Ultima V: Dungeons Deep, Caverns Old

With the defeat of Faulinei at the end of my last session, I realized that I'm hurtling pretty quickly toward the endgame of Ultima V, and I'm... surprised at how smooth the ride has been, really. I've mentioned before my difficulties in getting into the game on my previous attempts, but they haven't really been an issue this time around. I'm not exactly sure why, either. Maybe it's because I have more reason to see the game through to its end, what with a blog to "hold me accountable" to a degree. Maybe it's because I've taken the time to really process the game, think through my impressions and the game design so I have something interesting to say. Or maybe it's just because I'm finally becoming 'fluent' in Ultima V - I'm so used to doing everything the way Ultima IV does, there's been some 'translation' issues. For example, to mix, say, a Tremor spell in Ultima IV, my fingers go on autopilot and hit M-T-E-A-H-Enter, and poof, one Tremor spell all mixed and ready to go. It's muscle memory in action, I don't even have to think about what those individual keystrokes represent, I just know that's the sequence that gets me a Tremor spell. Here, I have to remember the incantation, look up which reagents go with it. Sometimes I forget the sextant is something I have to (U)se now instead of (L)ocate with, and that I can only do so at night. These sorts of things used to be an impediment - not so anymore.

Does this mean Mystic Armor is fireproof?

As such, I'm finding it difficult to stop playing long enough to write up a synopsis of the session! Which is a good sign, I'd say, and I've got a list of things that I didn't get to this playthrough that I want to make sure I make mention of and fool around with next time I fire up Ultima V - the game has endeared itself to me much the same way its immediate predecessor did back when I first played it at the tender age of ten. This is feeling similar to the way Ultima III did for me when I began winding down - as excited as I am for the endgame, I'm almost sorry to know that I'm going to have to say goodbye to the game soon, too. But that, in and of itself, is a mark of a good game - it's one you want to keep coming back to.

On to the game itself! With Faulinei defeated, that left two other Shadowlords to deal with, which mean further ventures into the Underworld to gather the Shards needed to do so. After some consideration, I decided to track down the Shard of Cowardice first - Hythloth was a fairly easy jaunt by ship from the Lycaeum, and it would have the added bonus of putting me within reach of the mystic equipment, which would be very handy to have on hand, the armor especially. I sailed south and around the Isle of the Avatar, taking a moment to shout the Word of Power that Hassad had given me in order to open the entrance of the dungeon. What met my eyes was a very long ladder down, down, down into the depths of what seemed to be a mine. Further and further we made our way, until we found ourselves in a small room at the very bottom, full of bats and with a decent amount of gems. There was no other way out of the room, however, so after clearing out the vermin and gathering the gems (they would prove useful, after all), we climbed back up the ladder to see if we'd missed anything.

Navigating tight spaces

Sure enough, there was a hidden passage just off the main ladder on the seventh floor, and after following it for a ways down to the eighth, and one more Des Por spell later, we emerged back into the Underworld, which was beginning to feel very familiar. Peering through a gem to get a sense of my bearings, I remembered that the mystic equipment was supposed to be right beneath the Codex, which wasn't very far at all from the entrance to Hythloth. Through the gem, I could see a small alcove just to my northwest where they likely lay, so after some careful climbing, we gritted our teeth and forged ahead into the lava. Though we were seared by the heat, and had to step back out several times to recover, two or three trips rewarded us with six sets of Mystic Armor, and six Mystic Swords to accompany them. Quickly we donned the armor, though we kept the weapons in reserve for potential later use - the range of the magic axes we were using was just too useful for the time being.

From there we started to explore the nearby vicinity - it was very mountainous territory, with only small pockets of space able to be traveled. We had earlier been informed that we would need to make use of magic to get around down here, and indeed, the In Por spell saw a good deal of use as we wandered our way through. We had a location for the shard, but the sextant we held was of no good to us here in the Underworld. We did, however, have one other way of discerning our location: the In Wis spell, which I used on occasion to help orient myself. The battles we fought in this part of the Underworld were both frequent and arduous, though the terrain could serve to our advantage when we made proper use of it - we held our ground in narrow passageways, and sometimes the fallen would obstruct the way of the rest of our enemies, which gave us free rein to pick them off from afar. (Twice I managed to stave off an army of mongbats because of the chests of loot some of their number dropped upon defeat - they made a wall of sorts across the only gap they could use to get to us. I must admit I was highly amused by this.)

Ha ha, you can't get me now!

