Thanks for watching! This is unapologetically uncut, the full interview minus the occasional cough or break to top up drinks. Richard was so generous with his time, and we all have so much time to fill right now being in lockdown that I thought you would appreciate every word. Please enjoy it, I really enjoyed making it. If a podcast is better suited then you can find it on your favourite apps by searching for "Retro Tea Break" or using the links here: audioboom.com/channels/5001251 Neil - RMC
Neil, I follow you from the days of when the cave was located in what now should be a sewing machine bunk, apart from the rest of the great content you provide us, this is a testament of the great work you have done!
Thank you, that was a fascinating interview! My introduction to the Ultima series was with Ultima V on the C64. I remember being enamoured with (what felt like at the time) this vast living, breathing world and so I’ve had a soft spot for Richard Garriott ever since.
Question any plans on interviewing Chris Roberts. Wouldn´t mind hearing his tale about the different wing commander games and the less than stellar movie.
One day, I want to meet Richard Garriott. If for no other reason than to thank him for nearly 30 years of memories with the Ultima series and helping to bring my dysfunctional family together. He's the reason I got into software and why I want to make games, one day. He's been an inspiration since I was barely able to read.
@Hagunemnon, I hope that you do get to meet Richard Garriott one day. I hung out with him for about an hour when he was hosting an event at the National Museum of Mathematics, and he and his wife are excellent and friendly conversationalists.
My classmate is a close family friend of Richard Garriott who is the president of the Explorers club. Went to the North Pole with him. 1-2 years, I’ll climb Kilimanjaro with him
I personally trust Richard Garriott. Not because I know him personally and believe he deserves it, but because his head is just as smooth and shiny as Jean Luc Picard's, and he rocks it like only lord British could. A true boss!!!
Did you see how he f†cked over his Kickstarter campaign? Might want to avoid mentioning Kickstarter if you're gonna chat with him. He behaved like a royal ass.
This deserves way more attention than it's gotten, great interview. Richard is an incredibly interesting and modest person, not afraid to admit his mistakes and give credit to others. Thanks to both of you for making this video, it was a real gem to find.
I just wanted to thank Richard. I was about 13 years old when I discovered Ultima on my C64 in the late 80's. It gripped my imagination and opened a world to me that I found so immersive. Some of my fondest memories of using my computer at that age revolve around this game. What a visionary legend.
My gaming and RPG addiction (who needs any other drugs?) also started on the C64 with Ultima 1 to 6. I'm still amazed how much patience I had back then, constantly having to switch or flip floppy disks for U5 and U6. Still have the boxes of U1 to U9 (U1 to U5 sadly only as the trilogy packs), the Underworlds, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams on my shelves next to many other Origin games and RPGs. Playing these games on my brother's C64, with dictionary at hand, actually improved my school English greatly as a side effect. :D Ultima 7 and Underworld, among other RPGs, drove me to PC, skipping the Amiga. Ultima 8 has still a great atmosphere and looks nice, only the jumping mechanics were frustrating because of being unprecise. Also got Ultima 4 for the Master System and about the SNES Ultimas you should not talk! The the story about the "child-abuse" in Warriors of Destiny was funny. How many people installed mods for Skyrim to be able to kill some of the children there because their are such little shits? Also I find it very hypocritical, when it's "not the women and chiiiildren!" but it seems totally fine and accepted to kill innocent men. Wonder what these people whould do if they would be in the situation of looking down the barrel of a gun held by child soldiers or some kid running amok. Roll over and die or fight back if possible? There was some vampire movie, where there where hundreds of years old vampire "children" that used their looks to prey on humans. For example lying on the street with his bike, like he was hit by a car and left there. Of cause the human got out of the car to check on the "child" and om nom nom... I'm still sad about Shroud though, as I was hoping for a return to the classic single player Ultima games (saying this as someone who played UO for 6+ years). It didn't had to be the technologically most advanced RPG, even though Origin was always pushing technologies. :( Also sad about how Underworld Ascendant turned out... Well, time to play the old games again and maybe get the certificate now, as it was a bit hard to get it back then. Should we send the clear data on floppy disk? So long... Vas Kal An Mani In Corp Hur Tym
Garriott is my hero. A major influence in modern, story driven, games and a genuine down to earth person. He has his head on straight and loves to share his story. A great person all around.
Personally (as a software engineer), I find Richard to be so relatable. He's indisputably a CRPG pioneer and legend, but at the same time, he reminds me of so many friends whom I either went to school with, worked closely with, or gamed with.
Well that was an awesome interview. Didn't realize how quickly time passed. As a fellow gamer like Neil I also invested hours of my childhood on U6 and U7 (not to mention Underworlds) was lovely hearing how much passion and love he put in to these games and his experiences with EA etc. Richard Garriott seems like a genuinely nice guy and it's a shame that games are made anymore with that level of love and detail. Top stuff Neil!
Super big thanks to Richard for sharing the story of Ultima. Those games were a big part of my growing up and I still remember the awe I had, at age 11, the first time I saw Ultima III on my friend's Atari 800XL. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Richard Garriott - wow - what great energy and focus for code and story telling. He has achieved so much. Ultima 4 changed my life as a 10 year old in 1985 and I still come back to it. Thanks for sharing!
I love this! We live in Austin and had the pleasure of meeting him at a retro game convention. My husband asked him about going to the ISS and he reached in his pocket and pulled out a patch from his mission and gave it to my husband! What a great man! And we raised 3 teenagers playing Ultima Online we always knew where they were, in their rooms playing UO with us! Long live Lord British❤️
Fascinating interview. I loved playing Alkabeth and Ultima II, and it's very interesting to hear the story behind it, as well as everything else that I missed after that.
Ultima Online was without doubt the best game i ever played. One of the few games that was truly ahead of it's time, even the home dial up tech wasn't ready for it. Spawned thousands of mmorpgs.
My first introduction to anything Ultima was Ultima 8, and I bought it purely for the box art lol. Even though it was quite flawed I played the s**t out of it, mainly just exploring about outwith the main storyline objectives. One of my main memories was reading a book in game that told of a woman and her baby attacked by trolls, and how she grasped her knitting needle and prayed to one of the gods who answered her prayers and transformed the knitting needle into a sword that could kill a troll in one hit, later on in the game deep in one of the caves/dungeons I actually found that sword! It wasn't even a game quest or anything, I just stumbled across it. It just blew my young mind at the time the depth of detail to have a book sitting on a shelf somewhere speaking about something you could actually find in the world, and you weren't led by the hand like most other games.
First Ultima I played as a kid was U7:Serpent Isle. I was 8, I didn't speak english, but I still loved it. My father would loosely tell me the story (nowadays, I realize how poor his english was too) and we would get stuck very often not knowing what to do. When I played I just enjoyed going around town, playing around with stuff, stealing food, fighting guards. I even learned a ton of english just clicking on objects and trying to read. Some of my fondest gaming memories. And of course, Ultima Online introduced me to MMORPGs later on, and that sent me down another long path as well. Thanks for making these worlds, Lord British & all the team.
Definitely one of his best interviews! You hit it out of the park with questions. I’ve always admired Richard and his pure passion for gaming and the Ultima series. It honestly breaks my heart that he doesn’t own the rights to the series he created. I hope some day, somehow, Ultima comes back into his possession.
couldn't agree more, he really deserves to get the rights back, EA is far from where they were in influence back in these days, they should let him have it back
Lord British has given me many years of entertainment, he was one of my staples growing up with his worlds of fantasy and I'll never forget all the hours I put into his creations. Fantastic games made by a fantastic man.
Fascinating interview. Had read about Richard and Ultima series on the Digital Antiquarian blog. Though this was great to hear directly from the very enthusiastic and engaging Richard Garriott himself.
This is a great interview. Ultima 6 and 7 pt 2 did a lot of shaping of my adolescence (I didn’t get to play Black Gate until I was in my 20’s, only got through a bit of 8 but did complete the Ascension!) and hearing some of the backstory really fleshes some things out in my mind. Thanks to both of you for taking the time to put this together!
I highly recommend playing III-V, as they are *very* different from the later (IBM PC-only) releases, and, in my opinion, are even better, and will give you even more backstory.
Wow, what a treat. Thanks to you both, I thoroughly enjoyed that! :) RG is an icon, and seems like such a pleasant man. I cannot begin to describe the impact his games has had, and how incredibly underrated the Underworld games were, and still are. Underworld 2 is still one of the very top games I've ever played, it was just groundbreaking. I spent literal months exploring every nook and cranny, and the satisfaction once the final pieces of the puzzle were solved - priceless. To this day, it's my peak dungeon crawling experience.
An absolute legend of the industry, I'm part way in but this video I know I'm going to love 👍 Off Topic: One thing this video thus far does tell me though is how *vitally important* it is to have good parents who encourage you, help you and give you the confidence you need instead of the common option of divorce and single parenthood that leaves a child usually in tatters.
My friend and I recently re-subbed to Ultima Online to play on official shards. I am playing as I watch and write this and having an absolute blast. Even the low pop shard we are on, there is always someone in the global chat. It's an amazing game that I have fond memories of as a kid and now hoping to make more memories as an adult in the very same game.
I played Ultima on an Apple II and right now I feel so fortunate to have met the author. I wish today’s RPG games had the same enjoyment as Ultima had for me. Thank you Richard for following your dream and for giving me so many hours of enjoyment. Your customer focus is so needed over financial objectives.
A legendary gamedesigner and a inspiring character all around. Really awesome that RMC got him on the tea break. Loved all these old DOS RPG games like Ultima, great times. Any chance you could try to interview Lawrence Holland of Lucas Arts Flight Sim fame? I could never find interviews that shed some light on the development of the classic Lucas FLight Sims like Secret Weapopns of the Luftwaffe, X-Wing or Tie Fighter and so forth. Awesome channel, thanks for all the effort! Stay safe everyone!
His father (Owen) spent almost 70 days total in space, wow! What a fascinating interview, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Ultima series. What a legend!
Had Ultima III as a gift for my 9th or 10th anniversary. Don't remember exactly. Only problem, was not knowing a single word of english. No problem ... My mom translated me some and teached me basic english years before svhool. This humble guy up there on the screen gave not only a uncondionnal love for fantasy and rpg, but also for foreign languages
I'm glad that Mr Garriott had a personal hand in Ultima Online's creation. That's unfortunately the only game in the franchise that I've played but I spent so much time with it and have so many fond memories of it.
