Thanks for the shoutout for the translation (I'm /u/behindtimes). Well, perhaps maybe not! One of the complaints the original reviews stated was that this game doesn't tell you anything. And the case of the Kotl dungeon, that is the case. Not only that, but the original Japanese gave you wrong directions as well. While that part was corrected, the question becomes, how much do you change the translation to actually give useful information, such as the door. And as mentioned in the reddit post, one of the very first people tells you exactly where the Urali are, before you're supposed to know where they are. Yeah, the original game had quite a few bugs. It felt like a bad first generation SNES game, but it was released at the end of the Super Famicom's life. I could see why they just decided it wasn't worth bringing over.
1. I went and gave behindthetimes a thumbs up on his reddit post. 2. I swear I was hearing Spoony in your rant about the hidden walls. 3. SMS Ultima IV is actually good.
"...there are known janks; the jank we know. We also know there is unknown jank; that is to say jank that we have a guide for but don't know off the top of our head. But there is also unknownable jank-the jank we gamers don't know we don't know and so there is no guide for. And if one looks throughout the history of our games, it is the latter category that tends to fuel the rage bile..." -Ronald Dumsfeld.
I don't know what makes me feel older, recognizing this quote or watching 30 year old vidya videos. edit: oh god, I didn't even realize I could expand the comment to see you cited the source and I still knew it beforehand. 💀
I bet if this had an English release it would’ve been reskinned to be an Indiana Jones game. Reskinning games were more common in the 80s and 90s than people might think.
That ending reminds me of the movie Bat Thumb. The big plan of the bad guy, No Face, was to use a formula that would erase Bat Thumb's face. And to quote No Face - "Without a face you'll go insane AND DIE! Oh ho ho ho!" As a fairweather Ultima fan I had no idea this game existed! Awesome review of it!
Hey, I just realized something just now. You did all the final fantasy games, all the dragon quest games, all the ultima ports on the nintendo systems, both the lufia games, but you have yet to tackle any of the romancing saga games yet. Where are those boys on the time table?
@@joshthefunkdoc completely understandable if he doesn't want to tackle the romancing games just yet. They're so different than every other SNES RPG and not the funnest ones to play at that if you don't know what you're doing. On Sword of Mana though, I figure Mana fans have kind of gotten used to criticism of the game by now. Don't think even the most diehard fans would say it's not perfect.
Another Great Video!!!! I've been waiting for the fan translation of Illusion City. The last update was beta testing was finished. So hopefully any day now!!!
Only youtuber I want to support through patron But not yet cuz I'm getting kicked in muh balls everyday in the stock market.. but one day.. I'll put a picture of you on my desk for motivation
Thank you for covering this. I hope the toll on your sanity wasn't too high. If you ever get around to the other console games, just know that the Master System port of U4 is actually a REALLY good version of the game. It's a fully featured port of the computer versions (looks to be based on the MSX version which is kinda weird) that only changes two main things. First is that the dungeons are in an overhead perspective like the towns and overworld, and the second is since there's no keyboard support, dialogue is menu based with new topics getting added to the menu through conversation. It's probably my favorite version since it's essentially the same as the original but a little more approachable. It even has FM sound support despite never being released in Japan.
I just wanted to say that I think your videos are very good. You go over what you liked and disliked in games, yet you also make a point to explain how the latter could be improved on and are just very articulate in general going over everything with how you played specific parts even. And the humor is an added plus. Xd
Thanks for tackling this, and doing it so quickly! It was really interesting to see about this "lost" Ultima game that I've been so curious about for so long. And thank you for the shout out from the reddit page! Fingers crossed for that cleanup video about the other console Ultimas! :)
The perspective of these games is so disorienting to me. Like everything in the world is on this perfect grid but the people are at this strange 45 degree angle.
Savage Empire was one of the original RPG asset flips, reusing the same engine as a stopgap for the next numbered Ultima. And the tepid reaction to both the PC and SNES versions shows even back then most people were smart enough not to buy asset flips.
U6, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams are amazing on PC. One of the great gaming tragedies is that Ultima, one of the two most influential RPGs ever made, got such bad ports. The NES Exodus was super influential in Japan like the PC releases of U3 and U4 were, but the rest of these ports are trash. But hey -- No Ultima, No Dragon Quest.
Eh, I still like the NES ports of U3 and U4. I was one of those few kids who had DQ 3, FF and U4 growing up and helped turn me into the socially awkward weirdo that I am today. Actually, that was a bad thing.
Played all three. Ultima VI, Martian Dreams, and this game on PC back in the day. I see that the engine used in the SNES version looks closer to Ultima VII which explains your analysis. Game was fun in the day, but was pretty much a bunch of fetch quests. Battles took forever due to the turn based system it uses. Had more fun with Martian Dreams and Ultima VI tbh. Crafting and reagent system was tedious
First of all I enjoy your videos. Do you remember how in your overrated list you mention playing older games is intolerable today? I wonder if maybe this game could have been enjoyable 30 years ago.
Bad Ultima port developers they deprived us of enjoying Victorian era trips to Mars via cannon and exploration of our neighboring world on the SNES. (That's the plot of Martian Dreams)
OMG, making gunpowder is like baking bread!!!!1! Honestly the Ultima series was a little before my time, and my only point of reference for Ultima is pretentious nonsense and Garriott being an insufferable weirdo. This is probably the only Ultima related content I can stomach.
LOL I had no idea this game even existed. Although for the record, if you can wrap your head around the insanely overcomplicated controls (that seemed to forget menus are a thing) the PSX version of Ultima Underworld is probably the better version of UU.
The image of the Avatar using an npc human shield and whipping a giant to death is pretty funny. Probably didn’t do the Honour, Valor or Compassion scores any help….
great work man, this is top tier tv right here. thanks for showing us this... game. also, if you play any of the ultima console games, the SMS one is actually pretty competent and is a remake of the pc game and is somewhat better being as it has better graphics and easier to control. i remember the gameboy games being fun for like a car ride, i dont think i ever tried to finish them
Wow, this was actually super interesting to watch. I previously played the PC version of this one, although I never finished it and just played a bit out of curiosity. I never realised the SNES port was based on the SNES U7 instead of U6. Great video, thank you for shining a light on this curiosity and seeing it through to the end.
Another wicked video. Glad that translation came through for ya. I bet it feels good to close out that part of the chapter!! Keep killing it, man!! And thanks for the shout-out at the end. My kids and I watched it and gave me some cred to em 🔥