It took many spells and a fair number of gems to map out our route to the Shard, but we did find it eventually. The knowledge we'd gained in the process made it easier to find the way back to Hythloth, but between attacks and earthquakes, we were in very bad shape by the time we neared it. Exhausted, we collapsed, Dupre very nobly offering to stand guard while we rested, only to be visited by the ghostly apparition of Lord British, healing us all to full strength before we pushed back into the dungeon. Battling our way past demons rendered considerably less powerful through the effects of Lord British's crown, we passed back and forth between the fifth and sixth floors of the dungeon, collecting treasure all the while, until we found the main ladder that led back to the surface.

Immediately we set sail for Serpent's Hold, heading for the chamber that held the Flame of Courage to see another of the Shadowlords eliminated. Calling out the name I had been given, I raised the Shard above my head - and hesitated, the hand holding the Shard beginning to tremble. I'd come far, yes, but would I really be able to see this entire venture through? We had seen the power of the Shadowlords, the terrors they had wrought upon the land through the hand of Blackthorn, the wounds they could inflict even on their own. What if there was worse out there before we rescued the rightful monarch? Could my fellow adventurers bear through it? Could I? It was Shamino's hand on my shoulder, his resolute expression, that snapped me out of such thoughts, and as Nosfentor lunged, her whispers in my ear letting the fear take hold just long enough for her to advance, I threw the Shard into the brazier.

That's two down...

It took a moment before I was ready to head out again, and even then, it was only to gesture vaguely, telling my little band that we made for Lost Hope Bay, to seek out the Shard of Hatred by way of Covetous. It was not a long trip, though mostly made in silence. The dungeon itself was fairly simple to traverse - it seemed to served as a large crypt of sorts, and a ladder labeled "To the Lower Crypts" took us down most of the way through the dungeon. Using the scepter to dispel the magical fields we encountered as we searched the hallways, we eventually found our way to the exit through a combination of magic and exploration. All we had to go of off for this particular Shard was a coordinate, so we were off again after one In Wis later. It seemed a fairly straightforward venture, after crossing some mountains and heading south for a ways. This part of the Underworld was less labyrinthine than others we had come across, so it seemed it would be a simple trip.

It turned out to be a bit less so, as the Shard was within a rocky region that required careful climbing to approach. The less able of our group slipped often, and we were all fairly well scraped before we caught our breath in the middle of the little mountain. The shard lay within, and we took a moment to rest before we inched our way back, bit by bit over the rocks, keeping a careful eye on each other, not wanting to lose anybody to the perils of the steep outcroppings. Jaana in particular was in fairly bad shape, and so rather than try and make it back to Covetous, we decided to work our way back to the surface through Wrong, which was a bit more of a direct route with less mountain climbing. It also had the advantage of being closer to Empath Abbey when we emerged again, so that was a second reason to take the alternative route.

There were another four demons in here when we entered. Oy.

Unfortunately, after entering, we came to the discovery that we were out of viewing gems. The venture for the Shard of Cowardice had used up a good deal of them, and I had failed to take inventory before plunging back into the depths. By this point I was experienced enough to have a backup plan, though - I had plenty of reagents on hand, and a few In Quas Wis spells, while giving me less strength for other useful spells, would serve their purpose well here. We struggled in the early going as we made our way through the prison of Wrong - a long path of explosive traps led right to the lair of a summoner and his six demons, which made for a very tough fight, Dupre was barely holding on by the end of it, and most of the rest of us weren't in much better shape - but once we found our bearings, it was a relatively simple matter to ascend back to the surface of Britannia, and we trekked through the Deep Forest to the keep of Empath Abbey.

In a way, it felt almost appropriate. My first brush with the Shadowlords had not been particularly far, and it was to Iolo's cottage just a little further into the woods that I had brought Shamino to in the aftermath. It only seemed fitting that I should end my struggles with them in the same vicinity. Boldly I stepped into the chamber holding the Flame of Love, thundering the name of Astaroth as I did so. The Shadowlord appeared at the same instant I pulled the Shard from my pack, and the surge I felt in the process - a rush of memory, of all the damage the Shadowlords had done to the land, to my friends, of all that they had put us through, directly and indirectly - the utter rage I possessed as I flung the Shard into the fire--

Well. Suffice it to say that I can't really say whether the angered scream that rent the air as Astaroth dissipated was his... or mine.

Love conquers all. Including Shadowlords.

In the end, though, it meant that the three Shadowlords were all defeated. I had the Crown Jewels in my possession as well, which meant it was time to prepare for my last sojourn into the depths, this time through Shame. Dungeon delving had given Jaana, Johne and Shamino the experience they needed to reach level five. Yew and Cove provided the stock of reagents I needed, and I prepared several high-level spells for use. I set sail for Buccaneer's Den to make sure I didn't run out of gems like I had on my way through Wrong. I poked around Serpent's Spine in the hopes of finding the glass swords I'd been hearing about, and did eventually find a few of them. I would need every advantage I could get in the trials to come, so best to make sure I collected as many as possible.

