Ultima VIII
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Ultima VIII: Pagan (1994) is the eighth part of the computer role-playing game series Ultima. It was not as well received as Ultima VII leading many, including Richard Garriott, to blame its faults on hasty development used to meet the release date and appease Origin Systems owner Electronic Arts.
Overview
Following the defeat of Batlin on Serpent Isle, the Guardian banishes the Avatar to a world that he has already conquered, Pagan.
The world of Pagan is in eternal twilight as the result of an ancient battle between the Elemental Titans and the evil "Destroyer", which resulted in the victory of the Titans. However, the people of Pagan had to pay a high price: the Titans had to henceforth be worshipped as gods. The Titans bestow powers on their most ardent followers, but they are otherwise cruel and unloving rulers, and their followers terrorize the general population.
In this part of the series, Garriott delegated most of the work to others, and the result disappointed many fans. Garriott later explained, "... I sacrificed everything to appease stockholders, which was a mistake. We probably shipped it three months unfinished." ([Computer Games Magazine, 1999])
Common complaints were:
- The world was much smaller than in the preceding parts
- NPC portraits were no longer included
- Day-and-night cycles were removed (Pagan's twilight was truly perpetual in-game)
- The game went back from the "party" concept to the "lone hero" of the first two Ultimas
- Battle against enemy characters was pure hack and slash mouse clicking. There was some resemblance to the later game Diablo
- Platform game style running, climbing and jumping across moving platforms was introduced
- Assaulting a citizen or stealing usually resulted in immediate execution by the town sorcerer
- Major holes in the plot
- Frequent bugs/glitches
Ultima VIII has a much darker tone and a very different premise, in comparison to most of the Ultima games. The world of Pagan is entirely different from that of Sosaria: the Virtues were not part of Pagan's culture, and the magic systems and monsters were entirely different. As a result, many fans of the series were upset with Ultima VIII, despite its numerous interesting features.
The Ultima VIII engine was later reused in the Crusader game series.
Plot
The Avatar regains consciousness on the shore after being rescued from the sea by a fisherman (who turns out to be an important character later on in the plot). He soon witnesses the execution by beheading of a townsman, ordered by the tyrannic ruler of the region, Mordea.
Later, visiting the wizard Mythran, he learns that there are four Titans on Pagan, each one having one of the Elements as his/her domain: Water (Hydros), Air (Stratos), Fire (Pyros) and Earth (Lithos). The more privileged followers of Lithos are identified as necromancers, the followers of Pyros as sorcerors, the followers of Stratos as theurgists and the (albeit highly selective) followers of Hydros as tempests. Apart from those, a fifth type of magic known as Thaumaturgy exists and is pioneered by Mythran. In order to escape Pagan, the Avatar has to overcome many obstacles and master the ways of all titans, finally becoming the Titan of Ether: the magical field and fifth element.
During his quests, the Avatar collects the four artifacts of the Titans, unleashing violent thunderstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes and meteor showers by doing so. These artifacts allow him to enter the Ethereal Plane and defeat the Titans on their own turf. The Avatar then reconstructs the original blackrock gate that originally allowed the Guardian to enter Pagan. By entering the reconstructed gate, the Avatar is teleported back to Britannia, which is now ruled by the Guardian.
Trivia
There are several Easter eggs in Ultima VIII:- In Mythran's house, a magical item that shifts between the shapes of a cube, sphere and tetrahedron is found. This item is a jab at Origin Systems' recent new owner Electronic Arts, similar to the one in Ultima VII. When this item is double-clicked, the Avatar says "I have not the strength, nor the wisdom to master such power... but one day I shall!".
- By performing a certain ritual in the Lower Catacombs area of the game, a room filled with every magic item and other useful things can be accessed.
- In the Ethereal Plane by the large pentagram, causing an explosion by means of a spell or otherwise will dislodge a book from behind the east pillars. The book contains a short story, of which the final line is "Eat cheese and perspire!". The book is known as the "Cheesy Book" by fans of the game.
Speech Pack
The Speech Pack add-on was released later. This pack adds spoken lines for certain key characters, such as the Guardian, the Titans and Khumash-Gor.The Speech Pack did not sell very well as a separate add-on, mostly because the CD-ROM version of Ultima VIII, which was released shortly afterward, also includes the speech files, and the floppy version was seen as too expensive an addition that didn't offer much. The speech files are also included in the later budget releases.
The speech was available in English, French and German.
The Lost Vale expansion
A single Lost Vale game box surfaced in October 2005, and was confirmed to be genuine soon afterwards. It was auctioned in eBay for US$1923. Some low-resolution scans of the box are located [on this web site].
Compatibility with modern systems
Ultima VIII has problems running on modern systems. The game has problems starting on Windows 98 and later, and even with a later-made fan patch (see External links) it may still run unstably.
Ultima VIII works reliably under DOSBox environment.
A fan engine rewrite called Pentagram (similar to Exult for Ultima VII) is in works. It allows you to play the game from beginning to end, but does not implement all the functionality yet.
Fan remakes
There has been relatively little work on Ultima VIII remakes. One of the most actively pursued ones was titled Ultima VIII: Exile, based on Neverwinter Nights engine, but this project was cancelled.
External links
- [Ultima VIII: Pagan] at MobyGames
- [The Complete Guide to Ultima VIII: Pagan], A complete walkthrough for Ultima 8 including item & creature lists, and gameplay tips
- [Bootstrike's Ultima VIII Files Collection], a file resource center
- [Dino's Guide to Ultima VIII - Pagan], a comprehensive site about the game
- [Ultima VIII in Windows], a fan patch to help run Ultima VIII in Windows 9x
- [Pentagram]
- [Ultima VIII: Exile], a fan remake (discontinued)
- [How to be a Complete Bastard in Pagan], a rather humourous "anti-walkthrough" on how to complete the game using as many loopholes and game bugs as possible.
- [Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale at PC Games That Weren't]
- [Ultima VIII] at Underworld Dragon's Collectible Ultima
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