Ultima IV: Won!

It took me a lot more turns that it probably should have, but the game is complete. I finally finished Ultima IV.

I was snowed in yesterday, and unfortunately snowed home again today. So I took advantage. It basically took me all day, a couple of levels at a time, to get through the 8-level Abyss. Luckily you can save in the Abyss, in the "regular dungeon corridor" sections. In the battlemap-like areas, you can't. Some fights and issues were very annoying - narrow angled passages that ended in 9 or 10 critters that can cast "Sleep" and did so over and over, keeping the party bottled up and extending combats that should be 2 minutes to more like 20-30, trick rooms with trigger spots + secret doors + other secret doors, totally bizarre wandering monsters (I got jumped by flying insects on level 8 of the Abyss, and orcs on level 6) that didn't fit with the otherwise thematically appropriate monsters . . .

But I completed it. Thank goodness for the Ultima IV Codex wiki, because I needed to know the "Word of Passage" and I couldn't find my paper notes this morning. I'm sure they'll turned up next time I'm cleaning. The other stuff was obvious to a long-time Ultima players. I managed to spell humility incorrectly at the end but I was given a second crack at the quiz of ultimate wisdom.

If I had Twitter, I'd report my deeds to Lord British as asked. Hopefully he'll stumble across my blog at some point and I'll get the recognition I deserve!

Thanks to Marcus Orealis for this: