![]() It would have been fantastic to have seen a remake of Ultima IV with a modern engine, either a real time Oblivion style game where you only control The Avatar, or an Infinity Engine style with full control of your party, added banters and injections from Dupre, Shamino and the rest, and much better tactical combat than Ultima IV offers. You really need to keep track of lots of information and can't just walz though it. The game mechanics and balance is much better IMO, but OTOH I think it will be very different for kids today to enjoy Ultima IV, as it really requires a lot from the player. Overall though, I think the game is still quite fun to play and has aged better than Bard's Tale. So the end result is that I can't force myself to go on a killing spree to get the required XP to level up to lvl 8. There is no longer an incentive to fight every monster you see, because you no longer need the Gold. The result is that the "Economy" part of the game suffers. Secondly you get lots of Gold from selling the Mystic Weapons, allowing you to buy the most expensive weapons. Firstly I assume the Mystic Armour is superior to anything else, so no need to buy the expensive Magic Plate and Magic Chain. The Mystic Arms kind of break the fine balance of the game. That is not quite correct as you can find the Mystic Arms. Which reminds me.you said under "Equipment" that you can't find any weapons and armour in the game world itself. I'm only level seven and need another 800 XP to get to level 8, so I will abort or put on hold the game now, since the combat is rather boring in this game and it is the only way to gain XP. Replaying the game again after 20+ years I am now ready to enter The Abyss, but now Lord British tells me I need a full party of 8 characters. I'm really enjoying reading it and I hope you can keep it up! Reply Delete Personally I really liked how easy it was to navigate around the game world in ultima IV compared to some later games with better graphics such as the SSI series and Ultima Underworld.Īnyway, it's your blog, just wanted to throw out another opinion. I also think 'character creation and development' could have got a higher score if you included the development entailed in getting all the virtues as you become the avatar.Īs for graphics I think it's a little unfair to even rate CPRGs in this category as of course modern games are going to have a huge advantage. Plus the fact that you can use hot-air balloons, ships and horses to help get around should have been enough to give equipment a higher score IMO.Īs for magic, while there weren't many useful offensive spells there were some quite cool other ones like 'blink' for getting into secret areas and the one that changed the wind direction when using the balloon. With regards to the equipment section- there may not be many weapons and armor but there are some really cool, original features about some of the weapons- the magic ax that boomerangs back to you the flaming oil you can throw that leaves a burning patch on the ground and the halberd that can attack enemies two squares away over obstacles. There's a few categories I would have definitely rated it higher: I have to say I'm disappointed that this game got that low a score. On the plus side, it's neat how you have to discover the reagents for certain spells by talking to NPCs. There are some tactics involved in successfully navigating dungeon rooms, but the overall lack of danger (only one of my characters died in the game, and only once) means that you have little incentive to carefully plan battles. I didn't cast a single offensive spell during my gameplay, and the 99 healing spells I mixed before entering the Abyss went entirely unused. ![]() Combat gets boring quickly, especially once your characters have ranged weapons. I don't think I cast more than half a dozen spells that required either. Much is made about the need to discover nightshade and mandrake in the game world, but you barely need them. But, in general, Ultima IV is very weak in this area. Like monsters, reagents and spells are thickly and entertainingly described in the game manuals. The game has an unusual magic system involving the need to purchase and mix reagents before casting spells. ![]()
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