I can't overstate how much I loved this game, how much time I sank into it, how bloody damn good it is. Origin was firing on all cylinders at this time and Privateer was the apotheosis of everything the Wing Commander series represented. In a time before the web dumped all the answers in your lap, you had to work for every advantage in order to succeed in your quest to be Han Solo. I can remember drawing out a map with a pencil and ruler, carefully plotting out the jump routes to make the most profitable trades. When I earned enough money to buy a jump drive and first left the Troy system where you begin the game, my heart was pounding with excitement. And when I took the manual's suggestion and finally met up with Sandoval in New Detroit, the adventure really began. There was so much to see and do, so many places to go, so many ways for you to improve your chances in the universe. Combat was a blast, the music and sound FX for the time were incredible. Buy this game and lose yourself in a great adventure.
This and Myst were the games that convinced me it was time to move up to a CD drive. Man, they were expensive back then! But the game was worth it. Trilobyte took a huge chance betting that people would want to buy games that required them to invest in new hardware, but it paid off big for them and the industry as a whole. Some of my favorite gaming memories are from my tiny studio apartment, playing on my 486 late into the night, goaded by Stauf's "Feeling...lonely?" and other snarky comments. T7G really had it all back then, a fun story in a big, spooky house, fiendish puzzles, creepy sound effects and a great musical score by the Fat Man(I really miss MIDI music) and some great gallows humor. When I finally finished the game, I really felt like I'd played a great story, not just a game. Although I couldn't finish The 11th Hour because the puzzles were just too brutally hard for my feeble brain, it also was a huge step forward, and I still have fond memories of that game as well, mostly for the music and mood. The adventure game genre is probably my favorite, and The Seventh Guest and CDs were the best thing to happen to them. It's a shame that adventure games as a whole have almost disappeared from the market, and all the more reason to celebrate these classics coming back for us all to enjoy.
Oh,manhowmuchtimedidIgiveovertothesetwogames?SomeofmyfavoritegamingmemoriesarefromtheUltimaseries.TheonlythingthattoppedtheUnderworldsgameswasSystemShock.Hopefully,onedaythatgamecanbebroughtback,aswell.
