Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress Retrospective | Spacetime & Sierra
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 มิ.ย. 2024
- After the release of Ultima, Richard Garriott found himself looking for a publisher. In spite of his unique demands, he'd find a willing partner in Sierra On-Line. This video chronicles the story of Sierra up until (and including) their association with Richard Garriott, and Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress.
This is the 2nd video in my Ultima Retrospective series. Watching Part 1 isn't necessary to enjoy this video, but it is recommended. It can be found here:
• Akalabeth & Ultima I R...
I'd like to thank DanBlueDeer for allowing me to use his instrumental cover of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Guinnevere" for this video. His channel can be found here:
/ @danbluedeer
Links:
/ majuular
/ majuular
Music used in this video (with timestamps):
pastebin.com/Z86f768G
Running list of sources used in the Ultima Retrospective:
pastebin.com/Nri8p0jy
00:00 - Introduction
7:50 - Sierra Strikes Gold
10:34 - Lord British & Sierra
14:26 - Assembling a Sequel
17:54 - Ports & Preamble
20:59 - Introduction to Ultima II
24:34 - Time Travel & Exploration
28:03 - Sequel Differences
33:26 - Structure & Quests
40:10 - Post-Apocalyptic Communist Space Travel
43:30 - Ultima II Finale
46:06 - Ultima II Conclusion
48:49 - A Post-Ultima II World
51:31 - The Origin of Something Great
53:56 - Credits - เกม
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Great work! I can't believe how you were able to put all this together. You must be a heck of a researcher! - Ken Williams
Cheers Ken! Digging into video game history is one of my great pleasures, and the story of you, Roberta, and Sierra is of particular fascination to me. Thank you for your contributions to the industry, I hope life is treating you well!
You’re a badass, Ken.
Hey Ken, it's big of you to tacitly acknowledge the drug abuse at Sierra and not paying Garriott. He's talked publicly about this, but I've never heard your side of the story. Care to elaborate?
Wow. Majuular, you are unarguably the crème de la créme* of the long-form game retrospective, a level 99 wizard in a sea of level 1 jesters. Who knew Canada could produce something other than Rush, maple syrup and hilarious üccents. But I'm glad to see a legend like Ken Williams honouring your brilliant work.
* - (accent marks not inconsistent, just trying to make sure I'm correct at least once. Also applicable in this claim: The Michael Jordan of..., The Genghis Khan of..., The Khardankov of..., The Yuzo Koshiro of..., et cetera)
I agree. It's so great that it got a legend of the gaming industry to delurk and reveal himself. A tip of the hat to the both of you, Sirs.
I gotta respect how enamoured Roberta was with Colossal Cave Adventure.
Their company remade it in 3D last year and released it on Steam.
She did a playthrough with a few channels, and you can hear how excited she is to just be talking about it.
Now that's cool, not sure how I missed that but it was a bit of a doozy of a year so I'll have to forgive myself.😂
Thanks for the notice, however behind I might be.
Time to watch this 4 nights in a row as I fall asleep in 15-20 minute chunks and then rewatch it in one sitting on a weekend
Respect the regimented approach!
same👌🏻✨
... how do you know I watch videos like this?...
Nothing better to beat a cold and massive fever than to lie down in bed with a Majuular video to cheer you up
You could try taking magic mushrooms, that helped me beat a cold in like 3 hours once.
Get well soon, dude. Paracetamol/acetominophen reduces fevers, but don't take more than the recommended dose!
Flu here but otherwise same
Can confirm, helps with a broken leg as well.
Get well soon, all of you. And enjoy some retro goodness while you're at it.
Second comment, but needs to be said: Garriott was so ahead of his time he was behind it. Specifically with packaging. As a kid, there was nothing better than the car ride home from the store, opening the box of a game to read through a games manual and get extra story and lore and art and... now, everything's a download. You get a physical copy? Cool, here's a single fold insert with EULA terms if you're lucky.
Feelies, and even just extra text related to the game itself, is so sorely missed.
At the risk of sounding like a boomer yelling at clouds, I really do feel something special will be lost as digital media continues to reign supreme.
@@Majuular I got the newest Pokemon game to do multiplayer with my girlfriend, and opening the case there was just the little Switch chip. Not even a legalese insert. Just nothing but empty plastic.
I laughed, but it made me feel ancient.
I was incredibly shocked when I opened my Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town switch case and there was a manual that had a cute little comic in it. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had last held a game manual.It was very exciting, but also a little sad.
