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Q U E S T O F T H E A V A T A R
A Guide for Beginners
Version 1.0
_______________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
I. Introduction
II. Before you start
III. Quick Reference
IV. How to Play This Game
1. Choosing a Class
2. Moongates
3. Lord British
4. Food
5. Weapons & Armor
6. Magic
A. Reagents
B. Mixing
C. Casting
D. Spells
7. Talking
8. Virtue
9. Combat and Level-Building
10.Recruiting Other Characters
11. Sea Travel
12. Death
13. Dungeons
V. Hints & Tips
VI. Thanks
I. Introduction
Ultima IV is one of the greatest achievements in role playing history. No
exaggeration. Even today, it's pretty damn innovative and unique. Instead of
being on a quest to kill some big evil badass, your quest is to master virtues
and discover knowledge--and they managed to make this FUN, for God's sake!
Not only that, but it's available for FREE download! That's right, you can
download this game 100% legally and play it on your PC. You'll need some other
programs to make it run on today's fast PCs, though. I recommend moslo or xu4.
Unfortunately, this game is not very accessible for gamers today. RPGs today
pretty much hold your hand and lead you from start to finish. You always know
where you're supposed to go and what you're supposed to do. Not so with these
old RPGs. They drop you in the middle of nowhere, and you figure out what to do
on your own. I know I got very frustrated when I first started this game. Once
I got the hang of things it was really fun, but the learning curve is very
steep. Most of the FAQs out there weren't very helpful when I first started.
They told me the location of things that were needed to beat the game, but not
the basics of getting your bearings and getting used to the kind of gameplay
Ultima IV and RPGs of its kind can give you.
So, I decided to make a FAQ for Ultima "n00bs." Hopefully, this guide will
help some peopls figure the game out and start having before the
frustration makes them want to give up.
Also, I'll try to keep this guide free of spoilers and solutions to quests that
you can figure out on your own by playing the game. I want to keep as much of
the fun in this game as possible.
If you have any extra tips I could include, or information you think I should
have put in, please email me at
[email protected]. If you see any
mistakes or inaccuracies PLEASE email me!
I hope this FAQ is helpful to people, and I hope it kindles some peoples'
interest in the Ultima series as much as it kindled mine!
If you want to copy and repost this FAQ, please feel free. Just keep the format
the same, and don't delete anything!
This FAQ was made in Windows Notepad, with 79 characters per line.
_______________________________________________________________________________
II. Before You Start
-Read through the History of Britannia and The Book of Mystic Wisdom. They have
a lot of information that will help you figure out the game world and what to
do in it.
-The map that's included is pretty useful, because it includes the locations of
moongates. But everything's written in runic script. You might want to print
the map, then write the names of things in ABCs above. It's also a good idea to
print out a copy of the runic script, which is useful not only for the map, but
also for the visions you receive when you meditate at the shrines. Here is a
link to a copy of the runic script, courtesy of Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Britannian_runes.png
-Don't read Hints.doc before you play! It doesn't give you any "hints." It just
tells you, flat out, where things are and how to get them. All the information
is things that you can find by exploring the game, so I recommend you try to
get through the game without looking at it. A lot of the fun in this game is
talking to people, getting clues, and finding stuff on your own. But if you
really get stuck, you can use this so that you won't just be wandering around
frustrated.
-Keyboard.doc lists all the keys and what they do in the game. Print this up
for quick reference.
-Taking notes is essential if you want to get through this game without a
walkthrough. There's just too much information. Things you might want to write
in your notebook:
*Mantras
*Clues (for example, whenever someone tells you something that sounds useful,
or says "Ask _____ about _____," write it down!)
*Shop locations and prices. This is especially useful for reagents.
*Locations of places in latitude and longitude (you will find a special item
that tells you this)
_______________________________________________________________________________
III. Quick Reference
The following is some stuff you'll want to keep handy for quick reference. I
left blank spaces where you can write it in yourself for things that are not
listed in the documentation, so you can write them in after you discover them
in-game. You should also print up keyboard.doc which is included with Ultima
IV. I recommend you copy and paste the following information into a program
like Word, format and print it the way you like, and keep it by your computer
when you play.
