Ultima The Ultima Series Discussion Thread

[Cael]

Ultima V
Is it true?
- Who, he makes the killing blow, gets only XP?
- If he kills by using magic, he gets no XP?

Killing blow, yes.

Magic, I never noticed. I presumed he got the XP, but I don't know as I tend not to use magic.

I tried it. Using only Grav Por magic missiles, for the killing cast Toshi HAS GOT the 4XP.

The only attack magic I found to be useful was the AoE cone of sleep, and only vs a ton of super hardy enemies like dragons or sand traps. Anything else was a waste of a magic axe to the face.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

If I recruit an NPC, Toshi, how do I dismiss him from the party? I know I can leave him at the inn but that is 40 golds per month. If I never pick him up again, I will never pay that sum?

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Do I have to use go 1 shrine - use mantra - go codex - shrine path?
I went another shrine during the journey but no effect? So do I have to finish the previous shrine?

 

[Cael]

If I recruit an NPC, Toshi, how do I dismiss him from the party? I know I can leave him at the inn but that is 40 golds per month. If I never pick him up again, I will never pay that sum?

Yes. As long as you don't pick him up, you're fine. Just don't try it with a dead body. Or do; the reaction is hilarious.

 

[Cael]

Do I have to use go 1 shrine - use mantra - go codex - shrine path?
I went another shrine during the journey but no effect? So do I have to finish the previous shrine?

Do it one at a time. The game doesn't like multiple quests at the same time.

 

[Infinitron]

https://exult.sourceforge.io/

25 September 2024

Exult releases version 1.10.1 This is a bugfix release. Accidentally we've introduced crashes in our Windows version by not allowing older CPUs. Also the Android launcher wouldn't install our mods. Our short list of fixes: Fixed crash on Windows by increasing compatibility with old CPUs Fixed Android launcher not installing mods Fixed new releases being unable to download and install our mods on Windows Added new icons for our main platform (thanks Florian Piesche) You can find the Android, Windows and macOS releases on our download page. Please play with it and tell us of any problem you encounter using the Github discussion page or bug tracker.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I'm finally playing UIV in XU4 and find the game both awe inspiringly unique and enragingly annoying. The moral system, which is the USP of the game, also is it's achilles heel for me. After hours and hours of being a disgustingly virtuous do-gooder I got seven partial Avatarhoods. Now for honesty which is slowly but steadily driving me crazy: As far as I understand, there is only one way to increase honesty: By purchasing herbs from the blind woman in Paws. Ok, I purchased hundreds and hundreds of herbs (one at a time, mind you, as I read that every single purchase increases the value). I read that giving her the correct sum always increases the virtue with +2. As 99 is the score one has to reach I'm beginning to thing the game is bugged (or XU4 has fucked something up). Today I sailed between Paws and Britain literally for hours, always doing the same procedure: got to the old hag and purchase 10-20 herbs (one at a time) and give her the correct sum, sail back to Britain and talk to that damn old fart who always tells me that I'm a honesty guy but it never gets to the point where he sends me to the shrine... am I doing something wrong or is my game fucked? Pardon my French, as I said, game is driving me nuts. I'm at the point where I want to shred the physical box to pieces and burn it with everything in it.

 

[behold_a_man]

I'm finally playing UIV in XU4 and find the game both awe inspiringly unique and enragingly annoying. The moral system, which is the USP of the game, also is it's achilles heel for me. After hours and hours of being a disgustingly virtuous do-gooder I got seven partial Avatarhoods. Now for honesty which is slowly but steadily driving me crazy: As far as I understand, there is only one way to increase honesty: By purchasing herbs from the blind woman in Paws. Ok, I purchased hundreds and hundreds of herbs (one at a time, mind you, as I read that every single purchase increases the value). I read that giving her the correct sum always increases the virtue with +2. As 99 is the score one has to reach I'm beginning to thing the game is bugged (or XU4 has fucked something up). Today I sailed between Paws and Britain literally for hours, always doing the same procedure: got to the old hag and purchase 10-20 herbs (one at a time) and give her the correct sum, sail back to Britain and talk to that damn old fart who always tells me that I'm a honesty guy but it never gets to the point where he sends me to the shrine... am I doing something wrong or is my game fucked? Pardon my French, as I said, game is driving me nuts. I'm at the point where I want to shred the physical box to pieces and burn it with everything in it.

