I think today was the day when I finally got into this game. There was no specific reason for this, it just takes me a while with each new Ultima for some reason. It’s why I never got round to playing them all. 

I headed off looking for the 2 reagents. I’ve been given quite clear instructions on where to look. I start out looking around the east road map for executioners hood. I find a couple of mirror images of myself shuffling at me like something out of an asian horror movie.

These turn out to be changlings. When I hit them I usually knock them down and they transform into their true shape. They are a lot less dangerous in this form.

In the NE of the area I find what I’m looking for in a small pit full of these changlings. I’ve not talked about the new combat system yet. There isnt a lot to say. As far as I can tell it involves clicking on the enemy as fast as possible. I’d swear that I’m far more likely to hit in some directions than others and that I strike faster when I’m aiming directly up or down. Hitting the enemy sends them reeling back, giving me a chance to strike again and stop them hitting me.
Because of this system, once I’ve got a hit in I tend not to take any more damage. The dangerous stage is at the start. I’m not very impressed with the combat – it’s a bit arcadey but without introducing a skill element. I prefer the system used in every Ultima game so far except for Ultima 5 and even that had a better system with the problem stemming from combat being too slow/frequent.

There doesn’t seem to be any levelling up that I’ve noticed. Some of my stats have improved through combat by the end of this days session but I’ve no visible measure of experience points or anything like that. It appears that my stats will just slowly increase throught the game through combat without me having to train or level up.

The other reagent I need is outside a burned out house in west Tenebrae. There is a ghost guarding this and I don’t attempt to take that on at this point but just grab the sticks and scarper.

I take my reagents back and I’m now an apprentice. I’m given a key which I can use to cast spells and given my next task which is to learn spells from the long dead necromancers who invented them.

I’m told to gather the reagents in the library and read the books to learn my first few spells. I then need to go to a building north of the cemetery and use one of my new spells to open up the wall and enter the catacombs.

I follow these instructions to the letter. I have to avoid another ghost but make it through to the wall.

The new spellcasting system is a bit strange. I have to place the appropriate reagents in a bag, close it and then use a caretakers key on the bag. When I reopen the bag there is a little icon representing the spell. Using this casts the spell and the icon then disappears. This system is a bit unwieldy but I guess it might not be the same one used for all the different types of magic. I mean if I get offensive fireball spells and the like I don’t want to have to put reagents into a bag one at a time like this in the middle of combat. I suppose I could prepare them in advance. I’m not certain right now if I can double the reagents and get double the spell icons.

Something else I’ve not mentioned yet is the new inventory system. It’s very much the same as Serpent Isles actually  with wearable items appearing on my avatar and everything else going into my backpack. Its been simplified from U7 with fewer slots available.The new backpack is small and finding things is a pain in the neck. Things stay where you put them which is good but  why did Origin make the thing so small. Why not have a backpack that fills the screen?

My spell works and opens up the wall allowing me access into the catacombs.

The catacombs are huge and full of skeletons which I attempt to ignore. I’m just about strong enough to beat them but they reanimate after you kill them so it doesn’t get me anywhere. I find a lever which flips my screen upside down – I’ve not seen this trick since Prince of Persia – even my mouse movements are reversed. I end up reloading when I’m bashed to death by a skeleton that catches me up after I spend too long trying to reverse the lever.

Further in the level, by grabbing hold of a ledge, just before the floor collapses from under me I get to a chest containing my first bit of armour in the game (magic leggings).  I then head for the hole in the floor and drop down a level.

This level is quite dangerous with collapsing ceilings and traps of varying sorts. I manage to make it through to my first necromancer and cast death speak on him. The reason I’m here is to attempt to learn spells from the necromancers who created them – its an initiation test of sorts before I can become a true necromancer. He gives me a spell which allows me to pretend to be dead. I will need this to reach the next necromancer – he also mentions that some stalactites which were blocking my way before will now be gone.

I find the area with the ex-stalactites. On the far side its guarded by 3 big red things. I’m no doubt supposed to use my new spell here but that would be far too much hassle and I just run round them.  My attempt here to capture a screenshot of them didn’t go all that well and I just about got a couple of feet in the picture.

The next necromancer gives me a stone flesh spell.

This time I do need the new spell as I run down a corridor with lightning everywhere.

Thats where I stopped for today – I’ll carry on seeking out necromancers next.

