Excelsior: Onward and Downward

 

Dungeons are teeming with enemies, items, doors, and clues.

     

We return to Chester the sexless golem paladin, circling the roads of the land Excelsior, picking up various hints and clues. The Council of World Watchers have sent me here to deal with some unspecified evil, but so far the only major quest step I've uncovered is to find the three amulets that will allow me to increase my attributes when leveling up. There are supposedly clues to the red and blue amulets in North Blagsell and Embiscule, and the green amulet is apparently in the Forgotten Pits.

   

I want to visit each town once before committing myself to dungeons, so I press on.

   

Owenfield 

 

• An astrologer reads my fate and says that I'll need four items of fantastic power to fulfill my destiny, and that one man will show me the way when I'm ready for it.

• A graveyard has a bunch of stones but apparently no inscriptions.

• A ranger: When hunting in the Rumbling Range, he encountered a unique baobab tree.

     

Deep into my thirties, I thought that "baobabs" were fictional trees.

       

• The weaponsmith has some unique items, including a Wind Staff and Poseidon's Trident.

• The armory has eramel plate and an eramel shield. I can afford the latter and buy it.

• A guy offers another game of Three Crowns Up. 

• A warrior says that he's served Lord Valkery (of Castle Excelsior) for years, but something is different about him lately. 

     

Owenfield is with Castle Griswald on a southwestern peninsula. I have to retreat across the peninsula, back to an intersection near the city of Hollow, and then take a long road to the southernmost part of the continent.

   

Borinthia 

   

• A mage staying at the inn: A magic fire is the gateway to the netherworld. He does not know where it is.

• A warrior: There are rumors that the king's son, Prince Williamson, has been imprisoned in the royal keep.

• Janell: The only remedy to being land-locked is "not on the land itself."

• Nelver: Used to work for King Valkery but was fired over differences in views, replaced by Peffley. 

• L'lella: A woman volunteering at the clinic asks if I'll stay and help care for wounded people. I say yes, stick around for a while, and learn the "Bandage" skill, which causes my wounds to heal automatically, though slowly enough that I still need "Alleviate Pain" after most battles.

    

After Borinthia, I head back north, up the east coast of the continent. I cross two islands to the next location.

    

The Port City of Farborough 

    

• The weaponsmith has something called a Devil's Pitchfork. I can afford it but don't buy it.

• There are places in the city only reachable by boat. Clearly, I'll have to return with one.

       

Ah, Venice.

     

• Pirate: There's a large sandbar east of here. It keeps the town safe from rough seas. 

• A shipwright offers ships for 5,000 gold.

     

It's going to be a while.

      

Embiscule 

   

• A beggar asks for 2 gold. I give it to him. He says that a baobab tree marks the location of an object of great significance. The sorcerer Cirine in Burroughs can tell me more. 

     

I have no idea why this is the last screenshot for a while. I must have just forgotten that I had to take them.

     

• Pirate: He's heard of a magic lantern that can burn forever, but he doesn't know where it is. 

• Assassin: A man in Heize murdered a man in cold blood and can teach his methods.

• Hollow: A range can tell me about "Dark Eyes" (I already have it).

• The weaponsmith has a Thunder Axe and a Speedblade, both too expensive.

 

Widdlenix

   

• The weaponsmith sells an Axe of Doom. Still too much.

• Archer: Fefin in Pibsly will teach me "Marksmanship." 

• Militiaman: There are treasures across the oceans. Janell in Borinthia can help me get there.

• A magic shop. I'd love to buy more spells, but I can't seem to make any serious money.

• Woodsman: Schoenoff's Forest is to the northwest. There's a woodsman named Hote there who may provide assistance. 

    

I'm almost back to Castle Excelsior, but another road branches east and south. 

    

North Blagsell 

    

• Townsman: There's a literate person in Wyckmire who teaches people to read and write. 

• Cleric: A substance called Liquid Light can be found in the Forgotten Pits.  

• Boore: I should find Gerald of the South, kin to one of the greatest knights in the land.

