TALES OF FORGOTTEN ULTIMAS - A Critical Review of the Ultima Series by Origin Systems Reviewed by Jeremy Reimer Editor Note: We are please to present for you a thorough and compre- hensive review of each of the two Ultima trilogies in Game Bytes through the eyes of Jeremy Reimer, Avatar extraordinaire! Jeremy explores the first trilogy in this review and we will be publishing the second trilogy review in an upcoming issue of Game Bytes. For interested players, we can heartily recommend purchasing the entire Ultima 1-6 double trilogy available on CD-ROM from Software Toolworks. It provides a very functional interface to any of the 6 Ultima games. The installation is a snap. Save games are stored on your hard drive for continued play. The games themselves are not enhanced in any way, but it is VERY convenient to have them all on one CD. Only Ultima 6 supports any sound boards. Perhaps one day, the mammoth Ultima 7 will also be found on this CD-ROM. There certainly is enough space for it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ULTIMA 1 PREFACE Recently I purchased the first Ultima Trilogy in order to experience some of the history of the world's greatest-selling computer fantasy role playing game series that has so recently triumphed with Ultima 7. This series of documents, written up after I had completed each of the first three Ultima games, is intended to let the reader in on a bit of the history and evolution of this series. Someone commented once on Usenet that he didn't want to play Ultima 7 without having played all the previous games in the series, and that he didn't have time to do this. These documents may aid those who also have this problem. GAME SPECS The Ultima 1 supplied in the Trilogy was a re-release of Richard Garriott's (aka Lord British) original Ultima game that was written in Applesoft Basic for the Apple II. In the new, previously unreleased IBM version, the graphics tiles were updated to use the EGA standard. Most of the tiles will look familiar to those who have played Ultima 4 or 5 on the IBM. The main player character, the stalwart hero with sword and shield, was exactly the same, as were familiar monsters such as the Dragon Turtle, and enemy humanoids such as the evil Rangers, Necromancers (with the funny exploding hair) and Warlocks. Sound was limited to little blips whenever you moved or attacked. This would not change until Ultima III on the Apple, which had a soundtrack, and Ultima 6, the first Ultima designed entirely on the IBM, which had an Adlib soundtrack. The dungeons, a part of the game Richard had already programmed in a similar fashion in Akalabeth, were black and white vector drawings only. Even the monsters were scaled vectors, but reasonably well done nonetheless. These three-dimensional dungeons would remain until Ultima 6, when they were taken out and replaced with the same tile graphics as in the rest of the world. However, we eventually got Ultima Underworld, which made up for this loss a thousandfold. The dungeons in Ultima 1 were limited to 10 levels, but were fascinating to explore nevertheless. One object was colored in the dungeons, and that was the field barrier, which was depicted by a series of red horizontal lines. The walls were not filled in, which sometimes made things confusing when you went into a small room, but the gameplay in the dungeons was top-notch. You could even shoot monsters from far away if you had a range weapon, the same as on the surface. All the monsters looked reasonably well drawn, for line-drawings, except the Carrion Creeper, which looked like a stripped bush. The main world was displayed in a full screen, except for four lines of text on the bottom which were used to indicate commands and four vital stats. This is an artifact of the Apple ]['s high-res graphics/text mode, but it was interesting to play an Ultima that used most of the screen BEFORE Ultima VII! It does appear from the screenshots, however, that the new version of Ultima 1 on the Apple used graphics for the full screen, since lower-case text was visible. However, the basic screen layout would remain unchanged. GAME PLAY The world in Ultima 1 was the land of Sosaria, a smallish planet divided up into four continents. The map provided showed all of them, described in the runic language that has been unchanged over all the Ultima games. However, there was no runic translation provided in the documentation! Breaking the code is pretty easy once you realize that the [I]nform and Search key will tell you which continent you happen to be standing on; the Lands of Lord British, the Lands of the Dark Unknown, the Lands of Danger and Despair, or the Lands of the Feudal Lords. The four continents are approximately 64x64 tiles in size. The world is assumed to be spherical, and so you wrap around to each continent as you proceed in one direction. Curiously, the provided map doesn't place the four continents in the "right" positions, so you have to learn which ones are to the "right" or "left" (East or West) of each other. There are only four types of ground tiles: water, grass, forest, and mountains. There are two types of "cities", towns and castles. When you enter a town or castle, the image shifts to a new perspective. In Ultima 1, the entire town or castle interior is shown on the screen at one time, which means the tiles get smaller (from 16x16 pixels to 8x8 pixels) This makes it hard to see what things are, although guards and jesters are pretty simple to identify, I had trouble