I’m enjoying the game now but it isn’t feeling like an Ultima. To some extent Serpent Isle didn’t either – this has carried on moving in the same direction and got a bit further away from the roots of the series. I hear the guardians voice piping in more than any other game (usually with the same few phrases) but this seems a bit forced as if Origin knew that this game didn’t have a strong link to the rest of the series. I don’t think its the story so much – Martian Dreams was every inch an Ultima in a strange setting with no real ties to Britannia. It’s something to do with the nature of the gameplay. Ultima’s were very much games of exploration and discovery with quests there in the background to push you along. The quests seem to have taken over more and more as the series has gone on.

Its been a while but I’m back again and ready to pick up where I left off on Ultima 8. Between flu, office parties and getting stuff sorted out for Xmas I’ve not had much chance for gaming recently but I’m going to make an attempt to get U8 finished before Xmas now so should be posting most days.  

When I was last playing I was attempting to get to see Mythran. Following the trail leads me to the first of the games jumping puzzles.

As I understand it from the manual, with the games original interface to get between these blocks I would have to have the mouse cursor the appropriate distance from me before jumping to select how far I jump. This sounds truly awful – missing a jump is instant death. The new system of jumping to the cursor is a lot simpler. I can live with it but it has to be said that these platforms floating in the middle of nowhere do feel to belong in a platform game.

I get to the other side and find my first monster of the game. – a ghoul/zombie. Its on top of a ledge which I eventually figure out is climable in the new engine. Trying to fight the zombie doesn’t go too well. I haven’t found any weapons yet and I don’t have any money to buy them either. After some failed attempts I give in and just run past.

A few zombies avoided later and I get to a big room full of levers. After some trial and error I figure out to pull the ones that don’t have bones infront of them.

This opens up a gate into a new area…

and leads on to what I assume to by Mythrans house. The entrance to here is guarded with traps – rolling boulders and some sort of lightning trap that periodically jumps between pillars. There is a whole corridor of this – its easy enough to time so I make it first time through. Again this feels like it belongs in a platform game.

On the other side of the traps is Mythran. He’s standing next to another of those grey platforms.

Mythran is full of information. He gives me the brief history of the world which involves the guardian trying to introduce a new belief system when he came to the realm. The people were split into two factions. Then the great destroyer came and the four elemental titans defeated it, destroying most of the land in the process and leaving just this small island.

A history lesson is all very well but what I really want to know is how to leave – he tells me that I will need to master all 4 forms of elemental magic in the world and sends me off to learn earth/death magic first by following the east road out of Tenebrae. At the end of the conversation he gives me a recall item which I can use to go to any grey pads I’ve seen.

We’ve been seeing some form of teleport system in every ultima since U6. This is the sort of system U6 should have had actually to keep the game structured. Using my new item I transport myself straight back to the palace.

The east road has a few monsters of one sort or another on it. I found a weapon of sorts in Mythrans house (a fang) and I can finally beat some of these monsters.

I’m supposed to follow the great eastern road to find the necromancers I’m looking for but since it goes North rather than East I assume I’m going the wrong way and wander off the path. I find this little building which the guardian tells me not to go in (so I go in).

The floor collapses landing me in some sort of dungeon with a very large monster. I go the other way and run into a skeleton warrior who makes very short work of me. At this point I figure I’d be better off going where as I was told and restore a game.

The home of the necromancers is quite small and there is only the one person here for now. He is the second in command and is the guy I’m looking for. He is prepared to help me if I join the order.

Before that he does of course have a missing item I have to retrieve. The ceremonial dagger used in all their rituals has been taken by the tempest. I volunteer to get it back and he tells me to look in the palace.

I don’t get anywhere searching the palace but the tempests handmaiden says she will talk to me if I meet her after work at her home. She tells me a little about the regime and all in all it doesn’t sound like the best place to work.

After a bit of persuasion, she gives me a key which I can use to get the dagger.

I head back for the palace and still can’t unlock the bedroom doors. A bit of exploring and I find a key under a cushion which lets me in.

The dagger is in a chest in a little room to the side.

I return the dagger straight away. The chief necromancer Lothian is currently lying on a slab – I can see whats coming here.

Lothian is willingly killed in the ritual and allegedly goes to join the necromancers in the hall of the earth titan. I’m told that the same fate is reserved for all leaders of the order in the end – no wonder they are short of recruits then.

Speaking of recruits, I foolishly volunteer when asked to join up myself. As ever I have to fetch some items first, this time two magical reagents.

On the walk back into town I’m stopped by a guard who questions me about Bentic. He and Devon have been arrested and thrown into jail for some reason. I decide to have a look into this and leave the reagents for now.

