Nobody: Dupre in Ultima 2: [propose you a duck on Jupiter] ...I f*cking love the lore and sprite art of those games, would be REALLY glad to play them one day.
Spoony one was so good. He really was the best of that era of video essayists, and basically pioneered this genre for people like mandilore gaming and civie11. Hell his videos hold up pretty well even today.
I never watched Spoony in his hay day. I only saw all the drama surrounding him then I watched all his ultima videos and they fantastic. It’s interesting to look at it as a sort of man outside looking in
It almost feels like Spoony is as synonymous with the Ultima brand nowdays as British himself. You can't discuss the games without mentioning him in some part. I myself got into western RPGs (and tabletops as an extension) through his coverage of the Ultima games. I don't think it's a stretch to say that at least 1/4th the amount of people who learned of the Ultima games post-Ascension Trilogy probably did so because of him.
Strangely despite the series being extremely influential & me being someone that loves in-depth videos about games, the only person I’ve ever watched talk at length about Ultima is Spoony like 10+ years ago. It’s always seemed like Ultima is just… too old, like the people that really appreciated it just aren’t around games anymore. At 43 years old, even Spoony was just a baby when Ultima I released. Maybe it’s just highly impenetrable for later generations of gamers. I’ve honestly got no clue, but I’m interested to see what you say!
I think you're onto something there. There is something sort of obtuse about these games (even in their simplicity), which makes sense considering the circumstances under which they were made. It was one young guy taking for granted that people would spend many long hours at their computers, dying in-game and restarting until they understood. The ebbs & flows of the early games are strange. You can't really write an effective walkthrough for Akalabeth, or even Ultima to an extent, because you just win by... playing. It's sort of a silent-movie era for games. The best way to develop an appreciation for it is growing up with it. Short of that, you kind of have to just "put up with it" until you can immerse yourself in the time when it was made. Understandably, the average adult gamer, with such limited free time in the day, doesn't want to "put up" with a game until they appreciate it - they want to play something and enjoy themselves. That may part of the reason why the appreciation for early Ultima remains more of a distant tip-of-the-cap, rather than something we have 800,000 videos on already.
I'm 26 and these sorts of games speak to my soul. My dad was really into programming in the 90s, and he taught me QuickBasic as a kid - so I used to spend hours on our Windows 98 making fantasy rpg text adventures. Ultima is so obviously born from that exact same creative desire - so I totally connect with it, on a deep level, it's just the logical outcome of a kid who loves roleplaying fantasy having access to a programming language. So I completely appreciate this kind of game, the passion in them is so clear, it's messy and imperfect but it is a true labor of love and I think we don't get to see that as much with the way games are produced right now.
It was mentioned in the replies as well, but speaking from experience, impenetrability is absolutely the biggest hurdle facing the Ultima games - though I'd argue the earlier games (3/4/5) are actually a little easier to digest than the bigger, fancier ones (like 6 and 7)! A big part of the issue is that the controls are, for all intents and purposes, a completely different beast. Moving around with the arrow keys is fine, and using the text parser is intuitive enough, but it's everything else that really takes a lot of time to figure out. The GOG releases actively provide you with a PDF of a reference card, just so you can easily check your hotkeys, and if that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does. Wandering aimlessly around the map is nice, but actually trying to navigate and accomplish things? That's where the trouble begins. The fascinating thing to me is how the exploration aspect is actually *more* manageable in 4 and 5, compared to later games. Those games keep world-maps and town-maps separate, so going in and out of areas is relatively distinct. 6/7 use a more... "Morrowind"-esqe system, where the entire overworld and its towns are accessible with no interruptions. Buuuut that also means the camera is more zoomed-in, and in general it just felt harder to play for me. It's weird.
The later games, especially 7 were much more accessible and popular. I was born in the late 80s and when my brother got a computer in 96, we also got copies of 7 and 8. They had quite an amount of floppy disks.
Oh this is wonderful! I've never had experience with Ultima or Akalabeth in particular but I've played my fair share of text based adventures and MUDs even as a teen in the 2000s and there's something really magical about that experience. When the systems are so primitive the imagination absolutely sores, you really do get that tabletop style immersion. It's also so cool to see how the first person dungeon crawling translated across the world to games like Megami Tensei almost 1 for 1. (Also this comment section is awesome right now, so cool to see so many people talking about such old, games)
I was introduced to the Ultima series through Spoony, whose own childhood with technology reflected my own. It is so wonderful to see a more indepth retrospective that Noah probaby didn't have the time or resources for, so thank you!
That whole series is a pretty substantive review in terms of minutes and content, with additional effort for unrelated comedy bits (for better or worse) and a truly personal revelation at the end of the series. Someone throwing up an XX minute longer vid than another one from a decade ago when the entire landscape was different hardly constitutes as "didn't have time or resources for". But, I get that TH-cam comments about Spoony have to be negative. It's like part of the sign up process or some shit. You did your part.
@@simondaniel4028spooky one, without a single bit of exaggeration, was the best of that era of video essayists. He was like mandilore gaming or civvi11 before they existed. Literally the majority of his videos hold up today.
@@simondaniel4028real talk. Spoony one’s controversy’s was not big of a deal. He basically burn out and crashed hard due to a obsessive hatedom he has that still harassing him today. It’s a shame. If he didn’t crash that hard he would likely of benefited from the TTRPG renaissance happening now and succeed through patron.
