I ask about Elizabeth and Abraham in Paws and shock/horror, I just missed them. These 2 really get about. This time they have gone to Jhelom. I’d like to go and pick Dupre up from Jhelom at some point but its not high on my list for now.

I now go searching around for Destard. My first attempt leads to a dead end + a fight with some sort of sea monster.

I find a cave west of Trinsic with a unicorn inside it. The unicorn isn’t quite what I was expecting and is hiding out because it is fed up of being used as a virgin detector. I get my virginity back every time I return to Britannia it seems, however that works which prompts a few remarks from my companions. This doesn’t seem to be Destard either as the dungeon doesn’t go very far, I can see unreachable areas so I go looking for another entrance.

It doesn’t take much finding. Batlin told me the dungeon was safe but it is infact full of dragons.

To make matters worse there isn’t any gold in the chest for me to fetch. A bit more dungeon exploring reveals a load of gold bars, nuggets and gems so I come out of here pretty wealthy. I’m having to reload a bit with my party getting knocked down by dragons so I’ll use some of this money to buy decent armour.

Batlin acts surprised about the monsters in Destard when I tell him but I don’t exactly believe him.

He allows me to join the fellowship, however. If it wasn’t for the gypsy I’d have backed out before now but I wait around for the evening meeting to be inducted. In the meanwhile I sell off my gold and gems and equip everyone with plate armour.

My companions try to talk me out of joining. I’m a bit uneasy about them using my joining to encourage more members but I don’t really have a choice.

At this point, Batlin asks me what are effectively a couple of copy protection questions with answers from the manual. This confirms better than anything that it must be critical to winning the game. I expected him to give me another quest or send me off to the retreat at this point but nothing else happens for now so its time to head for Yew.

Yew has moved a bit on the map and is now right next to Empath abbey in the utmost NW of Britannia. There hasn’t been a murder here which makes a pleasant change. The abbey is quite a bit smaller than I remember and just has 3 monks living in it.

I ask about the wisps but the monks don’t actually know anything…

but I get pointed towards a race called Emps living in the woods.

I will need some honey before they will approach me. I’ve been told about a bee cave nearby which is the next stop.

The bee cave is a smallish dungeon with giant man size bees buzzing about. I hack my way through them to find some honey right at the end of the dungeon.

Heading the other way I find a couple of sleeping naked people.

They pretend to be some sort of cavemen for a while but are actually ex-Yew residents who fled from the taxman and now prefer to live a basic (very) lifestyle. They tell me that the bees don’t hurt them if they wait for them to sleep, they can walk in and take the honey. This advice is a little late now I’ve slaughtered my way through the whole hive.

I have a bit more of a look around Yew. Its a pretty small place with just a few buildings. One of the monks knows that Natassias father is buried at the cemetery but doesn’t know much about him and neither does anyone else. I do get a good lead on hook – one of the prisoners says he travels around with a gargoyle called Forskis. I definitely need to track this guy down in Buccaneers Den.

Smith is hanging around in Yew as ever and gives me a couple of out of date clues.

There is a magically locked door and some sort of giant chess board which I don’t know what to do with but nothing much else in Yew so I go looking for the Emps.

I find the wisps first hanging around a stone building but I can’t talk to them.

A lot of walking later, I find the spot with the Emps. They take some honey and will then talk to me.

The leader advises me to recruit Trellek to help me with the wisps.

Trellek won’t join without permission from his wife. He does have info on Natassias father though, he died from smoke inhalation after saving an emp family from a fire and is regarded as a hero. Something along these lines was fairly predictable but I’ll go back and tell Natassia after I get done in this area.

Trelleks wife sends me back to their leader for permission and he won’t give me this without a favour. They have a ready prepared contract they want me to get the woodcutter to sign so he won’t cut their trees down. I’ll get this done tommorow and then see what these wisps have to say.

