Ultima VII: The Black Gate

Ultima VII is, quite simply, the best computer role-playing game ever created. It is not without its minor flaws, but all things considered, it is still something that should always serve as a guidance. Let me put it this way: If you are designing a new CRPG, and don't steal something from U7, you're going to fail spectacularly.

The plot is unusual. Of course, there is this big bad evil thing that needs to be flattened, but most of the plot deals with this new, strange cult that has sprung up. Here we have a rather interesting look at groupthinking and collectivism. The minor bits of plot have everything for every gamer taste: Romance and true love, swordfights, dragons, gruesome murder mysteries, bananas, pirates, gambling, bread baking, mining, crossing the high seas, ghosts, geeks, humor in various forms, mysterious artifacts, flying carpets... the list goes on and on.

The game is extremely free-formed, which is a good thing. The player is free to explore every place in the world. The main plot doesn't really ask you to hurry to do anything special - except at the very end. The game world is beautiful. Even if the game is very old by now, the graphics are still rather amazing. The world also feels alive - animals going from bush to bush, monsters leaping around the dangerous places, and townsfolk scurrying around doing their usual daily things.

There are some small problems - most are fortunately fixed in Exult, the fan-made game engine rewrite. Installing the original game on modern computer is almost impossible, and it was tricky even on the era's computers. Also, the user interface is pretty challenging at times - Exult has some some very helpful hotkeys. It's sometimes pretty difficult to get hints on what to do next, but fortunately, there are no completely illogical puzzles.

It is one of the few games that truly fits the definition of Epic Adventure. It is a game that needs to be experienced - all other games seem quite pale in comparison.