When all was said and done, though, we set sail one last time. We docked our ship, set out through the waterways in our skiff, and as Shame came into view, we remembered the words of the Codex:

That which the world has lost awaits thy coming.

~~~

It's occurred to me that while I've definitely taken some dramatic license with in-game events in my telling of them pretty much from the very beginning, I've stepped it up a fair amount in the last couple of posts, and I think a good deal of that is due to the fact that Ultima V has a lot more dramatic moments worthy of some narrative embellishment as compared to its predecessors. It does lead to something that's been in the back of my mind for a while, though, and this seems as good a moment as any to bring it up.

I've said before that it's story that I look at most when I'm playing a game, which stems from the fact that, first and foremost, I'm a writer. There's a lot of ways to tell a story, and there's been some fantastic ones told through the means of games. Planescape: Torment is very high on my list of favorite games, occupying a spot not all that far behind Ultima IV, and my experience with Pillars of Eternity speaks of a well-told story in much the same vein. Both games, and others that I've enjoyed, feature some brilliantly atmospheric writing that takes advantage of subtlety, of nuance, of the little details that make a scene truly evocative.

Boy that scepter came in handy.

But the story of the Ultima series appeals to me in another manner, namely because it doesn't exposit all the details. It's true, yes, that much of the effectiveness of a story, and indeed any creative endeavor, lies in the detail work, so you don't want to forgo them entirely, and Ultima certainly doesn't ignore the minutiae. At the same time, though, its story leaves the player with a lot to interpret for themselves - it trusts the player to fill in the blanks on their own. It's more the framework of a story, a series of plot points and motivations set before the player which they can then thread together and interpret with as much or as little import as they want to give it. Granted, I think a good deal of this is, in part, a product of its time - there just wasn't the ability to include the grand, lavish cutscenes or several novels' worth of meticulously crafted writing back in the 80s. Even so, allowing a player to do some of the work in crafting the dramatics, if only in their imagination, can be just as conducive to crafting an excellent story as anything else.

Planescape: Torment told me a fascinating story with some powerful writing, evocative imagery, and allowed me to wind my way through it and define my character's personality with a myriad of possible reactions in dialogue choices. Ultima V has allowed me to craft that tale myself, in my own words, with as much or as little attention to the specifics as I've chosen. And both experiences have been extremely memorable - there's nothing inherently better in one approach over the other.

That's the beauty of storytelling through the medium of gaming, though. Sometimes you give the player a brilliantly made story - and sometimes you give them a springboard to make one of their own. Both have their place, and both can be very, very effective.

Well, that's enough of another one of my side-musings, I think. I'm just about ready to dive into the last stage of the game here - it took me a bit to decide whether I wanted to raise Aric to level eight for access to those big high-level endgame spells, and eventually went 'why the heck not?' So I did, clearing out some of the rooms of Covetous and Wrong in order to do so (I love the dungeon design in Ultima V too, by the way. This post has gone on long enough already as is, but I need to remember to bring it up before I'm done with the game). I mixed up some of my new spells, restocked reagents, and now I'm raring to get into Shame and rescue Lord British. Should be wrapping up soon - stay tuned for the (hopefully) thrilling conclusion!

Lord British, here I come.

Ultima I: Closing Thoughts

My stats, as I went into the final battle.

As I wrapped up Ultima I yesterday, I found myself musing on what exactly it is about the game that appeals to me even in the face of its age (even the remake is older than I am, after all). I come back to the game fairly often, after all, it's one of my go-tos when I need to unwind and want to just smack around a few pixelated monsters, rather than lose myself in an in-depth story. It's a fairly grind-y game, yes, what with shuttling back and forth between stat-raising signposts, whacking monsters for gold and experience... yet even with all that, I don't really find the game boring at any point. I think a good deal of that is that the early grinding feels tense enough to be engaging, and by the time you reach a point where you're not biting your nails when three enemies come crawling inexorably toward you, the game's opened up enough that you can grind in a few different ways - if you get tired of increasing stats, you can go dungeon delving, and if you get tired of that, you can go exploring the continent and slay monsters there. Or go poking around space and shooting aliens. There's enough variety to keep one occupied, and even if it does get rather repetitive after a while, there's just enough to keep it interesting in some manner or another, whether that's changing up what you're doing or changing up how you approach it - spells versus weapons, and so forth.

Ow! My brain!