Somehow I didn't have any problem with this particular virtue. Are you sure just being honest with people (the dialogues can be repeated arbitrarily often) won't work?

I played the standard DOSBox version and was asked to seek elevation by the first visit at Seer's.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I'm finally playing UIV in XU4 and find the game both awe inspiringly unique and enragingly annoying. The moral system, which is the USP of the game, also is it's achilles heel for me. After hours and hours of being a disgustingly virtuous do-gooder I got seven partial Avatarhoods. Now for honesty which is slowly but steadily driving me crazy: As far as I understand, there is only one way to increase honesty: By purchasing herbs from the blind woman in Paws. Ok, I purchased hundreds and hundreds of herbs (one at a time, mind you, as I read that every single purchase increases the value). I read that giving her the correct sum always increases the virtue with +2. As 99 is the score one has to reach I'm beginning to thing the game is bugged (or XU4 has fucked something up). Today I sailed between Paws and Britain literally for hours, always doing the same procedure: got to the old hag and purchase 10-20 herbs (one at a time) and give her the correct sum, sail back to Britain and talk to that damn old fart who always tells me that I'm a honesty guy but it never gets to the point where he sends me to the shrine... am I doing something wrong or is my game fucked? Pardon my French, as I said, game is driving me nuts. I'm at the point where I want to shred the physical box to pieces and burn it with everything in it.

Somehow I didn't have any problem with this particular virtue. Are you sure just being honest with people (the dialogues can be repeated arbitrarily often) won't work?

I played the standard DOSBox version and was asked to seek elevation by the first visit at Seer's.

This website says that honesty can only be increased by not ripping off that blind lady in Paws. Do you think talking true to people will do the trick too? I'll try talking to that water woman in Lord B.'s castle then (the one who asks you if you are proud) and tell her the truth for a few dozens of times and look if it helps. I also wonder if there may be a cooldown phase or something that doesn't allow me to increase a virtue in one go.

edit: won't work, talked to that water lady and answered at least 20-30 times honestly to her question. That damn old geezer still says his "Thou dost seem to be an honest soul. Continued honesty will reward thee!"

 

[behold_a_man]

This website says that honesty can only be increased by not ripping off that blind lady in Paws. Do you think talking true to people will do the trick too? I'll try talking to that water woman in Lord B.'s castle then (the one who asks you if you are proud) and tell her the truth for a few dozens of times and look if it helps. I also wonder if there may be a cooldown phase or something that doesn't allow me to increase a virtue in one go.

edit: won't work, talked to that water lady and answered at least 20-30 times honestly to her question. That damn old geezer still says his "Thou dost seem to be an honest soul. Continued honesty will reward thee!"

I don't think I ever overpaid for anything in the game and still got the virtue without any hassle, so the guide is probably either incorrect or incomplete.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Well, he is playing Xu4 which is a mod of Ultima 4 just like VOH is a mod. I forget which one introduced some quests including baking cookies.

Anyway, I saw this today.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

This website says that honesty can only be increased by not ripping off that blind lady in Paws. Do you think talking true to people will do the trick too? I'll try talking to that water woman in Lord B.'s castle then (the one who asks you if you are proud) and tell her the truth for a few dozens of times and look if it helps. I also wonder if there may be a cooldown phase or something that doesn't allow me to increase a virtue in one go.

edit: won't work, talked to that water lady and answered at least 20-30 times honestly to her question. That damn old geezer still says his "Thou dost seem to be an honest soul. Continued honesty will reward thee!"

I don't think I ever overpaid for anything in the game and still got the virtue without any hassle, so the guide is probably either incorrect or incomplete.

Yeah, I guess you are right. Either that or there is a nasty bug in XU4.

Does anybody know what exactly has to be done to increase honesty?