    

I was supposed to get a clue to the red amulet here, but I circled the place several times and didn't find anything. I move on to South Blagsell, which as per last session, is actually north of North Blagsell. 

 

I lose my horse somewhere between North and South Blagsell. I don't know what happened to it. I must have accidentally jumped off and failed to notice.

 

I also find a yellow potion after one battle and a red after another. The yellow heals 10 hit points; the red increases strength (temporarily).

 

There's a keep called Ironthread on the road between North and South Blagsell, but the door is locked.  

      

South Blagsell 

      

• A warrior named Gerald: Excited about his brother having studied under a master warrior in Embiscule.

• Archer: You can sharpen your skills with a bow by seeking out the master archer in Pibsly.

• Archer: A man in Castle Infinitum is an expert in "Survival." 

• Ranger: Boore in North Blagsell knows about the red amulet.

• The healer is inexplicably sequestered behind half a dozen locked doors. 

     

Build a side door?

     

Once you get some dialogue in this game, the same dialogue never comes back even if you speak to the same NPCs. I miss something in the Boore/Gerald thread, so I end up saving the game and creating a new character just for the purposes of re-experiencing those lines of dialogue. I make him a male giant, pump him full of strength, and give him the "Bandage" and "Fist Fighting" skills. This is just enough to keep me alive long enough to visit the two Blagsells and record the lines.

      

"Blah" the giant collects some intelligence.

     

The combination of these leads suggests that the next clue on the path of the red amulet is to be found in Embiscule.

   

I finally finish my road loop back at Castle Excelsior, though I can tell from the map that Matthew Engle provided that I've missed Burroughs, on a lake in the middle of the southern part of the continent, and several cities accessible only by ship.

     

These travels are accompanied by many battles, but they've gotten rather easy.

       

At Excelsior, I level up a couple of times, check my task list, and decide to try to find the green amulet in the Forgotten Pits, on Hugh's Point, south-southwest of Schoenoff's Forest. Before leaving the Excelsior area, and on the way to the forest, I do a few errands:

   

• In Oooblyae, I ask around until a bard tells me that Jad Merlings was recently in the city but has left for South Blagsell. I've been on the trail of Merlings, who can supposedly teach me how to play the lute I've been carrying since Level 1, for several cities now. I don't even know what playing the lute allows me to do, although this is partly answered in the next bullet point.

• In Woodside, I open a door I didn't have a key to open last time I visited. There's a guy who sells lutes and "Slumber Lutes." I note it for later. 

       

All lutes are Slumber Lutes.

        

• I waste a bunch of time in Castle Excelsior opening doors I didn't have keys to open before. I find nothing in any of the rooms, just generic NPCs.

• Wyverns, golems, gargoyles, and sorcerers are among the new enemies I encounter at my higher level. I find a Retribution Sword on the body of a wyvern. It does double the damage of my eramel longsword.

• In Pibsly, a master archer named Fefen teaches me "Marksmanship" for 100 gold. 

    

I haven't shot a bow in this game yet, but I still like acquiring all the skills.

    

• In Stockshire, a guy behind a locked door says that his travels have taken him to a magic flame on a small island near the edge of the world. I also buy a new horse here. 

• In Roaldia, I buy "Instant Elevation" (IE) and "Instant Descent" (ID) spells to facilitate dungeon exploration.

• Schoenoff's Forest is a maze with a hut in the middle. It takes me forever to find my way to it because I've temporarily forgotten that the game allows diagonal movement. The occupant, Hote, at first just tells me to state my business or leave. Since I don't know exactly what I want from him, I just leave.

 

I find the Forgotten Pit right where the cartographer said it would be. My first thought is to use "Instant Descent" to rocket to the bottom of the dungeon and begin hunting for the red amulet. I soon discover that the two spells only work after you've arrived at the levels organically. This turns out to be a good thing.

     

Arriving at the Forgotten Pit.