I started with some older Ultima games but fell in love with UO in the late 90s. I stopped once I started college because I was addicted. Some of my best online gaming memories is from UO.
44:40 the sense of the game world continuing on with or without your presence was part of what totally hooked me on Ultima 7 as a teen in the 90s. The NPC schedules gave it a sort of neorealist feel, where you could just stop and watch the world existing, bakers making bread, farmers cutting wheat... which you could often help with. I played it on my mate's 486 for months without really being aware of or advancing the plot. The world and its inhabitants were just that immersive.
Ultima 4, for the Sega Master System. That's the game that motivated me to learn English (not my 1st language). My mom would go out to work and 7 years old me would be left alone in the house, with just a dictionary she left me in order to try and make my way through the game... One memory I have is of dreading encountering insects whilst camping, as they were almost impossible to kill, and would often lead to my doom... until some 20 years after, I decided to play that game again. First time camping, and it show up. When I miss my attack, I notice that I was trying to kill a insect with a sword!! Just had to unequip it, and in two consecutive hits, the bugger is gone!
Actually made by a man named Roe R Adams III that Richard never credited because Richard is actually a really terrible person. He spent $30 million to go into space then raised a bunch of money to make a video games and never delivered on his promise. Scammed a ton of people out of a ton of money and now he's doing block chain stuff.
Absolutely fantastic! Such a treat. Mr. Garriott and Mr. Budge are among my top industry heroes. An Apple II running Ultima was the first microcomputer I ever saw in the flesh. Those visuals still give me chills, especially on a green screen. Thank you!
Thank you Retromancave a fantastic interview of a remarkable man, I truly enjoyed learning so much about his life. Thank you, Lord British for the years of fun playing your games!
Represent! I grew up in Houston and playing his games but didn't know he was from around here. Ended up being an EE and game maker myself? I even worked at NASA. Small world.
You can immediately tell how passionate Richard is with his craft and how much better an author-first system (read crowdsourcing) is for publishing games. In non-quarantine days I work about 5 minutes away from Epic, and I intermingle with some folks who work there. The one thing I see is just how worn out and sad a lot of them seem (at least from my perspective). I don't think I could have a good work-life balance in the gaming industry as I do in the industry I archetype and develop for.
Thank you so much for this, it's actually the very first time I saw Richard Garriott on camera. From my POV he was always some kind of inapproachable legend looking at the iconic legacy of the Ultima series. What a brilliant treat for this weird Corona Easter Monday. Cheers, Peter
Thanks so much for this! I love hearing Richard's stories. I've had a chance to interview him myself and it really is talking to a legend. Visionary game maker, freaking ASTRONAUT?! He really is something special :)
Wow! What a fascinating guest and a wonderful interview! So glad I subscribed. My first 'computer' was also a school teletype that nobody knew how to operate. Must have been 1975 or 1976. It had an acoustic modem, and I managed to find some computers and actual people to connect to.
Just re-watched the rest of this excellent older video. Wow! Richard went through a lot developing games and especially with some at EA. I reinstalled UO and am absolutely engrossed with the classic interface and a cheat enabled private server. Even cheating there's so much to do it would take years to get a character with all the abilities and stuff that I'd want. Heck I even reinstalled U9 which yes was buggy but was still well done with the final patches. I'm glad he stood by and pushed the projects/products. There are too many pencil pushers, sales people and competition muddling quite often the industry today. The insanity of the money and appeasing everyone while making world class product is nuts. Great video by a pioneer in the industry!
Excellent interview I've never seen (thank you mysterious YT algorithm for showing it to me today). I had the honor of meeting Richard and thank him for his work. U7 made me a gamer (and I was in my 30s when I played it first time).
I am so happy to hear this story. Richard is one of my heroes. I remember the day my Father came out of a computer store on south road and handed me boxed copy of Black Gate. He said "The person behind the counter thinks you'll really like this" and i really did.
Thank you for this very entertaining interview! Ultima is one of my favorite series of all time. Still wished we would have gotten some more good games in the series after Ultima Online. No other game captivated me like those until perhaps Morrowind, and certainly none after. Richard's attention to detail shows even in his memory and storytelling during this interview. Legend.
haha yess. I reported my completion to Lord British after finally beating Ultima 4. it was a couple of years ago. He responded personally to me with an AMAZING email congratulating me and welcoming me into Avatarhood.
I could listen to Mr. Garriott talk all day. I really enjoy listening to him talk about all things Ultima. It's on of the best game series on Earth. Thank you, Mr. Garriott for everything.
I grew up playing Ultima 7, I still visit the world in exult every few years. Ultima 7 is far from perfect but I always marvel at the technical achievement for 1992. It goes to show that you don't need a complex AI to create a living world.
awesome interview i learned so much, and Even thou I live in ny, I got to meet both him and his dad up at the dayton hamvention, we chatted for a while and enjoyed cheeseburgers... I was also lucky enough to speak to both of them in space via my ham radio. Even thou I was just a regular bloke, they were so nice and shared great stories.
One of the best interviews/interviewee I've seen in long time. I really admire all those pioneers, making games for fun and personal learning, and in that way, making history with their genious acts.