@@simondaniel4028 I didn't mean it as a slight to Spoony or his series. He gave an excellent overview and I still enjoy them to this day, along with his other series of reviews and wish nothing but the best of him. Noah is a happy cornerstone in my memories of youtube and I am happy to see him branching out with the Phantasmagoria actors. I hope that clears up some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of what I had typed.
This was a wonderfully measured look at the foundations of the genre. Definitely a bit removed from your normal style, but when discussing the games themselves your little asides and commentary brought it in line with the rest of your content. I hope this video does well, because I'm very intrigued to hear you discuss the history of this series in an equally grounded way. You have a knack for it.
Thanks so much Andrew. I'm always a little nervous making something outside of my wheelhouse, but I feel like it's helping me become a better writer (and a more thorough researcher).
This was a delight to watch, and i even learned something new about Garriot. He's always been a celebrity in my eyes, and yet somehow, I missed that he's from my home state.
I’m currently on my first play through of Baldur’s Gate 3 - seeing how far CRPGs have come from Akalabeth to BG3 is WILD. Great and informative video. I’ve been binging all your content over the last couple of weeks and love it! Thanks!
I've never played any of the games, and honestly don't think I ever will, but this video has made me pretty nostalgic, cause my introduction to the Ultima Series was Spoony. I had started watching him through his movie reviews, like Reb Brown movies and so on, and then I watched his review of the Big Trouble in Little China game and realized he did game reviews to, so I looked through his channel, and found the first video on his Ultima retrospective series. Watched all of them with in a week. It's a shame what happened to him, I don't know much about the drama that lead to him quitting, all I know is I kept seeing conflicting arguments on whose fault it was, Spoony's or someone else's
I was born in the early 90s and got my first PC when I was around 11. Didn't have much Internet back then, but I remember reading about Ultima back in school on Wikipedia. I was hooked. Was always a LOTR fan since I was 6 so I definitely understand the love of fantasy!
Wow, what in the world? Very recently I have... 1) Run out of Majuular vids and thought "Hope he updates soon." 2) Been wistfully thinking about the early Ultima games and considering a revisit. Then this vid drops? Crazy.
You've got a way of telling the stories of games and the development behind them that breathe some real life into their history and the experiences you have with them, and seeing you branch out into something that'll be this sort of long-form multi-video series retrospective is extremely exciting. This is a good one, and I'm pumped to see where it goes!
I would pay a million love units for some modern attempts on Ultima-style games... my old favorite holdout of the genre Spiderweb Software has long since shifted its aesthetic and design away from those origins, and that has left a void unfilled. Edit: This is a lovely look at Ultima '0' and 1 but also a fascinating glimpse of the early days of the burgeoning CRPG genre. It's inspiring to see someone like Garriott find success by following his passion and exploring new ideas. This stuff is right up my alley, I can't wait for more!
Just rewatched this. Can't believe it's been 11 months and the series has me more gripped than ever! I remember watching the old Spoony series as it came out. Ultima 7 and 8 seemed like the top of the mountain, and I can't wait to see you talk about those soon. Thanks, Majuular!
I just want you to know how much I appreciate this video. Spoony's Ultima reviews are a classic, but they're hard to watch these days. I would kill for you to someday go through them all. Instant fan of the channel.
The intro is so satisfying to listen to, i have to play the first 10 or so seconds multiple times before i can actually start the video. I will be watching this entire video multiple times, just like the King's field video.
I'm pretty critical when a video starts talking about some of the great ancient classics of my youth, but this is definitely one of the best I've watched. Garriott's cultural contributions to gaming are incalculable.
Thank you! I try to be very efficient with my workload. It's also very satisfying work for me, so I don't have an aversion to writing, recording & editing with a lot of my free time (much to my girlfriend's chagrin).
I don't pop into the comments as often as I should, but I just had to say this was a killer video. Especially the origin story and seeing the influence of tabletop on the creator. It was kind of heartwarming! I was introduced to dnd later than I would've liked and hearing about someone else's experiences fueling their creativity just reminded me of my dnd group and how grateful I am to get to have that shared interactive fantasy. Seriously, great work on the video, and looking forward to the next installments!
@@s0urp0wer5 yeah the bits from the early 00s get old but that series did come with a Richard Gariot Interview I hope fans of this channel check out. Both great for different reasons really.
Would love for this to continue. Ultima has always fascinated me (I stumbled through 4 and 7) and you brought a really refreshing comprehension to it all. Cheers!
I've grown into really loving 'filling in the blanks'. I dunno, there's just something really fun about creating your own tales over having to follow a predefined story rich quest that you're more a guiding hand to vs being the main character and principle actor.
It's amazing to me that you could create a deep dive of this length on these games. The first page of your script probably doubles the word count of both games combined. As a rapidly aging gamer, I'm very excited.
I just foudn this video. OMG, I am SO HAPPY to see a video talking about how mind-blowingly influential and legendary the Ultima series is to RPGs as a whole. Like yes, several hour-plus videos are absolutely what it would take to describe everything that went into that series and how many ways it advanced the genre, videogames as whole, and our ideas of fantasy.
Having never played any of the Ultima games, the use of Runescape music has really helped solidify the tone of this game alongside your descriptions. Which is really cool I think. Does make me want to chop trees for 17 hours though...
I've watches many videos about Ultima over the years, ok maybe not that many, but this is the first where I actually learned more about the game then just the story itself. It's always a pleasure to learn with your videos.
I'm going to sleep so soundly to this and then listen to the bits I missed on my walk to work. Thank Mr Majuular for your hard work and consistent quality! Always look forward to these
I have had a very not great day, so logging in to find a video from one of my favorite creators on a topic I’m always interested in has been just the win I needed.