So with my previously mentioned intent of looking at the games from a storyteller's perspective, how does the tale of the First Age of Darkness hold up? Well, it's a simplistic story, to be sure, but I think for a game of its time, it holds up pretty well. The general premise is laid out decently enough (evil wizard makes monsters that threatens the land, slay them and figure out how to slay him in the process), and the story, such as it is, is well paced. There are three crucial plot points that move things forward in the game - that you need four gems, that you need to travel through time, and that a princess will help a Space Ace accomplish such - and each one of these points comes as part of the reward for finishing a needed quest. More than that comes as flavor text from taverns, which are plentiful enough that they're not too obscure to find. It's a very compact story, of course, necessitating leaving more to the imagination than the game itself, but then again, that's what really caught me about the Ultima games to begin with - they leave a lot open for the player's interpretation. Ultima I sets a good precedent for the games to come in that respect.

As for Ultima I's role in the larger story, coming off Akalabeth's prologue, Ultima I makes for a good first chapter, starting things out strong. We've established a main villain, and though it's not Mondain himself we find ourselves fighting against as the series goes on, we do feel the effects of the legacy he leaves behind at least through Ultima VI, and perhaps even beyond, depending on how one wants to interpret events. Whether it's his comrades or the remnants of his magic, Mondain's role in the events of the Ultima games resound through the series, and it's here that we first lay down what he's capable of. It makes for a fine opening to the tale of Ultima as a whole.

All in all, every time I play Ultima I, I find it to be an absorbing and enjoyable romp, and this time around was no exception. It's simple, but it works so well, and that's the beauty of it.

If only I could say the same for the next game... but that's for another post.

Ultima I: The Fall of Mondain

Today saw the end of the life of the wizard Mondain. Who knows what repercussions Aric's actions will have as they echo down the ages, but for the moment? Sosaria can breathe easily again.

It's like he was waiting for me...

The venture began with a jaunt to the Lands of Lord British. The kindly king (to an extent, I mean he's still got a princess in his dungeon) had asked me to pay a visit, and presumably my respects, to the Grave of the Lost Soul, which I'd found at the end of my last session, so I picked up a strength bonus from him before heading to the Tower of Knowledge in the northeast corner of his realm, for another strength bonus from the King of the White Dragon. I checked my spell inventory, just in case, and saw I only had two Ladder Up spells, so after wandering around a bit trying to find a place to restock them, I was ready for my final dungeon expedition.

It was Doom that I poked into in order to make my way down, down to Goblin-Town-- er, I mean, down to the ninth level to slay a balron. I cast a blink spell to see what would happen, since I hadn't yet, and was teleported about three steps away. Ah well, experiment did nothing of worth, really. I had little trouble until I hit level four, in which I got swarmed badly just off the ladder, but I came through all right. I came across a passage in which I was blocked in both directions by a barrier, and just past one of them was the ladder down behind another barrier - I was glad for my destroy spells yet again! I'm going to have to remember that in future playthroughs, I got some good use of that spell this game.

How many of these have I gone through now?

Levels seven and eight passed without much to comment on, which I was glad for - I was nervous that I'd get hopped on by gremlins and my food stores would dwindle down much too far for my liking. That never happened, though, and as soon as I got off the ladder to the ninth level, I found myself attacked by a balron from behind! I slew it with a cry of INTERFICIO, and that was that. My trek back upward was more dangerous than the way down, I think - I used a few ladder up spells to bypass the gremlins, but got swarmed on level five, and by the time I stumbled back up to level four I was down to about 600 hit points. Ladder up spells saved the day for me then.

What else am I gonna do with that button?

Shamino rewarded me with the final gem, this one white, and nine items from his stores, which I used to replace the armor that had been eaten (yet AGAIN) by a gelatinous cube. After blowing all my stockpiled cash on extra hit points, I headed over to the northwest island on the continent, took a deep breath, and stepped into the time machine. After inserting the proper gems and hitting the LAUNCH button, I was thrown through time and yanked out of the contraption by magic to face Mondain himself.

There he was, cloaked and robed in a fiery chamber, chanting over the still-forming Gem of Immortality. That was my first goal, I knew - if Mondain completed the Gem, then all of my hard work would be for naught! So I hurried my way over and smashed the Gem to bits - and wracked myself in the process! It hurt, a lot - I went from over 8000 hit points to just barely above 2000. I slung a few spells at Mondain, discovering that Kill spells only seemed to make him stronger, before resorting to my blaster. Time and time again I fired at him, until he turned into a bat. I chased him into a corner, where he turned back (!) into his wizardy self, my world shifting as he shot his telekinetic attacks at me, before I forced him to flee as a bat once more. After a good deal of chasing (and crashing into a wall for even more damage at one point, in my gusto to defeat the evil wizard), I finally managed to strike the finishing blow, undoing all of Mondain's evil actions as they echoed through time.

