I don't know how many Terry Gilliam fans played the Ultima games back in the 80s and 90s. Over time, they developed into having pretty complex stories which examined ethics and culture, and had full, open worlds. Its hard to imagine how modern RPGs would be without them; the Elder Scrolls creators cite them as a source of inspiration.
The reason I'm bringing this up is here because the creator of Ultima, Richard Garriott, was very much influenced by Terry's films. This is most apparent in Ultima II, which was released in 1982, around when he would have been 21. The entire setup of the game is borrowed from Time Bandits. The player has to jump between different eras in history through "time gates", each of which are referenced on a cloth map that came in the game box, where they're marked with series of runes. To win the game, you eventually have to get to an era called the "Time of Legends", in which you find a citadel which serves as the stronghold for an evil enchantress.
With Ultima IV, he started reshaping the series with his own ideas, instead of just borrowing from other role-playing games, films, and stories. The goal of the game was to become an Avatar, a living embodiment of virtue. It veered away from other computer games at the time which had centered around hack-and-slash mechanics, and had even penalized players for playing that way. For example, if an enemy was fleeing from battle and the player killed him, it would demonstrate a lack of compassion on his part, and make it more difficult for him to reach his end goal. In all, there were eight paths of virtue that you had to perfect yourself in.
The later Ultima games dealt with the same theme in other ways. In Ultima V, a tyrant took over and twisted the virtues by enforcing them in law. People were required to sacrifice half their income or be put in jail, and had their tongue cut out if they weren't honest. In Ultima VI, you had to confront a race of gargoyles, who at first appear to be enemies, but later turn out to be conflicting culture with an entirely different set of virtues. In Ultima VII, a self-serving organization called the Fellowship sought to supplement the virtues which they believed couldn't be followed by imperfect people, and established a set of codes which only rewarded loyal members and made people into hypocrites. Ultima VII Part 2 deals with the issue of balance, and cities becoming corrupt because they lost sight of the original meaning of their ideals. Ultima VIII dealt with the limits of living your life by virtue, as you're thrown into a hostile world and you have to act in an unvirtuous manner to escape and destroy an evil force.
Eventually, Garriott moved onto creating Ultima Online, the first real mass market MMO. It had its share of problems, though, and often devolved into anarchy and was ruled by player killers (PK).
After a recent Kickstarter campaign, though, he's been working on a new effort where he plans to balance the good parts of his single player games with the online game. It centers around a story, and is selective multiplayer, so a player has more control over the other players he meets. Because he doesn't own the rights over the name Ultima anymore, the game is called Shroud of the Avatar, to be found here, https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/
I was thinking that because Garriott was inspired by Gilliam, that some of the fans here might be interested in checking it out. It would also be really neat if Terry Gilliam himself became aware of this, because I'd think he'd find the references to Time Bandits flattering and be interested to see the games that later came out of that.
I'm just a fan of both of them, myself, so I thought I'd share.
The reason I'm bringing this up is here because the creator of Ultima, Richard Garriott, was very much influenced by Terry's films. This is most apparent in Ultima II, which was released in 1982, around when he would have been 21. The entire setup of the game is borrowed from Time Bandits. The player has to jump between different eras in history through "time gates", each of which are referenced on a cloth map that came in the game box, where they're marked with series of runes. To win the game, you eventually have to get to an era called the "Time of Legends", in which you find a citadel which serves as the stronghold for an evil enchantress.
With Ultima IV, he started reshaping the series with his own ideas, instead of just borrowing from other role-playing games, films, and stories. The goal of the game was to become an Avatar, a living embodiment of virtue. It veered away from other computer games at the time which had centered around hack-and-slash mechanics, and had even penalized players for playing that way. For example, if an enemy was fleeing from battle and the player killed him, it would demonstrate a lack of compassion on his part, and make it more difficult for him to reach his end goal. In all, there were eight paths of virtue that you had to perfect yourself in.
The later Ultima games dealt with the same theme in other ways. In Ultima V, a tyrant took over and twisted the virtues by enforcing them in law. People were required to sacrifice half their income or be put in jail, and had their tongue cut out if they weren't honest. In Ultima VI, you had to confront a race of gargoyles, who at first appear to be enemies, but later turn out to be conflicting culture with an entirely different set of virtues. In Ultima VII, a self-serving organization called the Fellowship sought to supplement the virtues which they believed couldn't be followed by imperfect people, and established a set of codes which only rewarded loyal members and made people into hypocrites. Ultima VII Part 2 deals with the issue of balance, and cities becoming corrupt because they lost sight of the original meaning of their ideals. Ultima VIII dealt with the limits of living your life by virtue, as you're thrown into a hostile world and you have to act in an unvirtuous manner to escape and destroy an evil force.
Eventually, Garriott moved onto creating Ultima Online, the first real mass market MMO. It had its share of problems, though, and often devolved into anarchy and was ruled by player killers (PK).
After a recent Kickstarter campaign, though, he's been working on a new effort where he plans to balance the good parts of his single player games with the online game. It centers around a story, and is selective multiplayer, so a player has more control over the other players he meets. Because he doesn't own the rights over the name Ultima anymore, the game is called Shroud of the Avatar, to be found here, https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/
I was thinking that because Garriott was inspired by Gilliam, that some of the fans here might be interested in checking it out. It would also be really neat if Terry Gilliam himself became aware of this, because I'd think he'd find the references to Time Bandits flattering and be interested to see the games that later came out of that.
I'm just a fan of both of them, myself, so I thought I'd share.