A faithful remake of the classic CRPG Ultima 4. Comments and suggestions are welcome. This latest update includes an in-game library to help players new to the ultima world get their bearings. A couple of instructions on installing the module .. Download the avatarship hakpak found @ http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/hakpacks/data/1066190071210.shtml Download the ultima music pack found @ http://nwvault.ign.com/Files/hakpacks/data/1062630180790.shtml Copy the .mod file found in this archive into the modules folder. Extract the hakpak into the hak folder. Extract the music pack into the music folder. There was a problem with the virtue system where the scores were lost after a save .. this has been fixed - only the module is needed.
I assume the key to the door that is preventing me from leaving tha astral lobby at the very beginning of the module is supposed to be in the chest next to the door that says "Hey, open me!" or something to that effect, but it is empty. I'll go back and scour every nook and cranny looking for a hidden key somewhere, not dropping a rating yet because I can't even leave the starting area, really looking forward to playing it though, been a fan of Ultima for a long time.
Posted by janarah at 2008-04-05 04:02:10 Voted 10.00 on 04/05/08
marvelous work, i might use this to begin an ultima pw
_________________________ "that is not dead which may eternal lie, and with strange eons even death may die. . ."
~H.P. Lovecraft
"Does this mod really support all alignments? The virtues sound like neutral good at least... am I able to solve the main quest as a chaotic evil character?"
The original Ultima games have no concept of alignment until U7 Part 2, and that was still pretty simplistic (order + chaos = balance). Translated into the D&D alignment space, the Avatar would be unerringly deep blue lawful good. Like, so lawful good that he makes other lawful good characters look chaotic evil. "Morally stunted, naive, and spineless" doesn't even begin to describe Garriot's Ultima virtue system.
So no, it would not be logically possible to play an Ultima game with a character who wants to be anything other than the god of boy scouts.
Hi all - Zonker here ---- just gonna give you guys a little hint that should make the first part of the game less frustrating.
When you first go see Lord British - theres a bedroom to the north east corner of the throne room that contains a chest and a weapon rack --- those are for you to take and will not affect your honesty score.
One of the weapons in the rack is a +2 short sword with 3 heals / day. You can sell this item for 16000 gps and help you fund your initial adventures.
Some may choose to keep it and use it of course :) but my advice would be to take the cash instead. :D
Posted by Mirgalen at 2007-06-04 03:10:52 Voted 4.00 on 06/04/07
I played this module for a few hours (nowhere close to 50) and decided to drop out somewhere between lvl 7 and 8.
In short I believe that only U4 fans (possibly with the walktrough) will really take the time to finish and enjoy this module from start to end. Assuming that it can still be completed (possible bugs). It may appeal to players interested in heavy H&S (as they may ignore the story/quest) and simply go around smashing creatures in order to get XP/levels.
Also note that the module is almost 40 Mb with 60-80 Mb per saved game. The hak itself is 173 Mb. Quite a huge footprint.
Gameplay : 4
Converting an old game into NWN is a very ambitious project and Zonker shoould be praised for that.
Yet I found a few bugs or game stoppers and could not continue further.
1. The quest: If I get it right to win the game you need to progress in the 8 virtues and get some stones and mantras and runes or something like that. Some of the things you seek are in the villages/cities/castles and can be obtained via conversations for the other stuff one would have to explore some remote dungeons. first problem although I can see at any moment what are my scores, I still don't know for sure what makes a given score go up or down, The obvious one is killing monsters pushes the value score up. Also, I don't think that one can gain XP by any other way than defeated monsters making the module more a H&S fest than a real RP game. I may be wrong but once I got one of the Mantras I don't think I received any XP for it.
2. NPCs/XP: Well some of names are out of place (again this is not Zonker's doing). Lord British? Yeah? And where is Captain America?
Worse the henchmen system seems broken. You may be able to get 2-3 henchmen at a time but they are not much use if they only get 2 HP when they level up. Only Sir Dupre had a fair number of HP but the others including the Shield Guy only had 15-20HP. That would be OK if most combats were easy but the monsters are respawing (like in PWs) and in some places I did fight some critters in one place only to be smased on the very next level by creatures clearly over the top (e.g. a group of trolls and duergars in one place or a couple a vampire warriors in another). The XP scale might sound intersting yet I wonder why Zonker did not simply scale the XP in the toolset (e.g. 50% or so). The player would still go up fast early on and slower later on. Also, with this system once you export your character you will loose a few levels.
3. Conversations:
Some did work and some did not. Also it was tedious to try both regular NWN conversations and U4 conversations with almost every NPC. The regular NWN conversation system should have worked fine.
4. Other: Found at least one Anhk (useable object) that could not be used or talked to. If that one is needed to complete the game tough luck. It is located outside a castle right on top of an altar/stone.
5. Rest system: Probably the worse element in the module. Did only rest 2-3 times because of issues with campfire and starting cash (do they really start campfires in castles?). Luckily I found a couple of healing fountains. Also due to level design sometimes was unable to rest because a level we had cleared had another unexplored area nearby.
Roleplaying: N/A
Typical conversation:
Hello
Name
Job
(try a few of keywords)
Bye
Visuals: 5.5
I did not find anything interesting here except a visual effect I do not know how to describe (like a windmill made of light).
Sound: 3
Sorry this not Zonker's doing but the U4 soundtrack is really outdated if any good. I had to turn the sound that after a while. If you want to have an argument in your house, load this module, turn the volume up a bit, play for an hour or so and wait for somebody to come an complain ;-)
Replayability : N/A
IMHO, once you get the idea how to complete the quest the only new thing would be to see how you do with another class.
Documentation : 3
Well despite the two files provided they are still too many important points left out. It is probably not possible (unless you are familiar with U4) to complete the game w/o looking for clue on the internet. For example you can take shield as character class but it is not documented anywhere. In fact the module is so complex that one could have created a prelude just to have the player learn about the system (e.g. conversations, potions, runes? mantras? moon phases...). One of the readme file got ended with the pictures of three female henchmen (but no text) as if the file was corrupted or something.
Action/Fun : 4
I cannot say I had much fun with this module.
It was very tedious early on (lvl 1) and boring/frustrating after that.
I could have tried to become the avatar but I did not like the combat balance issues as well as some bugs that could make it impossible to complete the game.
Posted by Mirgalen at 2007-06-01 17:26:57 Voted 4.00 on 06/04/07
Interesting but very difficult.
* Minor Spoilers *
I wanted to play a knight (paladin) so I created a fresh character. I purchased a chain shirt and a morningstar and was broke right after (no gold to stay at the inn or get the proper stuff to rest). Donated "some" blood but instead of having 1 HP taken away I only had 1 HP left. Asking the Priestess to help was no use since she is asking for 100 Gold!!!
So instead of being a young knight in shiny armor going to save the world of something it was almost like my char was a beggar (gimme some food please). Also, don't see why the game does not allow one to use existing fires.
Wandered a round a bit, was looking for the kitchen perhaps to ask for food but ended up in the basement of the castle. Used lay-on-hand to recover some HP, Killed a few rats had to run. Barely escaped (w 120 XP). One rat followed, had a few die/reload thing before putting the rat down (lvl 2). True, I also got "You died, and nobody noticed you." message. Not to mention the regular "whisper [ ]" (what could that be?). Conversations with locals is a bit tough, they respond to hello, name, job, health and bye but not to the other stuff (e.g. Virtue, Join...)
Took Iolo for a random walk, wanted to go back to check the rat problem but took a wrong turn. Some goblins made us regret our mistake, got down to 1 HP again, Iolo died and came back to life on the spot.
IMHO the module can be played at level 1 provided you start with at least 200 gold coins (38GP needed for bedroll, flint and steel, 20GP for 5 Rations, 100+ for basic weapon/armor). Else start at lvl 2-3 take/equip Iolo and start the quest.
Nevertheless the module will still be hard for people (like me) with no knowledge of the Ultima Universe/Game System. For example somebody mentioned "Meditate". OK but was is it for?
I will certainly retry this module but not with this char as it is.