I got into Kirby in 2023, bought what i could online and digitally for 3DS.
emulated the rest, but wanted to get a more fuller experience by downloading the manuals, they were so adorable and well made, and the further i got the sadder it became, to a point that Kirby and the forgotten land is just a large case with a holder for a manual that doesn't exist.
when i searched for it, the game doesn't have a manual or doesn't have a real one, there's a company that makes manuals for games sorely needs them, so i bought it and it also goes so well into the Switch game case.
The manual is made with care and attention to the game and legacy of Kirby games.
I agree with your comment, but it has to be noted that sometimes those manuals were complete nonsense, with lore that sounded improvised quickly to fill all the pages :p
But when it was well done, it was great indeed.
how the hell do you crank out content that is so good? Having a real retrospective for the Ultima series is awesome.
Loving the research really helps!
You mean the old Noah Antwiler videos aren’t real?! 😂. In all seriousness, this is way better.
It's much better but I do credit Spoony for starting the flame of Ultima love in me
@@mmocracythat Spoony series is great but as a whole he sucks. and you have to edit out the skits and even after there's still all the whininess in the Ultima IX review
Most of Spoony's entire catalog holds up, and the hate people throw these days is because they think they're supposed to. Oh well. The idea that it took a decade or so for someone else to put out Ultima reviews in a completely different landscape isn't too crazy.
As someone who's heard of Ultima her whole life but never had the guts to play through the oldies, thank you for sharing the experience 🙏
My maternal grandfather, Paul Kircher, taught at UCLA for most of his adult life first as assistant and then as full professor, he wrote the first report by the comptroller general on the use of electronic computers by the federal government. He was a consultant to the state controller during the first installation of electronic computers for California. Through ties to IBM, he was considered instrumental in bringing computers to the business side of UCLA and introduced many of his colleagues to word processing and personal computers. Even after retirement in 1984, his course on life-long learning was so popular that it was always full and had students lining up to apply whenever it had an opening. He loved learning almost as much as he loved teaching, and was a wonderful grandfather, even though I barely got to know him as a person. Many junior colleagues described him as someone who was always available to help and consult on issues ranging from emotional support to research and publication. It's strange, but in a fascinating way, to think he may have had some small part in influencing Ken, in the pursuit of video games and founding Sierra.
He passed away in 1999 at the age of 84.
And what a legacy he leaves behind, wow. Thanks for sharing his story. Cheers to your grandpa!
After watching The Spoony Ones series I was always curious about Ultima 7, I am excited for you to get there in the not-so-distant future so we can get a breakdown in your style.
There is an excellent full Ultima retrospective by Finntrovert. Not as detailed as Majuular's, but worth a watch.
@@Miraihi As a long time Ultima fan? I have to say I am completely sick of Spoony being basically the end all be all of Ultima knowledge and opinion. Like Garriott himself he fell really really far except Antwiller has medical reasons for a lot of his issues.
@@CaptainRufus Comparing the two is bizarre. Garriot fell from the top of the world on a luxurious cussion, spoony fell from a chair to the floor.
I'm a huge Sierra nerd and I did not expect how intertwined the history of Sierra is to Ultima. Beautiful video, great quality!
Yeah it's one of those connections I'd not yet explored yet is full of huge milestones. Great video
It's funny, because I've taken piss tests in the old Sierra building. I live in Coarsegold, next door to Oakhurst. The Sierra building is now a Doctor's Office and a Quest Diagnostics.
Richard Kiel was also a resident of Coarsegold too. So, he didn't have far to go to visit Sierra.
I love these 90's histories that involve married people getting into adventure games or any game development. Sounds like a nice way to live
Both disappointed and happy that you were, finally, unable to clear the Persons of Lordly Caliber tier in a single breath. It's the end of an era, but here's to many more years of growth and success for the channel! Congratulations, you've truly earned it.
Thank you Valkyrie, it was indeed a bittersweet moment 🥲
Ultima is a series that I've been interested in but never got around to actually playing, so thank you for making these retrospectives on one of the most historically important RPGs, especially since it seems to have become semi-obscure today.
My pleasure! The goal is to have something interesting for existing fans while also serving as a surrogate for people who find the older games unapproachable. Hopefully the video served its purpose for you!
Always a pleasure, Majuular. Your content is internet comfort food for older folk like me. Here's to many more!
You're too kind, cheers Agreias!