figuring out that the figure locked in the prison was a princess and not a mage of some kind. Big letters are used to identify counters in the towns: Magic, Food, Pub, Weapons, and Armour being the most common, although sometimes Inn is substituted for Pub. There are only four different types of cities and castles internally, otherwise they look identical. Stores in different continents sell different equipment, though. One of the neatest things in the game is the addition of space travel. The pub managers give you tidbits of hints about this whenever you buy an ale, the documentation mentions it also. Curiously you actually BUY items like a Star-Wars like Aircar and a Space Shuttle from some shops! They are expensive, however. When you board the shuttle, you get a countdown, and then you blast into space. You can thrust and retro in four directions, to try and dock with a space station floating above the Sosarian world. You can then pick one of two types of ships that are sitting there. One of them bears minimal resemblance to a Klingon battlecruiser. When you switch to front view, you get a passing starfield like in Star Trek, and hitting the Hyperjump key gives you a visual effect similar to the ones in Star Wars. Then you must battle ships that look exactly like Tie Fighters by moving the cursor (no mouse or joystick support) and firing on the small ships that drift into your field of view. This simplistic addition actually is more fun to play than it sounds. You must destroy at least 20 ships to become an "Ace" and becoming one is important if the Princess is going to help you in your quest. Richard Garriot and Chris Roberts obviously have more in common than one might expect! There is very little talking in this game. The [T]ransact key enables you to talk with Kings and merchants. Kings of the eight castles will send you on various quests. Some are simple, like entering areas marked by huge signposts, such as the Pillars of Wisdom, the Tower of Knowledge, the Grave of Lost Souls, or the Southern Sign Post (ran out of ideas, I guess) Other quests usually involve killing monsters that only live in the lower three levels of most dungeons. Completing the king's quests give you extra strength and other abilities, and also the gems you will need in order to operate a time machine, which is needed in order to win the game. PLOT The plot is very simple, the evil Wizard Mondain has taken over the land, his minions and followers run around everywhere wreaking havoc. Mondain wears the Gem of Immortality, which he created over 1000 years ago and cannot be destroyed. Your quest (found out only by buying ale at pubs and listening to the bartender's advice) is to find a time machine to go back 1000 years and destroy the gem and Mondain while his powers were still weak. Well, weak enough to kill him, anyway! The aforementioned Princess will inform you of the time machine providing you rescue her from any of the castle's prisons. The only way to do so is to kill the Jester, who constantly talks about "having the key" The problem is, he usually has the key to the empty cell. This is in stark contrast to Ultima IV where killing any civilian makes you lose Avatarhood! Here, in order to win, you must kill the Jester to get the key, along with the rest of the guards who will then attack you! It is possible to wipe the castle free of guards, and even kill all the kings, with the exception of Lord British who is invulnerable. The kings for some reason don't fight back. However, everyone in the city or castle is magically resurrected if you leave and re-enter. I found it rather amusing, especially rescuing the princess, which reminded me very much of that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where John Cleese wipes out all the guards while coming both in and out of the castle. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The final confrontation with Mondain is pretty cool. You must first destroy his Gem of Immortality, still in the process of formation. He throws all kinds of weakening spells at you, as well as Magic Missiles and these flaming bursts that appear in random places. He's in white robes with a long staff and a large hood. Wear him down and he'll turn into a bat, requiring you to chase after him to hunt him down for good. You get a "THOU ART VICTORIOUS" in a big blue box and a final screen of text for your accomplishment. Basically at the end you sleep through the 1000 years you had traveled back to defeat Mondain, and now Sosaria is a happy place, and Lord British congratulates you. SPELLS There are only 9 spells in the game, all purchased in one-use-only scrolls (but you can buy lots of them) in magic shops in the various towns. They are: Blink (move short distances in the dungeon) Create (create a wall of force in a dungeon) Kill (self-explanatory) Ladder Up/Down (used in dungeons to get away quickly) Magic Missile (standard D&D spell) Open (magically open coffins in dungeons) and Unlock (open chests in dungeons) CHARACTERS You can choose to be Male or Female, and a Human, Elf, Dwarf or Bobbit (like the Hobbit of Tolkien fame) but all characters work pretty much the same. The same is true for the various classes, fighter, cleric, wizard and thief, they simply refer to various attributes and don't affect ability in the game. It is easy to increase attributes (visit the various Sign Posts) anyway. WEAPONS The standard Hands, Dagger, Mace, Axe, Rope & Spikes (which didn't seem to do anything), Sword, Great Sword, and