Can Gameplay Changes in the Ultima 2 Upgrade Be Disabled?

Yes—at least for the change the site documents most clearly. The Ultima 2 Upgrade's Stat Choice feature, which lets the player pick which stat to raise, is toggle-able via config. The project's author describes it as a gameplay improvement rather than an audio/visual upgrade, and that distinction is why it can be switched off: players who want a more original experience can keep the presentation upgrades while declining the rule change.

What the Stat Choice toggle does

In the standard Ultima 2 stat-gain flow, the game decides how your character advances. The upgrade adds an option for the player to choose the stat instead. According to the project's release notes for version 2.1, this is explicitly framed as a gameplay improvement and "as such is toggle-able via config."

That gives you three practical configurations:

The middle row is the one the toggle exists for: you keep the enhanced look and sound but restore the original advancement behavior.

Why the distinction matters

The Exodus Project is built around upgrades for early Ultima games, and its author separates two kinds of changes:

• Audio/visual upgrades — presentation work such as the CGA Composite Mode, which reinterprets the original CGA color output so water tiles read as smooth deep blue and town brickwork reads red, rather than the harsh magenta-and-black patterns.
• Gameplay improvements — rule or flow changes such as Stat Choice, which alter how the game plays rather than how it looks.

Only the second category raises the "is this still the original game?" question, which is why the config toggle is attached there. If your goal is to experience Ultima 2 as it originally played while still avoiding the visual strain of raw CGA, turning off Stat Choice is the setting to look for.

How to apply it

1. Install the Ultima 2 Upgrade from the project's download section (the v2.1 release is the documented version).
2. Locate the configuration file or config menu referenced by the upgrade—the site states the feature is controlled "via config" but does not publish the exact file path or key name in the material summarized here.
3. Disable the Stat Choice option and save.
4. Launch the game and confirm behavior at the point where stat gains occur (the hotel clerk sequence is the context the author discusses in the related posts). If you are still prompted to choose a stat, the toggle did not take effect.

Common snags

• Version mismatch: Stat Choice arrived with the v2.1 release. An older build will not expose the option.
• Assuming all changes are toggle-able: The site only documents the config toggle for Stat Choice. Do not assume the CGA Composite Mode or the C64 theme are controlled the same way; treat each feature's documentation separately.
• Confusing theme with gameplay: The Commodore 64 theme is a visual proof-of-concept, not a rules change, so it does not affect the original gameplay question.

Related fixes worth knowing

The same release cycle addressed a bug involving vendor prices as a player approaches maxed stats: both Charisma and Intelligence are supposed to lower shop prices at higher values, and the original game mishandles this near the cap. If you are toggling Stat Choice off to preserve original behavior, decide separately whether you want bug fixes like this one applied—they correct faulty behavior rather than change design intent, which is a different trade-off from the stat-gain option.

For the exact config entry name and file location, check the download package's documentation and the project's release posts, since the site's summary pages describe the feature's existence and toggle-ability but not the literal setting.