It's crazy. As a teen, I was writing games in BASIC on my Amstrad for my friends. But even then, my games were way behind professional games of the era. Still, my wireless mazes, text adventures, tile-based platformers and space sims were half decent. But kids grabbing Godot now are compared to AAA billion-dollar games. It's hard for them. Heck, it's hard for me. The expectations are so high that I don't even have fun writing simple games in PyGame.
Also to remember that, in 1980, “real job” was doctor, lawyer, accountant, heck even factory jobs - “computer programmer” or “game designer” was not in the public mindset as a “real job” much as “social media influencer” was not just 15 years ago.
For context his dad was an astronaut and he literally had access to a NASA computer which I would imagine put him in very elite company from the start. There’s a certain word now pejoratively considered “woke” that would describe his path to becoming a programmer back then.
Man, Ultima 7 was my childhood. Amazing video! I would absolutely love to see a retrospective on all the Ultima games and their development, even if the later games (from 5 onwards, iirc) aren't exactly groundbreaking in all respects anymore as the earlier ones might have been.
Awesome video, I love the Ultima series ever since I played the free release of Ultima IV on GOG, they have gone on to be some of my favorite games despite thier anachronisms.
Always a good day when Majuular uploads. I also wanted to tell you that because of your King's Field video I ended up finally sitting down and playing through Dark Souls 2 for the first time. I hated it the first time I played it, but just like you said in the video, I went back to it and it was one of my favorite gaming moments this year. Thanks Maj.
Thank you so much for the support Plip, I really appreciate it 😄 Sometimes it helps to have a certain lens or angle to respect something in a way you didn't previously (sometimes begrudgingly). I was never the biggest fan of the first Metal Gear Solid, but coming back to it recently, I had so much fun playing it that I immediately started again after the credits rolled. Time does strange things to our tastes & preferences. Anyway, thanks again!
@@Majuularmetal gear solid was my very first video game. It took me a very long time but it definitely made a mark on me in both the arts and personally
If only I could share the same sentiment when it comes to DS2. I still hate it with a passion no matter how many times I try to give it a genuine chance and with different viewpoints/mindset.
Majuular I just have to comment to say I thank you for the hard work you‘re putting into your videos they honestly make my day that much more bearable believe it or not please keep on keeping on 👍
That lute player at the 27:06 mark is none other than Jan Akkerman of the Dutch prog rock band Focus who had a big hit with "Hocus Pocus". He was primarily a guitarist, but he would occasionally play lute both in Focus and his solo ventures. The music played on that brief section wasn't Focus, but Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird".
I just watched Spoony's retrospective from back in the day, so this was a pleasant thing to find this morning. Fits nicely into my CRPG binge of late. You make these ancient games seem fairly intriguing, when it's always felt like they were too frustrating and archaic to ever bother with. Even the Spoony videos gave that impression, as funny as they could be. But this video put into perspective how cool some of that stuff actually was, like the ladder spell to go between floors and circumvent puzzles, or the weird space section with entirely different controls. It's no easy feat for me to look at a video about a game from the early 80s and wish modern releases had some of those features. Where's the extended space sim Freelancer segment in Baldur's Gate 3, you hacks???
This video was a nostalgia trip, but not for these games specifically, but for listening to Spoony talk about his experiences with this series. Nice to hear your more detailed accounting now.
@@Awoken_Remmuz it was pretty cool that it culminated with him getting to hang out with Richard Garriott. It was a nice, wholesome capstone to the video series. I don’t think those videos are up anymore. The review videos are mostly up, but him going to Lord British’s estate I think are long gone.
Very keen on the sort of biographical angle you're taking on this one. Taking about media from 40+ years ago is much more compelling, grounded in the human experience
Nice to hear you referencing Matt Barton. I own his book "Dungeons & Desktops", great read! And great video! Also nice to see you doing a very thorough take on an Ultima retrospective. I enjoyed Spoony in the day but those vids didn't age that well in my opinion. Can't wait to see what's next.
Like i said in your stream, i find Ultima endlessly facinating as it is such a huge an obvious inspiration for many modern RPGs. I love Finak Fantasu and it's creator Sakaguchi constantly references Dragon Quest and Ultima as inspirations for his games (interesting fact: D&D and football were also inspirations for combat). It interesting to see how this series branched and influenced future games and how they evolved ideas presented in Ultima. Great video as usual Majuular. Edit: Great use of the starfox 64 stage selection music
Nothing, compares to that feeling when i find a majulaar video i forgot to watch. Keep it up fella, ive watched a lot of youtube in my time, but you sir are quickly becoming my favorite.
This is genuinely one of the best gaming retrospectives out there. It feels like a documentary. Super informative, interesting, good story-telling, and all the fat-trimmed out! Everything within it served a purpose of telling a compelling narrative of the creator and the game alike. Great job man.
This was fantastic, thank you! I can’t wait for the other entries in the series. I really love this history of gaming content, especially with games like Ultima (and Wizardry) that are the progenitors of so many other RPGs!
I met one of the guys who worked on those old school orange RPG games. It's weird meeting a piece of living history! He didn't really see it that way. lol
I’m only 18 minutes into this but I’m hoping you have plans to talk about even more Ultima. Spoony’s Retrospective is fine, but I’m jonesing for something new and different and your style is the best of those who’ve talked about Ultima. Excellent work, keep it up!
You are releasing videos too fast for me to start rewatching them because I have no new videos of yours to watch. You're filling the Running Shine shaped hole in my heart, Maju-ular.