the useful infinite supply of Bows and Arrows. Amulets, Wands and Staffs are supposed to help in spellcasting. The Triangle is a spell-casting aid and weapon in one. You can get Pistols from the Castle storerooms, as well as Lightswords, Phasors (the docs call them Phasers, so I guess there's no real copyright) and Blasters. The range weapons all have a range of three tiles. KEYS A- Attack, followed by direction key B- Board horse, raft, frigate, aircar or shuttle. C- Cast whatever spell is currently selected D- Drop, items will be lost E- Enter town/castle/signpost F- Fire ships cannons or aircar's lasers G- Get adjacent items H- Hyperjump in space I- Inform and search, tells you what dungeon name you are over, what city name, what castle name, what landmark name, or just continent name K- Klimb up or down N- Toggles noises on/off O- Open, only works for coffins in dungeons Q- Quit and save. It doesn't actually quit, it only saves. I ended up running the game under Desqview and just closing the window. R- Ready spell/weapon/armor. S- Steal item in castle or town T- Transact (talk to King or merchant) U- Unlock. Opens dungeon chests or castle prison cells. V- View change, while in space X- eXit current transport Z- Ztats. Attributes, possessions and spells owned are shown. [Spacebar] Pass. MISCELLANEOUS Some items of historical note: - Iolo the Bard makes his first appearance. He's in every town, and he always sing the same song, "Ho eyoh he hum!" Maybe its a whole bunch of kids called Iolo, from which the later Iolo will take his name. He steals from you if you get too close to him. - Lord British is described at the end of the game as a "stately youth in violet robes" I guess he was kind of young when he wrote this game, and young kings do have historical precedent. Cool. - The jester in each castle is named Gwino. - Shamino makes his first appearance, as a King of one of the two Castles in the Lands of Danger and Despair! He's come down from those early days. I suspect the Shamino we see later may be King Shamino's son, or grandson, or something. - The towns of Britain (located next to Castle Britannia), Yew and Paws are the only towns from the later games (Ultima IV through VII) that were recognizable, and they were all in the Lands of Lord British. Other towns had weird names like Faun, Montor and Gerry. Richard's imagination was just beginning to be put to use, and a lot of the names lack true creativity. But hey, this is just the beginning... OVERALL This was a fun game, despite its simplicity. Its true hallmark is the fact that this was the first game of its kind, and despite the fact that more advanced dungeon games (like Vampyr) are now available as shareware, it was still fun to play. It took me about four days to complete, although to be honest I did use a sector editor to add hit points to my character in the early stages, just to stay alive. Otherwise you tend to see the big white skull o' death a lot, and when you are resurrected you lose all your cash. As cash is the only way to gain HP (you give it to kings to trade for HP, although you do gain points if you go up a level of experience in a dungeon, but only when you reach the surface again) this would have meant a lot of tedious building up of strength in the early going, and I decided to simply avoid all that. After all, as the Man From Usenet said, we don't all have time to play all these games the whole way through... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ULTIMA 2 PREFACE This is the second document that I have written about the early Ultima games. I thought it might be interesting for some people who wish to read about these older classics without taking the time to play them themselves. Me, I have as much time to waste as I want, although I must admit that I tried to finish these as quickly as possible. Sector editors help a lot here. If you want to play them yourself, it may be best if you read this review only up to the "THE STORY" section, since the rest contains some spoilers. ULTIMA ][: THE REVENGE OF THE ENCHANTRESS This was the first Ultima game that Richard Garriott wrote entirely in Apple ][ 6502 assembly language (note that even the method of spelling II used in the game is a giveaway that this was an Apple game) It is much larger than Ultima 1, although the world maps are not much larger, there are different worlds and ages of the world to visit. Richard sold the game to Sierra On-Line to publish it, but the IBM version I played was released under the Origin banner, so it must have been delivered some time after Ultima III was released. This was the first Ultima game I ever heard about, back in my high school days when everyone had Apple ]['s, it was making a lot of noise in the then infant gaming community. Not surprisingly, as it was fast, colorful and had a much broader storyline than the first Ultima. GAME SPECS The IBM version used CGA graphics only, which took a bit of getting used to. Magenta oceans and cyan forests made me wonder why they didn't give up on the IBM right then. Good thing they didn't, as we would never have seen Ultima VI or VII. The key-disk copy protection mystified me for a while, as it choked out with a mysterious Divide Overflow error. I finally figured out that if I switched the machine from 33Mhz to 16Mhz it would load properly. After that I could switch back to the higher speed. At some points in the game, like rocket landings, I had to switch back to slow things down enough to see them! The game