Ultima 1 Mentioned In Spiegel
Dominus spotted an Ultima 1 mention in none other than Spiegel, the foremost German newsmagazine.
I can’t read German myself, and Google Translate seems to be broken, so here’s a bit of an excerpt:
Vor 40 Jahren erschien das einflussreichste Spiel des 20. Jahrhunderts, das Tischrollenspiel “Dungeons & Dragons”. Es hat frühe Computerspiele entscheidend geprägt, zum Beispiel den Rollenspiel-Klassiker “Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness”. Das Rollenspiel-Klassiker erschien 1981.
Wer tut was: Der Spieler steuert einen Abenteurer durch die Fantasy-Welt Sosaria. Er wurde gerufen, um diese Welt vor einem bösen Magier zu retten – so weit, so üblich. Der Magier Mondain hat allerdings schon gewonnen, der Kristall der Unsterblichkeit macht ihn unbesiegbar. Da gibt es nur eine Lösung: Man muss in der Zeit zurückreisen und Mondain stoppen, bevor er unbesiegbar wird. Also reist man durch Sosaria und sucht die benötigten Kristalle für eine Zeitmaschine zusammen. Jeder der vier Herrscher der Spielwelt besitzt praktischerweise einen, gibt ihn aber nur nach Erfüllung eines Auftrags ab, à la “steige in Dungeon X hinab und töte Monster Y”.
If anyone can translate that, please do in the comments.
By Google Translate:
40 years ago the most influential game of the 20th century, the table role-playing game “Dungeons & Dragons” was released. It has been the early computer games decisively, for example, the role-playing classic “Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness”. The role-playing classic appeared in 1981.
Who does what: The player controls an adventurer by the fantasy world Sosaria. He was called in to save this world from an evil magician – so far, so usual. The magician Mondain, however, has already won the crystal of immortality makes him invincible. Since there is only one solution: You have to travel back in time and stop Mondain before he becomes invincible. So you travel through Sosaria and searches the needed crystals for a time machine together. Each of the four rulers of the game world has practically one, but it is only after the fulfillment of an order from, à la “go down in dungeon X and kill monsters Y
Game mechanics:
You can tell the first part of the “Ultima” series clearly that the author Richard Garriott has developed its first games under the impression long table role-playing games “Dungeons & Dragons”. The player character in “Ultima 1” is described with very similar attributes as in “D & D”. In “Ultima” is distributed at the beginning of the game 90 points to the six attributes, a slightly different system than the model. As in “D & D”, you collect experience points with each victory over a monster. And the more experience points a game character, the more he rises, and the more hit points he wins.
Outstanding:
“Ultima” was one of the first games with an open world game. One can travel by Sosaria and descend in each dungeon, we’re seeing that, even if the quest mechanics in the ground is very rigid yet. The game world is seen from a top view, the dungeons from the first-person view.
Influential:
The character creation by point distribution have taken many later computer role-playing games. (Save the world!) The connection of Dungeon Crawl and epic background story inspired many later games.
Strange: effects of the weather, the weight of the equipment and other subtleties are not simulated , but the hunger , with relentless precision. Outside the city every move consumed foods. If one has no choice but to starve. Hunting ? Acting with travelers ? Farms raided ? Do not go. Beautifully strange: In the course of the game you fly a spaceship through space and exchanged his sword against a laser blaster . All this is available to buy with their village forging sometime in the medieval-looking villages.
D & D: ” Ultima ” creator Richard Garriott has D & D always referred to as his great inspiration, he played it for the first time in 1977 on a school trip . The concept of classes , attributes, and experience comes directly from D & D. But what Garriott has influenced you the most , he describes in retrospect : “I wanted so much feel like my computer games for a truly interactive stories as I have experienced in my early table role playing games. “
40 years ago, the most influent game of the 20th century got released, the Tabletop/Pen&Paper-RPG “Dungeons & Dragons”. It shaped early computergames essential, like the RPG-Classic “Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness.” The RPG-Classic got released 1981.
Who does what: The player controls an adventurer through a the fantasy world Sosaria. He got summoned to save this world from an evil magician – so far so common.But the magician Mondain has already won, the Crystal of Immortality makes him invincible. So there’s only one solution: One has to travel back in time and stop Mondain befor ehe get’s invincible. Thus you travel through Sosaria and search the necessary crystals for a time machine. Conveniently each of the four rulers in the gameworld owns one of them, but hands them out only after finishing a quest like “go down in dungeon X and kill monster Y”
[Quick & dirty. Greetings Versakhan.]
