Ultima 6 VS Ultima 7: The Ultimate Battle

[Macaw]

Straight to the point:

Ultima 6:
- Bigger, more epic feeling world
- A better feeling of exploration unlike in ultima 7 where you can get anywere you want within seconds even without the carpet.
- Arguably better combat
- Better feeling of getting stronger and accessing more difficult areas, unlike in ultima 7 where you can get super powerfull equipment super fast (even without cheating) and the fact that in ultima 7 you can run past super tough enemies incredibly easy and not really have to battle at all to get the high quality stuff in the game.
- Ridiculously annoying interface.


Ultima 7:
- More realised and complete gameworld
- Despite being a massive world itself, one gets the feeling after playing it for a while that its all actualy quite small with 10 second runs between towns, but of course they couldnt have made it bigger at the time it was made considering the high end graphics, but still.
- The item manipulation, for example putting storage chests on the back of the cart, puting cannons on your ship etc, etc.
- Ingenious writing and interesting scenario.


Final Verdict: I dont know, i'm probably leaning towards ultima 7. In the end if you want a big epic adventure where you really can get lost then play ultima 6, if you want a big epic adventure without that much actual adventuring then play ultima 7. Of course ultima 7 gets extra points for its innovative interface and more accessable gameplay.


What does everyone else here think?

[Andrea .B. Previtera]

Ultima 2:
- Multiple worlds, children learn to accept other races and cultures
- B/W graphics, you can imagine your favourite colours
- No sound, so you can play it at night without using earphones
- Features Jamiroquai among the enemy icons

Super Mario:
- Many bricks to break with your head
- Mushrooms
- Exciting underground worlds
- Secret passages adding replay value

Bread:
- Comes in many qualities
- It's tasty and nourishing
- Cheap almost everywhere
- Easy to bake

[Macaw]

i see..... its all making sense now..

[MagicMop]

Strangely enough, of all the Ultimas (1-3 NOT included...), U6 is the only one I haven't completed. I think it had a lot to do with the interface. Also, the game window is so restrictively small that it felt cramped, even though the game world was so huge.

Ultima 7 addressed all of these problems quite nicely... pity about the combat, but combat is not too important to me anyway. Now with Exult, U7 is as close to perfect as a game can be!

I really want to get back into U6 again though... I know it's a great game! That's why I'm waiting for Nuvie to mature and make some improvments to the interface - they've already done so much.

So, in conclusion: U6 vs U7? I'll let you know my verdict when Nuvie is done...

MM

[Dominus]

Nuvie? http://nuvie.sf.net (if anyone still doesn't know about it)

[Natreg]

I like Ultima VI more as a game because it´s way bigger and has nearly as many options as Ultima VII. But... I hate it´s interface and I also hate it´s lack of atmosphere. Didn´t seem to be a kingdom under siege...


Try to play Savage Empire or Martian Dreams, they have a lot of improvements in the engine and are way better with the atmosphere thing

pity Arthurian legends was never released... I think it was meant to use the Ultima VII engine. with some improvements.

[WWWWolf]

First, a small note: I haven't actually played U6 much more than through the beginning. And that was ages ago.

But there was something that U6 did WAY better than U7. Namely, the intro. Great music that made me tremble. Funny but appropriate intro animations. Epic thunderstorms. Great writing. The definitive Ultima theme in the main menu screen. The best imaginable character creation.

Now, compare that to U7's intro. Silly butterflies. Outtake from The Muppet Show. Dull text. Pretty non-interesting graphical intro otherwise. Absolutely boring title screen music. Rather impersonal character creation, though I can't really complain about that, as the U4-6 system wouldn't make much sense in U7 anyway.

In short, U7 made far worse *initial impression* to me, but after I started actually playing U7, I felt it was far more enjoyable... Somehow, I liked the interface far more and the game felt better in general.

As for my verdict on U6 vs U7... just wait until xu4, nu5 and nuvie are out and I actually complete each of them. I'll do the trilogies in proper order, thank you very much =)

[Withstand the Fury Dragon]

Ultima 6 was what got me hooked on Ultima, and I make a point of passing it once per year, in as different a fashion from the previous time as is possible.

I don't find the game window size restrictive - for its day and age, it was a remarkably well-implemented game, and I rather like the interface overall.

While U7 was *probably* the better game in terms of world interactivity and plot, Ultima 6 has my vote all the same. It's my original fave.