ran fine on a hard disk and under Desqview, although it still prompted for disk swaps, and you had to hit the ESC key to confirm, even though all the files needed were there on the hard disk! This wasn't mentioned anywhere in the docs, I had to bash the keyboard for a while to figure it out. In any case, it got less annoying over time. The game was full-screen for the graphic tiles with four lines of text at the bottom, just like Ultima 1. Tiles were 16x16 pixels everywhere. The various worlds were 128x64 tiles in size, and you could wrap around the assumed spherical globes easily. THE STORY Ultima 1 was set on the planet (or lands) of Sosaria, with the simple plot of defeating the evil wizard Mondain and freeing the land (although you did travel back in time to do so). In Ultima ][, things were really skewed. The docs mention Mondain's death causing "great upheaval"... the understatement of the decade! Ultima ][ is set on our lovable planet Earth, and the main game map is a full map of all the continents that we have all seen in schools and elsewhere. Lord British, dedicated to a united Sosaria in Ultima 1, is said to have united the people under one rule, but no evidence of this is found. His castle is located on the main island of Britain (the real one!) but the town by that name is nowhere to be seen, instead we have Port Boniface. The really weird thing is the presence of time doors, with which you can travel from the present (said to be 1990) to the time of Pangea (the large supercontinent that existed millions of years ago), to some unspecified time B.C., or to AD 2112, a year after a nuclear holocaust has destroyed most of civilization! What's going on here? (Well, what's going on is a major plot discontinuity, that's what!) Nuclear holocaust? 1990? Although it is an Earth map, it's hard to believe it is 1990 when you still have dungeons, demons and other D&D stuff floating around, and Lord British sitting on his usual throne in Castle Britannia. The docs say it is an age of "reason over romance, dulling awareness of values and leading weaker souls to lives of crime and software piracy." Well, maybe. Personally, it reminded me of the Campaign for Real Time in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-- the time doors allow passage to other times, and so we find cities in BC and Pangea where none should be. In the words of the Camtim spokesperson: "The past is now truly like a foreign country. They do things exactly the same there." Actually, post-holocaust things are somewhat different. Central America is gone, missing, the convenient walkway between Russia and Alaska has been blown to bits along with much of Asia, and the only surviving city (even Britain is a dead country) is Moscow. It's quite cute entering Moscow and seeing landmarks like "DA RED SKWARE" and "DA CCCP", not to mention the lack of a king (DA KGB, consisting of about seven guards, sits on the "throne".) This somewhat wounded town is the only place to steal a rocket, which you will need to travel to other planets. The docs say that you can travel to all the other planets in the solar system (and land on them, obviously the Gas Giants have become rather less gaseous) but I found that Mars was just Earth A.D., Mercury was the blob of Pangea, Venus was Earth B.C. and Jupiter was Earth after the Holocaust. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto each had individual "maps" and an interesting topography. Planet "X", rather easily found, also had a different map. The object of the game is to find the evil enchantress Minax (former apprentice and lover to Mondain of Ultima 1) and kill her. Why? Well, the docs say so (Richard Garriott admits it is not until Ultima IV that a real reason for completing one's quest that isn't just one written in the docs would appear) Apparently, she used the Time Gates to actually cause the Holocaust, from her home in the time of "Legends"-- described as being "beyond time". Well, Legends is quite easy to find (and a simple place-- an oval world with one castle inside a circle of mountains) but in order to penetrate the castle safely (force fields that do 1000 damage can ruin your whole day) you will need a ring, which the seers tell you about for an inordinate cost. The Man under A Tree (literally) will give it to you, but only with Father Antos' Blessing, and the Good Father happens to live on Planet X, like all Good Fathers of course. Well, you eventually enter the castle, kill Minax (she teleports around the castle a bit, but eventually you can get her) and the closing screen is you doing a victory loop in your rocket around Earth, having saved it in all the different times. GAME PLAY No intro here save for a picture of a serpent's head, and an optional demo of the game which was just a bunch of screenshots at various stages of play. When you start playing you start playing, although you have no weapons or armor save your fists and skin. The tile graphics are the same as in Ultima 1, except that the cities use full-size tiles and a scrolling view instead of the full-screen cities of Ultima 1. Dungeons are the same as in Ultima 1, wire-frame black and white walls and doors (although some walls are have large squares that aren't doors, which mystified me) The monsters are not line drawings but are colored blown- up tiles. There isn't much scaling, you get a distant blob, a closer blob, and then the final close-up monster. All the blobs look alike, so you can't determine what's coming. Still, this was unlike