Holy shit. About 4 hours ago I saw Akalabeth in my GoG list and though "I wish someone I followed would make a vid on that so I don't have to play it." And here you are!
Of all the slightly unorthodox comments I get, "I don't care about this thing but you make it interesting" and "I've fallen asleep to this video every night for the last 6 months" are my favorites.
thank you for showing me this piece of history about the media that I love so much man, very good research that I would never do myself, and for that thank you very much
Majuular talking aobut Ultima?! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO! Watching Spoony's retrospective on the series (mainly the compilation version of it) was what make me greatly hyped on this series beyond knowing that it existed, was influencial, that Ultima Underworld gived birth to the Immersive Sim genre, and that the Savage Lands was an Ultima game who exists. Even if don't have enough focus (or potential pc space, I think) to buy at least some of those games, I'll be really glad to play some of them one day. Reading the Ultima Codex wiki and look at the pictures on it is a trip, ngl. I even did pixel art in a style inspired by the graphical style of the Ultima series up to 4 with a preference to Ultima 3 for the hud. Good luck on the rest of the Age of Darkness and beyond, Majuular!
This might be your best video yet, your writing, presentation, technical ability with editing, just everything has just been on a stellar upwards trajectory. I'm excited to see where you go next.
this video was amazing man fucking loving the games you've been covering you have some of the best game taste amongst all the video game essayist youtubers for sure
I am looking forward to this retrospective on all ultima games because they always interested me but I don't have the time & energy to go through and play through 13 retro rpgs nowadays.
Man, seeing those massive boxes of rpgs struck me with such nostalgia, I really wish to see something like that today (too bad game pricing is absolutely bonkers nowadays). I was really happy when I found my boxes of BG1, Fallout, and PS:T.
One of, if not THE best video youve made so far. Your videos just get better and better tbh. I cant wait for part 2. I hope one day you do a video on the might and magic series.
As I come back to rewatch these again before my second viewing of the newest installment, I have to point out my appreciation that your playlist is in release order. You have no idea how many channels I watch that don't do this.
You know I was just thinking about this series hoping someone else on youtube did a long retrospective on it & lo & behold my subscription feed showed me this. Going to be cool seeing this retrospective unfold.
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
The fact that Garriott was originally a frustrated astronaut explains _so much_ about the earliest Ultima games.
Nobody:
Dupre in Ultima 2: [propose you a duck on Jupiter]
...I f*cking love the lore and sprite art of those games, would be REALLY glad to play them one day.
Holy shit... It REALLY does...
Of course he finally did follow in his dad's footsteps and go into space which pleased his dad I'm sure.
It was probably helped that early D&D games were a lot less miserly with sci-fi elements than modern ones. Lots of weird shit going on in Blackmoor.
@@gadellomagnollo1810 Dragonriders of Pern also existed which is a science fantasy book series
This was a really, REALLY well-done documentary! I like your sense of humor a lot. A+!
Damn, I remember watching Spoony's retrospectives of Ultima. That feels like an age ago, thank you for the time warp.
Spoony one was so good. He really was the best of that era of video essayists, and basically pioneered this genre for people like mandilore gaming and civie11.
Hell his videos hold up pretty well even today.
That was age ago!😭
I never watched Spoony in his hay day. I only saw all the drama surrounding him then I watched all his ultima videos and they fantastic. It’s interesting to look at it as a sort of man outside looking in
It almost feels like Spoony is as synonymous with the Ultima brand nowdays as British himself. You can't discuss the games without mentioning him in some part. I myself got into western RPGs (and tabletops as an extension) through his coverage of the Ultima games. I don't think it's a stretch to say that at least 1/4th the amount of people who learned of the Ultima games post-Ascension Trilogy probably did so because of him.
I feel nostalgic for this video purely because of spoony
i cannot wait to watch this video like 15 times over and over again
Oh honestly mood. Majular is def one of my go-tos for comfortable voice to listen too.
Yes
Me too
Same
*raises hand*
Some nerd making his dream RPG with his mom drawing the little artbook is very nice and wholesome
Strangely despite the series being extremely influential & me being someone that loves in-depth videos about games, the only person I’ve ever watched talk at length about Ultima is Spoony like 10+ years ago. It’s always seemed like Ultima is just… too old, like the people that really appreciated it just aren’t around games anymore. At 43 years old, even Spoony was just a baby when Ultima I released. Maybe it’s just highly impenetrable for later generations of gamers. I’ve honestly got no clue, but I’m interested to see what you say!
I think you're onto something there. There is something sort of obtuse about these games (even in their simplicity), which makes sense considering the circumstances under which they were made. It was one young guy taking for granted that people would spend many long hours at their computers, dying in-game and restarting until they understood. The ebbs & flows of the early games are strange. You can't really write an effective walkthrough for Akalabeth, or even Ultima to an extent, because you just win by... playing. It's sort of a silent-movie era for games. The best way to develop an appreciation for it is growing up with it. Short of that, you kind of have to just "put up with it" until you can immerse yourself in the time when it was made. Understandably, the average adult gamer, with such limited free time in the day, doesn't want to "put up" with a game until they appreciate it - they want to play something and enjoy themselves. That may part of the reason why the appreciation for early Ultima remains more of a distant tip-of-the-cap, rather than something we have 800,000 videos on already.
I'm 26 and these sorts of games speak to my soul. My dad was really into programming in the 90s, and he taught me QuickBasic as a kid - so I used to spend hours on our Windows 98 making fantasy rpg text adventures.