First off today I walked to Minoc. The first people I meet are some gypsies outside of town. They tell me about another double murder of two of their family which has just happened. This seems to be happening in every town I go to. I also get my fortune told for 20 gold. I get a wealth of information from this. I’m told I will need to join the fellowship to discover their nature.

I’m told a new evil is threatening Britannia – this has got to be linked to the fellowship and the guardian.

Specifically some even will happen soon which is connected with the planets. I’ve no idea what this is but need to talk to someone in Moonglow about it. Thats another quest for the list.

The Time Lord is back and I need to find him also. I don’t think I’ve heard any mention of him since Ultima 3 and he was just a collection of world map tiles in that game.

I need to talk to the Wisps to find out how to meet him somewhere in the woods near Yew.

But I need to talk to the monks in Embath abbey before I can talk to the wisps it seems. Thats a whole string of quests for my money then.

Most of the towns population are gathered around the saw mill when I approach including another of my old companions Julia. My party is full up so I don’t ask her to join.

Aside from the murder the other major event in town is a giant 40 foot statue being built for the towns shipwright Owen. This isn’t very popular among the non fellowship members to say the least and there are rumours that Owen isn’t even a good shipwright.

The murder scene looks much like the last 2. There is a strange candleabra + a serpent dagger on the scene but I don’t find anything else.

The BMC (Britannia Mining Company) is in Minoc and I find their mine while looking for the town center. Aside from a couple of dodgy characters trying to tunnel to New Magincia with spoons there is a gargoyle dosed up on serpent venom trying to mine for blackrock. He hints about a motherlode of blackrock being located somewhere in the mine but I’m unable to find it. I do find a magically locked door which I can’t open. I’m curious as to what would happen if I use the wand I found earlier on the motherlode.

The other 2 miners mention a map given to them by Sullivan which might be worth asking about if I find him. The name seems familiar so I’m not sure I haven’t seen him already.

I take Batlins package to the local fellowship branch and get some money back in return. I keep getting the option to ask about Elizabeth and Abraham (two of Batlins companions) at every town and they have always just left, this time for Paws. I’m not that sure why I want to find them but it does look a little dodgy that they left straight after a murder this time. I’ll ask in Paws next time I’m there.

I’ve been led to believe that the candelabra at the murder was a fellowship design. I ask and she denies any link and says it must be some sort of framing attempt.

Owen is about the last person in town that I find. He has been hearing the voice and using it to guide his life. Its not done his ego any good as he is claiming to be the greatest shipwright that has ever lived.

He does have some helpful clues about the murder though. He did see a man with a hook and the Crown Jewel set sail for Paws. Thats the same location as Elizabeth and Abraham who must be suspects now.

A man in the bar gives me the lowdown on Owen shipbuilding talents. Owens ships are so bad they have caused the deaths of many sailors. He stole Owens ship plans and wants me to show them to Julia who might be able to understand them.

The head of the bar gives me my first solid lead. Hook is a pirate who lives in Bucaneers Den!

After fetching the ship plans from his cabin, I show Julia and she confirms they won’t work. I take them to the mayor.

After a bit of toing and froing the mayor decides to cancel the statue and gives me the pleasant job of telling Owen.

Owen doesn ‘t take this news too well and promptly commits suicide. No one in the bar seems too worried. Its solved a few problems for the town but is not the best of endings for this mini-quest. I’ve run out of people to talk to in Minoc so I moongate back to Britain to tell Batlin I have delivered his package.

He has another quest for me which will take me into my first dungeon by the looks of it, unless you count poking around the mine. I need to fetch some gold from a chest in Destard. I seem to remember at the end of Ultima Underworld that Destard was where the inhabitants had moved to, so I’ll be curious to see if they are around.

The more of this game I play, the more I’m being bombarded with quests and I have no idea which leads I should be following if any. My inclination for now is to attempt Batlins quest and see if Elizabeth and Abraham are in Paws on the way. I have a feeling they will probably just have left…

I just had a half hour or so on the game today but managed to get a few things done. I went looking for the key to get the hoe of destruction to start off with. There was only one area that looked likely with a load of dead fish to search there but finding the right one is not easy. Any of the fish facing north have inventories, the ones facing south you just try to eat when you double click on them. I find a fish carrying serpent venom pretty quickly which I can sell if I want.

