Ultima 7: The Black Gate
Overview information
| Publisher, Year | Origin Systems, 1992 |
| Genre | RPG |
| Difficulty earmarks |
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| Time for 1 run | 20-30 hours |
| Contributors |
Ultima VII: The Black Gate and its add-on, the Forge of Virtue, represent some of the best game development ever. Developed by Origin at the height of their glory, it is the (of course) seventh installment/adventure of The Avatar in Britannia. The game is very engrossing, encompassing an extremely detailed game world that can be interacted with in many ways. It is non-linear, allowing near complete freedom from early on in the game. It is not a canon hardcore game, and has been included on PIH due to the affection the author of this article has for it.
Forward
Many portions of this guide came from material not generated by PIH. Particularly, in the downloads section, you can find manuals and guides for the game released by Origin, EA or dedicated Ultima fans. Any material not generated solely by a PIH staff member belongs to their respective authors. Due to Ultima VII being over 16 years old, many have long considered it abandonware. Thus, we include these documents and files for download here. If you are the owner of these files/documents and don't want them hosted here, please contact the staff.
Exult
This is a third-party modification that must be mentioned. The amazing Exult team has, for many years, been working on a modern engine for this game. Their engine is a vast improvement over the original for many reasons, the first of which is that it enables you to smoothly play the game on a modern OS, from Windows XP to Mac OS X to Linux. If you are going to play Ultima VII, I strongly suggest you do such by using Exult. You can read about and download Exult at their website.
General Reference Material
NPCs - A list and bio for every NPC that can join your party
Maps - Maps of the world, cities, and other areas
City Guide - A guide to each city including local population, loot and more
Trainers - NPCs who will train you and your companions
Vendors - Services, including shop keepers, healers, shipwrights, et cetera
Subquests - Various missions not critical to the central plot
Magic - The use of reagents and magic, including potions
Items - The abundant non-magical but useful items in the game
Armor - All armor you can wear (excluding artifacts)
Weapons - All weapons you can don (excluding artifacts)
Artifacts - Unique items, weapons and armor you can find
Enemies - Foes, from monsters to demons, you will face
Finnigans Coordinates - Answers to the mayor's query in Trinsic
Walkthrough
Our walkthrough, if we decide to actually do one. We may not.
Third-party Files
These are various third-party downloads that modify the game in some fashion.
Official manuals
These are the manuals that are shipped with the game itself.