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[TheChosen]

Head thee avatar, thy epic journey has begun...

Sorry, no pictures. Didnt take any, apart for the ending. Go to a Youtube if you want to see anything.

So it all started when I decided to take a break on playing Fallout 3 and try something else. Something that I havent had change to play that much or only "tried" so far. After bit of thinking I redownloaded the first Ultima trilogy from GOG which I had purchased last December during the Christmas sales.

Everyone knows that Ultima is one of the fathers of all computer role-playing. Its been around since 1981 all the way to the late 90's with Ultima 9 being the last official game. Along the way there have been ports, spin-offs, re-releases and so on. To my record, it has made big influence to the genre at least 4 times (Ultima 3 gave birth to JRPG's along with Wizardry, Ultima 4 took steps towards actual roleplaying rather than basic hack n' slash, Ultima Underworld made roleplaying popular in first-person perspective and Ultima Online was the first big and popular MMORPG and is still running).

However, do people actually know about the first two games? Before I did, I just assumed they were standard dungeon crawling: Go in caves, kill monsters, collect some sort of macguffins and then beat the badguy. Well, I was sort of right but it was actually more....different. Thanks to Spoony's great video retrospective on this game (and the whole series) I learned that it wasnt your average take on dungeons and dragons. It was all batshit insanity.


In this review, Im gonna talk about the game mechanics and such. I will not spoil anything at first, but in the latter part of this review (and Spoony's retrospective, which I really recommend watching)I will talk about all the crazy stuff I had to go through.

The story itself is very simple: you are a brave adventure who has been summoned to Sosaria. Your job is to defeat the evil wizard Mondain, who's managed to create a gem that makes him immortal.

And thats pretty much all the manual tells you. No more leads. Game starts right off the land of Sosaria, outside castle Britannia.

RPG mechanics are quite simple. Slay something and you'll get money and XP. With money, you can buy variety of weapons, armor, spells and food, which is necessary for survival (every step you take on the map spends your food). Although there are four classes, they only seem to give bonuses to certain stat. There are no equipment restrictions and you can easily be a spell-throwing warrior or a wizard who acts like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan. Only difference seems to be thieves, who are bit more successful in stealing stuff.

You can also visit the pubs, where you can learn some valuable information while having a nice cold ale, and buy ships and horses. Inside the castles you can visit the king for simple quests and healing or try to steal from the storages (This is actually good way to get some of the most powerful weapons, but if you get caught...). There are four continents in this game and each have 2 castles. One castle has a killing job and other has a bit more easier "go to a specific place" mission.

There's your basic overworld map where you move from town to castle to dungeon etcetera and get in the fights. If you get killed anywhere, you will simply restart back from the overworld (around the same island, but at random location near where you died). You will lose all your money and your weapon, but get to keep your XP, stats, item and armor, for some reason. Your health and food will go down to 99.

And finally, there's dungeons which are in semi-3d-kind-of-perspective. You go in there to kill creatures and collect some loot. Go down deeper to face more dangerous challenges. Its all made of vector graphics and since its mostly just basic labyrinths, it can be very confusing. It doesnt help that dungeons dont really have much purpose other than grinding your XP and money, and occasionally you have to go deeper and kill a specific monster. Hell, they're not even that different, so you can do all the killing quests on one dungeon!

The game also has a weird mechanic were, depending on how much you kill, you get HP whenever you leave the dungeon. While bit illogical, its actually a good mechanic and makes the game more enjoyable.

And that the thing with this game. While I dont call it bad, its old. Really old. One thing about old RPG's is that they dont age well thanks to their old fashioned gameplay mechanics. Im more or less okay with old mechanics as well as new and there wasnt any really awful one's, but its bit monotonous and can get quite boring. After all, its just kill things.

Still though, if you think you can handle it, then I recommend giving it a try. Its 5,99 on GOG and you'll get 2 and 3 along with it. Although I said the basic hack n slash might get boring, some of its more interesting elements might make up for it. Just be warned: This is not like Ultima 3 or any other later games in the series.

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And now, I'll talk about what happened in the game. Spoilers ahoy.

