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Ultima The Ultima Underworld I & II Thread

Unkillable Cat

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:necro:

Just popping in to ask a question, but there was a guy posting in this thread 2 years back that said that he was working on an 'advanced walkthrough' for UUW2.

He hasn't visited the forum since 2014, so I wondered whether he ever released that walkthrough.

A short search later revealed this UUW2 walkthrough that was recently finished - could this be the one?
 

Unkillable Cat

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*watches video*

This is clearly a fan video rather than an in-depth analysis, but it also gets across the point of how revolutionary the game is.
 

Doctor Sbaitso

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Yeah, good video to point someone to if you want to introduce them to it.
 

Krivol

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When I started to play UU1 few days ago I tought I would have to necro this thread but it's pretty fresh.

I'm playing this right now and this game is incredible - nice exploration, huge, extremly well designed levels and nice puzzles (translating lizzardmen language with help of speachless mage was awesome :D ).

So hated fights are not so bad - bit boring and not comparable to any tactical RPG , but killing headless for the first time is exciting.

Dialogues (never call a dwarf a dwarf :P ) are fun, I was very surprised that I can actually convince bandit leader to speak with me (still have no idea what I should ask him for). I knew that attacking bandids on sight even if they are not hostile is not a good idea :) .

One of the best "underground" experiences in RPG I ever had, if this game will be so great whole time it may be better than EoB2 in this matter.
 

Krivol

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Why, game is prefectly playable without any mods. Larger screen would be perfect, but on today's huge monitors it's not such a problem.

From the other side I have no idea what moders did for SS1, never played it .
 

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I don't think it'll be modders that'll fix UUW1. I think it will be Otherside Entertainment themselves. They have the sourcecode to both Underworld games, after all...
 

Doctor Sbaitso

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It doesn't really need any fixing. Even the mouse UI is perfectly usable and in some cases the controls contribute to the urgency of certain situations.
 
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It's not a fix. I'd call it an update. Even though it's playable in it's original presentation, it wouldn't hurt to adapt it in the same way it was done with ss1.

I remember playing uu1 back then using the mouse pointers to move and fight, but when i started using kb shortcuts, i could never go back to that akward mouse movement. The thing is that the kb shortcuts were never that good also, they were just better than using the mouse.

So, i'd welcome uu1 with mouselook. But mostly i'd love a full screen approach.
 

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UUW1 just compatible with modern operating systems and options for controls would be a godsend. UUW2 needs a fix for the Soundblaster bug.
 

Doctor Sbaitso

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If Otherside touched it up and made it so that mods or user levels were possible that would be amazing. I am a well beyond the years when people would mod shit but I would make time to do something for UU.
 
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I tried UU1 a while back, and for some reason it didn't take at that time. I got stuck somewhere, and didn't feel like pushing my way through, but after playing Arx Fatalis this year, and enjoying it quite a bit, went back to UU1 today. And it really hooked me this time. I already found 2-3 things that I missed the last time, which allowed me to do a LOT more, and just having a blast working my way through the first level now.

This game is awesome in the way it's so real and open when most RPGs feel more like staged sets (can't go there, can't do this, only follow devs' wishes). It's not exactly open world, but it feels that way, with you being able to go anywhere within the boundaries of the underground space. And the way you can use so many things in various ways adds to that feeling of freedom and depth. The controls are a bit on the annoying side because of no mouselook, but well designed overall for the time.

I started originally as a mage, and was looking forward to collecting all the runes, just like in Arx, but then I realized you can't cast in melee range, and most creatures tend to rush you. You could probably kite them walking backwards, but that seems kinda cheesy, so I re-rolled a Fighter with Sword expertise. Will probably regret lack of utility spells (light, food, flying, etc) down the line, but I always hated hybrid characters in RPGs, pure magic or pure swordsmanship FTW baby!
 

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I can understand the hatred for hybrid characters, but the Druid is a very viable option in both Ultima Underworld games, and allow you to "appreciate" both the melee (well, combat kinda sucks, there are few things to appreciate if we look at this) and the magic system. Anyway, you can use magic with every class, fortunately, because there are some moments in which it will be very useful (especially healing spells, since there aren't many ways to heal your character, iirc).
 

Doctor Sbaitso

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Spells or resting while fed are the best way to regain health, with spells being most effective if you are not in a position to pull out your bedroll. Your health will also regenerate very slowly, and faster if you are satiated and rested. Sleeping while well fed and free from poisons will generate significant amounts of blood. On the other end of the spectrum, if you are starving or poisoned you lose health. Rest, state and nutrition directly affect blood regeneration or loss.

I think it probably takes 30 minutes to regenerate depending on your maximum blood pool, hunger and rest. You can see the liquid in your health bottle gurgle and bubble with each (very small) increment. A small gurgle of blood regeneration has on many occasion saved me from death by poison.

Just thinking that through a bit:

- Health regeneration as a simulation of blood reproduction
- Nutrition and rest greatly effect regeneration while awake or sleeping
- Visual representation and queues of the reproduction rate and increments
- Do not rest while poisoned as time is simulated and you may die in your sleep
- On the other hand it may pass and then you will begin to regenerate health
- All visually represented through your blood bottle in real-time.

