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A Diary of Videogames - Ultima VII: Black Gate

Blogs > DRTnOOber
Post a Reply
DRTnOOber
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
New Zealand476 Posts
May 29 2012 23:14 GMT
#1
Hello, it's DRTnOOber here from the Starcraft 2 parody band "Viva la Dirt League". This is a blog series in which I take a look back at the video games which have shaped me as a person.

Ultima VII: The Black Gate
Game: Ultima VII: Black Gate
Platform: PC (MS-DOS)
Release Year: 1991
Stephen's Rank: 10/10


Ultima VII: The Black Gate has been the most influential single player game from my childhood, if not my entire life to date.

[image loading]
Title Screen

I was around 9 years of age when I first played the game. It took me almost a year after I got it (it came included on a CD called "The EA Collection" which came free with our second home computer) because of how difficult it was to run on the machines of the time.

I was playing it on a 486 running Windows 3.11. Ultima VII runs the Voodoo memory manager which conflicted with the traditional EMS (expanded memory) used by my computer. So in order to play the game I had to create a boot disk which would start my computer in MS-DOS with EMS turned off. On top of that, it required a huge amount of "convential memory". I had to tweak my memory settings for hours until I found the correct settings which would finally allow me the sweet satisfaction of booting up the game...

The Black Gate is a single player RPG based in the world of Britannia. As the name suggests it is an installment in a vast history of Ultima universe games dating back to Akalabeth in 1979. I never played any of the earlier releases - Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima VII: The Black Gate were my first points of contact with the series.

The first part of the game involves investigating a murder in the city of Trinsic. You can't leave the town until you've discovered three clues about who might have done it. It took me a long time and some searching on the internet to figure out how to get that far, but it was all worth it.

[image loading]
The murder scene in Trinsic, right at the beginning of the game.

I cannot describe how incredible it was when I first stepped out of Trinsic into the wider world of Britannia. Suddenly I had free will in a video game for the first time. I had some vague objectives and directions which I could follow, and there were roads leading in different directions - but ultimately from this point on you have complete freedom to explore the world of Britannia without any restrictions.

The world is enormous. Especially considering the detail placed into every nook and cranny. There are dozens, hundreds of little secret caches and scenes just waiting to be found. Keep in mind this game was released in 1991 - and was breaking new ground in terms of what technology was capable of doing. The detail went so far as to have individual objects for knives, spoons, forks and plates. There are entire cave systems with unique monsters and loot with no other purpose than to be available for you to explore.

For the first time in my life I started to remember and associated the geography of a digital world as if it was a physical one. My brother and I would refer to various landmarks which had no name other than what we made up. "Lightning Whip Cave" was one of the most memorable - a cave southwest of Trinsic which contained the fabled lightning whip (a powerful weapon).

[image loading]
The world of Britannia

A world to explore is amazing, but what about a purpose? Black Gate had one of the most intricate but open ended storylines I've ever come across. It broke down the linear narrative so common in video game plots. It had a balance of philosophical principles, a main story arc (which was sometimes mysterious and could be approached from different angles / paths). Additionally there were dozens of side quests in each town or city which sometimes were touched in by the main story, sometimes not - but they all gave you an incredible and memorable sense of what the people of Britannia were all about. Britannia (as it was portrayed in this game) is still sitting as vividly in my mind almost two decades after as when I first played the game.

Coming fresh into the 7th instalment of the game had some advantages. The greatest benefit from coming off the back of a long line of previous games was the immense sense of history and depth behind everything in the game. The very landscape, the people, the politics, even the items in the game were all influenced by the historical events that occurred in the previous games. In my opinion even then the previous games were too technologically behind to be playable - but their contribution was to deepen the weight of this game.

Other Positives

I can't post this without mentioning the music. Black Gate had some of the most memorable and enjoyable music out of any game I've ever played. Whether it be the mysterious and sad Stones playing as you walk past a Moongate, the fanfare as you approach Lord British's castle, or the jolly melody blasting out of the local inn - it was magical. Hearing the music again in my adult life instantly transports me back to Britannia, and all the feelings of excitement I had when I first stepped foot outside of Trinsic.

I've played through the game 2-3 times in its entirety. The last time was in 2010 (using the fantastic tool Exult to play it on a modern OS). Without a doubt I consider this game one of the most influential forms of art that I've been fortunate enough to experience in my life

Memorable Moments

When I played I would always clean up Loch Lake. That's right, I would collect every piece of rubbish up and place it tidily inside a barrel or a crate. There were still stains on the lakeside but it was still greatly satisfying.

...

I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. If you'd like to be kept up to date with future blog posts follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DRTnOOber

****
But I'm off creep... and so I slow down, what are hellions doing here? I don't belong here...
Masq
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Canada1792 Posts
May 30 2012 00:52 GMT
#2
ultima best series ever
DRTnOOber
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
New Zealand476 Posts
May 30 2012 01:28 GMT
#3
On May 30 2012 09:52 Masq wrote:
ultima best series ever


Absolutely. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, Ultima VII: The Serpent Isle and Ultima VIII: Pagan were monumental. I couldn't get into the older games, before my time.
But I'm off creep... and so I slow down, what are hellions doing here? I don't belong here...
Deleted User 135096
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
3624 Posts
May 30 2012 01:47 GMT
#4
On May 30 2012 10:28 DRTnOOber wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 30 2012 09:52 Masq wrote:
ultima best series ever


Absolutely. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, Ultima VII: The Serpent Isle and Ultima VIII: Pagan were monumental. I couldn't get into the older games, before my time.

Ultima 1 + 3 have a special place in my heart as they were the first serious video games that I think I ever played (fuck yea Commodore 64).
Administrator
DRTnOOber
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
New Zealand476 Posts
May 30 2012 02:46 GMT
#5
On May 30 2012 10:47 wo1fwood wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 30 2012 10:28 DRTnOOber wrote:
On May 30 2012 09:52 Masq wrote:
ultima best series ever


Absolutely. Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, Ultima VII: The Serpent Isle and Ultima VIII: Pagan were monumental. I couldn't get into the older games, before my time.

Ultima 1 + 3 have a special place in my heart as they were the first serious video games that I think I ever played (fuck yea Commodore 64).


Did you complete Ultima 1-3? I could imagine that would be a fairly difficult task!
But I'm off creep... and so I slow down, what are hellions doing here? I don't belong here...
Deleted User 135096
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
3624 Posts
May 30 2012 12:08 GMT
#6
Only completed 3, got pretty far in 1 though. I do remember having to draw my own maps for dungeons though, and manually typing questions to the npc's . Games did not hand hold in the slightest back then, especially the Ultima series.
Administrator
arioch
Profile Joined May 2010
England403 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-30 12:48:43
May 30 2012 12:48 GMT
#7
Ultima 7 is my favorite RPG still.. Nothing has ever really come close.

I came late to them as I am only in my 30's... (lol). Ultima 6 was the first of the series I played, and U6 and U7 truly shaped me as a gamer - amazing games.

I recommend fans go read the Lets Play article for Ultima 7 as it is funny and brings back a lot of memories! It is basically a complete walk-through though so do not read it if you didn't finish the game and intend to in the future at some point!

http://lparchive.org/Ultima-VII-The-Black-Gate/

kainzero
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States5211 Posts
May 30 2012 13:35 GMT
#8
this was my GTA before GTA.

my memorable moments?
my brother killed everyone in paws and in britain (starting with a well timed powder keg at happy hour in the blue boar) and formed a line of corpses from the entrance of britain all the way to the king.
he also kept trying to bake bread for the baker but the baker kept stealing his bag of flour. so he killed the baker, then covered the floor in bread.

(i also got the hint book because i couldn't read the map to get out of trinsic but obviously it didn't help. i think it took me two more years to finally read the text on the map and understand what longitude and latitude were.)
DRTnOOber
Profile Blog Joined February 2012
New Zealand476 Posts
May 30 2012 20:18 GMT
#9
My brother and I would do this thing where we'd kill Cynthia, the owner of the mint, take all her keys, and then drag her body back to Lord British to get resurrected. Worked every time, and then you had access to all the gold bars, gold nuggets, gems, and gold in the mint - which you could then sell back to Cynthia for more gold. Brilliant.

Also did anyone ever cast the Armageddon spell? Funny.

One time I also killed everyone in Britannia. I'm not sure if I managed to get every last person but I cleaned out the main cities.
But I'm off creep... and so I slow down, what are hellions doing here? I don't belong here...
quickreactor
Profile Joined February 2012
5 Posts
May 31 2012 00:10 GMT
#10
Oh man, they should get Rockstar to collab with the original devs and make a new sandbox ultima!
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