Ultima Online: A Day In The Life of One

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a game by Origin Systems
Platform: PC
Editor Rating: 7.5/10, based on 2 reviews
User Rating: 9.0/10 - 2 votes
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See also: Ultima Games
Ultima Online: A Day In The Life of One
Ultima Online: A Day In The Life of One
Ultima Online: A Day In The Life of One
Ultima Online: A Day In The Life of One

Overview

One evening after a long day at work, I anxiously entered Britannia with the goal of meeting up with my friends Chuck and Andy. You see, they had figured out how to do more than simply wander the world aimlessly searching for that missed rabbit, sheep, or some other helpless victim to gain valuable experience from. They had discovered how to mine for valuable ore and forge it into ingots, which could then be used to make practically anything.

I called Chuck on another line, found out where he was, and off I went. Off into an unexpected wild adventure that is.

"Where are you Chuck? How do I get there?"
"Just go west and around the water, you will find some hills, a hut, and a group of people, I'll be the one with the blue cape."

Yeah, right. I brought up the map and headed west, only west on the map is a little more like north, northwest on the screen. Chuck was referring to the screen, I, the map.

So off I went through the forest. On the way I encountered several other travelers, plenty of foliage and literally no animals. About thirty minutes and five phone calls to Chuck later, I finally arrived at the base of the hill and the hut, only no Chuck. Where the heck was he? I decided to cover the base of the hill. I went south and around back up north to find a group of people flying by.

"Man, I nearly ate it back there!"
"Yeah, that was pretty intense!"
"Let's get out of here fast!"

Of course I had to see what was going on. Forget Chuck and his stupid ore, what the heck was everyone freaking out about? On the map I could see sort of marina-type platforms to the west. I entered the area to find a complete ravage of blood, bones, garbage, broken barrels, and other waste. No one else in sight. "What the heck is this?" I thought. Like the idiot I am I kept going west, until I found the answer. In huge all caps text I saw, "LEAVE THY DOMAIN OR YE WILL NOT BE SPARED! THIS IS THY ONLY WARNING!" Then some freaky demonic warrior with a horned mask, riding a horse, bolted out of nowhere and came charging at me. What did I do? I ran like hell! I was out of there faster than a cat out of cold water.

In time I finally found Chuck and Andy around another set of hills quite a ways south of the first hills I encountered. After telling Chuck about my adventures, he asked if I had any money. He needed five gold for an ingot for Andy. Chuck had managed to talk the owner of the hut, another real person online, into selling an ingot for five gold. I gave the gold, got the ingot and passed it on to Andy. I asked Chuck what Andy was going to do with the ingot.

"He needs it to make a clock."
"Why?"
"I don't know, so he can tell the time."

And that was a day in the life of my character, One, in Ultima Online.

Since then I have gone fishing, had a couple of pet cats, crawled through caves, and met numerous other people online. So, what do I ultimately think of Ultima Online? To be honest with you, I'm still not sure. Only time will tell. Yes, it is extremely absorbing, impressive, and utterly amazing, considering how realistic it is and how many people are online at any given moment. The sense of fascination and wonder I get from simply exploring and meeting people has not worn off, but, I'm not sure how long it will last. You see, I'm exploring, but not really advancing. This is not a game like Diablo, in which there is plenty to build your character with. To this date, I have yet to find a training hall I can practice my fighting skills at, everything is always already in use. As far as dungeons, monsters are scarce, and when they do come about either you're no competition, or tons of others mob them, leaving you to watch. Forest animals? Come on, even when you do find any left, running around killing rabbits and chickens is not only a little lame in my book, but being a pet owner and lover of animals in general, it kind of goes against my idea of good role-playing. Role-playing is what this is about right?

Finally, the price of this game is my biggest complaint, and ultimately what may end it for me. The game goes for sixty bucks and service is $9.95 a month, first month free. That basically comes out to about $170 a year for the game. That's a little high in my book considering Diablo was only about $50 and battle.net is free. Yes, Ultima Online is a bit grander, but wouldn't, say three months free and five bucks a month thereafter be more fair, especially considering how much time it takes to develop your character compared to other games? Also, as great as UO is, there are a tons of other great games out there waiting to be played for only a one time fee.

