From: cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christian Wagner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
Subject: Re: U7-green beginner, have solve, cheats... but still question..
Date: 27 Dec 92 03:32:26 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <1hfj43INN4lj@sumax.seattleu.edu> boyer@sumax.seattleu.edu (Chuck Boyer) writes:
>My players/team keeps complaining about being hungry, to feed them!!
>I have the first man met and joined my group (lolo?) and the dead
>man's son as my team. I have bought 16 cakes and hold them in my
>inventory..... I grab one and place it atop the other two players
>one by one and the cake disappears.... I even tried this in the 
>Restaurant while sitting.... I've tried it while walking/standing
>anywhere.... they still complain about being hungry, needing to
>be fed NOW... so, I deduce that I am feeding them the wrong way.
>Any help would be appreciated.

[Other questions of a similar nature deleted]

Okay, here we go, a quick lesson in U7 user interface.

Left Click once - look at
Double Left Click - Use/read/check inventory of/talk to, or attack when combat 
                    mode is on
Right Click - Movement
Double Right Click - Find path to place

Now, the inventory system takes a little getting used to. To bring up your 
inventory, double-left-click on yourself, -or- hit the 'I' key. They 'I' key
is really the easiest, especially if you have a slow machine. To bring up your
companion's inventory, you have to have your own inventory box up first; then
you either double-left-click on them, or continue to hit the 'I' key until the
box you want comes up. If your own inventory box isn't up, double-LC'ing on 
your companions will talk to them instead.

To move stuff, just click-n-drag it to wherever you want, either to the ground
to drop it, or a companions's hand/body/backpack. Giving stuff to NPCs (people
you meet who aren't in your party) is automatic when you talk to them, unlike
Underworld; trying to drop stuff on them won't work. 

What you've been doing is moving those cakes into your companion's inventories,
instead of feeding them. To feed a companion, or yourself even, double-left-
click on the food, and then when the little crosshairs-like cursor comes up,
click on whoever you want to feed. Lots of things work like this; potions, 
certain spells, bandages, etc. 

There's also a Stats screen for each character; you can access it by clicking
on the heart icon on someone's inventory, or (much easier) hit the 'Z' key,
just like the 'I' key above. 


>Do I even need to retain Lolo, or the boy?

1) It's Iolo; pronouced 'Yo-lo'. He's loosely based on one of Richard Garriot's
friends in the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is why the name is 
strange. :>

2) You don't -need- them; but it helps to have them, as they can carry extra
stuff (-lots- of stuff in this game to haul around) and fight along with you.
There are also a lot of really fun scenes when Iolo, Spark, and some of the 
other companions (Dupre and Shamino in particular) interact with NPCs and
the enviroment. If you want the whole "Ultima VII experience" ( :> ), get
the companions I've just mentioned. The rest are optional.

>Sorry, I don't know the gameplaying attitude of U7, since I am
>going backwards in the series... really loved Underworld (still
>play it).

Some of us have been playing it for years, and know how the game designers 
think by now. :)

>Any ftp site that has listings of answers like beginner's problems?
>Like I said, I 'do' have the walkthrough.... but this, and the
>book that came with the game... don't talk about these practical
>issues one finds in starting out the game....

The manual is a little obtuse in places; it helps to have some previous Ultima
experience, so you know basically what kind of interface to expect. 

-- 
    "Well, do you ever get the feeling that the Story's too damn real
                        and in the present tense?"
               Christian Wagner - cwagner@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu