Ultima VIII: Pagan



Ultima VIII: Pagan is the ninth installment of the main series, and the thirteenth in the entire series, if Worlds of Ultimas and Ultima Underworld I and Ultima Underworld II are counted. It was released and published by Origin for the IBM-PC in 1995. It is part of the "Age of Armageddon" saga.

While technically, the game is well-developed compared to Ultima VII/2, with full digital sound and better music, even more realistic graphics and a simple physics engine, it was the game contents that didn't sit well with many of the fans of the series. The Avatar is again alone, with no party at all. The game is much more action-oriented than the other Ultimas, too much for many players. The world is smaller, with fewer characters who have no portraits, and have much less to say. The whole jumping-issue even caused Origin to write a patch. However, the positive aspect of the game is the story. The story is very mature, and deals with the dilemma that in order to escape, the Avatar, and therefore the Player, has to accept that some evil things HAVE to be done for the greater good, as hard as it is.

Ultima VIII didn't sell quite as well as its predecessors, mostly because of the disappointment with the game, and is generally seen as a backstep in the series in general.

Included with the game
The release of Ultima VIII included these things with the game:
 * The Book "The Chronicles of Pagan".
 * A cloth map of Pagan.
 * A Pentagram Coin

Differences between the ports
Ultima VIII: Pagan was exclusively produced for the PC, therefore other official ports of the game do not exist.

The Story
The Avatar is abducted by the Guardian at the end of Ultima VII/2, and brought to this world, Pagan. Declaring that the Avatar would never manage to escape from it, the Guardian gloats that Britannia would be his very soon, then drops the Avatar into the sea.

Pagan is an inhospitable world. The Guardian had mostly destroyed it many centuries ago with four of his underlings, elemental Titans. But the people have no idea that the Guardian is responsible together with the Titans, and actually see them as saviors. The Avatar learns, that the four Titans hold a iron grip over the world. In order to escape, he/she learns all the magic schools, after consulting the Gods of Old. Gathering five special pieces of Blackrock, the Avatar uses them to destroy the Titans, and unlock enormous powers in himself/herself. Using the fragments, a Black Gate opens, allowing him/her to return to Britannia.

But having arrived in Britannia, he/she is shocked to see, that the Guardian seems to have already conquered the land....

Trivia

 * After finding the 3000th bug, the crew celebrated it with a smoke break on the veranda.
 * The game also has the not-so-kind nickname "Super Avatar Bros.", speaking negative of all the running and jumping passages in the game, which frustrated many players.
 * Garriott himself admitted, that it had been bad for the game to be on a deadline, with three month to few to finish it.
 * The Pentagram on the cover and in the game offended some religious people, forcing Origin to add some lines concerning this to the documentation.

The Lost Vale
A vapor-ware product. It was planned that there would be a add-in disk for Ultima VIII, "The Lost Vale". The big doors on the Plateau most likely were planned to be the entrance. Sadly, Electronic Arts, disappointed with the poor sales of Ultima VIII, pulled the plug on the project. Only some screenshots and the box design survived.

As far as it can be reconstructed, the Titans had sealed their enemies, most likely Zealans, in the Lost Vale, together with three of the Gods of Emotion. The Avatar would have the duty to release these three Gods, so that they help him/her on the quest to leave Pagan. Much more, sadly, isn't know about the story. But from the screenshots, some facts can be recovered:
 * The three Gods, who are mentioned in a book at the entrence to the Shrine, are trapped in force fields, and have to be released.
 * Part of the action is high in the mountains, with clouds around.
 * Hydros' legion of own undead appears also.

Upgrades
Ultima VIII is so far developed in terms of graphics, sound and gameplay, that upgrades aren't needed. However, it is very difficult to run the game on modern computers.

Pentagram
Pentagram, a project still in development, will solve all these problems in due time, making the game fully playable under Windows.

Ultima 8 for Windows
Ron Windeyer (aka Gaseous Dragon) has written a utility to run Ultima VIII on Windows operating systems. See his website for more information.