The whole killing Lord British by dropping something on his head references an IRL event.

Spoooony! I did not only loved your video, but I also were amazed by your word dexterity in that really long description of the quest. Excellent!!

I almost feel compelled to play this game just from your review. I say “almost” because I’m lazy and only have a laptop that has no space for anything like games. I like the inclusion of the Warrior and the red lantern ring. Is the “face paint” magic marker or something of that sort? Can’t wait to see the next update, or rather I don’t want to wait for the next update. It’s not like I have the means to avoid waiting for things, otherwise I’d be traveling to every Wednesday the latest releases of comic books.

Does the Guardian and The Ultimate Spoony have anything to do with the Linkara saga going on right now?

Awesome review for an awesome game, Spoony.

how did spoony get back from the teleporter incident?

Although it’s been years since I last played Ultima 8 (the first Ultima I ever played), it’s theme music still makes me go all a-quiver.

Can I assume you’ll also be covering Ultima 7: Serpent Isle?

Am I the only one to realize how perverted “A Whole New World” sounds?
“I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over, sideways and under.”

Awesome once again, Spoony One!

And so the Harpy Immune to Magic Weapons goes ignored. It’s really only a bitch because the player likely drops normal weapons in favor of magic.

By the way, you should add an Magic Weapon Immune monster to the D&D campaign. I’m sure the others will love it.

Oh, man, I loved this game when I was a kid. I got it in a special edition that included Serpent Isle and the add-ons and played the hell out of them. I loved the way this game had so much you could do and was nothing like the NES RPGs I’d been playing up until that point. I guess these days this would be considered “open world.” No RPG I’ve played since has ever really lived up to Ultima VII. Oddly, I never played any other Ultima games.

I’ve really been loving the Ultima videos and this one remedies the only real complaint I had with the previous ones, and that was them being too short. Since I know so little of Ultima, I enjoy how informative they are and for nearly every video, I always wished it went on a bit longer so I could see more of each game, so when I saw this one was 20+ minutes long, I was happier than normal to see an Ultima video!

And I love Spoony’s admiration of the box. He really looks like he’s found a spiritual completion as he gazes into it. I don’t know what it is, but there is something just so beautifully simplistic and almost mystical with that box, like it’s this powerful idol of pure Darkness! That’s something I’d have on open display as decor around the house.

And how odd is that, when not only the game stands out so much (and this was years before Diablo, and one year before Doom, so that kind of blood & nudity was out of the ordinary!), but even the box gets your attention and draws you in. In fact, it almost calls to me…

…GIVE ME THE BOX!

just gotta say I am loving the “Blackest Night” story arc.

Haok Hogan vs evil red Lantern Ultimate Spoony?

THE best game in the Ultima series and one of the 5 greatest games of all time!

dude, I recognize the music that starts at 8:15, it’s from the old SNES game Actraiser, which was a totally boss game

It’s not a big deal or anything but a drawing of you by me was used in the video. Though I wasn’t credited. I am still happy.

It’s not a big deal or anything but a drawing of you by me was used in the video. Though I wasn’t credited. I am still happy.

Spoony is the man!

It was because of him that I brought the entire Ultima series, including Underworld 1 and 2.

These games are brilliant. Even with the ‘outdated’ graphics, they are tremendous fun!

totally playing this game…love abandonia

I would’ve expected the guardian to have a golden couch in his throne room.

That was enjoyable. thank you spoony.

I don’t really want to think of Spoony Warrior vomiting up his own spoiled blood.

penny arcade tee!

penny arcade tee!

This is the first Ultima I played.

And sadly, the only thing I remember about it nowadays is braking it. I played hours and hours and than somehow halfway through the game managed to access some part that shouldn’t be accessed at that particular time but only much later. I didn’t realize it and continued to play, merrily overwriting all my saved games, and only later realized that this has somehow broke the game and made it unfinishable.

I never got to replaying it. Perhaps now, 20-something years later, is the right time.. :)

Awesome review for an awesome game. I just think you should have mentioned the interactivity with NPCs and objects in this game, which no other RPG released in 1992/1993 – 2011 have. I was expecting some bread baking joke, since you can get a job at Britannia’s Bakery. It blew my mind away back then.