I find Devon in the palace dungeons. Bentic has already been beheaded. Devon doesn’t admit to even knowing why either of them were arrested and asks me to look into it. He suggests I ask Salkind.

Salkind is not especially helpful and won’t give me any answers but I do learn that he keeps a logbook of all executions.

I read the logbook, there have been a number of executions but Bentic’s is the one I’m interested in. It says he was conducting some sort of illegal research and that the evidence is in the dungeons. There is a room with no obvious entrance in the dungeon which is probably the place.

Mythran will sell me the scroll I will need to get into the dungeon. I buy this off him (using money I got from a chest in his house).

I go back to the dungeon. Its definitely the right room as it says Bentics Journal when I click on the book. Using the scroll reveals a door in the wall and I can get in and read the book.

The book says that Devon is the rightful tempest – this explains why Mordea put him in prison.

Before I can move a posse of guards show up and escort me to the docks.

Devon is about to be executed when we interrupt.

I speak up about Devon being the rightful tempest.

Salkind manages to admit this in an unconvincing slip of the tongue. Mordea doesn’t take too kindly to this and blasts him down with lightning. She then orders the execution to proceed anyway but the executioner refuses and also gets struck down.

This is the cue for a duel between the previously helpless Devon who suddenly discovers his powers, manages to defeat Mordea. She is swallowed up by the lurker while the rest of us lie stunned on the ground. I struggle to my feet and Devon announces that now he is tempest the first thing he will do is leave and think about the job. He promptly jumps off the end of the pier and walks on the water out of the scene.

I’ve made Tenebrae a slightly nicer place but this doesn’t seem to have gotten me any nearer my goal so I’ll get back to collecting those reagents next.

I can’t say that Ultima 8 has got me hooked at all yet. Its not bad but frankly there are other games I’d rather be playing. It’s early days though and I’d say that its still growing on me.

My first job would appear to be exploring the town. I’m told that its called Tenebrae by a guard and that its divided into 3 areas of poor, rich and the palace. Walking around gives me a better look at the graphics. They are definitely nice but possibly a bit too colourful and the placing of tiles is very obvious. Something else I’ve noticed is that the avatar appears to have a black border around him which doesn’t help to make him appear to be part of the world. It all looks a bit fake and plastic giving the impression that the world and everything in it is a model.

You could argue thats an improvement over the cartoonish U7 graphics. I’m split as to whether its an improvement. I do feel a little too close in for my liking – an SVGA mode would be nice. The town is divided into small blocks also which load when you reach the edge of another – I prefer a continuous world although its a minor point.

I head for the poor area of town first looking for the tavern which I never managed to find. I run into the executioner from the docks who suggests I should talk to the librarian and failing that a mysterious mage living outside of the town. The conversation is a little different from U7 in that I get to choose whole sentences now instead of a single keyword. This is a big improvement – it makes the conversation a lot easier to follow. In U7 I was just picking all the options without even knowing why they were on the list half the time and this just makes more sense. The downside is that putting words in the avatars mouth as such personifies him and its supposed to be you thats playing the game.

I get the name of the mage (Mythran) out of the executioner. I’ll have to track him down later I’m sure. She is reluctant to tell me about him and I have to swear not to bother him without good cause.

I find a blacksmiths – if I had any money I’d buy a weapon but I’m starting the game with absolutely nothing. He is quite proud of his profession and doing a good job but does hark back to things being better in the past (without getting too specific). I’m starting to learn a little more about the gods no. The woman at the docks ordering the execution is known as “The Tempest” and is effectively head priestess to the water god. The god gives her some power in return allowing the weather to be controlled and guarantee good crops. She has got a little overzealous these days and such executions for blasphemy are not uncommon.

Indeed walking around town, I see quite a few guards harrassing the peasants for not paying taxes and the like. The rule here looks somewhat oppressive.

There are some strange structures around town including a caged troll who makes the ground shake when he walks. Like everything else huge creatures like this are smoothly animated.

I accidently wander out of the northern end of town and into a farming area complete with some very strange herds of animals. They look nasty but don’t actually attack me.

I’ve not done exploring town yet so I head back in and find the library on the east side. The books here are readable in the same manner as Ultima 7.

I don’t find the librarian but do locate another resident in his house. He wants to know how I got here and I risk telling him the guardian banished me here. The guardian is held in high regard and he says the he must have been blessing me.

 He also tells me to talk to the librarian.

