Ultima III Part 2
Ultima III: Exodus
Part 2
Welcome back to another exciting update of my runthrough of the classic Ultima series! In this update, we will visit many of the towns, finally see some combat, explore a dungeon for real this time, find a mark, and find a good place to grind for gold and XP.
First, here is a map of the world (stolen from GameFAQs, of course).
From LB's castle, I head due west and encounter a semicircle of rock. I circle around and enter it from the west. Also, notice that Ultima III implements a crude line-of-sight system where the characters will only be able to see the things they should be able to see. Since forest trees limit visibility, I cannot see very far into it.
Inside I come across a hidden city.
Since it is Yew, I expect to find a bunch of hippies.
I was right!
Heading south, I find more hippies by a cross.
To the east I find a temple. Instead of being some stupid pun, rogation means "a solemn supplication ceremony prescribed by the church."
Due east I find the Circle of Light. I have to be careful not to touch the fires, or all my characters will take 50 HP damage.
Since I am in hippy-ville, I might as well stand in the circle and pray.
Huh?! I bet this is something important.
I've had as much of this place as I can stand.
I agree. What do you think, Master Frodo?
Well, I don't see any guards around, so ... okay.
Does anyone care what I think?
No.
*mumbles*
Anyway, I attack one of the druids.
Here is the combat screen. Each character gets one action (move or attack/cast/etc.); my characters seem to always go first, and then the opponents get a turn. I have no idea why Samwise is not showing up.
It's because I put on the ring.
Hey! Give that back!
THERE ARE NO ONE RINGS IN ULTIMA!!!!
We win, and a chest appears on the map.
Chests usually contain some gold and possibly an item or two. Chests can also be trapped. You will see all of those eventually.
Here is another battle. All of the party members show up this time.
Samwise shoots an arrow across the screen.
Yeah, get that druid!
After killing a few druids, my guys don't have much health, so I retreat to heal. Frodo is currently the only party member than has enough MP to cast Sanctu, so I just have him cast it twice and then wait until he has 10 MP, cast Sanctu again, and repeat until everyone is healed. Characters regain 1 MP every turn on the world map instead of every few turns in a town or dungeon. Of course, my food supply diminishes faster on the world map as well.
Now it is Furry's time to get some MP.
Finally!
The best way to do this is to line him up with the enemy and cast Mittar.
Apparently, the Yewites have a healer.
They will need one after we are through with them.
Since I am too cheap to get my characters fully healed for 200 gold apiece, I just make a note of it.
Since we are here, we might as well kill the two druids on the side.
Here is a screenshot of Furry casting Mittar.
After slaughtering druids for a while, I get bored and decide to head back to LB's.
On the way, I am attacked by a bunch of brigands. They go down quickly.
I head west and come across a new city.
Garriott can give his towns some funky names!
Due south of the entrance I come across two daemons. Disregarding their threat, they are not hostile.
Don't you mean the Shrine of Honesty? Wait ... we're not playing Ultima IV. What the hell are the Shrines of Truth?
Here is another hint. I get the feeling he is talking about a place.
Anyway, I head north-west and end up on the south-east corner of the map.
Guess what the town to the west is called? Anyway, here are some of the important conversation we can have.
Alright, let's get out of here.
A short distance to the south-east, I find a moongate. I enter it to see where it goes.
I am now on some island with nowhere to go but into that dungeon.
It is dark too!
Fuzzy casts Luminae to light up the place.
What a weird clue!
I then find a fountain in the dungeon. Drinking from it does nothing, though. Since I don't have much light, I head out and take the moongate when it appears.
Whoah! Something tells me this is where Exodus is! Since I can't get to the castle, I have nowhere to go. Rather than waiting for the moongate, I reload.
I then head around the lakes to the other city.
Who woulda thunk?! Anyway, here is what the various townsfolk have to say.
Ahh! Here is our old ... er ... new friend, Sentri.
Will you bite my legs off?
Shamino makes an appearance again.
Anyway, we are low on food, so I buy each party member fifty more rations.
We are now attacked by some undead on the overland map.
The one zombie goes down easily.
Here is a group of skeletons. They go down easy too. Frodo tries using Pontori all throughout the battle, but it never seems to work.
Since I was in the vicinity, I paid LB another visit.
What I did not notice before is that my old ... er ... new friends, Iolo and Gwenno (Gwino here) were LB's court jesters.
I then head for the city of Grey in the southwest part of the map.
Not really.
Since you are already a jester.
Shut up!
Grey is, apparently, a pirate town. It must be the inspiration for Buccaneer's Den.
Finally, we find a Guild shop. Keys are used to unlock doors; torches provide light in dungeons for a lot longer than the Luminae spell; gems are used to give a temporary map of the area; I do not know what powder does yet.
Nope, but I guess they are important.
In the southeast corner of town is a house with a bunch of treasure chests.
The occupant attacks us on sight, but he is not too hard.
I then loot the place, but the guards attack me which forces me to reload.
Since I now have some keys, I want to check out LB's palace more.
I
Unlock the door to the right of LB's throne room.
This must be the jester in the fire that I heard about earlier. Each step takes off 50 HP from all party members.
So that is how to get to Dawn, eh? Since I am dead meat if I try to take another step, I reload again. Haha!
Anyway, I go to the coordinates specified and wait until the moon phases at the top of the screen read 0, 0. Then, a city appears. I think this place has better weapons and armor than can be found elsewhere. Here is what some of the inhabitants have to say.
Are you outta your fuckin' mind?! Waitaminute! Is that a door around back?
I think it is!
I have to dispatch the horse merchants, though. Now the guards will be after me.
Here is an example of a bomb trap. It damages everyone. I then steal a horse and ride it to the southeast corner of town.
That is certainly some helpful information. I will have to
Dig up exotic weapons and armor.
'Kay! It looks like I have to kill one of these guys to talk to the third one.
So I have to dig for exotics on islands.
Uh oh! The pigs are after me. I dodge around the fountain and lose them.
You'll never catch me, coppers!
I have almost made it!
Home free!
Anyway, I head back to Britain and buy 100 rations for each player.
Here are some goblins that attack me.
I head back to that first dungeon, the Perinian Depths.
Torches make life so much easier!
Here is a pack of zombies that attacks me.
In the southeast corner of the first level, I find a furnace. I make all my characters touch it.
It leaves a mark, the Mark of Kings, on all of them. Apparently, characters need this mark to go past the 5th level.
I head back to LB, and he has a surprise level-up for Samwise. Characters gain a level with each additional 100 xp they earn. Unfortunately, characters only earn xp from killing monsters, which means my cleric, Frodo, is seriously underleveled since he does not (yet) have any decent offensive magic and cannot wield range weapons. How have others dealt with this situation?
Anyway, that is all for now!