My english isn’t that good, but I’ll give it a try:
40 years ago the most influential game of the 20th century emerged, the pen and paper rpg “Dungeons & Dragons”. It had a major influence on early computer games, for example the rpg classic “Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness”. The rpg classic was released in 1981.
Who does what: The player controls an adventurer in the fantasy world “Sosaria”. He was called to save this world from an evil sorcerer – so far, so usual. However, the sorcerer Mondain has already won, the crystal of immortality makes him invincible. There is only one solution: You have to travel back in time and stop Mondain, before he gains immortality. Therefore you travel through Sosaria in search of the crystals needed for a time machine. Each of the four rulers of the gameworld(?) conveniently owns one, but hands it over only after you complete a quest “descent in dungeon X and kill monster Y” style.
The above post is only an excerpt. The article itself is two to three times longer 🙂 Here goes:
RPG classic “Ultima 1”: space ships available at a town’s siege nearby
from Tom Hillebrand and Konrad Lischka
Richard Garriott got acquainted to the pen&paper RPG “Dungeons & Dragons” in 1977. For his first ever home PC he wanted to create an adventure almost as free, interactive and epic as that archetype – and developed the first “Ultima”-role playing game.
Introduction: (excerpt above starts here)
40 years ago, the most influential game of the 20th Century hit the market: the (offline) RPG “Dungeons & Dragons”. It has significantly shaped early computer games, such as the classic RPG Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness. This all time classic was published in 1981.
What you do:
The player moves and manoeuvres an adventurer through the fantasy world of Sosaria. He had been summoned to save that world from an evil Mage – not too original up to this point. But the evil Mage Mondain has already won and the crystal of immortality makes him invincible. Hence, there is but one solution: One has to travel back in time and stop Mondain before he becomes unconquerable. Accordingly, you travel throughout Sosaria to collect the crystals necessary to build a time machine. Luckily every single one of the four Lords of the game world has one, but will only agree to leave it to the player after he in return has fulfilled a quest along the lines of “go into Dungeon X and kill monster Y”.
(excerpt above ends here)
Game play:
You clearly notice that Richard Garriott created the first part of the Ultima series after long nights and endless games of Dungeon & Dragons have left a mark. The character in “Ultima 1 ” is described using attributes very similar to those of “D&D”. In Ultima you allocate 90 points to six attributes at the start of the game – a system only slightly different compared to the original. As in “D&” the player gains Experience Points with each defeat of a monster. And the more XP the character collects the higher his level gets and along with that, the more hit points he gets.
Outstanding:
“Ultima” was one of the first games with an open game world. You can travel throughout Sosaria, descend to every Dungeon you find, even though the quest mechanics is somewhat very rigid. The game world you see from a top-down perspective, the dungeons are played in first-person view.
Influential:
Generating characters using points has been adapted by many later computer games. The combination of Dungeon Crawls and an epic background storyline (Save the world!) proofed inspiring for tons of later games as well.
Strange:
Weather changes, encumbrance by weight and other intricacies, none of them are taken into account or have an impact on the game play. ‘Hunger’ on the other hand does, and it is tracked meticulously. Each and every move costs food. And as soon as you have no food left you’ll starve to death. Hunting? Trading with locals? Raiding farms? No chance. Peculiar: during the game you will do some serious space travel and exchange your sword for a laser blaster. This and more also is made available at the nearby medieval towns and town’s siege later in the game as well.
Dungeon & Dragons
Richard Garriott, creator of “Ultima” has always referenced D&D has his great inspiration. He played it back in 1977 for the first time while being on a school excursion. The concept of classes, attributes and Experience points find their direct origins in D&D. But what has influenced him most, he today describes as follows: “I wanted computer games to be, to feel like the real interactive story I have experienced in my early pen&paper RPGs.”
Origin: This article is an excerpt from the book “Drachenväter. Die Geschichte des Rollenspiels und die Geburt der virtuellen Welt.” (Dragonfathers. The history of RPG and the birth of the virtual world.)
Wow, thanks everyone. That’s as fine a translation effort as one could ask for!