Ultima The Ultima Underworld I & II Thread

[KeighnMcDeath]

Yeah. UUW1 felt very different from UUW2. Would we say it takes place after Ultima 5 or 6? I need to check the timeline.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

UUW1 takes place sometime in the 200-year gap between Ultima 6 and Ultima 7.

UUW2 takes place right between Ultima 7 and Ultima 7 Part 2.

 

[Spukrian]

How is the sequel?

Quite a bit more linear, but still one of the best games ever made.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Them Sosarians/Britannians have a helluva lifespan from Akalabeth to U9

 

[Cael]

Them Sosarians/Britannians have a helluva lifespan from Akalabeth to U9

Only those from Earth.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Aren't most of the ultima 4 party alive in Ultima 9. I'm pretty sure most aren't from earth.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Aren't most of the ultima 4 party alive in Ultima 9. I'm pretty sure most aren't from earth.

With the sole obvious exception (see Serpent Isle) all of the eight companions are alive in Ultima 9.

I honestly can't recall where they're from, but most of them are from Earth.

I recall there being people in Britannia who live longer and are not from Earth, but in every case they're from someplace else (Gorn).

 

[Jaesun]

https://wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Companions_of_the_Avatar

Good listing here of all the companions and stuff like if they do mention if they were from Earth (or not). As well as which Ultima series they are present in.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Hmmm..... lesseee

Mariah

Mariah is a recurring character. She first appears in Ultima IV and is one of the companions of the Avatar as well as being a respected mage. She specializes in spells of a defensive nature, such as to minimize the need for violence in confrontations.

Well, titty mage Mariah could have used magic to extend her life. Typical mages.


Iolo

lolo FitzOwen [yoh-loh], a well-known bard, bowyer and adventurer, is a recurring character in the Ultima series and numbers among the companions of the Avatar. A native of Earth, '' lolo possesses a longevity typical of many Terrans dwelling in Britannia, and has lived many centuries as a citizen of the realm.
In the opening dialogue in Ultima VII: The Black Gate he is described as a "rather large" man.

Dresses like an earthling too.


Geoffrey

Geoffrey, a strong and capable fighter, is a recurring character and one of the companions of the Avatar. Possessing a longevity typical of many Terrans dwelling in Britannia, Geoffrey has spent centuries in service to the realm, many of them as the commander of Lord British'spersonal guard.
According to his description from his dialogue in Ultima IV, he is a 6' 5" tall great warrior.

Ok, that's 2 terrans thus far. Lack of pics of ole Jeffry er Geofrey.


Jaana

Jaana [yah-nah] is a recurring character. She first appears in the Ultima IV, and is one of the companions of the Avatar, being a druid and therefore strong magic user.

Well, she's a druid/mage so again magic keeps her young or the druidy planet does. Druids in D&D seem to merge with nature. She's not as tittylicious as Mariah though.


Julia

Julia is a well-known tinker and long time companion of the Avatar of legend. While her origins are not explicitly known, she is possessed of a longevity characteristic of Earthnatives living in Britannia, and has dwelt in the realm for several centuries, having been present in Lord British's lands from Ultima IV through Ultima IX.

That's 3 terrans. She's hotter than Jaana and loves it when you tug on her pigtails (if she has them braided) when you ride her. She likes it rough being a tinker.

Dupre

Dupre [doo-pray] is a paladin and later a knight of Britannia, and a close friend to both Lord British and the Avatar. A native of Earth,'"' Dupre possesses a longevity typical of many Terrans dwelling in Britannia, and has lived many centuries as a citizen of the realm.

That's 4 terrans.

Shamino

Originally a native of Sosaria, it was Shamino, according to folklore, who first encountered Lord British, when the Earth-born youth was taken to Sosaria by means of a blue moongate. Surprised at the sudden appearance of the other man, Shamino, who had been cutting wood at the time, accidentally struck his own leg with his axe, injuring himself grievously before applying a simple magical cantrip to heal the wound – a feat which astonished the recently arrived earthling. It was Shamino who first befriended the otherworldly youth, and who gave him his name, "British," in reference to the boy's claim that he came from the "British Isles."

Ok, maybe he was turned into a cybernetic Shamino via implants by the machine exodus and all the weird magics and shit from the guardian extended his cyborg life. (Shrug)

Katrina

Katrina is a recurring character and one of the companions of the Avatar.


A native of Earth," Katrina possesses a longevity typical of many Terrans dwelling in Britannia, with appearances spanning the centuries of Ultima IV, Ultima V, Ultima VI, Ultima VIl, and Ultima IX.

And she's the last member, also a terran so that's 5. She's also a heavy skateboarder who loves wielding a mattock while working. Perhaps she is the most hip of the crew.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I was more interested in learning that all of the eight companions are based on real-life people - with Shamino being based on Richard Garriott.

Clearly he wasn't content with being a single character in his own story.

EDIT: Typo. Corrected.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

MPD!

 

[Desiderius]

Maybe they hibernate when the Avatar isn't on site.

 

[Kweepa]

Completed a full playthrough this evening - took about 6 hours and added 11 bugs to my "database" (google doc ).

 

[Cael]

Completed a full playthrough this evening - took about 6 hours and added 11 bugs to my "database" (google doc ).

Since when did Steffi Graf use a blade? She's a blunt instrument expert...!

 

[Desiderius]

Completed a full playthrough this evening - took about 6 hours and added 11 bugs to my "database" (google doc ).

Since when did Steffi Graf use a blade? She's a blunt instrument expert...!

From her back?