I did not know Richard Garriot was responsible for big box games. What a legend.
But then you could argue that makes him indirectly responsible for Stonekeep, and thus history's greatest monster
Video Game Documentaries are always fascinating to me and your are just perfect to me. 90% information and 10% jokes. I can't stand that so many try to flip those percentages.
I just got in from single digit temperature weather and I am happy that I sat down in time for another warming Majuular video
I'm just glad that we finally have a proper modern alternative to Spoony's ancient series on Ultima.
_Edit: Spoony's series is still good, and the best thing he ever made by far. It's just nice to have this as well, and both series are good alternatives to each other. They're too different in tone and style for me to call them "companion" works though._
BETRAAAYYYYAL. BETRAYED ME.
Why? His videos hold up very well
Companion piece, not an alternative!
@@666slateran666 Maj's first Ultima video actually gave me a clear impression of how Akalabeth played. Spoony's only gave me a vague one.
@@666slateran666not really. This retrospective is far more informative. Spoony's were entertaining at the time, but that age of internet humor was... well it was pretty shit tbh. There isn't much more to them.
That intro music to your videos has become so important to the experience. I love it.
Do you have any idea where it (or the video) is from? I'd love to find it!
Majuurlar has quickly become my favorite person to listen to, that also happens to select topics/games that i'd be curios about. pure bliss.
Good to see more channels picking up on Ultima after the trailblaizing vids by the late Spoony character. A supremely informative vid, well-made, and hopefully brings attention to both the seminal game series and standout content creators of years past.
Thank you for making this series. I've truly been enjoying watching these. I had no idea Garriot has ever crossed paths with Roberta in any capacity. Now we can add King's Quest to things I whine about you talking about because you summoned it back up to my memory.
I'll be honest. This channel probably has the greatest intro in all of youtube.
Honestly I just enjoy whatever you make. As long as you have passion about it and that comes through in the video, it's always going to be interesting to me.
I can confirm, all hobbits are from Duluth, Minnesota! Another great video on such an interesting series, I didn't realize Ultima 2 may have influenced big box games - truly a lost art in video game packaging now.
Majuular, I just like your voice. You could read the phonebook and I'd listen. Keep up the good work!
You're gonna love my upcoming Yellow Pages retrospective.
Yellow Pages 1? Or are you doing the whole series??
Great vid as always. Only knew the series by name, never actually saw gameplay or coverage and honestly, it's so charming. Something about the stick figure characters in a mostly "void" black land and the stores and inns being spelled in giant letters is giving me nostalgia for an era i never knew. I wouldn't mind playing a game like this (only yknow, without the bugs) after how many 3d titles i've suffered lol
Such a great video. You didn't even *have* to address the whole Sierra thing, but you did and it's always nice to hear others praise good ol' Ken and Roberta.
If there's one thing I love about Spoony's and yours retrospective is showing why I love GOG
Hey, Majuular! I just discovered your channel this last week and I wanted to let you know just how much I've been enjoying your videos. The Tales of Symphonia 2 Review in particular had me laughing really hard. Can't wait to sit down and watch this one, too!
I'm 37 and some of my fondest childhood memories involve sitting on my father's lap while he played Ultama 7 the black gate...😊
A few years ago I went back and played all the old Ultima games. It's been fun seeing your analysis.
Boy I sure love it when Lazarus De Lis links to my favorite videogame Documentary man:Majuular!
Rainy day, cup of hot cocoa, and Majuular. Truly the best way to spend an evening.
I played SO many sierra games when i was a kid, they really were a powerhouse for adventure games back in the day.
I have fond memories of investing hours and hours playing Ultima 2 back when it came out, but until now had no idea about all the background to its creation. Great video!
Way back in '89 lived in Florida. Kid that lived next door's dad had a PC. First time I ever saw one. They had a bunch of Sierra games. We played them constantly.
I love how your explicit flavor of retrospective video essays has come to include the stuff going on in the real world surrounding the game. It really does flow well, and makes the investment in the game portion of the video that much stronger!
I cannot get enough of your videos. Another great one dude!!
Thank you for creating such great content. I just find these videos so cozy, they really warm my dusty old bones full of green dust.
Caleb's bullying continues to take its toll. Thank you for the compliment!
So many memories, I am pretty sure I completed Ultima II in the mid to late 80's as a teen, I definitely recall the PITA of landing the rocket and how awesome getting the plane was and who could forget the Blue Tassles! All a very long time ago.