Mana regeneration works in similar fashion but generally regenerates more quickly.

1992


These many years have been cold and dark.
 
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Ok, I just had to come here and share this with you people. I just almost literally orgasmed after solving one of the "puzzles" in UU. So I have a bit of a love/hate realtionship with RPG puzzles, as I tend to love good ones but hate many that are really obscure or require weeks of blind trial-and-error, or pixel hunting. Most puzzle-heavy RPG I find to be a mixed bag when it comes to this, but so far, UU has been really amazing. It nails the sweet spot in "puzzles", as they are all intelligent and subtle but also natural and logical, not the frustrating shit many other games throw at you. And this one I just managed to solve has been the best one so far (heavy spolers!!!):

I am playing a melee warrior character with a sword, and joined the Knights of the Holy Cross. One of the quests they gave me was to retrieve a gold plate from the Maze on their level. So after I defeated Rodrick, the rogue Knight, I got the key to the place from him, and using the map, was able to easily find all the hidden doors and explore hidden rooms. Then I came across the Door of Precious Levers in one of the hidden rooms, guarding access to old storage spaces and the golden plate. The door was locked, and had 2 levers on the sides, but none of my keys worked on it and moving the levers around accomplished nothing. Disappointed, I went back to the Knights' quarters and spoke with the Armorer again, who gave the background info about the Maze and the Door before. He repeated what he told me before, nobody knows how to operate the levers to open the door, but it is said by studying the artifacts of the order, one can figure it out. So at first, I thought artifacts referred to the Standard and the Taper which i already recovered/received, and tried to use those on the levers/door, but that didn't work either. I tried to talking to each knight, to see if I could ask them about artifacts to get more info, when I ran into Biden, who returned there after I dispatched Rodrick. He thanked me again for doing his job, and gave me a scroll, which said the weirdest thing, something about dotting i's being important. I thought to myself he must've done some serious crack while he was hiding from Rodrick in the hallway. But then I kept thinking back to (sort of in the back of my mind) to those 2 headstones near the Knights' shrine, and how they had these weird colorful dots above the i's that really stood out from the rest of the text. The picture slowly formed in my mind, well if they were heroes or something, their graves/helmets/headstones could be artifacts, so I ran over there, and read the headstones again. Yep, red and white dots above i's, the scroll, and remembered the levers next to the door were also red and white. Holy fuck, it's the fucking code! White, red, red, white, white, red. I run over to the door again, giddy as a pregnant woman in a buffet line, and try that shit, thinking to myself, no, there is no way this shit works, this would be way too elegant and sophisticated for a video game, when the door freaking opens! And I had to come here! This game is quickly making its way up my favorites' list. Bravo!
 

Fowyr

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I always play in UUWs as powerful and hale mage and then club rats and goblins with cudgel, silly me.
So I finally understood that my character should be renamed to Clementine. While travelling with 3-4 remaining points of vitality, the most often case of death is stubbed toe. Just died three times on that level 1 shrine ramp.
 
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Why, do you run out of mana or something? Or is it that annoying "no room to cast spell" BS? If you play the game two-handed, you can probably kite and cast, but that is kinda bad. Does UU2 also have that kind of casting restriction in melee range? The composite spells with the runes (which I first encountered in Arx but was introduced in UU apparently) are awesome, but if you can't cast in melee, what's the point?

Another cool "simulation"-y thing about UU is that once you get to a certain level, low level monsters become mellow and don't attack. That is so awesome, it's amazing other RPGs don't have that for the most part. Why fight low-level trash when you can intimidate them into submission instead?
 

Unkillable Cat

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Why, do you run out of mana or something? Or is it that annoying "no room to cast spell" BS? If you play the game two-handed, you can probably kite and cast, but that is kinda bad. Does UU2 also have that kind of casting restriction in melee range? The composite spells with the runes (which I first encountered in Arx but was introduced in UU apparently) are awesome, but if you can't cast in melee, what's the point?

IIRC that restriction only applies to spells that create an in-game object, like a projectile or a piece of food. Spells that affect yourself (like the various Protection spells) or do damage without an in-game object (there's a high-level spell that does that, at least in UUW2) should not have the "no room to cast spell" penalty.

I think Fowyr is talking about the fact that Mana regenerates very slowly, leading to daring mages often needing to dispatch of vermin with the nearest blunt instrument because their mana supply is next to none.

And you've yet to see one thing that the game pulls on spellcasters...but then again, you've yet to see a lot of things. :)
 

Fowyr

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Why, do you run out of mana or something? Or is it that annoying "no room to cast spell" BS?
I always try to preserve mana in early game for killing lurkers with Ort-Jux or casting protection spell for difficult foe.
Plus sometimes my OCD kicks in (I gather all bones and junk, for example, and stash it in one place) and health can be easily restored from fountain, but resting for mana is luxury. At least yet.
 

Unkillable Cat

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Fowyr knows the Munchkin's secret trick to levelling: Kill Lurkers. It only takes one Lurker kill to level up at the start of the game, and another Lurker kill + other vermin is sufficent for another level-up.
 

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