Too late. Beat the game.
As requested, I did try the Armageddon spell before the finale, once in front of the BBEG and the second when confronting him at his home. The first time, he is disappears along with everything else. So it has no overall effect on the game except to make it unbeatable. The second time it doesn't work at all. In fact, I'm not sure any of the magic functions. As for my impressions:
I'll start off with the bad, because there isn't much of it:
- Clunky UI: I liked the first person interface when you consider what 1st person RPGs looked like before 1992, but because such a game was new the controls seemed clunky and the UI was aggravating. If I used the look icon to view something, I had to put my weapon away. If something jumped out at me, it took some time for me to respond by entering into attack mode.
- Later game boredom: The dungeons were not easy to get around, especially towards the later levels. This was actually a huge plus in the beginning because it felt like a huge accomplishment to clear out enough of the level to take the next step down. It became frustrating towards the middle and end when you had to backtrack in order to complete puzzles you had previously skipped or because of the large amount of backtracking the later quests required. The moongate helped a little, but not enough. I started getting frustrated towards the end because I was spending most of my time walking around the empty, trash-strewn wasteland of passages I had previously cleared out, just so I could reread a clue or retalk to one particular NPC.
- Character skills: I went with the first character I had rolled up because what the hell. A 19 strength looked pretty good for a paladin, and I figured a 22 dexterity was also pretty solid. I didn't realize that a 19 strength was on the lower end of the totem pole, but still no big deal. I intended to play a melee/rogue hybrid anyway. So I had some points in lore, swimming, pick locks, charm and so on. By the end of the game I had 15 points into charm. All these skills were wasted. I'm glad I at least also loaded up on sword and attack and defense by mid-game. By the end I am also glad I loaded up on magic. I could hardly hit anything moving with ranged weapons and I gave up on offensive magic. The sword was, as predicted, the most important weapon skill in game. I never did try sheet lightning, though.
The good:
- Magic: The defensive and utility spells were great. I loved being able to fly, take a bird's eye view of the area, and walking on lava. I would buff up on my armor spells and fire protection so I could kill fire elementals, which were my most hated enemies. Open was also a useful spell, although I did get annoyed that it had no chance on working on so many doors. I really still love the rune system after all this time.
- So Much to Do: This game is packed with stuff. There were places I never did figure out how to access and quests I never did defeat, and that's after I beat tons of regular quests and sub-quests. Just when I thought I was coming up to the end, I found out there was more to do and more to explore. It's amazing to me that the writers had such great imaginations. I really want to know what their influences were. The last part of the game reminded me of Dr. Strange comics from the 80s.
- The BBEG: I'm not going to spoil who he is or what he does, but the final confrontation was perfect. I died going toe to toe against him, but figured out what I needed to do the second time around. He isn't used too much, and only alluded to briefly by some characters. Because he is used so sparingly and because you find out first hand how much of a threat he is, he is a villain that stays with you after the game is over.
- NPC Interactions: Maybe the best part of an already awesome game. Each group of people had their own personality and motivations, and if you understood them psychologically and tailored your responses appropriately you received different responses and overall reactions. Your choices mattered more than your skill in Charm, which means my character points were wasted, but the fact that every conversation felt like a puzzle game made me get over my butt hurt.
- Loot: I loved the fact that you start out with a puny weapon and little armor, while building up you arsenal slowly over time. At the end I did find more magical weapons and equipment, but the fun part of the beginning was trying to figure out what to carry and what to leave behind, especially for my middle-strength character. The ending falls apart in this regard, however, as there is so much gold around but very little to do with it.
- Flexibility: The puzzles I enjoyed the most had multiple ways in which to solve them. Although there were a few quests that were annoyingly complex and linear, there were more that had more than one solution and a few different clues in the ways to accomplish them. The bullfrog puzzle is a good example. I had trouble until I built up my magic and learned an alternate solution of solving it from an NPC.
- Quests Intersected: A number of seemingly unconnected quests ended up being connected because you would have to do one in order to solve a later one. This helped make the game feel like a complete whole and not just several separate levels.
- The Map: I can't decide whether or not the NPC interactions or the Map function is the best part of the game. My maps are covered with notes from '<--- Left Jewelled Sword here' to "Down, Level 8" to "Locked Door" to "Fishing Spot". I even used the empty section to the right to write notes specific to the level instead of on my notepad, like "Must rescue man's brother from prison this level". When I accomplished a task or finally opened a door, I could erase my note. Why don't more games use this?
I already created my Ultima Underworld 2 character. A fighter instead of a paladin, strength of 30, dex of 18 and intelligence of 12. Oh, and my skill points went into attack and defense instead of charm.