OMG, he mentioned Bill Budge! :) Thanks for getting Richard on the video meeting for this. I've really been a huge fan of U4 and U5 since my childhood, and I'm dying to possibly, maybe do a Zoom or whatever video with him. Hopefully someday. I was fortunate enough to share a few emails with him (I'm very thankful he bothered), and I sent him a digital copy of the first book in my series ("Diamond Dragons"), which contains many homages to his work. :) NO JOKE: one of the primary characters names is Dupree', which is an obvious nod to the characters of Ultima. 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
Does anyone else have this experience of walking around in a supermarket, then you hear a voice in your head that says, "do you know where you're going avatar?" I get that a lot.
Great interview. Wrote my first program on the Apple 2 also. Wrote my first game on the Atari 600 with a cassette recorder. But after that, change in choices happened. Thank you
Wow good interview great video 😊🙏🏽 Richard is such a wholesome guy like old school such a nice breath of fresh air to relive those glory days of our youth and hearing all those stories 👍🏽
It was an interesting interview. I remember beating Ultima I, II and III on my Atari 800XL. I also beat Ultima 6 on my PC. It was enjoyable to hear about the development and the various aspects as to how the games were created.
Fantastic interview! Richard is such an enthusiastic and idealistic person. I was so sad when Origin was acquired by EA, and gutted when Richard left and EA retained the rights to Ultima. So unfair...
This is an amazing interview. Thank you for sharing it. Your guest has an amazing story. I am glad you let him tell it. One note. I purchased many Blizzard products including Orcs and Humans, Starcraft, DII, SCII and the amazing thing about them was the high quality. I do not know about today, but they were very bug free and it was in there favor in a sometimes buggy game world. I purchased on Wing Commander game and it was unplayable it was so bad. I also purchased another shooter game under the Origin title and it was the same. I could not get the game to play at all. THank you again for sharing this amazing story. I loved it!
Funny how it starts. I wanted to make games and started with simple ones in BASIC. Progressed to C, then ended up spending all my time on a graphics editor to create sprites for games. Problem is the editor became so fun I stopped making games and just continuously adding features to the editor (zoom, color cycling, different paint brushes, etc...). Now I do it for a living and the most dangerous minions out there are power point and Excel....
Just last night I found my Atari versions of Ultima II, III, and IV - with cloth maps! 🤯 🇨🇦 One summer I "hacked" III and IV, the map for III fit on 1 8½"x11" sheet of paper, the world for IV filled the back of my door ~30"x80".
Ultima Underworld was the game that changed understanding of a 'Game' - it was mind blowingly immersive for it's time... I havn't owned a console since. (Megadrive sonic at the time)
Thanks for watching! This is unapologetically uncut, the full interview minus the occasional cough or break to top up drinks. Richard was so generous with his time, and we all have so much time to fill right now being in lockdown that I thought you would appreciate every word. Please enjoy it, I really enjoyed making it.
If a podcast is better suited then you can find it on your favourite apps by searching for "Retro Tea Break" or using the links here: audioboom.com/channels/5001251
Neil - RMC
Neil, I follow you from the days of when the cave was located in what now should be a sewing machine bunk, apart from the rest of the great content you provide us, this is a testament of the great work you have done!
Thank you, that was a fascinating interview! My introduction to the Ultima series was with Ultima V on the C64. I remember being enamoured with (what felt like at the time) this vast living, breathing world and so I’ve had a soft spot for Richard Garriott ever since.
RetroManCave he’s a bloody Child killer 😉 great interview I felt he shared a very honest reflection on Ultima 8 that I never heard before. Cheers 🍻
Neil I just found your channel a few days ago. Amazing interview, great style, can't speak highly enough. You have a new subscriber. Thank you.
Question any plans on interviewing Chris Roberts.
Wouldn´t mind hearing his tale about the different wing commander games and the less than stellar movie.
One day, I want to meet Richard Garriott. If for no other reason than to thank him for nearly 30 years of memories with the Ultima series and helping to bring my dysfunctional family together. He's the reason I got into software and why I want to make games, one day. He's been an inspiration since I was barely able to read.
@Hagunemnon, I hope that you do get to meet Richard Garriott one day. I hung out with him for about an hour when he was hosting an event at the National Museum of Mathematics, and he and his wife are excellent and friendly conversationalists.
My classmate is a close family friend of Richard Garriott who is the president of the Explorers club. Went to the North Pole with him. 1-2 years, I’ll climb Kilimanjaro with him
I personally trust Richard Garriott. Not because I know him personally and believe he deserves it, but because his head is just as smooth and shiny as Jean Luc Picard's, and he rocks it like only lord British could. A true boss!!!
i got to meet him and told him how much ultima 7 meant to me - a cherished memory!
Did you see how he f†cked over his Kickstarter campaign?
Might want to avoid mentioning Kickstarter if you're gonna chat with him. He behaved like a royal ass.
This deserves way more attention than it's gotten, great interview. Richard is an incredibly interesting and modest person, not afraid to admit his mistakes and give credit to others. Thanks to both of you for making this video, it was a real gem to find.
I just wanted to thank Richard. I was about 13 years old when I discovered Ultima on my C64 in the late 80's. It gripped my imagination and opened a world to me that I found so immersive. Some of my fondest memories of using my computer at that age revolve around this game. What a visionary legend.
