Ultima Underworld II: UUS and DES

 

Jumping across moving platforms. Jumping with my sword in my hand is probably not the safest thing.

       

In the comments for my first entry, Bitmap offered a timely reminder that I was a bit disappointed in the ease of combat in Ultima Underworld and wished I'd played as a spellcaster. Since I wasn't too far into the sequel, I decided to create a new character and try the game as a mage. I figured while I was at it, I might as well make the character a woman. I named her "Ravata" because she always moves at a trot, and ravata is "trot" in Finnish.

 

I'm not sure how much the initial character choice matters, anyway. There are no item restrictions in the game, and anyone can cast spells. It seems to me that your skill selections probably matter more than your starting class. If I really want to play a mage, I need to channel points in to "Mana" and seek magical solutions to problems. That's not my normal nature, but I'll see if I can manage.

        

Creating a new mage.

     

I started the game as last time and talked to every NPC a second time. This time, I also checked out the items in their chambers, taking everything that didn't explicitly belong to them. I figured I'd establish a central location for excess items later. There were locked chests in Lord British's and Nystul's chambers that I couldn't open. I otherwise found a lot of food, water, candles, and potions, plus a full outfit of leather (armor, helmet, boots, gloves) and a hand axe.

   

I still couldn't find the entrance to the sewers. Looking at the auto-map, I saw some hints of secret doors in a few areas, including one off the entry hall and one each at the ends of the central east-west corridor. All of them did turn out to be secret doors, but all were locked and resisted bashing.

   

Nystul's secret lab had runes, which I picked up despite having no rune bag. He had a variety of books on the walls of his room, none of which had any detailed text (unless there's a way to read them that I'm not seeing). Most of them were real-world books. The titles were:

• Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. I tried to read it about 10 years ago and didn't get it. Maybe I should try again.

• 101 Avatar Jokes by Chuckles the Jester. 

• On the Properties of Runestones by Nystul.

• Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber. I've never read any Fritz Leiber.

• Neuromancer by William Gibson, which was of course the subject of its own 1988 Interplay game.

• At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is also on my long list of authors to try.

• Something Under the Bed is Drooling by Bill Watterson. I've never understood the appeal of Calvin and Hobbes.

• The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.

• Collected Historical Plays by Raymundo of Britain. Raymundo, the avatar of Raymond Benson, ran the theater in Britain in Ultima VII. 

• Mysteries of the Abyss, "being a chronicle of the hubris of Tyball and of his defeat by the Avatar in the Great Stygian Abyss." This might be the only reference to the events of Ultima Underworld in any of the other games.

• The Princess Bride by William Goldman. Great movie. Overquoted.

• Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. I have this theory that "Sam-I-am" is a play on Sam Iamb, as the book is written in iambic tetrameter.

• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. His real first name was "Lyman." I'd go with "Frank," too.

• Keys to the Black Gate by Anton of New Magincia. Anton was the assistant that Alagner sent to Buccaneer's Den to spy on the Fellowship. He was caught and put in a cell, but I freed him. I'm glad to hear he survived to write a book. I wonder what it's about.

   

Moving on, Nystul's lab contained a bag with three runestones: UUS, DES, and POR. A note with them said that there is "no practical application found" for the spell. UUS DES POR would mean something like "up-down movement," which might mean something like "Levitate."

    

I forgot to try this spell after I found the runes. Next time.

     

A button in Nystul's lab opened a secret door. This led down a hallway to a T-junction. Both corridors led to portcullises which had creatures behind them: a giant rat to the right and two slugs to the left. I opened both and killed the creatures. Neither injured me for even one hit point.

  

Combat is the same as the previous game. You activate combat mode, which causes your hand and your active weapon to come into view. You right-click on various parts of the screen to perform various attacks--top for an overhead bash, the middle for a slash, and the bottom for a thrust. You hold the mouse button to pull back the weapon and swing. The longer you hold it, the more damage it does. You can supposedly tell how healthy the enemy is by the gargoyle's eye color at the top of the screen, but you can imagine how well that works for me.

       

First combat!

     

Neither of the two chambers led anywhere else, and as I was heading back to Nystul's rooms, I saw a sign (missed earlier) that said: "Experiments in progress." So I guess I just killed a bunch of lab animals.

Returning to the map, I noted the same hint of a secret door on the north wall of the Avatar's chambers. I went back and found the door, which opened without any trouble. It led to a small room containing a backpack with a dagger, torches, food, water, a lockpick, and a bedroll, plus a rune bag and several runes. Clearly, I was supposed to know about this chamber. I took a look in the manual, and sure enough, it mentions it in the tutorial section.

      

Trying and failing to punch open a secret door.

     

The authors of the game didn't even try to hand-wave the use of runic magic in the sequel. In Underworld, we were told that magic just works different in the underworld. Apparently, it also works different if the castle just happens to be encased in blackrock, and the Avatar anticipated this event by bringing his rune bag from the first game--although he shouldn't have had it unless it accompanied his body back to Earth through the "dream portal." 