EDIT: ok, it has to be a nasty bug indeed. I tried the patched 2.00 DOS-version of the game, went straight down to Paws, purchased a shitload of cheap herbs and went back to the Seer: ready for partial Avatarhood in Honesty! Basically ten minutes after game start. Goddamn, all the hours I've invested in this game... yet I guess I'll simply restart, with the patched DOS-version. I went in largely blind but made tons of notes about locations, moongate function, people, so I hope it's more of a runthrough to the place where I am in XU4 now. I'll never ever touch XU4 again.

EDIT2: Just one last question: Restarting the game I don't have to talk to all the people again, right? I can just go and fetch the runes and do all the stuff. Talking doesn't trigger anything that wouldn't be triggered otherwise? (I know I have to talk to people to bring up my virtues though)

 

[Cael]

This website says that honesty can only be increased by not ripping off that blind lady in Paws. Do you think talking true to people will do the trick too? I'll try talking to that water woman in Lord B.'s castle then (the one who asks you if you are proud) and tell her the truth for a few dozens of times and look if it helps. I also wonder if there may be a cooldown phase or something that doesn't allow me to increase a virtue in one go.

edit: won't work, talked to that water lady and answered at least 20-30 times honestly to her question. That damn old geezer still says his "Thou dost seem to be an honest soul. Continued honesty will reward thee!"

I don't think I ever overpaid for anything in the game and still got the virtue without any hassle, so the guide is probably either incorrect or incomplete.

Yeah, I guess you are right. Either that or there is a nasty bug in XU4.

Does anybody know what exactly has to be done to increase honesty?

EDIT: ok, it has to be a nasty bug indeed. I tried the patched 2.00 DOS-version of the game, went straight down to Paws, purchased a shitload of cheap herbs and went back to the Seer: ready for partial Avatarhood in Honesty! Basically ten minutes after game start. Goddamn, all the hours I've invested in this game... yet I guess I'll simply restart, with the patched DOS-version. I went in largely blind but made tons of notes about locations, moongate function, people, so I hope it's more of a runthrough to the place where I am in XU4 now. I'll never ever touch XU4 again.

EDIT2: Just one last question: Restarting the game I don't have to talk to all the people again, right? I can just go and fetch the runes and do all the stuff. Talking doesn't trigger anything that wouldn't be triggered otherwise? (I know I have to talk to people to bring up my virtues though)

Yes. U4 and U5 don't require you to follow the path of conversation. As long as you know the keywords and who to say it to, you are good to go. Makes for a hilarious situation in U5.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Looks like someone needs to fix XU4. I haven't looked at it in a long while. Now, I thought it used Joshua Steele's gfx but maybe that was VOH.




PO8 music added. I like a lot of PO8 renditions of various games.


Ultima 4 Virtue of Humility
Pretty annoying to find last update of VOH. Hopefully these few links will help:
U4PLUS (ultima 4 tileset version)
4Remake Game (U5 tileset) (Looks just like u4 tbh)

VOH README

Site doesn't load most links.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Wow, that's strange: I gave XU4 a last shot by trying something I never thought about before. I went to that lady again and purchased one herb at a time - ended the conversation - talked to her again and purchased another one. And guess what? This way it worked. So it doesn't work if you talk to her and purchase herbs again and again in the same conversation, you have to quit the conversation and begin a new one each and every time you purchase a herb for the virtue thing take effect. That's not how it works in the DOS version however, where you can do everything in one single conversation. Naturally the walkthrough/guide doesn't mention that detail as it follows the DOS version. A tiny, but nerve-wracking detail.

 

[Cael]

I don't recall getting that problem in the VGA version that I have now. I do recall a bug in a another VGA install that I used previously. It prevented me from getting a partial Avatarhood, even though I did the shrine quest and everything. I can't recall which virtue, though.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I don't recall getting that problem in the VGA version that I have now. I do recall a bug in a another VGA install that I used previously. It prevented me from getting a partial Avatarhood, even though I did the shrine quest and everything. I can't recall which virtue, though.

Interesting. In the DOS-version or in XU4?

 

[Cael]

I don't recall getting that problem in the VGA version that I have now. I do recall a bug in a another VGA install that I used previously. It prevented me from getting a partial Avatarhood, even though I did the shrine quest and everything. I can't recall which virtue, though.

Interesting. In the DOS-version or in XU4?

