Ultima Online: The 8th Age

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Meet other gamers and make allies around the world, as you adventure through Ultima Online
• Comes with great bonuses to take your gameplay to a higher level - a free advanced character, one free shard transfer, a free 6th character slot
• Includes 6 full expansion packs - Quest for adventure, battle monsters, hunt for treasure, explore dungeons, and much more
• Helpful bonus materials, like an atlas of Sosaria and an Ultima Online Play Guide
• Special 8th anniversary gifts - like powerful armor pieces, magical shield and even a healing fountain

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000B6R0RE
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 18, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,881 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Ultima Online: The 8th Age brings back the game world that thrives with hundreds of thousand massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing fans. Join this gigantic online community and enter a world teeming with adventure. Discover distant locales, battle fierce creatures, and befriend fellow travelers. You can even design, build, and decorate your very own house within the living world of the game. This edition compiles the first 6 expansion packs, with a wealth of new game items and a 45-day free trial for Ultima Online -- it's the best way to discover (or re-discover) the Ultima world!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ultima Online Provides an Amazing Virtual Reality, November 7, 2005

By 

E. Kim - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultima Online: The 8th Age (CD-ROM)

I'm 34 years old and first played the non-online Ultima games on the old Apple //e in the 80's, including Ultima 2, 3, and 4. Those games were truly awesome in that they showed a progression towards a creation of a virtual reality, rather than a typical RPG with a limited set of rules. They were far superior to games such as Wizardry in the 80's.

Now, Ultima Online is the ultimate realization of those early efforts at producing a complex, deep, interactive virtual world. In some ways, this is less of a game, and more of an alternate reality. You almost think that this is a version of the virtual reality or the "matrix" in the movie, The Matrix, where you can plug yourself in and be something very extraordinary.

In this reality, there are of course monsters and magical elements. You can develop a multitude of characters and have an extraodinary number of skills (e.g. cooking, bushido, swordsmanship, fencing, mace fighting, fishing, stealing, stealth, magery, taming, necromancy, chivalry, tailor, mining, lumberjacking, carpentry, muscianship, and many, many more) to customize your character. You increase skills the way you normally would in your real life, through simply performing activities that utilize those skills. As your bard plays music more frequently, your musicianship skill will rise, for example.

The complexity and depth of this reality is startling. You can literally cut trees down to obtain different kinds of wood. That wood can then be cut into boards or pieces to be assembled into complex furniture. Miner's can with appropriate skill look for different ores to mine. These then have to be smelted. Each of these requiring different skills. The smelted ingots can then be utilized to make different types of armor or weapons. Because this world requires basic commodity type elements (e.g. leather, cloth, food ingredients, wood, ore, etc) your character can simply exist providing unique trade services for other characters. You can simply be an excellent miner to sell your ingots to smiths, for example. It creates a complex online economy and dependency on other players and their (or your) unique services.

This game simply has to be played to be understood, as it is vastly different from usual RPG's or more goal-oriented games with a limited set of rules. The home ownership aspect alone is amazing, as you'll find yourself desiring a virtual house for your characters (with furnishings, decorating, etc) as you would normaly want a house in real life. You'll have to deal with an online real estate market and understand the conveniences of having a place to store your items and meet other players, like you would in real life!

If you don't believe that virtual items in this virtual world could seem "real" or convincing, then check out eBay. Do a search for "ultima online" and you will see hundreds of virtual property for sale. There is a reason why so many people are willing to pay actual money to buy virtual Ultima Online items, such as gold, weapons, or houses.

If you want a game with more flash and graphics, then buy World of Warcraft of Everquest. How many complain of the game of chess because of its simple use of a board and pieces? If you want something completely different because of the complexity of an interactive world, then try this game. Do not think because of the lack of advertising, or lackluster packaging that this game is obsolete or unentertaining. This game is truly a gem, and one that you can end up playing for many years. How many games do you know of where players have literally played for 4-8 years almost daily?

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still loving UO after all these years..., January 19, 2006

By 

A. Woodford (California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ultima Online: The 8th Age (CD-ROM)

Well I have been playing UO since 1999 and I still love it. The new expansions are getting better all the time.

I have one warning to give people buying UO: The 8th age though. This package does NOT come with the latest expansion! The new expansion is called Mondain's Legacy and there is no package or CD for it, you can only buy a code to download it through the UO website.

I think the way EA marketed this was very deceptive. You can play UO if you buy the 8th age but there are many new dungeons and areas that you will not have access to. You will not be able to make an elf character. Also, there is a free gift that comes with 8th age. If you select the quiver or talisman for your gift you will not be able to use them until you buy the Mondain's Legacy upgrade code (for 29.99).

Anyway I love this game and highly recommend it to all. But I would advise you to save some money and just go to www.uo.com and buy the Mondain's Legacy pack instead of 8th age. That way you'll have access to everything in the game.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Game With Lots of Depth, October 31, 2005

By 

E. Clinton (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultima Online: The 8th Age (CD-ROM)

This is the Eighth expansion of Ultima Online - one of the great online roleplaying games. The game has old-fashioned graphics, but it is still the only game that lets the player customize each character's skills - and now - race. There are plenty of options for crafters - this game has the most options for crafters available. There are also lots of new monsters and lands to explore. This is a great game.