It’s been a fair while, but today I’m returning to my retrospective of the illustrious Ultima series of games. Last time out I looked at the first-person spin-off title to the series; Ultima Underworld and how it deviated from the main story-arc. However, today I’m going to look at what is probably the most prominent of the main canon games; Ultima VII: The Black Gate.

Now, right up front I’ll give you this disclaimer: I’m probably going to have to renounce all journalistic impartiality in this one. Ultima VII was and is one of my favourite games. It had a big impact on my as a child and will always mean a lot to me. So, while I’ll try and give a professional overview of the game, let’s face it, it’s going to be quite rose-tinted.

That being said lets dive in!

Right from the off, Ultima VII was a huge visual shift. The game had been moved to a new engine and it was immediately apparent. First and foremost, the game world took up the whole screen. Gone were the inventory, conversation and status areas of previous games. Nope, this time the game world took center-stage, with the character icons and the like being overlaid on top of the action. This might seem like basic thing today, but back then it was all new and a real game changer. Just being able to see much more of the game world really allowed the player to feel more immersed in the environment and the story. The Ultima games had always relied heavily in the suspension of disbelief in their players and Ultima VII took a huge forward step in this regard, really making it easier to engage with the world of Britannia. 

The whole world was, as a result, expanded; feeling vast, populated and active. Admittedly most of that was smoke and mirrors, but it was expertly presented and really felt like a huge progression into futuristic technology back then. Indeed, the mere fact that the game was now entirely mouse-driven gave it a distinct separation from the old-guard of type and text adventure games. It was an entirely new beast and did its best to prove it. The inventory system was now completely different. Rather than the grid and slot system of old, the player just dragged items into backpacks and bags en-masse and ordered it themselves. This was completely new and felt much more realistic, even if the realism of cramming 101 items from carrots and swords to rings and coins into a single bag resulted in the equally realistic problems of actually finding the damn stuff later on. Seriously, this is the point at which inventory management began to really mean something; if you talk to any Ultima veteran each one will have tales of their own method for managing their labyrinthine inventory.

Combat was revamped, with the action playing out in a pseudo-realtime manner. To be honest, time hasn’t been kind to the game’s combat mechanics, where really the main nuance (if you can call it that) is to tool up your characters with the biggest and best weapons you have and then let them go. There’s not much opportunity for micro-management or, hell, management even, as it all tends to be over in a flash. That and trying to click on anything as it jumps around the screen is nigh on impossible at that pace.

But let’s face it, we’re not in this for the combat are we? Ultima games were always about exploring the world and engaging with the narrative and in this sense Ultima VII absolutely nails it (well, just about).

As we’ve seen, the game world was entirely overhauled and this enabled the developers give the various locations a certain amount of visual personality, with each being made memorable independently through their varied layouts, characters and decoration. No longer were areas slightly re-arranged mixes of entirely the same sprits. Now the developers had more decorations to play with and while basic by today’s standards, at the time it really differentiated the game from its predecessors. On top of that, the little extras really helped enhance the experience. Take, for example, the 3d modal of the Guardian’s head that comes out of the screen at the beginning and directly addresses the player/Avatar. That was pretty new and helped make the game feel more imminent to the player. And while we’re about it, how about the fact the Guardian had a voice! That was new for the series and pretty unusual in gaming as a whole. Yes, the same voice loop of the Guardian talking to you throughout the game got old quickly, but come on, that’s progress right there!

Ah yes, the Guardian. Who’s that guy? Well, can you say new antagonist? (Yes, probably…)

The game narrative is the defining feature of Ultima VII, as is appropriate for the Ultima series.

I can’t possibly detail the full nuanced detail of the plot in this article, but the basic premise is that the Avatar is summoned to Britannia again, though apparently this time by the previously mentioned Guardian; a big red guy apparently from another dimension who seems to have a megalomaniacal streak and declares the Britannia will bow before him, including the Avatar. The avatar is then teleported into the game via the reliable method of moongates and immediately encounters his old companion Iolo who reveals that 200 years have passed in Britannia. The question of how the hell all of your old companions and acquaintances are still alive, let alone combat-capable is rather waved away with the ‘Britannian time works differently’ vagueness that is now fondly accepted in the Ultima universe.

