 Ultima, The Second Trilogy: IV,V,VI
Early orderers of this product got the "Special Limited Edition", which included three cloth maps. You can tell if it's a special edition by a big red sticker on the lower right of the box. At least one person has said they also got an Ultima V trinket with their copy, and two others have mentioned getting the Ultima IV ankh. Looks like they used this product to get rid of all their remaining inventory of maps and trinkets. If you are buying a Second Trilogy, you should ask if it's a "special edition". |
 |  Ultima I-VI Series
This product essentially contained exactly what the first and second Ultima Trilogy boxes did. There are no cloth maps or trinkets, though. |
| Ultima Series I-VI from Software Toolworks
Here is one of the little mysteries of life. Software Toolworks released the Ultima I-VI series, just like Origin did. This product is exactly like the Origin series collection. Only Software Toolworks' collection came a year BEFORE Origin's did. I guess Origin knew a good idea when they saw one. |
| The Ultimate Games Collection from Encore Software
Encore released a very popular collection of games called the Ultimate Games Collection. It included seven CDs, one of which contained Ultimas I-VI. Unfortunately, it contained none of the documentation! And no paper documentation for any of the Ultimas (or any of the other games for that matter) was included either. Origin later realized the error and began offering the documentation by mail for a small fee, or via the Internet for free. Unfortunately, Origin has recently (October 1997) redone their web site, and removed all of their Ultima-related files, including the documentation for the Encore CD. Fortunately, thanks to Micro Dragon's Ultima Documentation Project, all the documentation from the first six games has been beautifully reproduced and can be downloaded online for free. |
|  Ultima Collection
Origin released this collection of the original, cardinal Ultima games on February 17, 1998. The games themselves are identical to those released in previous compilations - right down to the same planet files being messed up for Ultima II as on the I-VI collection. No modifications to the games were made, not even bugfixes. The game Akalabeth has been ported to the PC especially for this collection - the only PC version of Akalabeth that has ever been "officially" released. The atlas contains what I've heard quoted as "grainy photocopies" of the original maps, difficult to read or use. The collection does have some improved installation routines for Windows 95 users, and the CD contains a brief sneak-preview sequence from the game Ultima: Ascension, and some video interviews with Richard Garriott. Also, all of the original documentation has been ported into Windows Help format, complete with the original graphics, which is nice. All in all, this product is a mixed bag - a few new things, but as for the original games themselves, not much going for it. And at $34.95 direct from EA (more in most retail venues), unless you're new to the Ultima series or otherwise couldn't find copies of the older games, there's isn't much incentive to pick this product up. |