 

[Konjad]

UUW1 takes place sometime in the 200-year gap between Ultima 6 and Ultima 7.

UUW2 takes place right between Ultima 7 and Ultima 7 Part 2.

It's always funny how in these fantasy settings Nothing Ever Happens , and hundreds of years aren't even noticeable because there's no difference between them.

 

[Inec0rn]

Honestly Ultima Underworld / Ultima games in general level of story-telling / Lore is my absolute favourite in RPGs. It's lightweight, you immerse yourself in the world, there are several key NPC's here and there and flavour text in notes, books, wall carving etc. that's it.

Fuck me do I hate large cities in RPGs with hundreds of pointless NPCs, pages and pages of made up some dev writers religions and history - I cannot fathom anything more boring. I also reckon wasteland set games are generally better because dialog and questlines are direct, usually zany characters and therefore more creative.

p.s i've not played Beth fallout since a few hours of FO3 abomination too. Also and this is probably counter to a lot of what other people think, Bethesda may have the absolute worst lore and writing and solely get away with it because thousands of modders make the sandbox interesting.

 

[Desiderius]

Honestly Ultima Underworld / Ultima games in general level of story-telling / Lore is my absolute favourite in RPGs. It's lightweight, you immerse yourself in the world, there are several key NPC's here and there and flavour text in notes, books, wall carving etc. that's it.

Fuck me do I hate large cities in RPGs with hundreds of pointless NPCs, pages and pages of made up some dev writers religions and history - I cannot fathom anything more boring. I also reckon wasteland set games are generally better because dialog and questlines are direct, usually zany characters and therefore more creative.

p.s i've not played Beth fallout since a few hours of FO3 abomination too. Also and this is probably counter to a lot of what other people think, Bethesda may have the absolute worst lore and writing and solely get away with it because thousands of modders make the sandbox interesting.

https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/hedgehog-berlin.pdf

 

[The people of Duckburg]

Finally got around to finishing the game. It's good. Found all the talismans without help, except for the cup. I did figure out the incense and chant parts, as well as which room it was in, but not that I had to play the song there. I had tried playing it by Cabirus' grave, but nothing happened. Even though the game is clearly very dated, it holds up well, at least with the mouse look patch. The graphics both do and don't hold up; the ancient 3D that distorts everything when you look up or down obviously isn't very pretty, but the sprite art is quality stuff that stands the test of time. The framerate is lacking, especially if you use spells like daylight, and that's something that the game would benefit from having improved. Overall I quite liked the immersive sim qualities, and I'd really like to see games that combine those aspects with the technical and QoL improvements of the Grimrock games. Maybe games like that exist already; I'm not well versed when it comes to dungeon crawlers.

Thinking of getting into Underworld 2 despite not having played the rest of the Ultima series. There's a number of games and it would take a while to get through them all. Played as a paladin in the first one, for a mix of melee and spells, and I'm thinking I should do the same in the sequel, assuming it has the same classes.

Oh right, I correctly replied talismans to Garamon's first question, not that it was that hard to figure out, but "lava" for the second one I had to look up. The answer really didn't seem to match what he was asking for. Actually, earlier I had suspected that I was supposed to find all the talismans and hand each out to one of the groups living I'm the abyss to unite them, like Cabirus had wanted.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Thinking of getting into Underworld 2 despite not having played the rest of the Ultima series. There's a number of games and it would take a while to get through them all.

The best 'cheat sheet' you can read to help with that are the UUW2 manuals, particularly 'A Safe Passage Through Britannia' where Nystul the Mage compiles essential information regarding Britannia, and the characters you're trapped with in the castle. It will also help to talk to said characters at the start of the game to get their 'back story', and then at regular intervals throughout the game to learn new information they may have. This makes the game very conversation-heavy at the start, but it sets you up for what is to come.

The only Ultima-game you really needed to have played to get the 'full' impact of UUW2 is Ultima 7: The Black Gate. Getting ready to play Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle is optional, but recommended.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Are ya'll going to uh try that modern Underworld?

 

[behold_a_man]

but "lava" for the second one I had to look up. The answer really didn't seem to match what he was asking for.

The proper answer is volcano. I'm content with developers adding multiple similar answers to riddles when appropriate. Also, if you give him several wrong answers, he'll remark the answer is a natural landmark.

 

[The people of Duckburg]

I started with some decent attack and sword skills, but it's still a slog to hit many enemies, like the headless, with a short sword. Problem is, when I train to increase the skills, I only gain one single point even though they're at nine or so. In the first game, you'd gain three to four points early on, and never less than two. What's up with this? I trained some searching and got three or two points per session since it was at zero. Is the skill cap way lower in this game or something? I don't seem to be gaining levels quite so fast that it would make up for one point gains per training session.

 

[Spukrian]

As I remember it in UW1 only the mantras that improve multiple skills gave more than +1 in skills per point available, but I might be misremembering..

In UW2 each training gives only +1 in a skill (with one exception), so if you have more than one skill point available, you have to train multiple times.

The skill points you gain are decoupled from your levels. I once saw a table over how much xp you need for each point somewhere but I can't find it now.

 

[Cael]

As I remember it in UW1 only the mantras that improve multiple skills gave more than +1 in skills per point available, but I might be misremembering..

In UW2 each training gives only +1 in a skill (with one exception), so if you have more than one skill point available, you have to train multiple times.

The skill points you gain are decoupled from your levels. I once saw a table over how much xp you need for each point somewhere but I can't find it now.

Approximately 500 per point after max level, or something like that.