I don’t recall if I ever mentioned Linguistic Dragon’s Ultima Journeys blog; in case I didn’t, here’s Linguistic’s statement of intent (as it were) with regard to the blog. These are his goals:

What games do I intend to play? My intent is to play the fifteen “core” Ultima games – Akalabeth, the ten main series games, the Worlds of Ultima games, and the Underworlds. I’d also like to give a few of the remakes a playthrough (specifically the two Neverwinter Nights remakes of Ultima IV, Ultima V: Lazarus, and the Ultima 6 Project) to see how they compare to the originals, but I’m not going to commit myself to those juuuust yet. We’ll see how I’m feeling once Ultima IX’s over and done with. I don’t intend to play Mt. Drash or the Runes of Virtue games (although I may give the Runes of Virtue games a runthrough eventually) as part of this Grand Adventure.

What versions will I play? Apple II version of Akalabeth, PC versions of everything else (i.e. the versions available via GOG.com). I’ll probably patch the graphics for II and III (the original four-color scheme grates on me), and patch in the music as well (because what’s an Ultima game without the music?) but I’ll be going as vanilla as possible on these. This means I don’t intend on using Exult for Ultima VII or Serpent Isle – though I did the first time I went through both of those games, and I highly recommend it, I want this time around to be as close to ‘original’ as I can get.

He also offered some thoughts and reflections on the Ultima series. He began the blog in December of 2013, and by the end of the month had polished off Akalabeth (producing four articles about it: 1, 2, 3, and 4).

Then, as 2014 rolled in, he began playing through Ultima 1, and got in a handful of posts about the game before real life got in the way for a while. In late May, he had this to say:

Well, this was bound to happen at some point.

Astute readers may note that this entry happens in the middle of May, whereas the previous one occurred sometime in January. The past few months have been a veritable deluge of real life stress, whether due to work, medical problems, or computer issues. None of which were terribly dire or overly concerning on their own, but when happening in concert with one another – well, something had to give, and that was this project.

However!

Things are beginning to quiet down again, and I’ve got both the gumption and the time to return to recording my adventures through Sosaria, Brittania and beyond! Stay tuned.

True to his word, Linguistic is now back in action and working on passing Ultima 1 yet again. His most recent blog entry covers quite a lot of the game, ending just prior to his blasting off into space to become a Space Ace. Here’s hoping that he can keep to a good update schedule; these “blogging through Ultima” chronicles are always an enjoyable thing to witness, and Linguistic Dragon is a very engaging writer.

Which I guess you’d expect, given the name.