MAGIC SPELLS
SA = Sulfurous Ash, GN = Ginseng, GR = Garlic, SS = Spider Silk,
BM = Blood Moss, BP = Black Pearl, NS = Nightshade, MR = Mandrake Root
Awaken: GN, GR
Blink: SS, BM
Cure: GN, GR
Dispel: BP, SA, GR
Energy Field: SA, SS
Fireball: BP, SA
Gate Travel: ___________________________________________
Heal: GN, SS
Iceball: BP, MR
Jinx: BP, NS, MR
Kill: BP, NS
Light: SA
Magic Missile: SA, BP
Negate: GR, MR, SA
Open: SA, BM
Protection: SA, GN, GR
Quickness: SA, GN, BM
Resurrect: _________________________________________
Sleep: SS, GN
Tremor: SA, BM, MR
Undead: __________, __________
View: NS, MR
Wind Change: SA, BM
Xit (exit): SA, BM, SS
Y (up): BM, SS
Z (down): BM, SS
Towns and their corresponding moon positions:
Moonglow: New (black)
Britain: Crescent waxing (waxing = white part on left side)
Jhelom: Half moon waxing
Yew: 3/4 moon waxing
Minoc: Full moon
Trinsic: 3/4 moon waning (waning = white part on left side)
Skara Brae: Half moon waning
Magincia: Crescent waning
Weapons:
A = Hands
B = Staff
C = Dagger
D = Sling
E = Mace
F = Axe
G = Sword
H = Bow
I = Crossbow
J = Flaming Oil
K = Halberd
L =
M =
N =
O =
P =
Armor:
A = Skin
B = Cloth
C = Leather
D = Plate
E =
F =
G =
H =
_______________________________________________________________________________
IV. How to Play This Game
This is how you do it, n00b!
1.Choosing a Class
In this (and later) Ultima games, you choose your class with a number of
ethical questions. You choose which virtue you would act on, and whichever
virtue you favor the most determines your class. Each virtue corresponds with
one class, which has various ups and downs:
Compassion = Bard (OK fighter, high dexterity, a little magic)
Honesty = Mage (poor fighter, low dexterity, great magic)
Valor = Fighter (great fighter, OK dexterity, no magic)
Honor = Paladin (good fighter, low dexterity, decent magic)
Sacrifice = Tinker (good fighter, OK dexterity, a little magic)
Justice = Druid (poor fighter, OK dexterity, good magic)
Spirituality = Ranger (OK fighter, OK dexterity, OK magic)
Humility = Shepherd (poor fighter, low dexterity, no magic)
If it's your first time, probably the easiest class to start with is the Bard,
because they start right next to Britain. You might want to pass up the
shepherd because they're pretty weak. Fighters are also rough for beginners,
because you won't be able to cure yourself if you get poisoned. But don't spend
much time on this because in the long run it doesn't really matter which class
you choose. You'll be recruiting characters from the other classes as the game
progresses.
2. Moongates
One of the most important things when you start out is understanding the
moongates. There's a very good FAQ that helps you with this. Don't worry if it
takes you awhile to get the hang of it; trial and error is probably the only
way to really get the hang of things. Teleporting all over the place is part of
the learning curve.
3. Lord British
The first thing you should do is go to Lord British's castle next to Britain.
If you chose compassion as your virtue, you should already be there. Otherwise
use the moongates.
Talk to Lord British. He will tell you some basic information on what you need
to do, and descriptions of all the virtues. Also, if you have enough experience
for a level upgrade, he will promote you when you talk to him. You can also get
free healing! Say "health" and L.B. will ask if you are well. Answer "n" and he
will heal your wounds for free! This also cures poison and resurrects party
members. Not bad!
Another important person to talk to is the Seer Hawkwind on the first floor. He
will tell you how you are progressing with the virtues.
4. Food
Unless you've played a lot of older games, you're probably not used to having
to eat in RPGs. In the older Ultimas, starting out was basically a race to get
gold fast enough that you wouldn't starve to death! Fortunately, in Ultima IV
eating is much less intrusive. You start with enough to last you a long time,
and restocking is fairly cheap. Just don't forget about it, beacuse it really
sucks if your characters all suddenly start losing health because you weren't
paying attention and ran out of food. The number next to "F:" represents your
food supply. If it goes down to 0, you will lose health until you die.