Download Ultima Online: A Day In The Life of One

PC

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

Overview

I have been waiting for a game like Ultima Online since 1983 when I was playing Ultima III on my Apple IIe. My wish has come true, and I am very satisfied with the results of this enormous undertaking which is a living, ever changing world with practically endless possibilities. Ultima Online is the only game that I have ever been able to overlook its technical difficulties (there are many) and still rank it up among my personal classics -- this game makes me want to leave work and stay up all night to play, even on a weeknight . Ultima Online sucked me in like no game ever has; and it will still be going strong on my computer months from now. I think it's the 2,000 other unpredictable human beings online with me that keep the game fresh, or is it the vast, seamless world where you live, or even the things you can do or become? Whatever it is for you, beware, if you don't like lots of sleepless nights then you need to steer clear of this game, because just 1 hour of "trying it out" could lead to many more.

My character Viper is a warrior primarily, with just enough Mage skills to heal myself and cast a few offensive spells just in case. My hometown is Yew, a quiet, secluded city north of Britain (the main town), and I have really grown to like Yew's personality; it gives me rest after a long day of fending off the dangers of the wild.

So I start the hike to Britain to see what the forge has for sale and maybe get into a little monster mashing when suddenly I hear an enchanting sound coming from the bushes and I (involuntarily) freeze in my tracks. Out of the bushes comes six or seven Rangers and a Mage (hence the paralyze spell). Not knowing their intentions I say "Hail", and pray they do not want me for supper. It turns out they think I am a PKer (player-killer) and thus spend the next 10 minutes arguing whether or not to kill me. Lucky for me I was able to convince them that I am good and they let me go on my way, I resolve never to take the road again and promptly head through the forest parallel to the road, sneaking the whole way.

When I approach the mountain pass that leads to Britain, I hear a loud rumbling, getting closer, and then CRASH --out from the bushes lumbers a huge 2-headed Ettin! Twice as tall and easily four times my size, the Ettin is certainly a formidable foe, especially with his huge war hammer ready to squash me with a single blow. I took off running, thinking "how am I going to down this?" while I lead the charging beast to the road where I hoped to find other adventurers to help me. Luckily, three armor-clad horsemen burst onto the scene and we fought valiantly and were able to take the beast down with only one casualty. After looting the Ettin and splitting the spoils I said my farewells and headed through the mountain pass to Britain where I sold some weapons and shopped around for a new tunic. It was there that I met up with Ragnarok, a Mage friend of mine, and we decided to head for Vesper (a town to the east of Britain) in search of magic regents and high adventure.

We headed out and everything was quiet until we hit the swamp, where we were ambushed by lizardmen. Ragnarok held back and healed me while I slashed my way through the toughened green flesh of the marauders. Then I hear a "Crackle CRASH!"' Ragnarok had cast a lightning bolt and took out the last straggler in one blast'together we are very strong, while alone either of us would have met our doom. We continue in our travels to Vesper and come to a dungeon entrance in the side of a mountain. Not being able to resist, we enter anxious to find magical treasures.

A sudden jet of fire billowing from the floor of the dungeon almost toasts me to a crisp (shouldn't stand over those) as we walk deeper into the labyrinth. Corpses of valiant warriors lie in heaps around us, and I think that there must have been a great battle here. We look for treasure but the bodies are clean, the treasure chests are empty as well -- did we get here too late? All was quiet until Ragnarok yells "Gazier! Run!" But it's too late -- as I turn, the vile gazier sparkles and glows and hits Ragnarok with a paralyze spell -- he is surely a dead man just like the rest unless I do something -- I resolve to attack the beast in hopes of distracting it from killing my friend when suddenly I am poisoned and weakened, and the Gazier bears down on me and moves in for the kill. Time to start a new character.

Ultima Online has kept me glued to my computer screen for the last month, an incredible accomplishment with all the other games out there trying to compete. There are problems with the game, mostly due to server crashes, lag, and all the slow modems and phone lines out there, but the gameplay and interaction are so good that these things are easily overlooked while I wait for them to fix all the technical problems. In the meantime, happy sleepless nights!

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