anything seen before when it was first released. Some monsters, like the snake, actually do look impressive close-up, even if they are a bit blocky. There are dungeons and towers, which are really just upside-down dungeons. Cities look like the Mac "cloverleaf" key, and castles look like a squarish wall, while wandering through the countryside. There are fewer monsters wandering around, mainly orcs, demons, balrons and devils (demons with a trident) The interesting monsters all live in dungeons. The demons and devils can paralyze your arms and legs, and the balrons can cast sleep spells on you, but certain items in your inventory (such as boots and cloaks) can protect you from these spells. You collect items in your inventory from monsters that you kill, but you won't see any indication that you've received them until you check your [Z]tats. Range weapons appear to have lost their range, all weapons attack over one tile only. The ground types are the same, mountains, water, forest and grass, but swamps have been added. Instead of poisoning you they sap your hit points, and there is no way to avoid this while walking over the swamp. For the first time you can commandeer pirate ships. The pirates attack you invisibly while on the ship, but sometimes they "split off" into a second ship which you must destroy. Weird, but at least you can then own the other ship. The dungeons and towers are few, and you won't find anything in there except gold and experience points. They seem to go up to 15 levels in some cases, but you can play the whole game without ever needing to go in one. Even in Ultima 1 you *had* to venture forth to complete certain quests. Here, the dungeoneering is optional. Also optional are the other planets, save for planet X, and most of the other time zones, especially Pangea, although some villagers will give you hints about where to find the Old Man, and other things. The hints aren't much more than "Visit the Hotel California" or some such thing, and you have to figure out that the above hotel is in the one A.D., North American city, New San Antonio. One annoying thing (although the docs do mention it) is that occasionally you will run across a monster that just CAN'T be killed. Not even with all stats 99 and the Phaser and Power Armour (the strongest weapons and defense in the game) This may originally have been a bug that was just left in for effect. The only good way around them is the Negate time spell, which is cast not by magic but by rubbing one of the "strange coins" that you find other monsters carrying sometimes. Space travel is toned down from the Star Wars battles in Ultima 1. Here you just procure a rocket to hyperjump (the cool effect remained though) to other worlds. Landing is difficult (especially at 33 MHz!) KEYBOARD COMMANDS: [A]ttack, [B]oard, [C]ast, [E]nter, [F]ire, [G]et, [H]yperspace, [K]limb, [R]eady, [Q]uit and Save (still doesn't quit) [S]teal [T]ransact, [U]nlock, [X]-it and [Z]tats are unchanged from Ultima 1, although Klimb will only go up (two-way ladders in dungeons make their first appearance) and [R]eady only readies a weapon. [I]gnite torch (they tend to blow out in dungeons) [J]ump (futile), [L]aunch/Land Rocket [D]escend ladder [W]ear Armour and [Y]ell (also futile) are new commands in Ultima 2. SPELLS New in Ultima 2 are the distinction between Cleric and Wizard's spells. Other classes can't use them. All spells work only in dungeons. Clerics: Passwall (destroys opposing wall) Surface (transport to surface) and Prayer (Help me Lord!) Wizards: Magic Missile, Blink (random teleport within a dungeon level) and Kill (self-explanatory) Both: Light (eliminates need for torch) and Ladder Down/Up (quick way to get in/out of dungeons and towers) MISCELLANEOUS Some items of humorous note: The single city on the "planet" Uranus is called New Jester. It is populated exclusively by Jesters, who surround you (some of them aren't even killable, which means you can get trapped) but do not attack. One Jester who you think might be useful is at the end of a swamp that is marked "Dare the Swamp if you Dare" Get to him, and he'll tell you "You lose, Cadet!" Sure, because you can't get out of the swamp anymore (Desqview Close Window helps in these situations) On an island in the city another Jester will say "Isn't this a silly place?" Yeah, it is. The "planet" Neptune also has a single city. Enter it and you see a big sign: "Computer camp!" Here you can actually meet Richard Garriott, who is sitting in one of the sleeping quarters with his friend "Howie the Pest" (who is translated rather unfavorably as an Orc!) Howie says "When will Ultima II be finished?" and of course in character as always, Richard replies: "Tomorrow for sure!" Warren Beatty can be found on Planet X asking "Where is Diane Keaton?" The weapons shop in New San Antonio is called "Death 'n' Destroy"! John and Gerry Mayer (who are these people?) stand next to each other in a town and say things like "We know software!" What does this mean? Some items of historical note: Every NPC can be killed in this game, even Lord British and Richard Garriott. Of course, if you exit the town and re-enter, they get magically resurrected. LB was invincible in Ultima 1. Iolo returns for his second consecutive Ultima, but he's a jester now and not a bard. His wife, Gwenno, makes her first appearance. They are both living in New San Antonio behind signs that say "Iolo" and "Gwenno", where they just dance around. You can't talk to either of