Ultima is so obviously born from that exact same creative desire - so I totally connect with it, on a deep level, it's just the logical outcome of a kid who loves roleplaying fantasy having access to a programming language.
So I completely appreciate this kind of game, the passion in them is so clear, it's messy and imperfect but it is a true labor of love and I think we don't get to see that as much with the way games are produced right now.
@@brynnplant your comment gives me hope for the future youngling. 👍
It was mentioned in the replies as well, but speaking from experience, impenetrability is absolutely the biggest hurdle facing the Ultima games - though I'd argue the earlier games (3/4/5) are actually a little easier to digest than the bigger, fancier ones (like 6 and 7)!
A big part of the issue is that the controls are, for all intents and purposes, a completely different beast. Moving around with the arrow keys is fine, and using the text parser is intuitive enough, but it's everything else that really takes a lot of time to figure out. The GOG releases actively provide you with a PDF of a reference card, just so you can easily check your hotkeys, and if that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does. Wandering aimlessly around the map is nice, but actually trying to navigate and accomplish things? That's where the trouble begins.
The fascinating thing to me is how the exploration aspect is actually *more* manageable in 4 and 5, compared to later games. Those games keep world-maps and town-maps separate, so going in and out of areas is relatively distinct. 6/7 use a more... "Morrowind"-esqe system, where the entire overworld and its towns are accessible with no interruptions. Buuuut that also means the camera is more zoomed-in, and in general it just felt harder to play for me. It's weird.
The later games, especially 7 were much more accessible and popular. I was born in the late 80s and when my brother got a computer in 96, we also got copies of 7 and 8. They had quite an amount of floppy disks.
Oh this is wonderful!
I've never had experience with Ultima or Akalabeth in particular but I've played my fair share of text based adventures and MUDs even as a teen in the 2000s and there's something really magical about that experience. When the systems are so primitive the imagination absolutely sores, you really do get that tabletop style immersion. It's also so cool to see how the first person dungeon crawling translated across the world to games like Megami Tensei almost 1 for 1.
(Also this comment section is awesome right now, so cool to see so many people talking about such old, games)
I was introduced to the Ultima series through Spoony, whose own childhood with technology reflected my own. It is so wonderful to see a more indepth retrospective that Noah probaby didn't have the time or resources for, so thank you!
That whole series is a pretty substantive review in terms of minutes and content, with additional effort for unrelated comedy bits (for better or worse) and a truly personal revelation at the end of the series. Someone throwing up an XX minute longer vid than another one from a decade ago when the entire landscape was different hardly constitutes as "didn't have time or resources for".
But, I get that TH-cam comments about Spoony have to be negative. It's like part of the sign up process or some shit. You did your part.
@@simondaniel4028Where was any negativity towards spoony in that comment? Get the stick out of your ass man
@@simondaniel4028spooky one, without a single bit of exaggeration, was the best of that era of video essayists.
He was like mandilore gaming or civvi11 before they existed. Literally the majority of his videos hold up today.
@@simondaniel4028real talk. Spoony one’s controversy’s was not big of a deal. He basically burn out and crashed hard due to a obsessive hatedom he has that still harassing him today.
It’s a shame. If he didn’t crash that hard he would likely of benefited from the TTRPG renaissance happening now and succeed through patron.
@@simondaniel4028 I didn't mean it as a slight to Spoony or his series. He gave an excellent overview and I still enjoy them to this day, along with his other series of reviews and wish nothing but the best of him. Noah is a happy cornerstone in my memories of youtube and I am happy to see him branching out with the Phantasmagoria actors.
I hope that clears up some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of what I had typed.
As an Okie, anytime Oklahoma comes up in a not entirely negative light I get a little warm feeling inside.
It's a good state for meth addicts :)
Same here, bro. I'm from Tulsa.
Same here my dude.
real af
This was a wonderfully measured look at the foundations of the genre. Definitely a bit removed from your normal style, but when discussing the games themselves your little asides and commentary brought it in line with the rest of your content. I hope this video does well, because I'm very intrigued to hear you discuss the history of this series in an equally grounded way. You have a knack for it.
Thanks so much Andrew. I'm always a little nervous making something outside of my wheelhouse, but I feel like it's helping me become a better writer (and a more thorough researcher).
This was a delight to watch, and i even learned something new about Garriot. He's always been a celebrity in my eyes, and yet somehow, I missed that he's from my home state.
I’m currently on my first play through of Baldur’s Gate 3 - seeing how far CRPGs have come from Akalabeth to BG3 is WILD.
Great and informative video. I’ve been binging all your content over the last couple of weeks and love it! Thanks!
I've never played any of the games, and honestly don't think I ever will, but this video has made me pretty nostalgic, cause my introduction to the Ultima Series was Spoony. I had started watching him through his movie reviews, like Reb Brown movies and so on, and then I watched his review of the Big Trouble in Little China game and realized he did game reviews to, so I looked through his channel, and found the first video on his Ultima retrospective series. Watched all of them with in a week. It's a shame what happened to him, I don't know much about the drama that lead to him quitting, all I know is I kept seeing conflicting arguments on whose fault it was, Spoony's or someone else's
I was born in the early 90s and got my first PC when I was around 11. Didn't have much Internet back then, but I remember reading about Ultima back in school on Wikipedia. I was hooked. Was always a LOTR fan since I was 6 so I definitely understand the love of fantasy!
Wow, what in the world?
Very recently I have...
1) Run out of Majuular vids and thought "Hope he updates soon."
2) Been wistfully thinking about the early Ultima games and considering a revisit.
Then this vid drops? Crazy.
