Greetings Watchers
Back in mid 2000 or so, I purchased the Dragon edition of Ultima: Ascension, which included a compilation of Ultima's 1-8. It was one of the grandest game packages I'd ever bought up to that point. Thus began my long ardent quest to play this wonderful series in general chronological order! (Ignoring the spin-offs for the time being…) Since I'm up to U8 - it means that ironically, I'm yet to actually play Ascension and complete it. I have had a peek at it a couple of times over the years, but have decided to maintain my willpower and play the games as I think they should be played. Reviews and reportages mean that I do not carry excessive expectations about it. However, I'd love to get started on it and perhaps finish this year.
Before this point, I'd only played and finished the two Underworld games.
Back in those days, before I had internet - I had much more time to keep detailed notes and notepad files of my gaming exploits. Strangely enough, I've even got all of my dates for when I completed the games and the durations for which I played them on and off. I'll list them here for fun:
Akalabeth: 5 weeks, 6 days!
U1: 1 week, 5 days
U2: 10 weeks exactly (Found it very difficult to get into at first)
U3: 4 weeks, 2 days. (The first really addictive Ultima for me)
U4: 5 weeks exactly (Absolutely adored this experience)
U5: 13 weeks, 3 days (Also a wonderful game)
U6: 3 weeks, 5 days (It was a massive change engine wise, but I found it easier to play)
U7: Something like 3 years! (2002-2005) I even built a Dx4 100 especially to run it and later experimented with Exult. This was a long journey - a tough but utterly brilliant game.
SI: About four years on and off! (2005-2009) (With Exult) More dungeon-crawling oriented than U7 at times with some technical puzzle-solving, but I slugged it out and still enjoyed it - though not quite as much as U7.
And so! To Pagan! I remember hiring it back in '95 or so from a video store for a week and just getting completely sucked into the game world, but ultimately not getting very far as the style of game was very new to me then.
But gradually, I've decided to get back into it. I think I played it for about three months last year before getting distracted by something (a common unfortunate trait in this modern age.) I remember that I got as far as completing the Pilgrimage for the Necromancers and had just found the Heart of the Earth but was getting confused as to what to do next. I figure story wise, it'll involve moving on to one of the other Titans…but I'm struggling to figure out exactly where to go to undertake this.
So, I was thinking that perhaps some of the Ultima veterans here may be able to provide me with some hints and tips to help me with navigation - as I seem to be doing circles in the Upper Catacombs/Caves area. Can anyone assist?
In my current savegame, I'm playing around with the recall item and teleporting to various places and just exploring again to get my head around the maps and various spaces. Hopefully it doesn't have a limitation on charges, because I'm using it a good deal! Short of fully mapping the caves and catacombs, I'm not sure where I'm meant to head next, but am eager to make progress once more in the game!
Even if you cannot help - feel free to tell a tale or two (without spoilers, naturally) of your own experiences with Super Mario Avatar. (U8: Pagan)
Cheers
Back in mid 2000 or so, I purchased the Dragon edition of Ultima: Ascension, which included a compilation of Ultima's 1-8. It was one of the grandest game packages I'd ever bought up to that point. Thus began my long ardent quest to play this wonderful series in general chronological order! (Ignoring the spin-offs for the time being…) Since I'm up to U8 - it means that ironically, I'm yet to actually play Ascension and complete it. I have had a peek at it a couple of times over the years, but have decided to maintain my willpower and play the games as I think they should be played. Reviews and reportages mean that I do not carry excessive expectations about it. However, I'd love to get started on it and perhaps finish this year.
Before this point, I'd only played and finished the two Underworld games.
Back in those days, before I had internet - I had much more time to keep detailed notes and notepad files of my gaming exploits. Strangely enough, I've even got all of my dates for when I completed the games and the durations for which I played them on and off. I'll list them here for fun:
Akalabeth: 5 weeks, 6 days!
U1: 1 week, 5 days
U2: 10 weeks exactly (Found it very difficult to get into at first)
U3: 4 weeks, 2 days. (The first really addictive Ultima for me)
U4: 5 weeks exactly (Absolutely adored this experience)
U5: 13 weeks, 3 days (Also a wonderful game)
U6: 3 weeks, 5 days (It was a massive change engine wise, but I found it easier to play)
U7: Something like 3 years! (2002-2005) I even built a Dx4 100 especially to run it and later experimented with Exult. This was a long journey - a tough but utterly brilliant game.
SI: About four years on and off! (2005-2009) (With Exult) More dungeon-crawling oriented than U7 at times with some technical puzzle-solving, but I slugged it out and still enjoyed it - though not quite as much as U7.
And so! To Pagan! I remember hiring it back in '95 or so from a video store for a week and just getting completely sucked into the game world, but ultimately not getting very far as the style of game was very new to me then.
But gradually, I've decided to get back into it. I think I played it for about three months last year before getting distracted by something (a common unfortunate trait in this modern age.) I remember that I got as far as completing the Pilgrimage for the Necromancers and had just found the Heart of the Earth but was getting confused as to what to do next. I figure story wise, it'll involve moving on to one of the other Titans…but I'm struggling to figure out exactly where to go to undertake this.
So, I was thinking that perhaps some of the Ultima veterans here may be able to provide me with some hints and tips to help me with navigation - as I seem to be doing circles in the Upper Catacombs/Caves area. Can anyone assist?
In my current savegame, I'm playing around with the recall item and teleporting to various places and just exploring again to get my head around the maps and various spaces. Hopefully it doesn't have a limitation on charges, because I'm using it a good deal! Short of fully mapping the caves and catacombs, I'm not sure where I'm meant to head next, but am eager to make progress once more in the game!
Even if you cannot help - feel free to tell a tale or two (without spoilers, naturally) of your own experiences with Super Mario Avatar. (U8: Pagan)
Cheers
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