My gaming and RPG addiction (who needs any other drugs?) also started on the C64 with Ultima 1 to 6. I'm still amazed how much patience I had back then, constantly having to switch or flip floppy disks for U5 and U6. Still have the boxes of U1 to U9 (U1 to U5 sadly only as the trilogy packs), the Underworlds, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams on my shelves next to many other Origin games and RPGs. Playing these games on my brother's C64, with dictionary at hand, actually improved my school English greatly as a side effect. :D Ultima 7 and Underworld, among other RPGs, drove me to PC, skipping the Amiga. Ultima 8 has still a great atmosphere and looks nice, only the jumping mechanics were frustrating because of being unprecise. Also got Ultima 4 for the Master System and about the SNES Ultimas you should not talk!
The the story about the "child-abuse" in Warriors of Destiny was funny. How many people installed mods for Skyrim to be able to kill some of the children there because their are such little shits? Also I find it very hypocritical, when it's "not the women and chiiiildren!" but it seems totally fine and accepted to kill innocent men. Wonder what these people whould do if they would be in the situation of looking down the barrel of a gun held by child soldiers or some kid running amok. Roll over and die or fight back if possible?
There was some vampire movie, where there where hundreds of years old vampire "children" that used their looks to prey on humans. For example lying on the street with his bike, like he was hit by a car and left there. Of cause the human got out of the car to check on the "child" and om nom nom...
I'm still sad about Shroud though, as I was hoping for a return to the classic single player Ultima games (saying this as someone who played UO for 6+ years). It didn't had to be the technologically most advanced RPG, even though Origin was always pushing technologies. :( Also sad about how Underworld Ascendant turned out...
Well, time to play the old games again and maybe get the certificate now, as it was a bit hard to get it back then. Should we send the clear data on floppy disk?
So long... Vas Kal An Mani In Corp Hur Tym
This guy is a legend. It is so nice to see him share things he has kept from the past.
Garriott is my hero. A major influence in modern, story driven, games and a genuine down to earth person. He has his head on straight and loves to share his story. A great person all around.
Richard is amazing, had a chance to see him in Russia when my mother was teaching him Russian during his space flight training in 2007.
Повезло.
Lucky you.
How about now? Wouldnt be possible now, would it?
It was in 2007
Personally (as a software engineer), I find Richard to be so relatable. He's indisputably a CRPG pioneer and legend, but at the same time, he reminds me of so many friends whom I either went to school with, worked closely with, or gamed with.
This was a nice interview. Garriott is always a pleasure to listen to.
Well that was an awesome interview. Didn't realize how quickly time passed. As a fellow gamer like Neil I also invested hours of my childhood on U6 and U7 (not to mention Underworlds) was lovely hearing how much passion and love he put in to these games and his experiences with EA etc. Richard Garriott seems like a genuinely nice guy and it's a shame that games are made anymore with that level of love and detail. Top stuff Neil!
Thanks JP. And the first time I tried U7 was in your conservatory on your family PC. Good times
Super big thanks to Richard for sharing the story of Ultima. Those games were a big part of my growing up and I still remember the awe I had, at age 11, the first time I saw Ultima III on my friend's Atari 800XL. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Richard Garriott - wow - what great energy and focus for code and story telling. He has achieved so much. Ultima 4 changed my life as a 10 year old in 1985 and I still come back to it. Thanks for sharing!
I love this! We live in Austin and had the pleasure of meeting him at a retro game convention. My husband asked him about going to the ISS and he reached in his pocket and pulled out a patch from his mission and gave it to my husband! What a great man! And we raised 3 teenagers playing Ultima Online we always knew where they were, in their rooms playing UO with us! Long live Lord British❤️
Fascinating interview. I loved playing Alkabeth and Ultima II, and it's very interesting to hear the story behind it, as well as everything else that I missed after that.
Ultima Online was without doubt the best game i ever played. One of the few games that was truly ahead of it's time, even the home dial up tech wasn't ready for it. Spawned thousands of mmorpgs.
My first introduction to anything Ultima was Ultima 8, and I bought it purely for the box art lol. Even though it was quite flawed I played the s**t out of it, mainly just exploring about outwith the main storyline objectives. One of my main memories was reading a book in game that told of a woman and her baby attacked by trolls, and how she grasped her knitting needle and prayed to one of the gods who answered her prayers and transformed the knitting needle into a sword that could kill a troll in one hit, later on in the game deep in one of the caves/dungeons I actually found that sword! It wasn't even a game quest or anything, I just stumbled across it. It just blew my young mind at the time the depth of detail to have a book sitting on a shelf somewhere speaking about something you could actually find in the world, and you weren't led by the hand like most other games.
If you think 8 was detailed, you should go play 7. Whole different level.
First Ultima I played as a kid was U7:Serpent Isle. I was 8, I didn't speak english, but I still loved it. My father would loosely tell me the story (nowadays, I realize how poor his english was too) and we would get stuck very often not knowing what to do. When I played I just enjoyed going around town, playing around with stuff, stealing food, fighting guards. I even learned a ton of english just clicking on objects and trying to read. Some of my fondest gaming memories. And of course, Ultima Online introduced me to MMORPGs later on, and that sent me down another long path as well. Thanks for making these worlds, Lord British & all the team.
