Arighty, I'm doing a new review for this! I can't believe how blinded I was by bad graphics... This game is now one of my favorite computer RPGs from before 1995! This game is great!
Control - I gave this an 8 because it isn't hard... But then again, it isn't too easy. It is easily mastered, and with unique commands, it ranks well. It isn't very often in RPG's that you can steal from ANY store, plus it is common to get caught by guards! The guards can destroy you in one blow.
Gameplay - This really ties into control pretty heavily. The gameplay is kewl. You can steal, you can buy horses, planes, ships, and more! Ultima I feature many different towns you can visit. Each offers something another can't offer, or has better prices, or something like that. The attack mode is, needless to say, pretty simplistic. All you do is press the letter "A" on your keyboard and the direction you want to attack, and poof! you have attacked. Oh well.
Challenge - Wow. This is pretty hard. I did find it kind of weird that there is nothing in the dungeons besides monsters though. In this game you go to the king of each castle/town and he will give you a quest. Your goal is to complete this quest. For each quest completed, you get a different item vital to your main quest. You can get more than one of the same item too, if you talk to the King and get another quest. This quest is the same as the previous in that castle, but it still is pretty kewl. There is only one way to get 99 intelligence too, and that takes a lot of work. Getting to Level 9 (the max. level): isn't too hard, but it is still challenging. To max all of my stats and level, I went to the dungeons. These dungeons are full of difficult monsters when you get down deep. When you exit a dungeon, you get more hit points. So if you kill one easy monster, then leave, you only get a few hit points, whereas traveling down to the depths of the dungeon and coming back up means lots of hit points - usually around 600. The HP working in this is a little different than most RPG's too. There is no set HP as you level up, just what you get. You may also pay the king and he will give you hit points. It isn't a flat rate either, it goes in your favor. If you give him one gold, he gives you 2 HP. If you give him two gold, he gives you 5. It climbs up. The most I got was around 1000 hp. The end baddie, Mondain, is really difficult. It took me two hours of constant attack to beat him! He turns into a bird, and you cannot hurt this bird, so you have to wait for him to return to his normal wizard form. I nearly died against him too, but I barely held out. His strong magic attacks as a wizard are hard to beat. Plus, there is fire around so it is really hard. Overall, this game is really hard.
Fun - Really fun, as you may have guessed! :)
Graphics - Ummmm.... the downfall of the game. :)
Overall: 8.7
If you want this game, Origin offers it in the Ultima Collection - Ultima I through VIII and a preview of Ascension. It is kewl. Get it, I got it for around $10.
GREAT GAME!
