Though maybe not as attractive to the modern day market, Ultima VIII is an extremely immersing and well-made game.
User Rating: 9.1 | Ultima VIII: Pagan (3.5" Disk) PC
Ah, as I write about Pagan: Ultima VIII I have no choice to think back to my youth. My family had bought our first computer which came with the obviously named Big 13 Pack, which was... well... thirteen games. Out of the 13, 11 slip my mind, but two stick to the walls of my brain tissue like an old, but nostalgically beautiful, wallpaper. One of which being a game named Commander Blood (which oddly enough had little to do with violence, let alone blood) and Pagan: Ultima VIII. First of all, who can't be intrigued by a game whose CD boasts a giant red pentagram? I mean, come on, that just screams "put me in your computer and play me!," and that is precisely what I did. You first find yourself beginning the game with a journal-like menu with New Game, Options, Etc. When you get around to clicking the New Game option, you are prompted to type in a name and then are treated to a nice little cut scene that semi-explains the premise of the game. A giant hand called the Guardian rips through space-time by way of an enormous glowing red pentagram in the sky of a land called Pagan with the Avatar (a.k.a. whatever name you typed in) stumbling on his palm. The Guardian then utters, "You have been a thorn in my side for far too long Avatar!..." and drops you down into the sea. And here we approach one of the first, but not devastating problems with Pagan: Ultima VIII -- Who is this Guardian? Thorn in his side? Why? All of these questions would have only been clearly answered in your mind if you had played earlier Ultima games, especially Ultima VII. Luckily, if you can shake those questions out of your mind, Ultima VIII has a very immersing storyline that will make you forget any background questions you may have. Even if the beginning of the story has its flaws, Ultima VIII does an excellent job of pulling you into the journey immediately. As you find yourself regaining consciousness on the shore, a friendly fisherman tells you of how he saved you from the waters and the giant creatures that live there (namely Lethos). After exchanging his friendly words he spurts out genuine confusion on the Avatar's (your) clothing, and this is a small but enjoyable quality that is pulled through the entire game. Coming from a different world, people often ask you about your dress and you actually feel like an outsider, but as the game progresses and friends are made, relationships with the citizens feel a lot more close. Odd clothing aside, the fisherman then makes note that an execution is happening nearby, which, at that point, you walk toward the dock and see another cutscene. A man is kneeling with his head on a block near the edge of the dock with his wife crying nearby. Emotionless guards and a wicked looking (female!) executioner line the dock with the beautiful Tempest, who by the crown is obviously some type of royalty, and her right hand man. As the scene plays out, the Tempest's personality seems colder than the water depths below, and as the man's bloody head rolls into the sea the Tempest and her flunky walk away haughtily. This scene grips the player and pulls him immediately into the life and conflict of the city of Tenebrae where you meet many unique characters, have a battle of wits and power with the ever evil Tempest, try to find a way out of this strange world, and most interesting of all, master the magics of Pagan. Story aside, gameplay is fun, albeit most of the time very difficult. You spend a lot of your time initially going into houses, taverns, and the palace trying to collect information from people and books on how to escape this foreign world. The time and sleeping system allow you to actually sneak into houses at different times in the day because each character has his or her different chores during each game day. This allows you to explore homes (and even steal!) without getting arrested and killed by the local policing sorcerer who has the tendency to explode lawbreakers into bloody pieces. A very helpful, although logically impossible, element is the backpack and bag system. At the beginning of the game, you have a backpack in which you store and organize any items you have picked up throughout the game. You can also find bags in which you can put in your backpack that gives you extra room to organize. This leads to a bag within a bag within a bag, which, although good for the player, is downright impossible. Simple exploration and information gathering leads you to interact with many NPC’s, most of which have their own fun and interesting personalities. As you talk with them you can find yourself faced with moral decisions, which can affect your reputation. These put a fun spin on the game, as you can affect the world of Tenebrae as you see fit. (Almost every character and every object in the world has a high level of interactivity.) These moral trials tie you closer to both characters and the story, which is constantly entertaining. Apparently, for some reason, the only way to escape the world of Pagan is to master all of the magics there, and let me tell you, there are a good handful. Magics include: Necromancy, Theurgy, Sorcery, Thaumaturgy, and (unfortunately only available by bloodline) Tempestry – the magic of the…well… Tempest. Each of the types of magic are created and used in different, innovative ways. For example, Necromancy requires you to gather reagents to create a one-time-use spells, Theurgy requires you to use talismans to cast spells that cost MP, Sorcery requires you to use a pentagram and reagents placed in special locations to charge a Focus with multiple spells, and finally Thaumaturgy requires you to use reagents, money, and a spell book to cast the spells of this secretive sect of magic. To gain all of these you have to raise yourself through the ranks of each school by way of elders and people of experience, each school having its own problems and stories. All in all, even though some of the magics are difficult to obtain, it is more than worth it because most spells are both useful and just plain cool. In the line of problems, Pagan only has a few ones worth considering. First of all, the game crashes during the part where you obtain the power of Necromancy. Although this is at first unsettling, a little online research (only necessary if you have an older version of the game) will reveal to you a patch that fixes this up nicely, but it is a shame that it was not addressed before the game was released. Secondly, the many traps and jumping puzzles are very hard, and, without the patch that allows you to control the exact spot that you jump, next to impossible. If you keep a level head (and perhaps a nice game guide from time to time), the non-jumping puzzles are no so hard that they deter from the overall value of the game. The sound is decent, although sometimes the battle music can become repetitive, but this is not where Ultima VIII really suffers – the battle system is. The Ultima VIII battle system is sort of sketchy. You have a list of stats (Strength, Dexterity, etc) that increase when you act in such a way that you use one of those attributes, and that part is actually quite nice. When you try to hack at an enemy imp with a sword, you will often find that you do not hit him when it looks like you have direct contact. This is partially do to the “3-D” nature of the game, and the many angles you can point yourself, so sometimes the sprites do not do much justice to the direction you are attacking (leading you to believe you are hitting an enemy when actually no contact is present!). Also, in the earlier portions of the game, you often cross paths with some enemies that are meant for only higher-level players with a lot of magic. A hapless adventurer could easily try to attack one of these trolls, kith, etc, and get the tar beat out of them, so you will find yourself running away…. a lot – at least until you power yourself up. Once you find some of the more useful magic armor and weapons, the game should ease up in difficulty, although it never does become easy, which allows for fast and exciting gameplay. Aside from a few issues that definitely don't break the mood and quality of the game, Pagan: Ultima VIII is a great addition to anyone's stack of CD's which, surprising enough to me, did not get the respect it deserved in its day. With few people knowing about this game, I highly suggest that they get it and play it. Even in the day of the ultra-realistic next-gen systems and PC hardware, Ultima VIII is a fun and overall rewarding experience. A must play!
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