Of the spells listed for a Level 1 caster, I have the runes for BET OR IN ("Luck"), ORT JUX ("Magic Arrow"), IN MANY YLEM ("Create Food"), and BET IN SANCT ("Resist Blows"). I lined up "Luck" on the rune shelf.

   

By the end of this session, I was less enthusiastic about playing a mage. The spell interface could have used a lot more work. I specifically would have liked to see three changes:

• Shorten the message window and put two additional rune shelves there.

• Pause the rest of the game when the rune bag is opened.

• Map the letter keys on the keyboard to the 24 runes, which conveniently each begin with a different letter of the alphabet (there is no X or Z).

 

As it is, if you last cast IN LOR ("Light") and then encounter a creature and want to cast ORT JUX ("Magic Arrow"), you've got to open the rune bag, remember what symbol stands for what letter, and start clicking with your mouse while you're simultaneously trying to dodge or flee the creature with your left hand. The existing interface certainly doesn't encourage the use of a variety of spells. 

         

These secret perimeter passages will make accessing the rest of the castle much faster.

      

The secret area opened into a series of perimeter hallways that encircle the first level of the castle. These exist in Ultima VII, too. I ran through them, hitting switches to open the secret doors. I found a ladder behind a door in the northwest (which opened with Dupre's key) and another in the southeast.

   

The northwest ladder took me down to Level 3. (Level 2 had the cellars and armory beneath the kitchen, plus Nystul's secret lab.) I started encountering hostile rotworms and bats. My torch ran out and I had to light a candle, which offers much less light. I admire how the authors programmed different levels of darkness, but I wouldn't mind if the game were just a bit brighter. Fortunately, I soon found the LOR rune needed for IN LOR ("Light"), so I don't imagine I'll be navigating by candlelight again.

       

Swinging at a bat. You can also see the rune bag interface here. I have "Luck" on the rune shelf.

     

The LOR rune was in a chamber occupied by a thief named Fissif. He admitted he had come through the underworld from Buccaneer's Den to burgle the castle during the festivities. All he managed to get was my pocketwatch and the key to the armory, but he lost the latter in a fight with a reaper. "Oo art thou to be putting on airs?" he asked. "Anyone'd think yer the bleedin' Avatah 'r sumthin'." He was cowed by my response, and I got my pocketwatch back. I had options to take him to jail or let him go. I chose the latter, but then he attacked me when I started rooting through his stuff. After a few blows from my axe, he surrendered and wandered off to submit himself to the castle guards.

         

Only someone as deontological as the Avatar would attempt to arrest someone with all that's going on.

     

A room next to Fissif's held a headless, which Fissif had warned about, and here I suffered my first death. I beat at him with my axe for a few rounds, but he knocked away my hit points with a few blows. I backed off and tried retreating while shooting "Magic Arrow," which worked until I ran out of mana. I could have fled, but I wanted to see what the death screen looked like. It hasn't changed from the first Underworld.

         

There you go.

       

On a reload, I noticed that the headless didn't seem to be very hostile in the first place, so I just went past him. There was a giant rat in his chambers that didn't share his docility. I found a buckler, a pair of leather leggings, chain boots, 7 coins, some cheese, and a short sword that turned out to be magical. A second headless stopped me from fully exploring one of the chambers, but I don't think there was anything there but trash. I saved the headless for later, annotated them on the map, and moved on.

      

Success! I decapitated him! Wait . . .

       

I soon came to a ladder to Level 4, shrugged, and took it. It brought me to the side of a large chamber full of water. A lurker was, well, lurking in the water. I stabbed at him with my short sword until he backed off, then finished him off with some "Magic Arrows." I reached Level 2, which among other things got me the IN BET MANI ("Lesser Heal") spell.

 

I try to stab a lurker.

     

Despite a miserable "Swimming" skill, I jumped into the water and followed it around the chamber to a drain, which took me to another chamber. The bones of some previous adventurer rested on a ledge here, along with a magic wand. There was no way out of this area, so I returned to the previous chamber and then back up. I thought I would be exploring Level 4 prematurely, but instead I learned a useful lesson: explore new ladders when you find them; otherwise, you might miss secret areas unconnected to the rest of their levels.

  

Resuming my explorations on the previous level, I reached a locked portcullis, on which I broke two picks and beat at it with a dagger until the dagger broke. Just north of that was an area in which floor squares kept appearing and disappearing. I ran across this area and found another portcullis that was unlocked; it opened into the same area as the first one, which opened from a chain on the wall.

   

Moving on, I killed a couple of rotworms, a giant spider, and a couple of bats. For some reason, bats immolate when they die, perhaps because it was too hard to make an animation that showed their corpses dropping to the floor. Much of the level from here consisted of raised walkways with water on both sides. Occasional gaps in the walkways had platforms that rose and fell. I could wait for these or just jump the gaps. In a side chamber (I had to pick a lock, which surprisingly worked), I found a letter that explained these platforms. They're some kind of "moving platform system" maintained by two guys named "Sabo" and "Harry." Apparently, one of the elevator platforms is jammed. 

