Ultima Underworld

[Xeogred]

Searched around but didn't find any exclusive threads about these games.

I have to say this is one of the coolest games I've played in a long time. I was never much of a PC gamer growing up, but I'm always up to check out some of the classics and fan favorites. As a huge fan of Deus Ex and System Shock 2, I guess it was inevitable that I'd hit up Ultima Underworld someday, and I can completely see how it influenced such games.

Technically I can't believe how amazing this game is for 1992. I'm a Doom fanatic all the way, but UU1 here went out against Wolftenstein 3D and I'd say it completely blows it out of the water. Being able to look up and down, multiple dialogue options and RPG elements, semi-physics, dynamic music, a dynamic auto updating map that you can put notes on, inventory management... haha, just wow.

But yeah, this game is just insanely fun. I might hit up UU2 right after I finish it, I'm on floors 5-6 right now so I think I'm pretty far.

I also recently saw that Arx Fatalis is somewhat of a spiritual sequel to these games, any thoughts on it? I watched some videos and have to say it looks awesome to me. Seems real cheap on GoG too.

[MrPopo]

Technically I can't believe how amazing this game is for 1992. I'm a Doom fanatic all the way, but UU1 here went out against Wolftenstein 3D and I'd say it completely blows it out of the water. Being able to look up and down, multiple dialogue options and RPG elements, semi-physics, dynamic music, a dynamic auto updating map that you can put notes on, inventory management... haha, just wow.

It was the Crysis of it's day, both in terms of how amazing it was from a technical perspective but also how much it mistreated people's computers.

[Xeogred]

I guess that's what Carmack set out to do, supposedly said something along the lines of "I'll make a faster renderer" and he did with Wolftenstein.

But no excuses anymore now that we have dosbox!

[Ivo]

These games are amazing. There is so much innovation. The magic system is cool, the level up system is cool, the combat system is cool...

Ultima Underworld 2 is sort of like an expansion pack in that the graphics and engine are about the same, but it is very much worth playing if you liked the first one. The ambience changes a bit, I'm not sure which of the two is better but they are both excellent.

You should also play Arx. I would say it is not as good as the Underworlds, but it is a very nice game as well and it is a spiritual sequel in several ways.

Ivo.

[ThatBookNerd]

I've only played the demo version (it only consists of the first floor) of the original, and that was quite a few years ago. I was pretty impressed by it... seeing this thread, maybe I should go out and try to track down complete versions of this game and its sequel. I'm a fan of the main Ultima series, anyway.