5. Weapons & Armor
Armor isn't critical. If you have extra money, keep your character stocked
with high-level armor. But you'll want to keep your characters from getting
hit as much as possible anyway, so strong armor isn't critical.
Weapons, on the other hand, are very important. Get your characters the
strongest ranged weapons they can equip. You might want to keep a strong melee
weapon or two for your fighting characters as well.
6. Magic
Magic is very important. In Ultima IV, spellcasting is a somewhat complicated
process. So I've divided this section into 3 parts: reagents, mixing, casting,
and a list of spells.
A. Reagents
There are 8 reagents: Sulfurous Ash, Ginseng, Garlic, Spider Silk, Blood Moss,
Black Pearl, Nightshade, Mandrake Root. All except Nightshade and Mandrake Root
can be bought in shops. Prices vary from place to place, so make sure you shop
around for the best deal. With Nightshade and Madrake Root, people will tell
you how to find them if you ask around.
Buying reagents is done on an honor system. The salesperson will tell you the
amount, and you will be prompted on how much you want to buy. You may enter in
any amount you like. However, paying less than you are supposed to is
dishonest.
B. Mixing
By far the most important spell to have is Cure Poison. There is just no way
to avoid being poisoned in this game. Enemies will poison you, swamps will
poison you, even treasure chests will poison you. It seems like you can never
have enough cure spells. So let's start by making a cure spell!
Press M. (you will be prompted, "Which spell?")
Press C (you will then be presented with a menu of reagents)
Press B for Ginseng.
Press C for Garlic.
Press enter.
You just made a Cure spell! If you get poisoned, press C for "Cast" and then C
again for "Cure."
If you have xu4, you will be asked how many mixtures you want to make. This
is VERY convenient, because later on in the game you'll probably want to mix
99 cure spells before you go into the harder parts like dungeons.
C. Casting
Casting is simple. You just press C, then the letter of the spell you want.
There are 26 spells, from A-Z. If you cast outside of battle, you will also
select who casts the spell.
D. Spells
These are all the spells and what they do:
Awaken: Almost useless. Awaken only works on one ally, while sleep targets
everybody. Enemies will be able to put you to sleep faster than you can wake
everybody up. You're better off trying to kill enemies that cast sleep ASAP
(or using a certain trick explained below).
Blink: Useful. Blink can be used as a short cut to get to a lot of places when
a ship is unavailable or inconvenient, or to teleport away from enemies.
Cure: Absolutely essential! Poison is everywhere.
Dispel: Essential in a few places, useful in many others. You will encounter
many fields in this game, some of them blocking places you need to go in order
to finish your quest.
Energy Field: Useful. Lightning fields are good for keeping enemies at bay.
Poison fields are good for that dirty trick explained below.
Fireball: Somewhat useful. Early in the game, when your mage is equipped with
a sling and you don't have Mandrake Root or Nightshade, this is good to use on
stronger enemies.
Gate Travel: Not very useful, since you can use the moongates to get around
easily enough.
Heal: Very useful. Especially if one of your characters is so low on HP that
they might die if you're attacked while camping.
Iceball: Not very useful. If you want an attack spell, Kill is stronger and
Nightshade is more convenient to collect than Mandrake Root.
Jinx: Not very useful. It can help against large enemy groups, but Tremor is
way better. Plus this one requires both Nightshade and Mandrake Root, which is
a pain in the butt to collect.
Kill: Useful. I like this spell. It does really good damage, Nightshade is
fairly easy to collect, and Black Pearl can be bought for 1 GP.
Light: Very Useful. Cheaper than torches and does the same thing. Plus,
Sulfurous Ash is a hell of a lot more convenient to buy.
Magic Missile: Somewhat useful. Not that great, but it is cheap and stronger
than the sling (a little). Can be good to have when you're first starting out.
Negate: Somewhat useful. The problem is, this negates your magic as well as
the enemies'. Still might be a good idea if you're against lots of enemies
that cast sleep. Keep a few in case of emergency.