      

A note from Harry to Sabo. I think they're both dead.

        

I soon reached Level 3 by clearing out a room full of rotworms. They seem to have been attracted by some rotten meat. After that, I cleared a hallway full of slugs and bats.

     

This is disgusting.

      

The corridors ended at a metal door that I couldn't pick (I broke my last pick trying) or bash. On the way back, I missed a jump and fell into the water. Instead of reloading, I rolled with it (partly grateful for the opportunity to map the walls of the water-filled chambers). My poor "Swimming" skill swiftly knocked back my hit points, though, and by the time I crawled onto a platform, I was almost out. I unrolled my sleeping bag and rested for a while, then took a ladder down to Level 4 and a chamber full of giant rats. I followed a series of corridors into a swamp, where I met a reaper. I couldn't defeat him with any of my resources, including all the castings from two wands and all the "Magic Arrows" my mana could conjure.

 

Just before I died.

  

Back on Level 3, I continued mapping the contours of the water-filled area. A corridor brought me to the other side of the locked metal door, which was a room full of slugs. Even after I killed four or five, emptying a barrel full of cheese caused three or four more to appear. The remains of Harry or Sabo were in the corner; he had apparently been overcome by the vermin.

   

Another southern "massive" door failed to yield to my blows. Continuing my swim, I found another alcove with bones, a backpack, and a lurker. The backpack had basic adventuring gear (torches, a dagger) and a yellow potion. I had a lot more trouble with this lurker than with the first one. I couldn't seem to hit it no matter how I oriented myself. I had to take it out with "Magic Arrow."

    

I emerged from the water on the north end of the level. I followed some corridors there, killing a giant spider and a rotworm, before coming to a hallway strewn with numerous bones and skulls. Ignoring such an obvious warning, I pressed forward, entered a room with two gazers, and was killed immediately by a blast from the eye of one of them.

      

This was a bad sign.

     

Miscellaneous notes:

   

• I couldn't remember if there were weapon and armor restrictions on mage characters. While I was leafing through the manual to check, I noticed its description of the shepherd class: "A fiercely independent tribesman." What a weird way to describe a shepherd.

• The hallways aren't wide enough for you and an NPC. I end up "driving" a lot of NPCs in front of me to the nearest open chamber.

• Two orbs in Nystul's chambers are locked on to the throne room and the dining hall. The creators managed to put a stained glass window in the throne room but not a throne. 

         

This is what the throne room looks like in full light.

      

• It didn't occur to me until this game that there are no two-handed weapons in the Underworld series, probably because the creators couldn't make it work graphically. 

• If your computer sucked and you had to turn the "Detail" setting to "Low," this is what you got. Ironically, you can pick out objects on the floor better on this setting.

         

Less immersive but, at times, less confusing.

      

• Health and mana regenerate very slowly. You need to rest or use potions for any serious regeneration.

• I failed to notice exactly where or when, but I repeatedly gained some experience from non-combat actions. Not as much as for combat, but some.
  

• It's annoying how you can pick items up from their default locations but then the game tells you there's not enough room when you try to put them back down. You have to hurl them across the room.

    

As I contemplate reloading and returning to the castle, my mind is on what skills to prioritize for training. There are 20 skills in the game, grouped into four rough categories:

   

• Combat: "Attack," "Axe," "Barehand," "Defense," "Mace," "Missile," "Sword."

• Magic: "Casting," "Mana," "Lore."

• Stealth and Movement: "Acrobat," "Picklock," "Search," "Stealth," "Swimming," "Track," "Traps."

• Other: "Appraise," "Charisma," "Repair."

    

I suspect "Track" (lets you know when creatures are near) is relatively worthless. "Swimming" only seems to be necessary if you're going to be doing it for a while and you mind healing the long way. I'm not sure "Stealth" really helps unless you don't want to fight at all, but you need to fight to gain experience. I never noticed any problem finding secret doors in the last game despite a low "Search" ability, and I'm not sure how often I'll need to disarm "Traps." "Appraise" and "Charisma" are only useful if the bartering mechanic becomes important; maybe it will in other worlds. The individual weapon skills are useful, but since weapons break, you can't always be sure which you'll need. I suspect the generic "Attack" and "Defense" are better options along with "Mana." "Casting" just prevents you from having to click the runes multiple times (there's no penalty for trying and failing). "Lore" supposedly helps identify items. In short, my suspicions are that:

• "Attack," "Defense," and "Mana" are vital.

• "Lore," "Charisma," "Appraise," and "Repair" may be useful. The individual weapon skills may also be useful to the extent I settle in with a single type of weapon.

• The rest of the skills have dubious utility.

   

I'll take ROT-13 hints on whether I'm right or wrong on any of the above.

      

Where I stand with Level 3.

     

That Calvin and Hobbes bit was just a joke, by the way. Like everyone else, I think Watterson's work is moving and fantastic. I just like to imagine readers sputtering.

 

Time so far: 4 hours