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Max_R: It's good to see how much oldschool rpg fans are there!
I hope to see the gold box soon on gog...
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gammaleak: Amen! Gold box games on GOG would be sublime... I own all of the Forgotten Realms ones on some CD-ROM compilations, but my Dragonlance games were sadly lost long ago. And they were on 3.5" floppies, so I wouldn't be able to install them on anything anyway. ;^)

A big shout out to all my old-school RPG brothers!
Me too! But it's a pain to try to make them playable, even with freedos and dosbox. GOG is our last hope :-)
I didn't actually read all the replies yet, but the question seems easy to answer, I mean to me it seems easy. Start with the first.

I've already played the C64 vers. of the first three and I enjoyed them. I think I enjoyed Exodus: Ultima III the most of those, though. So now I CAN play Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, which I'm doing (also the C64 ver., a newer re-packed version called Ultima IV Gold).

But WHOOPS! I've only recently discovered the existance of "Ultima Zero", that being Akalabeth: World of Doom, so now I'm playing that too (Apple II ver.), to "catch up" and "fill in the blank" hehehehe

But that's just me. I can't play any sequel or sucessor unless I play any and all predessors first. It's, like, against my gaming religion or somethin', see LOL hehehe

So yeah, Ultima IV, V, and VI may be more advanced, and may be better games (depending on your opinion and standard of judging), but that's not to say that the first three Ultimas (and "Zero") aren't also fun to play as well hehehehe At the very least, they ARE worth playing. Well I think so hehehe
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TheKid965: Ah, the Gold Box games... I never did get a chance to get into those back in my C64 days. Would love the chance to try them out, though I understand they're almost unplayable without all the supplemental material.
You can do that right now, no problemo.

I don't know about all the docs of all the SSI Gold Box games, but I know that you can play Pool of Radiance (which could be the best of them anyway [and I think is about the CRPG EVER, even to this day]) AND with all the docs!

If you're really interested, I'll take the time to help you get set up to play, and it's not hard. I can give you the docs too---all of them hehehe
Post edited September 23, 2011 by WinstonSmith6079
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gammaleak: I've started up Ultima IV and like it, but I think one of the things that frustrates me a little is that I need a sheet with all the commands on it. As far as I can tell, the game manual is just background info and doesn't tell you how to actually use the user interface.
Well here's the original Player Reference Card for the IBM/(MS-)DOS version of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, which is the same version that's offered here on GOG hehehe

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/25548/Ultima+IV+-+Quest+of+the+Avatar.html

For the original, get the Extra marked "Player Reference Card" rather than the one labeled "Quick Reference Card" hehehehe
Post edited September 23, 2011 by WinstonSmith6079
4-6 are all interconnected stories telling the master story of the Avatar's adventures in Britannia, so they are excellent to play in sequence to enjoy the story, They are also re-playable in any order just to relive the adventure with a slightly altered character each time. Once you know the stories, it is not as important to replay them in sequence. If you buy I-III, be sure to check Ultima Forever's Twitter page as they have been known to give links to an installer that puts all the patches and updaters in the first three, giving UIII a whole new look with 256 color graphics and music, bringing it visually up to the level of Ultima IV if not a little better. The original III is mostly purple and gray, including gray water. The original II is cyan and purple, which actually looks a little better than III. I is 16 color graphics, as it was a remake that came out at about the same time as UIV. It is also a very fun game with wire frame 3D dungeons, bizarre technology (you can even fight in battles with Tie fighters in space) weapons including lasers, phasors, and blasters. There is nothing more fun that going up against an orc and blasting it to nothing with a full-on laser blaster or using a lightsword to hack away at guards after stealing weapons from a dealer. (Ultima I is not for Avatars. Your character murders, steals, an acts worse than the "evil master" does just to kill him. You have to murder people to win the game. If you have a destructive streak, you need to have Ultima I.
Without the updates, though, II and III look outdated. III still has an excellent storyline, but II really hasn't aged well, and I say that even though I went through many of my middle and high school years playing and replaying it on the Apple II.