Excelsior: As Through an Alpine Village Passed

 

"Try not the pass!" the old man said.

      

I'm rarely unhappy during the opening phases of an Ultima clone, as I travel from town to town assembling clues and lore. That's all I did during this session, putting my shoulder to the right-hand edge of the road and following it resolutely as it wound around the continent, often backtracking. I'll be unhappy when this process is over and I have to find my way to places not on the road, at which point I'll rant that any iconographic game should come with a map, whether on paper or in the game. But this part was fun.

 

It began with my trying to make it to Castle Infinitum somewhere to the southwest of Castle Excelsior, where I started the game. There were rumors of a cartographer in Infinitum who could point the way to any city in the land, and I was planning to ask him about the three cities that supposedly held clues to the three amulets I would need to develop my attributes. Trying to find the location, I kept getting hung up on rivers and attacked by enemies. At Level 3, I wasn't quite strong enough to survive long expeditions, which I found to my sorrow. It turned out later that Infinitum was quite far to the west-southwest of Excelsior and I never would have found it while exploring cross-country.

        

I met him for the first time yesterday.

        

Reloading from the starting area, I consulted my notes and realized that a trainer in Excelsior taught the "Fencing" skill, and I had enough money now to pay for it. That helped a bit with subsequent battles. I also soon reached Level 4, which not only gave me more hit points but caused my "Anti-Pain" spell to heal 15 points per casting. Further, as my alignment adjusted to match the spell, it started costing only 1 mana point, and then sometimes 0. Pretty soon, I got to the point where if I won one battle, I could generally heal back to full strength before the next one.

  

Ghouls, wights, gorns, ogres, trolls, and scouts were among the enemies that started to appear at Level 4. Scouts can shoot the character from a distance. The good thing about the game is that it scales the maximum enemy level to match the character's, not the average or minimum. You still meet plenty of kobolds and gremlins at higher levels. I prefer this type of scaling. It keeps the game a challenge while allowing you to feel your growing power against lesser foes. 

       

I feel bad. Gorns are meant to be fought with two hands laced awkwardly together.

       

I found a broadsword in one of the battles, which the author here seems to think is a two-handed weapon. It outperformed my two individual hand weapons, so I kept it for a bit. I also found a great helm to replace my helm.

 

These were the locations I encountered along the road, heading west from Castle Excelsior and the city of Oooblyae:

   

Woodshade (Town; west of Excelsior)

 

• Services include a fletcher, a bowyer, an inn, 

• A warrior boasts about his eramel blade. "Eramel" is this game's equivalent of mithril. Weapons made from it outperform other weapons. The warrior says that eramel is found in abundance in Keep Flare.

• A bard named Nargausius boasts that he's the "most distinguished geologist in all the land."

      

Play me a ballad about igneous rocks.

        

• A "flamboyant" wizard asks if I will make a donation to the Magician's and Showman's Fund. I can't find any way to do that. 

   

That's all the town offers for NPCs. Generally, there are only two or three NPCs in each city that have something important to say. The rest offer stock one-line responses.

   

Pibsly (Town; north of Woodshade)

 

• Services include shops specializing in boots and gloves. The glove shop sells Gauntlets of Might, and I have just enough for a pair. The boot shop sells Winged Boots, but I don't have enough for those.

• A woman named Esbyth sells rare cheeses. I can't buy anything from her for now.

• A locksmith sells 10 keys for 10 gold pieces. I buy a bunch. Later, I find dozens of them on monsters. 

• A man says that in Stockshire, there are quite a few brawls in the tavern. 

Stockshire (Town; west of Pibsly)

 

• A gypsy relates that one of the "more unfortunate" residents of Embiscule knows of the Blue Amulet. 

• A stablehand sells horses for 300 gold pieces. I'm shy.

• There's another duck ("Quack!") in a pond.

       

I'm a simple man. If there's a duck, I upvote.

      

• A thief says that there's a special item that allows people to communicate with "friendly monsters."

• A blacksmith sells charmed longswords, charmed crossbows, eramel longswords, and a "holy mace." These are the first magic items I've found for sale. I have enough for the eramel longsword. 

• The armorer similarly sells magic items like "Quickplate." I made a note to return.

• In the tavern, a "professional ale critic" named Lunny tells me to watch out for a drunk named Runce and to especially not call him "orc face." After speaking to Lunny, I bump into Runce, and the game gives me a text box. I naturally type ORC FACE. The game relates that a fistfight follows, and when it's over, Runce is on the floor, and I've learned the "Fistfighting" skill. 

     

I meant it as a compliment?