For people interested on this game, I recommend playing with Exult, an engine remake made by fans. It adds support for high resolutions, sprite filters, smooth scrolling, better interface, etc. http://exult.sourceforge.net/download.php

Actraiser music ! YESSSSSSS

Well done Spoony.

Good review, but like others, I expected you to work in the full on interactivity of Ultima VII. Not to mention how every character has something to say, and is actually going to bed, going to work, etc.; being actual people as opposed to quest dispensers.

Also: Ultima Underworld 1/2? I believe the first came out after VII but before Part 2, but plays between VI and VII. Ultima Underworld 2, I believe, came out after Part 2, but plays in between VII and VII part 2. And part two is part of the Age of Armageddon, including the Guardian and another one of his schemes. It would work really well to put them in chronological order of game time.

Once again the Genius storytelling of the Spoontastic one comes out and we now have a Red lantern. Which makes the Gatekeeper, Chuckles the wonderrape clown, Black Lantern spoony possibly and now Da Ultimate Warrior, I wonder if we will see the villian from Battlefield earth take up the Orange lantern ring. I look forward to everything else Spoony.

Damn that was cool that you will get the sword of DEATH.

BIOFORGE!

You should do a video about that little forgotten gem of a game. Frustrating, but wonderful, and one of few games in which reading logbooks was actually engrossing (they were really well written, at least I thought so at the time).

BIOFORGE! Did I say that?

Too bad you can’t really play these old computer games anymore, because they only work on OBSOLETE OPERATING SYSTEMS. :(

I can’t play Myst on Vista. :(

reminds me of the quest ‘one small favor’ on runescape when i played it =p long as hell and so twisted that it confused the heck out of me! :P

BEST REVIEW so far.
I need to get the ultima collection so I can have all these games.

Another fun little tidbit: the two bad guys you spend most of the time chasing are named Eve and Abraham… E and A… EA.

I realized something when the game showed the face of the time lord, it was actually the 2nd doctor. check out this image for proof: http://politics.nashvillepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/second_doctor.jpg

This means that Spoony’s not that timelord comment somewhat false.

I hear Scientologists are going after Dead Space 2 claiming it attacks them. Why didn’t they complain about this?

I hear Scientologists are going after Dead Space 2 claiming it attacks them. Why didn’t they complain about this?

I never beat this game as a child, but this and Ultima Underworld 2: The Stygian Abyss are my earliest memories of playing RPGs. They were too complex for me when I discovered them. I love this game. It was the first time I played a game with…you know….a story. That and the speech blew my mind in the 90′s.

I love the Warrior bit at the end.

And with this, I have noe seen every video review on your site. Awesome.

I love where the “story” is going! This was an entertaining review and I look forward to the upcomings as well! Keep it up Noah! You have my support.

What’s up with the music from actraiser at 10:10?

Ahh, man. Is Warrior trying to take over the world AGAIN?

I thought he would have brought up that you can actually choose not to destroy the black gate but walk through it to return to Earth.

WHICH EPISODE IS THE ONE WHERE THE WORRIOR TURNS INTO A RED LANTERN???????

“THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE YOU IMMORTAL FUCK”
BEST LINE EVER

orbital wobble haha! loved the non-pause rant and the cpr-picture of you biting your lower lip

I’d pay to hear Spoony tell us all the quests in one go and all the side-quests within the main quests as well in the same manner as which he detailed to us the quest for the time lord.

Seriously, it was awesome just listening to this walkthrough-like moment.

The story is that Diablo and his brothers came to the earth to unleash evil across the land. Many people tend to cut the cinamatics and many other scenes that gives you the part of the main story and just do quest. If you play it while listening to all the quest and watching cinamatics you will be surprised to find a pretty decent story. mario is just princess is captured and you have to rescue her.. but Diablo (well first one) is that he was originally locked in a tomb but found a way to take over another person’s body. and that was a king’s son, since he was binded by the horadric(kinda like seven mages in Zelda) he couldn’t possess strong person but weak like a teen or woman.
as you do quest and finding books in dungeons you will find back story of how the diablo and his brothers came to be and many other information that goes well with the story. YES it is about killing Satan and is done but you don’t kill him… because in the first one they didn’t know HOW to kill him(diablo 2 explains that soul stone must be destroyed). In the end hero sticks diablo’s soul stone on his head to bind diablo onto his body and you see the trailer for the next game(diablo inside hero is getting stronger)

Sooo… the Ultimate Warrior (HOAKOGAN!) is from Pagan?… explains a lot, I suppose.

