U7 and U8 - The chasm between
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2002 12:22 pm
I've never seen such a joy-kill as Serpent Isle and Ultima 8.
I mean, here we've got, happy-go-lucky Ultima 7 The Black Gate, and then, wham its like you've been transported into instant goth-land.
I wonder about the general feeling during the making Ultima 7 and Ultima 8.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Serpent Isle's morte-de-virtue type thing, but its as if Britannia is the only planet with people who are happy. Infact in Britannia it felt like everyone was on crack, looking back at the character portraits, whoever drew those were on crack themselves. I only wished that Serpent Isle and Ultima 8 were as nice to play as The Black Gate, the add-on and the next in the series should have had more interactivity, instead it seem't as if someone rushed them into producing, and hence leaving out the simple things we all love: unique items, usable items, more npc's, jobs, more mini-quests.
At the same time, it seemed as if more fuel went into the graphic side of it.
They did away with the small portraits, added digital portraits, then U8 removed that and came up with semi-accurate shaded characters.
Ultima 8 removed simple actions like, sitting...yet added new actions like jumping and climbing, but all in all theres no reason we couldn't have all three things. Having non-linearity and total involvement is part of the reality in the game, it makes the game feel more like a RPG and less like an arcade-scroller. I got lost in U7(both parts), I made it my virtual home, I played that game and wished I was really there, I still do infact. If Britannia was only bigger, I'd enjoy the hell out of living there.
I mean, here we've got, happy-go-lucky Ultima 7 The Black Gate, and then, wham its like you've been transported into instant goth-land.
I wonder about the general feeling during the making Ultima 7 and Ultima 8.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Serpent Isle's morte-de-virtue type thing, but its as if Britannia is the only planet with people who are happy. Infact in Britannia it felt like everyone was on crack, looking back at the character portraits, whoever drew those were on crack themselves. I only wished that Serpent Isle and Ultima 8 were as nice to play as The Black Gate, the add-on and the next in the series should have had more interactivity, instead it seem't as if someone rushed them into producing, and hence leaving out the simple things we all love: unique items, usable items, more npc's, jobs, more mini-quests.
At the same time, it seemed as if more fuel went into the graphic side of it.
They did away with the small portraits, added digital portraits, then U8 removed that and came up with semi-accurate shaded characters.
Ultima 8 removed simple actions like, sitting...yet added new actions like jumping and climbing, but all in all theres no reason we couldn't have all three things. Having non-linearity and total involvement is part of the reality in the game, it makes the game feel more like a RPG and less like an arcade-scroller. I got lost in U7(both parts), I made it my virtual home, I played that game and wished I was really there, I still do infact. If Britannia was only bigger, I'd enjoy the hell out of living there.
Restoring balance to the land should have done more than mass death, IMHO. I think it's time for yet another round of us asking developers like Warren Spector to release the full plot. The entire script would be best. It never hurts to ask.