Ohoho boy, time to rewatch the Akalabeth and Ultima Retrospective to give myself more context for the Ultima II video! Hell yeah.
Thank you for all that you do, Majuular. Your videos are a labor of love and I appreciate that.
5 minutes in and I can already tell this documentary is excellent. Kudos on all the Ken and Roberta Williams footage.
its wild how interesting i find these stories to be. Not to take away anything from your research and script writing but the actual source material of the creation of these companies and games is crazy sometimes.
I'm with you. There are times while deep-diving for these videos that I stumble across a scan of an original design document or something. There are few things more exciting to me than digging up a crucial piece of context that was almost lost to time. It's like seeing history occur in real time. Same thing with old staff photos and whatnot. I cannot overstate how important Internet Archive is for keeping this material alive.
Literally just watched the Ultima 1 video earlier today, this is amazing timing!
All of these years later and I still can't get over the pomposity of Lord British, lmao. Thanks for the god-tier level work as always, Maj. Hope 2024 is going swimmingly for you and Jess thus far!
Hell yeah! Perfect timing - it just started snowing outside where I'm at for maximum comfy levels.
Wow we're getting into Ultima now?? Ready to have a cozy snowed in evening
I can’t describe the comfort that videos like this bring.
OMG how did I miss this channel all this time
I’ve never played an Ultima game, but your presentation of the history has hooked me. I can’t wait to find out what “Lord British”goes on to do the next episode.
Despite all the videos I've seen about King's Quest, I feel like I learned more about the background of Sierra than I have from any of those and it's not even the main topic of this video.
I'm so glad that Richard Garriott pushed ahead with developing Ultima 2 instead of finishing his classes. I can't imagine the world we'd be in today in regards to RPGs and games in general if Ultima never went beyond the first entry.
What a time to be alive. A great video as I woke up, got ready for, and drove to work. Thanks man. Your videos are always something I look forward to.
Thank you for your commitment, both to your craft and to a foundational series of games!
You, my dude, surprise me. Ultima 2?! Respect.
Another Majsterpiece!! I always love seeing Roberta Williams featured - the industry is such a boys' club it's easy to forget the pioneering women within it. Here's to a 100k soon & keep up the good work 🥳
Roberta is a heroine. Deserves more recognition for her contribution to classic adventure gaming
Don't forget Jane Jensen! She wrote Gabriel Knight and was heavily involved in K's Quest VI.
What a perfect video for a cold cold night. Thanks!
Every upload we slink closer to U IV: Quest of the Majuular.
Your first ultima video was really entertaining. Hope to see you cover the rest of the series.
Bro
I really appreciate your content.
Thank you for what you put together
Thank YOU for watching!
I just spent the weekend sick with the flu and I cannot tell you how comforting it was to randomly wake up to bits of your vids while nodding in and out of consciousness!
Dude, this documentarian style is absolutely amazing and I can't help but devour everything you're putting out lately. Bless you for all the hard work you do.
Wow what timing! I’m playing through the ultimate series for the first time and am currently on 4.
Looking forward to your retrospective of it, I would love a modern take of the idea.
If anyone can top the Spoony reviews of this series, it's this guy.
Wooo! I'm snowed in at work so a new majular is just want I needed!
Blue Tassels are only dropped by thieves, and the tassels aren't consumed when you commandeer a ship. (At least I've never seen that happen.)
But I love this nonetheless. Ultima II was my first Ultima, and while I don't have a favorite, U2 has s special place in my heart.
Thanks for the correction, I'm not sure how I mixed that info up! Glad you enjoyed the video, U2 is one hell of a place to start the series.
From the content, I'm guessing you read Ken's book or at least had a synopsis of it. While seeing that side of Sierra was interesting, I really wish Roberta would release her own book as the creative aspect of the company would probably be interesting to most people. Most of Ken's book was "I did a business!"
You're correct, most of my Sierra information came from a small handful of books (including Ken's). A book from Roberta's perspective would be a valuable counterweight, especially considering she had a much more creative role. Most interviews with her tend to go over the same big moments in Sierra's history.
I found your channel a week or so ago, and, with the quality of all your videos, i found it hard to believe your channel has only been around for a relatively short time. Been binging your videos. Keep it up!
After hearing so much about Ultima Underworld's influence and just now learning from you that 7 og Ultima games even exist, I'm super excited for the rest of this retrospective series. Its weird to think how different yet similar these games are to what they inspired.