Before I find the librarian, I run into the woman whos husband just got his head chopped off on the docks. Not only has she lost her husband but her son has left to become a theuragist (almost definitely mispelt). This means that he studies under the air god and becomes a healer. It appears that the 4 gods have 4 schools in effect and an associated magic for each one. I say that I’ll ask him to visit if I see her son.

I go back to the library and this time find the librarian a floor up. He doesn’t know anything about getting me home but also points me towards Mythran and even gives me directions. That has to be the next place to go but I still haven’t looked at the palace.

The palace turns out to be a bit smaller than I expected and is mainly given over to rooms for the palace guard. The tempest is in her throne room but won’t talk to me until I tell her where I am from. I get a choice of four options and I try them all but none of them do the trick so this is a dead end for now.

On the next floor up I find some sort of strange plate which rises and lights up when I walk near it. I have no idea what this is about for now but it looks important – probably some sort of teleportation device for speeding around the world.

I only played for about another hour to get this far – I’ve explored most of the town now it appears, although I’m sure I missed a few buildings out. It’s quite a big place but not huge considering that it appears to be the only town in the game. The map for Serpent Isle that comes with the game is a bit strange – there is just the one city down in the corner and the majority of the island is made up of mountain ranges which look impassable. I’ll be interested to find out how I’m supposed to get to the rest of the island – I suspect some sort of central cave system. Before I get that far I’ll see what this Mythran has to say for himself.

I’ve finally reached the much maligned Ultima 8. Like every other Origin game in this period this was released unfinished and later patched. Apart from that I gather there were changes to the core gameplay with some un-avatar like behaviour and a load of jumping type puzzles which put off a lot of long term fans. Its a game I’ve never played so I’ll have to judge things for myself. I’m actually quite positive going into this – I think the core gameplay could do with a change. Ultima’s become far too much of a series of alternate virtues and I’d hope that Ultima 8 will get away from that at the same time. Developing this theme in Ultima 4 was inspired and revisiting it with alternate/anti virtues was a good idea also but we’ve seen it over and over now and its time for some originality. Its a real sign of staleness in a series when it has to repeat its predecessors too much (See Monkey Island 4 for an extreme example of this). Above all I’d like to see a strong original plot – I was a bit disappointed with Serpent Isles story and it was the first time in the entire series that I don’t think I could argue that it was a better game than its predecessor. 
 

The intro picks up where Serpent Isle left off – the guardian banishes me into the world of Pagan while he goes off to conquer first Britannia and then Earth. It’s brief but sets the scene nicely.

I wake up on a shore and get a little background information. I’ve just been fished out of the water in this guys fishing nets. He tells me of a couple of elemental gods of some sort (earth and water) and that the bodies of the dead are sent to the earth god in his halls.

I get my first look at the new engine – its certainly different. It is now fully isometric with smoothly animated characters. The portraits are gone which is a shame – I’m sure disk space dictated this. My avatar now has animations for running, sneaking and walking in each direction though and on the whole things look better. It’s a little early to say if I prefer this approach to U7 – its possibly a little artifical with everything being obviously in neat blocks again – Ultima 7 had moved away from this and no longer looked to be based on tiles (even if it was). It reminds me of a much improved version of the likes of Alien-8 or Knight Lore.

With the isometric view comes a restriction in movement direction. I can now only move the avatar in the 8 compass directions. This feels like a step backwards and was last seen in the Ultima 6 games. If I am to control the avatar in this way I’d prefer to use the keyboard to walk him around but this doesn’t seem to be an option.

I make my way West to some docks and get to see a scene of a man being executed. I’m forced to stand back and watch. Some sort of rule is being broken as the mans body is supposed to go to the earth god and not the sea god (lurker). The gods are clearly not imaginary as a giant creature comes out of the water to swallow the mans head after it rolls in. At the end of this scene, the main protagonists leave with just the dead mans wife being left behind and a guard who grills me then  stops me from talking to her. He isn’t hostile as such, just suspicious and lets me go. I don’t tell him I’m from another world as I don’t expect it would go down well.

I hardly had any time to get started on this and thats as far as I got. On first look, the new engine is probably an improvement. The background music is more ambient and adds a bit of atmosphere and the extra detail in the graphics made this cutscene make more sense than the equivalent in Ultima 7/Serpent Isle would have done. I will miss the portraits but the better animation may make up for this. I’m a bit skeptical as to how artificial the world could end up looking with the isometric tiles but I need to have a better look around before I can make my mind up.