I'm either going to play this, or Ultima VI. I've never played the Ultima series and know nothing about it. What game should I invest in out of these two and what am I getting myself into. Thanks.

YES! It's an incredible game. Way ahead of its time.

It runs wonderful on modern systems if you use the http://exult.sourceforge.net/ emulator. (you still need to buy the game, but you use Exult to run it)

Ok cool. Should I skip VI and play VII first?

Yeah, you could without missing anything. Ultima VII is the first fully mouse driven Ultima game (and the best entry in the series), so the previous ones seem somewhat archaic. The series goes downhill starting with Ultima VIII though.

Ultima VII is one of my favorite games of all time, tied with Daggerfall and Morrowind. I would recommend starting on VII and going to the older ones and the Underworlds. Make sure you use a journal 'cause you will not have an in-game one telling you where to go next!

EDIT: I would recommend a playthrough on your own and a second with a walkthrough; you'll notice you missed so many things. And don't listen to anyone who tells you about a certain chimney. It... um... doesn't exist.

Ah, the UUW games are great too. Exult actually has a journal feature, you can type out entries and it automatically sorts them by (in-game) date, in a book format; it's quite useful.

What am I about to get into? I literally know nothing about the gameplay.

Should probably get that; I've been running it on DOSbox. I might eventually get a second copy from Play N Trade; they have it for ten dollars.

Let's see.... think isometric Morrowind, but with NPC schedules like Oblivion. It's a huge open world, with many side quests but one definitive ending.

You can actually skip most of the main quest without cheating, if you've played the game before. It's not really a linear path where one event triggers another. Freedom, is a good description I think.

Easily one of the greatest game series of all time, with U7 being one of the best games in it. If you're really into the lore and history of a game world, you'll want to play as many of the older titles as you can. But 7 is definitely a good start point since it kicks off the 3rd trilogy. Made even better if you can get a copy paired with the Serpent Isle.

Sounds good, thanks for the feedback. How many hours am I looking at? Is this a solo character game or party based like Final Fantasy?

Party. You can have up to I think 7 companions join you.

Up to 7 at one time in a party, or 7 to choose from to form smaller parties? Is it turn based?

Its great but its damned hard! Make sure you have a map and a pen and paper for notes. Those quests are complex.

The Black Gate is only the beginning. Ultima VII still stands as the greatest adventure I ever experienced in a game.

You plus 7 other people in the party at one time. I can't for the life of me remember how many people you can choose from as party members.

8 people at once? How big are the battles? Is it turn based and the battles take place on a separate "battle plane" like most of the Final Fantasies?

It's eight and a half. The half being an annoying orphan, who's only got his skill with a slingshot going for him. ^_^

It's real-time in the game world and you can choose AI settings for your party members.

This game intrigues me, what would be a good place to acquire it?

You'd probably have to rely on used games from eBay or Amazon. The Complete Ultima VII is what I have, purchased in 1995. ^_^
Seems to be pretty abandoned though...

I'll be getting the SNES version. I was watching a youtube clip and someone in the comments said to stay away from that version, but didn't clarify. Is this true?

"FCI / Pony Canyon published the SNES version of Ultima VII, simply titled Ultima: The Black Gate, which was created by a small team inside Origin Systems.

This version was largely different from original since the PC version of the game was a then-huge twenty megabytes, yet this translation could use only one megabyte of memory for all of the game data and program. The maps and many usable items and plotlines had to be redesigned from scratch, and the game program had to be rewritten entirely in assembly language.

The game was largely real-time action, similar to The Legend of Zelda series. The 'party' system was scrapped; instead, the Avatar journeyed alone. Also, the story was largely changed due to Nintendo of America's censorship policies at the time: instead of murders, the Avatar is asked to investigate kidnappings."
-Wikipedia

Yes, stay away. Stay far away. :nono:

Whoa, thanks for posting that! Guess I won't be getting that version.

I actually just got this a few days ago and finally got it to run. It's pretty awesome so far, although I have killed a few people by accident.

I like the interactiveness of the game and also that there's no clunky ui covering the screen. Pretty ahead of itself for its time. Now to figure out these controls.
EDIT: Do people not care that I steal their stuff?
EDIT2: Does gear equip itself automatically? And how do I access my bags?