Part 1: Before we begin

Ultima VII is the greatest video game I have ever played. In this blog I will document a play through from beginning to end delving into the detail of this great game.

Before we start I need to set the scene. Ultima VII was ground-breaking when it was released in 1992. The top down game engine showed a level of detail never seen before. Everything down to forks and knives was built into the game as a movable item. You and your party need food to sustain them. You can bake bread from flour and water. NPC’s in the game world have night and day schedules – they eat at meal times, sleep at night, go to work during the day, and even respond to events such as lights going out or someone stealing from their shop. This kind of detail we take for granted now, but in 1992 it was incredible.

The other aspect of the game is that unlike most RPG’s of the era (or even now) the game world is open and the story is non-linear. Once you gain access to leave the opening city (Trinsic) you have free reign to go wherever you choose in Britannia. While you are travelling the lands there are endless things to do from solving problems in individual towns, to following leads that progress you towards the end of the main story arch, finding secret stashes of treasure, and delving into the depths of dungeons. The great thing is about this game is that there is more than one way to reach the end of the game. It’s up to you to pay attention to what is said and what occurs and to follow the leads that you think are important.

Black Gate is the seventh game in the core Ultima series. It is set in the world of Britannia, which was previously part of the world of Sosaria. During the Age of Darkness which covers Ultima I to III you play a hero from Earth who travels to Sosaria to save it from three great evils; the wizard Mondain, his lover Minax, and their half-machine, half-demon creation Exodus. The defeat of Exodus shattered the world of Sosaria apart – the continent known previously as the Lands of Lord British became Britannia.

During the Age of Enlightenment which covers Ultima IV to VI the hero returns for a very different quest. In Ultima IV the hero travels Britannia not to defeat an evil but to establish a set of principles for its inhabitants to live by – the eight virtues (Honour, Humility, Honesty, Sacrifice, Spirituality, Justice, Valour, Compassion). The hero goes about embodying those virtues, retrieves the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, and in turn takes on the mantle of the Avatar. In Ultima V and VI the Avatar must uphold the virtues within complex moral circumstances. First, Lord British is lost on a journey to The Underworld and Lord Blackthorn takes over enforcing the virtues with a strict and brutal rigidity. The Avatar learns of The Shadowlords who sprang from three shards of Mondain’s shattered gem who are corrupting Lord Blackthorn. The Avatar defeats The Shadowlords, undermines Blackthorn’s rule, and returns Lord British to his throne. In Ultima VI the Avatar must deal with the consequences of removing the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom from The Underworld. A new species of humanoids, the gargoyles, emerge from The Underworld, capture the shrines of the virtues, and attempt to murder the Avatar. The Avatar must find a way to bring peace to both humans and gargoyles alike.

Ultima VII: Black Gate is the beginning of an entirely new era. It has been 200 Britannian years since the Avatar last visited Britannia, and many things have changed. The class system and state taxation have crippled the middle and lower classes, and a new organisation called The Fellowship has emerged as a place for these people to find solace.

Another thing worth keeping in mind is Richard Garriot's (the creator of the Ultima series) love of philosophical systems. These are the virtues founded during Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

There are three core principles in the system; truth, love, and courage. Using a combination of the three we build the eight virtues of the Avatar:

• Justice
• Honesty
• Honour
• Valor
• Sacrifice
• Compassion
• Humility
• Spirituality

There are eight towns or cities in Britannia which represent these, eight great dungeons which represent the anti-virtues, and the Avatar's eight companions each embody one of the virtues. There is an equivalent system for the Gargoyle race which features in Ultima V: The False Prophet, and another more detailed system explored in Ultima VII: Serpent Isle.

With that background, I will begin to document my journey through this incredible game.