Ultima VII got the 10 slides in 20 seconds treatment by long-time fan Paul Catling of Ractivis at our last AGW meetup.

Citing the depth and breadth of the game - from being able to bake bread, make bandages, forge weapons, milk cows and even change a baby's nappy - Paul expounded on the virtues of what many consider to be the ultimate iteration of Richard Garriott's flagship creation (including Garriott himself).

The incredibly detailed interactivity was certainly a major point in Ultima VII's favour. The world of the game, whilst not overly large by today's standards, was a sizable achievement for its time too.

Paul also took the opportunity to reference a recent discussion topic on the PlayMaker forums about western versus japanese RPGs - he holds Ultima VII as a game that makes the case for the western RPG genre. If you have any strong opinions, please let us know your thoughts on this topic!

Lesser known fact: Ultima VII made cheeky reference to its parent company Origin's competitor at the time - Electronic Arts. "The three evil 'Generators' created by The Guardian in the game took the physical shapes of the contemporary Electronic Arts Logo: a cube, a sphere, and a tetrahedron. Elizabeth and Abraham, two apparently benevolent characters who later turn out to be murderers, have the initials "E" and "A"." _{(Source: Wikipedia)}