them. Lovebirds.... Gwino the Jester is back in Lord British's castle. No towns are recognizable from other series at all. Yew, Paws and Britain are nowhere. Fits in with the weird setting change, but then why is Lord British there? (Because he wrote the software??) I recognized Baradin's though from Ultima 1, it is now a town and not a castle. Shamino, king of a castle in Ultima 1, is nowhere to be seen. Linda, a town in Ultima 1, is now where Rome should be. "Viewing" was introduced as part of the game. You need a magic helm and not a magic gem as in later Ultimas, but you can see the big map of either a world or a city, but not a dungeon. OVERALL Ultima ][ continues the Ultima tradition, being a bigger and better game than Ultima 1, with a larger plot line, more worlds and things to see, and better graphics (although my Ultima 1 was re-released in EGA, seeing Ultima ][ released as such would be nice) Despite the weird setting, it was fun to play and always fun to dispatch old Minax in the end (she's got quite a nasty tongue!) Big feeling of success once I finished it, especially as I had been at it for about a week (again using the sector editor to help hit points along and avoid premature death), although I didn't explore all the dungeons and towers (they all looked the same) At the end of the game Richard Garriott says it all: "See you in Ultima III!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ULTIMA 3 PREFACE This is the third in a series of documents describing the games in the Ultima series, written by Richard Garriott. I hope to have similar documents completed for the second trilogy (Ultimas 4, 5 and 6) and the new Ultima 7 soon (under the banner TALES OF LEGENDARY ULTIMAS), hopefully before Origin releases Ultima 8! EXODUS: ULTIMA III Ultima III was the first game written under the Origin label, soon after the company itself was formed by Richard and a few of his friends and relatives. Again, the Apple ][ version was released first, but this time Commodore 64 and IBM conversions were written soon afterwards. Richard admits that Ultima III was the best programming job he had ever done at the time, but that a rich, full storyline would have to wait for Ultima IV. Many of the design features that are found in Ultima IV, V and even VI to some extent were first realized in this game. Ultima III was the first of the Ultima series to take a dedicated effort to play and win. It involved garnering many more clues than in the previous two releases, enough to warrant the first Ultima cluebook (Secrets of Sosaria) to be published. GAME SPECS The IBM version uses CGA graphics only (Well, this was 1983!) but the colour schemes are different than in Ultima II. Most stuff (all the NPCs and player icons) is completely white, along with the water, walls, and almost everything else save for the screen borders (magenta), the grasslands and the forests (both cyan). Sound was limited to PC blapping, although there were more sounds for magic spell use and other events than in Ultima II, even a zeerwwwww sound at the beginning when the title screen is displayed. Thankfully, a [V]olume Off toggle key was added in this game! The game came on one 360k disk, with instructions for making a savegame disk from scratch. The game could not be run from the hard disk, even with the key disk in A:, although all the game files and save game files can be kept on the hard disk for fast access. Under Desqview I just put the program name as A:8ltima.com and the directory as C:8ltima3, this seemed to work fine, and no problems running at 33 Mhz (again it plays better at 16) THE STORY Ultima I told the tale of the land of Sosaria, caught under the evil spell of the Wizard Mondain. By travelling back in time and destroying his Gem of Immortality, and then Mondain himself, the evil wizard was vanquished and peace returned to the land. Ultima II was the strange one of the bunch, the "Dallas bad dream" installment, for it took place on Earth, where you had to defeat Mondain's former apprentice and lover, the evil sorceress Minax, although you did defeat her not on Earth but on "Legends", a continent which might have been like a warped Sosaria. Future documents would suggest that the whole game was really played on Sosaria, but it wasn't. In Ultima III, the player is transported back to Sosaria again, this time the four continents of Ultima I have merged into a giant continent that spans the globe (continental drift?) This continent of Sosaria would later become Britannia, and eventually assume its familiar inverted L shape, which would remain basically unchanged all the way to Ultima VII. The evil this time is Exodus, a weird combination of man-machine described as the progeny of Mondain and Minax, the result of one of their affairs (just what were these two UP to anyway??) Exodus lives on a new, fiery island guarded by the Silver Serpent, and the object of the game is to explore Sosaria to find a way to get past the Serpent and defeat Exodus him(it?)self. Lord British sits on his throne as usual, and as in Ultima II the docs suggest that he is the ruler of all the people, but again there is no evidence to support this in the game. I imagine that this was really a sort of "self-proclaimed" rule... until Ultima IV when the cities really did band together and Sosaria became Britannia. Speaking of cities... where are the six other city-states that will become Jhelom, Skara Brae, Minoc, Trinsic, Moonglow and (New) Magicinia? Only Britain and Yew are familiar, as they