Earth & Beyond without a doubt.

Visually was very stunning.  I remember the devs saying they used real photos from NASA of our planets for their ingame models and used legitimate scientific hypothesis as to what other planets could be like.  Flying around, either in space or planetside, was always a feast of eye candy.

Plus I really liked how you could earn xp other ways besides combat.  Trading and exploring also earned you xp, so grinding was never really an issue for me at all getting to level 121.

Damn EA and their Buy All mentality!

Ultima X

The one I will always miss the most was the first online grahpical MUD, Neverwinter Nights, not the new one but the original AOL hosted SSI DOS game. The reason I miss it so much wasn't because of any great graphics (16 colors) or uber pixel crack, it was the community and the great people I met there. Ever since the loss of our first home I have yet to find a game where the community was so well organized, good and evil, families and extended families (clans and tribes). There was a life to the game all it's own, that intangible quality you find in a big city.

The people who played were dedicated, since AOL charged by the minute back then they had to be to play. It wasn't a game for someone who was bored, even the thieves, griefers, and scammers were a different quality, more cerebral and less the pest. Oh it had it's bad people (cursed baby killing MECHs) and fight jumpers but for the most part even these people had their place in this society. I will always miss my friends in NOR and my family from those days as well as all the other people I met, rescued, trained and taught to dance with the holders.

When AOL betrayed the community and ended the game (due to their being forced to charge a flat rate per month) we were scattered across the new games coming out at the time and I'm sure there's a few old players even here in this community left from the great scattering.

I've played a lot of other games since then, while almost all have had their moments the only other one I truly miss was a small T4C server run by a Wigglesnort and the people who I worked with there.

Definitely ... Earth & Beyond.

Sigh.

Wish