Ultima The Ultima Underworld I & II Thread

[Gord]

Hm, that does indeed sound a bit like protection reducing enemy to-hit chance, and toughness increasing armor, thus reducing damage.

 

[Gord]

Just finished UU2.

Didn't get the blackrock serpent from the Goblins, though.
One of them thanked me for killing the worms around the lake, but I never received the serpent.

 

[octavius]

Just finished UU2.

Congrats.

Didn't get the blackrock serpent from the Goblins, though.
One of them thanked me for killing the worms around the lake, but I never received the serpent.

Oh no, that means you can't play Serpent's Isle.

 

[Gord]

Oh now, that means you can't play Serpent's Isle.

Oh noes!

 

[Absalom]

Honestly, was armour durability really a big issue? By the time an armour degraded I had already found superior or equivalent armour. Once in the first one I had to visit the blacksmith to repair it but I think it was more because I had a lot of money and not enough to spend it on than because it was necessary.

Reminds me, I need to give Arx Fatalis another try

 

[Gord]

Not really, no.
Durability is something of an issue early on, when your skills are low.
The armor/weapons you find are of generaly lower quality then, they degrade faster because you get hit more often (or you damage it yourself) and you can't repair it so easily.

 

[wildh0rse]

Hi Everyone! I know this is an old thread, but I found it in the course of my research for my "Advanced Walkthrough" for Ultima Underworld II. I've done some crazy-ass stuff and made one or two discoveries in both I and II.
I am so glad to see people playing this classic RPG... both were groundbreaking at their release, which while well noted here was witnessed by myself personally. I still remember the commotion over this game when it came out, everyone was talking about it. I had both clue books, the first went missing but the second sits right beside me.

I learned of the "debris" thing and after so many times playing, using this trick gave me a depth that I was missing. Free of Mana and casting skill I could explore at will. I have to say, Praecor Loth's tomb still seems pretty scary LOL! Exploring the western area on the last level turns up some crazy traps and magic items. The Vest of Flameproof RULES

In Mitch Aigner's SUPERB walkthrough for UU1, he states that "it is written that there is a secret way to level 4" but he "never found it". I have not either. Has anyone investigated this? I have hacked into the central area and cannot find any secret doors or teleports on any level (except 8 with the slasher of veils...)

Also, where in the hell is this "Lotus Esprit Turbo"?! Is it in the code, unrendered? Is it in UU1 or UU2?

I hope I can reactivate this thread - I have some fun things to tell you and I gotta get a screenie of something that happened when I casted Tremor, it will blow your mind

Wh

 

[octavius]

I hope I can reactivate this thread - I have some fun things to tell you and I gotta get a screenie of something that happened when I casted Tremor, it will blow your mind

Please do.

 

[wildh0rse]

I hope I can reactivate this thread - I have some fun things to tell you and I gotta get a screenie of something that happened when I casted Tremor, it will blow your mind

Please do.

On level 6 of the Abyss, I was in the Northeast part with all the lava. I was late-game in stats and exploring a little before I ended the game. I casted Tremor and something REALLY Weird happened......

ALL my inventory dissapeared and was replaced by a yellow Smiley Face in the first inventory circle under the avatar. When I right=clicked it was identified as "An Adventurer". I tried to drop it, and all my inventory appeared all around me, along with what looked like an NPC also identified as "an adventurer"! Which promptly ran off and disappeared.....

Has anyone seen this?!?!

 

[octavius]

I haven't seen it personally, but it sounds vaguely familiar.

 

[wildh0rse]

I haven't seen it personally, but it sounds vaguely familiar.

Really?! Can you elaborate? I havent seen it. Apparantly, even though there is nothing in my inventory, anything and everything is "too heavy" to pick up...???

Has anyone ever figured out these things in UU1:

1. The Grey Lizardman on Leve 4 who claims his leader is that of the red lizardman. What DO you say to him?

2. On Level 4, you encounter a note addressed to Lakshi telling him to entrust his messenger (the Avatar??) with something. You can't bring this to his attention, and asking about "note" or "message" or "messenger" does not avail - is this note significant, then? What is it for?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I hope I can reactivate this thread - I have some fun things to tell you and I gotta get a screenie of something that happened when I casted Tremor, it will blow your mind

Please do.

On level 6 of the Abyss, I was in the Northeast part with all the lava. I was late-game in stats and exploring a little before I ended the game. I casted Tremor and something REALLY Weird happened......

ALL my inventory dissapeared and was replaced by a yellow Smiley Face in the first inventory circle under the avatar. When I right=clicked it was identified as "An Adventurer". I tried to drop it, and all my inventory appeared all around me, along with what looked like an NPC also identified as "an adventurer"! Which promptly ran off and disappeared.....

Has anyone seen this?!?!

Next time something like this happens, please take a screenshot for all of us. It isn't hard to do if you are using DOSBox as it is merely a Ctrl-F5 switch action.

 

[Sceptic]

Apparantly, even though there is nothing in my inventory, anything and everything is "too heavy" to pick up...???

Are you playing the unpatched game? Original release had some.... really weird bugs that could trigger for a variety of reasons and that ruined your inventory in the most bizarre ways. The one I got replaced all my inventory (including essential quest items) with blood puddles, the ones that enemies leave behind when you kill them (and that you cannot pick up or interact with in any way normally). I think it was some kind of buffer overflow, the game can no longer keep track of something or other and everything goes weird. Around the same time trying to shift+J to jump would crash the game. I could still do it by running and right-click or running and J, but obviously this was more awkward. And then when the inventory bug happened the game would just randomly crash shortly after loading the save.

The patch did fix all these problems, though it may have left other more obscure ones.

1. The Grey Lizardman on Leve 4 who claims his leader is that of the red lizardman. What DO you say to him?

Probably a small bug. The entire dialog of that grey is identical to the reds IIRC. LG probably just miscoded him as a red and never fixed it.

2. On Level 4, you encounter a note addressed to Lakshi telling him to entrust his messenger (the Avatar??) with something. You can't bring this to his attention, and asking about "note" or "message" or "messenger" does not avail - is this note significant, then? What is it for?

I don't remember this. Where on level 4 is it? It might be a leftover from something they cut out, IIRC Lakshi really doesn't have much to say in the final game.

 

[wildh0rse]

Apparantly, even though there is nothing in my inventory, anything and everything is "too heavy" to pick up...???

I am playing the patched game.

2. On Level 4, you encounter a note addressed to Lakshi telling him to entrust his messenger (the Avatar??) with something. You can't bring this to his attention, and asking about "note" or "message" or "messenger" does not avail - is this note significant, then? What is it for?

I don't remember this. Where on level 4 is it? It might be a leftover from something they cut out, IIRC Lakshi really doesn't have much to say in the final game.

It's on Level 4 near the goblins' area somewhere, in my current saved game I got rid of it. I did notice today that if you DON'T have that note, you don't have "Other..." as a conversation option with Lakshi. Which means there's something there...

PS - Did anyone know you can enchant rings and other objects in UU2? I have a Resilient Sphere of Major Toughness for sale if anyone wants it

PPS - There's an item in Talorus in UU2 called a "curious implement". It is a key; try it and see - what does it open???. Looks like a gold tuning fork with a red handle.... anyone?

 

[Sceptic]

It's on Level 4 near the goblins' area somewhere, in my current saved game I got rid of it. I did notice today that if you DON'T have that note, you don't have "Other..." as a conversation option with Lakshi. Which means there's something there...

huh! Now that's an interesting find, will have to keep an eye out when I replay.

PS - Did anyone know you can enchant rings and other objects in UU2?

Yes. Wasn't it one of the spells you learn in Killorn Keep? It's pretty powerful too.

PPS - There's an item in Talorus in UU2 called a "curious implement". It is a key; try it and see - what does it open???. Looks like a gold tuning fork with a red handle.... anyone?

Is this found in that pile of junk on the lower level? I remember finding a bunch of weird items down there and could never find any use for any of them. Except for that one quest item that's hidden down there.

 

[wildh0rse]

My goof - I was confusing two different things. You always have the "Canst thou tell me of..." or something in the conversation.

You can enchant the "strange artifact" in the Purple Prize area and wear it like a ring. The latest in Talorid Phashun this season x-D

The Curious Implement item is found on Level 1 of Talorus in that southwest room with tons of useless crystals.

No word on that secret way to level 4, huh? Or the Lotus, lol?

 

[Sceptic]

No word on that secret way to level 4

I remember more than one way to level 4 but don't remember one being "super-secret". There was a secret way to level 5 through the "bullfrog puzzle" that sent you directly into the tombs (right near the empty grave of Garamon IIRC) but I don't think this is what you had in mind.

I remmeber filling up most of the automap in the game. There were some empty passages in the lower levels that you could get to with Roaming Sight, but nothing that indicated a secret passage.

 

[wildh0rse]

LOL In Mitch Aigner's walkthough he stated that "it is written somewhere" (I love that) that there was a secret way to Level 4 but he never found it. Niether, I guess, did anyone else.

Here's another one: The "Grand Staircase" of the Abyss. Is this just a decoration or is there some further significance?

And again - the LOtus Esprit Turbo???? Anyone? LOL

 

[Gord]

Here's another one: The "Grand Staircase" of the Abyss. Is this just a decoration or is there some further significance?

AFAIK, the only significance is that there used to be a grand staircase during the time of Sir Cabirus' colony, that has since fallen into disrepair and can't be used anymore.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

What Gord said about the grand staircase. It's a nice little piece of immersion to put in, showing that there was an "easy way" to navigate the Abyss. Too bad this has become a trope that's used in almost every game since to the point of nausea.

Regarding Lakshi's note: I read this as being a message from Tyball to Lakshi. Tyball does have a lot of trolls in his "employment" and it is indeed a troll that does kidnap Ariel.

The Level 4 secret passage I always read as the stairs on Level 3 that are found a little north of Murgo's cell. These stairs are located in the Lizardmen area, and that would make them "secret" to many others, but a more important fact is that they lead to a section on Level 4 that's hard to reach due to the sloping water.

 

[octavius]

What Gord said about the grand staircase. It's a nice little piece of immersion to put in, showing that there was an "easy way" to navigate the Abyss. Too bad this has become a trope that's used in almost every game since to the point of nausea.

Wizardry 1 had the Elevator already in 1981 and Dungeon Master had a central staircase in 1987, so it was old already by the time of UU.

 

[epeli]

In Mitch Aigner's SUPERB walkthrough for UU1, he states that "it is written that there is a secret way to level 4" but he "never found it". I have not either. Has anyone investigated this? I have hacked into the central area and cannot find any secret doors or teleports on any level (except 8 with the slasher of veils...)

I have no clue where that rumor got started, but I'm fairly confident there isn't any super-secret mystery route no one knows about. If I had to wager a guess, most likely one of the well-known level 3-4 stairways was said to be "secret".

 

[wildh0rse]

Some very interesting feedback... thanks all!!!!

I never thought to ask Lakshi abou tyball! I alkways thought it was a note from Sir C.

LOL at the whole staircase thing

As I come across more I will post. Any input is welcome.

 

[Zep Zepo]

A long time ago I made one of the UU maps into a Quake BSP with a converter I wrote. The only thing I did not solve before I moved on to something else was with the slopes..so all the slopes of the converted map were more like steps.

Zep--

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Every time I read a thread about UU I want to replay it. Shank Lick approves.