were in Ultima 1 (but not in Ultima 2) My theory is as follows (ehhhh! ehmmm!) City Name in U3 In U1? In U2? Will become in U4-7 Reasoning --------------- ------ ------ ------------------- ------------- Britain Y N Britain Obvious Yew Y N Yew (and in woods) Faun Y N Skara Brae On small island Death Gulch N N Jhelom On larger mountainous island Devil's Guard N N Minoc Inside mountain enclave Moon Y N Trinsic Near river, on plain (no match) - - New Magicinia There just isn't another island city. Montor Y N Moonglow Not on island, (East and West) (single town) but similar names. The plate tectonic activity required for the transformation to the Ultima IV landscape is rather funky. The Montors, in the southwest of the world-continent, break off to become Verity Isle. The remaining continent will have to split half-way down a north-south line, zoom around the smallish ocean and crash into itself on the other side. This would leave Minoc near the new ocean where formerly it was in the middle of a plain. The Valarian Isles, home of Jhelom, would have to scoot around the new ocean to find their new home, and Skara Brae would have to slide down the western end of the new continent, but in general everything else would be in its proper places, including Britain, south of an old bay but just north of a new sea. Well, maybe. Oh, and some disaster must befall the old Dark Forest in the South before the New Dark Forest emerges in the north, growing out of Yew. GAME PLAY Unlike Ultimas 1 and 2, the main game play takes place on about 1/2 of the screen. The main map window sits to the left of the screen, and in the upper right corner there is a display of the character stats, below which is the dialogue or "command" window. This three-window display would remain essentially unchanged until Ultima 7. When you start the game, you have the option of travelling alone or in a party of four players. If you choose to travel in a party you are allowed to create four characters, all of any sex, race and skill, which you are allowed to name yourself. I thought this was pretty neat. The docs say that if you travel alone you will have the chance to pick up retainers during game play. I didn't get a chance to test this, but as there was no "join" command in the docs or in the .EXE, I think it may be unlikely. The landscape is familiar, with forest, mountains, grassland and water tiles. Swamps appear to be missing, but in their place we have the new "Dark forest". Ultima 3 is the first of the Ultimas to "blot out" any tiles that are out of the direct line of sight of one's character. As the docs say, this takes a little getting used to, but it makes the game more interesting. When in Dark Forest, you can only see one tile in each direction, which makes it possible to "hide" things in forests... like towns, and within towns, helpful people with important hints. It's always fun to find someone hiding in the trees. New tiles on the surface of Sosaria include the "treasure chest" tile, which appears whenever you defeat a party of monsters. In this game a treasure chest will block monsters from passing but not the player. This would change in Ultima IV, where the chest would not block anything. Space travel, a part of both Ultima 1 and 2, is gone in Ultima 3. Instead we have the first known appearance of the Moon Gates. The numerical equivalent of the phases of the two moons of Sosaria is listed at the top of the main map screen. (In Ultima 4, this was replaced with a graphical representation of moon phases). The phases of the first moon indicate when a Moongate will appear in various places, and the phase of the second indicates where one will be teleported to. Moongates appear for three phases of the second moon. This is more complex than the "time-gate" system of Ultima 2. Combat is different in Ultima 3 than before. In the previous two adventures, all combat took place on the main map scale-- that is, you saw one orc coming toward you and you pelted it with arrows before it could reach you, or when it did, you both squared off for battle, moving little unless one of you retreated. In Ultima 3, monsters as well as players travel in parties, the size of the party a random number up to eight. When a single Orc reaches you on the main map, the view changes to a full-sized "combat view"-- which differs depending on the terrain you accompany, coastal, grassland, forest, or coastal vs. pirate ship. Dungeons, not optional exploring as in Ultima 2 but vital to completing the quest, have had their graphics revamped from wire-frame wall images to filled polygon 3D images. Unfortunately the monsters are invisible in the dungeons until you encounter them (and switch to the overhead view for the multi-player combat) You can see solid cubes that are treasure chests, and up and down ladders, but other things like fountains and mysterious artifacts are either just explained in the command window or displayed as a multiple-tile picture. This can get confusing because as long as you remain on a square you will continue to see the tile picture, even if you rotate to the left or right. There is no colour in the dungeons at all, everything is white (well, this is CGA) but they are still fun to explore. "Viewing", done by magic gems this time and for every Ultima to follow up to 6, can be done on each dungeon level to make mapping far easier. However the map only shows walls as a solid block, any other objects are displayed as a question mark (?). SPELLS The magic system has been