Genre: RPGDeveloper: Origin SystemsYear: 1994
Rating: 0.00 / 10.00
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Richard Garriott invented and reinvented the computer RPG genre after every new title of the Ultima series. Playing the whole series is like studying the very history of CRPGs. All games were very popular back in the days, and that's probably why the series went on forever.
Pagan is the last old-school 2D CRPG in the series -- and a controversial one. It radically changed the traditional gameplay, story, graphics and atmosphere found in the late titles of the series, ultimately constituting an odd game.
The list of changes is extensive and not all of them were positive. In fact, it kind of breaks the whole magic of the game not having Lord British, Britannia, the virtues, the adventuring party, the old and good companions and characters... It looked like an attempt to give it a fresh new approach after years of games in the same small continent, with the same cities and faces, but as the changes were so very deep, it's hard to see this as a worthy sequel to the excellent Ultima VII.
The story is actually interesting, although it distances you from the old feel of Ultima. The Guardian, divine entity that failed to conquer Britannia due to your intervention in Ultima VII, on a new attempt to keep you under his power, banishes you to the world of Pagan -- an island even smaller than Britannia, and twice as dangerous.
You have a big problem. No one ever heard of the avatar in Pagan, and all people look at you with caution and suspicion. The only city in Pagan, Tenebrae, is ruled by the terrible Lady Mordea, who wants people like you dead. And no one has a clue as to how you could try to return to your home world before the Guardian takes over Britannia and Earth.
The graphics, sounds and music in this game are even better than in other titles of the series. In fact, much of the still famous Ultima Online seems inspired in elements of Pagan. Gameplay, however, is not as easy and straightforward as Ultima VII. Commands fail for no reason sometimes, and sadly Ultima VIII is a lot more focused in the players skills with the mouse and keyboard. You don't order your character to attack as in other titles -- instead you'll have to insanely click on enemies for every blow, as in action-RPGs. The avatar now can jump and climb, but both abilities are among the most buggy in the game, so more often than not, it won't work as it should.
Ignoring the fact that Pagan was supposed to be a new chapter of the Ultima series, it's still bright in terms of roleplaying, challenge, atmosphere: most of what makes an epic classic.