     

The dungeon levels are large, about 48 x 48, and I nearly have to map. There are plenty of enemies, but also plenty of time to rest and heal between enemies. My backpack soon fills up with valuable items. I leave so much expensive loot on the floor that it starts to physically hurt. There are locked doors to open, treasure to find, and signs to read.

   

On Level 2, a sign tells me: "There is exactly one secret door on this level." I find it in the southeast corner, allowing entry to a long hallway that runs up the entire east side of the dungeon. At the end of the hallway is the green amulet and magic lantern. I didn't expect to find them so soon.

      

Nice of the developers to put them together.

         

As soon as I pick up the magic lantern, the fog of war disappears, and the entire 26 x 18 exploration window fills up with dungeon squares. Being able to see a quarter of the dungeon at one time obviates mapping.

      

Two little, too late.

       

I'm surprised to find a ladder down. Level 3 has a more "cavernous" feel. There are a number of signs that read:

 

• It can't exist in a one-dimensional world.
• It is one-dimensional in a two-dimensional world. 
• It is three-dimensional in a four-dimensional world.

   

There's a final "chattering" signpost that I find I have to talk to instead of reading. It asks me: "What is it that my mute friends are speaking of?" I don't know the answer. While I'm pondering it, I start to question what a "four-dimensional world" would look like and Google it. Google's AI result says right in the description that the "shadow" of a 4D would be 3D. Having thus spoiled it for myself, I try SHADOW, which opens the way to the fourth level.

   

Level 3 also has a little residence belonging to a priest; he asks me to leave him alone, as he "Must spend time deep in prayer [to] produce holy water." I can't figure out anything to do here. The fourth and bottom level has a maze in the top half and a series of rooms in the bottom half that suggest a destroyed castle. 

        

This could be Magincia.

      

Locked doors cut off the southeastern area. I open them and slay a white dragon. There are rivers of lava running through here, but I can't figure anything else to do. I suspect I'll have to return later. 

     

On the bottom level of the Forgotten Pit.

    

Four castings of "Instant Elevation" get me back to the surface. The items I looted sell for so much money that I could certainly buy a ship if I took another dive to get a second batch of loot. Overall, the dungeon was a bit livelier than I expected, closer to Ultima V than Ultima IV and earlier.

  

Instead, I decide to head south to the town that I missed. On the way, I stop at Embiscule and learn from someone named Christoph that Gerald is a liar: far from a great knight, Gerald's brother died a beggar in Owensfield—and was buried with his red amulet.

     

Wait. "One of?"

      

After that, I cross a couple of bridges to the island that hosts:

 

Burroughs 

       

• A thief: Somewhere there is a small hut filled with thieves who can teach "Lockpicking." This must be the least useful skill in the game, since you find so many picks that even someone with no skill (like me) has a surplus of hundreds.

• Cirine the Sorcerer: Once had the blue amulet, lost it under a baobab tree. Hute the Woodsman can assist in its retrieval.

• The weaponsmith sells Death Swords and Holy Blades. 

   

I'm close to Owenfield at this point, so I head southwest to the city and use my shovel on graves until I find a body with the red amulet. 

      

Not the Avatar.

      

Hoping to make it a trifecta before I post this entry at midnight, I race back to Schoenoff's Forest. This time, Hule hears the story of the baobab tree and makes me a Forestry Axe.

   

The ranger in Owenfield said the tree was in the Rumbling Range, which is depicted on the map in the northwest corner of the continent, not far from Schoenoff's Forest. It's a large range and it takes a long time, studying one screen of mountains after another, to find a tree in their midst. When I see it, I use the axe and claim the blue amulet.

      

Definitely not the Avatar.

     

Hule asked me to return the axe, which I do. He says that he's part of an organized group called the Resistance, which is dedicated to the overthrow of King Valkery. He tells me that their headquarters is in the dungeon Intungo, where the password is VICTORY.  

      

That escalated fast.

      

Some miscellaneous notes:

   

• As commenter Scott pointed out, the "Zagha's Banquet" spell trivializes the food system. I've been casting it whenever I think about it.

