Ultima Ultima VII help

[deamento]

Companions will unequip themselves when the Avatar takes a nap, it will happen in U7-2 also.

did someone have a massive brainfart when they implemented that mechanic? that makes no sense...

So, that was U7, part 1

I had some trouble "getting into it" at first, but after 2 or so hours it picked up and became really good.

The good:
The world. Definitely. A large open world to explore (and exploration can be very rewarding), NPC schedules done right, a lot of details to discover, etc...
I liked the story. It's the old big bad coming to destroy the world story, but it worked.
Finding the solutions to the quests can be quite rewarding. The game was made before such modern conveniences like quest compass or even a automatical notebook/quest journal.
When you figure out the solutions to some of the more complex puzzles, it just feels good. Also, the seemless integration of the world and quests by the engine.

The problematic stuff:
Forge of Virtue is imbalancing. You get a ship right away, what otherwise would have been an achievement and the rewards are maybe a tad bit exaggerated as well.
I understand that along your way through the story, you are practically supposed to join the Brotherhood, but in the end, the only reason to do so is to enter the Meditation Retreat, except...
...for the Flying Carpet. The most convenient way of travelling in the game. Also the most convenient shortcut through some quest locations, amongst them the Retreat. Considering that it's almost impossible not to find the Carpet, I wonder why they even bothered with that "join the Brotherhood" part - at least they could have included some undercover investigation quest or such.
Companion AI.
Some stuff simply didn't seem to work. Most annoying: Traps. The Detect Trap spell never did anything for me, and consequently neither did the Destroy Traps spell. Therefore, all I could do against traps that could not be dispelled by Dispel Field was trying to walk around them, or most of the time, endure the damage.
Has been stated again and again: combat of course, and the rather simplistic character system.


Anyway, on to Ultima Underworld II - which was why I originally started with U7, it always bothered me that I hadn't played U7 before.
And while I'm at it, U7-2 waits as well...

From your summary, I'm guessing that i will probably like it aswell, cheers for the post
If you had done that about a week ago, I would be playing that now instead of pool of radiance

 

[RK47]

did someone have a massive brainfart when they implemented that mechanic? that makes no sense...

Some people do it before they sleep you know.
It's been a long day. Gotta unwind.

 

[Gord]

Yeah, but they re-equip them afterwards. Which doesn't always seem to work the way it should from my experience.
Therefore it would have been better to skip that particular piece of authenticity and saved the player a lot of trouble from deaths by friendly fire, because one dumbass has yet again equipped the staff of instant fiery death in a 2 meters radius.

 

[deamento]

did someone have a massive brainfart when they implemented that mechanic? that makes no sense...

Some people do it before they sleep you know.

that's not really an excuse though.
someone else than the guy who had the said: "that's a great idea!", and i'm pretty sure the game also gets tested by other people...
Lets blame EA!

 

[Excommunicator]

Party members have the "Loiter" AI routine activated when you sleep. They're just doing what all other NPCs do. They re-equip their weapons when you activate combat mode, and they find their best weapon to use too, it's just that a few of the weapons are not party-friendly. All melee weapons are fine, which is something as a player you will very quickly learn to appreciate.

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

I'm playing this though at the moment in exult and I just arrived in Minoc. I saved the game and now when I try to load the save it crashes. Is this a common bug or something? Should I just try to play from an earlier save or can I fix this?

 

[Name]

(Using Exult) Is the game supposed to slow down to a crawl when enemies are near/avatar and his companions are engaged? It's really painful when enemies are on the other side of the wall/river. (All I want to do was to rush those boring dungeons in Serpent Isle. And then I decided to give up this ridiculously linear game.)

 

[Jaesun]

Joined: Yesterday

 

[Excommunicator]

I'm playing this though at the moment in exult and I just arrived in Minoc. I saved the game and now when I try to load the save it crashes. Is this a common bug or something? should I just try to play from an earlier save or can I fix this?

I know little about Exult but many years playing games has taught me one thing: keep multiple saves, save regularly and never save in the same slot twice in a row.

(Using Exult) Is the game supposed to slow down to a crawl when enemies are near/avatar and his companions are engaged? It's really painful when enemies are on the other side of the wall/river. (All I want to do was to rush those boring dungeons in Serpent Isle. And then I decided to give up this ridiculously linear game.)

...

 

[Name]

Joined: Yesterday

The corruption of the EA Guardian starts with Serpent Isle, no?

 

[Jaesun]

Boring shitty troll alt is boring and shitty. Try coming up with some new material.

 

[Jasede]

He's got a point, 7-2 is very linear. Even a respected blog we linked to in a news post states as much. And honestly, it doesn't make the game any worse. Linear stories are fine if the stories are good, don't you agree?

