Age of Darkness is coming to its end avatar, but thy must fight for one more time.
I was wrong. Two days and I have rescued Sosaria for the second time. Are these games really that easy?
Anyway, Ultima 3 marks the point where the series started to get bit more serious, clearer and lot better. Gone are time travel plots, flying in space and all that nonsense. While you could say that now its just your average sword n' sorcery fest, Im more happy to play something that has clear direction what it wants to be.
Ultima 3 takes place in Sosaria once again, where people have been living in peace thanks to the hero from another universe who defeated Mondain and Minax from the previous games. However, a new thread rises to threaten the land, a threat known as Exodus, the son of Mondain and Minax. It is once again time to gather up the equipment and vanquish the evil from this land, once and for all.
The game does things so much better than its predecessor. First, the character creation is more expanded. There are couple of new races as well as new classes and all the classes are different. And this time you have to make a whole party of 4 characters and you can even create extra characters and swap them if needed. So much to choose from and so many combinations you can try.
Combat now takes on separate battle screen instead on the world map, meaning that one lone orc might actually be 10 orcs, or trolls. Basic turn-base stuff, but still more interesting that in previous ones where you just press A and direction to kill. Characters get XP from their kills (no shared XP here) and if they have enough, they can talk to Lord British for level up. Even leveling up is more important, as you cain more HP and trust me, you're gonna need all the HP you can.
Spellcasting is much more useful now, thanks to several cool spells and plenty of classes that utilize them. Just be careful when creating a spellcasting character, because otherwise you might be stuck with low magic points for a long time. Unfortunately, even the most basic spells are about wiping out all the weakest creatures in the battle. And for the first time, players can heal themselfs with magic, by visiting a town cleric or even from drinking a fountain found in the dungeons.
Towns are expanded as well, with more services and more interesting people. While some still have standard lines in type of goodmorninggooddaygoodnight, there's plenty of people now that actually serve importance. Talking to them gives you important instructions, so listen well.
Even the dungeons are now better and this time you actually have to go spelunking a lot. Not only are there treasures, but also clues and other stuff vital to your quest. You also need to bring torches this time, since they're pitch dark. Unfortunately, the dungeons tend to be your basic confusing mazes, but using gems you can get a quick overhead map and trust me, you're gonna need that map.
But of course, even with all the improvements, there's still one thing: its still grinding. While collecting money and acquiring food is quite easy this time, you really need to grind for XP so you can level up and have more HP. Worse yet, since there's no shared XP, some party members might lag behind in leveling just because they havent killed enough (Wizards who stay at the back, for example). Game is still bit cryptic, but at least it makes more sense now. This time I completely figured everything out on my own (only checked wiki once to confirm my suspicion on one thing). All you need to do is pay attention to information found in the dungeon and hints people tell you.
Still though, great improvement. If you decided to play just one game out of the original trilogy, pick this one since its much more enjoyable to play. Be warned though, its still pretty old fashioned and its lots and lots of grinding.
3 out of 5.
NOTE: Once again, the game is not exactly eye-pleasing. It has CGA graphics and bit of beeper. However, I once again used a fan patch that gave it a nice coat of EGA colors (There was a VGA tileset available too) and music take from other version. Much more enjoyable that way like Ultima 2.
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Storytime now, here's what happened in the game...
So, in between these bits, I did lots and lots of grinding. I'll just go in the most interesting details.
To kick off, I formed a party of four: TheChosen the Thief, M-Midget the Dwarf Warrior, Tracker the elven Druid and TBanarchy the Paladin. As I mentioned in the review, I didnt properly but enough wisdom for Tracker TBanarchy, so they usually ended up using magic to wipeout orcs or undead. Tracker did have a basic force bolt spell too, which came in handy during combat situations.
Its really hard in this game to figure out where to start. Best way is to go directly to dungeons and grind. Since dungeons have healing fountains, its easy to stay there for long time. Plus there's plenty of money to be found.
By talking to people and reading some info found in the dungeons, I thought I had to collect 4 marks. They were pretty hard to find as some dungeons had same mark I already had. However, Im starting to think that these marks werent necessary, but apparently they gave me some help to get through fire fields, for example. I was also told to look for cards, but I had no idea what those were, or where they could be found. Certainly not in the dungeons.
Also, I took lots of screencaps, especially when using gems to get a map. Thanks to this, I didnt get lost most of the times.
I also talked to a Oracle, who told me to go find the Time Lord. Yes, even when there's no time travelling in the game, it throws a Doctor at me. I searched trough the dungeons one by one looking for marks and the Time Lord and I eventually found both of them. Time Lord of course gives me cryptic hints.
Eventually I find a boat and manage to get to cities that were on islands and there, I learned about two special commands that I need to use. By pressing o, I have to type them in specific place to do stuff.
First, there's dig. Apparently I needed exotic weapons and armor before I attack the Exodus's fortress, since there's monsters who dont take damage from normal weapons (this is the only bit of info I checked up on online). I figured I had to use dig on islands as if I was looking for treasure and lo and behold, I found them. One for each member.
Other command was pray, which I had to use in specific place. Once I did, I was told a word I have to yell. When sailing past the Exodus's fortress, I saw a giant silver snake blocking the way there. I gave it a try and yup, shouting that word gets me past the snake.
The fortress was, of course, a really though place with enemies that shoot fireballs and force fields. After finally crawling through the ending and fighting against the floor (literally, the floor attacked me) I found the Exodus....who turned out to be a computer. Cant wait to find out how they explain this in the later games.
So how do I defeat Exodus? Thats when it hit me. I remember one dungeon hint saying about inserting stuff into Exodus, so it must be the cards: they're punch-code cards! Not only that, but the cryptic hint the Time Lord gave me is actually the order I insert the cards! I reload the game from outside the fortress. Unfortunately, I have no idea where those damn cards are.
I browse my screenshots which I took everytime something useful is being said, and finally found a hint: <Search> cards from shrines. <Search> means another command I have to type in. However, where are those shrines? I've pretty much searched whole Sosaria, and Im pretty sure they're not in dungeons. And then it hit me again: The whirlpool! Someone in the town mentioned something about surviving the whirpool! I head my ship there and yes, I end up in a lost land of Ambrosia. It has the shrines which I search and find the cards.
I return to fortress and prepare for Final battle. I dash through the enemies, fighting against hit damage, flames and poison. TheChosen and M-Midget both die (latter in a glorious battle against the floor), but Tracker and TBanarchy make it. The latter inserts the cards in correct order and Exodus explodes, thus bringing the end to this trilogy.
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So yeah, I've done it. In short time I've beaten 3 old computer RPG's with little to no help, in what I consider a "first real try". Fortunately, next up is Quest for Avatar, which I've played plenty of times before and is the point where the series really got interesting. But will it be easy? Place your bets people!