Even today Ultima VII is still considered one of the greatest roleplaying games ever made. The Ultima series began in 1981 and each game focused on the adventures of the Avatar, a hero from Earth sent to protect the land of Sosaria, later known as Britannia.
The game begins when you, the Avatar, are summoned after receiving a taunting message from a being known as the Guardian. Upon arriving, the Avatar is confronted by the scene of a brutal murder. As you begin to investigate, it becomes clear that all is not as it should be in Britannia. Magic is dying, mages are affected by a strange madness, and despite your previous adventures people have forgotten who you are. Many are now captivated by virtuous and benevolent organization known as The Fellowship, who is perhaps not as they seem.
Ultima VII presents you with a vast open world, one of the first games to do so. The people encountered have lives of their own; they eat, sleep at night, and go to work as you battle to save Britannia from the Guardian. You can even join them if you wish, spend a day making bread or clothes before heading to the pub along with all the other NPCs, and then continue your quest. All these elements perfectly combine to give the feeling of a world moving around you, rather than you just moving through a predetermined world. If you are a fan of RPGs and you have never played this game then you should – it’s unmissable.
The story continues with Ultima VII: Part Two – Serpent Isle and the add-on to Serpent Isle, Ultima VII: Part Two - The Silver Seed, don't miss them!
Review By Richard
A good alternative is Exult, an open source port of Ultima VII for Windows, Mac and Linux.
English 
Comments and reviews
Best way to run Ultima VII is with Exult.
Original game required.
Anyone ever try to run this under DOSBox-X?
For me, this was the best game in the Ultima series.
I remember when I played this, I had one party member wander off on his own. I ran into a ... what I think was a gargoyle or demon in the woods. The demon turned my character into a horse and I proceeded to rob the nearby town's armory. Killed the shop owner, locked the owner's dog in the cage with the other goods, and then pushed a cannon around from the city wall ramparts. My game crashed shortly after and I hadn't saved the game yet since the ordeal began and I was very, very sad. lol. Was insanely memorable though, I think about it more often than I care to admit. xD
if you are having the ems error trying to run in dosbox.
1.open Dosbox
2. type Mount c c:\(name of your dos games folder i call mine dosgames)
Mount c c:\dosgames then hit enter
3.type c: and the name of the game folder. I change mine to U7
C: U7
4. type EMS off hit enter
5. type Ultima7 hit enter
I remember when I first played this it felt endless. A timeless classic as good now as it was then, redefined the rpg genre.
order this form the origin catalog for only $79.95 !! be sure to orer the cluebooks too !! (hahahahaha
I started on Ultima 7 part 2, so when I went back to play this one I found it abit clunky. The story is amazing, the character creation is lacking and about as detailed as Ultima 6. There are threads of this plot that turn up in Ultima Underworld II, and threads of THAT plot that turn up in Serpent Isle. If you play this game, play Ultima 6, Ultima Underworld I, Ultima 7, Ultima Underworld II, and Ultima 7 Serpent Isle last. It'll all make sense.
When the Ice-Vein grew more powerful, he knew one thing was for certain, the lich would return, and so, he continued with his quest, to find the Orb of Hjaltin, and return it to the castle of VanZuuk, and return it to the King, though, the king was a weakling, and was only appointed the title because he was an imperial Bootlicker, we have him as our last hope.
He said the Codex of Galmar would be the only salvation. It had predicted the liberation of Man, when the dragons came to the realm of man, for one goal. To rid the world of man. So many times have the other races attempt to destroy the race of man, but the race of man had one power, the other races did not, and will not have, Honor. There is one other race that has sided with man every time disaster happened. The race that had the in-born ability to turn into werewolves. The Elves of Irendil, they were dark colors and very intelligent, though there is a stereotype of them being dumb and smelly due to the fact they can turn into werewolves, but they are as smart as a High-Elf, but they don't use Magicka like the other elvish races prefer, they use the art of combat, and use blades as they're specialty. But they are much more than that, they are as equal in Combat Tactics as man is.
To read more, search on google; #TheBattleAgainstTheWorld
Does anyone know if this includes the Forge of Virtue expansion?
The best Ultima game there is. Thank you...
How do I install this?
best rpg ever
man i played this a crap load when i was little thanks bro
Haw man...i remember installing this out of its big black cardboard box from seven, count em' seven, 5 1/4" Floppy disks.
Like previous Ultimas, this map is completely open. It follows a linear plot at first, but eventually opens up about 10% in. It doesn't have quite the moral lecture of Ultima 4 or 6, but they're still there (steal enough items and see what your party members do.) There's TONS of items, mostly take-able, LOTS of unique characters with plenty of dialogue, and fun miniplots and side-jobs.
The overall plot is simple: a new moral doctrine is rampantly taking over Britannia, replacing the old 8-virtue system with its new thought. All the people you meet are either for, against or indifferent to it, but nearly everyone has something to say about it. It's your job to investigate the religion, wrapped around a murder, and restore harmony to the land.
I've replayed this game multiple times although I've only actually completely beat it once. I just enjoy walking around the world and moving pixels around. You will most likely need exult to run it on your modern PC, check out exult.com. Like VDMSound for dosbox games, it is specifically designed for Ultima VII to make it play right.
PS - Did I forget to mention the midi soundtrack? It's utterly beautiful.
For more information on the Ultima series, check out http://codex.ultimaaiera.com/wiki/Main_Page
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.