So I started playing the game, TODAY, on 15:23 and, belive it or not, finished around 23:08 (14:23 and 22:08 according to chatbox). And yes, this is the first time I've actually properly played this game. Previous attempts were just bit of trying, where I got frustrated after dying for the first time and gave up already. Im kind of glad that I didnt gave up this time because oh boy, this game is more than meets the eye. Spoony's video spoiled me a bit of them, but seeing them personally is still worth it.

So at first, I was bit surprised that there was a Finnish reference in the game! The town near Castle Britannia has a food shop named Li'l Karelia's Finnish Grocery. I did recall Richard Garriott had a Finnish friend (there even was a party member based on her in the later games, Jaana), but I never thought there would be more Finnish references. More in the later games? We'll see.

So its all basic dungeon crawling at first. I start to get handle of it and begin grinding for money and xp. I get a quest from a king to kill a Gelatinous Cube and after doing it I get a gem. Which apparently I have to use to activate a time machine.

You see, its too late to stop Mondain. The gem has granted him immortality. Its game over. Only way to stop him is to find 4 gems which activate the time machine, go back 1000 years in the past and kill Mondain before he creates the gem and becomes immortal. Okay...

Next up I decide to take a drink at the tavern and hear that I have to destroy 20 enemy fighters to become a space ace. Wait. I have to go to space? Yes. In fact, for over 1000 gold pieces, you can buy a freaking space shuttle in certain towns. Even better, for 900 gold pieces you can buy an aircar. Screw horses and ships, this one flies and shoots lasers, pretty much making overworld grinding much easier!

And then I start to wear spacesuits as an armor (or at least I think its an space suit) and find weapons like "Light sword" and "Space blaster". And slowly I started to realizing the plot and what I have to do.

First, I need to gather the four gems, simply by doing the quest for the kings. However, the quest monster gets harder and harder and slaughtering through the dungeon floors starts of easy, but from 3 to below its quickly gets difficult, and there arent any healing spells or potions in this game! Then I figured out that I can rely on ladder spells to quickly jump through the required floor.

However, then I have to go to space, so I can become a space ace so I can meet up the princess...or something like that. Game was bit vague on that, but at least I know I have to become the Space ace. So after bit more grinding, I purchase a shuttle and get probably one of the weirdest quotes in videogames:

"Thou hast lifted off"

I can only imagine the shuttle was crafted by a medieval blacksmith.

In space, its all different mechanic. I had to move around and dock in a space station and pick up a fighter. Then I had to use hyperdrive to move around the galaxy and get in combat with ships that vaguely look like Tie Fighters. Best part about this? Apparently in Ultima 7 it was retconned that these aliens were the Kilrathi from Wing Commander series. Cross-continuity ahoy!

The space combat was very annoying. The enemy ship appears on the screen, moving slowly towards the edge of my view and when it disappears, it pops up again, usually on the opposite corner. I have to move the cursor on it and try to shoot it down with lasers, which is harder depending on how close the enemy is. If it gets closer, it starts to shoot at you and of course it can destroy you.

And I had to keep my eye on fuel too. Yeah, medieval spaceship runs on gas. Everything you do, even moving the cursor, spends fuel. You can dock in on space stations for repairs and refuels, but of course thats gonna cost. Run out of fuel and you'll be drifting in space forever. Fun.

So after winning over 20 battles I become the space ace. Now I get to meet the princess. The only question is, where is she?

And this was the only real part where I had to look up from a walkthrough (the other was little bit of info about the spaceship which Tracker got me and another part was about the quest monsters and on which floor do they appear in the dungeons), and it goes like this: Apparently the princess is that tiny characters that sits in castle prison. That means I have to rescue her. How? With a key of course. Who has the key? The jester.

And that was probably the most cryptic part of the game. I dont know If I would have heard about it from any of the pubs (I should have tried more drinking). Granted, the jesters actually talk about having a key, but I had no idea where that key would go. Not to mention, it had to be a specific castle. And it doesnt help that when you kill the jester, you earn the wrath of town guards who while arent that deadly, are big meatshields who require lot of hits.

So I rescue the princess. She wont tell her name, but she gladly reveals the location of the time machine. I go gather up the last gem (Lord Shamino also let me freely pick items from castle storage) and stock up on magic missile spells. Then thanks to my flying car Im there ASAP.