Ow. Ow ow ow.

The effects put me in stasis of some sort for a thousand years, back to the present, where Lord British expressed the gratitude of himself and his people for my actions - which left me wondering how exactly he knew what they were, if I changed time and all. But in any case, the wizard is dead, and Sosaria is at peace again.

So ends the tale of the First Age of Darkness. It didn't take me all that long to finish up the game today, but I certainly felt powerful while doing it (I think the fact that Pandora decided to blare Nightwish in my ears while dungeon crawling may have aided that along a bit)! It was a fun romp this time around, giving me a chance to play around with aspects of the game I haven't really done much with before - the destroy spell really helped a lot more than I expected! It was also the first time I'd seen Mondain transform back from a bat, and it was the first time I tried a kill spell on him as well - which the game claimed made him stronger. All in all a good time. I'll compose some final thoughts on Ultima I in the coming days, and then it's off to the next game. I hear Mondain had an apprentice who's none too happy with Aric
now...

Ultima I: Spacing Out

My play session this time around was a little on the short side, but I still managed to get a few important things accomplished! First and foremost of tonight's adventures was my venture into space, the natural place to begin after having bought a space shuttle and stocking up a good deal of cash with which to refuel.

Hostiles everywhere!

So after making sure I had my reflect suit equipped (I'd had to replace it yet again after a gelatinous cube got to it), I hopped in and blasted off into space! After maneuvering my way into a docking station, I parked my shuttle in favor of a speedy attack ship, pulled up a scan of the vicinity, and went hunting for enemies! They were plentiful to the south, so I decided to circle my way around, making my way to the eastern edge of the map and then turning back around. I was hoping I could defeat twenty enemy ships in one go, without needing to refuel - though I had enough cash on hand for three refueling trips - and kept pushing my luck, thinking I could go just one more sector before needing to find a place to refuel! When I started dwindling down to about 100 fuel, though, I relented and stopped by a refueling dock, which happened to be in the very sector I'd just cleared out. Back on the starways, I found out I'd been just two ships shy of making it to a Space Ace on one tank of fuel - and jumped the gun on attempting to get my screenshot, so you'll just have to take my word for it on that one!

Get back here! You can't escape me that easy!

There's not a whole lot to say on playing through that section of the game, but its presence is certainly worth talking about. In a game full of castles, knights, swords and sorcery, the sci-fi elements can make things feel a little disjointed, and this is most flagrant during the space section. Yet, somehow... it works. Maybe part of it's due to having established time travel as an integral part of the plot, and for a plausible sort of reason - if the gem is what makes Mondain immortal, then clearly the secret to his demise must lie in doing so before the gem made him immortal. Time travel is an important part of Ultima II's plot as well, but it's not played with quite as much, I feel, which I'll get to in more detail when I cover that game (assuming I remember). In any case, it feels less out of place than it does in Ultima II, to my mind, and I can't quite put my finger on why, much as I try to puzzle it out. As wacky as it is, and as dissonant a chord it strikes against the more properly fantasy elements of Ultima I, it works and it's enjoyable. And maybe therein lies another part of its secret - it's a fun little diversion, a shaking up of the way the game has gone up to this point, something different that's still meaningful.

What do you mean that's the wrong key??

Back on Sosaria, having actually landed safely rather than needing to burn up in the atmosphere and kill myself due to not having enough money on hand to change ships like I did the last time I played the game, I hopped back in my aircar and headed for the Lands of Danger and Despair, what will become the setting for Serpent Isle several games down the line. Having hit level eight last update and becoming a Space Ace this one, of course I had to go rescue a princess while picking up the quests for the kings. The Castle of the White Dragon was closer, so I paid him a visit, and once he told me to find the Tower of Knowledge (back in Lord British's territory, if I recall right), I fired my blaster at his jester followed by practically all of his guards. And it turned out the jester had the wrong key! So it was off to Shamino's, where I was told to kill a balron. But I misheard it as a bard-ron, and shot his jester too, who had the right key this time, and the princess (Dianne by name) in her gratitude told me a time machine was on the northwestern part of the continent. I found it right by the Grave of the Lost Soul (which Lord British wanted me to find, another reason to pay his domain a visit), and that was where I called it a night. I still need one more gem to power the machine, and that'll come from slaying a mighty balron (and surviving to tell the tale, of course).