• The game has a curious mechanic discussed briefly here. Sometimes, slain enemies leave two items behind, and the game pictures them side-by-side. When the player goes to G)et the item in that square, the game asks which one they want. The player has to hit the left arrow or right arrow to pick up the appropriate item.

     

Pile of Gold or Crossbow? would be a great game show.

      

• In my descriptions of the towns, I have been eliding the many generic NPCs with standard lines. There are many of them.  

• Character death comes with a little narrative in which the character finds himself standing before the Great Council, chided for his failure, and passed over for promotion.

      

I love how the game has a backstory that would allow for easy resurrection after death, but instead death is permanent failure.

            

I wrap up this session by visiting the three castles again and touching the various glowing balls, increasing my strength, dexterity, and intelligence. 

      

Re-visiting Castle Griswald.

      

These attribute increases make battles, which had already become fairly easy, even easier. I'm enjoying the exploration and treasure-hunting nature of the quests, but I'm worried that the game is going to become unchallenging as an RPG. We should know by the end of the next session.

   

At Griswald, I speak to the cartographer and learn that "Intungo is in the mountains north of Heize." I haven't found Heize yet, but the map shows it on an island to the west of the continent. As it happens, I've sold enough gear to be able to afford a ship, so my next steps seem obvious. 

     

Time so far: 12 hours 

    

**** 

    

If you're still raw about my recent abandonment of Sandor II, check out the extensive notes file offered by commenter Buck, who got much further than I did but still got stuck. 

 

 

Game 562: Fates of Twinion (1993)

 

If the game doesn't offer more than one fate, I'm going to be pretty angry.

        

Fates of Twinion

United States

Ybarra Productions (developer); Sierra Online (publisher) 

Independently developed and published

Released 1993 for DOS

Date Started: 2 November 2025  

       

Fates of Twinion is the sequel to The Shadow of Yserbius (1992), an online multi-player dungeon crawler that ran on the Sierra Network. Sierra re-named it the ImagiNation Network during the year of Twinion's release. (I covered the history of the games and the network in my first Yserbius entry.) I spent five entries on Yserbius before concluding that while offline play was technically possible, it wasn't very feasible. Getting ahead involved a lot of dying and grinding, and I concluded that Sierra likely "intended it not for authentic offline play but to whet the player's appetite for an online account." My primary rationale for that statement is that if the developers had offered a true offline version, they would have let the player create and control a party.

  

If anything has changed mechanically with Twinion, it's not apparent in the opening hours. One thing that's changed narratively is that there's no opening cinematic. The manual fills in the backstory: After the champions of Yserbius ousted the evil time elemental En-Li-Kil, the inhabitants of Twinion were still stuck on the island. After some time passed, a sorceress named Aeowyn appeared "in a flash of magic." Representing herself as the daughter of King Cleowyn (killed by En-Li-Kil), she assumed the throne and built a new palace within Yserbius.

       

Exploring the dungeon of Yserbius.

      

Through exploration and research, Queen Aeowyn has learned that En-Li-Kil was just a servant of the Dralkarians, a group of five beings who guard the Portal of Time. Yserbius turned out to be the top of a vast underground labyrinth leading to "the gateway which opened a multiverse of dimensions." Night Elves, a race of beings dwelling in these depths, have warned that no one can face the power of the Dralkarians, but Aeowyn is determined to find out. She has created a method for testing adventurers to find one (or, online, a group) who can seize the Portal of Time.

       

Character creation has not changed from Yserbius. The player can browse a gallery of Level 0 characters or create his own. Creation begins with a name and epithet and a selection of race from among 8 options: human, orc, elf, troll, dwarf, gnome, halfling, and gremlin.  

       

Character creation, Part 1.

      

After selecting sex, the player chooses the character's "guild" (class) from six options: barbarian, knight, ranger, thief, cleric, and wizard. Finally, he selects whether he follows the laws of harmony or chaos. Based on his choices, he gets values in the game's four attributes: strength, defense, agility, and initiative. He can allocate four additional points. 