It takes a while but I find the right fish in the end and get the key.

On the way back I look for Natassia and get a new side quest to try to find how her father died in Yew.

I head out to find Miranda first and give her the bill. There are a load of tentacles in LB’s moat which seems pretty dangerous.

I bump into Nystul in the castle who I managed to miss before. Something is causing magic not to work and all the mages are losing their minds. He still offers to sell me spells and reagents.

Miranda takes the bill but again I don’t seem to get anything for doing the quest. It appears I’ll have to get used to the idea of job satisfaction.

I still haven’t got the hoe so I go back for it now. Its in the locked shed as described. I have a quick look around for the magic carpet at this point but don’t get anywhere and end up restoring a game saved at this point when some of my party members die in combat. I think I might leave the carpet for now and take Batlins package to Minoc next.

After finishing Forge Of Virtue its back to the main game again and exploring Britain. I pick up my first subquest straight away in LB’s castle. Miranda (a member of the council) is trying to pass a bill to unpolute Lock Lake which I need to take to the leader in Cove to get signed.

LB says he has some equipment for me somewhere in the castle but rather than tell me where it is says to think of finding it as a game. No problem, I think as the castle isn’t all that large. A lot of wondering around later I figure out there are rooms on the top floor in the corners and get my spellbook and a few other bits and pieces.

I’m well equipped now so I just want to wander round town talking to everyone I can find and see if I can find out anything about the Crown Jewel in the process. The first place of interest is the museum I pinched the lenses from for Forge Of Virtue. They have the coloured stones I used back in Ultima 4 as an exhibit which can be used to teleport around the kingdom. I’ve already got the moonstone so I don’t know how much I need them but Iolo suggests we come back and steal them when its shut so I do just that. They are technically mine anyway so its not stealing as such.

The head of the fellowship himself, Batlin is in Britain. I talk to him at length. He suggests I should take a test to see if I need to join the fellowship.

What follows is a series of 2 choice questions in which there is blatantly no right answer which he uses to show the flaws in my character and therefore the need for me to join the Fellowship. I’m really not sure I want to join anyway but he won’t let me before I deliver a parcel to Minoc and I still have to do some sort of test after that. I take his parcel for now.

One of my old companions, Sentri is running a trainers. I ask him to join and get free training to raise Dexterity/Combat whenever I want it which can’t be bad.

Patterson gives me some details on a near identical murder that happened in Britain some years back to a man called Finster. Finster was running for mayor as well as Patterson with an anti-fellowship policy and was mysteriously bumped off. Patterson was also struggling for votes before joining the fellowship. The motives look pretty obvious here but that doesn’t help me track down the offenders. Patterson claims that the fellowship has helped him be more honest but he is obviously cheating on his wife. Iolo suggests we follow him after the fellowship meeting to see what he gets up to.

I find another of my old companions, Shamino hanging around in one of the bars. I get him to join up as well. I’m just missing Dupre out of my usual companions now and will have to fetch him from Jhelom sometime.

I find the port and ask about the Crown Jewel but it never came to Britain so that was a complete dead end. This doesn’t leave me with any leads to follow up but I would guess that if it didn’t go to Britain it would probably head for Bucaneers Den as the nearest port so I may try there if I run out of side quests.

I explore everywhere else in Britain that I can find. The number of shops really is huge and I talk to a lot of people but don’t learn anything significant (at least I don’t think I do). I hang around outside the fellowship hall and wait for the meeting to start at 9pm.

Batlin comes across like an american TV evangelist and I really don’t learn much. The people there have clearly profitted by being in the fellowship but not it would seem through self achievement and more through the society looking after its own. One of the people in town mentioned a fellowship retreat somewhere near Serpents Hold if I remember right where they train recruits. I definitely should pay that a visit at some point.