The end is in sight! Watch out, Mondain. I'm coming for you.

Just one more gem...

Ultima I: Back in Action!

Well, that was something of an ordeal. But here I am once more, back to the Ultima!

I feel stronger!

The first part of my adventures today were trying to remember exactly what it was I was doing. According to my notes, the last thing I'd done was visit the Pillar of Ozymandias for the King of Olympus, then return to him to get a bonus to my strength, halfway through my explorations of the Lands of the Dark Unknown. So to kick things off, I did it again. And again. Since I'd started the game as a mage, my strength was low to begin with, so I made the trip back and forth a couple times to give myself a much needed boost.

Once I had three or four strength boosts under my belt, I went poking around the signposts of the continent - The Sign Post and the Southern Sign Post (descriptive names!), the latter of which being what the King of Barataria wanted me to seek out, which meant another strength boost, although I forgot to do that until just before I called it a day. I shuttled back and forth between the two signposts to up my stamina and my charisma, and reflected on that mechanic. I like the idea that finding places can boost stats, it encourages exploration and reflects the insights that visiting new places can bring, but it leads to a lot of shuttling back and forth, which can get tedious after a while.

Exactly how is this city Poor?

Which led me to pause in the middle of my Quest for Max Stamina, and go run around the rest of the continent. Here I found a lot of other oddly-named places: the city of Wealth barely had anything, just a food shop, a pub, and an arms store, whereas the city of Poor had everything a wayward adventurer could ask for! I also found it odd that the city of Imagination had nothing more than food and arms to sell me... I suppose I just had to imagine the rest of it? Oh well. I also stumbled across a dungeon that I didn't see any indication of on the game maps, which made me do a double-take briefly. I also paused briefly by Castle Olympus, with the town of Nassau sitting in its shadow. There's a couple instances of cities right by castles in Ultima - Lord British's Castle and Britain, Barataria and Arnold - and I like that touch. The foot of a castle is a good spot for a settlement, after all, and I like that Ultima I actually displays that.

If only this spell destroyed the skeleton, too.

After another round of stat boosting at the signposts, I gathered my wits about me and dived into The End..., another dramatically named dungeon. This was considerably less tense than the last time I went dungeon-diving for a monster - I think I'm getting better at finding my way around them! I played around with a couple other spells on my way down, since I'm playing a mage and all - having the 'Destroy' spell around was actually fairly convenient, as those barriers that normally I'd have to find secret doors around I could just blast out of my way.

I got a little nervous when I got to level seven of the dungeon, as that was when the gremlins started showing up and swiping my food - just as annoying in Ultima I as it was in Akalabeth! I was down to about 100 food when I found the lich that the Black Dragon King wanted me to slay, which I did with a single Kill spell. Musing briefly on the irony of killing a magical undead creature with magic that supposedly stops a creature's heart for a few beats according to the manual, I clambered my way back out (relenting and using a few ladder up spells to be on the safe side) and restocked my food in the nearby town of Gauntlet. Visiting the King to tell him of my victory earned me my third gem, along with the knowledge that a princess (like the one in his own dungeon) would help a Space Ace through time.

Die, lich, die! Er, again!

I spent a good deal more time in the dungeons after that, exploring through the first five levels or so of The Long Death in order to garner enough gold for a spaceship, which I bought in Gauntlet for about 700 gold (not bad!) along with a replacement reflect suit (the last one had been eaten by a gelatinous cube), then again in The Viper's Pit - which did indeed have a lot of vipers, making it one of the rare accurately named locales thus far! - in order to gather enough gold to get me through the space section. Last time I played through Ultima I, I found out that you can't change ships if you can't pay the refueling fee, so I ended up becoming a space ace then burning up on reentry because I didn't want to redo it. Live and learn!

I also managed to hit level eight during all this dungeon exploration, so once I become a Space Ace, I'll be all set to rescue a princess and find out how to travel through time!  Of course, I have one more gem to collect before I can do that, but one step at a time.

This being my first entry in quite a while, I have to say I'm enjoying getting back to it. Sparse as the early Ultima games were, they certainly know how to spark the imagination, and I was gleefully making notes and biting my nails when my food was running low while I was playing today. I'm especially looking forward to taking on space next session - somewhat out of place for a standard fantasy sort of setting, but yet it feels like it fits regardless! I'll have more to say on my thoughts on that next time, but for now - Ultima is fitting me like a glove once again. Onward to space!

Time to head for the stars!

Ultima I: Look on My Works, Ye Mighty