You've got a way of telling the stories of games and the development behind them that breathe some real life into their history and the experiences you have with them, and seeing you branch out into something that'll be this sort of long-form multi-video series retrospective is extremely exciting. This is a good one, and I'm pumped to see where it goes!
Thank you so much. I'm excited too, it's very fulfilling to shine a light on gaming history (for myself AND others)
Great video, I enjoy that this style feels all your own.
I would pay a million love units for some modern attempts on Ultima-style games... my old favorite holdout of the genre Spiderweb Software has long since shifted its aesthetic and design away from those origins, and that has left a void unfilled.
Edit: This is a lovely look at Ultima '0' and 1 but also a fascinating glimpse of the early days of the burgeoning CRPG genre. It's inspiring to see someone like Garriott find success by following his passion and exploring new ideas. This stuff is right up my alley, I can't wait for more!
Dude! What a cool retrospective. As a fellow Ultima nerd it always makes me happy to see the series get the recognition it deserves. Great job!
Just rewatched this. Can't believe it's been 11 months and the series has me more gripped than ever! I remember watching the old Spoony series as it came out. Ultima 7 and 8 seemed like the top of the mountain, and I can't wait to see you talk about those soon. Thanks, Majuular!
I just want you to know how much I appreciate this video. Spoony's Ultima reviews are a classic, but they're hard to watch these days. I would kill for you to someday go through them all. Instant fan of the channel.
Thanks Pat, I'm working on part 2 of this Ultima series as we speak!
The intro is so satisfying to listen to, i have to play the first 10 or so seconds multiple times before i can actually start the video. I will be watching this entire video multiple times, just like the King's field video.
I'm pretty critical when a video starts talking about some of the great ancient classics of my youth, but this is definitely one of the best I've watched. Garriott's cultural contributions to gaming are incalculable.
Jesus how are you keeping such a good upload schedule? Incredible work man
Thank you! I try to be very efficient with my workload. It's also very satisfying work for me, so I don't have an aversion to writing, recording & editing with a lot of my free time (much to my girlfriend's chagrin).
Seriously though... you are taking care of yourself I hope!
The history of the Might and Magic games would make an interesting video.
@@mrmagoo-i2l And what mods have achieved over the years. Its still awe infront of the fact that they can be completely interconnected.
@@Majuularwhen you start having "editing dates", you've passed the point of no return.
Please please please don’t stop making videos like this and kings field.
I don't pop into the comments as often as I should, but I just had to say this was a killer video. Especially the origin story and seeing the influence of tabletop on the creator. It was kind of heartwarming! I was introduced to dnd later than I would've liked and hearing about someone else's experiences fueling their creativity just reminded me of my dnd group and how grateful I am to get to have that shared interactive fantasy. Seriously, great work on the video, and looking forward to the next installments!
Not the comedic showyness of the spony retrospective but defibitely the best and most complete review of this great game.
I honestly prefer this series. Spoony has good takes but the skits etc get really irritating
@@s0urp0wer5 yeah the bits from the early 00s get old but that series did come with a Richard Gariot Interview I hope fans of this channel check out. Both great for different reasons really.
Would love for this to continue. Ultima has always fascinated me (I stumbled through 4 and 7) and you brought a really refreshing comprehension to it all. Cheers!
Oh man this is great. Super stoked for the next entries in this series.
I've grown into really loving 'filling in the blanks'. I dunno, there's just something really fun about creating your own tales over having to follow a predefined story rich quest that you're more a guiding hand to vs being the main character and principle actor.
Going to watch this like 5-6 times while going to bed, slowly progressing through til the end. Thanks for your work!!
It's amazing to me that you could create a deep dive of this length on these games. The first page of your script probably doubles the word count of both games combined.
As a rapidly aging gamer, I'm very excited.
Hahaha, Akalabeth & Ultima 1 are indeed games-of-few-words. I have a feeling that will change quickly in this series. Thanks for watching!
I just foudn this video. OMG, I am SO HAPPY to see a video talking about how mind-blowingly influential and legendary the Ultima series is to RPGs as a whole. Like yes, several hour-plus videos are absolutely what it would take to describe everything that went into that series and how many ways it advanced the genre, videogames as whole, and our ideas of fantasy.
Having never played any of the Ultima games, the use of Runescape music has really helped solidify the tone of this game alongside your descriptions. Which is really cool I think. Does make me want to chop trees for 17 hours though...
One of the many amazing things about those Mainframe RPGs are the UIs. They're cleaner and have more features than even some of the later PC classics!
I've watches many videos about Ultima over the years, ok maybe not that many, but this is the first where I actually learned more about the game then just the story itself. It's always a pleasure to learn with your videos.
You can always count on learning something new every Majuular video.
I'm going to sleep so soundly to this and then listen to the bits I missed on my walk to work. Thank Mr Majuular for your hard work and consistent quality! Always look forward to these
Hope you had sweet dreams!
Great! As always, the new Majuular video drops in the middle of the night for me.
I'll have to watch it right now, as per usual.
I have had a very not great day, so logging in to find a video from one of my favorite creators on a topic I’m always interested in has been just the win I needed.
Y'know... I'm reminded of Dwarf Fortress when you talk about Akalabeth.
Only that DF had 10+ years of hindsight and computing power to do what it did.
Making a game in under nine months by yourself, making $150,000 and being like 'this is bullshit I need to get a real job' is absolutely wild.
