The good? I'd captured a pirate frigate, found a magic axe by investigating everything in Jhelom, and earned a good bit of money and a level for Shamino (the blonde guy with the evil magic arrow in him on the cover).
The bad? I'd recruited two companions I didn't need and had to pay money to house them in an inn (you can't kick them out like in Ultima VI). I was running out of food and had trouble finding places to get rations (since solved.) I was completely out of some important spell components and couldn't afford replacements. And I needed some keys to get into a locked room, yet couldn't get to a place that had them without running out of food and money.
I could have made it work, but it was very frustrating.
I restarted, instead, and just did things in a proper way. I didn't recruit anyone I wasn't sure I needed. I missed one I do need, but I can get back to her. I had a better idea of how to equip my party. And I had a better idea of how to build up funds.
This time, I've got 2 of my 3 companion spots filled up - I never kick out Iolo the bard or Shamino the fighter. So I had space for Gwenno, Iolo's wife, our second bard, and Mariah, the wizard and my former companion in Ultima IV. I have space for another wizard, and I know where she is, too. I didn't take anyone on until I had built up a buffer of gold and food.
This time the game is going swimmingly. I'm enjoying it and not gritting my teeth at starvation as I try to get anything done, or dragging my butt across the world to get things I'd bypassed by accident earlier.
I am gritting my teeth at having to row my damn frigate around because hoisting the sails gets me shipwrecked PDQ at the emulator speed. I really need to go and tune it down a bit like I did for Fantasy General (where it scrolled so fast I couldn't usefully navigate the screen.) But otherwise, it's good so far. Fun game. It's really priming me for Ultima VI again, and yet it's such an interesting game in and of itself. I'm sorry I missed it back in the day!
Hanging near Jhelom with the frigate I bought, and the one I took off pirates who wanted to fight me.
Very cool! Your Ultima posts have made me nostalgic about playing these games again. I went to GOG and I got everything Ultima; Akalabeth, 1-9, both Underworlds, and both Worlds of Ultima.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, and sorry about that. Heh.
DeleteI have, IIRC, Akalabeth, IV-VI, and at least one of Worlds of Ultima. I figured I'll get I-III at some point. When I started playing, Ultima I was kind of dismissed as a weak version of II . . . but having seen people blog about it clearly that's not the case. I'll be trying to defeat Mondain eventually. Seems fair, I tossed his skull into a volcano in IV so I should actually go back in time and start the job I finished.
Haha...no worries. All of them set me back for a grand total of $8.94. There are even reproductions of the maps, manuals, etc. available. I played a lot of Ultima growing up. One of my buddies older brothers would let us mess around with a high level character on his Commodore 64. Good times!
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