Spoony reviews Ultima 7 (finally!)
And wow…it’s a long one:
[blip.tv http://blip.tv/play/hIVVgqDWVQI%2Em4v]
The answer is...none more black.
He even throws a mention in the direction of Martian Dreams and Savage Empire. Still no love for the engine, though. You’ll also appreciate the mention of Origin Systems’…er…tendency to release hardware-melting games back in the day.
Infinitron Dragon commented elsewhere that this review almost approaches the level of a summary playthrough, and that’s not a bad way to look at it. Spoony hits on most of the game’s plot points, with plenty of gameplay footage to support it.
He doesn’t seem to grok the difference between how Britannians age and how the Companions age, and what the distinction is there, but…meh, just watch it. It’s good.
Here’s something to debate: Was it really that obvious that the Fellowship were the Guardian’s minions in Ultima 7?
It’s very hard to say in retrospect.
As a pushy, Scientology-like, unfamiliar new “religion” they definately immediately seemed up to no good (plus, the branch leaders in Trinsic were particularly scummy individuals IIRC) but it was hardly evident that they were servants of an evil interdimensional being.
Possibly Origin could have tried harder to surprise us with them, though. Something like Desther and the false Helmites in the first chapter of the NWN original campaign.
That was such a laugh. Was on the floor. get review. hahahahaah
That was truly enjoyable. I also couldn’t help from laughing during the review. 😛
I especially loved the Guardian imitation dealing with the design flaws of his throne.
Infinitron: That’s a good question. My first impression of the Fellowship definitely wasn’t that they were an evil organization hell-bent on the destruction of Britannia. They mostly struck me as snobbish elitists.
And to be fair, it’s worth pointing out that the manual that shipped with the game actually presented Batlin, Elizabeth, and Abraham in a fairly positive light. I know I rather enjoyed Batlin’s life story.
I think I only realised that the Fellowship was evil (rather than just obnoxious) when I made the connection between Elizabeth and Abraham and the murders. As WTF says, you do hear a lot of positive stuff about the Fellowship from the manual and various people along the way.
I never made any scientology link at the time either, but perhaps that was due to that particular cult being poorly known in the UK. I took it more as an indictment of organised religion.
Desther (NWN) is a great example also Infinitron, and moments like that are why I still enjoy NWN more than NWN2.
Conversely, I never really connected the Fellowship with the idea of a criticism of organized religion in general, perhaps because at the time I was kind of studying the often vast differences between religions…the early exposure to that variety of ideas kept me from identifying the Fellowship as a critique thereof.
Not that I immediately connected it with Scientology either, of course…though when I finally got around to learning about Scientology, I almost immediately flashed back to thinking about the Fellowship.
Classifying the Fellowship as “organized religion” is inaccurate IMO. It seemed more like a philosophical fraternal organization, like the Freemasons.
However, the layout of the branches was very church-like, with a daily sermon, so I can see how one would make the association. Not to mention that Passion Play…
Infinitron: Very different sort of “passion” in that little skit, as I recall…
Thoroughly enjoyed that 🙂 It is possible to land the carpet on Skara Brae, though, just need to find the right spot…
Gilly: I was thinking that too! There is one spot where it’s possible, as I recall.
The spot is obviously an oversight, though. They filled Skara Brae with debris on purpose.
In general, I found the carpet to be a game breaker. It ruined the familiar Ultima experience of scrounging up money to buy your first ship, and overall made transportation way too easy.
They could have left it in the game still, but it should have been harder to find (on an island somewhere, perhaps).
Infinitron: I just missed the Orb of the Moons, personally. Not having that was a major letdown.
IIRC, you could actually use the Orb of the Moons like in U6, but it was harder due to:
1) It didn’t always work (for plot-related reasons)
2) No tiles in U7 engine, so it was hard to determine where to aim
You could, yes, but…well…point (1) was no minor problem. I mostly had the placements figured out, but man, I took a beating and a half while trying.
Wait, was I the only person who say Desther’s betrayal coming with essentially his first line of dialogue?