I just wanted to say that I'm really loving how thorough and informative this series has been. One of those rare success stories for the algorithm recommending me videos to watch.
Wow. That was really interesting! As a huge Ultima IV fan from my early teens, I guess I knew very little about Ultima II.
Learning about Sierra and Richards relationship with them was a big bonus.
Thank you for taking time to make this!
Thank you for making niche videos with chill vibes. They are the perfect frame for a enjoying a quiet snowy morning while sipping a cup of coffee.
Bruh. Great video. Sierra was such a big part of my childhood.
After this I’m gona head back to spoony to watch the whole series again. It’s always great to hear more perspectives on the history of a game like ultima
Your videos save me from going insane on slow nights during the graveyard shift. Appreciate the work you do!
The intro always gets me so hyped, I cant explain it 🤣🔥
Been watching your stuff since Harvester and this is absolutely amazing. Thank you for all your hard work
Absolutely loving this deep dive into Ultima. I've only ever dabbled in some of the older titles but it's always been incredibly compelling, full of a mix of mystery and creativity. I especially love the look at the history surrounding the games themselves, it's always been one of my favorite topics learning about the people behind some of the most influential games of all time. Keep it up, your content is definitely some of my favorite on the platform.
The intro to this definitely reinforces my belief that you could narrate literally anything and make it engaging!
Thanks for the quality content - I hope you're still having fun and not pushing too hard to be this prolific
Omg. Only Spoony has ever done this well. You are the chosen one, Maj!
Not to sound like every other comment but damn the internet is sleeping on your content homie as a person of a certain vintage and lover of rpgs you've quickly become one of my favorite channels. Thank you 👍
I drop everything when a new Majuular drops!
Dog, I regularly look forward to your content. It's currently -21 here in Canadaland and I'm wrapped up in blankets about to start this video. Thank you for being consistently awesome!
Thanks boss! I'm reporting in from Manitoba so you won't have a hard time convincing me how crucial it is to have comfy winter content 😅
I love the history of the publishers, developers and dev process on each of your videos, def my favourite part of each upload! 😊❤ Keep up the great work! 🎉🎉🎉
Always so hyped to see one of your videos in my sub box!! And i’m super interested in this topic in particular, Ultima was a bit before my time so it’s cool to see the games explored in digestible detail.
First new retrospective since I subscribed, so excited!
We make myths and stories about all these random chances and events that heroes walk into. And I'm always just giddy whenever I learn about real life instances of these things happening.
"So yeah his brother turned out to be getting a masters degree in video game publishing, a new field." Is just something that makes me laugh. In fiction that wouldn't be believable, it'd be considered lazy writing. But this shit happens all the time in the real world and it really does make me love how crazy life can be.
What an EPIC video and a masterful ending!
This brings back memories. I started with Ultima III on the Atari and played Ultima I and II soon after. Ultima II is a glorious, janky mess. It is a crazy mix of ideas that probably shouldn't all have been brought together in the same game. I had so much fun with it back in the day, and I still revisit it on occasion. The PC version with the mod that fixes the worst of the problems is the best way to play it now. The grind is hellish, but the game world is fun to explore even to this day, and I love the bizarre pop culture references. Time Bandits was a favorite movie of mine back in the day, so I certainly appreciate the connection. The idea of the time portals would go on to evolve into the moon gates that were a major element of the game going forward. Ultima II may be something of a failed experiment, but it was important in the development of the series. Fans of the later games should check it out. You would have to be a glutton for punishment (or use a hex editor) to actually finish the game, but it is an experience unlike any other.
Another amazing Majuular upload right when this tired mama needed it!!! ❤❤❤
Loving the industry history associated with this 'Ultima Retrospective' series.
I really appreciate all the context these videos have. It's very interesting to learn some things I didn't know about the period as well as about the games themselves.
Oh man, I already know this is gonna be good
As someone who will never play these games, I'm so grateful for your coverage of this series/history
Majuular’s intro is gold and everytime I see it I get pumped!
The fact that content of this quality is pumped out so fast by a channel that isnt even 2 years old blows my mind. You are an inspiration mate, keep it up!
Who'd expect this bonus history lesson on my favourite game making company Sierra Online hidden inside an Ultima retrospective?! Amazing work! 😍🥰😍
Your passion for gaming and game history is just uplifting Maj. Always enjoy these trips through time and nostalgia.