That said I thought the dungeons were top-notch myself.

 

[Name]

He's got a point, 7-2 is very linear. Even a respected blog we linked to in a news post states as much. And honestly, it doesn't make the game any worse. Linear stories are fine if the stories are good, don't you agree?

That said I thought the dungeons were top-notch myself.

No so top-notch when walking/running/engaging speed suddenly drops to Eschalon-Book-One-Level just because enemies in the next corridor spots you! Is it normal?
That said I actually beat Eschalon two years after acquiring it, but I want to confirm there is no other way but to suffer the speed.

 

[Jasede]

No, can't say I ever had that issue with Exult. Have you tried a different version or different graphic settings? The combat is supposed to be really, really fast, basically so fast that you just start it and wait until your friends killed everything, with some rare exceptions. Maybe try increasing the frame skip or tone down the resolution- I have no idea.

 

[Jaesun]

You really suck at spotting trolls. How long have you been here?

 

[Name]

No, can't say I ever had that issue with Exult. Have you tried a different version or different graphic settings? The combat is supposed to be really, really fast, basically so fast that you just start it and wait until your friends killed everything, with some rare exceptions. Maybe try increasing the frame skip or tone down the resolution- I have no idea.

Great to know! Thanks! If I can't work this out, maybe I'll wait for one day some tech wizard fans to write a Exult for Exult when Exult is outdated.

 

[Jasede]

You really suck at spotting trolls. How long have you been here?

Why would someone go through the trouble of creating an account just for some weary replies from the local asperger's brigade? Though that last reply is pretty lackluster, gotta say.

 

[Infinitron]

He's got a point, 7-2 is very linear. Even a respected blog we linked to in a news post states as much. And honestly, it doesn't make the game any worse. Linear stories are fine if the stories are good, don't you agree?

That said I thought the dungeons were top-notch myself.

That blog isn't that good actually. He has a tendency to complain about stupid shit like sequels not being different enough from the previous games. Although in the case of Serpent Isle he did just the opposite, go figure.

 

[Nuclear Explosion]

Ok, so now I uninstalled and then reinstalled exult and Ultima 7 and now I can load my Minoc save without it crashing but now when I try to load or save any save game it just crashes.

 

[someone else]

when walking/running/engaging speed suddenly drops to Eschalon-Book-One-Level just because enemies in the next corridor spots you! Is it normal?
That said I actually beat Eschalon two years after acquiring it, but I want to confirm there is no other way but to suffer the speed.

Combat restricts your movement speed.

 

[SCO]

when walking/running/engaging speed suddenly drops to Eschalon-Book-One-Level just because enemies in the next corridor spots you! Is it normal?
That said I actually beat Eschalon two years after acquiring it, but I want to confirm there is no other way but to suffer the speed.

Combat restricts your movement speed.

If you encounter enemies and are not in combat mode i think you can go as fast as usual.

A bit useless in dungeons though.

 

[Gord]

when walking/running/engaging speed suddenly drops to Eschalon-Book-One-Level just because enemies in the next corridor spots you! Is it normal?
That said I actually beat Eschalon two years after acquiring it, but I want to confirm there is no other way but to suffer the speed.

Combat restricts your movement speed.

If you encounter enemies and are not in combat mode i think you can go as fast as usual.

A bit useless in dungeons though.

Unfortunately speed is reduced even outside of combat mode. Not as much as when you are in combat, but still significantly lower from normal movement speed.

By the way - there's one thing I forgot in my assessment of U7.
I really hated the respawning enemies. Not as much that they are respawning, but the rate.
It's enough to move the spawn point of the screen and when you return the enemies are back.
It's always an inconvenience, but when you are in a dungeon with a mid level party and the enemies are fucking dragons it's a major PITA.

 

[gunman]

I'm playing the gog version, and have noticed Iolo commenting "is that virtuous?" when moving around some items in a shop to see if there is something under. I have read that the companions may become upset and leave if they watch what they think is "stealing", although it's just moving items slightly around. My question: can you prevent them leaving or do they "forget" that over time once they complained in the past? I don't want to lose anyone next time I'm dragging something on screen.

 

[TheGreatOne]

Killing them and then resurrecting resets them if I recall. Weird thing is that your compaions seemed to complain more about moving stuff around than actually stealing things

 

[Darth Slaughter]

I'm playing the gog version, and have noticed Iolo commenting "is that virtuous?" when moving around some items in a shop to see if there is something under. I have read that the companions may become upset and leave if they watch what they think is "stealing", although it's just moving items slightly around. My question: can you prevent them leaving or do they "forget" that over time once they complained in the past? I don't want to lose anyone next time I'm dragging something on screen.

One thing is have them leave the party and stay put, then you steal things alone, and after you're done, you ask them to rejoin...