And you know what? I pretented that the damn thing was a TARDIS. If were gonna have spaceships, futuristic weapons and flying cars, it might as well be a TARDIS. Its certainly not DeLorean that runs on gems.

Anyway, the TARDIS takes me to the final area, where I confort the evil sorcerer. He's quite though and does both melee and spell attacks. He eventually ran out of spells and transforms into a bat. I had to chase him around a bit until I finally took him down.

Then he gets back up. I put him down again and give him a good beating.

And he gets back up again.

Then I figured out: there's a glowing gem in the room. Could that be the source of his powers. I get near it and press g (which is get command. Funnily enough, this and the time I collected items from Lord Shamino's castle were only times I had to use that key) and it shatters! I administer another beating and bam, Mondain dies. Sosaria is saved. And all I get is a basic text congratulation.

So, a medieval fantasy RPG with spaceships and timetravel. It was quite fun. And really, there was only one time where I used a walkthough. I dont know if the game is really that easy, or am I really that good. Im glad though that I finally gave it a change and even beat it. This is probably the fastest time I've ever finished an RPG.

Comments? Questions? Im planning on playing Ultima 2 soon and from what I recall, things get even more sillier.

EDIT: Now I remember: One of the weapons I found in the game was called "triangle". Any idea what that would be? There are no weapon lists in the manual, but as far as I know its not a musical instrument (besides, it apparently is stronger than a great sword).

EDIT: Screencaps of the ending in case someone's interested

[MyVitalRemains]

Overall what would you give the game on a scale of one to ten?

[TheChosen]

1 to 10 is a bit too broad scale for me. In 1 to 5 thought, I'd give it 3, which means I think its good. However, its 2 (about average) or 1 to anyone who arent used to and/or cant adapt to very old, monotonous RPG's.

[TheChosen]

Thou hast saved Sosaria, avatar. But can thee now save thy own world?

This is kind of unbelievable. In 3 days, I've beaten two classic Ultima games in my first attempts. Although I have only tried a bit of Ultima 1, I had zero previous experience with Ultima 2. And I still beat it.

Best yet, I beat it all by myself. On my own. No walktroughs. The only information I kind of looked up from the internet was how to advance your stats and asked TA to look up where I can find the coordinates to Planet X (didnt even get proper information for that), but otherwise I figured things out all by myself.

Anyway, Ultima 2 is pretty much like Ultima 1, except with even more grinding and crypticisms. This time the bad guy is Minax, apprentice and lover of Mondain, the badguy of the previous game. Because she's pissed off of his death, she takes over Sosaria and the player characters world.

Or something...Its bit of confusing and it gets even more confusing when they try to explain it in later games. All I needed to know is that Im on earth and I have to kill Minax.

Character creation is pretty much the same as last time. This time though, only mages and clerics can use spells. Other than that, anyone can use any weapon and armor and thieves are better at stealing.

You start off once again completely clueless on what you should do. There are couple of towns in the map and you can now talk to NPC's, give tips in pubs and visit seers for vague hints on what you should do.

Time traveling is also a big concept in this game. There are 5 eras: Pre-historic, dark age, present, post-apocalyptic future and "legend" era where Minax's fortress is located. You can travel through time via time gates and with the map you can figure out what gate takes you to what time. There are also dungeons on the maps, but this time you dont have to go to these places at all. They only serve purpose for level and money grinding.

Speaking of grinding, there's lot of that in this game. A lot of time you need to grind for money for food, items and quest related tasks. Food is especially important, since I think it depletes here a lot faster than in previous one. I did play as a thief again and stealing now really helps, since you can get lot of food for free with stealing. There's still no proper way to heal yourself other than by giving money to Lord British.

Sometimes when you kill things, you might receive an item. These items all have their own unique uses and many of them are necessary to beat the game, but there's no explanation what they do except for vague hints.

Overall, this game is worse than Ultima 1. While it expands the plot more and makes it bit more than standard hack n slash, its all very confusing and cryptic, and you have to run back and forth and figure things out. And when you're not trying to figure things out, you're probably grinding for money.

Not to mention the game is ugly as hell. Its in 4 color CGA. To be fair, original Ultima 1 was in CGA too, but the version I was playing was a updated version which makes the game whole more appealing. Fortunately, there's a fan-made patch which makes the game better looking and adds other functions like quick restart.