Definitely one of his best interviews! You hit it out of the park with questions. I’ve always admired Richard and his pure passion for gaming and the Ultima series. It honestly breaks my heart that he doesn’t own the rights to the series he created. I hope some day, somehow, Ultima comes back into his possession.
couldn't agree more, he really deserves to get the rights back, EA is far from where they were in influence back in these days, they should let him have it back
Lord British has given me many years of entertainment, he was one of my staples growing up with his worlds of fantasy and I'll never forget all the hours I put into his creations. Fantastic games made by a fantastic man.
Fascinating interview. Had read about Richard and Ultima series on the Digital Antiquarian blog. Though this was great to hear directly from the very enthusiastic and engaging Richard Garriott himself.
This is a great interview. Ultima 6 and 7 pt 2 did a lot of shaping of my adolescence (I didn’t get to play Black Gate until I was in my 20’s, only got through a bit of 8 but did complete the Ascension!) and hearing some of the backstory really fleshes some things out in my mind. Thanks to both of you for taking the time to put this together!
I highly recommend playing III-V, as they are *very* different from the later (IBM PC-only) releases, and, in my opinion, are even better, and will give you even more backstory.
Wow, what a treat. Thanks to you both, I thoroughly enjoyed that! :)
RG is an icon, and seems like such a pleasant man. I cannot begin to describe the impact his games has had, and how incredibly underrated the Underworld games were, and still are. Underworld 2 is still one of the very top games I've ever played, it was just groundbreaking. I spent literal months exploring every nook and cranny, and the satisfaction once the final pieces of the puzzle were solved - priceless. To this day, it's my peak dungeon crawling experience.
Phenomenal interview. Richard really opened up for this one.
Amazing memory, I do not know how he has managed to remember such detail!
An absolute legend of the industry, I'm part way in but this video I know I'm going to love 👍
Off Topic: One thing this video thus far does tell me though is how *vitally important* it is to have good parents who encourage you, help you and give you the confidence you need instead of the common option of divorce and single parenthood that leaves a child usually in tatters.
love it!! Ill always love Richard Garriot and the Ultima games and Times of Lore. It set my imagination alight when i was a kid! Best memories.
My friend and I recently re-subbed to Ultima Online to play on official shards. I am playing as I watch and write this and having an absolute blast. Even the low pop shard we are on, there is always someone in the global chat. It's an amazing game that I have fond memories of as a kid and now hoping to make more memories as an adult in the very same game.
how does this only have 20k views?? great interview!
Thank you, I really enjoyed this one
I played Ultima on an Apple II and right now I feel so fortunate to have met the author. I wish today’s RPG games had the same enjoyment as Ultima had for me. Thank you Richard for following your dream and for giving me so many hours of enjoyment. Your customer focus is so needed over financial objectives.
A legendary gamedesigner and a inspiring character all around. Really awesome that RMC got him on the tea break. Loved all these old DOS RPG games like Ultima, great times.
Any chance you could try to interview Lawrence Holland of Lucas Arts Flight Sim fame? I could never find interviews that shed some light on the development of the classic Lucas FLight Sims like Secret Weapopns of the Luftwaffe, X-Wing or Tie Fighter and so forth. Awesome channel, thanks for all the effort! Stay safe everyone!
Great suggestion I was a big fan of those games, thank you
His father (Owen) spent almost 70 days total in space, wow!
What a fascinating interview, I have a soft spot in my heart for the Ultima series. What a legend!
Had Ultima III as a gift for my 9th or 10th anniversary. Don't remember exactly. Only problem, was not knowing a single word of english. No problem ... My mom translated me some and teached me basic english years before svhool.
This humble guy up there on the screen gave not only a uncondionnal love for fantasy and rpg, but also for foreign languages
That is awesome, what a great story!! Ultima III was also my first game in the series, it was amazing.
I'm glad that Mr Garriott had a personal hand in Ultima Online's creation. That's unfortunately the only game in the franchise that I've played but I spent so much time with it and have so many fond memories of it.
I started with some older Ultima games but fell in love with UO in the late 90s. I stopped once I started college because I was addicted. Some of my best online gaming memories is from UO.
44:40 the sense of the game world continuing on with or without your presence was part of what totally hooked me on Ultima 7 as a teen in the 90s. The NPC schedules gave it a sort of neorealist feel, where you could just stop and watch the world existing, bakers making bread, farmers cutting wheat... which you could often help with. I played it on my mate's 486 for months without really being aware of or advancing the plot. The world and its inhabitants were just that immersive.
You can see Richard is a grown up with a bit of a kid's heart. Wish I could meet him someday
Ultima 4, for the Sega Master System.
That's the game that motivated me to learn English (not my 1st language).
My mom would go out to work and 7 years old me would be left alone in the house, with just a dictionary she left me in order to try and make my way through the game...
One memory I have is of dreading encountering insects whilst camping, as they were almost impossible to kill, and would often lead to my doom... until some 20 years after, I decided to play that game again. First time camping, and it show up.
When I miss my attack, I notice that I was trying to kill a insect with a sword!!
Just had to unequip it, and in two consecutive hits, the bugger is gone!
Actually made by a man named Roe R Adams III that Richard never credited because Richard is actually a really terrible person.