Open: Useless. It's much more cost-effective to just open the chests and cure
people if they get poisoned.
Protection: Somewhat useful. Gives your party an edge against strong monsters.
Not as good as Tremor though.
Quickness: (See above)
Resurrect: Very useful. You'll probably have allies die at some point or other
so having a few of these stored up will help you.
Sleep: Somewhat useful. At least this one doesn't need any Mandrake Root.
Tremor: Very useful. The ultimate spell for taking on large groups of enemies.
Not only does it damage enemies, it often makes them run away. Even strong
enemies like Demons may run away after a few castings of this!
Undead: Useful. The enemies it damages aren't that powerful, but it works the
same as Tremor. Also it's very cheap and accessible early on in the game,
if you can figure out which reagents to use.
View: Somewhat useful. This one is actually free! Although the reagents can be
a bit of a pain to get. If you've got lots more money than you need, you might
as well just buy gems.
Wind Change: Almost useless. The problem is, wind is very unpredictable. You
might cast this spell only to have it reverse 1 turn later. Plus, it's easy to
mess up and press the opposite of the direction you want.
Xit (exit): Very useful. If you go into a dungeon you will definitely need
this spell as an emergency backup, and you'll want a quick exit for when
you're finished.
Y (up) and Z (down): Very useful. Can save you a lot of headache in difficult
dungeons.
7. Talking
Talking is really important to Ultima IV. There is so much information to
find. Plus it's really fun! It feels like you really are having conversations
with people, albeit on a very simple level.
Talking is simple. You stand next to a character, press T, then the direction
of the person. You enter in words that you want to talk to the people about.
There are a few set keywords that work for any character.
NAME: The character will tell you their name. Not very useful; most characters
tell you their name right away anyway.
HEALTH: The character will tell you their health. This one seldom comes in
handy, but there are a few characters that you'll want to say this to.
For example, Lord British.
JOB: The character will tell you their job, or whatever it is they're doing.
This one often leads to useful information.
GIVE: If the other character is a beggar, this allows you to give them money.
Then enter in a number for how much you want to give.
JOIN: This asks the character to join you.
BYE: Ends the conversation. You can also just press enter without typing
anything.
Scan the conversation for important words that might lead to more information.
If you enter in an invalid keyword you will get a generic negative response.
Sometimes the character will ask you yes or no questions as well. Here's an
example conversation between the player (P) and Imaginario (I), a ranger.
I: Hello!
P: NAME
I: I am Imaginario.
P: HEALTH
I: I am well, thank thee.
P: JOB
I: I am a ranger. I seek to be more spiritual!
P: RANGER
I: Sorry, I cannot help thee with that.
P: SPIRITUAL
I: Visiting shrines is key to spirituality. Hast thou found the shrine yet?
P: NO
I: Talk to Hypotheticus in Trinsic!
P: BYE
..after which you would search someone named Hypotheticus in Trinsic, and
say SHRINE to them.
Almost all characters in the game have responses to the all-purpose keywords,
plus one or two keywords unique for that character. The exceptions are Lord
British, who responds to lots of different keywords, and Seer Hawkwind, who
responds to any of the virtues but nothing else.
Make sure you talk to everyone you can. Also it's a good idea to write down
any information that might come in handy later.
8. Virtue
This is what really sets Ultima IV apart from other games. You have to be
virtuous to win this game, and that means you can't do a lot of things that
are considered standard activity in most RPGs. For example, in most games, if
you walk into somebody's house and see a treasure chest lying around, it is
yours for the taking. Not so in Ultima IV. Not only will guards attack you,
your honesty and honor scores will go down. Also you will lose compassion and
honor points if you attack "non-evil" creatures. Non-evil creatures are
animals and such that are not inherently evil but attack you out of instinct.
Snakes or spiders, for example. Never initiate attacks with these creatures,
and flee from them when you can.
Seer Hawkwind can tell you how you're coming along in each virtue. Just
mention the virtue and he'll tell how virtuous you're being. Or what a jerk
you are, if you're being evil. He will also tell you when you're ready for
elevation.