revamped, instead of buying one-use spell scrolls, the magic-using character has a given number of "magic" points that replenish over time. Cleric and Fighter spells are completely separate, and are much more varied than before. Both classes share similar spells, like Light and Ladder Up/Down but these spells have been given very imaginative names. The two spell "books" included with the docs are entitled the Book Of Amber Runes (Mages) and the Holy Liturgy of Truth (Clerics). Some classes, like Rangers and Druids, can cast both types of spells, although they usually have fewer Magic points to distribute. CHARACTER TYPES The player can choose to be a Human, Elf, Dwarf, Bobbit (like Hobbits) or a Fuzzy (like a elf-dwarf with lots of fur). Different classes have different maximum attributes, for example the Fuzzy peaks out at Strength 25, but Dexterity, Wisdom and Intelligence can go up to 99. Humans peak at an even 75 across the board. Besides the race of a character, you can choose to be a Fighter (no magic) a Cleric, Wizard, Thief (can steal and can cast Negate Time spell as well as detect traps), Paladin (fighter with Cleric abilities), Barbarian (fighter with limited Thief abilities), Lark (Half Mage), Illusionist (half mage, half Thief), Druid (both cleric and mage, regains magic points at twice the normal rate), Alchemist (half Mage half Thief) or Ranger (both magic types and fighting skills, but limited in each) The best classes I found were the Druids or Rangers... Rangers had the ability to wear +2 magic armour and +2 plate mail, something the other characters could not. However, these items were hard to find! Druids were valuable because they regained magic points faster than other characters. KEYBOARD COMMANDS Standard commands remain as in the previous two Ultimas. [A]ttack, [B]oard Frigate, [C]ast spell, [D]escend ladder, [E]nter town, [F]ire cannons, [G]et Chest, [I]gnite torch, [J]ump, [K]limb ladder, [Q]uit and save (STILL doesn't quit!) [R]eady Weapon, [S]teal, [T]ransact (talk), [U]nlock door, [W]ear Armour, [X]-it craft, and [Z]tats are as in Ultima 2. New commands are [P]eer at a gem (to get overhead map, replaces [V]iew), [L]ook (replaces [I]nform and search of Ultima 1, although you must supply a direction and the command doesn't give you place names), [H]and equipment between members of your party, [M]odify order, for changing the default stances of your party members when attacked (forward, rear, etc), [N]egate time (similar to rubbing strange coins in Ultima 2), the [O]ther command used for typing in special commands and the wonderful [V]olume off! The [O]ther commands include SEARCH (for shrines), DIG (for hidden weapons/ armour), BRIBE (to get pesky guards to leave), INSERT (needed in the end of the game to insert cards into panels), and SCORE (haven't a clue what this does, but I found it in the .EXE so it must do something-- I didn't need it to finish the game though) Spells and and equipment (armour, weapons, etc) must be referenced by a single letter (A through P), that corresponds to that item (the Player Reference Guide lists these) after a command is issued to [C]ast, [R]eady, etc. MISCELLANEOUS A few notes: - Ultima 3 has the first instance of "special" armour and weapons (these are called Exotics). They have limited range but are very powerful and are required to pass force fields and penetrate the castle of Exodus. Some of the locals talk about them, to find them you have to on two of the small (one and two tile) islands off the coast of Sosaria. - The first instance of corruption in the towns and castles--- guards can be d. - Four cards are needed to defeat Exodus, the ultimate evil, and you find them by ing the holy Shrines on Ambrosia. A nice balance. - You need four 'Marks' to get past the Snake. The "marks" are found in dungeons-- they are on the eighth level (the last level in all dungeons) and consist of a tile of hot metal. Touch it and it leaves a 'Mark'. I'd call it a burn, but never mind. The "King", Lord British is supposed to "Favor" a Mark, which ends up being the 'King' one, and it enables him to grant you higher experience levels if you deserve them. Most of the time, however, he simply babbles "Welcome my child! Experience more!" - Lord British has a big grin on his face and is NOT very helpful. In fact he doesn't seem to help you at all. - Frigates never seem to come when you want them to. Once I waited for so long for one to show up that I figured something must be wrong with the game, and I had to start all over again. Sure enough, the next time the ships did come, but very infrequently. It wouldn't be a problem if the whirlpool didn't go around destroying ships whenever you parked them on land. If you were on the ship, the whirlpool would take you to Ambrosia, and you could commandier another pirate ship there to take you back. - The city of Dawn appeared in the middle of the forest whenever the two moons were both full (0,0). You had to be right next to it or it would disappear (also in the forest you couldn't see more than one square in any direction). This I found really neat-- the idea of a city that appears so infrequently-- it never disappears when you are in it, though. The people inside are friendly and remind you that "Dawn lasts for but a brief moment!" - In one of the dungeons there was some scribbling on the walls that said G, T, & C! What this was supposed to mean is beyond me. A hint? Maybe. This review is Copyright (C) 1992 by Jeremy Reimer. All rights reserved.