      

• A beggar asks me to help recover his stolen items from a thief named Gly. "I believe he is currently on a remote island, but I have no means of transport there." That makes two of us. 

• At the inn, I'm able to lockpick all the locked doors. A thief staying in one of the rooms says that people in Hollow are experimenting with flight.

   

The eramel longsword turned out to be a major turning point in combat. It does almost 100 hit points of damage compared to the regular broadsword, which only does about 35. As I continue on, I try combining the eramel longsword with a variety of weapons and shields. It does so well on its own that a second weapon is no longer strictly necessary.

 

I don't know what eramel is, but I like its effects.

 

   

In Stockshire, I learn an important lesson: Not all shops will buy all items the kind the shop sells. The weaponsmith and armorer here have no interest in common weapons like maces and shortswords or common armor like cloth and leather. That has implications for how quickly I allow my backpack to fill up.

           

Littering in Lysandia.

      

I end up leaving a lot of items on the road. I don't know if the game eventually forgets about them, but right now all the paths I've taken are strewn with equipment I left behind.

   

Roaldia (Town; far west of Stockshire)

   

• The healer has a locked door with four men behind it. After I pick the lock, I discover that the men are all lepers.

     

Well, that's terrifying.

       

• A cleric in the woods suggests that I seek Jad Merlings, an expert musician. He recently was in the town but then went off to Bebbel.

• A shop sells more magic spells, a magic wand, and a fire wand. Too rich for my blood right now.

    

750 gold for a MF spell!?

      

• There's a bookbindery.

• Mitchel the Traveller: A thief in Bebbel has some important information, but I'll need to pay him first.

• A guy in a locked hut: I can learn how to swim in Farborough.

• A mage in another locked hut: A scholar in Randaway named Shoban Rundledrum is experimenting with weather control spells.

     

If the game had weather effects, that would be groundbreaking.

      

In Roaldia, I stop bothering to search barrels for items. I don't think I've found a single item in a barrel.

 

Roaldia ends up being the terminus of the western road, and to continue my exploration pattern, I have to essentially return to Castle Excelsior. By the time I get back, my backpack is bursting with equipment (my primary armor has been upgraded to chain mail, and I've found an eramel dagger for my off-hand), and I'm more than ready to level up. From all the items I sell in Oooblyae, I have nearly 1,000 gold pieces.

   

At level 5, my "Anti-Pain" spell is now healing 21 damage. New enemies include zombies, archers, pickpockets, and buccaneers. 

      

Upcoming towns.

      

Bebbel (south of Excelsior) 

    

• The thief mentioned by Mitchel wants 10 keys. I have plenty; if I didn't, there's a locksmith in town. He tells me that the Green Amulet is hidden in the Forgotten Pits.

• A wizard: There's a small piece of uncharted land far to the northeast of the continent.

• A man hanging out behind the locksmith offers me a game of Three Crowns Up, which is like solitaire but played out in text rather than with actual cards. I can bet up to 50 gold. I win a couple of games, lose a couple, and move on.

     

The goal is to get to 7. You can place number on number or suit on suit.

       

• A bard: Jad Merlings was in town, but he's moved on to Oooblyae. 

• A warrior tells me of an excellent training facility for fencing in Castle Excelsior. 

• A sorcerer: If I ever need a book repaired, Yohan in Roaldia is the man. 

• A weaponsmith sells the most powerful magic weapons in the game so far, including a "Retribution Sword," a "Ginsu Sword," and a "Black Blade." I'm not close to being able to afford them.

      

The best blades in the game so far.

      

In most of the Ultima games and most clones, the game doesn't really keep track of who you talk with. If one NPC sends you to another, he gives you a keyword to feed that NPC, but if you get that keyword from a spoiler site, the game has no way to know it. Excelsior is a bit different. When I spoke to the thief in Bebbel, he knew I had already spoken to Mitchell. I met the drunk in Stockshire before talking to Lunny; it wasn't until I bumped into him after the conversation that I had the option to call him "orc face." This system is a bit more sophisticated and convenient than the standard Ultima clone.

   

Wyckmire (Town; west of Bebbel) 

       

All towns in this game have helpful signposts.

       

• A scholar: A wise man in Randaway is adept at breaking numerical codes. He charges a lot of money.

• Another livery sells horses. This time, I have enough money, and I buy one. It appears under me immediately.

• A bard: Phuug won an item from an inventor during a game in Pibsly. I don't remember meeting anyone who played games there.

