Ultima™ 7 The Complete Edition

I didn't have the chance to play Ultima 7 when it was originally released. I first played it about 5 years ago and while it took me some time to get into it I then spent countless hours with it. Replaying the game now on my cell phone (thank you Exult!) I can only scratch my head in awe thinking about how much ahead of its time the game was. First of all the game is immense, but that's not so rare nowadays with all the Elder Scrolls games etc. The feeling of the game is very different from those mentioned above and basically from most RPGs today, because developing your in game character is just not that important it's more about how you, the player, interact with the game and develop as it continues. For example when completing quests it's not so much about getting reward through XP and loot, but rather about actually caring about the NPCs and wanting to help them. There is a living breathing world in Britania and the characters have so much depth and you can lose yourself in the game for hours and just chat with the NPCs while still feeling rewarded for the time invested. At least that's how I feel when playing the game. The writing is top notch with the old English and everything which is part of why the dialogues are so engaging. The game is so complex - each character has their daily routine, you can bake bread in the game, steal, spy on people, kill Lord British! etc. How many games allow you to do all that even today? The graphics is still a joy to look at especially on a smaller screen or in higher resolution that Exult makes possible. The music likewise is very pleasant and adds to the mood of the game greatly. If there's something that could be improved it's the interface - especially item management is very cumbersome but that's to be expected from a 1992 game I guess. If you can get over the single con there is no real reason not to play one of the truly best games ever. Not just great for its age, simply one of the best ever. Period.

While certain aspects of Ultima VII have not aged well (the animation on the NPC's comes to mind), this game was a monumental achievement of its time and overall is still a masterpiece. You will never find a more thought out, full world than the world of Britannia in The Black Gate. I still marvel every time I enter Britain!

Note that I haven't bought this off GOG, because I still own the original. So if there are any compatibility issues with GOG's version, I'm not aware of them. It's almost impossible to overstate how jaw-droppingly amazing this game was when it came out. The sheer depth of the simplest things - dialog, the paperdoll, crafting - defies description for a game from 1992. But at the same time the world is small and detailed enough that all of the characters matter. Combat is a weak point but frankly it hardly matters. Eventually you'll just treat combat as a little chore to continue exploration.

It feels like a living, breathing world. You can interact with almost anything in the game. You can bake bread, you can pick up arrows after you've shot them. The npcs have their own lives and daily routines. Incredible. The music (the song 'stones') gives me such nostalgia when i hear it. Its really an amazing feeling playing this game and having that feeling that you really can go wherever you want and do whatever you like almost.

I know the game is old, but holy donkeys that font is atrocious. It's insanely hard to read the in-game text. I've played plenty of games from the VGA era and all had legible text. Maybe it gets better, but I can't take the eye strain.