You start the game investigating a brutal ritualistic murder (which really signals quite a sea-change in the tone of the game from previous versions, at least in directness). From there the player is introduced to the Fellowship, a religious group that have sprung up in Britannia that seem to have grown in influence and rather made the whole virtues thing you embody feel like yesterday’s news. Basically, think if a non-monotheistic version of the catholic church and you’ve got a good sense of the Fellowship, at least in public perception at any rate.

The story basically sees the Avatar investigate troubles across Britannia as he investigates the Fellowship and the Guardian, eventually identifying that the former is a front for the latter and his attempt to enter Britannia, culminating in the Avatar shattering a moongate made of ‘Blackrock’ (a somewhat catch-all material that would become prominent in the game lore down the line) and saving Britannia.

The story is, in its essence, fantastic. Easily up there with the narratives of IV & VI that I have previously waxed lyrical about, the story ebbs and flows, presenting complex social and political commentary while continuing to build to the ultimate climax at the end. The whole thing is presented as a kind of detective/investigative story, penetrating to the inner corruption of a religion that has become central to the inhabitants, while examining the true nature of faith and your own role as the Avatar in a changing world, as well as the impact of industrialisation on a developing environment. However, there is one slight issue with the narrative; the developers spoil it immediately on starting the game! 

Rather than having the Guardian as an ambiguous figure that may or may not be on your side or presenting the fellowship as potentially being a benevolent organisation that genuinely care about the people, they had the Guardian go all out Bond villain immediately and remove 90% of the effect of the narrative from the get go. Hell, they even make Batlin, the leader of the Fellowship, come across and an all-out shifty villain from the start too. I cannot begin to describe how much of a missed opportunity this is. While the story is still engaging and excellent as it stands, if the mystery was kept about the Guardian and the Fellowship and the player was left to work out the link themselves this game would have been hands-down the best Ultima game there is, no questions. As it is, it still stands out as a stellar entry, but largely due to its all-round quality, rather than just its story. Narrative-wise, the undermining of its own story means that it probably occupies a tier below the False Prophet and Quest of the Avatar in the storyline stakes.

However, for me Ultima VII will always be my favourite Ultima. I was introduced to the game by my father when I was very young. He played computer games when they were still more of a curiosity than a main staple of media like today and he passed on the gaming bug to me. As Noah Antwiler (Spoony) recounts in his excellent video on the game , the Ultima games came at a time when gaming wasn’t mainstream and your main introduction with them were through family oftentimes.

My experience of the games, especially Ultima VI were as a family, with my father playing the game, my mother taking notes (you had to back then!) and me and my sister watching. We really bonded as a family over that and one day I hope to do something similar with my own kids. From there my interest in games grew and my dad allowed me to play the games myself and use his save games to experiment with etc. Part of the joy was playing the game and part of it, I’m sure, was being able to emulate what my Dad was doing.  

A huge part of why Ultima VII is so special to me is deeply personal. When I was 13 my mother passed away. Due to the age I was and the time that has passed I have limited memories of her from when she was alive. Most prominent of all my memories are those of the times we shared as a family playing computer games, mainly Ultima VII, sat around the computer as a family. UI treasure those memories and they are some of the dearest I have. I will forever be grateful to Richard Garriott, Origin Systems and the rest of the teams that worked on the games for giving me those memories and based on the aforementioned Spoony video, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

To sum up, Ultima VII isn’t the best Ultima game in any one sense. Later games were technically better, visually superior and previous games had more rounded narratives, but Ultima VII is the one most players hold dearest or remember best. It’s hard to say exactly why; perhaps it came at the right time, or perhaps it was the last one to appear before the games started to decline. However, I suspect it’s because overall, the game is the best all-rounder of the lot. It was technically the culmination of lessons learned in previous titles and married it with a story that, while flawed, was at its core a stellar story.While it may not be the best in any one specific aspect, the sum of its parts mean that it’s probably the best game of the series when taken as a whole entity.

However you want to call it, though, Ultima VII was a pretty special game at what was probably the exact right time for it and for that it will always hold a special place in the heart of most Ultima fans in general and in the heart of this specific Ultima fan…

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