• A wizard named Desnino: Teaches me the "Scribe" skill for 25 gold. The game shows me a gibberish script and has it slowly become legible. That was a cool mechanic, but the skill is misnamed. It ought to simply be "Literacy." The text concerns the origins of North Blagsell and South Blagsell, which are in the opposite positions that their names suggest, due to a prankster who flipped a city planner's map upside-down. It reminds me of an old observation of how East Boston is actually northeast of the North End of Boston, which is east of the West End.

      

This is kind of cool.

      

• A guy named Byron says he can't sell me anything because ever since the king passed his new tax law, "every item I sell results in a loss!"

• There's a potion shop. I have no idea what different colored potions do. 

       

The horse makes a huge difference. Moving at twice the speed, I can now outrun enemies if I choose to do so. 

    

Approaching the next stop.

     

Castle Infinitum (Castle; far west-northwest of Wyckmire)

   

• A meteorologist named Hornance tells me of a drought sweeping the land. Maine is currently in a pretty bad drought, by the way.

• There's an Orb of Intelligence, but I won't be able to use it until I find the associated amulet.

• I find Joreth, the aforementioned cartographer. I ask him about the FORGOTTEN PITS. He says they're in the mountains on Hugh's Point. I ask about HUGH'S POINT; it's a peninsula south-southwest of Schoenoff's Forest. SHOENOFF's FOREST: A spot east of Sterling's Cliffs. STERLING'S CLIFFS: They "line the northwestern edge of the continent." This is exactly why games need to come with maps.

         

I feel like we're going to be here for a while.

   

• On the throne is Sir Amanthor, who has nothing to say to me except that he's the "ruler of Lysandia north," but I feel like I'm more to the west than the "north," and Excelsior is in fact farther north of me.

• A man named Heltimer the Obscure.

     

I've never heard of you.

      

• I deposit some money in the Bank of Lysandia and confirm that it periodically earns interest. 

   

To move on, I have to retrace my steps to Wyckmire and head south.  

     

Keep Flare (Dungeon; south of Wyckmire) 

    

This is my first exposure to the game's dungeons. I was wondering if it would switch to first-person view in dungeons, as per the Ultima tradition, but it does not. Here, each dungeon level is a large maze in which following the right wall doesn't work, as there are a lot of "islands," and many of the stairs up and down are in the middle of these.

      

My first dungeon.

      

My "Dark Eyes" skill allows some limited visibility, which increases when I turn on one of my lanterns. Enemies attack regularly. I find something called a "Handless Shield," which I don't seem to be able to equip. I otherwise don't spend long in the dungeon, not having any particular reason to be here and  not wanting to get lost.

    

Hollow (Town; west of Keep Flare) 

    

• Scholar: If I can't read complex texts, I should seek out a teacher in Wyckmire.

• Partners Dmitri Hiplopovich and Ziegfriend Glutenvaug make balloons. They've been working on one big enough to carry small objects or animals and will sell it for 5,000 gold. I don't have nearly enough and don't have a reason to buy it anyway.

        

The character wanders into a Saturday Night Live skit.

      

Castle Griswald (Castle; west of Hollow) 

    

• The Orb of Dexterity is here, but again I can't use it.

• Sir Rodagarn, ruler of Lysandia South, sits on his throne.

   

Griswald is pretty pathetic. All the NPCs have generic dialogue, and there is nothing to find in any of the rooms, even though many are locked.  

     

It feels like there should be something here.

      

I've been keeping count of my movement—you know how obsessed I can get with game sizes—and at this point, I've explored about 300 squares east to west and about 350 north to south. I haven't hit all the coasts yet, but those I have hit show expanses of water and islands, so I imagine that at some point, I'll get access to a boat. I would be surprised if the overall game map were much smaller than 500 x 500. That would make it about four times as large as Ultima IV and Ultima V and over 60 times as large as Ultima III. It certainly feels like there's more distance between places as I travel the roads. That is far too many tiles to map but also too many to keep the shape of the world in my head.

   

Along those lines, I registered the game at the 11th Dimension Entertainment web site, the authors' current label. A few days later, I received a game manual and an 80-page hint book with maps. I don't intend to use the hintbook, but I don't mind using the map of Lysandia. I've also corresponded with author Matthew Engle, who had to remind me that we had already corresponded back in 2020, and that he even sent me the manual and hint book, along with a packaged version of the game, back then. 

      

The map of Lysandia with my travels this session indicated.

       

The map indicates that I've explored a good portion of the continent and suggests that my 500 x 500 estimation is probably roughly accurate. I'll keep working my way around the road network, dealing with my current clues, and then tackle the dungeons.

       

Time so far: 7 hours