I'm a huge rpg fan. Be it pen and paper or computer roleplaying, I'm all for. The first time I turned on Ultima VII, though, I almost stopped playing after a short while, since it quickly became clear that this was no ordinary rpg. Only a few simple stats, no skills, nothing you usually connect with rpgs. Despite that I was looking for a good, long while with powergaming and stat-fiddling, I chose to give it a go. I quickly saw that if I had let it go, that would probably have been one of my biggest game mistakes ever. Ultima VII gives you a complete world with everything in it. Be it from the mighty heroes to the lowly beggars. Every part of any normal world is represented here. And the people living in the world really seem to live their own lives, as in not just being there to help your further your quest. They eat, they work, they run shops, and they sleep at night. Not to mention that they all have different personalities, and will almost certainly talk with you about stuff that you'd never see in any other game. The world comes alive. They don't just stand in one place waiting for you to talk to them. They move around doing whatever it is they'd do in their line of work. You'll even come across real-life problems like racism, in the form of human-gargoyle relationships.

Speaking of your quest... You start out in Trinsic, and a murder has been committed. You're asked by the mayor to solve the crime, and you go about it. This is a sort of intro-quest to get you started out. As soon as you're done with this short quest, the world opens up. You don't really get many hints on what to do next. Fun part is, you're free to do just about anything now. You can try to follow the plot, or you can explore the world. And there is a lot of world to explore. You can take parts of the main quest and then leave it hanging whenever you like, only to go explore and solve sub quests. Finding the next part in the main quest after the first town is done can be quite hard, though, so it's easy to feel lost. You may not even have a clue whether you're on the main quest or one of the many sub quests.

The world is highly interactive. Just about everything on the screen can be moved, used by itself, used with something else or picked up. You can bake bread, fish in the lakes, weave clothes, you name it.

You start out with a single companion, but you can quickly get more. Like you, they gain experience points and gain levels. Common for all is that the character needs to train to get any better. In all cities and towns around the world you find trainers you can pay to train your party members. All in all, there's not a lot of leveling up in this game. As said above, it's more about exploring and experiencing the world. It's possible to get through most of the game without battle at all. And some might prefer this since battle in Ultima VII is quite chaotic. As soon as you switch on combat mode, all your characters just attack an opponent. You can set some basic rules for each member, so they might attack the weakest opponent first, but most of the settings seem to work the same. And you can only control the avatar, so you may often experience your party members getting killed or running away after taking on something too powerful. Later in the game, this changes... You'll have party members with excellent gear and good stats, so most battles will be over before you know it. There'll still be a few battles that'll threaten the lives of the Avatar and the party members, but these are few and far between. Of course there is also magic. You buy spells from other mages in the game. You need reagents for each spells, so you buy or find those. A down side is that you can only cast magic with the Avatar, also limiting the strategies in battle. Some spells are virtually useless, while some of the others are near vital for the success of the game. Then there is a spell like Armageddon, which is a whole other experience. Won't spoil it here.

Since everything can be moved, used or picked up, you'll be running around with a LOT of items. After playing a short while you'll be ripping out hairs, cursing the inventory system. You'll have a ton of keys and other weird items, half of which you have no idea what to use for. Every time you come across a locked door or chest, you'll have to dig out each and every key to try it in the lock. Many times you'll find that you don't even have the correct key at all. And since the game is so non-linear there's a good chance you'll pick up some item, walk around with it for a while, and then throw it away, only to find out you'll need it much later in the game. Now you just can't find it. Note: play the game with Exult, an engine to run Ultima VII on modern systems. They've implemented a lot of nice hotkeys and features to deal with keys, food and other stuff. And yes, your characters will need to eat. Even this is taken all the way, as you can find MANY different kinds of food, all different in how much you have to eat to get full. If it's food, or if it's not an item you see often, take it with you, store it somewhere safe, put it on your carriage. Or ship. There are lots of different ways of travel. You can buy deeds to carriages and ships in towns and cities. There are a few more ways, one being moongate travel. That's a whole science in itself.

Basically, this game is an action-adventure-rpg, stuffed with puzzles of all kinds. And I can promise you that some will make even the most seasoned adventure gamer go mad. Some of the puzzles took me hours to figure out, and I almost gave up on some, only to find a hint somewhere else in the world. On top of that, there's the fact that most of the signs and plaques in the game are written in runes, so you'll be looking through the manual quite a few times.

Like any other medieval type fantasy game, there are dungeons. Quite a few of them, actually, but they're small, so you won't get stuck for ages in one dungeon. This was much to my liking, as dungeon crawling quickly becomes tedious.

When it comes to riches and items, you can get just about everything by stealing it. Hell, you can even rob the royal mint! If people see you they might attack you or call the town guard. If they do, the game is not over, as you can just beat up the people attacking you, and if no one is left to complain you can just continue on your way. Sometimes, though, you might do something your companions don't like. They warn you, but if you cross the line they might leave you, or even attack you. It IS possible to do just about everything without this happening, though, as long as you know a few tricks. Basically, you can be virtuous like a real goody Avatar, or you can steal, mug and murder your way through half the game. The choice is yours. Of course there is also gambling, and working simple jobs as a baker or transporting goods of various kinds. Just about everything is possible.

The version played here comes with the addon called Forge of Virtue. The content in it is quite good, but if it's done too early in the game it's highly unbalancing, as the avatar will come out of it incredibly powerful and with the best weapons in the game. If you prefer keeping it challenging, do not finish the addon right at the beginning.

Another fun thing is the references made to other things seen on tv or in games. One place, for instance, is a spoof of the Star Trek - The Next Generation crew. Another one is a spaceship in the middle of a farmer's field that plays the kilrathi wing commander theme when you click it.

A little on the graphics and sounds... Both are superb, and far above most (if not everything) seen around that time, which was '92. It should be illegal playing this game without sound, as the music is some of the best heard in any game. It fits the world perfectly. There's a song for every event.

The game has quite a few bugs which can, if you're unlucky, make it a living hell. Most of the problems are adressed in Exult, and since the game is hard to get running, even in DOS, there aren't many other options for running it now.

Enough incoherent rambling.. Bottom line: Ultima VII - Black Gate is one of the greatest games ever made. The game world is huge and immersive, and you'll have a hard time turning it off once you've gotten into it. Basically, what makes this game so good is the incredible amount of work that's gone into making the world and the inhabitants seem real, making the music fit and making the story immersive. The atmosphere is simply incredible. Whether you're a hardcore roleplaying gamer or an adventure fanatic, this is a must. Hell, no matter what you like you should play this game.

It's a milestone in gaming history.