It's crazy. As a teen, I was writing games in BASIC on my Amstrad for my friends. But even then, my games were way behind professional games of the era. Still, my wireless mazes, text adventures, tile-based platformers and space sims were half decent. But kids grabbing Godot now are compared to AAA billion-dollar games. It's hard for them. Heck, it's hard for me. The expectations are so high that I don't even have fun writing simple games in PyGame.
Also to remember that, in 1980, “real job” was doctor, lawyer, accountant, heck even factory jobs - “computer programmer” or “game designer” was not in the public mindset as a “real job” much as “social media influencer” was not just 15 years ago.
For context his dad was an astronaut and he literally had access to a NASA computer which I would imagine put him in very elite company from the start. There’s a certain word now pejoratively considered “woke” that would describe his path to becoming a programmer back then.
3 videos in a span of a month! Nice! Also, I remember Spoony the Experiment covering the Ultima series, so it's nearly nostalgic going into this!
yeah also thinking about Spoony ✨
I have to drop everything to watch new Majuular video.
subscribing! Can't wait for your review of Ultima V - always my fave
Man, Ultima 7 was my childhood. Amazing video! I would absolutely love to see a retrospective on all the Ultima games and their development, even if the later games (from 5 onwards, iirc) aren't exactly groundbreaking in all respects anymore as the earlier ones might have been.
Well here's two games I did not expect to see anytime soon.
Saving this for my lunch break tomorrow.
Awesome video, I love the Ultima series ever since I played the free release of Ultima IV on GOG, they have gone on to be some of my favorite games despite thier anachronisms.
Damn you really about to outdo Spoony’s legendary retrospective right out the gate
Always a good day when Majuular uploads. I also wanted to tell you that because of your King's Field video I ended up finally sitting down and playing through Dark Souls 2 for the first time. I hated it the first time I played it, but just like you said in the video, I went back to it and it was one of my favorite gaming moments this year. Thanks Maj.
Thank you so much for the support Plip, I really appreciate it 😄
Sometimes it helps to have a certain lens or angle to respect something in a way you didn't previously (sometimes begrudgingly). I was never the biggest fan of the first Metal Gear Solid, but coming back to it recently, I had so much fun playing it that I immediately started again after the credits rolled. Time does strange things to our tastes & preferences. Anyway, thanks again!
@@Majuularmetal gear solid was my very first video game. It took me a very long time but it definitely made a mark on me in both the arts and personally
I played DS2 during the great quarantine of 2020. Saying, that it was one your gaming highlights of 2023 must be high praise beyond measure.
If only I could share the same sentiment when it comes to DS2. I still hate it with a passion no matter how many times I try to give it a genuine chance and with different viewpoints/mindset.
@@damearstor2120maybe in another decade. I've had experiences where I replayed old favourites as a kid and started hating it as an adult.
Majuular I just have to comment to say I thank you for the hard work you‘re putting into your videos they honestly make my day that much more bearable believe it or not please keep on keeping on 👍
That lute player at the 27:06 mark is none other than Jan Akkerman of the Dutch prog rock band Focus who had a big hit with "Hocus Pocus". He was primarily a guitarist, but he would occasionally play lute both in Focus and his solo ventures. The music played on that brief section wasn't Focus, but Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird".
I was about to comment the same thing! I'm a huge Focus fan ❤
I just watched Spoony's retrospective from back in the day, so this was a pleasant thing to find this morning. Fits nicely into my CRPG binge of late. You make these ancient games seem fairly intriguing, when it's always felt like they were too frustrating and archaic to ever bother with. Even the Spoony videos gave that impression, as funny as they could be. But this video put into perspective how cool some of that stuff actually was, like the ladder spell to go between floors and circumvent puzzles, or the weird space section with entirely different controls. It's no easy feat for me to look at a video about a game from the early 80s and wish modern releases had some of those features. Where's the extended space sim Freelancer segment in Baldur's Gate 3, you hacks???
Claw Father!
I have a strong feeling that Majuular has no fucking idea who you are to be hearting comments from a shitty Rags rip off.
@@notGeist You mean that loser with the crap podcast?
This video was a nostalgia trip, but not for these games specifically, but for listening to Spoony talk about his experiences with this series. Nice to hear your more detailed accounting now.
Same, just seeing the thumbnail and title made memories of Noah's coverage of the Ultima franchise flood back into my mind.
@@Awoken_Remmuz it was pretty cool that it culminated with him getting to hang out with Richard Garriott. It was a nice, wholesome capstone to the video series. I don’t think those videos are up anymore. The review videos are mostly up, but him going to Lord British’s estate I think are long gone.
Very keen on the sort of biographical angle you're taking on this one. Taking about media from 40+ years ago is much more compelling, grounded in the human experience
This really made me look forward to further episodes in this series. Great job trying something a little new with this one.
So excited for this! Your videos are some of my all time favorites on TH-cam, keep it up!
Man your videos are SO RAD.
Thank you!!!!
You're welcome for watching. Thanks for keeping me company. ✌️
- From a woman listening to this on her Zune.
Nice to hear you referencing Matt Barton. I own his book "Dungeons & Desktops", great read! And great video!
Also nice to see you doing a very thorough take on an Ultima retrospective. I enjoyed Spoony in the day but those vids didn't age that well in my opinion. Can't wait to see what's next.
So excited for Ultima 7-9 and the Underworld Duology!!
9's music was put into UO eventually. Great town themes.
Me too - Ultima Underworld is one of my top 5 PC games of all time :D
BETRAYAL! ;3
*sees video pop up on TH-cam home screen
gets nostalgic for the ol Spoony Ultima retrospectives from the years of old
Like i said in your stream, i find Ultima endlessly facinating as it is such a huge an obvious inspiration for many modern RPGs.