I think it is the updated VGA DOS version. It is free download and has been for over a decade.

 

[Morgoth]

Ultima IX could really use the Nightdive treatment. That game is a dog to run.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

While still looking up VOH links and hopefully a video you come across all sorts of blogs: The Jesus of Ultima?

Pretty much a duh by the box art. U4 truly changed things up in the ultima series. However, speedrunners know the 0-99 System for the virtues. Watch the sega master system run and you'll see hum going up and down the ladder in COLB repeatedly to talk to Hawkwind to raise up Spirituality I believe. He also abuses the blind woman several times to make all the spells needed then raises up Honesty later. Ha! Yeah, you can abuse the system even if you use the skull to kill everyone. I do think there is a version (bug) where you use the skull and it disappears which sucks for your murderous alt.

Ultima 1-5 have been modded very little in their own engine. Don't forget Eldiron; it is still being developed. I wish I had the time to mess around with it. Laptop foes work in the house but... well ya know... issues I have on this property. I wanted to import all my ACS gfx and music to eldiron.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

On a side note if you are following THE DARK UNKNOWN, he's still working on it which is really cool. I am always thrilled to see projects continuing.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

I think I've played enough of Ultima IV. I see why it was a revolution back then and can appreciate it historically, but from a gameplay perspective it's very badly aged for me and begins to feel more like work than a game. The main reason why I may quit and import my char directly to Ultima V (now he is at least an Avatar, so I can pretend I beat the game) are the extremely sluggy and slow modes of movement (moongates are cool but not very flexible) combined with the supremely tedious, almost constant need to combat the same enemies again and again. It feels like Space Invaders, not like tactical combat, once you know that all you have to do is bringing your guys together in a bulk and gun everything down that moves until it stops moving. It's not even challenging. Why you are restricted to 90 degree attacks while enemies can shoot you from everywhere - something that majorly prolongs the battles for the player - is an additional annoyance I can't fathom. A mod to completely deactivate these random combats altogether would be a blessing.

edit: maybe I'll use debug mode to bypass some of these combats and long marches. Rather unsporty I know, but maybe this way I'll see the end of the game.

 

[Cael]

I think I've played enough of Ultima IV. I see why it was a revolution back then and can appreciate it historically, but from a gameplay perspective it's very badly aged for me and begins to feel more like work than a game. The main reason why I may quit and import my char directly to Ultima V (now he is at least an Avatar, so I can pretend I beat the game) are the extremely sluggy and slow modes of movement (moongates are cool but not very flexible) combined with the supremely tedious, almost constant need to combat the same enemies again and again. It feels like Space Invaders, not like tactical combat, once you know that all you have to do is bringing your guys together in a bulk and gun everything down that moves until it stops moving. It's not even challenging. Why you are restricted to 90 degree attacks while enemies can shoot you from everywhere - something that majorly prolongs the battles for the player - is an additional annoyance I can't fathom. A mod to completely deactivate these random combats altogether would be a blessing.

edit: maybe I'll use debug mode to bypass some of these combats and long marches. Rather unsporty I know, but maybe this way I'll see the end of the game.

If you haven't been down them, you're really going to HATE the dungeons, then. Especially the final one.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Actually, enemies can strike one of 8 directions. Certain spells affect the entire battlefield. The Sega Master System allows diagonals and targeting like Ultima 5 so perhaps beyond the simple 8 directions. It is pretty faithful to the original except dungeons. They are all top down view like everything else. No first-person dungeon crawling like the original.

First video shows some combat:




General contents:

 

[behold_a_man]

Why you are restricted to 90 degree attacks while enemies can shoot you from everywhere - something that majorly prolongs the battles for the player - is an additional annoyance I can't fathom.

The big—albeit silly—advantage of Quest of the Avatar's combat system is that it's very fast—you can just mash a + upwards most of the time with ranged weaponry equipped. Warriors' need to constantly position attacks (given a similarly sluggish combat system) got on my nerves far more, as combat got much slower.

If you haven't been down them, you're really going to HATE the dungeons, then. Especially the final one.

Well, at least there are spells allowing to bypass them almost entirely (except the last one).