Most of the actions that raise your score in a particular virtue should be
obvious if you think about them. But if you want more guidance, meditate at a
shrine and they will give you a tip on things you can do in-game that will
raise or lower your score in that virtue. There are ways to spam your virtue
stats if you want to build them up fast, but you should easily be able to get
your virtues maxed out just through normal exploration and gameplay, as long
as you're following the virtues.
9. Combat and Level-Building
The highest level you can get to in Ultima IV is 8. "WHAT?!?!" some of you may
be thinking. Indeed, if you're used to RPGs that let you get up to level 527
and do 99999 damage with each hit, 8 is pretty damn low. But Ultima's not that
type of game. Battling and becoming powerful isn't the main point of the game.
There is no uber-godlike Ultimate Evil boss you have to defeat.
That's not to say you won't be fighting. There are some tough battles ahead of
you. And due to your characters being able to move around there's a lot of
strategy to combat.
When in battle, each character will be highlighted in turn. You then press a
key for whatever command you want them to do. For example, "A" attacks, and
"C" casts a magic spell. Many commands are unavailable in battle; for example,
you cannot (M)ix spells in battle.
With attacks or projectilek spells, you will be prompted for a direction.
Projectile attacks will pass through part members, so don't worry if someone
else is between you and an enemy. Press up, down, left, right to attack in
that direction. NOTE: Even though your enemies can attack diagonally, you
can't. Annoying isn't it?
If you want to run away, just move your characters off screen. However,
running away in battle is considered unvalorous, unless you are fighting
non-evil creatures like snakes or sea horses.
Be careful! Some enemies, like dragons and sea monsters, can attack your party
with ranged attacks while walking around on the map screen.
Like most RPGs, you can gain experience by killing monsters. The person who
kills the monster gets all the experience, though--so if you're trying to
build up your lower-level characters, let them have the final blow. One
strategy is to have your more powerful character stand next to the monster and
take hits while the weaker one attacks with a ranged weapon.
You can also get experience for your main character by completing quests.
Pretty much every quest-related item in the game gives experience. In fact,
you will get almost to level 8 through quest items alone. However, only your
main character gets that experience. Companions you've recruited won't get any.
For that reason, you'll probably want to let companions kill enemies as much
as possible.
10. Recruiting Other Characters
There are 8 characters that can be recruited in the game--one of each class.
You can find them in the town that corresponds to their virtue. You can
recruit all of them except the one from your own class. For example, if you
choose Ranger, you won't be able to recruit the character in Skara Brae.
The number of people allowed in your party depends on your level. At level 1,
you can only have 1 person in your party. At level 2, you can have 2 people
(you plus one more). And so on.
But don't recruit people just because you can. It's very expensive to buy them
all equipment and cumbersome to move them around in battle. Plus, you have to
buy extra food. In fact, some guides recommend you don't recruit anyone until
you've mastered all 8 virtues!
I wouldn't take it that far, though. As long as you don't get too many, I
think it's better to recruit people as soon as you can, for two reasons. For
one thing, you can compensate for your main character's weaknesses. Second,
you fight harder battles when your level is higher. This means, at level 8
you'll be encountering dragons and demons--and if the rest of your party is
all at level 3 or lower, you'll have a hard time building up experience for
them because the enemies will waste them so quickly.
I recommend building your party little by little as you go. Recruit one or two
characters right away, to balance out your fighting and magic abilities. As
soon as possible, I would recommend you have at least one strong fighter (like
a paladin or fighter) and one strong magic user (a mage or druid). It will
make battle a lot easier.
Then, once you've progressed with the virtues and are ready for serious
dungeon-hopping, increase your party to 5 or 6, recruiting one person at a
time and leveling them up until they can take most enemies you encounter. Once
you're ready to take on the final dungeon, increase your party to the full 8
members.
11. Sea Travel
At some point, you're going to need a ship. For starters, until you get a ship
you won't be able to buy keys. There are also many quest items that are only
accessible by ship.
In Ultima IV, there is still no way to buy a ship. You have to wait until a
pirate ship comes along, and defeat the crew in battle. There's a good chance
that one will attack you while you're traveling, but if you really want a ship
quickly you should probably just stand on an island like Magincia and press
space bar, killing enemies as they come.
Ships have cannons, which allow you to attack enemies without engaging in
combat. That makes it possible to kill enemy groups on the map screen.
