Ultima Underworld 2: worth returning to?

bazzabear · 15 Dec 2022 at 13:24

As part of a meandering post in another thread I reminded myself on enjoying UU2 more than 20 years ago. And now I realise that I think I have it available in my GoG library.

So my question to you lot is:
Is it worth returning to? Or am, I likely to just find the clunky controls (by today's standards) too frustrating?

One 48 · 15 Dec 2022 at 15:36

Give it a go, you will soon adjust, its still one of the best games ever.

bazzabear · 15 Dec 2022 at 19:00

I am giving it a go.

And I have to admit, to my shame, I'm finding it rather difficult going because of the very clunky controls.

ANDREW GREEN · 15 Dec 2022 at 21:52

I'm also interested in giving some of these old games a go. But I'd like to know how you get on first. So please keep updating us LOL

bazzabear · 15 Dec 2022 at 22:43

It's funny. I don't know how to predict what will work for me and what won't. I still go back to the original X-Com games every couple of years, and they're still fantastically playable, despite the graphics and interface.
But this one I was struggling a bit. I will try it some more tomorrow.

ANDREW GREEN · 16 Dec 2022 at 18:11

bazzabear said:
It's funny. I don't know how to predict what will work for me and what won't. I still go back to the original X-Com games every couple of years, and they're still fantastically playable, despite the graphics and interface.
But this one I was struggling a bit. I will try it some more tomorrow.

I think generally 2d of this era is much better than 3d. Where as 3d was giving the player a new experience at the time, it was very early era for the technology and looks a bit of an eyesore today. I imagine if you actually get into the story and gameplay it maybe something you can overlook.

One 48 · 17 Dec 2022 at 15:15

bazzabear said:
I am giving it a go.

And I have to admit, to my shame, I'm finding it rather difficult going because of the very clunky controls.

Hang in there, it feels awkward at first but after half an hour you will be tearing about the game quite intuitively.

You'll not notice the dated graphics after a while either as the game is genius in design and scope, modern games cant hold a candle to Ultima Underworld 1 and 2 and to a certain extent original System Shock and System shock 2.

Looking Glass Studio's were at the top of their game back when these classics came out.

bazzabear · 19 Dec 2022 at 16:41

You are absolutely right. A bit of perseverance (and finding the keyboard controls for attacks instead of using the glitchy mouse controls!) made it much more playable.
I put a few hours into it over the weekend, and enjoyed them a lot.

I even managed to kill some Lurkers and Haunts - both of which I'm pretty sure I just ran away from when I played it as a teen!

GGizmo · 20 Dec 2022 at 18:22

I just looked it up on youtube to see what it was like.

It looks a lot like another game big back in the day, Eye of the beholder. I never played it. But it got great reviews back then.