp, a chaos of autonomous warriors scrambling to their pixelated death. But every facet besides will ring true. The music. The story telling. The exploration. The hundreds of 'little things' like kegs that tap, sheep sex, and my favorite: Cheat mode. Where you can create, destroy, place and alter virtually all the content in the entire game through a command menu. If you're going to throw the cash at this, don't forget Ultima Underworld as well, also a DOSBOX masterpiece.

Ultima 7, and especially Serpent Isle, immerse you in a huge, amazingly detailed world of characters, monsters, cultures and stories that have the potential to engage you for years. There's so much to these games it's really amazing they were ever completed. Just as one example, the religion of the long extinct serpent worshippers that you discover as you explore Serpent Isle through ruins, scrolls, the half-baked stories of the current occupants, dreams, visions etc is remarkably well developed and though out, and that's just as a background to the people who actually inhabit it now. I spent so much time getting to know all the characters, completing quests, exploring dungeons, trying out different weapons and spells, accumulating treasure, discovering the secrets of the serpent gates, listening to the music on the jukebox... etc etc etc!! Inevitably there are flaws (such as the system used for storing your items and the fact that if you lose something vital it's probably gone forever and you better hope you have a save point you can restart from) but if you are someone who enjoys role playing games, or someone who appreciates a decent story, this is a no-brainer. Seriously the amount of value you will get for under $10 is crazy. It's just a shame that Ultima 8 and in particular 9 did not live up to the standard this game set. Someday I will get round to working my way backwards and trying out Ultima 6 though...

What followed in the wake of Ultima VII was nothing but disappointment, because this is the high point of computer RPGs for all of the 1990s. There were good RPGs made afterwards. Eventually, there were even ones on par with this. But even the great RPGs fall short in some areas that Ultima VII excels at. There simply is no other RPG, proportional to the system limitations and technical ability of the time, that has ever matched Ultima VII. Don't get me wrong: Baldur's Gate and Fallout and Dragon Age and Skyrim are all also excellent. But this is their Great Grandaddy, and Great Grandaddy did it all long before you kids came along. :)

What can i say that hasn't already been said about the greatest of all Roleplaying games.. I will say this.. Thankyou GOG for fixing the speed issue now i can play this game with out the cpu speed killing my character due to starvation. This is gaming at its best! i dare say this Ultima 7 Blackgate is one of the first true open worlds which few match today.. Better brush up on the old runic language again and dust off you'r old maps because there's so much to see and do in this old 28 MB game.,