Posted by PaulBlay at 2007-05-19 10:06:54 Voted 9.00 on 05/19/07
I got labelled thief. Coming to think of it the Rune of Virtue was in a chest in Castle Britain ... I guess I should have left it there. :-/
Do henchmen have 'perma-death' ? Not much fun having the PC respawn but nobody else.
Iolo's inventory includes "Iolo's anhk" which looks like 10 greenstones.
I think I'll start again and take more care / make more saves.
Posted by PaulBlay at 2007-05-19 03:03:57 Voted 9.00 on 05/19/07
I haven't noticed any problems so far and it's great fun. The teleport room in particular is a brilliant idea and very well implemented.
Posted by PaulBlay at 2007-05-18 12:45:10 Voted 9.00 on 05/19/07
"You died, and nobody noticed you." I thought you respawned at Castle Britanica?
Posted by PaulBlay at 2007-05-18 11:29:47 Voted 9.00 on 05/19/07
Does this mod really support all alignments? The virtues sound like neutral good at least... am I able to solve the main quest as a chaotic evil character? _________________________ One feels inclined to say that the idea that man should be "happy" is not included in the plan of "creation". - Sigmund Freud
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2006-01-27 05:47:36 Voted 10.00 on 10/10/05
Keiseth,
You might try e-mailing the author personally about this. His e-mail is hyperlinked in his post below.
My guess is this module is so old that it doesn't work with the latest NWN patches. _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
I can't rate the module as of yet, because I'm having some trouble... (Latest Patched NWN+SOU+HOTU)
1) Familiars. If I leave an area with one, it doesn't follow, only to have me come back and find "Pixie Familiar" or equilivent. I talk to it and it "Looks at me strangely then resumes what it was doing."
2) Resting. Randomly, the resting system "broke" and allowed me to rest anywhere I wanted to.
I'm going to try again with a fresh start...
Posted by zonker ( 70.81.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-11-03 15:38:47
Truthseeker - Ive had many comments concerning that mature rating bit - alas the forums got reset after the vault changed its look a few months back ... in any case the reason for that is simply that I believe someone must be mature enough to play and enjoy this module (same as with the original game)
Posted by Emeraq Truthseek at 2005-10-16 20:11:27 Voted 10.00 on 10/16/05
Innovative scripts, making this a faithful recreation of the Ultima world, deserves a high score. Now if only you this could be remade with CEP and a mana system.
Posted by Emeraq Truthseek at 2005-10-16 20:07:05 Voted 10.00 on 10/16/05
Mature rating? There was a topless gal near the treasure vault at the Castle of Truth. That's the only thing I've seen so far. I'm still just barely into the module. Which has been good so far, but a little frustrating.. There's basically little direction in the game, and the hints are all so vague.
Posted by Emeraq Truthseek at 2005-10-16 20:05:13 Voted 10.00 on 10/16/05
I'm curious as to why certain dialogues contain highlighted words, or words in parenthesis that when you speak those words you get no response. I've also found conversations where there aren't highlighted or ' ' words, but I type a random word that I may have used in other conversations and end up getting a response. Was this intended?
Posted by Emeraq Truthseek ( 67.185.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-10-16 19:53:37
Just type meditate in the talk box and hit enter
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2005-10-10 06:52:50 Voted 10.00 on 10/10/05
for faithfulness _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
Thanks,
Steve
Posted by Steve_Savicki at 2005-09-22 12:04:44 Voted 10.00 on 10/10/05
Hi, why is the module rated mature? _________________________ Steve's Characters - please don't forget to vote on them if you play them.
Thanks,
Steve
Posted by Jimboododude at 2005-09-01 12:36:30 Voted 10.00 on 09/01/05
I love this old game and this is amazingly failthful to the original, 10/10.
Posted by matt ( 24.176.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-08-11 11:03:55
i dont suppose someone knows how to meditate at the shrines? i seem to be able to talk to the ankh, but i cant meditate.
Posted by Ian ( 67.183.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-07-30 11:51:09
Well, I hope you don't need the Hak Pack to play, because I sure as hell am not paying IGN good money just to get one file.
Posted by Vortex ( 62.214.xxx.xxx ) at 2005-07-15 12:12:26
I think this is the newer version. Look at the Submitted/Updated date.
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