I love Finak Fantasu and it's creator Sakaguchi constantly references Dragon Quest and Ultima as inspirations for his games (interesting fact: D&D and football were also inspirations for combat).
It interesting to see how this series branched and influenced future games and how they evolved ideas presented in Ultima.
Great video as usual Majuular.
Edit: Great use of the starfox 64 stage selection music
This was a perfect documentary. Thanks so much for making it.
Nothing, compares to that feeling when i find a majulaar video i forgot to watch. Keep it up fella, ive watched a lot of youtube in my time, but you sir are quickly becoming my favorite.
Just stumbled onto these documentary series, and I love them. Great work Majuular! 💚
I haven't heard of 75% of the games Maj reviews. He's really doing God's work.
Probably sounds a bit weird but your videos feel like the home I never had somehow. Thanks for putting in the effort! 👍
That is a very gratifying comment to receive. Thank you!
I gotta agree. The comfy levels are pretty high.
This is genuinely one of the best gaming retrospectives out there. It feels like a documentary. Super informative, interesting, good story-telling, and all the fat-trimmed out! Everything within it served a purpose of telling a compelling narrative of the creator and the game alike. Great job man.
This was fantastic, thank you! I can’t wait for the other entries in the series. I really love this history of gaming content, especially with games like Ultima (and Wizardry) that are the progenitors of so many other RPGs!
I met one of the guys who worked on those old school orange RPG games. It's weird meeting a piece of living history! He didn't really see it that way. lol
Found you because of the dark seed retrospective. Now. Ultima. Nice.
The videos great! Im always happy to see this series covered.
I’m only 18 minutes into this but I’m hoping you have plans to talk about even more Ultima. Spoony’s Retrospective is fine, but I’m jonesing for something new and different and your style is the best of those who’ve talked about Ultima. Excellent work, keep it up!
Damn, this video genuinely captivated me all the way through. You made 50 minutes feel like 15 with how smoothly you mixed showcase and narrative.
I only found your channel last week or so but you've already become one of my favorites!!
Always a good day when majuular uploads
You are releasing videos too fast for me to start rewatching them because I have no new videos of yours to watch. You're filling the Running Shine shaped hole in my heart, Maju-ular.
That's very high praise, I will try to live up to that expectation 🫡 Hope you enjoyed the video!
Holy shit. About 4 hours ago I saw Akalabeth in my GoG list and though "I wish someone I followed would make a vid on that so I don't have to play it." And here you are!
A new majuular video to fall asleep to for the next month or so until the next one!
I'm 20 min into a video on a subject I truly could not care less about. WHY AM I SO INTERESTED!!??!?!!??
Of all the slightly unorthodox comments I get, "I don't care about this thing but you make it interesting" and "I've fallen asleep to this video every night for the last 6 months" are my favorites.
thank you for showing me this piece of history about the media that I love so much man, very good research that I would never do myself, and for that thank you very much
Absolutely in love with your retrospectives, keep up the amazing work!
heck ya buddy. I've been a big Ultima fan since I was a kid, thanks for this. Can't wait to hear your thoughts about the weird later entries...
Majuular talking aobut Ultima?! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Watching Spoony's retrospective on the series (mainly the compilation version of it) was what make me greatly hyped on this series beyond knowing that it existed, was influencial, that Ultima Underworld gived birth to the Immersive Sim genre, and that the Savage Lands was an Ultima game who exists. Even if don't have enough focus (or potential pc space, I think) to buy at least some of those games, I'll be really glad to play some of them one day. Reading the Ultima Codex wiki and look at the pictures on it is a trip, ngl. I even did pixel art in a style inspired by the graphical style of the Ultima series up to 4 with a preference to Ultima 3 for the hud.
Good luck on the rest of the Age of Darkness and beyond, Majuular!
This might be your best video yet, your writing, presentation, technical ability with editing, just everything has just been on a stellar upwards trajectory. I'm excited to see where you go next.
this video was amazing man fucking loving the games you've been covering you have some of the best game taste amongst all the video game essayist youtubers for sure
These were comfy times back then and this is going to be a comfy video right now. Thank you, Majuular.
Takes me back to the old days of Spoony. You've done ultima justice
I am looking forward to this retrospective on all ultima games because they always interested me but I don't have the time & energy to go through and play through 13 retro rpgs nowadays.
Man, seeing those massive boxes of rpgs struck me with such nostalgia, I really wish to see something like that today (too bad game pricing is absolutely bonkers nowadays). I was really happy when I found my boxes of BG1, Fallout, and PS:T.
I really appreciate all of your videos. It feels less like being told a story, and more like being shared an experience.
One of, if not THE best video youve made so far. Your videos just get better and better tbh. I cant wait for part 2. I hope one day you do a video on the might and magic series.
Amazing work as always, can't wait for the next video !
Good job. Nice refresher.
As I come back to rewatch these again before my second viewing of the newest installment, I have to point out my appreciation that your playlist is in release order. You have no idea how many channels I watch that don't do this.
I'm in love with the gremlins. Peak character design.
You know I was just thinking about this series hoping someone else on youtube did a long retrospective on it & lo & behold my subscription feed showed me this. Going to be cool seeing this retrospective unfold.
When he said fifty years ago and then I heard 1975. I was frozen in shock 😂
Get ready! MAJULAR IS DOING A SPOONY!!!
Oh I'd love more Ultima videos, incredible series, and I'd love to eventually hear your comments on VIII and IX.