Right now I’m still trying to follow Patterson. The meeting goes on for hours but sometime after midnight I catch him in the company of Candice.

So much for the fellowship improving his honesty. He vows to reform which I don’t really believe but theres nothing else to do. I don’t gain anything as far as I can tell from this quest.

Just outside of Britain is a small farming community. I’ve heard from other people in town that the farmer is a little nuts which might have something to do with the Kilrathi ship parked in his field.

He gives me a long story about the Kilrathi crashing on his planet and being about to kill him when his hoe killed it. A mage mixed up his hoe with a sword and gave it the death enchantment and left the sword just able to cut weeds. Its locked in his shed.

I can have the hoe but I need to find the key which he used for fishing at lock lake for a lure. This definitely sounds like something I want to get.

Lock Lake is truly a mess and quite large to go with it. I have a quick look around but don’t see a key. I’ll keep on searching next time I play.

Cove is not much of a walk from Britain and I run into Jaana at the healers. She joins up – my party is getting fairly large now.

I get the signature of the town leader as requested by Miranda – I need to take this back now. He also tells me about a girl called Natassia who is the only person in Cove who hasn’t found love. I can see a side quest coming on here but I have to find her first. I gather she hangs out around the Shrine of Compassion.

Rudyom the mage has a house in Cove. He puts me onto a magic carpet somewhere near the Serpents Spine. This was very very useful in Ultima 5 so I really should search this one out as soon as possible. He will sell me spells and reagents at the usual prices. He has a bit of info about blackrock which he was researching and also a wand which can cause it to blow up. This sounds potentially useful so I take the wand with me.

I’ve got a few vague ideas about where to go to try to solve the murder but nothing concrete so I’m going to concentrate on solving the definite quests which (for my benefit) are:-

Take Batlins parcel to Minoc

Take bill to Miranda

Find the key and get hoe

Find the Magic Carpet

I’ve talked to so many people that its hard to know what is relevant and what isn’t. The amount of conversation would appear to be enormous although looking at the map everywhere else is a lot smaller than Britain so it should get a bit simpler. In some ways this doesn’t feel like an RPG, I’m concentrating on talking to everyone to try to get clues and items. In other ways, however, its a pure RPG in that I can go wherever I like right from the start of the game and just explore the world. If its like the last few Ultimas all the combat will turn up later in the game I expect.

I can see why I struggled to get into the game all those years back as the freedom of choice is overwhelming and its hard to keep track of all the little quests and things people have said. Its hardly a fault but you just get used to being led around a game after a while and its disconcerting when that doesn’t happen.

I really don’t see any of that as a problem this time around and so far I’m glad to say Ultima 7 is living up to expectations, but I’ve barely scratched the surface and I don’t intend to rush.

Ultima 7 marked the start of a new trilogy and for me at this point on I’m pretty unfamiliar with all the Ultima games remaining. I’ve attempted to start Ultima 7 a few times but the sheer size and complexity of the game is quite daunting and I’ve never made it very far at all. Having played through the whole of the series to get to this point I’m feeling much better prepared this time but I’ve noticed similar problems with the other Ultima’s in that it usually takes a few hours for me to get into them.

At the start of this game the guardian introduces himself by popping out of my screen. For once the voice acting isn’t actually too bad as its not being done by Origin employees. He doesn’t exactly threaten anything but seems to want to be in charge of Britannia & me which can’t be a good thing for a scary looking giant red head.

A moongate is ready and waiting to take me to Britannia without me using my orb. and I step through. This is actually a pretty brief intro, nice enough but shorter than I’ve been getting used to. I expect the disk space was needed for the game itself.

The character creation/import has gone completely. I just choose a name and sex and jump straight into the game.

I pop through the red moongate and bump straight into Iolo. He is investigating a murder but since I’m here I get to take over. Its been 200 years since I was last in Britannia because of the timeline difference so hes looking a bit older.