Great review! But I don’t remember it being so obvious at the beginning of Ultima 7 that the Guardian and The Fellowship are connected. Your first hint is the “passion play” that those Fellowship actors are putting on outside of Trinsic where they use the words “companion,” “provider,” and “master,” which are the words the Guardian says at the end of his speech in the intro. But the connection is readily apparent until later in the game, from what I remember. I could be wrong though.

Hey, I can’t seem to see the whole episode. It gets to the middle point where I get some adverts. Then it just goes to the finished video screen. I have tried skipping straight to the second half but I get the same problem. Ad’s then finished screen.
I have tried on safari and firefox.

The Ultima games, ever Since U4, have ALWAYS been about ethics. Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you should. But the game designers give you the option anyway because they want you to make that choice for yourself. That is why you can rob every house, defraud every merchant and ruthlessly kill (nearly) every NPC, either manually or with the Armageddon spell, thereby wrecking the game. But: You can also bake bread with the baker, turn wheat into flour, pick pumpkins, settle civil disputes and relationship issues, and generally be a good samaritan around Britannia. None of these things are integral to the plot but they all define what kind of character you choose to be, which is the essence of role-playing.

Instead of having your behavior defined by your alignment like in D&D, instead your character is defined by his actions — how he treats others, how he interacts with the game world, and how he solves quests (there is more than one way to solve many of them, not all of which are ethical). You can be an asshole or a thief, a murderous psychopath or a saint. The game world will respond positively or negatively to your actions (there are consequences to nearly everything you do), and this is the point the Ultima games are making in the first place.

I’m surprised you haven’t figured this out yet, Spoony.

At the end of that game it makes me think of the Zelda: Faces of Evil dialogue, “Not into the pit! IT BURNS!!!”
xD

Avatar! The world is in peril! The severed dick of Exodus is punching dimensional holes in Britannia. You must GO FORTH, and find the magical ether stone needed to tame this world destroying boner.

The best part about Ultima 7 was that your guys were always hungry. There’s nothing like spoon-feeding your companions to make you feel like a hero.

nice spinal tap reference there at the start.

nice spinal tap reference there at the start.

It’s wierd that the Super NES version that I have doesn’t have the intro that the PC version has

I dunno.  I think the Time Lord is probably a reference to the Doctor, since I always thought he looked kinda Tom Baker-esque.

After watching this i went back to play ultima 7.Iin the first town, i robed it blind then left. As soon as i
walked out a wolf came and killed spark instantly. i went after the wolf
for revenge but it knocked me out and iolo fled. i then got knocked out
again by another wolf so i ran back to town and opened my backpack to
heal… in a guards way who then killed me. so in total everyone died…
i turn off my pc.

This game is the reason I switched from Commodore 64 to PC. I didn’t have to upgrade until Wing Commander III came out, forcing me to buy 4 more megs of RAM, for $200, from a guy in a mall parking lot. No kidding.

Hey Spoony, isn’t Lord British having an affair with his chambermaid? Where’s that for showcasing his douchiness?

I dont know why but I had to watch this review twice. I think I need to watch it again… I feel like im missing something here… I might end up watching this review over 4 times..

If you thought Chuckle’s game was bad, it got worse in the German translation. It was completely impossible to understand the rules of the game. Any rule and systematic was completely lost in translation. It was only years later when I played the original English version which came with the U7+U7-2 collector’s edition, that I understood that it was non-random.

Up to that point I thought Chuckle’s “game” was just him being an ass, and thought it was supposed to be completely random.

anyone think it would have been better if the fellowship were the ones who are meant to kill the guardian but he tricks the avatar that they are the bad guys wink wink

While I am watching this, I see a gog.com advertisment for Phantasmagoria.

Just wanted to say that. Thought it was a cool coincidence.

I love the extra emphasis on the line about confronting Batlin with his lies. Bad enough we already know he’s a villain, the guy lied right to our faces!

I just realised how much the Guardian looks like Red from the NES Godzilla Creepypasta…

Savage Empire is now avalible for free on GoG so you can do your review on it:)

I still think this is the BEST RPG EVAR.