LogFAQs > #979376056

I was watching a video on the history of RPGs and learned a lot about the Ultima series. Previously, I didn't really know much about these game besides how Spoony from the Spoony Expirement loved these games and was severely disappointed by how the series ended.

It made me realize how foundational these games are to the RPG series (especially, 4,5,6, and 7). It seems like it should be recognized as a foundational series just as Super Mario Bros. is to platformers or Doom is to FPS games.

4 seems like one of the most unique and ambitious games I've ever heard of, especially for a game from 1985. Its an open world RPG that doesn't have some great evil to defeat. Instead the goal is to become a paragon of virtue through the actions you take in the game. Most RPGs with moral choices seem very shallow to how they work in this game.

Its kind of shocking how you rarely hear about this series in any "greatest of all time lists".

I think the biggest issue is how the series ended on a really bad note and there hasn't been a good game in the series since Ultima Online from 1997. Ultima 8 and 9 seemed to have really tainted the reputation of the series. I think if the Internet was big in 1999 Ultima 9 may have been a bigger scandal than Cyberpunk 2077's launch.

The tragic end to the series and no new games seems to have accelerated how these games have been forgotten to time.