Aric's adventure in Sosaria continues apace. After bouncing back and forth between the Tower of Knowledge and the Pillars of Protection, bumping up my stats from the both of them as much as I was able, I nabbed a few supplies from the nearby town of Yew and delved into the dungeons on my first proper monster hunting trip.

Yep, that's a cube in there.

Perinia was the closest dungeon (I find the dungeons in this game to be rather imposingly named for what they are - the Gorgon Hole, Where Hercules Died, Death's Awakening, and so forth) so I popped in and hunted about for ladders to take me down to the third floor of the dungeon, where I found a gelatinous cube waiting for me! Fortunately I noticed it and took care of it before it managed to eat my armor, not that it would have proven too difficult for me if it had (after all, there's a bug in the remake that ignores armor in dungeons). I hurried over to the Lost King to tell him of my deed (how does he know I did, by the way? Am I still covered in gelatinous slime?) and he kindly gave me a red gem, along with the information that I would need all four to win the game.

That was not the easiest part of the map to navigate.

Having accomplished all I could in the Lands of Lord British, I bought myself an aircar and made my way to the next continent east. My approach on this continent was much the same as they were in the Lands of Lord British - visit the towns and get a sense of what amenities were where, drop by the castles and get the quests (which were to kill a carrion crawler and find the Southern Sign Post), then head over to the signposts to up my stats. In wandering the towns, I had my first glimpse of a town arrangement where the magic shop is hidden within a maze of a forest - magicians sure do have it rough in Ultima I, needing to navigate all that they do just to find the shops where they need to spend a good deal of money for the spells that they use.

The Pillars of the Argonauts and Ozymandias boosted my weaponry and my stats, and once that was done it was time for more dungeon delving for that carrion crawler. Avaril's Hole was the closest one to me, so I popped in and wandered my way down to the fifth floor. Killing a carrion crawler wasn't particularly difficult, not with my new blaster from the Pillar of the Argonauts - it was making my way back out alive that was the difficulty! I was dead set on making the venture without any ladder spells, and I got absolutely swamped by monsters on the trek back, heavy hitting ones! I was just barely over 100 hit points by the time I made my way back into the light. The hit points I earned from all the monsters I killed in the venture made up for the ones I lost, but only barely. At least I had plenty of coin to replace the armor that a gelatinous cube had absorbed.

Two down, two to go...

I also discovered that my spells were working just about as well as my weapons, now that my stats had been boosted and I had the best weapon in the game. There's really little convincing reason that I'm seeing to choosing any class but a fighter, since they get extra stat boosts from the get go - they can cast spells too, after all, and even then, relying on spells doesn't seem to have any sort of advantage. Either way I kill an enemy in a couple hits at most, and weapons have more range than magic missile, it seems. All it is is another money sink, and it's not like there's not plenty of those to begin with. (Outer space, anyone?)

Anyway, I made my way back to the Castle of Rondorin to let its monarch know I had completed his quest, and I was rewarded with a green gem and the knowledge that I would need a time machine. Another continent conquered, I drove away from the Lands of the Feudal Lords and came to the Lands of the Dark Unknown. I started my explorations here, finding the Sign Post (what's it even here for? Although I do like the fact it reads 'Ultima Thule!' and makes use of the game name SOMEwhere, even if for no reason that to use it) and nabbing castle quests - even rescuing a princess in the Castle of the Black Dragon, which I do out of tradition. I mean, only seems fitting to save a princess from a black dragon.

Kind of fitting this raises wisdom.

My location question this time around was to find the Pillars of Ozymandias, so after I made my way over there (travel by aircar is interesting in that it can't go through forests, incidentally, it really makes one look at the map differently) I returned to the King of Olympus, who boosted my strength a substantial amount for the effort. What's the motivation of the monarchs wanting me to find specific locations, I wonder? The monsters I get, but exploration? It's got me curious.

I called it a day there, having two of the four gems I need now. The depths are going to get more difficult to navigate as I go on - for the Lich I have to kill, I have to make my way down to level seven of a dungeon - and I still have space to travel. But it's all an enjoyable romp, as it always is. Now, to go prepare myself for more dungeon delving...

Ultima I: In Which I'm a Wanderer

My first day of adventures in Ultima I, of course, began with making my character. I normally play a fighter, just for the extra stat points (they get boosts to two stats, rather than just one like the other classes do) but I'm determined to do things differently to keep things interesting for me this playthrough, so I made myself a mage instead so I have reason to mess with the spells more.

Aric's beginning stats

I spent the majority of my first day wandering around the mainland of the Lands of Lord British, mostly because I had no way of getting off the mainland of the continent for the majority of my first day. My time was mainly spent poking about the various towns, making note of what towns sold what, and which of the magic-shop-possessing towns sold which spells - playing a mage and hoping to really make use of the spells, I felt this was a good thing to pin down!