    

The player then customizes the character's visual appearance, with different options for face, head cover (hat and/or hair), clothing, nose, eye color, and facial hair. You can create some weird combinations, and nothing stops you from creating a character who looks nothing like your chosen race.

      

Messing around.

      

The last step is to choose starting skills and spells, but my chosen character—an orc ranger—gets neither at Level 0.

    

You exit the guild to the main Twinion screen, which has the same options as Yserbius, but it looks different. You don't see the top of the mountain, so I don't know if lava is still spewing from it. The guild is now built into the mountain. The main entrance, just a hole before, now has Queen Aeowyn's palace jutting out. The alternate entrance (which takes you to your save point) has a skull design around it. The inn has been expanded and rotated, and offline players still can't do anything there.

      

The main menu. They got that palace built in record time.

       

Re-entering the guild from this screen lets you access the shops. My 30 starting gold doesn't go very far. I'm able to buy a short sword and cloth jacket. I soon find that I already came with those things, plus a leather helm, buckler, health potion, and mana potion besides, so that was a waste of money.

      

The shop. The morningstar is 50 times as expensive as the mace. Those are some expensive spikes.

    

The palace entrance goes directly to the entrance hall, a roughly 10 x 9 room with four doors heading in various directions. There are a couple of corridors with pointless one-way walls, perhaps just to get the player accustomed to the mechanic.

          

Upon entering the palace.

      

A message on a central wall reads:

              

Welcome, brave Champions. To the west lies the Gauntlet Gauche: One of two maps that interweave a simple quest. Eastward lies the Gauntlet Droit. There you will find challenges and helpful friends to start you on your way. These two maps comprise the Gauntlet . . . A simple quest that you'd be wise to undertake before all else.

    

Northward is the entrance to the Queen's Proving Grounds. You begin there in Her Majesty's Aqueduct. That will start your ascent to greater challenges. Fare well wherever you fare. 

           

The four doors exiting this area all have their own signs:

    

• "Only more experienced heroes may venture beyond this gateway; and even then, you must enter alone."

• "Here lies Gauntlet Droit."

• "The door is marked: 'To Gauntlet Gauche.'" 

• "To the first level of Her Majesty's proving grounds . . . The Queen's Aqueduct."

             

I now recognize that as a teleportation door rather than a regular door.

    

The interface hasn't changed. You use the numberpad to move and strafe and the mouse to access inventory, the character sheet, spells, and the combat menu. There aren't many keyboard backups; anything you type on the regular keyboard assumes you're sending a message to other players. For some reason, the portrait showing above my character is different from the one I chose.

      

What the hell?

      

I enter the Gauntlet Droit first, where a message soon reads: "The gauntlet has been thrown down in the Coil Maze. Now you must return it to its birth place, to solve this quest and complete this most simple phase." My first battle is with a single brown bat. I win with a little damage and get 10 gold pieces and 6 experience points. My second battle is with a brigand. I have to retreat to town after my third, with a "mystic mage."

      

My first battle.

      

Fortunately, those few battles alone are enough to get me to Level 2. I still have no spells, but "Archery" appears as one of my skills, so I trade my short sword for a short bow and restock my heal potion. When I re-enter, I already notice the difference in weapon damage.

   

Enemies in the area include the aforementioned, plus black panthers, duelists, Wizards of Gnog, and berserkers. Like Yserbius, the game has certain squares that always spawn a foe. Unlike Yserbius, I don't find huge stacks of enemies clearly meant for bigger parties. The gameplay seems far more balanced towards a single character, which means I make a lot more progress in the initial stages.

     

These guys gave me some trouble.

     

Even though the game has an automap, I end up drawing my own. I find it easier to keep track of things and to annotate places that I can't pass for the time being, usually because of a locked door. I have to stop every few moves to write the text of a message. For a while, I think that wall messages have replaced the NPCs who popped up frequently in Yserbius, but I start to find a lot more NPCs in the Gauntlet Gauche later on.

