Isn't every RPG one of those? Let's Play Ultima IV blind!

Ah, Britannia is beautiful this time of year. The fields are littered with giant green watermelons. And the forest trees are covered with little red apples, which will fall upward to kill you.

Short, nerdy anecdote: Back in grade school, I played through the Macintosh port of Ultima III, and I jonesed for Ultima IV with the white-hot jonesing of a game-hungry kid. I even pre-ordered it, but in the end the Macintosh port was canceled. I didn't end up actually playing IV until years later when I binged on a CD compilation of the first 6 Ultima games.

I will be interested to see how starting as a Mage goes. I vaguely recall it starts you in a troublesome location. I think it starts you in. . . Moonbroke? Moonglow? Moonshine? The Moon town. In any case, you're on an island in the middle of nowhere. I know there's a moongate that goes there, so that's one way out. Maybe there are also boats? I don't know! We'll find out!

Moonglow. It's definitely a tricky start, but it should be doable.

Everything going okay? Or are you lost in Britannia?

It's coming.

They don't make manuals like this any more.

Don't forget to read between the lines ;-)

I was gone for a while so I could build up a buffer, and also because I am a lazy asshole. Let's Play Ultima IV!

Hey, a village. After memorizing the keyboard commands to discover how to enter something from the overworld, I discover that this is...



Moonglow!

Hey, a guy. I'll talk to him.



Calibrini! What can you tell me about this village of Moonglow?



He's got nothing to say.

Okay.... I ask him about "town" next.

"That I cannot help thee with."

Maybe he'll tell me about himself. "Calibrini"

"That I cannot help thee with."

"mage"

"That I cannot help thee with."

This guy has nothing to say. I try to exit, but accidentally say "x" instead.

"That I cannot help thee with."

Okay, what canst thou help me with? "help"

"That I cannot help thee with."

You can't help me with help. Okay. Then you're of no use to me. But I can't move. How do I end this conversation.



I beg him to let me go, but he just doesn't understand. I try everything I can think of.

"fethers"

"That I cannot help thee with."

I'm getting desperate. Finally, a miracle happens:



Yes, the magic word "bye" lets me escape from any conversation with an NPC! If only that worked so well in real life.

Okay, let's check out Moonglow!



The only inn in town doesn't need a fancy name.



It would be presumptuous for a physician to advertise.



I already have a few of these in my inventory, and I'll try them out later, but this is good to know about.



Wait, so the sandwich shop gets a cool title, but not an inn?



oh shit treasure

I know what to do with those!

But wait, this game is all about morality. I bet I shouldn't touch it. I know, I'll ask those people.



Mariah doesn't know anything about the treasure.



Neither does Dekker.

They never said I couldn't. Treasure time!



Woo!



oh god what now

This guy is dying. I've got hundreds of F. I should give him some!

But first, treasure.

I wipe the acid off my clothes and talk to the journalist to make sure he didn't see that. I say "starving" and "food" and such things to him, but that he cannot help me with.



Elsewhere in town, there's this kid who wants to share his sandwich. He offers me a bite. Damn it, kid, don't offer me your sandwich when there's a starving man on the other side of town!



"follow," I say, but he cannot help me with that. I also try "help" and "journalist" but those he cannot help me with. Finally, I accept a bite of his sandwich... only to just eat it immediately. That journalist was not a bird, so I don't think that is the solution.

Maybe I'll try the deli.



But they only sell F there, and I've already got plenty of that. I'll just abandon this quest chain for now.

In the corner of the healer's house is a "dying wizard" whom I think maybe will have a quest for me.



I... probably could have put that more tactfully, yeah?



There's also a gypsy in Moonglow. All gypsies are fortune-tellers. Every. Single. One. So of course I ask for "fortune" and that she can help me with.



Cool. What's this "codex" thing?

"That I cannot help thee with."

Well, Moonglow was a bust. Maybe I'll try my luck on the overworld. Try out some of these combat spells, y'know?



Let's see, where shall I ooh what's that

I step into the mystical portal and the screen turns all inverted-color. Didn't get a screenshot, though. And then I'm here:



uhhh



uhhh


Tune in next time!

Bodybuilder town(e)?

Moonglowe wasn't exactly the most helpful place in the world, was it?

oh man can't wait until you learn how to say job

You're doing better than my first playthrough. Thanks to the fortuneteller you already know the entire objective of the game.