2 out of 5. Dont really recommend it, especially if you didnt like Ultima 1.
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And now, the madness that I had to face. Spoilers ahoy again.



After I finished the game, I watched Spoony's video of it again. Its kind of funny that he gets some things wrong, for example that you cant figure out things without help. Granted, its really cryptic but I did figure it out. Either Im a genius or Spoony's just dumb. He also claimed that you cant kill Minax without a specific weapon. Wrong again. Im starting to think he never actually played the game.



Anyway, it all started by figuring out how the time gates work, then I spended some money on bar tips and seers to get tips, like what I should do and what some items to. For example, there's plenty of locks in towns. How do I open the locks? With keys. Whats the way to get the keys? Only way to get the keys is to slaughter town guards, which are of course hefty meatshields that can kill you easily if you dont have lot of HP. I did eventually figure out a good way to grind some keys: enter the shipyard in one of the towns, take the boat and kill guards with cannons. Cannons are the strongest weapon in the game and they can kill anyone with one or two hits.



Other than ship, which really makes grinding easier, I needed to hijack a plane from New San Antonio. With this, I could easily travel around the world. I could also enter the time gates on it and traverse through the other worlds easily as well.



With the plane I managed to reach an unaccessible city in the post-apocalyptic future which apparently is a former Soviet city. This city also has several space-shuttles which of course means I have to go to space again.



So why to go to space? I need to meet Father Antos, who couple of NPC's say I have to meet. He's on place called Planet X, which is not mentioned on the chart in the manual.



But before I can go to space, I need two things. First is fuel, which is another one of the random items dropped by killing enemies. Thanks to lot of grinding I did get decent amount of fuel. Second, I needed to buy a Power Armor from store.



BUT before I could use power armor, or some of the better weapons, I needed to raise my stats. Only way to do raise the stats is to go to New San Antonio and give money to a guy in Hotel California. This is the only bit of information I looked up online. He then raises one of my stats randomly. After re-loading several times I was finally able to equip the power armor and a phaser. Time to head to spaaaaaace.



This game fortunately has no space combat. All you gotta do is set the coordinates, land and explore the planet. While its neat, its pretty much useless since all I need to do is get to planet X. Unfortunately, the star chart has no coordinates to the planet X and I have no idea where I can hear of them. Luckily I managed to GUESS the right coordinates. 9-9-9. Im starting to think it was on purpose.



Anyway, on planet X I meet father Antos and he tells me to get the ring. By this point I understood what he meant: I've paid money to seers and found out there's a old man in San Antonio who I have to give the money to get the ring. Now that I have the blessing, I can get the ring.



So what does the ring do? I can now walk through forcefields in Minax's castle. I could do that before, but they take 1000 hp damage. Fighting against Minax is not easy though, as the place has couple of Balrons who are super strong and can put me into sleep. Minax also has taken cues on fighting from her mentor, as she teleports to other side of the fortress after getting hit.



So after grinding some more and pumping HP to OVER 9000, I came up with a plan. Using a strange coin which freezes the enemies movement momentarily and abusing the game engine, fortresses architecture and the enemies non-existent pathfinding, I trapped the Balron's in rooms so that they wont bother me. Then I proceed to kill Minax and win the game.



So Ultima 3 is next, and this one I actually have some minor experience. My guess is that saving the world wont be easy this time.

[TheChosen]

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!

[TotalAnarchy]

I just noticed I'm in the party... What class did you assign me? Just don't tell me it was wizard.

[MyVitalRemains]

Originally Posted by TheChosen

1 to 10 is a bit too broad scale for me. In 1 to 5 thought, I'd give it 3, which means I think its good. However, its 2 (about average) or 1 to anyone who arent used to and/or cant adapt to very old, monotonous RPG's.

Not bad.

[TheChosen]

Ultima IV is....still not done. Yeah, finally the series is putting up a proper fight.

The quest for the avatarhood is not that simple. I have gathered companions and levelling up so lot of the combat is not that hard. However, I find it tedious when I have to control 7 characters. The quest itself involves multiple stuff to do and find and I dont think Im even half-way there.

First, I gotta find all the runes and learn the mantras for each virtue. That is done.