Damage is random.
When you're sailing, the wind's direction determines how well you'll move. If
the wind blows in your favor, you'll move at double speed. If the wind is
sideways from you, you'll move at regular speed. If the wind is against you,
you'll move at half speed.
Your ship's hull has a hit point meter too! It starts at 50. If you are
attacked by ranged attacks, your hull will lose HP. If your hull goes to zero,
you will sink and die! You can repair your ship by waiting on the open sea.
12. Death
It will happen at some point. And it ain't pretty.
When you die, you and all party members will appear in front of Lord British.
When you come back, you have 300 food and 200 gold. You will keep EQUIPPED
weapons and armor, as well as QUEST items, and spells that you have mixed.
Everything else will be gone. Ouch. However, I don't think you lose any
experience.
If you have a big party, probably the first thing you'll want to do is work on
building your food supply. 300 food goes quickly when you've got 8 characters.
13. Dungeons
You will need to journey into dungeons to beat this game. However, it's
probably better to wait until you've elevated yourself in all the virtues
before you journey into dungeons, because they have some really strong
enemies. You'll know when you enter a dungeon because the game enters a 3-D
perspective like in the Wizardry series.
But when you do journey into dungeons, keep an eye out for healing fountains.
And remember you can (H)ole up and camp just like in the overworld!
_______________________________________________________________________________
V. Hints & Tips
This section contains information that might be considered cheating, as well
as things that aren't mentioned in the game's documentation. But I tried to
keep it free of spoilers, and I try not to tell you anything flat out. These
are just some tips that will help you get around and figure out what to do.
-When you talk to people, you don't need to say the entire word--just the
first four letters. So instead of "humility," for example, you can just type
"humi."
-Take notes on what people tell you about virtues. You will be "tested" on
this at the end of the game.
-It's kind of cheating, but there is one way to make the moon advance in
cycles without game time passing: Press z(stats) and wait. The moons will move
along in position. This is great if you're waiting for a moongate to appear
and you don't want to get swarmed by enemies, or if you need the moons in a
certain position for... some other reason. ;-)
-When you are poisoned, sleep spells do not work on you. Repeat: WHEN YOU ARE
POISONED, SLEEP SPELLS DO NOT WORK ON YOU. So just make a poison field and
march your characters over it for instant sleep immunity. This could be
considered cheating, since you're taking advantage of limitations in the game
engine, but if you're facing a screen full of Balrons and Reapers you'll
probably need the help.
-When you kill enemies, the chests stay there forever until you pick them up.
Leaving chests can be very useful. For one thing, if you leave them on swamp
you will be able to walk over without getting poisoned. Also, you can use them
as landmarks. I HIGHLY recommend leaving one in the forest near Yew, to mark
where you need to turn when traveling between the moongate and the town.
-This isn't exactly cheating, but is very un-Avatar-ish. You can be very
unvirtuous at the beginning of the game and make up for it easily later on.
You can attack locals in towns for easy exp and gold--and when you come back,
everyone will be back like nothing ever happened. The guards will attack, but
they have no ranged attacks so all you have to do is run off the screen. When
you come out of battle, the guards will have disappeared.
Your scores in honor, compassion, and justice will be extremely low. But there
are quick methods of raising your virtue stats so it shouldn't hurt you too
much if you do it at the beginning.
-If you're going to cheat the herbs woman, remember that your virtue goes down
for each TIME you cheat her, regardless of how much money you swindle. So you
might as well get 99 of everything you want. Similarly, if you're trying to
rais virtue, buying one reagent is the same as buying 99.
-A lot of people wonder why even after you've mastered all 8 virtues, if
someone asks if you are an Avatar and you answer yes, you lose humility
points. What gives?
Well, I think the answer is that you don't become an Avatar until you finish
the game. Becoming a partial Avatar in all 8 virtues does not make you a true
Avatar--you still must complete the Quest. After all, the Quest of the Avatar
is not just about mastering the 8 virtues separately, but also about seeing
how they come together. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Therefore, if someone asks if you are an avatar, it is still an act of pride
to say so even if you have all 8 virtues. You are not an Avatar until you
reach the Codex.