This one's from the player reference card:


Talking with the people found in the game is one of the most important features of Ultima IV to master. It is almost impossible to solve thy quests without talking to virtually all people in each towne. Each person with whom thou dost Talk is capable of a full conversation. They can be asked about their "Name", "Job", and "Health". Thou may "Look" again at their visual description. From this information thou shouldst be able to discern what else they might know, hinted at directly by use of the precise words in the conversation. For example: If thou were to ask Dupre about his "Job" and he were to respond "I am hunting Gremlins," thou might think to ask him about "Hunting" or "Gremlins" - about either of which he might offer some insight.

Each of these people might ask of thee a question as well; be sure to answer the question honestly, for dishonesty will be remembered and not reflect well on thee for the rest of the game. Often thou shalt not know what to ask a townesperson until thou hast been told by another: e.g. Iolo the bard might tell thee to ask Shamino the Ranger about swords. Even if thou hadst met Shamino earlier thou wouldst not have known to ask about swords, and thus thou wouldst have to seek him out again if thou dost wish that knowledge.

Some of the people that thou shalt meet may be willing to become thy travelling companions. If thou dost wish for a character to become a player in thy party, thou must ask them to "Join" thee. 'Tis most wise to strengthen thy party as rapidly as possible, up to the seven companions thou shall need to complete the game. When thou art through with a conversation, then speak the word "Bye" as an accepted means of politely ending thy conversation.

Be sure to keep ajournal of thy travels! Many of the clues to solving the quests of Ultima IV art contained in the various and diverse conversations thou might have with the various townesfolk. It would be next to impossible to solve this game without some means of referring back to prior conversations held during play.

Be sure to thoroughly explore the cities and townes! Many of the quests within Ultima IV art contained entirely within individual cities. 'Tis wisest to spend a great deal of fime seeking out the answers that lie hidden in each one of the various townes of Britannia, before moving on to another. NOTE: During thy conversations with people in Ultima IV, thou may feel the impulse to show thy generosity to less fortunate fellows. Thou may do so by saying: "Give".

That is super helpful. I guess this digital version doesn't come with all the feelies.

I actually do know why I wound up in Jhelom, though. There's warp points that are based on the phase of the moon. However, as we shall see, it is irrelevant.

We know you've read the walkthrough and are just playing dumb. You picked the most useful class and just happened to run across the moon gate...

Not that far off!

I am playing dumb, but not by much. You'll see why in the next update, which will be tomorrow.

I never found that fucking moongate.

I think that was the first moongate I found.
Man, I want to play this game again.

It is amazing how much better the NES version was over this. Graphics were bitchin', no ridiculous food system, no developed-by-insane-pygmies Talk interface... wow. I mean, I love & support attention given to old DOS games, but seriously, there is no comparison. These screenshots are harshin' my eyes as I compare them to my own Ultima IV memories.

I'm tempted to play this again too, though I'd probably play the streamlined NES port or with a FAQ to avoid all the "That, I cannot help thee with" nonsense.

I tried playing The Magic Candle a few times. It was similar as far as the keyword conversations go.

For a game that was probably mistranslated into Japanese and then back into English, the NES version is strangely more articulate than the original. Of course this may have something to do with the memory available on a cartridge.
The dialogue trees are more fleshed out in later installments, but U4 is unique in that it makes you work very hard to retrieve each NPC's sole tidbit of maybe-useful information.
Imagine if Final Fantasy required you to introduce yourself and inquire about a fellow's employment in order to learn "I'm a farmer", or if you had to ask Garland what his job is before he informs you that his job is to knock you all down. While RPG development in Japan may have been heavily influenced by U4, they were right in concluding that the text parser is not always fun and may not actually add any depth to the game.
I wish they had ditched the magic reagent system as well, but then it just wouldn't be Ultima.

Oh, man, I can't tell you how many hours I wasted on the NES version of this back in the day. It made just enough sense to keep me going but was impenetrable enough that it was nearly impossible to find everything you need to win.

In case you don't have some, replacementdocs has the following docs:

Ultima IV - Manual

Ultima IV - Map

Ultima IV - Spellbook

They all were included in the box. You don't have to play THAT blind...

Pretty pleeeeaaaaa-eeeaaaa-eeaaaa-se?

I played the NES version and I used a map that showed the location and moon phase of all the moongates. I think that map came out of Nintendo Power but my memory is FUZZY.