Ultima VIII - Pagan

Screen shot from PC version of Ultima VIII

You have been captivated. The Guardian, conqueror of worlds, has taken  you and literally dumped you in one of his many pet worlds, leaving your  companions stranded alone on the Serpent Isle, and Britannia beyond your  reach. While you're roaming around in Pagan, the Guardian is in the process  of making Britannia, like this arcane land, a world of his. You clench your teeth  in a feeling of helplessness as the Guardian taunts you in you mind. You  slowly understand that to escape this prison you must adapt to this new world  and relieve it of some of its misfits.

Pretty much everything has been changed in this sequel to Ultima  VII. The perspective is completely new, and has been vastly improved, as have  the graphics in general. The game has eaten a phacet of action into the  diamond of Ultima, which is something that many old Ultima-fans had trouble  accepting. The combat system is much more action-like, as well as many  other features of the game. You have to jump on moving platforms across  deep and deadly chasms, avoid flaming balls of death that come sizzling  at you from a hole in the mountainside. The music has been improved tons.  Even if I really enjoy the music of the earlier Ultimas, I must agree that  this is something totally different, and not one bit worse. The small and  atmospheric tunes have been replaced with complete musical masterpieces.  This does wonders for the atmosphere. The portraits have been removed completely,  though, which is a notable minus. Gone is also the ability to play the  game as a female Avatar. Origin felt that, since only the male Avatar consists  of about 1200 different animation frames, a female Avatar would mean a  lot of extra work and delay the game further.