    

Encounters in the Gauntlet Droit:

   

• A door with the message: "This way to the Great Egress." It leads to a winding hall where I get attacked by 2 novice thieves and 3 young thieves. I can't defeat them, so I mark the square for later.

• "Berserkers fighting over a spherical crystal draw you into the fray!" When I kill them, I have a crystal ball. I guess it has something to do with finding traps or secret doors, but it doesn't do anything for me the first few times I use it.

      

She doesn't look much like a berserker.

     

• A couple of one-way walls. 

• Several locked doors. I have no keys, no picks, no spells, and no skills.

   

Having run out of options in the Gauntlet Droit, I next go stubbornly to the Queen's Aqueduct. I don't get very far. Water, pillars, and locked doors block all progress. "Seek the protector of this aqueduct in the west," a message offers. "His magic blocks your forward path." Enemies in this area include green slimes, scourges, and hanging slimes. They all use the same monster image.

     

My brief time in the aqueduct.

     

Most of my exploration this session takes place in the Gauntlet Gauche to the west of the main entrance. As I enter, I get this message on a wall:

   

HAIL! This is Gauntlet Gauche. Swirling waters and magical pits will be your guides to the gauntlet sought in Gauntlet Droit. A magical Gauntlet has been thrown down in the Coil Maze. This path will offer you a second ingress to that phase.

  

In this area, which appears to be a full 16 x 16, I find:

   

• An area infested with vampire bats. There are several battles, and several squares have noxious pools of guano that damage my health. The bats' treasure room includes a green lockpick.

     

I wouldn't expect bats to have treasure rooms, but go figure.

       

• A room with six pits. A message suggests that they are all teleporters to other parts of the same level. I test them and confirm.

         

THUD. "Sucker."

      

• There are also teleportation doors scattered about the level. 

• Two locked doors. Nearby, messages tell me that lockpicks won't work and that I must "learn to use what is at hand in a more creative fashion."

• A fountain that restores mana.

     

If only I had cast some spells.

     

• A couple of doors that only a "masterful thief" can open.

• A woman—the first NPC so far—who tells a story revealing the importance of a life jacket when crossing water.

     

It becomes clear that to fully explore the Gauntlet Gauche, I'm going to have to find the right sequence of teleporters. But battles become a lot harder here, approaching the difficulty of the early-game battles in Yserbius. I start to find stacks of thieves, knights, barbarians, and duelists. I'm going to need to grind a bit more before I can defeat them.

      

My explorations so far.

     

Fortunately, dying in the Yserbius series simply means re-appearing at the guild at maximum health, with no loss of items, gold, or experience. So there's no particular reason to backtrack when my health gets low; I just keep exploring until I die.

      

A common message upon returning to the guild.

        

During this session, almost all my returns to the guild are accompanied by new levels. Soon I'm at Level 7. When you level up, the game has you assign an attribute point to one of your primary attributes, plus skill and spell points. I gain the "Archery" and "Read Tracks" skills and the "Cure" (poisons and such, not hit points) and "Storm Wind" spells.

     

My first spells.

      

When I level up, I typically have enough gold for an equipment upgrade. I replace my short bow with a long bow, my cloth jacket with a leather jacket and then chainmail, and my leather cap with "head chainmail." I keep stocked with healing potions.

   

As I finished my second Yserbius entry, I said:

      

I'm inclined to continue with this single-character experience for at least a little while longer. It's a competent enough dungeon crawler, not terribly far from Wizardry or The Bard's Tale in quality, except for the baffling decision not to allow the single player to create a full party.

       

This is my identical impression after the first few hours of Twinion. It's a tad easier, but other than that, it feels like an empty, unfinished, single-player Wizardry. There's some fun to be had in character development (both intrinsic and equipment-based) and mapping, but aren't there dozens of other games that offer this experience? Would it have made any sense for a player to have bought Twinion in 1993 expecting to play it as a single-player game? If not, it probably would not make a lot of sense for me to continue with it as such.

   

Time so far: 3 hours 

 

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 "Alleviate 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 "Alleviate 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