🚀 go-pugleaf

Whoa! Talk about a every-little-thing-you-ever-wanted-to-see-in-an-ultima-right-
down-to-the-keystrokes-you-need-to-press-and-the-assembly-code-that-should-be-used
thread! Talk about micromanaging! :)

Anyways, it seems there is a big consensus that Ultima V probably had the
best story of all of the Ultimas. A friend of mine and I talked for about
a couple hours on why we both became so addicted to this game.

We had both played Ultima IV and loved it. It was a unique game with a 
unique idea. No big bad monster to kill at the end of the game. No treasure
to win. No prize to fight for. The whole idea was to make your character
a better person. Plain and simple. To do this, it was essential to learn 
everything you could about the world you lived it. Its people, its philosphies.
It was a world you knew next to nothing about, it was completely new.

You start off in Ultima V in this world as the exact same person you were
when you left. You knew of the history of this world. Just enough history
to be placed in the middle of it. The world which you grew to love in Ultima IV
is turned upside down. Lord British is gone. The virtues which you learned 
so much about in Ultima IV were being twisted around by the new ruler and
the Shadowlords. The fact that the shadowlords were spawned from the
shards of the gem of Mondain, the idea of an ancient evil reborn in a 
more modern light. The plot was not only an interesting one, but it
completely wrapped around you. It was personal. This is what role playing
is about. Its not about watching a little dude on the screen run around
and jump over rocks, or bake bread, or whatever.

You guys have such an opportunity to do this again. If that last scene in
Ultima 8 was Britannia, you are well on your way, don't screw it up. If the
plot is "The Guardian has taken over Britainia and you have to stop him",
and thats it, you'll fail. 

If Britainia is completely destroyed and you walk through the ruins, this game
can be made personal. What happens when you go to Cove and find out something
horrible happened to that person that fell in love with you (remember that
person that took care of the shrine of compassion?). Better yet, what if you
travel to LB's castle, to talk to him and see him take his final breath? 
If you want to make this game to appeal to fans of the Ultima series, then
you have a big opportunity to shock them. There are all sorts of ideas that
could be used. What if it was the Guardian who originally consorted with Mondain
to help him create his gem and take over Britania, but its only now that the
Avatar has proved himself such a threat that the Guardian has decided to take
matters into his own hands (such as at the end of U7.5... sorry, the pun was
just too obvious....) 

Use the rich history of this world you have created. Don't be so concerned with
newer, bigger, and better. Of course originality is necessary, but as you 
showed in Ultima V, this can be achieved by simply building on what you
already have.

So, interface, animation, graphics, combat, etc... aside, this is what
I thought made the Ultima series so great. It was something that was lost
around Ultima 7.5 and completely lost in Ultima 8.