Part 55: Chapter 6, Part 5

I'm going to defend my comment about Ultima 9's graphics. It was great-looking at the time, sure. The game was also in development for ages; certainly prior to 3D accelerator cards becoming a mandatory part of every gaming machine, if their use of Glide is any indication. The overall performance and quality of the Direct3D renderer is proof that they never really spent all that much time perfecting it.

I sincerely believe that if they had focused on gameplay and made a 2D Ultima, like they originally planned, the game would have been better. Or if they had waited another 2 or 3 years, the game might have been able to have a passable outdoor rendering engine. If they were going to use the graphics as a crutch, they should have at least added support for hardware T&L cards (which started showing up on the market the same year Ultima 9 was released). One way or another, they either picked a shitty time to release Ultima 9 or they picked a shitty way to make it.

And I'm saying this as someone who likes the game enough to be willing to play through it and document it fully.


Dungeon Wrong: Complete solution (Part 1)






: To find entrance to prison under water. To advise you to cleanse the Justice Shrine before returning to Yew.
: To do so is the only hope for justice in the land. To let you rest assured that I will plead your case before the judge, but to know that you must cleanse the shrine first.
: To do that. To thank you for letting me know.
: To meet me at the Court of Justice when you are done.




To take a boat around to the back of the fortress.




To swim through the underwater tunnel.




To click on the left skull to open the door.




To read the journal of Warden Bob. To know that all games must have a tedious and poorly-implemented stealth-based mission, and to be dismayed that we have reached it.




To get the key from under Bob's journal.




To go out the door and down the hallway.




To discard stealth and murder our way through the guards, knowing this is not what the developers intended.




To come to a door.




: To ask what you are accused of doing.
: Killing all of the horses, but I didn't do it! The horses were dead before I was even born. Even my friend Smith knows I didn't kill the horses.
: If Smith were here, he would tell you. Please let me out.
: To ask where Smith is.
: He's in Paws... well, usually just outside of Paws. Next to a tree... actually, he's in a tree.
: To express skepticism that Smith is in a tree.
: Just go to Paws, you'll see him there. Please let me out!




Should we let her out?