Together Retro: Ultima IV

[Key-Glyph]

I boned myself in NES Ultima III by overleveling once.

Snap!

Deez!

[Ivo]

Key-Glyph

[Ivo]

Back to the game... I read the manual and installed it. I got a staff apparently, although I only realized it after a Orc waylaid me between... Moonglow and a place with a Baron and Baroness? It took a while to hit the Orc enough and then it started to flee. I didn't give chase.

Now I tried talking with the villagers in these places but it is not easy. I have been trying to figure out where I landed (given that in game my character got pulled from a different world) but of course nobody can "help with that". I asked for Leader, did not work. I found some guys that want to meditate for truth. I asked truth and they mention shrine. I asked Shrine, did not work.


It is a bit frustrating! I left the 2nd city after talking with Beth (the baroness apparently) and just quit the game. The adviser told me to seek the seer but then I asked seer and that (also) did not work.
Does anyone have tips on how to conduct the conversation with people in the towns? I am really a bit lost, I am not even that young but I did not grow up on text adventures, but I think those had slightly better parsers than the individual towns people here...

[Nemoide]

I guess the SMS port made conversations a lot easier. You start talking to someone and it gives you options like "Name," "Job," "Health," etc. and if they say something with significance like "My job is to live honorably" then you get the new option of "honorably" and then they might tell you a little bit about honor. Not every piece of dialog is important and many of them might not seem relevant at first but once you get your bearings, the clues become more significant.

The first thing you want to do is to find the rune and mantra for each virtue (which you'll find in the city of that virtue) [EDIT: or at least find a major clue] and then find the shrine for that virtue. The shrines are located at various places in the world. Then you can meditate using the runes/mantras and get a clue on how to live in accordance with the virtue of that shrine.

[Pootrocks]

Hello all, newbie to the site here. I started playing this a few days ago and I am totally hooked. I am a younger gamer that just happens to love old games. As such, it is really cool to experience a game that required so many physical components. It is annoying, but I like consulting maps, flipping through my spellbook and taking notes on conversations. It's a truly unique experience.
P.S seems like a lot of people ended up as mages. I did as well. I guess this is just an exceptionally honest group of people on this site.

[Ivo]

Does the avatar (and I guess party members) only get exp if they kill stuff? Because with avoiding killing non-evil creatures it is a bit of a double-bind.

[Nemoide]

That does seem to be the case. The non-evil creatures thing is kind of annoying but definitely makes the game more interesting than other RPGs where combat is largely grinding for XP and blindly killing anything you find. Apparently if you flee from non-evil creatures, you'll boost your Compassion and Justice. Although I think the Avatar-to-be has to be the last of your party to leave the screen or you're penalized.

I finally got partial Avatar status! Honor! According to Hawkwind the Seer (dude in Lord British's castle who tells you how well you're doing) I'm also qualified for Spirituality and Humility but I don't know where those shrines are yet! OH WELL.

[Nemoide]

AND NOW I AM THE AVATAR. Or at least I've mastered all the virtues. I've also found where to harvest Mandrake Root and Nightshade, so my abilities as a mage are growing considerably! Still, after all I've spent on regents and food, I'm pretty poor - I hope my guys don't need fancy-pants equipment until the end! Maybe everyone can wear/wield the Mystic Armor/Weapon like in Ultima III - I guess I'll find out!

I'm not 100% sure what I should be doing next. Maybe level up. Maybe explore the dungeons. I have the Black Stone already but none of the others! And I'm not so sure what the purpose of the stones is supposed to be aside from the fact that they're used at altars in dungeons? Somehow this is all supposed to get me to the Abyss and the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom? From all my talkings to NPCs I got a pretty good handle on the process of becoming an avatar and finding some significant items (Bell, Book, Silver Horn, Wheel, Sextant) but I still feel lost from time to time. I think it's a good thing! It gives the game a sense of uncertainty that I don't think harms the game.
Oh, I guess I've got to meet a magician who can teach me Gate Travel, so I'll do that next.

I'm checking guides for tips from time to time but am trying to experience the game on its own for the most part (so if the guide tells me Item X is at Location Y, I'll ignore it until I've found/talked to all the NPCs who may give clues about Item X).

[Sload Soap]

Can't get into this one myself. I think it crosses a line into being a bit too archaic for my taste. Kudos to those who stuck with it though.

[Ivo]

I printed out the commands and had another go at it, won a battle against 2 trolls without killing them and got a chest with some gold, but I am still not really getting into the game.

The conversation parser is frustrating, and for the most part it seems hard to see in cities which people are relevant to talk to and I do not feel like trying every single one.

The cities I am at are Moonglow and the Lycaeum so I guess I should start with Truth. I got the mantra but not the shrine. I also apparently should grab a blue stone of Honesty. There is a telescope which is probably relevant, I can point to A or P which I wondered if it might stand for Altar and who knows what.