He spent $30 million to go into space then raised a bunch of money to make a video games and never delivered on his promise. Scammed a ton of people out of a ton of money and now he's doing block chain stuff.
Excellent interview. Richard on top form and giving a great insight into his career, and the games biz in general. Enjoyed that. Thank you.
Absolutely fantastic! Such a treat. Mr. Garriott and Mr. Budge are among my top industry heroes. An Apple II running Ultima was the first microcomputer I ever saw in the flesh. Those visuals still give me chills, especially on a green screen. Thank you!
Thank you Retromancave a fantastic interview of a remarkable man, I truly enjoyed learning so much about his life. Thank you, Lord British for the years of fun playing your games!
Represent! I grew up in Houston and playing his games but didn't know he was from around here. Ended up being an EE and game maker myself? I even worked at NASA. Small world.
His and his fathers spacesuits are on display here at the Space and Rocket Center here in Huntsville, AL.
You can immediately tell how passionate Richard is with his craft and how much better an author-first system (read crowdsourcing) is for publishing games. In non-quarantine days I work about 5 minutes away from Epic, and I intermingle with some folks who work there. The one thing I see is just how worn out and sad a lot of them seem (at least from my perspective). I don't think I could have a good work-life balance in the gaming industry as I do in the industry I archetype and develop for.
Thank you for the stories Richard! Keep delivering us stuff! Luv forever!
Thank you so much for this, it's actually the very first time I saw Richard Garriott on camera. From my POV he was always some kind of inapproachable legend looking at the iconic legacy of the Ultima series. What a brilliant treat for this weird Corona Easter Monday. Cheers, Peter
Dude is so humble and awesome. I love Richard man and ultima is still one of my favorite games ever
This was excellent. Thanks for both, RMC and Mr. Garriott.
Thanks so much for this! I love hearing Richard's stories. I've had a chance to interview him myself and it really is talking to a legend. Visionary game maker, freaking ASTRONAUT?! He really is something special :)
Wow! What a fascinating guest and a wonderful interview! So glad I subscribed.
My first 'computer' was also a school teletype that nobody knew how to operate. Must have been 1975 or 1976.
It had an acoustic modem, and I managed to find some computers and actual people to connect to.
Oh now I feel young. My first computer was the Commodore Amiga. Always played colonisation.
Love your Retro Tea Break series. Perfect distraction for this staying at home. Keep up the great work.
Just re-watched the rest of this excellent older video. Wow! Richard went through a lot developing games and especially with some at EA. I reinstalled UO and am absolutely engrossed with the classic interface and a cheat enabled private server. Even cheating there's so much to do it would take years to get a character with all the abilities and stuff that I'd want. Heck I even reinstalled U9 which yes was buggy but was still well done with the final patches. I'm glad he stood by and pushed the projects/products. There are too many pencil pushers, sales people and competition muddling quite often the industry today. The insanity of the money and appeasing everyone while making world class product is nuts. Great video by a pioneer in the industry!
This was brilliant, I can't believe you got an hour and a half with him. Great stuff
He really was very generous with his time, it was a joy to speak with him
That had to be the longest tea break I’ve ever taken. Must confess that I’ve never played the Ultima games but still interesting stuff none the less.
Great interview. The Sega master system port of Ultima 4 is fantastic. Spent hours and hours playing that after school.
This was a fantastic interview and a pleasure to watch.
That guy in the background that is sitting on the windowsill is taking an awfully long time to sip his bottle of coke.
Fascinating, You looked kinda star struck there Neil! :)
I totally was 😁
This was great, always love hearing Richards stories, thanks for this interview.
Amazing interview. Richard Garriott greatly influenced my tastes in games and overlook on life in general.
Excellent interview I've never seen (thank you mysterious YT algorithm for showing it to me today). I had the honor of meeting Richard and thank him for his work. U7 made me a gamer (and I was in my 30s when I played it first time).
Thank you I’m glad you enjoyed it
To me what is amazing is that he kept all of that stuff.
I am so happy to hear this story. Richard is one of my heroes. I remember the day my Father came out of a computer store on south road and handed me boxed copy of Black Gate. He said "The person behind the counter thinks you'll really like this" and i really did.
Thank you for this very entertaining interview! Ultima is one of my favorite series of all time. Still wished we would have gotten some more good games in the series after Ultima Online. No other game captivated me like those until perhaps Morrowind, and certainly none after. Richard's attention to detail shows even in his memory and storytelling during this interview. Legend.
haha yess. I reported my completion to Lord British after finally beating Ultima 4. it was a couple of years ago. He responded personally to me with an AMAZING email congratulating me and welcoming me into Avatarhood.
I could listen to Mr. Garriott talk all day. I really enjoy listening to him talk about all things Ultima. It's on of the best game series on Earth. Thank you, Mr. Garriott for everything.
Millions of players are grateful to Richard Garriott for creating worlds !!!
Thanks !!!
I love your interviews - you're well prepared, have interesting guests and you let them speak. Great job!
Thank you. 😊
Thanks Bobby!
I only knew about Richard and his father Owen from their space missions. I had no idea he wrote games. Great interview.
He does not write games... :) he wrote the greatest online game ever, until today.
