User:Xyzzy
About Xyzzy ᛫᛫.. (G+)[edit]
I'm a Linux-using retro-gamer born in the late 1970s that hung out on RGCUD with fellow Dragons 'til 2001. My first Ultima was Ultima V (Apple II) when I was 11; thanks to my brother sacrificing one of his beloved Nintendo Power mags as a then-7-year-old, I played it with a little framed pic of a stern Lord British on my desk. :)
I'm trying to get copies of all Ultima soundtracks from every platform & card/device... I've already grabbed what the Rabbit's Lair has posted, but if anybody has created recordings or would be willing to do so (preferably FLAC or OGG for quality), I'd really appreciate it if you shared the results! Here's what I already have (card/device specified if known): Ultima III -- Apple II, NES Ultima IV -- Apple II Ultima V -- Apple II Mockingboard & Passport, Commodore 128 Ultima VI -- DOS Ultima VII -- DOS, Exult/Windows Ultima Underworld Ultima Underworld II Ultima IX Ultima Online
For Ultima VI, I especially want a copy of the midi files as recorded on an IBM PS1 DX2/50 (I can't recall the precise model offhand) within Windows. It used its own soundcard software & soundfonts, and the result rivaled a full Roland setup in realism & subtlety. The dungeon music was especially awesome as it used booming wardrums unlike anything I've heard in an Ultima recording since.
Imaginary conversations while playing Ultimas[edit]
While playing through Ultima VI all the way for the first time, I was thinking of fictionalizing my journey (I still might), and ended up having many "conversations" as a result; here's a few of the ones that amused me.
“Oh, shit, the ship's on fire! Since when can Britannian ships catch fire?”
“They are made of wood,” Dupre pointed out.
”They never caught fire before!”
“No,” Shamino caught a hastily-thrown coil of rope, “thy ships never caught fire.”
Iolo winked, eyes sparkling too much to not know why I was confused. “It must be from Lord British's species import program. Dupre should invest in a few Old Britannian forests, the sales when everyone figures out that wood is flammable will pay his ale tab for years!”
“It's amazing how unending darkness can seem until it isn't.”
“This is—” Shamino began.
“On the Isle of the Avatar, which makes the name kinda obvious, doesn't it?”
“I could've said it was the Great Stygian Abyss.”
“That would be lying.”
“Hey, honesty's not my virtue. Thou art the Avatar, telling the truth is thy problem.”
“This is Destard.”
“Wait, thou knew where it was all along?"
“Thou wert having so much fun looking for it, I didn't want to interfere.”
[Thinking to self] “Hard to be picky when there's a crossbow at thy head.”
“This is—”
“No, it's not,” Gweno interrupted.
“Yes, it is. I'm the one that has been wandering this world most of my adult life, I'd know.”
Dupre tapped him on the shoulder. “Thou'rt also the one that was reading the map upside-down while drunk last night.”
“Oh. So, where are we?”
She shrugged. “Bugger if I know, but I'm sure it's not whatever thou wert going to say.”
“You're evil.”
“I'm a bard,“ he corrected with a winning smile.
“Same difference.”
Amusing, relevant quotes I've found[edit]
“I’d grown up in two different worlds and if you can grow up in two different worlds, you can occupy four. Or six. Why put a limit on it?” —Daniel Day-Lewis
"[Ultima V has] an interactive world where if you get a little bored, you can go off and do things you shouldn't." (from a review)
"A game's only late until it ships, but it sucks forever." — Origin Systems motto