Second, I need to do stuff related to virtues, like be honest when paying to a blind saleswoman to show compassion by giving to the poor. When I've done enough, I need to meditate at the shrine of that specific virtue and thus achieve avatarhood in that virtue. Do this for each virtue.

Third, get the book, bell and candle and learn the word. These I need to access the Stygian Abyss so I can read the codex or something like that. Out of these, Im only missing the candle.

Fourth, collect 8 colored stones. Or at least I think there are 8 of them. And from what I've understood, they're in the dungeons, each named opposite of one virtue. What do I do with these stones? Eh, I think I need to use them at specific altars, either at other dungeons or at the Stygian Abyss. Its not 100% clear yet. So far I have found zero stones.

Stones are the biggest problem, because I believe they're in the dungeons. In Ultima 4, they finally put out dungeons that are if not hard, bit tedious. There are certain rooms where it switch to combat view, which with seven characters to move around isnt all that fun. These rooms are usually filled with monsters (worst room so far was full of gremlins, which of course chewed all the food in few turns) and they respawn when you leave.

Floors are notably smaller than in 3, but still manage to be even more confusing (especially thanks to the rooms) and now there's force fields, usually poison ones. There doesnt seem to be that many healing fountains either. I've found few altars, but no stones so far.

So, does anyone have any insightful hints or pointers? Not the kind of "Go here and there and you'll find the candle", but something that would make the combat easier, like how to grind more faster. I'd also like a bit more information about the stones. Am I on the right track with them?

Next time I'll play, I was thinking of just speeding through the floors using spells. Maybe I'll end up somewhere important.

Other than that, Im quite enjoying the game. Its finally giving me a kind of challenge I've been waiting for and is very clear about the goals and such.

I also cant wait to try out the character importing and find out if its any different from just starting a new character. Unfortunately, when I'll beat this, there's probably gonna be short break since I have to get a copy of Ultima 5, and Im short of cash right now (unemployed, trying to get back to school, that sort of thing). 7 too, with add-ons and Id like to try Ultima Underworlds too. 6 and 8 I have ready. I dont have 9 either, but Im not really looking forward to that, so maybe I'll skip that.

Oh, and a bit of funny thing. Remember Father Antos, the priest who I had to track down in Ultima 2? Well, I found him here and yes he's supposed to be the same character. I really like to know how he got back from the planet X, in the year 2112.

EDIT: And could a mod or admin change the thread title to "TC's Ultima playthrough", since it stopped being about just Ultima 1 like, the next day.

[DarthHelmet86]

I think Spoony's videos were based on his past experiences more then him having replayed the game. He said some of the footage was from other sources in one of the videos it might have related to them all I can't remember. It wouldn't surprise me if he played them and relied on a walkthrough thus felt things couldn't be explained in game. It is one thing I have noticed about walkthroughs and games, if you stick with them often the solution to the puzzle seems much more out there then if you worked it out with what the game gives you. Mainly cause you miss that info as it takes time and repeated looking at things to get it which you don't see in a walkthrough.

Over all good playthroughs man looking forward to seeing more.

[TheChosen]

Ultima IV is turning out to be a great contender. Soon I've been tackling this for a week. Here's the status so far:

- Tracker gave me a quick hint ad with that, I was finally able to deduct what the hint meant and I was able to find the candle of love. That means I now have all the tools needed to enter Stygian Abyss. There's still something about magic ship though.

- I've visited all the shrines and Im up to one more visit before I become the avatar. That shrine is shrine of spirituality...which I right now have no idea how to get there. I actually ended up looking for the coordinates of the shrine, but there's nothing on the location. Its on the same tile where there's a moongate, so I might have to fiddle around with those again (had to do that last time to find the black stone)

- I've been going through dungeons and collecting stones. Plus I've found two other stones from the world map. Now only two remains: purple stone of honor and orange stone of sacrifice. I'd assume they were in their respective dungeons, but so far I havent found them. Could be that these dungeons are bit more complicated and have more floors to search from. Once I get the stones I think I'll try using them by inserting them into the altars of truth, love and courage.

- I also have to find a skull of Mondain, the bad guy from the first game. I dont know why, just that its an artifact of evil and needs to be destroyed. Following the tracks takes me to Buccaneers Den, where in the bar they tell me to talk to beggar named Jude. Still no idea where that beggar is.

Its almost over....I hope.