I grew up playing Ultima 7, I still visit the world in exult every few years. Ultima 7 is far from perfect but I always marvel at the technical achievement for 1992. It goes to show that you don't need a complex AI to create a living world.
Frank B Same here, Ultima 7 was THE game of my childhood and it will never be surpassed as the greatest open world RPG ever in my mind.
I enjoyed this immensely! Brought back wonderful memories playing Ultima IV on my C64. Once again another great interview.
awesome interview i learned so much, and Even thou I live in ny, I got to meet both him and his dad up at the dayton hamvention, we chatted for a while and enjoyed cheeseburgers... I was also lucky enough to speak to both of them in space via my ham radio. Even thou I was just a regular bloke, they were so nice and shared great stories.
Thank you for this interview. It was very enjoyable to watch, and hear the story behind the story : )
One of the best interviews/interviewee I've seen in long time. I really admire all those pioneers, making games for fun and personal learning, and in that way, making history with their genious acts.
Thank you 🙏
OMG, he mentioned Bill Budge! :) Thanks for getting Richard on the video meeting for this. I've really been a huge fan of U4 and U5 since my childhood, and I'm dying to possibly, maybe do a Zoom or whatever video with him. Hopefully someday.
I was fortunate enough to share a few emails with him (I'm very thankful he bothered), and I sent him a digital copy of the first book in my series ("Diamond Dragons"), which contains many homages to his work. :) NO JOKE: one of the primary characters names is Dupree', which is an obvious nod to the characters of Ultima.
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
Kept waiting for the guy in the background (upper left corner) to move for like 10 minutes ......
10? It was about 35 minutes before I decided it must be a dummy or something with a hat on. It looks like someone drinking out of a bottle.
yeah I kept wondering, was that one of his kids sitting by the window ...? LOL
He's a Buddhist monk meditating.
Very happy this happened. Thanks!
First played Ultima Online around 1998-1999, Playing Ultima Outlands (Free Server) right now.
Does anyone else have this experience of walking around in a supermarket, then you hear a voice in your head that says, "do you know where you're going avatar?" I get that a lot.
Yes my friend, rest and heal, so that you are strong and able to face the perils before you. Pleasant dreams.
Thank you for this. Really great to hear and listen to you both.
Lord British! Now this is really something special, very cool!
Thank you so much for this, I've enjoyed Ultima since the beginning and all the way through to Should of the Avatar!! Very well done interview!
What a fascinating interview, thank you, and feature length too.
Awesome, will be watching this in full this afternoon! Ultima VI is the only old game on my shelf, in the box, map , etc.
Great interview. Wrote my first program on the Apple 2 also. Wrote my first game on the Atari 600 with a cassette recorder. But after that, change in choices happened. Thank you
Ty Richard. And RetroManCave for making the interview happen.
Fantastic interview with a fantastic character(!).
Wow good interview great video 😊🙏🏽 Richard is such a wholesome guy like old school such a nice breath of fresh air to relive those glory days of our youth and hearing all those stories 👍🏽
It was an interesting interview. I remember beating Ultima I, II and III on my Atari 800XL. I also beat Ultima 6 on my PC. It was enjoyable to hear about the development and the various aspects as to how the games were created.
Fantastic interview! Richard is such an enthusiastic and idealistic person. I was so sad when Origin was acquired by EA, and gutted when Richard left and EA retained the rights to Ultima. So unfair...
Not a day goes by I don’t bask in the glory of the luck that we got to live through the origins of D&D and the start of PC’s into MMO’s and MUD’s.
This is an amazing interview. Thank you for sharing it. Your guest has an amazing story. I am glad you let him tell it. One note. I purchased many Blizzard products including Orcs and Humans, Starcraft, DII, SCII and the amazing thing about them was the high quality. I do not know about today, but they were very bug free and it was in there favor in a sometimes buggy game world. I purchased on Wing Commander game and it was unplayable it was so bad. I also purchased another shooter game under the Origin title and it was the same. I could not get the game to play at all. THank you again for sharing this amazing story. I loved it!
what a smart and sympathic man...thank you for your legacy, Lord British! Great Interview!!
Funny how it starts. I wanted to make games and started with simple ones in BASIC. Progressed to C, then ended up spending all my time on a graphics editor to create sprites for games. Problem is the editor became so fun I stopped making games and just continuously adding features to the editor (zoom, color cycling, different paint brushes, etc...). Now I do it for a living and the most dangerous minions out there are power point and Excel....
Just last night I found my Atari versions of Ultima II, III, and IV - with cloth maps! 🤯 🇨🇦
One summer I "hacked" III and IV, the map for III fit on 1 8½"x11" sheet of paper, the world for IV filled the back of my door ~30"x80".
As an aspiring dev Richard is the type of individual I aspire to be in the industry. Thank you for this fantastic interview!
Ultima 3 has been my life-long favorite game ever. Wish a modern remake was possible
Dude... I’m supposed to be working. You couldn’t drop this later in the day? 😉
This was an awesome interview..
Ultima Underworld was the game that changed understanding of a 'Game' - it was mind blowingly immersive for it's time... I havn't owned a console since. (Megadrive sonic at the time)
51:06 - wow! That is so amazing! I wonder if he still does this in 2024?
RMC, you are killing it with this quality content.
Thank you!