WtFD

[Macaw]

I didnt find the gameplay window size cramped either considering its the same size as all the ultima's before it. i also find the fact that the gameplay window has a border around it and all that like ultima's 1-6 gives it extra charm that i felt was missing in u7.

[Zos/Xavius.23]

Not to nitpick, but the huge borders didn't really start until Ultima III. Ultima I and II both had a nearly full screen view of the world. I always hated the small screen. I think that is why I liked the NES version of Ultima IV so much back in the day as it had actualy floating menus versus a huge static screen that takes up 3/4 of the screen. I don't know why they made it that way. It would be just as easy to have a seperate menu screen or something. I guess they couldn't come up with a better solution for in game text either.

Consider this. Lord British was heavily involved in coding the Ultimas until IV or V, so the earlier games in the series were entirely his game design. I think it grew long teeth well before Ultima V or VI. Oh well, don't ask me why I am rambling on about this, especially at 10 in the morning.

zosX

[SB-X]

Ultima 6 VS Ultima 7: The Ultimate Battle

Most people try to keep topics from turning into this, instead of intentionally instigating it.

Andrea's post (in context) is the funniest thing I heard this week. Thanks.

I'm with WTF Dragon, U6 is my first. I'm probably biased towards it because of that. But I'm not a fan of the interface. U6 was an awkward stage between U5 and U7. They updated the graphics, and discovered all kinds of neat little icons and pictures they could add around the gameplay window. They obviously wanted to keep the classic feel of U5, while adding thematic parchment graphics. It wasn't until U7 that they got really innovative and redesigned it from the ground up. I didn't realize how consistent U7's interface was until looking at the hotkey list and noticing that all eye&hand-related functions are tied to the left mousebutton, and all foot-related functions are tied to the right mousebutton.
It would have been even better if they kept the real keyboard support of U6. Somewhere along the way game designers got the idea "Now that people have mice, nobody will ever care to use a keyboard again."

Another game where they went overkill with the interface, in trying to match some theme (1800's machine style in this case), is Arcanum. I'm playing it now.
They must not have heard the phrase "less is more." I love this game, but the interface is one of its weakest points. (besides graphics & sound effects, considering the year it was released)

[Wtcher]

Arcanum's interface doesn't bother me at all... what _does_ bother me is the battle system. It's one of the worst I've ever had to use.

- If you arm someone with a ranged weapon in addition to yourself, the two of you will camp out on the same tile and shoot at your enemies. However, your arrows will hit each _other_, and the fight will turn into a brawling match between you and your hostile NPC party members.

- The intervaled movement and attacking system isn't the most intuitive in the world. Fallout was degrees of magnitude better.

- AI consists of "run up to the enemy and hit them over and over". I think Ultima VII did it better because they'd run away and drop items after a while. I don't remember if the NPCs in Arcanum ever ran away, but if they did, they always died before they ran two steps.

A lot of people complain about the game balance between magic and technology but I don't mind it at all - it's just like a difficulty mode of some sort and gives you incentive to play the game through again from a differing perspective.

Arcanum could've been a fabulous game. Unfortunately, it had issues which kept it from fulfilling its potential. It is a fun game though.

[Herben]

I like both games for different reasons(which are already described well enough by others in this thread). In the end, I don't think either one is necessarily "better" than the other, just different. I agree that U6 did a better job at portraying the "vastness" of the world. And I'm sure low-carb-eaters think Super Mario mushrooms kick Bread's ass. That being said, Bread can be sold for a pretty good profit to bakers. Exult kicks U7's ass, the intro is way better. In closing, I like Toasted Bagels.

[Macaw]

Going back to Natreg's post about Arthurian Legends for a moment, does anyone know how much of the game was developed and if there were any screenshots for it floating around?

[Bomb Bloke]

I'd like to debate the virtues of bread. Did you know that 98% of criminals ate bread at some point in their lives?

In fact, 100% of people who ate bread in the year 1882 have died. Many drug users eat bread on a regular basis. In fact, most people who flunked high school also ate bread.

Don't mind me.

[Andrea .B. Previtera]

Seriously (hah), you can't be really discussing "Ultima 6 vs Ultima 7". I refuse to accept this pokèmon logic.

[Dominus]

he he, you made your thoughts on this quite clear in your first post. I really have to agree with you.