So that's what I need to do!

I also spent some time drinking in the various taverns and inns, which I hadn't really done before. Seeing as I'm focusing on the story in these playthroughs of mine, though, and the tips you get from the bartender being the main way of delivering clues and hints, I figured it'd be best for me to do so. I was not disappointed - the first time I slipped a bartender a coin for ale, he told me the general idea of the game flat out. That Mondain created a gem that made him immortal a thousand years ago, and that my main goal was to find a way to go back in time in order to defeat him before the gem was made. Some of the "hints" are rather cheesy and fourth-wall-breaking - most notably the one that says simply "Did you know this is a great game?" (I don't disagree, but c'mon, how's that help me make progress?) But some help give direction, like the one that tells me what to do to become a space ace, or one that tells me rescuing a princess will be helpful - especially once I'm an eighth level ace.

Boy I'm glad those mountains are there.

Wandering between towns helped remind me just how tense the opening stages of the early Ultima games can be - enemies dropped in on me a good deal, and having lower physical stats than I typically do due to playing a mage this time around,I had to be very judicious about making use of enemy pathing and landscape obstacles to my advantage. This was made much easier once I finally had enough cash to get myself a ranged weapon (both letting me breathe a sigh of relief and get back to my comfort zone - I love playing archers, no matter what game I'm playing), but until I got to that point, there were some nail-biters - I dipped below 100 hit points on several occasions. Even dipping into the upper levels of the dungeons didn't let me escape, I had thieves and rangers pouring on me at one point and ended up doubling my pre-dungeon entry hit point total when I came back out. And that was after losing about three-quarters of that in the process!

All in all, though, I'm having a grand old time. It's nice knowing the game well enough that I can afford to poke around at things that I hadn't before - rebounding after being seduced by the tavern wench, playing around with Magic Missile spells, straining every nerve to refrain from making use of the Ladder spells... I finished the day by purchasing a frigate and upping my agility and intelligence at the two signposts in the Lands of  Lord British. I'm trying to decide whether I want to delve into a dungeon and kill a gelatinous cube for the Lost King before moving on to a new continent, but whatever the case, it's sure to be an adventure!

Ultima I: Opening Thoughts

Happy New Year, all!

After a brief hiatus due to holidays, lots of travel, slight computer issues, and wrestling with trying to figure out what the best way is to take screenshots (I really should have figured that out before I started this thing - can you tell I'm kinda new at this?) I'm finally ready to get back to Ultima and take on the series proper

Ultima I was released in 1980, the first game to bear the Ultima name and kicking off the series proper. The name was the result of a shortening of the intended title of "Ultimatum" (which was a trademarked board game already) - perhaps this worked out for the better, as a series of nine Ultimatums might have gotten a little tedious after a while. (At least I don't think 'Ultimatum Seven' quite rolls off the tongue as well as 'Ultima Seven' does. Eh, personal preference, really.)

The game was released for the Apple II, but in 1986, the game was remade with a few tweaks and released on the IBM PC and C64 as well. This is the version that I'll be playing, as it's the version that's available through GOG.com and the version I'm most familiar with.

I can't get through opening thoughts without making mention of the game documentation, but when it comes to Ultima I, I've got two versions to mention! The original 1980 version had a manual that was what one would typically expect - what buttons do what, the general mechanics, and that sort of thing. It's got some fairly decent mood-setting illustrations for some of the various monsters the player will face, too, which does help set the stage well enough.

It's the manual for the remake that takes the cake, though. It being a 1986 remake and therefore coming off the heels of Ultima IV, this version of the manual takes the grand Ultima tradition of an in-universe tale of strife and struggle, Mondain having thrown the world into chaos and set the eight kingdoms of the land warring against each other even while they struggle against the evil immortal wizard. It also attempts to paint Lord British as the sole king attempting to rise above all this war, but... well, he's got a princess captured in his dungeon too. But perhaps we'll overlook that bit for now.

I know Ultima I comparatively well by this point, second only to Ultima IV, as I play and replay it fairly often. It's a fairly simple game, mechanics-wise, but still engaging to me even despite its age. I typically play a fighter, so to mix things up a little I think I'll make a mage, as I've never really made much use of any of the spells besides the ladder-up and ladder-down spells - which I'm also going to limit myself on, just to keep things interesting on my end.

We'll see where it takes me! (And just how long those self-imposed limits last.)