-A bit about shrines. All shrines (except one!) are close to the town that
corresponds to their virtue. Ask people to find the locations. You will also
need to find the rune for each shrine. Again, you'll need to talk to people
and ask them about the rune. Finally, each shrine has a mantra that you say
while meditating at that shrine. Learn the mantra by talking to people, of
course. If you're looking for a particular rune or mantra, you often can find
it just by going to the town corresponding to that virtue and saying RUNE or
MANTRA to everybody.
-The guild shop is a place you will definitely need to visit. They sell items
that are very useful for adventurers: torches, gems, keys, and one more very
useful item. Torches light your way in dungeons--although the Light spell
does the same thing. Gems give you an overhead map view that lets you see a
wide area in the overworld, and an entire floor if you're in a dungeon--but
the View spell does the same thing. Keys unlock doors--and there is no spell
that can do this for you. You will definitely want to visit the guild shop for
keys. And one more thing...
-Buy a halberd or two! At first they may seem like a lousy weapon because they
can only attack 2 spaces away--if an enemy is right next to you they're
useless. But halberds are very useful because they can attack through walls.
I recommend you give a halberd to your fighter and paladin, but keep it
unequipped. Then if you run into a a strong immobile enemy that is blocked by
a wall, you can easily kill them without taking any damage. For example, if
you have a bunch of Balrons behind a wall that opens with a secret switch,
just equip the halberd, kill them, and trigger the switch.
-In addition to the 8 virtues, there are 3 principles: courage, wisdom, and
love. There are items corresponding to these principles that you'll need to
get. Each principle has a stronghold devoted to it:
Courage: Serpent's Hold
Wisdom: Lycaeum
Love: Empath Abbey
Visit the strongholds, and you should get information about their respective
items.
-"Thou hast lost an eighth!" When you see this message, you are screwed. Once
you've elevated yourself in a particular virtue, if you do something
unvirtuous you will get this message. That means that you are no longer
elevated in that particular virtue, and you must do virtuous deeds and elevate
yourself once again.
Worse yet, if memory serves me right, the game AUTOMATICALLY SAVES after
giving you this message. So if you were thinking you could just reload after
you accidentally pick up that treasure chest in Trinsic, think again.
-Many things are hidden behind "secret walls." They look like walls but you
can walk through them. If you look really closely, you can see a little dot in
walls that you can walk through. There are a lot of these in dungeon rooms,
and a few in castles and towns.
-In dungeons, when you use a gem or View spell, you see the entire floor. It
might be a good idea to copy the map on graph paper so you don't have to use
it again. You could even quit your game and restore before you used the gem,
although considering that money for gems should be little problem by the time
you go dungeon-hopping, I don't think it's worth the trouble.
-If you press "L" to "Locate position," the game will tell you you don't have
the right item. How do you get this item? Well, all you really have to do is
ask...
-There is a secret item in this game--a relic from an earlier Ultima. If you
use this item in battle, you can obliterate all your enemies instantly. But
be warned, to use it is an act of ultimate evil that will destroy your score
in ALL the virtues. However, destroying it will help your score in all the
virtues. How do you destroy it? Well, if you're familiar with Lord of the
Rings, you know one way of destroying evil artifacts...
-There is also an item in this game that will increase your ship's hull to
99. It is the wheel of a legendary ship. Somewhere you can find a sailor who
knows about it...
-Very powerful weapons and armor exist that all characters can equip. And the
ones you don't equip can be sold for money--plus, you can get them over and
over again, meaning you have easy access to all the money you want. However,
you must be truly virtuous to pick them up. If you want to find them, search
for the person who made them. It would have to be someone very skilled in
making weapons and armor...
_______________________________________________________________________________
VI. Thanks
Just want to say thanks to:
-CJayC and GameFAQs, for providing a great repository of game information.
-The Ultima VII board, for keeping conversation about this great series
alive.
-Other people who have written U4 FAQs, especially Dan Simpson and Andrew
Schulz. Their FAQs helped me a lot my first time through, and I used them for
reference on a few things while writing this guide.
-Richard Garriot and Origin, for making Ultima IV and so many other great
games.
-You, for reading this FAQ!