Theres also an earthquake and Iolo suggests going to see LB. This is to do with the Forge of Virtue expansion which is already installed. More on that later.

The Mayor shows up and also asks me to look into the murder. I agree to do so.

I walk in the building and the roof pops off to reveal a grisly sight. There is a key on the human body and also a wingless gargoyle pitchforked to the back wall.

I walk round town talking to everyone about the murder. Not everyone believes I’m the avatar it seems. There is also a new philosophical society called the fellowship who seem a bit overkeen to recruit new members. The murdered man had a son who I find at the NW of town.

He joins the party so he can help find the murderer.

I should talk a bit about the new engine/interface. There is no visible interface to the game and the entire screen shows the map. This is certainly more immersive and the improvement in graphics is huge to go with it. The view feels quite zoomed in compared to other games and I’m not sure I wouldn’t prefer to be a bit further away but it still works really well.

The inventory screens pop up when I double click on myself and then other characters. I can double click on stuff in the world to use it also. It all works well but can be a bit slow to navigate through at times. There are no slots in the packs either so I end up having to move stuff around to find things which is a bit of a pain.

To move round the world I move the cursor and hold the right mouse button. The other recent Ultimas has this feature but I was still using the keyboard. I use pretty much nothing but the mouse here.

The interface works well all-in-all. It has a few quirks but is well ahead of anything else I can think of from this era and graphically scaled up with the HQ3x driver this still looks pretty decent by todays standards.

In Sparks house I find a chest which opens using the key on his fathers body. There isn’t much in it, a scroll, a fellowship medallion and a bit of money.

The murdered blacksmiths smithy is down at the SW of town. When I go in stuff starts moving around and I hear the guardian laughing.  I didn’t find anything useful which can’t help but make me think I missed something.

There is a guard at the healers who got hit on the head after the murder. It appears the murderers fled to Britain.

After loads more questions, it seems the murderers were a man + gargoyle and the man had a hook on one hand. They fled on a ship called the Crown Jewel to Britain. I report all this to the mayor and he suggests going go Britain. Until now, I’ve been locked inside the walls at Trinsic but after answering some annoying copy protection questions he gives me the password to get out again.

I think this is probably about as far as I ever got on Ultima 7 before now. I may have had a look around Britain, been put off by the sheer size of it and never gone further. If anything this game has been easier to get into than any of the ones before it so I’m not sure what the problem was but I haven’t looked at this game in a long long time.

Just outside Trinsic is a stage where we watch a really poor play on the virtues of the fellowship. At the end they use the same words as the guardian clearly suggesting a link somewhere.

I carry on walking to Paws through a swamp complete with a giant skeleton. These swamps are fairly garish colours to say the least.

When I get to Paws there is another crime to clear up. Some serpent venom which can be used to increase strength temporarily has been stolen from the man at the slaughterhouse. I agree to clear up the crime if I can, so Britain will just have to wait for now.

I ask all around town. The fellowship runs a shelter here and they all seem to suspect the son of the farmer (Tobias). The morals of these fellowship types seem pretty questionable. They are running a shelter but won’t actually help people who aren’t members. One of them tells me they have caught Tobias with evidence.

The man at the slaughterhouse thinks its more likely to be the son of the fellowship hall owners who is the culprit as he has been showing symptoms of using the venom. He gives me a key and I search the chest at the end of his bed. Sure enough I find the venom. 

I confront him with the evidence and he confesses to framing Tobias.

His Dad still blames the corrupting influence of Tobias. These fellowship people are definitely bugging me now – they seem to operate like some sort of masonic society where they help out their own members at the expense of everyone else. They definitely aren’t following the virtues as far as I can tell. They all give the exact same speech and ask me to join all the time as well. At least with the murder solved I can get out of here and find LB.

Britain is fairly huge to say the least. I ignore everything and head for LB’s castle. At this point I take a sidetrack to have a go at the Forge Of Virtue addon before going back to the main quest.