From: boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.misc
Subject: Re: Ultima III Review - additions
Date: 10 Sep 92 13:45:30 -0500
Summary: Additions to the review on Ultima 3
Keywords: Ultima, U3, three, review, additions
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <14907@mindlink.bc.ca>, Jeremy_Reimer@mindlink.bc.ca
   (Jeremy Reimer) writes:
> Firstly, I'd like to say that this stuff is (c)opyright 1992 by, well, me.  It
> really is.  No foolin'.  :)

   Okay, no foolin'.. :)  Course I'm just adding my own comments to your
review, being an avid Ultima fan. :)

>                                  ULTIMA 3
> [...] The docs say that
> if you travel alone you will have the chance to pick up retainers during
> game play.  I didn't get a chance to test this, but as there was no
> "join" command in the docs or in the .EXE, I think it may be unlikely.

   Extremely unlikely, as I could never accomplish this.  Unless there is some
trick that I don't know about, you are better off creating all four party
members for an adventure.

> [...] In this game a
> treasure chest will block monsters from passing but not the player.
> This would change in Ultima IV, where the chest would not block
> anything.

   You can create 3-wide treasure chests to walk from place to place, and not
get attacked.  Interesting to do, but by the time you can do this, you probably
don't need to bother.  Be warned though, things that fire at you before combat,
like dragons and ships, can destroy these chests if they hit the chest instead
of you.

> SPELLS
> [...]
> replenish over time.  Cleric and Fighter spells are completely separate,
                                   ^^^^^^^
> and are much more varied than before.  Both classes share similar spells,

   Mages here, if it wasn't obvious..

> like Light and Ladder Up/Down but these spells have been given very
> imaginative names.  The two spell "books" included with the docs are
> entitled the Book Of Amber Runes (Mages) and the Holy Liturgy of Truth
> (Clerics).  Some classes, like Rangers and Druids, can cast both
> types of spells, although they usually have fewer Magic points to distribute.

   Full blown Clerics and Mages get spell points = respective stat
(Intelligence or Wisdom), while the 'partial' spell casters get that stat
divided by two, round down.

> MISCELLANEOUS
> 
> A few notes:
> 
> - You need four 'Marks' to get past the Snake-- actually you need only
>   one, the mark of the Snake, but to get it you need the other three.

   Not quite true.

>   The "King", Lord British is supposed to "Favor" a Mark, probably the
>   Snake one that I could never find in any of the dungeons.

   The king favors the 'King' mark.

>   Fire, Force and King, were all easy to find.  Maybe if I'd searched the
>   dungeons a bit more I could have found Snake, or if I figured out how
>   to get Lord British to say anything except for "Welcome my child.
>   Experience more!" I could have gotten the Snake mark legitimately.

   Here is how it works.
   The 'King' mark is needed before LB will advance your characters beyond
Level 5.  You can gain the experience, but he will not advance you.
   The 'Fire' and 'Force' marks are needed to walk over Fire and Force tiles
(respectively) without any harm.
   And the 'Snake' mark is used to, obviously, pass the Serpent that guards the
way to the castle where Exodus resides.

   Lord British is only used to advance you in levels.  If you have the
experience (and the King mark, possibly),  he will raise you one level.  If you
still have more experience, keep T)alking to him, and he will raise you as far
as you can go.  If he says 'Experience More', you need more xp for next level. 
If he says, 'No More', you are probably at Level 25, the max level.  And I
forget the message he says if you are ready for Level 6 but don't have the King
mark.

   The snake mark is hard to find.  I think I found it in the dungeon on a
roundish island, with a rotated 'L' of mountains, the dungeon nestled in the
crook of the 'L', the island south then east from LB's castle (east and a
little north of the 'dark forest' region).

>   [...] It wouldn't be a problem if
>   the whirlpool didn't go around destroying ships whenever you parked them
>   on land.

   Hide them in nooks and crannies of twisting rivers.  Whirlpool doesn't get
in there very much, and if it does, it has a hard time getting back out.

   Just my own $0.02 worth. :-)  Have fun, and enjoy the game!

                                        John "Nightwind" Boelter

--
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* John Boelter        a.k.a. Nightwind            boelter3945@iscsvax.uni.edu *
* Organizational Manager and contact person for everything and then some.     *
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